A Quick Visit to San Antonio

We drove through San Antonio yesrterday. I've seen the signs on the highway, and always wondered. Oh, not the one in Texas, the one in Florida! (Betcha didn't know about this one!)

Here's the Cliff Notes version of the history of San Antonio:

Catholic influences are found throughout the town of 1577 folks. 

I grabbed a shot of the Garden Club gazebo as we went around the corner of the town square....

I kinda liked the suggestion of speed and reckless driving this suggests! 

This private school for pre-kindergarten to 8th grade offers a faith based education to approximately 200 students. The school opened in 1884. 

 San Antonio City Hall 

According to Mr. A. I (n)-stein: 

The City Hall building in San Antonio, Florida, is housed within a historic concrete block structure, originally known as St. Scholastica Hall. This building, completed in 1912, was part of a larger complex constructed by the Benedictine monks, including the nearby St. Leo Hall. St. Scholastica Hall served as a school building for Holy Name Academy

Panco Villa's Mexican Restaurant looks like it could be the real deal, in San Antonio, TX.

Can't you just imagine vaqueros with guns on their hips hanging around outside, ogling people driving by?

I enjoyed our quick side trip, on another beautiful day sunny moment in Florida. We will probably have our normal afternoon thunderstorms - it seems to be the thing around here. 


 

Paynes Prairie Preserve

We promised ourselves that when we moved we would take one day a week and explore. We moved here in February. We "explored" exactly one time...and the park we went to visit was closed! 

The Mister suggested we head out one morning to explore Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, just south of Gainesville, FL. They have wild horses there. He needed to say no more! Off we went. 

However, we bumped into a Bass Pro Shop first, so that took a bit of time. 

Our GPS routed us to a back gate to the park. We had to turn around and reroute ourselves to the main entrance. Finally we were there...and it was a balmy 93 and sunny. Ugh, not exactly the best weather for hiking and finding wild horses or finding the herd of bison that also lives there.

I was trying to capture a selfie in front of the visitor's center.
Do you find that your arms are too short?

I did manage to climb the 53 steps of the observation tower. I was told by some other guests that the horses were there yesterday and the day before...but they chose to go elsewhere on our visit. 

There may have been some brown critters near the palmetto trees in the distance,
or there may not have been any critters there.

The horses are supposed to be descendants of horses from Spanish explorers - similar to the Chincoteague ponies on Assateague Island, NC and the marsh tacky ponies in the low country of SC. 

The only horse I saw was this picture in a mural at the visitor's center. 
The Florida cowboys were called "crackers"because of the sound their whips made.

Visitors share information about their sightings with the rangers.
A board of daily sightings indicated that the horses had been seen earlier in the day we visited.

Maybe next time!

Our Summer Symphony - The Final Movement

The final movement of a symphony is generally a rousing piece that is fast, and loud. The fourth movement of our Summer Symphony may not have been loud, but it took on a faster tempo than any of the previous movements. We were on our way home! 

We said our “good-byes” to the group, some of whom were going on to Newfoundland, and turned our wheels south. Each night (except for a stay in New Hampshire to see my BFF, Marjie) found us in a different campground and we steadily progressed toward Florida: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and finally…. Home!

Our summer was memorable. It was fun. We saw so many wonderful sights and met so many wonderful people. We are fortunate to be able to compose and enjoy a summer symphony of our own design.

Marjie & Me

Marjie, Scott, Me, Zdzislaw

Marjie & Scott

Our odometer turns to 10,000 miles

Pups enjoy a campground in Georgia with their own yard

A visit with family: Me, Scott, Sue (Scott's sister) and Don

Florida welomes us

This is the reaction when we pull into our community.

The dogs love traveling, and never seem to be as excited to see home as we are.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the vehicles are dirty from the trip - 

rode hard and put up wet!

The Devil Finds Work for Idle Hands

or

"The Devil made me do it!"

You may recall that we Dreamers were stranded in Florida waiting for a windshield, and then for medical tests and their results. OK, so I did take a brief sojourn to California by myself. But, before that we had a lot of time when almost everyone had left our resort and no activities were scheduled, and it was too darn hot to do much outside. We aren't shoppers (in the usual sense). I'm not much for sun bathing or hanging out at the pool.  I entertain myself with painting, writing and sewing, but after a while, participating in those pastimes is awkward and/or confining on the motorhome. We had cabin fever and needed to get out. So, get out we did. We went to look at model homes here and there. We both knew that at some point in the future we would want to take the wheels away and have a real home some place in Florida. We took this opportunity to see what was out there ,and where. We visited a number of developments, and walked through many homes. A lot of them were lovely. Many of them were well beyond our budget. Some were too far out in the countryside. Many were in congested traffic areas. Some homes were too close to others.

Then, we found it. The house was Perfect... with a capital "P"! We knew it the minute we walked into it. First, the house had an extended 3-car garage, so there would be plenty of room for the Mister's workshop. Second, one of the bedrooms was 15' X 12'. Wow! My longarm sewing machine will fit, and then some! The house is in Babcock Ranch, the first solar-powered "city". The first homes became available just over a year ago, so the community is still new, and everyone is open to meeting new people and forming new friendships. The developer has grandiose plans for this "city", with shops, meeting places, sports opportunities and even a school. It is beginning to grow quickly.

After much discussion we decided that we liked the idea of this community. All the people we met were very friendly. We like that this isn't limited to 55 years of age and over. Most of the homes on this street are owned by snowbirds. Thus we have similar interests. However, it's fun to see the kids. We like the idea of being in on the ground floor instead of coming into an established community. We might have an opportunity to shape what the community will have to offer. The community is going to be huge, with a 5-year or longer buildout. (Constant construction is a downfall, however) We like that the house is just under a mile from the main entrance. We won't have to drive miles through a community to get to our home. The house is close to a community clubhouse, pool, and a walking trail that leads to a dog play area. After many visits to the sales models and discussions with the builder's representative, and consideration of building the same home on a different lot, we decided to buy the house.

We closed in September, and began moving things into the home when we returned to Florida. Before leaving the area for California we did order some furniture. This season we will participate in events at the RV resort and in our new community, as we can easily go back and forth and spend a night here or there. We will probably sell the motorhome in the spring. We also talked about selling the house in California, as we no longer need something that large. However, we discovered how much we love that location, too. Perhaps we'll revisit that again next year. Who knows. Obviously, we don't! We didn't even know we were going to consider buying a house in Florida this year!

Recently the furniture arrived. We thought we bought a lot. We still need so much more! However, we do have spots for folks to sit, and the empty house echo has gone, so we can take our time and have fun finding the perfect pieces(s)!

Another day dawns... who knows what this day will bring!

Five Hundred Miles (Times Six) and Then Some

It's our annual migration. You might say we are on a "repositioning cruise"!
We left the San Francisco Bay area and began our trek to SW Florida. The distance is over 3,000 miles. How many miles over is dependent on the exact route we take and how many side trips we manage along the way.

Here are a few highlights of our trip:

Tehachapi, CA (Day 1)

• Of course, meeting my blog friend, Inger was a huge highlight.
• Seeing the trains on the Tehachapi Loop was very special.

Seligman, AZ (Day 2)

• We stopped here, but didn’t have the energy to go into this historic Route 66 town. The campground host implied that there wasn’t much to see. The weather was cold and very windy. 
• Oh. My. Stars! When I took the dogs out for their evening walk I was treated to the most beautiful evening show of stars. Having lived in an RV resort with street lights, and a neighborhood in California with lights, such that I don’t even need a flashlight at night, I was stunned by the spectacle. It’s been a long time since I lived without light pollution and could see the amazing heavens!

Albuquerque, NM (Day 3)

• We passed this interesting building near Williams, AZ. This is the Kadampa Buddhist Temple. This is one of five International retreat centers for the study of modern Kadampa Buddhism. In Flagstaff, no less! 

• We try to get off the road by 3:30, or after 330 miles, especially on this long trip. We hit two construction zones outside of Gallup, NM that slowed us down. We were surprised at how much time they took off our trip as we got into the park in Albuquerque around 4:30. It wasn’t until the next morning that we dumb Dreamers realized we had changed time zones, and all of our time instruments had automatically adjusted when we weren’t paying attention! For all intents and purposes, we did get in at 3:30!!
• I discovered this black and red blister beetle at our campsite in Albuquerque. The bugs give off a toxin that can create blisters on your skin. In researching the beetle I found an interesting Navajo story. The bug is also called a Navajo Pot Carrier or a Water Carrier. Some of the bugs have rounded abdomens that look like Indian pots and oral traditions have a complex story to tell about the beetle. 

 Shamrock, TX (Day 4)

• On our drive we saw many, many RV’s. The most unusual, however, was an Airstream painted to look like a duffle bag. It was the Lands’ End trailer on its Heritage Tour. They were heading to the balloon festival in Albuquerque. 

This is the only picture of the trailer I could find on the Internet.
Luckily, we weren't driving in snow!

• We stopped at the Texas Route 66 RV Park, a small campground along the highway. The owners are delightful. They bought the campground a year ago and are working hard to make improvements. I like finding places like this, and returning to see how things change over time. I wish the new owners well in their venture.
• Texas has stickers and tarantulas! The grass at the Shamrock campground was recently mowed, but it still had all kinds of stickers that found their way into Tucker’s and Gypsy’s coats. I began taking the brush on walks with me to save my fingers from getting poked! While I was out walking the dogs, the Mister spied two tarantulas; a he and a she! They had a quick affair, she returned to her home in a small tunnel in the grass, and he ventured on.

• The rain in Texas was all our fault. We washed the accumulated dirt and grime from the storage yard off of the trailer in Albuquerque. So, of course that would bring rain.  We enjoyed the drumming of rain on our roof, and in the morning there was only a narrow band of rain right over us. As we began our morning trek to the east, we quickly left the rain behind. Thank goodness!

Historic landmark: Tower Service Station and U-Drop Inn

Alma, AR (Day 5 & 6)

• We always struggle to find a nice campground in this area. I found an interesting campground in Arkansas “Wine Country”, amidst several wineries. It was basically a dirt parking lot with hookups. The Mister didn’t want to drive that far to sit in a dirt parking lot (It was another 40 miles beyond Alma). So, I fell back on one we’ve used in the past. Last year we had a terrible experience. The campground encourages the guests to write reviews on various Internet sites, and even provides directions about how to do so. Instead of leaving a bad review, I sent an email, suggesting they wouldn’t want to see what I’d write. I informed them of some of the problems we had. So, fast forward to this year. I called to make a reservation. When I gave my name the woman evidently looked me up and their was some sort of “flag” on my name. She said she needed to so some research and would get back to me. I was fearful that they would refuse to allow us to come this year. A bit later she called and apologized for the problems we had last year and said they’d like to give us a discount for our visit this year. What a surprise. We still aren’t enamored with the campground, but it was kind of them.
• More sparkles in the night! The only flashlight in the trailer that works is a headlamp. So, after dinner I donned my “miner’s lamp” and took the dogs out for their evening walk. Oh, my! I had forgotten about the reflections one sees from spiders in the grass. Ugh! Then, I almost walked into a spider dangling from a tree. No stars here, but plenty of sparkles.
• We decided to spend an extra day and get some much needed R & R. We ventured into Fort Smith and visited the Fort Smith Museum of History, located in the 1906 Atkinson-Williams Warehouse, which once operated as a hardware store, soda fountain and pharmacy. We also visited the Fort Smith National Historic Site, which had another excellent museum. From there we stopped by the Ft. Smith Trolley Museum. The “Mister” enjoyed chatting with the docents as he used to volunteer at the Denver trolley. So even though we didn’t do a whole lot of resting, we did enjoy a nice change of pace, and an excellent lunch at the Bricktown Brewery. I had to try the sweet potato fries with caramel, sea salt and bacon. Oh. My! 

This was one of my favorite exhibits. These are life-size leaves that were carved out of the wood of that sort of tree. 

These are 5 tree samples from the Jesup Wood Collection that included 455 specimens
and was unveiled at the Museum of Natural History in New York in 1880.

My lunch!

Ft Smith

A replica of the gallows, where 86 people were hanged from 1873 to 1896  in this town on the border of the frontier.

Tupelo, MS (Day 7)

• We are in the south, after all. I guess temperatures above 90 are to be expected. We were all feeling sluggish from the heat.

Chattahoochee, FL (Day 8)

• We made it to our home state. Hooray! We stayed at a clean, no frills, family run campground. Over 300 trees were lost because of Hurricane Michael. The owner of the campground also owns a heavy-equipment company, so cleanup was quick and thorough. 

North Fort Myers, FL (Day 9)

• We broke our 330 rule (driving 330 miles or stopping by 3:30 PM, whichever comes first), by continuing on to North Ft Myers. We drove 426 miles, but due to an early start, actually made it in well before 3:30... so I guess we didn't break our rule after all! 
• We spent one last night in the Airstream, then the next day, got everything settled with the motorhome, unloaded the Airstream and put it up for a rest in our storage unit.

Now our winter adventures begin!

By the Numbers: Westward, Here!

We arrived in Point Richmond, CA with no other misadventures. Here are a few facts and images from the trip.

2: oceans we have seen

8: states we traversed

11: campgrounds where we stayed

17: fuel stops (it seemed like we were always pulling in for fuel. Only 17?!)

48: lowest temperature we experienced - Amelia Island, FL

108: highest temperature we experienced - Palm Desert, CA

325: approximate number of gallons of fuel we burned

3258: miles we traveled - 881.5 were in Texas, alone!

This one is for Lori Skoog!