I left Lake Whitney April 13th, in the morning, and headed to the Pacific Coast and points in-between here and there for a vacation primarily aimed at visiting my son, Ben, his wife and their two children. The main point of the trip was to be in Mather, Ca. for my granddaughter's 1st birthday party, the 20th of April.

The trip started out with a few bumps in the way of rescheduling visits with OPPers along the way, both going and coming back. Unfortunately, I suffered a couple of misconnects in attempts to visit with a couple of long-time posters on my way west. As a result, I spent some extra time with my son and his family before heading to Coos Bay, Oregon. There, I met up with (who else?), Coos Bay Tom. This was an encounter that was years in the making. Tom and I had spoken of meeting at some point in time for a beer/hors d'oeuvres back in about 2013 or 2014. We did just that, and toasted each other and my/our dear mutual friend, PoppaGringo by calling 'Salty' and having him join us via phone.

Tom was a gracious and generous host. Although my time in Coos Bay was limited, he treated me to local sights and attractions and also introduced me to his lovely and equally gracious wife...plus, his two grandchildren that are in his custody/guardianship. Coos Bay is not a very large place population-wise. Still, it appeared that everyone in town knew Tom personally. It was clear that he was held in high esteem by all who spoke with him/us around town and the eateries/venues we frequented. I can personally assure all that Tom is as down-to-earth a person as anyone could imagine and could easily be a model in representing middle America. He best epitomizes what is good in/about our country. I will end on my visit with Tom by stating that Oregon in general, and the Coos Bay area...especially parts of the local coastline, are beautiful and wondrous to behold, especially the floral/foliage abundantly found.

After leaving Coos Bay, I returned for three more days with my son's family before starting east back home. My first stop on my route east was in Nevada to visit another well-liked and respected poster...BigMike. Trust me, the moniker fits. He is about 6'6" and seemed to go on forever when he got up from his chair. My time with him was limited by circumstances, but it was an enjoyable time. Mike is very gregarious, friendly and easy with which to chat on any variety of subjects. His smile is infectious and his laugh, to me at least, reminded me of the term 'belly laughs.' We enjoyed a meal at the third place we checked for lunch, a local casino. Apparently, Mike doesn't get out much...the first two places he suggested had gone out-of-business in his absence. Finally, though, we settled in and had a wonderful lunch at remarkably low prices As hinted earlier, he is a wonderful conversationalist, and the time passed much too quickly before we had to head our own separate ways. He did have me stop by his place on the way back to my return journey and gave me a jar of his homemade picante sauce. I have enjoyed it since arriving home and must say it is fairly spicy-hot, even by Texas standards.

Unfortunately, again, there was a misconnection with another poster before making it to the Texas Panhandle and meeting up with Sir Archie Bunker for breakfast. We spent time catching up with what had t***spired within our families and a summarizing of the OPP forum...from our viewpoints. This was about our fourth time to break bread together, and it is always an enjoyable time with one of the icons of OPP. Upon leaving Arch, I joined my brother Ken and his Family in Amarillo for a couple of days. I was treated to the bonus of my younger sister Donise visiting at the same time. On top of that, our younger brother Larry (a reclusive sort), joined us for dinner and an evening of much-cherished reminiscing of times past. My visit with those siblings all at once was a time to remember.

Upon leaving Amarillo, I headed south through Lubbock and stopped, once again, to have lunch with Alicia from OPP...having joined her a couple of other times on my travels to & from Amarillo. Like others besides her from OPP that I have met in my travels, her persona is perhaps different from that as often perceived by others on the forum. She is a sweet 83-yr.old lady of considerable charm and personality. She is tiny...I'm guessing maybe 4'8" or thereabouts, and still reasonably spry and spirited. I find, as with so many, if one looks past any probable differences between ourselves and other posters, we would find that there is much commonality among us all. I know that, even within my own Family, we find that we often dwell far too much on the 10% of things we may disagree on rather than the 90% of matters we generally concur. IMO, that is likely the case with most of us. As lyrics to an old Johnny Mercer tune suggests..."You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative...and, latch on to the affirmative." In any event, I count Alicia as one of many friends from the OPP of all political, ideological and religious affiliations. We are all, first and foremost, proud Americans.

After leaving Lubbock, I made my final road stop in Abilene, Tx., for a visit with another younger brother, Tom, for a day or two before heading home. During my visit with him and his wife culminating in a nice dinner out, I got a good night's sleep before departing for my final destination of home. Arriving at Lake Whitney later that morning on the 27th, I immediately embraced my Beloved anchor and rudder, the Sgt. Major, for the longest time before giving our spoiled min-pin her expected dues. I then proceeded to unpack and try to bring things back to normal around the Slatten household before hitting the sack early that evening. My first full day back home consisted of tending to the yard by mowing and trimming...to my wife's satisfaction.

It has taken me these few days to recover from a long (5000 miles) yet rewarding trip with both Family and friends from OPP. It will be a while before I embark on another...and, it will likely be primarily east of the Mississippi.

I left Lake Whitney April 13th, in the morning, and headed to the Pacific Coast and points in-between here and there for a vacation primarily aimed at visiting my son, Ben, his wife and their two children. The main point of the trip was to be in Mather, Ca. for my granddaughter's 1st birthday party, the 20th of April.

The trip started out with a few bumps in the way of rescheduling visits with OPPers along the way, both going and coming back. Unfortunately, I suffered a couple of misconnects in attempts to visit with a couple of long-time posters on my way west. As a result, I spent some extra time with my son and his family before heading to Coos Bay, Oregon. There, I met up with (who else?), Coos Bay Tom. This was an encounter that was years in the making. Tom and I had spoken of meeting at some point in time for a beer/hors d'oeuvres back in about 2013 or 2014. We did just that, and toasted each other and my/our dear mutual friend, PoppaGringo by calling 'Salty' and having him join us via phone.

Tom was a gracious and generous host. Although my time in Coos Bay was limited, he treated me to local sights and attractions and also introduced me to his lovely and equally gracious wife...plus, his two grandchildren that are in his custody/guardianship. Coos Bay is not a very large place population-wise. Still, it appeared that everyone in town knew Tom personally. It was clear that he was held in high esteem by all who spoke with him/us around town and the eateries/venues we frequented. I can personally assure all that Tom is as down-to-earth a person as anyone could imagine and could easily be a model in representing middle America. He best epitomizes what is good in/about our country. I will end on my visit with Tom by stating that Oregon in general, and the Coos Bay area...especially parts of the local coastline, are beautiful and wondrous to behold, especially the floral/foliage abundantly found.

After leaving Coos Bay, I returned for three more days with my son's family before starting east back home. My first stop on my route east was in Nevada to visit another well-liked and respected poster...BigMike. Trust me, the moniker fits. He is about 6'6" and seemed to go on forever when he got up from his chair. My time with him was limited by circumstances, but it was an enjoyable time. Mike is very gregarious, friendly and easy with which to chat on any variety of subjects. His smile is infectious and his laugh, to me at least, reminded me of the term 'belly laughs.' We enjoyed a meal at the third place we checked for lunch, a local casino. Apparently, Mike doesn't get out much...the first two places he suggested had gone out-of-business in his absence. Finally, though, we settled in and had a wonderful lunch at remarkably low prices As hinted earlier, he is a wonderful conversationalist, and the time passed much too quickly before we had to head our own separate ways. He did have me stop by his place on the way back to my return journey and gave me a jar of his homemade picante sauce. I have enjoyed it since arriving home and must say it is fairly spicy-hot, even by Texas standards.

Unfortunately, again, there was a misconnection with another poster before making it to the Texas Panhandle and meeting up with Sir Archie Bunker for breakfast. We spent time catching up with what had t***spired within our families and a summarizing of the OPP forum...from our viewpoints. This was about our fourth time to break bread together, and it is always an enjoyable time with one of the icons of OPP. Upon leaving Arch, I joined my brother Ken and his Family in Amarillo for a couple of days. I was treated to the bonus of my younger sister Donise visiting at the same time. On top of that, our younger brother Larry (a reclusive sort), joined us for dinner and an evening of much-cherished reminiscing of times past. My visit with those siblings all at once was a time to remember.

Upon leaving Amarillo, I headed south through Lubbock and stopped, once again, to have lunch with Alicia from OPP...having joined her a couple of other times on my travels to & from Amarillo. Like others besides her from OPP that I have met in my travels, her persona is perhaps different from that as often perceived by others on the forum. She is a sweet 83-yr.old lady of considerable charm and personality. She is tiny...I'm guessing maybe 4'8" or thereabouts, and still reasonably spry and spirited. I find, as with so many, if one looks past any probable differences between ourselves and other posters, we would find that there is much commonality among us all. I know that, even within my own Family, we find that we often dwell far too much on the 10% of things we may disagree on rather than the 90% of matters we generally concur. IMO, that is likely the case with most of us. As lyrics to an old Johnny Mercer tune suggests..."You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative...and, latch on to the affirmative." In any event, I count Alicia as one of many friends from the OPP of all political, ideological and religious affiliations. We are all, first and foremost, proud Americans.

After leaving Lubbock, I made my final road stop in Abilene, Tx., for a visit with another younger brother, Tom, for a day or two before heading home. During my visit with him and his wife culminating in a nice dinner out, I got a good night's sleep before departing for my final destination of home. Arriving at Lake Whitney later that morning on the 27th, I immediately embraced my Beloved anchor and rudder, the Sgt. Major, for the longest time before giving our spoiled min-pin her expected dues. I then proceeded to unpack and try to bring things back to normal around the Slatten household before hitting the sack early that evening. My first full day back home consisted of tending to the yard by mowing and trimming...to my wife's satisfaction.

It has taken me these few days to recover from a long (5000 miles) yet rewarding trip with both Family and friends from OPP. It will be a while before I embark on another...and, it will likely be primarily east of the Mississippi.