Travel Day, Rainy Day, Sunny Day, Birth Day

We emptied holding tanks and water tanks this morning to lighten our load a bit before taking on five more people and one dog. Oh yes, and a huge pile of luggage and a pile of Christmas gifts almost as big. I suspect we are travelling "overloaded" on weight today but we will keep our speed down and drive with extra care. And lest you worry about us, we have very good, new, heavy duty tires.

I'm really pleased that again on this return trip I won't have to do all the driving. Did I say that my son drives a school bus? He handles longer, heavier, noisier, every day. :D And I won't have to be driving out of Atlanta in the heavy rain. My 45 year old son is really a good kid.

My Sis is interested in Atlanta's architecture. I love these rainy, misty shots.

This structure below modeling the Olympic torch was built to commemorate the 1996 Olympics held in Atlanta. It is the dark column in the right center of the picture. And yes, this is how dark the morning was, about 10 am.

Here's the very top of Six Flags Over Georgia in the rain. This roller coaster, one of many, is actually considerably higher than the very tall trees that are nearer and screening it. I might come back some day and ride the highest roller coaster. In my younger days I was a great fan of roller coasters. Now, I understand what they do to me biochemically and I'm less willing to mess up my stable brain for the brief thrill. But someday, maybe, just maybe.

I am really loving the feeling of travelling with my family with me. I miss my two much loved members back in Montana and wish they could be with us, although I don't know where we would have put them! We are definitely packed in, but each person has a comfortable spot and seems content.

Since it's my birthday, I am enjoying the leisure of remembering birthdays past. Since my children grew up and I became solo, I have made a point of doing exactly what I want to do on my birthday. That has usually meant a trip to Cooke City, Montana through Yellowstone Park with a camera. This year I am 2000 miles away and realizing as we cruise down the road that I am doing exactly what I want to do each and every day. How lucky is that? I am having a birthday year!

I take the wheel through the state of Alabama. We are moving into more level terrain and the sun is beginning to break through the clouds. By the time we reach Mississippi, the sun is shining and we are under bright blue skies.

Nearing Jackson, the sun is low in the sky and it will be dark by the time we get my RV parked, unloaded, levelled and hooked up to electricity again. It's been a lovely travel day, watching the countryside change, moving from rain to blue skies, keeping tabs on my travelling buddies.

And tomorrow is a new day.

The Farm and the Family

Chorro and I went out with camera to explore a little this morning, just so you could get oriented with us. This is Atlanta, Georgia.

Here's the view across the street, a residential street lined with those long, low 70's ramblers.


And here it is in the opposite direction. Now what National Wilderness are we in?


Here's the little farm house that has had a city grow around it.

The camellias are blooming in Atlanta, too.

And a tractor!! My favorite kind, a blue Ford tractor.

And a baby tractor!

The livestock consists of squirrels and chipmunks. They taunt Chorro, whose pride is still stinging from not being allowed to eat any of the cats in Mississippi. Twice he has taken off like a shot after a squirrel I hadn't noticed. He has been on the retractable leash which instantly whips out to full length, pulling my arm out way farther than an arm was designed to go. Ouch. Can you see the two squirrels in the picture below? They wouldn't sit still for me.


Most of today was devoted to Family Fun. Many members of this family were able to be here today, the three sisters and two of their spouses, their mother, all of her grandchildren, a darling little great niece, another niece with a fiftieth birthday, a close family friend, and three of the grandchildren's special friends.

Today was the family's first opportunity to have a 'Christmas' together, so there was lots of activity and chattering along with cooking, eating, and, AT LAST for some, package opening. Credit for the best gifts had to go to my twelve-year old granddaughter, who carefully packed, wrapped and gifted her aunt with the shoes she discovered her aunt had left behind during a visit a few months ago and to her other grandmother whose gift to the three big boys was farting silly putty.

It was a great day, and this family has been so gracious to me and has added to my already memorable Christmas of 2007. I am delighted that my son and daughter-in-law included me in this trip.

Tomorrow we will pack up six people and two dogs, Christams gifts, and luggage into my twenty-five foot RV and make our way back to Mississippi. Like Southwest Air, we will not have assigned seating. And I do hope they aren't knocking at my door at 6 o'clock tomorrow morning vying for the best seat.

And tomorrow is a new day.

More Vegetables

Today we went to the DeKalb Farmer's Market in Decatur, Georgia. It is truly an international market, both in products offered and in patronage. It was fun to see people shopping in their native costumes. It is a colorful market in both senses of the word.

The market has a big sign at the entrance banning photography of any kind. I'm not sure why, perhaps to respect others' privacy or beliefs, but photojournalists over the years have been photographing people in world markets, so I was puzzled.

Ethnic foods and ingredients of all kinds imaginable were available. Because I have such limited storage space, I didn't buy things to sample, but I sure would if I lived in the area. Different areas showcased foods from India, Egypt, Japan, Greece, and many other cultures.

And what really thrilled me was the huge variety of fruits and vegetables that I never knew existed, and I after all am a veggie kinda vagabond gal! Strange, exotic fruits and vegetables from countries around the world. Sizes and shapes and colors that were totally foreign to me. There was a carambola fruit from Asia, a large yellow fruit with five ribs running lengthwise down it that yields star-shaped fruit when sliced horizontally. There was a fruit called a cherimoya from South America, a large green fruit, kind of heart shaped with a bumpy skin. There were some large pear-looking vegetables called chayotes also from South America. What fun it would be to shop here regularly and experiment with different tastes.

Another huge area was devoted to shellfish and fish. You could choose squid or octopus, and you could choose them in various sizes -- do you prefer little squid, medium sized squid or big squid? Do you prefer them with their tentacles on or off? Shrimp ranged in size from tiny to the hugest shrimp I had ever seen.

And suppose you are interested in fresh fish. Just how fresh do you want them? Do you want to pick them out while they are still swimming in the tanks and have them cleaned and wrapped while you stand and wait or are you content to trust that the fish in the cases were very recently swimming on their own too? You can have it either way.

The area devoted to fresh meat was almost as extensive, but I did not see live buffalo in the area, nor Angus steers for that matter. I suppose one has to draw the line somewhere. I could not help but wonder if this world market in Atlanta was selling buffalo burger from Ted Turner's Montana buffalo ranch.

The market carries an abundance of organic foods and in one section was the familiar freezer case with my old standby, Ezekiel bread. I saw that I could choose regular or sesame, and I could also opt for Ezekiel hamburger buns. But the Ezekiel English muffins, hot dog buns, and pita bread that I could also buy in my little Town and Country market in my little rural town in Montana were absent! That made me smile.

I found purple cauliflower that was just too pretty not to buy.

And here's a combo that was made for me.

I regretted passing up the Louisiana hot sauce in Louisiana, so I was happy to find it here. And don't we all need a nice bottle of orange oil?

And for forty-six cents, I bought a 4 ounce container of a spice (or mixture of spices?) called Masala Punjabi Chole. It has a kind of cinnamony-cloves scent and I will try it on sweet potatoes or squash. Or maybe in my steel cut oatmeal or my protein powder/berry breakfast shake. I might even sprinkle a bit on my mango!

Today it was fun to see something new and learn a little.


And tomorrow is a new day.

Finding Vegetables in Atlanta

I understand Atlanta has been the fastest growing large city in the United States for some years now. So in the process of its growing, it has grown 'around' lots of pre-existing residences, including this one where I am parked.

I am at John and Lisa's home and John and Lisa actually live inside Atlanta, on a little hill with huge old trees on several acres of land that was once a farm with a little farmhouse on it. The land has been in John's family for several generations and, understandably, he isn't eager to see it developed. So except for the traffic noise, sometimes it is hard to tell if we are in the city or the country.

Just north of Atlanta is huge Lake Lanier, created in the 1950's by the Army Corps of Engineers for flood control, power production, water supply and recreation. On this lake resides John's father, "Doc." Today we drove up to Lake Lanier to Doc's home on the lake.

Atlanta is in a very severe drought and as a consequence, Lake Lanier is now 20 feet below its normal level. So here is what Doc's waterfront property looks like right now.


Everything that shows up now as sand is normally underwater.


Note the dock in the upper left corner of the picture.

Fortunately, Doc has still been able to irrigate his land from the lake. I say fortunately, because Doc is a gardener/farmer at heart. His property has many gardens, yes I said many. Some of them are not producing now, at the end of December, but many are.




The highlight of my day was picking fresh vegetables in December.


Look at these cabbages!



Broccoli without end.


Fresh dill. I can't wait to chop that onto some fresh fish.

Not to mention baby spinach, turnips and rutabagas.


What do you think of the size of these radishes? When I pulled them I thought they must be some strange new variety of beets.

So, guess what we had for dinner? No, not all of them. We had broccoli and a rutabaga-turnip medley to accompany Lisa's delicious meat loaf and John's superb mashed potatoes.

What will tomorrow bring? More veggies? I don't know.

Because tomorrow is a new day.

Yep, We're on the Road Again!

Well, it's so long since we were moving that I've almost forgotten how to do the before-it-moves RV check. Everything stowed? Everything tied down? Everything disconnected? Drawers and doors closed? Vents and windows closed? Everything in a safe place? Everything locked in?

Here we are, ready to roll again.

For the first time since we left Montana, Chorro and I will not be alone in our travels. My son, granddaughter and their dog will be with us. I'm excited to have some company and Chorro is thrilled to be sharing his favorite sleeping spot (my bed) with Xena. The rest of the family will travel by car and it looks like Christmas is going to Georgia with us.

We're heading east to Georgia this morning under gorgeous blue sunny skies and a crispness in the air that I would have called "fall" back in Montana.

Before I left Montana I went to my local Verizon store to get an air-card to connect my computer to the internet. To insure a good connection, I also bought an antenna and amplifier. Unfortunately, I had the wrong connector between aircard and amplifier and so I have been searching for a Verizon store or a Radio Shack or similar store to find the right one. Most sales people have not even heard about antennas and amplifiers, but one day someone told me I should check at a truck stop, since truckers used the amplifiers.

So today when we stopped at a truck stop to fill up, I checked. Can you believe they had the *right* connector for my air card? Wow, what a great find! Now I can upload pictures for my blog more quickly (I hope).

We're covering many miles today. East through Mississippi and then on through Alabama and all the way over to Georgia. Three states!

Sharing the driving time made it sooooo much easier (not to mention safer) to get some pictures along the way.

If this isn't Porcupine Butte, it should be.

And here we are going over the tail end of the Appalachian Mountains.

But before we finally arrive in Georgia,

Alabama leaves her last impression to all who travel through.

Still later, about six in the evening, the Atlanta skyline appeared.

That golden dome below would be the state capital. .

And the Georgia architecture takes on a golden glow as the evening darkens and lights come on.

We left Mississippi at 9 this morning and arrived here at 6 this evening. This has been a very long day for all of us and it's time to take an evening break; relax, eat some good food, visit, and rest.

And tomorrow is a new day.

Blessings of the Season

Here are a few pictures taken during our December stay in Jackson, Mississippi.

A beautiful Christmas Eve sky behind the church where we attended a beautiful Christmas Eve candlelight service.



Whispered Christmas secrets. (Yes, puppies make plans too.)

Playing a Christmas duet on the new piano. What a beautiful gift.

A Christmas cactus making a statement.



One of the many Christmas trees

Huge hay bales displaying Christmas art.

We've had a month of peace, joy and love here in Mississippi. I hope this season has blessed you in a similar way. This has been a special Christmas with a part of my family that I don't see very often. A very busy month of activities and events, shopping and decorating, and yet time for playing and lounging. For me, a very low-stress holiday season. How lucky I am!

Many memories have been made this month. Here's a sample.

I learned how to play "Horse" with a basketball, and no it isn't at all difficult to play, but I certainly found it difficult to win. In fact I didn't. Win it, that is. Official measurements determined that my granddaughter is now one half inch taller than me, so that probably explains it all.

I lounged or loitered at Starbucks often enough to become known to most of the staff. And a Christmas Starbucks gift card will ensure that there are many Starbucks in my future as well. My travels will have a mission!

I watched a few tv shows. I went to a movie. I read a few novels and a few magazines. ( I can recommend, "Eat, Pray, Love.")

I experienced Wii!

And always managed to see one more beautiful sunrise or sunset.

Tomorrow, we will be heading east to Georgia. Chorro regrets leaving without catching any cats (thanks to a very short leash), but after all, he is a wandering wonder dog.

And tomorrow is a new day.