Sunday February 17, 2008

Got up early this morning and got on the road by 5:45. This is the perfect day to travel - no weather worries and not too much traffic as we go through the major cities on our way home. We fairly flew up I-95 (staying at the speed limit as there were lots of police cars about) and made wonderful time. We got home at about 4:30 PM and Amy has dinner waiting for us. We spent the first few minutes in a hug-a-thon - it was so good to see everyone! Zoe was a little hesitant at first, but she started warming up to us by dinner time. We look forward to seeing everyone this weekend and giving lots more hugs! Well, this adventure is at an end, but I'm sure there will be more along the way. I have really enjoyed putting thoughts in the blog so may try to keep it up on a less rigorous schedule - we'll see. So bye to all for now . . . until our next adventure!

Saturday February 16, 2008

Our original plan was to visit with Ed and Bet and then drive down to Del Ray Beach to visit with our friends, Larry and Sandy. We talked with them yesterday and learned that Sandy's sister is very slowly recovering from heart surgery. They have been visiting her almost daily and are pretty worn out and stressed with all of the running around. As it doesn't seem like a good time for a visit - after all we are here 2 weeks earlier that we thought we would be, we decided we would head for home. As much as we are enjoying the warm weather and being away from winter, we miss home, the kids, and the grandkids. Our original plan was to crash the birthday party next weekend which the kids are having at our house - we thought we would just show up as the party was taking place, but since we are going to be home a week early, I guess we will let the cat out of the bag. So, kids, we will see you next weekend (are we invited?)!

We had breakfast with Ed and Betty this AM before we left - pecan waffles (yum!) and then after hugs all around got on the road. It was a little foggy when we got up this morning, but it didn't take long for the sun to burn it off. We had a lovely day for driving - warm and sunny - and we were listening to a John Sanford novel on the CD player. We only have 1 disc to go and neither Dave nor I are really sure who did it - the sign of a good mystery. We have stopped for the night in Fayetteville, NC and walked across the parking lot to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner. We will see how far we get tomorrow - we are anxious to get home, but can only spend so many hours per day in the car. It seems hard to believe that our winter journey is almost at an end - some parts of it seems like yesterday and others seem like they happened a lifetime ago.

Friday February 15, 2008

After breakfast this morning, we drove over to Ed's and we all climbed into Ed's car (Ed, Bet, Deb, Dave, and I). Ed took us on a lovely ride through Plant City where the trees grow over the road to make a canopy that is draped with Spanish moss - really quite lovely! We ended up at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park where we started our tour with a quiet boat ride up Pepper Creek. We then walked over to the underwater observatory where we watch the hundreds of fish in the spring. Next we went to the manatee educational program. The volunteer was in the water with the manatees - he had a hard time keeping his footing as the manatees kept nudging him to remind him to feed them more sweet potatoes! They were quite insistent and would not stop even after he showed them the empty bucket. They were quite funny as they have a large flexible upper lip (a rudimentary trunk? as they are related to elephants) which they used to pick up the sweet potatoes. All of the animals in the park are native to Florida except for a hippopotamus which was leftover from when the park was privately owned. The hippo was made an honorary citizen by the governor so he does reside there quite happily. He (Lucifer) was quite a sight - 6000+ pounds of hippo basking in the sun (makes one want to go on a crash diet before swimsuit season!). They also had bobcats, black bears and a Florida panther. There were hundreds of birds - flamingo and roseatte spoonbill (today's blog pictures), egret, blue heron, sandhill and whooping cranes, stilts, vultures, pelicans . . . most of these were free to come and go at will, but a few were in cages as rescue birds - especially raptors like eagles, falcons, and owls. Some of them are nursed back to health and others will remain in the park as they will never be well enough to go back to the wild. We thoroughly enjoyed the park and spent much of the day there. We went for lunch at a nearby restaurant - Margaritagrille - which is totally decorated with a patriotic flair - they even serve American fries on the menu! The lunch was delicious and then Ed took us for a bit of a circular route back to Bushnell. We came back and took a walk around the park, stopping to play a game of shuffleboard - Dave and I had never played, but we did okay. When we got back to the house, we played a game of hand and foot (Florida style) - same basic game, but slightly different rules - didn't make any difference as the girls won again (way to go, Betty!). We went back to the motel, but arrange to meet them for breakfast before we leave.

Thursday February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! We got up this morning and headed across the panhandle of Florida. It must have been cold when we first came out as there was quite a frost on the car. We have nothing of note to report on the drive except for the A-10 warthog (plane) which buzzed us on the highway. We heard it after we saw it - must have been practicing map of the land flying as it went over just 50 feet above us and was going so fast we heard it (loud) after we saw it go over. Scared the c..p out of us! We got to Bushnell about 2 and found Ed and Bet's house - Deb is here also and it was good to see them all. We had the five minute tour of the house and then went for a walk around the neighborhood and met some of their friends. Betty is doing very well after her major accident in the fall - she is walking without assistance and can go quite the distance - it really is a miracle! We came back and chatted for a while and then went out to dinner at a BBQ place (Sonny's) - delicious! It reminded us of the great BBQ we had when Amy was living in Kansas. Ed took us for a drive around the town and then we came back to the house and played a game of hand and foot. We are going back after breakfast tomorrow and will spend the day with them.

Wednesday February 13, 2008

We delayed our start this morning so that we would miss the commuter traffic into Houston - didn't seem to make much difference as we hit the traffic anyway. At one point we saw a HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane and thought - oh, good - this will get us out of the traffic . . . WRONG! The HOV lanes here are a quicker way to get into downtown - not around it! After wandering around downtown Houston for a bit, we finally found our way to a highway going north and from there were able to connect back to the road we were on originally on the correct side of the outskirts. We fairly flew through the rest of Texas and Louisiana. We thought of the houses we worked on as we passed through Mississippi and were hoping that by now they were finished and occupied. We were amazed anew as we drove through Mobile at the size of the bay - it is huge! We finally stopped in Pensacola, FL for the night. We called Ed and Bet and let them know we will be with them tomorrow afternoon. We look forward to being out of the car and staying somewhere for more than one night. We saw an interesting license plate on our drive - DEDAK8BED What do you think? Mattress salesman or professional sleeper? As tomorrow is Valentine's day, we wish our family and friends a wonderful day - we will be thinking of you all!

Tuesday February 12, 2008

We got up this morning and took down the tent, stowed everything, and were on our way by 8 AM. We drove up through Marathon and then up to Fort Stockton to get on Route 10. There was a giant roadrunner statue in Fort Stockton - very cute. We traveled further down the road and came upon hundreds of wind turbines on top of several mesas - the last time we saw that many turbines was in 85 when we were out west with the kids. They are fascinating! We also saw quite a few long bed trucks - each of which was carrying one propeller of a turbine - they are really huge! We did not run into any traffic to speak of until we came to San Antonio - there was an accident and then some construction. We finally got through that and had smoother sailing as we went away from the city. We passed a large ranch by the side of the highway and there was a herd of buffalo grazing - very cool! We stopped for the night in Columbus, TX - both of us suffering from DB (dead butt)! We checked into a motel and walked the 3 blocks (it felt so good to walk for a change) to a restaurant for dinner - the only real meal we had today. We have a call in to my brother Ed to see if he will be home if we stop by to see him later in the week. We also called Larry and Sandy Levine and had a nice chat with them. We plan on stopping to see them earlier than we had planned. Well, time to relax for a bit - will try to blog again tomorrow, but one never knows if there is internet when we stop for the night.

Monday February 11, 2008

When we left the patio last night, it was almost dark. As we headed down to the campsites, a small gray fox crossed the road in front of us. We got into bed as it was starting to get chilly and read for a while before going to sleep.

We decided to take a day off from hiking today - our calves are still "mooing" and we badly need showers. We drove down to Rio Grande Village (the only shower facility in the whole park) and as we were showering, we threw in a load of laundry. We met a couple from Shipingsport (I believe I have that right), PA - he was a civilian who worked for the Army and she was a retired math teacher! We had a lovely chat with them and also an older couple from upstate NY. We were all chatting when 2 vans pulled up - filled with Elderhostel folks. They were stopping for a bathroom break. There was no one from CT, but one lady said her dad grew up in Norwich. We went back to camp and mucked out the car - it had been a while. Later in the afternoon, we visited with a woman who is going around the country for one year. She stops a various churches on her way and talks to the congregation about water for Africa - she is associated with World Church. When I went up to the restroom, I stopped at the bulletin board to check out the ranger talk for tonight - unfortunately, it was not at this site, but I noticed that the weather was for increasing cloudiness with a chance of rain and/or snow for later in the week. We decided that this would not be at all fun so we decided to head to FL a bit earlier than we had planned. We cooked dinner and then gave some of our leftover food to the lady from World Church and the rest to the camp host. We kept the snacks and water for our trip in the car. When we had sorted everything out, we asked our neighbor to join us for a chat. She is an interesting person. She is a retired gardner from the National Cathedral in DC and now lives in NH. At one time she owned a Great Pyrennes (I know that is spelled wrong) that she used to take to nursing homes as a therapy pet. We chatted until we all were starting to feel the chill and then said our goodbyes and went to bed.