Western North Carolina
We’ve been here only 18 days, so the jury is still out, but we thought we’d share our overall impressions of this area so far.
We’re so very fortunate to have friends who’ve loaned us their lovely pet-friendly condo while they are in the UK (thank you, Katherine and Don!) It’s right downtown in Brevard with a wonderful south facing view. There’s a grassy pet area up on the roof, which is convenient for the early morning/late night potty breaks for Dory. We stored our trailer at a local storage facility for the month, and moved in here on Feb 1.
Dory’s made one friend in the building, a fat 15-y.o. dachshund named Hazel. And she’s made one enemy, a cute and probably sweet, but hyperactive, undisciplined young Doodle named Lulu. If we see Lulu, we have to turn around and go the other way. Why does it seem like we meet Lulu every time we walk out the door with Dory?
Brevard is surrounded by national forests, state forests and wilderness areas with endless hiking, running and mountain biking opportunities. Transylvania County has no vampires of which we’re aware, but it IS known as the Land of Waterfalls. It’s true, there are glorious waterfalls and creeks and rivers wherever you look. We love all of this, and in three weeks have hiked somewhere new nearly every day (plus several bike rides for Ross). In addition there is a small liberal arts college - Brevard College - with a lovely track that is open to the community. That’s right up Robin’s alley.
There is a 26-mile rails-to-trail under construction from Brevard to Hendersonville. North of town is the Pisgah National Forest. West of Brevard lies Nantahala National Forest - the wettest area east of the Pacific Northwest and a huge treasure for outdoor preservation and exploration. The Dupont State Forest lies to the south - more fabulous hiking and biking. The Blue Ridge Parkway runs to the west. A true treasure for outdoors lovers.
Brevard touts a year round farmers market, a great local organic grocery store and a larger grocery store (Ingles) with a full selection of everything else. The downtown has a historic feel, but is vibrant with local businesses and restaurants. Little ‘pocket or alleyway’ seating areas have been set up throughout for people to eat their food and take coffee outside. There’s a great independent bookstore and a lovely bakery (both of those are important to Robin!). On a hillside near the outskirts of town is the Brevard Music Center, which hosts classical musicians in its outdoor amphitheater, and summer camps for young artists. Adjacent is the Bracken Preserve - nearly 400 acres of hiking trails owned and developed by Brevard. Asheville is 40 minutes away, the larger airports in Greenville SC and Charlotte are a couple hours drive.
The town sits on the main east-west thoroughfare (US-64) for southern NC, and seems to have an industrial feeling when you get just outside the downtown. While the population of Brevard is around 8,000 and seems to be holding rather level than accelerating (according to the Census), the busy-ness of the town feels much greater than what the population would suggest. The number of 18-wheelers, sirens and morning traffic feel like they belong to a larger town.
Although much of this sounds right up our alley, there is something we can’t put our finger on that just isn’t quite resonating with us.
Is it the busy-ness and traffic?
Is it the heavily extreme conservative nature of the voting ranks (e.g. Madison Cawthorne is the congressman)?
Is it the poor air quality that’s been recorded on a number of consecutive mornings here (probably wood smoke from winter inversions)?
Is it the fact that the local hospital is seeing extreme attrition from physicians and there are hints that it may close down?
Is it what we are hearing - that the summers lead to blanketing of the trails and town with tourists (similar to Bend)?
Is this another area that will grow to be loved to death?
We know that many of these issues face us wherever we go, and we’ll have to pick and choose what we can live with…or ignore.
We’ve hooked up with a very nice local realtor, who’s dialed in on what we’re looking for. Our basic list is what we’re looking for wherever we end up. And we are not just thinking about ourselves at 58 y.o., but at 85+ y.o.:
about 10 to 20 minutes out of town (in reach of groceries and other amenities)
preferably single-story living
private, but not on a winding treacherous mountain road
lots of light (facing south or south east!!!)
not on a treacherous winding mountain road
space for pets, home gym, and a workshop for Ross
close to roads or trails that are safe for us to walk, bike or hike
The real estate offerings in town are almost nil at the moment, although they’ll probably start picking up with the onset of springtime. We are truly more interested in being in a rural setting, and have been taking day drives to see the terrain within 30 or so minutes from Brevard. There are some listings in the rural areas, but not a great many. We’ve pretty much scouted them all out for now.
Our plan will be to leave here with a mostly open mind at the end of the month. We’ll be keeping an eye out for that Unicorn real estate offering that may appear here (and now we know the specific areas we like).
We’ll be heading south to Fernandina Beach in March to stay in a beach rental where we can park the trailer outside and visit with our dear friends Eileen and Gary. From there we’ll start the trek back north - Tryon, NC, Kentucky to visit Robin’s family, then onto SW Virginia to explore that area. This route is subject to alteration at any time.
Hazel and Dory
Post-Hike Family Photo
One of many, many many….
T’Chat and Ross having a discussion about North Carolina (or maybe about bears)
Why We Left Bend, Oregon
Climate change drove us out.
Rewind to a few years ago. One summer we escaped terrible wildfire smoke by driving all the way to Vancouver Island just to get away. Perhaps in the future, we thought, we could just jump into our truck and trailer and roll on out of town when the wildfires came. But pandemic fears has made us very cautious about traveling with so much uncertainty, and during the pandemic, our condo became our little fortress of safety from the virus.
Fast forward to this year. We survived a year without contracting COVID and managed to complete an extensive renovation of our condo, including installing a nice traditional cedar sauna in our bathroom and completely remaking and updating our kitchen. We entered 2021 determined to stay put. In early spring the prescribed burns started and we tolerated this as a necessary forestry practice. Our air conditioner failed just prior to the worse heat wave in the history of Oregon. The A/C condenser was backordered and wouldn't arrive for months. And then the wildfires started and we started to monitor the air quality index (AQI) every morning before going out to exercise. It just seemed like our terrific summers were being assaulted and we wondered: "Is this the new normal?"
We love our exercise. It's as necessary to us as food and water and air — clean air. While many dedicated individuals will exercise in poor air quality, we don't agree with the tradeoff and just don't exercise (or really even go) outside during bad AQI days. And because we are health science nerds we have filed away plenty of evidence implicating wildfire smoke in respiratory and other health conditions.
Why leave now? We saw the record heat wave and drought conditions portending worsening climate conditions in the Pacific Northwest. We foresee increasing late spring to fall wildfires and poor air quality as the new normal, and after some gnashing of teeth because we love our Bend friends, we decided to capitalize on the smoking hot real estate market and sell our condo.
While we prepared to sell our condo, we watched our beloved snowcapped Cascade Mountains turn brown. When we moved to Bend in 2012, the snow would remain, although patchy until September. This summer they were bare by mid-August. We watched as local reservoirs and lakes dropped to unusable levels. How do you celebrate summer in these conditions? How do you run, mountain bike, hike, or walk your dog when the air you are sucking into your lungs with each breath is unhealthy? Both of our eyes were red and irritated most of the summer. Robin began having some moderate breathing issues at AQIs above 100.
The day we drove out of Bend on September 4th and the AQI in Bend was 370 ppm. We arrived in Beaverton, Oregon and the AQI was 15 and woke up the next morning, breathed deeply, and went out for our morning exercise.
Jace Judice - Loss and Grief in Louisiana
We lost another beloved nephew, Jace Thomas Judice, here in Lafayette on Sunday. We will be here with our family for the next few weeks, in love, support and shared grief. Jace was the best hugger we know. In his memory, please hug the ones you love.
Jace Thomas Judice
September 2, 2005 ~ November 1, 2021 (age 16)
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, November 5, 2021 at St. Jules Catholic Church in Lafayette, LA for Jace Thomas Judice, 16, who passed away on Monday, November 1, 2021 in a car accident. Father Louie Richard will officiate the funeral ceremony. Lectors will be Uncle Remi Judice and Nanny Shelley Thomas. Denise Melancon will be the organist and soloist.
Prior to the service, a rosary will be prayed at 10:00 a.m. Friday morning at St. Jules. An informal visitation be held on Thursday, November 4, 2021 at St. Jules Hall from 3:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. At 6:00 p.m. we will celebrate Jace’s life by sharing cherished encounters with one another. There will be no visitation before the rosary on Friday.
Jace was a beautiful young soul with a kind and caring heart. He was the youngest of nine children, and he loved to be a part of activities with his older brother’s friends. Jace was also never too old to play with his nephews, niece and young cousins, and he loved rolling around on the floor with his dogs. His laugh was unique and unforgettable, and he was known for giving hugs to all who he loved. Joy followed Jace everywhere he roamed - it’s one of the many attributes that his family will miss most.
Jace was incredibly loved by his many siblings, his many cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces. He had a special relationship with his nephew, Benjamin, who was eleven years his junior - they were inseparable at times. Jace, along with his brother, Josh, practically taught Benjamin the fundamentals of soccer, and Jace loved to spend time watching Benjamin enjoy the games as much as he did.
Jace was a member of the Lafayette High Mighty Lions soccer team following in his brothers’ and sister’s footsteps, and he was starting his first full season of lacrosse with the Lafayette Hurricanes. He loved the game, but we always felt that being part of the team was his biggest motivation…It was the comradery that would excite him. He especially liked the idea of being on a team with his brother and friend, Josh.
One of Jace’s greatest strengths was the ability to make wonderful friends. Whether it was his friends, his friends’ siblings, his siblings’ friends, his friends’ parents or his siblings’ friends’ parents, Jace loved making friends and he loved them all well. It was common for Jace to bring the new kid home from school, and he would often tell his parents, “Wait until you meet _____, you are going to really like him.” We’re thankful for the people who loved Jace throughout his life and who helped shape him into the amazing young man he was.
"Jace was such a blessing to us! He was the cherry on top the sundae. Jace struggled greatly with the recent loss of his brother, Jacques. We take great comfort in knowing that Jace walked with Jesus. They have been reunited once again in heaven. When you remember Jace, let that encourage you to make friends at every opportunity, to bring Joy wherever you go and to love Jesus. Be bold in your love!" - The Judice Family
Jace is survived by his parents, Roch and Jill Judice; three sisters, Jayne (husband Dustin Mayer), Jolie, and Jillian (fiancée William Jackson); four brothers, Jordan, Jeremy, Jonah (wife Airren), and Joshua; his niece Amelia Mayer and nephews Benjamin Mayer and Josiah Judice; his paternal grandfather, Ronald Judice and his wife Grandma Yvette; and his maternal grandmother Mona Davies and Grandpa Henry.He was preceded in death by his brother Jacques Judice: his paternal grandmother, Hilda Judice; and his maternal grandfather, Ludren “Smiley” Guidry; and his dear cousins Jordan Matthew and JeanPaul Judice.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to Young Life by clicking here or St Jules Catholic Church Angels, 116 St Jules Street, Lafayette LA 70506.
2022 Plans
By Robin
We took the Tucson time to formulate a plan for visiting our families in the southeast (rarely seen during pandemic times) and also concluded that we need to slow our roll on looking at property up north. We searched and searched for ways to look at NC, VT, VA, ME during the winter months…but you can't really do it in a trailer (campgrounds shut down) and Airbnb's that take dogs AND cats are almost nonexistent.
We decided to relax and enjoy the winter in the south - camping in places we've enjoyed in the past - and then move north to look in the spring. We were able to cobble together a couple of beach rental properties (Thank you, Eileen!) and campgrounds so that we have nearly a full plan for the winter.
Now to Nov 15
Heading across Texas to Lafayette to visit Ross' family.
Heading north to Lexington, KY to visit my family, then straight back south to Lafayette.
Nov 14 - Jan 1
TBD in the southeast (we may go up to the Hendersonville area of NC for the first part of this time…we have friends there and the weather may still give us a little time to look around…then probably back to the Gulf Coast)
2022
Jan - St. George Island, FL - beach house rental
Feb - Campgrounds in coastal SC and GA (revisiting some of our faves)
March - Fernandina Beach, FL - beach house rental
April - Explore North Carolina
May - Explore SW Virginia
June - Explore central Vermont, possibly northeastern NY
July - Explore coastal Maine
We both feel really good about this plan… and I feel calmer knowing we won't be swimming upstream against weather and winter. We'll also have the opportunity to visit dear friends and rarely seen family members, so that'll be good…
Catalina State Park
By Robin
Arizona has some very fine state parks. We were glad to spend the last two weeks just outside of Tucson at the base of the Catalina Mountains. Perfect combination of time in nature, quiet, restoration and yet close to amenities.
We both feel mentally and physically rejuvenated. In addition, we had good enough internet to plot out our travel plans for the next few months. It’s like working out a large puzzle. Luckily I like doing puzzles!
Will update you on our plans in the next post. Meanwhile we leave you with some pictures from our stay in Tucson.
Farmers Market Goat
Trailhead Art
Yes… this baby scorpion was outside our RV. We also saw a bobcat and very large coyotes, but no pics to prove it.
Haboob!!!!
We can say with increasing certainty we’ve lived through every type of weather event. And most of them when we’ve been traveling in our RV or a trailer. Hurricane(s), tornadoes, flood, blizzards, ice storms... And now we can say we’ve experienced a haboob, the Arabic term for the dust storms that hit the desert Southwest on a regular basis during monsoon season.
We left Cottonwood, Arizona last Monday for Tucson. Originally planning to head further south in Arizona, we decided to stop in Tucson when we saw openings at Catalina State Park, which we enjoyed two years ago. In addition, high winds were forecast north and south of here, and Tucson looked the best for safety. You don’t want to drive in a trailer with winds gusting over 30 mph.
We arrived safely on Monday with no wind issues, but by midnight the winds picked up and our little trailer did some rocking. Not alarming rocking (we experienced worse in Port Townsend), but we were glad we weren’t driving. The gusts picked up to 40-45 mph overnight and up to 70mph to the south of us.
Tuesday morning we woke up and were surprised to see dust hanging thick in the air outside and a fine layer of dust throughout the inside of our trailer. The EPA air quality monitor registered 325, which is as bad as we saw during our worst wildfire season (under 40 is “healthy”). It took over 24 hours for the dust to settle and AQ to return to healthy levels…which left us sitting in the trailer on an otherwise lovely sunny day to keep from breathing in the dust. In addition to the pure lung irritation of breathing in dust particles, there is an enhanced risk of contracting Valley Fever in this situation, so we really didn’t want to mess with it.
Given the chaos of our lives this past year, a Haboob felt about right. But hey. We’re still standing. We’re still OK. And the rest of our stay here has been great. Updates and plans and thoughts to come.
Dead Horse Ranch State Park, Cottonwood, AZ
By Robin
The story behind the name: “Calvin “Cap” Ireys purchased Dead Horse Ranch in 1950. “Cap” told State Parks Director Dennis McCarthy that his children named the ranch. The first time the family looked at the property, they saw a dead horse lying in the field, and after looking at a number of properties “Cap” asked them which one they liked the best. The answer was the one with the dead horse. After they acquired the property, they named it Dead Horse Ranch.“
We only spent 2 nights here but I think we both felt some of our long-held tension slip away. It was such a lovely two days! This is hands-down my favorite Arizona state park: lovely trails for walking, running, biking, 3 serene lakes…lots of trees (less of a desert feeling), quiet campground.
Other campers’ fires made my PTSD (from Oregon wildfire smoke) and smoke-irritated cough kick in, but we now travel with our wonderful Blue Air purifier and it cleaned out the smoke inside the trailer and fixed my cough also!
Ross got in a bike ride with some climbing to viewpoints overlooking the valley below and I did my first little strength training workout in months (since before my back injury and illness this summer). It felt SO good to push myself a little bit again.
Fall off the horse, get back on the horse, fall off the horse, get back on the horse. As long as the Horse is not a Dead One, this is what resilience is all about.
Dory getting a pawdicure. (No, not torturing her…she gets lots of treats during and after!)
The Detective making sure there are no burglars in my clothes closet.
Morning walk with my favorite people.
Box of Chocolates
"Life is like a box of chocolates..."
When you last heard from our intrepid caped crusaders they were *In Search of Rain* heading from Portland, Oregon to Port Townsend, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. That was a month ago.
We're in Arizona today.
Here's the short version of how we got here:
1. Dosewallips State Park along the Hood Canal in Washington
Spirits are high. We're drinking champagne to celebrate Ross' completion of his job assignment and our freedom. The weather is great. We go out for hikes and bike rides.
2. Point Hudson Marina RV Park in Port Townsend, WA
Finally we've arrived in Port Townsend after dreaming about returning to the Olympic Peninsula; this time with hopes of maybe finding our forever house and settling down. Off we go to look at real estate thinking we've beaten the Zoomer and Boomer relocation crowds to this somewhat remote corner of the Pacific Northwest. Did I mention we are naive, rose-colored glasses kind of folks? The reality was sobering and disappointing with overpriced, dated houses going to the highest cash bidders with the fewest contingencies. We expanded out search from Port Angeles to Sequim to Marrowstone Island to Hansville, and while we found some interesting spots, none of these locations elevated our spirits enough to overcome the housing market concerns. And we DID find rain! And we found wind, dark skies, and cold. Robin adapted better to the weather conditions than Ross did. The weather and market conditions just made him gloomy. We started making plans to head south.
We were blessed in our stay here to be warmly welcomed by our new friend Laurie and her dog Tanka (introduced by our dear friend Lisa in Bend). Laurie gave us the lay of the land as another transplant from Bend. We left knowing we have a new friend there, whether we come back or travel on.
3. Camp Gloomy Blue in Ross' Head
This year has sucked way worse than 2020. And 2020 was the suckiest year ever. This year we decided to stay in Bend, go back to work, renovate our condo, buy an investment property, renovate our investment property, leave Bend, sell our condo, and sell our investment property. Did I mention we're in the middle of a pandemic? Meanwhile, Ross had some unexplained gastrointestinal and systemic symptoms that turned out to possible be an H. pylori stomach infection requiring so-called quadruple drug therapy to eradicate. And this is the movie trailer version. And since Ross is supposed to be the more care-free, roll with the flow member of the team, there was some cause for concern that this adventure was turning into a gloom fest. Ross felt that he was letting Robin down by wanting to leave Port Townsend until he heard Robin say, "I love the sun. It's like dope."
4. Roamers Rest Campground near Portland, OR
Taking action has always been an antidote to feeling stuck in a tough situation. Arriving back in Portland to better weather already felt better even though it was just an overnight stop on the way south.
5. Crown Villa RV Resort in Bend, OR
Crown Villa holds a special place in our hearts. In 2012 we arrived at Crown Villa for a week and stayed the summer. We loved Bend, bought a condo, and the rest is history. So we were happy to spend two days here taking care of some final relocation and health-related business. Rather than continuing to pay for storage, we sold our beloved 2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon which has been Robin's primary vehicle. Given the crazy auto market, we worry some about replacement costs once we get to our final resting place. Our apologies to our Bend friends we didn’t visit on this stop. Our stopover was rushed and full of errands…we couldn’t bear to say goodbyes all over again.
6. Crystal Crane Hot Springs in eastern Oregon
This place is gorgeous. The weather is gorgeous. The hot springs are relaxing. Things are starting to look up.
7. New Frontier Campground in Winnemucca, NV
This place is ordinary. Wildfire smoke blocks the view of the nearby mountains. Air quality index is above 150. We feel dejected. We both hate wildfire smoke.
8. Sunrise Valley RV in Mina, NV
We've lowered our expectations. The air is clear. So we're OK. We're getting travel weary even though we try to keep our drives under 5 hours, or 250 miles. While changing landscapes and crossing curious towns might be interesting, our bodies don't travel like they did 10 years ago. Stiffness.
9. Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort in Las Vegas, NV
We're in Vegas, baby! Unfortunately, we don't gamble, we don't like big cities, and we don't like noisy places much. But we do love our friends Billy and Jennifer, and we have a great catch up visit with them over meals and several bottles of good wine. Ross met Billy in college when they were both young roosters. Now they're wise old crows married to lovely gals. Thanks, Billy and Jen, for a great visit!
10. Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, AZ
And so here we sit in a beautiful state park campground after enjoying a morning hike and mountain bike ride. The weather is near perfect. We're listening to our favorite radio station, WWOZ in New Orleans, streaming a recording of the 2008 New Orleans Jazz Festival. We've been streaming WWOZ nearly every day for years. "OZ" saved us during the pandemic, and it continues to lift our spirits every morning (as we doomscroll through the latest political, pandemic, and climate news).
And so goes this "catch up" post. Are we still searching for rain? Not really, but yes. More on this later...
Tualatin/Beaverton, OR
We are spending the first 10 days of our new life near Portland. Ross is working a long- planned locum tenens job in Beaverton at a psychiatric hospital. We coordinated our Bend departure to allow all of us to stay together while Ross did this final Oregon gig.
The closest RV park was in Tualatin, about 30 minutes from Beaverton. In this case we were looking for practicality, not escapist adventure and beauty. The RV park is rather cramped, but clean, serviceable and nicely landscaped.
Ross leaves for work at 7 AM, and luckily has been able to leave a little early each day of his 7-day-straight gig. I found a route for walking through a nice neighborhood with Dory and we head out for about an hour each day when Ross leaves. Lots of squirrels en route, which Dory loves!
I’ve been running errands to fill in holes of things we need, cooking meals, doing laundry, cleaning and reorganizing. Plus lots of move-related correspondence, address changes, phone calls etc. It’s surprising how full my days have been this week.
To anyone who thinks traveling full-time is a glamorous life, rest assured about three days of the week are full of very mundane activities. The good news is there is a lot more physical activity built into every day life. Every time we travel we find that we lose weight!
We got great news Friday, as our Bend condominium sale closed on time. Our real estate agent and friend, ThursDay, went the extra mile for us working this deal. She particularly bent over backwards to help us this past week. ThursDay ushered us gently into Bend nine years ago when we arrived with a rottweiler, corgi, cat and no furniture…and found us a perfect furnished rental that accommodated us. And she helped us buy and sell both of our homes in Bend. Kind, never pushy, always flexible, knowledgeable…we 100% recommend ThursDay if you ever need a Central Oregon realtor.
Looking down into Roamers Rest RV Park.
Our Acadiana flag flies high in honor of our Louisiana family.
Every evening after dinner we take a family walk. Can you guess who controls the pace?
Vintage picture from our full-time RV life back in 2012. We snuck onto the Nike campus track in Beaverton to admire its beauty and shot this photo with Michael Johnson🤣.
Aloha, Bend
“Don’t write when you’re bleeding, write from your scars.”
I sit here trying to compose an initial blog about leaving Bend, and I realize that I am still bleeding. I need time for the scars to form before I can write my reasons and feelings about leaving this place that we have loved for nine years. This place we still love.
The bleeding stems from summers of wildfire smoke and snowballing (minus the snow) effects of climate change on Central Oregon. It is painful to understand what further changes are likely coming. It is painful to know that many people cannot escape this, for myriads of reasons - especially financial reasons. It is painful to watch the effects this is having on ecosystems and wildlife. It is painful to watch what popularity and population pressures are putting on an an area that probably cannot sustain it, in the long term.
The bleeding stems from leaving beloved friends we have made in central Oregon. You know who you are. We will miss you terribly. We wish we could tuck you and your children and pets away in our trailer with us, pull you away safely from the smoke that has suffocated all of us this summer.
Meanwhile, as I told my dear friend Lisa, I prefer “Alohas” to “Goodbyes.” Aloha means both hello and goodbye, and we choose to believe we are not leaving you forever. We are not leaving because we don’t love you. We are leaving because we have to. Aloha, Friends. Aloha, Bend.
🌺Robin
Tybee, Hunting, Charleston, and COVID-19
By Ross
It's time to play a little catch up. We spent a week enjoying Tybee Island and making some day trips into Savannah. One lunch stop was particularly memorable. After our first two choices turn out to be closed, we found a nearby restaurant on Trip Advisor called Mrs. Wilkes House. Known for traditional southern cuisine, the reviews looked pretty good and it opened at 11:00 AM. It was 10:45 AM so that was perfect. As we pulled up to the restaurant, there was a line down the block waiting to get in the restaurant. What!?! Not wanting to miss out (FOMO is a thing now), we got in line and waited. Surely people wouldn't wait in line unless the restaurant was good! Our anticipation grew by the minute.
They began seating people 10 at a time at large family style tables already served with tall glistening glasses of iced sweet tea. We were seated with strangers who appeared to be veteran patrons of this establishment. They tucked their napkins into their shirts, grabbed a fork and knife, and snarled. Actually, that's not entirely true, not all of them tucked napkins into their shirts.
When the servers arrived with about 30 bowls of food, the sharks went after the chum in a feeding frenzy like I've never seen before. I was thinking, "I better get mines!" The bowls began to go around the table. Meatloaf, fried chicken, collards, sweet potato casserole... All conversation ceased and everyone focused on spooning out food. Sweet corn, green beans, mac and cheese, biscuits, cornbread... I was struck with a feeling I might never eat again, so I better get while the gettin' was good. BBQ pork, black-eyed peas, butter beans, okra, pot roast... I could see Robin out of the corner of my eye (I didn't want to look at her and take my eye off the bowls coming around). Mashed potatoes, potato salad, sliced cucumbers... She was gnawing on a fried chicken drumstick, I think, because still watching the bowls.
And even though the servers were replacing half emptied bowls with hot fresh ones, I shoveled food in my mouth as fast as I could. And so did everyone else around the table. After all, this is what makes America great: eating more food than you need while sending thoughts and prayers to the starved. We were 10 patriots sitting around the table exercising our God-given right to eat and eat and eat.
In this week's health news half of all U.S. adults will be obese by 2030. Currently that figure stands at 40%, including 18% with severe obesity. The connection between obesity and type 2 diabetes is well established. What's less well known is the large number of "healthy" people with a pre-diabetic insulin insensitivity that's a precondition for so many chronic conditions, like heart, brain, and autoimmune disorders. Let's put this another way: many Americans with normal biomarkers (like blood glucose and hemoglobin A1C) are destined for a chronic condition that will cause them suffering and pain down the road.
After Tybee Island we stopped for a few days at one of our favorite places, Hunting Island State Park near Beaufort, SC. We chased a few sunrises and spent some time on the beach sitting, walking, or riding the bike through the dead trees. Hunting Island is known for being the film location for the Vietnam scenes in Forrest Gump, one of my all-time favorite movies.
The other big news is obviously the coronavirus, or COVID-19. We just call it "Cyrus", like in c-virus or Cyrus the virus. Every virus appreciates a proper name. So because of Cyrus, we're accelerating our trip back to Oregon. After a brief stop in Charleston, we're heading to Kentucky to visit Robin's folks. From there we speed West and hope to be home in a few weeks. Regarding the pandemic, we're planning for a worst case scenario and look to be in our own place in the event we meet Cyrus and need to self-isolate with the comforts and resources of home.
Objects of our affection
Hunting Island
Catching sunrises
Beach music
Sweet spot
The Smallest Church in America
By Robin
I actually made Ross turn around and drive back so I could take a closer look at this one. It’s in Townsend, Georgia.
Me next to church, for scale.
Twelve seats, and yes, they hold services.
The Hyde Side of Jekyll (part 2)
By Robin
Where would Dr. Jekyll be without the sinister Mr. Hyde? For such a gorgeous setting, Jekyll Island is filled with Minuscule Evil Beasts. We planned to camp here for nearly two weeks, but fled a week early, chased away by No-See-Ums, ticks and very cramped camping spaces.
NoSeeUms have been described as gnats that are All Teeth, No Body. Wee enough to get through the smallest window screen holes, they love to bite, bite, bite. And the bites itch. Badly. They got in our hair, under our clothes, in the kitty-cat’s fur and ears. They made us feel angry.
There are potent remedies (Avon’s Skin So Soft lotion and Victoria’s Secret’s Bombshell Perfume are well known repellents), but I am unable to use anything that has a scent. So those options were out for me. We found a local product mildly scented product called No Natz, which worked OK…but nothing completely keeps these bloodsucking monsters away.
Jekyll Island Campground is densely treed with heavy leaf litter underfoot. Ticks were everywhere. We found at least one tick a day on either us or T’Chat. Since we have had several family members experience horrific tick-related diseases, this especially creeped us out.
Megan Desrosiers reminded me of the southeast coast’s prominent tick-born disease: Alpha-Gal Syndrome. Weeks to months after a bite from a tick carrying the alpha-gal sugar molecule, person may develop a severe allergy to all mammal meat. The link above explains the gory details. We did some thorough tick checks and will continue to do so throughout our trip. We were very concerned about getting alpha-gal syndrome and having to become Oregon vegetarian hipsters. Ross doesn’t need any more flannel shirts and I like him clean shaven.
The campground itself is a well-run operation on the northern tip of Jekyll Island. Unfortunately, they cram the RV’s in like sardines. I think I could read my neighbor’s book over her shoulder in the Airstream next to us.
All in all, we were glad we stopped in the area, but I doubt we’d camp here again.
Stock photo of a No See Um.
The gnat bites on the back of my damn knee.
Stock photo of Cat and Squirrel.
Trailers, trailers everywhere!!!!!
The Strange Case of Jekyll Island, Georgia (Part 1)
By Robin
There is a lot to love about Jekyll Island…but it had darker side that lent comparisons to Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Leading off with the Jekyll Side of Jekyll…tomorrow’s Part 2 will explain the Hyde.
Jekyll is another of the gorgeous, romantic barrier islands that run from Florida northward along the Atlantic Coast. Like Cumberland, it was an early 20th century playground for the tycoons: the Astors, Rockefellers, Pulitzers, Morgans and others created a private winter hunting retreat here. Somewhere down the line, it’s stewardship was turned over to the state of Georgia. There is a fee to enter the island, but then it offers up miles of white sand beaches, golf course, a Sea Turtle Center, a large soccer complex, and a 14-mile flat bike/running path that courses the perimeter of the island. The island has low profile development and very low-key commercial areas.
The Jekyll Island Campground lies at the northern end of the island where we stayed for a week. If I was rolling in the dough, I’d stay at the Jekyll Island Club (the restored hunting club for the ultra wealthy) and sip mint juleps on the veranda. We had to settle for fancy coffee at the Club cafe called The Pantry. In Robin Hood fashion, we snatched a few sugar packets from the table to hand out to hypoglycemic forest dwellers.
Running and biking on the island are a real treat. We both had some great workouts…and we were out early enough that there were hardly any other souls out but us and the seabirds! We also had some great meals and enjoyed the the local Wild Georgia Shrimp as often as we could.
Our favorite meal, though, was the one we shared with another of our oldest friends: Michael Desrosiers and his family. Michael was part of our original running gang in Charleston, South Carolina when I met Ross. He even made it to Louisiana for our wedding 26 years ago…and I don’t know if we’d seen him much after that. He’s married to the wonderful Megan who created and leads One Hundred Miles, a nonprofit Georgia coastal conservation and education organization. Their two young sons are budding track stars (gifted genes from both parents there!). We had a blast meeting them, catching up and reminiscing from all the years we’ve missed. I was extremely impressed that Michael remembered the first song from our wedding reception…the Wayne Toups version of Tupelo Honey.
As Roy Benson said at our dinner a few weeks ago…the most important things in the world are our families and our friends. We are so pleased to have this winter trip to enjoy time with both!
Oregon tycoon visits Jekyll Island Club.
Bike path.
Marsh Sunrise.
Judices + Desrosiers = Fun Time!
St. Marys and Cumberland Island, Georgia
By Robin
We're continuing our slow drift up the Atlantic coast taking the short trip from San Fernandina Beach up to Georgia's Crooked River State Park near the small town of St. Marys. Our first stop leaving Fernandina Beach was a coffee roaster we’d heard about called Nuanz. We pulled up to a very unassuming house and walked in the front door expecting a meth lab, but instead we were treated to a very cool space filled with roasting equipment, bags of coffee recently delivered from parts unknown, containers of fresh roasted coffee, and Gill Johnston, the owner and master roaster. Gill was a medium height stocky grey haired fellow with an enthusiastic and maybe jocular personality. He gave us the inside and outs of the coffee roasting business while he brewed us complementary cups of coffee. These encounters are the little gifts you receive when you travel and explore.
Crooked River State Park turned out to be a little gem. The campground overlooks Crooked River and hiking and biking trails cut through the park's land. The trails were flat and fun with a mix of dirt and sand terrain.
I dropped Ross and his bike off at the ferry in St Marys for his day trip to Cumberland Island National Seashore, a barrier island off Georgia’s southeast coast, with protected beaches, feral horses, and maritime forest.
Here’s Ross’ telling of his day trip: The island has had a variety of inhabitants from the Spanish to native Americans to plantations with slaves to rich families. The remains of the "Dungeness" mansion built by Thomas Carnegie, brother and partner of steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie, reflects a time when the island was a winter getaway for the wealthy. And while the history is somewhat interesting, I was particularly taken by the sheer number of old moss-covered oak trees and the wild horses roaming the island that lent a magical, but sleepy quality to the island. And then there were the tons of armadillos. I would ride up within feet of these creature until they'd finally notice me and scurry off. Me thinks they are hard of hearing. What's that...you say?
I rode 30 miles up and down Cumberland Island, often under the canopy of the aforementioned oak trees, and enjoyed a nice packed lunch (including a packed beer) in the shadow of Dungeness mansion with wild horses milling about. As I rode the ferry back to St. Marys where Robin was waiting for me, I felt good about my day.
We moved on early from Crooked River State Park on the day they began a prescribed burn, and boy, are we glad we did. As we were pulling out a thick layer of smoke blanketed the campground. We are off to Jekyll Island.
Our site at Crooked River State Park.
From Ross’ ride on Cumberland Island.
The Dungeness ruins.
Wild horse looking tame.
Prescribed burn.
Fernandina and Friends
Finally, an Atlantic sunrise.
One of many excellent shared meals.
Our intrepid explorer heads to the beach!
Egan’s Creek Trail. Watch out for water moccasins, said Gary!
Just two buddies hanging out.
By Robin
Last week was a real treat. We spent the week in lovely Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island hanging out with some of our oldest and dearest friends, Eileen and Gary Myers. The Myers retired to a beautiful new home in Fernandina about a year ago, and they were wonderful about showing us around their adopted hometown.
Between cooking and sharing delicious home cooked meals together and going out to eat at some of Fernandina’s terrific restaurants, food was a centerpiece of our visit. Eileen is a dietician and we are endlessly fascinated with this subject, so food, recipes and nutrition were hot topics of conversation!
Another hot topic was Gary’s turkey chili. The dish went through a few trial runs where it was Very Spicy 🌶 until we all looked at the recipe closely and discovered it called for for TWO chilis in adobo sauce, not two CANS of chilis in adobo sauce. It turned out delicious after revision!
A real treat was Eileen organizing a dinner party that included one of my Mom’s old friends from her running days, Coach Roy Benson, and his wife Betty. Roy is renowned in the coaching/running world and worked with Mom on many projects at the Road Runners Club of America…and Mom was a counselor at Roy’s running camps. It was delightful to catch up with them, reminisce about Mom and talk about exercise science and healthy aging.
On another day Gary led us all on a 25-mile bike ride around the island, which included a breakfast stop and a stop at fantastic bike shop. Amelia Island is incredibly biker-friendly, with miles of bike lanes and paths. We saw group rides of varied paces going on all week long.
We couldn’t get into any campground within reach of F-Beach (as we’ve nicknamed it) so we rented a cat-friendly VRBO on the beach that had room to park our trailer on the side. There were advantages and disadvantages to this setup.
Disadvantages: moving all our key clothing and household equipment, food, litter box, etc out of the trailer and into the condo…then back again at the end of the week.
Advantage: more space to move around for a week. T’Chat especially enjoyed racing up and down the stairs and from room to room, investigating. We were also able to give the inside of the trailer a thorough cleaning, which was helpful after 4 months living in it.
Periodically on our travels we need to do ‘life maintenance’. The F-Beach stop also served this purpose. Got blood labs done, had mail and other items we needed forwarded to the Myers’, washed all the bedding, borrowed the Myers’ vacuum to clean our rugs, serviced and washed the pickup truck, used the fast condo wifi to catch up on banking and other online chores.
Thank you Eileen and Gary for all your help, and most importantly, for your love and friendship!
Judices, Myers, and Bensons
You Don’t Like WHAT?
By Ross
I'm not sure if it's traveling in tight quarters or just the sheer amount of time spent together, but Robin and I might be discovering as much about each other as we are discovering about our country. Just the other day, Robin told me she doesn't like broccoli. Holy moly, SAY WHAT! In our 25 years of marriage we've eaten enough broccoli to feed a small nation. We've eaten it raw, sautéed, roasted, steamed, and every other way it can be prepared. And only now I'm finding out she thinks these fabulous florets are foul?
So in an attempt to avoid further surprises I asked Robin what other foods she doesn't like, and I opened up my iPhone to start keeping a list, and here it is (so far):
Kale
Liver
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Soy pancakes
Fish
Cardamon
Dried fruit, especially raisins
White chocolate
Bran muffins
Fruitcake
I already knew about the liver, cardamon, and fruitcake but all the others were a bit of a surprise, especially since kale is a main ingredient in our daily smoothies and we eat quite a bit of fish. So do yourself a favor and avoid getting a funny look when you get your loved one a white chocolate heart for Valentine's Day, make a list.
Ocala: Biking and Running Mecca
By Robin
We’ve spent the last several days in the identical campsite where we stayed two years ago, at Santos Trailhead and Campground in Ocala. T’Chat says she remembers this spot…as it was the location of one of her attempts to escape and explore the local woods. 🙀 We didn’t let that happen this time!
Santos is located at the convergence of Florida Trail (Hiking), the Santos Mountain Biking system and Cross Florida Greenway. The mountain biking here is a gem, according to Ross. The trails are slow, curvy and flat, winding through pine and palm forests. Cutting through the trails, directly accessible from the campground, is a 15 mile paved portion of the Cross Florida Greenway. The Greenway is a 110 mile linear park that travels from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. There are horse trails, paddling trails, bike and hiking trails the whole way across. What a gem!
You can guess how we spent our time here.
Our one diversion from the campground (beside the laundromat…there’s ALWAYS a laundromat trip) was to Big Lee’s Serious About Barbecue. We found this two years ago via our go-to-travel-food site, Roadfood, and we had to go back. Lee’s is a food truck where the meats are slow cooked over 24 hours. It opens every morning at 11:30 with a flourish. One of the staff comes out and and reviews the day’s menu items, then a big train-horn blast announces that the cart is open for business. We arrived at opening, because out-of-towners are advised…come early…we run out early!
We blew off all dietary restrictions for this one:
Ross ate ribs and a side of Mac and cheese with pork, plus coleslaw and banana pudding for dessert.
I had a pulled pork sandwich with slaw (on top of my pork!), baked beans and peach cobbler.
We didn’t eat a thing the rest of the day because we were so full and satisfied!
The only drawback at this campground was that they had bathroom plumbing issues all week. Ross was prevented from showering in the men’s room. Grateful for our Anytime Fitness membership, we found a local AF to do a strength workout yesterday and get showers.
Greenway.
Our site. Oops! The Acadian flag is upside down. Cajun in distress?
The menu.
Someone didn’t get the message: if you snooze you lose.
Cuisine de Judice sur la Route
By Robin
Ross and I both adopted Time Restricted Eating about two years ago. This means we generally only eat two meals a day, breakfast around 10AM after we exercise and dinner between 3-4:30PM. We pretty much eat all the food we want during that 6-7 hours. No hard and fast dietary restrictions. although we tend to low sugar, healthy fats, higher in vegetables, whole fiber foods and whole fruits.
We’ve both found we have really good blood sugar control and weight management with this style of eating. My weight is now completely stable (after fluctuating wildly up to 10 pounds for 40 years), my sleep is better, my mood is better, and my energy is good. We are flexible with the TRE when visiting family and friends. If we weren’t we’d have no social lives! But we always go back to the TRE as soon as we can. It’s been very easy to adapt to as a way of life.
Our day starts at 6AM (T’Chat Tummy O’Clock). I brew the coffee. We’ve enjoyed trying all the local roasts as we travel, but I swear that my brother-in-law, Remi, roasts the best coffee in the country. When we can score a few of his Sweet Maria beans, I am in absolute heaven. We drink our first coffees black (that was a hard switch for me, but if I have really good, smooth coffee, I now enjoy it).
For breakfast we’re now trying out alternating one day of having a green blender drink and the next morning a cooked meal. The blended smoothie has about 2 cups of greens, whey protein powder, potato starch or matcha (prebiotic fibers), plain yogurt or kefir (probiotics), psyllium husk fiber, flax seed, frozen blueberries or mixed berries, beet juice, half an avocado and liquid fish oil. Ross usually also eats an avocado topped with fish roe or anchovies. (NOT ME. YUCK!) Our cooked breakfasts might be fried eggs on Ezekiel bread, with avocado and tomato, a huge batch of sautéed greens and fresh fruit. I think we both were getting tired of having ONLY smoothies for breakfast. It’s nice to have a warm, whole food meal for breakfast, but still eat fairly healthy.
We keep 4 - 5 boxes of nuts in our pantry for snacking (almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashews, macadamias). This is what we typically snack on between meals. Or hummus and chopped veggies.
The other treat we go for in the middle of the day is a Fancy Coffee. We’ll search out a good local coffee shop (Starbucks in a pinch), and I’ll order a latté or brevé and Ross will get a cappuccino.
For our Main Meal, as we call it, we may go on stretches of eating out (especially if we hear about good local restaurants as we travel) but lately we’ve been making some really tasty home-cooked meals. When we cook, we try to make enough to have leftovers for the next day’s dinner.
Recent meals we’ve enjoyed at the trailer:
Scallops with sautéed southern greens.
Black-eyed peas with tomatoes, mushroom and Indian spices.
Cheesy southwestern lentils and rice with tamales we’d saved from New Mexico.
Shrimp with Creamed Corn and Feta and lots of sautéed greens.
Curried Lentils and Sweet Potatoes (we doubled the amount of Swiss chard in this one)
Crab cakes from Apalachicola with sautéed veggies
If I haven’t managed to score a really good cookie or a piece of pie from a local bakery, our dessert indulgence is an apple and peanut butter, with milk for dessert. Ross is better about eating less sugar. I can’t bear to give up everything I love, but I’m learning to adopt his apple/PB as an alternative to the hard-core sugar smackdowns.
We’ve got our cooking system down! I usually stay inside the trailer and do all the prep work (rinsing, chopping, gathering ingredients and utensils). Ross sets up the cooking area (his Cajun Flying Saucer Wok Thingy) outside and I hand ingredients and utensils out the door. It saves us tromping in and out over and over…and reduces chances of the Caged Tiger 🐯 sneaking out. Ross usually does the actual cooking of the meal. We join each other to eat outside if the weather’s nice. Then I step back in for Ross to hand me all the dishes to wash and stow.
I so appreciate Ross’ willingness to be the chef…and I don’t mind prepping and cleanup. Our family motto has always been divide and conquer, and this works well for us.
Camp breakfast, which included the black-eyed pea dish.
Sautéed scallops and greens. Note the sous chef in the background.
Morning coffee with kitty. Thank you Ann and Dad for the beautiful mug! Thank you Remi for the wonderful coffee beans!
A salad with ALL The Things.