beach:o'clock

We gave notice of lease cancellation, we rented a moving truck, we reserved storage space but today it became real…the airlines tickets are purchased! No backing out now pending an emergency.

Ok you may say, this is not anything new for Ron and Denise. You may not be surprised but what are they doing this time – where, when, why….

The last you heard from this blog we had taken a great trip to Aruba via Cartagena, Columbia. Lately we embarked for Puerto Rico for about a week to visit our friend Margaret. We had a super time, met some fun people, and saw some neat sites.

Well now things are really getting shaken up. We have been living in a condo at a real nice Marina for the last 8 years. At the time we chose to rent instead of purchasing a place especially since our rent was quite low compared to local costs. Since the Condo Association rules only allow for 12 month leases we had to establish a new lease annually. A few years ago we had asked the owner if he was interested in selling the condo and he said ‘no’ since they were going to retire move here from NY. Our plans were to possibly buy a place when we could no longer lease our current condo.

Last August (lease renewal) our landlord said he and his wife were not planning on ‘coming down’ for another 3-5 years so we were set to rent for a while…at least we thought. Two weeks after signing the new yearly lease our owner notified us that he decided to sell the condo. He didn’t really say why but we believe he wanted to take advantage of the greatly escalated property prices. Lucky for us any new owner had to honor the year of the lease. Long story short…that lease expires this September.

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Property prices in Jupiter have gone from stupidly/unbearably high to very obscene. Since Covid all of New England fled the draconian policies of their current states for the free state of Florida. We had been watching the market during this last lease term and didn’t really see anything we wanted to buy. We actually witnessed prices of properties, at least in proximity to the beach area, double in a 6 month period. We really really like the area we live in so we are in a bit of a quandary. So what is one to do…well beside pray! Since we have always been taken care of we said it is in God’s hands and he will show us what to do when the time comes. In the mean time we made some plans.

We decided to ride out the lease, and then pack all our household stuff up and put it in storage, and today it became real as I bought our tickets for Spain. We are going to be gone up to 90 days as that is all that is allowed via a tourist visa anywhere in the EU (see Schengen visa).

So why Spain and what are we going to do? Spain was on our top 5 list to explore and we planned a grand adventure. Have you ever seen the 2010 movie called ‘The Way’. It stars Martin Sheen and is really good. The movie follows and highlights something called the Camino de Santiago. It is a very popular pilgrimage with many routes all ending in Santiago in the NW of Spain. If you watch the movie, which we highly recommend, you will get info on it. You can also search on youtube for Camino de Santiago.

We are going to WALK the same route the movie highlighted called the Camino Frances. We will start in St. Jean Pied de Port in southern France. Our route is approximately 500 miles long. We will go up and over the Pyrenees Mountains and down into Spain. We will follow a well traveled trail through towns and villages ending at the Cathedral de Santiago where St. James the Apostle is interred. You can look up the detail if you are interested or again just watch the movie. One of the towns we go through is Pamplona where they do the running of the bulls (July). There is also a monastery where they make wine that has a fountain that runs wine vs water and you can help yourself. In the end, we are actually planning to walk an additional 50 miles past Santiago to Finisterre on the Atlantic Ocean to a place known as “The End of the World”.. We estimate that this should take us 30-45 days. After that we will head to the south east of Spain to places like Valencia, Malaga, Seville.

So now my opening lines should make more sense. We each have our ruck-sacks packed and ready to go. We have been taking practice walks, upped our gym work out by adding the stair stepper and elliptical machines since we have some severe elevation to climb our first couple days.

A couple things people say or ask is #1) where will you live when you get back, and #2) you should post a blog of your trip.

Our answers, #1) we have no idea where we will live upon return and aren’t going to worry about it. We will know what to do when the time comes. We still desire to stay in this area. We have options like renting again, buying something to live in, buying a used RV to live in for a few years and/or buy a used live-aboard yacht. The yacht seems most exciting. I was thinking of something like a 46’ Hatteras or an older Trumpy. The prices to buy used are reasonable but the price for any local moorage is as obscene as buying property so unless we leave the area that option is probably out. Same thing with an RV. Purchasing used is reasonable but resorts to park the RV are very few here and quite far from any beach. Again we believe we will know what to do when the time comes. We always have been and always will be watched over and will wait to see what God has in store for us.

#2) a Blog? I have a channel on Telegram called https://t.me/rbillockchat that you can join and see some pictures and short observations. I plan on posting to this channel during our trip. You can join the channel if you are interested.

We will certainly miss living on the Marina and a 10 minute walk to the beach but we know a new adventure awaits us and – The Best Is Yet To Come!

Buen Camino

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“The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry”!

This was the case for us lately. We had a very nice trip planned for a 10 day visit to Cartagena, Colombia. You know, THE Cartagena where Michael Douglas, Danny Devito, and Kathleen Turner went in the movie ‘Romancing the Stone’. We loved Medellin, Colombia when we visited but Medellin is in the middle of the country in the highlands. We wanted to visit Cartagena that is on the Eastern Coast of Colombia in the south Caribbean.

There is a lot of history in Cartagena. There is the old walled city which is the main tourist draw as well as the stretch along the bay on the Caribbean called Playa de Bocagrande. Also south of there is a rustic beach town called Santa Marta that has the Andes rise up behind it. We were also going to go to Santa Marta but decided to just hit Cartagena on this trip.

I spent a lot of time finding some neat boutique hotels in the walled city and some very nice water front condos on Bocagrande. We finally booked our airlines tickets for 2-3 weeks out on Spirit Airlines. They were 3 hour direct flights from Ft. Lauderdale – perfect. No more masks, no shots, no problem. We started to plan what to take as it would be very hot and humid. I bought a new pair of walking shoes as flip flops on cobblestones could get uncomfortable. We were all ready…we thought!

With 15 days until we leave we were notified by Biden’s the US State Department that under no circumstance were we allowed to leave the country and we were to report to their office in Miami but first needed to call to set an appointment. WHAT IN THE WORLD??? I called the number but It kept saying that due to call volume they couldn’t take our call and we need to call back. I called the number probably 15 times before finally getting through about 9PM. The person said due to their volume I can only make an appointment if I was scheduled to travel within 14 days. I said tomorrow will be 14 days…they said fine, call tomorrow.

Over the next couple days I called over and over and over. I finally got through to a person. I was told we could not leave the country and they set an appointment for 7AM the morning we were scheduled to leave. We knew this would not work and felt we were being jerked around. I asked why we could not travel. The State Department person said there is a very good reason and we needed to come to Miami. I was upset to say the least. I said I was a veteran of over 10 years serving this country in the military and we served for the freedom and privileged to come and go. I wondered if maybe this was harassment since I did not have a ‘rainbow’ ribbon today’s military wants everyone to wear. She, the State Dept Rep, said that had nothing to do with it.

They asked if I was aware that Colombia was on the list of countries where travel was not recommended due to crime/deaths. This I previously checked so was ready to address. I asked the person if Cartagena and for that matter Colombia was any less safe, had any less murders than New York City? Response…’well NO’; any less then Chicago? Response…’ah, NO’; what about Seattle, San Francisco, LA? Each time it was ‘no’ but the person said, ‘but those are in the USA’. I told her that was exactly my point.

She said regardless we still can’t leave the country for now and we needed to be in Miami on the morning of June 5^th and plan for the whole day. I again told her that would not work for us since we are scheduled to leave that morning. I asked if we are being held up because we voted for Trump? I told her we are actually registered as Independents though. She said that that didn’t help our cause any but it actually has nothing to do with any voting. She said ‘actually it doesn’t matter who votes for who, we have that all handled now’. I thought I better let that point drop for now.

I was getting pretty mad at this point and told her we are scheduled to leave that day and we need an earlier appointment. If we change our flight we will lose a lot of money. She said that is the earliest available opening at the Miami office and the only other places with earlier openings are in San Juan, PR or El Paso. They have earlier openings. I was angry and said I needed I damn good reason why I can not leave the country when ever I want????

Her response was surprising. She said, ‘oh, you can leave anytime you want. It is your wife who is not allowed to leave’. I said ‘WHAT!!! What possibly did she ever due to not be able to travel? The person on the phone responded, ‘have you looked at the expiration date on her passport lately? See you in Miami. Have a nice day’!

Actually the story above is a bit contrived but for the hassle they make you go through to renew a passport it felt something like this. I called 10-15 times a day, every day for a week hoping for a cancellation so we could schedule an expedited ($$$) appointment that would work. NADA! We ended up paying a bunch to change the flight. Today we mailed the passport renewal papers and it takes 10-13 weeks to get a renewal complete – ridiculous! We had to push our travel time out to late this fall. On the bright side we are not traveling to NYC, Chicago, etc…so we are safe for now.

My palms have been itchy for quite some time. It is past time for a new adventure. Time to hit the road again and see the world. As we begin to hopefully make 2023 full of adventures the question becomes ‘where do we go?’ Ever since our fantabulous Mediterranean adventure in 2019 (a future post) we have been anxious to get on the road again. I would quantify the destination possibilities as either ‘Caribbean’ or ‘Mediterranean’.

Us with a friend, Buz, in Medellin.

If Caribbean, I am thinking of Cartagena and maybe more of Colombia. Also somewhere in Mexico, possibly Cozumel but other options certainly are there. Punta Cana, DR is also an open option. Why these? We loved Colombia when we went to Medellin a few years ago and have heard good things about Cartagena. It has lots of history as a walled city. If we go there we will probably hit a few other spots also. From what we have been told, south of Cartagena there is a wonderful tourist beach area called Santa Marta. Medellin and Bogata would also be worth the trip.

Punta Cana is supposedly a very nice modern beach vacation area in the Dominican Republic. We are curious to check it out.

Fun waterfront Tiki Bar near downtown Cozomel

Mexico is quite different as it has many different places an ex-pat can go and enjoy a great time. I have a friend in Cozumel and we spent time there so we have a comfort level with the place. Cozumel is a big island but over all not so crowded and somewhat relaxing and quiet. I also have a lottery dream of owning a water front Tiki Bar. I saw the place in Coz that I would like to buy and it would be nice to check up on the property.

Boarding in the Paciifc in Panama.

Tulum is another area in Mexico that has really come into its own as a destination as well as the west coast of Mexico like Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara . We also can always take a trip back to Panama and visit friends which is always something we would like to do.

If a ‘Mediterranean’ trip…Denise’s eyes are set on Italy. We also want to do a trip to explore Spain, France, Ireland/Scotland (again), etc…as well as wanting to go back to the Greek Isles especially Kamari,Santorini and Crete.

Decisions decisions…. So our initial target will probably be ‘Mediterranean’ to Italy. If we can swing it maybe we will do a stop in Paris to say hello to Victoire, Hugo, and Baby Paul (we will try but no promises).

It is a little stressful to go to new places when traveling. There is always an obligation to go to the ‘must see’ places like Roman Coliseum, Vatican…you know, the famous tourist traps. It is like checking off the boxes on your list. These tend to take up lots of time on a trip not to mention being more costly. Ah, stress…! Where we really like to go are the smaller out of the way towns where the real people live, eat, and work. I know Italy has many of these so we will try to intersperse them between the ‘obligation locations. For us, these places are where the real adventures are found and real memories are made.

It is challenging since there is so much to see and so little time. We would also like to spend some time in Southern France like in the Lyon and Annecy areas (yes more friends to maybe visit). We also want to go through Spain but that may have to be a separate trip since there is so much there to experience. We also may top off this next trip with a stop back in the Greek Isles. I really want to go back to Kamari, Santorini. We also want to spend more time on Crete. Chania was amazing. Another spot or two we are thinking about are the islands of Patmos and Paros. Who knows, maybe we will see these places as part of a future trip that might include some of Turkey.

Edinburgh Hostel

When we do go we will probably follow the same formula as before. We buy one-way tickets with no defined return date or schedule. We stay flexible and adjust our schedule and time table as we go. If we need a rest or really like a place we see about extending our time there. We stay mostly in AirBnBs. Together we have not tried hostels yet but maybe this next trip we will. I stayed a week in a real nice hostel in Scotland a few years back.

We usually take what we can carry (new backpacks are in order) and travel by train, bus, ferry, and air for the most part. Finally, when we see what we wanted to see and we hit that tired point where we just want to sleep in our own bed, we then look for a return ticket home. Last trip that happened after a month on the road. This traveling formula worked amazingly well for our Mediterranean trip. Relaxed, no rushing, no obligations, just comfortable. I plan to write about that adventure soon.

For now we are planning and researching and ruling out the places people have said are more hype than worth the time and expense. We will then start building our must see obligation list and then add in the smaller recommended desired spots. As the itinerary and plan builds we always keep in mind the adages that ‘the only good plan is one that can change’; “no battle plan, survives contact with the enemy”; “when your plan meets the real world, the real world wins”; and relying on plans leads to failure but failing to plan ensures failure. Finally the biggest adage ‘when man plans, God laughs’!

It takes a bit of work to make it all worth while. In the end the most precious resource is time…so many places/adventures and so little time! Chow!

The other day on our beach walk, at the edge of the surf, Denise turned to me and seriously asked ‘will you recognize me in Heaven’? Wow, she was contemplating some heavy and deep stuff. That is quite the philosophical quandary to drop on a guy just out of the blue. Me, of course my thoughts were on wondering if the guy ahead of us fishing from shore caught anything today. Well that is not quite the same level as her ‘purpose of life’ thinking but fishing is important to some folks also, isn’t it? So trying to buy time to come up with an equally personal and deep response I asked, ‘huh, what did you say? ….Oh, ya, sure I will. If I ever make it there.’ Hey, I never said I was a philosopher! What’s a guy to say?

Heaven? Seems like a good segue into this next item. Some of you know by now that I have picked up a new hobby, a meditative practice. I began making ‘knotted’ rosarys. For you heathens, the Rosary refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church and some other Christian churches, and to the physical string of knots or beads used to count the component prayers. I make the ‘prayer beads’ used when saying the prayer/meditation. I make them and then give them away to people with the hopes that they may help encourage an individuals spiritual growth or meditative practices. I have made and distributed well over 100 rosaries. Do you know anyone who could use a rosary? Just let me know. They are completely free. For me, sitting on the balcony in the warm air with a nice peaty dram of scotch or pint of Guinness and making a rosary is a great time of quiet meditation. Silence is golden?

Ah ha! Another segue? Silence! For about 40 +/- years I have never had a single moment of silence. Since time in the Army I have had a bad case of Tinnitus, ‘the perception of sound when no corresponding external sound is present’ – or at least they say. Perception? I think they just don’t know how to fix it or what to do so they say it is in your head. For decades I have continuously played music. I eventually found out that they say having a sound in the background helps distract the mind from the noise/buzzing/ringing. Some people that have tinnitus can not even go to sleep without the TV, radio, or a fan running nearby to distract from the noise in their ears/heads. When it is real bad it can cause serious health problems mostly due to lack of rest, severe depression, and even suicide – JUST TO STOP THE NOISE! Well mine has been getting progressively worse so I decided it was time for a re-evaluation at the VA. New imaging showed that I had such a big brain that it was pushing on my ear canals….lol.

Actually, my hearing tests confirmed the hearing loss we knew I had. The hearing loss has gotten slightly worse but OK though for the tinnitus there is no real answer. The specialist did suggest trying hearing aids. They offered them to me before for my hearing loss but I declined out of both vanity and they were a pain when I tried them for a couple weeks and I don’t think the hearing loss is that bad. I told the doctor that I hear adequately but I just need the damn noise to stop once in a while. She asked some more questions about the noise and how I currently deal with it and then said that in the study groups that she works with some of the Vets have found tinnitus relief when using hearing aids. The rational seems to be that the aids present something else in the ear that the brain focuses on vs the noise distracting the brain. Almost like having my own portable ‘white noise’ system. Well I bit the vanity bullet and am trying a new different set of hearing aids. So far what i have noticed is that I never knew the turn signal in the car actually did make a clicking noise (hearing) and I think I am annoyed a little less by the tinnitus noise or at least my brain is focusing on it less. I am on a 3 month trial so we will see what happens in the long run. I guess I can accept thinking that I look older due to a hearing aid vs going crazy with my own internal bells/crickets ringing-chirping continuously. Yes, silence is golden!

Now on to my final topic since I ran out of segues. What the heck have Denise and I been doing for the last couple of years? Well number one has been focusing on staying healthy. Knock on wood…but we can not recall the last time either of us had been sick in well over 10+ years. We do get the occasional allergies but no illness. I guess we have been doing something right. We believe being in Panama and the Free State of Florida made a big difference. The sunshine helped and with covid we did not stay locked down, we were out with people, exercising, partying, and living our lives. We have also now been eating plant-based for over 4 years with the occasional mahi-mahi or grouper tacos. There is an effort and price to good health!

So how do we keep busy? From before 2020 (covid) and until today we have been doing numerous activities. Some of our activities were/are going to yoga 2-4 times a week. We finally quit yoga when I realized that the continuous pain in my back (another Army injury) was being aggravated by doing yoga. Also they got a new instructor that was getting all mystical and chanting about things. We were there for the stretching and exercise and were on guard against these eastern semi-religious practices so it was a good reason to stop. My back has thanked me.

Except for the 2-3 months they tried to close the beaches in Palm Beach County we continued going to the beach 3-5 times a week. Grounding in nature is a great health benefit. When they closed our beaches and Tiki Bars (bunch of fascists!), we would go north to Martin County (30+ minutes) where they were open for business. We continued going to the pool to kick around in the water and lay in the sun about 5 days a week except for the 5 or so months everyone was under the covid craze. Same for the Gym.

Another big thing we continue to do except for a short couple months break is play sand volleyball. We had a big group of people who would come out. We were playing 2-4 times a week. Denise and I were considered the senior players as most of the others are in their 30-40s. Currently Denise and I are down to 1-2 times a week as it is kick-butt strenuous exercise and I need recovery time. Those youngsters can play 3-5 times a week and they pretend it doesn’t phase them.

Denise has found it difficult to get time for her mosaic art but she seems to find a way. Over the last two years I spent time learning to program in Python and learning Linux. I am Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Big Tech free. I wish I would had learned and converted to Linux a long time ago. I have also started back into a few Knights of Columbus activities.

We are also anxious to get back out on a travel adventure. Our short list of next trips are Italy as well as maybe southern France and maybe back to Santorini and Crete. We also want to take a jaunt down to Cartagena, Colombia and Mexico. In the mean time we had a couple great excursions to Key West where we stayed at the Naval Air Station. We also met up with Ann Marie and Carl as well as Arlene and Dean when they left the artic and spent some time in the Free State of Florida. We also have been to The Villages a number of times to visit. We drove up to Virginia for a wedding of one of Denise’s nephews. At the wedding we were able to visit with Katie, Sean, Lisa, Wes (um Wes, … Lisa’s multi-year long distance boyfriend. Wes is a great guy who has proven he can take some good natured ribbing) and visited a few folks along the way including Robbie and Jennifer in Jacksonville and stayed a few days at St Augustine. We recommend a stop in St, Augies if you can work it out. This Christmas we flew to Boise, Idaho and stayed with Katherine and Sean. It was great. They have a nice new wonderful home but it was COLD! Of course most of the USA was under a freeze during that time. We had lots of fun and got to see our first ice hockey game! We couldn’t remember the last time we ever saw snow!

Another fun thing we did this year was participate in the Fort Lauderdale Christmas Boat Parade. It is one of the largest/longest Christmas boat parades, at least down this way. We were able to be passengers on a decorated, lighted and catered boat that traversed through the extensive inter-coastal. There were hundreds of boats even though it was a little chilly that night. Some of the wealth along the water there is mind-boggling. Winning the lottery would not do it. A person would need to win the Mega Millions/Powerball combined but then who would want to live there…not me. All in all it was quite the experience.

In summary. we have been living our life day to day, week to week, staying healthy and having fun. I think this is what we were meant to do. We do not know how long we will live but we want to be healthy until the time comes. We want to come sliding in through the pearly gates on our knees, maybe a little bruised with torn jammers and busted flip flops, but with a big smile knowing we finally made it!

As always, feel free to share or send a comment or question or hide from your children.

Well I decided to restart my blogging efforts. This time I will use a real website, a real Domain with real security.

I attempted to import my past blog site to this new website. I have not scrubbed it to compare posting for posting to see if everything came across clean so maybe time will tell. There were some errors in the import but so far it seems to be a picture or two. It will take me some time to learn this new website architecture so just deal with it ok!

Almost to the day, 3 years ago, I wrote my last blog that was to end all blogs. Mostly I was writing to myself. People put their thoughts to paper for many different reasons. We always have internal struggles we wrestle with. I think I chose to write to try and understand and deal with some of these internal demons. For some reason I had the urge to try again.

Today is 9/11. Quite the anniversary. I hear many people recalling exactly where they were on this day at that time. They then remember where they were when Kennedy was shot, etc, etc.. We seem to remember tragedies vividly but how often do we vividly remember good/great things – weddings, births, promotions, anniversaries. I think you get the point. Well I want to emphasize that now is a great day to remember. Not because of 9/11. We are on the verge of and witnessing a great event. One most of us never thought we would see in our life times without maybe a nuclear war. Think I am crazy? Did the demons win? What the hell is this event?

We are on the verge of and witnessing PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST! How many of us ever thought that was possible or would be seen without nukes? What am I talking about? Well Israel and UAE have agreed to recognition, normalization, and peace. Today the Kingdom of Bahrain has joined them. All 3 will sign peace agreements on Sept 15th at the White House. This is just the beginning. Qatar and Saudi Arabia will follow very shortly among others. Lastly Iran and the Palestinians will follow suit by the end of 2020. The 4th quarter of 2020 is EXTREMELY historical and we should all look back on its anniversary and remember where we were for such a great event.

Did you ever think you would see this in your lifetime? Without an all out war to end wars? I know many of the young folks don’t have a clue about this. They have not learned our history or world history. This is really amazing if you think about it. 2020 will bring Middle East peace, the US will for the most part be out of the 20 year Afghan war, and almost entirely our of Syria and Iraq without ever stepping foot in Iran. 2020 will end as an AMAZING year for the world. So take time to ponder on the good things happening in the world even as our news tries to make us think the world is ending.

Some of you know that we lost my mom 12/2019. I miss her. I miss a call every once in a while. I miss a visit periodically. But I know she was happy and I know I will see her again much sooner than anyone thinks because how much time do we really have left? I believe a parent’s pride swells when they know their children are living an independent life pursuing their own excitement, adventures, and experiences. I hope to think she was/is proud.

I thought I would share something I wrote in August 2017 called “What if we knew.”

What if we knew,
we only had 1 year,
3 years,
5 years left?
Who would we spend it with?

What if we knew?
What would we change?
Would we live for our heart or 
live for what we felt obligated to others for?
Who would we be standing next to?
Who would we spend it with?

What if we knew?
That no matter what, grown children, parents, sisters and brothers
will love us and each other regardless of where everyone is and
we will see them again very soon in eternity.

What if we knew?
Our life only has one shot,
for mystery, excitement, adventure, experiences.
When it is over, it is over, we can’t do it over.
Then you join family in the after life.
Who would we spend it with?

What if we knew?
Things are not happiness.
More is not better.
Mystery, excitement, adventure, experiences are best not found
in a store or on line.
What do we want to experience?
Where do we want to go?
What do we want to see?
Why are we waiting - 1-3-5 left?

What if we knew?
The most important things to have in life
are what we can carry through St. Peter’s gate.
The best gift I receive is not a thing,
but to know I am genuinely desired, needed, and admired,
for me as I am and not any stuff.
Who would we spend it with?

What if we knew?
For me, I do not want things.
I want, no need, mystery, excitement, adventure, experiences
because I may only have
1 year,
3 years,
5 years left
or at least I need to live as if I only do.
Who do I want to spend it with?

What if we knew?
You can make me know that you want and desire to be right beside me along the way 
as I do you.
We can share and create excitement by actively planing
mystery, excitement, adventure, and experiences together.
We need to hurry as time is short.

What if we knew?
And if we are chosen to be so lucky
maybe we can cross through the gates together
with nothing but the shirts on our backs 
and the experiences in our hearts.
If not, at least we will always be looking forward and never back saying 'if only'.
And we will have many heavenly stories to tell and share as we are
heading towards that final destination as if we knew.

Finally a couple pictures and captions: