It's a tad cool…..

Sleet all night here at Fort Pickens Campground, Gulf Shores National Park, south of Pensacola, FL.  We could hear it battering the outside of the camper pretty much throughout the night, and periodically would hear a chunk of ice crack and slide off the side of the aluminum skin; our little airstream has kept us snug and warm with use of just a small, 30-year old electric heater, but we are pretty stuck here for now, since we cannot get into the truck!

This same layer of ice covers everything outside.  I know this is nothing compared to the three foot drifts our Michigan friends and neighbors have been experiencing, but it's somehow disconcerting to see palm trees and live oaks coated in ice, and having the truck so covered in the stuff that we cannot hope to open a door until it warms.  Even a hair dryer on the hottest setting did nothing to melt this stuff.

We've extended our stay here by a couple of days, now won't leave until Monday.  We're hoping to have another day or two of pretty sunsets such as the ones we had earlier in our stay, since they are predicting a definite warming over the weekend.

New Neighbor

Although we were fascinated by this little fellow rooting around our neighboring campsite, the campground host referred to him as "Possum on the half-shell" and "ugliest thing imaginable"; guess as with all things, it's a matter of perspective, and since close-up encounters with armadillos are rare in OUR experience, we continue to think he is cute and fascinating :)

Check him out in action here: http://youtu.be/GVqBoxgSveo

Worth Driving 1000 Miles

"Around me were the echoing dunes, beyond me

The cold and sparkling silver of the sea" – Sara Teasdale

We are camped for the next 7 days at Fort Pickens Campground, Gulf Shores National Park.  Still cool,   but so beautiful!  I had forgotten how white the sand in this area is - it looks like snow.

Getting Warmer

"...From years gone by came sweet recall, 
Of how warm warm could be, 
Regardless of the snowflakes' fall…"  (Denis Martindale)

This was this morning when we got up, to 7 degrees Fahrenheit:

Even Murphy was struggling to remain warm: 

Now we are in Alabama, listening to John Denver's "Sunshine on my Shoulders" playing from our iPod, and the temperature is actually above freezing!

We're spending the night in another KOA, south of Birmingham, AL where it's finally warm enough (45 degrees F), for John to de-winterize the camper and get the water tanks cleared out and filled, etc.  Not too exciting - not a destination campground - but clean park and facilities, pleasant staff, all the amenities we need, and most importantly - temps above freezing, which at this point is a luxury! 

Tomorrow we head to Fort Pickens Campground, Gulf Island National Seashore, FL to spend the next 7 days.  This is not what we planned when we left and were heading to Louisiana, but when we realized how close we would be to a National Park campground that we visited 2 years ago and really enjoyed, we decided to make a detour in our plans, and go there as our first "destination campground" (as opposed to transition-campgrounds such as this KOA, where we only spend a night while moving through an area).  We both love this aspect of retirement: the ability to make spur-of-the moment decisions and changes in our travel plans.  Life is good!  

Blow, blow, thou winter wind… (Shakespeare, As You Like It).

We're on the road again, heading south, but not quickly enough to avoid the extremely chilly winter weather in Michigan, or, at the moment, on the Indiana/Kentucky border.  We've been keeping an eye on the weather looking for the perfect window of opportunity to make it from Michigan to Louisiana, and that "perfect window" just hasn't presented itself, so this morning we made a run for it, with snow swirling and blowing as we left, but major highways reported as dry and safe.  Temperature at home as we left this morning was 8 degrees Fahrenheit - by the time we settled in for the evening in a Louisville, Kentucky KOA campground, it was a balmy 18 degrees Fahrenheit, with a prediction of 4 degrees temp. for tonight.   No photos from today for this post - it's just too dang cold to stand outside and try to frame a picture, although here is one from a few days ago at home, as we were getting our little silver home-away-from-home ready for this trip.

Summer at Home

Although traveling is wonderful, so is being home, something that is all too easy to take for granted and is well worth savoring! Here are some reasons that we love being at home and at the cottage, photos taken in the last few weeks.

Seize the day!

The Greenfield Gypsies are on the road again! We just spent two days in Ohio, visiting family and attending John’s 50^th High School reunion.  It was great being able to visit with David and Charlie Biggs, John’s cousins over breakfast on Friday and to spend most of Saturday catching up with John’s former classmates.

David, John, Charlie

                 
John's classmates are a remarkable and welcoming group of people, so even though I don’t really know them, I felt comfortable accompanying John at the various reunion activities.  John was honored at the evening Alumni gathering by being inducted into the West Alexandria HS “Hall of Fame”.

 

John had been told he would not have to speak, but when invited to do so, he made gracious and brief remarks thanking teachers for sharing their knowledge and inspiration, and the warmth of school friendships that provided him and all his classmates with a great foundation upon which to build their lives and their careers.  I was so proud of him! 

One of the classmates took the initiative to send questionnaires to each classmate and compiled those as well as both old and recent photos into a 50-year Reunion booklet, which makes for fascinating reading.  

Paired with personal conversations with John’s classmates, I would summarize by saying that their small group was representative of graduating classes of much larger size in other locations in terms of life ambitions, achievements, careers, and challenges.  Those who have lived their lives primarily within the same geographic confines of where they grew up seem to be largely content with their choices, yet proud of those classmates who “escaped” to far-flung locations and moved on to more ambitious careers and broader experiences. Those who left appear to have maintained a special, warm place in their hearts for their hometown, their friends and former classmates.  Many have experienced heart-breaking personal challenges, many have experienced remarkable and durable love,  some are currently fighting difficult health issues, some are delighting in the freedom of these later years; most are amazed at how quickly the years have passed and that there has been less time than anyone expected to accomplish all their dreams. 

One of John’s classmates who was unable to attend the reunion because he is currently living and traveling in Asia made this very poignant summary of his life: “I’ve heard that regret is a useless emotion.  Yet as I think back on my life, I am struck by how little difference my having been on the planet has made.  I spent my energies and career working for others…working just for money, doing things that I really did not enjoy and that did not advance the course or condition of humanity.  I feel I owe you all an apology – for failing to realize the promise and possibility and potential that was present in High School.  I trust you did better in your time on this globe than I.  If there is another opportunity, another lifetime…I promise to make more of a meaningful contribution to the planet.”

May we all live our lives with less regret than he has expressed, but instead with pride in our life-choices and our accomplishments.  I leave you with a favorite quote:

This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will.

I can waste it, or use it for good, but what I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.

When tomorrow comes this day will be gone forever, leaving behind in its place something that I have traded for it.

I want it to be gain and not loss,

good and not evil,

success and not failure,

in order that I shall not regret the price that I have paid for it.

-Samuel F. Pugh