Post #10: The Little White House

Today, Monday Nov 29th, we drove with my Uncle to Warm Springs Georgia about 90 miles south of Atlanta to visit The Little White House - Franklin Roosevelt's retreat before and during his presidency.  Immediately you are struck once leaving Atlanta and heading south on the State Route 27 that you have regressed 50 years in time.  The rural farm areas have not changed much since the time when Franklin would come to Warm springs in  hopes that the warm waters (constant 88F) would help him recover from his paralysis from polio.  In addition to his support of the center, Roosevelt was also responsible for starting  the March of Dimes campaign.  The Foundation has grown dramatically since the time of the 30-40's and now in an era where the incidence and wrath of polio has dwindled, the institute focuses more on stroke and other paraplegic illnesses in its rehabilitation facilities.

Upon entering the grounds of the Little White House you realize how small and intimate the house was and remains.  The house has 3 small bedrooms (FDR, Eleanor and his secretary), a living room/dining room, a small entry hall and a kitchen.  On the back is a rotunda-like porch area where they could enjoy the forest and the cooling breezes.  The house is very simple in its furnishings and kept with the concept of a summer cabin.  One can understand why he liked to come here away from the hustle of the White House in Wash DC.  In the living room is a large leather chair with a woven cane foot stool and a square table that fit over the foot stool.  It is here that the President worked and also where he was when struck with his terminal stroke.  The water color portrait that remains incomplete is on display in the accompany museum along with his cars and other memorabilia from the house.

Tonight we are back in our trailer listening to the rain (constant all day).  We hope by morning that it will have receded enough for us to be able to hitch up the trailer to the truck and begin our journey southeastward to Beaufort, SC.  We've had a wonderful visit but after being on the road since October 10th (China) and then leaving NJ on Nov 10, we are ready for a little downtime at home.
Ciao

Post #9: Its Leftovers time!

Morning All,

We've been at Stone Mountain Georgia since leaving Ft Walton Beach, Fl (350 miles) on Tuesday.  Arrived in the rain at 5:30 PM and luckily my brother-in-law Steve was already here to help with directing me into the site.  It truly is the Queen Mary when backing up.  Site is in the forest and very peaceful.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  My two sisters, Cindy (KY) & Michele (Las Vegas), and my brother-in-law, Michele's husband were here staying with our Uncle Charles who is 87 young.  April, Cindy's oldest, and Bobby and Mackenzie also drove down from Louisville to join us.  We performed the annual ritual of cooking all day Thursday (2 turkeys and all the fixins) and then having a great feast about 7:30PM.  This holiday, so unique to the US, truly serves as the annual opportunity for family members to come together, give thanks and to partake of our natural bounty of foods.  We can extend our gratitude to Abraham Lincoln for making this day a national holiday allowing all of us the opportunity to come together as family.

Friday we all had lunch at Fontaines in Virginia Highlands (Atlanta Greenwich Village) : lobster bisque and PO'Boys sandwiches and did some Black Friday shopping.  On Saturday,  since Steve has not been to Atlanta before, we drove him around Atlanta to see the Carter Library, Martin Luther King's gravesite, Ebenezer Baptist Church, downtown Atlanta, the Rialto Theater (Gone With The Wind), Aquarium, Coca-Cola Museum and finished with a visit to The Varsity.  The Varsity is the famous hot dog place next to Ga Tech which has become an icon of Atlanta from the 1920's.  They now sell more than 3-5000 hotdogs a day.  Hmmm Hmmm!

Evenings have been at Uncle Charles' and spending time reminiscing about our family and just being with each other.  Tomorrow we will visit Warm Springs, GA the site of Roosevelt's GA retreat and site of his death.  Its about 2 hours SW of Atlanta.

As for Wild Thing, our only issue here in Atlanta has been the weather.  They are experiencing colder temperatures than normal for this time of year.  Temperatures have dropped down below freezing for the last 2 nights.  Thus giving me an opportunity to worry about an additional issue:  FROZEN PIPES!!!  The trailer has been toasty with the heat pump running but was sure that with temps at 30F we might have an issue.  So far so good.  I did bring in the water filter off the water tap and went to Home Depot (Mecca of all great things...) and bought heat tape.  Of course when I got back and after looking at the belly of the trailer, I could not find any exposed water pipes to wrap apart from the external water source for a outside shower.  So used the heat tape to wrap the water hose and the water source on the trailer.  Went through the book last night trying to find the valve cutoff for the outside valve but no luck.

On Tuesday AM we head SE to Beaufort , SC to visit our friends Diane & Joe Roney, owners of Roney Tours, INC.   We are looking forward to our extensive tour of the area while we are there.
All the Best

Post #8: Louisiana Swamp and Florida Sands

Its Monday night and tomorrow we trek North through Florida, Alabama and Georgia to Atlanta kinda like Sherman...just diagonally backwards from his route...and just not burning everything in front of us.  But with 10,000 pounds behind us just stay our of our way!

Saturday morning we pulled out of San Marcos in the fog and headed Eastward through the beautiful hill country of Texas.  Lovely rolling country full of pin oaks.  Made it through that godawfull city of Houston where we lived for 7 years.  Its a large metastasis on the Southeastern end of Texas that now reaches clear to Beaumont on the East and 50 miles to its West.  As usual we hit construction in the city and ended up on the 610 Loop - the freeway to nowhere.  It too had construction and were delayed about an hour.  Into Louisiana where the land is beautiful but the roads are from Hell.  In some places I had to drive at 45MPH due to the roughness of the road.  Kept thinking "This is it!"  We are going to blow the hitch at any time.  But we made it through and arrived Lafayette (375 miles) about 4 PM.  Lovely campground around a beautiful lake ...probably full of alligators just waiting for the Senior Citizens that were walking their 4 legged babies to just slip up so they could have a little appetizer.  Too tired that evening so we didn't even unhitched and go for dinner.  Homemade margaritas...the Best.

Sunday morning we pulled out at 9AM (we just don't have the knack yet for these 6AM pullouts) and headed down I-10 towards Mobile, Alabama.  Drove nearly 30 miles across the swamps of LA and into Alabama.  Alabama had lovely countryside, very polite people and of course the Gulf.  Went through Mobile and the tunnel and soon arrived in Florida.  We arrived at Navarre Beach just West of Fort Walton Beach, Fl about 4:30 PM (350 miles).  Had a golf cart escort to our site (We are noobies you know...) and quickly pulled in, but then had to give the camp host a tour of the Airstream (I've always wanted to have one of these...these are the most beautiful trailer...Gee it looks brand new).  Went to dinner across the street at the East Side Crab House.  Wonderful mussels, fried shrimp and crab cakes.  BUT, horrendous Margaritas.  Sooo bad that I had to bring it to the attention of the waitress.  Not sure what they were mixing with the tequila - either powdered lemon  drink or watered down yuck.  The bartender came over and said we must be use to drinking top shelf margaritas.  Yes, that was what we ordered..."Well in that case here is a shot of Grand Marnier that I forgot to add".....didn't help.   The Key Lime pie was superb!!

Today we spent the day revisiting Ft Walton Beach where Judy lived as a child (Yrs 8 - 11).  After a wonderful and high caloric breakfast at the Broken Egg Cafe (crab cakes, eggs, grits, etc) , we went to her neighborhood and drove past her home, then her elementary school and then went to her beautiful old church, St Simons on the Sound (literally on the Gulf).  Later we hit the beach with its beautiful powdered sand beaches and clear blue waters.  The weather had cleared up in the afternoon and we truly enjoyed out 2 hour walk in the mid-70's.  We ended the day with a beautiful sunset and then headed back to our trailer where I tried out our new grill for the first time with great steaks complements of Christopher and a bottle of Penfolds Bin 128 Shiraz.   Have added some more pictures to the blog site.

Tomorrow in Atlanta I have to do my first trailer back up into a camp site at Stone Mountain....!!!  God be with me.

The Steaks are Ready!

Gulf Sunset

On the Beach

The Gulf at Ft Walton Beach, Fl No BP oil here

We've made it to Florida!!

Driving over the swamps in Louisiana

West Texas

Our Dear Friends Sunny & Bob Sappington of San Marcos, TX

Water seeping from the aquifer through the sand in the bottom of the lake (from 50 feet above). You can see how clear the spring water is in the lake. (Shot through the glass bottom Aquarena boat).

Aquarena over the Aquifer that is the beginning of the San Marcos river, a key source of water for Central Texas

San Marcos River

Sundown in Ft Stockton, Texas

Morning in Las Cruces, NM

Las Cruces, NM at Night

New Mexico Rock Facade

Through New Mexico

Sundance 1 RV Resort, Casa Grande, AZ

Pulling Out of Casa Grande, AZ Nov 15

Post #7: Two More Days in Paradise Texas-Style

We've just left our dear friends Sunny & Bob Sappington who we have visited with for the last 2 days here in San Marcos, Texas.  It has been wonderful to see them after so many years.  They were our neighbors when we lived in Houston and we've always held them is very high esteem.  We've truly enjoyed their Texas hospitality and have spent a lot of time catching up.
Yesterday we visited with them until mid-afternoon and then headed to Austin.  Austin used to be a hill country mid-size city with the university and the capital.  Now its a large city with the university and the capital.  Problem is its still a small city in terms of many of its little hilly streets.  We had a great visit to the Texas State Museum next to the capital where we got a good review of Texas state history (Sam Austin, Sam Houston, San Jacinto, General Santa Ana and of course the independence in 1836).  After an IMAX movie we headed south back to San Marcos.  Stopped at Cabellas and then Chili's for dinner.  Great margaritas: The Presidente.  Excellent.  Bought a margarita shaker there for $2.  Made of 100% solid plastic!  Now I think the trailer is complete...
Today Sunny offered to bring "loaded" breakfast burritos for breakfast.  Delicious!  So the four of us had breakfast in the trailer and they had the 45 second tour of the place.   Afterwards they headed home and we walked over to the river (San Marcos) next to our camp site.  Beautiful rapid flowing river.  Later we went into San Marcos to visit the Aquarena Springs at Texas State University.  The San Marcos is the site of the beginning of the release of spring water from the huge aquifer that lies underneath the area and forms the basis for the San Marcos river that empties into the Guadalupe River and then finally into the Bay of San Antonio and the Gulf of Mexico.  It is unbelievably clear and we were able to view the release of the water coming through holes in the limestone floor of the river via glass bottomed boats that takes you on a short tour of the lake at the head of the river.  Its truly hard to believe that San Marcos/San Antonio/Austin has the same level of rainfall that Seattle receives each year.  Except theirs is in large concentrated time periods whereas Seattle is a constant drizzle throughout the entire year.  Even with 35 inches a year, the State needs to find 35 millions of water per day in the next 10 years to meet the needs of the influx of people moving  into the area.  This afternoon we picked up Sunny and Bob and after a brief tour of the Hill Country of Texas and beautiful views, we found ourselves in Wimberly, Texas in front of the Wimberly Pie Shop.  It beckoned us in and we walked out with a cherry pie (for tonight) and a Pecan Pie (for Thanksgiving - into the freezer).  We returned to San Marcos for a lovely dinner at Palmers a local favorite restaurant.
Margarita update:  Margarita Martini served with 3 olives at Palmer's was great!  We headed back to Sunny & Bob's and attacked the cherry pie.  After several hours of good talk we made our adieus. We've had a great visit with them.  We are now preparing to head further East 400 miles+ into Louisiana tomorrow morning.
PS: The sewer hook-up went off uneventful...
Ciao
 

Post #6: Halfway through Texas

Evening from San Marcos, Texas (between San antonio & Austin).  We left Fort Stockworth at 9AM and 50F this  morning and drove 340 miles in 6 hrs.   Another day of driving and seeing nearly nothing except scrub plants, desert and grasslands. Hardly any cars, people, towns or cattle.  The 600 miles from El Paso to San Antonio are predominately owned by large ranches with some gas/oil, wind turbines and some sheep & cattle.  Tonight we drove into the Pecan Grove camp site on the Guadeloupe river (79F) here in San Marcos.  Advised that we had a back-in camp site!!  Finally after pleading NEWBIE they moved us to a pull through.  Tonight we had dinner with our dear friends Sunny & Bob Sappington who were our neighbors in Houston when Chris, John & Eric were first born.  That was 30 years ago!  Plan to spend tomorrow and Friday with them and doing some touring of the area around Austin to determine its attractiveness for a retirement home - which is one of our goals as we travel around the country in the Airstream.  

Tomorrow a BIG GOAL:  Linking the trailer up to the sewer system!!

Sorry about the lack of pictures.  Unable to upload additional pictures to this blog.  I keep getting error messages when I try each time.  Have a feeling that they allow only so many (2) and then limit due to server space.

Post #5: Newbie Learning #689

Greetings from Fort Stockton, Texas somewhere in Southwest Texas where the land is flat and the winds blow and cars are few.  We arrived here tonight at 5 PM from Las Cruces, NM where we had a major Newbie learning.  Last night after writing the post #4 to the blog I noticed that my PC wasn't charging.  Further investigation lead to the realization that the outlets had no juice and the refrig was cooling on LP vs electric.  I spent a panic moment searching the Airstream manual on what to do???  After looking at the fuse boxes and finding nothing unusual I decided that a call to Airstream the next morning would point me in the right direction and we headed to dinner & Margaritas.  Appropriate response...right??   Luckily we had met our neighbors in the next site who were driven a huge motorhome with car in tow that they had just bought and driven from Toronto.  (Newbies as well)  They were having problems with their heater only heating with LP vs switching to electric.  The following morning after my pleading call to Airstream in which the VM said they would respond in 24-48 hrs, I realized that the problem was more serious when I checked the trailer batteries...nearly zero.  I realized that we had NO electric entering the trailer and the thought of staying Las Cruces forever suddenly crossed my mind....I went out to see if I could identify anything in the furnace compartment and ran into my neighbor walking her dog.  She suggested that her husband could help and asked him what to do.  He leaned out the door of their RV and said..."Did you flip on the breakers at the box?"   "Box, What box" says me.. "The box next to you".  Realizing that not only do you have to plug in the trailer with a 30 AMP plug but also flip 2 breakers was a total Newbie learning!!  Voila  lights and electric!!  The thoughts of Las Cruces forever faded quickly and we packed up, made fresh coffee in the Bodum and headed for Fort Stockton.  As Christopher told us as we left: "Its the journey and not the destination" so we are taking each day and every Newbie learning as we continue our sojourn Eastward.
As for the trip today, the one thing that hit us constantly is the expanse of land and open sky known as the Sovereign State of Texas.  We drove nearly 300 miles in Texas today with many many trucks and few cars, houses,  animals or people.  Just the open sky and grasslands.  Its truly a huge and dominant geographical force in our country.  I can understand why people who live out here have major issues with the East Coast as well as their feeling of intrusion by Washington, DC.  People truly live here in the open and free sky.
Will load some pictures from Las Cruces (night and day) and some sites along our way as well as the evening here in Fort Stockton.  Tomorrow we head to San Marcos and surely some additional learnings for us Newbies.

Post #4: Las Cruces, New Mexico

Well we made it through our first day of towing Eastward without any issues.  It took us much longer to close up the trailer and hitch up, so we did not leave Casa Grande until 9:45 AM.  We had a beautiful day to travel.  65F throughout the day.  Southern AZ and New Mexico are totally different.  AZ nearing Tucson is full of the beautiful saguaro cactus.  Whereas NM is more scrub desert in the lower altitudes and beautiful grasslands at higher elevations.  Avoided a few tumble weeds as well.  We actually hit rain today at about 3000 feet.  We arrived Las Cruces (4000 ft elevation) about 4:15 PM this afternoon.  340 miles.  Not bad with averaging 60 mph most of the way.   The campsite overlooks Las Cruces and the beautiful mountains.
At the camp site we had difficulty releasing the ball from the hitch.  Luckily an experienced driver gave us some assistance.  Dinner tonight in a mexican restaurant, bad food and great margaritas which neutralized the bad food...  Heading to bed early tonight as we have a long drive tomorrow.
Ciao  

Thursday Night, Nov 11 -  Our first night in the trailer.  We survived!

Post #3: I think we are ready

We met with Brad our Airstream Guru and headed to the dealer to pick up the trailer Thursday morning.  Thought we would pull out within an hour...4 hours later we towed away.  Once there we found several problems with the towing mech as well as several valves that needed replacement.  CJ at the dealership was so helpful and all repairs were done.  It just took longer than expected.  Pulling the  trailer is easier than I had expected.  Once we left we headed to Camping World to load up on supplies with Brad's help.  Several other customers as well as employees noted "You must be Newbies" based on 3 shopping carts... and offered us curbside consults throughout the store.  Afterward headed to a large empty parking lot for my first lesson in backing up.... its like backing up the Queen Mary!  Brad and Judy were in the back  giving me hand signals (stop...STOP!...left, right, x%#!*)  and I was  trying to back up in-between cones.  At least I didn't hit any cars or Senior Citizens...but its definitely a challenge.  Luckily moving East we only have one site where I have to back in (Atlanta)  stay tuned...  Stopped for dinner and called the trailer site (Sundance RV1 "Resort" in Casa Grande) to let them know we would be late... They weren't too happy about late arrivals (We expected you before 3PM...)  but we got through the security gate.  Its an 55+ trailer "Resort".  Very nice and very clean but very quiet with lots of Canadian snow birds. Once parked,  Brad was so helpful in showing us how to set up.  The only problem was it was 8 PM so everything outside with a flashlight.  Once we went through everything it was 9:30 PM.  We've slept in the trailer since Thursday night.  First morning it was 45F...had to figure how to turn on the furnace.  No problem just flip a switch and instant heat.  We did our first entertaining at the trailer with Bev & Doug Morrow and Char & Gary Eastwood on Friday night.  They all took the 30 second grand tour and then we had wine, margaritas and cheese.  Afterward headed out to a restaurant (DeBellions) in Casa Grande where we had a great dinner.

Breakfast with Chris, Jocelyn and the 2 Boys this AM.  Judy is doing last minute shopping for food and cleaning supplies at the moment.  We will head back to the trailer later this afternoon and pack up all loose things so that we can pull out early.  Tomorrow (Monday) we start our trek Eastward.  Our goal is to average 350 miles a day.  Tomorrow its Las Cruces, New Mexico.   Wish us luck.

Post #2: Arrived Phoenix

Tuesday was filled with last minute tasks and the challenge of packing 75 lbs in a suitcase that can only weigh 50 lbs at check in.  By last night we had 200 lbs packed in 4 suitcases ready to go to the airport.  By this morning, three carry ons probably hitting 60 lbs including 2 PCs and enough road maps, triptiks and manuals on the Airstream ( which we haven't read!!).  Surprisingly, we made through check in without any additional $$.  Flight was uneventful on Southwest.  They do such a great job.  Arrived PHX at 5:45PM and headed to Chris & Jocelyn's home in Maricopa.  Dinner out and now back home to go through some of the many boxes that have arrived from Amazon.com for the trailer.  Brad N alias Airstream Guru called to say he will be here at 9AM tomorrow to begin our pilgrimage to the Airstream.  Without him we don't drive, or tow, or park or do anything tomorrow.  Hopefully, by end of day and a little Brad training & guidance, we will be parked in Casa Grande and its celebration and margaritas!

Post #1

Monday Evening, Nov 8th:
Its minus 36 hours till we fly via Southwest from PHL to PHX and as usual we haven't begun to pack.  In about an hour it will hit us and suitcases and boxes will begin to fly.

We've decided to write a short blog for our family and friends who have asked us to do so.  This is a first for both Judy and I so be gentle as we learn our way through the ethereal waves and ethers of bloggerland.  We've just returned from 3 weeks in China and still adjusting from a 12 hr time jolt.  Last night the change to EST and on Wed we shift 2 additional hours back upon landing in Phoenix.  We are very excited about our new adventure in RVing.   Hope you enjoy reading our saga as we sojourn Eastward from Phoenix to New Jersey.  Our goal is to be in New Jersey by December 7th.