Carls-really-bad New Mexico

Friday afternoon

So we're driving back to our campsite and we notice the temperature.

We stop at a grocery store in town to stock up before our big drive to Santa Fe tomorrow and the truck won't start. This sucks.  It's Friday afternoon at 5.30 in Carlsbad, its 107 degrees, the truck is full of groceries and G is losing the plot. Karen frantically calls around and we get a guy to tow it to the local ford dealership before they close.  The surly service manager informs us that they can look at it tomorrow which is Saturday but it probably won't be fixed until Monday or Tuesday. Karen lost the plot but luckily the one of the service advisors named Tamara gave her a hug and some reassurance that they would do there best. They shuttled us back to the campsite and we sat dejected, with a beer to assess the situation. It's hot, we're in the middle of a desert 15 miles from anywhere and we're supposed to be in Monument Valley in two days. Not gonna happen.  I guess this is where we're supposed to learn something. I'm just not sure what. 

Saturday

Woke up after after a nervous nights sleep worrying about the truck and how much our itinerary would change if we had to spend 4 more days in Carlsbad. With nowhere to go and no way to get there, we started doing some minor repairs on the rv and playing with G while we waited for the word from Ford. At 12 Karen finally made the nervous call to the gruff service manager. He said they found the problem (a high-pressure oil leak we were already aware of) and they might be able to fix it before they closed at 4pm. We waited on the edge of our seats and at  3.15pm Karen made the call. Yesssss! It was ready. Now all we had to do was get there before 4? There are no taxis in Carlsbad and we couldn't find anyone who would drive us there. We considered sending Karen out hitchhiking into town. Karen begged the service manager to send someone out in the shuttle to pick her up. Our savior Tamara came to and picked Karen up. 

We got our truck back, starting better than ever and we only lost a day and some money. Much better than the catastrophic thoughts we had envisioned. 

Finally, the caverns

Tim's been talking about Carlsbad Caverns since we started planning this journey, so he was pretty excited to arrive.  He picked a state park outside of town as it is Karen's preference to be out in nature rather than a city.  When we arrived Lake Brantley State Park was quite desolate with so little in sight it made Karen giggle.  Karen wondered how they could have a lake in the middle of NM, but we soon saw the dam that slowed the Pecos River.

At first, the landscape seemed disappointing to Karen, but then she started to appreciate the beauty.  The blooming plants created a fragrant scent everywhere and there were lots of different kinds of cacti.

And we saw different wildlife like rabbits, jack-rabbits, prairie dogs and Tim swears he saw road runners.

We hung our flags for the first time after we received our ordered Union Jack at Bob's house.

The next day, we set out for Carlsbad Caverns.  It was a beautiful ascent up the Chihuahua Mountains to the park.

Our national park pass came in handy for the second time.  As Georgia was too young to go on the guided tour, we took the self guided tour.  We descended the switch-back trail down the equivalent of 80 stories.

There were drop-offs from the path and touching the formations was not allowed, so we took turns carrying Georgia.

The stalactites, stalagmites, columns, curtains, drinking straws, popcorn and other formations were stunning and it is a truly magical place.  Even though it was over 100 degrees outside, the caverns are a refreshing 56 degrees with 90 percent humidity year round.  We finally figured out how to get good pictures at the end of our 4 hour tour.  

After that experience, we figured we could be rangers at the caverns.

Cowboy land

We headed west out of San Antonio for a long drive to Fort Stockton, Texas.  We were making our big push to cross the big state.  Even though we didn't want to push our vehicles, 

War Eagle, the speed limit finally changed to 80 mph.  The landscape changed and we began to feel like we were in the Texas of cowboy movies.

When we settled into Fort Stockton and headed out to find Tim's "steak as big as his head", a bucket list item for Tim.  We bought it at Miller's Meat Market.  We saw the famous giant roadrunner sculpture and realised we should look out for Wile E. Coyote.  This was the first time we saw 100 degrees on the sign, so we made sure we were back in time for a swim to cool off before dinner.  It was surprising how hot the temp was and how cool the pool.  The most shocking thing was when you got out of the pool that hot wind evaporated the water immediately and we were quite cold.  We were finally out of the humidity and into the dry heat.  Karen especially liked her non-frizzy hair since we didn't bring a hair dryer.

We made sure to catch the sunset as that was the selling point of our Hilltop RV Park.

  

The next morning we enjoyed the scenery once more

and got on the road early to beat the heat and get to Carlsbad, NM.

Remember the Alamo!

As we begin to cross the wide expanse that is Texas, our next day took us to San Antonio.  We headed straight for downtown's river walk.  This paseo (passageway) dates back to settler times and was developed as a commercial and recreational walk.  There are tour boats, bars, restaurants and shops.  It feels like you are below the city as ground level is about 12 feet above with much appreciated shade trees.  With no guardrails by the river, keeping Georgia en piste was the main attraction.  We did enjoy the rushing waters, flowers and baby ducklings and breaking for refreshment along the way.

A well-deserved beer.

As we were leaving downtown San Antonio, Tim remembered that he wanted to see the Alamo. So we drove past it, he saw it.

Texas!

On the way out of New Orleans, we enjoyed the beautiful views of Lake Ponchetrain.  It was amazing the amount of causeways (bridge highways) that criss-cross that lake.  Unfortunately, that meant 2 hours of riding a bucking bronco due to the truck and trailer combo on the seamed cement road.  Karen had to go to sleep or get out the barf bag.  Georgia looked like popping popcorn in her chair.  It was truly sad to see her aim for her mouth with her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Even though we headed out bright and early, leaving NO at 7:45am to beat the heat going west, it was a long, hot drive to Houston.  it was our longest yet at 6 hours.  Luckily, Georgia made it with the help of the 'purple pooter', aka the iPad.  We pulled into Karen's cousin Bob's driveway and headed straight for their pool.  We tend to do that a lot.

G's first pool slide!

Cousin Bob - So good with Georgia.

Georgia was enamoured by Bob and Laura's 3 kids, Sawyer (11 year old girl), Carson (12 year old boy) and Parker (soon to be 15 year old boy).  That meant some long-needed relief for Karen and Tim.  The next morning we took a trip to the Children's museum on Houston.  A fantastic wonderland of games to capture all the kids' attention.  Georgia's favourite was the toddler sized grocery store where you could put your food in the basket and check out at the counter.  Unfortunately, she enjoyed the outdoor water play a little too much and mum and dad forgot spare clothes.  So, thank goodness for hand driers in bathrooms.

Thanks so much to the Peddicords who shared their life and home, a special thanks to Sawyer for giving us her room, Carson for the delicious chocolate cheesecake cupcakes and to Parker for spending so much time in the pool with G!  We were so thrilled to see that Sawyer had a US  map on the wall and was highlighting our route as we blogged.   We have fans!

N'awlins (New Orleans)

We arrived at the French Quarter RV Resort, an oasis in a warehouse district 2 blocks north of the French Quarter of New Orleans.  The campground, if you want to call it that, was beautifully bricked in the same architecture as Bourbon Street with similar street lamps, the exterior was walled with razor wire and a coded gate to keep the riff-raff out.  We were warned to take a taxi after dark for the 5 block walk, we took our chances and came out OK.

 We went for a quick swim to cool our jets and headed into the Quarter.  As we walked in we appreciated the truly New Orleans architecture and Tim popped into a bar on Bourbon Street to get a drink.  He came out with a hand grenade, a tall green plastic glass in the shape of, you guessed it.  It claimed to be the strongest drink in New Orleans and had a floating hand grenade in it which quickly became Georgia's favourite toy.  We watched the street performers and for that, Georgia earned her first Bourbon Street beads.  

As Tim walked around dazed and confused, we enjoyed the street performers and ad hoc jazz bands.  Karen had been looking forward to sharing the fantastic New Orleans food with Tim.  So, we headed to The Gumbo Shop, which had been recommended by a fellow camper in Florida.  However, we were sorely disappointed by mass produced slop on a plate.  The gumbo wasn't half as good as the gumbo in the diner in Robertsdale, Al.

The next day we set out on a self-guided walking tour of the French Quarter.  We were enjoying the explanation of the old buildings when Georgia had a melt-down.  A favourite quote to be heard was Tim saying, "I've got a loaded two year old" to get the crowds to part.  We headed to the waterfront park to let her blow off steam.  

In the afternoon, we headed into French Quarter for fancy dinner at the famous Muriel's.  We sat down at the table and looked forward to the price fixe menu, when we realised this just wasn't the kind of meals and vacation we were having. We couldn't handle Georgia in the quiet restaurant with tile floors and romantic meals.  So, we apologised to the staff and move on to the Chartres House for a more casual meal.  We ate fried alligator on the street with music playing in a party atmosphere.  We were much more relaxed and could therefore, enjoy the meal much more.  The food was OK and certainly not as Karen had remembered.  Has the food gone downhill in New Orleans or have my tastebud become more sophisticated?

As we were packing up to leave, we couldn't shake the feeling that we felt ilke we had a layer of NO grime on us.  We looked forward to our next shower in Houston.

Robertsdale where?

On the way to New Orleans, we had to stop in Robertsdale, Alabama...yeah, I didn't know where that was either. When we called, they said the repair would take about 2 hours, so Tim and I thought maybe we could go to a nice air conditioned movie, that all changed when we saw Robertsdale.  Luckily, they said the repair would only take an hour, so we went out for lunch.  We picked out a local restaurant with 'home cookin'.  We passed the entire sheriff's department leaving lunch on the way in, so it must be a local fav.  The southern favourites on the buffet with stellar collard greens, macaroni and cheese and the most awesome gumbo.  Tim was thrilled we had to stop so we could enjoy one more great southern meal.  We opted for the electric jack and Tim was beaming after its first execution.

Ups and Downs in Pensacola

After a long day's stop and go driving on 98 through the beach towns on the coast, we finally arrived at Fort Pickens National Park outside of Pensacola Beach.  It was recommended by John Schwab 2 that we were there to visit.  It was the most beautiful spit chock full of white sand, but way far out there for just an overnight.  There are too many beautiful places in Florida!

Unfortunately, when we went to unhitch the trailer the jack completely failed.  It was too bad that the campsite was too short to hold the trailer and truck.  Therefore the truck blocked the one way entry to several sights.  With cars backing up in queue, Tim was almost bending metal to get the truck unhitched.  With a little help from our neighbours, some ingenuity using the stablising jacks and a lot of sweat from Tim, we got unhitched and let the flow of cars through.  The next thing we did was call Camping World to triage the problem.  They thought the best thing to do was to replace the jack, our first and hopefully last emergency maintenance.  

The only way to relieve Tim's anger and frustration was to head to Peg Leg Pete's to meet John Schwab 2 (the father of John Schwab 3, our friend from London).  This place was brilliant.  It had a live band and playground.  So, Tim and Karen enjoyed margaritas and music while Georgia got stuck in to the playground.  John arrived just as our table became available.  He treated us to drinks, appetizers and stories about their family and Johnny's childhood.  It was great to meet him.

Oysters with John Schwab II

When we went back to our campsite and after Georgia was asleep, Tim called his mum for a chat.  In the middle of his conversation, Tim asked Karen to come out with the camera.  An armadillo had joined us for his evening rummaging.  

The next day, Karen found some tree frogs and brought one into the trailer for Georgia to see.  It got loose and took a tour of our trailer.  Tim had to do a catch and release.

Lazin' on the beach at Topsail

We arrived late into Topsail Hill Preserve State Park and raced to catch the last tram to the beach. We would definitely say this was the most beautiful beach we've seen so far. 

White sand as far as the eye can see, warm clear blue water gently rolling into shore and miles of dunes. A place we would love to return. 

In the two days we were there we saw lots of manta rays, a four foot shark swimming just a few feet from shore and deer in the dunes. 

Out Cold

We spent our time playing in the water and lazing on the beach dreaming up our next adventure while still enjoying our last few days on the beach before we start to head inland.

This girl loves the water

Panama City Beach (loving called the Redneck Riviera) - JD

On our way to our next destination we stopped off for an afternoon in Panama City Beach to hook up with Karen's Big Brother from Auburn - JD Prine.  Despite showing up an hour early because we didn't realise we'd crossed into the Central Time Zone, we had a wonderful lunch at The Boat Yard feasting on Snapper that JD had caught and Karen and he caught up on the last 20 years. A pilot and charter fisherman, JD regaled us with lots of great stories and jokes. 

JD's boat, the 'I'm just sayin'

He took us out on his good friend Charlie's boat - The Snapper Napper. 

Big brother and little sister reunion

We saw tons of dolphins an enjoyed being out on the crystal clear water admiring JD's home. 

Momma and baby dolphin

Thanks JD for a wonderful impromptu afternoon.  We hope to visit you again soon!

On the pier and after the Snapper Napper, Georgia took her own nap on the boat in her life vest

St George Island

We headed along the coast to St George Island State Park, stopping only to pick up some fresh Red Snapper. We went straight to the beach- beautiful white sand just a few minutes walk from our campsite. Have to say we love State Parks.

G playing outside Eagle

Other than recording an audition in the trailer, we spent the next couple of days going to the beach and relaxing. 

G has become very good at playing in the surf. She is fearless. She runs in and if a huge wave knocks her down or goes over her head, she just gets right back up spits out the sea water and runs back in. The weather is beautiful - (86 degrees every day and sunny). The worst thing about it is a few bug bites, the amount of sunscreen and bug spray we put on - a small price to pay.  

On the way over the bridge off the island, we dreamed of owning a spot on St. George and made a note to vacation here again.

Content

Food, glorious food- Tallahassee

From Crystal River we made our way up to Tallahassee to visit Karen's Uncle Dudley, his daughter Jan and Jan's husband Hal. We met them at  Dudley's favourite restaurant Georgio's. We ate and drank and caught up with Jan and Hal as Karen hadn't seen them in over 15 years. The next morning Tim played 9 holes on a tough par 3 course across the street from the RV park and we met Dudley, Jan and Hal again for lunch at one of Hal's restaurants - Sonny's Real Pit BBQ. We ate like kings- ribs, chicken, brisket, fried okra, corn fritters, hot dogs, corn on the cob, coleslaw, etc. A fantastic meal. That afternoon, Jan and Dudley took us to Wakulla Springs. A state park not far from where they love in Crawfordville. We decided to go for a swim in the busy spring bustling with families, all of us except Dudley and Jan (she doesn't swim where alligators are). The water was freezing but on a hot day everyone was jumping off the swimming platforms into the icy water. Karen noticed the lifeguard had left the roped off swimming area in his little boat to shoo away an alligator that had come too close!  For some reason they never cross the rope? 

Jan and G after ce ream

After drying off and an ice cream cone, we headed back to Jan and Hal's beautiful house right on the Wakulla River just down from the Springs. We were greeted by Jan's 6 pedigree dogs- a mix of miniature schnauzers and miniature long-haired  dachshunds.  Jan used to professionally breed and show schnauzers.  After that we met Hal at one of Jan's favourite restaurants where we dined on onion rings, crab cakes, shrimp and grits stuffed tomatoes, even though we still felt full from lunch and ice cream! 

Uncle Dudley, K and G at one of our many meals out.

Unfortunately, having missed her afternoon nap, G had a meltdown in the restaurant. Tim pulled out the trusty iPad but when he failed to turn it on due to technical difficulties, Gg went ballistic. Dad spent most of the meal outside trying to calm her down. It makes me wonder if we rely on the screen too much. All in all, 3 wonderful meals out and lots of time to catch up with Karen's family. Next time we'd like to visit Janet and Hal in Montana where they've built a log home.

Having fun with Jan and Hal

Trouble in Paradise!

As we got on the road, we had our own conversation about the state of the US union.  We tallied up the number of our friends and family in the US who have guns in their home and a permit to carry a concealed weapon.  It was surprisingly high to us ex-pats that live in a country where there are very few gun owners.  It makes us think...  The US seems very different to Karen than when she left almost 8 years ago.

After a long, boring and expensive ride on the Florida Turnpike (approx $45 toll), we finally found our quaint campsite in Crystal River.  We immediately realised we had ANTS, ANTS, ANTS in the trailer.

We saved that for later and ran out to the Crystal River Natural Wildlife Refuge.  After reading rave reviews on the web and noting it was free and open until dusk, we decided to spend our precious remaining hours there.  We saw a sign on the way in and went to look for it.  20 minutes out of our way, we asked for directions and it was basically back at our campsite.  AARGH!

When we got out and walked up to the visitor centre.  The sign said they closed at 4pm!  Dejected we went to the grocery store and back to campsite where Tim took Georgia for a swim.  The old adage of 'wait 30 minutes after eating (your banana) before you swim' came into affect and Georgia got a terrible tummy cramp.  Then, we spent the evening ziploci'ing our food and cleaning up the ants.  What a day.  

The fun continued the next day when we tried to head back to the Wildlife Refuge at their posted 8am opening time.  They were closed due to staff shortages!  We tried to go to another park, it didn't open until 9:30.  We decided to just get on the road at that point.  So much for wildlife in Crystal River.

One saving grace is that Georgia and Karen spotted an alligator in the campsite pond (and not the Florida Gators which seemed to have taken over).  It followed us around the lake 

Is he coming to say hello or coming for breakfast?

and swam over to the shore where we stood.  That was a little too close for comfort, but we wanted to get a closer look and take pictures, so we climbed on a picnic table just in case.  He was probably only 4-5 feel long, but still they are super fast!

Very close