Deja vu--kinda

Photo courtesy C. Frank Starmer http://ravenelbridge.net


If you happened to check the "where we are now" link at the right side of this page, you'd discover we're camped in Brunswick, GA where just a few months ago I slipped in the parking lot of the Flying J Travel Center and broke my knee cap. We were just passing through, filling up our diesel tanks at a much cheaper price than what was to be found in Florida.

This time around we're here to see a little of the area, but first we had to do some shopping and get a part for the rig (one more month until this year of things going kaput is over, just one more month). We headed north on I-95 using Mapquest's directions and once we were finished we decided to circle back to the rig using US 17.

We didn't realize that US 17 was the road that the ambulance took from the Flying J to the hospital until we saw we were approaching the harp-like Sidney Lanier bridge that spans the South Brunswick River. After crossing the bridge Denny mentioned how much shorter the drive seemed last May when he was driving to the hospital trying to remember the ambulance driver's instructions. My perception was how much longer the drive seemed while riding in the back of an ambulance. We both enjoyed today's drive much more! The air was heavy with the salt tang of the ocean and the gravelly cackle of the eastern boat-tailed grackle was music to our ears. Strangely enough, the common grackle in the western portion of the U.S. has a much more musical call and throat "gargle" sound which took us a long time to get used to after so many years of hearing the boat-tailed variety at Myrtle Beach.

It feels good to be close to the water again--we can feel our muscles start to relax as we slip into a vacation mentality brought on by the smell of sea air. It's time to break out the bitter lemon and vodka and lawn chairs. Ahhhhh....

Wandering by choice

We spoke to our neighbors as we were preparing to leave. They had been asking Denny about our satellite Internet service, how much it cost, how it worked on the road, etc. I gave them our dealer's business card and we chatted about where we were heading next.



Mrs. P told me that they had lost their home to Hurricane Katrina. Apparently they had a nice place on the water, but taxes were getting a little hard to handle so when they received an offer to buy what remained of their property they took it and have been using the time to visit relatives.



Now that winter is coming they are heading south again, but this time as fulltime rvers rather than residents of Florida. They are nervous, yet excited because it's a whole new lifestyle for them. It's one they might not have chosen if the hurricane hadn't changed their life, so they are not really comfortable with the thought of life on the road yet.



For Denny and I, this lifestyle was a choice--something we planned, something we anticipated eagerly. We might have looked at it quite differently if we were forced into it, so I couldn't really tell Mrs. P that she'll love it, because she may find the nomadic lifestyle a little too erratic, too different, too much to handle. I hope not, because being a fulltimer can be incredibly fulfilling, educational and downright amazing at times. We've been so impressed by the beauty of our country and by the wonderful people who live here, that we want others to experience it too.



So Mr. and Mrs. P, I truly hope this works out for you. If not, I hope you're able to find a nice new spot to settle down in and begin building yet another version of your life. Happy Trails to you.

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Elvis and Harley

The top picture is Harley, the bottom picture is Elvis. And yes, Harley is as mischievous as he looks.

Here it is, Missy

Missy said yesterday when we were leaving her house that I hadn't blogged about her. Technically true, although I did mention her here in May. I try to be careful when blogging about friends and family so I don't intrude upon their lives or our relationships. Be careful what you ask for, Melissa!

Melissa was hired on as a dispatcher while I was the training officer and we got along well right away because we had the same work ethic. We didn't hang around together after work because I worked days and she worked the 3PM to 11PM shift, but we were friends. We stayed in touch by e-mail after Denny and I retired as Melissa could vent to us about things going on at the police department, knowing we would understand. Occasionally she'd ask for advice and I'd put my two cents in and sometimes I'd offer my advice whether she wanted it or not. Distance actually made us closer rather than drawing us apart.

A couple of years ago Missy met a wonderful man who just happened to be in the military. And as happens with military folks, Mark was sent to training out of state and their relationship became a long distance routine but they stayed together. Eventually, they married in Texas and Missy returned to her job in Ohio while Mark finished his schooling in Texas. Mark was given a choice of assignments and he and Missy decided on Sumter, South Carolina. Now my friend had to make a huge step in giving up her house and her careern and leave her friends and family to move with her new husband and start a whole new life. Scary stuff, folks, when you've been independent for so many years!

Three months ago Mark was sent to the Middle East (not Iraq or Afghanistan) for a six month assignment, so when we decided to travel around the southern states until it was time for us to drive back to Ohio for Christmas it was natural for us to plan a stop in South Carolina to see our friend. Melissa and Mark have created a warm and comfortable home and their two schnauzers, Elvis and Harley, are adorable little creatures who offer great comfort to Missy right now.

Denny and I spent a wonderful day visiting with Missy, going out to dinner at a nice restaurant called Stellato's (which I'll review on my website later) and thoroughly enjoying ourselves. Missy said she and Mark have talked about learning to play golf so we decided that we'll all get together down the road and play as a foursome. Sounds like a plan to us!

So here it is, Missy. I blogged about you. Love ya, chickie.

20061111melissaanddogs.MOV

A video of Missy, Elvis and Harley for Mark.

A Belated Lazy Sunday Post

Blogger has truly managed to mess up a good thing with its new beta Blogger. Not only can you no longer tie into Picasa and Hello to upload multiple pictures at once, but Picasa's Blog this feature doesn't work in spite of what the folks at Blogger say.

So I've uploaded this Sunday's Lazy Sunday pictures as individual posts. Sigh. It's supposed to be LAZY Sunday and I shouldn't have to work this hard.

Today's subject is critters. Because my claws are out. Grr.

Patches Playing Under a Poncho

A little alliteration goes a long ways.

A close up of a Fox Squirrel

The fox squirrel is one of the larger varieties of the squirrel family. This fellow was watching us make fools of ourselves on the golf course in Santee, South Carolina.

A bright spot in the bushes.

Isn't he lovely? This vermillion flycatcher gleams a brilliant red in the sunlight but on this day he was enjoying the shade of a willow tree along the Colorado River in Ehrenberg, Arizona.

Defending his turf

This little guy spent his days chasing off about six other hummers that wanted their turn at the feeder while we were in Needles, California.

A 2-horsepower saw

Kingstown, New Brunswick is similar to Williamsburg, VA in that they have people acting the parts of the original settlers doing their daily chores. Here a man is sawing logs into boards using two horses walking a treadmill to power the saw blade.

A Horseshoe Crab

This fellow was swimming in about a foot of water just a few feet from where our rig was parked on the beach near Carrabelle, Florida. I was really glad the water was clear enough to see him because I would have hated to step on this guy!

A 16-day old Clydesdale

This photo was taken at Grant's Farm in St. Louis, Missouri which is owned by the Anheuser-Busch family.

No Lazy Sunday Pictures Thanks to Beta Blogger

Melissa--just to let you know I truly intended to blog about our visit yesterday but You Tube is not cooperating with me so I can't put the clip online. I promise as soon as I can get the clip up, I'll do the blog, okay?

I made the mistake of switching to the beta Blogger which no longer works with the Hello/Picasa program to upload multiple photographs. At the moment, the "Blog This" function of Picasa isn't working with beta Blogger either, so no pictures until I can figure this out or beta Blogger works out its bugs. Grr.

Lake Marion Golf Course

Located just a stone's throw from Interstate 95, Lake Marion Golf Course is easy to find and harder to play. That is, if you can't hit the ball straight down the fairway. The golf course is not an especially difficult or long one to play, although there are ponds and sand traps to avoid. The greens are slick, but the southern Bermuda grass lining the fairways is the true challenge. We northerners just aren't used to that ropey, clinging, ball-snatching stuff they consider grass down here.

We liked the fact that the scorecards marked the distances to the hazards and the golf cart of the pair we joined up with had a yardage book attached which was a really nice feature. Whoever designed the course also installed yardage markers on the sprinkler heads, in the fairways and on the scorecard which is so helpful to those of us playing a course for the first time.

The Lake Marion Golf Course also accepts the Golf Card, which means we were able to play 18 holes using a riding cart for $20 each. A great golf course at a great price on a perfect Indian Summer day. It doesn't get any better than this.

By the way, that's a picture of a fox squirrel. He looks like a raccoon, don't you think?

The North Carolina Transportation Museum

Spencer, North Carolina is the home of the North Carolina Transportation Museum. Located just a few miles east of Salisbury, the museum sits on the main road in town making it easy to find.

Originally this location was the steam engine repair facility for the Southern Railway system. Currently a complex of 15 buildings, only four are open for display although the museum is hard at work to restore the huge Back Shop which was used to perform major overhauls on the steam locomotives. The plans are to make it the main display area and it will have a variety of vehicles and locomotives on display as well as house classrooms.

The buildings that are open for display are the Barber Junction building which is being used as the visitor center, the Master Mechanics office which houses the Wagons, Wheels and Wings exhibit, the Flue Shop which has the Bumper to Bumper (automobiles) exhibit area and the Roundhouse which houses many of the locomotives and train cars, some of which are open for display.

The museum itself is free and during peak tourist season there are train rides and rides on the turntable by the roundhouse. There is a lot of interesting information (like how bleached blue jeans were an accident) and the complex has a lot of potential when the other buildings are eventually restored and completed. I think in five years the museum will be quite impressive, but for now it is certainly worth your time to stop by and wander the grounds. My one complaint would be that neither of the private train cars owned by Mr. Duke (Duke University) or Charles Schwab (investments) were open for display although you could look inside the windows of the Schwab car.

Once you finish your tour of the museum, there is a nice complex of shops across the street to peruse. After all, you didn't spend any money at the museum, right?

The Barber Junction train station which serves as the visitor center for the N.C. Transportation Museum. The building was moved from Barber, N.C. to this site in 1980. 

A shot of the interior of a mail car, which was a post office on rails. Video clips of how the mail was picked up from tall poles at the train stations was quite interesting. 

An old steam engine at the roundhouse. To me, this is a train! 

Growing up in a house where antiques and auctions were the norm, we always had old magazines from the 1930s and 1940s around. This sleek engine reminded me of the ads in those magazines--it's how the people of that time envisioned vehicles of the future. Smooth, fast and spare. Just like Denny-heehee. 

The roundhouse was used to perform maintenance on steam engines and currently houses a variety of engines for display purposes. The yellow-railed structure in the middle of the picture is the turntable which was used to move the engines to the various slots of the building and to turn them around to move out of the complex. You can take a ride on it for one dollar. 

This little beauty is a 1935 Ford convertible. The North Carolina Highway Patrol ordered 28 of these vehicles and this particular car is one of two that remain of that original order.  

A one-ton Ford truck from the early 1900s. Today a one-ton Ford truck is called an F350; I think I like the newer version. 

This horse drawn mail buggy was used in 1918 to deliver mail in Salisbury, NC. Would you believe that at first people disliked the idea of having mail delivered to their homes? 

Awash

Checking the weather map I see we're in for some heavy rains which figures since we're packing up and moving out today. Yes, we've got ponchos but it's no fun to be putting away hoses and cranking up jacks in the pouring rain much less driving the highways with a bunch of maniacs. The area towards which we're heading appears to be having a downpour right now so I'm hoping it rains itself out prior to our arrival. If we're lucky we'll arrive in between the large bands of rain and stay dry because we're out of hot chocolate and the mulled apple cider is long gone. Sigh.

I sure am whiny for an early Tuesday morning, huh? Check the "where we are" link later this afternoon to find us--there's even a Google Earth link now for a satellite view. Fun stuff if you like that sort of thing. We've been to this campground one time before--the day after I fell and broke my kneecap so I only saw the place from the window beside the couch. We stayed one night waiting for our mail to arrive and then left to head for Ohio and a meeting with a surgeon. I'm hoping to have a more pleasant visit this time around.

Safe travels on this rainy day.

The Brownie Song

Make new friends,
But keep the old.
One is silver
and the other's gold.

That's the Make New Friends song that we sang in the Brownies. Kind of a junior version of Kumbaya as it were. I was reminded of it yesterday when Don and Vicki made the hour-long trek from their house to ours yesterday.

I've known Vicki since the eighth grade. We lost touch even before we graduated from high school and reconnected after we were married when both our husbands joined the same K of C group. We both became pregnant at the same time and we lived within a few blocks of each other so that we could visit and commiserate over being a new mother.

I divorced my husband and moved away from our group and lost touch with Don and Vicki again when they moved to Georgia. Just this summer Vicki reached out and we met up in Ohio with some of our old bunch. It felt good.

When we sold our house in Ohio we left behind good friends, good neighbors and relatives. We've made new friends and acquaintances on the road, staying in touch online and by phone because we all travel different routes and have different purposes in our travels. Occasionally we even meet up by design or accident. But nothing feels so good as to touch base with someone who once knew you like a sister and accepts you anyway.

Don and Vicki have put their home on the market, bought a Titanium toy box and done all the planning necessary to start a life of fulltime rving. As soon as the house is sold they'll be on the road ready to start their new lifestyle. I don't know their agenda but I'm sure we'll meet up with them out there somewhere.

I'm glad you're back in my life, Vicki. You're pure gold.

A Brisk Lazy Sunday Morning

The nighttime temperatures are in the low thirties now so I think it's definitely time to start working our way further south. We don't carry heavy coats because we don't expect to be in areas of cold weather--we're done with that stuff!

Checking my albums for warm weather pictures I noticed once again what a variety of places and sights we've seen over the years. The amazing part is that we've barely scratched the surface of all there is to see in this wonderful country of ours and here we are starting our ninth year of fulltiming.

So this one's another random Lazy Sunday group of photos without a theme.

If you look closely at the top third of the picture you'll notice a zig-zag line. That is part of the 20 mile long road that leads to the top of Pikes Peak. Which is incredibly scary to traverse in a large truck with a stiff suspension as the bouncing on the washboard dirt and gravel road almost jounced us off the edge of the road at one point. It's a long way down from there! 

Point State Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where the Monongehela and Allegheny Rivers converge to form the Ohio River. 

This man and his burro worked at the Jerome Gold Mine City Ghost Town in Arizona. 

If you look closely at the doll bed you'll see a sprig of rosemary. This is to keep the evil spirits away from the sleeping inhabitants. 

Now that it has gotten colder, the ladybugs want to come in for the winter. Patches' job is to find and eat them. 

This is the water tower for the city of Gaffney, SC along I-85. There is also a similar water tower near Spartanburg, SC. 

Big Brother Get Your Hands Off My Grey's Anatomy!

I received an automated telephone message today telling me that on December 1 I was going to lose my West Coast feed to ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox Networks that I receive through the DISH network system. When I called DISH TV the customer support representative confirmed that information and told me to go to www.savemychannels.com where I found this:

What's At Stake

What Happened in Court? On October 20, 2006, a District Court judge issued an order rejecting the joint settlement agreement between EchoStar (DISH Network) and broadcasters and entered a permanent injunction requiring EchoStar to shut off "distant network" channels to all customers no later than December 1, 2006. The court made its decision, even though a settlement was reached with seven of the eight plaintiffs, representing approximately 90 percent of all television network stations in the United States.

What is a Distant Network? Distant networks are the ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX broadcast channels that DISH Network customers receive that originate outside their local community. Federal law prohibits all satellite and cable companies from providing those channels to consumers except in very limited circumstances. For many Americans, particularly in rural areas, distant networks represent the only available option for residents to receive televised news and other critical information they depend on every day. Distant networks have also provided an invaluable service in times of both of national or local emergency. During Hurricane Katrina, when local channels went off the air and entire populations were displaced, EchoStar provided distant network channels to relief stations, police and fire stations, as well as military installations to provide a critical link to displaced families' home communities. Similarly, after 9/11, EchoStar supplied distant network channels crucial to relief efforts.

Are All DISH Network Channels Impacted? No, not at all. For many customers, the court's decision has no effect. For instance, this injunction does not affect or upset in any way the ability of DISH Network consumers to receive local network channels (i.e., local ABC, NBC, CBS, or Fox network channels) from their community where available. To that end, the good news is that DISH Network now offers local channels by satellite in 170 local markets, serving over 96 percent of the U.S. households. The court's action also does not affect any of the other great DISH Network programming, like ESPN, USA, Discovery and Showtime. Nonetheless, hundreds of thousands of customers will be impacted by the shutdown of distant network channels.

What is EchoStar Doing to Reverse the Court's Decision? The court provided only a very few weeks to implement the decision and to seek out means to preserve distant network channels for as many DISH Network customers as possible before the December 1 shut-off date. EchoStar will continue to do everything possible to prevent customers from losing their distant network channels, as we are aggressively working towards a congressional and a judicial solution. Congress can pass legislation to protect consumers, and we will ask the courts to reconsider their decision.

Can DISH Network Customers Try to Help Keep All Their Channels? You too can alert Congress to the pressing need for action and to the importance of distant networks before the December 1 shut-off date. The window for congressional action in this session will be very short when Congress returns on November 13. As a result, it is critical that your voice is heard on Capitol Hill today.

RVers with satellite service, this is going to affect every one of you--make yourselves heard.

Muscadine Wine

Wandering the back roads in North Carolina while looking for the Dan Nicholas park, we ended up stopping at the Old Stone Vineyard & Winery on Rt. 52 for a wine tasting.

The lady behind the counter was part of the family who owned the winery. She told us the winery and the vineyards were part of the Old Stone House property and that her family was the ninth generation of the Michael Braun family. As she was pouring the various wines produced by the winery she explained about the make up of each wine, the type of grape used and the differences in the varieties of the Muscadine grape they used.

Muscadine grapes are native to the southern portion of the U.S. and have been used for making wine here as early as 1565 in the Spanish settlements in Florida. The Old Stone Winery raises the Carlos grape, a bronze variety also called 'Scuppernong' and the Noble variety which is a grape so dark it appears to be black. The grapes are very sweet and are eaten fresh and made into wine, pies and jellies.

Denny and I tasted the whites and reds both, starting at the sweet end and working our way to the dry. The Carlos Riesling and the Harvest Gold appealed to us, but on this day we went with the reds--the Noble Semi-dry, the Peckerhead Red (a mixture of Cabernet Savignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot) and for fun a 100% blackberry wine that we'll sip while noshing on cheese and summer sausage.

I commented on the striking logo on their bottles which is when the lady explained the story behind the horse. The lady's son is the winemaker for the winery and the horse on the label is the one he rides while inspecting the vineyards. One day he was riding between the rows of grapevines when the horse spooked and threw him off. The family likes to say that if the label could have been made larger they would have included Mark chasing behind the horse on foot. I imagine that little bit of lore stays within the family for the most part, but sometimes you hear interesting little tidbits simply by showing an interest in a person or what they do. You just have to take the time to ask. And we have nothing but time.

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Falcon's Lair Golf Course in Walhalla, SC is a hilly, challenging course that glows with color in the fall. With five sets of tees you can make the course as long or as short as you'd like but the difficulty lies in the sloping fairways. This is one of many great golf courses in the northwestern corner of the state off I-85. 

Fast, postage-stamp sized greens are the feature here at Falcon's Lair golf course. The scenery is a bonus. 

This is what we DON'T like about playing golf in the fall. It's a little hard to get your ball to roll true when the green is carpeted with leaves. 

After tromping up and down hills all afternoon we were starting to get tired. When we get tired, we get goofy. Here is Denny imitating Jack Nicholas saying good-bye to his fans at St. Andrews. 

Fair Play

Once upon a time, we were going to live here or rather, close by. Before we even married, Denny and I purchased 14 acres of land on a small lake--we had ourselves prime waterfront property (okay, it was prime to us). Our intent was to build a house there after Darby graduated from high school so he could attend Clemson University. Darb had no input into this decision since he was only seven at the time.

After we purchased the property, I stood on the hillside where we figured we'd build the house and took a picture of the view of the lake which I later had enlarged and framed. The picture was a reminder of our dreams. We bought mini-blue prints of homes from our local newspaper and catalogs from builders of log and cedar homes, finally deciding on a glass-fronted Lindal Cedar Home. We were set.

But a decade later we walked into a RV show, bought our first motorhome and on our first trip out met two full-timing couples who talked about living on the road and our plans were no longer cast in stone. The property was there, just sitting undeveloped while we waffled over our future. Darb decided he wanted to attend Miami University and then married after his freshman year so one part of our life-plan changed. Weekends and vacations in the motorhome showed us how enjoyable it was to travel and that Denny and I could live in a small space without killing each other. Settling down in South Carolina no longer had the attraction that it did before.

A trip to a RV dealer in Savannah, GA turned the tide for us. We sat inside an Alpha Gold fifth wheel with triple slides that day and gaped at the eight foot ceilings and the roominess that slideouts allowed. We knew then that eventually we'd have a fifth wheel and the new truck to pull it and that would mean selling the land. And that's what happened.

So now we're visitors in an area that was once going to be our retirement home. It's still beautiful, still relatively undeveloped and still fairly inexpensive to live here. But we're not ready to settle and we still not sure we've found the perfect place to plant some roots yet. But it could have been here.