A New Year! Docktails on the Mosh; Sea Turtles; Jekyll Island; A Birthday Surprise; Wiener Dogs; Savannah; Beautiful Crystals; Farfugium and Butterflies; Axe Throwing??? The Wiener Wagon

Well, it's 2022, and life has been very busy. It's been three months since my last post. Must be a sign of advancing age that I'm getting slower in sitting down to write. What have we been up to? Well, let's see...

We drove down to coastal Georgia to visit Mike and Beth Pasakarnis, parents of Wolf from Suzanne's book Wolf's Message. They live on a small barrier island near Brunswick. These are also called "Sea Islands" in Georgia. This is the view from their dock; I would call this a marsh, but since Mike is from Plymouth, Mass, it's a "mosh". But I would never make fun of the way he talks....

We enjoyed "docktails" on their dock... quite civilized! It's nice to have friends with a beautiful water view...

Beth is a veterinarian who volunteers at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island. Here is one of their rescued sea turtles. He is about 3-4 feet long, but they can grow to 8-9 feet long and weigh up to 1,500 lbs. The barrier islands in the southeast US are known for being good breeding grounds for sea turtles, and volunteers go out and rescue injured turtles and bring them to centers like this for recovery. 

Jekyll Island is also the location of the Jekyll Island Club Resort, which has been a playground for the uber-wealthy for 130 years, most notably the Rockerfellers, Morgans, Pulitzers and Vanderbilts. The first transcontinental telephone call was made from the Club, as was the draft legislation to create the Federal Reserve System.

This photo was taken at Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island. The puppies had only been on a beach a couple of times; they loved romping around in the soft sand!

We made a quick foray down to The Villages for Suzanne to drop in (unexpectedly) on a birthday party for her dear friend Elizabeth Magee. The ladies had just been seated when Suzanne came in and asked, "Do you have room for one more?" What a great surprise!!!

Rusty and Nellie are both doing well. Rusty is 15 months old, and Nellie is just over 2 years old. Both are fully grown.  Rusty had gained a little too much weight and is on a weight management plan, but achieved his ideal weight this week. They are very active and keep us on our toes all day long, but they are always good for smiles and laughs.

Savannah is a 45 minute drive from our house, and we have made a couple of trips there to visit friends, have dinner, etc. Here is Suzanne with Kendall Beene at the new Power Plant District on the waterfront; Kendall and Rob Gibson live in Savannah, and gave us an insiders tour of the waterfront and downtown.

The J.W. Marriott Hotel is a must see in Savannah - in the lobby and hallways are hundreds of huge world class crystals collected by the famous hotel developer Richard Kessler. 

Savannah is known for its cobblestoned streets, narrow alleys, live oak tree-filled squares, and beautiful architecture. This alley just off River Street is typical of the area.

Suzanne's sister Janice and her husband Rodney Martin drove up from Florida for a weekend, We had good weather for a long walk with them and our puppies around nearby Windmill Harbor.

My Lovely Bride always makes healthy food for our meals, so when she went out of town one weekend, I decided to emulate her by making myself a healthy salad... with fried oysters, which she is not fond of. The Daou Cabernet, although not perfectly paired with oysters as a French Sancerre might have been, was still delicious! 

I was out pulling weeds in the yard one day when I saw this beautiful butterfly flitting from flower to flower in one of our Farfugium plants (also known as tractor seat plants), drinking nectar. I don't see how anyone can get bored when there are so many natural wonders free for our enjoyment.

Recently we took a Sunday drive day trip to Aiken, South Carolina, a charming equestrian town just across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia. One of the local establishments caught my eye; unfortunately it was closed. And yes, Woodchuckers does have a liquor license (beer only)... I heard it was very popular among the students from the University of South Carolina (Aiken). Their mascot is the Pacer (a horse that specializes in harness racing).

Back on Hilton Head Island, we like to go for four mile long walks on the beach. The puppies have short legs, so we give them breaks in a folding cart named, what else, "The Wiener Wagon".

Homeward Bound; W-Holy You; Window Adrift! "Voices"... Tuscumbia, Alabama; "You Can't Talk to Females"; Franklin, NC; Hardeeville, SC; Home!

 So, we ended the last blog post in Taos, New Mexico. The mountains there are scenic, but home was calling, so we saddled up the coach and headed east. Next stop was Tucumcari, New Mexico, where we had a nice dinner at the Pow Wow Restaurant and Lizard Lounge... yes, that is the correct name of this very classy establishment. Thinking back on Suzanne's 1999 Corvette C-5 convertible, we both had some lustful thoughts about this brand new red Corvette... 

Next stop was Unity Village.... as always, the venue for a spiritual event was stunning! The architecture is mostly Italian Renaissance style, and was designed by Waldo Rickert Fillmore, son of Unity's founders Charles and Myrtle Fillmore.

Suzanne's W-Holy You event was another super success, with 125 attendees loving the lessons, experiences and new friends. This was her third W-Holy You retreat this summer at Unity Village. Thanks to the Unity staff and chefs who helped make this another terrific event!

Suzanne's "Gong Bath" has been a new favorite at her recent events. The sounds that she creates with her gongs and crystal bowls is stunning; some sound just like humpback whales that I am used to listening to on Navy destroyers' and frigates' passive sonar receivers.

The final part of Wholy-You is the Angel Wash, one of the most spiritually moving experiences imaginable. 

This next photo is a reminder that one can never get complacent... we were driving down the Interstate near Oklahoma City at 65 mph when Suzanne said, "Ty, it sounds like a window just opened!" We could hear the engine noise of the semi we were passing, an unusual experience... She got up and shouted, "The fixed window over the sink is flapping open!!!" I pulled over at the next exit and found that the sealant holding the window closed had failed, and that it was only being held on by the hinged top. So, being a very technically proficient RVer, I selected the appropriate material to hold the window shut... Duct Tape! It held until we could get the window repaired properly a few hundred miles later.

While cleaning the counter the other day, I noticed a present that Janean Quigley had given me... It reads, "I only do what the Voices in my wife's head tell her to tell me to do"... Janean, you are in so much trouble!

Next Stop Memphis! We camped right along the Mississippi River in West Memphis, Arkansas. The view of the barge traffic was spectacular! Suzanne got to the Memphis Drum Shop and acquired two more gongs, so it was a great stop!

On Eastward to Tuscumbia, Alabama, to visit our dear friends Judson and Donna Jo Emens, and their daughter Nadia. 

The Emens family took us to Big Spring, a beautiful waterfall and park in downtown Tuscumbia...

But we were getting hungry, and Judson and Donna Jo knew of this famous "hole in the wall"... Rattlesnake Saloon... The food was very good, but the highlight of our meal was talking to one of the locals who made a comment that, "Well, you know, you just can't talk to females." (The context here is important, but we can't divulge it for privacy reasons.... and I don't want to get my head broken or be declared Persona Non Grata in Tuscumbia!) In any case, we got a good laugh out of it after we left...

From Tuscumbia, we moved on to Franklin, North Carolina, where we spent two days hiking in the Nantahala National Forest. On one trail we found this lovely waterfall, one of My Lovely Bride's favorite things...

One of the characteristics of Dachshunds is their exceptional sense of smell; this picture shows Rusty following Nellie's path through the grass from the night before. The dew on the grass made his track obvious...

This next photo from a grocery cart ad made me laugh; I learned after reading it that Tinder is a dating app.

Our last stop before arriving home was in Hardeeville, SC, just a half hour from home. "Why not just go home?" Well, some anti-social whiners in our community protested that people shouldn't be allowed to keep their RVs in their driveways overnight. So, we delayed our arrival so we could get home first thing in the morning and have a full day to unload and clean the bus. It also allowed us to visit a local park that we had never heard of and get a hike in alongside this beautiful lake.

Back at home now, Rusty and Nellie like having the run of the house rather than just our bus. However, Rusty has learned that he also likes to roll in the grass and take the sun. Here he is "on strike", eyes closed, refusing to get up and walk...

Nellie, on the other hand, prefers to snooze by Mom's side...

Our Summer 2021 Tour has ended, after about five months and 11,500 miles. We are happy to be home, catching our breaths, and hope that you have had as good a summer as have we. Love to you all, Suzanne, Nellie, Rusty and Ty.

Flagstaff continued; Sedona; A Custom Hairdo; Meteor Crater; SPIDER! Taos; Holistic Healing; Rio Grande Gorge; Taos Ski Valley; Binary What?

 

My Lovely Bride asked me to post a photo of Your Faithful Correspondent, sort of a "Proof of Life" exercise. So here I am on my backpack trip near Flagstaff... I could live here!

On our last day in Flag, we went on a mountain bike ride on the Arizona Trail north of where we had previously camped. Suzanne had hiked this section from her campsite and said it was beautiful, so we rode from a Forest Service road nearby. It was spectacular. There is nothing quite like riding through aspen groves on singletrack paths. And there were no bears sighted!

On to Sedona, one of our favorite places in the world. And yes, I could live here, too!

The red sandstone cliffs and rocks of Sedona are even more spectacular up close and in person, but I think you get the idea...

We had a fabulous dinner at Mariposa with our friends Jerry and Karen Facciani from Las Vegas. 

Our RV campground was right along Oak Creek. We jokingly call this "a hateful place"...

Jeff and Lynn Hollahan drove up from Scottsdale and joined us for the day, and we went on a hike to West Fork, Oak Creek Canyon. Beautiful! (And the canyon is nice, too...)

The canyon walls go straight up for about a thousand feet; you do not want a big rock to fall down on you here!

On that trail, MLB found a knothole in an Arizona sycamore trunk that made a nice picture frame... "No, Suzanne, we cannot bring it home with us!"

A mountain bike ride on the Bell Rock Pathway was required before departing Sedona; even though we are "mature riders", according to a guy in a bike shop, we had a blast zooming up and down the trail here.

Sedona was not all play; Suzanne had an event here, but her hair needed a trim, so our new friend Phoebe Miller flew in with Anne Wernimont from Denver to give her a "do" at our campground...

Phoebe is a "Stylist to The Stars", in a manner of speaking, and Suzanne and I were both thrilled to have her perform her magic on us! (Yes, I also got a cut... soooo coool!)

From Sedona, we headed east to Meteor Crater, a spectacular hole in the ground where a big meteor had struck about 50,000 years ago. That's even older than My Good Friend Bob Blythe, back in The Villages. (Hi, Bob!) There is a great visitor center here, but the hiking trails were closed due to Covid... really???? Are the rocks contagious???

On a bike ride near El Prado, New Mexico, we happened across this nice specimen of Aphonapelma Vorhiesi (Grand Canyon black tarantula). I wanted to bring it home and keep it in a covered bowl, but I was overruled...

We spent several days in Taos, NM, where I received two very beneficial healing treatments for my lower back pain from Linda Carr, an expert in holistic healing and pain relief. Linda relieved a lot of my pain, and I would recommend her highly! (You can see that Nellie loves her, too!)

We also had a chance to hike along the Rio Grande Gorge near Taos. Here you see the bridge of the same name, 650 feet above the Rio Grande, and the second highest on the US highway system.

Suzanne enjoyed walking this labyrinth located right along the Rio Grande Gorge trail....

A short trip to Taos Ski Valley gave us a chance for some alpine hiking along the beautiful Columbine Trail at 9,300 feet... lots of aspens beginning to change colors here!

Finally, this sign was on a restroom in the ski valley. I am too old to even understand (much less care) what it's trying to say...