Rock Town, Georgia. Hike and 15+ year-old Geocache.

We put the kids though torture with a 2.5 hour car ride to the NW corner of Georgia where Richard wanted to find geocache #76 (now there are almost 3 million).  It was a super day with a beautiful hike.

Bean is a great hiker even when not in the Colorado mountains.

Rock Town is an amazing place.  We saw dozen of rock climbers.  One said it was the "best spot in Georgia to boulder.  Anna Grace and Parker Hopkins.

This tells it all.  Super Day!!!

Pretty amazing that a box (geocache) could stay in one place for over 15 years.  This one was placed in October 2000.  

Thanksgiving in Cumming, Georgia with the Hopkins

We headed from Tallahasee back to the town of Cumming, GA (north of Atlanta) to spend Thanksgiving with daughter Allison, son-in-law Danny, and our grandchildren Parker and Anna Grace Hopkins.

Bean and Brooks are best buds.

Tallahassee, Florida

After the Tampa area, we stopped by to see brother Mark and his family in Tallahassee.

I got a round of Disc Golf in with Mark and friend Rich Wilcox.

Niece Kaelie and Nephew Michael Taylor live in Tallahassee as well.

Mark's first grand child Loretta Stafford was visiting from Austin, TX

College Roommate Gary Miller in Odessa, FL

We stopped by Odessa, Florida (north of Tampa) to spend a couple of nights at the home of Richard's college roommate Gary Miller and his wife Cindy.  It was great to reconnect. We had not seen them for 17 years.  We got to the important stuff pretty quick:  Beer at a St Petersburg micro brewery called 3 Daughters.  The beer was great.

That evening we joined Gary and Cindy at a Sports Bar in New Port Richey where Gary plays guitar in a jam band there.  We were so impressed.  Gary played his first note on the guitar when we were at the Naval Academy in 1972.  It was Richard's Silvertone from Sears.  

Click here to see Gary's skills

Van Fleet Bikeway, Florida

We had been anticipating riding one of the great Rails-to-Trails, the Van Fleet trail just east of Lakeland.  It extends nearly 30 miles through "Old Florida," swamps, gators, wildness.  We only did 25 but managed to catch a dude with an Ironman tattoo on his calf.  He never knew what hit him as our awesomeness zoomed by.

Lakeland, Florida

On 14 November we arrived at the home of Richard and Mary Compton, Mary's brother and our sister-in-law.  Three nights here.  We found a great brew pub and spent a morning birding.  Neither of us knew much about Lakeland. It's a great towns. Go figure, lots of lakes.

11 November, Arrived Naples, FL

Mary and I both grew up in Florida, but neither of us had ever visited the SW Gulf Coast.  Today we arrived in Naples for 3 nights.