Since the honeymoon...

Since we've returned home, The Old Seventy Six has only had a few other notable journies. One, inparticular, was a camping trip up at Hampton Beach that we embarked upon with Deannaphil and the two oldest nephews, Shane and Luke. We had a great time, but have to mention that Hampton Beach's campground SUCKS. Not only is it nothing but a dirt lot, but there is only about ten to fifteen spaces that have a full hookup--which, for those of you who are not camping enthusiasts, means you don't get to hook up to water, electricity, or sewer. Basically, we paid fifty bucks to park overnight a few blocks away from the beach. We made it fun regardless, but we weren't allowed to have a campfire because we weren't hooked up to water, and the boys were looking forward to making s'mores. My advice to anyone interested is that someone should look into finding or creating another lot near Hampton that doesn't suck.

The second notable journey, was Bobby's trip to Foxboro with his pops and a bunch of his friends for the Pats/Bills game at the end of September. The Old Girl is a perfect tailgaiting vehicle, since you'll never have to wait in line at a port-a-potty! The only problem was, The Old 76 came home a little tipsy if you know what I mean, leaking transmission fluid all over the darn place and groaning like her gears were angry, as if she'd eaten a few too many Late-Night Cheeseburger Doritos.

We haven't been able to drive the 76 since that trip, but we are sure our pal Kenny the mechanic can tune her up back to new so we can continue our camping journies! If anything, we are glad she got us through our trip. We just recently looked back on pictures from the trip and can't get over how much fun we had. What an experience. :)

Geno's Steaks...
Bobby getting ready to order. Focus now Bo... "One Whiz Wit and Two Whiz Widdout please."

Contents of my purse... GPS, Wallet, Cheese Steak...

Bobby looking for turtles at the Zoo....

The prettiest thing about Baltimore... this painted bridge....

So, the Baltimore Zoo was, in fact, much better than the Lincoln Park Zoo. It's a good thing, too, because if I made Bobby go to one more zoo and it housed a few monkeys and a couple of goats somebody would not be very happy.

This Zoo was definitely cool, with polar bears, lions, giraffes, cheetahs, leapords, foxes, elephants, etc. there was even a cool little section with farm animals that we could pet. i definitely chatted with the chickens for a little while.

but overall, we are not very impressed with Baltimore. Did anyone else know it was such a run down city? There's not really any nice sections like you could say about Philly, Chicago, and other cities we've been to.

After the Baltimore Zoo, we headed for Philly for CHEESESTEAKS. You can't drive through Philly and NOT go to Geno's, in our opinion. We decided to sample both Geno's and Pat's Steaks. For anyone who doesn't know the history, Geno's is famous for it's cheese steaks, and lots of famous people go there and the owner has famous people eating Geno's steaks plastered all over the place. There is a very specific way to order your cheese steak sub. If you want cheese and onions, you order it "A Whiz Wit" meaning, Cheese whiz with onions. If you just want the cheese, you have to say "A Whiz Without". If you order it wrong, they kind of hassle you a little bit, but it's all part of the fun.

Now, Pat's is another cheese steak place that is right across the street. We're not sure who opened first, but it's clear that they are rivals. The thing to do is go and try a sandwich from each place and declare your favorite. Now, Pat's has more meat and they have interesting varieties, like a Pizza Cheese steak, but I think Geno's tastes better. You'll have to try them yourself and decide! Bobby smuggled three cheese steaks out of Philly before we got a hotel for the night in Jersey and watched the Jersey Shore as we were falling asleep. seriously.

I'm Proud to Be on This Peaceful Piece of Property

Gravestones at Arlington





Abraham Lincoln Memorial






Memorial for soldiers in the Vietname Was

Kennedy's Gravesites

Bobo in front of the Capital Building

Shanny in front of the Capital Building

Yesterday we went to Washington DC for the day. We probably walked twenty miles when it was all said and done. Both of us have sore feet and blisters today to prove it, but it was well worth the hiking. We did it all, monuments, museums, and even Arlington Cemetery which is profound and moving.

To start off the day, we went to the space museum and the museum of natural history, and the national museum of american history which displayed the enormous flag that was the inspiration to Francis Scott Key for the Star-Spangled Banner. It is so big the stars on it measured two square feet and the flag itself was bigger than the lady who sewed it's house. She had to bring the flag to a brewery to finish sewing it.

After that we walked all over the place, from the Washington Monument across the NAtional Mall and to the Lincoln Memorial. We saw the WWII, Vietnam and Korean war memorials. When we finally got to the Arlington Cemetery where there are more than 32,000 soldiers buried, we were sun-burned, tired and blistered, but how could we complain? We took a tour trolley all around the cemetery, saw where JFK and his family are buried, and saw the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier.

The tomb of the unknown soldier housed three bodies that were unidentified until the 1980s, when DNA testing was able to identify two of them. The symbolism of the guards protecting the body of the unknown soldier was very moving, to see how they perform the ritual of the changing of the guards with such integrity. I overheard a guy talking about how even during a hurricane four or five years ago, the guards would not abandon their post. They were allowed to take the day off because of the 50 mph winds but they chose to stay. It is so extremely honorable what our soldiers do for us, whether we agree with the wars that we have fought in or not, there are so many people who have lost their lives defending our freedom. If there is anything that going to Arlington has made more clear, it is that we are so lucky to be Americans. We have people who fight for our freedom, instead of other countries where people fight to take that freedom from it's citizens. Something that should so clearly be a natural right, causes so much pain across the world.

Where the Kennedy's are buried, there are beautiful quotes carved into the stones surrounding the gravesites. We tried to get pictures, but I'm not sure if the words came out clearly. One picture certainly came out clear enough, and that is the one that reads Freedom is not Free.

"Arlington" by Trace Adkins

I never thought that this is where I'd settle down,
I thought I'd die an old man back in my hometown,
They gave me this plot of land, me and some other men,
for a job well done.

There's a big white house sits on a hill just up the road,
The man inside he cried the day they brought me home,
They folded up a flag, and told my mom and dad, 'We're proud of your son'.

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property,
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company,
I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done,
I can rest in peace, I'm one of the chosen ones,
I made it to Arlington.

I remember daddy brought me here when I was eight,
We searched all day to find out where my granddad lay,
And when we finally found that cross,
He said, 'Son this is what it cost, to keep us free'.
Now here I am a thousand stones away from him,
He recognized me on the first day I came in,
And it gave me a chill, when he clicked his heels, and saluted me.

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property,
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company,
And I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done,
I can rest in peace, I'm one of the chosen ones,
I made it to Arlington.

And every time I hear, twenty-one guns,
I know they brought another hero home, to us.

We're thankful for those thankful for the things we've done,
We can rest in peace, 'cause we were the chosen ones,
We made it to Arlington, yea, dust to dust
Don't cry for us, we made it to Arlington.

funny things we forgot to blog about

first of all, we just remembered yesterday how funny our hotel was in nashville....

it was the only nice, expensive place we stayed on the whole trip, and we were going to be there for two days, so we were looking forward to a little pampering. the guy at the front desk was really funny, a young indian guy with a dry sense of humor. When he wanted us to pay, he said to bobby, "okay, give me some green, how about a couple of benji's" (mom and dad: benjamins=100 dollar bills) so we laughed at that for days.

then, around eleven o'clock at night, our AC breaks in our room. now, it's like a hundred degrees and as humid as it could get without raining in Nashville. Bobby was so mad, he called the front desk and they sent a guy up to fix it. a few minutes after the guy left with the AC fixed, it turned off again. we called down to the front desk and they offered to move us. So, at almost midnight, we packed up all of our things and moved to the third floor.

In this room, we unloaded all of our stuff again, put the AC on and got back in our pajamas. At this point, bobby turned on the TV and discovered that didn't work. we called the front desk again. They said, sorry, nothing we can do about that. bobby wasn't having it.

after our THIRD move in the middle of the night, we finallly got upgraded to an awesome suite that had both an AC and a TV. i guess it doesn't seem like a big deal now, weeks later, but at the time...you should have seen us, trekking all over the holiday inn with all of our bags in the middle of the night!

We have been on four or five different MLK Jr. Blvds in four or five different (slums) cities... one thing is for sure... MLK Jr. Blvd. is definitely the worst, most dangerous street in any city even if it's Sunday at noon. Don't go there.

Lightning is Striking Again

Last night, on our way to our North Carolina kampsite, the most amazing thing happened. For hours, we were surrounded by heat lightning in the clouds which was really beautiful. It looked like flashes from cameras lighting up the sky non-stop, really a second didn’t go by without more lightning somewhere in the sky. But suddenly, it started to downpour again and the lightning became bigger bolts accompanied by loud thunder.

All of a sudden, the biggest bolt of lightning I’d ever seen seemed to strike the highway a hundred or so yards in front of us, and lit the entire world up with the brightest white light we’ve ever seen. It looked like someone had taken a flood light and shined it right in our faces. It only last a few seconds, but it was paralyzing—I think we both covered our eyes! And then, the loudest crack of thunder—as if the world split in half. Neither one of us could speak for a few seconds, and then we weren’t sure if we could laugh or not yet, in case something like it happened again. For a few minutes, every time a little lightning flashed, I could still see the impression of that enormous bolt, like the flash of a camera that continues to echo behind your eyelids when you blink.

I finally said to Bobby, “I honestly thought that lightning hit us.”
He said to me, “I thought we were dead. I thought we saw the light they always talk about.”

Our biggest challenge on this road trip has been the fight against the elements. It is amazing that in our daily lives we have set ourselves up so comfortable that weather doesn’t really harm us other than making us late for work, occasionally. You don’t realize just how powerful something like weather is until you a rolling down the road in a mobile home and lightning is trying to make contact with your GPS signal.

Comin to ya/On a Dusty Road

Bobby serenades me during
happy hour at a bar in Myrtle
Beach......






So what we’ve learned about Myrtle Beach in the few days that we’ve been here is that the weather is insane. Most of the day is sunny and beautiful, but nearly every day at around five o’clock the sky turns black, the wind picks up, and there is a downpour. The rain usually lasts about an hour or less and is just enough to mess everyone up a little bit. I think Mother Nature gets a good laugh watching all of the hot, sweaty tourists scramble for cover once a day.



Our second night in Myrtle Beach was Bobby’s birthday. I bought us tickets to see the Legends in Concert show, which some people might have seen before, especially in Las Vegas. It’s all impersonators of the musical legends: Michael Jackson, Elvis, Madonna, The Beatles, etc. Our seats were front and center, second row. This would be an awesome seating arrangement under normal circumstances. However, at the Legends show, it’s a little awkward to be up so close to these people who are literally dressed up like a celebrity and have to act like they truly believe they are that celebrity—and they can easily make eye contact with you and hear what you are saying to your neighbor.



I literally felt like the people on stage kept looking at us while they were singing, and both of us were worried they would try to somehow include us in the show…”Martina McBride” pulled some guy up on stage and made him dance and tell his wife how much he loved her….and Jake from the Blues Brothers sat next to some teenage girl and sweat all over her until she was embarrassed to tears. Besides, Bobby didn’t know, but I had told the lady at the ticket counter that it was his birthday, thinking maybe they would just give him a shout out, but after the Jake and Elwood performance, I was starting to worry that they were going to do something to Bobby that would end our honeymoon earlier than planned.



Luckily, they did just give him a happy birthday shout out, but they called him “Bobby Conkon”. We have discovered that down south no one understands the name Conlon. Even after spelling if for them and saying it several times, they will still call us Connon or Colon, like as if those names are more common…



But I digress. Michael Jackson impersonator was unbelievable. He looked, sounded, and moved just like Michael Jackson. The Elvis impersonator who closed the whole show was also really good. His voice sounded just like Elvis, and whether you like Elvis or not, you have to admit that some of his songs have unbelievably difficult notes that he can hold. This guy was great sounding, but was a little goofy looking, so it was hard not to kind of stare. At one point, he began singing a slow ballad, just him alone with a guitar, and I really felt like he was looking right at me. It was beginning to feel kind of awkward, so I nudged Bobby to tell him but before I could say anything Bobby looked at me and said “I think he’s looking at you!” Suddenly, the Elvis spoke right into the microphone: “I’m singing to her, sir, not you.” And the whole audience burst out laughing and they put a spotlight on us and he continued singing at me which was for some reason unbearable.



In all of the tourist spots they always have someone with a camera ready to take your picture and then try to sell it to you. Because after awhile it gets sort of annoying, Bobby’s new thing is to make crazy faces when they are trying to position you to get your photo. They obviously want the best picture they can so that you’ll buy it, and no matter how much they tell us to smile, Bobby will make crazy faces or pretend he’s taking a bite out of my head. All the while, I’m oblivious to this and smile nicely for the camera. The people who then try to sell them to us get a good laugh when we ask them to find our photos and they spot Bobby’s crazy face in the mix.



We are heading to Washington DC for our final leg of the trip. Heading up through North Carolina tonight.

Funny Pics from Knoxville/DollyWood

Old Fashioned photo I forgot to flip.....







Funny sign at Dolly Wood :)








Dolly had a little museum filled with all of her childhood things, this chalkboard was in there that she wrote on and I thought it was very nice.











Bobby's found this crazy t-shirt and we laughed so loud in the store....







At Bob Evans everything was named Bob!