6/7/2015

We have been home since October 9, 2014, but we have been far from doing nothing.  Oct. 9 was our daughter Lisa's birthday, so we went up there and surprised them all.  They seemed glad to see us.

We cleaned up & unpacked from our 185 days on the road and took a few days to unwind, catch up on mail, etc., and started planning our Fall & Winter.  The first thing was a total re-screening of all the porches and painting all of the posts & beams.  It turned out to be quite a job, but the finished product looks fresh and the screen is new and it looks as nice as the rest of the house.  We also unpacked all the souvenirs and decided where to put everything.  We also took everything out of all the compartments and cleaned everything, including all the 'stuff''.  There was dust everywhere.

Kaylee had a birthday, turned 15, where did those 15 years go?  She is growing into a very pretty young lady.  We took these pictures when Kaylee & Tyler both went to the Homecoming Dance.

Seems yesterday they were little kids

The Shortens

Then on Nov. 15, Patty Grant drove down from Georgia and the 3 of us drove to Miami for the 8th & final Simpleman Cruise.  We have had a great time on these cruises, but Lynyrd Skynyrd has decided to quit doing them, so we will have to find a replacement cruise with Sixthman...new things lead to new experiences and new friends...we are actually not too concerned.  But this one was another great time and the weather was great.  24 bands and 2400 other Southern Rock fans can create a heck of a party.  And doing it on a cruise ship in the Caribbean makes it even more fun.  This was our 19th Rock Cruise, 17 with Sixthman and 2 Rock Legends cruises...they are a hoot!!

Our Helsinki friends-Seppo & Mari

Two kids having a great time

 Johnny, Peter, Ricky & Sparky

 Ricky Medlocke & Charlie Starr

Ricky Medlocke

Some of the craziness in the Stardust Theater on NCL Pearl

A week later, we drove back down to Grassy Key and spent 2 nights at Rainbow Bend right on the beach...a mere 50 ft. from the water.  Our friends Bruce & Danica (met in Nova Scotia in 2013) from North Bay, Ontario were staying just down the street so we got to visit with them too...nice time.

December brought concerts & Christmas.  Classic Albums Live did 'A Lennon Christmas', Violectric entertained with rock string Christmas music at the Eola Band-shell in downtown Orlando, they opened up the Cheyenne Saloon on Church Street and we spent 8 hours listening to a host of different performers doing Beatles music for charity, Joe Bonomassa in the brand new Phillips Performing Arts Center where Orlando Fire Station 1 used to sit, The Outlaws played at the Plaza Live, Classic Albums Live again at Hard Rock Live, Trans Siberian Orchestra at Amway Center and to finish off our amazing year, Billy Joel played New Years Eve at Amway and put on one heck of a show.  It was a very incredible month and we saw a lot of very talented musicians & singers.  Christmas was in there too. 

A Lennon Christmas by Classic Albums Live

Downtown Orlando

Orlando City Hall artwork

The New Phillips PAC is a very nice venue

Lake Eola fountain

Joe Bonamassa

Some of the best Blues anywhere

The Outlaws at Plaza Live

Christmas fun

Violectric

Classic Albums Live at Hard Rock Live Orlando

Trans-Siberian Orchestra put on an amazing show

Some of the fun at Cheyenne Saloon

Billy Joel capped off our amazing year with a great show on Yew Years Eve at the Amway Center in Orlando.  We hope you enjoyed following along on our adventures,  2015 is going to be a little slower, but we still have a lot planned.  We hope you join us.

Steve & Barb Larson

10/10/2014

We drove from Panama City to Ellaville, FL where the Suwannee River State Park is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suwannee_River_State_Park.  This is where the river made famous by Stephen Foster meets the northern Withlachooche River http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withlacoochee_River_(Suwannee_River) and they flow together to the Gulf of Mexico,  It is a beautiful spot and reflects what Florida looks like in the wild...before Disney messed up that beauty.  It is worth the visit.  We spent one night there and decided to head home a day early.  After a drive & a walk through the park, we headed south.

The drive home was filled with reminiscing about our amazing summer, and what an amazing time it has been!!  The total mileage was 14,057 with the motor home and an additional 13,712 miles with our little car.  That is 27,729 miles total...the planet earth is only 24,901 miles in circumference, so you get the idea...around the world + in 189 days. We took over 15,000 pictures, and about 10% of those have already been deleted for various reasons. But we still have a lot of sorting & deleting to do before we save all of it for posterity.  It is for reason of comparing, going to be something that will be very hard, if not impossible, to top...but it won't be for a lack of trying.  Barb wants me to print this blog for a book we can use for remembering the trip.  And there will be more memories.

But we made it home, cleaned out the motor home and put it away for the time being.  We then went to our daughter Lisa's house to surprise her for her birthday.  They seemed genuinely glad to see us :).

We are taking it slow today, and the pile of mail seems pretty small, good thing.  Lisa did a great job keeping us informed of anything important and not bothering us with the crap...good job, baby.  And our house was amazingly clean and the grass & driveway looked like we had never left...nice to have family like that nearby.  The whole gang pitched in and made our homecoming a real delight, thanks!

I will post anything exciting that happens here, so check in periodically.  And thanks for tagging along on our amazing time.  I have enjoyed keeping everyone up to speed as well as making a great manuscript for us to remember this summer by.  And thanks to all for making our trip so great.

Steve & Barb Larson

Suwannee River flowing through the State Park

Withlachoochee River flowing into the Suwannee

CSX Railroad crossing the Suwannee

I-295 crossing the St John's River in Jacksonville

Our little Post Office

One of our pet Gopher Turtles

Our house looks just like we left it

10/8/2014

We have been in Panama City, FL for the last 3 days...hanging out, enjoying the 'Real Florida' at one of the many State Parks, St Andrews.  It is a pretty place, sandwiched between the Gulf of Mexico and the Grand Lagoon, part of the St Andrew's Bay.  We spent almost 8 hours driving here from Hattiesburg, MS.  Most of that time was spent on US 98 between Pensacola & Panama City.  I had Barb keep track of how many stoplights there were in the last 100+ miles between the Florida line with Alabama and our camp site.  She counted 82 traffic lights and we got caught at 25 of them...no wonder it took so long.  But we weren't in any particular hurry, so it is not a big deal...just a part of our summer.  We got here late in the afternoon and got set up on our site...no TV reception but good signal with phones, so we have internet.  We did get some local TV, so Barb was able to see NCIS.

We are moving east in a few hours, going to stop in Live Oak for 2 nights to cut the drive home in half.  The summer has been a total blast, but it must come to an end soon, looks like Friday will be it.

We got up early this morning to see the Lunar Eclipse, fog rolled in and obliterated the view we had. But we have had a great time here, just hanging out, relaxing, and enjoying the Florida weather.  Last night we went to get some dinner and see the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico...beautiful.  Time to move on, and get our final days of camping in for a while...spend some time with the family.

Steve & Barb Larson

Mobile, AL skyline

Going under Mobile Bay

Hope the Governor sign gets changed soon

At the Welcome Center...Pensacola is home to the Blue Angles

Welcome home

First glimpse of the Gulf of mexico

Our sugar sand beaches

Last night at dinner

Beautiful sunset

Last night at the beach

The Blood Moon before the fog rolled in

10/3/2014

We spent the last 3 days traveling from Little Rock to just south of Memphis, TN (Coldwater, MS) and then from Coldwater to Hattiesburg, MS.  The drives were pretty straight forward, mostly interstates, and without incident.  While in Coldwater, we spent 2 nights at a ACE park called Hernando Point on Lake Arkabutla, a reservoir on the Coldwater River behind the Arkabutla Dam.  It was a beautiful spot on the water, quiet as it could be, because it was mostly empty.  And with our Senior Pass, it was only $9/night, hard to beat.  Last night, we experienced a pretty severe storm that came across the lake about 11 pm.  It shook the camper enough that it concerned us both.  We even got an alert from the National Weather Service on Barb's phone to take cover.  With nowhere to go and no way to see if anything was out there, we sat tight and waited for it to blow by.  It lasted about 40 mins, a little scary.  But all is well today, no damage, no one hurt.  We did see a lot of power company trucks heading north today, so somewhere, there are folks who didn't fare as well as we did.

Yesterday, we spent the day driving up to Memphis and making a visit to Graceland, home of Elvis Presley, the king of Rock.  We were at Tupelo, his birth place, last summer when we learned that Barb's mom had passed.  So now we have been to his birthplace, the place he lived, & died, and been on an Elvis cruise on Carnival, so we have Elvis pretty much covered.  I think we can move on to our next rock star...maybe travel to England and see where John Lennon was born, as we saw the place he was murdered last summer in New York City.  This could get expensive :).  But we both enjoyed our tour of Graceland and I suppose we are both glad we went...probably no reason to go back tho.

Tonight, we are in the Paul B Johnson State Park ( http://www.mdwfp.com/parks-destinations/ms-state-parks/paul-b-johnson.aspx) just south of Hattiesburg, MS.  We are going to stay here 2 nights and then move on to Panama City, where we have 4 nights reserved at a State Park on the beach ...enjoy the beach and being back in Florida.  It has been an amazing summer and tomorrow will mark 6 months on the road, so 4 nights on the beach will be a nice welcome back to Florida time.

Yesterday, my sister Ann passed along info that we have a famous Great Uncle who founded the U of Arkansas in Little Rock and has become a bit of a hero there.  We now have a reason to return, which will also probably require a return trip to the Bill Clinton Library...we both enjoyed that visit.  So, if you are ever in Little Rock, look up my Great Uncle John Larson, founder of UALR...there is even a bust of him somewhere on campus they placed last fall.  He was my Grandfather's oldest brother. And the ACE Park in Maumelle is a beautiful place to stay.  We highly recommend camping there. Staying at this place for $10/night is hard to beat.  It is worth the trip.

Steve & Barb Larson

Crossing the Mississippi River headed east

We used to count how many times you could spell Mississippi while crossing the bridges

Yep, we are back in the south-Kudzu everywhere

Our site at Hernando Point

The view out the door of our camper

Some of the birds on the reservoir

Gladys' Pink Caddie

Front of Graceland Mansion

Some of the 100's of awards

Sunset over Lake Arkabutla