Can gather Spanish moss.  And it’s cool stuff.  It’s pretty much everywhere here in Florida.  Hangs from all kinds of trees.  If memory serves, it’s a parasite, just like mistletoe at home.  But this is lovely and wispy; grey in color and very hang-y.  if you pick it up and look closely, it’s quite similar to sage; long, thin, segmented strands.  Prettiest, I think, hanging from the oak trees.  Oak trees you say?  How can there be oak trees in Florida?  You would be amazed; so far, the only palm trees I’ve seen in northern Florida are the ones planted beside the freeways.  They are all further south; the entire northern part of the state is wooded, mostly pines of two varieties:  white and loblolly, both grown for harvesting.  There are huge tree farms everywhere.  The pines have a wonderful aroma that is very sweet right now.  The land that is clear is being used for cattle mostly, with hay and some cotton and other crops.  We’ve seen plenty of citrus trees, too, of course.  And huge tracts are being developed, with new homes and shopping centers abounding.

Traveling along the highways, throughout the South, we’ve seen lots of fireworks stands.  Prior to the new year, they were heavily manned; it seems they play a major role in New Year’s Eve celebrations.  We were in San Antonio at that time, and I was told everybody bought them, then took them outside the city to set off because of local regulations. 

We’ve also seen eating places being advertised that are new to us.  My favorite so far is Chick-fil-A, as yet untried, which appears to be a variation on a hamburger joint.  But classy ads on the billboards; they feature a couple of three-dimensional black and white Jersey cows extolling the virtues of eating chicken (however it’s spelled! – which the cows spell “chikin”).  All in good fun.  Rick isn’t quite ready for a chicken-only stop, so we haven’t checked them out to date.

The fruit at the stands has been wonderful, and they are everywhere as soon as you get off the interstates.  The citrus varieties are joined by cantaloupes and watermelons, and even more delightful, fresh strawberries.  I had not known, but the area northeast of Tampa grows most of the strawberries for (at least) the southeast; and major research goes on here (near Tampa), as an extension of the University nearby in Gainesville.  We like this area, but certainly would never settle here because of the summer weather.

We took a week and headed up toward the dreaded Orlando and Disney World.  And we survived two days there.  We actually did have fun, because we always have fun.  We went to Epcot the first day.  It’s a mixed bag; there are really interesting things to see, but we were overwhelmed by the commercialism.  Literally every single thing you saw was sponsored by a commercial entity, along with its t-shirts, mugs, pins, etc.  Epcot used to be a display of what was new, upcoming, cutting edge in the world.  But it has become a permanent world’s fair, albeit with interesting information available.  We spent our other Disney day in the Animal Kingdom, and enjoyed it far more.  Many fewer commercial tie-ins, and some really cool animal viewing opportunities.  We were able to be at an underwater tank while a hippopotamus was swimming around, and it was right next to us at the glass, mouth open and teeth bared!  Well worth the price of admission, I must say.  We were also just as close to a family of gorillas, with two little ones romping around while mama ignored them and papa took charge.

Further afield, we’ve had a delightful, if quick, trip to Alabama and back.  Rick advertised the tent trailer for sale, and very quickly found a buyer.  But he lives in Kansas City, Missouri.  So ….. what to do?  You meet in the middle.  We met him in Birmingham and made the exchange.  He was a delightful fellow, and all went very smoothly.  We were incredibly lucky with the weather.  The week before had been just awful, very cold; and the week after our trip was very rainy.  But it was warm and beautiful for us.  For this trip, we left the RV in Tampa and went up and back on the motorcycle.  On the way, we spent a night in Eufala, Alabama, a smallish town on the Chattahoochee River.  It boasts one of the largest collections of antebellum and late 19th century homes in the South.  It was quite a delight riding around and seeing them in the morning before we left.  One disappointment:  we had assumed that with such a charming small town environment, there would be a charming café for breakfast.  No such luck.  We wandered all over creation, and finally ended up eating at the local Waffle House (which was totally full of the locals who also had no other place to have their breakfast!)  Have you ever eaten at a Waffle House?  The food is fine, but they are quite small and dingy and make no attempt to have a smoke-free area.  Gasp!  The hospitality was nice, however.  The waitresses were charming.

This trip also included time spent on the Jefferson Davis Highway, the Jim Nabors Highway, the Hank Williams Musical Memory Highway, and the Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway.  What a combination!  That’s what I like about the South…..  Oh, and we came across the Rosa L. Parks Avenue in a neighborhood outside Montgomery.  History abounds!

My biggest treat was my first piece of sweet potato pie; it was truly yummy.  And Rick got to go see the largest motorcycle museum in North America (at least) in Birmingham.  I enjoyed it very much, too.  To say nothing of going through Sylvester, Georgia, the peanut capital of the world.  We liked southern Georgia a lot.  Coming home we spent a night in Thomasville, a fine southern town.  We’ll visit there again sometime.

We are slowly moving down the Gulf Coast, first to Port Charlotte (the place where we stayed had a canal with a sign to watch out for the alligators.  We didn’t see any, though.  But the sign said not to feed them because when you stopped, they would come looking for the food they expected from you.  Or maybe they were talking about the brown rabbits that were wandering around everywhere – do you suppose?) and currently we are in Naples (south of Venice – doing it the Florida way!).  Haven’t waded in the water yet, but soon, soon….. we spent a couple of lovely hours in Sarasota, which has the same refined tone as Santa Barbara, at the Selby Botanical Gardens.  This particular garden specializes in epiphytes (gotcha with that one, I bet).  Epiphytes are plants that live on their host but do no damage, as opposed to parasites.  Mistletoe (it will destroy – choke – the host tree) is a parasite; orchids are epiphytes.  Now you know why it was a beautiful spot.

A few thoughts about riding along in an RV:  it’s REALLY, REALLY DIFFERENT.  We are used to the motorcycle, which turns on a dime, can hang a U more quickly than you can think to do it, has lots of power, is smaller than a breadbox, and is the bike we’ve been traveling on for 75,000 miles.  We are now RIDING IN THE BREADBOX.  No complaints, just a lot of things to get used to.  You don’t just “do” anything; you think about it, plan how to do it, and then start in.  This means turns, lane changes, entering and leaving parking lots, spotting Wendy’s for lunch, you name it.  And, at least now, we pretty much stay in the right lane.  And you know what that means.  Every Tom (sorry, Tom Wardell), Dick (sorry, Dick Robinson) and Harry wants the same space you do.  Rick is incredibly good at this, and he is quite happy with the whole situation; I’m totally paranoid all the time.  (Of course, I’m sitting in the right hand seat….)  The other day we had significant winds, and WOW.  But every trip is easier.  We’re moving around quite a bit, every few days, and it’s giving us plenty of practice.  Getting settled in our camp site is different each time; each location has its individual issues to address.  Rick is sooooo cool, never a problem he can’t solve.  What a peach!

By the way, we have had so many wonderful comments from all of you recently; we feel so much better connected than we did at first.  Keep those cards and letters coming, folks; it’s just great.  But just one thought.  If at all possible, please don’t attach our long letters to your responses.  We receive most of our e-mail through our cell phone, and it’s pretty slow.  So when you just hit “Reply,” we get all our letter back, too, and it takes a lot of time.  Thanks!

A closing thought.  Rick and I have both been reading a great book, Undaunted Courage, by Stephen Ambrose, about the Lewis and Clark voyage to the Pacific.  It’s well written and you might enjoy it.  At one point, Merriweather Lewis describes the country as they go up the Missouri River and see the Great Plains for the first time.  Among other things, they talk about the variety of flowers “delicately and highly flavored, raised above the grass, which strike and perfume the sensations, and amuse the mind” (italics mine).  Everything about our lives is like that sentence; Rick and I see the world around us and it strikes and perfumes the sensations and amuses our minds.  We are so very happy.

Rick and Kathy

See more photos from 2002-2003

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