Musings from the Beach

Federal Beach, Hobe Sound, FL

A trip to the beach was my answer to this national day of mourning.  The continuum of rolling waves gives me solace.  In the 13 years I have lived here, the trips to the beach have been too few and far between.  Perhaps I appreciate it even more because of that, but I also know I will miss being able to seek it out as a refuge when I am no longer living here. Our Federal beach in nearby Hobe Sound is rarely crowded and I enjoyed my walk along the edge of the waves which at one point almost took away my shoe.  I was trying to photo a small sandpiper and was surprised to see him at rest.  They usually are running in and out of the waves.  As I came closer I discover the poor bird had only one leg.  It added to the sadness of the day.

It’s been a busy week trying to tie up the loose ends of my 7 week absence and trip of 4984 miles!  I can see by reviewing the photos on my disc that I really haven’t completed working on those from the first half of the year, Disney, Mississippi and Alabama.  Now I’m getting ready for another adventure in Italy. It will be my fourth bicycle trip with VBT tours and Judy from Maryland as my roomie.  This time we’ll add on the trip extension which will give us 3 days in Rome.  Judy has visited there before but is happy to follow my desires for sightseeing.  It’s difficult to pare down the many places I want to visit. Before that we’ll do our bicycling in Puglia, the heel of the “boot” which sounds like a wonderful area described by one writer as “flat and fertile” an area with connections to Greece both current day (ferry from Bari where we’ll land) and historically.  I’ve posted a link below for a USA article that describes the area.

Yesterday I rode over 16 miles on my bike but wasn’t able to get out early enough today to beat the Florida heat. I did notice that Bari’s temperature today is about the same as Stuart, FL

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2007-04-24-puglia-italy_N.htm

Stephen Foster State Park

Carillon Tower

My last night of camping for a while is at this Florida park about 30 miles south of the Georgia border. It's on the Suwanee river and is a cultural center highlighting Foster as well as crafts and other music. The annual Florida Folk festival is held here on Memorial Day weekend and there are many other events during the year. I was surprised by the carillon which was designed and created by the Deagan Co of Chicago and having 97 bells. It chimed until 6 pm so I'm not sure if I can count on it as an alarm clock.

Family Camping

My summer travel is coming to an end but the past weekend will certainly be a highlight. I proposed a family camping trip for the time I would be taking care of my almost 4 year old granddaughter. Only sister Gayle from Madison and daughter Emily bought into it and we agreed on Kettle Morraine State Forest campground. Gayle's two children arrived from Ethiopia little over a year ago but their assimilation was evident as they joined right into the activities of kite flying, bike rides, swimming, games of hide and seek, Barbie dolls, campfire cookouts etc with their cousin and contemporary Katherine. Mom Gayle is pictured with them in front of their huge tent daughter Emily borrowed from a coworker which served as a great playroom as well as sleeping quarters Emily and husband Brett did a great job of assembling and disassembling and Brett was our campfire master as well. Hopefully the children will have good memories. For me it capped off weeks of enjoying the wonderful times much of which was spent in outdoor settings.

Solos

The Elkhorn Rally was a real treat in part because of the excellent organization of the leaders with two outside events, a boat ride on Lake Geneva and a theatre in the round production with a luncheon in Ft. Atkinson, but also because there were more than 20 Solos, as we who drive alone are called, in attendance.  Traveling from all over the US, they are an adventuresome group of interesting women. We had many stories to share accompanied by laughter as we recounted the times of being asked, “You are going by yourself?” The camaraderie we shared and the friendships built during these days spent together was very special. 
I am now in Clarendon Hills, a southwest suburb of Chicago visiting my friend Ginny.  I've been keeping a close eye on Hurricane Irene and breathing a sigh of relief that it appears it will spare Florida.  My heart goes out to the Bahamas though where we enjoyed our sailing days in the 90's.
On the way here I spent some time with my sister Margaret in Rock City, IL.  They have an abundance of home grown vegetables including giant zuccini which I have used in a main dish, zuccini bread and zuccini pancakes and still not used up! Fortunately Ginny allows kitchen priviledges and I've had fun getting back to cooking.

Irish Fest

Had a great evening last night at Milwaukee's lakefront festival grounds lots of traditional as well as new music including the wild and crazy group Gaelic Storm who were featured in Titanic and are a perennial favorite in this city judging by the crowd who knew the songs and the hand motions that were part of it all. The group pictured are the Wolfe Tones. I particularly enjoyed Visten 3 excellent Acadian musicians from PEI area. Good bus transportation from our camping area at State Fair Park. Hopefully today's rain won't deter our return for more.

Roadtrek Rally

110 roadtreks arrived at Walworth County fairgrounds in Elkhorn WI on Monday. It is the nicest fairgrounds I've ever been to and it would be fun to come back for the fair which starts in 2 weeks. Of the 110 there are 22 driven by solos like me and most of us are parked in the same area. We enjoy trading stories and tips Those attending are from all over the US and Canada as well Today we rode buses into the town of Lake Geneva and had a lovely boat ride with ice cream Sundays on a boat similar to the one in the photo. I have many memories of my times in my life spent here including the first night of my honeymoon of my first marriage.

On Wisconsin

I am now in Milton WI southeast of Madison.  This was my rendezvous point with Roadtrek friend and fellow dulcimer player Susan from Kissimmee who has been work camping in Minnesota.  Our home for the night is Hidden Valley RV Park and it qualifies as a "Resort".  I was ready after 6 days of dry camping meaning no water or electric other than what I have in my van from my water tank and generator sources.  We had only two showers available for many, many people who didn't want to use the one in our motor homes.  Fortunately as a former boat cruiser this isn't my first time where sponge baths had to suffice.  The hot water shower in a nice stiall though was a real treat.  I also did some water exercise in their pool during the hour of "adult only" swimming and washed two loads of laundry.  A clean me and clean sheets capped off the day with Susan doing her usual great job of feeding me!  Lots of other Roadtreks here some of which are our chapter officers.  Tomorrow there will be a board meeting at our next location, Walworth County fairgrounds, in Elkhorm which is about an hour away.  I'll be attending the board meeting in the place of our Region 5 VP's at their request.  It will be educational to get more inside knowledge of the running of the organization.
The FMCA meeting had a number of very helpful seminars both in the care and maintenance of the vehicle as well as digital photography and other computer and navigational classes.  I attend a very informative one on insurance which will come in handy as I just learned my annual motor home premium has risen by 5%!  It's more than doubled in my four years of ownership.  My agent is going to price an alternative to Progressive, but I regret not seeing the agent at the FMCA who gave the talk.  I may try to reach her later this week.
This photo was taken at our FMCA camping area.  Note the Roadtrek dwarfed by the big guys. It's not Big Mama.  We were parked on a narrow strip o grass next to that prairie restoration in my last post.

The weather has been wonderful though a bit cool for me at night and I've used the heater several times to warm the place up before crawling out of my sleeping bag.  My bag has a summer side and a winter side.  It looks like I'll be using the winter side for the next couple of weeks before heading south.