Happy New Year

Happy New Year. Welcome to 2016.

We survived the Operation Red Nose New Years Eve. Business was steady but, by 4:00 AM when the phones shut down, there was no backlog and we wrapped it up.

There are no serious travel plans this year until May, when we have reservations in Maggie Valley for the South East VROC Rally. It is possible that we might stay down an extra week with the Freedom Riders, the trip that we cancelled last August.

Wolfman's Wandering Rally is being hosted in Taos, New Mexico from June 20th to 24th by Susan and Badger. The Aebleskiver Cat Memorial Rally is scheduled for July 20th to 24th in Solvang, California. Hopefully, we can arrange to be able to spend the month in between out west, stroking things off our bucket list.

The Freedom Rally starts Friday July 29th in Sudbury. As Assistant Rally Director and Treasurer, I need to be there but it will be a stretch. We will leave Solvang on the morning of the 24th and have almost 3,000 to cover before the 29th.

Interlochen, Michigan is scheduled for the weekend after the Freedom Rally. I am trying to convince Sandy to spend a few nights on a cot in our tent. We would rather not spend $100+ per night for a small motel, especially considering the exchange rate and the fact that we can camp for $10 per night.

The Eureka Springs VROC Reunion is going on again in September. Laura has taken over the organizing and, right off the bat, was challenged by the banks taking over Motel 62. She could not get confirmation that they would be able to honour our reservations so she made alternate arrangements with another establishment.

This itinerary all is dependent on my ability to get out-of-Canada health insurance and we can arrange suitable people to keep an eye on Sandy's Mom.

Closer to home, I plan to play a lot of golf and do some Ontario traveling. It would be nice to take the grandchildren somewhere. Maybe the Toronto Zoo or, for the older ones, Canada's Wonderland. I'm sure there are a lot of places that they would enjoy.

So the new year is chock full of opportunities and I hope we can make the most of them.

Oh yes, no need to make a resolution to quit smoking. I haven't touched a cigarette or other combustible product since June 4th. Wish me luck.