World Tour Update

Good Morning;

It's Thursday, 25 FEB, and we have approximately 33 days until we leave on our long awaited trip. Three days ago I was was washing and waxing the truck in preparation and now there's a couple of inches of snow on the truck. All winter long, I kept telling G'ma, "This lack of snow worries me!". Our projected date of departure is March 29. I plan on bringing the trailer home one day late next week to load it up. Let's hope this white stuff is long gone.

Since this is the first post on the KWT, (Kaczorowski World Tour), I will bring you all up to speed. We leave on the 29th and stop in Bowling Green KY for the first night. My plan is NOT to drive over 300 miles a day on this trip, but since we are not sure were the 'freeze line' will be, I want to get as far south as possible on the first day. Bowling Green is about 500 miles. Also, it is the home of the National Corvette Museum. Bonus.

The itinerary is something like this:

• New Orleans, (One week with Tom Rybicki, one of the founding members of the Polish Posse)
• Galveston, (Four days or so)
• Austin TX
• San Antonio TX
• Carlsbad and Roswell NM
• Los Cruces, (Visit Goddaughter Kym and family)
• Tuscon AZ
• Phoenix AZ
• Sedona AZ
• Winslow AZ
• Towaoc CO (Four Corners)
• Williams AZ (Altogether, at least a month in the NM/AZ area)
• Las Vegas NV (Nine days, with a visit from Topher, Angela and Lea Kaczorowski)
• Bakersfield CA, (To visit the worlds first recognized official drag strip; Formosa)
• Salinas CA, (Visit Pebble Beach, Sonoma Raceway, Big Sur, etc.)
• San Francisco CA, (Including taking in a baseball game with the Detroit Tigers @ Oakland. Second row seats next to the Tiger dug out!)
• Klamath CA, (Redwoods National Park)
• Glide OR, (To visit cousin Janet and family)
• Portland OR
• White Salmon WA, (To visit Grandson Anthony and friends)
• Seattle WA, (Couple days of sightseeing before parking rig for ten days)
• Fairbanks AL, (Fly from SeaTac to spend fours days in Alaska, including Denali National Park, then seven day cruise back to Vancouver, then shuttle bus back to Seattle)
• Boise ID, (Pick up Rebecca, Mitchell and Reese to spend  13 days including:)
• Wendover NV
• Salt Lake City UT
• Grand Teton National Park
• Yellowstone National Park
• Billings MT, (Drop off LaBonds at airport in morning, pick up Sarah, Emerson and Riley in the afternoon)
• Sturgis
• Mt. Rushmore
• Wall Drug
• Devils Tower
• Badlands
• Sioux Falls, (Drop off Doyle's at airport)
• Fargo ND, (Just because)
• Maple Grove MN, (Visit Bailor Family)
• Mall of America  
• Green Bay
• Upper Peninsula, MI
• Hartwick Pines State Park
• HOME

All of that traveling will consist of 14.5K  miles and 140 days. We will be putting all of our pictures in 'Dropbox' and I can share access to anyone who wishes to see them.

Talk to y'all soon.
Steve

The End Is Near

Here it is. 69 days until the end of my career.
I am posting this to see if I remember how to blog.
Stay tuned for more details as the World Tour gets closer and closer.
Talk to y'all soon.
Bump

The Countdown Begins.......

One Down, 387 To Go...

• G'ma and I made reservations for our 40th anniversary trip. Amazingly enough, it's for Walt Disney World in Orlando FL. Hence the countdown...
• WDW has a special place in our heart. G'ma and I spent our honeymoon down there in 1972, during it's first year of operation. We have tried to make a trip down there every five years or so. (Not often enough for me, but cooler heads prevail!)
• We have been to two of the Deluxe hotels, the Wilderness Lodge and the Polynesian Village, as well as Fort Wilderness, the campground on site. Additionally, we have been down there off site for a "Make A Wish" trip for the Ace of Spades. This trip, we will be 'roughing it' at Fort Wilderness in the new rig, 'The Phoenix'. We will be traveling down with our friends, Tom, Mars and Mike in their fifth wheeler, and Barb (the Nun) will hopefully join us down there to do WDW right!
• Our best trip down there was nine years ago for our 30th anniversary. We spent ten wonderful days on site. When I made the reservations for that trip, I mentioned it was our 30th, and the agent made sure we got one of the best rooms at the Polynesian Village. It was on the ground floor right by the water front where we could watch the Light Parade every night! We spent three days down there by ourselves before our kids came down with their kids and friends. We hit all the right places and saw all the right things. (Note to all: when you make plans like this a year in advance and mention to the girls; "you might not want to be knocked up for this trip, because I want to hit EVERY attraction with y'all", you can bet one of the no impulse cheerleaders would not listen. One of the princess', (I won't mention Sarahs name), was wondering why she was always sick on the rides......DUH. After the three days in the PV, we moved over to the Wilderness Lodge. The WL is a MUST DO for any Disney visitor. It's the best!
• In an effort to make sure everyone had as good a time as possible, I made an itinerary revolving around one thing per day. Everyone was asked to, (or ordered to, depending on who you talk to), attend one family function a day. Some days it was a meal, other days an event or show. I made little 'tickets' with all the pertinant information so no one would forget the event. All in all, it worked very well. There was some concern about being on a tight schedule, but in the end, it went very well.
• That's one of the secrets about having a good time at WDW. YOU HAVE TO HAVE A SCHEDULE. The sheer number of things to see down there requires you to make a plan and stick to it as close as possible. Of course, a good plan always allows for the "fudge factor". You cannot plan too many things in one day. You have to leave room to relax and take in as much as possible.
• The second big secret about a good trip is DO NOT THINK ABOUT THE MONEY YOU ARE SPENDING! It's expensive. All good things are. I do not plan of leaving the kids any money, that's for sure!
• I am excited. I have already ordered my Birnbaum book. It's not printed yet, but Amazon.com has my credit card on file, and as soon as it's available. I will be getting one of the first! (Open open open.......)
• I will update y'all with plans as the year goes on....
• Oh well...back to work......(how many more days?)
• Bump

1111 Days

• This post is dedicated to my younger Daughter, Sarah Kristen

• One Thousand, One Hundred and Eleven Days Sober. Your Mom and I are very proud of you and glad you have been able to fight the demons that plaqued you, even for that short time.
• I started a post at 1000 days, but because of the location that we were in, I lost all of the information before I could save it. It was witty. It was sappy. It was painful. Anyone who writes likes this, off the cuff, knows that once you put "pen to paper", you cannot duplicate it no matter how hard you try. The following is an attempt to do just that.

• In the last 1111 days, you have been divorced. Moved into your own house. Hurt your back. Lost your Grandfather. Wrecked another vehicle. (You get the picture). Life's been a bitch lately. Yet, you have remained strong through all of this and not strayed back to the sauce.
• We, (your whole family), are happy you know you don't need vodka to be the happy, bright, smiling, (for the most part), daughter/sister/mom/aunt that you are. Your laugh and your sense of humor is infectious and reminds me of my Aunt Bobbie. She was as devious and twisted as you and I are.

• In the blog I wrote 111 days ago, I touched upon the "misplaced kids", the wrecked Jag, (horror of all horrors), the dumbass enabler you were married to, and a couple of other points. Since that was the "Painful" part of the last post, I chose not to remember all of the language. You remember it, and that is one of the reasons you remain sober to this day.

• That all being said, between you and the rest of the Girls' prodding, I will try to post more often. Someone needs to entertain them with you!

• Congratulations Sarah. Your Mom and I got your back!

• Gotta get back to work! Bump

Happy Birthday To My Wife

• Today is Christines 60th birthday. She joins the rank of other "Mature" folks like:
• Albert Einstien
• Leonardo DaVinci
• Susan B Anthony
• Clara Barton
• Louis Pasteur
• Plato and Socrates
• Obviously, I think very highly of my alleged better half.
• Best of all, she has put up with me for about 45 years......
• Happy Birthday Christine... Bump

Happy Mothers Day

• As I said in my "Facebook" post; Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there. And you all know who you are!
• With both of our Mothers gone, G'ma and I rely on our "Little Mothers" to come over and make the holiday whats its supposed to be. Bex and Sar came through as they always do. This year, the fun factor was increased by the fact that significant others also brought their little humans to the house. Aunt Lu and TG brought their kids over to help celebrate with us. No matter what we say, or how we act, we love having the kids over to the house, (as long as the Moms are there)! When I looked out at the boys running around in th front yard, it reminded me of the times I went to my Grandmothers house, all those years ago, (YES I CAN REMEMBER Back that far Girls!).
• Yes, we were 'blessed' with a beautiful day. The weather yesterday was as great as it gets in Michigan. Not too hot, not too cold or windy.
• I know all my Moms like steak. So, I actually was proactive and got with the men in my daughters lives, (actually, I got with the girls), and let them know what I was going to do for dinner and asked that they bring something to add to dinner. I made it a point to make sure that BUYING things, as compared to MAKING things was absolutely acceptable. TG brought potato salad and PS brought strawberry shortcake (with French Vanilla Ice Cream; the ONLY way to make it, BTW). I went to Costco and picked up Filet Mignon and Mushrooms from Ninos. It goes without saying that dinner was a hit with EVERYONE, especially the Moms, since they did not have to do A N Y T H I N G . (I made sure the men took care of thier kids so the moms would not have to).
• Let me tell you all something about Costco. If you dont already know this, you can buy Filet Mignon for a price that some stores charge for ROASTS!. ($10.99 a pound last week). The quality of this meat is unbeatable. As long as I can afford it, I will eat no other steak!
• I wish Lu's parents could have made it. I hear that they are 'good people'. (Hi Sha-Mom. HMD!)
• I was glad to read Sarahs post and hear her say what I thought I saw yesterday.
• I think I did okay for Moms Day this year.
• Well....back to work!

Bump-ster