It was such a gift to just sit in the warming sunshine and drink my special mocha latte home brewed coffee this morning. I had multiple visitors come by wanting to chat and to check out the Little Guy Mini Max camper. Suddenly it was 11 am and time to go pick up my cousin, JoAnne, from Louise Armstrong International Airport. I decided to take the causeway which is the longest bridge over a body of water in the world. It goes from north to south over Lake Pontchartrain covering 24 miles--while traveling on it you cannot see land anywhere until in the distance you can make out-- through the haze --the skyline of New Orleans. Joanne was waiting for me patiently and we headed back over the causeway to our campsite on the north end of the lake, Fontainebleau State Park. One of the classic experiences of New Orleans is to go to Cafe du Monde and get Beignet (fried bread tossed in powdered sugar) and strong coffee mixed one to one with steaming milk. We elected to go to the Cafe du Monde in Mandeville on the north side of the lake and close to our State Park. After feasting on our beignet, we headed to our campsite where we spent the rest of the afternoon getting Joanne settled into our tiny little camper and rearranging and repacking. Again we had more visitors wanting to talk and take tours of our camper. We finally found some time to plan our route to Big Bend National Park, which is 1000 miles away across Louisiana and Texas. Reservations were made east of Houston, south of Austin and then down south by the border taking 3 days to get to our reservations in Big Bend National Park where we will spend 3 days resting and exploring.
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Here we go! This morning it was downright chilly walking Maddie and Samson In Pensacola at 39 degrees. I did my HIT Training, showered, ate breakfast, packed up the camper and left Pensacola at 11 am. Maddie slept the whole way to our Camp site #19 Fontainebleau State Park. My only stop was at Costco to get gas, chicken, and a new membersip card as my Costco Citi Bank card has been hijacked AGAIN!! Maddie is getting used to being left in the car while I run in a store or gas station to my business. She has not thrown up at all this trip! Yeah! It is chilly here also at 58 F being the high for the day. I have the furnace on and we are tucked into the camper for the evening. Tomorrow I will drive to Louis Armstrong International Airport to pick up my cousin. This is a SMALL camper--it should be interesting!! For someone who is over planned, over booked, caretaking and up regulated most of the time; this is a gift of some free time at my cousin's home in Pensacola. I had planned on spending the time with her, but I cancelled the Florida portion of my trip due to Pete's illness so she planned a trip to go to see her grandchildren. Then miraculously Pete got better (could it have been the nitric oxide?) and he sent me on my way. So here I am! Alone in Pensacola in her beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood house sitting and dog sitting a very handsome standard poodle named Samson. No agenda. Thursday after walking the dogs, sub teaching a yoga class (my friends- my previous students) and walking the dogs again....I went exploring. Pensacola Beach, Fort Pickens and then had my hair cut by a real hair dresser. Feb 16th, Friday, Today: more dog walking, HIT workout, pedicure, and binge watching "Six Feet Under" on NetFlix. And I took out the microwave in the camper and tightened all of the connections, cleaned the faucet and have now fixed the sink faucet in the camper. Yeah!
I dropped my cousin, Carol, off at the airport at 6 am and came back to a very quiet house and two dogs who needed walking. I feel like I did nothing and spent the day feeling like I did nothing! But in truth I spent the day on hold or talking with agents with the phone company and Apple as my new 'replacement phone' was not working...finally it was fixed by the end of the day. I also got onto YouTube and figured out how to "de-winterize" the camper. Lots of steps and I even managed to get through it without a hitch....except that the sink faucet doesn't lets water out by a dribble and then by nothing...and I didn't have a phone to get ahold of Jerry's camping.
So I took the dogs on another walk, went to Marie's Seafood store and bought a pound of fresh shrimp, came home and had a wonderful meal of fresh shrimp, roasted veggies and key lime pie. Then I binged watched NetFlicks "6 feet under". I slept pretty well and we were up by 6 am. Everything I need is in the camper and car and Carol and I had a hard time getting anything done for the talking and catching up with each other's news. We came up with a plan. I needed to set up to teach a 9:30 Yoga Class, she needed to exercise hard on her pelatorn, dogs needed feeding and walk, a trip downtown to get Valentine Chocolate for her grand babies, and a pound of shrimp for dinner.
Sunday Feb 11 was a pretty miserable day. It rained off and on all night and I didn't sleep well partially because of too much caffeine on Saturday and partially due to Maddie's restlessness and partially because I knew that I had a long drive in front of me. When she got up at 3 am and wanted to get down, I was nervous that she needed to go to the bathroom--poop--and this trailer is too damn small for her to poop on the floor and not have me step in it! So I got up, got dressed and we took a walk in a very quiet, dark camp ground in a light drizzle. She peed quickly but no poop--it's been 48 hours but she has not eaten much. I got back to our little trailer and I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep and I also knew that my Pensacola cousin was anxious for me to get there in time for the Super Bowl to go over to her daughter's house to meet the new grand baby and watch the Super Bowl with the family. 550 miles between the camp and Pensacola. The drive to Nolin State Park had dampened my enthusiasm to drive to Mammoth Cave which took me an hour out of my way of Pensacola... but if I started early I could take that all in. So I packed up as quietly as I could in the dead silent campground and we were on the road at 4 am. 5 am we reached the Visitor Center of Mammoth Cave National Park. Of course it was closed at 5 am on a Sunday morning and the sign said that it would not be open until 8 am. Luckily, My sister, Cate, had insisted that we go to Mammoth Cave National Park way back in my youth of college...so I rationalized that I have actually seen the wonderful cave, I have pictures of it in my mind and besides, this little "trauma mama dog", Maddie, would not be allowed in to the cave and leaving her in the car is just as traumatizing to her as being shut up in a box! So I gave myself grace, took a picture of the sign to the Visitor Center to document that I was indeed at my destination. And we set off for Pensacola. Kentucky is beautiful with its rolling hills and the green grass that is not enjoyed by Wisconsinites in the dead of winter. This day was mostly a driving day to get me to a destination. We are going through gas quickly so we stopped every 2-3 hours for gas, a quick walk for Maddie who is terrified of big trucks and any loud noises. Even Rest stops have big noisy trucks. Her fight or flight response goes into full gear and she strains at her leash to get away as she tries to climb into any car door that is open. This can be awkward! She pees best after meeting another dog and do the smelling dance. So I am walking up to complete strangers or rather, Maddie is stalking any dog she sees and pulls me in their direction and I ask them if my dog can smell their dog. For this odd request, the strangers have been remarkably kind and Maddie smells and pees most of the time. The day is gray and overcast with off and odd drizzle and hard rain and back to drizzle. We got to Pensacola by 4 and went straight to the dog park where we repeated the pattern of asking complete strangers if my dog could smell their dog's butt, and Maddie peed! 3 times around the park and still no poop!.Exhausted we arrived to the warm arms of my cousin, Carol, my cousin on my father's side. She has a LOVELY home a block from the bay, impeccably furnished and comfortable. Her dog, Samson is elderly and he and Maddie immediately did their butt dance and settled into co habitation. I fanaggled the camper into a small side apron of her driveway, threw a few things into the house and jumped into Carol's car and went to her daughter's house to watch the Super Bowl (or more the commercials) and visit with her daughter's family. The 15 month old grandson is a flirt and a ham and provided more entertainment than the Super Bowl. We lasted through the Usher Half Time Show and came back home. I had been up since 3 am, driven 550 miles and my tank was empty! I needed to shower and get to bed! It was still drizzling and the camper needed to be plugged in to electricity to get the refrigerator going as it is full of food. Ugh! Finally shower and Bed. Carol is the Hostess with the Mostest and makes me feel completely at home!
I left Cate and Jack's at 8 am sharp after a quick walk for Maddie, a Saturady breakfast of french toast and then a harrowing backing out of a very narrow driveway into a row of parked cars. Lakeshore Drive to the Skyway to 55 to 94 to 65 South through Indiana to Kentucky. That was the easy part. 250 miles of highway driving. Maddie hates the noise of the trucks at rest stops and at Truck stops. I will need to find an alternative for her. The last 50 miles were harrowing and very slow going with one lane roads, twists and turns through sleepy hallows and the way back country of Kentucky. Nolin State Park is a beautiful park but it is just too damn hard to get to for me to recommend it to anyone...unless you have a few days to spare! I didn't even have the heart to drag poor Maddie (and me) another 45 minutes to Mammoth Cave National Park today as planned. Instead I elected to set up camp in the daylight and do some organizing and rearranging. I never had lunch so first order of business was to feed Maddie and I finished off my Bento Box from last night. I'll try to leave here early tomorrow and do Mammoth Cave in the early am. I'm trying to get to Pensacola tomorrow for a Super Bowl Party! Gentle drizzle and 51 degrees. The furnace works on electric. Yay! Still not de-winterized so no running water. I brought water with me from Madison.
This morning I went to my am fitness class, came home and showered, packed up the car and the camper, hugged and kissed Pete goodbye, and hit the road! Short trip today! 145 Miles to Evanston, Illinois to visit my sister. Parked the camper in her very narrow driveway and find out that I am unable to get into my camper where all of our food, clothes and supplies are. This is a challenge. I find duplicates of most of the necessities--except for the dog food. Note to self: Maddie does not like scrambled eggs for dinner! WE got fabulous carryout from local Lulu's Restaurant (5 Star!) and feasted on delicious Asian food. My sister lives on the southern tip of Evanston where the big boulders are along the lake. Below is the view out the window at dusk, dog park below outside her door and across the street! aka "doggie heaven".
Cate in heaven eating her bipimbop, Jack pleased with his Penang curry noodles and I loved my Bento box |
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