CHECK OUT THE JAG!

We have been very busy selling trees to the wealthy of Southern Florida! For those who know basketball, we sold a tree to Scotty Pippen. I didn't know who he was, but one of our helpers did. It's been very hot here, in fact we have set records for December. I know you northerners are feeling sorry for us! We are counting down the days until Christmas. We are working long days 8 am - 10 pm. Then paper work (Jan, I think they have you beat). Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

FT, LAUDERDALE CHRISTMAS TREE LOT

So what I thought might be another quiet night waiting for trees and getting a chance to write this has now turn into about 10 available minutes. We just received a call that our trees will be arriving at 8:00 PM this evening. So we will be working until about midnight getting set up.

The pictures are the ride we took up A1A on last Friday. We saw many very nice beaches and many very beautiful houses! We are only about 4 miles from the beach, but we don't expect to see it again before we leave. The other our empty lot. We are in a really nice place in Ft. Lauderdale, no sand or dirt, just grass. We do have US 1 right behind our RV but the noise is not too bad. Behind the church is a waterway where we watch the boats and water skiers go by. It's been 85 and muggy the past few days. Tomorrow a cold front will be coming through dropping the temps to 70's. I guess I will have to get out my winter clothing again.

Sam, Riley, Kevin & I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends!

On the Road Again!

So, after a long Summer spent at the Covered Bridge Campground in the White Mountain National Forest, we are at Edisto Island, SC again.
We were suppose to leave last Sunday, but as luck would have it we had to turn around when we got to Mass. because the transmission was smoking. We returned to Mom's house, change the transmission fluid (Kevin thought he might have overfilled it) and found that the brake line was broken and leaking fluid. Finding that at Mom's was much better than finding it out on one the wonderful mountains of New York. So we finally set out Thursday morning on our trip South. Two very long days later we landed in Edisto Beach, SC for a little vacation before going on to Ft. Lauderdale to manage the Xmas Tree lot for Hart-T-Tree Farms.
The weather is beautiful 70's and sunny. I am working on the tan I never saw this Summer from working in the rain. Working at CB this year was much better, having a year of knowledge behind us. Jan (our boss) put us back to work almost as soon as we arrived back in Claremont this Spring. It was interesting being at Blackberry Crossing Campgound (where we started the year because CB had too much snow) in April with 80 degree days and 4 ft of snow in some places. We worked hard with Jan to open 5 campgounds, 3 weren't too bad, but 2 had been hit hard by the ice storm. We spent a couple of weeks cuttting, hauling & chipping trees that had fallen over the winter. As soon as Jan send us some pictures (hint, hint) we will pass them along. Of course the weather was really great up until we opened the gates, then the rains came for 2 months. But all in all the Summer was pretty great. We had some visitors from Claremont - and it was nice to touch base with them. The only real bad time was driving Kevin to the hospital after he caught his finger in the wood splitter. (Jan, I'm sure you're going to let him run the splitter this Spring!) But minus one finger we are on the road again.
We will be here until Tuesday, and take two days to get to Hobe Sound, Fl, a little North of Ft. Lauderdale. We will use that as a base to scope out FT. Lauderdale and the area. We are due on our lot next Sat. and hopefully will be very busy selling trees until Christmas Eve. We will travel to Ocala to visit my Mom for Christmas, but haven't made too many plans beyond that.
It's great to be on the road and we are looking forward to visiting many new places this winter!

Amicalola Falls State Park, GA

Look what we saw! This is the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi 729 feet. Awesome! This park also has an 8 mile approach trail to the southern end of the Appalachian Trail. We spent the day exploring northern Georgia. Lots of mountains, hairpin turns, and some really beautiful scenery. One thing we did learn - its not easy on the lungs going from sea level to mountains! We were going to go to the beginning of the trail, found the air very thin and hard to breath! Maybe we are just out of shape from hanging around the ocean for the winter. Currently we are on I81 N just south of Roanoke, Va. We have hit blizzards, sun, high winds and rain today. Also think we went over the tallest mountain in Georgia this morning trying to get to the Interstate. We had to unhook the car and I drove it until we got off the back roads. We will be in New Hampshire by the weekend! It will be good to be home - especially since we are cold already!

I had to share these with you.
The mountain is 825 feet tall and covers 583 acres. The top of the mountain is 1,683 feet above sea level.
The entire carved surface of the Memorial Carving measures three acres, larger than a football field. The carving of the three men towers 400 feet above the ground, measures 90 by 190 feet, and is recessed 42 feet into the mountain. The deepest point of the carving is at Lee's elbow, which is 12 feet to the mountain's surface.

TRAVELING THROUGH GEORGIA

Come along through Atlanta with us, actually the By-pass (I think we are both going to need a by-pass after this!) 6 lanes of craziness at 70 mph! There are sometimes I don't like being up in the RV, this is one! Whew! made it! We are on our way to Stone Mountain just outside of Atlanta.
We made it to Stone Mountain after a few wrong turns. I guess GPS is in order for next year. The Mountain is pretty cool, but very touristy.
We had a good day yesterday touring the Andersonville National Historic Site, home of the National POW Museum, Fort Sumter and a National Cemetery. We have been dodging storms all the way home, and think we may be okay from here on in. Looks like we may be home for Easter Sunday! We are going to spend a few days in Northern Georgia exploring the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi, the Cherokee National Forest and surrounding area, hopefully driving skyline drive through the Great Smokey Mountain with the Jeep, not the RV.
I am still working on lots of pictures, can't wait to get back to the mountains when I will have more time to work on them. Keep melting that snow for us!

Suwannee River, FL

They never put these pictures in the order I upload them! I didn't realize that it had been so long since I had been here. Time flies when you're having fun and yes we are having fun! Our first stop from Georgia was Sportsman's Cove Resort (notice the club house and dining area!) in Mcintosh, FL. We stayed there for 5 nights because it was only $10/night. Things we have learned about Florida: a lake is not always a lake and they use the word resort very freely. We did have a great time with my Mom and I am happy to report she is feeling much better. We finished her list of things to do in record time, including dumping about 100 bags of lava rock in her front yard! We moved to the Ocala RV Camp Resort on Saturday to be closer to Mom, and you will not see pictures of it here. We were about 200 yards from I75 and it was very, very, very noisy. We were packed in like sardines. But now we are in Suwannee River, FL. (Ashley & Stephanie I tried to download the song for you but couldn't find it) . We went to Manatee Springs State Park and the Dakota Winery today. Both were great. We are off to Apalchicola National Forest tomorrow. I will hopefully be able to include more picture then. I have been working on editing pictures (way too many!) and are going to upload them somewhere. When I find a spot for them I will let you know. Well the light is fading and we cannot get an internet signal in the RV (I told you we were in the woods!). More tomorrow if I can get a signal!

Greetings from Georgia! We are at Happy Acres in Screven, Ga actually closer to Odum, Ga. Once again we are in the middle of nowhere (seems like that's the only place I can pick to stay).
Three of the pictures are of where we are now, and the one of the moon is one of the last nights in Edisto. The one of the field is the campground, another of the color of the dirt here and the office and fishing store (crickets, frogs & gold belly minnows for sale) as well as anything you would want to buy to shoot an arrow with. It is nice to be back among the woods again (no mountains!).
We went to the Peaches to beaches yard sale yesterday. It is a yard sale from Macon to the beach (about 200 miles). We only hit a few spots, but didn't find any deals.
We re moving on to Mcintosh Florida and Orange Lake, its a few miles north of Ocala where my Mom is. Hopefully that is an actual lake. The lake we thought that was here turn out to be more of a man made swamp. We chose not to let the dogs go in, we weren't sure if something would carry them away or not. Everyone we have met here has been very nice, friendly and helpful. They have made us feel welcome. We have had to turn the air conditioner on the past couple of days its very muggy, buggy, and warm.

As we sit here by the fire I couldn't wait until my usual Sunday night blog. It was a wonderful day here in Paradise 80 degrees and beautiful. We decided to have our last fire here before leaving on our next search for paradise. Our boss Brandon gave us this weekend off to enjoy the wonderful weather because its been so cold here, so we have pretty much ended our work time here. We have a couple of projects we want to finish up on Monday (after the crowd leaves) but then we are done and are leaving on Thursday.
We got to play campers today and started our day looking for more shells on the beach (as if we don't have enough already)! Then we went and took our after pictures at the boat landing which I will publish at a later date. We had dinner and drinks (me barefoot wine, Kevin bourbon) by fire light, and our now enjoying the evening. We thought we would send you the pictures to let you know that yes spring is coming!
We are headed to Happy Acres in Screven, Ga for at least next weekend, maybe longer and then to the Sportsman Cove Resort on Orange Lake near Ocala . We will be back in the Great North about the third week of April and are looking forward to being back with family and friends!

This is the after picture that did not appear in the last post! One of these days I'll figure this blogging thing out!

Working Hard

We are almost done our project at the boat landing. Here is some pictures of Kevin working and a before and after picture. We would have published more but our camera died this week. We ordered a new one, but when we received it, it also does not work. Hopefully the person we bought it from on ebay will make it right.
For all you northerners, it's suppose to snow here tomorrow! (I can here all of you snickering). I'm happy to report that it will be 70's by mid-week, and you can't say that!
We gave our notice to Brandon (our boss) this week. It will be bittersweet to leave here. It is a wonderful place to visit, but it is time to move on. We will be spending a few days in Georgia at Happy Acres. From research on the web it seems to be a Happy place and at $10 a night, quite a bargain. From there it looks like we will be going to Sportsman Cove Resort in McIntosh, FL on Lake Orange, also for a bargain of half price. We are members of Passport America for $44/year and it will pay for itself the first week on the road.
Sam has become quite adept at jumping waves, he's come along way from being afraid to go into the water when we got here. They both would rather spend time in the water than anywhere else. We bought one of those chuck its to throw the ball for them on the beach and in the water. They sleep very well at night. It will take us quite a while to get all the salt off of them!
Hope you all have a very good week and Spring is on the way!

The Trees of Edisto Beach

I decided to include a few strange pictures this time. The tree in the marsh is called the "mystery tree" Someone (nobody know who) decorates it for the season or holiday. For Valentines day it was covered in hearts. The small driftwood tree is the shell tree. People who walk the beach add shells to it (they are hard to see in the photo). The larger tree is probably the most photographed tree on the beach. Kevin is standing in front of where we get our drinking water. Its a reverse osmosis system and much better than the salt water that comes out of the tap at the campground. The picture with the picnic table is the best site in the campground. This is the view looking out of the front window of your RV.
We are still working at the boat landing clearing brush and are still dealing with poison ivy which has migrated to our stomachs. The weather is getting warmer, & Kevin and I are working on our tans. The campground is fuller on the weekends now. But it was blustery today and I got to take my power walk on the 1 1/2 mile beach all by myself. It is pretty cool walking that stretch by yourself. We are looking forward to completing our obligations here and taking a shower that is salt free!
Kevin has found a new rule to travel by. The 2-2-2 rule: Never travel over 200 miles in a day, always stop by two in the afternoon and stay 2 days wherever you stop. We are thinking this should be a great way to go north. We are hoping to travel through Tennessee & Kentucky were Kevin has found "The Bourbon Trail". Should be interesting! I'm not sure I am ready to drive the RV with the toad on the back yet! Kevin tells me when we get on some open road I will be getting some driving time. Look out, here I come!

Lazy Days at Edisto Beach

We are watching the Super Bowl this evening. Kevin says "Go Steelers!" Me, I like watching the commercials, especially the Bud ones and they have been pretty good this year. We have not finished our project at the boat landing yet due to running into poison ivy! Kevin got it bad and has been puffed up since Wednesday! I only got a little on my arms. We have been living on Benadryl and Calamine Lotion. The boss gave us a few days off to recover.

We went to Walterboro on Tuesday for someplace different. We found a much nicer laundry and a good Wal Mart. We also went to a place called the Great Swamp Sanctuary. It has some nice walking paths and there is suppose to be a boardwalk that goes out into the swamps, but we did not find it this trip. A lady we met in the park explained where it was (the map of the place was very inadequate) and we plan on spending some more time there next time we go. I'll publish some pictures then.

The picture of the Christmas tree is pretty cool, all the ornaments are made from oyster shells. Not sure who made it or put it up but it looked pretty.
Big storm coming in tomorrow so it will probably be another down day. We have been filling our time listing on E-bay and I have been making jewelry. (Yes, Stephanie it is in the mail & Ashley yours is in the works!) The good news is shelling is always best after the storms.

YES it does snow here! I know it's hard to tell from the pictures, but we had flurries on Tuesday. First time in a lot of years. But alas, our brief winter is done, we are back into the 50's with 70's by the end of the week. Darn!
Stephanie ( my youngest) received her official acceptance letter into the Nursing Program this week. She makes us proud!
We have been working hard this week. We have almost finished clean up (which is mostly what we do) in the beach campground, so they have us clearing some scrub at the boat landing. We took before and after pictures and will publish them next Sunday (hopefully we will be done by then). It's looking really great!
We have been collecting a few sand dollars, and lots of shells. I have been learning beading and have been incorporating the small shells into the beading. I hope to visit the Charleston Beading Company the next time we go into civilization.
We are looking to go to Ocala Florida for our next stop before we go back up north in April. Our three month evaluation is at the beginning of March, & we figure we will take some time off before our working Summer in the White Mountains. My mom has had some health issues lately and we would like to spend some time near her and then take a leisurely trip home.

Botany Bay Plantation

We went to Botany Bay Plantation, which is just up the road, on Monday when it was chilly (high 40's). The area is almost 5 acres and a combination of two plantations from the 1800's. The first picture is in front of Picnic Pond which was added in the 1970's. The sign about the alligators caught our eye! The second picture is of a brick beehive well which was built by the slaves in the 1700's and continued to flow until about 20 years ago. The third is the road from the main road into the plantations. The live oaks are huge and amazing and they grow all over around here.
It was cold on Friday-28 and Saturday- 23 degrees (can you say spoiled?). We really didn't mind it too much, however the locals were a sight to watch. The news was showing people how to cut cardboard to put on their windshields to keep off the frost, explaining what to use to clean their windshield (scrapers, drivers license, spatula. etc). They even tried to freeze a tray of ice cubes on the side walk. We are usually walking around in shorts, much to the amazement of the rangers here!
You'll notice a few changes on the site, I've been learning new things and trying to add some new stuff to the site like the links to our e-bay stores. I was proud of myself when I figured out how to do that! Watch for more additions and changes!

January at Edisto Island

So we were going to start the new year by watching the sun rise on Jan 1st, but with the wind chill it was 22 degrees that morning, so we stayed in bed! We are saving our mimosas for a warmer sunrise! The pictures are of the brightest and largest full moon of 2009, January flowers and a shrimp boat off the shore. It nice to appreciate the simple things in life! We continue to walk the beach with the dogs almost every day and have taken to collecting shells. We have adjusted to this very salty piece of land and the slow paced southern way of life, but we do miss the mountains and clear, clean water! The weather continues to hold at 60's and 70's, not to shabby for January. Work at Edisto Island State Park continues to be very slow paced. We have decided to call ourselves Environmental Cleanup Specialist - cleaning up America one campground at a time. We hope that the New Year brings Life, love and laughter to all of you!