Key West, Thursday, Feb 9.

Weather turned out lovely today - we had thought there might be rain.  But, there was a good breeze blowing and sunshine all day.  We went downtown (me first, for a haircut!) for lunch at Bugaloo's, next to the Green Parrot.  This afternoon, Meg and I went for a walk out on Fleming Key, where the Special Ops guys do some of their training.  All day, we saw a big chinook helicopter coming by the camp area four times with a line hanging down (each time) with 4 guys hanging on - they pick them up from the ocean and carry them around and back to the landing area.  Later, there were 8 parachutes that came down in a field near where Meg and I walked.  Do I feel safe here?  Oh yes!  Here are some pictures from today.

HUGE lizard just beside the road!

View from the road where Meg and I walked

Big Chinook

My view when we're walking....

Meg enjoyed the walk, but drank most of my water!

This is as far as we could go....

She IS part Lab, you know!

We're glad we brought Meg this year - good traveling dog!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Key West!  February 8, 2012
In the past week, we've stayed with friends in Orlando, stopped off at Ft. Pierce and visited the SEAL Museum.  We wanted to go there in order to see the brick I had purchased for Dan at the annual 'muster' in 2011 (see the picture).

Dan was in class 40, East Coast, served in the Navy from 1967 through 87.  The Bible verse that means so much to him is Isaiah 6:8.


Yesterday, we didn't make it through Miami before rush hour - yikes!  Imagine Chicago or Los Angeles or Atlanta - not fun.  We stopped for the night in a truck lot by the restaurant where we had dinner, just south of Miami!  Tired, not interested in anything but some shut-eye.
Today, we got an early start, and arrived in Key West around lunch time.  We had to register at the base, get a pass for me, visit the commissary and the Navy Exchange for supplies and mail.
We ended up on the same spot as last year!  Tonight, there was a pot luck in the camp area, and we met some people and became reacquainted with folks from last year.  Most importantly, I made an appointment for a haircut tomorrow!!  My hair is out of control, especially with the humid conditions and some wind - I look a bit like the wild woman of Borneo!
We haven't seen any sites yet; our temporary life in Key West starts tomorrow, now that we're situated in the camp area.

More adventures to come!

Sunday - some pictures

footbridge partly washed out with high water - Big South Fork Nat'l park in Tennessee

Meg's exploring - a happy camper

beautiful river, even in the rain!

more rainy landscape - beautiful!

Dan

Finally a clear day, state park in Tennessee!

Meg

Lovely moss, the most colorful thing in the area at this time of year

4 year old Brody - look at those eyes!

Charmer Rylan, will be 7 years old in March

More sights from US-27, in Georgia

Hog Liver Road
Booger Hollow  (not kidding!)
Lots more churches (95% of them Baptist)
A barber shop and car detailing shop (Dan thinks that is a great idea!)

Next stop:  Rylan and Brody's house!  Can't wait to see them, squeeze them, tease them, read WITH Rylan and to Brody, and anything else they want to do with Grandma Gena!






 

Friday - we're in Georgia!!

Friday, January 27, 2012   
We're in Georgia, and will be at Laura and Derek's later today!  Can't
wait to squeeze those boys! 
Yesterday, we drove through heavy rain all day.  We managed to stay off I-75, took US-27 through the rest of Kentucky, all of Tennessee, and into Georgia.
Some observations from the road: 
This part of the country is beautiful, even in the rain!  The mountains with clouds hanging in the trees near the top; small and large streams running high with the rain; lovely homes; quaint churches and little
towns.
There are quite a few eyesores on the landscape:  yards with trash and broken-down, rusted out cars, collapsing porches, trailers (can't elevate them to be called 'mobile homes') that are rusting. 
There are LOTS of Baptist churches - I swear there is at least one every five miles!  In one 3 mile stretch, there were THREE Baptist churches!
We stopped for lunch at Lou's in Sunbright, Tennessee.  Talked with the locals.  One gentleman, age 68, said he worked for the railroad for 29 years, but never went to school much and never learned to read!  He said he lived on the farm, and when there was work to be done, there was no time for school.
And, oh, the accents!  In a previous life, I talked with quite an accent - without that, I'm not sure I could have understood everything that was said! Strangely, when I'm talking to these folks, my accent comes back a little bit...or maybe a lot - depends on the listener!
There is now no grocery store in town - they have to drive 12 miles to the Wortburg (no kidding) Save-a-lot grocery store, or 30 miles to the nearest Walmart. Most of the men in town, they said, drive long haul trucks, because there is no industry in town.  Lots of poor people in this rural area.  Talk about small town Americana - wow.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

We had  breakfast, saw my dad off for his dialysis treatment (six YEARS this 88 year old man has been on dialysis), then hit the road.  We like to travel on two/four lane state roads, rather than the interstate.  We have Jill, name of our current Garmin device, to navigate, with me as her oversight committee.  Unfortunately, we neglected to bring a helpful selection of maps along, so I am using a map of the US...hmmm.  Jill wanted to insist that we get on I-75, and (not knowing/can't figure out how to tell her no interstates) I selected a town along the road we want to take...Unfortunately, I selected Albany, WV rather than Albany, KY, so we did take a bit of a detour.  No worries, we saw some pretty farm and horse country!  Stopped in Somerset, KY for Dan to do his internet work.  Will pick a campground not too far away for the night.

On the road again - Key West, here we come!

January 25, 2012

We left home on Monday, and made our first stop in Waverly, Ohio, at my dad's home.  With lots of last minute things to do, we didn't actually get out of the Detroit area until after 2:00 in the afternoon.  The drive to Waverly normally takes about 5 hours.  However, we had a little mishap on the way (more later). 
For almost the entire time, we fought a very high cross wind - the camper and truck were tossed around, and Dan had to continually fight the wheel.  When we were just short of Bowling Green, Ohio, a car pulled up beside us with a man pointing frantically at the top of the camper.  We pulled off, and Dan went to investigate.  When he looked at the top of the camper, he found that our Thule storage 'pod' was totally gone!!  The thing is about 8 feet long, streamlined for travel, with claws on the bottom side for grasping the bars installed on the roof. 
So, we pulled back into the northbound side of I-75, and started looking.  About 3 miles back, we saw it in the median, almost into the north bound side of the road.  We never heard it leave the roof - it must have just taken flight!  Thank goodness, it apparently didn't hit anyone! And,besides being muddy and a bit beat up, it was intact!
Traffic was very heavy, with that wind I mentioned - we stopped, put hazard lights on, and started slowly backing back down the road until we came even with the pod.  Dan managed to dodge traffic, get to the pod, lift it (about 60 pounds, very unwieldy, and did I mention a high wind?), and get back across the road.  By this time, a state trooper had stopped behind us with his lights flashing.  He very kindly helped Dan (with me holding the back door of the camper open) shove the muddy thing into the camper.  Phew!!  That's enough of excitement to last us for a while!
We had a nice visit with my dad and his wife, Ida Jo.  It is hard to see my dad as his physical abilities shrink - he had a stroke about 3 months ago, which has left him on a walker. But, he continues on - aging ain't for sissies!