Had a good day.  Went grocery shopping.  Then introduced neighbors to geocaching.  Two couples and I went searching on the trails and finally found a cache.  They then invited me to supper and an evening of socializing.  A good time.  Did find out I need to be concerned about tornadoes.  Tomorrow I am going to go buy a weather radio.

12/23/15

I hate cities. I have seen far more of Houston than I ever wanted and hope never to see again. If I didn't have the gps I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to get where I am.

I'm in Texana Lake State Park. A really beautiful spot. A nice lake. Looks like the kayaking will be nice. I hope the alligators behave themselves. The place is loaded with geocaches and hiking and biking paths to those caches. I've only been here a few hours and already have seen deer, pelicans, and an opossum. Campsites are good sized and spread out with plenty of space between. I haven't checked out the showers yet. I hope they're clean. I'm checked in and paid for a week.

If everything is as nice as it looks I may stay an extra week.

Beautiful sunset tonight and the temperature is around eighty. Humidity doesn't seem too bad. Certainly better than last night in Louisiana.

No cell phone or internet here in the park. I'll have to go find a hotspot somewhere, maybe the local library. I'll post this when I find a spot.

12/25/15

This will be my third night at Texana Lake. There are hot spots, but I have needed to use the tablet to access them and I'm having trouble with that. If this gets posted tonight it will mean I've solved the problem or found a work around.

Today I found my first Texas cache. That makes 23 states.

I've seen deer every day. They are almost tame, showing no fear of me as I go by. Thought I saw an alligator, but it was just a log. People tell me there are plenty of them. I am amused by the signs along the lake, “don't feed the alligators” and “swim at your own risk, no lifeguards on duty”, and the signs are not that far apart.

I've been talking with a few of the other campers, they are mostly from Texas. One of the campground hosts is from Quebec. I haven't had a chance to meet them.

Haven't got the kayak out yet. Bicycle has been plenty of exercise.

Guess I'll close this and see if I can get it online.

On the way out of the park I saw my first armadillo.

My second night here in Louisiana.  Went geocaching today, searched for five and found one.  Went for a short bike ride.  Drove around a little.  If I am in a campsite that is out in the woods I don't expect to have services nearby.  But when I'm in a campground surrounded by huge factories and commercial activities I'd expect some services.  The nearest grocery store is four and a half miles!  A weird set up.

The campground is probably the nicest and cleanest on this trip.  Just surrounded by blight.

This evening I decided to reorganize the truck bed.  Had everything out and rearranged, put everything back.  Just as I finished it started to sprinkle.  Now it is pouring.  My timing was good for a change.

Now I just have to cook (heat) some supper and clean up to be ready to hit the road tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to Texas.

I'm sitting here drinking flavored sugar water and eating roasted/salted in the shell peanuts.  Great diet.
Interesting day today.  Drove from Gautier, MS to Sulphur, LA.  The most interesting drive of the trip so far.  Drove through swamps, over bayous, the Mississippi river, and over the highest bridge I think I've ever been over.  Not sure where.  Then there were miles of absolutely flat farmland.

A friend told me about an executive of a company  who was punished by transferring him to Lake Charles, LA.  I can see why that's punishment.  Miles of refineries and various smoking, unpleasant looking places.

Louisiana also has the lousiest roads I've been on this trip.  Miles of concrete slabs.

Stopped at a "Camping World" rv store and spent a lot of money.

Tomorrow I'm going to try for a geocache or two and then some more work on the camper and truck.

Still at Indian Point.  Most of the day was spent on chores.  Got a refill on a couple of prescriptions.  Had no idea it could be done so easily.  Thanks Patty.
Finally emptied the fresh water tank of cleaning solution, now to sanitize.
Found my first Mississippi geocache.  May try for a second tomorrow.
Had canned beef ravioli for supper. Yuck.  I found that the only can opener I have with me is the one on my Leatherman.  I don't like openers that leave jagged edges, so something else to buy while on the trip.
People keep asking me where I'm headed and when I say I don't know they all say "good for you" or some variation.
Temperatures in the 30's tonight.  I thought MS would be warm.  Guess I'm going to have to go to south Texas to find warm weather for kayaking.

At the Indian Point RV Park in Gautier, MS.  Spent last night at the Hard Labor Creek State Park in Rutledge, GA.  Going to stay here a couple of days.

This is my first ever visit to Mississippi.  Going to look around and get at least one geocache.  Today's drive was the first time to see anything different or interesting on this trip.  The view from the interstate system is pretty close to the same everywhere.  But today I saw Spanish moss for the first time on this trip.  And in southeastern GA I traveled through a very interesting stretch.  It looked as if they built the interstate on the banks of a river with northbound on one side and southbound on the other.  The median was water!  About a hundred yards wide. There were a couple of interesting bridges in this stretch.  So woke me up a little.

Left Hampton, VA this morning.  I'm now in a KOA in Lumberton, NC.  I called ahead for reservations after looking in a Good Sam directory.  I didn't realize until I was on the road to the campground that I had been here before.  I wouldn't have stopped here if I was aware, but mind was blank I guess.  When I was here before the place was run down, the showers were metal and rusted out, etc.  Well there is new ownership and the new owners are really doing a lot of work.  The only negative this time is the noise from I95, which is just a few hundred yards away.  I can live with that.

On the road again.  Left Hudson on Monday, stopped in CT to visit daughter Audrey and family, then came straight down to Hampton, VA.  Daughter Beth is graduating from college tomorrow.

Shortly after I'll head out again.  Right now I'll probably go straight south into Georgia and then head west.  No fixed itinerary.  I may cut the trip short as I am anxious to be building the next boat.  But, thinking logically, that may not be the best idea as the garage will not be too comfortable for boatbuilding until spring.  We'll see.

Since my last post I've finished getting new lenses in both eyes.  I can see a major difference.  Driving at night has become much easier as the glare from oncoming headlights doesn't blind me any more.  Last night my roommate and her boyfriend and I were sitting around talking when Patty all of sudden said "What's wrong with your eye?"  A blood vessel had broken in the eye.  This is not a serious thing, but it is the first time it has happened to me.  Very scary looking, the eye is filled with blood and the eye is swollen.  Pretty frightening.  Luckily Patty knew about it and was able to talk me into just calling the doctor rather that head for the emergency room.  Today the swelling is gone, but the blood remains and looks horrible.  No degradation of sight though.

Two days ago I was able to get out on my new cross country skis.  Wonderful feeling and the possibility of an exercise that I find fun.  The lake in front of the house is a wonderful place to ski.

I have now been given notice that my last shift at LLBeans will be Feb. 22.  I am glad.  Maybe I'll have more energy to do things around here now.

Back after a long absence

When I returned from the last trip I stopped blogging.  I had always thought of the blog as just a record of my trips.  Now I think I'm going to record some of my thinking about everything.

Since I returned from that last trip life has just changed completely.  I had open heart surgery to bypass some clogged arteries, am in the process of cataract surgery (one eye done and the next in two days), bought a different house with a friend and moved fifty miles from the place in Brooks, and became a slum lord.

I have a friend who wants to buy the house in Brooks.  She is living there and paying the rent by cleaning and fixing the place.  I am going to sell the place for a rock bottom price because it is in such rough shape.  I had never kept up with the maintenance the way I should have and when Jeannette died I just quit doing anything to the place.  This is a win/win deal for both of us.  I have hopes she will be able to get financing in the spring or summer and I can be done with a place I don't care for.

The new home is on a lake fifty miles from Brooks.  The house is very small and there is a large garage.  The garage is going to be a woodworking shop where I may build some boats.  A small dinghy is in progress right now.  This past summer saw some sailing, some kayaking, and some canoeing.  I'm still planning long trips, but that was put on hold until things settled down.

This fall and early winter I have been working at the LLBean call center taking orders over the phone.  The pay and hours are reasonable and I can put money aside for the next trip.

Let's see if I can follow through and add to this blog on a regular basis.