Fun in the Sun

Having retired for the second time just over two years ago, I am living the dream. Of course I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. You may remember that I formally declared the first summer of my retirement as the Summer of Travis. But the summer of 2010 is making a strong play for the title. In the past month, I have gone fishing many times, spent a lot of time with my boys, and visited friends and family in Colorado, Philly, KC, St. Lou, and most recently the Riveria Maya in Mexico.

This was my second vacation south of the border since 2005 and proved to be just as much fun as the first. I drank muchas tequilas, toured Mayan ruins, spent an afternoon zip-lining (including one run hanging upside down), and laughed myself to tears too many times to count. Accompanied by my beautiful wife, John & Kristen Briscoe, and Grant & Brenda Barnes, I had one of the best weeks of recreation and brain cell culling in my life. And I made some new friends in Mexico, both American and Mexican that I'll never forget. Grant and John accused me of developing a "bromance" with a bartender named Rodolfo who plied me with Don Julio shots throughout our stay. They may be right. We exchanged email addresses and I am thinking very seriously of asking him to become my first Mayan facebook friend.

The Summer of Travis version 2.0 continues next weekend with a reunion of the families who adopted kids through our agency, Children's Hope International. Also, next month will be my 20 year high school reunion, although I contend that most of my friends have failed to mature mentally past an eighth grade level. Both of these reunions will be fun--in very different ways of course. Hopefully I will see you at one of these events, but if not, don't be surprised if you hear a knock on your door at three in the morning followed by, "It's Travis Naughton. Remember me? I was the captian of our co-ed naked bingo team. I think. Let me in please. It's the Summer of Travis! And I gotta pee."