Monticello was the primary plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father and the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 14. Located just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, in the Piedmont region, the plantation was originally 5,000 acres with Jefferson using the labor of African slaves for extensive cultivation of tobacco and mixed crops, later shifting from tobacco cultivation to wheat in response to changing markets. Due to its architectural and historic significance, the property has been designated a National Historic Landmark. While staying at the Powhatan State Park we traveled about an hour northwest to visit this National Historical Landmark on Thursday, May 18. We purchased tickets for the highlight tour which included a 45 minute guided tour of the interior of Jefferson's home and a separate guided tour of the gardens. Prior to our tour we were lucky enough to catch a gentleman portraying President Jefferson, circa 1823 in conversation with some of the visitors. It was a fascinating experience. We learned that Jefferson designed the main house using neoclassical design principles and reworked the design for 40 years, through much of his presidency to include design elements popular in late 18th-century Europe and integrating numerous ideas of his own. Situated on the summit of an 850 ft high peak in the Southwest Mountains south of the Rivanna Gap, the name Monticello derives from Italian meaning "little mountain". Along a prominent lane adjacent to the house called Mulberry Row, the plantation came to include numerous outbuildings for specialized functions, e.g., a nailery, quarters for slaves who worked in the home, gardens for flowers, produce, and Jefferson's experiments in plant breeding—along with tobacco fields and mixed crops. Cabins for slaves who worked in the fields were located farther from the mansion. Thomas Jefferson was accomplished in many areas but his lavish lifestyle left him in tremendous debt at the end of his life. After Jefferson's death, his daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph, sold Monticello for $7,500. She sold the entire property except for the small family graveyard which still belongs to the family. In 1834, it was bought by Uriah P. Levy, a commodore in the U.S. Navy for $2,500, who admired Jefferson and spent his own money to preserve the property. His nephew Jefferson Monroe Levy took over the property in 1879; he also invested considerable money to restore and preserve it. In 1923, Monroe Levy sold it to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (TJF) for $500,000, which operates it as a house museum and educational institution to this day. After a wonderful day-long sightseeing adventure we returned to Powhatan State Park for the night. Most sites are shady and long enough for most rigs. We really enjoyed our campsite #7. I think our pull-through site must have been over 100 feet long. Check the website for more information. Silly me, I neglected to take any photos while here. Electric and water only utilities were near the rear of our site. The dump station has 4 drains and is easy to maneuver. Nice hosts, park staff and fellow campers. We were in no rush leaving this park because check out time was 1 PM! This RV campground is a definite do-over when in the area. Friday, May 19 we departed at noon and drove to Walmart in Waynesboro, VA for supplies and a lunch break before driving the remainder of our route to the Peaceful Valley Assembly of God Church in Maxwelton, West Virginia. This leg took the entire afternoon and we didn't arrive until 4:45 PM. We found the location on our Harvest Host membership link. The church provides a large, level parking site for boon docking over night and we provide them a small donation for the convenience. Tomorrow we drive about an hour and a half to Camp Creek State Park, WV for two nights. We are hoping to see Matthew and Ana Schaetzle, friends from Kona, Hawaii, who now live in Bluefield, WV.

Today is our last day in Virginia Beach so we had lunch with the Clements' to say our "goodbyes". We spent some quality time and Karen really got to know these two special people from my past. Virginia Beach has been a great place to hang out and visit. We still need to get to the many sights we missed. We look forward to seeing them again when we return south in the Fall. This afternoon, we then started getting the trailer rigged for travel. All the outside chairs are stowed and the electric bikes are back on their travel rack. Tomorrow we will hook up to the truck, finish cleaning and stowing the inside gear before bringing in all the slides. We need to dump all our tanks and check our tire pressure before we hit the road. On the next leg of our adventures we depart Virginia Beach headed northwest towards Richmond, VA on Interstate 64 and our eventual camping destination at Powhatan State Park, VA. Powhatan State Park is only 341 feet above sea level in the northwest corner of Powhatan County on the historic James River and is about two and a half hours away, so not a long driving day ahead of us. Our two day stay at this particular campground will put us strategically between Richmond, VA and about an hour southeast of Charlottesville, VA. Richmond, the capital of Virginia, is among America’s oldest major cities. Patrick Henry, a U.S. Founding Father, famously declared “Give me liberty or give me death” at its St. John's Church in 1775, leading to the Revolutionary War. The White House of the Confederacy, home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis during the Civil War, is now a museum in Court End, a neighborhood known for Federal-style mansions. Charlottesville is home to the University of Virginia, with its core campus designed by Thomas Jefferson. On the outskirts, Jefferson’s mountain-top plantation, Monticello, includes a mansion and rebuilt slave quarters. Also in Charlottesville is President James Monroe’s home, Highland, retains many original furnishings. The city is a gateway to Shenandoah National Park, along a section of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Let see what awaits us as we journey towards the Appalachian Mountains!

Virginia Beach, Virginia to be exact. We arrived on Sunday, May 7 for a ten day respite and visit with my old Navy roommate and his family. John Clements and I were stationed together at Navfac Adak, Alaska in 1973-74 and again at Navfac Centerville Beach, California in 1975-76. We lived next door in a duplex in Ferndale, California and went to school together at College of the Redwood to study radio and television production. I went on from radio to photography and he pursued a career in television. He is still working in that field as a Production Supervisor for CBN here in Virginia Beach hoping to retire in September. He and Ellen came over Sunday night for dinner and we got caught up on life. It was a wonderful visit and a great start to our stay in the Holiday Trav-L-Park RV campground. The Holiday Trav-L-Park a huge resort facility with over 1000 sites with hook-ups not far from the Oceana Naval Air Station. The park has 4 large pools located throughout the campground and a miniature golf course with 18 challenging holes. Plenty of things to do nearby and close enough to the beach to ride our bikes. Our first two nights we stayed at site #531 with full hook-ups. We planned on moving to the RV park at Fort Story on Tuesday, May 9 but ran into problems with base access, so I cancelled that reservation and extended our stay at Trav-L-Park. We moved to an electric/water only site #525 in the rear of the complex. This site is huge, in the trees and remote from traffic. Our nearest neighbor is three sites away so we feel like we are in the woods almost alone. Since Tuesday we've been seeing the local sights with John and Ellen. Wednesday they took us to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens and we enjoyed a beautiful walk and good conversation. On Thursday, May 11 Karen and I took a bike ride down General Booth Drive to the Virginia Beach boardwalk. This is a spacious walkway between the hotels and the Atlantic Ocean with designated bike lanes to travel the entire 6 miles along the oceanfront. We had lunch at one of the many restaurants then rode back to the campground. After the 12 mile excursion we both rested, read and I took a nap in my new hammock. We chilled in our campsite and enjoy a quiet setting punctuated with periodic interruptions by F-18 flights out of Oceana Naval Air Station.

Today is Cinco de Mayo 2023. One year ago today we left California on our first extended adventure to see the United States and conduct the shakedown cruise for Trinity. Since that time we have traveled to 24 states while living full-time in our fifth wheel. And last Monday, May 1, I (John) turned 70! A milestone that I still have a hard time getting my head around. Since my last post we have traveled north along interstate 95 from Jacksonville, Florida to Darien, Georgia, We stopped for two nights and drove into Savannah on April 30th without the trailer to tour the city. Savannah, Georgia is a beautiful city built around 22 town squares filled with monuments and statues. History is literally everywhere you look in the architecture. The picturesque streets are lined with live oaks covered with Spanish Moss and resurrection ferns. Once again we used an OFF/ON trolley to tour the city and get an overview. On May 1, we left Darien. I requested we stop for a birthday breakfast at the Cracker Barrel restaurant along the way and later in the day got my free birthday drink at Starbucks. Life is good at 70! We traveled 222 miles to Crossroads Coach Resort at the ROB in Lake City, South Carolina. This is a beautiful, clean, well manicured facility!! Wonderful water pressure! We felt safe and secure. Sites are paved so no dust. A huge benefit we discovered was the nice laundry facility; new, clean front-loading machines to use at NO extra cost for guests! And with our Passport America membership, we only paid $28 a night for full hook-ups. From Lake City, South Carolina we traveled 3 hours and 182 miles northwest to Raleigh, North Carolina to visit a close friend, Jane Clover in the neighboring town of Apex, North Carolina. We arrived on May 3rd at our RV destination located at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds RV Park in Raleigh. We had dinner with her that evening in her independent living dining facility. How appropriate for this newly minted 70 year old, huh?

So we finally got on base and it was worth the wait. Our site was not in the first row by the main channel coming into the St. Johns River but we had a great view looking northeast as ship traffic entered and departed the the port facilities associated with the Port of Jacksonville. The Navy Base maintains a floating barrier with armed patrol boats to keep out any unofficial vessels. This strategic location has a very long history. In 1562, French Huguenot Commodore Jean Ribault, then said to be the greatest captain on the seas, was selected by the famous Admiral Gaspard de Coligny to lead an expedition to Florida; his mission was to form a French Protestant colony. Ribault arrived off what is now known as Mayport, near the mouth of the St. Johns River, on May 1 of that year. Landing on the north side of the river, now Ft. George, it is said they offered up prayers while the Native Americans looked on with attentive silence. They were received warmly by the Native Americans, including Saturiwa, their chief. Through old maps, there is evidence of continuous occupation of the naval station site by Native Americans, Spanish, English, and Americans since the 16th Century. During the Revolutionary War period, Florida was occupied by the English. The river was patrolled by a group of British vessels called the St. Johns Fleet, whose duty was to prevent American sympathizers from crossing the river from the south side to the north. During this time, many Spanish citizens moved into the Mayport area from the New Smyrna colony. Many of their descendants still live in the City of Mayport, adjacent to the naval station. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, a Confederate company from Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Light Infantry, set up a fort on the present naval station. They named it Fort Steele in honor of their commanding officer, a medical officer named Dr. Steele. Steele was soon transferred to the Confederate Medical Corps and command of the company was assumed by Captain Doggett. Because the fort was considered indefensible, the guns were buried and the Jacksonville Company was made part of the main Confederate forces in Tennessee. A number of years before the Navy acquired this site, these guns were discovered near the present pilothouse and were recovered. Mayport’s location has given its home ported ships many opportunities to participate in both military operations and several other national interest projects. On Feb. 23, 1962, the Mayport based USS Noa (DD-841) was a recovery ship for the Mercury space capsule Friendship Seven and Astronaut Lt. Col. John Glenn, Jr., the first American to orbit the Earth. On June 11, 1965, the carrier USS Wasp brought Lt. Col. Jim McDivitt and Lt. Col. Ed White and the Gemini 4 capsule to Naval Station Mayport following their completion of 62 Earth orbits in four days. During the period from Oct. 21 to Nov. 22, 1962, Mayport naval station was deeply involved in the “Cuban Missile Crisis.” The Second Marine Division set up an advanced staging area on the station. Our three days on base included a wonderful meal a the Seaglass Wine Bar. We enjoyed sharing a huge Caesar salad and a creamy pesto sauce fettucine with pawns with two wine drinks for $36! On Thursday afternoon I wanted to take the truck in for an oil change and new fuel filters. While driving to the diesel service shop we turned over 100,000 miles and I knew we needed to get some other items serviced as well, so we scheduled all day Friday to have those items addressed. We dropped off the truck Friday morning and rented a car. We spent the day driving around the Jacksonville area. We checked out the JAX international airport, drove through the downtown civic center and looked at a number of new KB Home developments. The area is very appealing and on our list of possible places to land someday.

Jacksonville, Florida (Aka JAX) was our home for five days. The first two days, Monday and Tuesday (April 24,25) were spent camping in Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park. Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park is a 1.5-mile public beach and city park in Jacksonville, Florida. It is located at Mayport in the Jacksonville Beaches area. It consists of 447 acres of mature coastal hammock, which is increasingly rare along Florida's heavily developed Atlantic coast. Hammock is a term used in the southeastern United States for stands of trees, usually hardwood, that form an ecological island in a contrasting ecosystem. Love this campground and park! The roads are narrow but wide enough for our rig to maneuver to our RV site 157, which was a 45’ pull thru site. The site was level, dirt, heavily wooded/shaded, and vegetation on both sides that provided privacy with enough room for all three slide outs. Tuesday morning we made our way without the fifth-wheel to the Visitor ID/Pass office at Mayport Naval Station and got our credentials so we could move to Pelican Roost RV Park on Wednesday afternoon. From there we drove south to spend the rest of the day visiting St.Augustine. St. Augustine is a city on the northeast coast of Florida located north of Daytona Beach and south of Jacksonville. It is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in what is now the contiguous United States. It's colorful history makes it a definite place to not miss when on the east coast of Florida. St. Augustine was founded on September 8, 1565, by Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Florida's first governor. He named the settlement "San Agustín" as his ships bearing settlers, troops, and supplies from Spain had first sighted land in Florida eleven days earlier on August 28, the feast day of St. Augustine. The city served as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years. It was designated as the capital of British East Florida when the colony was established in 1763; Great Britain returned Florida to Spain in 1783. To cover as much ground efficiently with our limited time we chose to pay for the "Off and On" trolley train to see the sights. It was worth the money to get this personalized tour with all the stories associated with the significant people and their influence to the city's history. The trolley tour route covered about 8 miles. After the trolley we walked to see sights of interest and eat dinner. It was a full day but a good overview for a future longer stay later during the winter when we return in November.

One week at the Kennedy Space Center KARS RV campsite afforded us an opportunity to see a launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and visit the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on two different days. We also spent some time at the beach relaxing and visited the cities of Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach. The area around KSC on Merritt Island really impressed Karen and I enough to look at the potential real estate options for the future. We loved the weather but realize we need to experience more time during different seasons to get a real handle on what life is like on the Atlantic side of Florida. And of course, there is that weather issue called hurricanes to factor into any long term decisions. But more on that later. The Falcon 9 rocket launch on Wednesday morning was a bit of a letdown. We were originally hoping to see the Falcon Heavy launch but it was again postponed until April 27 at 7:29 pm, so we missed the big show. But the Kennedy Space Center visit made up for the disappointing launch expectation big time. The Center is impressive and the exhibits, activities and overall experience was incredible. We bought a two day pass and we needed it to see everything. The first day we visited I was under the weather so I couldn't enjoy the bus tour to the Saturn V venue like I would have liked, but we made the best of it. The Saturn V exhibit contained an entire rocket laid out on its side in a massive structure. There were many exhibits including the original Apollo 13 Command Module, a complete Lunar Module, and a wonderful memorial exhibit to the crew of Apollo 1, who lost their lives on the pad in a test at the beginning of the Apollo program. We finished the first day at the iMax theater watching the "Last Man on the Moon" film about the Apollo 17 mission. The second day we visited was Saturday and I was A-OK! On this day we took in the Atlantis Space Shuttle exhibit, the Expedition to Mars exhibit, the Journey to Mars simulator, and the Hall of Heroes. Of course, I was in my "happy place" being around all this space stuff. But Karen was in to it also and came away with a greater appreciation for the incredible accomplishments achieved and the new technologies we live with today. This area is a great place to visit and hang out for a week. We hope to return in the future and see one of the big rockets launch in the winter. We departed the KARS campground on Monday, April 24 and headed to the Pelican Roost RV Park at Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville, Florida about 165 miles to the north. We arrived in plenty of time to get our visitors pass at the base office except they were closed. Apparently the office had a gas leak that day that put three people in the hospital, so they closed the office and we had to adjust on the fly because we had no authorization to get on base. Fortunately, just down the street, was a City of Jacksonville campground at Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park which included 300 sites set in a wooded area that is easily accessible by paved roads. RV, tent and rustic cabin camping was available, so we booked two nights there until we could get to Pelican Roost. It worked out just fine; in fact, we booked three nights in November 2023 when we return for the winter.

We arrived at the KARS RV Park on Monday, April 17 with the hope we might get a site on the water a mere eight miles from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This park is for NASA employees, their families and retired military personnel and their families. It has great views of the launch pads with 20 sites right on the water for $30/night. When we arrived I told security I was an active member of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary and showed my ID. He called the park office, the park manager called her boss, the NASA KARS administrator, and he gave us the green light to stay on the property. What an incredible blessing to stay at this venue! I chose site 13 in honor of Apollo 13 and the view out our RV's window looks east towards the launch complexes and the Atlantic Ocean. This morning, we woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the Banana River hoping that the schedule launch of the Falcon Heavy • ViaSat 3 would go as originally scheduled for later in the early evening. Unfortunately, the launch was again delayed, now to April 24 after we leave. That was the bad news, but it was followed by good news; the announcement of the scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 • Starlink 6-2 for tomorrow, April 19, launch time at 8:27 a.m. EDT. The launch site is even closer at SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. This SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of second-generation Starlink V2 Mini internet satellites. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster will land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. This is the realization of a boyhood dream come true for me, to see an actual rocket launch up close and personal. As a kid in the 60's, I would get up before the TV stations went "on air" to watch the first NASA Mercury/Redstone sub-orbital flight of Alan Shepard. I followed every NASA mission and crew through Mercury, Gemini and ultimately the Apollo program that landed men of the moon. In high school I was the president of our Model Rocketry Club, building, testing and launching model rockets. I dreamed of someday becoming an astronaut and even worked in an occupational training program my junior year of high school at NASA Ames Research Center as an electrical draftsman. Over my entire adult life I have been fascinated with space travel and the programs humans have created to explore the cosmos. Tomorrow morning, I won't be sitting on the carpet in my childhood living room in front of a black and white TV. Tomorrow morning, at 8:00 am, I'll be standing with my wife out on the dock over the Banana River watching the real deal, experiencing the sights, sounds, smells and emotion on a very personal level.. Can't wait!

One of my (John's) life dreams has always been to go to every MLB baseball park in the US and Canada. Now that we have started this new lifestyle of the full-time RV life, I am looking for opportunities to make this dream come true. Tuesday night, April 11 I took Karen to meet our friend Nancy Swain at the Red Mesa Cantina in St. Petersburg for an early dinner. They had plans to spend a couple of days together at Nancy's home and after dinner I headed to Tropicana Field to see the Tampa Bay Rays play the Boston Red Sox. Tropicana Field (commonly known as the Trop) is a multi-purpose domed stadium located in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The stadium has been the home of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB) since the team's inaugural season in 1998. The venue is the only non-retractable domed stadium in Major League Baseball, making it the only year-round indoor venue in MLB. Tropicana Field is the smallest MLB stadium by seating capacity. It was a great game and a fun time seeing the Rays win their 11th straight game. I've been to 7 different MLB parks to date. I'm looking forward to more opportunities during the baseball season as we continue to travel the country.

Following our swim with the manatees we returned to the Sun Retreats RV Resort to checkout before 11 AM on Friday. We proceeded south onward towards the Tampa Bay/Saint Petersburg, Florida area. We are planning an extended stay at MacDill Air Force Base FamCamp. After getting to the main gate we again went through the check-in process of getting a visitors pass that we have done many times past. By 2 PM we had a site with full hook-ups in the FamCamp Annex for $22 a night. The Annex is next to the the golf course and only a short bike ride away from the main FamCamp complex by the beach and marina. We chose the annex because the sites are larger and spaced farther from each RV. There is no restroom/shower or laundry facility in the annex but we really don't need those services. Friday evening we went off base to a Japanese restaurant for one of Morgan's favorite foods- Sushi! We had to wait about 30 minutes but it was worth the wait. We had another wonderful meal together. Saturday was Morgan's last day with us so we did a dry run to the Tampa Bay International Airport during the daytime to get an idea of the lay of the land. Her flight on Sunday was at 8:30 AM and I didn't want to try and find the terminal at 6 AM in the dark. The airport is only thirty minutes from the base so it was not going to be a problem getting her to the airport for her flight home. We got some diesel for the truck and did some shopping. We returned to the base and I took a nap while Karen and Morgan went to the base bowling alley to have some girl time together. That evening we had another feast! I barbecued tri-tip, Karen made baked potatoes and broccoli. Morgan made some awesome brownies from scratch with the groceries we picked up earlier in the day. We finished the evening playing a card game called 4 up/4 down before getting to bed early. Easter Sunday morning the alarm went off at 6 AM and we were out the door at 6:30 AM headed to the airport. I dropped Morgan and Karen off and headed to breakfast at the Waffle House restaurant. We both hope Morgan had a good time visiting us. Living in a confirmed space for a week with your grandparents can be a challenging experience. We saw some neat places, ate some incredible food and did some cool things together, so I think she has some good memories of our time together. I picked Karen up after Morgan's flight took off and we drove south through St. Petersburg on Interstate 275 to attend the 10 AM Easter morning services at Bayside Community Church in Bradenton, Florida. This the church attended by our close friends Richard and Nancy Swain who own a home in Bradenton. Richard unfortunately was stuck in Michigan working but Nancy was home and attended their sunrise service. Because of our commitment of getting Morgan to the airport we chose to attend the 10 AM service before heading to their home for Easter Brunch. Nancy was Karen's Maid of Honor when we got married 27 years ago and they have been good friends for years so we had planned on visiting them while in the area at MacDill AFB. We got to see two of their adult children Amber and Michael, some significant others, grandchildren and other relatives. Karen and Nancy caught up while I visited and got to know Amber's husband Justin. It has been a full weekend for the two of us with plans to continue sightseeing and relaxing in the beautiful Tampa Bay area. Karen is planning a two-day long girls only visit with Nancy down in Bradenton, so I think I'll catch a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game in St. Pete's and play a round of golf here on the base while she's gone. We are here until April 17 before continuing east to Patrick's Space Force Base to watch the scheduled launch of the a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on April 18 with the ViaSat 3 Americas broadband communications satellite. Stay tuned for more reports!

Wednesday, April 5 we departed Eglin Air Force Base for O'Leno State Park in High Springs, Florida. This was another long driving day and we did this to make the next two days shorter distances to travel. After spending a quiet night hooked up to the truck we got back on the road for the short 92 mile trip towards Sun Retreats Crystal River Resort. This would be our base for one night and a scheduled 7AM morning swim with the manatees on Friday morning, April 7. We booked with Nature's Discovery company who takes guests from all over the world on scenic boat eco-tours of the Kings Bay Manatee Refuge snorkeling with these gentle giants. Their manatee snorkel tours offer the rare opportunity to enjoy up-close interactions with one of the sweetest animals on the planet. Florida manatees are large, aquatic mammals that are native to Florida. Adult manatees are typically 9-10 feet long from snout to tail and weigh around 1,000 pounds; however, they may grow to over 13 feet long and weigh more than 3,500 pounds. Manatees have two fore limb flippers that they use for steering movements and to hold vegetation while eating. A large, round, flattened paddle-shaped tail is used for swimming. Manatees are aquatic herbivores (plant-eaters). Also known as "sea cows," these herbivores usually spend up to eight hours a day grazing on seagrasses and other aquatic plants. A manatee can consume from 4 to 9 percent of its body weight in aquatic vegetation daily. On our day with the manatees we found a cow with her calf eating near a boat dock. We entered the water slowly and approached them as they grazed on the seagrass covering the bottom a few feet under us. It was like we were invisible to them. We swam together watching as they ate and moved around us. Every four or five minutes they would float to the surface to take a breath then sink back down to continue their meal. It was amazing get close and personal to swim with these gentle giants. A marvelous experience worth the time and cost.

On our RV Trip Wizard map it is 3 hours, 51 minutes or 246 miles from Fountainebleau State Park in Louisiana to Postal Point Beach campground at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. This leg of our journey with our granddaughter would take us on Interstate 10 through the southern part of eastern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the western tip of the Florida panhandle. We traveled just north of Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi, through Mobile, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida. Our plan was to spend two days near Karen's cousin Gary's home in Shalimar, Florida and Eglin Air Force Base was the ideal location. We arrived at Eglin AFB on Monday, April 3, secured our visitor credentials to be on base and drove past the runway as two F-22 Raptors were taking off and WOW. those aircraft are incredibly loud! It took us a while to figure out where Postal Point was located, but when we finally found our campground we were totally impressed with the venue. The campground sits on a peninsula surrounded by the Boggy Bayou to the north and Choctawhatchee Bay to the east and south. This was our view looking south from the campsite. The sea breeze off the water helped keep the humidity and ambient temperature within a pleasant range so we could sit outside, enjoy the view and eat our meals. On Tuesday, April 4 we drove to the Fort Walton Yacht Club and arrived at 10 AM to meet Gary and go out on his 320 Catalina sailboat for the day. Yes, you read this post correctly, Karen was going on a sailboat! We were joined by his two daughters and his three grandkids so we had a full complement of nine souls aboard. We motored out of the harbor and raised the jib only (to keep the boat from heeling too much). We spent about four hours hanging out on the water. Karen and Morgan even walked out to the foredeck to sit on the cabin outside the cockpit. It was a fun time connecting with Gary after so many years and seeing his kids and grandkids. I don't think Karen was ever concerned for her safety while we we our on the water. I think she was distracted by the fearless little ones sitting on the rail!