Almost Home

We have been on the road for two days.  We have one more to go.  There really isn't much to say about the trip and I guess that is good.  The stops we make are at rest areas, truck stops and our campground at night.  It is great having a diesel engine because we just fill up with the big trucks.  It is easy in and easy out. 

Scout smiling at the camera.

The campground we stayed at last night in Tallahassee, FL say they are the best in Tallahassee.  If they are the best, we hate to see the worst.  The only grass they had, had signs that said not to walk on it. Where's a dog supposed to do his business?  Dad was concerned about how we were going to make the turn to get out of our site.  He ended up taking the long way around instead of how it should have been.  We were also not happy that their rates were higher than what they posted on the Internet.  It was $40 for a site.  CRAZY!  They did have great Internet, but that is not worth $40. 

The neatest thing about the campground were the big oak trees.  There was one section that was really pretty.  This was it though. If it all looked like this, we wouldn't be complaining.

Big oak trees at campground.

Tonight, we are staying in Clarksville, TN.  It is near the Kentucky border.  It is a really nice place.  There are a lot of areas for us to walk.  The campsites all look really nice and clean.  This is a place that we wouldn't mind staying long term.  It is $33 a night.

Me and Dad walking in the campground.

Pretty

The cottages are cute. They even have flowers under the side window.

Mama made a peach cobbler tonight.  Yum! She is also doing laundry.  Yep, the machine is still working. 

We don't know what is wrong with our map.  We updated it today and it is not appearing correctly when we view it.

Tomorrow, is our last travel day!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Will Be Sniffing Missouri Grass Soon!

Leaving The Land Of Palm Trees

Hollywood Beach, FL

We are setting out on a long, three day road trip.  We should be back in Missouri Sunday night.  Dad is trout fishing for three days and then we will be  heading back to our home town. The folks will visit their doctor and Scout and I will see the vet.  The motor home is going in for some maintenance work.  It will be a busy time.  It is supposed to be a vacation, but Mama said she thinks she will be doing more cooking than she wants to do and that is not a vacation to her.  I guess she had her vacation while Dad was in DC this week.  BOL

Hollywood Beach

Mama planned on doing her laundry at the laundromat here, but the machines use a card instead of coins and they were out of cards.  Mama decided to hand wash some of her clothing.  She then decided to see if the dryer on our washer/dryer worked and it did!  She then pushed her luck and did a load of towels in our washer because it started working again.  She will still ask Dad to look at it. She thinks she must have jarred loose whatever was stuck in it or something. I think it was that last kick she gave it that fixed it.  BOL

Indiana Dunes State Park

The tent campers are still here!  It has been four weeks!  We think the parents are working around here because they leave and come back at the same time each day.  We just realized this week that their son is staying here by himself.  He is between the age of 11-13.  Mama says there is nothing for him to do here on his own except get into trouble.  He must really be bored.

Mama helped out one of the kittens yesterday.  We saw him on Tuesday on the far end of the campground which is way away from his house.  He is blind in one eye, if not both eyes.  We searched for him Tuesday night, but couldn't find him and thought he had returned home.  Wednesday morning, we saw him again in the area he was at on Tuesday.  Mama said he is going to starve to death on his own.  After our walk, she found a canvas bag that she didn't need and decided to use that to carry him.  She really didn't want to touch him because he probably has fleas and other things.  She scooped him up and carried him home.  He is now back with his siblings.  We have seen him three times since that time and he seems to be doing okay.   The canvas bag is in the dumpster and Mama scrubbed her hands really good.  BOL


We probably won't be updating our blog every day while we are traveling.  We will try to update the map each night.  It really depends on how tired we are. The trip here was three days and we were all dragging and cranky on the third day.

Indiana Dunes State Park

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Wonders If The Cats Will Miss Him As Much As He Will Miss Them

A Visit To Coral Castle

Sunday afternoon, the folks visited Coral Castle.  I hope this post is better than the one on Fruit and Spice Park.  BOL  Coral Castle was built by one man working alone.  It took him 20 years to complete.  Ed Leedskalnin was born in Latvia in 1887.  When he was 26, he was engaged to Agnes Scuffs who was 16.  The night before their wedding, she told Ed that she did not want to marry him because he was too old.  He always thought her mother didn't think he was rich enough or educated enough.  He had a fourth grade education. He was heart broken and he wandered for several years and eventually made his way to Florida around 1918-1920. He chose South Florida because he was told he had tuberculosis and the climate would be good for his health.  Ed was 5'5" and weighed only 100 pound.  We mention his size because it is quite amazing what he was able to build this on his own.

Ed created his castle for Agnes who he called "Sweet Sixteen".  She never visited, but she did know about the castle according to reports.  Mama thinks that Ed was obsessed with Agnes since he even built beds for the children he planned to have with her. Poor man. He even built a repentance corner for his kids and wife, which he never had.  He said if they misbehaved, he would make them put their heads through the opening, wedge them in place with a clock of wood and they would sit on a bench while he talked to them for about an hour.  He figured this would keep them in line for several months.  Yes, he had it all planned out except he never had the wife and children.  He died in 1951 at the age of 64.

When looking at the photos, remember that Ed worked totally alone and did not have machinery.  He did all the work with hand tools.  When he was asked how he did the work, he said he understood the laws of weight and leverage. He was a very private person and no one ever saw him work. 

Ed charged people $.25 to see his work.  The price is now $15 a person.

Ed's yard.

The cooker. The food is placed in the pot and it is lowered to the fire.  It is like a pressure cooker.

He created tables and chairs.

Tools that he used.

Ed

Ed's bed.  It hangs from the ceiling.

Ed's living quarters.  16 steps lead to the top.

Can you see the chairs towards the center.  There are chairs all over.  They are actually pretty comfortable.

Planets in the back.  See the moon?

Feast of Love Table - it is shaped like a heart.

Throne Room - Pictures really don't show it, but Ed's throne is here.  It weighs 5,000 pounds.  Sweet Sixteen's chair is there as well as a child's chair.  Directly behind Ed's throne is the mother-in-law's chair.  He designed it to be the most uncomfortable chair.

Nice view of a tree.

Florida table because it is shaped like Florida.

 

Ed's bathtub.

The well.

 

The quarry.  Each section of the walls around the castle are said to weigh 13,000 pounds.

There is a 9 ton gate which is considered to be Ed's most outstanding achievements, but it looks like Mama didn't take a photo of it.

Another picture of the wall.

Close up of one of the walls.

Mama thought it was interesting, but not worth $15 a person to her.  She did have a coupon, so their costs were $12 each. 

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Glad His Dad Is Not Ed Because He Wouldn't Want a Repentance Center

Click, Clack....Buzz

That is the sound that our washing machine made yesterday.  It has made the click, clack before and Dad looked at and couldn't find anything wrong.  The next time it did it, he put his hands on the top of it and he healed it.  BOL!   Dad is in Washington DC and Mama doesn't seem to have the same healing powers. At first, the door wouldn't open.  Mama wanted to get the clothes out it.  She thought it would be embarrassing for a repair person to see Dad's underwear plastered to the glass in the door.  She also thought the machine might have an odor after being closed with wet clothes for days.  Finally, the door opened and she rescued the underwear. Mama read the manual and found there is a place to look for coins and other things that may have fallen into the pump. She didn't read the part that said to be prepared for water to drain out.  The only thing she could find that would fit under the washing machine was a pizza pan.  That was interesting.  The water finally stopped, but she can't get the knob to open.  She turns the knob counter clockwise like the instructions say, but nothing happens.  ::::sigh::::  I know, it doesn't sound complicated does it?  She has tried to turn it clockwise just in case her counter clockwise is not correct.  BOL   I bet Dad will turn it and it will open instantly.  The guy that Dad works with here gave Mama his number and said to call him if she needs anything.  She decided this does not count as an emergency even though she will have to do laundry with the lizards. The laundry room here is an outdoor one and lizards frequent it.  I think as long as she doesn't see a snake, it will be okay.  We hope we can fix the washing machine because if not, it may be a long time before we buy a new one. 

Scout at Indiana Dunes State Park

Mama spent yesterday morning shopping.  She ate at Wendy's and had one of their Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburgers.  Has anyone had one?  She thought it was really good.  She is going to have another one this week so see if the first one was just a fluke or if it was really that good.  BOL  Here is Wendy's description: 
A delicious new twist on our classic hot n juicy cheeseburger with a sweet & smoky honey mustard sauce, melted cheddar cheese and applewood smoked bacon all on a warm, soft pretzel bun. 
 

Me at Indiana Dunes State Park

Mama finally had some pictures of me printed off and framed.  It is about time!  Most of the pictures that are framed are of Jack.  Mama takes tons of photos of us, but she never bothers to print them out.  It is not like we have a lot of room for frames, but it is nice to see my photo on the dash with the other "kids".

Have your heard about Tropical Storm Chantel?  She is still headed for us, but it looks like we will be a day ahead of her.  We just hope we don't end up getting a lot of rain from her.   It doesn't sound like she will be bad, but it is not fun driving a motor home in rain. 

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Doesn't Like His Mama Having A Car Because She Has Fun Without Him

Our Last Weekend In South Florida

This past weekend was our last weekend in South Florida.  The folks were pretty busy seeing the sights.  Scout and I stayed inside where it was nice and cool. Our new shades really seem to be helping our place stay cooler. 

Friday, Mama noticed that the control board that monitors things showed that we were only running on 30 amps.  We should be on 50 amp.  She called Dad and he came home from work because we didn't know if it was our problem or the park's problem.  The office is closed on weekends, so we needed to figure out the problem before they closed for the weekend.  It turned out that it is our problem.  We need to get some sort of a board like a computer board, I guess.  The folks tried to order one of Saturday, but the store couldn't do it because their Internet was down.  Dad asked if they could check on it and call us back so we could order it and they said "No".  Mama thought that was pretty funny because there is a sign on the door that says customers are their business.  The part is a few hundred dollars, so you would think that would have motivated them.  Everything is running fine, so we will order it when we get back to Missouri.

Saturday night, the folks ate at a Cuban restaurant.  It was Mama's first time. She said it was really good!  She didn't have any leftovers, so I can't tell you first hand.  They planned on eating a dessert that they love, but they were so full that they couldn't.  The dessert is Tres Leches, which is a cake that is soaked in evaporated, sweetened condensed and whole milks and topped with caramel sauce and whipped cream.  

Yesterday, the folks visited Fruit & Spice Park.  They took a tram tour where they learned about all sorts of fruits, but not that many spices.  They thought it was quite interesting.  They learned about poisonous plants that many people have in their yards.  Some of the plants will cause itching and people don't realize it is the plant doing it.  Unfortunately, Mama can't remember any of the names.  She is a lot of help isn't she?  She said that with all the traveling we are doing that she has to remember so many street names and such that her brain just can't hold much.  She is putting all that stuff into short term memory.  I think she is just getting old.

Jackfruit - Dad says it is really good to eat.

Dad looking at the bananas.

The tour guide.

Bamboo

This is a common plant here that most people do not realize has fruit on it. 

Mama thought this was called The Living Tree - but can't find anything on it.  It has a lot of water in it. It is supposed to bring you good luck if you put your left hand on it.  You can hear an echo if you knock on  it.

I apologize that my report isn't better.  Mama said the names that the tour guide gave them were not their common names, so that makes it even harder to remember them.  Mama said the park would be better if they had signs up telling you what things are. 

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Thinks This Post Is One Of His Worst Yet.  Hangs His Head In Shame.