Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

 Last year when we went East on vacation, I briefly mentioned stopping in Vermont and picking up my friend Buffalo Bob on our way down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We spent several days in Vermont looking around, and Buff knew all the local areas for miles around. Amongst the places we visited was the famous Vermont Country Store. Perhaps you've been there yourself or received one of their catalogues in the mail. I don't know if they still do mail order, I guess they sell primarily on line now. Anyway, I happened to be thinking of things from my childhood the other day, and one of the things I recall was Chum Gum. It was bubble gum, but it came in sticks like regular chewing gum. I think you used to be able to buy it in a pack of three, I'm not sure. Anyway, it was by far the best bubble gum on the market, sweet and soft and chewy. Like most bubble gum, the flavor didn't last very long, but it was sure satisfying while it lasted. Unfortunately, the company that...

   I said that I would write about the trip we went on a few weeks ago, but I've been rather busy since we returned home, so I'm just now getting around to it, sorry. Of necessity, I've got to split this up into several different posts, just so I can share more pictures and maybe things will make a little more sense. We left Anchorage on  April 24th in the middle of the night. Fortunately, our very good neighbors ran us into the airport at 11:00 PM to catch what was supposed to be a 2:30 AM flight, the only one to Cincinnati that would work. Of course we didn't leave on time. We had to wait over an hour for a stewardess to arrive on another Alaska Airlines flight, so they could be fully staffed, so we finally got away closer to 4:00 AM. No surprise. We arrived in Ohio at 5:40 PM, since we gained four hours flying east. Of course the rental car we were guaranteed wasn't available, but they did manage to find me a suitable one with a built in GPS. The next day we went...