2 pickets to Tittsburgh

Bob found us a great campsite,...downtown Pittsburgh (it's memorial day weekend, all the campgrounds are full of amateurs...we retired folk can work our way around that). So we're in a parking lot, no hookups, in the midst of Steeler country. Got our bikes out and rode around the city, along bike paths on the river to Heinz Field, to "the Strip" where we'll revisit tomorrow for a big farmer's market, across the 2 rivers to an incline (a rail car, straight up a 45 degree hill) to view the city from above (a little scary on the observation platform), and back downtown to have a few coolies and watch a Spike mini-series, "hill point" be filmed. It's a beautiful city...who knew? And the people are very friendly...apparently no one here has cool bikes or a big dog! At one point we were biking along, Bob sneezed, and a passer-by said "bless you"! We like it here. Hopefully we won't be vandalized or killed tonight:(

New England

We should write more than every 2 weeks, because a lot can happen...The R&R Hall of Fame was very cool! They don't allow photos, so don't have anything to show. It was more like a Hard rock cafe/museum than what I expected. The best part was they had some hand written lyrics from a few artists to the songs we know and love. Cleveland was a much prettier/cleaner city than we expected also. Stayed there one more night (in a real campground), then headed to Niagra Falls. Bob surprised me on Mother's Day with a stop at the Buffalo Botanical Gardens ( I thought we were lost, and was hollering at him to let me be the navigator...felt pretty bad when we reached the gardens). It was beautiful and a very nice stop. Guess we'll have to go to some motorcycle museum for Father's Day! Niagra Falls was awesome. We didn't do the touristy thing with the boats, but walked around the falls for an hour or so. Cheyenne was the only dog there, so she was a hit! Bob got a bit nervous about the tire situation, so we stopped in Syracuse, NY for an alignment and 2 more new tires (on the other side), which held us up for a day, but piece of mind is good too. Apparently we knocked the camper out of whack in the Baja (go figure). But we're all good now.Got to Christine & Mike's last Tuesday, and have been doing some landscaping (it's a brand new house, and they just put in a pool), playing a bit of golf (the course is right across the street), and hanging with the in laws/having a blast! Bob tried to go to the Indian Motorcylcle museum and the Columbia bicycle factory yesterday...both were closed (the motorcycle museum had been closed for 2 years, and the bicycle museum doesn't allow visitors for liability reasons). At least he got a good motorcycle ride in, but he was bummed. Both our golf games are getting worse instead of better, so we're going to give it a rest today. Went to NYC last Sunday:) Mike drove (2-1/2 hrs), we spent about 5 hours walking around the city...not nearly enough time, but it gave us a taste, and we HAVE to go back at some point. What a huge city...it makes Chicago look like Appleton. We walked around Times Square, saw the Ed Sullivan theatre, Radio City Music Hall, Carnagie hall, NBC studios, Rockefeller Plaza, St. Patrick's cathedral,...walked through Central Park (not the whole thing...it's also very huge), then drove down to Ground Zero. Wow..what can I say about that. It was very somber and depressing. Hundreds of people viewing the site, and nobody speaking. Then walked to the tip of the city and saw the statue of Liberty from a distance...didn't take the boat to Ellis Island. Maybe next time. I'd like to spend a week there.So you're up to date. We'll be home on 5/31 for a while. Still feels like vacation:)

We're on the road again!

This is our first re-entry in the blog since the Baja...We haven't kept it up because retirement has been very busy! Let me backtrack...sold the shop 2/14/07; sold all our belongings at a "friends only" rummage sale 4/21, then signed on both houses on 4/27, and have been homeless since:) Stayed at our good friends' Lyle & Lisa's for 10 days so Bob could do a motorcycle race on 5/6, then departed Wisconsin on 5/7 to head east to visit Bob's sister & husband (Chris & Mike) for a couple weeks. Our first stop was in Milwaukee, at the State Fair Park "campground" (a parking lot w/hookups), visited with Bob's cousins, aunt & uncle, and gramas. Took in a Brewer game (if you haven't seen Miller Park, it's a definate stop), then headed to Lockport, IL to visit our good friends Dan & Bev (who were vacationing in Kentucky while we were there...they very generously let us park in their driveway and drain their electricity and water, while we partied with our friends and their neighbors, Von & Ferris). We had a blast with them...played some golf (Bob beat me finally), played some Canasta, mowed their lawns with the most awesome lawnmower I've ever experienced...they told me "it drives just like a skidsteer". Didn't know what that meant, but it was a blast! I mowed 2+ acres of grass in an hour! We're writing from just southwest of Cleveland. Stopped here (at the Wallyworld campground) because we blew the treads off a camper tire on I80 a little way from here. That was fun:( Bob felt a tug, and I looked back and saw tire shrapnal flying everywhere! Bob changed it like a Nascar pit crew on the side of the highway while the semis were flying by and almost blowing the camper over. Most impressive! So we pulled into this town and got 2 new tires installed. Tomorrow we're going to hit the rock & roll hall of fame and check out Cleveland a bit, then on to Niagra Falls. So far it feels like a vacation. I guess that's ok, hopefully that's the way it always feels! My point is, "retirement" hasn't sunk in. I'm sure that will take a while. As always, we welcome emails and will write back right away, as soon we have a signal at least. Thanks for checking in...