----------March 18-----------------

Earlier today, and I dont know why but this always makes me laugh.

.

And theres nothing interesting about this spot, I just pulled over at a hole in
the wall campsite
to rest so I could get an early start tomorrow for the Opalachicola National
Forest, but what is
cool about it is that it is almost live....Im in the middle of nowhere
connected to the internet.

width=550 height=375
/>

But theres a quarry, maybe Ill go swimming in the morning and thatll make me
think ths place is
more interesting.

Itll pick up soon! I spent thelast couple of days with some of my best friends
and I always forget
to post while I with them, or even think about what I might post.

-------------------March 19------------------------

Ponce De leon, Florida

As I was starting out on a new day on the road, I realized this place reminded me of a childhood haunt. A place where, for 2 dollars you could swim all day and go down what, to a five year old seemed like the biggest water slide on Earth.

So my whole family would load up and head to Cherokee beach. Where the owners would give us kids a buck for collecting a 20 oz cup full of cigarette butts(everyone in Alabama smokes) ....and a buck went a long way back then. For a dollar I could get a corn dog,a coke AND play a game of pool, and if you could catch the balls before they went down into the hole you could entertain yourself for a long time..

Speaking of how far a dollar would go back then, I can remember getting my allowance on Friday, one dollar, which was more than the rest of the neighborhood kids got back then(it was a poor neighborhood but we didnt know), and Id sneak down to the store and spend every cent on candy....big gumballs, jolly ranchers, lik'm aids, sweet tarts, pixie stix, and those wax sticks with sugar water inside.

That was a day the whole neighborhood looked forward to because I always shared with everyone. Id dump that bag of candy on the ground in the center of our circle and we would feast before playing one of our favorite games until our Moms made us come in for the night.

Passing this place I couldnt help but think who on Earth would get their haircut THERE? I mean there was more rust on that building than anything else.

So, of course, I stopped. And I got the best 10 dollar hair cut ever as well as a little of the town gossip and friendly service from a woman that just didnt care what the building looked like. But then again if it hadnt been so bad I probably wouldnt have stopped:)

------------------- March 20-24 ------------------------

More oF Florida,

Just a shelter I passed and stopped to see if Art 4 Critters could help them but no one was around....so onward I go.

Hey Diana!

(c)Looking for a background for one of my crows...he would look good sitting on this post, huh?

Oppalachicola Forest, and Im sure I am not spelling that right, but theres more mosquitoes there than anywhere I have ever been before.

Tampa Donut (c)

And man do people look at you funny when you buy a donut and start taking pictures of it. I mean its not like I did it nude or anything...Ill save that for next time:)

An old Mercury(c)....get used to these, I stop a hundred times to photograph old cars on my way cross country

And thats Murphy. He prefers to be called the Murphinator or Sir Murphsalot, or just plain ole Murph, but he will answer to anyone with a friendly voice.

Sadly this will be his last trip. He has congestive heart failure Im doing everything I can to stretch it out and let him stick around comfortably for a little while longer.

This is his fourth big trip, and he has logged in over 300,000 miles with me as he swam in 2 oceans, played in 6 national forests, dozens of state forest and at least 100 county parks from Orlando to Seattle, and caught over 16.2 BILLION frisbees, sticks, and tennis balls and brought two of them back.

Im going to miss him terribly.

But for now we are just taking the back roads so he can hang his head out the window anytime he wants.

.

.

.

.

Ive got to speed up to make this jump......tune in next time to see if I make it

.

_____________________March 2,2008______________________

An old photo of Molly but I thought this needed an illustration.

I had lunch with my church, at my aunts house.
The kids are just wonderful. Theyre so full of wisdom and joy. One tells me there is no such thing as luck and explained it beautifully....better than any adult ever has.

So in return, I told her about belly wishes....you have to rub your belly, or preferably someone elses belly, WHILE youre making the wish...then, when youre done, you pat your belly to make it final.(proper belly rub wishing protocol is essential)

At that point the wish is complete and all you have to do is wait.

And they knew a lot about making wishes already. They told me that you cant tell anyone what a wish was until it has come true, or else it wont ever come true...so, I was wondering, at what point you could determine a wish wasnt coming true and therefore it is safe to tell someone what you had wished?
A query we have all no doubt pondered at some time or another. And that is when Hayden, the oldest at 6, told me that I should make the wish for something to happen at a certain time...that way I would know when the deadline had passed that it was ok to tell someone what I had wished because it wasnt coming true anyway. While Molly Katherine, barely 4, said simply with a huge innocent smile "Dont be silly, wishes always come true."

Its funny how those two years can make such a huge difference in a childs outlook. THeyre very different people to begin with, that I grant, but the 4 year old answer is full of wide eyed enthusiasm and belief in a world of magic , while the 6 year old answer, still holding a ton of the magic of youth still in tact, has become practical and logical, and accepts the idea that wishes just might not come true, sometimes....on occasion.

I just know theres a lesson to be learned here....Ill have to come back to that soon.

Counters by VillagePhotos.com

EBAY SEARCH: COALBURN
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=coalburn&category0=

Every year I take off on a HUGE road trip with my dogs, a tent, and my art supplies. We stay in National Parks and Forests all the way and Alaska is always our final destination. But Ive never made it that far. Something always comes up.....usually car trouble or I run out of time or money or something. So, this year Im only planning as far as South Dakota to work on a humanitarian project with the Lakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and after that....who knows?

I hope everyone enjoys coming along and if theres anything in the area you dont think I should miss, feel free to let me know....I am always open to suggestions

------------------March 1, 2008-------------------------

Well at this rate I will get there in 2112. I pulled out this morning, drove 6 miles and promptly got myself stuck...pulling into a gas station of all places.
THe sheriff was looking at me like I barely had two brain cells to rub together as he directed traffic around the azz end of the RV for about an hour while we waited for a tow truck. But on the bright side, I now know every single person in Childersburg, Alabama.

I wish Id gotten a photo of all that but I wasnt thinking about it til we got it out of the road...but this is the place, so if youre traveling through Alabama in an RV be careful puling into this place.

Its going to get better!

And my first night without electricity....pretty cool.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.