Last days of the trip,,,,,,,,,

Day trip to St. Mary's, GA, one of the lingering wishes was to visit Cumberland Island where I had been twenty five years earlier. 

We couldn't swing getting on the ferry so just hung out in town.  But just as with Amelia Island, the town of St. Mary's  has made a lot of improvements, mainly that they got rid of the smelly paper mill. So it's starting to see a lot of people moving in and property values going up. One of the sad things about these places is that the locals can't afford to live there anymore.  Which is such a shame. It's really disturbing actually. Cumberland Island  is a magical National Park  with wild horses on the beach and great big ruins of mansions from the Carnegies.

Seaside park at St Mary's. Very charming. Love the Southern sentiment of "please don't" sign.

 

Beauties on St. Mary's Main Street. 

Back to Fernadina Beach and the Great Chili Cook Off downtown.

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Fernadina's own Main Street beauties.

Last walk on the beach, at least for now.

Mike got a new bike........ his maiden voyage around the hood.

The last leg up the coast took about 22 hours in the car. Washington DC was a nightmare to drive through. Never again. This leg was about 7 hours longer than I thought it would be. How can that happen? Did this is two days, with an overnight in a Walmart in Emporia, Virginia. Left at 5:30 am from VA and got home at 5:30 pm in Norwalk. Jeesh!!!

 

Choochi sez, huh?

I'm always amazed at the size of the rigs and the toys people drag around with them. Car AND golf cart! 

 And I made it back home, in one piece, and happy!

I'll send one more entry as a kind of reflection and trip round up......

Loved having you along!!

xox

Fernadina Beach, Amelia Island FL.

Back to one of the favorite places on this trip, Fernadina Beach, Amelia Island, FL......this time with warm and sunny beach weather. This place has been totally "discovered" in the past ten years, with property values skyrocketing beyond belief. I think I was looking at a parcel of land that was bought in 2010 for $50,000 now valued at $400,000. And that's not even directly on the water. This beach house is one of the few funky ones remaining on the beach side of the road. Probably worth near $1 million. My host Mike is a native here and seen this place explode, and while he takes pride in the popularity of the place, it comes with a price. There is more culture, art, music and so forth here than ever before, but there is rampant development and I question whether the sleepy island vibe is doomed. So it's a bit of a double edged sword, we find someplace, then love it to death.

However, that being said, there seems to be plenty of room for everyone on the beach. And even around town, in what I suppose is the height of the winter season, it's still pretty uncrowded. Mike complains of the traffic, but the traffic here is what I would call a no traffic day in Norwalk and Westport.

There are over 40 beach access points all along the coast road, allowing anyone and their dog access all year long. This is just so great. There is free parking in these little areas right next to all the super expensive beachfront homes. 

Gifts from the beach.

Fernadina Beach has the sweetest historic downtown district, and while there is some touristy elements and shops, it still feels like a functioning downtown that the residents use and patronize. It's just totally charming.

The locals have a long standing custom of driving their cars onto the beach. Yesterday I saw about fifty of them out there with their coolers and lawn chairs, teenagers and adults. It seems odd to me to do that, but it's a way of life here. Mike took me on a little ride on the beach in his Jeep onto the state park  on the south end of the island. I told him not to run over crabs and stuff. He laughed. 

Incredible variety and number of shore birds. I couldn't identify the very large heron type bird (or any of them for that matter), but they were magnificent, with huge black tipped wings.There had to have been at least seven or more types of shore birds right here in the marsh at the state park.

 Every Saturday there is a sweet little farmer's market in the downtown historic district.

And after a long grueling four day trip, Mike left the door open and the bed turned down the day I arrived. Warmed my heart.

I wish to also acknowledge the passing of my dear cousin Rick just three days ago. He was the cool older cousin that we all thought was so grown up when we were very little. Rick was one of the sweetest people on earth and struggled with many health challenges over the years but did it with grace. My heart goes out to his kids John and Brian, wife Joann and sister Lindsay. I don't believe in death as the "end", and I enjoy thinking that he's been freed of the limitations of his physical body and is free, light and loved by the universe. Here we are at one of my shows, he was always very supportive and drove up from NYC to see me perform. I will miss you Ricky.

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Almost there......

Four 10-12 hour days of driving, with a major attitude adjustment, weren't too bad. 

I shifted my dread of driving through Texas and found it charming, I adjusted my expectations for sleep and found myself getting almost enough. I got out and stretched every two hours and was thrilled to find that I could stream "This American Life" (a fantastic NPR show with great stories) almost the entire way on my phone. Holy cow, who knew? That's a revelation.

Kerville TX and Breaux Bridge LA were two very hospitable and lovely Walmart overnight experiences. I'm sold. I don't love Walmart for many reasons, but I do love them for this. This is how it looks, And yes I do have privacy curtains.  I kind of sidle up to the big rigs and try to look like I belong there somehow. I've learned to call ahead and ask if it's ok. Most Walmarts outside of big city areas seem pretty open to this. You can get an app that is called "Allstays" Walmart parking which will show you the ones that are overnight friendly.

What I missed on the way out this time was the Louisiana bayou and the Cyprus trees, which I loved 25 years ago on my first trip there. Here it is at sunrise.

And the magnolias are blooming in Mississippi on Valentine's Day.

I've never seen an autographed car before. This was pretty heartwarming, sad and inspirational. I hope she beats it.

Almost in an instant, I was back in the land of palm trees. The whole vibe changed. It felt like summer. I was in Florida. 

But then I noticed this horrible brown smokey haze on the horizon and saw something kind of belching out this stuff and thought it must be a fire or something. But unfortunately, it persisted all the way to the coast and I concluded that it must be from power plants or other industry. This was extremely depressing. Have I become so immune to this kind of pollution that I stop seeing it when I live in the East? Look at how this happens and changes the color of the sky. I kept hoping it would end but it just kept getting worse. After two months in big sky country with little pollution, this was such a shock. 

We're back on Amelia Island for an R & R before we do the big drive back to CT sometime before the end of the month. I even get to stay inside in my own room at my new buddy Mike's place here whose family has been on the island for seven generations, so he's a great source of local info. 

We made it out and back, and I'm happy to be winding it up in one of our favorite places. Thirteen miles of Choochi friendly beach to run on.

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Eastward I go.....

OK I'm officially heading home. I see the West in my rear view mirror.

An amazing surprise just north of Phoenix, 

GREEN HILLS. 

AMAZING GRASSY GREEN HILLS. 

This is what I love about the desert. Within several miles you can see an incredible diversity of landscapes, rock formations, colors and vegetation. Seguaro catcus come in forests, then disappear completely for weeks on your drives here and there. Then the appear again somewhere as most of the other desert plants.  Most all of these photos were snapped going 70 MPH so I take a lot in hopes that one or two might come out ok. There isn't anything like this in New England, we have pretty much the same forests and feel until you get into northern Vermont or south into the Carolina's. Here it's a matter of miles or even minutes at times before you see these dramatic shifts in landscape.

Back to barren but still beautiful.

Rock formations reminiscent of Joshua Tree just south east of Tuscon on I-10. I saw these on the way in but didn't have time to photograph them. This time I did.

A cloudy day in the desert always presents itself with incredible color and mood.

Two truckers drag race up the hill neither of them would yield to the other so we all  had to watch this testosteronic display and be stuck behind them.

An interesting pyramid-like hill formation outside of Phoenix.

And after all this splendor, then there's the worst city in the United States, El Paso, or what I am now calling "El Pitso". It is beyond belief how ugly and sprawling and shabby this town is and it goes on for MILES and MILES as far as the eye can see. 

PLUS I was kicked out of my boondocking place at 12 midnight there in a casino parking lot that I thought was ok. I guess I've been initiated, everyone goes through that, but it sucks.  Two security cops shone their nasty headlights into my windshield and I dragged myself to a Motel 6 for three hours of sleep. It was rainy and cold and that really sealed the deal for me on El Pitso.

Choochi doesn't care one way or the other, she naps through most of the driving and relocating parts. That's her seat belt she's hooked in to.

I was dreading the drive through Texas and Louisianna, but I've softened significantly on that. I think I must have been driving most of it in the dark on the way out, or just really grumpy. I'm intrigued by Texas now, especially San Antonio and the gulf coast. That's next on the list of where I'll visit next time. Texas is actually, along Route 10, rather lovely. You can feel a pride in the way people keep their properties that I haven't seen in a while in the desert. Desert people tend to like to hoard junk. I didn't see any evidence of that in Texas on route 10 anyway. And it's a lush landscape, with the deciduous trees just budding. Also there is that Gulf Coast all the way from Florida out to Texas that is calling "next time!"

I had my first really solid overnight boondocking success at Walmart in Beaux Bridge, Louisiana last night. I re-read my blog from the beginning and remembered the challenge of falling asleep and staying asleep all night, and I concluded shorter naps was the way to go.  So I quit driving before sunset so I can just settle down for a while before I try to sleep. Then get into bed by 8 so waking up in the middle of the night is ok, and I don't have this pressure feeling of having to stay asleep. So I got about 7 hours. Worked great last night.

Daybreak at Sam Walton's place in Bourne, Texas.

It's so funny to be developing fondness for Walmart parking lots and rest stops, but you do get to have your favorites and this Walmart is one of them for me. Even has a little park and picnic tables. And a HUGE lot.

My neighbor from Quebec with a very cool pop up Chevy base van. So Euro.

Gassed up for cheap and ready to roll!

One more day until I make it to Amelia Island again to spend the last week or so on the beach. I even get to stay inside in a real bedroom too at my new friend Mike's place who hosted me the first time from  the "Boondocker's Welcome" site. I keep promising Choochi that she'll get to run on the beach again really soon.

I have been cast in the new Connecticut Playmaker's show and will be going back to start rehearsing for the opening at the end of April. Really looking forward to it!

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