Here we are  in Portland, Oregon its 57 degrees, spitting rain and I’m still working on Arizona where I’m sure Doug and Gail are enjoying 90-100 degress. But its a dry heat – right?

D & G (Doug & Gail) decided we should see the town of Oatman which is a little ways up old 66 from LHC (Lake Havasau City – remember from part one?)  A section we skipped when we came across I- 40 from Flagstaff and Doug was more than happy to take us back up it.

 

But first.. So Gail has this hat she likes to wear but doesn’t like to be seen in.. at least in photos. This is not Gail! This is not Gail’s hat. Nothing to see here…. move along now..

On the way to Oatman:

 

And finally Oatman!

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I’m not against a little “personal” protection… think about it myself.

I was just a tad curious as to how the good citizens of Oatman, Arizonia worked it out.

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But then it became obvious…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oatman has a lot going, for a place that lets its “burros” hang out.

and of course the old prospector and his new friends…

 

 

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Oatman has Olive Oatman, a young Illinois girl who was allegedly kidnapped by Indians and eventually released nearby. Hence the name Oatman.

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A Post Office. Gail points to a sign that says 10 minute parking and they really mean it!!

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Assorted establishments:

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This..

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Loaded Jeeps:

And a hotel..

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Where Clark Gable and Carol Lombard had their honeymoon.

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Gable loved the place and would come back to play poker with the miners.

Frankly my dear I don’t give….

 

Doug likes the place. ‘coarse could have been because the place was plastered with over  $60,000 in dollar bills. A tradition that dates back to the mining days when miners would come and have the bar-keep nail up some money and when they had drunk it up throw ’em out.

 

After lunch in the Oatman Hotel we went back out into the street just in time for the settling of a minor misunderstanding between townsfolk…

 

Doug explaining that he had nothing to do with it.

and finally:

We left Oatman and headed out of town toward Kingman on old 66.

We stopped at this road side station that I vaguely remember from the family trip in the 60’s. Something about charging more for tap water to fill the radiator than for Coke and dad not going for it. Where’s a loaded Jeep when you need one?

We made it back to D & G’s. That is not Gail and not her hat. Nothing to see here.. move along….

Our next stop was back east a bit to Ben & Bette Munger in Cave Creek, Az. But that’s another story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We dropped in on Doug & Gail Sweet, old, old, old friends from long ago, who just happen to live in Lake Havasu City near the Arizona – California border. (California is on the other side of the lake formed by damming the Colorado River at Parker Dam).

 

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Home SWEET home.

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Lake Havasu City (LHC) was established in 1963 by Robert McCulloch, the chainsaw guy, as a planned community (whatever that is). Other than Lake Havasu, houses on the desert hills, the heat and an occasional rattlesnake, LHC’s other claim to fame is the London Bridge. Yes, that London, back in merry old England.

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McCulloch bought the 1830 bridge from the City of London in the 1960’s and had it shipped over and rebuilt.  It and a canal under it from the Colorado were completed in 1971.

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I remember reading about this and thinking how foolish can you be buying a bridge and putting it up in the middle of a desert in Arizona?

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Seems to have worked!

There are nearly 60,000 people soaking up the sun in Lake Havasu City now, not including the spring breakers – sorry – no pictures, too much nudity. Rumor has it that “Jack-the-Ripper” came over with the bridge, too.

I met Doug and Gail way back when I was one of the  ‘ute’s in our church. They were asked to oversee us as youth directors. They were only a couple of years older than most of us (Gail was- Doug robbed the cradle).  Anyway they accepted, fools that they were, and I’ve missed (needed?) their overseeing ever since.

Doug is a retired GM engineer, actually he is an engineer’s engineer’s engineer. That’s him in his computer room where he has roughly 200,000 computers and who knows what else. Its hard to describe Doug. His brother Ken, who also lives in LHC, calls him Monk after the TV character, but I think his “Monkness” is because Doug’s brain is constantly analyzing and “engineering” at warp speed.

Its good to have a Monk around especially when one’s convertable top won’t convert:

 

 

 

 

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Gail, on the other hand…

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while trying to keep Doug focused had to put up with us for a long, long time and that can be very try- I mean tiring. She gave up her sewing room for us to sleep in. Made meals for us. Baked bread. Fixed home made granola (which I kept eating). Took Mary to water aerobics. Played Mexican Train and Wii with us.

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Even took a chance and introduced us to some of her friends. Gail was a great hostess even when we came back the second time.

 

 

 

What can you do/see at Lake Havasu City??

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You can see the Michigan Rock.  The UP fell off during the last snow storm.

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Go to a swap meet:

Go out to eat:

Appraise Doug’s thoughts on head gear. 

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Go to church.

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Swim:

 

Look at stuff:

Go to Oatman, Az:

EDIT NOTE: I was going to wait until I was done with this post before publishing, but we have run into a couple of snags with our “wheels” and time has slipped by.

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So there will be a part “deux”.

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Seat belt Doug..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We crossed into Arizona and stopped at the welcome center.

Our first “things to see” in Arizona was the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. Something I can almost remember from the trip to California my parents took the family on in the summer of ’64 or 65, I can’t remember which for sure. Route 66 was pretty much it back then and we stopped here, I know, as we still have the little vial of Painted Desert sand and piece of petrified tree, all legal back then. Today you are admonished not to touch anything and are checked at the exit for contraband. That’s a good thing though, as it leaves it for the next visitor. Mary bought a National Park pass (senior citizen – don’t tell her I said that) when we were in Hawaii for 10 dollars that lets her and a  guest (me) into any National park for free. Smart woman.

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Route 66 used to go through right between the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest.

 

 

 

We met a young family from Michigan while looking at the Indian ruins and hieroglyphics. We told them we were from Clio and she said she taught school in Montrose – small world indeed.

On the way to the Petrified Forest:

The Petrified Forest:

From the Forest we looped back up to 66 and Holbrook, Az.

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This isn’t quite to Holbrook, but it is one lonely, lonely tree.

 

 

 

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This is the welcome sign to Holbrook.

 

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I had thought we left Roswell behind but it seems we’re caught in a time warp.

 

 

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One of the cool things to do when traveling Route 66 in the good ‘ole days was to stay at a Wigwam Motel. As dad was hauling a travel trailer on our trip back then we didn’t get to stay in one, but this time…

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Not easy to see, but then the Jag looked a little out of place anyway.

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Mary wanted a picture of the wigwams at dark and they are cute.

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It was really kinda cool staying there. The wigwam was concrete and even though we were in unit # 1 right beside 66 we couldn’t hear any traffic sound. The bed was comfortable and was just – fun.

 

 

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Next stop was Winslow, Arizona and breakfast.

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Then we Stood on the Corner for a while.

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and  then hit the road.

 

 

From Winslow we followed I-40 to Flagstaff.

We were able to pick up 66 again a little way west of Williams, Az and rode it all the way to Kingman. (little pictures are thumbnails, to see better click on them but sit back as I don’t know how big they get….actually you can click on any of the pics for a larger frame.)

Then we ran into one of those blasts from the past that you just slap your head about. “I remember those!”

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Burma Shave!!

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on to Kingman..

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Kingman, Az is where we broke off 66 to head down to Lake Havasu City and one Sweet bed and breakfast, but that’s another story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its a long way from Rio Hondo, Tx to Lake Havasu City, Az and, yes, you can see California from here. In between is a lot of – well a lot of stuff and we tried to see all of it.

West Texas:

Well actually there were parts of West Texas that didn’t have a lot in it. We decided to try to stay away from expressways, again, and worked our way up thru the small towns and stage coach stops.

Which is not to say that the drive was boring. The scenery, or lack there of, was – well, West Texas.

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In our mind’s eye we were seeing outlaws, Indians and the Lone Ranger out there some place.

 

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We spent the night in Del Rio on the Mexican border after having walked the streets of Laredo. There is a theme here someplace but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

 

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The next morning we crossed the Pecos.

 

 

 

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Now that we were on the other side of the Pecos we had to be on the lookout for …

 

 

The Law West Of The Pecos.

Yup,  Judge Roy Bean in the flesh. Real guy. Real place. All in Langtry Texas, named Langtry by Bean after English actress Lillie Langtry, the Jersey Lily and the Judge’s heartthrob. The picture above is the actual saloon/court room of Judge Roy Bean restored by the State of Texas.

The Judge wrote to Lillie Langtry numerous times describing the town and inviting her to visit. She finally did, unfortunately the Judge had passed away 10 months prior.

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We ran into Charlie Sheen on the way out of town. I wondered where he would end up.

 

 

A little more Texas:

We moised on up the trail and crossed into New Mexico…

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in search of Aliens and the Kid.

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You could tell we were getting closer to Roswell.

 

 

 

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and then we were there.

 

 

 

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Actually I don’t believe we saw anything. Really, it was just swamp gas or a hallucination… Hey! Where are you taking us.

H

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P !!!

 

Sometime later we found ourselves in Lincoln, NM (not sure how we got there) a one street town with no claim to fame ‘cept for the Lincoln County War. The movie “Young Guns” filmed around Lincoln, portrays the events surrounding the Lincoln Country War, Billy the Kid and Sheriff Pat Garrett.

 

Some “Shots” from around Lincoln:

 

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We did catch up to the “Kid”

 

 

 

 

 

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Of course Billy wasn’t the only desperado in town.

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The hanging judge…..

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More new friends

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This gentleman, a park volunteer, showed us a picture of his grandfather, one of the Kid’s Regulators.

 

More stuff from Lincoln

 

We rode out of town to our next stop which, surprisingly was just up the road from Billy’s hangout..

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to Capitan, New Mexico which would be another of those sleepy villages you burn through at 75 mph….

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except for…

 

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this guy.  A badly burned bear cub rescued from a large forest fire in the Capitan Mountains. He was named Smokey and the rest, they say is history.

 

 

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After 26 years of faithful service reminding us that “Only you can prevent forest fires” Smokey passed on and is buried here in his park in “downtown” Capitan.

 

 

 

Moving on to Albuquerque and Route 66 but first a side trip toward Santa Fa and the world renown town of Madrid, New Mexico. That’s pronounced MAD-rid for all you non Wild Hogs.

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Maggie’s Dinner from Wild Hogs.

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And Again

Unfortunately the Dinner isn’t and was closed anyway so we went in search of a place to eat. Not easy as MAD-rid is tough to get to. Have to go almost to Santa Fe from Albuquerque turn right and wind your way thru the hills and valleys, washes and passes until you find it.

There was, fortunately, another eating establishment in town called Holler:

Started by a Paris trained chef who got lost in the hills and never made it out again.

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The place was dripping with ambiance:

Yes, the guy in the hoodie is puffing on a doobie, a large one. Notice the dog?

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The food however, was outstanding. Chocolate cake anyone?

 

 

More hits of MAD-rid:

 

MAD-rid was a mining town gone to seed before being discovered by artists, old hippies and other disreputables and of course Hollywood.

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Time to follow the dog out of town…

 

and get our Kicks on Route 66 and points West.

P/s I wanted to say something about the scenery we have been traveling through. Its is spectacular, but perhaps like Hawaii there is so much of it every way one turns that it be comes familiar. Sensory overload. Too bad really. But still much better than snow. Unless of course, it is a cap for the mountains.

We followed I-40 which for the most part is built over old 66 from Albuquerque to Gallup, NM

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We galloped into Gallup..

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and found the El Rancho Hotel:

 

The El Rancho has an impressive list of Hollywood Western stars and others. Not to surprising as the Hotel was built by  “R.E. Griffith’s as a haven for Hollywood’s famous. His well-known brother, D.W. Griffith (director of such classics as “Birth of a Nation”), encouraged using El Rancho as a base for crews and stars on location because of its access to western landscapes and the rustic elegance of the hotel.

We had lunch there and didn’t see hardly any of them. Gallop is almost to Arizona so let’s head on over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things are always bigger in Texas.

HEY WAIT!!  What happened to Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana????

 There you go!

A word or three about Texas, First of all its big. Ya, I know Alaska is bigger -yada-yada-yada. But when you hit the X-Way at the state line and it’s mile marker 899 or some thing like that, that’s a whole lot of miles. Another thing Texicans are just different. Its hard to put your finger on it, ask our oldest son Alan, he’s a Texan, born on Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, Tx. has a certificate and everything. We were talking to the person at the Texas info center and mentioned we had a Texan for a son, her smile got a little bit brighter and a little friendlier. That’s not to say that Texans aren’t friendly because they are. The snowbirds that come down here are called “winter” Texans and there are even highway billboard signs welcoming them back. I didn’t see anything like that when we were in Florida. Even the food establishments seem to cater to the winter Texans, offering specials to “older” patrons and are genuinely glad to see ya.

Then there’s the Alamo thing. Rumor has it that Ozzie Osborne relieved himself against the Alamo wall and came close to being hung on the spot. One DOES NOT disrespect the Alamo. When we were last there large men in big Stenson’s were watchfully watching all us visitors making sure there would be no repeats.

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Texas has these, too.

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I like Texas, lived here, sort of, a hundred years ago in the Air Force.

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   We were met in Rio Hondo, Tx,

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by an enthusiastic Hal & Gay Heckel. Hal is Mary’s oldest brother. Gay was especially thrilled for us to visit.

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Patty, the Twin Palms park manager was happy to see us again, too

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Hal & Gay Thought long and hard about where they could put us up and finally they said we could stay with them.

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Out back.

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We have visited Hal & Gay several times at their winter compound in Rio Hondo. Actually it’s really nice. The other people in the park are mostly winter Texans and they get along with each other quite well.

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Downtown Rio Hondo

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Hal had a plan for us which involved the finer dinning establishments in the area. But first Mary decided I was no longer fit to be seen in public and decided to give me a hair cut.

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                                         Before:

I didn’t think I looked so bad. But not my call apparently.

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                           After:

I’m told it looks OK. I don’t know. I avoid mirrors.

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Back to Hal’s plan. Below are pictures from some of the dives – er restaurants Hal & Gay took us to:

 

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This place is a secret  location that only sells hamburgers, giant things the size of dinner plates, at least half a cow. I wasn’t allowed to get to close with the camera.

More:

In all fairness to Hal the places he took us to were, yes – off the wall and yes, dives of a sort, but the food was real good and the patrons and staff real friendly. Hal made it up to us when we went to the Scoop for some malts, and soda’s and sundae’s and….

 

The more we visit Hal & Gay at Twin Palms RV Park (5 times) the more we like the place and the people there. Mary is looking into see what we need to do to come and stay for maybe a month next year. More than likely we won’t be camping out back. One of the things Mary finds attractive is the facility across the street:

She likes the idea of a place she can drop me when she wants to go shopping with the girls.

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I, on the other hand, was especially drawn to the new Jaguar mec-anic in town. As an added bonus he also does taxes.

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One of the things that we had to do was be interviewed by the Parks applicant review committee. Not really.  I made that up. This is a gathering of the local brain-trust and world’s ill solvers.

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Did I mention the Park?

Thought I would throw in these shots and you can draw your own conclusions.

Mary went shopping but I thought the dress would be a little over the top!

Gay wants her own transportation for the park and thought this would look nice parked next to the trailer.

 

Finally we have Mary and Gay discussing the placement of the new flower tower thing-a -ma-gig. I’m not sure what they are saying as I don’t read sign language.

Once again it became time to continue our journey so we said good bye to Hal & Gay (after unloading some of our unneeded winter duds on them) and Waltzing across Texas toward Arizona and more adventure.

Oops!! How can we leave Hal & Gay without talking about the BIG storm?

So there we were safe and sound in our 20 year old K-Mart tent. The weatherman said something about rain and maybe a little breezy wind coming. I had gone with Hal and got some waterproofing spray and went over the tent so we should be good to go. Besides we were in the lee of Hal’s 5-wheel and it should give us some protection. Night fell, this kind of stuff can only happen at night (I think Congress passed a law on it), and the rain started, not too bad, the weatherproofing was weatherproofing and the tent hadn’t blown over or anything. The the rain started to come down harder and harder and the wind blew stronger and stronger but we were still good, protected by the 5-wheel. Mary was asleep and I was drifting in and out. Then the SECOND storm hit from the opposite direction. Now we were the protection for the 5-wheel.  The tent shook and the sky exploded like giant flashbulbs going off right above the tent. The wind would suck the air out of the tent one moment and blow it up like a balloon the next. The tent would lean away from the wind and I would think “sure hope those tent stakes hold” but then I remembered I was on the windward side and as I haven’t as yet lost all the weight I would like, the tent would likely stay put. Mary woke up and asked “are we still in Texas, Toto?” The storm raged around us for about 3 years and finally slacked off and we had survived. Only a little damp, but not bad and drifted off to sleep. The next morning we learned that the storm had generated a few tornadoes not far to the west, but the Twin Palms RV Park was not on a tornado’s list that night. Hal & Gay said that if it would have gotten real bad we could have come inside. At least I think they said that.

Now as Horace Greeley said “head that Jag west” or something like that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does Mickey live here?

 

We’re in Orlando, Florida. Davenport really, just outside Orlando staying with “old” friends Kirk and Deb McClellan. Kirk and Deb are ole’ sailing buddies from way back. They retired for the first time relatively early in life and took to the road, bumming their way around the US eventually settling in Florida and going to work for Mickey Mouse.

 

Staying with them was very relaxing as Mary demonstrates.

 

 

 

 

We meet one of their granddaughters, Victoria, who was a real joy. At first she played the shy role, but after she warmed to us it was a preview of what we have to look forward to from our own grandchildren.

 

 

Kirk and Deb are experienced retires and grandparents. so took us (grandparents and retires-in-training) under their wing for a whole week.

(when they weren’t working for you-know-who)

 

 

 

They took us to some of the other places to see around Orlando that tend to be overshadowed by you-know- who’s place. One of which is Bok Tower and Gardens:

“Edward William Bok (1863-1930), American editor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, was born in Den Helder, Netherlands, on October 9, 1863. He came to the United States at the age of six. In 1886, he founded The Bok Syndicate Press, which led to the offer of the editorship of The Ladies’ Home Journal in 1889. Under his management, The Ladies’ Home Journal became one of the most successful and influential publications in America and the first magazine in the world to have one million subscribers. After 30 years as editor he retired in 1919. A year later he published The Americanization of Edward Bok, which won the Gold Medal of the Academy of Political and Social Science and the Joseph Pulitzer Prize for best autobiography.

On February 1, 1929, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated the Gardens in Lake Wales, Florida, that Bok had made as a gift for visitation by the American people in gratitude for the opportunity they had given him.In all the natural beauty of the Gardens, Bok believed something was missing. Remembering the glorious sound of carillons in his native Netherlands, he decided to build a beautiful Singing Tower as the focal point of the Gardens which would be crowned by a large carillon.

Edward William Bok died in Lake Wales within sight of his beloved Singing Tower on January 9, 1930, and is now buried at the base of the Tower.”

Bok Tower is a carillon (look it up I didn’t know either).

Well Ok here you go: “A carillon is a musical instrument consisting of at least two octaves of carillon bells arranged in chromatic series and played from a keyboard permitting control of expression through variation of touch.”  The largest bell was 8 tons and you can stand inside it. Bok Tower Carilon Player

 

 

 

And some more:

The Jaaag decided to throw us another curve by going into “engine failsafe mode” at a couple of stop lights. This shuts down the ability to accelerate and forced us to get off the road making “friends” along the way who offered encouragement by honking their horns and waving at us.

We called the Jaguar dealer to make an appointment with the service concierge. Nice young man named Corbert, who was able to get us an appointment with Rudy, our new best friend.  Unfortunately the Jaaag wouldn’t behave and it had to stay in the shop over night for observation. Rudy wasn’t able to find a cause for the “failsafe” thing but did replace the fuel filter which was almost plugged up and he check all the various sensor connections that were involved. So far we have driven about 150 miles without a recurrence. We spent several hours there and had fun looking at the pretty Jaguars and Aston-Martins. With signs on them saying: “Please DON’T TOUCH the CARS or their PAINT WORK as you non-1%er’s might leave cooties”. That last part wasn’t really on the sign. But it was fun to BREATHE on some $250,000 cars. It is not so fun driving and half expecting the car to shut down again, but we got to have a little faith.

 

So we get a text from Alan telling us the Frank and Michelle DeClair are in town to see you-know-who at you-know-where and go to NASA and a few other things around Orlando.

 

They arrived a little out of focus,

 

 

 

 

but were soon in the swing of things.

 

 

 

 

 

We did the dinner thing together. If you look close you can see an apparition materializing behind Frank.

 

 

 

Posed for the picture.  Michelle and Frank had to leave for the “cold” north next morning.

 

 

 

And then tried to solve the “mystery of the empty shoes”

 

 

 

 

But time March’s on and we need to head west to the Heckels. So it was…

M-I-C … See you real soon… K-E-Y… Why? Because we love you… M-O-U-S… you know the rest.

Thanks Kirk & Deb, it is always special to spend time with you.

 

Hello John and Linda Heckel. John is Mary’s cousin and he and Linda were foolish enough to let us stay with them for a few days.

 

OK, so here’s the deal on the pajamas and the “I just got out of bed” look.  No, I don’t think I’ll talk about it.

 

 

 

 

John And Linda have a real nice place in Land O Lakes.

 

 

 

 

That Mary found very relaxing.

 

 

 

 

 

Puppy And Deer were happy to be there, too.

 

 

 

 

Linda made wonderful meals for us.

 

 

 

 

 

We met Kermit.

 

 

 

 

And other critters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary and Linda had a great time together. Here they are discussing Mary’s mother Rita’s recipes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

John showed us some neat stuff about the Heckel family tree.

 

 

 

 

Including a rather interesting photo of the Sundance Kid and a woman who looks remarkably like Mary’s grandmother, Wilma Armstrong Heckel.  Etta Place, the woman in the picture, hung out with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Her past is murky and so is what happened to her after Butch and Sundance jumped off the cliff in Bolivia (or whatever happened to them). Unfortunately I don’t have the picture of Mary’s grandmother to post, but the resemblance is uncanny.

 

 

Stop the presses! I just got a picture of Mary’s grandmother:

 

Could it be Mary’s grammie was part of the Hole-in-the- Wall-Gang?

 

 

 

 

 

Much to our disappointment we were able to stay with John & Linda only a couple of days. Next time however…..

 

We left John & Linda’s and headed to Floridia’s Panhandle, the “Redneck Riviera”. We stayed in this “50’s style motel in Port St. Joe’s which is just up the road from Apalachicola.

 

 

 

We ate in this interesting restaurant in Port St. Joe’s (recommended by Karen the cleaning lady).

 

 

 

 

Not the cleaning lady.

 

 

 

Mary with the restaurant owner. He had given us pieces of lobster appetizers he was experimenting with to try.

 

Looking for “Jenny”

Apalachicola

A few years ago Mary and I took dad on a southern trip and we had lunch in Apalachicola, Fl. We were intrigued by the little town and wanted to go back and check it out. At the time it seemed like the type of place you would see Forest Gump sitting on the bench at the corner.  So before we headed to Texas and Hal & Gay’s we spent a day in Apalachicola.

Just to get you in the mood.

Mary found a boat to buy.                     Would the real mermaid please swim forward.

This is for the boys.                                   Shrimp boat used to be named Jenny.

Police Dept is upstairs and to the left.

  

 

The other Apalachicola.

 

 

When Dad was with us we stopped to have lunch at the Seafood Grill on the corner downtown.

 

We had lunch there again and I happened to ask one of the wait staff how long she had been there and if she remembered having the staff’s picture taken with Dad. She said she sure did and that they had sung happy birthday to him, too, which I had forgotten about. I had Mary take my picture with two of them:

 

 Apalachicola also hosts many of members of the “artist” community, who come here to do their artist thing and encourage budding artists like Mary to get back at it. This is Robert Lindsley, who lives in Colorado when he isn’t here or there or somewhere else. He showed Mary some techiques with pastels and was over all a real nice fella.

 

So we say good bye to Florida and now on to another part of the Heckel clan in Texas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But first a word from South Carolina

Just passing through.

We stayed a motel that claimed to be a Ramada but I’m not so sure. The people running it had lived in Clio so I guess it was OK. The blossoming tree was a plus. I think we ate breakfast at a Waffle House.

Next up:

And us, too.

We decided that since we had removed the spare tire and packed the space full of camping gear maybe we should camp. So we did at Fort McAllister State Park which is just outside of Savannah.

 

Our own gated entrance.

 

 

 

 

On the way to our campsite:

 

 

                                                      Home sweet home!!

It wasn’t so bad. We were only a few hundred feet from the privy and there was running water to bathe in. The campground is located on Savage Island about a mile down the causeway from the actual fort.

Fort McAllister

“Located south of Savannah on the banks of the Ogeechee River, this scenic park showcases the best-preserved earthwork fortification of the Confederacy. The earthworks were attacked seven times by Union ironclads but did not fall until late 1864 when General William T. Sherman’s 60,000-man army began to close on Savannah. Needing control of the Ogeechee River to open supply lines, Sherman dispatched a Union division to cross Bryan’s Neck and attack Fort McAllister overland from the rear. Never constructed to withstand a land attack, the fort fell after fifteen minutes of intense combat. Sherman’s March to the Sea ended as the Ogeechee now lay open. Within a week, the city of Savannah became the Union’s prize at the close of the western campaign to split the Confederacy.” (shamelessly lifted from several sources)

A little known slice of history concerning this area and the fort involves none other than Henry Ford. It seems that Henry took a shine to this part of Georgia and bought 75,000 acres (about 177 square miles) including the ruins of the old fort so he could grow rubber trees to make tires for his cars. He then spent $200,000 restoring the fort, which in the 30’s was real money. The rubber trees didn’t pan out so he bounced into growing iceberg lettuce. Creating a whole new industry that is still going on.

 

Savannah smiles.

We decided to park the car in the historic district and go on walk about. Before our walk we had lunch at the WhistleStop Cafe where we went native and had fried green tomato sandwiches with greens and sweet potatoes. Um-um finger licking good.

 

Savannah was founded in 1733 by James Oglethorpe as the first settlement of the British colony of Georgia. His intention was to establish a haven for debtors, with no Catholics, lawyers, or hard liquor – and, above all, no slaves.That didn’t quite work out.

 

 

Southerners joke that in Atlanta, the first thing locals ask you is your business; in Charleston, they ask your mother’s maiden name; and in Savannah, they ask what you want to drink.

 

 

More shots from the historic district:

 

We decided that it was such a nice day and as we needed the exercise, a walk would do us good. The historic district is arranged around garden squares and forms the core of the original city.

Savannah has its share of characters, too:

VERY short clip

The fountain, possibly modeled after the fountain in the Place de la Concorde in Paris,was added to the park in 1858. Every year during the St. Patrick’s Day Festival, the 2nd largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the country, the water in the graceful old fountain is dyed bright green. After we visited the famous fountain we turned around and walked to the river front.

We had gelato (sorry no pics, we were exercising after all),

 

Went shopping.

 

 

 

Then went back to our camp. We broke camp the next morning and as we were doing so we were assailed by no-see-ems, Georgia was telling us it was time to go and that was OK we were heading to Florida anyway. M-I-C  K-E-Y  M-O-U-……..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

North Carolina – We spent a week there. Arrived Feb 27th and left March 6th. In between we saw a lot of the state and learned a lot about NC and a few new things about a certain pastor in Clio.

On the way to our first stop in North Carolina we went through the Dismal Swamp. It was dismal in the Dismal Swamp. It was also DISMAL at the gas station as we paid our first $4+ per gallon of gas.

We stopped in Sanford to visit Max and Luane Schwitzer. Max and Luane are Clio friends of ours and also have a cottage at Higgins Lake. Despite their having known us for years they let us stay with them for a few days and took us out for dinner. It was in the low 70’s and we went with the Schwitzers for walks in the mornings around the block and out in the fields.

The Jaaag gave us a little worry as the restricted performance and check engine light came on just before we got to Max’s. I had the car’s computer trouble codes checked and it all pointed to misfires in the spark plugs. I checked things out in Max’s driveway and couldn’t find anything wrong. The lights went out eventually so we are still going.

While at the Schwitzers we went to see our pastor’s parents who lived near Lexington, NC. Really nice folks and we learned quite a bit about the young Barry Parker and will have plenty of fun with him when we get back home. All in all they treated us like family and it was hard to leave but we needed to get moving again.

After visiting with the Schwitzers and the Parkers we headed east to the Sea. Actually Merritt, NC where Ralph and Vicky Linley were going to take the wandering grandparents in. Ralph and Vicky are a bit old fashioned.

We got to the Linley’s Friday March 3rd. We’ve been on the road now since Feb 17th and have made it to the Atlantic. Ralph and Vicky live in a really great home that they built themselves.

                                                          Cool isn’t it.

Ralph offered to put us up in the boat house.

The bedroom was nice though.

They really live here and it is beautiful.

My pictures really don’t do the home justice as it is just full of detail and Ralph and Vicky’s personal touches. A real experience (and joy) staying there.

Ralph and Vicky treated us to a historic tour of their neck of the woods. They are volunteer interpreters at Tryon Palace which is the site of the first permanent capital of North Carolina under the English. After the Revolution it served as the the early capital of the State of North Carolina.

This young lady was sitting on the steps making cartridges for the Confederates but we didn’t see any around.  She was also making bonnets in her spare time. Had one of those sweet Carolina accents.. Mary made me quit talking to her.

 

 

 

We then went up to Beaufort to see Edward Teach, Blackbeard to his friends. The red sign reads “How did Blackbeard become a legend?” He met Mary of course. Mr. Teach lived in Beaufort (when he wasn’t doing the plundering thing) and was friends with the English Governor. Unfortunately he was not friends of the Governor of Virgina, who ended up with his head. Blackbeard has become big business again with the discovery of his ship “The Queen Anne’s Revenge” in the inlet at Beaufort.

 

 

Mary found another friend there, too. Captain Morgan’s 2nd cousin Jack Sparrow. He claimed to be a Captain, also.

 

 

 

 

Next stop on our tour was Fort Macon on the Outer Banks near Atlantic Beach. Ralph had the opportunity to participate in the 150 anniversary of the siege of the fort by Federal forces in March of 1862, but he had a prior commitment and couldn’t be in two places at once. Fort Macon is a very good example of the coastal forts built after the Revolutionary War. It is unique in that the fort was active through the Civil War, the Spanish American War and World War II.  Some pictures:

Ralph and Vicky took us to a real clean restaurant.

Alas, we must bid ado to Ralph and Vicky and North Carolina as Georgia is on our mind.

 

We are here in Hardyville, Va with Chuck & Barie Carmichael on the banks of Healy Creek between the Rappahannock and Plankatank Rivers just off the Chesapeake Bay. Got here yesterday and brought a cold front with us. Which was OK with them as they are about to go skiing (go figure). Thank you Chuck & Barie for opening your home to us anyway.

Chuck has taken up with his old bad habits, racing sailboats. Cape Dory Typhoons, 18 1/2 foot pocket rockets according to Chuck. He has two, one for each river and looking for a third. Races like a hundred times a week.

 

Chuck and Barie fed us.

   The hot tub was tough to take.

                                                                  

Showed us the new “Club”.

Took us for walks.

     To the dump.        

Opened their home to us.

Our heartfelt thanks to Chuck and Barie!!!!

On to the Carolinas.

But first a stop at Bubba’s in Virginia Beach for some sea food lunch.

 

Ok NOW on to the Carolinas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are in Leesburg, Va  staying with our friend Marina Genn.

 

 

Well, we’re really staying in Marina’s BARN.

 

How do you describe Marina? Words sometimes come up short. I met her years ago in the Ford dealership in Clio. She was this crazy German, down from Canada, trying to buy a car in Michigan with a European drivers licence and she needed insurance. Creative thinking eventually got her into her new Ford and we have been friends ever since. But that’s not the whole story, not by a long shot.

Marina is a horse person, she is a world class trainer and dressage competitor, Canadian Grand Prix Champion, having trained under some of the finest horse people in the world. A dog person, she has rescued and placed well over 100 dogs and keeps a small troop of them at her home. A child person, she developed Camp Koda where children can learn horsemanship literally from the ground up.  A developer person, she and her companion Chris are in the process of building 18 or so homes around her property that will eventually have a playground, small lake and possible membership in her American Academy of Equestrian Sciences. And that’s just this week. Click on the link below to see Marina.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efQjpxOHcGU&feature=player_embedded

Anyway back to the barn. Marina has graciously allowed us to stay here as long as we keep the place clean, and as you can see I sweep while Mary takes the pictures.

 

 

The barn is pretty nice though.

Our room:

No, not really. Marina built a couple of apartments into the “barn” plus a meeting room floor. The apartments are occupied by employees and we had a nice pull-out bed in the meeting room, plus shower and bathroom.

We went to Middleburg, Va yesterday. Drove with the top down for the first time on the trip. Sorry about that.  Middleburg is where millionaires are are considered “middle class”. We had lunch there though -there goes the rest of your inheritance boys!

 

 

She showed us where she will be building her new “office” when the housing development get going. It is right above a small creek and will be a pretty view come spring.

 

 

Here are some more shots around the farm:

Couple of quick vidios:

Coming in the barn                 Mary

On to Richmond!! I mean Hardyville and Chuck and Barie’s