Travels and Travails (TIMELINE)

Our time was up on South Padre Island, so we needed to figure out, “Where Next.” A few weeks hence we’ll be joining the Florers near Tucson, but what to do in the meantime? We had a couple options: Follow the Rio Grande, stopping along then way for hiking and possibly a burrito or two.

We left Galveston intending to spend a couple weeks farther south…South Padre Island, to be exact. You cannot really get farther south without a Passport. The drive was uneventful, broken by choice into two super-windy driving days. There was one point when the wind was 40+mph and we were driving straight into it – the

We arrived at HH just a couple of hours ahead of a major, and fairly violent cold front. We had a few hours of warm, sunny weather before the crash, though, and put it to full use – cocktails on the patio and then Mexican Food at a place with a fantastic Guitarist. Put us

Our meandering took us next to a place that was best (for us) visited during the off-season. For a whole variety of reasons. I am speaking about the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This is a skinny spit of sand that shelters the Atlantic coast, but is itself anything BUT sheltered. Amazing to me that

Our next stop as we headed south was Raleigh, NC. A place where RV WHERE YET’s Left-lean would not be noticeable…and another place we had heard good things about, so, time to explore! The first thing we discovered was a GREAT RV Spot at the North Carolina Fairgrounds. This is close-in to the rest of

Our next stop was added to our “plan” by realization that we were within a few hundred miles of My Aunt Marilee, who lives in WashDC. You may recall several previous “Marilee-Audiences” here in these pages (2017   and again in 2018) . We are acutely aware that Marilee is 107 Years Old.  We are

So, one of the things that we appreciate when we are on the road is time. Time to consider the monumental events occurring in the world around us.  NO,  this is not another political post (I promised NO MORE of those).  This is about My Dad’s Birthday; and I posted it here so others can appreciate and

Our travels by RV have revealed something we hoped for and suspected MIGHT exist, but which continues to surprise and delight. That is that the country (actually, the world!) is populated by mostly really great people. This despite varying political, religious and social beliefs. I thought I would balance my recent political post, not to

We have some VERY FUN (and aggressive!) travel goals for 2019… As we did last year,  we have developed a post to let everyone know where we are pointed and approximately when.  This is so we can have the opportunity for meetings with friends.  We figure you may not LIVE in New Mexico or Oregon

After our Dry Camping experience in Quartzsite, we followed a bunch of new Bluebirdbrain friends to Rocky Point (Puerto Peñasco) Mexico.  If you are curious, though,  here is a clip of what 70 Bluebirds in the Desert look like (Thanks Shane Fideli for the Drone Video) This is a sleepy resort town that is still

Our last couple days in Tassie were in Hobart.  One of these was our Anniversary (#27).  It has been something of a tradition,  on our anniversary,  to do several things: To enjoy it in a faraway place To wish friend and former partner Steve Sawatski happy B-Day (since Feb 23 is that,  as well) To

After a few days in most places,  the “quirk” comes out.  In the old days (aka the 60’s,  or Haight Asbury today) this might be called letting the Freak Flag fly.  Or maybe the “Quirk” is  always there but we need to absorb the rhythm of a place before it becomes apparent.  In any case, 

Our last several days in Tassie included quite a bit more travel.  Not especially far,  because Tassie is not that big.  Just travel in the sense that after a day of wandering,  we stopped at new places instead of returning to Launceston.   Our first next stop was in a small town on the East coast

Quite a powerful storm system went thru Tasmania.  It was predicted,  and we adjusted our hiking trip to Cradle Mountain accordingly.  Good thing,  too.  We learned from some backpackers as we hiked that the Snow Line was expected at 1,300 meters…which was the BASE of our hike.   Instead,  we waited out the storm at our

Thot for the Day (Click Here) We have a bit of a quandry as we make our way to Tasmania.  We have been told many times that “2 weeks is plenty” for touring and experiencing.  Thus,  we organized our visit around this.   HOWEVER,  every Aussie we talk to sez something like, “Oooh.  You are going

We met friends/Stalkers Nancy and Sid shortly after they arrived at their hotel.  Our mission was to help them stay awake until early evening on their first day here because crashing once and solidly helps mitigate jetlag’s effect on subsequent days.  So,  we walked, Trammed, ate,  drank plenty of coffee,  had Gelato,  etc.  At the

Norman’s friend Sarah ‘splained the Aussie Language for us.  “All words are shortened as much as possible,  then “Y” (or “ie”) is added to the end.“ SO,  Barbeque==Barby.  Breakfast==Breky.  Laptop==Lappy.  Tasmania==Tassie.  Australian==Aussie.  And my favorite:  Sparky,  which means “Electrician.” OK,  it’s ENGLISH (well,  Strayne, anyway) so rules have exceptions!   Here is the video, courtesy of

In a previous post, I may have disclosed that we are being stalked down-under by friends from Magnolia Street in Chicago.  Nancy and Syd “just happen” to be in Melbourne and then in Tasmania at the same cosmic moment(s) as Los Harris.   Maybe they aren’t actually stalking us,  but you can see why we

After leaving Vian, OK we headed towards Lafayette, LA for Mardi Gras. The first night we thought to stop, since we had SO MUCH FUN in Vian, OK, in Vi(vi)an, LA. There was a Walmart. And the Walmart had a Dairy Queen Attached. It LOOKED good. There was a Blackhawks game on (v. the Wild),

Arriving near Vian,  our instructions from hosts, Dave and Lynn Gray went something like this:  “Your GPS will never get you to us.  So here is what you do…take a right at the (one) stop sign in “Downtown” Vian.  Drive 2 miles and you will see a white pickup truck by a gate…”  Worked perfectly. 

  Well,  it finally happened.  We have bottomed out!  I don’t mean personally, chemically, emotionally, politically.  Well,  maybe politically.  But I am actually referring to the Tow-hitch on the bus.  We found a driveway with too big a dip.  Safety Cables cut through as was the cable that operates the tow car’s lights.    The good

We  stayed in Bullhead City, Az. overnight,  but NOT at the Moose Lodge.  We could have,  but I was worried about the entry to the lot—a very high driveway ramp looked like it would at the very least bottom out the hitch.  Perhaps the Clown Car would actually fly.   So we went just down the road

Three days spent in Marin country having an AWESOME time with college-friend Mark and his charming wife, Tracy. Despite the rain.  And RAIN IT MOST CERTAINLY DID.  Enough to affect in some small or not so small way everything we did.  Day 1: We drove up to Sonoma Country for some Wine Tasting.  The normal

Spending several days in Half Moon Bay, just south of San Francisco. This is more like we imagined our travels.  Up until now,  we have been pretty actively moving.  At HMB,  we have been pretty actively relaxing!   Our friends Mike and Fran McDowell counselled us on this. When full-time RVing,  don’t think like you are

Before you look it up,  there is NO LAKE MARIN.  Just a reference to our RV park, which became a lake after torrential (and nearly perpetual) rain.  The bus is high and dry,  but there is a lake at the entrance. Not too worried about getting the bus out (very high clearance), but we may

Spending several days in Half Moon Bay, just south of San Francisco. This is more like we imagined our travels.  Up until now,  we have been pretty actively moving.  At HMB,  we have been pretty actively relaxing!   Our friends Mike and Fran McDowell counselled us on this. When full-time RVing,  don’t think like you are