NOVEMBER 2006 OUR FOURTH GRANDCHILD WAS BORN On the 11th day of November our fourth grandchild Owen Porter was born to Kevin and Staci. Jean and I were in Austria touring Europe when we got a call in the middle of the night from Rick. He was calling to let us know that Owen had arrived safe and sound.

JANUARY 2008 OUR FIFTH GRANDCHILD WAS BORN On the 23 day of January 2008 a surprise bundle arrived on our son Rick’s doorstep. Jacob Keith was born to our son Rick. An event that changed his life.

JANUARY 2008 BACK SURGERY Back surgery was performed on the 29th of January by Dr. Abshire. At first the surgery appeared to have gone pretty well. But about a month after the surgery I developed drop foot in my right foot and a severe pain in my right big toe. I described it as severe gout pain (level 8-10) constantly. Oh, I also developed bulging discs. I have been to every specialist in the group at least once, including pain management specialists. Laminectomy 1-4.

APRIL 2008 AORTIC ANEURYSM SURGERY In preparation for back surgery I had an MRI and they discovered an aortic aneurysm. The doctors had to decide which surgery to do first. They decided to do this one after the back surgery. I had this surgery on the 28th of April.

AUGUST 2009 OUR SIXTH GRANDCHILD WAS BORN On the first day of August 2009 our sixth grandchild, Evan Neala, was born to Kevin and Staci.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010TRAIN/DRIVING TRIP TO NEW ENGLAND AND QUEBEC TO SEE THE CHANGING COLORS After our train trips on AMTRAK to New York and VIA across Canada we were hooked. We decided to plan a train/driving trip to see Montreal, Quebec and the New England states during the changing colors.. We start our trip September 26th at Union Station on the best train ride in the country, Amtrak’s Coast Starlight to Portland, where we spend a couple of days with the grandkids. From Portland we catch the Empire Builder in a full sized compartment to Chicago where we change trains and proceed to Albany. We rent a car in Albany and start driving. The plan was to drive no more than 3 hours per day and visit the following places:

We covered just under 1800 miles in 16 days and stayed in 13 hotels. The highlights of the trip is our time in Gettysburg, that’s a real experience, and the fact that we hit the color changes perfectly.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012 TRAIN/DRIVING TRIP TO SEE THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES We boarded Amtrak at Union Station L.A. the 29th of September following the southern route through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana. We arrived in New Orleans on the 2nd of October. Stayed the night in a hotel just outside of the French Quarter. The next morning we picked up our rental car and drove to Mobile. We walked through the historic area of Mobile and drove out to the ship Alabama memorial in the harbor. That afternoon we drove on to Montgomery and got a hotel room. This is the place where Rosa Parks made her stand for integration of the schools. We toured the old Alabama town. For lunch we had to go to Chris’s World Famous Hotdog Stand for a hotdog. I don’t know where they got their rating. It ranked right up there as the worst hotdog we ever had.

Next we drove through Atlanta and the most horrendous traffic we’ve ever seen. We drove on to Ashville, NC where we decided to stay for two days. Took a trolley tour of the historic district. Saw a lot of beautiful southern architecture on a tour around the Vanderbilt estates.

When we left Ashville, our plan was to take the Blueridge Parkway to Lynchburgh. It is supposedly a beautiful drive through the Blueridge Mountains. Turned into a trip from hell. Made a wrong turn and went about an hour the wrong way. So we had to back track and restart. Then when we finally got on the Parkway the fog was so thick we couldn’t see the car in front of us. We had to come back and start over again the next morning.

We finally got to Lynchburgh, NC. The historic downtown was really neat. We spent the afternoon there and then we drove on to Charlottsville, NC.

Charlottsville has a beautiful historic downtown. It was the home of Thomas Jefferson. We toured the home and beautiful grounds of Monticello, Jefferson’s estate.

The next city we stopped at was Fredrickburg, VA. We toured the battlefields, including Bullrun, and the historic district. Spent the night in Newport News .We spent October 11 and 12 right on the water in the quaint ocean village of Nags Head, NC. We toured Roanoke Island and the very pretty little town of Manteo.

When we left Nag Head we headed south and west around the north side of Pamico Sound through the rural areas of North Carolina. It was Sunday so when it got into the late afternoon we decided we had better find a place to stay that night. We pulled off of the highway, crossed the tracks into a small town called Washington NC. As soon as I slowed down, I realized we had a flat tire. We pulled into a business parking area, but everything was closed. I walked to the nearest gas station, but it was like a 7-eleven with no services. I went back to the car and called AAA. They said it would be 3 to 4 hours for them to help. Just about the time we were starting to panic, a nice man with no teeth pulled up in his old beat-up pickup. He had overheard me when I came into the station. He said he had a friend who had a tire shop across town and he was still there. He also had a jack in the back of his truck. We could take the tire off, take it over and have it plugged, then bring it back and put it back on. That way, he said, we wouldn’t have to empty our trunk. His friend charged me $6 to plug the tire. I gave George $40 and he was absolutely thrilled. In the meantime, Jean found a wonderful B&B with a great host, 2 blocks from where we had the flat. We loved the town and the people.

Next we traveled through the historic southern NC towns of New Bern, Beaufort and spent the night in Swansboro. The next day we drove to Wilmington NC and toured the battlefields where there were over 600,000 casualties. Took a horse drawn carriage tour and took pictures of many beautiful old homes, Next we drove to Garden City, SC and visited the Murrell Inlet, did the marsh walk and Huntington State Park. We ended the day relaxing in our beach front room .Charleston SC was our next stop. The historic district was interesting. Could see across to Fort Sumptner where the first battle of the Civil War was fought. The South won the battle and celebrated, thinking they had won the war.

Savannah GA was an interesting city. Took the trolley tour of the town and water front. A lot of history and beautiful old southern architecture. Had lunch at the famous Mrs Wilkes Kitchen. Family style with 8 to ten people at each table. They start with southern fried chicken then bring on platters of all the southern dishes you can think of. And its all you can eat. Everyone pays $18 when you come in and you must bus your own dishes. There are no reservations, and people stand in line for 2 hours or more. To top it off they are only open from 11:00am to 2:00pm week days .From Savannah we put the pedal to the medal and drove by way of Jacksonville FL and Tallahassee FL to New Orleans.

In New Orleans we walked the French Quarter, went to Pat O’Briens for Hurricanes and had a great dinner. I had shrimp with cheese fried grits and Jean had shrimp creole. Then we took the paddle boat down the Mississippi next day we boarded the train to San Antonio

We were in San Antonio for 2 days. We stayed right on the Riverwalk, visited the Alamo and ate and drank our way around the Riverwalk. .We boarded the train for home. We were gone a month and drove 3200 miles. GREAT TRIP.

APRIL 2013 IT WAS TIME TO VISIT OUR FAMILY IN BEAVER That drive is getting harder and harder. In the old days we would drive from here to Beaver, no sweat. Then we changed it to home to Vegas and drive to Beaver the next day, Then we started going to Primm to Mesquite to Beaver. I even tried taking the bus, but I found out you only do that once, That’s a real experience. But you have to see your family, and these days there’s not many left. Louise is the Matriarch at 95 and the only one left standing of that generation. And the rest of us kids are getting long in the tooth.

The best picture of the family is the one below, that was taken at mom and dad’s 50th in 1984.

When I was a kid, I looked forward to the summers when I would go to Beaver and hang out with Monte and Jimmie Cox. Most of the time was with Monte getting us in trouble. As an adult, We had some good times with Dan and Evonne. We had some big hangovers. Later when we had kids, he was always pulling that trailer up on the mountain for us. He never said no. Beaver is a great place for kids. I loved going there when I was a kid and my kids loved going to Beaver.

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