We had such a crazy month in May. I felt like we ran from one thing to the next all month long. Softball, plays, concerts, awards, church activities, track meet, lots of parties…I think we only had maybe 2 or 3 days the entire month that we didn’t have something going on. I am really looking forward to this next week of having nothing to do. They are out of school until July 15th. The kids and I are going to Utah for 3 weeks during this break and Susie has girls camp and youth conference to Palmyra New York as well. Jason gets to go with her to Palmyra. They are both very excited about this trip.

Jason and I have both been very busy with work and our callings. Now that we have been in this ward for a year now, I guess you could say that the newness has worn off and we are realizing how much work it is to be leaders in such a small military ward. I was put in as Primary President the second week that I came. Jason was put in as YM President a couple of months ago. Our Relief Society President is my age, has 3 young children ages 9, 7 and 3 and her husband will be deployed until November. Last Sunday there were 5 or 6 women in RS not counting the presidency. Everyone else is working with the youth or primary. They had to combine all Priesthood into one group because with so many men deployed off and on throughout the year it was really hard to keep things going. It is just hard, we are seeing this first hand. These military families sacrifice so much of their lives in serving our country. We usually just think of the men and women being deployed and not so much of the families struggling to keep life as normal as possible. It is really difficult for these families, they need everyone’s prayers…

Xander finished up Preschool. He is really going to miss his teacher Ms. Debbie. She has become very special to him. He has asked me several mornings if it is a school day…I try to explain that it won’t be a school day for awhile, he is not quite getting it. He has become, how shall I say it, a more active boy or should I be more blunt…he has turned into a punk! He is still sweet and tender most of the time but he has figured out how fun he thinks it is to be real rough, pushing, shoving, wrestling, hitting, screaming, yelling, running crazy, turning everything into a gun, you name it. The girls and I like to say that Xander’s got the ‘Calvin’ look on his face when he is about to do something mischievous. We all love the Calvin and Hobbes books. He loves to play rough with his friend Jake. They have a lot of fun together. One day Jake was sick and wasn’t at school. Well it was almost like Xander was lost without him. By the end of the day his teacher’s said he was downright mean to another little boy, just really picking on him. I am sure it is because he wanted to play rough and this little boy wanted nothing of it.

Xander was my tag-a-long for a couple of field trips with the girls. He was really good. And for Susie’s big party he was a hit! All the girls wanted to be his “buddy”. He even sang to all the girls a few songs: Jesus is my Rock (a song he learned at Preschool), Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He wanted all the attention on him, he said over and over “be twiet, be twiet” so he could start singing. What a character he is!!!

The girls had so many things happen that I am going to do a separate entry for each of them.

The weather in May was warm but nice, we had a big storm that brought in large hail, it looked like snow coming down! It is almost like there was a switch that someone flipped on June 1st. The humidity and heat have been awful and the blue skies are gone. That was one thing I noticed when we arrived a year ago, with the humidity the skies look hazy almost. I am just so grateful it is not like this year round here. The wonderful fall, winter, and spring make it worth dealing with 3 months of humidity… Last weekend was the annual air show on base and it was too hot to go. Our neighbor has a pool in her backyard so we escaped the heat there. We could see a lot of the show right there. The Blue Angels were so neat to watch. They came real close to our house, one time it actually looked like if they turned the wings slightly they would clip the roof of the house across the street! We could see the pilots, they were that close. Of course I didn’t have the camera out at the moment. Xander was scared at first but then decided they were pretty cool! He is still talking about the Blue Angels!

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Katie had a busy month. She had softball practice 3 times a week that was mandatory and the other 2 days the coach encouraged them to come then too. Then she had 1-3 games per week too. Usually 2 on Saturday. It was crazy, she is only 7, my goodness… they are a little crazy here about softball! And a difference that I am still getting used to is I had to drive all over the place to get her where she needed to be. Her practice was 15 min. away, her games anywhere from 15 min. to 1 hr. away. So her double headers took most of the day, driving there, 4 hours game time and driving home. Becca’s schedule was simliar and so between the two of them I was so ready for softball to be over. And get this… after the regular season is a short all star season. Both coaches invited the girls to participate. When I told them that we would be in Utah during that time and couldn’t do it, Katie’s coach actually said “Boy I sure wish you weren’t going, we could really use her!” I said “yeah, well my kids need to see their grandparents and family!” I wanted to add that ‘you have had my kid nearly every night for the past month and a half and you want me to not go on this trip for a softball tournament??? I don’t think so…..’

But the most important thing was that Katie absolutely loved it! She had so much fun and improved a lot. Daddy told her every time she hit and made it to first base he’d buy her a candy bar and if she got a home run he’d buy her a milkshake. One Saturday she earned 11 candy bars!!! She was so excited. She shared with all our family and our friends across the street! And she did get one home run!!! GO KATIE BIRD!!! I was really regretting that I didn’t have my camera with me that day…

Katie was invited to 2 more award ceremonies for her Young Author Award, one a local celebration and one with the Board of Education. We only made it to one of them.

Katie had several field trips in May. They went to the NC Aquarium, her favorite part was seeing a sea horse and sea turtles. They also went to Outback Steak House. They got to see how they make a bloomin onion and they got to eat frog legs (chicken wings)! Her last one was to Cold Stone Creamery. They played all kinds of games: ice cream toss, (with a ball and scoops) juggling, (with the scoops, and when the kids dropped them they yelled fumble! It got real loud!!!), relay in and out of the big freezers, and singing a silly ‘theme’ song. The best part was making their own ice cream. Katie chose strawberry with cookie dough!

And another fun school activity was they had a Fairy Tale Parade. The kids chose which character they wanted to be and dressed up like it and had a parade. She chose to be 1 of the 3 Little Pigs. She was the cutest pig ever! Her two teachers dressed up as pigs too so with Katie they were the 3 Little Pigs! She was so funny planning out her costume. She wanted to make sure to have black boots on for hoofs and was disappointed when we couldn’t find black gloves for her front hooves!!! Her favorite part was the curly tail! What a goof ball!

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Becca has also had a very busy month…

She had a lot of school activities: She won a race at her school in PE and was invited to participate in a multi school track meet. She was so excited, several times she asked to run on the treadmill to ‘get in shape’ for the race! She was very cute about it. She was a little nervous the day of the race. She ran very hard, the look on her face as she ran past us was so great, it was like…this is way harder than I thought it was going to be…but she did it! She was also able to do a softball throw as part of the meet and did very well.

She is involved in the AIG program at school and they had a big ‘Colonial Days’ activity at another school. It was an all day long activity. They presented all the projects they have been working on throughout the school year. They dressed up in Colonial clothes. Gramma Sam made Becca’s dress. She looked so cute in it. They had a academic bowl at the end of the day and Becca did awesome. I love to watch her, her mind is just racing to remember the answer. There were several questions that no one else knew but she did! She is so smart…my friend calls her ‘freaky smart’! Her mind is like a sponge, she remembers everything she reads…just don’t ask her where she put her backpack or her lunch box or my favorite, if she remembered to put her foot in her shoe before tying it! She is a brilliant airhead!!! And we love her for it, she keeps us laughing! 🙂

Becca enjoyed softball too. Her highlight was hitting a home run at their last game of the season… She was beyond excited. I was so thrilled that I happen to have the camera out and ready and got some great pictures of her! I loved that she flew around the bases, past home plate and she raced right past all her team and coaches and ran right to me with the biggest grin on her face! It was priceless!!!

Becca participated in Choir again. They had a great spring concert. They sang songs from ‘Annie’ and ‘The Sound of Music’ and had this great number on the evolution of dance. It was so fun to watch. They are going to put it on the school’s website, we will let you know when it is posted.

The fourth graders had a big end of year trip to the Outer Banks. They went to Kitty Hawk, NC to see the site where the Wright Brothers took their first flight. It was a neat monument and visitors center. Next they went to Festival Park where the first settlers arrived on Roanoke Island. I had to leave early to get home in time for Susie’s birthday party so I didn’t get to see all the cool stuff there. Becca said it was really fun. There was a full-scale recreation of a 16th century sailing ship, the Elizabeth II, that they got to go on and explore! It was actually in the water and everything. We would like to come back as a family and enjoy a day there.

The last picture on Becca’s slideshow is of Becca with her two best friends that she met here. Brooke Martin and Casey Andrews. Brooke goes to our church and is in the same class at school as Becca, Casey lives across the street. They are all in AIG together and played on the same softball team. Their coach started calling them the 3 Musketeer’s! They are very cute together. It is good to have friends!

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Susie was busy the month of April with practices getting ready for her Drama Club performance at the beginning of May. She was in the play Bugsy Malone Jr. She had 3 parts, Barber, Trumpet Player and Cigarette Girl. She had 2 dress rehearsals and 3 performances. She did a great job and really enjoyed it. She was all dolled up with lot’s of make-up and her hair fancy. I just have to share this story, she hates me telling it but it is so great… After the first performance I took her out to dinner to celebrate (our whole family came the next night). She wanted to go to a Japanese resturant. Well we sat down and a guy came over to take our orders. There was a little confusion because we couldn’t understand him very well. Well Susie pointed in her menu what she wanted and he said ” no, no, that is children’s menu 12 and younger” to which Susie replied “I am 11!!!” He was so embarrassed, he said, “I so sorry, I so sorry” took our order and quickly left. Well he must have gone into the kitchen and told everyone that there is a girl out there that says she is 11 and she looks like she is 16 because about every 30 seconds or so someone would come out of the kitchen, look around, look at Susie and go back in. This happened at least 8 or 9 times. I started teasing Susie about it when I started noticing what was happening. I’d say “Oh here comes another one checking you out!” She was just starting to sink in her chair, she leaned over and whispered, “I am going to the bathroom to wash this make-up off!” It was pretty funny!

The other big big big thing that has happened to Susie is she turned 12 years old!!! She graduated from Primary and has moved onto Young Women. She was so ready but we are still sad seeing her grow up…

For her birthday I told her she could have a sleepover (she doesn’t get to do it any other time). So she was planning it for weeks. She invited 16 girls, 13 of them came. I honestly didn’t think that many would come, I haven’t even met several of the parents but they still let them come. Kinda makes me wonder… I would never in a million years let my child stay the night at someones house that I have never met! So I was getting worried when so many of them said they were coming, about having that many girls in the house and keeping them all happy and occupied. Jason was really freaking out. He kept saying “16 girls, you invited 16 girls!!!” He wanted to take Becca camping to escape but she got home too late from her field trip. It was funny. But as it turned out they did great, no major issues. Not much sleep as you can imagine but they had fun. Susie had some activities planned: making jewelry, watched her 12 year video we made for her, ate pizza, did gifts, played night games outside, roasted marshmellows and made s’mores, watched a couple of movies and finally fell asleep around 2:30 or so. In the morning they had muffins and pancakes and played water balloon volleyball and regular volleyball and just hung out! It seemed like they had a good time and Susie was happy with the party, that is all that matters…

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May 18, 2008

Dear Friends,

We be in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, right back where we started after Xander was born in 2005. We stayed in this Cielo Vista RV Park for three weeks, wandering around, before we went to Bisbee, Arizona and wandered around. That summer we took the job with Southeast Publications, to pay for our wandering around. Hard to believe we’ve been mapping RV parks for three years.

Some of the luster is wearing thin. I called Ute Lake State Park over two weeks ago to remind them we will be there May 20th. Then I called them two days ago to confirm and they are very resistant about us coming with a holiday on the horizon. We met the same resistance mid-June last year. The park is 8 miles from town, no sewer, no computer or phone service, and the wind peels paint. I told them to forget it, we weren’t coming. They’ll run out of maps about August and will have to take whoever is in the area and wants to do it. It was a good money maker for us, but hard to work in the electronic isolation. And the park attitude just irritated me. That’s a clue to the lack of luster; I get a little bucky now and then.

We love Truth or Consequences. We actually talk about spending more time here someday. Dave likes a shady little RV park on the river; I visualize a cool old adobe apartment close to the hot springs downtown. If we had the money we would buy some property and establish a New Mexico residency, just to sit on it a few weeks a year and watch it appreciate.

Richard Branson’s Spaceport is here. And a new Motorplex is coming. They have purchased 30,000 acres to hold six race tracks, an R & D facility, an RV park and a huge retail outlet. They plan for it to be a NASCAR driver training facility. And the new Wal*Mart opens in November. Pft-tooie!

It’s sad to think of the changes all this will bring to the little town of T or C. It is now such a laid back, artist friendly, sprouts and yoga meet sheep and the VFW kind of town. It almost tickles us that word has it they can’t get the hiring done for Wal*Mart because no one can pass their drug test.

Last night we went to a community theater presentation. It was a goofy, gangster whodunit, and the audience (all six of us) sat at little tables, served coke by a skinny little flapper who couldn’t keep her headband up. At the late intermission, we were handed questions to help us guess clues and figure out the mystery. We had to talk to the cast, many of whom were outside having a smoke. We met a pretty blond woman, a former United Auto Worker, who at 68, looked like Jenny Smith at 30. She was very zany and fun and had such incredible breasts I just finally had to tell myself that she’s probably had some work done and let it go. (I don’t know what Dave told himself.) And what a surprise, the RV repair guy I sold an ad to was the FBI agent! It was a hoot. We got all the questions right and still couldn’t figure out the clues.

There is a new exhibit at Mo’s Gallery. It features old paint by number paintings that the artist has worked on to add alien life. They are cleverly titled and have attracted a lot of attention. The alien life added to Jesus at Gethsemane is not appreciated in a lot of Truth or Consequences, but in testimony to the tolerance of the town, it’s still up.

I’m attaching a picture of Ruth painting the south wall of a local health food store. (I hesitate to use any proper names ever since my comments about the wonderful elder artist I met in Bernalillo ended up on HER website.) Ruth apparently paints in dabs and over-dabs because one of the cast members of the play was noted to drive a Ruth-bespeckled pickup. Anyway, I spent some time talking to people who were standing around talking to people about the wall. Everybody talks to everybody in Truth or Consequences.

There are a lot of very strange appearing people in this little town. One lady walked by when I was looking at Ruth’s Wall, and said, “Don’t you just love the colors?” I said I did, yes, and then realized she was wearing an electric lime feather boa over a hot pink, orange and yellow shirt. I just couldn’t help but point at her and shout, “OF COURSE you love it!” She stopped and we both just howled.

I feel pretty fancy in a lot of towns we work in, loving color and jewelry the way I do. But I’m not even noticeable in Truth or Consequences. Today I saw a very attractive woman, beautiful silver hair, striding down Broadway dressed like a witch. Black pumps, black stockings, ragged black skirt and a CAPE! (black) She carried a purple purse and looked like she owned the world.

We drove out in the desert the other night to a little, very old town, and had an utterly awful, but perfectly authentic Mexican meal. The cafe hours were tacked on an old church bulletin board, so it read: Recitation of the Rosary, Friday 4 – 9 PM, Saturday and Sunday 2 – 9 PM.

We missed the Ralph Edwards Fiesta Days (and the Spam contest) by three days. I was crushed. The winner (Destiny Mitchell) had her picture in the paper, but no recipe. Destiny also won the T or C Idol contest at the Fiesta.

We were set to go to Brigham City to map the Golden Spike RV Park. We would just as soon not work Utah anymore, but the Golden Spike called us in January and asked us to do his park in June. When I called him last week he said he had a letter from me, right in front of him, confirming our plan to work his park in June. But, he said, “somehow I thought we were still discussing it.” That conversation caught me in the bucky wake of Ute Lake, so needless to say, we aren’t discussing it anymore.

May 20, 2008

So here we are in Bernalillo, New Mexico. We are stopping long enough to have our friends Ted and Marcia, and hopefully Charlie, their great, big poodle, over for supper, and finish follow up on the last two parks. We will pull out Thursday and head for Steamboat Rock State Park above Coulee Dam in Washington. We have picked up two other parks in Washington, in addition to Steamboat, one in Moses Lake and one at Sawyer Lake in Maple Valley. We are gradually streamlining our schedule so that we spend most of our time working parks in areas we enjoy and where we have family. With diesel over $4 per gallon the trip to Grand Coulee will cost about $1,000. But we will be in Washington and Oregon for over 5 months. We’re already trying to find a couple of South Carolina parks for spring, to be a little closer to the eastern seaboard kids.

The cacti is blooming everywhere; the desert has had enough rain in lots of places to provide a very colorful bloom. We love this little Coronado Campground we mapped last November. It has adobe shelters where we can be outdoors but out of the wind and sun. A curved beak thrasher is nesting in a yucca right outside our bedroom window; watching his attentiveness, it’s all I can do to keep from running right over to the bird store and getting a box of mealy worms!

Stay safe this Memorial Day, all of you. We will be on the road and possibly forced to boondock at one parking lot or another. We are finding sales harder than usual; folks are holding on to what money they have. In general, though, RVers are still traveling. They just are not going as far as usual, and they’re staying longer at parks to conserve fuel. We’ve been dusting the fruit for well over a month now, so are looking forward to being back in the Pacific Northwest.

Love to all,

“Welcome to the Panhandle!” That’s what folks say when I finally get the door open and roar in with wild flying hair, clutching my papers. The wind is a relentless 15-20 mph, and many days, like today, more in the 25 – 30 mph zone. The gusts today are truly formidable. We can’t open both car doors at the same time or the wind will blow out hats, papers, etc. Water poured on a cactus ends up four feet away. Our bus bucks and rolls all day and night. I’m afraid my pot of stew will slide off the stove. The noise is wearing on us. Amarillo folks say “Aw, you get used to it.” WUH! I don’t think so.

The landscape is so flat I-40 resembles a long string on the horizon with little car-beads being pulled along its length. The grackle owns bird-dom here, using its rudder tail to maneuver in the wind. At least there isn’t much dust. We’ve been in New Mexico dust storms and it’s awful. Amarillo soil has long since blown away. It’s about 85 degrees today, but it’s hard to enjoy being outdoors.

Amarillo itself is a big ole dirty cow town. People are very friendly, open and welcoming. The oil boom of the 30s has left little to remind us of those heady times. Food is a big thing here. We’re at a travelers crossroads, halfway between Denver and Dallas, Albuquerque and Oklahoma City. Lots of restaurants. No casinos in Texas, though. Strong moral values prevail.

We drove to Canyon, Texas, last week, to visit the Panhandle-Plains Historic Museum. What a find! They are used to visitors being amazed at their very extensive and sophisticated museum in such a small town. Great geologic exhibits, a complete overview of the oil industry, and special space given to the importance of the windmill. Just great.

This job is going very well. Our sales are good and we’re hoping to close a few more before we leave on Sunday. The owners of this new park have not experienced making a site map and our initial meeting was a little rough. We asked if there were any businesses they did NOT want us to call on (like liquor stores, nightclubs, etc.) That kind of opened the gate: “We don’t want so and so on our map, everyone knows they are mobbed up. And don’t get so and so, their food is awful!” But their card is on your counter, offering free appetizers, I say. “Well, some people like their food, but it’s awful!” We were sort of stunned at the direction this meeting was going and tried to explain that when we go to sell ads for a park map, we call on EVERYONE. So then the owner suggested that when we finished, in two weeks, he would look at our sales and decide which ones he could approve for his park. It was a tense few minutes as we tried to explain how we worked and how we could not give back checks after we made sales. We got a tight lipped approval. We’ve been keeping close touch with the owners, letting them know which businesses we have sold … hopefully they will be happy with the result. (And hopefully we haven’t called on anyone who is “mobbed up.”)

We’re disappointed that the season opener for the Amarillo Dillas isn’t until after we’ve gone. Our next job is in Truth or Consequences, not really new, and not really Mexico. We’re (I’m) hoping to be there for the annual Ralph Edwards Day festivities; I’m going to enter the “Cooking with Spam” contest.

On a personal note, both Dave and I notice signs of aging, which startles and irritates us. We’re reminded of my 93 year old Mother’s adage that when you are old, you’re just like you always were only more so. Dave has always had an uncanny ability and penchant for relating something he hears to a 50 year old jingle or joke or tag line. It’s like he fills in a blank in his head. I’m sharing an example that happened last week and had me laughing for days. The television was on airing a commercial about Bush’s new beans.. The announcer enthusiastically asked us to try the new “grillin beans.” Davey, who was bent over in the fridge, without skipping a beat, went right into “girl of my dreams …”

Hope you’re all beginning to thaw!

Love,

We went to Raliegh to see Katie get her Young Author’s Award. For those of you who did not hear, Katie was selected as a winner for a story she wrote back in November. She won the local competition and it was sent on to the state and she and one other student from her school were selected to be statewide winners. They had a nice ceremony congratulating the kids and encouraging them to continue to read and write. There was a storyteller that we all enjoyed. Each child received a medal and a book that was a compilation of all their stories and poems. It was a wonderful day. We are so proud of Katie.

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We had such a great visit! The weather was terrible most of the time but we were still able to do several things. The first day we spent the afternoon at the beach. It was a bit chilly and overcast but not raining. There were so many shells, we have never seen so many on this beach. The kids and Aunt Lori gathered up a big bag full. Becca was thrilled to find a whelk shell that was in perfect condition. Wow what a find! We just love the beach!

Next day was Saturday and it rained the entire day, just a steady downpour. Luckily both Grandma and Lori brought projects for the kids. We had a full day of crafts and sewing. Grandma had all kinds of beads and braiding crafts and Lori taught the girls to sew. They each made a ball, a bag, and Susie and Becca made PJ bottoms and Katie will make a doll later, we ran out of time! They had the greatest time. The look of pride on their faces seeing what they had made was awesome. Lori also made Xander a cape so he could be S. X. —Super Xander!!! (He had been pretending to be Superman at the beach) Susie made Xander’s puppy a cape to match that had S.P. on it for Super Puppy! It was very cute. It was a great day listening to conference and just hanging out together.

Sunday the weather was still not so great but during the 2 hour break between conferences we went to Flanners Beach, which is a picnic area along the Neuse River. The river is so huge and with waves coming in it is really like you are at the ocean even though the river doesn’t reach the ocean for another 20 miles. The water is not something you would want to swim in, but the beach was nice to walk along.

Monday the girls were back to school after their 3 week break. Mom, Lori, Xander and I went for an outing. We wanted to go see Cape Lookout Lighthouse. We had to drive to Harker’s Island to catch a ferry to get to it. When we got there they told us the ferries were closed for the day because of the weather. They use small passenger ferries there and the wind was too strong. We were very disappointed… We could see the Lighthouse, but it was far away. So we drove back to Beaufort and had lunch at a little grill next to the harbor. We were just finishing up when we noticed some action out on the water. There were 3 dolphins swimming around. It was so great! I just love dolphins!

After lunch we went to the Maritime Museum. It is full of information about Black Beard the Pirate. Apparently this is where he scuttled his own ship the Queen Anne’s Revenge. He also had a home somewhere in Beaufort as well. I guess he used that when he wasn’t off pirateing!!! He was captured and killed in Ocracoke Inlet, which isn’t too far from us. It was fun seeing all the stuff there. There was a big statue of Black Beard. Xander was too scared to go near it so Puppy sat on Black Beards lap. Later Xander told everyone how brave Puppy was sitting on a Pirates lap!

Another stop we made was to Fort Macon. It is a civil war fort, actually it was used in WWII as well if I remember right. There was so much information there not all of it stuck in my brain. Jason and I and the kids have been there before but it was after hours so all the displays were closed up and we could only wander on the outside of the fort. This time it was open and we saw all of it. It was sobering to think of battles going on, the life of a soldier at that time and just how hard life was then. Something Jason and I have found since living here is that people here refer to the civil war as “the war between the states” or even “the war of northern agression.” They don’t recognize it as the American civil war. I guess there are still some small towns way out that are still segregated. It seems so strange to me to have that kind of prejudice still going on.

The last thing we did was Jason picked up the girls and met us and the Aquarium. The kids never tire of the Aquarium. We sure were tired by the end of the day though. We had done a lot!

The next day was Tuesday and we just hung out at the house until it was time to take Mom and Lori back to the airport. We were all sad to say good-bye but very grateful we had had the chance for such a great visit! Thanks MOM!!!

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Dear Friends,

The trip from middle Georgia began fairly uneventfully, for which we’re very grateful. We took Hwy. 16 northwest to I-20 and spent two nights in Heflin, Alabama. We needed to take a day to put the High Falls job together and ship it. Heflin was cheap ($17) and had no distractions. We took I-20 into Birmingham, picked up Hwy. 78 and actually made it to Memphis. A big day for us, over 300 miles. You hit three states in an hour on this route. We spent the night in Southhaven, Mississippi, went through Tennessee in a freeway flash, and spent the day crossing Arkansas on I-40.

Every year we have a weather adventure in Arkansas. We’ve had horrendous rains one year, a tornado warning another year. Last year we were in what the truckers call an “Arkansas parade,” stalled when a load of broccoli turned over across the highway. Lots of flooding in Arkansas; the Mississippi is very high right now. It looks like bayou along the edges of the freeway.

Diesel is $4.05/gallon. We get 70-75 gallons every couple of days going across country. We don’t like to carry the weight of a full tank. Fuel will be about $550 this trip west. If we didn’t have family on both coasts we might wait out this fuel crunch by working in a smaller area. As it is, we’re glad we have this job, because we would be traveling across country anyway! We have been trying to find a park between Georgia and New Mexico, like Arkansas, but the best we could do is Amarillo. It’s a brand new park, similar to Redmond Fairgrounds. We’re looking forward to the challenge (remind me of that in two weeks!).

We started on Monday, and had another Arkansas adventure. We got the oil changed in the Bird in Georgia, but noticed, two days out, that the oil is over-full. Dave is concerned about engine damage. Funny (not ha-ha) Rachel Baker just wrote us about how hard it is to have breakdowns and glitches on the road. You’re at the mercy of people you don’t know. It’s true. Last year we went to a highly recommended shop in Macon for routine servicing and they didn’t put enough transmission fluid in the bus. When we went to leave our next park we were in trouble. The guy who fixed us up is the same guy we went to this year for an oil change last week and he over filled it. Now we’re in Russellville, Arkansas, trying to find a shop to drain a little awl. Dave could do it but with our luck of late, he couldn’t get the plug back in and we’d be back where we started (except with a dirty Dave, cleaning up a mess). These are the times I wonder if I’m taking the right drugs.

So the oil change we got in Jackson, Georgia for $245 is now a $300 oil change. Fifty bucks to take some out. But we’re back on the road and it’s not noon yet.

Hwy. 40 is only marginally better than I-20, which is a bus-beater. Dave says he would even vote Republican if they would guarantee to quit using concrete on the Interstates.

Our 6th day on the road saw more delays. We’re 110 miles east of Oklahoma City and could have driven 70 more miles or so, but there is no RV park listed in the directory between where we are and Oklahoma City. And we have a flat tire on the car. So we search for a tire guy. Saturday morning in Henryetta, Oklahoma: Like Dave says, there’s gotta be a song in there somewhere. We ended up parked at the small town football field dedicated to Troy Aikman, and the tire guy came out behind the shop and fixed us up. Eight bucks. It was downright heartwarming.

We overnighted at a little park we like in Elk City, OK and drove on to Amarillo this morning. Oasis RV Resort is a 192-site park, brand new, on the western edge of Amarillo. It is laid out with concrete pads and gravel where the grass should be and is as flat as a pancake. But the landscape fits the surroundings. We can see I-40 from here and the horizon is so uncluttered the cars and trucks look like they are driving on the edge of the world. Nice amenities, though, like free laundry!

Talk to you in a couple of weeks!

Love,

High Falls and Indian Springs State Parks are two of the prettiest parks we do. High Falls is on the Towaliga River (some of you may recall, Towaliga is Creek Indian for “roasted scalp,” so we know it hasn’t always been an inviting place for tourists). I hiked down to the falls this year. It’s pretty pedestrian compared to Pacific Northwest waterfalls but a big attraction here in middle Georgia. The Bradford ornamental pear trees flowered while we were here, as did the white and pink dogwood, the cherry trees and the beautiful Redbud tree. My feeder has been monopolized by the Chipping Sparrow.

We’ve had heavy rains impact the local flower festivals. And it was breaking news when Atlanta’s rocker got voted off American Idol. This area south of Atlanta is very small-town America. There are many, many small counties and it seems each county has its own phone book and newspaper. The newspapers feature local birthdays, lots of rocking chair philosophy columns, and the obituaries can run a quarter page (understandably, not free of charge). There are LittleÂ
Miss beauty pageants, lots of dance studios, and portrait philosophy is big. You can buy matching Mother and Daughter outfits at Belk’s.

“Miss Sam” and “Mister Dave” are terms of respect we answer to routinely.  We also get a lot of terms of endearment. Everybody gets a lot of terms of endearment. Yesterday a man in the supermarket said to me, “C’mon, Baiby, step carful, naow, thar’s sugah or sumpin slicky ohn tha floah.” This is a white guy talking (a black man would not talk to me, let alone call me Baiby). He was very nice and helpful. Southern speech patterns include words and terms that we would find somewhat intimate, but they use them indiscriminately.

As you get north of Atlanta, the land begins to roll and feel like foothills to something. We drove up to Rabun County, close to the South Carolina border, home of the Foxfire Project. I’ve read the Foxfire stories since I was involved with folklore at the University of Oregon in 1966, and have always wanted to come here. Started as a writing project for 9th and 10th graders at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School, the stories collected from old people have preserved the history of these southern Appalachia people. With proceeds from the first Foxfire book, the project bought land on a mountain top here and now have a heritage center and museum. The mountains here are not mountains to us; the highest state park in Georgia is here, at less than 3700 feet. Still, if steepness is a factor, Foxfire Heritage Center sits very high up.

Rabun County is a different culture from middle Georgia. Only 160 miles north of Atlanta, it doesn’t feel southern. Southern is genteel; Rabun County is hardscrabble. Even the southern drawl is different. In middle Georgia “ought to” is “ah-ta;” in Rabun County it’s “orta.” Mount Airy and Maude Frickert are right down the road.

Tramping up and down through the Foxfire center, we are struck by how hard the life here had to be, even 50 years ago. There are 22 buildings, most of them moved and reconstructed as student projects, and they are filled with implements and artifacts from 100 years ago. The Foxfire resident weaver was dying fiber in pots on the back stoop. This land is not easy to farm; the hills are too steep. The trees are thick and skinny, the forest floor loamy with old leaves. A purple “Wake Robin” trillium was everywhere, along with a red trumpet honeysuckle I’ve never seen before.

In my search for a dollmaker, I met a woman who deals with her bipolar disease through art therapy. She paints on “Genuine, recycled, sun-dried Georgia cardboard,” and makes “Hill-billy collector plates.” (Paper plates, spray painted, with magazine pictures pasted in the center.)

It was the greatest trip. It was a great way to leave Georgia. We are on our way now to our next job in Amarillo, Texas. Tonight finds us in eastern Alabama. We love the time changes going West; it gives us a good nap.

Love to all,