Annual Report Q1 05

A monthly recap of 2005.... more for me to keep it all straight than to "report" on it. It has been a whirlwind year! I got engaged, I got married (well, legally speaking), I quit smoking, I traveled all over the United States, I caught fish, I made pictures...all-in-all, 2005 was one of the best years I have ever had...

January
Just settling in to the house in Stapleton. Went to a few antique auctions. Found out that mahogany is nothing compared to crappy old pine! "Its Piiiiiine! Oooooh!"

I made a solo trip to Eatontown, NJ/Ft. Monmouth aboard AMTRAK. Pretty cool (literally) to go humming along at 120mph through a snowstorm, with a cloud of snow billowing along, just outside the windows. The rails at the switches had to be lit on fire with kerosene so that they would not freeze...very cool image.

My conclusion: New Jersey looks pretty good under about 3 feet of snow.

Diane and I went to North Georgia and EXTREME western North Carolina for a little exploration. This was our first and last stop at the Shoney's in Livonia, Georgia. For the love of God, don't go there!!! On our way home, we came across a nice young boy llama who was standing all alone in a pasture, across a small road from another pasture full of girl llamas. When the boy llama concluded that I was neither going to feed him, nor let him out into the pasture with the girls, he...well... violated me.

With Diane yelling in the background, "Hey! You know those things spit don't you?" I found out that they do... in a rather gross manner... spit... lumps of cud.

Llama BBQ anyone?

February
Diane and I made a trip to Bisbee to get our furniture. Came back across the country in a Penske truck with the Jeep on a trailer. Penske Good, U-Haul Bad.

While we were there, we did a little poking around at our favorite border crossing - Locheil - only to find out that the town of Locheil has decided to "close the gate" on the rest of the world.

I do love pointing out to those who cry out for "secure" borders that the bulk of the American/Mexican border is miles and miles of seven strand barbed wire fence. That is the real border. No one who has not spent time there can really talk intelligently about it.

On February 17th, leaning against the Jeep trailer in the parking lot of Chuy's restaurant in Van Horn, Texas, I "popped the question" to Diane. Life has not been the same since. (She said "yes" by the way!)

In our time back here in Georgia, we poked around our new area. We wandered south around Georgia, finding ghostly swamps, abandoned farm houses and bad food.

We fished the Ogeechee River all the way down to Ft. McKenzie, Georgia where the river empties into the Atlantic. I doubt that most folks who grow up on the Ogeechee have ever been from its headwaters south of Athens all the way to Ft. McKenzie. It is truly a fantastic river that cuts across all parts of Georgia's history, culture and geography.

March
Diane and I went to Beaufort, South Carolina for the first time. 9 months later (wow, that sounds bad), Beaufort would become the setting for the most important action I have - or probably will - ever make. The trip in March just introduced us and made us fall in love with the area.

Yet another trip we made to Arizona. Cross country in the van...what a blast! The trip out was all interstate - had to make good time to be there for work. The trip back, however, was a totally different story. We consciously tried to stay off of interstates and drove 90% of the trip on US or state highways!

We left Bisbee and headed out across AZ/NM 80 to Rodeo and went NM 7 across to El Paso - where we crossed I-10, which looked totally out of place after having driven 350 miles across two-lane. Ate at the Little Diner in Canutillo - where the owner still remembered Diane from 15 years ago. (now THAT is a restaurateur!) From there, it was US 62 past Cornudas (home of the Cornudas Burger) and Guadalupe Peak. This is West Texas at its finest. On to Carlsbad and Hobbs, NM for the one of the fine sunsets that always seem to pop up in this part of the world. From there, it was over into Texas to Lamesa, and Snyder where we decided that driving in the dark, it didn't matter if you were on interstate so we dropped down to I-20 into Dallas. From Dallas, it was US 80 all the way across East Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and into Macon, Georgia. From there we went to Milledgeville and then home to Stapleton.

Now THAT is a road trip!

Okay, so that captures the Q1 05, Q2 will be coming shortly after I take a break to eat, shower...all off those things that make Diane want to not run away screaming!