Wed. morning October 9^th

This morning I woke up laughing about what happened in the middle of the night. You see, I had carried home a few shells the previous morning and left them in the sink in soap suds and set them out to dry overnight before packing up. The sink had drained but I didn't look too close—just set them up on the coffee pot by our sink.  Mike heard something clicking while in bed after I went to sleep. Then he heard something FALL. That got his attention. He got up and noticed the bigger sea shell on the counter and picked it up. A small leg was sticking out and a crab was TRYING DESPERATELY to escape. He started laughing very loudly and saying, “JULIE, you won’t believe this!!!”  I am thinking, “Mike, who is always telling me to quiet down as OTHERS are SLEEPING next door, is being WAY too loud!”  He set it outside the door on the sidewalk and I went back to sleep. Wed. morning we left our room to go to breakfast and GUESS where the sea shell was?  IT was clear down at the next door!  OH my, that poor little crab was 1 room closer to the ocean, but it had a big parking lot and 4 lanes of traffic to cross.

oh, and another one of my favorite classic vehicles! 

We also had to go to the beach a last time. We both hated to say good-bye to the coast. 

         On our way out of town I made Mike detour to look at MORE historic homes 

on our way to Pass Christian, Miss. (That is where Robin Roberts is from.) On our way back to the hwy , we heard sirens and sure enough, one of the Classic cars had crashed and was on its side. It was only 9 in the morning and NOT a good way for them to start their day. We said a prayer for them, and we were lucky to be entering the hwy after the traffic jam.  

        We had a lovely day of more beautiful scenery and lunch at Voo Doo Barbecue.  Weird name, but it was actually pretty good. In the afternoon we traveled to another Historic town, Natchez, Miss.  There was a beautiful lookout on the Mississippi River, and lots of stories about the Civil War and what took place there. 

This was one place where they first introduced Kudzu, a vine to hold down soil. Later they discovered how invasive it was. We saw lots of it on our trip, beginning in Tennessee. Mike joked that you would feel afraid to camp there at night, as it might cover you before you woke up. It can grow one foot a day!  The USDA imported it from China in the 30's and the Chinese have used the roots for years to make tea and a thickening agent. NOW it is called "the Vine that ate the SOUTH."  I am sure the current USDA people would like to choke the people who brought it INTO the U.S. It actually freezes in the winter, but the vines are do deep it just comes right back! 

 We went to the visitor’s center and also looked about the town. One of the interesting looking Plantation Homes was closed due to the government shutdown, so we didn't stay too long. Our stop for the night was Vicksburg, Miss., home of Coca Cola.  We had our last good seafood dinner, and saw a beautiful sunset!  The part of town we saw was very old and interesting looking.

Thurs. morning, Oct. 10^th, we knew we were on the homeward trail. I was eager to see Arkansas again, but not so much when I started seeing the hilly highways. Some were 4 lane divided, but some were not. I grew tired of driving quickly as it took a LOT of concentration. We stopped at a couple Antique stores for breaks, and looked for some specific license plates for Jayden.   The first one was small, but had THREE of the states we had traveled to at a good price. We snapped them up!  The next one said it as the largest around, and it was SEVERAL SHEDS FULL!  We only went in to two, but I had NEVER seen anything like it. ONE was FULL of stained glass, and it all hung from the ceiling. I can’t remember if it was 500 or 5,000 pieces, but I had NEVER seen so much!

         We started seeing lots more cotton fields too. I didn’t know that was so big in Arkansas. I finally found some blowing by a gas station so I scarfed it up.   NOW it is safely inside a plastic Christmas ball as a souvenir of our trip!  When  we were almost out of Arkansas, I asked at a gas station if there were ANY orchards around.  I had good memories of picking apples in Sept. 1983 with Mike and the girls at my grandfather McBride’s in Mountainburg, ARK.  She said, “Yes, two miles down on the right side of the road at Miller’s market.  She was exactly right and I purchased my bag full of delicious apples, about three kinds. I bet we were just a few miles from the Ark/Missouri border, so once again, God was watching over me.  Kylie and I later made applesauce from them!

          We made our goal of reaching Branson, MO. by suppertime and found a motel with a restaurant right beside it. YEA, as we were sick of driving.  We  slept well, and ventured out early the next morning to check out some cabins south of town where construction had prevented us the previous afternoon.  We were so excited to find them just like the pictures on the internet, and it sealed our desire to bring our family back next June to celebrate our 40^th Anniversary there!

The day was pleasant and we reached Kansas City by mid-afternoon where I was meeting some of my high school classmates for a weekend Girlfriends Reunion.

 THAT would be a WHOLE long BLOG all its own, so it is sufficient to say that 20 women had a wonderful time from Fri. night until late Sun. afternoon. We renewed old friendships, shared joys and some sadness, and it was a lovely FALL weekend in Overland Park, Ks. 

                                 Julie, Chris Hoffman Birnbaum and Sharon Sheppard Walker

Chris and I met in kindergarten, and Sharon moved to Hiawatha in 4th grade!  Since Sharon married one of my favorite cousins, it has not been hard to stay in touch!  What a blessing it was to be with so many friends that are Christians also.  

        We arrived back home before supper on Mon., October 14th ! 

We had not totally missed Fall at home!

We could not wait to see our family the next day, so Mike picked up the kids after school to bring them over for a visit. Kylie and I made applesauce,

 and Lindy came to help us prepare dinner too. It was so good to see all our family again after 27 day of separation!!

SORRY I didn't get YOUR picture, Kara and Joe. I really did miss you too, and thanks to all of you for watching over our home, etc. while we were gone!

      

Sun morning, Oct. 6th, we left Savannah and headed to Florida. Mike wanted to check out Okefenokee Swamp Park.  If I had read more of the travel material, I might not have been so eager for this new experience. We got there in time to board the next open boat guided tour. We hadn't gone far when we saw our first, 6 ft. long, baby alligator. He seemed pretty content but the mom on the boat was nervous about her 8 yr. old son, and I was too. She kept saying, “keep your hands in the boat,” while I was thinking,” for crying out loud, make him sit in the middle!!!” She didn't  and front row, center, I am curling into myself to become as small as I can.  Once the boy said, “IS that a tarantula?” and I looked up just after we went under a huge spider web. The guide said it was something else. OH Well, big enough!  WE got off at one place and climbed over 200 steps up a tower. Nice view of lots of trees and swamp stuff-it felt good to be high above it, but the hike up made us very sweaty in that environment.  Back down and to the end of the 45 min. tour, when the guide said, “There is CRAZY!” Crazy was a 12 ft. long male alligator that is very aggressive, thus his name. He didn't move the boat quickly enough for me. I had trouble snapping a photo.  At the end we chose to walk a few feet into the nature center but after seeing a pile of more reptiles down in a fenced area, I was done. Mike said we could skip the Live Wildlife show. I am not BIG into reptiles, or even little into reptiles. UGH!!!!!!!!!!

In the afternoon we decided to check out another historical plantation called Pebble Hill, near Thomasville Georgia.  On the way I saw my first cotton fields. After seeing them I am surprised that cotton is not more expensive than it is. It seems it would take a lot to make a piece of fabric. 

It was in a beautiful setting so far off the beaten track that we almost missed it.  It contained a huge art collection of Georgia wildlife, and also hunting photos.  A wedding was taking place but we were able to see everything, being the only “tourists” that day. Once again, we had a lovely older woman who loved sharing the stories and history with us.

One thing I enjoyed in the Southeast was seeing all the different churches, of all sizes. The small country ones, in particular, all seemed to have identical "double doors" and most of them had fall wreaths hanging on them. I snapped this going down the highway.

Sun. night we stayed in Tallahassee, Fl.  Nothing exciting and the part of town we stayed in seemed a bit depressed.  I guess we needed a night of rest.

       Mon. morning, October 7th,  we headed to Mississippi and our goal was Biloxi. We got a bit sidetracked in Destin, FL. , by a HUGE OUTLET MALL.  It was the hugest one I have ever seen!   Mike said the best find was lunch at Cheeseburgers in Paradise! YUMMY!!!

           We had heard that a big car rally was going to take place in Biloxi and when we arrived there about 5 P.M. and saw cars, RV's  and people everywhere, we got a little nervous.   Not to worry, GOD had it all under control and we found a perfect motel with breakfast and a laundry and free wi fi!  YEA. We walked along the sandy sidewalk to dinner and started seeing all kinds of classic cars. It was so fun! 

 Since hurricane force winds had threatened the area the previous couple of days, there was still sand on the sidewalks. Sand had blown from the beach, across a 4 lane divided HWY(26 mi. of coastal beach-it was gorgeous), and onto the sidewalk on the motel side of the street. What we started noticing was  that everywhere there was an empty lot left from Hurricane Katrina, people were camping in RV’s for the Car Show. What a smart way to make some bucks off an empty piece of property! 

        Mon. morning we headed to the beach first thing and enjoyed the beautiful sand and quiet.  Not many people were around.

 We noticed a LOT of crab trails in the sand. I I picked up a few shells and put them in our backpack. MORE on that later.

      After that we decided to check out the Beauvoir Home across the street. It is a Historic Landmark dedicated to preserving and interpreting the legacy of American Statesman and Confederate President Jefferson Davis and the confederate soldier. 

 It was a raised home, and has survived hurricane Camille and Katrina, although it was raised for Air conditioning and not to avoid high water. Mike was happy to find a book he had wanted to read, at the book store there. It is called The South was Right. I never dreamed how much history exists in that part of the country and we barely scratched the surface.

        Tues.  lunch, you guessed it, more oysters for Mike. It could be his last.....

  Tues. night we headed out to THE SHED for Barbecue. 

 We had seen it on TV a few months ago, and it looked like our kind of place. It was out of town a ways, but very WORTH the trip!  The decor was early attic / late basement at best. No interior decorator would EVER approve of this style, but it was sure fun and entertaining.

 The food was excellent and LOTS of people were there. I was glad I had just had salad for lunch that day!

      As we left, the parking lot was full of Classic Cars. Our outback looked so funny!

 Back in town we found one of Mike's favorite models and the color was not bad either!!!   How we hated to go to bed that night, knowing that in the morning we would be leaving the beach and heading North. Vacations was coming close to the end and it had been so much fun!