MY DISNEY

The Circle of Life continues



Where dreams come true.



Chinese water lilies



African Safari


Epcot Spaceship Earth




Animal Kingdom


India


India








African Bat with wing span of six feet.




Chinese Story Teller dated from the Ting Dynasty



japanese zen garden with Coy 12 inches long, at least.


Moroccan tile work


Mission: space. Quite a ride


View of Ft. Wilderness from the ferry


Disney World was quite a ride. Going without small children brought a whole new prospective to the theme parks.

Ft. Wilderness campground is relaxing with two pools. We did manage to spend a couple hours by one of them. There are canoes to rent for the river that runs through the campground, horseback riding, carriage rides, none of which we had time (or energy) to do. We did get to the Wilderness Lodge and explored Indian relics and totems. Dinner was appetizers in the bar (be sure you get dinner reservations early at all restaurants in Disney. There are buffalo hoof prints in the cement sidewalks leading to buffalo topiary. There are fossils in the sidewalks around the Lodge and each of the six levels explore the sediments of the levels of the Grand Canyon.

Taking our time through the countries of Epcot gave us the opportunity to see Chinese children acrobats, an old southern choir, The Beatles band, the Canadian band, lunch in morocco and dessert in France with champagne, a tour of the replica of the Chinese tomb warriors, a walk through a Japanese zen garden, Japanese drummers, and dinner in Great Britain on the waters edge watching the firework show. There is also a wine and food festival going on there with several booths for tasting the world.

Magic Kingdom was short and sweet with rides on Pirates of the Caribbean and The haunted mansion. That's all. Then off to dinner at Downtown Disney at Gloria Estafan's Cuban restaurant, Bongos.

It was the first trip to Animal Kingdom for both of us. Since we were able to avoid all roller coasters and kiddie areas, we took our time through the jungles of Asia and Africa. These areas are a zoo of jungle animals and vegetation. The afternoon was topped off with an African safari. We were detained when rhino blocked the road (animals have the right of way). A large truck used its bumper to gently move the rhino from the road. It was pretty entertaining.

We took our time which made it was a wonderful experience.

St. Joseph State Park

St. Joseph State park, Cape San Blas, Pt. St. Joe, Florida. It's not the end of the earth, but it's pretty damn close. They call it the forgotten coast, I forget why. It might have been ok if we didn't have to deal with the bugs. We fought a giant mosquito when it threatened to carry Rollo away. Steve fought a cloud of flies when he went to carry the garbage (I'm not kidding about that one). Nana stayed covered in burrs. We had to take our shoes off at the door so we wouldn't bring them into the RV. We're still picking burrs out of the carpet. The only restaurants were 30 miles away, if you could find one open. And heaven forbid it was after 8pm, nothing was open.

Other than that it was a beautiful beach. One of the prettiest in Florida. And the butterflys were migrating. They were everywhere. Maybe we'll come back one day, NOT.

A Great Time Was Had By All

We are leaving Panama City Beach this morning. Not to worry, we're going to St. Joseph State Park, just down the coast. There is a time limit on staying in state parks, so its time to move on. Our new plan (it changes all of the time) is to spend 10 days in St. Joe, then go to Daytona for another bike week. We've decided not to go too far south, gas prices you know. We're coming home after that, October 20th or about. Unless we change our minds.

What a great time I've had. The final count was 45,000 people for motorcycle week. It was a lot of fun. Everyone is extremely safe and courteous at these rallies. With one exception. A girl picked up a guy and he got on the back of her bike, at two in the morning, both drinking, no helmets, she didn't have a motorcycle license, and they hit a curve at 90 mile an hour. They both died. But to me that's just stupidity.

The atmosphere changed when the bikers left. Now its families with small children. I sat on the beach and watched the children playing in the water. I didn't sit long though, there are biting flys here that are driving everyone crazy. They are even in the campground. But as long as we are moving on our bikes, they don't bother us. So we keep moving. I even had to put gas in my bike the other day! It costs $9. You see I get 90 miles to the gallon and it only holds three gallons. Isn't that great!!!!!

Steve surprised me with a dinner cruise on the Lady Anderson. They had a buffet, a band for dancing, and beautiful views from the top deck. It was very romantic and wonderful.

Occasionally, I'll look up and see a lone dragonfly. One flew across my bike when I was stopped at a light, one flew across me at the beach, there was one at the restaurant we went to last night. This has happened many times. Each time I think about my friends back home and get a bit nostalgic.

I'm posting pictures of some of the second half of Panama City Beach. The view from our motorhome, the beach, the boat ride. Now I'm nastolgic about leaving. This is another one of those places where I could easily live.

Next stop, St. Joseph State Park in Port St. Joe. Missing all of you.

Thunder Beach Motorcycle Rally

Back on the road again. FINALLY!!!!! This is my first motorcycle rally and it's so much fun. Every kind of motorcycle you can imagine is here, Harleys, Honda goldwings, rice rockets, choppers, trikes, scooters (including mine), even some bikes with volkswagon engines. Thursday they said there were about 25,000 motorcycles in panama city beach, and that was before the weekend began. It's a pretty subdued crowd considering all the bikers. But, I am finding out the real definition of "biker". They are anything from blue collar to professional, teenager to retired (we're taking 70's on harleys), men, women, families. I saw a whole family with grown kids and the grandfather had his grandson on the back of his trike.

What is interesting is everyone at the beach in jeans. I see very few people on bikes with shorts on. Although, this is Florida, hardly anyone wheres a helmet. I guess its a personal preference, but I treasure my brain too much to not where one.

The campground where we are staying in beautiful. St. Andrews State Park. I haven't been to the beach yet other than to look at it, and it's gorgeous, white sand and blue water. that's my plan for tomorrow. There are motorcycles in the campground, but this seems to be the quieter of the areas. It shuts down at dark, as do we. We're staying here until Friday. The last day of the rally is tomorrow and the park will be pretty much empty. So will Panama City Beach. If you've never been here, September is the perfect month as far as weather and crowds.

I'll be checking in again in a few days. I'll be resting, sunning, eating seafood, and thinking of every one of you.

diana the biker chick

Mackenzie Turns THREE

Can you believe it? MacKenzie is three. She brings so much joy to my life. She was so fun during her party. I had my family over and cooked burgers. It was so good to see my mother. I've missed her so much. She is doing a great job recovering from her surgery. Sara was able to stay up during the whole party. I know she was pushing herself and I was proud of her.

Steve gave MacKenzie a pink Barbie fishing pole. MacKenzie and I went outside and fished in the pool. Then we climbed up onto the boat and fished from there. She had more fun driving the boat than fishing from it. I gave her a pink princess big wheel. The look on her face was priceless.

She fills me with so much love. What will I do with a second grandchild? I think I'll burst from happiness.

Dale Hollow Lake

We're home. Our last few days were interesting, filled with ups and downs. First, we met a neighter camper who took us out in the boat in the picture (those are his sons, not the camper). We were doing 60 miles an hour over the lake and it felt like we were floating. What a boat ride. They were sweet people from Ohio. I love meeting new people when we travel. There are so many interesting people out there.

We spent one day in Pall Mall, TN. This is where Sgt. Alvin C. York grew up. If you're not familiar with him, google him. He's a war hero from world war II, and quite a man. The first picture is of me and Sgt. York's son. It was cool meeting him. We bought the movie about Sgt. York and watched it that night. He talked a lot about his father. We ate lunch at a little cafe that had just opened up for the 127 corridor yard sale. We just missed it. It's 617 miles long.

Steve finally got the boat fixed. I don't know if I mentioned the holes in the pontoons. He assured me it wouldn't sink, but I sure am relieved the holes are fixed. I didn't know I have a water dog. I knew Nana liked to walk in the edge of the water. She did this a lot in the ocean and trout fishing. But, she got on the boat with us and loved it.

I'm glad to be home for a while. After I left, I found out they put my mother in the special care unit in St. Thomas. They had to put a tube down her throat and monitor her heart. She does have heart problems and the surgery caused even more problems. I spent several days on hold, waiting to see if I needed to come home. My sister kept in close touch. She stayed in there four days. Cassie has a couple of school friends that worked in the hospital, one was her nurse and one watched her heart monitor. She also had her heart doctor from Vanderbilt (who doesn't have priviledges there) calling every day to check on her. Her heart doctor went to school with her surgeon and my niece teaches dance to the daughter of the head anesthesiologist. I felt like she was being looked after pretty well. She was finally put in a regular room, but was in the hospital eleven days before she went home. I was pretty worried.

Then, on Friday before we left, Keith called and had to take Sara to the emergency room. She was incoherent. I waited with keys in hand ready to leave. The doctors said it was a combination of her sleep apnea and fibromyalgia that caused it. She is still in bed, but she is more coherent now. I remember being like that when I was bedridden. I wouldn't wish it on my enemys, much less my daughter. I was pretty worried.

The last day at Dale Hollow Lake, Saturday, we put Cleo in the lake and watched the sunset. I really needed that. So, I'm home, everyone is all right, and I'm ready to leave again. We have a busy traveling schedule planned, so I won't be home a long time. I'm not even moving back into the house. I'm staying in the motorhome until we leave again.

Diana the ready to leave again

Birthdays at Dale Hollow Lake

I spent my birthday reading a book, then off to a sunset cruise on Cleo. I think I'll collect sunsets.

Steve spent his birthday working on the boat. He found a hole coroded in the pontoon. He was moving the boat so he could work on it and a trailer tire blew out. It sounded like a gunshot. There is a ghost story here about three confederate soldiers who were deserters and their friends chased them down and shot them right in this campground. People have heard shots ring out in the campground. So, the whole campground went wild trying to find the ghosts. All I found was Steve kicking the trailer of the boat, and he wasn't white, he was red.

After he fixed the tire, and we ate dinner. We were invited by some neighbors for a sunset cruise in their 22 ft. searay. We zipped across the lake to Kentucky in about 15 minutes. It would have taken us three hours in Cleo. It was very, very fast. But steady. I was never frighted. I just can't believe they ski behind it.

Yesterday I met a fellow writer who has written history books about the area. He is called the gravedigger and does ghost walks in the campground. He gave me some books, one of which is his ghost stories for Dale Hollow Lake. Right below us is the old town of Willow Grove. It was flooded when the corp made the dam. The Corp says they moved all of the graves, but there is no record of some of the people being moved. the swimming area below the campground used to be the backyard of the Christ Church for Willow Grove, and it's cemetary. Kind of creepy swimming there now.

So, today I'm off to cruise on the lake, and maybe, do a little swimming. (oooohhhh).

We are at Willow Grove Campground overlooking the lake. We spent Saturday on Cleo (Cleopatra's barge). Sara and Keith came up for the day. They are planning to come again this Saturday. I think I could live here. The temperature is about 15 degrees cooler than in Nashville. The lake water is so clear you can see about 12 feet down. The water temperature is 80 degrees on the surface. I jumped in and felt nothing but cool, clean water. Getting out was another problem. Steve forgot to put a ladder on the boat. He was thinking fishing, not swimming. Keith made a rope ladder I put my feet in, then they both pulled me on board. How embarrassing. Of course, Keith just jumped right into the boat. Needless to say, Steve ordered a ladder yesterday for me.

We floated around the lake and did a little fishing. The lake is 120 ft in some spots. Today we bought a contour map to find shallower water for fishing. We haven't been back out again, yet. Steve is doing a little more work on the boat. We may drive to Sergeant York's birthplace tomorrow. It's close to here and I love history stuff. Although, it's hard to leave the campsite, the view is heavenly. There is also a beach area for swimming. That sounds good for tomorrow.

We've had some showers here, a few thunderstorms, but mostly beautiful weather. I think I could live here. Did I say that already?

The evening mist of the Obee River greeted our arrival. Standing on a fishing pier we watched the clear, cool water flow swiftly under our feet. Small trout from the fish hatchery swam in the swirls of the shallow water as if caught in a hurricane. The campground is quiet, except for the symphany of birds and crickets. The art pallette is filled with shades of yellow, brown, and black from butterfly that landed near my chair. When we seek it, we can find perfection.

Mississippi again

July 6th. I decided I should start dating my entries. This made sense as I started looking back and couldn't remember when things happened.

Steve fixed up an old laptop for Melanie in Mississippi. We're trying to update Waverly to the computer age. For those of you who don't know what Waverly is, it's a pre-civil war mansion that my friend lives in and gives tours in. so, we mailed the computer to Melanie and she had so much trouble with it that Steve decided to drive down there and fix it. We took of on the 6th, it's only a six hour drive in the car. We stayed in the mansion in the master bedroom. While there I wrote an article for Melanie about the mansion to send to newspapers. Then I took some pictures for her, and I'm redoing some of her brochures. I also redid the stationary for her. Mr. Robert, her father, was so excited he broke out a bottle of his best wine and went for the wine glasses.

"Oh, no" Melanie said, "He's getting the $2500 a piece wine glasses." He poured wine and insisted we toast. Steve and I held our breath as we clinked the $2500 a piece wine glasses against each other. I insisted on a picture in the dining room in front of the portrait of Melanie's mother. It sets the atmosphere of the mansion.

Melanie tells us stories of the little ghost girl that lives in the house. She said her mother used to put pennie on the floor in the ghost room in tic-tac-toe configurations. They next morning the pennies would be in different places. She would also find indentations on the bed as if a small child had laid on it. The ghost girl would call to her mother during the day when she was alone. Melanie was sleeping in the ghost room one night and saw the girl float across the room. We went upstairs to the ghost room and found an indentation on the bed. Steve decided to leave three dimes (he said they have copper in them now) on the table next to the bed. He placed them in a triangle with tail sides up and we left. We forgot about them the next morning when we left. Halfway home we called Melanie to check them. The dimes were no where to be found. There had been no tourists yet that day. Mr. Robert always goes upstairs in the morning to check all the rooms making sure they are ready for the tourists. He said there were no dimes on the table. They looked all over the room and the mansion and they were never found. I think the ghost girl likes Steve. They are still looking and Mr. Robert said he is never going in the ghost room again.

We ended up bringing her computer back because it crashed, but Steve can fix it. I swear, he could fix a rainy day. I've never been around a man that can fix things. We stayed two nights but had to leave. There is no air conditioning in the mansion, only a window unit in the small ached kitchen. At night all the windows and doors are left open for the natural cirulation. It was still hot. During the hottest part of the day we stayed in the kitchen. In the evening we would sit on the back porch.

I always have a good time in Mississippi. They feed me well, fresh eggs from their hens, pear preserves, homemade buscuits, ham, Jimmy Dean sausage (Jimmy Dean came to Waverly and Mr. Robert told him he made the best sausage ever), and Melanie's strawberry cheesecake. I always eat too much there.

Center Hill Lake

I promise to keep my blog updated. I have been at home too long. When I'm home, I get manic about keeping my house clean. It's hard sometimes. Four dogs and four cats can wreck a house. So, Steve and I took a few days and explored Center Hill Lake. What a fun trip. We stayed at Long Branch Campground. It sat just below the dam. We would go down a concrete stairway to fish on the river. Every five hours the dam would generate power, which meant the water on the river rose about six feet and the current was really fast. These are the times you do not want to fish. Yes, I'm learning to fish. I'm learning how to cast for trout. There were a couple of young boys hanging out with us while we fished. Every time I would bring my rod back to cast they would back up all the way to the stairs. They had seen me cast. I caught a couple of trees, moss, and a few sticks, "fish sticks" Steve calls them.

We drove down river to "Betty's Island" to fish some more. We waded out into the water with the fly fishermen. After about an hour I CAUGHT A TROUT!!!!! I heard a fly fisherman close to me say "You got to be kidding" as he was still casting for fish.

Overall it was a very relaxing trip. I always seem to write better when I'm traveling. I think it's because I don't have to worry about cleaning the house.