Monday 1 April 2019

Just time for a small one

The road trip is over and we are at Kate & Bill's house in New Hampshire sorting through our stuff - cleaning, packing, and chucking.We fly back on Friday evening and land back in Manchester in time for lunch on Saturday.

Not a great deal happened since the last blog. We finished our dog sit in Vero beach and then it was all about heading north with two planned stops to look around the cities of Savannah, Georgia and Charleston in South Carolina. The journey was relatively easy if a little dull and boring in Delaware. We had one mammoth day where I was keen to get to the other side of New York. That day we crossed seven state borders as we drove from Virginia Beach, Virginia to Danbury in Connecticut, drove 450 miles and spent 9 hours on the road. Surprisingly, the outskirts of New York City at rush hour was a breeze. It did make for a good night's sleep in the Walmart car park and an easy final day.

I will produce a final highlights blog when we get home and have had a chance to gain some perspective. But before the final set of pictures, I want to say a few thank yous to the people who have made this last year so special. It's probably best if you leave the applause until the end otherwise we'll be here al night.


  • First and most obvious, my best friend and wife, Deborah.
  • There's also Milly and Eleanor who didn't complain about being made homeless orphans for most of the year.
  • Naturally, without Bill and Kate's kindness and support we wouldn't have had the RV/car combo and a host of useful tips.
  • Our families, especially Claire & Ron, for being In Loco Parentis, (emphasis on the Loco) and keeping things on an even keel back home.
  • The special people we met along the way that added to our experience with a special mention to Scott in California and Jim and Christy in Louisiana; we'll never forget the time we spent with you and your friends.
  • Maria and Gary for doing a sterling job looking after the dog and the house 


And so to the pics

This first group is from our visit to the McKee Botanic Gardens in Vero Beach, Florida where they were showing a collection of sculptures.










Then it was Savannah Georgia. A really beautiful city with the surprise of enormous container ships slipping past our car park campground.






Deb on a bench in the square where they shot the famous scenes from Forrest Gump



And our final tourist stop on the trip, Charleston







But there was one final gem. We stopped for lunch at a pretty Atlantic town of Edenton in North Carolina and fell in love with the place




Wednesday 13 March 2019

And now, the end is near

Hello again.

We are back in Vero Beach (which always has me singing "Vero Beach, far away in time; Vero Beach, far away in time". One for the oldies, there). This is our last stint of dog-sitting before we head back to New Hampshire where it all started 11 months ago. It is probably the last blog unless I get around to doing a highlights blog when I get home.

My brain is getting so full (or it's leaking like a sieve) that I have to take notes to remind me where we've been and what we've seen.

The dog sitting was a breeze - the three dogs were all well-behaved and didn't need too much sitting so we got to explore Vero Beach. We then headed north ad the first stop was Titusville and the Police Museum.




  

















We did see another gator just cruising around his pond


It seems like a lifetime since I ran up a hill so I got up early one morning to run up and down a bridge to get my legs ready for a return to the Ribble Valley. The view from the top was worth the effort and if you squint you can see the launch platform at Cape Canavaral in the background.



Next stop was St Augustine, the oldest city in the USA. And what a beautiful city it is. There's a fabulous fort and some spectacular architecture



And pirates

The marketing director of this company might need to rethink the brand image


I struggled to choose which yacht to buy so I didn't buy either


Onto Florida's biggest city, Jacksonville. I'm sure it is nice when the sun shines but it was quite grey and misty for us. The street art was good






















But the highlight (as well as watching Free Solo at the cinema - highly recommended unless you're scared of heights) was Sunday lunch buffet at a most unpromising establishment. This was proper finger-licking good food - fried chicken, ribs, shrimp, plantains, fried green tomatoes, pancakes, rice and beans. I didn't eat for a week after.



Art, the chef, hard at work

We have a new favourite place - Fernandina Beach, right at the northern tip of Florida. It's got history, culture and it's right on the ocean.






And then we nipped over the border to Georgia for a couple of nights. They've got nice beaches



and armadillos



The final stop on our trip was Tavares. Apparently the Seaplane Capital of the USA. I only saw 4 seaplanes so that doesn't say much for the rest of the USA. And it's nowhere near the sea. I did get to look at one up close



But it wasn't as nice as the motorbike in Mount Dora




Florida appears to be full of old people and they've booked up a lot of the campgrounds so we've been forced to stay in motorway rest areas


and we had our first Cracker Barrel experience. Cracker Barrel is a chain of restaurants that appears to be one of the busiest places on earth. There was a queue out of the door but the service was so swift and efficient we were soon fed watered and back out of the door in about 20 minutes. The car park was very comfortable. And free.


And that's us up to date.

We are here until Tuesday and then we'll be pointing the RV north and look to be back in New Hampshire before the end of March. We'll be stopping at Savannah and Charleston on the way up.

I can't believe it's nearly over.

Thursday 21 February 2019

Go East Old Man

It definitely feels like we are heading home now and I've mixed emotions about that. The last 10 months or so have been incredible for opening my eyes to the natural wonders of the USA and what a marvellously diverse country it is. I've thoroughly enjoyed the relaxed and simple lifestyle of moving from place to place with no fixed schedule; in general, the driving and navigating has been a breeze, athough there have been "moments" when there is a 3-way disagreement between me, Deb, and the GPS. I adopt a shouty approach, Deb is reasoned and quiet until it's time to say "I told you so", and Sally SatNav is just insistent and irritating.

But it was always going to come to an end and that's just fine because there are some things I really miss besides the obvious things like family, the dog, and home. In the UK a pint is 20floz not 16, I miss meat pies, fish and chips, and of course, persistent rain.

I think I left off last time at the end of a fabulous stay with Christy and Jim in Louisiana. We treated ourselves to a couple of nights in a hotel in New Orleans. And what a contrast to the tranquility of Cajun country. There was no shortage of hustle, bustle, and vibrancy even though the weather gods provided plenty of the persistent  rain and made the colours less sparkly



 


















But there is always food and I couldn't miss the opportunity for some Jambalaya, Crawfish Pie and File Gumbo; it might have looked like prison slop but it was mighty fine.


































You're never far away from a church in the South

One of the jewels in NOLA's crown is the WWll museum. It's one of those places that you've really got to spend at least a couple of days to get the most out of it; perfect for rainy days. And of course there were planes.




















Then it was time to leave Louisiana and whiz through Mississippi and Alabama en route for Florida with a few stops on the way. The most striking aspect of this part of the journey was the devastation caused by Hurricane Michael last autumn to cities like Mexico Beach. To see peoples' homes reduced to piles of rubble and matchwood at the side of the road awaiting collection by the disaster relief teams was upsetting. We didn't stop to gawk or take photographs.

Fairhope was a really nice colourful town with a proper town centre with proper shops and murals. I saw my first daffodils of 2019.


Pensacola was our next stop and we had yet more battery problems. This time both coach batteries failed but thankfully were replaced under warranty. One of the strangest sites we've seen was what looked like newlyweds taking their wedding photos on self timer. No guests is a bit extreme way of keeping the costs down.


There were some less sad sites on Santa Rosa Island





We watched this plucky heron stalking the fisherman; obviously he decided stealing was more efficient than catching your own

We found an almost-parkrun. Unfortunately we were a week early for the first running but we did get to run the trial version to help the organisers make sure they've got everything organised for the real thing

Best name for a campground goes to Sopchoppy City Park. Best for sunsets though was Shell Mound County Park




Some quirkyness



















We both fell in love with Cedar Key and have a notion to buy a plot of land to put a caravan on for winter holidays.






















We spent a whole week in Ruskin, Florida which is across Tampa Bay from St Petersburg. I finally found a half marathon that fitted in with our plans and shaved my head, trimmed my eyebrows, and got me a medal.


Some pics from around the area
St Petersburg through the morning mist


I took a lot of photos of Pelicans - I find them oddly fascinating

A selfie? at The Dali Gallery in St P

Deb in a big tree
Finally, we saw an alligator; I don't think he saw us.



Deb found a hidden talent on the campground when she tried her hand at painting under the supervision of the lady from the tent opposite. We now have 2 original works to hang on the wall when we get home




















And that brings us up to date. We are in Vero Beach for a week or so looking after 3 dogs, then we are going to look around north Florida and the very south of Georgia for a fortnight before coming back for another week with the dogs. And then it will be time to point the RV north and head for home.

Deb with Rusty and Meeko.

Well done for getting this far...have another pelican pic