Home Doggy Dog Week

Home Doggy Dog Week - Arrival

Early morning Thursday and we are off on an adventure. Mackenzie and Drew decided it was time to tie the knot and they chose April 28th. With everybody in tow we headed to the airport at 4:30 AM (We follow all TSA guidelines, bless their hearts), it was the start of a great weekend. A wedding, seeing old friends, coming home, man, that's the kind of stuff that will keep you up at night.

The next few posts will be entitled 'Home Doggy Home", which my buddy Stewart said referring to my return. Sure would have liked to have seen him, but no time this trip. Turns out I screwed up and didn't invite several people who should have been there. My apologies. I didn't feel it was my place to invite an army to my daughter's wedding, so opted for a small company. Shoulda gone with the army.

Drewm Norah, Kenzie and Brendan ready for the 2 hour flight home.

Fresh and ready to play my DS, read my Kindle, and ponder the possibilities. Who is that strange person?

We were treated to s spectacular sunrise. Well, at leads the people on the right side of the plane.

Drew reading, Kenze playing with Norah and Brendan napping.

Small cities coming alive with a new day.

Crossing over a wind farm area.

One of our first stops is the South Park Mall. What for? Why, our clandestine meeting with a certain Quad-City area-only treat: Whitey's!

Whitey, how I have dreamed of you, caressed your thick chocolaty goodness, savored your creamy...oops, sorry, let's continue.

After we dislodged at Best Western, I took Brendan to his buddy Matt's place in the country and then tooled over to the old stomping grounds around BFE. The colors are different up here, the ground so black and the empty spaces, and quiet, were a nice way to get in tune with my return.

Needless to say, it takes a few minutes to find something resembling this in St. Pete. It is in an isthmus (never used that word until now) and in order to get away from it all you have to trek across a bridge. I won't be in Florida forever: I shall return.

A dazzling Midwestern sunset closes out Day One.

Landing at Moline. Notice the trail coming from the upper wing a few seconds into the video. By the way, it was wet and cold while I was up here. And I loved it!

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Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless. Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001. It was one of those things that can generate crime: two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job. Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things. Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold. But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find. His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead. He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds. He will be paralyzed for life. None of this is pleasant. Reading the facts of the murder and attempted murder are most unpleasant

Summer Swim

It's Monday and the start of another work week. Except for me. I have the week off because the parents of my daycare charges are taking the week off, too. This is one of those wordless posts I love on Mondays so I can put my laziness in full view of loyal readers. These pics need no words. Why muddy the waters? They were taken at the pool at Sinkhole Estates aka Death Valley. The nice thing about this pool is it is heated in winter. If one must find positives in one's situation, I suppose that is one. But, please, no more.

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida. There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife. In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride. He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much. He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A. But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here. If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying. He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed. Note the propeller

Existing In BFE

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