Must Love Dog

I have become aware that I have a lot of new readers, so I will have to stop presuming that you know anything about me. Well, I am a dog person. Naturally, there are cats that I can and have appreciated, but push comes to shove, dogs win every time. I have Buddy. Buddy is a comfort dog and has traveled with me all over the country. He even went to Joplin to offer support to the victims of their tornado strike in 2011. I do not think you will find anyone that could suggest that I am not a …

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Photos from Tanya’s move

When I left Europe, I headed back to Indiana for the last phase of my journey. If you will recall, this all started with Buddy and me taking a train from Los Angeles to Chicago. Now, I was going to finish packing Tanya’s trailer, take some photos of the inside of the house, put up a For Sale sign and drive back to California. Tanya was coming to stay. These photos include stops at Billy Barooz Pub & Grill in Champaign, IL; Shamrock, TX; Chama River Brewing Company in Albuquerque, NM and Flagstaff Brewing Company in Flagstaff, AZ along with …

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A ride on the Southwest Chief

Buddy and I needed to come back to Indiana for a while, so we decided to take Amtrak’s Southwest Chief from Los Angeles to Chicago. I have ridden Amtrak from Los Angeles to San Diego, and a few times in the Netherlands, but this was definitely the longest train ride I had ever taken. I was looking forward to the adventure since I have driven between CA and IN numerous times in the last few years. I figured that the train would take us through some scenery I had not seen yet and it would provide for some excellent photo …

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A trip to Temecula wine country

I had a gift I wanted to give to my son and since he lives down by Temecula I decided I would kill two birds with one stone and pay a visit to the Temecula wine country. After securing a room, Tanya, Buddy and I headed out to the Inland Empire. After arriving at my son’s home we tried to find a winery, with a restaurant that stays open past 5:00 PM. I had only attempted to go wine tasting in Temecula once before and noticed that 5:00 seemed to be last call at most of the places I tried …

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Photos from the Sacramento Delta

When I came back from Indiana, Tanya came with me. A good friend of mine was having a party prior to the Dixon May Fair Motorcycle Show & Swap Meet. He has been doing this party for many years, and this year I made a point of making it. Since he lives in the Sacramento Delta, we had to leave the day after we got home. I opted for the car over the bike and brought Buddy with. On the way to Dixon, we stopped in Fairfield at the Jelly Belly factory. Hot tip, Belly Flops. We had to go …

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Photos from a day in Kentucky

These photos are from a day in Kentucky, specifically, Bullitt County, the Jim Beam Distillery and Bardstown. As my regular readers have probably figured out, when Tanya and I travel together we are frequently distracted. It is less than 300 miles from Valparaiso, IN to Louisville, KY and we barely made it there in a day. As it turned out, my cousin had to make a run up into Indiana so we had some time to kill. When I saw a sign advertising that we were close to the Jim Beam Distillery, it was clear that another detour was coming …

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Photos from Tippecanoe and Battle Ground, too

These photos are from Battle Ground, IN and the Tippecanoe battle field. One day, while visiting Indiana, I decided to try and meet up with a cousin that lives in Tennessee. We had not seen each other in close to 40 years, and since we were on the same side of the Mississippi River, I figured it was worth a try. Tanya, Buddy and I got in the Charger and headed south. A couple of hours later we came upon a sign that suggested we were close to Battle Ground and Tippecanoe. Since I can not resist visiting historical sites, …

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Photos from New Buffalo and Warren Dunes, MI

These photos were taken over the course of two days I spent driving around Lake Michigan, in Michigan. After exploring Indiana Dunes I continued on to MI and came to New Buffalo and Warren Dunes State Park. While it was extremely windy and not much of a beach day, Buddy did not seem to mind. He could not get enough of the Warren Dunes State Park. He had so much fun, we had to come back a second day with Tanya. Back to Michigan Photos Back to Michigan Photos

Photos from the Cumberland Loop

Since I was spending a few days in Valparaiso, Tanya and I took our dogs (Hershey and Buddy) for a couple walks around the Cumberland Loop. The Cumberland Loop is close to downtown Valpo and seems to be a wildlife refuge. To be honest, I am not sure if it is designated as such, but there were plenty of geese and ducks that seem to think it is. Either way, there are a couple different routes you can take and it is quite relaxing and scenic. Back to Cumberland Loop Photos Back to Cumberland Loop Photos

Photos from Arkansas and the Ozarks

Thursday, we woke up somewhere around Oklahoma City. This was day five of our trip and I was contemplating washing the car to attract some rain. I watched the weather channel and their storm chaser was having the same luck as I, so I could not feel too bad. I had to make a decision, go north into Kansas or go northeast into Arkansas and Missouri. The forecast looked a little more promising east but one thing I learned was that they are not very good at forecasting them more than an hour or so ahead of time. We headed …

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