Jul - Sep 2004

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JULY 2004

It's a bittersweet time… today Tommy goes back to Texas.  Though we have enjoyed his stay, its sort of a relief too.  I had so hoped that we could do more and enjoy more while he was with us.  But since, his dad wanted him for the 4^th, my time was cut short.  We aren't going to let that happen next year.  We are already making our plans for next year’s vacation to FLA for the 4^th.  Tommy loves the beach, and he will really enjoy being able to play with Kristen and Austin, and his big brother Chase for a week. This time he will really hates going back home to Texas.  After we're through at the airport its back home and pack up for the lake.  While I am gathering up our lake wear…  Mike is boiling some shrimp for us to enjoy out on the boat while watching the fireworks.  We enjoy the rest of the day, spending it together alone…  the shrimp was great, and we were the envy of all boaters, sitting on the back of the boat throwing the shrimp peel in the water at the marina waiting for the fireworks to begin.  Well the fireworks needed a little work; they weren't anything like the Osborne’s!  We wait a bit to let the mass exodus of boats pass.  Then it happened, or didn't happen actually.  The boat wouldn't start, the battery was dead, something we had been waiting for.  We finally got somebody's attention and they gave a jump to get us going again.  We are not going out again until a new battery is on board that boat!  The way back was interesting… a storm was blowing in, and it was dark and the waves were major.  But we made it back to the marina and home again safe and sound, well as sound as the two of us can be.

Well this is not your typical July 4^th celebration… today we are off to Memphis for a little shopping and more!  The Mall of Memphis was a lot of fun, but didn't buy a thing!  Now how many guys can say they took their women to the mall and not buy anything?  Does Mike have a winner or what?  Now we are off to Bealle Street, I've never been there before.  I enjoy a couple of drinks from this little frozen drink shop; you know the kind, the ones that have a whole wall full of different flavored alcoholic beverages.  The one that I had, was named "Attitude Improvement"…  I am not sure about my attitude, whether it needed improvement or not, but boy I didn't care about anything!  After that, we were off to this bar that Mike had been to before, can't remember the name cause of the Attitude Improvements, but we had a "GREAT" time, enough said!

Today we are meeting Wendy and Jerry at the Lake.  With scuba gear on board and coolers filled we are off.  We find a spot where there are rocks on the bank and sticking out of the water, a place where it might make for some interesting diving.  Wendy gears up and today Mike is going to test out his ears, hoping he doesn't have the problems he did before when he tried to dive.  Next week he goes back to try and get certified again, so he wants to make sure he isn't going to have the same problem as before.  Well once we got him to go down and stay down, he had a blast, wouldn't shut up about it.  I can't imagine what he'll be like after diving in the big blue of the ocean.  And no ear trouble, hooray!

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Well with the fear of ear trouble gone, Mike is back in the pool with Ocean Extreme dive instructor, Mike Little, to get his diving certification.  Morning pool session, learning all the skills needed, and then out to the lake to test those skills and demonstrate them.    Now there is no living with him… he is sooo hooked its not even funny.  On the way to dinner at Cajun Boilers, he informs me that he has made and executive decision that was not up for discussion… we were definitely diving on our honeymoon, something we weren't going to mess with because of the hassles of dive gear.  Well now we just have to decide what islands we want to dive at.  After dinner we go back and enjoy his friend Curtis' cabin on Lake Hamilton.  It’s an early night; I guess the excitement of getting certified wore Mike out!

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AUGUST 2004

Back out on the lake, but today I get to dive too.  There are three of us who have family members getting certified so today they are letting us dive also, just as long as we dive away from the divers getting certified, due to viz issues.  With the students doing testing in one area of the cove, the two other certified divers and myself head off the opposite direction to do some exploring with me in the lead.  Didn't see much, just a few fish and a lot of fishing line…  It’s time for the student’s last test… complete removal, replacement and clearing of the mask.  After that they are allowed to head out on there own.  We join them for this last test…  I got an ok picture of Mike doing his skill.  Once given the go ahead, we are off to the sunken boat in the cove, where lots of fish reside, due to the fact they are fed there, by the guys at Ocean Extreme.  After depleting our air supply, we are back to the boat and then the marina.  With log books filled and all the paper work done, Mike is now certified, with the exception of taking his test…

Its not every day you can go to the lake, and buy a new car in the same day.  Now this is a classic…  We pack the Suburban with the lake gear and drive off to Bale Honda… we had been there the night before and had looked at a couple of Honda Accords, we spoke with a salesman and told him what we wanted.  We told him that we would be back in the morning to see about trading vehicles.  We arrive, me in the Montero, Mike in the Suburban, and Dad in my Toyota pick up.  We tell the salesman, here are the keys to our trade in’s and we want this white accord that was sitting there on the lot.  It was a program car, but I didn't care.  We told him, call us when you got the deal done; we're going to the lake.  We never once sat in a salesman's office dealing with numbers etc.  We headed to the lake made a couple of dives and enjoyed the day.  While we were at our last dive location, a little cove, that had quite a few trees sticking up out of the water.  Mike had to use his maneuvering skills to make our way in the cove without hitting anything.  Once the dive was done, Mike tried to get Chase to try to do some snorkeling with him, to no avail…  Chase wasn't into it.  On the other hand, one word to Chelsie about trying it, and she was on it!  Mike was amazed at how great she did.  She took it like a fish.  It was great to see Mike so happy and the accomplishment Chelsie had made today.  And we have the pictures to prove it!  Back on board, Mike calls Bale Honda, and the deal is done… we are on our way back to the dealership to pick up my new Honda Accord.  Now how is that for a great day?  Buy a car and enjoy the lake all in the same time!

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Today its to church and we are off to the lake again, this time it's the first road trip with the new car, and the XM Radio.  Not sure which Mike likes better?  On the lake…  we look for Burt and Kathy Burns, from Church.  Meet up with them, and while anchored next to them, we make a dive.  Mike has some BC trouble so we weren't able to do a very long dive.  So getting him us to being under the water instead of on top…  practice, practice, practice!  Mike found this cute little blue kids swim fin, the beginning of our collection.  A collection of things that we find while we are diving.  Will make for an interesting conversation piece.

Well today started out as a bad day for me… woke up not feeling good, so I stayed in bed.  Once up and about I head to Mike’s office, to find Mike talking to the mortgage company.  We have been in a battle with Southern Mortgage Company trying to get he house re-financed in my name, and out of his ex-wife’s name.  Anyway it hasn't been fun.  Let's just say, that we wouldn't refer anyone to Southern Mortgage!  Mike tells them no way and have a nice day, sort of, I’m putting it nicer then he did!  Then he informs me that he has made reservations for Denbeigh at the Doggy Motel in Lonoke, and for me to call the number of this dive operation, Emerald Coast Scuba Divers, and make reservations for us to dive with them on Saturday afternoon.  This place is in Destin Fla.  Yep another crazy weekend road trip in store!  Later that evening we make a beeline to Ocean Extreme for Mike to take his test and get rental gear for the upcoming weekend for Florida.  With gear, freshly aired tanks, and a temporary certification card we are set for an afternoon of ocean diving.

Yep you guessed it… we are off again, this time to Fort Walton Beach and Destin Florida.  Mike just dying to get some ocean diving in, has the car packed up and ready to go by the time I get home from work.  Its 5:22pm and we are off.  The road trip is nice, with the new car and the XM Radio, we've gotta get this for the suburban!  It makes for an enjoyable ride.

Well after a night of driving, that would be Mike…  I slept quite a bit.  We arrive at our hotel in Fort Walton Beach at 3:00am, and after we check in and unload the car, we head to the beach for a nice quiet walk on the beach, just the two of us.  I have never had a nice walk on the beach with the man I love before.  It was a wonderful experience.  After a couple of hours of sleep, we are up and at it…  breakfast and a short time on the beach.  Then its to the dive shop to get signed up for the afternoons excursion.  At the dock we load the gear on board and setup and wait for the divers to arrive.  I like being the first on the dive boats, that way you can set up without bumping bodies to get it done.  And also you can pick your spot!  All on board we get our briefing from the Captain, and we're off.  We, the group of 14 divers, decide to dive the "Bridge Rubble", that is at 62', then "The Miss Louise", a 70' tug boat sitting at 57'.  The words "the pool is open" were heard, meaning that you can start your decent whenever you are ready.  Mike and I are the first in and on the anchor line.  Descending the anchor line, was fairly uneventful, until I came upon the Jellyfish.  I had never seen Jellyfish while diving.  While trying to dodge the Jellyfish, I look back and Mike is almost at the surface, not know what is happening, I ascend to meet him, by then he has grabbed the anchor line and starts pulling himself down.  Once arriving on the rubble, he points down and I see that there is a dive knife laying there, I grab it thinking its mine, cause it looks just like it, and I find that its not mine, mine is still in its sheath.  Mike had purchase a knife from Ocean Extreme, and we had attached it to his gauge hose.  It must have gotten caught and pulled loose…  once the knife in its place we toured around for a short time and then its up the anchor line and our safety stop.  Once back on board, after our short 20 min dive, I found out that Mike didn't have enough weight and used up all his air fighting to get down to the bottom.  Next time we added weight!  Everyone is back on board, we are off to the Miss Louise.  This time for our dive, we have added and addition to our buddy system.  Judy, a lady we met from Mobile, joined use due to her dive buddy getting very sick on board.  Down we go, same drill as before down the anchor line, and to the wreck.  There was sooo many fish on this wreck you could hardly see the wreck itself.  There wasn't much of a variety of fish, just lots of the same.  There were also some large amberjack swimming above the wreck.  I found an intact sea urchin and brought it up with us.  Once back on board, we heard that one of the other divers had seen a shark on the wreck, I would assume, eating his dinner from all those little fish covering the wreck.  After we're back dry line, we load up the car and its, "Miller Time".  We arrive back at the hotel to shower and change for dinner.  Not sure where exactly we are going, we end up at "Staffs", a spot that the McManus family frequents.  The plans after that were kind of fuzzy.  I thought we were going to got out to a club or bar, but instead we head back to the room.  Mike lays down fully clothed, thinking we would get up in a bit and go out, since its still early…  I change, cause I don't want to wrinkle the clothes.  Laying down, then waking up around 3:00, I get up and take out my contacts.  That is something that just doesn't happen that often.  Not sure what he really had planned.  I may never know.

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Well its Sunday morning, and we slept till 10:00am.  That never happens around here…  now its rush rush to get out of here in an hour.  Since check out is at 11:00, we had to shower and pack up all dive gear and clothing, and in the car.  Once packed up we headed to Destin to buy some shrimp to bring home from Sexton's.  On the way, we stop at Hog's Breath Saloon for some lunch.  Nothing like a good old cheese burger!  After lunch and the shrimp, we head to the beach, to spend our last few hours enjoying the sun.  At 2:30 we pack up, shower and change and on the road by 3:30.  After a couple of missed turns, one in Mobile, and the other in Hattiesburg, extending our time home, we arrive back in Lonoke at 3:00.  Man isn't it great to be us?

Today was filled with errands and running all over creation.  We went to Ocean Extreme to pick up some rental gear for Mike and our tanks that Dad had dropped off earlier in the week.  Then we ran to Ozark Outdoor Supply to find some inserts for my hiking shoes.  Since my toes have been giving me fits again, I was worried about them for our upcoming hiking trip in Colorado.  Lunch with Mom and Dad then off to Pine Bluff and Sissy's Log Cabin.  Its time for Mike to pick out his "nose ring" as his Dad called it.  I also found a very nice band that will be great with my ring, I had decided not to have a band since I didn't think I could find anything that wouldn't take away from my engagement ring.  But I was wrong…  Back into town, we head to Boyle Park and ride our bikes for 10 miles, through the twisted trails that run throughout the park.  It made for a very interesting ride.  After a phone call from Mike's mom, we head to there house to shower and change, and to dinner with the rest of the McManus group at Luigi's the family's favorite pizza place!

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SEPTEMBER 2004

Well wait till you hear about this one, it's a long one so bare with me, this has gotta be the wildest and roughest yet…  Friday night, 3:00pm, we are packed up and ready for another trip to Colorado, but first its off to the hospital to visit my 29 year old grandmother, who was put in there on Tuesday.  Today she is doing well and looking forward to going home.  She swears that she will be home by the time we get back.  For the doctors and nurses sake she better be!  On the road again…  isn't that a song?  Anyway, it's a long ride, well actually not for me.  See we had taken the seats out of the suburban and p10ut a mattress and made a bed in back.  Let me tell you its pretty comfy!  Mike predicts that we will reach Amarillo, TX by 12:30.  He only misses it by 11 minutes, its 12:41am.

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At 2:32am MST, Des Moines NM, we pull over at a rest stop for a couple of hours of shut eye.  Of course that's in addition to the ones I have already gotten.  6:30am we are up and at it, saw a beautiful sunset in New Mexico.  I don't think I have ever been in New Mexico before…  but so far so good.  On the road we saw some "pronged horn antelope", cute little suckers…  Mike is amazed at how green everything is.  10:00am we arrive at the Royal Gorge Bridge, built in 1929.  It spans the Arkansas River, 1053ft above, being the highest suspension bridge in the world.  Apparently it has gotten quite a commercial tourist attraction.  To drive across the bridge now, the cost is $20/person.  Mike doesn't remember that from the last time he was there.  Of course that was 20 years ago, and you know with age what's the first to go…  the lady at the ticket counter, when Mike asked her about it, she told him that it has always cost a fee to drive across, but that maybe his parents paid for it the last time.  Mike got a kick out of that…  figures he probably drove across it before she was even born.  Took a picture of Mule deer in parking lot.  We cross the Colorado border at 7:35am MST.  We stop at 11:30am, for a snack lunch by the Arkansas River, its 72 degrees.  Monarch Pass, Continental Divide, 12:22pm, elevation of 11312ft.  Light snow and ice pellets falling, and 47 degrees!  At 2:41pm, we arrive at the start of the Alpine Loop at Lake City, this portion to Cinnamon Pass…  elevation 8904ft.  Approximately 10 miles into the loop we turn left on to County Rd. 36 going up Wagner Gulch to the Ghost Town of Carson.  With rain turning into snow and after approximately 4 miles of rough and very bumpy road, 4 wheel drive vehicles a must, we arrive at Carson residing at 10366ft.  The town was founded in 1882 and flourished in the 1900's.  It is one of the best preserved ghost towns in the San Juan Mountains.  There are several buildings still standing, however each winter heavy snow and high winds, reek havoc on the buildings that are left standing.  From the looks of it, some of the remaining buildings roofs have been repaired.  Some historians claim that this town is really Bachelor Cabins, which served Bachelor Mines.  They claim the "real" Carson is a few miles up on the Continental Divide.  3:57pm we its back to down the bumpy road.  4:25pm we arrive back to the main road of the Alpine Loop.  We arrive at Cinnamon Pass at 5:45, at and elevation of 12640ft, its 32 degrees.  Prior to reaching the pass, it was sunshine and blue skies, now its gray skies and heavy snow falling.  Not far from Cinnamon Pass is Animas Forks at 11000ft.  It became an official city in 1877.  There is the remains of the Gold Prince Mill which was once the largest mill in Colorado.  It was the first large mill constructed of steel in 1904 and was dismantled 10 years later.  Animas Forks was reborn in 1904 when the Silverton Northern Railroad terminated there.  At one time 400 people lived in Animas Forks, which had a post office, school and jail.  However since winters are harsh at 11000ft, very few miners would spend their winters in Animas Forks.  Snow was so deep, that tunnels were built between buildings.  The remains of several buildings still remain.  With snow falling heavily, we head toward Silverton to find a spot to cook our dinner, then find a spot to sleep for the night.

It's a bright and sunshiny Sunday morning…  up and at it 8:22am, 29 degrees and frost on the windows.  We are off to Ouray to finish the rest of the Alpine Loop.  We stop at a picnic area, right below "Red Mountain Pass".  A great spot to cook breakfast, finished at 9:33am.  Afterwards we make a quick stop at the Ouray Visitor's Information Center.  Its time for a potty break and to brush those teeth and clean that "kicking" breath, as Chelsie calls it.  At the beginning of the Alpine Loop & Engineers Pass, several jeeps await there journey on the loop.  With giggles and grins, I am sure, we pass them and head up the road.  One of the books we have read says that the first 2 miles are the worst, well we can only hope we make it those 2 miles, because we definitely don't want to have to turn around and go back.  With the sounds of dragging and scraping and also a broken receiver hitch cover, my dive flag …  we hope that nothing serious gets broken.  Ok we thought the rough road was bad the first 2 miles, well listen to this…  the rocks turn into snow, deep snow.  At the fork that goes to Engineer Pass or Animas Forks, we merge into a group of 4 wheel drive trucks and jeeps.  Several of the trucks in front of us slipping and sliding there way up the mountain.  But not ole Bessie here, the suburban just kept rolling right alone.  After  few yards and a couple of switch backs the truck in front of us comes to a halt, with the driver exiting his vehicle.  Up ahead was a couple of jeeps that had gotten themselves into a sticky situation.  Stuck to be exact.  By now, everybody was piling out of there vehicles trying to figure out what was going on.  The guys in the group that surrounded us, I assume were a church group, cause it was Bro. Jeremiah this, and Bro. Dave that, or maybe they were just one great big happy family.  They had come from Animas Forks, and were on there way to Lake City by way of Engineers Pass.  Several of the "kids", I use that term loosely, with the group took the opportunity to have snow ball fights, while the "adults" help figure out how to get the jeeps un-stuck and what we all were going to do next.  It was discovered that the road ahead, had not had any traffic on it since the snow fall, so no tracks had been cut.  The truck in front of us decided he would be the brave soul to cut the tracks.  With us right on his tail, we blaze the trail, passing the parked trucks pulled over to the side.  Some places where there wasn't any "real" room to pass.  Sometimes, men would stand between the suburban and the other vehicles pushing it so it wouldn't hit the other vehicles.  It is amazes me, that no one was hurt or vehicles damaged due to this portion of our adventure.  About this time I had wished that I had some sort of tranquilizer or heavy dosage of alcohol.  Of course the alcohol part was out of the question, since that and altitude don't mix, at least when you are not use to it…  Ok picture this, you are sitting on the side of a snowy mountain road.  A truck slipping and sliding in front of you, seeing it slide close to the edge, and you are sitting in the passenger seat with the same edge of the mountain road, right out your window.  Of course Mike gets out to go assess the road conditions ahead…  road, this is a road, you've got to be kidding?  He walks up where the truck is in front of us, and turns the corner where there are 4 and 5 foot snow drifts covering the road.  He discovers at that point, that we have to turn around.  Not looking forward to that 2 miles at the beginning of the loop, there is no way we are going to make it over Engineers Pass this trip.  So now what?  Do we back up all the way down the mountain past all those other vehicles?  Nope!  These guys have the bright idea to turn the suburban around on this non existent road.  With a couple of the Bro's on the edge of the drop off, and a couple next to the embankment, Mike starts inching forward and back and left and right till be have done the 180 degree turn around and are facing back down the mountain.  It actually looked like Mike knew what he was doing, but don't tell him that I said that.  Note:  put Snow Chains on your list of necessary equipment, for this trip!  We are not out of this yet, we still have to make it past those other vehicles sitting on the edge of the road, and back over those horrible 2 miles, of more then 4-wheel drive road.  We creep very slowly past the parked vehicles, almost crushing a couple of guys in the process.  If I was Catholic I would have been saying some "Hail Mary's" or "Our Fathers" or whatever they say when they are desperate… instead I did say a prayer or two.  Once past the parked vehicles, there is a MAJOR sigh of relief, but wait…  there is still that blasted 2 miles.  Wait, I remember when we met up with the "Bro's", they had come in from Animas Forks.  A place where we had come from before, but from a different direction.  I wasn't sure what the road would be like, but if those guys could do it  we definitely could.  So I take credit for another wonderful idea!  Granted, we had to go back over a part of the trail we had done the day before, but we had already been there done that on that 2 miles of hell, and it wasn't really an experience that either of us wanted to experience, I am sure Bessy appreciated!  Besides, while going back over the Alpine Loop from Animas Forks and Silverton, there were a couple of spots that we had missed the day before, due to the white out we had from the snow.  It was back through Silverton, and to Ouray.  It took us way out of our way, but considering the alternatives we were happy to get back on the freeway and on the road toward Breckinridge…  We arrived in Brec, around 7:15, and decide we would find a spot to cook dinner and get our things ready for the next day, since it would begin at 4:00am.  We park in one of the commuter parking lots, that ended up being nest to the ski area that we skied at in Feb. and where my ski school was.  After dinner, we stopped for a dip in the hot tub and a nice hot shower.  After depleting the storage space of our last memory card for our camera, we make a trip to Walmart to "try" and purchase another one, to no avail.  Apparently they had recently had a spill of theft and had removed the cards from the shelf, and nobody seemed to know where they had locked them up for safe keeping.  So, Mike, remembers that he has his jumpdrives in the laptop bag, and we store the contents of one of the cards on the hard drive and the jumpdrive, given us a full card to use for our accent to Grays Peak.  We are now off to the trailhead of Grays Peak, arriving at 10:30pm.  Its time for sleep before our 4:00am wake up call, only a few hours away!

The alarm goes off at 4:00am, yep, you heard it right, that is AM, and man would the guys at work be surprised…  Mike starts the suburban and gets some heat going so we can get dressed and warmed up for the day’s adventure.   Its 32 degrees at 4:45 as we eat a quick bite, there are a few cars in the parking lot, so with the way the weather is suppose to be, I am sure we will meet a lot of people on the trail today. 5:08am with packs on our backs and headlamps turn on, we are off, for another great day of adventure.  6:00am we have taken our first little energy snack break…  we turn the lamps off, and you can now see the mountain, as the sun starts to come up.  At 6:46 we reach a marker, we have made it 2 miles, and we are at an elevation of 12100ft we have 2 miles to go and 2170ft to go.  Shortly after the 2 mile mark, I see my first Mountain Goats, three if you’re counting, on the ridge that runs along the trail.  We take pictures, but I am sure they will be too far away to see them.  At least we know we saw them.  Mike makes a point that I have taken 2 Alpine "pee" breaks, which leads to cold buns.  We as women need to figure out better ways of dealing with that part when nature calls…  It is now 10:17 and we have finished our little lunch break.  We are at approximately 13200, but the steepest portion is yet to come.  Though it seems like its right there, it still seems so far away.  Well I ever make it?  I have to, I didn't want to let Mike down.   At 12:20pm MST, September 6, 2004, we arrive on the summit of Grays Peak.  With a high five from Mike and my first "Alpine Kisses", we had made it…  Through out this trip I had been speaking into a recorder, so I can remember the things to put on this log.  But now the words escape me, as tears trail down my face.  We've made it together…  though Mike had summited Grays before, this was something we had done together.  The look on his face as we stepped on top of that mountain was amazing…  so much love, support, and pride seemed to ooze out of his pores and that smile of his that went from ear to ear.  I was on top of the world… almost literally, with a man that truly loved me.  Never had I done anything this strenuous before, and yet such a fulfilling accomplishment.  The words can't express how I felt when we stepped on top of that mountain.  I guess your first summit is the most memorable, but I can only imagine, that the same feeling of accomplishment is there each and every time, you top a 14er!  After a short rest period, it’s back down…  Originally we were going to do Torreys on the return trip, but since it took us 7 ½ hours to reach the top of one mountain, and we still had the 4 miles down the mountain to go, we opted to pass on Torreys.  It will have to wait for another time.  On the way down, we saw a very odd site…  on the worst rocky portion of the mountain, I would say the last 500ft up or so.  We see a man carrying a mountain bike up the mountain.   We do have a picture to prove it.  I am not sure where he thought he was going to ride that thing, because there was only rock and snow on that mountain trail.  I know I wouldn't have put my bike on that mountain, of course that isn't saying much either…  The trip down was interesting…  with the snow melting in spots, it made the trail quite slushy and very slick.  Several times, we almost bust it from sliding in the slush.  What wasn't snow or slush was mostly rocks that you had to step over and pick your spots to step carefully.  Twisted ankles were inevitable, lucky not too bad though.  Mike kept telling me that we were almost to the portion of the trail where it was going to be flat again…  maybe an hour later it did.  By then the knees and thigh muscles were so sore that I thought I had damaged something.  At 4:30pm, we arrived back at the trailhead that we had left 11 ½ hours earlier.  What a day!  All I wanted was to sit down and have a "coke and a smile"!

Well another adventure almost over…  Spent the night in Burlington Co. last night, and now we are on our way home.  It had been a while since I had updated this log.  So I had some catching up to do.  Little did I know that I would be typing for 9 hours.  Yep, I didn't realize that I had been working on this thing that long.  Man time flies when you are caught up in your work.  It’s not work really, actually I enjoy it, because it lets me relive our life's adventures.  This one has got to be the best yet.  And I so look forward to more in the future.  Can't see us slowing down… life's to short to sit at home on the couch and watch TV.  I know, I did that for too many years.  Enjoy life, especially with someone you love.  It's a great ride!

This was supposed to be one of those "do nothing" weekends, you know the ones where you just chill out and relax…  NOT.  Seems like we have been non-stop up till now.  Today we are on the Bank of the Arkansas River, having a nice quiet picnic.  Alone time!  It's awesome just to kick back from all our non stop comings and goings to do nothing but relax.  So boil some shrimp, chill a bottle of wine, spread a blanket and take a long relaxing rest under a shady tree with the one you love…  it is well worth the time!

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