Viviane,TOdd & Camille

On Tuesday November 28th, 1995 Uncle Eskeep Dad and I went from Dunkirk south on Maryland Rt. 4 to Prince Frederick, Maryland. We went down to the Toyota dealership in to pick up my new 1996 Tacoma LX. I paid $20,553.50 for a V6, manual, extended cab, 4X4 super truck. Today, Feb. 12th, 2010, I sold my super trucko. Over the last 14 years, 2 months, 16 days I drove my truck 282,100 miles or 1,489,488,000 feet, that averages about 54.35 miles a day, figuring off of a rough average of 16 mpg, I figure I used somewhere around 17631 gallons of gas, I changed the oil around 94 times for around 129.25 gallons of oil. Wore out six sets of tires and was half way through set number seven. Not counting the gas, oil, tires and servicing/upkeep, the truck cost me about $3.96 a day to own.

I drove it from Maryland to Florida to Colorado to California to Washington State to Vancouver B.C. to Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Baja California in Mexico, across Texass, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama back on to Florida, it's been to Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Ohio, West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma and I am sure there are more.... I drove it to Rocky Mountain National Park, The Grand Canyon, Yosemite Nat'l Park, Yellowstone Nat'l Park, Joshua Tree Nat'l Park, Canyonlands Nat'l Park, Arches Nat'l Park, Monument Valley, Mesa Verde Nat'l Park, Carlsbad Caverns Nat'l Park, Crater Lake Nat'l park, Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Park, Petrified Forest Nat'l Park, Theodore Roosevelt Nat'l Park, Sequoia Nat'l Park, and Redwood Nat'l Park.

Drove to Golden Gate Nat'l Recreation Area, Oregon Caves Nat'l Monument, Devils Tower National Monument, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Colorado Nat'l Monument, Natural Bridges National Monument, Muir Woods Nat'l Monument, Glen Canyon Nat'l Recration Area, Assateague Island National Seashore, Point Reyes National Seashore. I drove the Suitland Parkway, Rock Creek Parkway, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Baltimore–Washington Parkway, The Avenue of the Giants - California Redwoods, and even drove it several times over the Hoover Dam.

Driven on the beach on Assateague Island, Daytona Beach, Baja Mexico, and near Astoria, Oregon. I drove it to Washington D.C., Richmond, Chicago, Omaha, Twin Falls, Billings, Spearfish, Sturgis, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Kansas City, Louisville, Lexington, Wichita, Denver, Aspen, Vail, Moab, Salt Lake City, Reno, Tahoe, San Francisco, Albuquerque, Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Pismo Beach, Big Sur, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Barstow, Kingman, Phoenix, Tucson, Portland, Seattle, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, New Orleans, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, Daytona, El Paso, Charleston, S.C., Atlanta, Miami, Key West, Long Beach, Oklahoma City, Colorado Springs, Casper and Gillette, Wyoming, Baltimore, Norfolk, Monterey, Ca., Kennedy Space Center, Florida, Johnson Space Center, Houston.

Had the truck registered in Maryland, Colorado, Arizona, and finally in Texass. While owning this truck, I worked as a Scuba Instructor, Sales Rep for a trucking company, Lift Operator, Snowcat operator, Carpenter, Flight Instructor, and finally an Airline Pilot. The truck came with a 3 year, 36,000 mile warranty, I past 36,000 miles around month ten owning the truck. My super truck rocked.


So long super truck, we hardly knew ya.

Took some pics of Viv at 31 weeks preggers, Camille helped.







Camille with the rabbit she was given in Denver.










Possibly Austin at 31 weeks.




Happy kidlette.




Camille loves her dad.




Wabbit season.




Got bugs from playing with her dad.

Viv and Camille took the last flight out of DFW to Denver on Friday, off to visit Granny and her sister Rebecca. My cousin Rachel gave birth to her son Wyatt back late last year, and the two of them were in Denver for a few days. They spent two days watching Camille destroy the universe in Denver, it wore them out.

Camille singing Wyatt to sleep.




My cousin Hannah holding the monster.




Wyatt, Granny and Rachel.




Wyatt not too interested in the conversation.




Hannah, Rachel, Wyatt and the Viv.




Rebecca, Viv and Wyatt.




Granny, Rebecca, and Uncle Vern holding Wyatt.




Chilling with Wyatt.




Pic time.




Hanging out with Uncle Vern.

Fourteen years and two months ago I bought my Toyota Tacoma and have been driving it non-stop, I put just over 281,600 miles on it and it is still going strong. Today I bought a new Toyota Tacoma. New kidlette coming need more room. I am sad to have to get rid of my red truck but it is time to go. Anyone want to buy a truck? Here is my new truck, 2010 Toyota Tacoma 4X4 with four doors.

On the 23rd of December it was 75 degrees and sunny, on the 24th it was 35 degrees and snowy. Had a storm come in to the Dallas area, it dropped snow from around noon till about eight, but the winds that came with the storm were a steady thirty five mph out of the north west. We got some accumulation but most of it blew away. It made for a long day flying, or rather trying to fly. I had to fly two flights on Christmas day and then back home to open presents with my in laws, parents, Camille and the Viv. Today was also Uncle Eskeep Dads 71st birthday so we had a small party.


Getting deiced at DFW.










Camille hanging out with Uncle Eskeep Dad by the window, too cold to go outside.




Opening her Dora the Explorer big wheel.




Decorating Uncle Eskeep Dad and helping him open a gift.




Opening Camille's plush toy book.




Whoo hoo, an airplane!!




Camille Abuelo's bought her a kids laptop.




Willie and Concho helping Camille get it running.




Sitting on her new bike Uncle Adam bought her, can't quite touch the floor yet.




Birthday cake.



















Eating some icing.







Riding her new roller coaster.

The weather here was pretty good today, almost 60 degrees and sunny, Viv and I took Camille on a walk to the park. Got about five minutes into the walk and Camille was out. Went to the park, walked back and she spent another 35 minutes or so sleeping in her stroller in our dining room.

Had a wicked cold front pass through the Dallas/Ft. Worth area on Tuesday afternoon. The DFW airport came to a stand still, we were taxiing and were told to stop and wait. Most of the planes just shut down while the worst of it passed. The four main north-south runways in DFW are 13400' long, the weather blowing through made the winds opposite direction at opposite ends, and a completely different direction in the center of the runway. Made for an interesting afternoon. Took these pictures while we were shut down sitting waiting for better winds. Winds blew in dust from west Texass and it made for a colorful sunset.

Woke up this morning to snow. We have not seen snow here since March of last year if I remember correctly. Needless to say, Camille was pretty excited, until I took her outside to see it and we realized how cold it was, after that, she wasn't overly impressed. But she did like watching it from the window. Guess I shouldn't have left my solar powered lights in the yard to charge today, not going to get much out of them tonight....

Viv went back to the babyologist today for a third ultrasound. We were told it is a girl, we told the doctor at the last ultrasound we were told it was a boy.... She said she would talke a second look, says it looks like a boy now... Not really sure what it is, ahhh, the wonders of modern science... We have a few ultrasound pics below, can't really see much....

It's a boy?




Spine and ribs.




Was told this is the baby's face, don't really see it.




Fore arm and part of the baby's fist, I think...




Have a couple more pics, but they show even less. Next ultrasound in about two and a half months.

Flew an Amarillo turn in the late afternoon a couple days ago, got to watch the sun set from the flight deck while parked at the gate, then once we leveled off in the cruise on the way back to DFW could see brilliant colors out behind my plane. We were around 15,000' when I took the flying pics.

Grain elevator off in the distance, west of the Amarillo airport.







Sunset from 15,000 feet.










These are from the next morning coming out of Waco, just after sunrise.