Looking Back at 2019 in Photos

Didn't do any Dual Sport Motorcycle adventures this past year, maybe turning 70 is starting to catch up with me...in fact other than a 4 day mini vacation with the wife, and my 3 weeks in Florida, I didn't get out of state much...yea, the annual Mushroom Hunt, with no Schrooms to show for 3 days in central lower Michigan, with Rick and Clint happened, a quick trip to Wisconsin in early November, but that was it...

However I did get some photography work in...although once again, not many early morning wake up calls out on Grand Lake....maybe age or just tired of the same old thing, photography wise....kind of like the local motorcycle rides...Perhaps I will be more active in 2020...

Or maybe age is starting to be a factor, along with the Agent Orange related health issues...but Hell, I feel younger than my soon to be 71 years, so let's look back at 2019 over the next few days and wait and see about 2020...

Here we go....the first of six installments...

January and February 2019...

As usual, I spent New Year's Day "Bowling" with football games, beers, and too much food, at Rick Pearson's place in NE Indiana...Rick and I have been great friends since High School when we worked together at Marsh Supermarket in Celina, during my Senior and his Junior years...we also were "Best Man" in each other's weddings many years ago...Here Rick is with the "Spread" last New Year{2019}, and me{left} and Rick on my and Patricia's Wedding Day in December 1976 in Wisconsin.

The weather turned brutally cold in January which limited my trips to the lake for photo shooting, but I did get some shots in...however the biggest news as the first month of 2019 was winding down was that I finally pulled the trigger on getting a new Jeep, well "new" but new enough...a 2009 Wrangler "X",,,nothing fancy but good A/C, good tires, a great Radio, and 6 speed overdrive manual tranny....picked in up a day before the coldest day of the year down some 60 south in Eaton, Ohio.

The weather moderated somewhat in February and gave me a chance to get out to Grand Lake in the Jeep...the Wrangler, with less than 65 thousand miles on it, gave me no problems until October when I headed it to South Florida....then I discovered it had some costly issues.

 

 Even with the purchase of the Wrangler, I kept the Nitro to use for work and hauling snowblowers and mowers around for the remainder of the winter and coming warm weather...the 2008 Nitro now has over 164,000 on it, but the only issues are the shot Air Conditioner and the Radio...but with XM on my phone, I can plug that in and problem solved...since I took it over from Patricia it, despite some repairs and one wreck on an icy New Year's Day a few years back, has been a good, solid, vehicle and plan on driving it until it dies or becomes to expensive to keep.  The TW sat alone with the cats in the garage for the duration...2019 would not see much riding, maybe 2020 will see me out more, but turning 71 in March...Who Knows?

Also in February I headed down to the Hope Hotel at Wright~Patt AFB to finalize our Vietnam "Sky Cop" Reunion plans...it continues to get bigger every year....not sure how long I want or will continue to run that show, with great help from Mike, Mike, Wayne, and Jack....but we will see, 2020 is set for sure.   Up Next:  March and April as the weather begins to thaw out and I begin to get out...

Florida October 2019 in Photos...

Hard to believe that it's been 5 weeks since I returned from South Florida via the Jeep...the older you get, time for certain, does fly by at Warp Speed...today's post will be some of my personal favorite photos from the various locations I stopped at on my three week trip....Stops {mostly in Naples where I was house sitting while my youngest sister and her husband were back in his homeland, Denmark} included Venice, my old home town, Homosassa, DeLand, the Everglades, and Islmorada, in the middle Keys, along with Naples...here we go...

Remember to Click on Photo for larger individual views of each....

I'll probably have one more post in 2019 and that will be looking back, in Photos and a few {very few] words, taking a look back at the entire year..

Back Later>>>>

Part #10...the Florida Trip, Final Chapter, Heading Home

Heading Home, with one more glitch...

Got up before sunrise on Sunday {October 27th} and took the Jeep for a ride to Tom's workplace, the Stables between Astor and DeLand, Florida...River and Horse Country for sure. Tom introduced me to several of his co~workers, some of the horses he takes care of, and then we said our good~byes, and I head back down the muddy sand road and back towards Highway 40...I had the phone GPS plugged into getting back to I-75 and off I went towards Ocala.

I had plans to stop and spend the night somewhere in Tennessee or southern Kentucky, but as it turned out, I was making great time...so I stopped south of Atlanta to get some Currant Jelly for Patricia and her Christmas Cookies....she used to make thousands a year, but has cut that back to several hundred, still a lot of baking...lucky for us she gives them as presents to family and friends, and I get to look at them and enjoy a couple, but not many, thus allowing me to keep my weight down over the Holidays....I stopped for gas and the jelly at an old place called the Magnolia Plantation...it's been

there for years, so long that we used to stop there on our way back to Florida from our Ohio Vacations, back in the late 50s and early 60s...Brother Mike and I would buy several boxes of Fireworks, illegal in Florida at the time, and take them back to Venice, and raise some Hell in the neighborhood.  The old building, located just off I-75 looks much the same as it did 60 years ago...located near Tifton, Georgia, back in the day it was located on US 41, which still runs next to the Interstate in that location.

The traffic on this Sunday, at least heading north, wasn't that bad around Atlanta this time...so before I knew it I was in Tennessee and got to Kentucky before dark...so it hit me...I might as well head for home.  If the traffic stayed steady, I would make it home before Midnight...well, the traffic was OK, except for some major construction delays in southern Kentucky before Lexington...however, the Jeep had one more "surprise" in store for me as I got closer to Ohio.

After getting past the Capitol City, I stopped for fuel and coffee between Lexington and Cincinnati...and that's when I heard the noise...a major clicking sound, in what I though was the right front wheel.  Well Hell, it was Sunday Night, I could drive on and see what shook out, after all I have had AAA Plus for well over 30 years, and the towing is free, if I got to within 100 miles of Celina {I was about 175 out at this time} I could just have it towed home, so on I went.

As I crossed the bridge into Cincinnati over the Ohio River...BANG! A pop and the ABS and several other Yellow Warning Lights went on...they weren't Red, so I figured I could maybe make it to the Rest Area some 15 miles north.  I did, called youngest son Hal, who lives about 15 miles north of the rest stop, he told me he would make up a bed and I could stay there if I made it....I did.

Actually the probably, although expensive{another $335}, was not disabling, so I spent the night, went fishing with the Grandson's, who didn't have school {they switch between home schooling and a Christian School on rotating days}...we caught several, as Hal joined us at lunch.  I had read up on the ABS problem and realized that it was not disabling, so after lunch I headed home, arriving early afternoon...the Jeep would eventually get back in the shop, not once, but twice, for other issues...the most costly part of the trip was the Jeep, at around $1500 in repairs{one with the 4WD was not trip related however}...I still have not got my "refund" from the coverage I had placed on the Wrangler when I purchased it...but that will come, hopefully, before Christmas.

Anyway, that is it...my 3 week adventure was done, just in time for Cold Weather to arrive here in Western Ohio....

If I don't post again before the New Year, Merry Christmas and a Happy 2020 to all...

back later>>>>actually I will post one more batch of  photos, some of my favorites, from the trip, in the next couple of days....today, you have the Jeep, before it's issues, the Old and Somewhat Famous, Magnolia Plantation, Patricia's Cookies, and Kasyn the oldest grandson...not from our fishing that day, but earlier in the summer on Grand Lake...

Back with a full house of trip photos....later!

part #9 Florida...heading North

Heading to North to DeLand...

I left Venice about 8:30AM Saturday 10/26/19...heading up I-75 and some back roads in the central part of the state,  towards the DeLand area and a stop at my old Buckeye Buddy, Tom Friedly's place near DeLand, Florida, along the St. Johns River...Tom works with Trotter and Pacer racing horses there, and now lives in Florida full time.  I wanted to leave early and get there in time for the Ohio State vs Wisconsin game...I arrived about half way through the 1st quarter...the game ended up being a Buckeye blowout so not a problem with the late arrival...

Have known Tom for 35 or so years, since my early days in the Health Department at Celina...he has a nice rental place on the River with his landlord living next door...after the game we toured the landlord's {who is 74 and divorced} garage collection, which includes a cherry red 1963 Corvette in prime condition, after that we headed to a local bar, grabbed a bite to eat and returned to watch more football and a bit of the World Series between Houston and Washington.

It was good visit, I stayed in the guest room, and slept well after the beers and giant burger at the bar...

Up Sunday early, took a drive down a muddy road and checked out some of the ponies that Tom works with...said our good~byes and I worked my way back to the main road and headed west back to I-75, home to Ohio, after nearly 3 weeks in the Sunshine State, but there was one more "Glitch" on the Jeep I would have to deal with...the trip home coming up in the final part of my story.

back later>>>

Photos-a couple of views off the Dock at Tom's place at Sunset...a bit of rain had moved into the St. Johns River, but managed a couple of decent shots...

October in South Florida part #8

After a great, relaxing 18 hours at "Drop Anchor Resort" {a decent motel, but hardly a "resort"} on the Atlantic side of Islamorada, I pulled up "anchor" and headed north in the Wrangler....still undecided which way to go, or even where....my first decision was a mistake that cost me time, but not much else.

I was deciding whether to go deep into the Everglades for some photo shooting or not...with the construction on the 'by pass" FL997 I opted not to on this trip and decided to take US 1 back to the Tamiami Trail {US 41}...who would have thought that 4 lanes {8 total in both directions} could be so plugged and crowded between 10 and 11am?  Not me, silly me...I can only imagine what the traffic on those roads will be like this weekend, with the influx of Key West Travelers and those heading for the final NASCAR Race of the season at Homestead???  What a nightmare...!

I finally jumped off before I got to Miami and found my way back to 41...I should have went into the Glades, I would have not wasted any more time than I did on Highway 1...what a mistake {one that I won't make next, if there is a next time}.

The rest of the drive on 41 and FL 29 to I-75 was a breeze...however as I got to the Fort Myers area I noticed some major storm clouds moving from east to west and did my best to out run those...I did, for the most part.  I had planned on getting towards the Tampa area and beyond and then make a quick and shorter trip to the DeLand area on Saturday to see my old buddy Tom Friedly from Rockford, Ohio...he works with Trotters and Pacer Horses over that way, and now lives in Florida full time...but I got to my old hometown of Venice and decided to stop for gas...once there, on the outskirts, I figured "Hell, it's only 3 or so hours to Tom's, even from Venice"...so I checked the prices at the Holiday Inn Express next door, got a decent rate...bar/restaurant next door...I was set to go.
After checking in, I waited out a storm, that dropped a couple of inches of rain along the Interstate...with another one coming for later...but that gave me enough time to head down to my old haunt from the Fifties and early Sixties, Venice Beach, and wait for the Sunset...I was awarded with some of the photos on here today.

Back to the Motel and I decided to grab a six pack, took that to the room and then over to the Bar/Restaurant next door, a place called "Brew Burgers"...a nice little dive with friendly staff, good burgers, and cold craft beer...I stayed for an hour or so, then headed back to the room to watch some of the World Series...the next morning it was up early, breakfast downstairs, which the motel had a good one, and then it was back to driving north, as my trip was winding down...

Up Next #9...off to Tom's...

back later>>>>>

Photos:  All Friday Evening Sunsets at Venice Beach on October 25, 2019...