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Patrick McLaughlin
Patrick McLaughlin 1961
I have one daughter that is a fulltime dance professor at a community college. No grandchildren. I served in Army from 1965 -1968 as a Nike-Hercules Missile Crewman in El Paso, Texas and New Mexico.
After the Army I returned to Chaffey College and then attended Humboldt State University, graduating in 1971. I worked for 30 years with California Fish and Game as a Wildlife Biologist in Northern California. I trapped, radio–collared and sometimes moved deer, elk, bear, pronghorn antelope, turkeys, quail, doves and pheasant. It wasgreat job. I lived in Redding for a year, 13 years in Eureka on the coast,
and 17 years in Trinity County.
Since I retired in 2002, we sold our houses and have been on the road full-time RVing. We are constantly on the move, averaging about nine days at each location, with longer stays in the wintertime. We usually pick a state, area or project to visit each year. We stay in national, state, county and sometimes city parks all over the country.
Patrick McLaughlin 2011
We have become history buffs so we like to visit “Historic Districts” in the towns we visit to check out the architecture. We have visited hundreds of museums, local sites, Revolutionary, Civil and Indian Wars battlegrounds. We have attended many air shows, chili cook-offs, Dutch oven cook-offs, festivals of all kinds and anything else that sounds like fun. Last winter we served as judges at the World Championship Terlingua Chili
Cook-off in Big Bend area of Texas.
We spent three summers touring the Lewis and Clark Trail. We have also toured the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails, the Bourbon Trail, and the Natchez Trace, parts of the Santa Fe Trail and Old Route 66. We spent two winters touring Florida State Parks. We toured the southeast coast from Florida to North Carolina and the Gulf Coast from Brownsville to the tip of Florida. We still have a lot of this great county to see.
During our travels we take photographs of fungus (mushrooms and molds of all kinds) when in desert areas we collect pictures of cactus flowers. I have recently developed an interest in geology so I have been studying geology text books. I write a journal about our travels that we send to family and friends.
Patrick McLaughlin
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