Birmingham, AL

My friend Dale posted some pics of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Alabama. He and I rode our motorcycles there over a 3 day weekend, the 6th through the 8th of August. We had a blast although it was hot (including heat index it was about 110 degrees every day). We rode blue highways there and back and really got to see t...he character of the places we were riding through. It was a trip well worth suffering the heat to take. This is one of the premier motorcycle museums in the world and well worth the visit for anyone into motorcycles.

Pics: http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=2070677&id=1528986072&fbid=1531827985507&ref=mf

And on to Charleston, SC

After visiting Asheville, NC on our vacation, we moved on to Charleston, South Carolina. This city is wonderful. Lots of historical stuff and welcoming people. We thought that Savannah, Georgia was our favorite southern city before visiting Charleston. Now Charleston is the winner. We even discussed what it would take ...to get us to move there (winning the lottery).
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=myuploads#!/album.php?id=1530695562&aid=2069813

Trip to East Coast

Michelle and I took a vacation last month. We visited Ashville, North Carolina so we could see the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands judged show. It filled two floors of the Asheville Convention Center and was awesome. Before a person could display there they had to be elected members of the Craft Guild. I bought a ...little hand made leather pouch to carry "possibles" in my pocket and Michelle bought a pair of ear rings. Together we bought a numbered print of cats to go in our dining room. This show will repeat in October and we plan on returning again then. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070677&id=1528986072&ref=mf#!/album.php?id=1530695562&aid=2069811

I am going to try to incorporate my twits and my facebook posts (at least most of the ones that matter to me) into my blog just to try to add some permanence to this and make a (sort of journal) out of this blog. Maybe I will be my best reader...

I am back

Took a break. What can I say but that this blog is for me and I don't feel compelled to write if I am not in the mood.

I went to the BMW dealer in Nashville this past Tuesday (No, not the car dealer. The motorcycle one.) Turns out that they are also a Piaggio dealer (I knew that), a Vespa dealer (I didn't know that) and a Ducati dealer (big surprise, I had no idea). After looking at the BMW's I went downstairs to see the Piaggio MP3's and I first waded into a sea of beautiful Ducati motorcycles. I drooled all the way to the back of the lower area where the Piaggio's were and found I was in for a surprise. The Piaggio scooters were also beautiful. I didn't know they had imported so many large displacement scooters into the USA. 250 and 500 cc scooters all around me. I am so glad I wasn't ready to spend lots of money. I didn't buy a new bike - I don't need one and I can't afford the burden of a motorcycle payment while Wes is still in college. But I can dream.

Peace,
Doug

After the break...

After a break here, I am back at the keyboard. In the interim, Michelle has had her surgery and is doing pretty good post op. She struggles some with food and eating but I feel confident that it will work itself out.

I have the driveway and sidewalks done finally. Now, today Wes and a friend are coming over to put a retaining wall in beside the driveway and topsoil behind it(might as well pay them as paying someone I don't know). We are also going to re-do the Zen Garden that I have right in the front of the house. It never was much more that some white rock before. Now it will be much much better (I hope!).

My back continues to hurt a lot. I am going to make an appointment with my neurosurgeon to see what is going on. I hope I don't have to have more back surgery.

Found my Bodi seed bracelet. I thought I had lost it, had been looking for it for over a month. This is a good thing.

I am going to stop here, Wes should be here within the next 10 minutes.

Peace,
Doug

An eventful day

Today has been an eventful day and it isn't even 7PM yet. I started the day hearing someone outside the house right after the alarm clock went off. Going to investigate I found the guys from the Concrete company that was sub-contracted to do my sidewalks and driveway. I had last seen them 3 weeks ago when they had come to the house and installed the forms for my sidewalks. It has rained every day except one since then so they couldn't do any more on the job. Today, no rain. So they were there. There was only one problem. Today was also the day that we were going to Nashville as Michelle is having surgery tomorrow. We talked it over, the guys told me that they would be done by 1PM so we waited to leave for Nashville. It was a good wait, I went out and watched them work. It was enjoyable to watch them and I learned a great deal about concrete, pouring concrete and finishing concrete. They finished at about 2 PM and Michelle and I left the house for Nashville.

After a nice drive down to Nashville and through the city we arrived at our hotel. It is a Holiday Inn and it is directly across the street from Centennial Park which has a copy of the Parthenon. We are close to Vanderbilt University and in a "nice" part of town. The lobby is nicer than anything we have in Bowling Green. We were pleasantly surprised when we got to our room. The room was pretty good sized and looked luxurious. We were greeted by a Swan on our bed made from towels and washcloths. We also found more Swans in the bathroom on the counter and hanging from the grab rail in the shower. We also have a large HDTV in a cabinet at the foot of our bed. All the furnature is finished Cherry. All in all, one of the nicest hotel rooms I have ever encountered. I took pictures and (hopefully) we be adding them to the blog in days to come.

We will be getting up early tomarrow morning, we have to be at the hospital by 5:30 AM in the morning.

Peace,
Doug