Hiking, Edisto Beach, Southern BBQ

Hi - Dianne here. On Thursday, Roger and I took the dogs for a hike in Edisto Island State Park. It's sure different from Turkey Run! Palm trees, pine trees, and marsh grasses. It's very pretty in its own way. (Still looking forward to Turkey Run next summer). The only wildlife we saw were some gray squirrels, which got the boys' attention, and some marsh birds that I added to my birding life list.

All our hiking on beach and trails worked up an early appetite, so we traveled to check out the BBQ place Roger mentioned the other day. Wow, what a spread! I'll let him elaborate on it below.

We have been really lucky here, weather-wise. The local newscasters keep saying it's about ten degrees above the normal temp of 61. It's actually been in the mid- to upper 70s each day. It was so nice Friday, that after our morning beach exercise-walk, we packed up our beach chairs and walked back over to spend about three relaxing hours watching the waves crash on the beach, reading (Roger), and reading and Sudoku (me). The dogs even enjoyed laying on the grass mats at our feet and made no attempt to leave. We need to enjoy it now, because it's supposed to become more seasonal next week, with a

high in the 50s.

We've heard that sand fleas can be a problem here, but evidently not in December, because we've not been bothered by insects at all, even mosquitos. I can believe they'd be a big problem part of the year. This afternoon Roger plans to watch the Purdue basketball game on CBS, and while he's doing that, I think I'll take a beach chair, my bird book, and binoculars to the beach and try to add some more birds to my list.

Tomorrow we pack up and head for Skidaway Island, outside Savannah, GA for two weeks. We'll have to find a replacement for our beach walks. I was mortified to learn that in the motorhome I only manage to get a couple hundred steps a day, as opposed to about 5,000 just walking around in my three-story house in Pendleton! There will have to be some major compensating for that.

Roger here... The Barbeque place was great. (Gary Z. - worthy of driving through five states for dinner.) We had been reading about it and saw that it had been rated as one of the top ten barbeque places in the country. Because it was in a little room attached to a gas station, miles from nowhere, it was even more fun. It was definitely a mom and pop place. For $9.25 you got a barbeque buffet that not only had delicious pork barbeque, but also 29 other "southern" foods. At the table there were five different barbeque sauce choices. My favorite was the Carolina Red. All the other customers were local. Quite an experience.

Magnolia Plantation, Charleston, SC

Hi all - Dianne here again. Yesterday we zipped up the dogs in their crate, and Roger and I drove over to Magnolia Plantation, outside Charleston. Turns out, we could have taken the dogs with us (we were just touring the gardens), but it was too far to go back for them. What an interesting, beautiful place! We were there in probably its worst season for the gardens, but they were lovely anyway. The camellias were just starting to bloom. Parts of the garden date back to the late 1600s! I definitely recommend touring this plantation's grounds if you're anywhere in the area. It's $15 each per adult just to tour the gardens. We spent three hours walking around the grounds, so the admission price was well worth it. We didn't pay extra to tour the house. We didn't care much about seeing it, because the house had been burned to the ground by Sherman's Army during the civil war; this one wasn't the original plantation house.

Last night we attempted another campfire. There is such thick fog off the ocean every morning, that everything gets soaked overnight, so we've been dealing with wet firewood. As you can see from one of the photos, our normal setup is three chairs around the fire pit: One for Roger, one for me, and one for Jasper! He requires a chair, not a cushion, because after all, he's NOT a dog. (Just ask him) Chaplin prefers to lay on his dog bed next to us.

I hesitated to include the full length photo of me at Magnolia Gardens, because part of my goal this winter is to lose 10 pounds, all of which show up in the photo. We've been walking down the beach every morning for exercise. I'm wearing my pedometer, and it's about a mile and a half each way. It takes us about an hour to walk down to the tide river and back. Walking the dogs in the sand gives some good aerobic steps, according to my pedometer. If I do lose some pounds, I'll update it; if not, I won't mention it again!!!!!

Every day on the beach is different. Yesterday on our walk, we passed by a 3-foot shark that had been washed way up on the beach by the tidal waves. It was dead, of course, but was creepy anyway.

Roger has strung some Christmas lights on the bushes at our camp site, and we have our little LED-lit tree in the front window. I'll include a photo, but not sure how well it will show up. We'll set them up again when we drive to Skidaway Island next Monday. After New Year's at Skidaway, we'll pack them away in the deep recesses of the motor home until next Christmas.

Roger here... It has taken a while to adjust to the time frame of retirement. For awhile, I continued to wake up at 5:00 a.m. every morning. I tried (usually unsuccessfully) to get up and have some coffee without waking up Dianne. As the days have passed, I have eventually gotten to the point of not waking until the sun rises. However, this morning the harsh realities of our old life surfaced when the cell phone rang at 5:15 a.m. and then again a few minutes later. When I answered the phone, I was greeted to the familiar sound of my friend Jim White, school transportation director, who had sent an automated Honeywell message to the HSE constituency announcing a two-hour delay for the start of school, due to ice in the neighborhoods. I need to figure out how to disengage from automatically receiving those messages for as much as I miss hearing Jim's voice, 5:15 a.m. is now for me very early in the morning :)

Edisto Island, South Carolina

Dianne here.   Wow, we have a beautiful campsite here!   We're in site #26 at Edisto Island State Park.   We are close to the Atlantic Ocean on one side, and a salt marsh on the other, with views of both from the motorhome!   The salt marsh looks totally different at low tide from high tide.  I'll include a photo of each.   Since it is the "off season" here, it is not at all crowded.  In fact, the times we've walked the beach, we've had it all to ourselves.   Dogs are allowed on the beach during the off season, so the "boys" are really enjoying their daily walks.   It is even safe to let Jasper off the leash on the beach (not Chaplin, though, of course!).

The weather changes a lot from day to day.  It's been rainy, windy, cold, warm, etc.  It sounds like the rest of the week for our stay here, we'll have beautiful, warm, '70s weather.  I can handle that!   The waves crash onto the beach here, so we have the constant background noise of the ocean.   It's been warm enough to leave our bedroom window open enough to hear the ocean at night.

The other night, there was a beautiful full moon, the largest and closest moon of the year.  Roger had taken the dogs on their nightly walk on the beach, and came running back to the motorhome to get me so I could see it.  I'm including a couple of photos of the moon and the sunset that night.   I could not get a proper photo of the full moon after dark; the one posted here just gives a hint of how beautiful it was.   

It's a shame I hate oysters, because we could harvest all we want right on the beach if we chose to.  

I'm adding photos, but again, I still haven't figured out how to make them post in order.   Hope you can match them up!   

Also, for those of you adding comments, I have it set up to moderate them before posting, "just in case."   (Anyone can read this blog if they come across it on the internet; I want to keep it family-friendly for Kaia).   That's why they don't show up immediately after you post them.  They e-mail them to us first, and then we publish them to the blog.   Sorry for any confusion about that.  

Roger is going to add his comments today, so keep reading!

Roger here....  After the cold trip down, the weather here has been much better.  I am sitting outside in shorts and a t-shirt at the campsite - listening to the ocean.  We had a campfire last night, and probably will again tonight.  Since we have been here, I have been reading, taking long walks on the beach, and doing a daily chore (at least one a day).  Today I cleaned the dead bugs off the front of the motorhome - very fulfilling.  None of the dead bugs complained or threatened to sue me or file some kind of formal complaint, so life is good.

Yesterday we got rations from the Piggly Wigley just across the street from the state park.  For me it was like going back to the 1950's - narrow aisles, basic food, friendly down to earth people... I loved it.

I was frustrated yesterday with the NFL coverage.  Our TV reception is great, but the only way to keep track of the Colts game was to watch the ticker during the Jets game.  It looked a little too close for comfort.  Am I wrong? .  The coverage problem will be solved when we get our satellite installed when we get to Ft. Lauderdale next month.  CBS did a promo about the Purdue/Davidson game, but I did not catch when it will be on.  If anyone knows, send me an email so that I can be sure to watch it.  Before we leave this area we are planning to visit a plantation outside of Charleston and maybe eating at a dive that is supposed to have the best barbecue in the country - just a mile away.  Otherwise, I am just planning to continue walking on the beach and vegging on the hammock.

To all the HSE people who sent emails...THANKS!  It is great to hear from you.

Lazy Day, Dog Park, + Folly Beach

Dianne again (I'm on a roll!)

On Tuesday we spent a lazy day around the campground at Lake Aire until we finally got our act together and went exploring around 2:00.   For those teachers and folks back at HSE, I have proof that Roger is taking to retirement like a duck to water.   I snuck a photo of him drinking a beer and working a crossword puzzle at 1:00 in the afternoon.   He probably didn't even know what day it was!!!  

We walked the dogs on a nature trail here at the campground.   The trail is next to a small lake and I'm adding a photo of it, since a picture is worth 1,000 words.   Once again, the photos don't show up where I intend for them to in the blog; maybe someday I'll figure it out.   Here also is a photo of our motorhome in our camp site here at Lake Aire campground.

There are some large, exotic ducks here at the campground called Muscovy.   I stalked one of them to get a photo, and lo and behold found myself right next to a bush where they had hidden a nest of duck eggs.   

Around 2:00 we put "the boys" in the car with us and drove to James Island County Park, where they have an awesome dog park.  It is HUGE!   There is even a small sandy beach and water for them to swim in.   The tall structures in the photo are part of a light display they have here at the county park every Christmas.   Jasper and Chaplin had a great time running and playing with the other dogs.   There were a LOT of dogs there.   Jasper chased a frisbee, and Chaplin just ran around and acted like Chaplin.   I made the mistake of carrying a plastic bag with dog toys and treats in it into the park and got jumped on by about five wet, sandy dogs who wanted my toys and treats!   We stayed for quite a while, until a chow started acting a little aggressive toward Chaplin.   Jasper was a good "big brother" and actually tried to deflect the chow away from Chaplin.  

From there, we drove down to Folly Beach.   This was our first view of the ocean during this trip.   The Low Country is beautiful in a very different way than we are used to in the Midwest.  There is a sea of grass and marsh land.   I'm including a couple photos we took at Folly Beach, looking AWAY from the ocean.   

The last photo for today (probably will show up as the first one on this blog) was a great shot of the crashing waves, blue sky, and the moon just starting to show.   I have to say, this is the life!!

Charleston, South Carolina

Hi all, Dianne here.   On Sunday, We decided to push on and drive all the way from Chattanooga to Charleston.   It was just too cold to stay anywhere else!   We found a campground close to Charleston, Lake Aire Campground, to spend three nights until we can get into our spot at Edisto Island.  Since this campground was much closer to downtown Charleston, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather on Monday to go on into town and look around.

We ate lunch at Poogan's Porch, a Low Country cuisine restaurant in the old section.   We had seen a segment on "Most Haunted Places" about Poogan's Porch and its ghost, an elderly spinster schoolteacher who used to live in the house.   We didn't see any ghosts, but enjoyed a really great lunch in front of the fireplace in the front parlor.  I had a local specialty, shrimp + grits, and Roger had mussels.   For you Northerners turning up your noses, shrimp + grits was absolutely delicious!   It had a "kick" to it, and reminded me of New Orleans food.   We knew Poogan's Porch was well-known locally, but as we were leaving we saw a display of autographed menus by people such as Barbra Streisand, Giada De Laurentiis, and other famous customers!  

 The photo of Poogan's Porch is the yellow house.  It is named for a scruffy neighborhood dog who, in the 1970s, would visit all the porches in the neighborhood looking for handouts.  The owners of the restaurant loved the dog to the point they named the restaurant after him and buried him in the front yard!   We saw Poogan's gravestone.

On Monday, for our walk around Charleston, the weather was warm and sunny.  The best part for me was actually seeing BLUE SKY.   Our friends in Central Indiana know that blue sky is a seldom-seen commodity in winter!   We walked around the old section of town, down near The Battery (waterfront), and I took some shots of some of the interesting sights we saw.  I still am not sure how to lay these out properly on the blog, so I apologize if they are not in order.  

On Our Way South - Short Entry

Hi all -- Dianne here.

In case anyone is curious about our progress, we finally left Elkhart around 11:30 a.m. yesterday.  The TV installation is great -- I'll post photos later.  It was SO cold (around 13 degrees) that we were really worried about our pipes freezing as we drove.  We had no idea it would be SO cold SO early in the season!  Roger turned on all the lights in all the bays, we cranked up the furnace in the motorhome, and we watched our temperature sensor as we drove.  It steadily went from 45 down, down, down to 30 degrees when we reached Kokomo on US 31.   Every 20 minutes or so, I got up and ran water from the faucets briefly.  Luckily, once we reached south Indianapolis, the temperature finally started to go back up.   We reached Louisville during rush hour, but passed through without incident.  (Our GPS is a great help in telling us ahead of time which lane to be in; a real issue when you're driving something this large).

Since it gets dark so early this time of year, around 5:00 we decided to call it a day and stop for the night in Shepherdsville, KY, just south of Louisville.  Normally, on a travel day like this we would just stay in a Wal-Mart parking lot, but since we needed electricity to plug in our space heater in the water compartment overnight (still below freezing here), we shelled out $40 for a camp site at the KOA South Louisville.  This time of year there is also an issue of closed campgrounds, so the choices are somewhat limited this far north.  

This morning we plan to just hang out and let the temperature rise, then leave late morning and see how far we decide to go; possibly Chattanooga, possibly farther.   

As is typical in my experience, the campground wi-fi was unusable.  However, tethering our cell phone to the laptop works great.   That's how I'm on line now.   I'm glad we upgraded our cell phones to be able to do this!

Roger has nothing to add this time, other than to remind me to comment on the great little diner we visited in Goshen, IN, while we were killing time in Elkhart.  We had read about this place in Nick Russell's blog (gypsyjournal.net).   He sure knows his food!   This was the type of place you had to seek out and would never stop in unless you knew to go there.  It is an authentic diner attached to a permanent structure.  They had dozens of types of homemade pies, "Philly Chili" which was served in a soda glass with noodles on the bottom (Roger said it was delicious).   I had delicious lemon meringue pie and a veggie sandwich on Swedish limpus bread.  Roger had the best fries he's ever tasted.  These were also homemade from a whole potato, cut in a spiral, with the skin still on.   If you're ever up in this area, seek out the South Side Soda Fountain diner on South Main Street (south of town in a residential area).   You won't be disappointed!!

Hi all -- Dianne here; Roger will add his two cents' worth below.

Well, we're finally on the road! We scurried to get the house "show ready" and finally left Pendleton around 1:00 p.m., after the snow melted from Main Street. Monday and Tuesday morning I said a few choice words as I lugged the final items across our slick, icy driveway and up the snowy-and-also-slick motorhome steps. Hard to believe we actually drove NORTH from there! It's still Autumn, for crying out loud, and still 18 days until winter. Sure feels like February to me.

Andy Leichty, our new realtor, will re-list our house January 5. He suggested we wait until after the holidays. Roger told me he'd be great, and I must say I have been very impressed so far. I think we're in good hands.

Our trip to Elkhart was uneventful (that's a GOOD thing!), with clear roads and little traffic up U.S. 31. We slept last night in the motorhome at Bradd & Hall's facility, plugged into their electricity. This morning, we pulled the motorhome into the service bay, took the dogs and cat to a boarding kennel, and left to see the sites in Elkhart. The purpose of our trip up here is to switch out our heavy, analog TVs to new, lightweight digital-ready flat screen TVs. We wanted to get this done prior to our satellite installation in Florida next month. We will still need to use our batwing antenna to get local TV stations, so we either needed to switch the TVs or get a converter box before February. We decided to "go for it" now, since this will be our home! For those of you wondering "How the heck can they afford that??", you missed my two mega garage sales last summer.

I was impressed with the pet boarding facility, North Star, in Elkhart. The owner trains service dogs, and has a very attractive building with "luxury suites" available for the dogs, complete with TVs and toddler beds to sleep on. There are also basic indoor/outdoor pens available for a lower cost, but my boys are used to their creature comforts. Jasper and Chaplin should feel right at home, except that they are used to CNBC in the background, not Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer, which was the TV viewing choice at North Star. We hope to pick them up mid-day tomorrow and finally head south. That is, unless the predicted lake-effect snow tonight makes us stick around Elkhart for a while. Roger and I are at the Hampton Inn tonight (no pets allowed).

North Star is very near the RV Museum, which Roger will elaborate on when it's his turn to write. We both plan to contribute our thoughts to the blog. I promise it will get better with time. We're just learning this blog-thing. I can't get to my camera yet to add photos, but that will come soon. I'll include before-and-after shots of our TV installations, sites we

visit, and of course, lots and lots of animal shots, both domestic and hopefully wildlife. We might have some breaks here and there from writing the blog, especially until we're up and running with our satellite system next month, but we'll try to keep it up-to-date. Thanks for stopping by!

Hi everyone. This is Roger. The goodbyes...... The hardest thing so far has been saying goodbye, for a few months, to our daughter, Amanda, and our granddaughter, Kaia. We did have a great time with them on Thanksgiving as they accompanied us to Chicago (along with Amanda's boyfriend, Eric) to see our other daughter, Robyn. Robyn has now flown from Chicago to Barcelona where she will be in the Second City show on the Norwegian Jade. On the trip back from Chicago we were able to see Dianne's cousins Charles, Becky and John and their families in Mulberry, IN. We had a great dinner at Peterson's Monday night, thanks to a gift card from my dentist and former student/swim team member, with our dear friends Jay and Nancy Ricker. The goodbye to Amanda and Kaia took place before school Tuesday morning. I can't wait to see them in March when we will meet them at Disney World during Kaia's Spring Break. (Dianne has talked with Amanda via cell phone three times already, today.)

For those of you who know me well, especially from HSE, you know about my type A personality. I must always have something to obsess about. I must say that I am much more relaxed than usual; however, the cold weather has me fretting about keeping the water system in a liquid state. I rigged up an electric heater in the water bay for the times that we can plug in to shore power. We have a remote temperature sensor in that bay that tells us if the temperature ever falls below 32 degrees. I call the sensor Angela, in honor of another former student - who is now a TV meteorologist. After we finally get out of this early Indiana winter I am sure that I will find other things to worry about, but I have to tell you that the stress level is already much lower. It hit me today that I am actually retired when I wasn't sure what day of the week it was.

Dianne promised that I would talk about the RV Hall of Fame that we visited today in Elkhart. It was awesome. For anyone who has an interest in RVing, it is a place that you should visit. It is a new and impressive facility, just off I-80, that has huge rooms filled with "vintage" RVs. We had the place all to ourselves. The nice lady who greeted us had a lot of time on her hands, since we were the only visitors (100-200 in the summer). She personally gave us a great introduction. Our friends, Chuck and Cindy, would love it.

Hopefully, the next time you hear from us we will have escaped the Indiana winter and be in a warmer place. It is our goal to get away from this cold, snowy weather (with our new flat screen TVs) as quickly as possible. Roger