It’s been years since Dorothee and I last visited Washington D.C. When she suggested late last year that this would make a good week’s vacation trip, I was all for it. Thanks to our good friends Tim and Desiree Chagin we were able to get great rates at the Omni SouthPark (Tim’s a VP with … [Read more…]
Springtime in Texas can be ephemeral at best. It seems like one week it’s winter, and a few weeks later summer has arrived. It was with this environment in mind that I started planning my first long distance (for me) motorcycle trip in early 2013, setting a date that would hopefully coincide with our short-lived … [Read more…]
I’ve had a lifelong fascination with cameras and photography. About 3 years ago my good friend, Tom Ryals, a professional photographer and videographer GAVE me a wonderful Nikon D200 camera. It was way more camera than I would have ever ventured into on my own, but possession of this beauty has prompted me to spend … [Read more…]
Well, they really did pull it off! On November 18 the inaugural race at the brand new Circuit of the Americas (COTA) track in Austin was held, in the form of the United States Grand Prix (Formula One). No gear head worth the name would consider missing the first Grand Prix race to be … [Read more…]
This year marked the 6th straight year we have held our annual “Jazz in the Canyon” celebration at our home in Sunset Canyon. It is always great to see old friends, many times not since the previous year. We were thrilled to have visitors from as far as California (Dorothee’s sister Mary and hubby … [Read more…]
In 2002 I had the great thrill to participate in a 3-day Skip Barber racing course held at Laguna Seca Raceway near Monterey California. Ironically, after living in Monterey for almost 10 years, I rarely visited the raceway, or attended the Pebble Beach Concours. It was only after Dorothee and I had moved thousands of … [Read more…]
In 2003 Dorothee and I met our now-good-friends David and Shree Mickelson while on a cultural exchange trip to Havana, Cuba. At the time of our meeting, David and Shree were just dating, but married the following year, and subsequently met up with us in Hawaii during their honeymoon. Since then, we’ve remained in … [Read more…]
We have been anticipating our trip to Northern Germany for many months now. We were invited by our good friends of 15 years Dietmar Panten and Britta Behmer to join us at their new vacation home on Schlei Fjord near the extreme northern border of Germany. We have visited Dietmar and Britta many times at … [Read more…]
I’ve owned “Henry”, my 1939 Ford Deluxe Coupe, for some three years now, and have enjoyed every minute of it. I first got the hankering to own a Ford Coupe after my buddy Doug convinced me to attend the Longhorn Hotrod show. “Hot rods” per se have never been my cuppa tea, but Doug owns … [Read more…]
Nothing gets the heart rate going faster than a spin on a vintage motorcycle, and that includes the instantly identifiable BMW Airhead. It has been almost twenty years since I’ve last owned or ridden a motorcycle, and I’d assumed that my yen for biking was past. Then, for some inexplicable reason, I started thinking about … [Read more…]