Chez Sellew in Bluffton, SC

We are on the road again, even if just in the car. We have driven up to Bluffton in the low country of  South Carolina to Chez Sellew the best kept B&B secret ever.

What a view from our room.

OK, it is not a B&B at all. We are the pampered guests of Archie and Nina Sellew my ex-brother/sister-in-laws turned wonderful friends. We do not get to visit these exceptional people as often as we would like and we are very happy to see them. We spent the afternoon at the Bluffton Farmer's Market where local produce and foods are featured. We had great She-Crab soup and crabcakes, and picked up some fresh vegetables. The weather could not have been better for this outdoor event.

Nina is a wizard in the kitchen, and tonight she and Archie worked together to treat us to home made clam chowder followed by broiled lobster with scallops.

Not sure what all is on tap for tomorrow, but rest assured it will involve food.

Happy Holidays

OK, after some fine-tuning this year we really think we have figured this retirement thing out. We are traveling the country in our motorhome finding all kinds of marvelous new sights, and most treasured of all, visiting family and friends. In the process we visited seventeen states this year.

The highlight of our first long trip west was grandson Jack’s first birthday. Chris and Lisa hosted the grandparents and we had a wonderful party for Jack and a couple of his friends. Jack is healthy, happy, and growing like crazy.

Our turn around point was the Grand Canyon on that trip. It was certainly a spectacle, but we found many lesser-known areas that were particularly nice, such as Canyon de Chelly and many other Native American ruins.

Among our shorter trips, we visited the Florida Keys, where Barbara had the chance to volunteer to care for a stranded Pilot whale. She had the 0400-0800 standing in waist deep sea water holding the whale high enough to allow it to breath. I stayed in bed.   I must say that Barbara gets great joy interacting with the wildlife we come across. She met her first Javelina this year, as well as the Pilot whales, dolphin, Axis deer, Black Buck antelope, and any number of smaller critters and birds.

 Our trip to the upper mid-west gave us a chance to see the upper peninsula of Michigan for the first time and we were really impressed with the beauty. In fact, we have learned that there is beauty to be found anywhere you stop in this country if you take the time to look around you. This was a particularly heart warming trip since we got to spend time with Elly Bissen’s family and get a taste of American farm life. What great people those folks are that feed the rest of us. We had a ball.

I could go on, but the bottom line is Barbara and I have had a charmed year made that way by the many family and friends that bless our life.

To all of you, Barbara and I wish a wonderful new year and hope that it brings good health and joy to all of our family and friends.

Orlando, FL

Well we got home safely. It was a long day and over half of the drive was in rain. We stopped at a rest area on I-10 to let the worst of it move off to the north of our route, then continued on home.

Yes, the pool was over flowing. Luckily it flows away from the house when it does that.

It was a fairly short trip, only eight days, but we covered 847 miles.

Fort Rucker, AL

Today we drove Barbara around to see of few of the local sights. Anyone who has spent any time at all at Ft Rucker knows the story of the Boll Weevil monument in Enterprise, AL.

After the boll weevil destroyed the area's cotton in the years between 1910 and 1915, locals began diversified farming. In gratitude for the resulting prosperity, the city erected a monument to the boll weevil in 1919. Strange to have a monument to a crop destroying insect, but there it stands. In the early sixties an unscrupulous flight school class stole the weevil from the monument and created quite the political mess between the base and the community (alcohol might have been involved). The folks take their bug seriously! It was returned, but there are carryover insecurities. We noticed that there is a video surveillance camera directed at the monument. 

Sorry for the poor picture. Too much traffic to get closer. Had to get picture while walking on the 'green' to not get cars in picture. Click on the picture to enlarge. Bug is the dark object held aloft by the statue.

We drove through parts of the attractively wooded military installation and gave Barbara a look at a few of the heliports that are home to the hundreds of helicopters used for training here. We then headed back to our quiet campsite and strolled through the woods so Barbara could collect pinecones for Christmas decorations.

It was a nice relaxing day with occasional light rain showers. Real peaceful! Tomorrow we are on the road home to what I imagine will be a real full, if not overflowing, pool. This weekend they received a lot of rain at home.

Fort Rucker, AL

HOKIES WON! Wow, what a game: 38-35. It went right down to the wire with VT regaining the lead with just under a minute left. Both teams played very well.

OK, back to the trip. We spent the part of the day leading up to the game seeing the Army Aviation Museum. They have done a very nice job restoring and displaying many older aircraft. As you can imagine, most of these aircraft were helicopters, but there were World War I vintage aircraft and World War II vintage helicopters from the Army Air Corp days. It was fun to show Barbara the types of aircraft I flew, but it was unnerving having a curator following me with a tape measure sizing ME up for a display.

AH-1S at entrance.

AH-1S in front of AH-1G suspended from ceiling. I flew the AH-1G as one of the first instructors in the aircraft, and then the AH-1S in the Colorado National Guard in the early 80's.

UH-1B gunship like the one I flew in Vietnam. I later flew similar UH-1C and UH-1M models in the California, Colorado and Connecticut National Guard.

The venerable UH-1D/H model Huey. I flew these in Vietnam as well as the California, Connecticut and District of Columbia National Guard. What a versatile workhorse she was.

The H-19. It saw a lot of service in Korea and was the aircraft we took our advanced training and tactics in at Ft. Rucker in 1965. We finished training flying instruments in the turbine powered Huey.

CH-37. I got a few hours in these while first in the California Guard in the early 70's. It was not the largest helicopter I flew. That was ...

The CH-54 Flying Crane. We could lift a 25,000 pound load on the hook. We did a lot of work recovering buoys for the Coast Guard while I was in the Connecticut Guard in the late 70's.

Barbara got to try out the cockpit of an AH-1 Cobra. She fits better than I did.

We spent a few sobering minutes in the Army Aviation Vietnam Memorial. I say in because it is a quiet room to itself with all walls covered with columns of the names of Army aviators and crewmembers killed in Vietnam. There were close to five thousand names on those walls. The earliest were from 1963. I was there from March 1966 to March 1967.

Fort Rucker, AL

We had a nice drive up from the panhandle today. The weather continues to be perfect, although stormy weather is brewing off the coast of Florida this weekend.

What a wonderful surprise this campground has turned out to be. We knew that they had just opened a new bathhouse, but it turns out that is the last step in a refreshing of the whole park. All the sites are newly paved, as are the access roads. It is like they just built it for us! Put that on the banks of a nice fishing lake and you have a sweet setup. Even sweeter? They take the Golden Age Pass so we got an already low rate reduced even further.

Tomorrow we want to see the Army Aviation Museum and get some kayak time on the lake before the Virginia Tech/Miami game. GO HOKIES!

Saint Joseph Peninsula State Park, FL

Flies 50, Bill 8.

I have to tell you the Stable Flies have been a real pain in the, well, ankles. These damn things bite like hell, but can’t seem to get higher than the knee. We are not talking about mosquito itchy bites. The little buggers hurt! They tend to fool you because they look just like a common housefly. We made a special trip out of the park to a mini mart so we could arm ourselves with fly swatters. Curt refers to it as hillbilly hand fishing. Here are Curt and Elly with their defenses up.

We have been pressing Curt to provide fish and today he came through with two nice size Bluefish that he grilled to perfection this evening. We have been blessed with great weather this week and have eaten very well.

Tomorrow we depart. Curt and Elly return to Orlando and Barbara and I continue up to Ft Rucker, AL for the weekend. We are already discussing a return next year about this time since the temperature and humidity are lower in October. We have had a great time here at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park. The beaches are fantastic, there are miles of roads to bike on, and good fishing for those that know what they are doing. We can highly recommend the park.

Next we are off to Ft. Rucker, Al and the home of Army Aviation. They have a campground on Lake Tholocco. I have not seen the lake since 1966, but I hope it is still nice. We will see. The main reason for the trip is for Barbara to see the museum.

Saint Joseph Peninsula State Park, FL

We arrived at Saint Joseph Peninsula State Park at 5PM yesterday and after some effort managed to get ourselves backed in to the site we were assigned. It is a great park and our site faces the sunset and the beach with only two rows of sand dunes between the beach and us. It would have been nice to have a little wider space as you can see in the photo, be we are quite happy. The temperature just right at around eighty and there is very little humidity. Not a cloud in the sky, either!

We have Curt and Elly Anderson with us from Orlando. Curt went to school at FSU and spent a lot of time here during his college days. He is having a great time revisiting his old haunts, fishing and swimming. Elly, as the only working stiff in the bunch, is enjoying the chance to chill and read while we retirees amuse ourselves at the beach.

Speaking of the beach, it is magnificent! There are miles of white sand, and very few people. There is about nine miles of beach in the park and it is far enough from the closest homes that there are very few people.

There has been a bit of an off shore breeze that has the bay side kicked up a bit so we have not had the kayaks out yet. The wind seems to be abating some, maybe tomorrow. Meanwhile, Barbara is hunting shells.

Bok Tower and Gardens, Lake Wales, FL

OK, we normally use this blog to document our travels in the motorhome, but we thought readers might enjoy hearing of our trip to an interesting central Florida attraction. That is the National Historical Landmark Bok Tower and Gardens in Lake Wales, FL.

Built by Edward Bok and opened in 1929 the gardens cover 50 acres. The Singing Tower is 250 feet tall and is constructed of Georgia marble and coquina. The garden and tower were built as a gift to the American people and was dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge.

It sits atop Iron Mountain, the highest point in central Florida. A whopping 287 feet in elevation the garden has overlooks that offer wonderful views despite the industrial nature of some of the area.

There are ponds with very large Koi or carp. You know, the really big gold fish. Most of these looked to be about eighteen inches long and could probably use going on a diet. There are little vending machines in the area that dispense a handful of pelletized fish food for a quarter and they look like they get a lot of use. The squirrels know to hang around, too. 

Also impressive are the large, I mean very large, lily pads in the ponds. The smallest are the size of garbage can lids. The larger ones must be at least three feet in diameter.

The tower houses a carillon, which is played on the hour and half hour. There are longer concerts at 1PM and 3PM daily. During the summer the music is recorded, but from December through April it is played live. The original playing console is displayed in the visitor area. It does not have keys that are pressed, but many handles that are pulled down to physically ring each bell high above the carillonneur’s station. It has plenty of foot pedals, so the guy gets pretty busy. The music is impressive!

The Bok Garden has a reciprocal agreement with the Henry P. Leu Gardens here in Orlando. Since we are members at Leu Gardens admission was free at Bok Garden. We had a great time and it is well worth the drive if you are ever anywhere in central Florida.

Orlando, FL

We are back home. We had an uneventful drive from Brunswick, GA. Barbara has come down with a cold so I did the four-hour drive in one leg. Normally we switch off every two hours or so which is much easier on us. Traffic was light and and we only encountered periodic light to moderate rain. The rain was welcome, though, since it brought the temperature down from the high of 97 degrees.

This was an interesting trip in that we visited so many friends and ended up eating so many meals away from the coach. Ended up unloading a lot of food that we left with July 10^th. Two stops at Trader Joe’s along the way meant we actually returned with a whole lot more wine than we left with.

It was a terrific road trip. We spent time with great friends, and met many new ones. I got to visit some of Barbara's family for the first time. We visited parts of the country that neither of us had seen, and had a great time learning about nurseries, farming and tractors from the wonderful Bissen family.

We drove over 3800 miles on this trip and passed through thirteen states. We added eight new states to our “States Traveled” map since we only count states if we overnight at least one night.

It is nice to have rain here at home, but it is keeping us from our next challenge: WEEDS.

St Simon Island, GA and Fernandina, FL

We spent this morning on St. Simon Island and found that we enjoyed it over Jekyll Island. Aside from the village on the southern tip the island it is far less commercial. The northern end reminded me of the nicer parts of Hilton Head, SC. There are not as many gated communities, but the homes are for the most part upscale.

We visited Fort Frederica, a pre-revolutionary war English settlement and fortification. James Oglethorpe created it in 1736 to protect Savannah and the southern flank of the English colonies from the Spanish who claimed Florida. The Spanish concept of Florida included most of what are now Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.  Oglethorpe brought settlers with a mixture of trades and skills. These were common people looking to establish a life better than what was available to them in England. The settlement remained viable through the war of 1812, but ultimately succumbed to a large-scale fire. The site was abandoned and much of the salvageable building material was taken to aid in rebuilding elsewhere.

Today you can still see some remaining structures of the fort such as remnant of the magazine and barracks. Foundations of many of the houses in the settlement have been excavated. The layout of the streets is marked and the moat that surrounded the forty-acre settlement is still visible. One of the things we enjoy most about these trips is visiting historical places such as this. Barbara is having a great time collecting the unique ink stamps in her National Park Passport.

The southern portion of the island, with its lighthouse, was where the majority of hotels, restaurants and shops were. It was too touristy for us, so we did not hang around much longer than it took to get an ice cream to cool off. It was very hot and humid again today. Staying in both the shade and breeze was critical.

After St Simon Island we drove to St Marys, GA. We visited the Cumberland Island National Seashore Museum. It might have been that it is Sunday, but there was very little happening in downtown St Marys, and it did not look like there was enough to draw us back.

Since we now had extra time we elected to drive to Fernandina Beach, FL just across the river, but nearly fifty miles by road. While there we did a quick drive through of Fort Clinch State Park campground to see how well our RV would fit. It was encouraging, and the park seems quite nice. We will likely return to camp here.

We had dinner at the Crab Trap restaurant for our last night on the road. I wish I could report that it was great, but alas, it was mediocre. We walked the main district for a bit, but it was still 91 degrees, so we packed it in and returned to the coach.

Tomorrow we break camp and head for Orlando. It has been a great trip, and we have seen some new parts of the country. MN, WI and MI are certainly on our list of places to return to.

Jekyll Island, GA

We spent the day at Jekyll Island. The whole island is now a Georgia State Park, but it started out as a retreat for the uber wealthy in the 1880s. In 1947 the state of Georgia bought the island from the Jekyll Island Club that these captains of industry had created. Their buildings are preserved as the Historic District.

As you approach the island there is an information center and State Patrol Offices. Remember the Hodags in Rhinelander, WI? There must have been a similar contest nearby since we found a decorated Georgia Bulldog. Cool! Go Dogs! (Oops, sorry Lorene and Dick)

You pay a five-dollar “parking fee” as you enter the island, but after that there is little evidence that it is a state park. There are homes, hotels, shops and even a water park.

As an island there are plenty of beaches, of course, and Barbara was obligated to go look for shells. But alas, this is not a good shelling destination. She was so excited at the first beach that she challenged the high tide to try to find shells under the wooden boardwalk. No luck. 

That luck held for the next two beaches we explored. The north end of the island is eroding away, and as it does it is leaving toppled trees on the beach. A positive outcome of this is the small alcoves of beach between the trees that allow folks something resembling privacy, and it cuts the wind. Cutting the wind today was not a great thing. It was HOT! Humid, too. Very humid.

While checking out a picnic area we found this big spider climbing a tree. Look closely at the base of the trunk. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center is here on Jekyll Island. This is a turtle rescue and research facility. They have a turtle education center that is great for teaching about turtle conservation, and there is a turtle hospital. We were lucky to arrive at the hospital as they began feeding the turtles they were caring for. As they are feeding the turtles they give a little history of each animal and how they came to be there. It was time well spent, but you will need to wait for Barbara to get the pictures she took uploaded to the gallery to see the critters.

We finished the day with an early dinner at Sea Jay’s restaurant at a marina on the Intracoastal Waterway. Nice setting, but the food was nothing special.