I can’t believe it’s been a month since I posted anything here.  In my small defense, I haven’t been going much of anywhere.  Grocery store, church, out to eat, Walmart….just not much material there.  This past month has been dedicated mostly to setting up a new website for a writing group I belong to call Wordsmith Studio. We are in the process of making a community site for writers to meet, discuss, and support each other.  To do this, we are using WordPress and a plugin called BuddyPress.  It has been an adventure since no one seems have a BuddyPress for Dummies book available.

I’ve been to several sites that claim to have info, but none of them seem to be addressing our issue. So all my traveling this past month has been electronic and in vain.  Now I find myself with less than a week to go before we leave for our Combat Camera Reunion Roadtrip.  If you’ve been following us, you may already know quite a bit about that. If so, here’s a recap and update.  If not, here’s a quick rundown.

This site was started a little over a year ago as a place for my brother, Jim, and I to post pictures and information about interesting places we found as we traveled to his Air Force Combat Camera reunion in Albuquerque, then on to Los Angeles and up to Arches National Park where Jim wanted to try some night photography.  It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since then.  It’s time for the reunion again and this time it’s in Charleston SC, a place I’ve always wanted to visit.

We leave home on the morning of September 22nd.  That’s this coming Saturday! To head toward the Carolinas, we would normally go to Nashville first, then head down I-40.  Because I need to visit with one of my granddaughters who is in Richmond, KY along the way, we are going to head directly east on the West Kentucky Parkway instead.  We’ll pick up I-75 in Lexington, stop off in Richmond, then head south, through Knoxville, into the Smokey Mountains.  We plan to spend two nights at Pigeon Forge, then head down to Charlotte for a visit with my youngest daughter and her family until Thursday morning.  Her daughter, Stephanie, is taking photography courses in college and wants her Uncle Jimmie to help her learn more about what her camera is capable of doing.

On Thursday we report to Charleston for the actual reunion.  The reunion committee has a couple of tours scheduled, but they’ve also allowed some free time for people to check out the historic district.  I’ve been told for years that Charleston is a beautiful city and I’m really excited to finally be able to see it.  We’ll be there from Thursday until Sunday morning.

We plan to drive up the coast on Sunday, staying as close as possible to the beaches along the way.  At Norfolk VA, we will turn west, visit the battlefields at Fredericksburg, then head into Washington DC for the remainder of the week.  I’ve never been to the capital either and I love visiting new places. Jim plans to take extensive photos of the monuments on the mall.  He wants to get some night shots there as well.  I want to visit the Smithsonian and the National Zoo.  We won’t get there until Monday and we leave Friday morning so time will be constrained, but we’ll pack as much into as possible.  On the way home we’ll be making stops in Roanoke and Cumberland Gap for photos.

Two weeks to make a big loop east, south, north, then back west to reach home again on Sunday evening of October 7th.  I promise to make time for, at least, 3 posts during that time and there will be photos as well.  If you’ve visited these places yourself and have recommendations of places to see or eat, leave them in the comments below.