Bill's Bucket List for 2011/2012

Four items completed on my Bucket List

Below is one of my next bucket list items.  This is the color combination I am looking for in a used 4 - 6 year old Lazy Daze 26.5 or 23.5 Foot Rear Bath Model. ( http://www.lazydaze.com ).  I have been doing Wild Land Fires for 11 years now and have saved for retirement and enough to get the used RV I have always wanted.  Photography has been added to my hobby list and along with Amateur Radio (HF, APRS, Satellite), this little RV will be perfect to go out and find America for the next 3,4,5, or whatever  years. 

I plan on long spring and fall excursions so I would be a part time RVER. I love skiing in the winter and wildland fires in the summer so in between will be just right for some 1 - 2 month trips spring and fall to explore this great country of ours. I have made up a list of Dinners and Dives, SCCA Races, PGA and LPGA Golf Games, Great Bridges, and Baseball Games (Spring Training and Regular Season). I have to many Historical places on my list to even consider putting here but all the listed will be intertwined on my road trips.  

One of those spring trips will be up the ALCAN Highway to FairBanks and Anchorage.  Then I will Ferry back to Prince Rupert from Haines Junction, Alaska. What a trip that will be !!!! 

Several bucket list items listed here but I know they are very achievable !!!

Enjoy life, it does have an expiration date !!!  Thanks Wendy !!

Below is a modification one RVer did to his interior that I really like.  There are two options for the couches in that you can have two couches or a set of Barrel Chairs on the right. I would get the Barrel Chairs so they can be removed.  Then I would install the modification as see below. I like the Desk with Computer and would also hold my Ham Radio Gear the way I will have it set up.  The little heater that swings out is all that is really needed to warm up the entire RV. This is attached to the propane in the RV and just swings out to be clear/safe while heating up the RV. Both are really neat ideas and I might do the same to my RV...

Dwayne McNeil, a great friend, and I are finally going to attend the Accenture Match Play a PGA tour event in Marana, Az. Feb 20 - 26, 2012.  We have talked about going and 2012 is the year.  We will be staying with Dwayne's son Paul in Mesa, Az.  This will be my first ever PGA tour to see the Pros' with a great friend.

Link to Accenture Match Play Web Site: 

Lots of miles around the Great Lakes to be discovered and enjoyed ! Click below picture for link to the Great Lakes Circle Tour home page !

I have been researching passage on a ship through the Great Lakes for some time.  I have always been interested in the engineering and history of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the lock system, and the Great Lakes.  It is truly amazing that a sea going vessel can transit to just about the middle of America,  Duluth, Minnesota,  to pick up grain and take it to Europe !!!!

Link to Duluth Shipping News information on PZM ships that dock at Duluth!

Only opportunity I found is passage on a ship from Europe (Amsterdam (IJmuiden) Netherlands) across the Atlantic then through the Great Lakes to Duluth, Minnesota or Thunder Bay Ontario Canada,   2012 or 2013 is my plan for a 19 - 21 day adventure on a cargo ship.  I contacted other folks who have taken this trip and they said the cabins were very nice, food was excellent, and it was truly a great photographic adventure.  I am awaiting word on available cabins/dates. 

Picture below is one of the ships that makes a passage every two weeks from  Netherlands to Duluth or Thunder Bay.   It will be quite a photography adventure seeing some of America's heartland from the deck of a ship on the St. Lawrence Seaway, the lock system, and the Great Lakes !!! 

Click here for a link to the Polish Steamship Company information.

I finally completed another Bucket List item !!!! Picture below tells it all from the Vikings vs Saints Game on 18 December, 2012.. A picture with two of the Vikings Cheer Leaders..

A great friend, Don Houck, and I try and get together for a home Vikings Game at least every other year with his wife Mary's permission. Just kidding !!! This year was fun as always and Don got to visit his mother and daughters.  We had breakfast with his daughter Vicky who really a great lady !!!!  After three tries over six years, I finally got a picture with two of the Vikings Cheer Leaders and they both signed my Cheer Leaders Calendar !! I am all smiles !!!!!