NickfromWI
Participating member
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA
Re: Road trip is over!
...So we find another State Park, pay our $14 dollars and have a peaceful nites rest and a good dinner (soup cooked on the tiny campstove) Nick's Camp Stove
The next morning, we wake up not too early but early enough to go for a sunrise walk on the beach where I starfish ee for the first time in my life. There aren't many of them in Wisconsin!!! I also saw hermit crabs and sand dollars, conch shells and ....ummmmm ...sticks. We headed back to our campsite and on the way back I spotted a huge kite stuck in a tree. Karina let me try to get it down with the throwline (it was stuck in a wayyyyy dead looking sycamore RIGHT on a steep sand dune. No climbing this bad boy) I spent a half an hour and all I did was ripped the sun-battered kite into a few pieces, but I never "rescued" it. By the time I was done, Karina has the camp site cleaned up. We went over to the bathrooms, showered, brushed the teeth, changed clothes than headed over to the other side of the park to see the sites. Karina wanted to see the lighthouse...she'd never seen one. We eventually found it, but the mosquitos told us we shouldn't hang around too much, so we high-tailed it to the air-conditioned car and headed to GA!!!!
Our next official stop is to Missippi to visit a friend who works where Brett Favre went to school We decide we'll get to Pensacola, FL, then drive straight west. We took the back roads of GA. While driving, I see a field with white spots all over it. Hmmm, what is that crop? COTTON! Have you ever seen cotton on a plant? It is remarkably soft. We pulled over in front of this plantation, then crawled along the shrubs and through the ditch on the side of the road then we were standing in the cotton field. The plants themselves were bone dry and quite prickly. But there were buds of cotton just bursting at the seams. Weird to see that and think that it can be a t-shirt soon. We picked a bit of it for a yet to be determined purpose, then got back in the car and back on the road.
I got an idea while on this trip. Karina and I use self-inflatable sleeping pads when we camp. They are the same size. A few years ago I tied some little strings that hold the two together making one big pad. I lost it months ago, so in NC, while at White Lake, we spliced two more (I made one, she made the other). Normal procedure, for those of you not familiar with camping techniques, is to lay the pad down, put sleeping bag on top of it, then get in the bag. But in this heat, the thought of getting IN a bag is enough to make the sweat pour from your forehead. You can just use a smaller blanket, but then you have to sleep directly on the pad, which is a bit softer than sandpaper (it's designed to minimize slipping). Easy. Just lay a blanket over the pad, lay on that blanket, then use one more blanket to keep you warm enough. But the bottom blanket never stays in it's spot, so I devised a different type of sleeping bag. Made of cool cotton fabric that a mom would make a baby blanket out of, it's just big enough that the two sleeping pads fit snuggly inside. Now you lay on the cozy blanket that isn't too hot and can't shift around in the night.
So what's the point. I had this idea cooking for a day or so, and karina helped me refine it. Now we needed the supplies. Driving through a small town we see a small fabric/crafts shop, so we stop in. They had what we needed and it didn't cost too much (maybe $10). We drive a little while, chatting, looking around. Karina's driving, I'm holding thread fabric in my lap figuring how long it's going to take to sew this in the car by hand. We're in a small town driving past people's houses. All of a sudden the car JERKS to the right violently. I look up in fear thinking we're about to hit something. Seeing nothing, I ask what the heck is going on when I see a sign, "National Champion Turkey Oak, Just Ahead." Karina saw the sign and went for it! Scared the living daylights outta me, but as soon as I realized what's going on, I started laughing. We find the tree, in someones yard, next to a chainlink fence. You can see it by looking at the attachment. Not an exciting tree. We laughed. I don't know Turkey Oaks very well, but if this was the national champ, I don't expect they are they great of trees!
Back on the road, and soon we were into Florida. Well, not soon. When I was driving, I was on this kick to see how good of mileage I could kick. This meant driving at around 52 mph on the GA backroads. Karina was NOT excited about this. But eventually I gave up and we made it out of GA. There was plenty of sunshine left in the day, so we headed to the beach in Pensacola. Keep in mind this is peak hurricane season, so there weren't a lot of tourists. The beach was calm. We found perfect parking a block away. The sands were white waves were tiny (not bigger than 2 feet) and the water was blue, blue, blue. We walked for a little, got our feet wet, when...hey...what's that in the watter? Karina, I just saw a dolphin poke it's nose in the air! I point her in the direction and she's looking in disbelief when all of a sudden a dolphin jumps completely out of the water! AWESOME! I've never seen dolphins, except at Sea World and that barely county. We watched them for a while. They look like fun animals.
Eventually we had to head inland for dinner. This was August 30, my birthday. Karina said she was going to take me out for dinner. I wanted sushi, and so it was. We called Citibank's free Concierge service and they found us a GREAT place right near Pensacola. We got sorta cleaned up in the car, made our selves presentable enough, and dined like asian royalty!
Bellies full, we get back in the car and hit the road. We're not in a big rush. Our next scheduled appointment isnt' for a few days on the southern tip of Texas, so we have some time to kill...
...So we find another State Park, pay our $14 dollars and have a peaceful nites rest and a good dinner (soup cooked on the tiny campstove) Nick's Camp Stove
The next morning, we wake up not too early but early enough to go for a sunrise walk on the beach where I starfish ee for the first time in my life. There aren't many of them in Wisconsin!!! I also saw hermit crabs and sand dollars, conch shells and ....ummmmm ...sticks. We headed back to our campsite and on the way back I spotted a huge kite stuck in a tree. Karina let me try to get it down with the throwline (it was stuck in a wayyyyy dead looking sycamore RIGHT on a steep sand dune. No climbing this bad boy) I spent a half an hour and all I did was ripped the sun-battered kite into a few pieces, but I never "rescued" it. By the time I was done, Karina has the camp site cleaned up. We went over to the bathrooms, showered, brushed the teeth, changed clothes than headed over to the other side of the park to see the sites. Karina wanted to see the lighthouse...she'd never seen one. We eventually found it, but the mosquitos told us we shouldn't hang around too much, so we high-tailed it to the air-conditioned car and headed to GA!!!!
Our next official stop is to Missippi to visit a friend who works where Brett Favre went to school We decide we'll get to Pensacola, FL, then drive straight west. We took the back roads of GA. While driving, I see a field with white spots all over it. Hmmm, what is that crop? COTTON! Have you ever seen cotton on a plant? It is remarkably soft. We pulled over in front of this plantation, then crawled along the shrubs and through the ditch on the side of the road then we were standing in the cotton field. The plants themselves were bone dry and quite prickly. But there were buds of cotton just bursting at the seams. Weird to see that and think that it can be a t-shirt soon. We picked a bit of it for a yet to be determined purpose, then got back in the car and back on the road.
I got an idea while on this trip. Karina and I use self-inflatable sleeping pads when we camp. They are the same size. A few years ago I tied some little strings that hold the two together making one big pad. I lost it months ago, so in NC, while at White Lake, we spliced two more (I made one, she made the other). Normal procedure, for those of you not familiar with camping techniques, is to lay the pad down, put sleeping bag on top of it, then get in the bag. But in this heat, the thought of getting IN a bag is enough to make the sweat pour from your forehead. You can just use a smaller blanket, but then you have to sleep directly on the pad, which is a bit softer than sandpaper (it's designed to minimize slipping). Easy. Just lay a blanket over the pad, lay on that blanket, then use one more blanket to keep you warm enough. But the bottom blanket never stays in it's spot, so I devised a different type of sleeping bag. Made of cool cotton fabric that a mom would make a baby blanket out of, it's just big enough that the two sleeping pads fit snuggly inside. Now you lay on the cozy blanket that isn't too hot and can't shift around in the night.
So what's the point. I had this idea cooking for a day or so, and karina helped me refine it. Now we needed the supplies. Driving through a small town we see a small fabric/crafts shop, so we stop in. They had what we needed and it didn't cost too much (maybe $10). We drive a little while, chatting, looking around. Karina's driving, I'm holding thread fabric in my lap figuring how long it's going to take to sew this in the car by hand. We're in a small town driving past people's houses. All of a sudden the car JERKS to the right violently. I look up in fear thinking we're about to hit something. Seeing nothing, I ask what the heck is going on when I see a sign, "National Champion Turkey Oak, Just Ahead." Karina saw the sign and went for it! Scared the living daylights outta me, but as soon as I realized what's going on, I started laughing. We find the tree, in someones yard, next to a chainlink fence. You can see it by looking at the attachment. Not an exciting tree. We laughed. I don't know Turkey Oaks very well, but if this was the national champ, I don't expect they are they great of trees!
Back on the road, and soon we were into Florida. Well, not soon. When I was driving, I was on this kick to see how good of mileage I could kick. This meant driving at around 52 mph on the GA backroads. Karina was NOT excited about this. But eventually I gave up and we made it out of GA. There was plenty of sunshine left in the day, so we headed to the beach in Pensacola. Keep in mind this is peak hurricane season, so there weren't a lot of tourists. The beach was calm. We found perfect parking a block away. The sands were white waves were tiny (not bigger than 2 feet) and the water was blue, blue, blue. We walked for a little, got our feet wet, when...hey...what's that in the watter? Karina, I just saw a dolphin poke it's nose in the air! I point her in the direction and she's looking in disbelief when all of a sudden a dolphin jumps completely out of the water! AWESOME! I've never seen dolphins, except at Sea World and that barely county. We watched them for a while. They look like fun animals.
Eventually we had to head inland for dinner. This was August 30, my birthday. Karina said she was going to take me out for dinner. I wanted sushi, and so it was. We called Citibank's free Concierge service and they found us a GREAT place right near Pensacola. We got sorta cleaned up in the car, made our selves presentable enough, and dined like asian royalty!
Bellies full, we get back in the car and hit the road. We're not in a big rush. Our next scheduled appointment isnt' for a few days on the southern tip of Texas, so we have some time to kill...
