Friday, January 8, 2010

LAST OF THE TRIP POSTS


Ok, just one more trip post then it will be back to stories. Now I have previously stated that my brother does not want his picture on the Internet for perverts to photo shop naked bodies to his face. Thus there will be only pictures of scenery in this post. I tried to tell him they put really fantastic bodies on the stolen faces but he insists that is not his thing. I hear you Jim. So I will periodically interject people less pictures. Just imagine that my brother looks a lot like me, only taller ( isn't everyone) and I have a bunch more hair.

Jim and Shirley were camping on Lake Seminole which is a really beautiful lake in south/west Georgia very close to Florida. There was a really easy way to get to the Army Corp park but it was not as the crow flies and I decided to try a more direct route. As there was not a physical address, I could not use the GPS. What looked like a straight road to the area turned out to be one of those "you can't get to there from here" types of routes. The lake was 20 miles long so I had to do some serious back tracking.

I had driven quite late the previous night before stopping so I would have just a short hop to his site and we would have more time to spend together. Now, as I kept stopping and asking directions from some really clueless residents, I was eating up the morning and all my saved time. After one really bad set of directions from a fellow who admitted he only knew the area immediately around him, I began to see the wisdom of men who will not ask directions. You might have something fellows.
Beautiful Lake Seminole

Eventually, we connected. Jim was thrilled for I brought lovely sunshine with me. They had spent 21 cold, sunless days there till I arrived. What a blessing. The sun stayed out the whole two days I spent with them.

Sadly, there was a constant buzzing of helicopters overhead most of my stay. A duck hunter had been swept over the dam and there was a massive search underway. The last I checked, he has still not been found and is presumed dead as he was seen being sucked under the turbulent waters. He was a relatively young man and I felt so badly for his family.

On the first day, Shirley and Jim asked me if Mighty and I would like to take a walk. "Sure," I said and hooked up the Mighty one to his leash. We started walking around the lake when Shirley said,"By the way, we are walking to Florida."

Now my brother and his wife are a few years older than me but VERY active. When they are in Florida each year, they bicycle ride close to 1000 miles. 'Crap,' I thought, 'they are going to kill me.'
Turned out the state line was only a mile and a half away. Phew.

During the walk, Mighty got a new name. Jim was amazed at how many times Mighty could pee on anything that stood 6 inches high. Mighty marked his territory from Georgia to Florida. Jim would check and sure enough, Mighty could manage a dribble each time. Finally the little guy could no longer squeeze out a drop out but he continued to hike his leg and try.

"I see you have a French dog." Jim said.

Puzzled I asked, " A French dog?"

"Yes," he said, "Pee air."

I loved it and needless to say, Mighty was called "Pierre" the rest of my stay.

I stayed in a motel while I was there as Jim has a large RV but it is still an RV and I thought "Pierre" would be better served if we had some quiet time in a motel. Oddly, the motel was 2 miles away, but in another state and a different time zone. Confusing.


Really close Canadian geese.

Beautiful sky

Ducks on golden pond

I really had a great visit with Jim and Shirley and saw some beautiful sunsets while there. Also, the Canadian Geese were practically tame.



Inmate lights


There were some beautiful lights across the lake and we wondered what they were. As I drove to the motel in the evening, I solved the mystery. It was a correctional facility we were admiring. A big honkin jail and my motel was almost directly across the highway. They sure do light those places up. I don't know how the inmates sleep.

Jim called yesterday and he is now in south Florida. He wanted me to come visit them for he said as soon as I left Georgia, the weather got grey again and now it was really cold in Florida. Gosh, I wish I had those powers he thinks I have. I could hire out.

I really did have wonderful weather the whole trip and glory be, I am getting my snow now that I am home. It is so beautiful and I am ever grateful it waited for me to get back. My luck and timing has been impeccable. This whole trip has been a blessing.


Ok folks, that is the end of my road trip. Thank you for bearing with me as I dragged you along. This has been entirely too reminiscent of "My summer vacation" back to school theme. Stories next post, promise.


It is 4 degrees this AM in the Ozarks with unknown, below zero, wind chill (Not sure I want to know exactly). Every time I go out and return to a nice warm house, I feel truly blessed. Stay warm folks, it looks like we are all in this together.

26 comments :

  1. Thanks for taking me on your trip, it was fun and I needed a break from the snow!
    Lovely pictures, especially the golden pond.
    Sunny :)

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  2. Ilove the story. GPSs do have limitations.

    I love that last photo.

    You apparently left the sunshine in the sunshine. state.

    We awakened to frozen pipes; actually the pipes come through an old concrete unheated building on our property. It is an antiquated plumbing system we inherited when we bought the property; best description is "we don't do it that way any more

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  3. The sunset photos are inspiring!! We are not as cold as you, but we are not used to having an extended cold spell and it is wearing thin, for certain! I cannot wait for SPRING!!

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  4. What a ride!!! Thanks for draggin' this chilly Ozarks sister along with you. It looked like a great escape! Pee~air just cracked me up. Heeeheeehe,,,,I'm still laughin'.

    It was -7 in the Ponderosa holler this morn. For some reason the weatherman thought we needed to know the wind chill is -20. Like we don't know it's cold. I'm procrastinating on the chores this morning. Oh, baby I don't want to go out there.

    Your sunset pics are just breathtakingly beautiful. Ya'll have yourselves one blessed day and keep cozy!!!

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  5. Love those sky and lake pics, Patti. It sure looks beautiful there. I'm glad you and Pierre took this very cool trip for the holidays, and got back in time for some great cold weather.

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  6. I loved your trip stories. If you have any more, you can always mail them to me - I'll read every word! :-)

    Brother Jim is a fabulous photographer. All of them look straight out of NatGeo/Discovery! Loved it. I always love sunrise/sunset pictures. Gazed at them for several minutes!!! Really calming, soothing..oh I could go on.

    So does Pee-air like his new name?! ;-)

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  7. Thank you for the trip! The photos of the sunset are stunning. The best I have seen today!
    Have a great weekend!

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  8. Sunny
    Glad to have had you along. You don't eat much do you? I had several pictures of the golden waters.Thanks.

    Nitwit,
    Ooh, I am so sorry about your frozen pipes. Hope they thaw without damage.
    Also hope you have water stored up for flushing, that was always my greatest loss in Florida when the power went off. Many things we can do without....

    kenju,
    But...winter just got here. Thanks, the sunsets were much prettier in person and seemed to last much longer than they do here in the Ozarks.

    Nezzy
    Negative seven ??? Yikes.
    I still crack up when I see him hike a leg with no results. Where was Jim when I needed a name? Thanks on the pictures, just got lucky with some great sunsets.

    robin,
    Actually I couldn't have planned it better. The cold keeps me inside but the view is still pretty. Litterly hundreds of birds at the feeder.

    lostworld,
    Thanks so much.I would love to give Jim credit with the photos but fear they are mine and glad you like them. Jim is slowly coming into the electronic age, he actually has a cell phone now but that is about it. I'm working on him.
    Pee air answers to his new name when he pees air. That really tickled me.

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  9. How beautiful, those icicles are wonderous, what a great trip you had, I will be leaving soon following in your footsteps eventually, say hi to pierre.

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  10. I loved the Mighty one's new name, very funny. What fantastic icicles in the last photo (I take it that the Mighty Pierre had nothing whatsoever to do with them!). We once lived in a place where the windows froze up in winter and had beautiful ice patterns on the inside that were quite magical, well worth getting cold for.

    Best Wishes to you for a Happy New Year,

    P,L, & Ginger the cat

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  11. Sounds like you had a lovely time with your brother and sister-in-law. Happy week-end.

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  12. Loved the pictures. Since I seldom have an opportunity to travel I enjoy seeing the world through your lens! Thanks!

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  13. Hi Patti, Dont ever think that we don't enjoy your travel stories. I always enjoy them...

    Sorry your brother (like so many people) is so fearful of the internet. My best friend hates it--and thinks that bad people are always out there lurking --wanting to cause harm. I have more faith in people than that. And I would never give up blogging due to some crazy fears. Oh Well---we are all different and have our own ideas about things...

    Glad you brought some sunshine to your brother while you were in GA/FL... Now---go to south Florida and bring him some sunshine there. ha

    Love the name Pee-Air... Did you keep it????
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  14. Reader Wil
    Thank you so much. I take that as high praise from you.

    Linda Starr
    Know you will enjoy your travels. Hope you get some good weather soon. It is pretty crummy everywhere.

    Peter,
    Those icicles were lethal weapons. I had to remove them in case one should drop and stab Pierre. I loved the name also and he gets called that about 50% of the time.
    Thanks to you, Laura and Ginger.Back at ya.

    Patty,
    Sure did, we always do. Stay warm.

    oklhdan,
    That should be in your retirement bucket list when you get there. It is such fun and interesting.

    Betsy,
    I am sure there are bad people out there but until I meet one, I will continue to believe most people are good and decent. So far that is all I have met. I respect Jim's wishes though and will keep him a mystery.
    I love "Pierre" also and it is his new nick name. I tend to call him that when he tickles me.

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  15. Sounds as though you had a great trip. You got back just in time to be snowed in. Brrrrr.

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  16. Oh, Patti. . . Pee Air! An instant classic!

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  17. Betty,
    I know and am so lucky. No, I mean that, I just love snow. Just wish if it were going to stay so cold that we would have more.

    mml
    Wasn't that just the cutiest? Sometimes my brother really surprises me. I always call Mighty Pierre now when it is time to go out. Can dogs grin??

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  18. O.K. Pierre, that is hilarious!!!! Beautiful pictures.

    COLD, brrrrr, in my part of Arkansas today. Stay warm,
    The Park Wife

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  19. Silly we love your travel post. I know I have because these are places I have never been and love hearing and seeing them.
    As you know from your kind comment I will not be on here much until I figure out what is going on. I am only on here now because of using my daughters internet.
    Take care
    Maggie

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  20. Sounds like you had a good visit with your brother. Nice photos even of the jail.

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  21. The park wife,
    Glad you liked it, I laughed all the way to Florida on our walk. He gets called Pierre a lot now and if I am mad at him it is "MIghty Pierre"!!!

    GYH,
    Gosh, I hope you can solve your problems. Being computerless stinks. Sorry I couldn't be of any help.

    Iowa Gardening Woman
    Thank you so much for stopping by and welcome to TNS. The jail was really nice from across the lake.
    I will pop over to visit you now.

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  22. Since I've been stuck here in the cold, it was a pleasure to accompany you by blog on your trip. Those photos are gorgeous!

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  23. Have loved the trip with you, thanks for sharing. We also are in the grip of heavy snow,(12 inches)
    I haven't been able to go out for a week now... too dangerous. It is so beautiful to look at through the window... such a shame it has to turn to grey slush.
    I just love your photos of skies... my favourite subject.
    Love Granny

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  24. Gorgeous pictures! Pierre is an adorable nickname for Mighty! Did your water pipes make it through the freezing temperatures? 30 degrees and sunshine today is going to feel gooooood. It looks like it might even be warm enough a couple of days this week to venture outside. : )

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  25. You amaze me, taking such a mundane experience and making it so entertaining. I read the pee-aire part to my wife and she busted out laughing.
    You are better than you are supposed to be.
    I am glad you made it back safe oh ye weather queen.
    PS great pics

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  26. SVB
    So glad you could come along. Thanks, I was just lucky that there were some beautiful skies.

    Granny,
    Thanks so much, I really had some breathtaking sunsets and rises. Very, very lucky. Hope you are warming up. We actually hit 40 today. Yippie.

    Jewels,
    Water pipes are good, my house was built by a plummer so he made sure nothing was exposed. Hope you did OK also. Think Pierre likes his new name. Gives him a continental feel.

    GQ,
    Aw, I am so glad I could tickle Mrs. GQ and thank you for the really kind words. Pierre loves his new name.

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