We visited Austin, Texas about three weeks into our two-month driving trip to Florida. As Austin was, until this visit, the only major city in Texas which I had never been in, I was especially interested in spending some time there. We thoroughly enjoyed Austin.

We ate in a number of restaurants including Austin’s famous trailer restaurants – yep, food served from travel trailers.  And we enjoyed discovering Austin’s music scene as well.  We went to two renowned music venues – The Elephant Room and The Continental Club.  Man, those folks love to dance!

Also, we toured the botanical garden and visited the Texas State Capital.  As you’d expect, the folks in Texas built their capitol dome fourteen feet higher than the dome in our nation’s capitol. 

While visiting the city, we camped in the nearby, and most convenient, Kinney Falls State Park.  That location worked out well. 

Here are some photos from our visit to Austin, Texas…  

The Elephant Room

The Continental Club

Texas State Capitol Building

Wendy in the botanical garden

Restaurant Service from Trailers

Food Service from trailers in Austin, Texas

For those of you who’ve read my memoir, “A Lifetime of Small Adventures,” you’ll recall that our 2006 road trip was a prelude to our moving to South America to do volunteer work.  In fact, Wendy and I had just sold our home, put everything we owned in storage, and applied to join the Peace Corps.  In this way, we launched our retirement. 

OK, so here’s how I answered Tom’s question…

First I told Tom that, in a very fundamental way, the two trips are the same…

• A loosely defined route to accomplish a combination of visiting family and friends plus exploring, discovering and just plain poking around.

But in other ways, the two trips are different…

• Back in 2006, our son Larry was collecting and scanning all of our mail.  He’d send it on to us electronically so we could read it on the laptop screen.  We were confident that we missed nothing.  This time around, our friend Dan is collecting our mail and putting it into a box.  Yes, he’s watchful for the arrival of something “alarming” — like a certified letter from the IRS.  And should such a bombshell arrive, he’d certainly give us a call.  But otherwise, we’re totally out of touch with our mail.  Yeah, we pay bills on line and we’ve signed up for e-mail alerts on our bills to pay, and we’ve made pre-payments of vast sums to the utility companies.  But still, something of importance might “fall through the crack.”  I worry about this a bit.
• Back in 2006, we were homeless.  We had no utilities, no mortgage, and no weekly magazine subscriptions.  Life, for us, was far simpler.  Far less to worry about. 
• Back in 2006, we had nothing to long for “back home.”  Today, I’m eager to set up the furniture on the back patio, steep up a strong cup of English Breakfast tea and enjoy reading the newspaper while overlooking Squaw Creek Canyon. 
• Back in 2006, we had no “local friends” to return to.  We had sold our home in Orange County, California and we knew we’d not return to live there.  Today, we miss our friends from Sisters, Oregon.  So though we’re certainly enjoying our trip, we’re looking forward to “hangin out” with our Sisters friends. 
• Back in 2006, we spent many more months away from our sons.  This bothered me a bunch.  This time around, just two months. 
• Back in 2006, our trip was a prelude to our move to South America, so we were:
  • Looking forward to our move to Peru and there doing volunteer work
  • Struggling to satisfy the requirements of the Peace Corp’s medical department
• Back in 2006, we traveled in my old Toyota Landcruiser.  As we left early in the year, we camped very little at first.  Instead, we stayed with family and friends and in hotels, lodges, B&Bs and motels.  As spring arrived, and then summer, we camped (in a small, backpack tent) more and more.  This time, we have the luxury of a travel trailer.  Yes, it’s small and a couple really has to be in love to live in such tight quarters, but it’s comfy in a thunderstorm and it offers some (though not absolute) protection from grizzly bears (Please see my post of two years ago about the grizzly bear attack just outside of Yellowstone National Park).  For folks like Wendy and Bill who have previously spent all of their camping nights in a tent, the little Casita is “the cat’s meow.”  Also, traveling by RV offers us the opportunity to learn a bunch about finding RV parks and every other aspect of RVing.  Easier in some ways, tougher in others.  Neither better nor worse, it’s different. 

Perhaps I can offer one observation which is a kind of the “big picture” overview of how this trip differs from our 2006 trip… it’s this… Back in 2006, we were “writing a new chapter in our lives.”  Today, we’re simply taking a trip after which we’ll return to the current chapter in our lives. 

Along with our friends, Ingrid and Richard, from Prescott, Arizona, Wendy and I had a great lunch in the Asylum Restaurant in the classic Jerome Grand Hotel.  Then on to visit the Goldking Mine Museum.  For me, the museum visit offered the opportunity to try out my brand new Canon G-12 digital camera.  In fact, “a bunch of old stuff” is a favorite photo subject of mine.  I had a grand time.  And since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll stop writing and insert a few of my images.  Here goes…

While I’ve been driving the truck, Wendy has been using her new iPhone.  So she’s able to sit in the passenger seat and connect with “the whole world.”  I’m actually envious of her near constant connection with her friends.  I, of course, am traveling with my now-ancient flip phone.  Yes, I make an occasional call to a friend, but that’s about it. 

While staying in a campground in Carencro, Louisiana, I figured I’d take advantage of their advertised WiFi connection.  But, as it turned out, that connection was so terribly slow that it was impractical to use at all.  So I gave up and inquired at the public library in Lafayette, Louisiana.  Yes, the library did offer free Internet connection, but – well, you know how it goes – we were in Southern Louisiana to learn of the Cajun culture, to eat Cajun food and listen to Cajun music.  So I wasn’t about to leave Wendy to venture out and do all of that alone.  So I turned down the deal at the library and drove to the nearby Cajun Cultural Center.  No on-line connection for yet another day.  Oh well.

I had figured that, once arriving at my brother’s house in South Florida, I’d have immediate Internet connection.  Well, we arrived here two days ago only to find that his WiFi modem wasn’t working.  So, here too, I was without Internet connection.   The Internet provider (which leases the modem to my brother) promised they’d send a technician to correct the problem.  OK, I’d wait another day for Internet connection.  No choice, right?

OK, so I got busy working on some projects that didn’t require Internet connection.  Like writing a first draft of this blog post.  And figuring out how to download photos from my new digital camera.  And making a couple of low technology phone calls.  And getting the oil changed in the truck.  And getting a haircut. 

I also made a list of the people and places we’ve visited during the first three and a half weeks of our two month road trip – in anticipation of blogging about those visits and up-loading photos to accompany those blog posts.  OK, so here’s the list of those people and places…

• Our hike near Prescott, Arizona with friends Ingrid and Richard
• Our visit to the historic King Mine in Jerome, Arizona, also with Ingrid and Richard
• Our visits in Phoenix, Arizona with friends including Bob and Betty Lowry – by the way, check out Bob’s excellent Satisfying Retirement blog.
• Camping and hiking in the desert near Tucson, Arizona
• Our visit to Austin, Texas
• Camping and hiking in Big Bend National Park in Texas
• Our visit to Fredericksburg, Texas
• Our visit to Cajun Country – Carencro, Lafayette and Bruix Breau, Louisiana
• Traveling and camping in the Florida Panhandle and in Central Florida

Since you’re reading this post, you know that, one way or another, I finally got aboard the Internet.  In fact, I did so without actually visiting a Starbucks.  I got on line thanks to Wendy’s iPhone.  Seems that her iPhone has the capability of functioning as a WiFi hotspot.  So we visited the local (local if you happen to live in Boynton Beach, Florida) Verizon store and signed up for that added service.  And it’s a pretty good deal.  $20 per month and you can initiate and discontinue the service any time you want with a phone call to the Verizon folk.  Pretty good for traveling. 

OK, I’ll sign off now.  And I’ll work on downloading photos.  And I’ll get the oil changed in the truck.  On my next post, I’ll try including a photo or two.  See ya,  Bill

We left our home in Sisters, Oregon last Saturday morning and headed south toward California.  Our intent, of course, was to hurry south to avoid winter driving conditions in the mountain states.  The thermometer read thirty-six degrees when we drove out of the driveway mid-morning.  We had clear roads (no packed snow or ice) on Highway 97 and all went well through the mountains down to Redding, California.  That’s where the rain began to fall. 

We camped our first night in Red Bluff, some thirty miles south of Redding.  Setting up in the rain which would continue for two nights and a day, my feet got awfully wet.  I guess I should have packed along my waterproof boots.  Oh well!

As you might expect, we forgot to pack a few other things also.  Our most serious omission was Wendy’s sleeping bag.  She thought I was to pack it and I thought that she was to pack it.  The good news is that I had brought along two of my own sleeping bags (I own about four or five) – a nice warm down bag and a light weight, fiber-filled summer bag.  Also we have sheets and a quilt for the travel trailer’s bed, so Wendy’s keeping nice and warm.  Me too. 

As for the multi-dimensional aspect of our trip.  Wow!  Where do I begin?  Well, for one, I’ve been itching to do something different – kind of a mini-adventure of some sort.  And a long road trip fits the bill.  And I’ve wanted to visit my family in South Florida.  And there are friends and sites along the way I’ve also been itching to visit.  And thus the trip.

Our son Larry and his wife, Krista, have just purchased a new home.  And, in August, their first child will be born.  So, of course, we figured we’d stop by to visit them in Southern California.  And so we did.  In fact, that’s where I’m writing from this morning.

Yet another dimension of the trip… in some of my earlier posts, I’ve written about the subject of senior citizens’ use of technology.  And in those posts, I confessed that, rather than using a smart phone, I use a dumb phone.  Well, just a couple of months ago, Wendy purchased an iPhone.  And I’ve been wondering if there might be a smart phone in my future.  So this trip will also serve as kind of an experiment.  Specifically, I’ll be “looking over her shoulder” to see how she uses the device and to think about the possibility of my “breaking down” and signing up for the 21^st Century.

In fact, I do feel kind of “left out” as I drive along and she reads from her on-going conversations with friends and family.  She’s able to remain in touch with those back home, those who are traveling, and those down the road awaiting our arrival.  In fact, as we drive to Prescott, Arizona tomorrow, she’ll be able to e-mail our friends Dick and Ingrid, up-dating them about our location in “real time.”  Yep, I’m impressed.  Just a few days into our road trip, I can appreciate the value of using the smart phone when traveling.  Yeah, just maybe there’s a smart phone in my future. 

Oh, speaking of technology, just last week, I purchased a new digital camera.  While purchasing a digital camera doesn’t seem too much out of the ordinary, for me it is.  Back in the 1990s and into the early 2000s, I was very much into photography.  Then, for whatever reason, I kind of lost interest.  Got busy with other things I guess.  And, during the last couple of years, I’ve kind of floundered around wondering if I’d get back into photography.  And whether I’d embrace the digital world or I’d drag out my modest collection of early German film cameras.  Well, I hope to figure that out during this trip.  We’ll see. 

Ok, I’ll sign off for now.  More later… from Arizona likely.  See ya,  Bill

Wendy and I have been diligently preparing for our up-coming road trip.  We’ve asked our friend Dan to pick up our mail and water our plants while we’re away.  We’ve made advanced payments to our utility companies.  We’ve called our family and friends to tell them we’re coming for a visit.  And we’ve packed our little travel trailer with food, clothing, photography equipment and hiking gear. 

Perhaps most importantly, we’ve been keeping an eye on road conditions south on Highway 97.  As that highway can remain icy well into April, our departure from Central Oregon is dependent on that road’s condition.  More than once, we’ve had a difficult drive south on packed snow and ice.

And aside from trip preparations, we’ve also been busy with a bunch of other stuff.  Mid-day today, I’ve got an appointment with the dentist.  And this evening, I’ll be doing a presentation for the Central Oregon Writers’ Guild.  Tomorrow afternoon (the day before we leave on our trip), I have an appointment with the doctor in Bend (Oregon).  Following that appointment, I’ll return home for the last-minute packing of the truck and travel trailer. 

We’ve both (though Wendy has especially) been busy with volunteer work.  This past weekend, I prepared a lesson plan for our ESL (English as a Second Language) class.  And I taught that lesson on Monday evening.  Wendy has been busy, as usual, with her work for the Hispanic Coalition of Sisters.  

Hey, maybe that’s it.  Maybe we’ve been so busy with the doing that we (or at least, I) haven’t had time for the feeling.  I wonder if I’ll finally feel that sense of adventure when I go to sleep Friday night.  And lie there in bed anticipating driving away that very next morning.  Or maybe I’ll finally feel that sense of adventure on Saturday morning when we actually drive away in the truck with the little travel trailer in tow.  I’m not sure, but we’ll see.  And I’ll let you know.  I’ll write from somewhere on the road. 

The birth of their grandchild will often cause a retiree, or a retired couple, to visit frequently.  That’s because grandparents generally want to remain an important part of their grandchild’s life. 

While I know this intellectually, I haven’t yet experienced it emotionally.  That is, not quite yet.  However, in early August, Wendy and I will become grandparents.  Our son Larry and his wife, Krista, will then have their first child.  And, as you’d imagine, we’re super-excited.  As we live in Central Oregon and they live in Southern California, we figure to drive south yet more often. 

From observing our friends and relatives who are grandparents, we know that grandparenthood comes complete with frequent visits.  Understandably, grandparents want to “watch the child grow up.”  After all, a very young child grows both physically and intellectually so very quickly.  Just a few weeks can mean a whole lot of change.  And so, the retired couple will “get back there often.”

My cousin Rochelle lives in Nevada and travels to Virginia every six weeks to visit her grandkids.  Two couples we know, living on the West Coast, spend weeks at a time visiting grandkids elsewhere in the country.  Another couple, also friends of ours, spends three or four months at a time visiting their kids and grandkids in Christchurch, New Zealand.

And check this out… Upon retirement, one couple moved from Southern California to Central Oregon.  Planning to farm alfalfa, they purchased forty acres and put up fences and an irrigation system.  They were in the process of building a barn when they learned that their daughter, back in Southern California, was pregnant with twins.  They promptly sold their forty acre farm and moved back to Southern California. 

While this seems kind of an extreme adjustment, well I don’t know… as I said, I understand about the arrival of grandkids on an intellectual level, but not quite yet on an emotional level.  We’ll see what it’s like when little Baby B arrives in August.  I’ll let you know.

Hey, are you a grandparent?  And if so, how did your life change when your first grandkid arrived?     Did you feel the need to visit more often? 

Back that long ago, he was a runner.  And, sure enough, he could check his records and tell you how many miles he ran on the morning of June 11, 1973.  And he’s still at it – for he could also tell you how many sit-ups he did last Wednesday morning. 

I, of course, am just the opposite.  I record nothing.  Oh yes, I do step on the scale from time to time, especially when I’m intent on losing weight, but that’s about it.  No, I don’t ever record my weight for I keep no quantified records. 

Because John and I are quite opposite, we tease each other unmercifully.  When he and I go bike riding together, he’ll ask as we peddle along, “Wouldn’t you like to know how far we’ve traveled?”

I reply, “I know how far we’ve traveled; we’ve gone 16 miles so far.”  That number, of course, was simply a guess. 

He then glances down at his cyclometer and announces, “Wrong, we’ve gone only 14.7 miles.” 

I then apologize for being “so far off.” 

Once, some eight or ten years ago, John and I went riding along the Southern California Coast.  We stopped for lunch at an oceanfront restaurant in Northern San Diego County.  Following lunch, while John was visiting the men’s room, I put a piece of black tape over the face of his cyclometer.  Returning from the men’s room, John mounted his bike and I mounted mine.  He didn’t yet notice the tape on his cyclometer. 

After we had peddled about a half mile, John exhaled a significant string of expletives.  None of those expletives seemed complementary toward me. 

And then there’s Dave.  Dave is not only into measuring things, he’s also into gadgets.  So when he joins John and me for a ride, he wears a large wristwatch that also serves as a measuring device.  And he wears an elastic band around his chest.  Yep, the band is also a measuring device. 

All the while we’re peddling, Dave’s measuring system is collecting data.  So that, following our ride – like twenty minutes after I arrive home – I can go to my computer and open up an e-mail from Dave.  That e-mail contains a fully quantified report on the ride we’d just completed.  His report includes:

• An elevation profile chart
• A speed profile chart
• Total distance traveled
• Total cycling time
• Total non-cycling (rest) time
• Average cycling speed
• Maximum speed
• Dave’s heart rate profile chart (though not John’s or mine)
• And I don’t remember what else

Now don’t get me wrong.  I think there are some measurements which are certainly appropriate.  Measuring body weight while dieting certainly makes sense.  And in my business consulting work, I’ve counseled clients to set quantified objectives.  I’ve even told them that, “If you don’t measure it, it won’t happen.”  But heck, bike riding is different.  I simply enjoy riding my bicycle without ever giving a moment’s thought about measuring anything.    

There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?

Our friends, John and Nancy take a cruise or two each year.  And from time to time, they ask Wendy and me if we’d like to join them on an ocean-going voyage.  But each time they ask us, we decline.  We decline because their cruise vacations are heavy on luxury and light on adventure.  We politely explain that were they to choose a less luxurious and more adventurous cruise, we might well be interested.  We remind them that luxury cruises are but one choice. 

We told John and Nancy that we’d consider a cruise like the one which Dieter and Mary Ann went on some years ago.  Theirs was a cruise in Alaska’s Inland Passage aboard a boat with some three dozen passengers and two naturalists.  The naturalists stayed busy lecturing their guests about the ecology of the Inland Passage.  Now that cruise sounds interesting!

For sure, the most popular cruise option among retirees is the luxury cruise.  Luxury cruises are typically aboard large ships carrying 2,000 or more passengers.  They often navigate warm waters in pleasant weather and frequently hop from port to port.  Those on America’s Atlantic Coast often navigate the Caribbean while those on the Pacific Coast frequently hop from one Mexican port to another.  Aboard these six to ten story “city ships,” passengers dress up for dinner during which they enjoy an abundance of food.  In fact, lots of food is available seemingly non-stop from breakfast through midnight.  Most luxury cruise ships are complete with a swimming pool, an exercise room, a pitch-and-put golf course and a running track.  Dance lessons and bridge lessons are frequently offered.  Gaming and other forms of entertainment abound.  And on some ships, skeet shooting off the back deck is yet another option. 

Once, back in 2001, Wendy and I did go on sort of a luxury cruise.  It was a three-day trip to the Bahamas out of Miami.  The occasion was my dad’s 90^th birthday and we figured that a weekend aboard a cruise ship would be a good way for three generations of family members to celebrate dad’s birthday and, at the same time, remain entertained.  Yep, it worked as planned.  Nope, Wendy and I didn’t fall in love with luxury cruising.

Some years ago, I got to poking around on the Internet and found another interesting cruise.  It’s aboard a large tugboat which was converted into a cruising vessel.  As I recall, the boat has six guest cabins.  While voyaging in the waters of Northern British Columbia, guests get to spend their days kayaking and their evenings enjoying gourmet dining.  Sounds pretty interesting, doesn’t it?  Here, check out Westwind Tugboat Adventures.

And then there’s the passenger freighter.  These days, there are quite a number of freighters which have cabins for passengers.  For guests who desire a more relaxed travel experience, this may be just the ticket.  Travelers get to eat with the crew and watch while the crew loads and unloads cargo.  This mode of travel works best for guests who are “self contained.”  That is, guests who do not need (or want) luxurious service, fine dining, and an events coordinator looking after their every need.  Traveling aboard a freighter used to be quite economical.  But, these days, demand is up so prices are too.  Here, check out Freighter Travel.       

While in South America, Wendy and I took two cruises.  Well, I guess they were sort of cruises.  In both cases, we got to live aboard a boat for four days.  The first was aboard the Navimag Ferry traveling through the fjords of Patagonia Chile.  This trip was especially interesting, for we got to travel with South Americans and Europeans.  Thus, we had some really interesting conversations in which we were exposed to various international perspectives on world events.  And, thanks to the naturalists aboard, we learned a lot about the ecology of Chile’s fjords.  Just one thing bad about the Navimag Ferry – the food is terrible.  Here, check out the Navimag Ferry .

Our second cruise in South America was aboard a sixteen passenger boat in the Galapagos Islands.  I’m not sure you’d actually consider this a cruise.  Yes, we did eat and sleep aboard the boat, but we spent each day away from the boat.  Each morning, we went ashore in an inflatable launch boat.  On shore, we explored the islands both on foot and on horseback.  And we snorkeled in the islands’ shallow waters as well.  The accommodations, the food and the meals were all very good.  Again, we enjoyed interesting conversations with South Americans and Europeans.  Here’s a link to one of the many websites about travel in the Galapagos Islands.