Getting Caught Up on Cross Country Trip

I've let way to much time pass between my trip and getting caught up on this blog. Time and again I say that I'm not going to do that and then I get frustrated with my computer and/or our internet service so I take a break that turns out to be too long. My last post I wrote about the three races that I did while I was in St. Louis. While in St. Louis we went to a Blues hockey game and ate at Schlafly's Brewery. The food was good and the game was outstanding. Stacie and I went to my favorite place twice for lunch, El Maguey and we all took a morning to go with Haley while she had her hair cut to donate. This is the 2nd time that she has done that. I also got to spend Easter with the kids. The last time I did that was when I drove out with Tom when the moved back to St. Louis the time before this one. While everything seems to be working I'm going to write quite a bit and then go back and try to insert pictures. Hopefully I'll get them in the right places, if not, they are mostly self explanatory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I left St. Louis the day after Easter and drove to Athens, Georgia to pick up Clarence to go with me to Florida for Jeff's 50th birthday. We had a really good time and like we do every time we're together we reminisced and laughed constantly. It was a good trip down and a good time while we were there. We spent time at some of our usual haunts like the Cocoa Beach Pier and the Sand Bar. The highlight of the Florida trip was celebrating Jeff's 50th birthday with family.

 

 

 

 

 

 
When we left Florida we went to visit Fred and Leah Mershon in Folkston, Georgia. We always have a good time when we all get together. We spent the long weekend and then I drove back to drop Clarence and spend a final night in Athens. I had planned to head home and call the trip finished but decided that since it was only 1000 miles north that I wanted to go see my Uncle Billy who has cancer. He is my Dad's last living brother and it had been too long since I had seen him. I spent a night with him and Aunt Isabel and got to see a cousin, Heidi. The next day I stopped to see Aunt Ginny and Uncle Okie who has also been sick for a long time. I didn't realize that he was about to turn 90. While it was a very short visit I'm glad that I did it.

 

 

 

 

I left Aunt Ginny's and drove to Lowell, Massachusetts to visit the Lowell National Historic Park and Kerouac Park. From there I drove to Manchester, New Hampshire to a brewery that had a beer with St. Bernard's on the cans. My niece asked me to get her some if I found any in New England so I just went straight to the source. I then drove back to Merrimack to have dinner with Tom and his parents Donna and Bob at the Brewery. We had a nice visit, I spent the night with them and we caught up on what's been going on since the last time we were together. When I left there I drove to Niagra Falls, New York to visit my youngest brother Rob and his wife Cindy.

 

 

I couldn't believe it when Rob told me it had been 23 years since we had seen one another. That's to much time between visits so I'm making plans to go back there for a longer visit in the fall. I really enjoyed getting to know Cindy. Rob and I went to Niagra Falls and spent some time.

 

 

 

 

 
After leaving Rob's I spent the first night in Corydon, Indiana; the first capital of Indiana. The next night I stayed with Stacie and the kids again and then headed home. I wanted to get home because my friends Joe and Judy Palmer were planning to be in Patterson for a few days on their roundabout trip from Arizona to Oregon.

 
It was a great trip because it included opportunities to see new places as well as old friends and family!