Moving platform

Hello friends. If you are following me here, the party is over. Blogger has been increasingly difficult. Plus I have blogs on various platforms so I finally spent a little money and I'm going to consolidate them--over time. This blog picks up there as of today. Email me for details.

Camping with the grands

I booked for one night at Oscar Sherer State Park, since it is close to where Doug, Amanda, Dalton and Weston live. They met me at the campsite. I grilled some burgers and dogs. They hung for a bit, then the parents left and the boys and I worked on settling into my tiny camper. They bicycled around a bit, then we took the dogs for a walk and went to bed. The next morning we took another hike, further out, found the small lake. Then back to the campsite to get all packed up. Travel days are hard on kids but we broke up the trip at a fun shake place. Eventually got ourselves settled into Wekiwa State Park Campground. First order of business, get into that fresh spring water. We stayed for hours, then swung out to grab Burger King for dinner. I know, I'm lazy - but they have this great plant-based Whopper! We have convenient access to the bath house via a short trail behind the campsite... the boys got showers, I walked the dogs. Then settled everyone in and got my own shower. I get up in the morning and work before the boys wake up. Once they were up we went right over to rent our canoe. We had to rent a canoe because a kid can't be in a kayak alone and with three of us, a canoe is all we could fit in together. You just paddle up a ways to this place called Wekiwa Island that is just a little party-oriented dock and outdoor bar with a food truck. So that was our plan, to time it so we'd paddle there for lunch. The paddle back was against the current so a bit more work and took twice as long, but it wasn't that hard. Lovely little creek. Pics are of swimming at the springs, kayaking and a dog hike I took later.

Weekend in the Keys

Greetings followers, I've been remiss about updating this blog for those people I don't text with continuously! Not that I think you are on the edge of your seats. Still, a commitment is a commitment. And updating this blog is as much for me, especially future me. We did have our weekend in the keys and it was short but wonderful. I so love being down there. Blogger doesn't let me see my pictures anymore or put labels on them. Not sure what changed. So I will tell you that pics are of the camper at the campground, the pool at the campground and our visit to Hemingway House in Key West.

Old homes, never as sweet

This has a double meaning, of course. First, because this area was my home for 20 years, but returning to it is not sweet. I never liked living here. I do like going to the beach and I much prefer the summer weather here to that of Southern Nevada, so there's that. Also this old house that we bought has expensive problems. Now, becuase of the changes wrought by Covid-19, you can't even get problems fixed if you can afford it. Supplies are limited, contractors are overbooked. I haven't posted anything since I got here - mainly because everyone in my family knows where I am, with family. But now I've done all the good I can here, and probably more harm than good, so I'm going to gather myself up and move along. I have a booking in the keys for the weekend which I will still keep. Then I'll mosey around Florida a bit until my reservations in North Florida kick in. So, on the move again soon... watch this space.

Biloxi is all that I suspected

 Observations:

* The south is the south is the south.

* Arriving Saturday evening in the midst of something called 'Scrapin the Coast' - billed as a hot rod show but it was all lifted trucks with massive stereos. My beachfront RV park was truly in the center of it all. The beach road in was lined with spectators like it was the Macy's Thanksgiving parade.  It was noisy, and honestly stressful.  Navigating the park itself, locating my spot and backing into place in the dark in such cramped quarters is not the most fun I've ever had. It emptied out on Sunday and was quiet on Monday. I left Tuesday morning.

Busy event

The main expo area, a few blocks way

* Only saw one confederate flag in the crowded park the next morning, and oddly it was not the battle flag that you commonly see stretched across the back of common (not sexy, lifted) pickup trucks. Did see trump signs. Have seen them continuously since entering the south. Some are still the Trump 2020 signs, some say Trump 2021; many just say the name. Thankfully people started leaving in droves throughout Sunday. 

* Oddly invigorating to see a pretty even mixture of black folks and white folks at the event. It's true that I have not lived in the south for a long time, but you would never have seen that back then. There would be events for the rednecks and separate events for everyone else. So - I found this heartening even if I found the event itself unpleasant.

* The gulf water is a muddy brown. There are multiple stories about why but the most common is the great muddy Mississippi River dumping out here. I've heard also that there are three other rivers that dump their muddy waters here. High temps and low salinity have led to deadly algae blooms.  Plus some articles I read suggested that the Mississippi River is a dumping ground for agri-chemicals all the way down the country and they are all dumped out here in a vile, toxic soup. Other articles insist, "It's just mud, the water is clean."  What I can tell you for certain is I had no desire to submerge my body in it.  The sand is soft and white though, so there's that.

* I did try to eat lunch at this fabulous looking diner on the beach. This is when it really drove home to me that no one can get anyone to work. You really just can't get service because no one will work. I heard at the campground in Lafayette that they are offering $500 signing bonuses at the fast food places.

Sooo - things I didn't do. Swim in the ocean. Hang at the beach (there was no one at the beach -- but driving up and down the beachfront road there were some places where people were out there, and even a few were swimming. Seriously, not many.)  I didn't eat at this diner, pictured below.  I didn't go to the Jefferson Davis home/museum. The museum/history nerd in me warred with it for a bit. I am trying to see all of the Presidential Libraries. I even tried to tell myself it would be good to witness for myself if the exhibits put it all in the right perspective. In the end, I couldn't do it. Maybe some day, but not now. They have several confederate flags flying outside the place and I find it "interesting" that this promo picture so carefully obscures all but the American flag.

Jefferson Davis home/library/museum. I did not go.

I did not go. They said "Sure, come on in. We'll get to you in about an hour." 

I did the usual dog-walking and driving around. Went to the Katrina memorial, described thusly: Tile mural of a wave, a group of items recovered from after Hurricane Katrina, and a 12 ft black granite slab representing the height of the storm surge in 2005. Also nearby, a seating area around one of the large trees that survived the storm.

Katrina Memorial

The next day it rained. I worked for awhile then decided to take a personal care day. My neck has been stiff from the camper bed and from driving. Called around and got a massage appointment and a pedicure appointment.  The pedicure was great, got lucky. What was even better was the massage - just went to Massage Envy (the fancier spas and casinos didn't have an opening, I tried.)  But I got a great massage and a fascinating history of the area from a gentle bear of a man who was as liberal and as big of a history nerd as I. What a bonus!

It rained while I broke down camp the next morning. I was trying to keep the sand to a minimum, but once it started pouring, I gave up. A few pics of the beach and campground.

Lots of lifted and lowered pickup trucks

Beach

My spot after things thinned out.

Muddy water

More muddy water (video but can't post a video here.)

La la la lafayette

 

A familiar home

Rhiannon and I had quite the adventures while staying at this park for a few days during our move West in 2016.  It is a truly pleasant campground. One of those KOA's very oriented toward kids with a mini golf and pedal boats that look like dolphins frolicking about on the lake. Shady, and to my sensibilities pleasantly summer warm (not scorch-your-face-off-hot.)

This was just a rest break before arriving in Biloxi. 

Thursday, still Fredericksburg. LBJ Park

 A long morning of work but it is pleasantly cool in here, the park is quiet, my bit of housework yesterday has made things better for getting around. Still looking forward to unloading the extra stuff, but we're all settling into the groove now.

At the sort of end of the work day on some time zones I just played hooky and went to the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and also the LBJ National Park and the Johnson Ranch.  Took the dogs because a lot was outside trails and stuff. We all really enjoyed it.

I drove the loop through the ranch, then back to the trailer. Dogs were exhausted. 

I took a few pictures. Mostly obsessed with the wildflowers. Some wildlife, too, but the pics didn't come out so I discarded them.

Here's a few pics of our day.