Nomad Adventures

We had no idea when we stopped at Tennessee’s Old Stone Fort State Park that we would find ourselves involved in an effort to help preserve an historic bridge at the park. We met some dedicated folks who were organizing a public event to protest the parks plans to tear down the historic bridge and replace it with an $8.5 million concrete bridge. Naturally Ray filmed them and I helped them with creating a Facebook event and printed invitations. A side benefit was that we met some really cool people and they took us on some hikes into waterfall trails that only the locals knew about.

We awoke the second day at the park with a waterfront view – our site had flooded a bit with all the rain. But we did change our site and stay an extra day so we could attend the public meeting. It got a bit heated, but it turned out the department of environmental quality really didn’t have any ability to change the plans, in spite of overwhelming public opposition.

We wish them well with their continued fight to save this important community landmark!

We decided to take our time on our way back up to Michigan for the summer, so I did my usual travel planning thing of researching campgrounds on our route that allow for the driving distances we want to attain each day. So in Georgia, that meant the small town of Unadilla, close to I-75, and included in our Coast to Coast membership. The park costs us just a $5 electric fee per day.

Spending a week in small town Georgia has meant we have to stretch a bit to find meaningful and interesting things to do.

It so happens there is a National Historic Site about an hour’s drive away. Andersonville is the site of a national cemetery as well as the historic site where 45,000 Union prisoners of war were imprisoned. Almost 14,000 of those imprisoned died there.

Andersonville also has a prisoner of war museum on the grounds which was as thought-provoking as it was sobering. Exhibits explored POW experiences over time, including the civil war, WWII, Vietnam and Korea. The cemetery is still in use today, and our sightseeing there was limited because of a service happening during our visit.

The next day we ventured further afield to Providence Canyon State Park. We took Olive along to hike through the beautiful canyon, and I’m afraid we all got a bit overheated. The red clay soil was quite lovely, but what was surprising were the vibrant colors in the different strata of soil, including a pristine white glittering soil that somehow made it onto my skin. (Always wanted to be part pixie!). Another surprising thing was that the canyon is relatively young. It resulted from poor farming practices that cut the trees down, and erosion took hold thereby causing the loss of the town and buildings that had been there.

The several mile hike in and around the canyon was so much fun – it was worth the 3 hour round trip to the park.

Of course when in Georgia one must partake of peanuts and pecans. The RV park we stayed at had pecan trees, but they weren’t in season. So we did travel a ways to a nut store and also found a sausage store we went back to a few times for their smoked spicy breakfast sausage.

Not since traveling to Istanbul and the Kedi (cat) Park have I seen so many stray cats. They were all over the RV park and we also found a flea bitten stray dog at the gas station. Ray got injured when he tried to grab the dog’s collar to help capture it for a man who said he’d give it a good home – but the man was scraggly and toothless himself, making one wonder if his motives were pure…. Regardless, we were unsuccessful in capturing the mutt, as was the animal control officer who arrived to help.

Georgia had a few surprises for us and ended up being a nice spot to travel through and get to know a little better.

Today is my 63rd birthday and we spent it on the road in our 7-day marathon trip from Yuma AZ to Cape Coral FL. Road tripping day after day to put on miles isn’t really mine, or Ray’s, idea of a good time but when you’re trying to get far, it’s the best way.

Until today, we left the truck attached to the trailer for the overnights. That makes for an early morning to be able to hit the road, and we’re normally too tired to go anywhere else after all that driving anyway.

We had some good stops and some not so good ones. One campground in Fort Stockton TX that we planned to stay at was just too yucky even for 1 night, so that day we put on 500 miles before we found a decent RV park.

Texas driving was the absolute worst. We went through both San Antonio and Houston, and there was so much construction, congestion and stop and go traffic that we hated all 900 miles of it. When we hit Louisiana, the welcome center was a welcome stop! And it happened to be the nicest one I’d ever been to, with good facilities and even a boardwalk nature trail along a lake. (Not even the signs warning not to feed the alligators detracted from the experience.)

So tonight we detached the pickup and went out to my promised birthday dinner. Ruby Tuesdays salad bar didn’t disappoint and the dulce de leche cheesecake was beyond delicious.

We’re back to listening to audiobooks as we travel, and already finished Nick Petrie’s latest Peter Ash thriller and are well into Clive Cussler’s Spartan Gold.

Although I’m missing my routine of activities and friends from Yuma, it’s fun to see the change in scenery crossing so much of the country. Accents are different, but the sequence of stops at Love’s truck stops lends a familiarity to the travel.

So this is where 63 finds me – enjoying the nomad life on the road again!

Not an April Fool’s joke, but we’re taking to the road again after 6 months in Yuma at Sun Vista RV Park.

It’s with mixed emotions that we head out. We have an arduous journey ahead to get to Cape Coral FL with 400+ miles a day to tow, which I’m dreading. We had a great time with all the activities and the fun people we met at the RV park, which makes me sad to leave. But I’m looking forward to seeing our friends from Britain who are vacationing in Florida, and of course getting back to Michigan to see family and friends there too.

Highlights of our 6 months in Yuma included:

• Playing flute (Gwen) and drums (Ray) with the in-park jazz band and Katie and the O’Daddies bands
• Jam sessions at our site with friends
• Making a lap quilt to donate to a local charity with the quilt club and getting quilting lessons
• Weekly organized hikes in the desert, and a night hike seeing scorpions
• Enjoying Yuma events like howling at the moon, Tacos & Tunes, Tamale Festival, Balloon Festival
• Fun workout classes like aqua aerobics, walking aerobics, tai chi cha
• Friday night dances, and even Ray got out on the dance floor!
• Meeting great people!

We hadn’t been to a 55+ resort before and had no idea what to expect, but it’s basically like a cruise ship with so much to do and kind of a partying vibe. Too fun!

We’ve been in the same place now for almost 2 months, which means our adventures are centering around Yuma.

This past week I joined the hiking club at the RV park and we ventured out into the desert to the Painted desert trail. it was the first wilderness trail I’ve done in the area and it did not disappoint. The hiking group goes out each Tuesday and I’m looking forward to many hiking adventures ahead with them.

This week I also connected with the quilting club, Sun Vista Piecemakers, and started work on a lap quilt to donate. They offer free classes and one of the members took me under her wing to help me start on a simple pattern. Marie is in her 80’s and also from Michigan. She had been sewing since the age of 3 and worked as a seamstress for Chrysler sewing seats covers for cars. She’s an inspiration! This club donates more than 90 lap quilts annually to veterans, abused kids and nursing home residents. I’m happy that although I got rid of all my sewing supplies, I can still sew here since the park has a sewing machine to lend and the club has a stash of fabric to use.

Our Thanksgiving this year was shared with a table of 10 other work campers, alongside 50 or so other tables of Sun Vista residents. I organized who would be bringing what dishes for our table and it was all quite delicious. I missed family though, and when the table talk turned to those “criminal illegal aliens who were crossing the boarder illegally and not even being checked anymore,” I had to put a halt to the conversation, tactlessly suggesting that wasn’t appropriate table conversation for the holiday and couldn’t we please focus on what we’re grateful for? That earned me stunned silence and cold shoulders from our park neighbors who had previously been friendly with us. Thanksgiving just seems like the right time to acknowledge that we’re all immigrants…

I was able to get to the Yuma balloon festival and see the spectacle of dozens of balloons lifting off to cross the Colorado River. It was so beautiful! Someday I’d love to actually ride in one of them.

There have been 2 yard sales in the park and this weekend Ray bought me a Christmas present I found at one of them; a cactus margarita glass. In typical Ray fashion, he didn’t squirrel it away for Christmas, so I was able to enjoy this 25 cent present immediately. We pick up odd things here and there and don’t have to worry if they’ll fit in the trailer when next we travel; if they’re inexpensive enough we can just plan to use them now and leave them behind when we go. Goodwill is great for that!

What I’m most grateful for is the chance to fully enjoy my days. Each day is filled with fun activities in a place where the sun shines more than any other town in the US. What could be better?