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Plans for the New Year

 Well, now there's a subject you don't normally see from me.  I think the near future is getting a little clearer and I thought I'd let you know what my plans were for at least the next several months.   First, I'd like to fill you in on my recent activities here in Pensacola.  Between Sundays and Christmas, I have had the opportunity to attend four different churches in the past couple of weeks.  Besides staying current with my home church, First Presbyterian in Fargo, I have gone to a Unitarian Service with Mary Ann and Stu in Charleston, a Methodist Christmas Eve service with Char here in Pensacola, and again last Sunday with Char at the Hillcrest Baptist Church.  All have been interesting, and each has its own different take on religion.  I would have been able to add Char's nondomination church next Sunday, but we're not going to be in Pensacola (more on that later).  We've spent the last week or so running errands, working on Sif, doing...
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Pensacola, FL (back again)

In retrospect I should have continued to Pensacola last night.  The Quality Inn I stayed at in Valdosta was under renovation.  I had asked for a first-floor room, but they said those were all under the process of being redone. Well, the room I had on the second floor certainly needed an upgrade to even bring it up to minimum standards.  It was livable and by the time I got back from dinner at Applebee's, it was too late to do anything. I've stayed in worst over the years but certainly thought I had passed those times :-).  A call to the front desk didn't accomplish anything because they said maintenance would not come until the following day.  It made for an early departure this morning because I didn't even want to shower in the room.  Also, the hot breakfast which was advertised really meant hot coffee and do-it-yourself pancakes (not my favorite).  Oh well, enough grousing! Started out on 84 to Thomas County whose seat is Thomasville (what a great n...
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Valdosta, GA

 Welcome to the Azalea City!  Had an uneventful trip from Charleston to Valdosta.  Ha a little traffic backup on US17/I-95 just outside of Charleston.  It was construction and a crash causing an accordion effect on traffic.  Once I got off the interstate and on the state roads, it was much better.  Beautiful day - got to 70 degrees, so I'm finally getting that warmth that the south is supposed to be noted for :-). Mostly took US 84 diagonally from the coast to Valdosta.  Small towns, good roads, and it seems the only farm product is pine.  A lot of pine forests in various stages of growth and a couple which had just been harvested with slash piles of left-over wood piles.  Got to Valdosta around 4 and checked into the Quality Inn which is in the main shopping center.  Had dinner at Applebee's - didn't have much company as it was not crowded at all.  Not the case with the highways and roads in Valdosta - plenty of traffic and everyon...
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Charleston, SC #2

 Today was another beautiful day in Charleston.  After breakfast with Stu and Mary Ann, we went to their church - Unitarian in downtown Charleston.  Believe it or not, it had been built in 1772!  Great sermon by Rev Rebecca Hinds on Solstice (which was today at 10:03 a.m.).  Interesting sermon built around the fact that it is the longest night of the year and then increases by two seconds tomorrow.  Small step, but it is a great change because it signifies the beginning of longer days and more sunshine.  By next Sunday, the day will have increased by a whole minute. The chalice which I took a picture of was one donated by Mary Ann on her 85th birthday.  She commissioned a local artist to do the work but had the general idea of what she wanted done. In today's service, they lit the candle in the chalice which represents wind, fire, air, and earth and then before the service was over, they extinguished it.  After church we went to downtown Char...
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Charleston, SC

 It was a long day's drive from Prattville AL to Charleston SC, mostly because I wanted to take back roads rather than interstates for the entire trip.  Fun drive going through some sparsely populated country, mostly farmland and forests.  I really enjoy seeing all the trees after living and traveling so much in Nevada.  Although there are trees in Reno and the Sierra Nevada, they are very sparse in the rest of the state (as is the case with North Dakota).  Travelled from Alabama through Georgia to South Carolina.  Crops varied from cotton and hay to pecans and peaches.  Didn't see many peanut farms, but then I'm not sure what they would look like.  Assume they would be something low like a soybean or potato plant, but I'll have to check and see where they are grown. Did see a cute sign in front of one of the Georgia churches.  Their bulletin board out front had a sign - Mary Wrapped the First Present.  Very appropriate! Ran into horrend...
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Prattville, AL

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Well might you ask where is Prattville?  Actually, it's a few miles NW of Montgomery, AL.  I'm staying here on my way to Charleston to see my sister - Mary Ann and her husband Stuart.  I wanted to travel through Montgomery because I had been stationed here for a brief period while I attended Squadron Officers School.  It's kind of a round robin way to get to Charleston and I'll return to Pensacola on Monday through Jacksonville. I left Pensacola around noon today and headed north on 29.  Problem with that route was that they had a terrible truck accident a few miles south of Flomaton AL.  Somehow a tractor trailer managed to flip over and block both lanes of traffic.  Due to there not being any shoulders on that highway, traffic came to a complete stop.  One truck tried to go around and he got stuck, further increasing the problem.  After sitting at a standstill for almost an hour, I had the opportunity to turn around and find a different way...
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Atmore, AL

 Today was another beautiful day in Pensacola.  A little on the cool side, but the sun was out and warmed us up considerably.  After breakfast, Char, me, and Debbie Bechtel (friend of Char's who is visiting from St Petersburg, FL), went over to Char and George's rental house which they are cleaning up to put on the market.  A little yardwork and clean-up in the shed and then we went back to Char's.   We decided to take a trip up to Canoe, AL and Atmore, Al (about 45 minutes north of Pensacola).  Char and George have bought a barndomium in Canoe where George can stay and be closer to work at the Poarch Creek Indian Reservation where he is the Medical Director.  If you haven't heard of a barndominium, don't worry - neither had I nor my correction help hadn't either.  It kept trying to give me another word :-).  Effectively, it's a barn in the country with small living quarters attached.  George has a full-size camping trailer which he...
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