Behold, Behemoth!

 Shall I share some pictures of the sunsets we’ve been having?  Weather makes some beautiful things. 

 One thing that we have to think about, all the time, is weather. It can be as simple as parks in the north, or at higher elevations, not being open for parts of the year. This time of year, snow and/or thunderstorms can be an issue.  We are in southern Alabama. Yesterday this area was hit by severe thunderstorms, with F2 tornadoes being possible. We had the option of going to stay with friends, but weighed that against worrying about the Behemoth when we couldn’t be on it, and decided to stay.  I like to use the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) website, and started following it in the afternoon. The storms did not materialize before midnight, although strong winds started around 9pm. Soon, the dreaded Watches and Warnings started appearing.  Look at that temperature. We all expect temps to go down as night comes on, but these were going up. Warm and cold fronts were colliding. And, about midnight, the sirens went off.  I had planned ahead to head to shelter, and

We spent another day bear New Orleans driving to the Delta.  My geology geekiness has wanted to do this forever, so, of we went. We headed over the Causeway, and around New Orleans. I was driving, which is significant because, silly as it sounds, I really get nervous driving over water.  I can drive bridges over land, and even over decent gorges, but, over water, I really get white knuckled.  And this was a 24-mile drive.  (Fun Fact:  If you do it in 19 minutes, you get a ticket, because they know you were speeding.)  But I managed a smile, and a wave. First things first:  we stopped for lunch at a little hole-in-the-wall kind of place.  We had Bayou rolls; "egg rolls" made with seafood.  Then we had gumbo; two kinds, seafood, and chicken/sausage.  We finished by sharing a shrimp poboy.  7 hours later, we were still full! We drove down the west side of the delta.  It was more industrial, more "messy."  We couldn't see the river, because of the levees.  John trie

We've been busy. We have wandered ourselves to the New Orleans area.  We are on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, and have been exploring. Last Friday, we took a food tour of New Orleans.  We invited some friends, and headed off in the morning.  We met our tour guide in front of the St Louis Cathedral.  Yes, our tour took us through the French Quarter.  I really had no burning desire to visit the French Quarter, but we had a great time, probably because we went during the day. We started with coffee, beignets, and calas.  You've probably heard of the first two.  Beignets are fried dough, smothered in powdered sugar.  Basically, doughnuts.  Calas are about the same, but the are made from leftover rice, rolled into balls, and fried.  Both were really good. We sat, eating and drinking, and listening to our tour guide tell us about them, and a little about the history of New Orleans. Little beignet shop, also used as a gathering place for tours. Our next stop was for gumbo, and it

We have been near New Orleans for about a week.  Because this is a new area for us, we've been out and about. Google, for whatever reason, is not allowing me to post from my phone.  Rather, not allowing me to post photos directly from my phone. I'll be around this afternoon, with a REAL post. Although, REAL is relative.  Last Sunday, when we checked into this park, on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain, Coast Guard helicopters were circling.  A man had borrowed his friend's boat to go fishing, and the boat was found, early Sunday morning, empty and floating under the Causeway.  They were searching for him.  The search was suspended Monday evening.

 For years, I read about the Natchez Trace, the ancient road running from near Nashville to Natchez, MS. This weekend, we drove a portion, between Tupelo and Jackson, MS. (The day started out rainy) This sign…rather insulting.  I do know what they were trying to say here, but, really. This road is truly ancient. It was first used by BISON, trekking up from the Mississippi River valley to Kentucky, where there were salt licks. Later, natives hunted the bison and other animals on the trail, and used it for a trade route.  Molly checking out 2000 year old Indian burial mounds.   Too pretty to just walk past   Hernando de Soto used it, and, when Europeans fully settled into the region, they used the Mississippi river to bring goods down to New Orleans, and the Trace to go home with their profits.  So, really, older than dirt .  We walked a little way along the old Trace   So what?  I know. History is boring. But, for me, it was remarkable to walk in some of those footsteps.  A cypress swam

I mentioned, in another post, that there are security concerns with recording our locations in real time.  I have been careful to pay attention to that, and.....it's driving me crazy.  Between busy-ness stretching our the time between posts, and my middle aged brain making it...complicated...to remember things, I am losing information quickly. So, I have decided that paranoia is for the mentally ill, although I do subscribe to the notion that  just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you.  And I think that would work backwards, too.  Maybe. So, beginning soon, I will be more "recent" with my posts.   But this one talks about August. I told you I was far behind. August started for us in southern Michigan, where we stayed with good friends.  Some of the best places we have stayed during this adventure have been in the driveways of family and friends, not because we're cheap, (because our checkbook says we definitely are NOT) but beca

Today's post will be short, although the living needed to develop it was not. Or something. We are in northern Mississippi, this week, enjoying decent weather.  Although it rained nonstop yesterday morning, and last night, today it is clear, sunny, and 62degrees.  We started this adventure looking for 70degrees or more, but have realized the 60s are really nice.  We can wear hoodies, and have a campfire.  Also,  the RV heats up about 10 degrees each day, so the 70s means its 75-85 degrees inside, and that's just too hot. So, yesterday, I walked over to introduce myself to the campground receptionist.  This is one of those people you want to be on good terms with in a campground.  If you don't come out of your RV for a day or more, you want someone to miss you and come looking for you, right?  We had a good long conversation about the weather, our travels, coffeshops, (and why neither of us likes Starbucks anymore) and our next destination. To which she said, firmly, "Y

We have spent the past 10 days or so out of the Behemoth, traveling north for Christmas.  I'll post more about Christmas when it's over, (NO, it's NOT) but I thought I'd update you about our temperature issues. After John checked on things, and found nothing freezing, we headed north, confident that the Behemoth would be just fine without us micromanaging her.  At 4:30 Christmas morning, however, we were awakened by a chime on John's phone, sent by our temperature monitoring system.  We were worried about cold, but it told us that the interior of the coach was too HOT.  Too HOT?  Yep; it was about 75 degrees in there.   Well, we knew we had left the heat on, and our electric fireplace, just to keep things as warm as possible.  We knew that sun would shine on it during parts of the day, and we knew that, sometimes, it gets hot enough during the day inside that we can wear t-shirts in 50-degree weather.  But 75 inside during 9 degrees outside?  It didn't make sens