New Years Eve, Eve

We got all the cousin's together today. This doesn't happen very often so when it does happen, It's a special occasion.

Made it to San Antonio

Uneventful trip today. Today is Sunday. I would say Sunday is the best day to drive through Houston. Its either that they are all in church or, more likely, they're all recovering from their Saturday night festivities. The boys had some pent up energy when they exited the MP, hence these pics.

NEWS FLASH!!!

Due to very inclement weather at our planned campsite in Mississippi we kept driving. We are now west of Baton Rouge and should be in SA tomorrow.

X county RV trip on I-10

We are headed to SA for the new year. We have decided to take 4 days instead of the normal 3. Last night was Tallahassee. Connor likes watching cars and trucks. He found a good spot.

Christmas Day 2013

Well Dave, what did you do to work off that wonderful meal? 47 bags of leaves raked and bagged.

T'was the night before Christmas

And the boys were pumped---waiting for their presents to be dumped---under the tree, by the fat man in a red suit---the only problem was a hot fire was burn'n and we were think'n Santa might not be return'n.

Mini-bike riding

So happy to stop

Jamie and I finished the play set today. Jamie's friend, who is the puzzle master, wasn't here today. He did leave us all his tools and that was a tremendous help. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we will spend the night at the kids house so that we can participate in the early morning festivities.

Big project

Jamie's parents and Jenny & I pitched in and bought a play set for the boys. There is "some assembly required." Maybe 2000 parts. The instructions say it will take 2 people 24 hours. We did a lot today but there are still gazillions of parts left and at least 1/2 of the instruction book we haven't looked at. We did have 2 engineers on the job and I can follow directions.

Charleston for Christmas

We're here in the MP. This morning we drove an hour 45 to talk to our realtor in Beaufort. All the good stuff is sold at Habersham so we might have to build something. We drove downtown tonight and had dinner, took a carriage ride, led by Santa, and sang carrols. Christmas trees are different in South Carolina as shown in this pic. Austin ate some marshmallows for dessert.

Margaret Blome Williams

My mother passed away this morning at 8:45. She was an extraordinary mother, wife, and friend. She has been suffering from Alzheimer's for 14 years and she died at home with her 3 children at her side. Everyone who knew her was enriched by the experience. We will all miss her. A truly wonderful life. 1922-2013. Rest in Pease Mom.

Thanksgiving in San Antonio

We flew into S.A. to visit with Memaw (my mother) and the trip just happened to coincide with Thanksgiving. Seth smoked his first turkey. He had learned from my numerous failures so his bird was delicious. The only problem being, that it was fully cooked and ready to eat at 9 in the morning. The next day Seth and Courtney decorated their house. It was a little scary to watch. I have included an especially cute pic of Stella.

Connor 'Blackbeard' Wight

More birthday

Austin was born on 11/11/11. That is quite possibly the easiest date to remember, ever! I am always skeptical about washing down birthday cake with beer, but it always seems to work.

Austin's 2nd birthday

Poppi--you can't blame that on the dog!

River House sold

We are in San Antonio. I wanted to retrieve my kayaks so the new owner wouldn't claim them. Seth brought his family and Courtney selected a few items of furniture. We loaded some of the stuff in my mother's truck.

Halloween begins

There is a sort of tailgate deal at the community center called "Trunk or Treat" this is it. Everyone decorates their open trunk. Lindsay is the judge. Here's a pic of her trunk.

Boys in a box

We are in Charleston to celebrate Halloween with the Wights. UPS arrived with a couple of boxes so the boys found a use for them. Connor had a collision with boy on a bike a couple of days ago, hence the eye.

Dean Hosch's birthday

Wow, what a celebration. Impossible to describe in a measly blog post. So I won't even try. We did a couple of hikes today. The total mileage in still under review. Here are a couple of pics taken during our outing.

Day 2 Blowing Rock

Hiking, biking, shopping, exploring, eating, drinking, House Of Cards, The end.

Blowing Rock NC

We are in the mountains staying at a vacation home partly owned by our friends, the Hosch's. The elevation is around 4000 feet. When we arrived it was raining and foggy. It cleared up during the night and the views improved dramatically. Here are some before/after pics.

Quick visit to Charleston

Jamie is out of town on a recruiting trip so Jenny and I drove down to stay with linz and the boys. It looks like we're intentionally avoiding Jamie but that's not true. This pic was taken at Connors first soccer practice.

Happy? To be home

Here are some trip stats. We were out for 96 days. During that time we put 7349 miles on the MP odometer. We pumped 852 gallons of gas for an average MPG of 8.6. and a total fuel cost of $2939. We drove into 11 states, visited 15 state parks and 6 national parks. We are home now. We can take long hot showers, we don't need to dash inside to keep the bugs at bay. There's no need to unhook the car in order to go somewhere. We have cell and WiFi. I can watch MSNBC without having to find open sky for the satellite dish, holding tank capacity is of no concern, and we know where we will be tomorrow. Kinda sad.

Last night out

Well, this epic will be ending tomorrow. It seems strange to be headed back to Tega Cay. It's been over 3 months. The MP has become our home in the truest sense. It is the place that we returned to. We will put her in storage for a few months. These pics were taken today.

A trip to the pool

Charleston KOA day 2

We had a good visit today with the Wights. Dinner was served at the MP.

Charleston KOA

We've been here a few times. It's a little strange that the Charleston KOA has the highest camping rates we have paid in the 3 months we have been on the road. We spent the afternoon with Lindsay, Jamie and the boys. We will be here for 4 nights. Here are some pics of our visit.

Laura S. Walker State Park Ga.

This Laura Walker must have been extra special. So far we know of a park, a road, a lake and a golf course, named after her. All I can say is--Wow! We are near Waycross, Ga. It rained on us for 4 of the 7 hours it took to drive here. It's raining now....7pm. It's strange, the West is dry and the East is wet. Actually, the East is waterlogged. This is our campsite. We haven't had to disconnect the car in several days. This campground is nearly vacant. Last night's rain was torrential so most people said "to hell with this" and left this morning. The lady who checked us in, told us several people left in the middle of the night and stayed in hotels, returning this morning to break camp. It's raining in Biblical fashion at the moment. 40 more days of this and we'll be living out of our kayaks.

Meager State Park Alabama

We are still driving on I-10. This place is near Mobile. The park is on Mobile bay. It has been raining for several hours. This pic was taken after sunset. I walked out into the inclement weather to get it. The bay and the interstate is visible in the distance. Tomorrow should be Georgia.

Village Creek State Park Tx.

We left S.A. this morning and got on I 10 East. We prefer staying in public parks vs commercial parks because the ambience is so much better. The spaces are more private and its quiet. There are generally some trails and quite a lot of property. I had a good 'tension relieving' bike ride after we got set up. Driving through Houston is somewhat stressful. This park is pretty close to Beaumont. The nearest town is Lumberton. We drove through the town but I must have blinked. We are headed toward Charleston for a visit with Lindsay & Jamie. That will take 3 days. 

Stella reacts to seeing Poppi without a shirt on.