We left Tucson late on Sunday morning and headed down the road to Old Kentucky. With a three day road trip ahead of us, we paced ourselves, but knocked out the bulk of the trip on the first two days. We got a late sta
rt from AZ and made our first stop in Hatch NM to have some of Sparky’s World Famous Chili Cheeseburgers. While I stood in a long line to order, Miss Cyd walked Maggie and got her settled down for lunch. We enjoyed an excellent lunch and then hit the road north and east. Stopping in Amarillo at the Residence In
n late that evening, we enjoyed a good night’s rest after a long day. Maggie rested most of the trip in her favored Queen of Sheba position in the back seat with her head stuck in her personal AC vent. Quite the change from her cramped quarters in the back seat of our VW Beetle last year. I must say, although I miss the 45 MPG from the Beetle TDI, our Subaru Outback is a much better road mobile.
The next day, we headed east through Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. We stopped at Maggie’s favorite dog park, just across the Texas-Oklahoma state line. Whil
e Maggie and Miss Cyd chased the tennis ball, I caught up on a few emails and other items on my to-do list. I know, I know, I’m on vacation, but it is hard to go cold-turkey from work and some things need to be dealt with before I get back. That’s Ok, fortunately, Miss Cyd appreciates the linkage between my work life and how it impacts my vacation life, and indeed, the rest of my life. For me, since we live in a dynamic state with our electrical entities, I’d rather deal with current issues now, than wait until I get back to the States and deal with them at that time.
After another night in St. Louis, we hit the road for Kentucky to see Matt an
d Brittney for a couple of days before our flights over to Merrie Olde England. Along the way, we made a few crucial stops at Starbucks for some much-needed caffeine and snacks. Gotta keep those blood sugar levels up for the long drive. As we drove out on the third day, we went through St. Louis and hit it perfectly after rush hour. Sa
iling right through the busy urban center and by the arch, we focused on getting to Kentucky in time for dinner.
We arrived in Kentucky on schedule and enjoyed a couple of days to unwind and get ready for our flights across the pond. Miss Cyd and Brittney set up a “special treat” forMatt and I. While I am not a big fan of pedicures, it was pretty nice to sit down and get a good foot and calf massage. Although I protested quite a bit going in, I thought about my son, Willy, and how much he liked to take the girls to go get mani-pedis. I don’t think I’ll ever reach that point, b
ut it was good to be pampered a bit and get a pedicure before all the walking we have ahead of us in Europe. My feet feel GREAT!
After a couple of pleasant days in Kentucky, Cyd and I boarded our flight to ATL from LEX. There is a lot to be said about springing for first class on airplanes. This was a short flight, but it was nice to kick back and relax along the way. We were very fortunate, our original flight from Lexington to Atlanta was experiencing a mechanical delay. After my experiences with Delta scheduling last week on my way back from the NERC ERO Workshop, this news sent cold chills
down my spine as I envisioned being delayed long enough to miss our flight to London from Atlanta. As if he was reading my mind, the gate agent said, “I can rebook you and ensure you make a flight to London on time.” And so he did. We got out of Lexington three hours early and out of Atlanta four hours early on Flight 28. He was able to retain our first class seats to Atlanta and put us in the front row in business class to Heathr
ow. This was the first time we have flown Delta Business class to London. I must say, Delta does not provide the decadent experience to which we are accustomed on British Airways, but it got us there early. We are in London now and greatly enjoying our stay at the St. Pancras, which is our favorite hotel in the world. More on our week in London in my next segment, but for now, the road trip to Kentucky and our flights to get across the pond were a great success and we are happy to be in London now.
Happy Traveling,
Joe and Cyd.
books Miss Cyd found was by Caroline Mauduit. This slim volume contains approximately 100 sketches and watercolors that Mauduit completed during her year abroad at the British School in Rome. It is obvious from the annotations on her work that she was then (and still is) an architect, but the loose and rapid style in which she captured the urban and pastoral scenes around her resonated with me. I plan to apply my Derwent pencils in a similar manner to sketch and attempt to capture the ambiance during our time in Provence and Italy. One of my goals for this trip is to be able to paraphrase Ms. Mauduit and say, “What I remember more than anything about Italy is how nice it was to wander about the Italian countryside with Miss Cyd, sketching, painting, eating, and drinking local wines in the best of bon vivant style!”
found at Fisher’s home in California (her palazzo named Last House) after her death. These notebooks and documents captured her conversations and other events in 1970 with Julia Child, James Beard, Simone Beck, and other culinary luminaries of the late 60s-early 70s era who shaped the way we still think of haute cuisine today. Since the events in this book took place in the regions that we plan to visit on day trips from our flat, 
several times before about our upcoming trip to Italy. Vitopaolo is from Southern Italy, but went to school in Orvieto and met his wife there, when she was studying at the 
rn from the Continent to deliver us to the Delta terminal at Heathrow for our flights back to Lexington. A key piece of the transportation puzzle was to complete the booking for our passage on the Orient Express, which I accomplished last week. We are looking forward to that experience. As part of our reading for the trip, I picked up the definitive volume on the Venice Simplon Orient Express [VSOE] (Sherwood, 1998). Dr. Sherwood wrote this book from her vantage point at the beginning of the VSOE enterprise when her husband first became interested in restoring the Orient Express to its former glory. I found the history and the sheer magnitude of the project to be fascinating. I pulled some very nice maps from her book (Ibid, pp. 128, 154) that I will use later on to map our progress when I get to my blog from the Orient Express.
and lighter clothing for the South of France and Italy. Fortunately, since we are frequent visitors, the staff at the 
much less expensive than the British Airways tickets. Once we arrive in London, our driver, Jamil, will pick us up and take us to our favorite hotel in London, the 
p a larger panel at the art store in Aix and redo that effort during this stay. All-in-all, we do love Aix and look forward to our return.
As we prepare to depart Venice, the train ride of a lifetime awaits us. I have booked a twin cabin for us on the 
e in the old bank account, a few new pieces of plein air art, and some very cherished memories. As a longtime project manager, I always like to have a good plan and this is the plan for our upcoming painting trip to Europe. Of course, any good plan must reserve some time and resources for unforeseen contingencies, so we have left plenty of room in our two-month sojourn to incorporate those spontaneous decisions and serendipitous moments that leave such valuable and indelible marks on our memories. Thus, now it remains merely to execute the plan and truly make it all happen, sweetheart! Stay tuned for more details along the way as our trip unfolds this Spring. We hope you enjoy our blogs as we make our way from the States to the UK, down to the South of France and Italy, and return.
J.Baugh - Painting in Europe 2017 