ON THE WATER IN BEAUTIFUL CHARLESTON SOUTH CAROLINA

During the last week of May we finally made it back into the wonderful state of South Carolina.  Of all of the states that we visited I have to say that our home state is the most beautiful.  And the Low Country (east of I-95) is the most scenic in the state. The coastal waters are dotted with barrier islands, wildlife and marshes that can take your breath away.

Since we basically had not done much at all in the way of visiting what our area has to offer, I planned a "date night" for us that included a trip on a boat with Barrier Island Eco tours.  It was a 2.5 hour cruise that took us out through the marshes, along with dolphins and summer breezes, to Capers Island. It was a gorgeous summer night and the trip was a little piece of Heaven.  

We had a crew of three.  Captain Jim, Courtney and Moses.  They were all great guides, but my very favorite was Moses.

Moses was waiting to greet us as we boarded the boat.

Moses said hi to each one of us once we got seated.

Moses stood at the front of the boat and watched for dolphins...he was a great spotter.

Moses led us down the island to Boneyard Beach.

Moses loved everyone and everyone loved Moses and Moses loved his job, we could tell.

Just so you can appreciate Moses, here are some pics....

 Meet Moses

Keeping a close watch for dolphins

 Marshlands

 He takes his job seriously

 The kids on the boat loved him

 He attracted girls

 Love the legs

 Which one of these is not like the others?

 Palm Tree Cemetery

 Boneyard Beach

Heading back to the boat

Seriously, if you live in the Low Country, I highly recommend Barrier Island Eco tours.  You will learn a lot and have loads of fun.  They leave from Isle of Palms Marina most days of the week and you will need reservations.  You can locate them at 

nature-tours.com

Nothing can be finer than to be in Carolina.....anytime!

SUNDAY MORNING WITH CHARLIE AND THE FAMILY

Since returning to South Carolina I have developed an interest in cold-blooded creatures.  No, not IRS employees......Prehistoric ones that still surround us here in the Lowcountry.
Since moving into the Naval Weapons Station here in Charleston eight weeks ago we found ourselves just a short jaunt down to the stream where alligators paddle by all the time. Especially in the evenings between 8-8:30.  I have named the larger gator "Big AL, since he is, shall we say....BIG.  However I have been told by many that have been around the base for years that I have not seen a big alligator until I have seen Charlie
Charlie lives here on the base in a fenced-in pond (thank goodness) and is cared for by the base.  He is somewhere around 50 years old give or take a few years and weighs over 800 pounds. He has become fat and lazy since he is frequently fed by handlers here, but apparently he can still attract the ladies.
Tom and I took a drive to see him this morning and at first we thought the trip was a dud, no sight of anything.  And THEN, we saw movement in the grass right in front of us near the water.  Lo and behold, it was about a half dozen baby alligators.

Well, once we spotted the little ones, which are adorable, we knew that mama must be nearby and sure enough she slid into the water once she heard us.  She stayed right near her babies and did not take her eyes off of us.  Not for a moment.
After some other people came and the noise level increased, she made a fierce "swooshing" movement in the water, making considerable noise.  Within moments, along comes Papa Charlie, from the far end of the pond....there to protect his sweetheart.

Well, let me tell you, he makes his presence known just by his size....you know when he his coming.  He traveled right up to the side of his woman and tried to stare us down.  He did not exactly look friendly.

I was impressed with the fact that once the mother signaled danger, Dad was right there, and he did not leave her side while we were there.

Fortunately they must have been proud of their little family, because they let us stay to take a few pics of the young 'uns.  They did not, however, pose for a family portrait.

We will miss our little friends as we prepare to leave the Navy base tomorrow, but will have photographic memories of our stay!
All photos taken by Tom Hynd.
See ya next time!

IT'S BEEN A WHILE!

It is so hard for me to believe that it has been two months since we left Texas!  It was a wonderful trip home and we arrived back in the Charleston area a little less than two weeks ago.  We took a nice train trip (needed a break from driving!) two weeks ago to visit my son and his family and Tom's sister and her family and had a great time.  While we were there we took a look at Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo where we will be working in November and December, and it is beautiful.  It will be a fun place to work and there are all sorts of new adventures awaiting us in the Keys, I am sure! 
We are currently camping at the Charleston Naval Weapons Station while our renters are in our home.  We will be back in the house around July 10th until we leave on Sept. 1 to be camp hosts at Edisto State Park, just south of Charleston.  That should be really nice since we are in a beautiful park but just one hour from home and still able to do things near home.
I have been contemplating our eight month journey recently and have had a number of people ask me about the trip.  Below is a list of my observations from our travels.

TEN THINGS I LEARNED FROM LIVING IN AN RV

1.  There are nice people EVERYWHERE, and campers are a special breed of people.  When you camp, everyone is equal.  You may be camping next to a former CEO of a major corporation, a house wife, a retired military officer, a former policeman, who knows, we are all the same in a campground.  Everyone is friendly and willing to help.  Especially in military campgrounds.  Having a problem with your camper?  "Been there and done that" is the usual response from a neighbor most willing to help. Campers are kind people.
2.  God's people are everywhere.  We ran into so many people of faith and were able to share stories and encourage others along the way with stories of God's faithfulness.  In Texas we were able to attend Cowboy church together and shared many great times.
3.  Spending time in another culture is a wonderful learning experience.  We were in an area that was about 97% Hispanic and learned to love the people.  They are humble, very hard working, and VERY family oriented.  They love their families and get by with very little financially.  The children are beautiful and it was nice to make new Hispanic friends and learn a lot about the culture.
4.  We live in a BEAUTIFUL country.  Each time we traveled through a state we were amazed by its unique beauty.  Texas with so much diversity, Arkansas with so many beautiful lakes and dams, Tennessee with the mountains in bloom in the spring, Virginia with the rolling hills and natural beauty, Maryland and the Chesapeake area...North Carolina and of course, South Carolina. 
5.  You can live with a LOT less stuff than you think you need.  Downsizing from a house to a camper was a major task, but we found that we can live with so much less and be comfortable.  We have TOO MUCH STUFF!  America is one of the few countries that has storage units because we cannot fit everything in our house!  Who needs six bottles of shampoo, twenty pair of shoes, six spatulas, 16 coffee mugs and a garage that you cannot walk through?  Downsizing from a house to a camper was difficult but I did not miss a thing, except a bathtub.  If only I could have brought that!  But we do have a nice shower. I think that I will permanently live with less from now on.
6.  We are never too old to learn if we want to.  I  consider myself to me a lifelong learner and I hope to never stop.  In Texas I learned Spanish, how to clog and became a student of Texas history.  I tried to learn all that I could while I was there.  I just love to learn new things.  It is not as easy as it used to be, of course not, but nothing of value comes easy.
7.  Two people CAN live together for 8 months in a camper without one of them committing murder.  The secret is that one of them needs to keep busy doing things that get them out of the camper and that was me.  I kept very busy and active and that makes a big difference.  Cabin fever was not part of my game plan. 
8. Workamping is a lot of fun and you meet many really nice people.  Having to work for our space was not a problem and we made close friends with about 20-25 other workampers that were some of the nicest people I have ever met.  I think that we all shed tears when we parted and we still keep in contact via email.
9.  If you love nature as I do, RV-ing allows you not only to travel but to smell the roses along the way.  I absolutely love to be outdoors enjoying nature's sounds and smells.  I have always loved being outdoors enjoying the beauty that God has prepared for us.  In fact, I think that it may have something to do with the way I was raised.  Here are some of my childhood pictures:

OK, I am only kidding.  This child was actually raised in the wild by her French photographer parents.  Actually looks like fun, huh?
10.  God is good, ALL the time. The Bible says that His mercies are new every morning. He brought us safely home after almost 4,000 miles on the road, protected our health while away, and showed us so much of our country that we would never had seen any other way.
PS 1.......No matter how great the journey, I am always SO grateful to be back with family and close friends.  To see the kids and grandkids again was such joy, as well as being back with my dear friends.  There is nothing of greater value than family.
PS 2...I am so grateful that my husband is a military veteran.  It has allowed us to stay in many very nice military campgrounds where we have met so many wonderful active and retired military, allows us to shop in commisaries and provides our health insurance.  I am ever so grateful for that.
I plan to continue to blog, so don't tune out...stay tuned!!!!!!

FROM THE SMOKIES TO THE SHENANDOAHS

We have been tearing up the highway (or should I say tires?) making our way back east from Texas.  It has been a fairly uneventful trip except for some tire problems.  (You will see the picture below).  We had a great time in Tennessee, enjoying the Spring beauty in the Smoky Mountains and taking in a stroll through Gatlinburg.  It is hard to believe that each state has such distinctive but incredible beauty.  The trees, mountains and waterfalls in the Smokies are next to none in the spring when trees are blooming, many in purple.  We spent four days in Tennessee at the bottom of Douglas Dam.  I have included two really nice pictures taken from the top and bottom of the dam.
From the Smokies we drove to Virginia and spent one night at Natural Bridge, VA, to break up the trip since both Tennessee and Virginia are very WIDE states!
We are now in Virginia at Camp AP Hill, a military base about 70 miles south of DC.  It is a little further away from DC than I wanted to be, but the price was right!  So we will be here until Friday when we leave for Ocean City to see the kids and grandkids, we are anxious for that!  We will be in OC for a week and then will head south to South Carolina.
We spent the afternoon yesterday in the lovely town of Fredericksburg, VA and found it to be really charming.  The closer we get to DC we see more of a Williamsburg look in the towns and everything is so neat and clean. The base here is out in the middle of nowhere, so we have to travel at least half and hour to see anything of interest.  On Tuesday we are going to take the commuter train into DC, but the visit will have to be short since we have a dog that needs walked!  We hope to take in the National Archives and possibly one of the Smithsonian Museums. 
It is hard to believe that our trip is coming to an end, but we still have a lot to look forward to, like friends and family.
Enjoy the pics below:

 Douglas Dam from above

 

 Douglas Lake with the Smokies in the background

 Barklee watching for Dad to return home

Tom's destroyed tire, turned inside out!

 

Tom sighted this one of many turkeys!



INTO THE LAND OF DOLLY PARTON!

The last two days have been ones of travel.  We have covered about 600 miles in two days, which is a lot when you are pulling a camper!  We left our campground in Arkansas early Wednesday morning trying to get ahead of a storm, and we did.  It was a pretty rough storm with a very cold front behind it, so we hit the road early in the morning.  That day we had to drive around Little Rock and Memphis...hopefully around and not through.  Little Rock went really well, and actually so did Memphis.  Crossing the Mississippi was neat and I-40 through Memphis was not bad.  The sun came out and it was really a nice trip.  I was rather euphoric when I thought about how well the trip was going and how beautiful it was along the interstate with the trees blooming and the skies so blue.  We were about 2 miles from a gas stop when I looked in the rearview mirror and saw Tom pulled off the road with the camper.  Uh-oh...I sure hope he did not run out of gas!  The phone rang and it was Tom telling me that he heard a loud crash and had to pull over.  Well, as it turned out, he had a blowout.  One of the campers four tires was in shreds strewn along the last quarter mile of the edge of the highway.  It took off the trim of the skirting of the campers and left black marks all along the side of the camper from the shreds of the tire coming off.  From what I have heard, every camper has a horror story about a blowout.  Some worse than others, and ours was pretty mild.  Tom was able to get the camper off the road in a safe spot. God has us in the palm of His hand, and I am SO glad! So we called Good Sam's emergency road service and they came and changed the tire for us.  (At no cost).  So we then drove to our spot for the night, LaQuinta...no camping that night since we were doing so much driving.  We spent a restful night, got good sleep, a new spare, and were off for the rest of our trek across Tennessee.
Tennessee is a REALLY wide state when you are driving from west to east.  We got into the Knoxville area around five in the evening and into our BEAUTIFUL campground shortly thereafter.
It is right on the edge of the Smoky Mountains on a river.  The Tennessee Valley Authority has locations along many of the larger rivers in Tennessee with hydroelectic plants and this is one of them.  Some of these areas have campgrounds and they are really nice.  And the price is right, $11 a night for seniors.  (Sometimes it is helpful to be a senior!).  So we are here for about 4 days and hope to check out Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Smoky Mountain National Park.  This site is one of the prettiest yet.
Here are a few pictures from the state of Tennessee......

 Signs right outside our camper window....eegads!

 Our lovely spot

 Sign on mirror in women's bathroom....only in Tennessee!

 Truckers must drink a lot of coffee!

 

Is this a still on the roof??????



WE ARE IN ARKANSAS!!!!

After six and one half months in Texas, we have officially left the state (Which is no easy task considering its' size!)...and arrived last night in Arkansas, halfway between Hope and Little Rock at Degray Lake Resort State Park.  It is really, really nice.  The weather has been great and we have been enjoying Mother Nature here in the park.  We have two laid back days here before we leave on Thursday for Tennessee.  It is so nice to hear the birds early in the morning and the crickets at night!  It is very green here, they have had the necessary rain, unlike Texas where whole lakes have dried up.  I really will miss Texas, though. 
We are going to change our route home a little.  We were going to spend a week at Camp Meade outside of DC but after looking at the map and the incredibly busy roads that we would have to take around Baltimore and DC with the BIG camper, we decided to do things a little differently.  We are going to stay at Fort A P Hill in Virginia which is much easier to get to and less miles, which will save us some money.  It costs 50 cents a mile to tow the camper so we need to conserve gas when we can!  We can get to DC from A P Hill so I hope to make two trips to see some of the sights I have never seen.  Then it will be an easy trip over to Ocean City around the beginning of May to visit the kids.  I think I will even get to watch the grands a few times while Mom and Dad work!  That will be fun.  So the plan is to get up on Thursday, drive through Little Rock and Memphis to Jackson, TN and spend the night IN A MOTEL...YAY!  What luxury, and then onto a Tennessee Valley Authority campground near Knoxville near Sevierville, Tn and not far from Gatlinburg.  From there onto Fort A P Hill.  Phew, lots of driving but the scenery is magnificent this time of year.
Below are a few pics that I took here at the park.  I hope that you like them.

 I have never seen a black and white duck!

 Dogwood in bloom

 Sun glistening on the lake

HOLY COW!!! WE'RE IN COWTOWN!!!

Well, it appears that we are making our last stop in Texas here in Ft. Worth.  And quite a stop it has been.  This may be the most beautiful area yet.  This part of the state has a lot of wealth.. the buildings here are just amazing and the homes are incredible.  It is very clean and has lots and lots to do.  We are camping on beautiful Benbrook Lake just on the outskirts of Ft. Worth.  We have been staying in a lot of Army Corps of Engineer parks since they are very inexpensive....$14 a night, which is pretty darn good.  And they are usually on a lake.  The view out of our camper window is so peaceful.  Especially in the mornings.
Last night we went into the Fort Worth Stockyards which is probably the #1 attraction in the area.  They still do a cattle drive down the main street just like in the old days.  The longhorns parade down the street just a few feet from you.  It is like going back in time and really amazing.  They do this twice a day every day of the year except for two.  I did notice that they walk right past two big signs that say "Armour" and "Swift"...that would make me a little uncomfortable if I was 1600 pounds of beef!  There is a funny picture below of one longhorns right behind another..well, you will see!
It is a fascinating place to visit...the street is lined with hundreds of people waiting for the big event.  The picture of the little boys with their balloon 'horns" is cute....
Another highlight of this visit was Tom's reunion with an old Navy buddy, Johnny Pegg and his wife, Annette.  Tom and Johnny served on the aircraft carrier Intrepid 43 years ago, and they still recognized each other after all these years!  They are really nice people and live in Witchita Falls Texas.
We will be leaving here on Monday morning and saying goodbye to Texas......we have been here for almost seven months and has been such a great experience.  Texans have a lot of pride and I can understand why....they fought really hard to become a state and love where they live.
We will be spending three nights in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, not far from Little Rock at a state park there.  After that we will be making two stops in Western and Eastern Tennessee.  Plan to be at Ft. Meade in Maryland around the 26th and Ocean City by the 3rd of May.
I am also including a picture of Barklee.  He did not want to be left out.  Catch ya later!
Jackie and Tom

 

 Good motivation to keep moving!