A Light at the End of the Tunnel?

In our seventeen years of RVing, motor-home manufacturers have not exactly been paragons of quality control, solid engineering or reliability - far from it in fact. The development of the industry has many parallels, 50 years on, with the origins of the automobile industry at the beginning of the 20th century. Hundreds of would-be manufacturers appeared in the '50s, '60s and '70s with the vast majority disappearing almost as quickly. In recent years there has been both additional fall-out and some encouraging consolidation among manufacturers and this trend seems likely to continue. To see where the industry might be headed it is useful to have a perspective of where it is now. To just look at the pictures, click here - read on for a hearty dose of stupefaction.

The Recreational Vehicle Industry
On a scale of Harley-Davidson to General Motors, the entire recreational vehicle industry - travel trailers, fifth wheels, folding campers, truck campers and all Class A, B and C vehicles - at nine to ten billion dollars annually, is about 1-1/2 times the revenue of Harley-Davidson and 1/20th of that of GM. This is at the manufacturer level, at the retail level the annual sales are around 14 to 15 billion or the equivalent of Office Depot. Keep in mind, these numbers refer to the entire product range of the entire recreational vehicle industry - individual manufacturers or individual market segments are much smaller. For most buyers, recreational vehicles are big ticket items, and, in most cases, the decision to purchase is discretionary. As such, this industry, along with sailboats, light aircraft and summer cottages, is at the sharp end of the fortunes of the nation with the feast or famine roller-coaster making orderly progress difficult. The following chart, data from RVIA, of annual RV shipments since 1978 is testament to this, wherein it took 28 years to eclipse the unit count attained in 1978.
Accordingly, industry retail sales have also been unpredictable year over year, bounced around by external influences such as the vitality of the economy, the dot.com bubble and the 9/11 attacks. Note, that although the chart above indicates significant growth over the period covered, the inflation adjusted growth is quite sobering. The next chart shows the same data in 1978 dollars with Consumer Price Index backed out. None too dynamic!
There turns out to be a positive side to this languid growth. The next chart shows the change in the average retail cost across all recreational vehicles over the period shown - an almost four fold increase of the consumer cost in current dollars.
In inflation adjusted dollars the same data, shown below, represents an extremely modest increase in the average recreational vehicle cost to the consumer - roughly 20% over 28 years.
This significant accomplishment parallels that which happened in the automotive industry over the half century from the 1920s to the 1970s, namely automobiles prices fell dramatically in terms of current dollars while reliability, comfort, convenience, appearance, feature sets and fuel economy all improved enormously. In the case of RVs, slides are now common place, satellite TV reception is taken for granted, refrigerators, air conditioners and microwaves are standard equipment, high efficiency diesel engines are available in all classes of motorized units and options such as navigation systems and home theater installations are commonplace. Many of these items were unheard of 30 years ago let alone readily available in recreational vehicles and all at just a minimal real price increase. To recap then, there are approximately 400 thousand recreational vehicles built each year offering steadily increasing value for money with an average retail price of $38,000. Score one for the industry.

Classifying the Four Hundred Thousand
2007 was a down year for the industry and the unit total was actually a little over 353,000. The RVIA classifies RV sales as shown in the following table. The unit counts and percentages shown in each category are for 2007.
The squeeze could be on for at least one of these classifications, the Class B motor home. Many of these units are more expensive than entry level, and even mid level Class C vehicles, most of which come with at least one slide, an extended body width, 78 inch high ceilings and purpose built plumbing systems. With just 3,100 Class Bs sold last year industry wide, it is difficult to see how this niche can succeed long term.

Who Makes all of these Vehicles?
In spite of the profusion of brands seen in the showrooms and on the road, the majority of US RVs are made by just five companies. The largest of these is Thor Industries, a company started by a couple of entrepreneurs in 1980 when they purchased the fast failing and oldest existing RV manufacturer from the mid thirties, Airstream. Over the ensuing years, Thor successfully salvaged Airstream and acquired the Aerolite, Crossroads, Damon, Dutchman, Four Winds, Keystone, Komfort and Mandalay RV brands, Breckenridge Mobile Homes and General Coach in Canada along with several other bus manufacturers to become the largest medium and small bus producer. With annual revenues in the region of $2.8 billion, Thor accounts for almost 30% of the RV industry employing more than 9,000 personnel in the US and several hundred more in Canada. Quoted on the NYSE as THO, its stock is currently near a 52 week low, so, if you're feeling lucky...
At approximately $2.0 billion annual revenues, Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc. is #2 of the big five. At one time, Fleetwood claimed to make more motorized RVs than all other manufacturers combined and, from the huge number of brands on their marquee - more than 50 in all, it isn't difficult to believe. In addition to American Coach, there are six more Class A diesel brands, eleven Class A gassers, nine brands of mini-motor homes, eleven fifth wheel brands, five ultra-lites and four toy haulers. With respectable Class A coaches starting at $100,000 they are well positioned to service entry level users as well as those moving up from upscale fifth-wheel or Class Cs. Fleetwood came into being in 1950 with a line of travel trailers but dropped these fairly quickly when their focus shifted to manufactured housing. Surprisingly, it was not until 1964 that they turned again to recreational vehicles which have subsequently eclipsed their housing business and which, at the present time, is in a fairly sorry condition. Fleetwood employed around 11,500 people as of June 2006 and is quoted on the NYSE under the ticker FLE. Like Thor, its stock is currently just above its 52 week low.

Number three in sales volume is Monaco Coach Corporation with its subsidiaries Beaver, Holiday Rambler, McKenzie, Monaco Coach, Safari and R-Vision. Another public company on the NYSE with symbol MNC, Monaco Coach Corp., formed in 1993, is the successor to the original 1968 company and has had annual sales in recent years in the order of $1.3 billion. Currently, its stock is above its 52 week low but still 40% down on the 52 week high - what an opportunity! In addition to 37 motorized products the company produces 34 towable models and is also involved in the development and sale of luxury motor coach resorts. At the end of 2005, company-wide employment was a little over 6,000 full-time employees.

Coming in at number four, and one of the older companies in the industry, is Winnebago Industries, originally incorporated in Iowa in 1958. In common with the top three manufacturers, Winnebago is listed on the NYSE (WGO) and is currently 35% down on its 52 week high although it too, is 20% above its 52 week low with sales for 2007 at $870 million - down from 1.1 billion in 2004. Winnebago has restricted itself to entry level Class C vehicles through mid-range Class A coaches and has just two brands in its stable, Winnebago and Itasca, each of which are represented by a about a dozen vehicles identical between the brands with the exception of labels and paintwork. The company employed approximately 3,600 people in the fall of 2005.
The last, and the smallest of the big five, is privately held Country Coach, snatched from the impending train wreck that was National RV just one year ago, by founder and former Chairman Bob Lee along with a group of investors, for a mere $38 million or thereabouts. Starting life as Country Campers in 1973, a two man operation making slide-in campers, Country Coach renamed itself in 1987, five years after producing its first diesel powered Class A luxury coach. The company continued, in spite of its acquisition in 1996 by National RV and the concomitant quality and engineering lapses that persisted throughout their ownership, and today is estimated to enjoy annual sales in the range of $600-700 million as their 1,600 or so employees strive to rebuild their reputation. Part of this effort has been an extension of the product reach with the addition of a couple of lower end units, the Tribute and the Inspire, and an upscale unit, the Rhapsody, squeezed between the Affinity and the Prevost conversion.
The big five therefore, account for $7.5-8.0 billion of the approximately $9.0-9.5 billion industry total at the manufacturer level. Who has the other odd $1.5 billion? While there are several companies that appear to have carved out sustainable niches and at least one up-and-comer who could make the big time, there are as many as 100 lesser known recreational vehicle manufacturers scrapping over a billion dollars of sales. While this may sound dismissive of their efforts, profitable operation of even a $10 million business that toils to design, tool, manufacture, test, certify and market big ticket regulated items of this nature, is a tall order indeed.
As for the niche players, these include companies such as Marathon Coach, Newell and, marginalized as they have become, Foretravel. Marathon is by far the largest Prevost converter and, at about 75 units per year - several times the number of all other Prevost converters combined - may be around for a while. Newell functions as a high line coach boutique meeting the needs of that rare breed, the Newell owner - kind of incestuous but it has thus far worked for them! Foretravel might be hoping to head in a similar direction - their pricing is about right, just need some mystique and they will be all set.

The up-and-comer mentioned above is Tiffin Motorhomes. Started in 1972 by Bob Tiffin in Alabama, this company is developing the hallmarks of a serious Class A contender in medium and high line luxury coaches. As a private company, accurate financial and performance information is not readily available, but a reasonable estimate of their Class A volume might be 1,000 to 1,200 coaches per year with sales in the region of $150-175 million. Tiffin products seem to be well regarded both by the industry and by consumers and stories abound of Bob Tiffin's follow through in satisfying customers. A brand to watch.
Finally, there is The One that Got Away, National RV Holdings Inc. Founded in 1964, National RV began acquiring various disparate recreational vehicle manufacturers, not the least of whom was Country Coach in 1996. Other brands included Dolphin, Islander, Pacifica, Sea Breeze, Surf Side, Tradewinds and Tropi-Cal. During their peak years, 2004 and 2005, the National RV group produced nearly 3,000 units per year, but unfortunately were consistently in the red from about year 2000 on. After an accumulated loss of $80 million, the owners closed the facilities in November 2007 effectively terminating the seven brands and orphaning thousands of vehicles, none of which seem likely to be adopted by other investors.

Where are these RVs?The RVIA estimates that there are a record 8.2 million RVs are on the roads in the United States. Further, this number is projected to increase to 8.5 million by the end of 2010 even with 2008 shipments expected to be almost 5% down, year over year. However, the most interesting aspect of this 8 million RV estimate is that, by the RVIAs own figures, less than 7.5 million RVs have been produced in total over the last 29 years. If every single one of those 7.5 million are still on the road (making the average RV age around 15 years) there have to be another 700,000 units on the streets that are 30 or more years old! Amazing. My guess - the true number is significantly less than the industry likes to imagine.

What fuels optimism for the Industry?
Consolidation, shake-out, rationalization and retrenchment. First, consolidation. Like the automotive industry before it, the RV industry appears set to mature into a small number of billion dollar plus organizations with adequate resources to better navigate market fluctuations and perhaps even begin to manage the sales channel from the top down. Shake-out, a corollary of consolidation, will continue as major players gain clout over the dealer network, further crimping the market for fringe operators. The recent demise of National RV, unfortunate in the short term, will be beneficial in clearing the field a little for other contenders.
Rationalization flows from well executed consolidation. Consolidation for the sole purpose of getting bigger is not always a prudent strategy - Bendix, Teledyne and many other 20th century ego trips bear testament to that. Mergers and acquisitions executed with realistic synergies in mind are frequently successful and at least two of the big five appear to be pursuing such plans to good effect. Finally, retrenchment. After a furious, and often spurious, technological tour-de-force over the last eight years, during which dozens of scantily tested, not-ready-for-prime-time contrivances were foisted upon hapless coach owners, the industry seems to be entering a more conservative phase. After all the gee-whiz tank monitoring schemes, guess what? - we're right back to screws through the side of the tanks and a simple push-button indicator. Remember those witless LCD instrumentation displays that were unreadable between dawn and dusk? - gone, replaced by a brilliant new concept of needles pointing at numbers! Other long overdue, low-tech enhancements include a 1-1/2" fresh tank drain instead of that tiny 1/4" tease, an auto-fill system for fresh water maintenance, driver side memory seat and some built-in provision for winterizing. Best of all, most "New for 2009" lists are limited to just a few modest items, many of which sound like a way forward. Let's hope that this is the RV industry finally coming of age. Whadya think?

Tawdry Titusville, Kitschy Cocoa

Serendipity this week left us at The Great Outdoors - TGO as it is known by the inmates - near Titusville, Florida, where we continued our personal exposé of RV resort options. For those who remember the sixties English TV series named The Prisoner, starring Patrick McGoohan, there are eerie parallels between TGO and The Village where No. 6 was incarcerated. Overall impression? The most suitable, thus far, for our ill-defined requirements.
While scouting around for the necessities of life - Walmart, grocery stores, malls and the like - we ran the gamut of the offerings of Titusville and Cocoa. An unexpected bonus of our visit to the area, was the launch of the shuttle taking goodies to the international space station.

See Slideshow.

Titusville, population 40,000, is typical small-town Florida, wide four lane main drag, sand and weeds decorating every piece of bare ground, slow cycling traffic lights and an overall air of hapless dilapidation. Renamed from Sand Point in 1873 for Colonel Henry T. Titus, a confederate with an exceptionally questionable past, who had married money from Georgia, and who made the town his own. Titus laid out roads on land owned by his wife and, in 1870, erected The Titus House, a large 1-story hotel next to a saloon. He donated land for 4 churches and a courthouse, the latter in a successful effort to get the town designated as county seat. St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church, built in 1887 and added to National Register of Historic Places in 1972, is one of just a handful of items of historical interest in the area. Not much to look at, St. Gabriel's is kept securely locked.
A dozen miles south of Titusville is the town of Cocoa. Named either after the native Coco Plum tree or the label on a box of Baker's Cocoa - nobody seems to know for sure - Cocoa, along with Titusville, enjoyed rapid growth in the nineteen fifties and beyond when Cape Canaveral was selected for the US Space program. Although Cocoa is currently home to about 16,000 people it suffered, along with Titusville, from high unemployment and unsaleable homes as the space program wound down. A local initiative is Cocoa Village and the Diamond Square Development aimed at improving downtown property values. The outcome remains unclear except for a rash of kitschy stores along a short stretch of Brevard Avenue. If you have a few hours to spare, you could spend one of them here if you don't hurry.

Whale Baiting

"Why should the Japanese have all the fun" I mused, while reading about the imminent Japanese pursuit and slaughter of a thousand whales in the advancement of "scientific study". After a little thought, the solution came to me. The thrill of mammal taunting, no inclement weather, minimal danger and, best of all, no need to leave dry land - perfect! Where is this hunters Nirvana? At the nearest swimming pool. With a little container of fishy food and my trusty pith helmet, I set off. Past the rest rooms, through the picnic table jungle, sidled by the evil smelling barbecue and finally, skirting the shuffleboard courts, reached my goal.
As luck would have it, there was a solitary critter cavorting in the pool and I managed to capture a couple of snapshots of this saucy specimen. In an attempt to energize the old thing, I tried lobbing anchovies into the pool but, despite numerous heroic lunges, nary a one was caught.
As night fell and exhaustion set in, she finally beached herself at the shallow end and had to be revived with a large glass of Merlot.

What to do when you're down and out

If, figuratively speaking, you were a Father of the seventh smallest city of the 30th smallest state, a city that is home to a seriously ill-favored Civic Center, a city encircled by a magnificent beltway - a past political triumph that subsequently sucked almost every vestige of life out of downtown - a city where the closest Interstate from which to lure travelers dollars is more than 50 miles away, what could you conceivably do to rivet the world's attention on your burg and bring those tourist dollars pouring in? The answer shortly - first some more clues.
This particular municipality lies in the Wiregrass region of the south, an extensive region characterized by the absence of large cities and blighted with staggering humidity in the summer. With a romantic history of once having been noted for turpentine production, a brief flirtation with cotton and later with mules, it has to be a Herculean effort to reverse the hardship endemic to the area.
With every hallmark of similarly impoverished American cities - drive through booths for utility payment, tax-refund and paycheck-advance bandits on every corner, title pawn shops to spirit away folks automobiles and VCR repair shops, the most exercised establishments in town appear to be the DUI Remedial School and the Juvenile Court Services.
To make matters even worse, close by is the city of Bainbridge which has the honor of being the gnat capital of the world. This accolade has gained such notoriety that a documentary, scheduled to be aired in the spring of this year, is currently being made, setting the record straight on these little buggers. For more revelations on this corner of the country...

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Even though we much enjoyed our visit and the self guided walking tour, we continue to have difficulty in understanding how such flamboyant expenditure of tax dollars will significantly benefit the community. Guess that's why we're not in government.

2007 Reprise

Here are a few snapshots from various 2007 family get-togethers. All but one of the crew are here. By and large, not a bad year with everyone pretty much making the progress they had planned.

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All are looking forward to a Great 2008! We intend to start by quickly heading south and getting away from the snow. Best wishes to one and all.

Boot Camp Graduation - Congratulations!

On November 13th, 2007 (see post of that date), oldest grandson Matt left town to be sworn into the Air Force. For the last six weeks he has been "enjoying" Basic Training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Today is Graduation Day and a crowd of proud relations made the trek to Texas to cheer him on. Brisk and windy, it was an otherwise perfect day and the ceremonies went off flawlessly.

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After reuniting with the new Airman, all concerned began winding down from the stresses of the event. Following a few misfires, everyone got comfortably relaxed for the weekend and survived without damage.
As for Marian and I, we are enormously proud of this fine young American and the nearly eight hundred others who graduated alongside. It is thanks to all unsung Heroes such as these that we continue enjoy life in this wonderful country.

Well done Matt!

Cruise Ship Redux

Click around here for a tedious tour of a cruise ship. This one is the Star Princess of the Princess Line and carries 2,600 passengers with about 1,000 crew.
At the top of the stern, on the 18th floor, is the Skywalker Disco which was not well attended on this particular trip. Even with a six day stint at sea coming across the Atlantic, there was never a shortage of things to do. Would we do it again? Can't wait!

Funchal, Madeira, Portugal

By the time we left Cadiz, we had had eight straight days of shore excursions and had walked just short of fifty miles over some fairly hilly territory. An entire day at sea then, came as a welcome respite on the journey to the island of Madeira. We made the most of it - late to rise, ate frequently, watched television and generally behaved disgracefully - a pleasing project.
Madeira, the largest island of the Madeira Archipelago is 34 miles long, 14 miles wide and is home to 250,000 people. First laid claim to in 1419 by Portuguese explorers, it has remained in Portuguese care and is now an autonomous archipelago. About 200 miles from both the African continent and from Lisbon, Madeira enjoys a mild climate and a colossal variety of lush vegetation, some species of which are said to have been left there by explorers returning from the Americas.

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Funchal is the capital of Madeira and sits in a natural bay on the south side of the island. In 1479, Christopher Columbus visited Madeira to buy a cargo of sugar and he not only stayed there, he married the daughter of the first governor of the second largest island, Porto Santo. Overall, an interesting place to visit although one day was not enough to do justice to everything available.
After leaving Funchal, it was, as they say, plain sailing as the ship headed for Fort Lauderdale and the end of our tour. An easy two hour flight later and we were back in the reality of a mid-west winter refreshed and ready for Christmas.

Cadiz, Spain

Following another excellent dinner as we left Gibraltar, watched The Bourne Ultimatum and then retired. Next morning, we found ourselves in Cadiz, on the Atlantic coast of Spain, a short walk away from downtown Old Town. Cadiz is quite small and pretty much the real thing as far as authentic old buildings, neighborhoods and ambiance are concerned. Roughly circular and almost completely surrounded by water, at about 3/4 mile in diameter it provides a good day of walking to see all the sites.

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Cadiz has been a port for more than 3,000 years and had numerous masters over that period. The Romans bagged it about 230 BCE but, with the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Vandals and then the Visigoths both had a whack at it for a while. The longest running tenants were the Moors who brought their Islamic faith from Africa and thwarted all-comers for several centuries. Ultimately, and coincidentally, Ferdinand and Isabella ousted the Moors in 1492 since when it has remained Spanish.

Gibraltar, UK Dependency

The Brits have been in control of Gibraltar since 1704 when they captured it from the Spanish during the War of the Spanish Succession. Despite numerous attempts by the French and the Spanish in the intervening 300+ years, the Brits have hung in there. Strategically, Gibraltar controls the Gibraltar Straits, a 36 mile long body of water as narrow as eight miles in places that separates Europe from Africa. The Straits, of course, are the only connection between the Atlantic Ocean and entire Mediterranean Sea.

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With an area of less than three square miles providing home to 30,000 inhabitants there is not a lot of room, especially since the "Rock", a 1400 foot high limestone cliff, occupies about half of the area. In 1967 the United Nations requested that a referendum be held to determine whether Gibraltar should stay British or return to Spanish control. There were 44 votes total for a return to Spain and 12,134 to remain British - close, eh? Two years later, the Spanish blockaded the one connecting road joining the two countries but, after 30 plus years of no noticeable effect, they lifted it again and the Brits continue in control. Rule Britannia!

Cartegena, Spain

About 200 BCE, Cartagena was Hannibal's Spanish headquarters during the 2nd Punic War with Rome. Currently, after many changes of ownership in the intervening years, Cartagena, with a population of around 175,000, is Spain's principle naval establishment, enjoys a mild Mediterranean climate and sports miles of excellent beaches.

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Sadly, all the looting, pillaging and sacking over the centuries - the most recent being the Spanish Civil War in 1936 when Franco's troops from Africa landed in Cartagena and fairly wrecked the joint - has reduced the city to collection of historical fragments effectively robbing it of any clear identity. The city authorities seem to have recognized this and have instituted a major program to repair and rebuild former parts of the city, presumably with tourist dollars in mind. Current conclusion: not ready for prime time as a tourist destination.

Cannes, France

Prior to 1834, Cannes was a tiny fishing village on the French coast of the Mediterranean. It has a picturesque marina and a small harbor but no facilities for vessels anywhere near the size of a cruise ship. Thus, the ship anchored out in the bay, dropped five or six of its 150 seat lifeboats and tendered passengers to and fro throughout the day.

Slide Show

From its beginnings as a fortification on Le Souquet hill, probably in the 10th century, it seems that the population remained under 1000 and the area where mainstream Cannes lies today was marshland. The big push came in 1834 when the Lord Chancellor of England, Henry Brougham, stopped in on his way to Nice. So enamored was he with the appearance, climate and beaches that he bought a tract of land and subsequently built a holiday home there. The Who's Who of Europe quickly followed and the town developed rapidly to become a chic high-spot of the Riviera with exclusive shopping, dining and lodging. The original (and very small) Old Town, now known as Souquet, melds into the nineteenth century strip development that runs close to the beach and which is variously carved up by 20th century attempts to keep the congestion moving. Several miles of sandy beaches are adjacent and are renowned for their overcrowding in summertime even though the population has only risen to about 67,000. The International Film Festival has been hosted there annually since 1946 in the "Grand Auditorium" which is redolent of a good sized boy scouts hut. For all of its sophistry and elitism, Cannes is off of our list of desirable destinations.
On this day, we helped to consume 90 gallons of ice cream on board th ship.

Genoa, Liguria, Italy

What a great city this is! We had driven by Genoa on a rainy day back in the spring of 2007 and had been disinclined to visit at that time due to the difficulty of parking and the inclement weather. Well, this morning when we awoke, our little boat was tied up alongside the quay less than a mile from downtown of this soon to be discovered city - and the weather was gorgeous!
After another obscene breakfast we pulled on our walking shoes, grabbed our cameras and strode off to town.

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Old town Genoa was a walled city (of course) and at least two of the gates are fairly complete and very accessible. The interior of the old town is amazing with its confusing warren of extremely narrow streets separating huge, seven and eight story ancient buildings in the residential areas, while the busy retail and market streets, many of them covered to some degree, make up the business part of town. Genoa appears to be a vibrant and prosperous city with an easy blend of old and new, built around a large bay in the northern Mediterranean. The Old Port occupies the eastern side of the bay with the modern port wrapping clear around the western side. Genoa is a major European port handling million tons of freight each year.
Christopher Columbus was probably born in Genoa in 1451. This energetic man, often attributed with the discovery of America without ever having set foot in that country, appears however, to have had quite a remarkable birth. For example, according to historians, he was born over a period of 25 years (between 1435 and 1460) in at least four different places - Genoa in Italy, Chios in Greece, Majorca (Spanish Balearic Islands), Galicia, and other places in Spain. Even more outstanding, he was buried in at least three different places. Following his death in Spain at the age of 46 to 71 his burial took place in Sevilla, Spain; Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and also in Havana, Cuba. It must be great being famous.
Today, 7,000 pounds of fruit was consumed on the ship along with 470 gallons of coffee.

Livorna, Tuscany, Italy

What a life! After an early night in Naples, we were up at the crack of noon the following day to an artery clogging medley of eggs, bacon, grilled tomatoes, roast potatoes and hash-browns. Looking out of the window, we found ourselves in Livorno, another Italian port a couple of hundred miles north of Rome on the west side of the Italian boot. Livorno is a great jumping off point for visits to Florence, Pisa or Lucca and is quite interesting in its own right. Since we had spent time in both Florence and Pisa earlier this year, we decided to visit a couple of tiny rural medieval towns in the Tuscany heartland. Volterra was the first of these.

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Volterra
With a population of about 11,000, Volterra is an ancient walled city, the importance of which has dwindled significantly since it was a regional episcopal power in the 13th century. Supported currently by local alabaster mines, alabaster processing and tourism, it is a tidy little burg but one with seemingly little growth potential. Another piece of Italian suspended animation, i.e. a loss of consciousness resembling death.

San Gimignano, City of Towers
The community has been around since the third century BCE but came to some prominence when Saint Geminianus, from whom the current name was derived, fought there against the Huns in the tenth century. San Gemignano was on the main route leading to Rome and developed partly as a stopping point for pilgrims. Everything in fact, was hunky-dory up through the middle of the 14th century when, in 1348, the plague struck the town and people began avoiding it, well - like the plague. It wasn't until the 19th century, when tourism developed, that the city emerged a little from its obscurity.
At its peak, around the end of the 12th century, everyone with a few bucks to squander fell prey to the size matters syndrome and set about furiously building the biggest tower in town. Most of the seventy plus towers that existed at that time have since fallen victim to various wars, been plundered for building materials or simply fallen down, leaving just fourteen which are now zealously maintained to keep the tourists coming. Sort of sad when you think about it. Much happier, was the cheerful participation in consuming 2,100 pounds of beef eaten on the boat that evening. That was fun!

Naples, Campania, Italy

This morning we find ourselves in the Port of Naples in southern Italy. See Naples and Die! Well, certainly if one were to look too closely, one might just do that. The place is filthy, congested and unappealing and, if pollution didn't do the job, the Camorra, Naples' version of mafia gangland, might. Fortunately, on this trip, Naples was not the objective.

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Pompeii
A really early start - 1:00 am US time, 7:00 am local - was tough but we were sufficiently disoriented not to notice too much as the motor coach wended its way through the Naples traffic toward Pompeii, or at least what's left of it. Of course, there is a current Pompeii, built to the south of the one that got ruined almost two thousand years ago, but we didn’t go to that one.
In 79 CE there were about 20,000 inhabitants of Pompeii with numerous additional visitors, in what was then, a significant port. The majority of these folks left town when Mount Vesuvius, just to the north, began coughing up its contents, although about two thousand foolhardy souls remained in town and succumbed to the horrors of asphyxiation, burning and involuntary premature burial. So rapid were some of these events that, during excavation, voids in the volcanic covering were found in the shape of people huddling on the ground where they fell. Plaster casts of many of these gruesome finds were made and are now on display in various museums.
Pompeii is an impressive site to visit, if only for the sheer scale of the excavation. Numerous roads, houses, stores are reasonably recognizable, two theaters are quite unmistakable and the town center, known as The Forum, is pretty extensive.

Sorrento
We had lunch in Sorrento at a restaurant hidden away in a little alleyway off the main street. Not exactly fine dining and the food had a strange *kind of Italian flavor. Outside of lunch, a brisk wind and cool temperatures, there did not seem to be much to recommend Sorrento except the harbor which provided some attractive views. Downtown is built over a deep ravine, the bottom of which is close to sea level while the modern city is atop the cliffs. Moving from one level to the other was by way of a frightening series of stone staircases. From the harbor, we boarded a hydrofoil that took us on a bumpy ride to the Isle of Capri.

Isle of Capri
Like Sorrento, the Capri weather was sunny, windy and quite brisk. The crossing was rough with a number of passengers showing off their Technicolor yawns by the time we arrived. Capri is a tiny island with almost vertical cliffs along much of its shoreline causing most of the 12,000 inhabitants live on top of the mountain. The quickest way up to the town is the funicular railway which leaves from the harbor area. Once into the town at the top of the railway, there was some shelter from the wind and the tour around town was pleasant. Again, Capri is very small and to see the key sites does not require much time. Due to the steepness of the streets however, the couple of mile walkabout was quite strenuous.
Replete with a public transport bus system, a city hall, a school system and shopping facilities, life on Capri seems to be oddly disconnected from reality. There appears to be little or no industry and not too much in the way of career opportunities.
After an hour or so, we went back down on the funicular and took a ferry directly to the Naples port where we rejoined the floating hotel. Rack of Lamb, a glass of wine and an early night completed the day. Today, 70,000 dishes were washed in the ships kitchens.

Away from it All

With Thanksgiving over and nothing planned until Christmas, we decided to take a quick break - this retirement thing has turned out to be such hard work! Thus it was, on a mean and icy mid-west weekend, that we found ourselves getting on the big metal bird in dreary Detroit to fly away to warmer climes. First stop was Frankfurt, Germany - a little warmer but still raining and miserable. Fortunately, Frankfurt was just a brief layover and we quickly continued, southward this time, to arrive in Rome around 10:00 am in the morning. Next, a change of pace as we enjoyed a pleasant coach ride to the city of Civitavecchia, a little coastal town 40 or 50 miles north of Rome. Here, we caught the first glimpse of our home-to-be for the next three weeks - a huge, white, 109,000 ton boat. A few formalities later we were in our comfortable little room recovering from our thirty hour journey. After a little exploring, we found one of the restaurants, enjoyed an excellent prime rib dinner followed by bread pudding and finally retired for the night. The ship left port in the early evening and set sail for our first stop, Naples.
While in Civitavecchia the ship took on 110 tons of food.

A Tribute to the Workers

Thanksgiving snuck up on everyone again last week and, since Marian and I were in town, we hosted the turkey fest. With the exception of Matt, who is currently in Air Force Boot Camp, all of the kids and grandkids made it and all were quickly subdued by means of a Calorie Coma.
The purpose of this post however, is not to applaud the gallant eaters who contributed little save for gamely chomped through 25,000 calories in less than an hour. Instead, it is to give praise to the hardworking yet unsung kitchen and domestic staff who, despite incessant bickering and backbiting, incredibly got much of the planned menu together at approximately the right time - kudos to them!

Band Finale

Grandchild #4, Emily, along with hundreds of other High School students across the country, has worked hard all summer playing clarinet in the Leo School Marching Band. In the recent N. E. Indiana finals, Leo placed admirably and everyone concerned - taxi-driver parents not the least - was relieved when the season finally ended.
A couple of weeks later, selected students from each of the bands were invited to give a concert in one of the local schools. Accordingly, 105 students got together, worked on their program for a day and a half and then presented the finished item to a hall full of adoring family members. A good time was had by one and all, especially the somewhat whacky, wish-I-was-a-guy, over the top guest director.

Serving his Country

Yesterday, grandchild #1 stopped by with his mom and dad on his way to Fort Benjamin Harrison, in Indianapolis. No, he isn't standing on a box - at 6' 6" and 240# he hasn't needed a box since 7th grade to look his folks in the eye.
Anyway, following five years in the workforce, Matt felt he would like to do something more fulfilling and began looking at the armed services, finally settling on the Air Force. After various interviews and assessments, the USAF Security Police turned out to be a great fit and the rest is just now becoming history.
This morning, at 11:00 am, Matt was sworn in and promptly whisked away to San Antonio and the Security Police boot camp at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
We're proud of you Matt, along with the thousands of other selfless and patriotic youngsters of this country, who have the courage to commit themselves to ensuring our future. Good fortune to you and your fellow newbies!

High Tech Hide and Seek

Back in August, we borrowed grandchild #4 for a weekend and and lumbered off to the "Midwest Geo-Bash" held in the County Fairground at forgettable Kendallville, Indiana. Turned out to be a pleasant few days - weather in the high seventies, numerous things to please little minds and enough activity that even the grandchild was kept entertained.
So, what does one do at a Geo-Bash? Well, Geocache of course! All that's needed is a hand-held GPS receiver and a visit to this site to identify some local caches, and you're in business. There are LOTS of caches to find - approaching half-a-million worldwide - and plenty of cachers looking for them, with about 275,000 "finds" by nearly 40,000 seekers just in the last seven days.
This last weekend, armed with grandkids #5 and #6, we joined a local cachers event and found nine out of twelve brand new caches hidden especially for the event. Great fun had by one and all and we never strayed more than a few miles from home. Check for caches within five miles of your location - you might be surprised - and next time you see a little herd of nondescripts blundering around under a tree in some forgotten corner, you may actually be witnessing 'cachers in action. One thing for sure, caching certainly puts gourd worship in perspective.