Spring spruce-up

Spring spruce-up

Originally uploaded by travelingmcmahans.

I really like the fact that we rent our house for Derby. Obviously the money is nice but that first-weekend-in-May deadline motivates us to spring clean, spruce up and de-clutter.
A storm ripped our window boxes off the windows last year. [...]

Meet my travel partner and mode of transport

Dad on the Goldwing

I begin my motorcycle adventures with my dad next week (7 sleeps and a wakeup, as he says). He’ll pick me up Thursday afternoon in Louisville to take me back to my hometown of Somerset, Ky. That ride will be the longest I’ve ever taken on the bike.
The next morning - -barring [...]

AntiMonkey what?

Where do I start? With my dad’s phone call instructing me to go to the RiteAid for Anti-Monkey Butt Powder or Brian’s conversation at RiteAid today explaining to the employee what exactly Anti-Monkey Butt Powder is?
The RiteAid story is pretty good. So Brian walks into RiteAid on his lunch break, wanders the aisles looking for [...]

I feel the earth move …

My bed shaking this morning woke me up about 5:40. As much as Truffle can shake the bed with his morning bathing rituals, this was a lot more motion than a 13-pound dog can generate. As my dreams cleared out, I realized our windows were rattling something fierce and things on the dresser were rattling [...]

My dad is a good sport

My dad and I have decidedly different approaches to many things — travel styles and food preferences just a couple. His cheese and crackers is a packet — mine is brie and warm baguette slices. He’s meat and potatoes, I’m 10 course tasting menu. He’s sleep anywhere, I’m the front desk nightmare (can I [...]

Go north! Or south.

It was fun while it lasted but between the dollar’s devastation against the euro and the ever-rising cost of airfare we’re calling a hiatus on Europe. Sure, we could go further east, but we don’t have enough skymiles for free airfare so we’ve turned our sights north and south.
The dollar doesn’t enjoy the strength it [...]

Welcome to Texas

Most hotel signs welcome you to the hotel, or maybe the city. Not here. It’s Welcome to Texas.
I’m at the American Airlines training center near Dallas/Fort Worth airport. Rather ironic, isn’t it, considering they’re the reason I’m still here.

Dana in Dallas

Thanks to the help of a kind soul at my office who patiently waited to get through on the phone to American Airlines,  my colleague and I are rebooked on a flight Saturday on Delta. So we’re spending an extra night in Dallas.
While I’m certainly not happy to be stuck here, I haven’t been to [...]

Cancelled

My email from American Airlines at 3:30 this morning as I tried to slumber through the tornadoes in Dallas last night:
American Airlines     Flight 1505
Date: April 11
Departing: Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
Arriving: Louisville, KY
Status: Cancelled

Paris on two wheels

To drink hot spiced red wine in the Tuileries with my lunch of a cheese crepe before hopping back on a bicycle — this is what going to Paris is about.
Tracy wanted to visit Versailles one day during our week in Paris. I’d seen it with Brian a few years ago so decided to [...]