It was now my bride’s turn for a surgical procedure so she opted to have a bunion removed and a couple of toes rearranged…

Unfortunately they are not having a championship season this year.  I guess we’ll be digging those paper bags out of the closet again if they don’t show signs of life pretty soon.

And this year, 2010, we decided to spend in Tucson, Arizona.  We are once more nestled in one of those adult parks among folks we once looked upon as olde farts but are somehow looking younger every year.  We’ll be here through March or April and then we’re off to California again for those annual appointments with our team of medical professionals who have managed to keep us both upright thus far in spite of our complete lack of cooperation. 

As we lay out the cookies and milk in preparation for the arrival of Father Christmas, we would like to take this oportunity to wish all of you, friends, family and the occasional visitor to our site, a joyful Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year…

As year’s end rapidly approaches, we find ourselves once more immersed in the Christmas Season. Many folks are busily hustling from store to store, floating along in a river of humanity, trying to find just the item that will bring joy to the face of a child or that special someone in their life.  In our case, shopping complete, we have paused to reflect on the past year, and in so doing, all of the years and Christmases we have shared in the time since we traded a home anchored to concrete and wood for the mobility of one gliding along on rubber and steel.

After leaving the world of the gainfully employed back in February of 2000, we boarded our 1973 GMC 26’ land yacht and headed out on a voyage to nowhere in particular.  Along the way we have encountered some truly amazing sights, met some really wonderful people and have spent Christmas in a variety of places we had never before been.

Our first Christmas on the road found us in Pensacola, Florida…

By this time we had grown comfortable with the concept of efficiency living: For every new t-shirt you buy you must rid yourself of one you already have to make room for the new one.

In Christmas of 2002 we found ourselves once again in the Texas tropics. Harlingen, located approximately 30 miles west of the Gulf of Mexico and 15 miles north of the border, provided our second opportunity to enjoy all the many wonders of an “adults only” RV park including the chance to share the intimate details of my most recent excursion into the wonderful world of surgery with folks who had blazed the original trail…

We spent Christmas of 2001 on South Padre Island, Texas in our first “adult” RV resort.  Adult, as it happens is a code word for wheelchairs, walkers and olde farts.  We had now been travelling for nearly two years in what could easily have passed for a souped-up sardine can on wheels…

We returned to San Carlos, Mexico, for Christmas in 2005 and celebrated the Yuletide in typical Bryan fashion…

The procedure did little to improve her dancing skill as she still insists on leading and is a quarter beat off from the music.

New Orleans, Louisiana provided the setting for Christmas of 2009…

There's nothing quite like spending Christmas in Mexico with a barbecued turkey, a cold cerveza and those ever present in-laws…

Old Mexico was our destination of choice for Christmas in 2004.  While exploring Nacapule Canyon near San Carlos we happened upon this creature right out of the pages of Mexican folklore and the Spanish edition of The National Enquirer: the legendary Chupacabra...​

While back in California our youngest grandson, Melvin Sugar Bear, made his debut…

As well as our Christmas gift to each other…

Arriving in December and staying into March, we experienced not only Christmas but also New Years, Mardi Gras, Saint Patrick’s Day and the amazing season, culminating in a Super Bowl Championship, for the New Orleans Saints…

2006 marked our third Christmas in San Carlos…

Hugs, Chuck and Kalyn 

Lacking both a cactus and a plot of land in which to plant one, we nevertheless adorned a tree and toasted Christmas with a round, or two, of eggnog…

We had finally made the leap from a sardine can to a REAL motorhome complete with so much storage that it would take a lifetime to fill.  We soon realized that a lifetime is not really all that long and having "enough" storage is a myth.

2003 found us in Phoenix, Arizona enjoying our first Desert Christmas. We discovered that the lack of snow and icicles and trees and even grass did not dissuade folks from enthusiastically embracing the spirit of Christmas… 

This rotator cuff surgery, quite obviously the result of my career as an 8-year old pitcher for a Pee Wee baseball team, put me in good standing with many of the other olde farts in the resort who took great pleasure in pointing out that, although they were twenty or more years my senior, their shoulders, hips and knees were still in the original packaging.  Old people can be really evil at times! I did manage to recover in time to spend an enjoyable Christmas with my traveling companion…

   Ghosts Of Christmas Past                                        December 21, 2010

Seeing the kid nowadays, it is hard to believe that he once fit inside a Santa hat.

We spent our final Christmas in Mexico in 2007 and, after a clever but failed business venture, decided we had worn out our welcome…

While we were exploring the many white sand beaches and oceanfront restaurants along the Gulf of Mexico, back in California, our Grandson, Nick, was enjoying his second Christmas while terrorizing the neighborhood on his first Harley…

The indigenous folks simply could not adapt to the sight of a bunch of naked olde farts cavorting around on a boat still tied to to the dock for lack of someone who knew how to start the damn thing! 

Still longing for tropical climes but not the political uncertainty and the escalating drug related violence which has beset Mexico, we spent Christmas of 2008 in Key West, Florida…

Jerry, my brother-in-law, and his bride, Sandy, own a condo on the beach across the road from our favorite campground in San Carlos and, although I do spend a lot of time in these missives berating, abusing and harassing him at every opportunity, the truth is that I really have learned to tolerate him...almost.  It does occasionally require a wee bit of Cantina time…​