Last Stop... Heaven.

Well, as most of you know Grampy passed away last Sunday and has gone to be with My Grandma. It is for selfish reasons that I am sad, because he was a prisoner in his Earthly body. I so fortunate to have taken the Florida trip with him, and I wish that there were more to take, but I know he is at peace and with Grandma. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. S.O.B. will be missed.

Google me!!

We just left Andersonville National Historic site where the Confederate POW Prison was during the Civil War. (Camp Sumpter) We took the driving tour, and Grampy could sit in his chair and see it all out the window. I took lots of pictures of what he couldn't see to show him! ("You kids can do everything on those damn phones these days!")
We decided to skip out on Cape Canaveral on Sunday, Grampy wasn't feeling well (just worn out) and so we decided to head north to St. Augustine so Mom and I could shop while Grampy rested. We shopped til we dropped, as we always do! We spent the night last night in Cordele, Georgia at a really nice KOA RV "Resort" and stopped in Andersonville today. We are headed home now, and we're going to drive as far as Grampy can make it tonight!
Grampy's story will be in the Ocala Star Banner tomorrow, and here is the link for the online story that ran today! If you google him, there are several links to other publications that picked it up! I'm going to send it to our local Newspaper too!
Our trip has been great so far, full of tons of laugh til we cry moments, and a few laugh to keep from crying moments! He has had the time of his life, and now that we know how easy for him it was, hopefully there will be many more!!!

Ringing in the New Year

We had a very big day today! We're still at the RV park where my Grandparents wintered, and we have been hosting happy hour every day for all of Grampy's friends. ( Happy Hour comes early here, 3:00)
The guy from the Ocala Newspaper came today to do the story on our trip, and as everyone does, he LOVED my Grampy and stayed for almost 3 hours! (including happy hour) Grampy loved every second of it and was smiling from ear to ear the whole time! They are going to run it Wednesday January 4th as a feature, and feature it on Ocala.com. I am so lucky to have him as my Grandfather. No matter how bad his situation is, he smiles and jokes through it all!
Grampy's buddies have him talked out of going to Key West, it is a 11 hour drive from where we are now, and there are too many "vantrestites" there!!! I think we are going to head up to Orlando, and Cape Canaveral before heading home instead. It has been a fantastic trip. I will remember and treasure this experience forever!

RV Living!

Today was fairly uneventful. Dad fixed some kinks in the motorhome, and mom went to the laundromat. I stayed with Grampy and checked out some WWII Documentary. (I must get my love for Documentaries from him) He hung out all day with his people from the RV park, and Mom and I got a break and got to go get our Hair done at EN.VE Salon in Ocala. I got to be a real live client for once!
Grampy also got a call from the Ocala Star-Banner Newspaper that wants to do a story on his trip. They did a phone interview today and liked the idea so they decided to make it a feature and are going to come tomorrow and interview all of us and take pictures. He is so pumped! I'll fill everyone in and hopefully get a link to the story on here!
So far it has been a great trip, and we're tentatively headed to Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach in the next couple days to celebrate 2012!g Grandma always said even years were lucky, heres to hoping!!!

I thought Jesus was an Irish Fan!

We had a good day today up until kickoff! Dad gave our tickets to the Champs Sports Bowl away so that we could hang with Grampy! No sweat, the Brandon's have been to hundreds of Irish Football games, we'll just watch it on our fabulous direct TV Satalite Dish... No such luck! About 5 minutes before kickoff we lost our signal, and tried to get it back literally the ENTIRE game. We finally turned on the radio and listened to it like people in the olden days. Oh Well, it was probably a good thing since the Irish blew it as usual! Saved my Dad from having a heart attack. After every loss he says he's sick of being an Irish fan. Better Luck Next Year!!!

We Made It!

We're finally here! I drove us from Tallahassee to Ocala, and we pulled into The Springs RV park around 4:00... Just in time for happy hour! Budweiser stock must be plummeting, because my Grampy can't put em back like he used to! He was so happy to see his friends, and a few tears have been shed, but he's glad to be here!! We will be hanging out here for a few days, and then who knows! He wants to see Key West, so that is on the agenda!! All I know is my Dad and I are going to watch the Irish pound the Florida State Seminoles tomorrow!! GO IRISH!!

Are we there yet??

Day 2 is winding down! We're Tallahassee bound for a little hotel R&R. We drove through Tennessee and Alabama today, and the tip top of the pan handle. Tomorrow we will reach our first destination, beautiful Silver Springs, Florida where Grampy and Grandma used to winter before Grmpy got sick. All his buddies are waiting on him to go to Hooters and flirt with the waitresses! He's traveling well and said "besides Joe Brandon riding the rumble strips, it's just like home!" We learned (the hard way) that Truck Stops and Rest Areas must be an Indiana thing! Hip -Hip Horray for Flying J's!