We were at that point once, but my daughter’s skill level outgrew what was available locally in terms of both coaching and competition some years ago, hence the change to a team an hour from home.
I hear you. When these days are over and she is off to college, I won’t miss the drive, but I will miss the time spent.
Good morning. Bacon, eggs, and coffee, please.
Looking down (!) at my in-laws and fiancé before we were married. First time meeting them. We were at that large round hotel in Kevin’s picture in downtown Atlanta. I’m not sure what the lobby looks like today – This was over 40 years ago.
Hope everyone has a good day.
That makes sense.
Fortunately there are good soccer academies in the area for my grandchildren. (Some better than others). We shall see where they go.
David
Good morning
We traveled through Hill City South Dakota on our way to Deadwood last night after driving 8 1/2 hours seeing all the sights.
My phone is extremely glitchy over here so a post takes close to an hour if adding pictures.
I see the train a coming.
It’s rolling round the bend.
On my way to Deadwood, traveling the road my friends.
It seems to me Kevin has a little competition in the Black Hills. I wonder if Mr. Edward’s is of any relation to Stratton? [(-D]
We’re off to Sturgis this morning[oX)]
Have a great day gentleman[;)]
TF
Interesting looking loco that. I don’t think I’ve seen a split saddle tank, if that’s what it is, before. Panier tanks I’m more familiar with from the old GWR in Brit; and saddle tanks like the good old “Docksider” I’ve had as models. (even scratch bulding an oil tender for one back when I was in HO.)
Sorry about the focus on that, can’t do-over as that layout is long gone! The idea was to enable a Docksider to be used for railfan trips!
Most of today has been grass cutting and other yard work. I’m off to see if that Digitrax decoder will program easily.
Post Card!
George and I were hanging out a few days ago[swg]
I seen a mountain goat climbing around but couldn’t get the camera set up quick enough before he took off.
Much better reception in Sturgis but I’m running out of free roaming[:'(][(-D]
TF
Here ya go, TF. Taken on the Black Hills Needles highway in 2017. He stood there for a while allowing everyone to get a good shot (picture).
Hi Kevin,
More great travel photos!
My wife and I are looking for vacation ideas. We have one big problem in that I can’t walk very far at all so most organized tours are not workable. We are considering a road trip.
Can I ask a couple of questions about yours?
What time do you start in the morning? By ‘start’ I mean when do you actually start driving to your next destination?
Do you have a set itinerary or can you do whatever you want?
Have you made hotel reservations or are you just finding accomodations as you go?
Thanks,
Dave
Obviously I won’t answer for Kevin, but I can share what my wife and I have done.
When we travel, it is almost always “freelance”, pack a bag, fill up the tank, and have a list of possible targets.
Seldom any reservations, never with any “groups”.
Years ago we went to New England, after doing a few things in Boston, Salem, Plymouth and few other spots, we got to Newport. Being old house lovers, we spent the whole rest of the trip there. We did every mansion tour in the town.
More recently we went on a long weekend trip to Niagara Falls, she was bored after one day, would not go to the Canadian side. We left Niagara Falls and went to the Pierce Arrow museum in Buffalo, the Corning Glass Works in Corning and the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo NY. We had a blast.
Many similar trips, sometimes to ride trains and do other stuff along the way.
My wife hates the feeling of being “controlled”, she hated Disney World. We are not much for crowds, we try to do stuff at the slow times.
She will sleep anywhere as long as it is clean, that all she wants out of a motel/hotel, clean bed, hot and cold running water…
Sheldon
While I prefer to have a planned destination, the above comments describe me very well.
OTOH, my wife loves to be entertained. Finding her own entertainment is a challenge. But she would give up all entertaiment to just sit on the beach, in shade, and read a book. Fine with me, as I can find something else to do
Like a train shop or go find some RR tracks and see what’s happening.
I’ve spent 25 years of my life traveling nearly every week for the job, and have learned what’s important to me in a hotel/motel. Been to every kind of hotel made. In the end, what is important is a comfortable mattress, hot water, good water pressure, a flushing toliet, proper temperature control, and floors above you made of concrete so they hide footstep noise. So try to say in a high-ish rise rather than a three story stick built HI Express or Hampton Inn, etc. IOW, they have to get the basics right. The high end features and services are just a waste, IMO.
Huh?
How do you plan to ever get out of Florida in the future? Always turn left at I-10?
Or just heading up the east coast I presume.
That was the goat I seen John! Either that or it was the brother, the father or the son of that goat[(-D]
The Needles Highway was the most beautiful part of our trip so far.
It must be good karma but I always find clouds that duplicate the picture that I am taking.
Judy has the one-way tunnel pictures she will send to my phone. Those tunnels were fun!
I had to slow down and pay attention not to scrape my mirrors in the Ram.
P.S. T-Mobile has just lost my business as a customer. I should be able to use my phone when I’m out of town when I want. Their little lit up hot pink flags all over the country on their commercials is BS. T-Mobile sucks as far as I’m concerned. I will be switching mobile networks when I get home[:(!]
TF
Post Hog! Post Card!
With rocks like this, who needs agates? They look like fine crafted pottery.
I’m going to kype a half a dozen of these things out of the landscaping and send them to friends and family. I can’t wait to cut a couple of them in half with my diamond saw[:|]
Kevin will very well get one, maybe Ed or John and Brent so he can park it right next to one of his prized hockey pucks he caught[:^)]
The shipping weight will be way more postage than the effort of picking the rock up[(-D]
Do you suppose I should protect them with some of those styrofoam popcorn balls as a protective measure so they don’t get damaged during shipping[(-D]
TF
A warm hello from the Ju-Ju Bear and the Fiddler from South Dakota
Isn’t She Sweet? I think I like her and my hunt for the perfect female was over 25 years ago[:P]
TF
We usually leave the hotel about 9:00 AM. Sometimes our first target is in the same town, sometimes we need to drive to get to it.
This trip we have nine days with scheduled events. That leaves 18 days of looking for fun stuff as we go. We have some ideas and some targets, but no set agendas that cannot be changed.
We have made all the hotel reservations in advance, because I have accumulated hundreds of thousands of Hilton Honors points. These need to be used on reservations. We are only paying for four hotel nights this trip out of pocket.
-Kevin
I only have two more trips planned.
One up the East Coast to Maine on I-95, and the other to Louisiana and Texas, on I-10.
Today I started driving to the first Antique store, and we passed a Habitat For Humanity ReStore. We have one of these in Fort Myers, but it is like a Goodwill. This place looked different.
It was amazing! They had all kinds of used and vintage home fixtures. Stuff like this is impossible to find in Florida, we don’t have many old houses to salvage old fixtures from. This place turned out to be a gold mine for me.
I found a great light fixture for $12.00! I spent almost $200.00 on all the neat stuff they had.
Then we went to a couple antique stores, and then to the Model Trains Station in Taylors, South Carolina.
This place was mind-blowing. They are located in an anciernt industrial building, and have at least six operating layouts in scales from N to G!
My friendly host showed me around, and I took dozens of pictures of the layouts on display. You can expect to see a lot of these pictures showing up in the “Show Me Something” thread in the future.
This is a good sample of what they have on display:
There is also a large children’s play area:
If you are anywhere near Taylors, SC, this place is 100% worth the effort to visit.
Everyone there is a volunteer, and they rely on donations for everything. It is amazing what they have accomplished. My host told me they have only
A photo taken five minutes ago shortly after 1 a.m.
The Hampton Inn is owned by the Hilton which my Judy works for.
We get these hotel rooms for $35 a night[:-^]
The one in Deadwood was sold out at $275 a night but we skated in with our $35[(-D]
TF
Thanks for hosting the Diner while on your travels, Kevin! Great Stuff!
Are those bullet holes in the Great Pumpkin? Maybe not such a great place to hide-out [:-^]
I have to stay out of the Re-Store! We have an excellent one near us and every time I go I wind up dragging something else home because it is just too good to let it go.
Quite often they will have complete suites of kitchen cabinets. Top-end stuff. There was a beautiful sixteen-piece set the last time we were there (pre-covid) and we hemmed a bit too long and somebody else grabbed it. $350!
I heard from KEN last night. He really sounded great. He got a new car, a 2010 DTS Cadillac but he is still in need of a roof and with the prices of lumber he’s over a barrel since the contractors won’t pin down a price. Cost of lumber “might” be $2K OR it might be $5K!
I encouraged him to stop in and told him we were all hoping to hear from him. He said he was planning to run some trains so maybe that will get him in the mood.
Sometimes talk about how real trains compare to models as far as wheels, track and weights go. At least when WE have derailments they don’t rip up a quater-mile of rail!
This is on the Cumberland Mine Railroad.
Have a great day, everyone!
Cheers, Ed
TF, thanks for the postcard worthy pics! I’ve never been to the Dakotas, but they’re on my bucket list now. Sorry to hear of your troubles with your wireless carrier. Thats always frustrating.
Kevin, neat train store! Pretty unique find. Oh, and look at the hair in that pic! Last picture I remember of you it was really really short. Must have been time for a change.
Another busy day of training people today, plus a pile of work that got dumped on me yesterday afternoon due tomorrow morning, and a soccer game tonight about an hour and a half from home. It’s going to be a long day. Flo, can I get my thermos filled with coffee to go please?
Later fellas!