The Long Haul

The day after Christmas I steeled myself for the long drive across the flat flat flat land of what is Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and most of Texas. My plan was to camp at a welcome center in LA overnight and try to make it in two or three days. 

23 h 39 min (1,651.6 mi) via I-10 

First of all, never believe what Google maps tells you about how long something is going to take. I left at 6 am on the 26th and ended it at 10 pm on the 27th. So that's 40 hours. With the bathroom breaks and two hours of sleep. This trek is an memory of endless public toilets.

Me in my little blue car on the long purple highway.

Landscape in Northern FL, seemed pretty nice. Apparently someone else thought so.

I listen to music constantly and and singing constantly. Sometimes I don't pay attention. Then I did. Uh oh.

Saved by the Shell

The sleeping at the rest stop in LA thing didn't work, it was dark and weird and nobody around. So I kept driving and tried to camp out at a Walmart and it was HOT and weird also. So two fitful hours of no sleep, got back in the car and drove to another Walmart in Louisiana where at 7 am I got about two hours of sleep. But felt pretty good.

But boy what a sad little town. Even Walmart hasn't upgraded it's exterior to it's perky blue color yet. But I'm grateful for the undisturbed rest.

So kept going.......

The lovely sunsets are the reward at the end of a long drive. 

I-10 is a very strange road. Once you get into Louisiana, all bets are off. I drove it in the dark too. Which was frightening at times. There are posted speed limits but nobody enforces them. The trucks are nuts. TX and LA don't believe in rest stops either. Or if there is one, you have to get off the highway to find it. 

You have to wonder when you find a rest stop and that is the most interesting thing around...........but here is where the land got prettier.

A little more specificity please.

The mountains appear!

Ending the long haul across Dixie, a beautiful sunset again. 

Treated myself to a motel room, a bed and a hot bath. Wow, what a joy.

Off to Tuscon today!!


Choochi slept through most of the ride. Lucky Choochi!

Jed, Dave and St. Augustine, FL

Christmas Eve Day 2016 on the Beach in St. Augustine, FL.

Me, Jed, Choochi and Dave.

Jed and Dave are from Connecticut and bought their dream home in St. Augustine about a year ago, Tragedy struck when the hurricane completely destroyed their house this fall. So they come down to work on it, clean, tear down walls, and just enjoy themselves. Their yard is a wonderful canopy of native trees that I get to enjoy for Christmas. And yes, they will rebuild! 

Jed is a master gardener and is going to make this a total Shangra-la! I can't wait to see it when he's finished.

Little Christmas touches  in downtown St. Augustine.

Back home and a gin and tonic in the backyard.

Jed and Dave's cozy camp-out on the porch.

Dave conjures Pele the fire goddess.

Choochi hangin' with the surfer dudes.

 

St. Augustine lights up the whole town for Christmas. 

The main streets are extremely busy and packed with tourists, but the side streets are quaint and quite and have historic homes with cobbled streets right off the main bustling square. Very reminiscent of Europe.

This This is Jed and Dave's bathroom that FEMA left for the neighborhood.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!

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Northern Florida, Amelia Island

Greetings from Florida!

Spent a few hours in Savannah then headed over to the coast to Brunswick, GA where I saw the largest, oldest Live Oak tree I've ever seen. It's 900 years old which rivals the age of the redwoods.

I'm  staying on Amelia Island with Mike who offered to host me through  Boondocker's Welcome website where folks who love to travel (mostly in RV's) offer up their driveways for people to park for free. I hosted a French family in my driveway over Thanksgiving and coincidentally, Mike also hosted them a couple of weeks later.  Here's Mike and  Mike's back yard in Fernadina Beach FL.

Mike's a great host, total hospitality! He's a 6th generation "islander" and his kids, grand kids and great grand kids are 7-8th generation. Fernadina Beach and Amelia Island are beautiful! Endless stretches of beach, gorgeous revitalized downtown and everything else you could possibly want or need is here. Restaurants, shopping, yoga studios, it's a little like Marin County CA without the price tag. And people are also so FRIENDLY! Everyone just STEPS UP TO HELP, everywhere, even before you think you need to ask. 

Today's great adventure was at the car wash.......one of my car windows wouldn't roll up because I have a blackout film on them for privacy. I didn't realize that until we were in the thick of it with the water spraying everywhere  and it was like being on a ship in a hurricane trying to keep the water out with a fleece blanket. I couldn't move cause I was afraid of  ramming the car wash machine thing as it was gyrating around. Post flood...... me and Choochi survived the storm.

and narrowly escaped in Yulee FL.

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Great having you along!

love,
Laura and Choochi