As the song goes: 'All good things have to come to an end, and it's the same with the wildwood weed'. However in this case, it's my trip.
I left Naples Florida after a week with my sister and brother in law, bound for Jacksonville. Actually, Talbot State Park, on the coast east of Jax on Little Talbot Island.
Checking in at Talbot State Park, the ranger station had an interesting display of stuffed critters. The little guy on the left was my major concern relative to George the Rabbit. He doesn't like coming in at night, but he is still alive, which is something.
The incoming tide at the Park was very much affected by the Super Moon. The campers on the shoreline were relocated to make way for it. My space was a little further in and didn't share that same fate. While there I met Ron, a retired geologist. He is the third and last solo camper I ran into. The other two being Frenchman Louie in San Antonio and Alabama Bob the racist in Slidell Louisiana. When I asked geologist Ron about fracking, he said it's much like slurping the last of a milkshake with a straw. Good only for a short while. He also cited seismic changes in Oklahoma (wasn't a zone, now it is) that he said resulted from the pressurized injection fracking requires. Scary stuff!
I took a four mile loop on my bike while at Talbot State Park. Half of it was tough going in a forest with sandy soil off and on, and half on the beach below. Like all the days extending the entire trip from Oregon to Jacksonville, it was a beautiful, clear day.
This fisherman landed a red drum of about 30" that he told me must be released. I took better pictures than this one on his phone at his request. Although I carried two fishing rods on the trip, I didn't ever get them wet. Almost did once. But there was always something going on that kept me away from the placid activity.
On the last night in Jacksonville Florida I posted this pic on Facebook. It signaled the last solo night of my trip across America and back. A significant event for the four month trip! Not my last night drinking Jameson's Irish Whiskey though.
After Jacksonville, my next stop was at Laura and Michael's house, my youngest of four sisters. I managed to see all four of them and my two brothers along the way, which was a treat every time. Although my camper isn't in the pic below, Laura's back yard was where it stayed quite contentedly for three days.
North Carolina was where I was introduced to cold weather. I had managed to avoid all cold weather for the entire trip except at night in the desert around Yellowstone. A psychological shock if ever this was one! Journeying further north it only got worse, as you might imagine, for my shorts, T shirt and flipflop wardrobe.
Michael Hartley's most excellent 'low country boil' featuring snow crab, sausage, and shrimp.
Me playing till I ran everybody out of the room.
Sister Laura and my expanded waistline.
Niece Heather with George.
With 4 days till Thanksgiving I made it to Williamsburg, home to son Peter, wife Jenny and the three boys Eli, Luke and Quinn. More weather reality kicked in at Eli's soccer game as the temperature dropped to 33 degrees and the wind picked up to 20 mph. My weather complaints fell on deaf ears however. Looked like Grandpa Don just had to get over it!
Parked for a week at P&J's. Using my small portable generator for the first time in the trip.
The Williamsburg Family, embracing the season (and each other).
Quinn slept in the camper with me for two nights. He's missing below, but Big Dog sleeps on.
Quinn, Luke and Peter practicing our songs. The trombone added a little New Orleans seasoning. I can honestly say that I haven't heard renditions of Happy Birthday, Queen's We Will Rock You, and Ode To Joy quite the same before.
George hung out with Peter's chickens. I can only imagine the lively conversations held when we were out of earshot.
My artistic sister Marilyn helped me refine my logo. First iteration was a henna tattoo on my wrist at FloydFest 15. Now it's on the back of the camper east of Maryland on the map of 'merica. If you look closely there is a ddp in there somewhere.
So it's come to an end.
4 months, 27 states and 12,000 miles. From August 5, 2016 to November 27, 2016. A thoroughly delightful segue between working for a living and living. I said quite a bit about it in my last post 'Florida Baby!'. Here I can add how it has felt to return. Like coming off a natural high, comfortably. Like downshifting at the end of a long bike ride, getting ready for the stop/start. Like getting slapped in the face with my own question: 'Well, what's next big boy?!" And not exactly having an answer. Like "What you gonna do 'bout that rabbit Willis?! It's cold outside!"
Can't help but feel sad that this will be my last post. After entering with trepidation and very little skill, I've become reasonably adept at putting a post together with the right words and pics. And found myself enjoying it. I think I'll print these out, along with the thousand or so pictures I took, and make a little hardcopy book.
George has been on reasonably good behavior, except for a little biting problem and humping my sister. I have found him to be fastidious enough to get free rein in the tile floored basement, which makes him a nicely interactive affectionate pet. But I am looking into a little emasculation operation to calm him down a bit and solve both previously mentioned issues. I'm afraid my sister will never be the same though. He doesn't call and he doesn't write.
I'm not quite sure how the next life chapter will play out. But I can only hope that it will be as eventful, rewarding, and meaningful as the last four months have been. Probably will involve adjusting to the next phase of family life, a little part time work at SFCS (maybe 4 days out of 30) and a little volunteering (maybe the Rescue Mission). It's not out of the question that the camper will hit the road again. After all, there are 23 states that I didn't get to. And the poor thing looks lonely and forlorn in that storage yard. It would also be a good opportunity to flout my Arcosanti wind chime. Perhaps this summer. Though as I mentioned to others, my downward trending time and money curves intersected at the Roanoke County line on November 27th. So some financial enhancement is definitely in order. In the meantime, I've resigned myself to long pants, sweaters and socks.
I'd like to thank all of you who have supported me along the way. Who have read my blog or noted my Facebook posts. Who have given me good reason to return and catch up. And who have been wonderful friends and family. You are appreciated more than you can know!
Things and events on the top of my remember list:
- Family: Camping in the great northwest with daughter Diane, husband Josh, 1 year old Apollo Oscar Otter Peterson, 15 year old Eli and 12 year old Luke. Sightseeing, deep water fishing, ATV riding on coastal sand dunes, and general hanging out. Visiting all 6 siblings in 3 different states. Hanging with the kid's Uncle Paul and family in Tacoma. Visiting cousin Jay in Mesa, AZ.
- Places: Kansas City, Yellowstone, Rushmore, the Northwest, the Redwood Forest, LA, NOLA, Arcosanti & Taliesin West, and all the states between and further east.
- Music: The Desert Trip concert in Indio, CA! Iris DeMent & Loudin Wainwright III in Monterey, Jeff Jensen in KC, all of New Orleans particularly the keyboard player at The Blue Nile, and Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horn at Chickie Wa Wa.
- Good fortune: I didn't get sick, injured, or have failed body parts (excluding mental issues). And the weather was perfect, everywhere and all the time! My trailer didn't leak, probably because it only rained two days in the entire four months.
- The pleasure of traveling solo.
- Friends: Meeting hundreds of good people and almost none of the other kind. Largely homogeneous RV people and all the rest of America. Hanging with Ken 4 days in San Fran, Suzie in St. Pete and Brenda and Randy in Seattle. Chance encounters with Larry, Louie, Bob, Ron, Cora, AnneMarie, Tracy and Sue, and Binky the guitar tech for The Who.
- Watching the Cubs beat the Dodgers in the final game of the NL Championship in a Bourbon Street bar's upper room with 25 Cubs fans. Pandemonium! Then watching the seventh game of the World Series outside, next to my camper. Quiet pandemonium. On the phone rabid Cubs fan Pam from Roanoke hanging up on me in the tenth inning at midnight because I wasn't optimistic enough.
- Long stretches of highway that were far more interesting than the pictures could convey, particularly through South Dakota, Wyoming and Texas.
- Descending from the Rocky Mountains into Washington state on vertigo inducing Highway 90, a rapid 2,000 ft elevation drop.
- Crossing Lake Pontchartrain on Highway 10 from Slidell Louisiana into New Orleans: With New Orleans directly in the distance, it reminded me of Dorothy crossing the field of poppies on her way to Oz.
- My trailer tire blowout in La Grange, TX. And smoking brakes on the Sonora Pass descent from Yosemite.
- A rainbow of yellow shooting from a sunflower combine.
- 95 degree days with 45 degree nights in Wyoming.
- That they sell all different kinds of marijuana in Oregon.
- All my cousins in Indianapolis look remarkably like my aunts and uncles.
- Everything else.
So thank you one and all for Rolling with DDP! It's been a trip!
The End
Don
