Alas, we pulled away from the B&B on November 30th with Fastball's song "The Way" playing in Buzz the Beamer. It was bittersweet pulling out of the driveway. Relieved the conflict was over but saddened to leave our friends and town behind. Making our way back to the twin cities for a few nights to say some final good byes, we were off to our favorite B&B in Turtle Lake, WI (Canyon Road Inn). We felt it appropriate to start our new journey where the previous one began. Conversations on the deck of one of the rooms in this inn 5 1/2 years ago showed us the way to The Arbor Inn. Reflecting on the awesome adventure we had, we spent two well needed nights in "The Haven" and left feeling refreshed and ready to be on the road. With two glorious days of downtime our next mission was to eventually see the kids and grandkids in Indianapolis. Before we reached our destination we stayed at Brayton B&B in Osh Kosh, WI. Fantastic breakfast, great hosts and quiet room.
Pulling away from Osh Kosh and headed toward Indiana we decided to do a tour of Lambeau Field. When we would ever get this opportunity again? No time commitments, just an open road to explore. We took the 45 minute tour, from the suite seats to the field and took it all in. We have to agree that the field looks a whole lot bigger on TV. Those players are just making it look a lot harder than it really is. We are confident, with shoulder pads and a helmet, we would certainly be considered for the team. Certainly Deb's pink Packer jersey could be part of the team uniform.
Completing the tour we continued the drive through Chicago and eventually hit Indianapolis. We were thrilled to be reunited for a few days with Munch and Spaz. They greeted us with enthusiasm, yelping, jumping and kisses. We returned the emotions looking a little sillier than the dogs yelping and jumping. Spending a few nights with Johns dad gave us a chance to see not only his dad but our son JJ and his fiance Steph and our daughter Angel and her family. For the few times we have been able to spend time with our grandkids they seems to remember who we are! We brought all 3 of them (Quintin, Kayden and Olyvia) slippers to keep their tiny toes warm this winter. We received a GIANT 5 lb Snickers Bar from JJ & Steph for our journey. Always great to have if you get stuck in a snowstorm (along with the wine bottle opener, deck of cards, bottle of wine and the blanket).
After a great visit with the family our next destination was New Orleans. We, of course, had a few days to kill in between. Driving to Nashville to stay for a night we indulged in some "Gator Bites". Gator? Why not. Tastes like chicken, little chewier maybe. We ate dinner in a restaurant with a catfish pond in it. We were wondering if the owners would
mind it we gave catfish noodling a whirl but were a little sheepish about asking. Maybe next time! The weather was less than desirable so we decided to drive on the bad weather days in search of sunnier days. Perfect rainy weather for a cave tour though. We stopped at Mammoth Caves in KY. First dry county I have ever been in. WHAT...no margarita with my Mexican food for lunch? That being said, we took a 2 mile tour of a small part of the cave and it was amazing. Unbelievably there are 392 miles of discovered caves in this area and many more to be discovered. Crazy. Needless to say we scurried right out of KY to "wetter" counties. We wound up in Ridgeland, MS for 3 nights. Who knew we could have taken the Natchez Trace Parkway 364 miles all the way from Nashville? Apparently the Natchez Trace Parkway is a 2 lane road that travels for miles along a very scenic path. There are only a few place to exit and enter this stretch of American beauty and no gas stations along the way (you must get off at one of the exits and search for one). Fascinating!
Off to New Orleans to meet John's brother (Todd). As most of you have probably met him along the way you can imagine that we were geared up for a crazy adventure. Arriving before him, we couldn't check into the hotel yet so we headed to Mother's for lunch and back to the hotel. After he arrived it was game on. Exploring Bourbon Street with him as a tour guide proved an interesting, entertaining yet informative venture. We had to stop at Acme Oyster House to get the party started. Famous for their oysters we couldn't pass it up! Moving up and down Bourbon Street we found a purple voodoo cocktail at Lafitte's Balcksmith shop. It is the oldest bar there and operates with no electricity. There are candles on the table and they play great music. Oh, and did we mention the purple voodoos? Mix everclear, bourbon and grape slushy together and it is the adult version of a Mr. Misty. YUM! The street was crazy and it was only Thursday in the off season. This place must be insane during the busy season! In and out of bars, different cocktails from one to another. Todd treated us to a tarot card reading that was absolutely astonishing. Just like the movies we sheepishly opened the beaded doorway and sat for our reading. All she asked was our names. To make a long story short we each picked cards (John picked 8, Deb picked 6) and the reading began. All we can say is that she was dead on about a lot of the things the cards said. Due to the nature of the cards that she turned over she informed us that the reading was a very strong one and we would finally settle down sometime between April and July. We left feeling very excited about what the future has in store for us. New Orleans is filled with more stories, too many to put in this blog as it has taken us a month to write the first one!
After we left New Orleans (sensory overload but super fun and great food) we stopped at a friends house for the night in Louisiana. We spent some great time catching up and swapping stories about our lives for the past 9 years. We went out for lunch to try more fresh seafood (more gator, crawfish, shrimp, etc) and continued on our journey to Galveston. Following our GPS we found ourselves on a peninsula headed for our destination. The symbol on our GPS was one we hadn't seen before. John says, "it looks like a boat". What? I said, "it's not a boat". Sure enough, getting close to the bay, we had to take a ferry to Galveston. Buzz had his first boat ride with us. We drove on the ferry and, after it pulled away from the dock, we could get out of our vehicle and go up on the deck. We saw dolphins swimming in the bay and were super excited that our adventures included an unexpected boat ride.
Exiting the ferry we arrived at a condo we had rented in Galveston, TX for 4 nights. We walked the beach and it was beautiful weather. It was really a chance to unwind and relax and spend a couples days with just the two of us before heading to Colorado to see the family for Christmas. 
We left Galveston very early on Friday morning to start the trek to Colorado. All was going smoothly until we hit (or should I say got hit) in Dallas. Heading north on I-35 Buzz got rear-ended. Funny timing. We were 3 miles from a BMW dealership that we could go get Buzz checked out to see if he was still safe to drive. We got an estimate and we were on our way, planning on dealing with the repair in Colorado. We took a break in Salina, Kansas for the night and got to Colorado in time for Christmas. We have been enjoying time with our families and seeing Deb's sister (and family) that we have not seen in 9 years.
We are looking forward to a new year and new adventures! We want to say thank you to all those awesome friends who have hosted (or put up with) us for a night or two. We really appreciate all your support and friendship. Cheers!
OH..it may be a while before our next blog. The engine we are using is very non-user friendly and we will try to search for another site to use!
