I wonder what shiners are?  No, Rick, they don’t wear funny hats and ride little cars in parades.

Lots of roadside stands saying all of these things are available.  We assume they are bait, of course, but shiners?  Well, who knows.  We’re in the deep South as I start this letter, with people fishing off every pier, roadside water access, bayou.  Fresh crayfish available on the side of the road and fresh shrimp (along with the boiled peanuts) on sale at every gas station.  If Rick would only be willing to eat some of this good stuff that surrounds us, but it was all I could do to get him to try a bite (one) of catfish.  Then back to his hamburger.

We have started back to the West Coast, and plan to hit San Luis Obispo on March 30, but before leaving made a list of what we HADN’T done; we will be back next winter, probably late December or early January.  WHAT WE DID NOT DO:  go for a canoe ride on the St. Johns River; get that perfect picture of horses or cows grazing in a pasture under the oak trees; visit the Dry Tortugas; have key lime pie (can you believe I missed that???); visit the Kennedy Space Center, Pensacola, or St. Augustine; and I never got the chance to get into the waters of the Gulf (much less the Atlantic).  So you can see we must return.

A few final thoughts of Florida ….. they hold their fairs in February and March, rather than in the late summer; their secondary roads are beautifully maintained, so you really can stay off the interstates (do you think it has something to do with the lack of freezing weather than ruins roads?); and all the houses have these dorky looking screen rooms off one side.  They often are covering an area where their swimming pool is; they aren’t very attractive, but even the nicest houses have them.  They kind of remind me of those cheap fireplace screens that are just bent mesh.  Ugly, but apparently desirable in order to avoid the summer bugs.  But we traveled through the fern capital of the world (Seville), where they grow all kinds of low plantings under a canopy of the oak and pine trees, a lovely sight.  And close to Seville is DeLand (like in “de plane, de plane”) a pretty and gracious old Florida town that I would come back to in a minute.

We now have traveled the Sid Martin Memorial Freeway, Claude Pepper Memorial Highway, Lawton Chiles Memorial Highway, Henry W. Bostick Highway, and, in Alabama, the Walter C. Givhan Parkway.  Who ARE these people?  Actually, I recognize some of the names, but good grief!)

Leaving Florida we spent a few days at a Safari pre-FMCA rally in Hoboken Georgia.  If you know what I’m talking about, neat; otherwise, suffice it to say there were about 100 Safari motor coaches all camping together, drinking and eating their heads off and having a fine time.  We got a chance to talk to a bunch of other Trek owners, and enjoyed the chance to swap stories and information.  An unexpected treat was that there was bluegrass music one night, from a local group that was very good, and in talking to their banjo player we found out about a couple of festivals to be held at that site later in the year, which we will definitely try to attend.  All in all a very good time, and we made several instant friends and got invitations to visit people all over the country.  Also a chance to go to Mexico next February with a group of fellow Escapee members if we wish (we do wish, and will start working towards that goal) and some people to join in Nova Scotia later in the summer (which we also do wish!). 

Leaving Hoboken, we have now traveled across Georgia, visiting the Andersonville Civil War site and POW Museum (which had a very strong impact on both of us; POWs from all wars were represented, either by description of from their own words, and it was very powerful), and the Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus, along the Chattahootchee River (I just love the names of the rivers in the South).  Then on through Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, cutting across the middle parts of each of those states.  We did have the chance to travel for a short ways along the Natchez Trace, which is quite lovely.  We’ll do more of that again.  The South is indeed in bloom, with dogwood, redbud, and azaleas everywhere.  Everything is green and pretty.  And…..the bugs are out.  We spent a night along the Chattahootchee River, just below Columbus, in a lovely state park.  But bugs, bugs, oh my the bugs.  But it was fun anyway.  We also spent a night in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and wandered the lovely old homes the next morning before leaving.  At Vicksburg there is an expansive National Park and Cemetery showing the battle for control of the town, which was achieved by Grant and Sherman after a 46-day siege.  It was an important town for both sides, and the fighting was bloody and protracted.  The Union army finally decided a siege was the only way.  But Vicksburg held out for a long, long time.  We have really been enjoying touring the battle sites and monuments from the Civil War, and the story is always well told.  Until we went to the naval museum in Columbus we had no idea how involved the navies were in that conflict.

Something we haven’t seen, but have seen signs for:  Cypress Knee Santas.  I can hardly wait.  They are being advertised along the road in Louisiana.

Heading west gets boring about the middle of Texas.  Seems like the water runs out about 50 miles west of San Antonio.  That’s not really true, but will do as a narrative comment!  We’ve slogged along, putting in longer days to try and get across the worst of it.  We’re coming back to California to take care of taxes, business matters, and medical appointments.  So we’re sending this message to you from Sun City, Arizona, where we’re visiting with Rick’s mom and having ‘arvey serviced and having additional solar panels installed.  We expect to be in San Luis Obispo from Saturday, March 30 through Friday night, April 5.  We hope to visit with as many of you as possible, but if we miss you, please know it’s only because we won’t be in town all that long.  We are planning to camp at Morro Bay State Park (wanted to do that for 25 years while I lived there, but have to come back in order to make it happen, naturally).  When we leave we’ll head up the coast to see family, and then back towards the East Coast.  We’re already finding that as much as we love all of you, and love the San Luis Obispo area, it’s just plain prettier as soon as you get across the Mississippi River.  You need to come see!

As always, we really appreciate hearing back from you in response to our letters.  Even as we make new friends, we hate to lose touch with all of you.  So keep those cards and letters coming!

Love, Rick and Kathy

P.S.  we’ve found out that you can by-pass El Paso, Texas when traveling on I-10.  A profound improvement!

See more photos from 2002-2003

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