Ross Judice 3/4/20 Ross Judice 3/4/20

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.

Robin Judice 2/19/20 Robin Judice 2/19/20

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.

Twelve seats, and yes, they hold services.

Robin Judice 2/18/20 Robin Judice 2/18/20

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.

The gnat bites on the back of my damn knee.

Robin Judice 2/17/20 Robin Judice 2/17/20

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.

Robin Judice 2/14/20 Robin Judice 2/14/20

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.

Robin Judice 2/9/20 Robin Judice 2/9/20

Fernandina and Friends

Our intrepid explorer heads to the beach!

Egan’s Creek Trail. Watch out for water moccasins, said Gary!

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!

Ross Judice 2/1/20 Ross Judice 2/1/20

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.

Robin Judice 1/31/20 Robin Judice 1/31/20

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.

Our site. Oops! The Acadian flag is upside down. Cajun in distress?

Someone didn’t get the message: if you snooze you lose.

Robin Judice 1/26/20 Robin Judice 1/26/20

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!

Robin Judice 1/25/20 Robin Judice 1/25/20

O'Leno State Park And Bouki’s Bakery

By Robin

We just spent a sweet few days at this quiet old park that lies along the Santa Fe River in north-central Florida. One of the nine original Florida State Parks, it is a pine forested with numerous packed-sand trails great for hiking, biking or running. In the center of the park, next to the river, are the remaining buildings of the town of O’Leno. We chuckled to read the town was originally named Keno (after the gambling game the town was known for), but the US government required a name change to Leno when they applied to have a Post Office. Later people called the town Old Leno…shortened to O’Leno. Similar to Petite Chat…shortened to T’Chat.

Ross ate up the trails every day on his bike and my legs loved the safe, soft terrain through giant saw palmettos along the river. It made us both feel like kids out there! We took evening hikes and learned more about the river, which dives underground within the park (River Sink) and runs in underwater caverns for three miles, then pops out again (River Rise) in another state park down the way. Numerous fresh water springs feed the Santa Fe which in turn emptied into the Suwannee. Florida does a lot of education about protecting this springs as a precious water source.

We enjoyed walking through the adjacent small town of High Springs. We found a pretty good coffee shop called the Talented Cookie Company. I was intrigued by their cookies, but they didn’t hold a candle to my sister-in-law’s delights. Robin (yes! we share a name!) runs the fabulous Bouki’s Bakery, where she is the designer and baker. Her cookies are available for order and shipping. You can find her on Instagram @boukisbaker (yes! this is a shameless plug!)

Ross Judice 1/21/20 Ross Judice 1/21/20

Way Down Upon the Suwannee River

By Ross

We spent a relaxing few days at a private campground on the Suwannee River in the midst of the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge. We set up camp right on the river among the cypress and oak trees overlooking a multitude of cypress "knees" on the river's edge. The river is wide this close to the Gulf. We're only 15 miles from the river's outlet on the coast.

The entire area feels sleepy, unrushed, and unpopulated. It's rural to be sure. And the nearby wildlife refuge is protected land. From Wikipedia, "the 53,000-acre wildlife refuge was established to protect one of the largest undeveloped river delta systems in the United States. It includes twenty miles (32 km) of the Suwannee River estuary and twenty miles (32 km) of coastline. The constant influx of nutrients from the Suwannee River combined with numerous off-shore islands and tidal creeks create excellent wildlife habitat which supports kites, bald eagles, manatees, sturgeon, deer, and turkeys, to name but a few of the species which take refuge there."

There are established double track trails running through the refuge. As I rode along the dirt and sandy trails looking for alligators in the adjacent marsh I felt far away from the news and chaos of today's world. One of trails dead ended at a secluded spot along the river and I took a moment to breathe it all in — the lazy river, the beautiful trees, the birds, the sky, and the wind.

Meanwhile back at the campground we were facing tough times: no cell service and terrible campground WiFi. Robin and I have a saying, "No internet is better than slow internet." You would think given our lovely, peaceful setting that we would just relax into our disconnected situation, but let's face it, the digital life is awesome. We love the news (both of us), staying connected with our friends (Robin), and YouTube (Ross). I watch a ton of adventure and educational videos. We both listen to loads of podcasts. And while Robin plows through paper and Kindle books, I always have an audiobook going.

So without internet I went to my backup plan: a hammock and paper book. It's funny how we have to add the adjective "paper" before book these days. I'm reading "Red Notice" by William Browder, an expose on the atrocities of modern Russia perpetrated by the asset plundering oligarchs and Putin himself. It's fascinating and highly recommended. Hammocks are a lot like university libraries, it's hard to be in one without taking a nap and waking up in pile of drool. And that's lazy river life for you.

Robin Judice 1/14/20 Robin Judice 1/14/20

Florida Panhandle Camping with Family

By Robin

It was a real treat to spend the first week of January camping with Ross’s sister Robin, brother Remi and his wife Lisa.

We started with a couple of days in New Orleans. Believe it or not there’s a campground right downtown. It’s a secure and a prime location to Uber or walk to the French Quarter, Treme or the Marigny. We hit a couple of our old favorite haunts and some new ones too. New Orleans holds a special place in our hearts from the time we owned a condo there…and of course because of Ross’ experience leading the Acadian Ambulance first responders to help after Katrina.

From New Orleans we ferried the RV’s (Robin Bostick driving Remi and Lisa’s Chinook RV, us in our trailer) to a lovely little Alabama state park campground outside Mobile (Meaher). We stopped at the always yummy Felix’s Fish Camp for late lunch and arrived in time to catch a beautiful sunset. We were lucky to score side by side spots that backed up to Mobile Bay.

The rest of the week was at a terrific Florida State Park on Santa Rosa Beach: Topsail Hill Preserve. We rented a camp cabin for Robin, with Remi and Lisa staying in their RV and us in ours (no extra bedrooms!). It was perfect for group gatherings in the evening. The rest of the week was filled with bike rides, chilly but beautiful beach time and some really, really good seafood meals.

It’d be great to do more ‘co-camping’ with family and friends.

After our family left for Lafayette, we started a 3-day water fast. Not fun, but something we do periodically to reset our bodies. The extended water fasts have been particularly beneficial for my skin, as each fast over the last two years has progressively improved my autoimmune skin condition to the point of being negligible. Despite benefits, we are always happy to have these fasts behind us. Back to normal eating tomorrow!

Cozy camper coffee time with sister Robin.

Robin, Remi, Lisa, Ross, and sister Robin

Ross Judice 1/13/20 Ross Judice 1/13/20

Visiting Family

By Ross

December was a time for catching up with family. We arrived in Lafayette, Louisiana (the heart of Cajun Country) to meet up with my large family that includes my parents, seven brothers and sisters, and countless nieces and nephews. The visit coincided with my dad's fairly major back surgery that turned out better than expected and he quickly discharged home to continue his outpatient physical therapy rehab program.

These visits are really great because Robin and I get along with everybody and my family is always up for a few laughs. However, they can also be stressful because you just don't feel like you're spending enough time with everyone. And three weeks goes by very fast. And forget about trying to catch up with friends, they just don't make the cut because family comes first, at least for us. (We were lucky to catch up with our dear friends Ayla and Stephen, the Rutherfords, Father Louie and Sister Carm…sorry to all of those we missed!)

During our stay in Lafayette, Robin flew to Lexington, KY for a visit with her family while I stayed back continuing the visit with mine. All in all we feel pretty good about our time spent with our families, and wish we could have squeezed in more visits. But alas the road called us forth on a new adventure and on January 2nd, we packed up for the second half of our trip. As a reminder, we are chasing sunshine.

Christmas morning with sister Robin and family.

Ross Judice 12/9/19 Ross Judice 12/9/19

Texas Hill Country

By Ross

We like Texas way more than we thought we would. The Lone Star flags fly everywhere and the streets are wide and always in good shape. Texans take pride in their state. We've seen roadside volunteer groups picking up trash on the country roads. And like the owner of the Fredericksburg Pie Shop exclaimed, "We don't take any shortcuts. We prepare our pie crusts over three days and make everything from scratch." And it tastes like it. So good. And everything IS bigger in Texas, like the cheeseburgers at Alamo Springs Cafe where if you eat the Jefe burger made of six patties, you get your picture on the wall and the burger is free.

We enjoy walking the downtown streets of the places we visit. We hardly ever go in a store, shop, or gallery. That's really not our thing. We like to get a sense of a place based on the types of businesses, number of empty storefronts, and its general vitality. Kerrville impressed me because they've recently invested in connecting 4 miles of walking and cycling paths along the Guadeloupe River. I'm sure not everyone is excited to have a public access path behind their homes. Several properties recently installed tall fencing (without gates) as a barrier but I wondered how they would access the path themselves. A couple other properties had menacing "This property under Video Surveillance" signs to warn people about venturing off the path. It's always been amazing to me that some folks worry that living on a park or walking path lowers their property values and places their property at risk. In contrast, Robin and I would pay extra to live on park (we did this in Louisiana) or a path (our current condo is on the Bend river trail).

Using the Trailforks iPhone app I found two trail systems near Kerrville. I was pretty excited about checking out the mountain biking in central Texas. Unfortunately, both were closed during hunting season. Dang! One of the systems was in the city-owned park. It seems odd to allow hunting (and close off access to all non-hunters) in a city park.

By The River Campground in Kerrville has been our home base for the past week. Our trailer is parked overlooking the slow and lazy Guadeloupe River. Bird life in this neck of the woods is something: differing species, a variety of bird calls, and large flocks of black birds that would overtake the area for an hour or two and then completely disappear. T'Chat spent hours watching all the activity out the back window. Robin said she was watching "Duck TV".

Over the next week we'll be winding our way towards family in Louisiana.

Ross digging into his burger at Alamo Springs.

Enjoying a bourbon tasting at Garrison brothers distillery.

Tucking into a banana cream pie and lemon meringue at the Fredericksburg Pie Company.

Hunting bugs at our Kerrville camp site.

Robin Judice 11/30/19 Robin Judice 11/30/19

D.H. Lescombes Winery, Deming, NM

By Robin

Short hop today from Safford, NM to a Harvest Hosts stop. We were glad to roll on this sunny day after being semi-trapped in the trailer with heavy rain and winds over the Thanksgiving holiday. Even T’Chat was feeling a little stir crazy! Today’s drive was an easy 2 hours.

D.H. Lescombe is a 6th-generation winery. The founder, Herve, had a successful vineyard in Burgundy before he emigrated to the US and started this New Mexico vineyard in 1981. We tasted some delicious wines today. My favorites were the pinot gris and semillon. It’s a little startling (I don’t know why!) to find good wine in southern New Mexico.

A unique offering are their Hatch Chile Wines. They make a red chile wine and a green chile wine made with the famous New Mexican peppers. It seemed like a novelty, but we actually quite liked the green chile wine. It was crisp and dry with a hint of chile and a little kick.

Three other RV’s parked in the lot here at the winery near us, and our sommelier said they have at times as many as eight, visiting through the Harvest Host program. Good wine makes a popular waypoint.

We were treated to this brief but beautiful sunrise between rain showers at Roper Lake State Park.

Ross Judice 11/28/19 Ross Judice 11/28/19

Catalina State Park (Tucson) and Roper State Park (Safford)

By Ross

We like Tucson. While the Phoenix suburbs are like a shiny but dull new Mercedes Benz, Tucson is more like a 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS. Sure it's got a little rust and no seat belts, but it also has a lot of character and personality. Our home base for a week in Tucson: Catalina State Park in the shadow of Mount Lemmon and the Coronado National Forest. From our campsite we ventured out for some highly rated foods, like tamales at Tucson Tamales and the Sonoran hot dogs at El Guerrero Canelo Restaurant. I rode the nearby mountain bike trails while Robin ran around the park. We had beautiful weather. We drank great coffee. We slept soundly.

With no openings in the Catalina S.P. campground on the weekend, sadly we were forced to depart Tucson. We are spending a week at Roper Lake State Park in Safford, Arizona. The park is beautiful but the community is economically depressed. The small downtown features shuttered storefronts and many nearby homes are in disrepair. Everything will be closing for Thanksgiving so we're planning to have a quiet rainy (forecasted) day giving thanks in our little travel trailer. And to celebrate this day, we're skipping our breakfast green smoothies and making a Banana Pecan Dutch Baby. Here's the ingredients:

¾ C flour
3 eggs
1 T sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp Kosher salt
¼ C whole milk
3 T unsalted butter
1-2 bananas
1 C pecans
Maple syrup

This thing is part pancake and part blob. It puffs up into a delicious, ugly mess. Happy Thanksgiving!

From one of Robin’s runs at Catalina State Park, Tucson

From one of Robin’s runs at Roper Lake State Park, in Safford.

Robin Judice 11/26/19 Robin Judice 11/26/19

Biosphere 2, Oracle, Arizona

By Robin

Neither one of us is good at doing the typical tourist things, like museums, monuments, etc, but if you know us, you’ll know that we are science geeks. We Will Stop for Science!

We didn’t know we’d be camping near Biosphere 2 when we planned our overnight stop in Oracle, Arizona on the way to Tucson. That’s another thing we’re not good at: scouting out tourist attractions ahead of time. We were pretty stoked to discover our campground was minutes from Biosphere 2 and that it was open to tourists.

You may remember Biosphere 2 from back in the 90’s. (Biosphere 1 is considered to be the planet Earth.) It was built by two private investors as a self-contained environmental science experiment. They constructed seven complete biomes, including tropical rainforest, ocean, mangrove wetlands, savannah and desert, enclosed by giant glass panels and steel tubing. It was originally airlocked, so that all oxygen, CO2 and water had to be recycled throughout the system.

The facility is probably most famous for the two experiments conducted with humans and animals sealed into the building in the 90’s. Both trials ended early amid some human-created drama. The first mission also had trouble due to high CO2 levels in the Biosphere. The pods and living area for the people in the original experiments are viewable on the tour. I felt sympathetic to the people who volunteered….I think I’d go a little nuts being trapped with 8 strangers for a year too!

The facility construction required tremendous planning and forethought. The colossal interconnected building and supporting structures were created before our current level of computerization and technology, and essentially continues to operate as well as it did in the 90’s. The only difference now is that the facility is no longer airlocked, and the enormous ‘lungs’ that were built to regulate pressure due to temperature differentials are no longer in operation.

Biosphere 2 changed hands a couple of times and was ultimately acquired by the University of Arizona in 2007. Scientists and student researchers from the university run massive science experiments in the complex.

Current projects include mimicking effects of climate change on rainforest and on coral in the ocean (and developing species of coral that are resistant to warming oceans). Another enormous experiment investigates the hydrology of drainage and the development of soil and evolution of life from bare volcanic rock. There are experiments harnessing solar power and sustainable agriculture practices. One experiment, growing plants beneath solar panels in desert environments, proved so successful so quickly that it’s being implemented now throughout the southwest.

If Biosphere 2 was considered somewhat controversial science at the time of its construction, there’s no doubt the facility is being put to good use today. It tickled us both to be able to take the tour!

Robin Judice 11/24/19 Robin Judice 11/24/19

Windmill Winery, Florence, AZ

By Robin

Some time ago we learned about an app called Harvest Hosts. If you have a self-contained RV (e.g. your own water/electricity/bathroom) and pay a $79 annual fee, you can stay for free overnight at participating farms, wineries and museums around the U.S. You call ahead to let them know you are coming. In return for your free stay, the expectation is that you’ll sample their wares and make a purchase or two.

We used this app and located Windmill Winery in Florence, AZ, which was a perfect stopping point for an overnight on the way to our next destination.

An enormous state prison complex seems to be the primary employer in Florence. Otherwise it’s a quiet, dry, dusty, desert town. The winery, on the extreme edge of town, seems to have a lock on the nicest local event destination. It centers around a pond, an enormous beautiful barn for events, and an outdoor bar area, with walking paths around the perimeter. Lush greenery, grass, trees and animals (donkeys, small horses, ducks, geese) add to the character. Hosting weddings and other events seems to be their main occupation. Unfortunately, the wine seems to be an afterthought.

We parked in the RV lot and found one other Harvest Hosts visiting trailer there. They were a pleasant, chatty couple from Nebraska with an adorable mini-Aussie named Stevie. (We remember all the dogs and cats we meet on our travels, but rarely do we remember the people.😬)

We did a wine tasting (very average…overly sweet wines) in their outdoor tasting area (very lovely).

It turned out to be a pleasant, safe place to stay the night. We don’t recommend the wine, but do recommend the overnight accommodation.

Grimace as I tried to down this red. And I’m no wine snob.

Robin Judice 11/23/19 Robin Judice 11/23/19

The Mundane of Travel Life

By Robin

Life on the road isn’t all glamour, tourism, adventure and relaxation. In fact, about 75% is just normal everyday routine…sometimes more complicated by the fact that you are on the road. Taking care of the little things (laundry, for example) can mean doing a bunch of research to find an open laundromat in your area.

Here’s an example from a day in the life at our last campsite, near Tucson.

6 AM - Up with the sunrise. This is most by choice - we love sunrises, but also because that’s when T’Chat demands to be fed. There’s a lot of meowing by 6AM.

enjoy our coffee, read, watch the sunrise
meditate together for about 20 minutes
scoop kitty litter box

8 AM - exercise, followed by showers! Exercise is a post for another day…but typically we go our own separate ways for our workouts. If it’s pouring rain we’ll go together to an Anytime Fitness location if one’s available. If it’s pouring rain, cold and no AF, then it’s a day off!

10 AM - breakfast - usually a healthy blended-drink. It’s the same breakfast for each of us most every day, except that Ross supplements his with either sardines or anchovies. What goes in the blender? Again, a post for another day. I DO keep urging Ross to throw those fish into his blended drink a la that great SNL skit, The Bassomatic.

11 AM - Errands. On this day the errands consisted of:

Savaya Coffee Shop - coffees for both of us and bags of coffee for the road.
Laundromat - Ross dropped me off with the laundry and I did 3 loads. Loved this laundromat, because there were plenty of washers and dryers and they were all efficient! Every laundromat is a character of its own and is full of characters. I’ve met some really interesting people doing laundry while we travel…and this one had a DOG! which was fun. Sometimes the laundries have wifi. This one did not, so I wrote a bunch of letters to mail.
While I took care of the laundry, Ross filled up the truck with fuel, refilled one of our trailer propane tanks, and hit Safeway for a few items (more kitty litter, for one).
Ross picked up me and the clean clothes…next stop Post Office.
Sprouts Grocery Store - we hit up grocery stores at least twice a week for basics. We try to plan for home cooked meals for at least twice a week, which usually also provide leftovers for another day. We eat out a couple of times a week.
Tucson Tamale Company - We search for great local food using TripAdvisore and RoadFood, two apps usually steer us right. On this day we had a tasty, healthy, relatively inexpensive meal of vegetarian tamales and sides.

3 PM - Back at the trailer. Fed the beast (T’Chat), who eats an early dinner, like we do. Walk T’Chat. She starts begging for a leash-walk after dinner. She gets a thorough daily brushing at that time, which she also enjoys.

4 PM - Kick back inside the trailer (if cold), outside (if warm) and read, watch movies, plan our next moves…

8 PM - in bed!

We always treasure the gift that is our life of early retirement, whether in our Bend condo or on the road. I guess it’s just a fact of all lives that we have have to do the basic, rather dull things that keep our lives motoring along.

Ross Judice 11/16/19 Ross Judice 11/16/19

Phoenix Area - McDowell Mountain Regional Park

By Ross

Is this an adventure blog? Well if kicking back in a beautiful park under warm days and cool nights is adventuring, then we're the Magellan's of travel trailer living. McDowell is a large county park in the desert northeast of Phoenix proper. Surrounding the park are the high end retirement golfing communities of Fountain Hills and Troon North, or as I like to call them, the Scottsdales of Scottsdale. Given the tasty weather, I can see the attraction to the area.

As usual I spent my mornings biking the multitude of area trails while Robin ran her workouts. One morning during a run she was approached by a ranger who cautioned that the rattlesnakes were out and about and that she should stay in the middle of the trail. I told her that it was a classic pick up line that I used all the time in my youth.

On occasion we drove into town for provisions, mostly spinach and kale. Because...yum. The nearest organic, non-GMO, non-MSG food store was 20 miles away which is not a problem in our big diesel truck. We believe in balance. We stopped at the famous Sugar Jam Bake Shop known for their pies and took home slices of apple and pumpkin pies. Let me just say these were the best slices of pie we've had on our trip to date. And the young baker-owner had the happiest baker demeanor.

And now we're heading down to Catalina State Park near Tucson and camped overnight at a Harvest Host winery called Windmill Winery. Harvest Host is a paid membership program that organizes free overnight camping at farms, wineries, and the like with the expectation that we might make a purchase from the host. We spent some time at Windmill's lovely wine tasting room and purchased a bottle on the way out. Arizona produces a fair amount of wine. Who knew? We don't drink nearly as much wine as we have in the past but still enjoy a nice bottle every now and then. And with that exciting tidbit, we'll see you down the road.

T’Chat enjoying a sunrise in McDowell Mountain Regional Park