THE CAMPER

Hello All. Not much has been happening in the last couple of months as we are just waiting until March and total retirement. Our first major trip after March is going to be Alaska and as we do not want to take our 5th wheel up there we had decided the best method would be a truck camper. Therefore the reason for this portion of the blog. We have a truck camper.

We purchased a used 2002 Lance on ebay and then we had to go to Frankfort, Michigan to pick it up. It was a nice supprise to arrive and find out the camper was everything it was advertised to be. It has hardly been used and is very good shape. The plan is to use the camper on more rugged territory and for dry camping where there are no campsites.

We had to pick the camper up in upper Michigan in a town called Frankfort. We arrived on a Saturday morning and met with George and Kathy Sorenson, two very nice people who were selling the camper for their dad. It was not a good time for them as their Dad had recently passed away but still they gave us all the time we needed to learn and understand everything about the camper. George and Kathy if you read this, our thoughts and prays are with you both.

The town of Frankfort is on the east side of Lake Michigan and has a fantastic little harbor. Unfortunately it was a rainy and foggy day so I did not get any real good pictures. The drive up to Michigan was an exercise in endurance as we drove 710 on a Thursday and the balance of the trip (550 miles ) was done on Friday. Most of Friday was driven through torrential rain and at time was quite scary. We spent Saturday working on the camper to get it ready for travel and then headed home on Sunday.

THE CAMPER

FRANKFORT, MICHIGAN

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VISIONS OF GRANDEUR IN LAS VEGAS

A few ( four ) of the boys from the Thursday night, sometimes Monday night, poker group invaded Las Vegas to play in the World Series of Poker over 50 Texas Hold Em tournement. We all arrived full of enthusiasm and with visions of grandeur AND this lasted until about 11pm on the first day when the last of us was eliminated. Personally I was knocked out around 10pm in 490th place out of 2218 entrants. I was not displeased.

However, it was amazing to walk into a series of rooms and see up to 4 tournements going on at the same time with upwards of 5000 people milling about, both participating and observing. The tournement was very well organized and well run allowing everyone to get the most out of the experience.

Overall, a good time was had by all. We got to play in a few tournements, ate some good food and enjoyed one anothers company. We did spent most of the time indoors as the average daytime temperature was 105 degrees.

I met a lot of very nice people from all over the world and I hope I run into them next year as I will definitely return next year. A good time was had by all.

The Combatants: Mark, Mohammed, Eddie, Yours Truly

HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR (so far )

We have had a pretty uneventful spring since returning from Mexico ( aside of the tornado ). We are still staying at the Vineyards in Grapevine for now but we have to move for 11 days and we are going down to Arlington KOA and then back to Grapevine. We plan to stay here for the balance of the year.

NOW, for the highlight. ROD HAS A NEW BBQ.

I know, sad isn't it. However you just can't cook a steak properly if it isn't on a BBQ.

As we are not travelling much at this point I won't be posting until I return from Vegas near the end of June. I am playing in the over 50 World Series of Poker which is being held on the 23rd, 24th and 25th of June. Wish me luck.

TORNADO HITS DUPLIUM

While we were in Mexico a bunch of Tornadoes touched down in the Dallas area. One of these touchdowns hit Duplium ( where I work ) and did considerable damage, however we were blessed in two areas. The first being that it struck in the middle of the night and at a part of the building that was closed during that time and therefore nobody was hurt. The second aspect was that the part of the building that was hit was used for storage of mostly raw components. The manufacturing equipment was not touched and as a result we were up and running in two days.

The take taken to get up and running was unbelievable especially when you see the damage.

The pictures tell it all.

THE WEDDING

We arrived in Cancun on April 6th to attend the wedding of Dylan and Dawn. Dylan is the son of good friends of ours ( Tom and Ruth Smith ) and we were fortunate enough to be invited to the wedding. We stayed at the Mayan Palace which was quite nice and very big so we ended up doing alot of walking. As with most holidays we ate to much and did a lot of laying around, however we did get to 4 yoga classes and sweated out a bunch of the calories we consummed.

All said and done it was a very nice week.


The Mayan Palace





The resort was very nice and we enjoyed staying there however we were out in the middle of nowhere. We were about 40 miles from Cancun and 20 miles from Playa Del Carmen which we went into one day. They had a lot of facilities including a Cyber Cafe which is where I learned Duplium had been hit by a Tornado while we were away.

Playa Del Carmen



We spent a day in Playa Del Carmen just walking and checking out the stores. The only purchases we made was a hat and a t-shirt. The picture on the right is myself and the best salesman in the world ( he was a crook ) who sold me the hat I have on my head. I have still to wear it. One nice thing happened as we were headed to one store and were off the beaten path a little bit. I dropped my walled at didn't realize it and a lady chased me for two blocks to give it back to me, needless to say she got a large reward as I had all my poker money tucked away.


The Wedding

The Ceremony

Tom, Ruth, Kathy, Rod. Night out for Dinner.

Joe, Dylan and Tom ( Father and Sons )

Sonny & Ruth Smith ( Mother & Daughter )

Ruth, Dylan, Dawn, Tom

The Whole Clan

Outdoors, sunny day, tropical setting, beautiful ladies, guys all decked out in Tommy Bahama shirts, beatiful bride, handsome groom. It was almost surreal.

The Bride and Groom ( Dylan and Dawn ) looked spectacular and the day couldn't have been more perfect for them.

The highlight of the trip for Kathy and I was getting a chance to catch up with old friends. We had not seen Tom and Ruth for a few years and it was really good to see them again. They had not changed a bit as they looked exactly as they did the last time we saw them. Aside from the wedding we were able to get out for dinner one night and bring each other up to date. It was a good night.

See y'all back in Texas.

CANCUN AND DALLAS

Well, its now the 1st of May and we are back in Dallas at the Grapevine RV site. We have booked into Dallas for the balance of the year but have to make two site changes and will be at the KOA in Arlington for a couple of weeks. The rest of the time we will be in The Vineyards in Grapevine.



The routine is pretty much the same for the past month and should be that way for the balance of the year. I am still working part time and going into the office occasionly so we have not been doing much of anything. We went to Cancun for a wedding ( see below ) and Kathy and I have started going to Yoga and are enjoying it

BACK IN DALLAS (Grapevine)

We had a short stay in Granbury and then headed for Grapevine arriving on the 16th of March and will be here until May 15th. The only thing that might mess things up is if we have another wet spring and the lakes rise enough to flood out the park as it did last year. Hopefully the water levels will remain constant and we will not have to leave. Last year the levels rose 30 feet.

I am back at the office while we are hear so we have not been doing much except working and going to Yoga. Kathy and I started doing Bikram yoga and thats all I've got to say on that.

We will be in Mexico ( Cancun ) next week to attend a wedding. The son ( Dylan ) of good friends of ours ( Tom and Ruth Smith ) is the one getting married and it will be good to see them again. I will update the week and post pictures when we return.