Thanks for the great responses. I have a ton of questions but each day I answer more. I still have a great deal of reading to do.

Jerry, I did get the credit card back in November. That alone has so far given me about 30K miles.

PGary, I started on your website last night. I'm going to read more to night. Great stuff.

BK Guy, great suggestion. I didn't realize there was that much info in the sticky threads.

Everyone else, thanks for responding with tips and encouragment. I will keep an open mind to new places. My wife and I are in the process of re-tooling how I take my vacation time each year so as to save more days for surpirse trips. It's always exciting to find a new passion. Thanks again.