A View from the road: 2012

Monday, February 27, 2012

Afterward

I've been home about a week now and slowly getting back to non RV life.

I am pretty sure that my "RV legs" have turned back to normal legs now.

After a while you start to not notice the movement but it's true... when you (or your dog) move around inside a winnebago View RV, it moves with you (ever so slightly). The movement is obvious enough at first but it becomes second nature to your body after a month or so.

When I moved back into a home that doesn't move when I (or Tigger) do, it was odd. I took a little getting used to.

My brain still isn't 100% convinced that I'm not living in the RV anymore. The other night, I arose from bed not fully awake. In a foggy sleep haze, it wasn't evident to me where I was. I stepped from bed and immediately touched the floor. I knew this was wrong because I'm supposed to climb down a 4 rung ladder before touching to the floor.

I stumbled around in the kitchen and after a few seconds, I woke up enough to realize where I was.

I AM HOME!

I went back to bed and fell right to sleep.

Herman asked what was the best part of the trip. I have to say that Carlsbad Caverns was the most amazing thing I saw throughout the trip. I'd love to go back again because there was much I did not get to see there.

Worst traffic? No doubt, it was on the way home trying to get around Washington DC. What a nightmare that is. I'd rather drive in and around NYC or Los Angeles than Washington DC.

If anyone has any questions about the trip... feel free to ask in a comment below.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

One night in the Bayou Cafe in Savannah Georgia

This will be my last travelling post of this trip.

Thursday night, I was parked pretty close to River Street and the Bayou Cafee in Savannah Georgia. Bored with TV, I decided to stroll down to the bar and have a drink or 10. What a blast I was having... until I got up to leave... Someone either slipped a roofie into one of my drinks or I just ended up drinking waaaaay too much. It was probably the latter.

It didn't help matters that I had eaten a basket of fried catfish and french fries while at the bar. Never eat fried catfish while drinking copious "Cape Codders" . Trust me on this.

Here's a video I shot of the entertainer that night... Don Coyer. He was really good.
Try to ignore the loud, out of tune drunk guy singing along. LOL.

A short time after I took this video, I stumbled outside and headed for "home". For the next few hours, I proceeded to stumble in and out of the RV "getting air" and then usually puking. You know you're in a bad way when people are asking you if you're alright.

That's all I'm saying about this night.

It will not happen again.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Headed home

Tonight should be my last sleeping night in the RV... on this trip. I am about 8-9 hours from home now. I really can't wait to see Herman and be HOME again.

For me, home isn't anywhere I lay my head (like the Metallica song says). Home is with Herman & Tigger in Troy NY. I miss home.

I am excited to get home and sleep in my own bed again. It's going to be nice.

over and out

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Title Pawn ?

Every small town or city I drive through down here in the south has these sleezy "TITLE PAWN" shops.

I actually stopped at one recently and found out it's not a real pawn shop... it's a TITLE pawn shop. The only thing they want is rights to your vehicles title.

Oddly, if you own a vehicle, you can pawn your title. Who came up with this?

Who would would buy a vehicle and then pawn the title to it?!

TITLE PAWN <---- these places are everywhere down here in the south.

Downtown Savannah Georgia

Here we go. Driving in to any downtown area is usually challenging in an RV. Savannah is no different. Worth it? YUP! Fo’ Sho’

You know you’re near the center of the city when you see the city hall. I couldn't find parking so I ended up parking in front of a yellow curb near city hall. I carted my 26 pound box about 2 blocks to the FedEx office. They helped me ship the eBay item out to my buyer in California using my Fedex account. My WORK here is done. Now, it's all fun & sun & relaxation. Yeah right.

On Hermans recommendation, I went to dinner at Tubby’s on River St. I met a cool couple from Plymouth Mass. They're driving to Florida. They have a vacation home in Lovell Maine near Shawnee Peak ski area. They were seated one table away and we chatted throughout our meals.

This is a busy port. Lots of cargo container ships coming from Hong Kong heading here.

We have an interesting parking spot. We pulled in around 3pm and paid for 2 hours parking. You have to pay from 9am to 5pm but after that, I guess it’s up for grabs? Free? See the RV?

The view out the window. We are a stones throw from the bayou café on River St.

River St.

Some other crazy RVers traversing Savannahs city streets.

A badass Toyota FJ Cruiser

Cool mossy trees.

Busses look like trolleys here. Lots of cities do this to create a different vibe. It works.

I must say that the 2nd person I had contact with here asked me for money... $3 to be exact. I was talking with a couple asian students trying to find the local FedEx. They helped me but then an older black guy pretending to help me with directions came on the scene. After I told him I was all set, he asked if I could help a veteran. Bums always try to tug at your heart strings. Yeah, ok... I believe that you're a veteran. Ummmm, NOT!

That's not a good start to my Savannah visit. You know I hate BUMS.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Meet Al – Proprietor of POJO’s Treasures & things in Midway GA.

Today, I was driving through Midway Georgia looking for interesting things to see and do.

I first came across this cool, early 1950's, double sided, neon GULF gasoline sign. It was attached to an equally cool 1950's gas station that was just begging to be restored back to its 50's glory like this one had been.

Then, I spotted a thrift store on steroids and had to stop. It was more than a thrift store. It was like a goodwill, a salvation army, eBay, craigslist and an auction house all rolled into one. If that wasn’t good enough, the owner Al, is one cool guy. He’s originally from Guam and is very affable.

I was trying not to monopolize his time talking about the business. Al knows a lot about a lot of different things. I think I spent a good hour roaming around his shop listening to the vinyl records he was playing on the vintage stereo system in the back.

I sold him the Texas Longhorn, a box of 1960’s slot cars, a set of 5 old truck cab marker lights and the safari hat. All of which I had been carting around (and tripping over) since the Conroe Texas "megapick". A quick google maps search says that’s 980 miles. I sold the stuff for exactly what I paid for it. It’s not always about making a profit.

Here are a bunch of pictures from AL's shop. He’s got a good eye. I especially liked all the vintage metal toys and his huge selection of vinyl LPs.

I was like a kid in a candy store

Quite the collection eh? It goes on and on and on !!!

He got really busy with customers coming in, one after another.

So, we wrapped up our own swapping/buying/selling and I headed on toward Savannah. I drove away with $63 more dollars than I arrived with, a nice swiss army knife (which I used to open a can of beans tonight) and a lot more floor space in the RV. Tigger HATED the Texas longhorn so he's pleased that it disappeared.

If Al wasn’t so busy I could have stuck around & talked with him for hours.

You'll have to go see the manager in the office

This shack was across the river from where we camped last night. The tide is low right now so the shacks pilings are visible. I wonder if the "manager" ever came across the river to view his "office" at low tide? I think he'd be surprised to see that his main supports are about as thin as a toothpick.

From all the boats, you can tell this business and dock is still in use

You can see the "office" and "manager" signs on the shack. I bet they sell bait.
Notice how thin the pier supports are. YIKES

No See Ums - a short video

Herman says my videos are not long enough. It takes quite a while to upload them to youtube so that's why I keep them short.

Last night while watching TV, I killed 4 blood filled mosquitos inside the RV. Was it my blood or Tiggers? Who knows?

They were attracted to the light from the TV so it was easy to find them. All the windows were closed so I must have brought them in during the day? Or Tigger did. I have killed 2 more this morning.

In this video shot this morning, I was filming out the bathroom window in the rear of the RV. The bugs were SWARMING trying to get in. It was crazy. I know it's hard to see them because the camera was focusing on the sky and the trees. You can see them in a few frames though.

EDIT: The way I am itching tonight, I am certain that the 4 mosquitoes I killed last night in the RV were in fact filled with MY BLOOD. I hate biting bugs.

Harris Neck - part 2 - Alligators

Through this trip I've been hoping to see a gator or a croc in the wild. I've seen plenty of signs saying not to feed them but until Harris Neck wildlife refuge, I hadn't seen any.

I saw this sign and rolled my eyes ... "Sure, there's live gators here. Yeah right."
I walk up the bank and look around and I saw my first gator in the wild. He was not a man-eater yet but still was awesome to see.

sunning itself on a log

Gator #2 was about 20 feet long. Not really. More like 4-6 feet long?

They're really cool beasts. They completely ignore humans.

Sleeping?

Off in the distance I see something almost as interesting as wild gators...

Way off in the distance

enroute

there it is

I'm guessing it was 50 feet tall.. just enough to see over the tree tops

It had ladders instead of stairs like some firetowers

Not sure why they needed 4 boats? Maybe to play bumper boats on the park rangers day off?

It was locked. The locking device really only keeps out fat people. Anyone less that a foot wide could slip between the bars and around the device. I'm sure 100's of kids have climbed this. I could have but chose not too. My motto is... "It's easier to ask for forgivness than it is to ask for permission". But, I imagine that it would be really hard getting any forgiveness if I'd been caught scaling the locked tower.

Firetowers usually make great hiking destinations. Here's a website of FORMER TOWER LOATIONS throughout the USA. I'm sure there's one near you to go explore.

Here's a bunch of tower locations in the Adirondack mountains near where Herman & I live.

Lots of towers are being restored now. People are understanding the historical significance and that they make great healthy tourist destinations.

Abandoned Harris Neck Army Airfield

This is a neat place to explore for a few hours. The state turned the abandoned WWII airfield into a public wildlife refuge/park. They maintain a 4 mile paved road around the park with various historic stops (w/markers) along the route. There are also many roads and things to see that aren't on the map.