I'm sure everyone has heard the expression It never rains but it pours.
John's sisters and family in the Houston area are safe and dry despite the huge downpour from Harvey. This summer we managed to meander up the Mississippi River as far as La Crosse, Wisconsin before heading back south because John's brother was desperately ill and not expected to live much longer. Back in the St. Louis area and John with a severe toothache it finally happened requiring a rush trip to Louisiana where in addition to the funeral Lori broke a tooth so we both headed back to the dentist in Columbus, Ohio. With all the scrambling I still try to post photos of our current travels almost daily on the Instagram feed @RambleJohn although it has been rather hit and miss.
After the initial dental work we managed to get back down to Cross Plains, Tennessee by August 21 to see the total solar eclipse which was absolutely totally awesome. This first picture shows the sun totally covered by the moon and it is hard to describe the eerie dim light which is not really dark but straight out of a great haunted house. While we had scattered puffy clouds in the area, they cleared off perfectly for this natural exhibit. It is easy to understand how the sun suddenly turning into a burning ring of fire as the world darkens would be a terrifying experience coming without warning or explanation.
Right as the sun totally disappears behind the moon is a flash as the great light bulb in the sky is covered for over two and a half minutes. I caught the initial flash in the corner of the picture so this second flash as the moon moves off the sun is a better picture. Trying to photograph the sun moving across the sky at high magnification with very dense filters protecting the camera sensor while keeping the camera pointed almost straight up really requires a contortionist with a few extra arms. If that was not hard enough dust kept settling on the filter and had to be blown off between shots.
This last picture is just one of a long series between the moon taking a tiny nibble out of the sun's edge until it moves totally away about an hour and a half later. Did I mention this is northern Kentucky in an open field in August which tends to be just a tad hot and humid. For the curious the kind people at the 112 Antique Mall just east of I-65 exit 112 allowed us use their parking lot, restrooms, and wander the mall when it got too hot.
Back in Columbus to finalize the dental work John was just innocently sitting in a restaurant when the LG V10 smartphone being used to take all the Instagram pictures suddenly went into a boot loop or the equivalent of the Windows blue screen of death. It appears all the data since the last backup can be recovered although that part will be costly. Then there is the cost of a replacement smartphone although LG has extended the warranty due to this type of problem and is going to repair it of course minus any data. Adding to the downpour was the truck AC fan cutting in and out requiring replacement of the motor for an additional multi hundred dollar repair.
With all this behind us we can hopefully make it to Richmond, Virginia by the end of September for John's Aunt's 99th birthday party without running smack into the middle of another hurricane coming up the east coast. Then it will be back to Columbus for doctors and John's favorite Halloween setup at a friend's house. After that it will be back to the St. Louis area where the motel was kind enough to let us take the remainder of our interrupted weekly stay as a future credit. Prior to Harvey we were tentatively planning on winter in Texas but that may not be the best idea now and we are not sure where to go. We will just have to see which way the wind blows.
With all the excitement described above I have not managed to extend the site beyond this third iteration covering our travels through the end of 2008. I'm still trying to get about a year a quarter depending on how much time I can break free. So far I've managed to sort through about 6000 pictures and describe almost 1300 on the various pages included in the site. Generally I'm organized by year, state, city, and attraction like the menu bar above. When I can find some external links I think might be interesting I've added them in the standard blue color. Links to other parts of this site are in green and using the menu bar you can basically get from anyplace to anyplace and maybe get totally lost. Have fun.
This site is planed as a work in progress. After retiring in 2006, we started sending reports back to the wonderful lady that had always watched the house while we traveled. Unfortunately Ruth Lambert is no longer with us so the major incentive for the reports is also gone and sending color copies to all our friends and relatives does start to get rather expensive hence this more convenient website presentation. As in our rambling, the reporting tended to be rather erratic and although it only got into 2010 it was reaching 300 pages and filling two 2 inch notebooks. That puts me seven years behind and four years to convert so its going to take considerable time if ever to get everything posted.
We retired in mid 2006 and decided to wander the USA to actually see what it really looks like. In some 40 years of actually working for a living John has had extensive travel but rare opportunities to see an area. Usually it's dark going into the plant and dark coming out so most of the scenery is the inside of a plant, motel room, or restaurant. Actually in the last six months before retirement John put in two 34 hour days; ya walk into the plant and walk out 34 hours later. So we sold the house and the majority of the "stuff" and are now OLD (medicare recipients), UNEMPLOYED (retired), HOMELESS (not destitute), and enjoying the nomad lifestyle. NO! we don't have an RV; we sold the house, we're not driving it. We have two tents to camp when we want, but mostly motel camp. Staying a week or a month tends to be economical most places and we are definitely budget travelers. Look for us where its warm but not real hot with a reasonable cost of living.