Category: Camper Van and Boating Posts

Memorial Day in New Mexico

Before I start this post, let me briefly encourage you to do something useful for Memorial Day today, such as take a specific action that in some small way could reduce the likelihood that future young men and women will have to go off to war. There is no point in remembering, if we do not use that knowledge to improve the future.

It’s hard, isn’t it, to even think of something to do?

One thing we could do is encourage each other to not get stuck into bipartisan, us/them, righteous vs. evil dichotomies, by (wait for it…) saying something nice about the OTHER political side or the OTHER president (or recent ex-president) or the people who elected them.

If that doesn’t sound like it is enough to create world peace, that’s because it isn’t. But how many of us even do that much? When is the last time we said something nice about the other side? How are we going to learn that we aren’t always right and justified in our beliefs if we can’t even do that? And how are we going to avoid war if we don’t understand that we aren’t always right?

Another thing you can do is send some money to a less fortunate part of the globe. Or another part of your town. Suffering is always destabilizing. So is inequality.

Ok, now I hope you’ll enjoy our pictures from our really pleasant Memorial Day weekend. Originally we were going to spend Memorial Day Weekend camping in the Chiricahua in Arizona. But John unexpectedly needed to be in New Mexico immediately before and immediately after Memorial Day for work. We didn’t want to miss our camping trip, so we drove our camper van to New Mexico and went camping at Mesa de Cuba instead.

This is the same spot where we spent last Memorial Day Weekend. I was on chemo then and couldn’t hike. I was excited to go back and do the hikes I missed last year. This time I felt better and hiked some, but I still couldn’t hike very far because of a migraine. Ah well, who needs to hike when you have a reclining camp chair? 🙂

The migraine started the morning before our drive out to New Mexico last Tuesday, and I continued to have it for most of the week. I can’t really blame the New Mexico elevation because the migraine started in Tucson.

We did have unhealthy air one day, shortly before leaving Tucson. I don’t know if that’s what triggered the migraine or not. I couldn’t smell any smoke so I assume it was a dust storm. It didn’t seem very bad; I’ve definitely seen worse in Albuquerque. I wouldn’t even have even noticed the poor air except now I have a fancy new phone that tells me everything I didn’t know I wanted to know!

I usually get migraines whenever there is a storm. It might be due to the drop in barometric pressure. Regardless of what initially triggered the migraine, I suppose the traveling didn’t help. I continued to have the migraine through the week and into about half of the holiday weekend.

However, we still really enjoyed our camping trip. It was warm and relaxing.

I felt better the next day, and we did get out hiking.

Hahaha, lol, yes, I usually hike with shirt on! (Because backpacks aren’t very comfortable against bare skin.) In fact, I often hike in long sleeves for protection from the sun. We had just stopped to cool off. It was hot!

We were originally going to spend the entire weekend camping, but we left on Sunday afternoon due to an impending storm. The roads out there are a fine silt/sand which can turn into impassible mud in a thunderstorm. We had a very nice trip and didn’t mind going home a little early.

Now we’re having a quiet Memorial Day at home. This morning went to Jackalope, which is my favorite store in Albuquerque. https://jackalope.com/

There are probably similar stores in Tucson but we haven’t discovered them yet because we had been avoiding stores during the pandemic.

At Jackalope we bought a wooden bench, a mirror with a Mexican tile and tin frame, and some textiles for the house in Tucson.

It’s a good thing both houses are about the same style, otherwise it would be an amusing mess when we consolidate again someday. Can you imagine if we had bought a place near the Puget Sound in Washington and filled it with woodsy bears and salmon fishing decor? That would not go well with our desert southwest items from Albuquerque, lol.

These appliqués were hand sewn and very cute.

I would enjoy making something like that myself someday, but it would take a ton of time.

They were huge! Big enough to use as a bedspread, although I was thinking of folding them to display on the wall. In New Mexico people often display quilts folded and draped over short wooden ladders called pueblo ladders or kiva ladders, so I might do that.

We did get some pictures hung in Tucson just before we left. We’ve discovered it’s easier to tape cardboard to the wall to help decide where to put the pictures, than it is to realize it’s wrong after all the nails are in. We didn’t bother every time, but this large wall has been a challenge.

Doesn’t the cardboard look wonderful? It’s the newest style! Lol.

My mom painted this picture:

It used to be in a dark frame and I rarely had anywhere light & bright enough for a dark picture. But I reframed it and the white frame highlights the white flowers in the center. I’m much happier with it now.

We’ve also bought a few houseplants so it’s starting to feel like a home. It was pretty bare there for awhile. (Not to mention the blue walls! Omg! We’re so glad the walls aren’t blue anymore!)

This, by the way, is John’s office, which is located between the kitchen and the garage, with a sliding door to the back porch. Where else would a man want to be? (Other than camping?)

After we got back from Jackalope we sat on our covered porch and listened to the thunderstorm.

I love covered back porches in warm desert areas that don’t have a lot of bugs. It’s so fun to be out in the rain without getting cold and wet! I’m super lucky we have a covered porch at both houses. It’s pretty much where I spend most of my time during the day – whichever house we’re at!

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com

Camping with Serenity and the dogs

First of all, a note about Serenity. Serenity is doing great! When I look at facebook, it sometimes makes me wonder, OMG, what exactly is going on up there in Boise?!?This weekend we were able to hang out together and it was very reassuring for me. All seems to be fine.

The latest is Serenity may change their legal first name to Callan, which is Scottish/Welsh/Irish for rock. They still want to be called Serenity as their nickname, with they/them pronouns. It’s been fun to watch the evolution of this as it is unfolding. And quite the learning experience!

We met in Nevada to go camping, with the practical purpose of giving our dog Kai to Serenity and their roommates. Kai has been challenging me lately and Serenity and their roommates have kindly agreed to adopt him.

It took us a day and a half to get there from Albuquerque, because we couldn’t leave until mid-afternoon. We made it as far as a rest stop near Flagstaff. We have been finding rest stops to be decent places to stay in the camper van overnight; the trick is to find one with parking behind the facilities, well away from the freeway so it’s not too loud. This can be assessed ahead of time using google satellite view.

Along the road we saw the recent aftermath of several accidents. Traveling never feels safe to me.

Finally we made it to our destination, Big Rocks Wilderness in Nevada. It’s at the halfway point between Boise and Tucson. Turns out we weren’t coming from Tucson, but that was the original intent!

After getting the van situated and sending Serenity updated, detailed directions to our campsite, we went for a walk.

We didn’t go far, just a bit of a wander around to stretch our legs before dinner.

We were poking around a little in the boulders near our campsite when suddenly we realized Kai was gone! We had seen him right behind us just a moment prior, so we knew he was nearby. We called him, but Kai has been less and less willing to come when he’s called. For one thing, he’s getting deaf. For another thing, he just doesn’t seem to care too much what we may or may not want him to do nowadays.

After looking around and calling for a few minutes, we started to get really worried. The desert is no place for a small dog to be lost. He wouldn’t survive long with no water. And he would be an easy target for coyotes.

I figured he had just gotten hot and laid down in the shade, but where was he?

After about 10 minutes of frantic calling and whistling, we decided to split up and I would head back to the campsite to see if Kai was there. We were only a few hundred yards from the van, not even a quarter mile. There was just a low ridge between us and the van, so no chance that John or I would get lost.

We agreed that if I found Kai, I would honk the horn three times so John would know to come back. Otherwise, we would meet back at the van in an hour.

I went over the low ridge and intersected the road just a short way down from the van. The moment I got onto the road I saw Kai, a few yards ahead of me, ambling casually up the road toward the campsite. I called him. He heard me, glanced back, and kept walking slowly along. It was as if he were to say, “Oh, so you got tired of this stupid hike too? It’s nearly dinnertime, time to be getting back.”

He was not lost, not worried, and not excited to see me. He was completely indifferent, trudging up the road toward the campsite. When we got to the van I honked the horn 3 times as agreed, put Kai on a leash, and set back out to find John.

Well, Kai was having nothing to do with that. He was done walking! So I left him in the van, honked 3 more times, and went to find John. It turned out John never heard the van honking. We were both surprised the noise didn’t travel such a short distance. No wonder rescuers come within a few hundred feet of people without finding them! If John couldn’t even hear the van horn, he certainly wasn’t going to be able to hear me whistling.

Kai was once an extremely well behaved dog. He’s very reward oriented, so with the proper reward structures set up, he was motivated to follow the rules. For example, if he sat quietly, he got dinner. If he whined or barked, he didn’t get dinner until he sat quietly. So guess what – he aways sat quietly!

But unlike my other dogs, who tend to get into good habits, Kai will try to get away with anything that he can. When the rules are consistently rewarded in the expected manner, Kai will behave flawlessly. But any confusion and he will regress badly, because ultimately he’s not a people-pleaser; ultimately it’s just all about what’s in it for him.

And lately, as he ages, he is showing an increasing indifference and impatience with the rules. He’s getting to be a grumpy old man! Unfortunately, he’s also becoming more of a bully. It was a few years ago when I realized I needed to keep him away from small children. He never really hurt anyone, but he would get growly and snappish, which isn’t appropriate and worried me.

He also started bullying the other dogs. Again, nothing serious, but still annoying. He growled if one of the other dogs sat down to close to him, yet he would sit right on top of them if he wanted their spot! We started calling him Butthead because that’s how he was acting.

Then when I was sick on chemo, he started being a butthead toward me too. Again nothing serious. But more and more frequently he would act hostile, and I just wasn’t up for it mentally or emotionally. He also snapped at me a time or two, completely unprovoked. At first I brushed it off, figuring I must have accidentally scared him because he is losing his hearing. But I started wondering if he might someday actually bite me.

My friend Sandy volunteered to take him for awhile. At one point she was considering adopting him, but then she got a new job and is planning to move away this summer. So she was going to keep him just until later this spring. Then while we were in Florida Kai’s behavior tanked, badly. So we picked him up from Sandy’s as soon as we were back from Florida, and brought him to Tucson.

I didn’t want to be bullied by that dog again. I got an idea. I figured he would be nice to me if I was the source of his food. I asked John to let me be the one to feed and care for him. At first that totally worked! Kai is too smart to bite the hand that feeds him, or so we thought at the time. For a whole month it seemed to work very well. I gave him his food and all his loves and cuddles and he treated me very well – because, basically, he had to.

Until Saturday. We were all sitting around in camp chairs in the middle-of-nowhere Nevada desert having lunch, when suddenly Kai tried to steal Serenity’s bratwurst sandwich. Serenity grabbed it back from him and Kai bit Serenity’s hand and wouldn’t let go! I rushed over to rescue Serenity, and Kai bit me too! Hard. I was bleeding and I have bruises under my fingernails. And all I had done was reach toward him.

Meanwhile, the other dog, Kira, was acting like a good dog should. In the confusion of both of us being bitten, we abandoned our sandwiches on our camp chairs. While John leashed Kai and we all searched for a first aid kit, Kira was left alone with bratwurst temptations right at nose level. But she just sat there, sniffing the air hopefully. She’s a sweetheart and I really miss her (I gave her to Serenity last summer because Serenity was lonely and really wanted a dog.) So of course I gave her some bratwurst when everything calmed down. She earned it!

Here she is right after having rolled around in the grass. Kira’s favorite thing is playing ball, her second favorite thing is jumping in water, and if there are no balls or water, she will just roll around in the dirt, lol.

I was surprised Serenity still wanted to take Kai after the inauspicious biting incident. But Serenity’s roommates have been really enjoying Kira and were looking forward to getting Kai too. So we’re giving it a try. If it doesn’t work, John and I will take Kai back, and then we’ll have to see how it goes. Kai is 15 years old and won’t live forever. He probably has the beginnings of dementia. The end of a dog’s life is often difficult and we’re just going to have to address things as they arise.

Despite the dog issues, we had an excellent visit with Serenity. Here they are with Kai.

That tattoo isn’t finished by the way – it will be filled in and colored. When done, it will be a big dragon.

Big Rocks wilderness is aptly named.

Hey, get that dog away from the cliff edge!

Ok, that’s better.

We didn’t go on any long hikes because it was too hot mid-day for the dogs, and Kai has limited energy nowadays. We just mostly walked around a bit in the morning and the evening.

John can get a little bored when the hiking isn’t difficult enough.

No, I don’t know what he’s doing. Just, you know, big rocks in the Big Rocks Wilderness!

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com

The Race is On (Florida Boating, Post 37)

Friday, February 26

On Thursday afternoon, we arrived at our chosen truck stop earlier than expected. We considered going on for another hour or two, but we didn’t want to spend the night on the road anywhere near El Paso. So instead, we stopped early and we spent the late afternoon relaxing in the enormous gravel parking lot.

It was a decision we later almost regretted, but at the time I enjoyed resting in the remaining bit of sun and talking with Serenity – we usually have a regular Thursday afternoon phone call. And Laura calls on Saturdays 🙂 I’ve got good kids.

Friday morning started abruptly when I checked my phone shortly after waking up. Our credit card company was inquiring about a suspicious purchase attempt at midnight. “Was this you? YES or NO?” $22 at some place I’d never heard of. Groggily, we tried to think.

If I typed “Yes”, a criminal could have access to our credit number. If I typed, “No”, they would immediately cancel our card. We use that card for everything. For too many things. For gas purchases, for online purchases, to pay utility bills, everything.

We had been ordering a lot of weird things for the boat, from vendors I had never heard of. Could it be one of them, finally putting a batch of charges through at an odd hour of night? Also we had been in the Florida Keys and in Houston, buying gas at places with crazy-sounding names. Could it have been one of those unfamiliar gas stations?

John googled the name of the vendor. They sell air guns? Tactical knives? Doesn’t sound like us. Perhaps it’s a place that would have boat parts? No. John said, no. Not us. I opened the text from our bank and typed, “No”. The card was instantly canceled.

Do we even have another credit card with us? If not, John thought we probably had enough cash with us for gas to get home, and we had plenty of food in the van. We dug through our luggage and John found a credit card associated with an old account we never use. He called to activate our never-before-used card, and we got on our way.

As John drove through unending West Texas, I got online to change the credit card number – everywhere. The phone company, the internet company, the storage unit; many, many places would attempt to automatically debit that card when bills came due, most within the next few days as the end of the month approached.

Suddenly, in midst of all that logging in and fielding verification codes pinging my phone, I got an unexpected ping. “Notice from DOH to Kristina: vaccine is now available at a location near you, sign-up is on a first-come, first-serve basis…”

They sent my code! I had a code! In order to get vaccinated in New Mexico, you have to sign up online and then wait and wait, and then eventually you get a code. Once you get a code you can schedule an appointment, but appointments fill fast. I had heard of people with codes trying for days and weeks to actually find an available appointment. I knew I had to act immediately. I got online and there were two appointments left, 1:00 and 1:30 at a Walgreens in Albuquerque. Nothing available the next day, or any day after that, just 1:00 or 1:30 today. That or nothing. I grabbed the 1:30 before it disappeared. But how would we ever get to Albuquerque in time? 

We were deep in West Texas, heading toward Tucson. We were at least 5 hours from Albuquerque. We would be over an hour late. Should we turn north at Las Cruces and drive several hours out of our way up to Albuquerque, not knowing whether they would take me so late? Would they have already given my shot away?

As we approached Las Cruces, our decision point, I gave them a call. At first, I selected the phone tree options for those with covid vaccination related questions. That call went nowhere – just some pre-recorded messages. I had to somehow reach the local Walgreens store and convince an employee at that store to talk to me. 

I tried again, this time answering the phone tree questions erroneously, as if I wasn’t calling about covid. I eventually reached someone at the store. I tried to turn on the charm (something I’m not very good at). I begged, cajoled and sweet-talked (also things I’m not very good at). She put me on hold. I got another person. I gave her my same desperate appeal. I’m in Las Cruces. I’m on my way, please wait for me, I’m coming.

She said I absolutely had to be there by the last appointment at 3:00. Our estimate of our arrival time ranged from 2:44 to 3:05. I begged her to give us to 3:05. We turned north toward Albuquerque – we were committed now.

Just past Las Cruces, google maps suddenly started trying to route us off the freeway. A slowdown? A blockage? Was it really bad enough to route us onto back roads? We’d never make it. 

Our success with google maps has been iffy at best this trip. Sometimes it routes us off the main roads into residential areas, presumably to save a few seconds. There had been no way to tell the app: we are towing a boat! Leave us on the main roads even if it takes 30 seconds longer!

The exit was coming up fast – just seconds ahead – we’d need to decide immediately. It was a long detour in an extremely rural area – once we made our decision there’d be no going back. We quickly debated. Do we go around the freeway blockage on country highways, or wait it out on the freeway? If we took the country highways, we would definitely arrive after 3:00. There’s no way we’d make it. In the last second we decided to ignore the reroute directions from the navigation app, and stay on the freeway and hope for the best. Sometimes freeway back-ups can clear quickly.

We sped on, hope diminishing. I could see the purple line on my phone map showing the freeway blockage up ahead. There was no other available route around the blockage. I remembered the two-hour delay we experienced a couple months ago on our way down to Tucson from Phoenix. The freeway had been completely closed the entire morning. Will it be that bad?

Suddenly I realized the backup was due to a border control check-point. That was excellent news. Border control back-ups come and go much more readily than major freeway accidents. Maybe we would make it after all!

Sure enough, we breezed through border control. They waved cheerfully and didn’t even want to peek into our heavily loaded van (white privilege, btw). Fingers crossed, we were going to make it.

We made it to Walgreens at 2:50, with a full ten minutes to spare. They were waiting for me. Although I’m not good at sweet-talking, I am very good at profuse thank-you’s. I was so grateful! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I was the local celebrity, the one who drove all the way from Las Cruces to get my shot.

This concludes the series about our trip to Florida and back. I hope you enjoyed the story! We enjoyed our challenging and unique vacation. Soon we will all be able to go back to having normal vacations again.

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com

Stopping in Houston (Florida Boating, Post 36)

On our way back from Florida we stopped in Houston to see Monica. I had been sad that we only got to see her for a few minutes on the way out. This time we rented an airbnb for a couple of nights, so we could stay in her neighborhood and visit safely outside, without risking exposing her to covid.

For some reason, Monica has not been able to get her covid shot yet. I know my sister-in-law and brother-in-law (who live down there near her) are working hard to help get that done. I don’t understand if the State of Texas really doesn’t have their act together or what the hold-up is, but a lot of my friends in Arizona and New Mexico, who are much younger than Monica, have theirs. She is 80 years old and needs her vaccination already!

Our airbnb was terrible and I’d never stay there again, but it was worth it to get to spend time with Monica.

We took walks around her beautiful neighborhood and noticed how sad and stressed the palm trees looked.

(No, that big fancy house is not our airbnb. I didn’t bother taking any pictures of the unremarkable airbnb. This picture is of that poor distressed palm tree.)

That was quite a storm they had! But the ducks seemed fine. Or whatever this is 🙂

I did find a 4-leaf clover.

I never look for them – I just see them. They’re just unexpectedly there. Four-leaf clovers are my superpower. For what it’s worth. It’s not a very useful superpower.

Usually I pick them when I see them. When I was younger I would press them in books. Nowadays I just take a photo or two.

Who knows – maybe they’re good luck!

Turns out, the next day we were going to need a bit of luck, so I guess it’s a good thing I found a 4-leaf clover…

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com

What have we been eating? (Florida Boating, Post 35)

Some of you are intrigued and curious about what we’ve been eating on our trip and how we were able to bring a whole month’s worth of food with us. I actually brought too much food, lol!

We had a small amount of refrigeration most of the time, all except for the 5 days on the boat. But while we were on the boat, we could leave our refrigerated items in the van refrigerator, powered by the solar panels on top of the van. Because of that, we could bring yogurt, cheese, rice milk, and eggs.

For the first part of the trip we had an electric burner, but it broke shortly after arriving in Florida. We also have a microwave in the van and in the vacation rental. In the boat we have a one-burner camp stove. We always had a way to heat food, and often had refrigeration.

What we didn’t bring: fresh meat, fresh vegetables and fruit that would bruise easily or spoil quickly. We did have apples for about the first half of the trip. We also had hard-boiled eggs for about the first half of the trip.

Breakfast choices included instant coffee, yogurt, dry cereal, granola & granola bars, dried fruit, instant oatmeal and grits. I like grits a lot – I eat them sweet at breakfast time and savory at dinner time. John could eat granola every day for every meal, lol. Even at home that’s his go-to.

Before our electric burner broke, we occasionally made eggs or pancakes from a mix. We keep cooking oil in the van supplies. We also could have made pancakes on the camp stove on the boat, but I don’t remember doing so.

Cooking eggs in the van:

For lunches we had snacks and sandwiches – bread, cheese, salami, pepperoni, jerky, crackers, nut butter, jam, hard boiled eggs and mixed nuts and other packaged snacks. If we had time we often cooked dinner food for lunch. We frequently eat our largest meal in the middle of the day.

Dinner was usually a rice or noodle bowl with canned chicken or tuna and canned vegetables, with various sauces or spices, including a couple of different kinds of hot sauce. Everything is better with sriracha, right? We had a variety of packaged toppings and sauces, plus spices.

This wasn’t all our spices, just the ones we liked to have out handy. We also had more in the bin.

In the Florida humidity the garlic salt caked so hard that I couldn’t even get it out with a knife. That doesn’t happen in the desert!

Wet food in packets that don’t need refrigeration is really handy to have, but I found it hard to find ones that we liked. This Indian food wasn’t bad.

I was less enthused with these seasoning packets.

I liked my own spices better and won’t buy these seasoning packets again.

This broth doesn’t need refrigerated until it’s open. It travels well except it’s heavy. So I wouldn’t fly with it, but since we drove out, we brought a couple of these along.

These rice packets are handy – the rice is fully cooked.

Here is an example of something I enjoyed:

It’s rice with chicken, acorn squash and seaweed. Acorn squash travels really well if you don’t mind the weight and bulk. It lasts a long time without refrigeration and is sturdy – you can jam it into the bottom of a bag and not worry about it.

Acorn squash also cooks up easily in a microwave. I cut it in half and scoop out the seeds. I actually salt and microwave the seeds and eat them too – I really like them. But some people throw the seeds away, so that’s ok too. They’re better toasted in the oven, but I was surprised how well they microwaved.

The squash microwaves easily. I cut the squash in quarters and only cook one at a time, or as needed. They only take 2 minutes in the microwave. Then I scrape the squash off the rind after it’s cooked. The remaining quarters refrigerate fine for several days. Squash is versatile because you can eat it sweet with sugar and cinnamon, or unsweetened in soups and stews.

My rice bowl probably sounds bad to you if you don’t like seaweed, but I love seaweed and it travels very well. I buy dried wakame. It’s lightweight, indestructible, lasts forever, and a tiny bit goes a really long way. This one ziplock bag will make many, many meals.

Here’s what it looks like dried – this is enough for a whole bowl of seaweed.

Each of those tiny pieces expands to this big:

If it were just me, I’d eat seaweed every day and not even bother with canned vegetables at all. Unfortunately, John isn’t a seaweed fan. Canned vegetables for him!

The rice bowls I ate on this trip are very similar to other rice bowls I frequently enjoy on a regular day at home, so it wasn’t a sacrifice at all. Here’s one I made at home that is broth, black rice, seaweed and panfried fish. The only difference on our trip is I didn’t have frozen fish, and used canned chicken instead.

I was worried about a lack of fresh vegetables so I also bought powdered greens for the trip. It was awful. I didn’t realize it was sweetened and I put it into a bowl of stew! Ugh! Apparently it was sweetened in order to put it into smoothies. Yuck, and I hate stevia. Clearly, I didn’t do a good enough job reading the ingredients.

The protein powder wasn’t much better. I’ve since realized that the protein powder is ok when added to baked goods, but it’s not for soups and stews! I won’t buy these again.

Next time I’m going to make my own dried vegetables. I already bake kale until dry and crispy – which is very yummy and would travel well.

Here’s how to make crispy kale: Buy the bundles with full leaves (not the bags of chopped kale), so you can easily remove the stems. Stems don’t dry well. You can keep them and sauté them for dinner if you want, they’re perfectly fine cooked.

After removing the stems, chop the kale and put it into a plastic bag. Pour a little olive oil in the bag with the kale and shake it around, coating the kale. You can add a little salt too. Spread the oiled kale out on a cookie sheet and bake for awhile until completely crispy. I don’t remember what temperature or how long. I just wing it. Trust me, it’s easy.

I also have a food dehydrator that should work with vegetables. So far I’ve only used it for fruit, but I’m looking forward to experimenting with drying some vegetables for our next trip!

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com

Busting Stereotypes (Florida Boating, Post 34)

Tuesday, February 23

We slept on Monday night at a rest stop, specifically, the Texas Travel Information Center, i.e. the welcome center when you first cross into Texas from Louisiana. We’ve been driving through rough, rural areas for two days now. The pickups are large, the barns collapsing in the onslaught of hurricanes these past few years, the port areas heavy with industry. The restaurants do not include organic, gluten-free options. Mask wearing has been sporadic at best. You’d think there was no pandemic down here!

As we opened our curtains at the truck stop and took down our window coverings preparing to get back on the road, I saw a trucker walk by our van on the way back to his semi. He wore the most amazing mask I’d ever seen. It was black, or perhaps a deep, dark blue, and it was covered with sparkles! Sequins and glitter glistened and sparkled in the morning light.

At first I thought perhaps it was just wet – a few spilled coffee drops perhaps? But no, the entire surface of the mask sparkled with brilliance. Glittering with multi-colored beads, sequins and glitter, it sparkled like every little girl’s dream mask, except trucker-sized. And he was a big trucker, lumbering back to his semi truck with the red cab.

I will never know the story of the large, tough-looking trucker in the glitter mask, but I loved it. It made me happy for the rest of the drive that day. Now I want a glitter mask too! But it would not be the same. I would just be a dorky old lady in a glitter mask. The trucker was brilliant!

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com

Heading Toward Home (Florida Boating, Post 33)

Sunday, February 21

Sadly, it’s time to drive home. We’re going to try to take it a bit slower. We have scheduled a night and half a day at a state park near Tallahassee, as well as two nights and a day at an airbnb near Houston in order to visit Monica safely.

At this time there were still reports of power outages and boil water advisories in Houston. We expected things to be back to normal by the time we arrived, but just in case, John bought extra bottled water at a grocery store here in Fort Lauderdale so we would be self-sufficient for the rest of the trip, all the way to Tucson if needed.

We had loved Lake Griffin State Park in northern Florida where we briefly visited on our drive down, so we had high hopes for our reservation at Torreya State Park. We even planned to stay an extra half a day there, rather than arriving at dusk and leaving right away in the morning.

Turns out it was the ugliest state park I have ever seen! It was laughably ugly! I could not understand why there was a state park there at all. 

I tried to take some nice pictures for you. Ok, there was this big house.

There was a “famous” overlook behind the house.

I admit, it would have looked better in the summer – greener at least. But this spot is never going to be spectacular. The Florida state park website claims, “High bluffs overlooking the Apalachicola River make Torreya one of Florida’s most scenic places.” HAHAHAHA! Florida has a lot of beautiful places, but this isn’t one of them.

We tried to get a good picture of the Torreya tree. This was the best picture we could get.

It was only about 10 feet tall and the top half looked even more raggedy than the bottom half. We later discovered on the internet that the Torreya tree is critically endangered due to a fungal blight that started in the 1940’s.

Since we were there, we tried to go for a walk.

The only redeeming feature is the sunset. A good sunset can make anything look nice.

We almost got lost in the featureless brush and muck. I don’t know why John was bothering with a mask. No one else was out there (for good reason). Except mosquitos.

We made it back to the campsite before dark.

I guess this state park is really more of a sanctuary for a critically endangered tree than a park for human enjoyment. Which is fine, but not what we were expecting. The next morning we got up and left instead of staying our planned half-day.

Onward!

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com

Fort Lauderdale River Walk (Florida Boating, Post 32)

Saturday, February 20 

We had the BEST Cuban food in Fort Lauderdale! I’m so glad I’ve decided that I’m not eating out unless it’s really good food. And by that I don’t mean expensive food with candles, cloth napkins and snooty waiters. I just mean a cook who knows their spices! I loved the take-out we got here: https://padrinos.com/

On Saturday we went to the Fort Lauderdale Riverwalk. The weather was breezy and slightly cool, but still very nice out. It was a very pleasant walk, except one section of cafés where we turned around because there were too many people. In Florida most people don’t wear a mask when they’re outside.

I’ve never seen a little urban boat ramp before. It’s a hard to tell in the picture, but that’s a small boat ramp!

There were several dotted along the section of the canal that we walked. The little boat ramps came complete with little parking lots for just a very few trailers:

I took tons and tons of pictures on the Riverwalk.

And there were drawbridges! Drawbridges make me laugh! It’s such a weird but basic idea. I can just imagine the first person to suggest inventing a drawbridge – and everyone else saying, “Nah, that’s just not workable, that’s just silly.”

We waited on the pedestrian ramp as the drawbridge started up.

Up and up it goes.

Lots of boats went by, some of which needed the drawbridge up and others that could also have gone through with it down.

This little sailboat isn’t much bigger than ours.

Finally the bridge is coming back down.

We crossed over to the park on the other side.

And walked along a marina.

Somebody misses having a garden.

No, that wasn’t an “Ooops, I accidentally took a picture of the ground and lazily posted it on my bog anyway.” I thought those bricks were beautiful.

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (Florida Boating, Post 31)

Friday, February 19

The Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami is huge and amazing. We weren’t even out of the parking lot before we saw our first wildlife. It’s hard to tell in the photo, but this guy was BLUE. These lizards were also very fast. John took this particular photo – I don’t know how he did it!

Now THAT is an entrance to a tropical garden.

I told John I wanted him to build me one of these in Tucson.

Lol, Tucson will never look like this.

I was wearing a big, floppy hat, sunglasses and a mask, so I took it all off for the photo – otherwise you couldn’t see my face AT ALL. I look sunburned but I don’t know how that was possible with my entire face covered. Maybe from back when we were on the boat? I was probably just hot.

John looks like an alien. Oh, wait, did I say that out loud?

I left all my headgear on for this one. It was about the flowers, not me, anyway!

This next one is a ponytail palm. I have this tree in a pot in my house. Mine is only one foot tall!

This next one’s for Laura:

And this one too. Rainbow Eucalyptus!!! 😉

But not this one. This is one is something different. I think. Confusing, I know. I was confused there myself for a moment. I should have finished up the two close-ups with a full shot of the eucalyptus, but instead, the next picture I took was a full shot of a completely different tree? Apparently.

This next one is a sausage tree from Africa. It has big, heavy fruit hanging from the end of long, root-like appendages.

As you can see, there weren’t very many people there. I don’t know why – it was a pleasant Friday afternoon.

We have one of these cycads at home in a pot. Ours is yellow. Or a “beautiful golden hue” as John and I were joking, while admiring the rich green healthy ones in Florida. Ours froze in Albuquerque last fall, shortly before we could get it to Tucson. We are hoping ours isn’t completely dead – we think it will come back this spring.

This, believe it or not, is cactus hanging from a tree. It’s growing on the branches up there.

Did you notice the mist? This whole section was filled with mist being sprayed by misters attached to the trees. As if it wasn’t already humid enough!

And last but not least…Chihuly!

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Next Stop – Fort Lauderdale (Florida Boating, Post 30)

Friday, February 19

Time to bid a sad farewell to the Florida Keys! Our resort is sold out for the weekend. We don’t have reservations because we originally planned to be out on the boat this weekend – before the weather turned too windy.

A selfie on the morning of our departure:

We hope to be back soon!

With the rest of the southwest still reeling from a severe storm, we were reluctant to leave Southern Florida quite yet. We looked for somewhere to stay in Miami, but since we are avoiding hotels due to covid, we couldn’t find much. We finally found a cute little individual unit in an unremarkable residential section of Fort Lauderdale. It was an older complex, but our unit was remodeled inside.

It was only the size of a modest hotel room, but it had a bonus almost-kitchen with a nearly full-sized refrigerator and an industrial sized sink. There was zero counter space, which was why the cutting board and the room manual were left on top of the stove. There was nowhere else to put them!

The best part was the front deck.

Here’s the view of the courtyard from the deck:

John was intrigued by this fruiting tree in the courtyard, and consulted the internet to determine what it was.

According to John it’s a sapodilla and it is apparently edible, but sorry, no thanks, I don’t eat unknown plants identified on the internet, lol.

We were joined for breakfast by this friendly and talkative cat.

He wanted to go inside. Sorry, no.

He has a snaggletooth, just like our dog back home.

Kitty belly!

Ok, time to be serious.

The kitty stare. “Lady, are you going to let me inside or what?”

Suddenly a door opened across the courtyard and the cat leapt off our balcony and dashed toward the door, along with a second gray cat who appeared from nowhere. Their home was across the way, and it was kitty breakfast time!

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com