Photo Memories From the Past

When we were in Hershey, Pennsylvania, this fall I saw this ball cap that made me think of Kristy. I thought of Kristy because she bought a Reese's T-shirt in Hershey back in 1979. So we bought the cap to give to her at Christmas.

Here is the famous T-shirt that Kristy bought way back in 1979. It was her favorite back in the day and we just had to celebrate by giving her the updated ball cap from the 21st Century.

As I was looking for the T-shirt photo I came across this winter picture that shows our old Shasta travel trailer that we had for several years in the mid 1970s. That trailer was our first "fixed wall" trailer.

Then I came across this picture of Connie's parents Class C motorhome that they had back in the 80s. Here are the Brask and Cutlan cousins posing with Grandpa and Grandma Cutlan's Mobile Traveler.

I found this picture on the Internet of a unit very similar to their motorhome. An individual had recently purchased this model and is using it today. While we were in Florida on our recent trip we commented several times about Connie's parents and their RVing pioneer spirit. We are carrying on that spirit.

We were also talking the other day about Chad's first new bicycle. Connie's folks got him this "Evel Knievel" bike when we lived on Broadway Place in Normal.

Then Kirk also got a new bike around that same time that was pretty fancy for it's day.

We have been a bicycle family for a long time. Connie and I both rode bikes as kids and then we brought that practice into our family. Today we are approaching 4,000 miles of riding since we renewed our bicycling interest in 1996.

But as I was looking through our photos I found this classic picture, and I said, "Wow this is a neat shot." Our kids, along with cousin Alison, in the northwoods posing in Grandpa Cutlan's "Army surplus" WWII Jeep. This pic was probably taken with an Kodak Instamatic camera.

Christmas in Florida

On December 22nd we left North Carolina and arrived in Orlando by noon the next day. Our 5th wheel had been stored for a month at the Lake Whipoorwill KOA Campground. When we tried to hook-up to move the trailer we found that the trailer battery was dead. This meant we had to call for a boost. AAA sent a cheerful helper, sporting a Santa cap on his truck, who got us going in no time at all. Welcome to the Florida Christmas spirit -- and it was over 80 degrees.

We drove across town to check in at our favorite Turkey Lake Campground. By the next day -- Christmas Eve day -- we had become "Florida Snowbirds" big time. We took a 10 mile morning bike ride and then enjoyed lunch on our "patio".
That afternoon we drove about 15 miles south to the Disney area and visited the beautiful community of Celebration. Here is Connie showing off the Florida style Christmas decorations of this quaint village.
On Christmas Day we visited a large and inspiring church nearby and found a restaurant that served a wonderful traditional Christmas Dinner. Then we returned to our trailer home that was decorated in the Christmas spirit and Skyped with Kirk while he opened his gifts back in Wisconsin. Later we talked with Chad as he was on the way to the Green Bay Packers game at Lambeau Field. Quite a Christmas!
Later the next week we moved to the Tampa area and had the privilege of entertaining Kristy and Brian as they flew down to spend three days with us. After picking them up at the airport we stopped for a visit and tour at Clearwater Christian College. One of Kristy's former students was working as a campus security guide and he gave us a personal tour of the campus.
We checked Kristy and Brian into the Country Inn & Suites adjacent to Lazydays Campground and RV dealership. Our trailer was parked at the campground and so we were neighbors for a few days.

The next morning we introduced them to the free Lazydays breakfast. Here we are hangin' out with the other Snowbirds.

Later that day we took a 10 mile bike ride at Clearwater Beach. It was a little cooler -- low 60's -- but still plenty of Florida sunshine.

Our short visit with Kristy and Brian was capped with a great dinner at Bahama Breeze on the waterfront of Tampa Bay. Beautiful night and good times!

Another blessing we had was to enjoy a dinner with long time friends Jim and Reva Munro. We had not seen them for quite some time and it was a wonderful evening of catching up, remembering and laughing. You can't spend time with Jim without laughing. Good times.