Summer Days

 It was July in South Carolina. A time where the Earth literally held its breath with a muggy stillness that made you feel as if you were standing underwater. The sky was a brilliant blue without a trace of clouds. My cousin and I raced through the woods, impervious to harm, as any 9 year old feels. Snakes were too hot to attempt to poke their fangs around the dry creek beds, but just in case, we were ready with our swords made of twigs and briars. My granny had packed two sandwiches, thick with mayonnaise and a fat juicy tomato slice. Sweet tea filled a Scooby Doo mug, making us ready for the heat of the day and all the adventures it held. 

My cousin, Donna and I were Nancy Drew looking for mysteries to solve in the quiet little town of Belton. Up in the big house on the hill, we were sure there lived a bank robber with stashes of cash stolen from some unsuspecting town's teller, or maybe the Vampire from "Dark Shadows" waiting for two young girls to wander into his domain. We ducked behind hedges, climbed fences, and peered into places we should not be....

The world was ours as we ran wild all through the hot summer morning. We loved to sit down near the little stream that was holding onto the precious amount of water that evaded most other dry creek beds.

We laid on the cool grass and planned for the time when we would finally be grown. We dreamed of the wonderful places we would see, the exotic people we would meet, and the beautiful house where we would live together. Like some invisible day planner, our ideas, our futures were laid out with little thought to how we would make the dreams come true. Details were for old people and we were young, so very young.

With the food devoured and our imaginations exhausted, we started back to Granny's house. By the time her little house came into view, we would see our granny standing at the screen door waiting like a GPS years ahead of her time. We always asked how she knew we were coming. She always smiled and said the black birds told her and sure enough, black birds would fly from the trees, up to the heavens, with our secrets on their beaks.

Inside the tiny house, a box fan whirled in the big front window.

Granny always suggested we lay on the bed and relax for a while. Though we insisted we didn't need to relax, we climbed into my granny's bed and started telling her about our adventures. What seemed like seconds, ended with my granny shaking our arms and asking if we were gonna sleep the afternoon away. How she always knew just what two little girls needed, will always be a mystery. I never remember going to sleep..... only her smile when we woke up.

Those days seem so long ago. Oh, those non-ending days of summer that somehow did.... I laid down for a short nap in that big bed with the box fan droning away, and woke up here, 600 miles and 44 years later. I long for my Granny and her sandwiches wrapped in wax paper. She has long left this world, but on hot days when the sky won't rain and the breeze won't blow, I crawl into my big bed, with the ceiling fan droning on and on..... I start to tell my granny about all my adventures and just before I fall asleep she whispers, "Oh sweetie, I already know cause a little black bird told me." 

I smile and close my eyes, because out back, in the trees, I hear it call, as it flies with my secrets  up to the heavens.

It's a Pirates life for me....

On Sunday morning, we hooked up Saunter, waved goodbye to our neighbors, and headed out of Suwannee River S.P. to I-10 and Mississippi. The interstate is a fairly easy ride but LONG and monotonous. I thought with the time change, we should pull into our site around three o'clock. NOT!! We put 412 miles under the wheel all along the Florida panhandle, through Alabama and at long last, the Mississippi coast. We followed the Google Map directions through all kinds of twists and narrow turns to get to Buccaneer S.P.  At one point, we came to a railroad crossing with a very large incline that quickly went down to form a towing nightmare. There was not a place to turn around so we, being the crazy fools that we are and extremely tired from the 8 hour drive, decided to go for it..... Probably because of prayer and the fact God does watch over fools and little children, we cleared the tracks.
I would NOT recommend anyone go onto Ioon Street should you be camping at Buccaneer State Park. We should have followed MS-90 to Beach Rd. Live and Learn!! When we pulled into the campground, we noticed the big draw to this one in particular, a large water-park with a wave pool. We are not really into those features these days, but it was nice. At the ranger's station, we were waved in to get our sticker for the truck. I told the young woman my name and a strange look came across her face! "Oh my, she said, "you are not supposed to be here until tomorrow!"....... Early in our planning, we decided to leave on the 1st instead of the 2nd of June. 

I had already booked two nights at Suwannee River, so when I added the other night, it did not register in my brain! So here we were in Mississippi and no reservation. The site that I had picked, sat under trees and had a creek behind it. That site was being used until the original reservation. Ray asked what we could do and the other employee said that the "Long John Silver" camping area had availability. It was closer to the water-park and had lots of families so it was mostly used for campers using the wave pool. There was still limited vegetation due to Katrina so the sites were not shaded. Katrina actually came ashore here in 2005 and totally devastated the entire area. There are still concrete pads along the beach road, where grand homes used to stand.  The State Park is still recovering also, but the beach is across the street and the town is quaint with really good seafood! We took a site for two nights, drove in, unhooked and got our little home set up.

Ray and I decided to chill due to the long ride. We are still getting used to pulling the TT and with all the traffic around the beach towns, it was exhausting. We made kielbasa with peppers and onions on the stove inside, whipped up some yellow rice and ate like ship wrecked survivors! Evidently, long rides make us famished! We decided to visit the town on Monday, and call it an early night. Stop two on our trip, gave us another sticker for our map, and more memories for years to come.

The next morning, we had coffee and cleaned up, Saunter, then headed into town for the day. About four miles down Beach Rd is the little town of Bay St. Louis. We looked at Yelp for the best choices for lunch and the Blind Tiger came up with 5 stars. It sits right on the water with a marina off to the side and a train track on the other side. We climbed the stairs to the upper level and sat down with an amazing view of the water. The Blind Tiger gets its name as an old Speakeasy from back during the Prohibition era. The town was a hang out for pirates for years because of the bay with many hiding places including Cat Island, which is visible off in the distance. Nowadays, the town is a nice seaside tourist attraction with shops, bookstores, ice cream parlors and people always ready with a wave or a smile. The restaurant is AMAZING! I believe I ate the best mahi tacos ever! The fish is so fresh and the presentation was well thought out also. Ray had a Cajun boil that included Big Reds, which are enormous shrimp.

There was also corn on the cob, sausage and potatoes. We were supposed to share a large basket of fries, but we could not finish them! So much food.... and I had a coconut mojito... YUM!!! Ray had their famous margarita, which he said was quite refreshing!!  We decided to take a walk through the town, after we finished eating and chatting with the bartender, who was a sweet young girl, named Camry, like the car; I did not ask why her mom named her after a car, however, the little twinkle in her eye when she told us her name, kind of answered the question.

Ray pointed out a small bookstore, which makes me love him so much more, and we ducked inside out of the afternoon heat. There was a section on the history of the town as well as many books on Katrina. I had noticed some trees carved with angels into their branches and wondered the story behind them. The one by the beach was actually moved to it's new resting place after being carved. A family had decided to ride out the storm in their family home. Seven people huddled together to overcome yet another hurricane that threatened their town. This storm was not going to be like any other, and out of the seven people, four survived. They were found clinging to a large tree when the eye passed over the town of Bay St. Louis.

The tree was carved with an angel to forever commemorate the resilience of the people of the area, and remember those who did not make it through. We

browsed the bookstore and I chose a book for myself. 
We walked back out and down the sidewalk, checking out the boutiques, the artwork and a really old cemetery. I may be on the morbid side, but I really enjoy looking at headstones and thinking about the people who's memories twirl around the memorials. I try to listen quietly for the stories that lay somewhere between the year of birth and the year of death. That dash in between holds all of our secrets and holds my fascination. So odd that our lives come down to birth and death, when who we are is truly in the space between. 

   After walking around the town for awhile, we came upon an ice cream shop and to our amazement, we had room for just a little more food.... lol   The sign instructed us to fill the bowl with frozen yogurt and all the toppings before bringing it to be weighed. The woman behind the counter said that if we could guess the weight, our order was free. I am horrible at this game which is why I still try to buy size 6 clothes.... anyway, I lost because surprisingly, it weighed more than I guessed..... go figure!! We finished our treat and I thought we would head back to the camper via the beach, however, Ray wanted to visit the local Wal-Mart........ ughhh! I did need a couple of things so we punched in the directions and made a detour in our vacation. I think Walmart needs to make travel stickers... we go to one every time we travel! 

Back to our TT, Saunter, we stored our purchases and skipped dinner from all of the food we piled in earlier. The campground was okay, but I would probably look for a different place next time. The views of the ocean were very nice though and the staff seemed friendly, it just wasnt what we normally look for in a campground. Then again, I may have felt differently had we got our original site. We went ahead and stored our chairs and outdoor rug so we could get up and go in the morning. We were looking at a 360 mile drive and now that we know how long that takes, wanted to get an early start. All in all, stop number two on the trip has been wonderful. We enjoyed the town, the ocean and all the food. Ray found a t-shirt and I got a travel sticker from the town, not the Walmart. Time to go make more memories and saunter on.........

Sauntering to Suwannee....

When the sun came up and it's warm beams reached my face, summer break was finally here. What a difference from the crazy three weeks of rain that had saturated SW Florida. Ray and I had packed most of our things onto our Travel Trailer, Saunter, but as always on our trips, there was still plenty to do. Bank runs, last minute shopping, breakfast, mail, and a goodbye to our kitty, Brisa. We decided to leave her this summer with our friend, Sheila who had agreed to house/kitty sit for us. We snapped a couple of pictures, got into our truck and pulled out for our first summer adventure of camping across the country.

Most everyone has memories of their summer breaks from school. The lazy days that stretch into one another, hot afternoons cooled off at the beach, the pool, or in my case, the pond, summer camps, ice cream on the picnic table, nights at Granny's house and the long awaited family vacations with my brothers and sister. I had quite the magical childhood that is now etched into my memory. Luckily, for me, my summers are still filled with anticipation and adventure. Teaching may not pay enough to make me rich, but it gives me a summer break to go and relive some of the childhood shenanigans. Now, I get to go with my husband, which makes it all that much more amazing.

This year, we are leaving our sailboat, NuTrix, safely tucked away in the boatyard and taking our TT, Saunter, to see the USA, well some of it anyway. Since I have never done anything akin to traveling across the country, I took some advice from friends, read articles, joined a group on FB for RV'ers and crossed my fingers that it would all work out. But then again, adventures happen when nothing works the way you have planned.
For our first night, I booked a site at Suwannee River State Park. It is 302 miles from our house in SW Florida, so it seemed an easy run.... HA! Up, up, up I-75 we drove around Tampa, Ocala, Gainsville and finally merged onto I-10. Our little Nissan truck pulled Saunter like a champ. The big semis passed us with a laugh at our 60 mph speed, but we were not in a hurry..... we like to saunter! That is a good thing, because 6 hours and 15 minutes later, we pulled into Suwannee River S.P. The ranger told us that we had scored the best spot in the campground, #20.

Well, I guess I did a good job on that... totally lucky...haha. Ray backed into our spot which was totally secluded from other sites. We put out our flag, rolled out the rug, set up the chairs, unhooked the truck and sat down with the sun. What an amazingly beautiful spot too!  Ray grilled filet mignon and I made green beans and potatoes. We sat inside because there was a welcome committee of mosquitoes that came calling for more blood than we were prepared to give. Glasses raised, we made a toast to the beginning of a wonderful adventure ahead. The day had been long so we pulled down our Murphy Bed (what a great invention!) and climbed into a cloud of covers and pillows. I grabbed my phone to try and call my mom when it slipped and fell in between the bed and the wall. We searched the cabinets but there was no way to reach the phone! FOREVERMORE!!! The crevice was too narrow for my hand and we didnt have tongs long enough to reach that would fit in the small space. Finally, I had an idea... never a good thing..... I figured that if I lay across the top of the bed and Ray raised it up, I could get my hand into the crevice and retrieve my phone. Well, I meant for him to slowly raise the bed, however, I did not make this part clear. Ray shoved the bed up and down down I went.... but I was stuck and could not get a hold with my foot or hand to get back out. I had visions of the fire department coming through the campground, lights blarring, to pull some crazy ass woman out of a Murphy Bed! Panic was starting to bubble up as Ray kept pulling to get the bed back down, but my leg was jamming the mechanism to lower the bed. I did manage to grab my phone, you know, so I could call 911, but I was stuck. I took a breath and remembered all the times that I rolled a kayak and how I needed to position myself. I am slightly bigger than I was way back then, however, I girls gotta pull it together in times like this... I pushed against the wall with my hand, twisted my foot... omg that hurt.... and pushed with my foot as Ray pulled down. Well it worked!!! I came down with the bed, we looked at one another and burst out laughing!! "Did you get your phone?", he asked. I held it up and assessed my bruises and cuts. Not too bad for  a 49 year old who is far from the shape I once was. We finally succumbed to sleep, leaving our first night with laughter and hope for more to come.

The next day, after coffee and breakfast, Ray and I took our bikes out to find the hiking trails. We got new water bottles at Walmart and were anxious to see how they worked out, so we attached them to the bikes and rode off.
We came to the Suwannee River and found very well marked trails. The river was massive and running quickly from all of the rain. Most of the tributaries were still dry, however. There was an old bridge going one way and two trails cutting off the other way. We decided to go the Lime Sink Run trail. I had no idea why it was called that, but wanted to find out. One wonderful thing about state parks, is the signs that are available along trails to tell some history of the area, a little about the flora and the animals that we may encounter. The cypress trees tower up over the rest of the canopy and fall into the black water pools that stretch for miles.

Ray tried to see how far he could reach around one tree and I got a picture just to show the magnitude of the size. It was a reverent walk with no one else around and only the sounds of birds and insects to fill the silence. We came up to a clearing and found a pond so green that it looked like a painting. Stretching across the end of the pond was an old cypress tree that hadn't the strength to stand up anymore and looked as if it was taking a nap in the shade of the younger trees. On top of the tree was a huge turtle. It was the size of a small child, just quietly enjoying the rays of the sun streaming through the canopy. We gazed around just trying to take it all in before we moved on. Up ahead was a set of stairs leading up to a bridge. Up we climbed to the next amazing site to behold. The river was dammed up with tree limbs and other debris from storms so that it was not moving. The green covered the water here also from lime deposits and small birds had left prints. Everything was so still and peaceful; I felt I could sit and stare for hours.

The little gnats had other plans though so once again, we made our way through the forest. Finally we came back to the river and our bikes. The water bottles, by the way, work wonderfully! They were a great investment of 2.99 and cut down on all the plastic that seems to be taking over our oceans.... different story though!!
We walked along the river, seeing mushrooms, big spiders and even a sturgeon that took a giant leap out of the river. Finally it was time to get back to the camper and make some dinner. We were back for about 45 minutes when we heard a rumble in the distance. A nice man from across the road came to tell us that we were under a severe thunderstorm warning and probably needed to bring in the awning. Campers are a nice bunch of people, kind of like sailors. I guess people in general are normally friendly, its the 1 percent of goobers that we like to focus on most of the time. Anyway, we got everything in just in time for the lightening and rain show. WOW did it put on for us too. Safely tucked into our camper, we watched the rain form ponds around the picnic table and trees. Then as suddenly as it came, it left. 

Steamy air hung around in it's absence, but the little squirrels still scampered out to see what we were doing, hoping for a morsel of food. I kept telling them that we were not feeding them, but they could dream, I suppose.  Day two of our trip was coming to a close. Two weary hikers, full of a wonderful dinner, happy from a day of adventure and excited for the upcoming days ahead, feel into bed and were soon fast asleep.

We awoke, enjoyed our coffee with the squirrel friend that always showed up, and had some breakfast under the trees. We hooked up the TT, stowed all the stuff into cabinets and baskets, climbed into the truck and waved a goodbye to our first park. 408 miles stretched ahead to Mississippi and our next park..... what an amazing summer already! I am anxious to see what tomorrow holds, but wow am I enjoying today, also!!!
Saunter on......

Changes in Attitude

Change is inevitable! How many times have we heard those words? But it is so true. Seasons change from Spring to Summer, round and round it goes.... the babies that we hold today, will be graduating college and starting their own lives tomorrow.
That is how life works, it grows, it changes and leaves us with little to no say so in the matter. Sometimes, it is a wonderful discovery of an adventure that we could not have ever envisioned on our own. We happen upon new friends in a small marina on a Bahamian Island, we go into a general store on another little cay and meet four people from a place in the world where I have only read about online.... those crazy encounters that seem so innocuous to our lives, change us in ways that we cannot put into words.
Our lives are changed, my life HAS been changed forever.

Chris, Summer, Sam, Noah, Marita, Curry, Holli and John were just names this time last year, but now they are my friends! Each one has a place in my heart and I cannot imagine life without them in it. Sometimes, however, change comes into our lives and rips out our heart while it still beats. This time last year, I was a Mimi and because Ray's sons have decided that I am no longer worthy of their love, they have stripped that title from me. Ray and I have had our hearts handed to us on a plate and though it hurts, we continue on.

How amazing that in one year, change can bring so much love and happiness and so much sorrow. That is life though.... good and bad, happy and sad, dull and on top of the world! Its a heartbeat with it's ups and downs..... without it, we would flat-line. I choose life, change and all....

This year, Ray and I will not be sailing for our islands, instead we will be "sauntering" through the United States in our little camper. John Muir, the most wonderful naturalist and visionary for our forests and mountains, shared a beautiful insight: "Hiking, I don't like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains, not hike! It's a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages, people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when other people in the villages through which they passes asked where they were going, they would reply, "A la sainte terre" to the Holy Land. So they became known as Sainte-terre-ers... Saunterers. These mountains are our Holy Land and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not "hike" through them.

The change this year is in a different mode of transportation... our camper, Saunter, instead of our sailboat, Nu Trix. We are trading the sea for the open road, but we are not changing the adventure that calls us. We have never taken on such a trip and truly do not know what to expect. We could have the euphoria of meeting new friends in some out of the way forest or mountain vista, or we could have tragedy strike and steal our hearts. Change will come, new days will dawn and the sun will set on happiness or sadness. I have found this past year that it is all in my attitude. I cannot dictate that ebb and flow of life, but as in sailing, I can adjust my sails.... and in camping, I can pull over, put out the awning and pour a glass of wine. Attitude says that I can find my smile even when tears are flowing... attitude says that I can hold out in the downpour for the sun that will eventually come out again.... attitude says that I can find strength in my soulmate, Ray when I am so weak that I cannot breath on my own.... Attitude changes is what keeps us going when life changes.

So when you see my posts and pictures this year, and you will.... know that the life that I have isn't perfect and isn't without heartbreak, but I would not want it any other way. I have grown in love and understanding throughout everything that this life has thrown at me and until my last breath, I will continue on..... sauntering!!!