August 2016 – The Road and The Nestless

College Bound!!

I know it has been a little while since I last posted. I apologize. It has been a very busy few weeks.

The time has finally come. It is official. He is grown. OUR YOUNGEST CHILD IS GROWN. It was time to move him into the dorm at Arizona State University where he will be studying Physics. I flew from Ohio back to Arizona. I decided to go a week ahead so that I had time to visit with friends and family, and buy the things he needed for his dorm room. I arrived late on Sunday night, exhausted after being held up because of weather delays. After deplaning at my destination in Phoenix, I trudged with the masses to the baggage claim area and anxiously awaited my bag. My son had picked up my car from the garage where it was being stored and was to pick me up in it so that I would have a car while in town. I let him know that I was getting my bags and would be ready soon……WRONG….. My luggage is usually easy to find. I have two suitcases that I fly with. One is a fake snakeskin type bag and the other is a bright electric blue. The blue one is what I brought this time. Easy to find right? As I waited and waited I finally saw my large, overstuffed blue bag coming around the circle. I grabbed it and was about to walk away when I noticed the tag on the bag. This was not mine. I quickly put it back and waited. I soon realized that the owner of this blue bag must’ve taken my bag by mistake and they were long gone. So over to the help desk I went, only to stand in a very long line of people. Finally, I gave my information. They tried to call the owner of the other blue bag to let her know she had the wrong bag (voicemail) and I was sent on my way with the assurance they would get my stuff back. I left the airport and made my way to my friends house where I would be staying after stopping at a store to buy new contact lens supplies and a few other toiletries. By this time it was around 2 am.

I did get my bag back the next afternoon and had all of my things. I attended the funeral of a sweet friend on Tuesday and picked up my grandson and daughter on Wednesday morning for a few days at the Arizona Grand Hotel. They have a fun water park area that is nice to relax in. My son joined us and it was like old times. The only person missing was my husband. Everyone went back to their regular lives on Friday and I prepared to move my son into his dorm on Saturday afternoon. We were supposed to be there between 1130 and noon.

My son called me Saturday morning to tell me that the college had called and let him know that the AC had gone out on the dorm he was originally assigned to and that he would be moving into another dorm. He could choose to stay in the new room or move back to the old one when the AC is fixed. This put a crimp in my plans. I knew the layout of the old dorm room and had an idea of the things he would need, this room I knew nothing about.

I met him at ASU and we proceeded to start the process of moving in. All of a sudden I had emotions creeping up on me that I was not prepared for. He got his meningitis shot, the keys to his dorm room and all of the goodies they were handing out to the new students.

His friend, Ryan, joined us to help move him in. As we were moving the few things in that we had and started organizing, I suddenly burst into tears. This continued all day. I couldn’t help it. I would cry and then stop and then start again. I couldn’t control it. My poor son didn’t know what to do so he just hugged me and patted my head….lol…

We made a list of what else we would need and headed to Target. I think we bought the store out.

I finally got him all settled and left to meet friends for dinner. I cried the whole way. It was so much worse than I was prepared for. After all, I had been away from him all summer. I had moved kids into college far away from me before. These emotions snuck up on me. I think maybe because he is the baby and only boy. I never truely thought of him as being grown until now. He was always my little boy. I am so proud of him!

TEXAS…What?!

****Disclaimer**** We are going back in time…….The motorcycle is in Ohio getting some much needed check ups and repairs. In the mean time, I have some family obligations to take care of….that being said, here is a look at what we did over the 4th of July. Enjoy! (or not..haha)

Our son, Kylar, had the USA Fencing National Competition in Dallas, Texas over the fourth of July week so we took a plane there. There wasn’t time to ride there,watch the competition, and then ride back. So American Airlines it was. We enjoyed the flight, well, the second part. We flew from Kalamazoo to Chicago on a tiny little plane (which is why Kirk looks so grumpy, or maybe that is just his normal face, who can tell).

We encountered some fun in the Chicago airport.

Of course, Kirk had to get in on it.

Then from Chicago we flew to Dallas on a regular plane first class (he was much happier), who can forget our fun flight attendant Jordan?

We made it to Dallas and spent the next 6 days attending fencing events. Kylar competed in the Senior Saber Team competition. His team came in 16th.

Then he competed in the Division3 Mens Saber competition.

Kylar and Wyatt at 7am warming up before their competition. (It was too early)

He ended up 91st. I know that sounds bad, but you have to remember that he is 91st in the entire nation and has only been fencing for a year, so that is pretty good.

His coach competed in the Veteran 50 (that means you have to be 50 or older to compete) and took Gold!

We watched many of his teammates compete (including his girlfriend, Annika) and enjoyed several team meals. It was a good time. The fencers at his club in Arizona (Fencers Club of Arizona) are great group of crazy kids that have fun and compete hard.

There were lots of shinanigans going on (as usual).

In addition to the Fencing Nationals, boxing and volleyball nationals were also being held in the same complex. All the kids went and watched different sports. It was a ton of fun.

Some Volleyball players learning about fencing. They enjoyed watching the teams compete.

We did take an afternoon and visit the JFK Memorial.

The building JFK was shot from.

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I want to insert something here. We left Dallas the day before the shootings. Some of Kylar’s teammates were still there, in fact, they were eating dinner about a block away when it happened. Everyone is ok, but it was very scary. I want to say that my heart goes out to the families of those that lost their lives.

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Kirk flew back to Michigan on Tuesday to go back to work. After the competition Kylar, Annika, and I headed down to Fredericksburg, Texas with my parents to spend a few days with them. I love spending time there. If you ever get a chance to go I would do it. It is a quaint little German town, with boutiques and restaurants and rolling hills. We went to the bat cave and watched the bats head out to find their dinner. We went to Enchanted Rock, had a picnic and let the kids hike a bit.

We ate at the Alamo Springs Cafe. Now this is one place that you can’t miss. They have the best burger. People come from all around to eat there. They have live music on the weekends and their drinks are on the honor system. You go and get your own drinks (including beer and pouring your own wine) and then when you check out, you just tell them what you had to drink. Definitely check it out. They even have a large concrete pad to park motorcycles on.

It was a great visit with my son and my parents.

Here Comes the Rain

The next morning we got up and actually got on the road early (for us). We rode over the Sagamore Bridge and into Cape Cod. Took a few pictures of the beach and headed towards Pennsylvania.

We were riding along the coast as much as we could and then going inland making our way to Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. My cousin lives there and we were going to meet up for dinner and then spend the night at her house. We left Massachusetts, went through the bottom of Rhode Island and into Connecticut. The rain clouds were ever present and looming around us. I was keeping a close eye on them hoping that we would be able to stay out of their reach.

We headed into New York watching the sky very closely. The roads were very bumpy and full of pot holes, and somehow jarred the mirror loose on the bike. We stopped to fix it and I checked in with my cousin. All was on track …..and then the storm came! We saw it in the distance and it looked really ugly. We stopped at a rest area and put on our rain gear and headed out. It was way worse than we thought. We had to go very slow and stop several times. My “rain” pants ended up not being waterproof. My boots filled with water, and it was raining so hard that the rain was pouring down my face and running down my neck under the collar of my rain jacket and soaked the front of my shirt. It was not fun.

We entered Pennsylvania and we finally were able to out run the storm and found blue skies. We decided to stop at a truck stop and change clothes and socks and shoes and finish the trip. We only had about 100 miles to go and it was getting late so we were anxious to get to my cousins house. We were a little nervous because we had some twisty mountain roads to ride in order to get to where she lives and the sun was starting to go down. Not to mention that with all the rain it became very apparent that we needed a new front tire and soon.

Shortly after getting back on the road, we saw the lightning, the clouds and then the rain started again. Well, we gave up. We found the closest hotel and stopped for the night. It never felt so good to take a hot shower and climb into a warm bed.

The next morning, refreshed, we threw our boots and wet clothes into the dryer at the hotel hoping to get them dry before we left. The clothes got dry but the boots were still a bit wet. I tried using the hair dryer for a little bit, but then we just gave up, put on our damp boots and hit the road. We went through Williamsport, PA and passed the Little League World Series location.

It was a beautiful ride through the mountains to Lock Haven, PA with lots of twisty roads. Nothing better on a bike than seeing that S curve sign, in my opinion.

We had a nice rest, lunch and visit with my cousin then it was back on the road and off to Akron, OH where we will be for a little while. (We did see some strange things on the road, like the crazy boat in the picture)

Witches, Rocks, and Ships (take 2)

We woke up in York, ME, rode back to the Harley dealer to return the Street Glide (sad face) and got back on the road on our bike. We rode along the coast through New Hampshire to Salem, MA. We saw this interesting site all throughout New England. Not sure I would want to try McDonald’s lobster.

We also stopped for a little break and I met this lovely tree lady.

Of course we had to do a little sight seeing while we were in Salem. We checked out the graveyard.

The Salem witch trials memorial.

The house of Seven Gables. (We didn’t go on a tour)

and The Witch house. It was the home of the Witch Trials Judge Jonathon Corwin. It is the only home in Salem with direct ties to the Witch Trials.

Kirk says this is me in true form…(just kidding)

We didn’t stay long because it was late, hot, and super crowded. We headed on down the coast through Boston (awful traffic). We didn’t explore Boston. I don’t think it would be fun to drive around that town on the motorcycle. We will go back sometime just as tourists and see the sights. We made our way to Plymouth and went straight to see the sights. We saw Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower II ( a replica of the Mayflower), and the Founders Monument.

Originally, our plan was to hit, Salem, Plymouth, Cape Cod, and then ride up to Providence, RI to stop for the night. When we reached Plymouth we were so tired and the sun was starting to go down, so we decided to stay the night there. After a bit of a search, we found a hotel to spend the night in. This was a challenge because not only was it a Saturday night, but it was last minute. Many of the hotels were either booked solid or had a two night minimum, not to mention that they all were well over 200 bucks a night. We contemplated just moving on but we were very tired so we sucked it up and overpaid by a lot to stay at a Comfort Inn (not a great one either).

We found a good local seafood restaurant to have dinner at. It was very good and the atmosphere was nice. It was right on the water at the marina.

With full bellies, we headed off to bed.

Up Next: Here Comes The Rain Again!

Ooops!

Sorry that last post was not meant to be posted yet. I will post it again soon when it is done.

Back to New England

We woke up at 3:45 am to catch a 6:20 flight to Boston. This was the beginning of a very long day. We flew into Boston, caught the train to Exeter, NH and then took an Uber to the Harley dealership to pick up the bike we rented……I know what you are thinking….um, don’t you have a bike….yes, but we are renting one for two reasons. First, we ride a Dyna Super Glide and have been thinking about trading it in on a Street Glide and second, so our friends Chris and Jenn could ride with us for the day. So we rented a Street Glide for us and let Chris ride Kirk’s bike.

The people at Seacoast Harley-Davidson were awesome. They got us on the road quickly and even changed out the seat so we would have a more comfortable ride.

We rode to York and Kirk put a new tail light on his bike, but it still wasn’t working correctly so we ended up having to ride back to the Harley dealer (about 30 min away) to try and get it fixed. Chris rode Kirk’s bike and we followed on the rental for safety since the brake light didn’t work.

The service center at Seacoast Harley was great. They worked us in as quickly as possible, fixed the problem and got us back on the road. It still took about an hour and a half, so by the time we got back to York it was after 4pm. There went the day of riding. Jenn and Chris had to go back home because their daughter (who was watching their little one) had to go to work. Kirk and I wanted to ride a bit longer so we headed up the coast. We rode through Kennebunkport…and by the Bush compound (I didn’t get a picture…stupid me). I have to say, I was really liking the Street Glide.

We stopped at Bentley’s Saloon in Arundel, ME. (many people recommended that we stop there) What a super fun place. I would love to come back and camp there for a night or two.

We had some dinner and I met a really nice “Irish” guy. His name is Terry…..He’s not really from Ireland. He sat down next to us at the bar and he had a strong accent. I thought he sounded like he was from Ireland, so I asked him where he was from. He answered Worcester Mass, and asked where I thought he was from. I told him Ireland and he and Kirk laughed at me all night long for that. I just am not used to hearing that type of Massachusetts accent.

We finished dinner and made our way back to Chris and Jenn’s house and hung out for a while. We decided to make a run up to the lighthouse in our pajamas for some laughs and pictures. (we were in a car, not on bike) Then we headed back to the house and watched a movie until we couldn’t keep our eyes open. All in all it was a good day and they were great hosts.

Before we left Chris (who is in the Army), gave Kirk one of his company coins. If you don’t know about the military, this is an honor and we are feel privileged to have been given one.

I really want to go back up there next summer and explore more of Maine and the rest of New England. It was absolutely beautiful. I never knew it was such an amazing place. If you have never been, you have to go.

Sorry

I know it’s been a little while since I posted last. I was trying to get one up yesterday but we ran into a huge storm and it messed up everything. I will try and get it out tomorrow. In the mean time, I will leave you with this….