Tag: WanderingLife

BBQ, Blues, and Batman (Goodbye Lola)

~ Wandering Cindi ~ Leave a comment

Aaron, Murphy, Lola, and I had only a few more days left at Palmetto Island State Park. Aaron, Murphy, and I were planning to head east, while Lola was going to head west with our son, Gage. We were wandering back towards our home base in Florida while Lola and Gage were heading towards Phoenix, Arizona, to start a new adventure together. Before we left to meet with Gage to hand Lola over, I thought I would check the truck’s grill for another bird’s nest. Sure enough, they had built a second nest! Fortunately, they had not laid eggs, so I could remove the nest without harming wildlife.

Lola has always belonged to our oldest son, Gage, and she loves him above all others. Gage’s career has allowed him to move to Phoenix and take Lola with him. On his way out to Phoenix, we met up off Interstate 10. Lola was really surprised and happy to see Gage! We said our goodbyes, and Gage and Lola headed west to their new home and adventure.

We hit the road the day after we said goodbye and love you to Gage and Lola. Since we planned on traveling for three days, we decided to use Harvest Host stops each night. Our first stop was a BBQ restaurant in Mississippi, The Shed. We had fantastic food, listened to a great blues band, and enjoyed the views from our parking spot.

During our trip back home, we stopped at an antique automobile museum in Tallahassee, Florida. This was an incredibly enjoyable stop! The museum had an impressive collection of vehicles, including cars from various Batman movies and the TV show, as well as motorcycles, a Steinway piano collection, a victrola, and even some Star Wars memorabilia. What made this museum even better was that it was dog-friendly, allowing Aaron, Murphy, and me to have a great time exploring the cars, motorcycles, and other collections.

The Car Collection (some of it)

The Motorcycles

The Steinways and a jukebox and Victrola

A touch of Star Wars

We had a blast! We settled in for the night, knowing we would return to the house the next day and see our other two kids, Mason and Jenna, and Jenna’s fiancé, Quentin. We had a few neighbors at this Harvest Host, but everyone was spaced out nicely, and it was a quiet, restful night.

We will be packing, undecorating, and uninstalling solar panels, the Starlink, and other miscellaneous things for the next few weeks to get Yurtle ready to find a new home. Our new home, Murphy’s Law, should be done with production and headed to us very soon! We will be ready.

Palmetto Island State Park

~ Wandering Cindi ~ Leave a comment

Palmetto Island State Park has my favorite entrance to a park/campground (so far). It says you are indeed entering a swamp, there is wildlife here, be cautious. They even provide literature about wildlife safety.

Even after living in Louisiana for 20+ years, I never thought about bear safety in Louisiana. We were warned about active black bears in the campground.

The only wildlife we encountered up close and personal was a pair of birds trying to make a nest in the grill of our truck and a cardinal stopping briefly at our site. I felt bad about taking their nesting materials out of the truck, but I wanted them to be able to have a nest that wouldn’t drive away.

The state park earned its name. Palmettos are everywhere and it is a beautiful setting to camp and relax. The dogs have enjoyed romping through the swampy land, chasing squirrels, and looking for possums and armadillos. Even at the end of winter, a lot of the foliage is quite green. I can only imagine how beautiful and lush it will be come spring and summer.

We also had quite a few rainy days, which meant cuddle time with the pups and lots of nap time for them as well.

Staying at this campground is a little bittersweet. This will most likely be the last campground we stay in with our current Airstream, Yurtle. We will probably have a few Harvest Host stays on our way back to Florida, and a few more nights spent in the camper once we get back to our homebase to await the delivery of our new house on wheels. Yurtle has been a great starter home on wheels, has helped us create many wonderful memories and experiences, and has taught us so much about the wandering life.

Celebrating One Year on the Move

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Tomorrow (Feb. 28, 2023) will be our one year anniversary of traveling and living in our Airstream, Yurtle! We have traveled and camped in 10 different states and stayed at about 60 different campgrounds, Harvest Hosts, and 2 family member’s yards. That leaves 39 states (not including Hawaii) that we have yet to park our home on wheels. As I stated in my last post, we have decided to continue our journey! We have seen and experienced so much, yet we have hardly scratched the surface of what there is to explore!

This blog post is a look back in pictures of some of my favorite sights this past year.

Family Visits

Desert Views

Waterfalls

Water Views

The Pups

Wildlife

The 1st picture is one of the 3 mountain lions caught on one of our cameras. The 2nd is a bear caught on our ring camera, the 6th is the best picture our ring camera ever caught.

Other Favorites

Stay tuned! We have a brand new, customized for boondocking Airstream Trade Wind arriving soon, and another year of wandering and exploring is just getting started!

Ark-La-Tex

~ Wandering Cindi ~ 1 Comment

We said goodbye to Lake Lincoln and headed to an area of Louisiana that I was not very familiar-the northwest corner. We lived in the southeast corner of Louisiana for many, many years and loved it there. The opposite side of the state is a whole different world. It has influences from Texas and Arkansas, and has been given the nickname Ark-La-Tex. The name suits. It really felt like a blend of the three states. Think Duck Dynasty, but not quite the exaggerated level of the show. Good, hard working honest people who love the land, love to hunt, work hard and live a small town life. We had planned to stay in the Kisatchie National Forest at the Beaver Dam Campground for two weeks. Two weeks is a long stay at a campground for us; we usually move every week. Aaron and I were looking forward to a two week stay. The weather the first week was rainy and chilly every day. The second week was forecast to be sunny and warmer, and we were excited to explore what the national forest had to offer when the weather cleared up.

Aaron had to go to a job site most every day, Murphy and Lola did not get to play and run outside very often due to the weather. This was the first time I got a little stir crazy in the camper. We did go for chilly, damp walks that the dogs enjoyed. I did a lot of cleaning, reading, and no picture taking. I had to look in my SnapChat to find a couple of pictures for the blog.

It was Mardi Gras season and, of course, we had to have some king cake! Aaron picked one up at a local grocery store. The baby for the cake was larger than normal, green, not in the cake, and butt up in the box. Kind of strange, but the cake was good. He looked like a Buddha Baby. We did get a second king cake, and it was the same baby but purple.

On the first Friday we were there, the camp host came and knocked on our door. He was sorry to let us know that we would have to leave early. The National Forest Service decided that a prescribed burn was in order the next week. Our two week stay turned into a one week stay, Aaron still had to be at the job site the following week, and we needed to start finding a new home for the week. Luckily, we were able to reserve a spot at an Army Corps of Engineers campground about a half hour away.

We ended up at Tom Merrill Campground at the Bodcau Dam in Benton, Louisiana. We were just outside of Shreveport, but it felt very remote. For almost the entire week, the campground host, a car camper, and us were the only people staying there. The weather was good, and the dogs were happy. They had a great time playing in the water.

Water being released from the reservoir.

For a long time, I was a very routine oriented person. During our stay at this campground, I realized that I actually am starting to miss some routine, structure. There are some routines, walking the dogs, cooking dinner and cleaning up after, making sure the blog is ready for Tuesday, but not enough. This journey has made me realize that I need some sort of routine, or I do not get motivated to get up and move. So, over the next month, I am going to try to set myself some sort of loose routine with taking pictures, editing pictures, more exploring the area we are staying. I’m not sure if staying at our homebase for so long dulled my “get up and go”, or if I have just become complacent. This is an opportunity of a lifetime, and I really don’t want to squander it because I am lacking self motivation and self discipline.

Next week, back to Iowa to take Dad to his doctor appointments for the month and have some more quality time with Mom, brother, sis-in-law, and my nephew. Poor Aaron will be on his own dealing with two dogs, moving day, and work. I think I got the easier end of that!

From the Gulf Coast to Mississippi

~ Wandering Cindi ~ 1 Comment

After we said goodbye to Mason, Gage, Jenna and Quentin, we hit the road. That road being I10, one of the most boring roads I have ever driven. We had a reservation at Grayton Beach State Park on the Gulf Coast. I was really excited to get to the Gulf beaches. The emerald green water and the soft, white sand call to me. Unfortunately, a super cold front went through and dropped the temperature into the 20’s. We did not even attempt to have any beach time. The call is not that strong. The state park was wonderful. And I look forward to visiting it again in better weather.

We spent 3 days at the state park. It was good to get back in the routine. It was also a good place to introduce Lola to a totally different life than she had been accustomed. She quickly got into the routine of leashed walks and waiting for me to clean up her poop. After our three days, it was time to move north and west. We did need to get to northwest Louisiana by a certain date (for Aaron’s job), so it was time to pack it up and get moving.

Our next home for a few days was Lake Lincoln State Park in Mississippi. This is another beautiful state park a little south of Jackson, Mississippi. The ranger was so warm and welcoming! She even gave us a huge sample of coffee that is packaged especially for the Mississippi State Parks. This is another place I would love to revisit when it is a bit warmer. One of the bonuses of camping in the winter (except in Florida) is that the campgrounds are almost completely empty. I think there was one, maybe two other campers the whole time we were there. The dogs were able to wander and explore off the leash. They both really enjoy that!

Lola and Murphy really enjoyed exploring in the woods, playing in the icy creeks, and trying to break and eat the ice on top of the frozen water puddles.

During our 5 day stay, I had a realization. We lived about two and a half hours away (in Louisiana) from this beautiful park in Mississippi for 20+ years and never knew it existed. That realization helped cement (in my mind) that Aaron and I have made the right choice in continuing this wandering life. There are so many places and hidden gems that we have yet to identify or explore, some closer to us than we knew.

After our five days in Mississippi, it was time for us to head west into northwest Louisiana. All of our family lives in southeast Louisiana, so we did not have the opportunity to pay them a visit, yet. Luckily, it is Mardi Gras season, and I am sure we will find some yummy king cake while we are there. Look out, Louisiana, Aaron, Murphy, Lola, and I are are coming!