We crossed the Florida state line on Tuesday mid-morning and got a good laugh reading "The Sunshine State" when it was pouring down rain.  By the time we reached our destination, Cedar Key on the north west coast off of SR 24, the rain had stopped, and it was sunny.  Cedar Key RV Park is our location, one of two located about three miles from town.  The park is relatively new, the proprietors friendly and helpful, and the campers friendly.  There is also a third park, Sunset RV Park, located in town on the key.  If / when we return to Cedar Key we will probably try Sunset Park.  Although it's small, crowded, and does not have cement pads, it's right on the key and has the feel of a '60's "happening." Sometimes you just have to go for atmosphere.  We set up (which is getting so much easier as we go along) and took off for town.

If you ever get a chance to be in this area, you have to have dinner at Tony's http://www.tonyschowder.com.  World Champion Chowder three years in a row.  THE best clam chowder ever!  Lots of clams, few potatoes, and a bit of spicy.  If you order the fish platter, it's huge, but you get to sample the local fare seafood which all "slept in the bay the night before."  Since we love all kinds of sea food, and we love the coastal areas, we love this place.  Driving around in the dark to check out the town only wetted our appetite to go back on Wednesday.  For the first time in months, we slept with the windows open Wednesday night.

After lunch on the bay and a drive around town Wednesday, we headed north along the coast to check out Steinhatchee on the Steinhatchee River.  We've learned that a traveling necessity is a good sized cooler in the back of the Jeep at all times.  We stopped just north of the RV park at a fresh seafood retail market and restaurant, Robinson Seafood on SR24, "If the fish were any fresher, it would still be swimming!"  Grouper was our choice, and with that iced and packed in the cooler we headed back north.

Since this is not the "in season" time in northern Florida, the vacation spots are quiet.  Steinhatchee is more than quiet....  it's for sale. I've not done any research on the Florida economy, especially the resort areas, but it appears that if the U.S. economy is improving, it's not trickled down to northern Florida.  For sale signs were everywhere - not just houses, but condo complexes and resort spots.  Additionally, this is a fishing town much like Cedar Key, the river giving easy access to the Gulf.  Since we're always on the look-out for a place to park the whale, and finding none in Steinhatchee, we headed back south to HomeSweetHome Whale in Cedar Key. Grouper for dinner by Chef Jerry was excellent!

Today, Thursday, we'll head back to town for one more look around and get the whale ready to move on to Tampa on Friday.  The Whale gets a bath and a polish.  We hope to be in Naples Friday afternoon.

Cedar Key
Main Street on the bay

Cedar Key
Lunch on the bay

Home sweet home at Cedar Key

South on 65

While riding on long drives, it's a great time to play with my new technology. Posts, emails, and face time have all become so much more accessible from my new mini iPad which I love, love, love!!! Of course the mini had to have an ap installed before posts would go through. Now it's good to go. I wonder if there will be a time we need an ap to eat, sleep or breath?...

Yesterday was the perfect end to the holiday week-end. We got to spend time with nieces Deb and Susan, great-nieces Rebekka and Rachael, and sister-in-law Shirley. Since Deb is from Texas and Susan is from Oklahoma, visits have been few and far between. They've grown to be strong young women (Shirley can be proud), and the little ones are just darling! It was a great visit!

Fortunately, as we started out this a.m. the wind, which dogged us all the way to Indy yesterday, has quieted down. Driving the Whale in high wind is slow going. Now we have calm wind and clear skies. Our destination for tonight is Nashville, TN. Hopefully there will be a good enough tv signal to watch the ND game.

On the road again...

As of 9:02 this a.m. we are on the road again.  Leaving Elkhart this time is so bittersweet since we will not be back again for at least 10 months.  Our stay at Eby Pines was great - a bit cold at times, but comfortable and quiet.  The combination of tons of pine trees and a bit of wind makes for an incredible whisper and an amazing aroma.  Surprisingly, the owner did not turn off the water while we were still there, but he told Jerry this week-end he would be shutting it off.  Our timing to leave was just right.

As is true of many campgrounds, the off season is time to do repairs and renovations.  Eby Pines was no exception.  The owners were installing a new entrance with concrete pads and gates.  The concrete was not entirely set by the time we had to leave.  The owners had carved out (literally) a wide path and trimmed the pine branches to the side of the concrete so vehicles could get in and out.   Unfortunately, a 40 foot motor home with a Jeep attached was just a tad too big to make it all the way through the temporary entrance without puncturing a tire on the metal concrete forms.   Solution - dismantle part of the concrete form which is what we did.  We managed to spare the tires and the concrete. Jerry's getting pretty good at threading a whale through the eye of a needle.

We were so blessed to be "home" during a number of family celebrations.  Son Chris was inducted to the county athletic hall of fame; daughter Sara hosted her first Thanksgiving dinner; and any number of family dinners took place with brother Ted and others.  We were able to spend time with some close friends but sadly not all.  Our visit next fall will include more time for friends and family and Sara's wedding.

Now we are headed south on 31 to Indianapolis to visit sister-in-law Shirley, nieces Deborah and Susan, and Deb's little girls.  Then we head south to Red Bay - AGAIN - for wiring update and one more cabinet addition.  We just can't stay out of Red Bay.

Our final destination will be Naples, Florida.  More about that later...

You can go home again

We pulled into our campsite at Eby Pines Campground just east of Bristol on November 5th, and this is the first second I have had time to type a post.  It's so good to see family and friends before we take off again for Naples, Florida. Just a few thoughts as we drove through Elkhart on our way to the campground...

In just five weeks, enough has changed in the landscape to get our attention.  Ordinary things such as road construction make the look of home different. Life moves on.

In just five weeks, life goes on with family and friends.  Catching up has been good, and it's been a clear reminder how much we love being with them. It will make leaving again bittersweet I'm sure.

The picture below marks our home sweet home at Eby Pines.  This campground is one of the few (keep in mind my limited experience) to keep the water on until bitter cold takes over.  They have only one water faucet with valves that go under the frost line.  So this is a game of "by guess and by golly."  The owner will shut the water off when it gets too cold.  Makes the stay a bit more challenging when you have to fill the water tank every four or five days.  The first morning here, the outside pipe was frozen.  Our coach pipes were fine as we have heat in the water closet where all the Whale pipes are.  Hmmmm...  a trickle of water in the sink keeps the freeze away.  It sounds like we have a small fountain in the bathroom.

The pines you see in the HSH picture surround us.  I've always been a!erson connected to smells.  All locations have distinct smells.  When we were in Red Bay there was a distinct aroma of pine and sage in the country.  What an incredible combination!  In the RV parking lot, it smells like dog food since there is a dog food factory just a mile away from the parking lot...  Here in Eby Pines, it's all pines.  And the sound in the wind is just soothing - unless it's storming (last night).

We leave Elkhart the day after Thanksgiving.  Before that, son Christopher flies in from a conference in New Orleans for a celebration Nov. 17.  He's being inducted in the county hall of fame for athletics.  How great to spend time with both our kids, Sara's fiance' and brother Ted before we vanish again.

Thanksgiving will be spent with Sara and Patrick and Patrick's mom, Helen before we take off for Indy Friday a.m.  We'll stop to see sister-in-law Shirley and nieces Deb and Susan before heading south west to return to Red Bay for just two more modifications.  Then on to Tampa to get the Whale "groomed" (wash and wax) before we settle in at our spot in Naples for a few months.

We'll be checking in from time to time as this is all about the journey, not the destinations...

Home sweet home at Mammoth Cave National Park

Just couldn't resist a short post today.  We really were headed for Louisville to overnight in a Walmart parking lot... but pulled off to check out the Mammoth Cave National Park.  For only $8.50 (gotta love the 

Golden Age pass for national parks / half-price), we could stay the night - no hook up.  Let's see...  Walmart or this setting?  That decision took less than two seconds.  We stopped early enough to check out the visitor center, possible tours into the caverns, which now total 390 miles of discovery, and enjoyed this great fire before dark.  This will definitely be a return trip next fall after daughter Sara's wedding in October before we head elsewhere.  

I must say we are traveling now at a much slower pace than ever before, and neither one of us are struggling with the concept of "snail's pace."

Jerry wanted to let you all know he's been looking at RV's again...  This is the camouflage model.  You can imagine my response.

Speaking of other Rv's - my brother, who is the keeper of old slides and movies from our father's years as an amateur photographer sent me this picture (below) before we started traveling.  I was unaware that when my brothers were very little, and before I was born, our parents traveled in this travel trailer.  This photo is of one of their trips to the Grand Canyon.  The entrance to the GC is much different now, for sure.  Evidently, I have this RV / nomad-ism in my blood. When we go to the Grand Canyon next spring, I plan to take a picture of our Whale at the entrance and post them side by side.

The Old Natchez Trace

The Old Natchez Trace

The Gordon house

The Old Natchez Trace

Before we left the Merriweather Lewis Park, we were able to get shots of one section of the Old Natchez Trace.  The Old Trace and the 444 mile paved Natchez Trace Parkway wind through what used to be the old southwest wilderness.  The original trail was a walking trail.  Later, as it became a main thoroughfare, the trail was wide enough to travel by wagon.  Eventually, as steam engines and steam boats became more accessible, the trail was not traveled as often.  The technology of the day reduced the Old Trace to a walking trail, much like smart phones have reduced land lines to dinosaur status.  There are parts of the Old Trace that parallel the narrow pave parkway road. I like to imagine groups of pioneers and traders walking the trail as we drive by.  We passed by the site of Sheboss Stand, the former location of one of the inns that were spaced out on the Old Trace where travelers could stop to rest and get a meal.  All those structures are gone now, but as we sit in our "stand" (the Whale) looking out over the landscape, it's not too hard to imagine the small wooden slat building with covered front porch and smoke curling from the chimney.  An inviting sight to a walk weary traveler.

I spoke too soon...  Just as I was writing about the original structures on the Old Trace being gone, we pulled off to take pictures of the Gordon house, one of the last standing structures on the Trace.  It's also one of the first brick structures erected in this area.  The house was built in 1818, but Gordon and his wife operated a ferry on the Duck River from 1801 until traffic on the Trace declined.  Mrs. Gordon lived in this house until 1859.  Pictures of the house when occupied show shutters open and a full front porch with chairs.  I had to just put up with my curiosity to look inside as the  house was closed, tightly boarded up with bars on the raised basement windows.

We continued north to complete our drive on the Natchez trace and now are on 65 north to Louisville.

Whitten Park & Natchez Trace

Home sweet home Whitten Park

We spent our last day on the Tenn-Tom checking out Fulton, TN.  As we drove by the dam and locks on the waterway outside Fulton, we were lucky enough to get there just as three trawlers were approaching the dam to go through the locks.  Although we could not get close we were able to watch as all three entered, tethered to the side, and slowly sank from view before making their way out the other end of the lock.

After three days at James Whitten Park on the Tenn-Tom, we left this morning to travel the Natchez trail north to Nashville.  The Trace is 444 miles of history beginning in Natchez, Mississippi ending in Nashville, Tennessee.  The trace is rich in history and stories too many tell in this spot.  Natchez Trace was the lifeline through the south west of MS / TN.  Traders traveled by foot / wagon to deliver goods.  Rich tales of discoveries, ambushes, conflict and friendships help us to imagine what it must have been like to travel the Trace in 1700's.  By the early 1800's, the Natchez Trace was a heavily traveled road in the old southwest.  One of many points of interest is that as the Trace developed, several people established "stands" which were overnight inns for travelers to rest and eat before continuing their travels.  Although the sites are marked, the building are gone now, and we are left to our imagination.

 In keeping with promises we made to each to meander not rush, we drove for 40 miles stopping every so often to read road markers and enjoy the view.  We stopped for a light lunch and a nap.  Then we drove 45 more miles to set up at the Lewis Merriweather National Park.  There are no hook-ups.  Not a problem.   We are good to boon dock for at least five days if we are conservative with water use.  Besides that, the camp site is free!  Incredible view!

We will be here only one night making our way to Nashville and north tomorrow.  This is definitely a "come back to" spot.

                   

Home sweet home Lewis Merriweather National Park