Flagler Beach, Sebring

From Jose

After visiting with my cousins Isabel and Miguel near St Augustine we decided to check out the tourist part of the city.  Yep, it's touristy, and crowded. Both Diane and I had been to St Augustine before so we made this one a quick drive-by.

We headed South on A1A a few miles to Diane's aunt Nan and cousin Danny and his wife Tina and cutie dog Daisy in Flagler Beach, FL . We were wondering what would be the best way to introduce our dogs to Daisy. Both Danny and Tina said Daisy is very mellow and would be fine with our dogs.  So we just let Maguire and Matilda out and they all got along fine. Danny and Tina have a canal right behind their house. Within minutes of arriving there we were saying that Matilda might jump in the canal and lo and behold Maguire walked off the edge and into the water. I think he did not see the edge.  Both Danny and I ran over ready to jump in, but Maguire swam to the wall and Danny just grabbed him by the harness and brought him up. Poor Maguire. He did not know what happened.

We had a great visit with them.  That night we parked the RV at Nan's and Diane slept in the house, Maguire stayed with me in the RV.  Matilda was not going to let Diane's bed go unused and slept there all night. In the morning Nan made us a delicious breakfast and told us many stories of her younger days. Then we went back to Danny's for a few minutes before heading south to Sebring.

Wait a minute... We went from Flagler Beach to Sebring. What happened to Orlando, Oviedo, Titusville, etc? Well, my friend Patty lives in Sebring and she's not feeling well so I decided to fast forward to Sebring to cheer Patty up. We will catch up on Orlando later.

We just arrived at Sebring and got to spend some time with Patty.  We all saw 'Santa Paws'. Alright, it's past Christmas but that's a cute movie and it's Patty's favorite. I'll report more on this visit on my next update.

Stay tuned.

Savannah, Jacksonville, St Augustine

From Jose

We have been on the road over 9 months (275 days).  We have driven about 14,500 miles and used about 1,100 gallons of gas.

After Myrtle Beach we hopped on to Savannah, GA. This  is a old city with a rich history. As in other cities where we want to get a taste of the city but not of the traffic, we took a guided bus tour. Our tour guide was a hoot, adding her own commentary when applicable (and sometimes when not). One of the historic mansions we passed had two front stairwells. She explained that one was for the ladies and one for the gentlemen, to keep the gentlemen from looking at the ladies' ankles. Then she added that as the mother of a boy and a girl she has a lot more to worry about these days than ankles. We also saw the statue of the waving girl in honor of Florence Martus who between 1887 and 1931 waved at any ship leaving or arriving at the port.

Next stop was Jacksonville, where Diane 's family used to live. She doesn't know anyone there anymore but we visited her old neighborhood and the colombarium where her mom and sister are buried.

From there we went to Jacksonville Beach and then took US 1A towards St Augustine to visit my cousins Isabel and Miguel. All their children came in from different parts of the US for Christmas. We were invited to Christmas dinner with Isabel and Miguel and three of their children, two spouses, and five grandchildren at one of their children's homes. That house was hopping! Diane had Puerto Rican food for the first time, including arroz con habichuelas guisadas, pernil, pasteles and flan. I had not had a Puerto Rican Christmas dinner in a long time myself. Then the younguns opened some of their presents. Huge thanks to my cousins Miguel and Isabel and their families for including us in their Christmas plans on such short notice.

Now we will head deep into the heart of Florida where we have lots of people and places to see before heading west.

Stay tuned.

North Carolina still

From Jose

It has been pretty busy since my last post.

I found a fatty tumor on Matilda's elbow. It is not too big and it has not slowed her down. As long as it does not grow much I am not going to do anything about it yet.

At the end of my last post we were near the Blue Ridge Parkway. We did get to drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway and found it amazing. I can only imagine what it would be like with changing leaves.

We soon got to High point, NC, home to Bill and Patty, relatives of Diane. I soon learned that the cities of High Point, Winston Salem, and Greensboro are closely related and are called the triad. Right after arriving there I got a bad migraine headache. Bill and Patty were very accommodating and offered ideas to try to make me feel better . I did get to see "It's a wonderful life"  and "Miracle on 34th Street". That made me feel better.  We all went for a bite at Carolina's Diner.

From High Point we went to Matthews, NC near Charlotte. There we visited Elizabeth, daughter of Beth, a coworker of mine some time ago. Beth has an RV and Elizabeth set up an RV parking space at her house.  It was nice having connections. Elizabeth works at Discovery Place, an interactive science museum for visitors of all ages, and she gave us comp tickets. Wow! What a cool place. They have all kinds of hands-on experiments demonstrating electricity, leverage, water flow, etc.  I was like a kid in a candy store. One of my favorite parts was the "Animal Grossology" exhibit which explained in great detail things like flies that feed by barfing digestive acids onto solid foods to turn them into liquids.  Or the different messages that dogs get from each other by sniffing the butt. Diane did not like this exhibit very much. I guess it's a boy thing. Another great part of the Discovery Place is that it's run by a non profit and the city of Charlotte rents them the building for $1 a year. And everybody treated us like we were old friends. Huge thanks to Elizabeth for her hospitality and for turning us on to the Discovery Place.

From Matthews we went to Holly Springs, near Raleigh for a quick visit to Chuck, a friend of Diane's. I have noticed during this trip that when we visit somebody, whether they are my friend or family or Diane 's, we are both welcomed and received with open arms. Chuck was no exception. He made us a delicious breakfast and soon we were all talking and laughing like old friends. Chuck is a cool dude and I hope we will stay in touch.

Before heading south we had to check out the North Carolina Outer Banks (OBX). There we saw Kitty Hawk, where the Wright Brothers first flew. The Cape Hatteras lighthouse is very impressive. In 1999 it was moved 2,900 feet inland to save it from coastal erosion.

On the way back from the Outer Banks we stopped at Roanoke Island and saw the site of the Lost Colony. In 1587 about 100 men, women and children stayed at a colony in Roanoke Island while their governor went back to England to get supplies.  When he got back three years later the colony had been dismantled and there was no sign of the colonists. To this day nobody knows for sure what happened. Hmmmm.

We finally turned to the south and after a few unremarkable days ended up in Myrtle Beach. We had both heard of Myrtle Beach but didn't know what it is all about. What a cool place!  We got to ride the bikes on the boardwalk, we rode the Ferris Wheel, we shopped at some exquisite gift shops that would make South of the Border proud. I am glad we stopped there.

It has been difficult keeping up with the updates to this blog because we do fun things faster than I can write about them. Right now is way past my bedtime but the longer I wait the more there is to write about. I have thought of writing an update every day and it might come to that.

In a few more days we will have been on the road for nine months. The people that gave us six months were wrong. I think we're going to actually last a year.

Stay tuned

OBX!

I can’t remember what intrigued me exactly about the Outer Banks or where I'd first heard about it.  Nevertheless, it was a stop that Jose put on the first map we drafted up a couple of years ago.  Naturally, many of us hear about this area when Hurricane season rolls around each year and now that I’m here, I see how this beautiful area can become so devastated by water and wind.  I find it interesting that the things that make places and people who they are can be used against them by outside forces; yet persistence and hope that lies within eventually rebuilds earth, sky, and life. I digress.

Essentially, OBX is a 200-mile string of barrier islands that extends the entire length of North Carolina and a small portion of Virginia.  There are several gaps that you must either drive over via a bridge or cross on a ferry.  Cape Hatteras lighthouse is as far as where driving; then we’ll turn around and hook back up to the mainland via Roanoke Island.  Visiting the Lost Colony on Roanoke has been suggested by my cousin, Lynne, and Cathy, a Best Friends cat caregiver friend, so we plan to check that out tomorrow.




Many of the houses on OBX are 2-4 stories, and all are built on very tall stilts.  Some of them have decks covering their entire roof, one is built to look like a lighthouse with a regular square house built around it that is just as tall as the lighthouse!  The windswept dunes are high so that much of the drive you cannot see the ocean, but the intermittent gaps provide teasing glimpses along the way. Interestingly enough, a second set of dunes runs in front of the houses that are directly on the beach – I’m assuming that those provide some protection from hurricanes.

Naturally, this time of year, many businesses are closed for the season, but it’s very nice and quiet and there is little traffic although there are some who do live down here year round.

The highlight so far has been our visit to The Wright Brothers National Monument which is celebrating its 110 anniversary today (12/17/13).  It was amazing to walk in their footsteps and fly my little balsa rubber band powered plane from the exact place that they achieved the first flight over a century ago.  My plane did not hit their first marker, but the landing was perfect!

Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia

From Jose

At the end of my last entry we had arrived at my cousin Hilda's in Smithfield, VA. I had not seen her in 13 years and her son Robert in 45 years. Hilda has not changed much in all the time I've known her.  She always looks and acts so youthful. I met Robert's wife Kim, who is also a great person, and spent some good quality time with all of them. They made us feel welcome even though they are very busy. Robert and Kim have jobs and Kim was organizing a birthday party for her sister. We heard many cool stories about how Hilda came to live in Smithfield, how Robert met Kim and many other family stories. I liked their neighborhood too. Houses are big, well kept and with plenty of space between them.

When we left Hilda's we realized we were close to colonial Williamsburg and decided to check it out. They have kept the town the way it looked during colonial days and there are employees in costume.  Some exhibits require tickets but tickets are not required to walk around the town or go into the shops. It was a pretty relaxing stroll through 1776 Williamsburg, like going into the past.

From Williamsburg we went to Raleigh, North Carolina to see my dear friend Brooke. She was my neighbor in Kanab with her sister Sarah. They are two of the nicest people I have ever known. I had not seen Brooke in about 4 years. We met for lunch at The Raleigh Times Bar. The building originally housed a newspaper, hence the name. We had a great time catching up with all that Brooke has done since I last saw her. She graduated from Ringling College of Art & Design, where she studied Computer Animation. She is very talented it and I'm sure will be very successful.

From Raleigh we went to a place I really wanted to see: South of the Border, a very tacky tourist trap just south of the North Carolina/South Carolina line. Diane had been there before and was not too thrilled about seeing it again so I had agreed to make it a quick stop. But by the time we got there it was time to stop for the day anyway so we got to stay at Camp Pedro, South of the Border's own campground. There are several restaurants, several gift shops, two gas stations, its own fire and police department and thousands of trinkets for sale.  For a subjective review of the place see:

http://www.fieldtripper.com/c/5mp2m9JQgLg/south-of-the-border

Now that I have seen it and got that out of my system I can see why Diane was not keen on seeing it again.

At this point we had a decision to make. Some time ago we had estimated that we would be in Georgia at the end of November and informed our friends Lynne and Ed that we would see them for Thanksgiving. As it turned out we were way behind schedule and still had some things to do and people to see before reaching Georgia. No way we could do all that and still make Georgia by Thanksgiving. Right around that time the weather folks forecasted a big snowstorm coming our way. Freezing weather is especially bad for an rv with all the exposed water pipes underneath. So, to spend Thanksgiving with Lynne and Ed and stay away from the bad weather we decided to fast forward to Georgia and backtrack later to the states we missed. Good decision.

Diane and I met Lynne and Ed at Best Friends and quickly realized they were both very nice. Then it turns out Lynne is Diane's cousin. When Lynne and Ed come to Kanab we always all get together. So it was good to spend Thanksgiving with them. They live on 12 acres near Atlanta, there was plenty of room for the rv and even electricity hookup.

Lynne 's mom was from Spain and she has slightly different traditions. Instead of turkey for Thanksgiving she made a pork roast with lemon and garlic. I'm going to let Diane go into more detail about the food, all I can say is that it was delicious. They took us on a drive around some beautiful parts of Georgia that tourists don't usually get to see. But we mostly stayed in the house, talking about family, seeing old family photos, enjoying the antics of their cats, checking out Ed 's guns (if there are any burglars reading this, don't go to Ed's house) and being family. Huge thanks to Lynne and Ed for your real southern hospitality.

From there we stopped by Amicalola Falls State Park, recommended by Carey.  The start of the Appalachian Trail is nearby and I wanted to go there but the road is not good for rv's, so I went to the park instead. They have a huge fancy Lodge and some fantastic scenery.

We are now back in North Carolina, in Asheville, to see this beautiful city and to catch up with the people and places we missed before.  Stay tuned.