Leaving Behind Year 2015

We will soon be ringing in the New Year of 2016 and as I look over my shoulder in retrospect I see a whole year that I feel that I have wasted.

Many people have accomplished some outstanding goals this past year but, I personally have been in a funk......  I just thought since the New Year was approaching that I should stand up tall, well, as tall as a 9 inch bear can stand and carry on!

I, Gear Bear had an interesting Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.....My first adventure was when my dear friend Ms Donna decided that we were all going to head to Florida to visit Charlene.  Now do I know Charlene?  Nope but, have heard about her for years and felt that I probably know about most of her shenanigans as well as I do Ms. Donna's.  You see Ms Donna and Paula have been good friends since they were teenagers so that meant they have had plenty of time to pull their "capers" and I am not even going to go into that part of my story, at least not now.

So April 19th Paula, Donna, Sue and myself met at the Rockford Airport. We had plenty of time to get through security, have something to drink and then it happened......plane delay! No problem we had a non stop flight so we didn't have to worry about missing a connecting flight.  So within an hour or so we were in the air heading to the sun and surf of New Smyrna Beach FL.

I rather sensed that Ms Donna didn't travel by air very often.  She had her "panic look" all over her face during take off not, to mention her Rosary beads in her hands.  I guess it was the Catholic upbringing that made her resort to praying.  She was sitting across from Paula and I.  Sue was seated in the row in front of me.  Well, that wasn't to bad until I looked over and there she was with a magazine opened on top of her head looking like The Flying Nun.....the poor man in front of her was laughing so hard all we could here was "this was going to be an interesting flight to Florida" they were named the "three sisters" Sister Donna, Sister Sue and Sister Paula!

We landed, picked out our "red" rental car and headed to the Beach to  met up with Charlene at the Condo.  This place was great.  I have never been to a VRBO (vacation rental by owner) before and since Charlene owned the unit it was extra special because she was able to stay with us.  The view was great.  Waking up to the ocean view from our balcony was amazing.  We had a great time sightseeing, renting scoops on the beach, eating and doing more eating, and shopping. On our last day Charlene invited us over to her home and her husband took us all out on the boat and out for lunch and a wonderful boat ride.  Of course it had to start raining but, that didn't dampen our spirits at all. We even seen a few alligators sunning on logs in the little canals leading out to the lake.

We all seemed to have a lot in common and when the girls were reminiscing and looking at high school photos of their classmates it made Paula think of her high schools days and some of the friends that she  haven't heard from or seen since the "good old days."

Our short 5 night visit quickly came to an end and it seemed that on that last day the four of us all went our separate ways.  Paula and I decided the weather was great in Florida so we talked Pat into driving his motorcycle down to New Smyrna Beach and pick us up and continue our adventure south to the Florida Keys.  Sue decided to stay with Charlene and her husband for a few days more and catch a later flight back to Chicago and Ms Donna headed back to Orlando International Airport and had to do the flight home by herself.  I am thinking there wasn't much trouble she could get into by herself!

Florida Keys here we come!  To Be Continued.

Happy New Year to all of my Facebook Friends and Family and for those who read my Blog.  Thank you so much for taking the time, and I hope you enjoy them....

Sincerely,

Gear Bear

With Heavy Heart Our Adventures Continue

As many of you remember I had returned from my tour of duty or at least back to my home State of Illinois September 11, 2014.   Actually, I returned back to Rockford twice on my return home.

This story I am about to share with you  has been a long time in the making.  It took me over a year to figure out how to be able to put in words what I need to tell you.



You ask, how was that so?.  ..Well,  so the story begins.  





I had a wonderful homecoming in Ft Bliss, El Paso TX.  My new temporary family was waiting at the airport and all of the banners, flags, music and tears were so overwhelming.

After being checked in and getting discharged from the US Army I was free a Bear.  I was so  much more mature, beefer and ready to take on the world, with my new and improved attitude!

I will now wait for my next ride, home, back to Paula and Pat and all the kiddies AND the state of Illinois. Ms Nora, after a few days, was ready to head back to Illinois and resume her everyday routine till her next new adventure!

Here we go....all packed and ready to shove off......but, wait, where is she putting me?    Oh NO!   She has put me in the checked luggage.  I just know something bad is going to happen, it always does....I hate being shoved in with all the unmentionables, the books, souvenirs, and clothes. OK,  so I'll stop already, I am going home and that is all that counts, right?

The return flight wasn't that bad, I was warm and able to get some shut eye in the 3 plus hour flight home.

You see, I had already been in Rockford earlier that week on my return flight back from Afghanistan.  It was amazing so many people, Soldiers and Veterans would show up at the Rockford International Airport to welcome us home, in the middle of the night.  We were only there for a short refueling stop but, it was overwhelming......I was home...but, I hitched up my big boy panties (in other words my skivvies) and reboarded that big old plane to return back to base and reported back to Ft Bliss,

So we landed in the big city of Chicago, the luggage was gathered and off we go to catch the next bus back to Rockford.  It was a rather bumpy ride thru the airport.  One can only imagine being in a suitcase and wheeling over concert, bumps, curbs and the absolute worse is the people movers, they   rumble, in my opinion, like an escalator all stretch out, like a bunch of rumble strips all across the airport.  Just imagine that the next time you travel somewhere that has that convenience.

So there we were waiting at the bus depot.  I was OK. I was warm, among all of the souvenirs and clothes.  My last leg of this adventure!

Remember when I said something bad would happen because I wasn't riding up top with the rest of the passengers?

First stop. Clock Tower Inn.   Several passengers disembarked from their hour long trip from O'Hare Airport but, it seemed that when we gave our luggage to the bus driver it was stored in the compartment with passengers getting off at the first stop Clock Tower and not the Bus Station on Walton Ave.   Well, that doesn't seem to earth shaking.....the bus driver took it off the bus and I am sure the bus driver will put it back on the bus!  Well, it didn't happen that way at all.  Nope, someone else snagged that suitcase, the one with the gigantic, ugly, crocheted bow on it....now how could that be mistaken for someone else's luggage?  I didn't have much recognition as to what was happening since I was stuck inside the suitcase and assuming that I was going home with Ms Nora....all is well,  I guess you have figured out by now, that I was stolen.......

When Ms Nora arrived at the Bus Station on Walton Dr and went to retrieve her luggage it wasn't there.  It took her a few minutes to try and figure out what had happen and when she did she reported the incident  to the ticket agent and filed a police report.  The Bus stationed refused to believe that something like this could happen.  WELL, it did.....When Ms Nora called Paula the next day to tell her about what had happen she was devastated, not to mention the guys that he was deployed with. He travelled all the way to Afghanistan and back and here he gets back within 25 miles of home and goes missing.

When Paula heard the news she was overwhelmed with sadness.....but, she was glad that she only intrusted her friend to a "double" she did not send the original Gear Bear just for this reason, of him getting lost.  Our lost Bear goes by the name of Louie Bear.  He is from the same Gear Bear Family.

We have felt very reluctant to continue our Blog because, we did not want to mislead you and we felt that we needed to be truthful and share this story of'  "Louie Bear's  return home.  We have searched everywhere for this little guy, the area surrounding the Bus Stop and at Clock Tower,the parks, Goodwills, garage sales.....and even trash cans.  We are so hoping that he will show up again.  He's not valuable but, he is important to our family and if anyone knows or has seen this little 9" Stuffed Bear hopefully still dressed in Army Fatigues please let us know.

So the adventures and stories will continue, but, with a heavy heart, and in hopes that we will find our little stolen Army Bear.




Sincerely Yours,




Gear Bear