Help Bob Visit Kentucky One More Time

Hi, my name is Rob, and this is my father, Bob. My dad is a 79 year old US Navy Veteran who was recently diagnosed with the early stages of late-onset Alzheimer's Disease. So far, he is doing okay, but it is becoming more noticeable as each day passes that our time with him is limited. Dad was always an outdoors kinda guy, going fishing and hunting any opportunity he got. He loved being outdoors, but he loved spending time with me and my sisters even more. Family was always very important to him, and he loved nothing more than all of us climbing into the car and going on a road trip. Before I was born, my parents and my sisters drove to Florida several times, Washington DC once, and various trips in the Midwest. This didn't stop after I was born. One of my first real memories is looking into the crystal blue water of Lake Havasu in Arizona and seeing fish swimming around. When I was six, we took a ten day road trip to Florida, and spent each night in a different motel.

Dad started having some health problems at this point, so the road trips got cut back. But when I was 13, I saw an advertisement for some cabins in Kentucky that looked like a lot of fun. I showed it to my dad, and his eyes lit up and he was just as eager as I was to check this place out! The cabins were right next to Lake Barkley State Resort Park in Western Kentucky, and there was boating, fishing, horseback riding, hiking trails, and anything else a person who loves the outdoors could dream of! We made plans, and the next summer we spent a week at the Parkview Court and Cottages in Cadiz, KY. My sisters had both moved out of the house by this point, and my mom couldn't get away from work, so it was just the two of us. That was one of the most memorable trips of my life! One day we rented a boat and spent a day fishing on Lake Barkley. Another day we went horseback riding. The next day we drove over to the Land Between the Lakes, a nature preserve smack dab in the middle between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. The cabins were pretty cool, too! I had never been somewhere like this, and we both really had a lot of fun!

We returned to the cabins several more times over the years, and even after I myself joined the Navy, we got together one last time while I was attending school at NAS Memphis, in Millington, TN. Ever since then we always talked about making another trip down there, but due to one reason or another (Navy, life, work, etc) we were never able to make it. At one point, the cabins underwent an ownership change, and we were afraid they were going to be torn down and our chance would be lost. Recently, I found out that they were under new ownership and have just been remodeled. The place is now called Fish Island Resort. I would really love to be able to take my dad back down there and be able to go fishing with him just one more time before he slips too far into his illness. I have already watched this same disease claim my mother, and I have so many regrets about not visiting her more over the last few good years she had while she lived with my sister in Michigan. I don't want to make the same mistake again. Any help you can provide so I can give my dad one last official fishing trip, and one that he can share with my son, his grandson, would be most appreciated!

Any funds donated will go toward the necessary expenses of getting my father and my family to Cadiz, KY, for our trip. The ideal time for our trip will be over Labor Day Weekend in September. I am hoping this will work out for all of us. Each and every one of you, whether you donate to our trip or just share this fundraiser will have our eternal thanks.