May 13th

Left Durham, NC, about 9:00 AM and planned to drive as far as possible today. Think we drove about 350 miles in total. We kept looking at the mileage that was left to make it home, and seriously considered trying to make the drive all the way from Durham to Salem, NH, but after hitting traffic in Richmond, VA, and Baltimore, MD, we decided to stop for the night in Aberdeen, MD. Found a Day's Inn in Aberdeen and checked in for the night. We had had some great MD crab cakes the last time we were in MD, and the motel recommended a restaurant just around the corner. The crab cakes were to die for.

Still have about 370 miles left to drive tomorrow and we'll be able to sleep in our own bed for a change. It will be nice to be home again. We actually haven't been delayed by construction on this trip like we had been when we drove the Vette around the country last year. We also have only seen one accident that delayed traffickisic and that was in Atlanta on Wednesday. That delayed us for only about a half an hour. Definitely are going to turn in early tonight and will try to leave earlier tomorrow morning. Mercedes still running great, but can't wait to get home and get the Vette out of storage. K

As Ken says we're homeward boud!! Can't wait to get home and see family and friends!!! The trip has been a lot of fun,loved staying in Florida for the month, travel to San Antonio, graduation, travel to Vickis, but now just want to be home!! Talked to our daughter tonight, she's stranded in Detroit,had a business trip to Fort Wayne, then Detroit, unable to get a flight home. She's with another employee, they'll fly to RI, then drive home, will be getting home in the wee hours of the morning, know she's exhausted now in 6 more hours she'll be whipped.
Guess our travel plans are pretty easy compared to hers.

Had wonderful crab cakes tonight, ah the joys of Maryland!! Cars holding up well, Ken and I exit the car like Neanderthal man and woman, posture not upright, just need a club to complete the picture. Sitting in an upright mobile positon for long hours not conducive to good posture!! S

May 9th thru May 12th

We left San Antonio about 9:00 AM after finally getting the car packed. Grabbed a quick breakfast, turned on the GPS, and off we went. We had looked at various routes to go home, but some of the routes put us in the flooded areas of Tennessee, and we wanted to avoid any delays due to the floods. Finally realized that by going thru Newnan, GA, where Vicki lives, it was only 50 miles farther than going thru the flood area, so plugged in Vicki's address and off we went.

We managed to make it as far as Rayne, LA, on Sunday. Long drive, and found a clean Comfort Inn just off Interstate 10. After checking in and relaxing a little bit, I took Sheila out to the local gourmet restaurant for Mother's Day dinner. Well, maybe I have taken Sheila to better restaurants, but at least it was close to the motel. She could have also gone into the Frog City casino, but was too tired after the drive. This was not one of the nicer casinos we have seen, and they did appear to cater primarily to truckers. We didn't check out the casino, but I was told most of the waitresses had most of their own teeth.

On Monday, we took off early and made it all the way to Greenville, AL. The following day, we made it to Newnan, GA, found Vicki's home, and unpacked for a night's stay. When Vicki got home from work, we went out for chicken wings. Vicki's youngest son, Scott, and his girl friend came over to see us after he got off work about 9:30 PM. He was excited, as he just found out that day that he was to be sworn into the Air Force Reserves on Wednesday. He has also been selected for F-16 pilot training, so Sheila and I will have to make plans to attend another pilot graduation in a few years. Scott's Grandfather is looking forward to this graduation too.

Left Newnan on Wednesday morning after locating a Dunkin Donuts so we could get our ice coffee fixes. Had initially planned to arrive back in NH on May 15th or 16th, but decided to try to get back earlier, if possible. Drove all the way to Durham, NC, and checked into a motel. As it turned out, we stayed in the same motel we stayed in when we had the Corvette last October. Of course, we had to go back to the same BBQ joint we tried last October, and the food hasn't changed a bit. K

May 8th

Well, here we are, still trying to play catchup on our blog. After all of the festivities at the graduation on Friday, we were able to sleep in on Saturday morning. My sister Vicki was staying at the same motel, so when we finally managed to get up and around, we headed for the laundry room and started packing for the drive home on Sunday.

Matt was to pick up his mother for breakfast on Mother's Day and was to take her to the airport, so we would be able to leave for NH at a relatively early time. We all managed to get our suitcases packed, but would wait until the next morning to pack the Mercedes.

We had been invited to Matt's cousin's home for a BBQ that evening, and off we went to find their home. His cousin's husband is a hell of a BBQ cook, and they must have had enough ribs, chicken, and sausage to have fed 50 people.

His Aunts and Uncle and cousins were so much fun and what wonderful hosts. We had a great time, but had to leave early to get rested up for the drive the following day. His Grandfather was also there, and still hadn't stopped smiling. K

May 7th - Graduation Ceremonies

Well, the graduation ceremonies were finally happening. The graduation was held at the Hilton Hotel near the Air Base and the room filled quickly. One of Matt's guests was his Grandfather Lt. Col (ret.) Vic Morris, who wouldn't have missed this event for anything in the world. I believe he is 88 years old and is sharp as a tack.

Matt's grandfather was recognized several times during the ceremonies by the speakers and presenters. Vic had been shot down over Japan during WWII and was a Japanese prisoner of war until the end of the war. I think all of the officers who were present came over to honor and to speak with Vic. He never stopped smiling at any time during the ceremonies.

I had spoken with one of the Intel instructors, and mentioned how proud we were of Matt and his accomplishments and of the three awards he had received that afternoon for his bombing proficiencies. The Captain told me not to say anything, but those awards might not be the last award he would receive.

Sure enough, when the Captain got up to deliver his speech and make a presentation, he told everyone that there was a very special award that was to be presented to one of the students. This award was voted on by all of the instructors and the students and was to be presented to the student that they would most want to go into combat with. He then presented the trophy to Matt. Talk about tears of joy!

Here is a photo of some of Matt's friends from college. One couple is missing from this photo, but all the students agreed that Matt's guest tables had the best looking girls. These kids had all flown in on Friday morning for the event and were flying back the following morning. Quite a tribute to Matt.

Notice the shirt Matt is wearing. All of the students had their tux shirts modified with red and blue sleeves and the F-16 logo on the backs of the shirts. After they had graduated, they were allowed to remove their dress uniform jackets to "present the colors".

Quite a day for everyone and Sheila and I were so glad we were able to attend these ceremonies. K

May 7th - Matt's Last Flight as a Student

We have been so busy, we have had very little time to post our blog, but will try to catch up before we finally make it home. Friday was our nephew Matt's graduation day and also included his final flight as a student. We managed to find the Air Base after a few wrong turns and finally arrived at the main gate. We had to wait a few minutes until someone could come to meet us and drive our car in to the squadron. It was worth the wait.

Flight instructors and NCOs were so nice and they informed us that Matt was currently flying, but would let us know when he was landing so we could watch the landing. Two of Matt's friends from college arrived about the time we did and then Matt's father and his wife arrived. My sister Vicki, Matt's mother, was with us.

When Matt entered the landing pattern, they called us all out to the tarmac, put us in a van, and drove us out to the runway. We were only a couple hundred feet from the runway when Matt and his instructor made a high speed pass down the runway in their F-16's. Talk about goosebumps when they made that pass. Everyone had their cameras clicking and we were all smiling ear to ear.

Matt and his instructor finally landed and headed past us toward the maintenance area. The van driver, a cute little NCO, drove us right to the maintenance area and we saw him climb out of his F-16 for the last time as a student. Every one was so proud and so happy for him, but Matt had the biggest grin of all.

After his flight debriefing, the squadron had a BBQ for all the students, staff, and guests. Matt's two friends from college were joined by six more friends who had all flown into San Antonio just for his graduation. All in all, I think the total guest count for friends and relatives that came to see him graduate totaled about 23 people, by far more than any of the other student pilots. Quite a tribute to a great kid.

They made some presentations, speeches, etc., by both the instructors and students, and than they handed out some special awards to the students. They had three different categories for bombing proficiencies and the instructor passing out the awards said this was the first time a single student had won all three awards. Yup, it was our Matt. K

Ken has said it so well, I agree. It was very exciting seeing Matt fly and land this plane! We'll do another update on the graduation so we can include more photos, so more to follow. S

May 6th

Matt was tied up with training on Thursday and had to fly and prepare for his last training flight on Friday, so it was play time for Sheila, Vicki, and myself. We slept in a little bit late and then off to the Market in downtown San Antonio. Managed to find the Market without too much trouble, parked, and then off to, what else, a little shopping. The girls did check out a few shops and we went for lunch at a place called Mi Terra in the market. One of the best Mexican restaurants we've found in San Antonio. Did manage to have a couple of drinks there too.

Clever women, my wife and sister - Give Ken a couple of drinks and he's more than happy to go shopping. After some "quick stops" in various shops at the Market, we headed off to find River Walk. Again, we managed to find the place and even found the same parking garage that we used when we had the Vette down here last September or October.

It was about 90 degrees and high humidity, so we poked around River Walk for a little while and then decided to find some liquid refreshment. Hummm, we found Durty Nelly's and the place was air conditioned, so what the heck. Seemed like the place to be for a while. Eat your heart out again Joe Kelly! K

So nice to spend time with Vicki, a woman after my own heart, I believe shopping is her middle name as is mine.

Vicki admired a bracelet I had purchased in the market place last year so off to the same shop we went. Unfortunately no similar bracelet was found, however, I did find a lovely hand made sterling silver ring for my index finger, so of course I knew it was meant to be worn and enjoyed by me!!

Off to several shoppes, so much to see so little money. Lunch at Mi Terra as Ken says was wonderful. Vicki and I shared a vegitable dish, and the specialty of the day, some sort of beef dish. All delicious. Of course had to have desssert, home made sopapilla, with raspberry sauce and honey, no low cal here!!

Riverwalk is so beautiful, but so hot and humid, temp 90, humidity 90 so went to Dirty Nellies to cool off. The piano player asked if anyone had a request, I requested, " If you knock the L out of Kelley". He knew it and gave a great rendition, I loved it and was willing to stay till morning! Unfortunately Ken felt we had to drive back to the motel in somewhat sober condition so " Hoolie" ended.

All of us were full but wanted a bite of something. Had a Whataburger close to the hotel so stopped, Ken and I had salads with chicken, Vicki tried the Whataburger. After which we were full and ready for an early night. S

May 5th

We arrived in San Antonio after spending the night in Houston. Nice easy drive for the most part, but San Antonio has a spaghetti bowl of over and under passes that would confuse even the most sophisticated GPSs. Fortunately, the Benz GPS managed to get us (almost) to our motel. Couldn't fault the GPS software this time, as the motel was brand new.

We checked into the motel and a short time later, we headed for the San Antonio Airport to pick up my sister Vicki using the map provided by the motel. Found the airport with no problem, and after circling the arrival area for about a half hour, our daughter Nora called to say "Hi". She was able to check Vicki's flight status, and the plane was late. Vicki finally arrived and we were off to check her into the motel.

Our nephew Matthew was to graduate from F-16 fighter pilot training on Friday, and we were all excited to see him. He was still training in the afternoon, but we did manage to meet him and his room mate at their home and then out to eat with Matt for a quick meal. Matt had to prepare for a flight the following day, so couldn't spend too much time with him. Matt is a very impressive young man and what a nice kid. K