On the Road Again Summer 2012

11 June 2012 Hello Tom and I went to San Diego with Carrie, Bryan,Kelly,Molly, Samantha,Kirsten, Pete and Linda and Danielle the last week of May for a week. We stayed at the Navy Lodge and Cottages on the beach at Coronado Island for a week. What fun we had watching the kids play in the sand and water. We went to the Zoo and Balboa Park. We played games...Pit is Molly's favorite game...gets roudy of course. Danielle was the only one who had the experience of getting stung by a sting ray at the beach! We even were able to see Pat and George Cannode and their son David when we arrived in San Diego. How nice to see David as had not seen him for years. What fun family days. Maryann could not see an animal at the zoo so asked Tom to lift her up and when he did, heard a crack in her back. When arrived back in Tucson, Maryann's chiropractor was kind enough to see her and helped the pain...but before left Tucson was seen at Urgent care as the pain increased. Tom washed the Lexus and we repacked, visited with Hilda, Carol, and Teresa and Gerry and were ready to leave for our adventures East on Sunday afternoon. We spent our first night at El Paso, Texas at the base billeting. Maryann using Icy-hots on her back. We traveled to San Antonio, Texas the next day, checked into Lackland AFB Gateway Inn and Frank Palmisano joined us for dinner at Rudy's BBQ. Frank was stationed with us at DM. It was so good to see him and catch up. The next day we had breakfast with Tom and Vicki Bader who we were stationed with in Germany and had not seen since 1980, but again it was just like we had not been apart! We traveled to Keesler AFB in Lousianna and spent the night before we arrived in Montgomery, Alabama to visit with Doug and Luke Watkins and their dog Manny. Sybilla and Taryn were in Holland. We are so blessed to have such friends that we can just pop in on and made to feel so welcome. By the way, we had the best spring water right out of the mountain spring in Prattville, Alabama. We bid farewell to them and headed to Crestview, Florida and had a delightful lunch with Ann O'Conner and her friend Jim. We had never met Jim but seemed like we had known him forever too. We then surprised John O'Conner at his garage in Crestview and met his wife, Teresa and his son Mikey (who we had not seen since he was 4 years old). We were stationed with Ann and John in Germany and had not seen them since 1979! Words cannot explain the feelings when we get to give our friends a hug and the years just disapear from the last time we were together. We then drove less than an hour and arrived at Sandy and Joe Causby's home in Niceville, Florida. We were stationed with Sandy in Cheyenne, Wyoming at F.E. Warren in the 1980's. Sandy and Joe had visited us in Tucson several years ago. We spent 2 wonderful nights with them and their two dogs Hope and Lizzi-Grace at their beautiful home. They showed us around the area of Destin, Fort Walton Beach. The area has beautiful white sand beaches. Also took us to some great local resturants...The Front Porch, The Back Porch, Maquires etc. We even got to join in on a walk with Hope and Lizzi-Grace! We left them and headed to Cocoa, Florida to spend time with Tom's sister, Charlotte and her husband, Bill. We arrived in Cocoa about 7:30 PM and once again received a warm welcome. We have been here for 2 days now and have been treated to great food and good family time. Maryann went back to Urgent Care today and had an X-Ray and no fractures but lots of tightness so given a course of prednisone and robaxin. So hopefully is on the way to less back pain. We left Sandy and Joe just in time as they had some really bad rain and flooding in the panhandle of Florida. We have had hot and humid weather. Tomorrow Tom is going to meet with a doctor he was stationed with in Viet Nam who had contacted him a few months ago and lives about an hour from here. He is looking forward to catching up with him. We are keeping in contact with Kelly and family and Carrie as we travel, of course. We send you all our thoughts and think of all of you that are keeping watch over our home etc. as we take this journey again this year. What blessings we have had on the road and having the best of moments spent with family and friends. Until our next blog. God Bless each of you and we will keep you in our prayers as we travel. Sending special hugs. Love Tom and Maryann