Cheryl G Burkes Blog

Wow, what a beauty!  It was great country, the beauty of a city at night overwhelmed me!  You see, as we did overnight traveling, some places we viewed at night, I am sad to say that Mobile is one of them, I placed a mental note to be certain to fly down and visit that fair city of a day light!

One very beautiful city by lights! I am always amazed on a little trip like this, how one can find so much beauty in so many different settings.  What a gorgeous country America is, I think, since I live in Oregon, that Oregon has to be the most beautiful state, dah, I know, I know, you would stand up for your home state, but I try to be unbiased!

For, living in Central Oregon, we have the beach just a couple hours away, the skiiable (if that is a word, or snow caps on which to snow skii), golf courses, boating lakes, hiking trails, biking trails, a couple hours away are the dunes for those who like to travel the dunes by vehicle!  Gorgeous sunshine appearing at least for some spot of the day so many days a year it is hard to remember, (albeit, I must admit, though we see the sunshine, we do not experience the warmth from that sun as they do in Florida to say the least).

However, when I take a little road trip and view some of the beauty I find in each state, I am reminded, I could live in many a state, or another, and feel the beautiful surroundings filling my art searching ideals!

Nevertheless, I will return to Mobile to view her beauty in the light of day, just to find out if my night time assessments were accurate!

Cheryl G Burke

cherylgburke.com/blog

I don’t want to leave the subject of Texas, without first adding a note about the drivers we encountered on our journey! 

The Texans have signs along their roadways that say, “Drive Friendly”, now I don’t know about  you, but by golly I find this a very appropriate idea!

Drive Friendly, now that can mean anything from allowing another auto to enter the roadway before you, to stomping on the gas and beating the other guy into the lane!  No matter, however, one way or the other, these guys have a grand thougtht, Drive Friendly!

Never one to spare the gas pedal more than any other, Rick likes to put the Lexus to the test once in a while, to make certain she can still roll as she should!  Well, let me tell you, Texas is the place to, “let her rip”, these guys know how to Rip!

Driving along, doing four miles above the speed limit, wahootie, right on our backside, a Texas car, Rick slips over into the, “Slow” lane, even though  he is approaching a slower vehicle ahead, around  the guy races, getting out of the way, allowing Rick to,  continue back into the fast lane and move away at a very respectable speed.

I think I like the idea that no one has taken on the responsibility of being the, “road cop”.  How many times do you see someone who decides it is their responsibility to slow you down, or make you change lanes to the slow lane? Road Cops, I tell yah, they are everywhere! But I might be considering that most of them have left Texas, if all of Texas travels at the same rate of travel as the folks who traveled through Texas on the twelvth and thirteenth of April 2010!

Cheryl G Burke

cherylgburke.com/blog

With so much fun along the way, we arrive in Galveston, TX, drive out to the beach to find the kids, playing in the ocean, the two year old is having a blast as she loves the idea of the ocean, let alone the actual thing before her very eyes!

The six month old, however cut from a different cloth, although the same mold as the two year old, is having the worst experience of his six months, wind is not his friend, as it blows his sisters golden brown, dutch boy cut hair, causing her to squeel in delight, it blows the sound of dissatisfaction from his lungs, as he weilds the bellows of unhappy hollers into the air.  Granny and Pawpaw, take hold of him cuddling his dissatisfaction close to us, as we head for the van!  Not one to be distracted easily, he continues until his Momma and all are heading in the same direction, back to the motel!

Fun in Texas!

It really isn’t a question of who drives first, of course I sit in the co-pilot seat, never fear though, I take my job very seriously, I tell  Rick as often as I feel the need, how to drive, so, I guess in a way, I drive first also! he he he!

He is as pumped as can be, so of course, as I drift off into la la land ever so often, he drives on into the night on our little fun in the sun trip!  He drives until 12:30 am, I take the wheel, alert and raring to continue to roll, I drive my five hours until 5:30 am at which time, Rick takes over again.

The fun thing about our trips so far, we don’t stop when we have a potentially fun packed time ahead!  Although we try to see fun in everything we do, we especially go for the gusto, when it comes to getting to our destination!

Wow, with a couple days of planning and rearranging things, this little excursion begins!  

Off at 7:30 pm, we take to the road from La Pine, Oregon heading to Houston, Texas.  What fun, a little rain, a little sun, but mostly just down right fun!  We don’t often take off and just run any more, ever notice how down to earth we grow as we grow older?  So many to-dos that we never quite feel as though we can just break away!

That’s what I love about Rick and I, we have always found it a blast to jump and run!  Oh we don’t act irresponsibly, we just meet the adventure where it begins, in the heart!

I hear so many people who have trouble reflecting on their pasts, without regret for the things they didn’t do, that I am always tickled when we just say, “You know what, it is as close as we will get, without putting strain on anyone else, we need to Just GO!”  and we do!

As with any adventure, embarking after the planning is such an excitement.  With us, of course, the planning is usually very short, oh, not that we don’t consider and consider and consider, but generally, we jump at the last minute, into the pool, fully dressed and ready for whatever may come, snow rain, or swimming pool.

This adventure begins along the same line, as we cannot make plans to leave the office too far in advance, as we just never get away! 

This day, we embarked upon a journey to Florida, Fort Myers, Florida, as a matter of fact.  Rick has considered this trip for some time, he has actually been on the computer for hours at a time, looking up everything about the Florida area, that he can find, everything from homes for sale in the gulf area to homes on the Atlantic, to google earth visuals of neighborhoods. 

The opportunity arrises in the form of our Daughter and family informing us, they were taking a trip to his computer researched land of the sun!  As all orders were in order, voila, we embark on this great journey!