It's No Big Deal - Just Another Day

     Jerry always says birthdays are "just another day."  So I think it's appropriate that I take a moment for a short and sweet post on his 74th birthday.  The other night we had a surprise visit from Tim who delivered this nice birthday cake along with one of his dad's favorite refreshments, Bushmills
     Of course, we lit the candles and poured a drink and had a few laughs.  74 is still fun.
  Thanks Tim.

Friends and Family History Fun -- From Indy to St. Charles

     How fortunate we are to keep our old friends and to make new ones.  Jerry and I enjoyed both these past two weeks.  We were glad that it worked out for our RVing friends, Chuck and Jan Moore, to stop overnight as they traveled through Indiana.  Their motorhome nestled perfectly on the street alongside our house as we all enjoyed an afternoon, evening and morning of talk, laughter, meals and libations.  The four of us are Midwesterners, turned RV wanderers who met in the Southwest about six years ago.  Somewhere along the road we discovered that not only did we have exploring in our RVs in common, but we were mutually involved in family history research. This visit included time reminiscing a little about RVing and getting caught up on family and friends.  After all, we're still interested in who's on-the-road, who's got a new rig, where everyone's been boon docking, what the Boomers are up to and who's decided to buy some additional type of "home,"and where's the next stop.
   That evening, after sharing a scrumptious chicken casserole that Krissy made as a surprise, complimented by Chuck's homemade sour dough bread and Jan's yummy carrot cake, we got our brains fired up on genealogy research.  There are always stories to share of those ancestors that are tough to unlock and those that we've gotten to know better lately. And the latest news is that Chuck's getting closer to publishing a history for their grandchildren. So, Jerry and I were interested to see the draft of his ideas.  But wait just a minute, now Chuck and Jan are getting deeper into ancestry.com. The discoveries of  more censuses and marriages and all kinds of connections are growing. I'm sure the story will jell soon though. And it'll be the right time to publish.  Meanwhile, it helps to brainstorm with friends on how to create a story that appeals to everyone in our families.   Something they'll read beyond the introduction and the conclusion. You know….the story has to have some zing!
    The time flew by.  Since I was leaving the next morning for a family history conference in St. Charles, MO., the four of us made the most of our time.  Of course, in the morning we enjoyed another chat over coffee and sour dough toast.  The Moores headed to the Cincinnati area to explore a few family connections there and visit more friends. (They had a serendipity occurrence - Read it here.)
     I took I-70 West toward Missouri, on a jaunt toward improving my research skills. My five days at the National Genealogical Society Family History Conference were interesting and fun, too. I still haven't sorted through all of my notes from the 16 programs I chose - a wide selection - from German Digital Libraries to What Is "Reasonably Exhaustive Research?"   I'm now a little better at digging deeper and proving those family ties though.  A valuable part of the conference for me were the 30-minute breaks between sessions. It seemed that these longer breaks sparked conversations as we waited for the speaker.  Someone sitting next to me would comment about the last session they attended and we'd end up sharing a tip or two, or a website or discussing some research experience. 
     Another bonus for me was that I met some new friends who are willing to help and listen and laugh all the while. These historians came from every state, California to Iowa to Virginia to Tennessee and, of course, Indiana.  One especially nice friend, Marsha, invited me to tag along with her for dinner and whatever.   Three or four of us sampled restaurants and roamed in the historic old section of St. Charles, or relaxed in the hotel for happy hour and dinner.  In the photo above I'm listening to Daniel Boone, a local favorite, during one of our explorations into St. Charles.  (By the way, this sculpture is by Harry Weber - no relation to my Harry Webers, but isn't that ironic!).  Lewis & Clark were abundantly celebrated here, of course, as it was an important stop on their Expedition. The park in their honor is on the Missouri River running through St. Charles.  This little town was founded by Louis Blanchette, a French fur trader,  in 1769 and the tiny house in the photo above is his.  A local told me that this is the original house, with a few repairs. It's among many historic homes that line the cobblestone streets.
     Well, my story here started with nice people in Indianapolis, taking time to share our latest experiences with Jan and Chuck.  And I'll end it with a couple of newer friends, also sharing camaraderie.  Here are Robert and Marsha, from Tennessee and Virginia.  None of us knew each other before the NGS conference,  but we hit it off right away and found commonalities in life that kept us engaged during our time in St. Charles.  
    Thanks for spending your time here at Hurley Travels.
    Nancy
     Copyright 2015 © Nancy Niehaus Hurley

Spring Celebrations

 Krissy's Birthday:   What's better to kick off spring but a gardening show!  Since Krissy is totally into sprucing up the outside of her new home, I thought she might like that idea. An event at Heritage Park in Fishers fell right into our plans for celebrating her birthday this past Sunday.  Being in a nice garden is a great start and if we learned to be better growers, that would be a bonus. But what we weren't interested in was a lecture-type event. So we decided we'd check it out first, thinking we could reject the idea at the last minute if we didn't get the warm fuzzies.
    Fortunately, as soon as we got out of our car we saw people leisurely hanging out on the grounds of this historic home in casual conversations.  And we seemed to have great timing, too, because the master gardener we met at the entrance  was a lovely person.  Shirley greeted us in her pleasant British accent,  with a huge smile. She asked if we had anything specific we'd like to know about gardening.  From there on, Shirley walked and talked with just the two of us, giving ideas and demos as we came to various shrubs, trees and flowers.  She showed us how to plant and prune and position.  And she gave Krissy some tips to keep her just-planted, acidic-loving bushes happy.  Very laid back, but informative! 
    Thinking about the variety of plants we saw along our path, my top choice for the afternoon would be this Andromeda.  Maybe you can see in the picture how the bright crimson leaves spray out of the layers of green under them. Each one of the limbs of this small shrub has its own green and red bottle-brush of leaves. They are beautiful!  And Shirley explained that there are flowers earlier in the spring that drape in long fronds out of the center of those red leaves.     

    But....we also had an ironic experience during our visit with Shirley in the gardens.  We were about half way through our sunny tour when we heard a loud rumbling somewhere overhead. Everyone looked up to see a formation of about 12 historic airplanes flying over our heads. After they were passed, Shirley remarked that it reminded her of when she was young, living near London during World War II during the Blitz. She described darkening their windows and the warnings they received if they left a crack of light.  She remembers that even though they lived miles outside London they had to be ready to be hit.  If there were bombs left after hitting the assigned targets, the bombers might just drop them anywhere.
     Just as she was describing how the bombers made the first fly over to scout their target and the second to drop their bombs, the array of airplanes roared overhead again going back to wherever. It was a unique coincidence that just at that point in time we were standing there with her to hear her stories.  Very interesting! 
    We did squeeze some shopping into our birthday afternoon, too.  On the route home to meet Jerry for dinner was a consignment/estate sale barn that called to us.  The place was packed with furniture, art, jewelry, etc.  Krissy found a sleek, mahogany, arts & craftsy-type coffee table that was meant to be hers. (After measuring at home, she made the return trip to grab it.) At the end of our escapades, we were starved. We let Jerry take us out for an early dinner, enjoying the rest of this nice spring day on the patio at a local restaurant. 
Mother's Day: Happy Mother's Day to all you ladies who are mothers of any kind.  I hope you had a pleasant day. Mine was fantastic!  Krissy prepared a delicious brunch of ham frittata, fennel salad and lemon pound cake with raspberry glaze.  The three of us toasted motherhood with mimosas and enjoyed an excellent meal and our time together.  There were a few spring showers today, but they didn't dampen anything going on inside.
      To top off this Mother's Day, I've chosen to dig up a couple of generational photos for some flashback fun.  Here's my mom, Rosemary (Weber) Niehaus with her mom, Tillie (Kuhn) Weber and me, Nancy (Niehaus) Hurley with my daughter, Krissy Underwood. 


      Have a beautiful Spring!  Thanks for staying with us here on Hurley Travels.

March Developments

     March usually does bring a few surprises, or maybe I should say developments.  Regardless, we've marched through it and the crocuses are sprouting in our front yard.  I'm energized and ready to bring things up to date on Hurley Travels. There is a bit more to say here than I usually do in one post.  You know how life goes….one thing after another. No time to write the Hurley Travels blog. (Insert smirk or smile.) But anyway, let's march on.

    The contrasts in the photos I'm posting below are typical of the "in like a lion, out like a lamb" unpredictability of March in Indiana - sunny and 70 degrees - then snowing and 30 degrees the next day. Having friendly family shovelers and hiring the neighborhood teenager with a snow blower helped so much during this winter's weather.  At this stage in life we have become excellent supervisors.   This month has had several of those ins and outs of climate.  The two scenes below are within a few days of each other:   Eight inches of snow covered our suburban Fishers landscape with the beautiful white pillows of snow.  And just a few days later we were relaxing in Tim's yard with a cold refreshment observing Tim and Jamie and Luke and Eland preparing the backyard landscaping around the pool.  There was only a small mound of snow left as evidence. That was a warm, fun afternoon. When the kids had to leave for homework and sports, Tim, Jerry and I relaxed for a little conversation. Then one of Tim's long-time friends, Dan, stopped by.  From there it was more stories…you know how that goes. I had to snap a shot of these three characters.  Just a little reminiscing and laughter going on there!

     Then, there's that other day in March …it seems to keep popping up too quickly.  My birthday wishes from friends and family around the country did give me the warm fuzzies though!  Marti and I hung out for a long sisterly birthday afternoon, that I talked about on the other blog, Indiana Ties.   My hubby asked, "what would you like to do? "   I thought about a trip to Germany or Jamaica.  But that would take too much packing and I just did all that to move.  So….I say, "how about we take a day trip to northern Indiana???" 

     We somehow selected the small town of Markle, about 90 miles away. Maybe because we could get there in an hour or two, or we were able to stay completely off interstates…OR just because we hadn't been there.   And where to go to eat is always a decision too, right?  This time we agreed we would look for a restaurant on the way, also something new, where we would stop for dinner on our way back. 

     First, a few miles from home we took a quick side trip.  It just happened that way.  I got to see where Ferd, the Foretravel motorhome, and Ole Yeller, our old jeep, now live.  The family that owns them is from Fortville, Indiana.  Rob's in the stone business and owns the local grain elevator and surrounding buildings and property.  You can see the structure at the back of this photo where Ferd is now parked inside. The family took some motorhome trips last summer.  We ran into Rob as he was preparing that morning to take Ole Yeller to the Indiana Flower & Patio Show to setup his exhibit.  These old pals of ours are having a pretty good life!  

    As we wondered through the towns, I lost track of the route that day, since I was just being a passenger.  But I know we were traveling north, taking mostly highways 36 and 3.  I was being lazy, looking at little towns and watching people.  Part of the fun of one of these types of trips is not knowing what to expect, right?  Soon we meandered our way into Markle.   We took a quick tour through the quiet, clean town with the Wabash River running along its south side.  When we saw this small park with a sign next to an old mill stone we thought that would be a nice place to take a few minutes and stretch our legs.  It seems like there is usually some point of interest, or unusual spot, in every town along the road that you choose to stop and look.   Here's what the sign says where I'm standing: 

Indian Mill Stone

This stone is from the first Grist Mill constructed by the U. S. Government, circa 1833, for the use of the Miami Indians in this locality. It was built on Rock Creek, 1/4 of a mile up stream from the Wabash River.  Presented to the Markle Historical Society on June 1, 1983, by the Geiger family who have owned the land since 1864.     

     Then, there was more excitement for my birthday!  Our car found the way to a huge antique mall just on the outskirts of Markle.  Oh, and there was a lot to explore.  Jerry and I split up after the first few booths and agreed that we would keep in touch by text.  A couple of hours later and a few more treasures for Nancy they locked the doors.  And Jerry even did some hunting himself. 

     Remember that we were thinking and looking along the road for a restaurant?  Well, we did see one that we both thought looked interesting and remarked that it would be easy to retrace and stop on the way home.  It was called the Iron Kettle and seemed to be popular at midday when we passed it. No problem, we'll find it easily.  Wellllllllll, who knows what happened to that place.  Our route back didn't seem to pass it.   But we did end up our birthday exploring day with a delicious dinner at Maggiano's just a few miles from home.  The lasagna and wine tasted fantastic after all that traveling and sightseeing and hunting for antique deals.

     But there's still one more story: On the weekend Krissy decided as her gift she would prepare a meal and bring it to our house.  She made these unique deviled eggs that are seasoned with hot sauce and other yummy ingredients. (Sorry, Krissy, I don't remember, but I loved it all.)      Then there was a fantastic chicken dish that I wish I knew the name of - with spices, olives, lemons and cashews - served over couscous. The crunchy salad of snap peas, radishes and feta cheese with sumac dressing was a great compliment.  And for the perfect ending -  decadent Guinness Brownies - scrumptious!?%#!  We all were very content that evening.

Yes, this was more wordy and photo-populated than my usual post.  But actually, I could add other happenings…gifts from MJ…visits from C…furniture purchases…etc., etc.  But I'm going to call it quits right now.

 Thanks for visiting Hurley Travels.  Stay well.

Nancy

 

copyright © Nancy Hurley

Making More Transitions

     When last I wrote for the Hurley Travels blog I talked about being fluid, exploring a different phase in life for Jerry and me.   Well, quite a bit of that changing and flowing has happened in the last four months.  Also, I took some time to consider whether our Hurley Travels blog should have its last chapter.   If we were ceasing our life on the road, did I want to also cease writing here about our life???   It took me a few months, but I've decided there are still episodes to record. We are planning to keep on exploring in various ways.   So, here I am moving along into the next mode for Hurley Travels.

     But first, it just wouldn't be right if we didn't say a few words about turning this corner away from RVing.  Jerry and I absolutely loved our ten years of being on the road.  There are volumes of wonderful memories that we couldn't have experienced without the culture that is available among RVers.  We appreciate the people everywhere along that road that are the special ingredients.  There are so many unique, interesting and indescribable facets of those ten years that make us smile all the time.  

     This past winter was quite a moment in time for us.  We had the feelings of uncertainty last fall about how many more roads we would travel in Ferd.  But neither one of us was ready to say yet.  Regardless of where the next spring would take us, we began our travels in November with repairs on Ferd and also had him polished up nicely in Nacogdoches at our favorite facility, Motohomes of Texas. That 1995, 36-foot, no-slide, Foretravel diesel pusher was feeling and looking good.  It turned out to be a very nice last winter in Texas and Alabama.  After considering a trip to Florida, it seemed best for us to make the winter stop in Gulf Shores, Alabama.  While settled in our spot at the Gulf Shores State Park we contemplated how much longer we'd be traveling as RVers.  We had some time to discuss and vacillate about what our next steps would be.  We came to the conclusion we would end our RVing adventure.   But I have to say we'll miss those desert gatherings and stops along our route to see old friends. Those times can't be matched.  Thanks friends!  You know who you are.  There will be other ways, I hope, to stay in touch and visit occasionally.

     Once we adjusted to our decision to sell Ferd, we started making plans for the change.  The story isn't quite this simple, but to keep it short and sweet,  we returned to Indy, found a buyer and turned over ownership in a matter of a couple of months.  We did hold onto Ole Yeller (the loyal towed Jeep) for a while.  It was hard to cut that final string.   But actually, the good result was that the same young family owns both the motorhome and our Jeep.  We're glad to see them enjoying the fun that connects them.

     It will take some getting used to this new phase in our lives.   But…onward we go.  Pretty quickly we made more plans. We're thinking we'll still travel… to those places we missed in the motorhome, right?  So we need a "highway car" that's roomier and more comfortable for those trips when we'll now be  staying in hotels.    Anyway, we took that step, too.   Here's a shot of Jerry making the transition from Ole Yeller to Vinny (the new CRV). 

     Speaking of transitions, we made a major one in mid-July. We purchased our new home, just a few miles northeast, in Fishers, Indiana.  Our little condo was just right for the time we were on-the-road, but we were looking for more space now that we didn't have our home on wheels.  Usually older folks downsize, but these two went the other direction!  We now have a home with a big garage that has space for the cars, a motorcycle, a workbench for Jerry and the extra refrigerator.     And we have more room inside for visitors and to store those things we're accumulating again.   Besides, we're also pleased that Krissy bought our cute little condo.  It's perfect for her!  So now I should post a pic of the front of  the house,  right? Instead of one of those, I think I'll insert one of the flowers on our hibiscus tree that is among several flowering plants, bushes and trees we are enjoying at our new place.    

     I could also write many happy words about this summer's activities that didn't involve the chore of moving. We've had more than our share of good times.   For instance, there were super visits with old friends that came through Indianapolis, fun family reunions, several special birthday celebrations, helping with our grand dogs, hanging out on our new deck, setting food on fire on the grill and meeting new neighbors.   I won't try to describe those experiences,  just keep doing more.  This short story will have to suffice as the catch-up on Hurley Travels for now.  The leaves are falling and it's time to move on. 

     Thanks for sharing some time with me.  Check in here at Hurley Travels again as we see where this path leads us.

Conjuring Up Creatures Through the Years

I’ve been sorting and scanning old photos again.  Then, it just happens!  All kinds of blog post ideas start emerging.  So now...I can’t resist gathering these generations of goblins together for Hurley Travels.  Here’s some time travel from the 1940s through 2000s.
This first Halloween step back is a group of cousins that were gathering at Grandma Weber’s house in 1947.  Don’t look all that happy about trick-or-treating, do they?!  These youngsters are from two to five years of age:  At the top on the landing is my brother, Donny Niehaus.   The girl standing just one step down from him is my sister, Martha, with my cousin, Bill Niehaus, next to her.   In front of Bill is his sister, Marilyn. And in the front of them all is our cousin, Janet Weber. The theme here seems to be hats; four out of five have some facsimile. 

The gals in the next black and white photo from 1952 are incognito ~ Me (Nancy) and my "older" sis, Martha.  These costumes and masks don’t necessarily match.  But, as I remember, ours were usually random outfits in those days.  We had a big box of costume paraphernalia carried over from year to year that we put together in various ways. There was one really scary rubber devil mask that might be worn with anything.  You never knew what might come out of the box or be left after the other siblings got theirs.
Then, the photos move through the generations to about 1986.  The bum on the left is Krissy.  Take a look at the weird mask. Not really sure what it is.  And she’s wearing one of my jackets and scarves. Whose hat is that?!  Oh, and that’s a candy cigar, BTW!  Creating a costume out of old clothing became a tradition, I guess.  Krissy and her friends kept that up for years.
 
That brings me to the early 2000 era.  These darling grandchildren!!!  First we have the cutest leopard ever, Caroline, with her painted face and black cat ears.  Her brother, Ben, looks pretty horrid as some sort of ugly zombie hanging on her side. 
And lastly, here’s C as an Indian girl (I think), with her buddy, Nicole, the green-faced something.  These two grew up on the same street, spending time at each other’s homes, sharing the fun of Halloween, birthdays and just being friends.  They look back on those days fondly as they are going into their adulthood today.
Using imagination to become another being for a few hours is a lot of fun!!!  All of these costumed folks are beyond that phase now.  But I hope those following along in their footsteps enjoy their own Halloween times and can dig up some interesting creations for posting here in the future.  C’mon Eland, Luke, Ava, Lila, Jude, Chase, Madison, Annabelle, Madelyn, Eli,..........Let’s see what you've got!

Flashback Friday - Black Smoke

This Hurley Travels post flashes back over 40 years in Jerry’s life.  I haven’t had the chance to talk about his days with the Indianapolis Fire Department.  Those years are long before I was in his life, but he shares some of the experiences with me occasionally.  After our 14 years of history together,  I’m learning the lingo and I think I might even understand the lifestyle to some degree.  So, now that I have this unique opportunity, this is one episode I just have to include in this journey on Hurley Travels.
There’s a story that Jerry told me (Nancy) a while ago about a video of his crew at the 22s (Indianapolis fire station #22) that aired way back when on a local Indianapolis TV station.  He explained that the man from the TV station who was involved with creating this video was interested in the dynamics of firefighting and the men who chose to do that. (No women at that time.)  Jerry never knew  of anyone who had a copy of that video.  Or if there was a way that it could be obtained from the archives of the TV station.  We talked about it a few times, but then life just went on. 
Well, lo and behold,  the other day this video appeared on the Facebook page of the Indianapolis Fire Department Museum. The young man singing is a new fireman at the time, a “sub.” His name is Bob "Footsie" Arthur.  He wrote the song that describes the smoke, the 22s crew and other aspects of “rolling on.”
If you are watching for Jerry, here are a couple of the places you’ll see him:  he steps into the smoke through a window at about 1:36 and another place he’s coming up the sidewalk onto a front porch at about 2:06 of the video.   As far as we can determine, this production was in 1972.  Just 41 years ago!
I want to thank the folks at the IFD Museum who are continually posting interesting documentation on the Facebook page.  Thanks to them, Jerry was able to find this piece of his past.
If you’d like to view the “Black Smoke” video, click here:
http://youtu.be/X7AhEL3OZTc

Thanks for visiting Hurley Travels.  Stay safe.

Hoosier Outdoors and Hurley Rides Again

These past 30 days have included the usual happenings, but also a few unique ones.   For instance, our 13th wedding anniversary, our Niehaus family reunion, some good and bad recipes in Jerry’s smoker, and visiting with a friend that I haven’t seen in way too many years. (Good to see you, Melissa!)  And even though I don’t have details here on everything, those memories are cataloged in special places.
So, I'm doing my usual overview on the space here at Hurley Travels with two of our newsy pieces.  We've been enjoying the Hoosier Outdoor Experience and Jerry’s new toy, Bruno.
On September 21 Krissy and I had a very pleasant, sunny day of volunteering and roaming at our local state park.  This is one of those roundabout happenings.  My girlhood  (really really longtime) friend Mary Jo, who now lives in New Mexico, forwarded an email to Krissy from the Hoosier Back Country Horsemen. Mary Jo’s a former member.  They were looking for volunteers during the Hoosier Outdoor Experience at Fort Harrison State Park, just around the corner from our house. We both, of course, enjoy getting out into nature.  And since Krissy has never lost her horse-loving spirit since the days she spent her free time riding and grooming Snaz (her favorite horse), we both were happy to take part.  Turns out the Hoosier Outdoor Experience is two days of learning and doing everything outdoors, from fishing to gold panning and off-roading to tree dogs.   Volunteering for us meant acquainting people with information on the riding trails in Indiana, showing them the Dutch Oven cooking and making sure kids didn’t put their hands in the horses mouths.  Some young people learned to saddle the horses, clean hooves, etc.  Susan, one of the horse owners, taught visitors how to tie knots and do knot tricks. 
One of the highlights of having some time with the Hoosier Back Country Horsemen group was that we both got the chance to visit with a friend, Yvette Rollins, that we knew years ago from riding trails.  Horses are a primary part of her life.  Many people understand that. There sure were lots of folks enjoying the horses here.   Yvette and other members of the group taught everyone about how they conserve the outdoors, whether it’s cooking without scorching the ground or leaving no trace with their special mats for the horses.  We learned about cooking in a volcano Dutch oven that circulates the heat, while stacking the cast iron pots with various types of food, one on top of the other.   They shared some delicious chili and cinnamon coffee cake and other goodies with everyone passing through!
Then, after our few hours of volunteering, we hopped on a shuttle bus to experience a little more around the park.  There were families everywhere, canoeing, shooting, fishing and learning about trees, birds, dogs and on and on.  For instance, strolling through the many exhibits we chose to spend some time watching the demonstrations of the tree dogs.  Very fun to watch them focus, focus, focus!  After some time at the lake and feasting on a  huge hot dog and elephant ear, we took the bus back to our car for a short ride home.  What a great day!

But what else have we been up to at the Hurley household?!  Just another addition in the Hurley garage!  Bruno, the Suzuki Burgman 400, joined the group about three weeks ago.  He’s getting along pretty well with Ole Yeller, Ruby and Ferd so far.   Of course, Jerry contemplated, researched, calculated and reviewed before deciding that it was time and the Burgman was the choice.  Oh yeah, first he did the appropriate shopping and debating. Tim helped, too.  When Jerry found what appeared to be the best deal, age, color, and so on, Tim was ready with his trailer hooked to the pickup -- they made the trip to southern Indiana.  The father/son trip was a special part of this story, too.  (Yes, guys, I think so!)  Wish I had a better pic of the two of them in the garage after they unloaded it in the rain. But Tim didn’t stop cleaning the bike long enough.  So, here I have the top of their heads as they investigate another doohickey!
Without going into a great deal more explanation or description, here’s the new means of transportation at the Hurley place.  Yes, he says he’s come full circle: At 17 years old he had a Vespa that he attempted to ride from Indianapolis to Phoenix.  (That’s a story for another day.)  About ten years ago we had a Harley, before our fulltime RVing days.  There were some good times on “Cherry” too.   And today, Bruno is getting Jerry around town, to the post office, hardware store, and the long way around to wherever he decides to go. 

Lastly, for those wondering, we are getting ready to make our exit from the cold climate in mid November.  Ferd is waiting patiently for us to load clothes, supplies and fuel for the trip.  Things are different now that we have a stick home to button up.  You know, storing the grill and the flower pots and turning off the Internet and TV services, etc., etc.  But we’ll be watching the weather as November moves along.   There are roads to the south that are holding more experiences for us. 

Thanks for visiting us at Hurley Travels.  Stay safe.

Not So Much Labor, But A Lot of Birthday

This year Labor Day fell exactly on Jerry’s Birthday!  Thanks to Tim and Jamie, we had a super celebration with no labor.  Jamie cooked some delicious grilled carrots, pineapple and shrimp to start off our feast. Caroline provided her usual beautiful granddaughter ingredients.  Friends arrived at various times throughout the afternoon and evening.  Swimming was interspersed, whenever anyone felt like it. The laughs spread generously.  Then, there were steaks grilled to perfection. What more is there to say, except that by the time we got to the birthday cake it was really dark in the Hurley backyard.  But still, that cake was soooooo good!
And, you know how sometimes the photos for some kind of special event just generally suck?!   Well, this wasn’t one of those days.  I managed to take a few good ones.  So, instead of a lot of conversation about Jerry’s Birthday, I’m posting a few more photos here……

		Jerry’s 71st VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

P.S.  Yes, other things have been going on in our lives.  For instance, two family reunions and visits with sisters, aunts and other kin.  I’ve made a few updates in that regard over at www.indianaties.com.  (I know, I’m blog nuts!! )

How Far Can This 2nd Grader Travel?

The latest travel adventure in this neck of the woods involves a special 2nd grader in our family, Eland.  He has a class project with the aim of learning about geography and travel.  The kids are asking everyone they know who might be traveling, or who lives in another state from Indiana, to send them a postcard from that state with a few words about what it’s like there or something unique. Eland will have the opportunity to read each card he receives to the class.  Now is that cool, or what!
So, I thought I would help out by posting the information about his project here on Hurley Travels.  If anyone has an extra postcard and would like to give this young man a chance to learn about your home state or somewhere you’re traveling, the mailing information is on the banner posted here. I’ll update the blog as I learn how the class is doing.
Below is a section of the project information, in case it isn’t legible on the other piece:

As far as other happenings in the Hurley camp, we’ve been relatively involved, so to speak.  I will be coming up with a rundown soon.
Thanks for visiting Hurley Travels. Stay safe.

Fair and Family Backyard Fun

Summers are super!  The State Fair brings food and animal fun!  Hanging out on the patio and in the pool is cool!  Tenting and a campfire in the backyard is good times!
Krissy and I ate our way through the fried tomatoes and pickles and various other specialties of the State Fair. We roamed through the barns getting our fill of the dog drill teams, baby pigs, pygmy goats and Percherons. We even viewed the two-ton Indiana cheddar cheese sculpture. (below) It was a lovely day at the State Fair.

To top off that day, there was another backyard extravaganza at Tim and Jamie’s. Friends were visiting, eating and having a lot of laughs.  Jamie’s very fun sisters, Emily and Mandy, and their children, put up the tent for the boys to sleep out (photo) after all the kids had their fill of swimming in the pool.  Below, cute little Sage is really becoming a water bug. And Luke put his hand to making a fire the old fashioned way, but he eventually said “I took Tim’s way.”  There was a big blaze in the fire pit in no time and the kids were enjoying their hot dogs and smores.
What more needs to be said: