Travel to the stars and back

We left Natural Bridge, Virginia and headed back to Williamsburg. We drove along highway 64 the same route we had taken out of Williamsburg on the way to Asheville and Pigeon Forge. Highway 64 runs through Richmond and afforded us a chance to refuel and resupply at a Costco. I am always amazed but James Sinegal the C.E.O. of Costco and we read again today of the Wall Street types critical of this company and it's dedication to their employees and customers. Costco is criticized often for treating it's employees too well (pay averages $17.00/ hour vs $9.70/Hour at Walmart) and customers (he insists on margins no higher than 15%). Mr. Sinegal you are a true American hero.

Matthew decided he wanted to rent a car that he could use in Williamsburg, Virginia so we went to the Hertz at the Richmond International Airport and dropped him off (with our extra cell phone) to find Hertz. In the meantime the only place to wait in our RV was in front of "The Virginia Aviation Museum"


It was pretty cool being next to this amazing SR-71 reconnaissance plane. It was unofficially nicknamed the "Blackbird," the SR-71 was developed as a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft capable of flying at speeds over Mach 3.2 and at 85,000 feet. The first SR-71 to enter service was delivered in 1966 (the year Scrabble Queen and the Contender started the great Scrabble match) and due to politics, it was retired in 1990. If you think there is a resemblance to today's stealth aircraft you can start to realize the time it takes to achieve some of the technical advancements made over the last



The A7 (Corsair/Intruder/Crusader) was a treat I always considered it a rather Rube Goldberg looking contraption but those who's lives were saved by pilots flying the daring missions they were used for love these planes and their pilots.


We arrived in Williamsburg and Matt and the girls took off for Water Country (again) and then Bush Gardens (again) with Maggi and Nathan while I sat around with Scrabble Queen and washed clothes and watched the latest news and even rented "Million Dollar Baby." The movie got two thumbs up and despite having a really emotional ending the story, dialogue and acting were first rate. Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman were so natural in their dialogue it made you forget who they were (despite the indelible characters they created in the Unforgiven) and Hillary Swank was totally believable as Maggie Fitzgerald. Later that night as Matt and I were hanging outside late at night I snapped some moon shots through the trees.

The moon in this picture is from one of the pictures I snapped at high zoom and superimposed over the second picture where the exposure of the moon was solid and did not show the features. I found in order to get the trees to show I needed a longer exposure but the moon was blurred and to get a sharp exposure of the moon the trees were blurred so voila a little magic and all is well.

Elaine and Doug dropped by our last day in Williamsburg after their trip to Maine. It was good seeing them both and after they left I thought about how dear Elaine is and how good a man Doug is and has been in her life. It was a little more special when Kathy called Elaine while they were visiting because I could say hello one more time to my big sister that brilliant artist lady from Texas who prides herself on the quality of her fire ants. Love you both Kathy and Elaine.

Well here I am we dropped off Matt and the girls in Stafford after a great Japanese dinner in a "fix it in front of you" place as the girls called it. After a lot of fire and sizzle we ate and couldn't help but wonder why the cook at the table next to ours who was way more daring, flipping knives and with much higher flames bad his entire nose bandaged. Bet he got an extra tip or lost the one he had (between his eyes)

Well it's been a great trip and we have one more week or so before we head home. I miss Oregon and the green mountains and the Pacific ocean and the tiedyed Saturday market and the yes the rain....... Sharyn's orchid she left with Serena is blooming first time in 3 years and we will miss the blooms (drats) but life goes on and that's all any of us can ask except for Maggie Fitzgerald.......

I do have my images and this one I found from the drive on Sears road between Creswell and Cottage Grove.



Scrabble Scores - sorry I lost the paper with the scores but we played two games and it was a split decision Scrabble Queen eeeeeked one out and the Contender clobbered her in the rematch

Quote of the Day

"It's the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you." ~ Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris (character played by Morgan Freeman in the movie "Million Dollar Baby")