And this is great-- We already have reservations from now until the middle of April. From here we head to New Orleans for a couple of weeks, then near Houston for a couple of weeks before arriving at a little town in south Central Texas on the solar eclipse path on April 4, for the eclipse on April 8th. That's been a target for well over a year now, as I've remembered driving down from Kirkland in 2017 for the solar eclipse on August 17 of that year. It was a unique, phenomenal thing to see, and I really want to experience it again. We'll be in a little town called Burnet, Texas, and according to the charts should have well over four minutes of eclipse totality. I understand that it's not that difficult for the experts, much like knowing exactly when the tides will be high and low, that someone can use instruments to peer into a three-dimensional sky, and know, right to the second, when the eclipse will go into totality, when it will come out. And with absolute certainty for months, even years in advance. Whatever, it's up to us to do the enjoying!

Had another birthday last week. Turning 72 is at least everything is cracked up to be! Looking back over the pictures I took over the last four weeks, there really isn't much excitement to report on this time. We watched the Super Bowl, of course, and what an exciting finish for once! Some good friends have roots that stretch into Kansas, so choosing a favorite was easy this year. And the ads-- I remember being pretty disappointed the last several years. I thought this year were fair again, finally!

So here's hoping that everyone's 2024 is off to a decent start, if not better. Looks like we have our time in the Pacific Northwest this year earmarked, finally. We're going to intersect family and friends near Ocean Shores in Washington for around a week starting on June 19, so we're planning to spend some Seattle area time for all of July and August, and then be back on the Full-Time-RV-road late August or early September. So much to do and catch up on while in Washington! We have doctor visits to schedule, some minor RV maintenance, Karaoke venues to revisit and re-remember, senior-group computer learning and teaching to visit with on Tuesday mornings, and of course, many family members and friends to spend some more precious time with! We hope to intersect with the same fellow where the RV was stationed for the 14 months from July 2022 until our September 2023 departure. Looks like he'll be able to accommodate us, back out near Monroe/Sultan. It's not certain yet, but we sure hope so, because finding RV space anywhere near Seattle during the summer is quite the challenge. Not a surprise, as it pretty much beats the heck out of being anywhere else in the country in July and August!

And-- A little update now to March 4, 2024. We made it to New Orleans on Saturday the 2nd of March. We made reservations nearby most ALL the fun things to see in New Orleans, and the RV Park is a DUMP. Not literally, it's just crappy!! It's about 1 in the afternoon right now in New Orleans on the 4th of March and we are 2 hours ahead of all of you in the Pacific Northwest. It's supposed to rain and thunderstorm al day today, and it's definitely doing that right now. I WAS able to do a day of errands and exploring yesterday. From the Itineraries we explored online while driving en route to here, I was able to easily get to Magazine Street, the Garden District, and Bourbon Street down in the New Orleans French Quarter yesterday. On returning to the RV, I see that it'll be WAY easier to get back than the circuitous route I took to get there. Bourbon Street was INSANE and I can't wait to get back there with Gloria. People were EVERYWHERE, and music and dancing from indoors, sidewalks and mid-street were was nearly blocking the streetways for several blocks. I could only walk the scooter down the middle of the street. Weather was stellar with broken clear and clouds, and it was about 77 degrees all afternoon. It was great – Please see the pics and one video I took. So sorry on the video-- It is only about 20 seconds long and should have been several minutes!