Parrottrek Journal 2007

The Parrot Flower -

Aren't these the most amazing flowers? They actually do look like parrots. They are only found in Thailand and India. Since neither destination is attainable via motorhome we will have to be content with just looking at the pictures of them. I would however like to order a dozen of them for Valentine's Day but that might be a bit pricey, so once again these pictures will have to suffice. I've heard a few rumors that these flowers don't actually exist, but I choose not to believe that.

All the shiny guitars hung in a row

The bare wood before anything is added

August 20th - Allentown Pennsylvania - Martin Guitar Tour-

Surprise surprise! It rained all day on Sunday in Reading! They rescheduled the race this year to the middle of Summer in hopes that the rain would stay away and the weather would be nice and sunny. It was nice and sunny on Friday and Saturday. Even Sunday morning wasn't terrible. Cold, but not terrible. Both of our teams  lost first round and as soon as the Monster Funny Car went down the track the rains came. Not it's ever good to loose but it was sort of nice not having to stay till Monday to finish the race. Especially since we are now in Allentown which has been one of the most anticipated stops along the way for our darling Frank. He has been waiting months to tour the C.F.Martin and Company guitar manufacturing plant. This is the company that made his beautiful guitar that keeps him occupied, and all of us entertained. We were going to wait until tomorrow, after Frank's parents arrive, but Frank was far too anxious to wait. Besides we actually had so much fun today that we are planning on going back again tomorrow with his parents! They take you through the entire process of creating these amazing instruments. From the development and design, from raw pieces of wood to the finished product. They finish 250 guitars, on average, a day. They don't necessarily start all 250 of these the same day since many of the guitars take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months to complete depending on the detail of the design and the type of wood they are made from. After seeing all the work that goes into them it sure gives you a new appreciation for guitars.

August 21st - Martin Guitar (again) -

Yes it was well worth hitting Martin a second time today. We went earlier in the day this time so we saw a lot more hands on building by the employees. Yesterday when we took the tour, it was a little after 2:30 which is after most of the employees had left for the day, due to the fact that they all work 6:15 to 2:15. Today the shop was in full working mode at 1:00 when our tour started. The entire process of building a guitar is done by hand and the finishing touches such as buffing and adding the final coat of lacquer is done by very careful and specific robots. These steps used to be done by hand but they had a lot of problems with the guitars when people would press too hard with the buffer or would add to much lacquer and there were a lot of injuries to employees arms and wrists. The automated buffing arm, pictured on the left, knows just how hard to push and won't develop carpel tunnel as a side effect of doing so. At the end of the tour we all headed to the Pickin Parlor and listened to Frank sample of few of the nicer and specialty guitars. We also were given a fun souvenir that is part of the wood that is cut out of each guitar to create the sound hole. Cody loved tearing these to shreds as soon as got home.

Mack Truck Factory Tour - Macungie, PA -

The other activity of the day was watching Mack Trucks get built and put together. It was fascinating to see how an assembly line works with something as large as a Mack Truck. In fact there was one spot on the line we were watching where the cab of the truck was not where it was supposed to be. Considering that the line never stops, even though it is only going .05 mph it can cause a bit of a problem. All of a sudden from around the corner came a fork lift, driving a lot faster than .05 mph, bringing the missing cab to the line. The cab was lifted and put into place just in the nick of time. Unfortunately they don't allow cameras into the plant so we have no pictures to show you all just how fascinating it was. We did however take a few pictures in front of the sample trunk of a Mack Truck and a picture of the entryway into the plant where they hold the cabs that are waiting to be put on the line. After our day of factory tours we headed to Amish Country and had dinner at Shady Maples Smorgasboord, the best restaurant in Pennsylvania. It was seafood night so we had all the different seafood dishes you can imagine along with every type of veggie to choice from along with a 20 foot salad bar and 20 foot desert bar. YUM! Even if you don't like seafood they have all sorts of chicken dishes along with pulled pork and countless other main dishes. We usually aren't big buffet eaters, but Shady Maples is so good it is the only buffet we hit anywhere. One dinner here and you are spoiled for life. It almost makes you want to become Amish to learn all the recipes that these ladies have. After dinner we walked all around their 42,000 square foot gift shop. They have everything you can even imagine in this gift shop. We found a great Playmobile toy set that is a pirate ship for our sweet Bradley since Noah, his family and his Ark have all succumbed. Good thing the bird that brought back the olive branch was a dove and not an African Grey Parrot. The story may not have had such a happy ending if Bradley had access to the original Ark. Good thing this pirate ship was only designed for ages four plus since it took three adults to put it together as it was. However we did have three birds trying to play with it and pull it apart just as fast as we could put it together. Once it was completed it was an instant hit. Bradley was hilarious, the first thing he did was pull off the little parrot that sat next to the pirate on the poop deck, threw it on the ground and stood in it's place. Apparently he wanted to be the only parrot on his ship. As soon as one of us would put the parrot back on the ship, each time putting him in a new place, Bradley would find the parrot and again remove him. He even did a little victory dance after the little parrot was off his ship and on the floor. We were quite entertained by this. How he knows it is a bird I have no idea.

Smile for the camera

All aboard the chocolate tour

August 22nd - Hershey Pennsylvania - Chocolate World -

One cannot drive out of Pennsylvania without visiting the sweetest place in the state, the town of Hershey. We took a trolley tour around the grounds of the Chocolate Factory and the Milton S. Hershey School for under privileged children that is funded only by the proceeds from the sale of Hershey candies and chocolates around the world. We made a couple stops along our tour. One of them was at the schools visitor center and main auditorium. The inside of the foyer is made completely of granite, and is it beautiful. In the center of the floor in the foyer of the visitor center is a dedication to the founders of the school. Milton Hershey and his wife Kitty. Also in the room stands a statue in honor of Mr. Hershey that was donated to the school by the class that graduated the year Milton Hershey died. The statue states 'His deeds are his monument, his life is our inspiration'. The arch in the ceiling is the only free standing arch in the U.S.A.

The beautiful free standing arch

Where all the trees of former classes grow

Hershey Amusement Park

A statue of Mr. Hershey and a student

There is a park on the grounds where every year the graduating class plants a tree in memory of all of the previous students that past away during their senior year. Considering that the school has been around for over 100 years they have no way of knowing just how many people the trees are planted for. In the distance you can see the amusement park and the actual chocolate factory where they stopped doing guided tours in back in the 1970's. The tour they have now is an animated ride where you sit in a little car and it takes you through the steps of making chocolate. It's a lot like the fun kiddy rides at Disneyland but free and lots of candy to munch on during and after the ride.

two fun rafts, and a little light headedness

Take a nice cool lake on a hot afternoon,

Make sure you get used to the water first

and you will have a wonderful day

August - 25th - Indianapolis, Indiana -

...And the adventure continues. We are now in the grand state of Indiana with lots of stuff to do. Since the Hershey Factory Tour wasn't really a tour of the factory where the candy was made we decided to find a chocolate factory that did in fact show us a real candy factory and we did. On our way here we stopped in Ohio and watched the Anthony-Thomas Factory at work making caramel filled chocolate and peanut butter cups. At the end of the tour we all sampled some and then hit the gift shop for all sorts of different types of candies we had never tried. Cody was quite impressed with the array of  delights we brought home, and even more upset at the fact that he wasn't allowed to have any of them. Heartland Resort is our home here for the last couple days. It's an enormous RV Park with a wonderful lake that we spent yesterday in since the temperature outside was a bit warm. This morning we hit IMS also known as Indianapolis Raceway Park, the home of the infamous Indy 500 and NASCAR's Brickyard 400. Frank and I came here last year, but since Frank's dad is such a racing fan we had to bring them here to see it for themselves.

In exchange for the last few days spent in the world of racing, which also included a tour of the Monster shop here in town we made it up to Jan, Frank's mom, by going to a WNBA playoffs game between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Suns. Not being avid watchers of the sport we weren't sure who to cheer for, so we choose the Suns. Jan preferred them a bit over the Fever team, and Frank and I like the state of Connecticut more so than the state of Indiana so we all cheered them on. Unfortunately they didn't win, but it was still a very entertaining evening. There was a clown that made us all balloon hats in the shape of basketball hoops and we were also given these really fun things called bam-bams that you blew up like a long and think balloon and when you knocked them together they made an enormous BAM-BAM sound. We of course being in the home court for the Fevers, and cheering when the opposing team scored by slamming together our bam-bams drove a few of our neighbors a little crazy, but it sure was fun being a little rebellious. One of the girls on the Suns team was 7 foot 2. She was enormous. It was hilarious to watch anyone try and guard when she had the ball since all she had to do was reach over their head and throw the ball into the basket. We took a picture of a few of the girls and Jan, above, just to show you how tall they all were. Okay yes they are cut outs, but you can still a good idea of their size. The band that played during the timeouts and half-time was very good, especially  with all their dancing. The little 8 year old girl that sang the National Anthem before the game almost made us cry since her voice was so great.

Jan checks out the inside of an Indy car

All the old winners of the Indy 500

The trophy for winning the Indy 500

The team guys at work in the shop in Indianapolis, where they fix up the car between races

Jan and Frank get up close with the cars

Kenny blows out all the candles in one breath

A great replica of the car, in a cake

The team puts on the final touches

The Elvis car is ready for it's unveiling

The Erik Blake memorial car won the race

The Bud team dressed as Elvis for the weekend

A bag of treats for the birds

We love you Auntie Melissa

September 1st - U.S. Nationals - Indianapolis Raceway Park -

The U.S. Nationals is the biggest race of the year. This is the race where all the announcements are made for the following year in regards to what drivers will change teams and what sponsors will join in on the fun of the NHRA. Along with all the new news of the following year a lot of the teams have a new paint scheme or logo for this race. Our Monster mobile stayed the same all weekend, but the Budweiser Dragster took on a whole new look. Budweiser is having a big celebration these next few weeks to honor the death of legendary Elvis Presley so they dressed the car to add to the festivities in an all out tribute to the King. The entire Budweiser team wore white uniforms, including Brandon along with his blue suede boots and Elvis shades for everyone. All sorts of other teams changed their looks as well. The Funny Car driven by Mike Ashley and designed by Jim Jannard, the owner of Oakley, was created as a memorial to a dear couple who lost their son earlier this year. The shell of the car will be auctioned off at Barrett-Jackson next year and the proceeds will be donated to charities that were there for Erik's parents in their time of need and mourning. Another festivity of the weekend was Kenny's 63rd birthday. To add to the themed cars of the weekend a fan made him a cake in the exact likeness of his Funny Car. The birds favorite part of the weekend was when wonderful Auntie Melissa brought them a bag of treats. Lots of toys with mirrors for Cody, bells for Bradley and pineapple treats for Abbey.

September 5th - Cave City Kentucky - Singing Hills RV Park -

As we find ourselves with another glorious week off we decided to find an area we have yet to visit. Cave City, Kentucky fits the bill. It is just outside Mammoth Caves National Park, whence the name of the town, and 20 minutes from the Corvette capitol of the world. A perfect combination since Kurt and Frank are both dying to see the cars made and Philly and I are ready to explore the caves. Singing Hills RV Park is a nice, quiet and pretty place, so sitting outside reading and relaxing has been just as nice and enjoyable as it is to play tourist. We have been here a little over two days with four more to go and have yet to do anything other than lounge by the pool and be outside with the birds. They are in heaven here with perfect weather and lots of butterflies to chase and nip at. Bradley has become quite the brave little parrot over the last few days. He usually gets nervous outside and flaps his wings until we put him back inside, but the last few days he has turned our awning into a jungle gym and runs up and down the poles talking up a storm and making his wheeee sound, which translates to "I'm having so much fun!". However when we do want him to come down the only way to get him to come within an arms reach is to tempt him with a peanut. He runs down just as fast as he can, grabs the peanut and tries to run back up before we can catch him. Lucky for us the awning poles are quite smooth so the faster he runs the less traction he gets which makes it easy to pick him up since he is pretty much running in place by the time we reach him. He's so cute to watch play.

September 6th - Bowling Green, KY - GM Corvette Assembly Plant -

We have seen our fair share of Factory tours on our adventures out here on the road, but today's made the other's pale in comparison. Watching Corvettes come together on an assembly line that takes one million square feet of building to hold, was amazing and I'm not a big Corvette fan. The Bowling Green Assembly Plant also builds the Cadillac XLR which is the most expensive vehicle that GM makes starting at a $100,000 base price. Ouch! We saw the entire process of the cars. From the engines and chassis being built, to the shell of the cars and interiors being put together. Next, we saw all the tires and fluids added to the cars and then watched as they drove off the line, into the rain chambers where they test them for leaks and then out on to the quarter mile track to test stability and handling. The Corvettes are a bit less with the base price of these starting at 43,000 for the C6 and around $55,000 for the top of the line Z06. After the tour of the plant we headed to The National Corvette Museum where you can see each and every model year of the Corvette from the first one in 1953 to the millionth in 1991 to a current 2008 model waiting for it's new owner to pick it up and everything in between.

A very friendly butterfly

Our jeep was banished to the back lot

Many Corvettes are used as pace cars

A 1972 model, the year Suzy was born

A 1974 model, the year Frank was born

They even showed us what a Corvette looks like after it's been through a crash test. There was also a 1957 beautiful cascade green Corvette (below) that a man from Buellton, California (where we lived before our adventures began) donated to the museum. In fact his son used to work for us at the pizza place we owned in that very town. What a small world it is out here.

Hello down there! Where's the bottom?

The frozen Niagara

The amazing cave ceilings

A self portrait in the dark cave, I think I'm blind now!

September 8th - Mammoth Cave National Park - The Frozen Niagara Cave Tour -

285 feet below the surface of the earth. Sounds like the title of the latest Harrison Ford action adventure movie. Well I guess it is, except that it's main stars are Frank and Suzy Whitmore and you are among the lucky few that will ever read about it. The entrance to the cave was a bit small and the stairs a little narrow, but luckily we aren't the claustrophobic type so it was quite fun. We actually felt like we were on some wild cave exploring adventure. As you looked over the handrails of the stairwell you could see just how far down you were going. Once you felt like you might be at the bottom, the stairs turned again and you descended further down. The only light was from the hanging lanterns on each side of the stairs. Yes they did have real bulbs and electricity in them but it gave you the ambiance of the 1800's and the feeling of being in an Indiana Jones type predicament. Once we made it down the last flight of stairs the cave opened up into huge rooms with boulders and limestone everywhere. We walked through a few different rooms and saw all sorts of rock formations and a few stalactites and stalagmites. At one point of the tour our guide turned off all the lanterns and boy was it dark. He left it that way for about 2 minutes just to show us how your eyes will never adjust to that type of darkness because they is literally no light whatsoever 285 feet below the earth. He then lit one little candle and it lie almost the whole cave. It was a little scary to think that way back when the caves were first discovered this was the only light they had and the risk of falling into a 285 foot hole, like the one we came down, was quite high with the light of only one candle. Near the end of our tour we descended another 100 feet or so where the Frozen Niagara column stood. It was amazing. Where we exited the cave we actually had only come back up about 150 feet, but luckily for us there was a bus to take us the rest of the way to the visitor center so we didn't have to hike our way back to where we started. On our drive back we saw lots of deer eating by the side of the road and a handful of wild turkey. This area hasn't had much rain lately so the grass was brown and the poor deer were very skinny.

September 10th - Elvis Presley's Graceland -

We celebrated Frank's birthday today at the home of the King of Rock and Roll. He was hoping Elvis' ghost would come out and play a little guitar with him, but no such luck. Elvis Aaron Presley was born January 8th 1935 in a very small two bedroom home in Tupelo, Mississippi. Shortly after his 19th birthday he signed on with Sun Records, within 2 years he was an international singing sensation and after that well, the rest is history. In fact most of the history of Elvis was unknown to Frank and I, before visiting Graceland, since all of this happened, including his death, before either of were avid music fans. When Elvis was 22 years old he purchased Graceland and moved himself and his parents into his beautiful new home, which in those days cost him $100,000. He and his friends set up what is now called "the jungle room" into a makeshift recording studio by placing green shag carpet of the walls and ceiling. They would play in this room for hours since the acoustics sounded so great. The grounds of Graceland are beautiful with rolling hills and horses and a 10 car garage.

What used to be a racquetball court is now a room where a large majority of his awards are kept including a few of his suits and most of his gold and platinum record awards. He stared in 33 different movies and released countless songs. The rest of his awards line pretty much every hallway in his entire home including his 3 Grammys. It was amazing to see just how full Elvis' life was. As most of you know he did die in his own home, just upstairs from where we stood, on August 16, 1977. Due to the family and their wish for some privacy, which is understandable, no one is allowed upstairs. The basement of the home was turned into a TV room with electric blue and sunshine yellow paint on the walls and the most amazing wrap around couch ever, however the technology of the TV's lack a bit in today's standards. He had two different planes one named after his daughter. Both planes are on display along with many of his cars, including a pink Cadillac that he bought for his mother & about a dozen different golf carts that he and his friends raced around his home.

Frank and Mr. Lansky

Beale Street is closed off to vehicle traffic

Where we enjoyed lunch

September 11th - Beale Street - Lansky's -

Historic Beale Street, a sight everyone must see while spending a few days in Memphis, Tennessee. It was a little slow in the middle of the afternoon, but for us old souls it was more enjoyable to see it in the daylight instead of full party mode after dark. We stopped at Lansky's Clothiers, which is the little shop that Elvis himself used to shop at, still owned and operated by Bernard Lansky the tailor of many of Elvis' fun stage suits. He is a hilarious guy, with all sorts of funny sayings and lots of pictures of him and The King. If you look closely in the picture above with Frank and Bernard you can see him with Elvis in the picture on the wall.

September 9 - 12th - Mississippi River - Tom Sawyer RV Park -

The Mississippi River winds it's way from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico which is more or less the entire height of the United States. Enormous barges pushed by small tugboats move all sorts of materials up and down this river all day long and watching them is a bit mesmerizing, especially while you listen to Frank play the guitar as the sun sets. Tom Sawyer lies literally on the banks of the Mississippi so these last few days we have enjoyed the views and scenery immensely. We are actually in Arkansas here, but Tennessee and Graceland are only about 10 minutes away. The last few times we have been near Memphis it has been

First, you put a bunch of dirt in your screen

Then you shake it to see if you have anything of value

The sight of the largest diamond found

Frank grabs a handful of diamonds, well not really : )

September 17, 2007 - Murfreesboro, Arkansas - Digging for Diamonds -

Haven't you always wanted to walk around an enormous 37 acre patch of dirt only to find a bright and shiny rock that is worth thousands of dollars? Well we attempted that today, yes the key word in that sentence was attempted. Craters of Diamonds State Park is the only diamond producing site in the world that is open to the public. Everyday ordinary people find diamonds in these hills. In fact one was found today, however not by us. Frank found a little piece of quartz, which I must say looked exactly like the picture of what a diamond in the rough looks like, and I found a few jasper stones which are pretty to look at, but basically worthless. The largest diamond ever found here was in 1924. It was a 40.23 diamond in the rough. Can you even imagine what a diamond over 40 carats must look like? The funny thing is, is that they nick named it the 'Uncle Sam Diamond'. I wonder if that's because a man named Sam found it, or the fact that Uncle Sam probably received a nice chunk of cash once the diamond was cut and sold. You could make quite a few nice pieces of jewelry with a rock that size. The last diamond found that was substantial was in 1998. It was 7.28 carats, not too shabby. I will say it was very intriguing, hunting for diamonds. We had  a claw tool and a screen to sift the dirt with. There were a few shinny rocks that we did come across, but considering they would crumble once we hit them with a rock, gave a pretty good indication that they might not be diamonds. As with any potential money making venture, there were some very serious and dedicated diggers out around us. These people have buckets and wheels barrows full of dirt that they would dig up from a certain area. They would take these enormous loads of dirt to one of the washing areas and slowly sift through each clump in their collections. We did get a bit into it and had a very fun afternoon, but they made it look like work. I much preferred our way of simple sifting instead.  Outside the visitor's center they had a mine car full of dirt to show you just how much dirt would go through the washing stations each load when it was an actual working diamond mine.  No there weren't actually real diamonds in it, but they did have a few stones that were bright and shiny. It never ceases to amaze me what wacky things we find to do on our way to the next race. This country truly is wonderful and amazing to explore. How many people, other than locals and a few nutty full time RVers, can say they have dug for diamonds in Arkansas?

September 23rd - Dallas Texas - A Frightening Day at the NHRA Fall Nationals -

"Oh my." The voice of Bob Frye, our usually very witty and lighthearted announcer of the racing weekends, comes over the radio as Frank and I sit listening in our hospitality area to the live broadcast of the race that was happening merely yards away from our location. It is a very hot day so neither of us opted to head to the starting line to watch the race. Kenny Bernstein, our beloved boss, friend and legend of the NHRA, and John Force, another icon in the sport, have just faced off in the second round of the finals today. "The cars seems to have touched down at the top end of the track. Oh my." He says again. Touched? When someone is driving a vehicle over 300mph the only thing you want to touch is the air going by you and your parachute release, definitely not the car in the other lane. That could be disastrous. After listening to Bob at every race for over three years we realize that the inflection in his voice is saying it was much more than just a touch, but he's doing his best not to react to what he just witnessed. What comes next is an incredibly long silence. I immediately begin to pray.  "It appears Kenny got the win light, but it seems he may have crossed the center line, so we are waiting to hear on that." We realize Bob is stalling for time since there has been no mention of whether either man is out of their car. My chest begins to tighten. "Yes Kenny did go over the center line, so he has been DQ'd." Bob continues, still with a very heavy tone. All of a sudden we hear the crowd go wild as Bob's voice announces that Kenny is indeed out of his car and walking around. He appears to be okay. Bob goes on to explain that John is still in his car, and no word yet on his condition. This goes on for what seems to be an eternity. Thank God the story ends with a somewhat positive outcome. Kenny is okay and John Force suffered a couple broken bones and a few abrasions. Both men are alive and no one has sustained any head trauma. Apparently at some point before the finish line John's car began to come apart. By the end of the track his chassis had split in half. The half he was in ended up against the left wall and the other half of the car turned hard to the right and straight into Kenny's Monster mobile. This impact in turn took Kenny's car into the wall as both bodies were ripped off of the cars and torn apart. I am so glad that I chose not to watch it from the starting line. Just seeing the crash on the JumboTron, the enormous screen the fans can watch from their seats, and the ESPN replay over and over again was scary enough. Thank God these men's guardian angels were able to keep up with their over 300 mph runs, which is how fast they were going when they hit.

The entertainment was great

DInner at BB Kings

Overlooking the river

A view of downtown with a band at every bar

September 26th - Nashville Tennessee - A Night on the Town -

Not that we don't do tons of fun things out here on the road, but one thing we don't do very often is dress up and have a night out on the town. In our old age we usually enjoy the day trips out here in the wild blue yonder. Everyone that we have met or talked to here in Nashville has said that we MUST go downtown and enjoy all the nightlife. Boy were they right! Every restaurant we walked by had some sort of live music, whether it was Fuel, where we loved, that had 3 hours of acoustical guitar bands, or BB Kings, where we ended up for dinner with a fun blues band with dancing flappers and all. We had so much fun. Wow! To think that this city was so alive on a weeknight, it would be an amazing place on the weekend. After dinner we walked along the Riverfront and enjoyed the beautiful bridges and architecture of the city. Tomorrow we are going to check out the city in the daylight. The pictures above are a bit of an experiment with my new camera and it's nighttime lights options. Kinda cool with the warbled light look huh? Our night life just may have to expand since we had so much fun here.

September 29th - Nashville Tennessee -

We started today out with a picnic along the banks of the Cumberland River at Riverview Park. Frank brought his guitar, I a book and we relaxed as we watched the boats go by. Frank is well into his John Denver collection of songs so it made for great background music. After lunch we walked through Fort Nashborough where the Battle of the Bluffs took place back in 1781. We then headed a little further west and visited The Grand Ole Opry and The Opryland Hotel. The hotel is amazing. It has enormous gardens and waterfall areas. It feels like you are in the amazon, except that the climate is nice and cool. In the Magnolia Level there are the most amazing and beautiful flowers all around you with walking trails that lead you from there to the Cascades where you find the waterfalls. The hotel rooms and suites in these areas have balconies so you can look at the beautiful views even in the summer and stay nice and cool. The entire hotel is enclosed, however with the ceiling being completely glass it feels like you are outside. All through each section of this is a flowing river where one can take either a dinner boat just the two of you with a candlelit table on a boat, or you can take a gondola around with a group.

They even have DaVine, who is a walking vine that roams from area to area, and at times blends into the trees so well it almost takes you a minute to realize that no, you are not hallucinating and yes, that tree does in fact have a face. Across from The Opryland Hotel is the enormous Opry Mills Mall. We walked around it for a little while and happened along the Gibson Showcase and Experience, which is an enormous Gibson music store, but also where they make many of their guitars and banjos. It, of course being Saturday, was unfortunately not in operation mode, but you could still see quite a bit of how their production line went. Frank played a few of the guitars that they had on display, but wasn't to impressed with them. He still by far prefers the Martin series, which is great since that it what he owns. After the mall we headed home, made homemade tacos, and sat outside with the birds and some friends. We ran into a couple here in Nashville that we had previously met in Eugene Oregon at the Marathon dealer there. What a small world it is, and boy isn't it grand!

Gibson uses a press to make guitars

Instruments ready for the buffing step

The enormous tuning head at the entrance

This evening's moon says Halloween is near

September 30th  - The Cartoon of the Year!!

Isn't this fabulous! I love this cartoon.  A friend of ours e-mailed this to us and I must admit that I usually delete forwarded jokes that we receive, unless the title really grabs me. Needless to say I had to peek at this one out of sheer curiosity. My favorite member of the jury is Snoopy. I love the angry look on his face. Mainly because he is usually the happy go lucky dog in all the cartoons leaping around as if to say "my life is great and I don't have a care in the world" while poor dysfunctional Charlie Brown is in yet another predicament. Also because Snoopy brings back fond memories of growing up. My dad, still to this day will break out in what he calls his 'Snoopy Laugh' when someone, especially the politicians on TV or the newscasters or worthless experts they have on their show for the day, are giving you a load of crap. The 'Snoopy Laugh' pretty much says "Do you think I'm dumb enough to

Michael Vick's jury

believe what you are trying to tell me?" You remember The Snoopy Laugh right? When Snoopy would grab is belly and roll around on the floor laughing hysterically? It was one of the very few noises he ever made. I think when Michael Vick first plead not guilty the judge should have given him a Snoopy Laugh. I love ya Pops!

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