I sold MOBI, my motorhome this week. Darn. Already I’m jonesing for the road. Well, For the mean time, I’ll just have to get back to exploring and photographing North Georgia and surrounding areas.
But fear not, my wanderlust is far from gone. I have plans!
Cheers!
Above Puget Sound lie the San Juan Islands. Recently I spent some time on San Juan Island around the town of Friday Harbor.
San Juan Island National Historical Park, also known as American and English Camps, San Juan Island, is a U.S. National Historical Park owned and operated by the National Park Service on San Juan Island in the state of Washington. The park is made up of the sites of the British and U.S. Army camps during the Pig War, a boundary dispute over the ownership of the island. Both of these camps were set up in 1859 as response to a border controversy triggered by the killing of a pig.
At the southern end of the island is American Camp. It offers hiking trails, picnic areas and is a great place for whale watching. It seems it is also a popular habitat of the red fox. While I was there I learned that not all red fox are in fact red. I spied this one in a field full of rabbits. Apparently the fox would rather hunt smaller critters.
We’ve reached the Northwestern terminus of this odyssey. Really, one can’t get much more Northwest in the lower 48. We are at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island at the top of Puget Sound in the Salish Sea.
Tomorrow we take the ferry back to the mainland and start our journey home.
Here are a couple photos from the shoreline of San Juan Island.
We spent a couple days on the tallest active volcano and glacier on the lower 48. The campground we were in hosts mountain climbers from all over the world. Many of them climbed around the clock. It is wild seeing those tiny headlamps they wear flickering about the glacier in the middle of the night. Better them than me, ha ha.
Yes, those spots of light over on the left of the glacier are climbers. Crazy folks!
Cheers from the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Paul and the puppy.
And we haven’t gotten to the bottom of it yet.
We left home yesterday around noon heading west. The goal was to get to Oxford Alabama and stock up on some things at the local Sam’s Club. I also planned on asphalt camping in their parking lot for the night.
Wowsers! It was 98 degrees there. Thank goodness I have a generator to run the A/C and a controller to start and stop the generator depending upon A/C demand.
After shopping at Sam’s, I went to the local Publix Super Market for a sub sandwich. Since moving to my home in the North Georgia Mountains, I’ve missed these sandwiches. So, whenever I’m on the road and hungry and near a Publix, I stop and treat myself.
I found a spot with some shade and parked, fired up the generator and A/C and enjoyed my sandwich with a glass of cold milk. I love traveling with my refrigerator.
By 20:00 I was able to open some vents and windows, turn on a powered vent and sleep comfortably. Day one was done.
This morning we pressed on west into Mississippi and the Natchez Trace where I landed at the Jeff Busby campground. It is free, clean and level. It even has restrooms with indoor plumbing.
Um . . . . mid 90s!
Tomorrow we’ll turn south and go to another campground on the Natchez Trace. Then it’s west to Shreveport and then Athens Texas for a week. I imagine it’ll be a whole lot hotter there. Whew! After that it’ll be north and north west.
Well, when it cools off, the dog and I will sit outside and enjoy nature.
Cheers.
You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself . . .
Crosby Stills and Nash.
While on the road recently, I decided to drop off the radar and camp at a North Florida hunting camp with only 6 spots to camp in. It was a no frills place with one fresh water spigot and a vault toilet. I wanted to drag my feet for a couple days and what better place than in the middle of nowhere?
There I met a fellow. He was a bit down on his luck but by no means was down and out! Gothimo Britt Moore is his name. He is a cancer survivor! Apparently he was a pro wrestler at one point. Today he is chasing from music venues to music venue and video recording performances for whatever purpose. He left Colorado in November heading for Key West. He was riding a Harley Sportster and apparently left town in a blizzard. Been there, done that! Somewhere in Oklahoma he acquired a small trailer he could tow behind his bike which made things a bit easier as he could carry a tent and such. He made it to the panhandle and his bike was spitting out oil as fast as he could pour it in. He made it as far as Sopchoppy Florida which is where I met him. He had been living in a tent for about 3 weeks while some “motorcycle shop” diagnosed his problem. Finally, it was determined that it was a rocker box gasket and the shop ordered parts to repair it. Uh . . . . The parts didn’t arrive and finally Britt collected his oil spewing scooter and headed to Tallahassee. Britt is a pretty sharp guy who has been around the block. I enjoyed getting to know him.
Cheers Britt. I hope your ride is long and enjoyable. Ride safe!
Paul
A visit to Santa Rosa Island wouldn’t be complete without stopping to shoot one of my favorite subjects.
