It’s been a little over a year and I’m finally able to walk with a cane and my right arm is beginning to operate again. Who’d have thought it would take so long or have been so difficult. A lot has happened in the last few months though, we sold the pop up trailer, it wouldn’t be possible for me to use it, all that hitching and cranking up. We decided we would get something that required a lot less work, smaller so Lynda could drive it, a camper van seems like the ticket. Just drive it into it’s spot, hook up the power and water, put out some camp chairs and you’re in business. We are going to rent one just to test it out and see if it meets our needs.

So here it is, not exactly a small van, 24 ft. long a 2018 Mercedes diesel with all the amenities, tv, microwave, AC, bathroom, kitchen, dvd, you name, it’s got it!  More info coming as we try this out in August.

Everyone has probably been wondering what’s happening. We had planned to start camping again in the spring but things kept popping up to delay that. May seemed like the first chance we would have so we made some reservations. Unfortunately fate butted in, I had a stroke on the 11th, my right side, arm and leg both paralyzed. Spent 4 days in the ICU, then 3 weeks in intensive rehab in Sarasota.

After a lot of work, I’m beginning to walk with the help of a one handed walker and my hand can now grip things. I’m not walking far just 20 ft. or so but everyday I can go a little further. I imagine this will lead up to walking with a cane. I don’t imagine we’ll be going out this Summer but maybe in the Fall.

Hope you all have a great summer, we’ll be working hard here to bring my body back.

Enjoy

Cerro Pedernal (Flat Top Mesa) from Ghost Ranch

It is our 45th wedding anniversary and Lynda always wanted to take me to Ghost Ranch where Georgia O’Keefe painted, so we went. The flight there was delayed so long by weather that we missed our connection and wound up stuck in Houston over night. We got there the next day and drove up to Santa Fe, roaming the galleries of Canyon Road in the rain. It must be two miles of art galleries. Then on to the Abiquiu Inn. The Inn was very nice, Lynda wanted me to get acclimated to the altitude in real comfort, before moving on to Ghost Ranch, which she said would be more bijou.

We went out to Bandoleer National Park and Los Alamos one day and Lake Abiquiu the next. I wanted to see the campground at Lake Abiquiu and it looked like a great place to take an RV.  The lake was great, right out in the middle of the desert, a popular fishing spot full of trout and bass. Lots of birds, etc. the trail goes all the way around the lake about 15 miles or so.

Then on to Ghost Ranch. we went to Echo Canyon first as it is just down the road. You walk about 200 yds. from the parking lot and you are enclosed in a large circular depression in the mesa. You can yell and it will really create an echo back.

At Ghost Ranch our room was up on top of a mesa, it was called Tumbleweed. It had a bedroom, small living room and a private bath. Lynda said it was really hard to get anything with a private bath. It was about 100 yds. up or down the hill by switch backs to get to the main offices or the chow hall. The amazing thing was that there was a huge common room that had enormous couches, a fire place, and a kitchenette. The views all around were stupendous, the Pedernal, Chimney Rock, Kitchen Mesa, The Box Canyon, everything was right there. We had a “Blue Moon” one night and I moved it via Photoshop to be by Chimney Rock.

We climbed Chimney Rock, you can actually get up on top of the mesa ( just to the right of the photo). The last 100 yards or so is about medium level hiking (not climbing). We hiked out to the red place, box canyon, etc. We also took a photo course from Catherine Anderson. Lynda learned how to take 10X macro shots with her iPhone. And we went out to the “White Place” (Playa Blanca) of Georgia O’Keefe fame. All in all a great trip.

More photos on my site http://www.fishbourne.shutterfly.com

It’s finally beginning to cool down. Still in the high 80s with high humidity but it is no longer sweltering at night. Yes we have AC and it works very well but we don’t go camping to hang out in the tent all day.

Monday
One of those Invest storms was coming (area of interest to the weather people) so instead of staying home for a day we rushed to the campground and got set up before it could break. Big mistake, it poured buckets all night, luckily no wind, we didn’t get any sleep. But the camper was perfectly dry and our site didn’t flood so we were fine. Hamburgers in the fry pan for dinner, Lynda had a veggie burger.

Tuesday
One of Lynda’s graphic design clients was having trouble with her files and Lynda didn’t ‘ bring her computer along, so we had to run home (only 45 min.) and get it. In the meantime they worked out their problems, but we probably needed to have it along any way. The rule now is to always take the computer when there is an active job in the office. We did get to walk around the park a little and see some of the flooded campsites. Lots of people went home, this place is only about 1/4 full. Left over pepper, onion, feta, filo dough pizza from home.

Wednesday
Hurrah! Sunny at last with a dry northwest wind. A beach day – on the beach by ten off by three. The wind finally blew our beach umbrellas down so we left.

I haven’t mentioned it yet but we added an outdoor table and electric outlet to the camper. Great for cooking on with the electric fry pan and it has a sink for washing up! Much better than trying to wash pots in the teeny area that is the sink inside. It just folds up and goes on top of the “dining room table” when we fold up everything. Dinner tonight – left over ramekin vegetarian chili from home with Doritos. So much for being healthy!

Thursday
A bright beautiful day with only a low chance of showers. The wind is down this morning so Lynda has gone kayaking. It’s low tide so she had to hike thru the mud flats a bit to get out. After lunch Lynda went kayaking all the way to the point. Then we went to north beach just to see how it looked without the big Australian pines. It’s washing out a mile a minute. At high tide the beach is maybe 25 feet wide. Went back to the camp and ate left over chicken Marbella which we froze and brought with us. It was great but the smell of it seemed to attract one of the feral cats that live here. There wasn’t any left by the time he showed up so no dinner for him.

Friday
Time to pack up and go home. We’re already planning the next trip!

We sold the big yellow trailer. It was just getting too big to haul around and we wanted the option of being able to take a tent site if we needed too.  So from now on Minnie will be the little pop-up, much easier to haul, cheaper on gas, easy to park.

So good bye Minnie, hello Minnie.

We decided to take a road trip in the Ford , no trailer this time, staying in hotels and with friends. Double click on photos to see them larger.

We went to to Atlanta to visit Patty,  to Asheville NC, to Lynda’s sister’s in WV and the Kings in VA.  Patty took us out to the High Museum in downtown Atlanta and to Anticos Pizza, where we had the best pizza ever. Dinner at her daughter’s Emily’s house and on to Asheville, NC

A long but enjoyable drive thru the Blueridge Mountains and we were in Asheville, NC. Downtown isn’t much unless you love shopping malls. But Asheville has a huge River Art District and it’s right in the mountains. Much cooler in the mountains unlike Tampa.

We stayed at the Asia Spa and B&B. It’s a 1920’s house totally rebuilt as a 6 bedroom spa with a steam room and sauna. Asia motif through out the building. Our room also had a gas fireplace and a whirlpool bathtub.After a hard day of gallery hopping, Lynda had to try out the tub.

They serve breakfast at the Asia and the first day they served French Toast in a ramekin! I gave them a copy of my ramekin cookbook “Small Foods” and they said I could use their idea in my next book, coming soon.

The River Arts District was great. Tons of old warehouses along the river, converted into artists studios/galleries. There was a circle labyrinth built after one of the art buildings burned down. Unfortunately, they are building a huge brewery just across the river so I’m sure it will smell up the area. The brewery is supposed to attract 1/2 million visitors a year. Anyway you can visit the galleries and talk to the artists as they work and maybe buy some artwork. We really needed a few more days in Asheville but we were off to West Virginia to visit Lynda’s sister. The visit there was great, we tried to talk them out of their cat Bovver who was black and brown soft log hair. They wouldn’t hear of it.

So we were off for Virginia. Our friends own a condo with a slip just off Chesapeake Bay. We had a great visit and actually made French Toast in a Ramekin there. It was great. A days drive from there we stopped for the night in Savannah and then home.

June is usually a little hot for camping and this June is very hot, more like August. I know, the camper has A/C but we didn’t come here to hide out in the camper all day. I managed to get a water front slot for a few days so we went. Arrived on Monday, set up the pop up camper. We sat down by the water as there was a cooling breeze. The campsite has a charcoal grill. It’s further from the trailer than most, but I filled it up with charcoal and started heating it up. We were going to have something simple, hamburgers on the grill. I put the burgers on the grill, watched them for a few minutes, then went to the trailer to get plates. When I got back out there were a ton of seagulls all mobbed around the grill, obviously trying to figure out how to get those burgers off that red hot grill. There were so many we had to chase them off with a broom! They were determined, I think one even burned his foot trying to land on the grill. Every time you sat down to eat they would flock around you. We had to eat by the trailer that way one side was protected from the flying marauders. Some one has been feeding them as they are very aggressive. At around midnight on Monday there was a terrific electric storm. Gobs of close lightning and rain, very scary when you’re in a tent on wheels.

On Tuesday, Lynda went kayaking in the morning. I went fishing off the seawall behind the trailer and caught a little pin fish. We went to the beach in the afternoon so we could float around in the water. It was a little cooler but not by much. Back at the trailer to clean up at four and thunderstorms by five or six. Normal summer weather for Florida, hot, hot ,hot, then a thunderstorm and little cooling off. We had left over Chicken Marbella for dinner. We had cooked and froze at home and brought along. We added a very small refrigerator/freezer to the camper as the 3-way one in it is just a cooler. It will only do about 40 degrees below air temp, so it will get down to 50 if it’s 90 out. Not good for frozen food, meat or dairy. So we put the veggies, etc. in the cooler and the rest in the electric fridge. When we travel we put everything in coolers on ice. When we get there we load up the fridge and cooler.

Wednesday, we went to the beach early to beat the heat a little. We went to the North beach . We were surprised to see that they have cut down all of the huge trees (oaks?) that were out close to the beach. They provided a ton of shade and families would set up and picnic under them. Additionally they held the sand there for a very long time, some of them were three feet in diameter. Supposedly they were an invasive species, Australian Pine. They looked like southern oak to me, the campgrounds are full of them. Are they going to cut all of those down too? Anyway, Lynda enjoyed the beach and I caught and released a very small flounder. No rainstorms tonight for a change.

Getting a little hot for camping so we took the trailer to the storage yard and put the cover on it. Probably won’t go out again till September. See you then.