Traveling Grouch

The idea for the Traveling Grouch developed from our train trip. That trip was so bad, for so long, that I thought I needed to write about it. Then I thought about all our other trips and figured they deserved their own blog. They don't. Let's face it. I've had one or two readers for this one and I struggle just to get a post out here on a regular basis. I think I'm boring myself, and if I am, I'm boring you - the readers. Let's call it quits on regular updates. I'll post the trips out here eventually. When we travel, I'll drop the notes here, like I did for the Costa Rica Dental Tourism posts. Otherwise, thanks for reading. Fun while it lasted, but we'll sign off for now. God bless and safe travels.

When Pastor Don mentioned the upcoming trip, something twinged in my heart, but I shrugged it off. "No, thanks, God," I said. "Africa is too much to handle."  A few months later Pastor Don mentioned it again, and my heart jerked in my chest. Astounded, I told God "It just isn't happening. Africa is too much for me." A month before the trip, Pastor Don told the church there was still time. I turned to Darling and said "I think I have to go to Africa." That's how it is with me and God. Darling, of course, said she wanted to see what God had planned in Africa. So in the middle of March, 2011, Darling and I went on a mission trip to Africa. When we returned Pastor Don asked me to say a few words about the trip. This is a modified version of that. I could talk about the flight over, but it’s a haze in my mind, with memories of Pastor Don and Darling talking to people about Jesus Christ, but that’s not news to anyone here either. I could talk a

Some days, I just cannot manage to get a post finished. That's today. Darling was sick all night. The thing is, aside from throwing up she was also cold - like ice cold. The last time that happened we were vacationing in Puerto Vallarta, at a super-nice club. We booked it with an exchange of our timeshare, so had to attend one of their sales meetings. Let me just say, if you EVER are in a timeshare meeting - don't buy. The high-pressure tactics are designed to influence you to buy what they have. Just. Don't. Walk away. They'll come after you and make deal after deal. Keep walking and enjoy your vacation. We bought. Yeah, you read that right. The pitch they made us was incredible. The young salesman was our best friend, our son, our brother - all rolled into one. He was willing to consolidate all three of our existing timeshares (I confess. We speak from experience here.). I wanted to get our timeshares down to a single one. We signed. That was Saturday. Oh, and the hal

Alamo. NOT the rental place. Not all our trips are epic, but I'll share them anyway.  A few weekends ago we traveled to San Antonio, Texas to visit my life-long friend John. He and his wife flew in from Michigan for a conference. From Houston to anywhere of size is three hours, minimum. SA hits that sweet spot. We've driven there and back in a day, but that's not something you want to do unless you have to. Or have a travel van. Maybe I want a travel van... Back on point. What do you do in SA? You can visit the many ancient old missions that dot the map near the city center. Nothing we immigrant USA citizens have built is more than five hundred years old. By European standards, buildings are almost new around here. To see ancient, we need to find Indian ruins or go to Italy. John's Darling Wife, Rachel, did most of that touring during the week when we couldn't make it over there, but that always leaves two things I love about SA - eating and the Alamo. We spent a w