Friday 3/25/11

This morning, we had a harsh reminder that we had left the south behind and returned to the northeast - the thermometer mocked us with its 15 degree reading. Mark and Lil took Karen and Cam to their dental office in Franklin. They have spent the past 20 years collecting antique jukeboxes, Coke memorabilia, and dental items.  Their collection is extensive, and we had a lot of fun looking at dentistry in the "good old days" and being grateful none of us had to endure treatment with pre-modern dentistry. Mark had an antique postcard that summed up dentistry at the turn of the century.  The card shows a young boy outside the dental office, next to a sign boasting "Painless Dentistry", with the boy scribbling a single word on the wall beneath the sign - "LIAR!".

After breakfast at the French Creek Cafe next door to the dental office, Karen and Cam bid farewell to Mark and Lil with promises of hosting a reunion of the F.E.Warren AFB dental clan in NJ next spring.  So, any of you folks reading the blog, be sure to reserve some time for a visit next May.

We continued to have reminders that we were no longer in the south.  Karen and Cam had sort of hoped that winter would be over by the time we arrived home, but no such luck!

While we were away on our trip, our friend Steve lived at our house and took care of Maddie (our dog), and Ginger (our cat).  Not only did Steve bond with our pets, he spoiled them rotten with lots of long walks, nightly reading, sleeping together, and plenty of petting and playtime.  Maddie and Ginger will miss him.

Steve made the "Witt's End" sign for our front wall.

Karen and Cam returned home today with mixed feelings.  It is good to be back in Basking Ridge to reunite with friends, to enjoy our old arts/crafts home, to see Maddie and Ginger, and to sleep in our own bed.  However, we LOVED our time on the road.  This trip confirmed how much Karen and Cam enjoy spending time together, and it will be hard to be apart now that we have become accustomed to being together 24 hours each day.  We were also struck by how much we miss being with family after living away from them for the past 25 years in Wyoming and New Jersey.  And it is COOOOLLD in New Jersey!  Brrr.  We may take a couple of weeks to get used to weather in the northeast again.  We are grateful to the many friends and family members (28 households in all) who hosted us along our journey.  It has truly been a wonderful trip.

We drove 317 miles today.
TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE TRIP: 8,891!!!

Thursday 3/24/11

We awoke this morning to a dusting of snow on the ground. After Michelle got her kids off to school we had a light breakfast and headed out to tour Notre Dame. We enjoyed walking around this beautiful campus with lakes and well manicured grounds. We went inside some of the magnificent buildings to see the art work and also to warm up on this cold but clear winter day. The Main Building's golden dome is Notre Dame's most enduring symbol. It is covered by about 1,250 paper thin strips of 23-karat gold leaf.  Inside the Main Building is the restored mural on the interior of the Gold Dome and the twelve Christopher Columbus murals, all painted from 1882 to 1884 by Luigi Gregorio, a Vatican portrait artist.

It was fun to see the mural of "Touchdown Jesus" near the football stadium.  This building-size artwork is visible directly behind the goal post from within the football stadium.

 

We also visited the Basilica of the Sacred Heart with elaborate stained glass windows, exquisite paintings and a sanctuary offering masses for the students and faculty!  Jeff and Michelle were super hosts and tour guides. We are planning to get together sooner than 10 years for our next reunion.

Upon arriving in Dempseytown, north of Franklin, Pa., we had a double reunion.  Mark and Lil hosted in their home, while Kent and Lisa drove an hour from Sugar Grove to join us for the evening.  Mark's and Lil's son, Ben, also spent a little time with us old folks (their other son, Nick, was away at school).  Mark, Kent, and Cam were all stationed at the dental clinic together in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and all 3 wives were pregnant with their first babies during the same year - must be something about those cold Wyoming winters that keeps everyone indoors!  Lil prepared a meal using recipes she learned from the various dentists' wives while we were all at F.E.Warren Air Force Base. We recounted stories about one another, as well as about many of our co-workers (mostly nice, all of them funny!).  We laughed so hard, so long, and so loud that Karen and Cam were grateful to have eaten at the house rather than in a public restaurant.  Kent and Lisa had to leave early to make the drive home, but the rest of us stayed up to continue our visit.

We drove 367 miles today.

Wednesday 3/23/11

With 11 hours of driving ahead of us we left Donna's house early. The big highlight of our day was breakfast at the Branson Cafe in Missouri, which was our only stop other than gas.  The big surprise of the day was the 35 degree temperature drop as we traveled north.   Our destination for the day was Granger, Indiana near South Bend. This is the home of Karen's dear friend from junior high and high school days in Tampa. Michelle, her husband Jeff, and their 2 children have lived in Granger since Jeff became a professor in the MBA accounting program at Notre Dame eleven years ago. Our last visit with this family was ten years ago at our house in Basking Ridge.

Grant is almost 14, and totally into sports.  His football team has gone undefeated for 2 years since he became quarterback. We didn't see much of Grant because as soon as he arrived home from track practice, he left again for private quarterbacking lessons.

Lauren is a high school senior hoping to attend Notre Dame or Chicago Art School next year.  We were admiring the beautiful framed artwork in the house when we were surprised to learn that LAUREN was the artist.  She is very talented. This is one gifted family. 

Jeff is an accomplished jazz guitarist, although he is currently playing in a rock and roll band.  Michelle prepared a very healthy dinner of salmon, green beans, roasted potatoes, whole grain bread, and fresh strawberries for dessert.  Karen and Michelle had a lot more catching up than it was possible to complete in a single evening.  We went to bed reluctantly, wishing we had longer to spend with these old friends.

We drove 657 miles today.

Tuesday 3/22/11

David left for work around 5:30a, and Karen and Cam were on the road before Tracy and the kids were up for school, so we didn't have a chance to see any of them this morning.  The drive to Eureka Springs, Arkansas to see Donna (high school friend of Cam's from his days in England) was along backroads of eastern Oklahoma and northern Arkansas. We caught many glimpses of life in the Ozark Mountains.

Upon arriving in Eureka Springs, we ate lunch (incredible salads) at the "Local Flavor Cafe" on Main Street, followed by a driving tour of the historic Victorian village which included a stop at one of Donna's friend's garden to gather fresh kale for tonight's dinner.  This town has numerous natural springs, said to be "healing", many of which have small gardens built around them.  We stopped to take a photograph at Harding Spring which is claimed to have cured blindness.  We saw the home of Carrie Nations, infamous for her hands-on protests to abolish alcohol using an ax on local drinking establishments to ensure her message was plainly understood.  In the parking lots behind the Main Street buildings we enjoyed a series of rotating murals by local artists, as well as a permanent panoramic mural illustrating the first 100 years history of Eureka Springs.  The arrangement of the streets in this town is a series of U's and V's and S's with no perpendicular intersecting streets, resulting from the fact that all of the buildings are built into the narrow crevasse formed by steep hillsides ascending sharply up from Main Street.  If we ever have the opportunity to return to Eureka Springs, we would love a walking tour to experience the local architecture which includes an 8-story building with a ground level entrance on every floor, Penn Memorial Baptist Church which can be entered from 3 different streets on its 3 different stories with 3 separate street addresses, the Carnegie Library (one of 4 in Arkansas), and St. Elizabeth's which is the only Catholic Church which must be entered through its bell tower.

Donna's first house in Eureka Springs - since sold (Yikes! We FORGOT TO TAKE A PHOTO OF DONNA'S NEW HOME.)

We also visited the Writer's Colony at Dairy Hollow,(a retreat for serious writers to get away from the daily distractions at home or school to spend some time living and working in a stress-free environment) where Donna was hired last week as the director.  Donna recently purchased a fixer-upper arts and crafts house in Berryville, and she is doing a phenomenal job of restoring the wooden floors and oak-trimmed detail of this personality-laden home.  Though it is a work in progress, Donna's artistic touch makes it  easy to visualize what a gem this house will be when she is finished.  After a walking tour of Berryville, Donna prepared what she described as a "full vegetarian meal", and it was delicious.  Kale with flax seed oil and lemon juice with roasted sunflower seeds; tofu marinated in fresh ginger, garlic, gluten free tamarind sauce, and sesame seed oil; wild rice seasoned with Bragg natural amino acid flavoring; and oatmeal cookies for dessert.

Donna is exceptionally good at maintaining contact, so we enjoyed being brought up to date on many old mutual friends before hitting the sack for the night.  We drove 240 miles.

Monday 3/21/11

After a relaxing breakfast with Mimi and Cee at their house, Karen and Cam drove to the Homestead Heritage.  This artisan settlement is a fundamentalist Christian community that stresses faith, honesty, hard work, quality craftsmanship, helping others, and self-sufficiency.   They specialize in beautiful furniture, textiles, metal work, and farming. Additionally, they operate a waterwheel-powered grist mill.  Karen and I felt right at home since this particular 1750's grist mill was actually moved to Waco from Califon, NJ (near Teetertown, and originally called the Teeter Mill). 

After touring Homestead, it was finally time to begin our northward journey back toward New Jersey.  Our first stop along the way was Tulsa, Ok.  Cam's Baylor room mate, David, is an orthopedic surgeon in Tulsa where he lives with his wife, Tracy, and their 3 children. Jake is in college in Middlebury, Vermont. Dalton is in high school, and Sophie is in junior high.  We had a nice visit at their beautiful home, then went to dinner at a great restaurant called Sonoma.  After we finished eating, we continued chatting until we eventually "closed the joint down".  Apparently, when you haven't seen your college room mate in nearly 30 years, you have a lot of catching up to do. We drove 360 miles.

Sunday 3/20/11

We were up early to pack the truck and drive Jim and Kelley to the San Antonio airport so they could fly home to Vermont.  They were EXCELLENT room mates for the week in Fredericksburg.  Hopefully we will see them again for the D.O.G.S.  (Doubles Of the Garden State - our tandem cycling club) ride and BBQ 2 weekends from now.

 

Karen and Cam arrived at "Mesquite Hollow", Cam's parents' country retreat outside Waco, around 12:30p.  We were celebrating Caroline's 22nd birthday.  Gigi (Karen's mom) and Marshal drove 3.5 hours from Abilene, Mimi and Cee (Cam's parents), Larry (Cam's brother) and Lucy, Courtney, and Mark (Caroline's friend) all joined the party. Cee cooked chicken, burgers, hot dogs, and jalapeno/cheese sausage on the grill.  Mimi provided the beans, fruit salad, and guacamole.  Caroline brought crackers and cheese to go with the summer sausage Karen bought at Opa's in Fredericksburg (German sausage house recommended by our San Antonio friend, Susan), Courtney supplied the home made cookies, while Mimi served a variety of cupcakes, and Karen shared iced sugar cookies from a German bakery in the Hill Country.  Mimi even surprised Cam with his favorite ice cream - peppermint.  We ate and visited and played with the 4 dogs (Button, Coco, Timmy, Mia).  Mark had a new pistol which he had not yet fired, so he generously shared his new toy with us and we did a little target practice using a manikin from Lucy's hair salon.  Larry was excited about his new job at the Harley-Davidson dealership.  He already sold 2 motorcycles in his first 2 days on the job.

Sweet Caroline, the birthday girl!

 

Mimi is up at bat.

Marshal makes sure he gets his fair share of the goodies.

This evening, Caroline attended a study group, while Karen returned to Courtney's house to visit and to take a walk on the "Bear Trail" around the Baylor campus.  Cam went to the Baylor-Prairie View women's basketball game of the NCAA Championships.  Currently, the Baylor women are ranked #1 in the country.  Baylor tromped Prairie View 66-30, holding Prairie View to a record low number of points scored in a championship game.

Eventually, Cam and Caroline joined Courtney and Karen back at Courtney's house where we stayed up way too late talking, watching TV, and laughing.

We drove 163 miles today.  We also drove 565 miles during the time we stayed in Fredericksburg.

Saturday 3/19/11

Everybody was on a different agenda today.  Jim and Kelley went for a short 1.5 hour bike ride, then Jim spent most of the rest of the day disassembling and packing the tandem (their tandem bike separates into 3 pieces and packs into 2 suitcases) while watching basketball on TV.  Karen and Kelley did laundry, got the house in order, and spent a few hours navigating the local shops without really buying anything.  Cam dedicated the morning to catching up on emails and paperwork, then toured the George H. W. Bush Museum of the Pacific War and the Admiral Nimitz Museum.  Fascinating!  The Nimitz Museum traced the life of Chester Nimitz from boyhood to Pacific Commander in WWII and beyond.  The Pacific Museum was a comprehensive history of WWII beginning a century before the conflict as tensions grew between China and Japan.  With only the afternoon available to Cam for the tour, and 3 separate city-block-size buildings housing the collections, he raced through the exhibits and still only covered half of the displays in the 2 buildings he viewed, and missed one of the 3 buildings altogether.  Two full days are necessary to do justice to the museums.  Cam was humbled by the courage of the men who boldly faced death daily with very little they could do to ensure their own return home. We glorify the idea of serving in the military without really understanding the hardship, and the heartfelt fear, and the horrors that soldiers experience in battle.  The experience of reading about this war battle by battle was very emotional, and when Cam was ushered out of the museum at closing time, he felt a sense of reverence as he walked past the displays.

We had planned to eat leftovers for dinner tonight.  However, we heard repeatedly this week about the Alamo City Cafe which is reported to have the “best hamburgers in Texas”.  After this evening’s meal, I don’t think any of us can disagree with that assessment.  The Alamo City Cafe sits out in the middle of nowhere, situated about 15 miles from any other than Luckenbach.  Even Luchenbach with its population of 3 is 7-8 miles away.  The only other reason anyone would visit this remote location is the “bat cave” adjacent to the Alamo City Cafe where millions of Mexican short tail bats reside in an abandoned train tunnel and exit the cave nightly from April-October to feed on mosquitoes and other insects.  Unfortunately, we were too early in the season to witness the bats, but the burgers were in abundance.  Despite the remote location, we had to scramble to find a place to sit.  The cafe was full both inside and out when we arrived, but we finally secured the only remaining table outside on the patio.  There was a live band playing on an outdoor stage.  The seating inside the eatery centered around the open kitchen where all could witness burgers, onion rings, French fries, home made potatoe ships, milk shakes, and a variety of other edibles being prepared.  The motif was 50s diner/bar.  There was a refrigerator where you went to open your own bottle of wine and pour your own glass to bring to your table, sodas in another frig, and help-yourself beer in a huge bucket of ice.  We started by ordering guacamole and chips.  We had never seen such a large bowl of guacamole – the 4 of us couldn’t finish it.  Then came the monster burgers (option of plain bun or jalapeno/cheese bun, avocado, all the normal fixings, etc.), huge baskets of fries and onion rings, smoothies, and milk shakes.  We ate until we couldn’t swallow another bite, rested for a bit listening to the music, then ate some more.  The meal, the music, the weather, and the friends created a perfect ending to a wonderful week in Fredericksburg.

A handsome young Irishman we met on the way to Alamo City.