About a year ago my dad floated the idea of Tony and I joining him on a cruise through the Panama Canal. Of course, we thought that was a wonderful idea! He also invited my brother and his wife but they weren’t going to be available after recently traveling to Paris and the French countryside. (An excellent adventure for Kenny and Susie!)

Planning began and we chose to board a Norwegian Cruise Line vessel in California, go through the canal, and end up in Florida. Since we had planned to spend January and February in Texas again this winter, we chose NCL’s fall cruise that had planned to stop at eight ports along the way.

Traveling with us will be David from Arizona. David and his wife, Sandy, had been long-time friends of my parents before my mom passed away and have kept in close touch with my dad since then. Bill from Colorado will also be joining us. Bill is our age and a friend of David’s having met when their wives worked together. We’ve never met Bill, so at this point we’re visualizing him as the cool dude from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

Unlike our travels in Usain, the cats will need to stay behind. 🙁 They will be cared for by our dear neighbor girl, Angelica, who also watches the house and picks up our mail while we are on our campervan adventures.

Our flight from Des Moines to LA, with a stopover in Denver, leaves early tomorrow morning. We already have a Lyft ride scheduled to the airport and we couldn’t be more excited to have our own most excellent adventure.