Family and Graduations

We spent three days at Kings Bay Naval Station near the Georgia/Florida line, and in addition to seeing 'gators, we visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Center www.georgiaseaturtlecenter.org. Having only opened within the past two years, the center is dedicated to rescuing and preserving the sea turtles of the area. Several big tanks were home to some turtles who were rehabilitating, and hopefully they will be well enough to be released back into the wild. I could readily relate to Simone and her impatience. Having been given a big block of ice with some small fish frozen into it, she chased it round and round her tank until she became completely frustrated and whapped the water with her flipper about five times as hard as she could. Even though she is missing one rear flipper, she is expected to be released soon.

We arrived at the Ft. Meade RV Park on Sunday, May 17 and will be here until June 13. The past ten days have been a round of fun-filled family activities and celebrations. Janet's parents arrived on Tuesday, Colleen arrived on Wednesday, Rachel graduated on Thursday, Sarah graduated on Friday, and Craig, Cassie and Greta arrived on Friday. Saturday was a Kirkwood bash with all of us together at Keith's and enjoying smoked buffalo brisket prepared by Chef Brian.


Then again on Sunday we were all together and joined by Sarah and Rachel's friends for a graduation party. To be continued! Ciao

Visiting Relatives

After our stay in Pensacola, one day's drive took us to Ocala, Florida and the home of my cousin and his wife, Bill and Helen Davis. We were graciously greeted and it was their insistence that we stay in their guest room rather than the motor home. When we declined because of Cooper, he too was invited upstairs to the guest room.

Their home was featured in Southern Living back in the eighties, and they have done much to update it over the past two years. I was fascinated with the covers on the swimming pools in Florida. The pool and surrounding patio area is completely enclosed with a steel framed structure that is finished with screening so not only does the pool stay clean, but if the heat and humidity are tolerable, one can sit out by the pool and not be bothered by bugs and mosquitoes. Very clever, those Floridians!!

They took us to dinner at their country club on Friday night, and at Bill's suggestion, I had grouper which is a local fish.....it was a delicious firm white meat fish and a beautiful presentation topped off with an orchid!!

Since Bill is thirteen years older than I, he always has some family lore to share that I didn't know about. Apparently after the wheat harvest had been sold by my Uncle Paul and he was paid in $20 gold pieces, my grandmother sewed each coin into its own little pocket in a flour sack, and then hung the flour sack on a hanger under a coat in the closet. When needed, she could simple remove the stitching from around one of the coins!! He also reminded me of the story of my grandmother taking Babe the horse into the town of Colfax to do her shopping, and not ever tying her. As my grandmother made her way in and out of the shops, Babe simply followed her down the street and waited while she went into the next store.

After our visit with the Davis', we crossed into Georgia just north of Jacksonville and stayed three nights at a military submarine base to be used as a base to explore the area. We drove where we could in the Okefenokee Swamp and to my delight, we saw several 'gators..................

Katrina lives

Although the detritis from Katrina has been removed from the areas where we drove, the evidence of the devastation remains. Most houses along the Gulf are built on pilings that are about ten feet high, and there is many a site with nothing but the pilings standing. And most of the inhabited sites were occupied by newly-built homes. We primarily drove through affluent areas, much beachfront, so of course ours was a pretty sanitized view of the devastation.

We chose to stay at a casino in Bay St Louis, MS last night that has a nice RV park. Most all of the 'regular' RV parks in this part of the country have become trailer parks and are home to displaced families who lost their homes. We didn't even hop on the shuttle to the casino, but it was a nice park with grassy sites and a great place to hunker down for the night.

We have been driving I-90 for the past hour which takes us right along the shoreline with several causeways and interesting views. Up ahead is the Northrop Grumman Pascagoula shipyard with a skyline of acres and acres of cranes.

...Later Sunday evening....

We settled in at the RV park on the Naval Air Station Pensacola, and took a drive around the base and into town for some reminiscing. Needless to say, there is not much that looks familiar. However, the Mustin Beach Officers Club still stands in all its glory right on the beach. It is a beautiful building, and is in fact still an officers club. We attended our first formal Navy dinner and dance at that club right after Ken was commissioned in July 1964.

We drove into town and drove the street where we lived while here but cannot remember the address and did not see anything that looked familiar. However in looking at the houses, I am sure the house where we lived is still there; nothing looks new or updated. I have called and left a message for Mike to see if he remembers since he drove with Keith and I when we moved here.

Tomorrow we will visit the Naval Air Museum that is only about a mile from where we are parked. We can leave the A/C running and leave Cooper long enough to go tour the museum. More to follow. Ciao

Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi

It was a delightful visit with Danny, Christa, Trevor, and Corey, and we loved where they live, in the southern part of the Texas Hill country. They treated us to some Texas barbecue and a tour of a nearby town, Castroville, which has connections to Alsace. The little tiny town closest to the Schultzs' is Riomedina with two stores. We patronized the grocery/hardware/antique store and I couldn't resist the Texas-made wine with my mother's name, Genevieve, and the locally made Alsatian sausage. In addition, there are fresh tamales available every Friday, so a dozen of those came along with me as well.

Danny and Christa live on five acres out in the country....and they need five acres for their menagerie....lucky is any creature that ends up in their care. They have four dogs, one of which is named Moose because as a chocolate lab, he weighted 125 pounds when they got him but is now a svelte 100 pounds. His head is as big as a five gallon bucket!! In addition, there are five kitties, 2 cockatiels, and a pond with turtles and goldfish.

Friday night found us in Vinton, LA in an RV park to which I would never return, but the stay was salvaged by the restaurant down the street. It is the lone restaurant in a small town, and Friday night is crawdad special night so of course I indulged. They were okay, but I didn't find them especially flavorful. Ken had deep-fried catfish which he said was very good.

Today was a lot of bumpy roadway as we made our way toward New Orleans. We certainly have seen reminders and remains of recent hurricanes. We have driven quite a distance in Louisiana and Mississippi that is right along the Gulf Coast, so the damage is quite apparent.

Ciao