Off to Illinois

The Bride to Be touring Athens.  The Acropolis is in the background.

It was a quick turnaround for the Old Lady. Arriving home June 12, I departed today, June 30. This time it is literally on the road with my van, Big Mama, GPS aka Greta, and Georgia the Trek Bike. Today I drove 8 hours and am still in the state of Florida. I’m in a KOA about 35 miles west of Tallahassee and only a mile off Interstate 10. It’s more rustic than most of the KOA’s I’ve experienced.. A rooster has been crowing. I guess it is saying goodnight. I wonder what time it will decide its morning.

Much of my time while in Stuart besides catching up on mail, bills, etc. was spent trying to put some order into the over 1100 photos I took on the trip to Greece. The computer gave me problems and my DVD slideshow would not burn on to a disc among other frustrations. I want to show the incredible beauty of Greece, the fascinating ruins that are everywhere, and the group that shared the 14 days of sailing and adventure seeking. There were so many highlights which hopefully can be illustrated in the photographs. Our group of 14 was amazing in their compatibility and comradeship. It’s a challenge to share small spaces and limited resources with people you don’t know. Of course by the end, we did know each other and the parting was similar to seeing a family member off.

I feel so fortunate to have experienced this country in so many aspects. The sense of how developed their ancient civilizations were was mind boggling. The Greek people are very proud of this heritage and of their beautiful country and I think that makes it particularly difficult for them to be the center of negative attention in the world financial crisis. The ones with which I spoke (and it was usually the topic of conversation) are as mystified as any as how it could have become so bad but also say supporting the immigrant population contributes to the governments burden.

I hope to write more about my experiences there but now my attention turns to the exciting weeks ahead. Daughter Emily’s wedding will be the 10th and we have almost daily dialogue on the many last minute challenges of putting together such a celebration. She must do a tremendous juggling act with all the wedding details and a challenging job. Hopefully it will all come together and appear seamless in the final moments.

Tomorrow I head up through Alabama, camping in Northern Mississippi at J P Coleman State Park. This is near the Tennessee border and close to the Shiloh battleground which I hope to revisit Friday morning. Later that day I will try to connect with some relatives and visit some family cemeteries.