Don't Mess With Texas

As we entered the visitor's center just over the Louisana State line into Texas, the guy behind the counter handed the kids a stack of big Texas stickers. In moments Nate was covered from head to toe with "Don't Mess With Texas." Finally some warm weather! The days were a nice 85 degrees and the nights... not much cooler. We had a great time hanging out with Kev's sister Colleen and son Greg. We shared a fantastic meal together and even celebrated all of our collective burthdays!

Since we were staying in San Antonio, we spent one day visiting the Witte museum, a cool natural history museum with a kid's hands-on science center called "The Treehouse." And coolness upon coolness it is free to the public on Tuesday afternoons! So we had the most fun learning about pulleys, air cannons, presses, Bernoulli's Laws, solar, wind and water power, and various musical instruments. Joe and Louisa even rode an "air bike" which was suspended high off the ground and traveled on a thin metal cord... like a tightrope walker.

The next day we headed to the Alamo for a bit of US history. Rather than read a story about the battle or explore the internet in a scavenger hunt for facts, we took advantage of the local IMAX theater and went as a family to see "Alamo... The Price of Freedom." Even Nate and Savannah were impressed by the size of the screen (and the fact that the seats folded up and down!) The movie was impressive and emotionally moving and a great 45 minute introduction to the Alamo itself just 200 feet away. The kids stood at the front of the mission and each crossed over the line that Col. Travis drew with his sword in the sand..."Cross over and come die with me for freedom..." or something wonderfully dramatic like that. The kids loved it and then of course, we hit the gift shop where they bought a bag of plastic toy soldiers so that they could re-enact the battle at their leisure.

Later that day we got to visit with Mark and Deanne and their kids. Long-term supporters and friends of ours from Durham, it felt a bit like Blacknall was reaching out to hug us through them. They drove down from Austin and took us out to another wonderful family owned (Mexican- this time) resturant where we shared some of the last ten years over enchilidas and chilli rellenos. Wow.

As we began wrapping up our time in San Antonio, the kids all remarked on how much this place reminded them of home. The days and nights were hot and humid and the bugs were huge! It was a good chance to debrief with them about Bundibugyo and the whole concept of "Home."

On a personal note... I stepped in a big nest of fire ants in the early morning hours while making yet another sippy cup of strawberry milk. My left foot is a bit swollen now and covered in tiny bandaids to try an prevent me from scartching at the pus filled wounds. Yuck. I can't believe I'm even thinking this, but I would rather have been attacked by empali's (our dreaded African ants!)

Tickfaw State Park

As we drove down country road after country road, then through what appeared to be a residential neighborhood, Kev turned to me and said, "Where did you find out about this place?" I gazed somewhat desparingly out the window and sighed, "It wasn't in the guidebooks, I just happened across it on the internet when all of the KOA's were closed to tent campers due to Katrina." We turned onto yet another smaller road, feeling like we were going to dead end at any moment into someone's yard. "Were you in Bundibugyo when you found it?" Double sigh on my part, "yes." Then amazingly a final turn in the road and we come upon a beautiful entrance gate to Tickfaw State Park. Let me tell you, this is a little gem of a park. The campsites are woodsy, large and fairly isolated. The roads are wide, well paved and designed for kids on bikes (of which there were tons of... all ages). The nature center was a fantastic hands-on experience with a boardwalk nature trail around back through the swamp. And to provide extra fun the park even sports a cool playground and water "splash" park. Even the comfort station (bathhouse) was well cleaned and had hot showers! Of course, our favorite thing about the bathhouse was a tiny green tree frog that seemed to hang out over the bathhouse sign every night.
While there we braved our first non-McDonalds resturant, a family owned cajun place named Paul's Cafe. Paul had eight daughters, three of them (beautfiul teenagers) were waiting tables when we came in to have Sunday lunch. Everyone seemed delighted to see us arrive, it did seem as if all of the other customers knew each other! It was a perfectly delightful place, full of small town welcome and hospitality. The food was amazing.
Next we headed to Kleibert's Alligator and Turtle Farm (another internet find). Wow, we met over 40,000 turtles in two different ponds and then an amazing number of alligators... more than a thousand in all sizes. One big female was right up against the fence. I would have sworn she was a statue, then she blinked. Goosebumps crawled up and down our arms as we all agreed she was the scariest, most dangerous looking animal we had ever seen. Another selling point for this tourist spot is alligator meat. So that night I made a light alfredo sauce with linguine noodles and.... alligator. Yum.

A word about Equipment

Kids are so flexible and resilient. Nate and Savannah have already adjusted to the fact that we no longer live in a permanent house, that we tend to move every few days and that the bathrooms are a good walk away. Joe and Louisa know that this is a grand, yet temporary adventure and are fairly excited by exploring each new spot. The twins just assume this is their new lot in life. Our family's new pattern of living...
So what exactly are we sleeping in and on? Since my pictures are still trapped in my camera:
Our home over the next 10 weeks is a Coleman Tucana Storm Master tent. (find it on sale at your local Target store!) This beauty is a 10x16 green and white condo-like tent. It has a rectangular footprint and a rainfly that not only covers the 7 foot center of the dome but comes out three feet on either side of the door to produce a "porch-like area." My favorite feature is the D shaped, hinged door. While you can zip it up, most of the time it is just held closed with velcro strips... sort of like, well, a regular door with a hinge. This is great especially for the kids who go in and out frequently but have a hard time with the zippers.
It is roomy enough for our whole family to sleep in comfort and style. The kids each have their own air mattresses. Even the twins have a special "crib" style mattress with 4 inch raised bumper sides all around. Kev and I have the queen non-bumpered version... which comes in handy when Nate or Savannah decide that they really are too lonely at night. Our 30 degree sleeping bags have kept us toasty (albeit the fleece liners from the Clayton's have been crucial on chillier nights). The twins have these cool toddler sized mummy sleeping bags rated much lower, in the hopes that they won't wake up in the night and remember that they are lonely in their own beds. Other than that we have a nice insta-clip screen room, with the afore-mentioned raccoon/squirell easy access points. Some camping chairs and a Ugandan mat round out our "house."
While we are looking forward to our next home in Durham, (a nice brick two storey cape cod) I have to say that for now, the simplicity and yet comfort of our tent is both wonderful and a great blessing.

Haiku's by Joe and Louisa

Haiku- A Japanese Poem

3 lines, with 5 syllables, 7 syllables, and 5 syllables. It should not rhyme but must paint a mental picture. Grammar is not the thing, rather the ability to briefly, quickly explode an image from the writer to the reader.

Here are two haiku poems from the kids (yes, we are relentlessly homeschooling during this Great American Field Trip Adventure)

Hole in One (By Joe)

Rolling fast the sphere
falls immediately down
my soul leaps with joy

The Ocean (By Louisa)

The water jumping
reflects the sun's face, running
over the desert

Milton/Gulf Pines, Florida

Here we are at our first KOA Kampground. Free WiFi at our site, electricity, water and a huge soft sand pit in which to stake down our tent. There is also a covered picnic table area with lights right next door, a grill, and firepit. 20 yards away is a kitchen station... a covered sink and stove top work station, just in case you didn't bring a camping cook stove. The bathrooms are spiff with hot showers and flush toilets. Two different reasonably priced laundry rooms are right beside the showers. There is a camp store with all the basics plus free continental breakfast each morning. The pool is large and heated (but only 4 feet deep so no diving!). A large new playground, and a rather older mini-golf course (but free!) and a big assortment of hula-hoops round out the attractions. As Joe pointed out, "This doesn't really feel like camping." Nevertheless, we have enjoyed teaching the kids how to putt and hula. They, in turn, have enjoyed making friends with all of the other kids who are around.
Since we are here for three nights, slowly making our way west, we decided to spend the second morning at Blackwater State Park (whose closed campground led us to this one) which is just 10 minutes down the road. This is a beautiful park with a slowly flowing "black" river. The shores and bottom are completely sand. And let me tell you, this is soft sugar texture white sand. The combination is breathtaking. We collected our junior ranger workbooks at the welcome station and headed off down the nature trail looking for various items to jot down and birds to draw. After about ten minutes we came out onto a wide swath of beach slooping gently down to a bend in the river. For a good hour the kids took turns running in and trying to swim upstream only to give up and float peacefully back the way they came. Nate and Savannah filled up bucket after bucket of sand and splashed at the water's edge. I thought the nature trail was only 1 1/2 miles long. So we packed everyone up and continued on our way. Two poisonous snakes and 1 1/2 HOURS later we completed the circuit and were back at the van. The kids were great, completed their ranger assignments and got their badges. I, meanwhile, learned another lesson. Never throw a stick at a water moccasin to see whether it has a white "cotton-mouth." Especially, don't throw a stick at him from only three feet away. Those things can move faster than a raccoon with cookies. Fortunately, he struck the stick while Kev and I wisely backed on down the trail.

Jekyll Island, GA

Happy Birthday to Me. I had a wonderful 36th birthday on Jekyll Island, where we learned some more life long lessons. As in... don't leave out food overnight, even in the completely zipped up screen room. Birds, squirells and even racoons can go right under the bottom of the thing. The first night we lost a bag of chewy tollhouse chocolate chip cookies. Remembering our days of rat hockey, Kev and I boldly dashed out of the tent to rescue our cookie stash. Let me tell you, racoons are FAST. Add to that the fact that we were out of our element with no rackets or brooms and we didn't stand a chance. The next night, "Rocky" as we called him walked right out of the woods next to our campfire and tried to size up whether he could snatch the smore out of Louisa's hand. Wow.

The second day it also dropped to 54 degrees, yes, at the beach in April DURING THE DAY. We were so thankful that the Claytons had loaned us their fleece inserts for our sleeping bags because with daytime temps like that the night promised to be freezing! We took the opportunity to visit Georgia's Sea Turtle Center right there on the island. We had a fascinating and warm time learning all about sea turtles. There was a discovery center and also a turtle hospital. We got to watch the vets do all kind of wild stuff to help these wonderful creatures who for various reason weren't thriving, and then play a video game where the kids became the vets and had to diagonose and treat one of three sick turtles. Very fun, and tied in well with our current family devotion centered around stewardship of God's creation.

In addition, Sharon and her two girls met us at the campsite. The kids loved playing games with their two beautiful, older cousins and we had a great time catching up with Kev's sister. The second night over some of the best chinese food we've had in years.

Denmark, SC

First stop... a visit to my Nanny at Methodist Oaks, a very spiff assisted living center with rooms similiar to a college dorm. We trooped the entire family in to meet all of Nanny's friends and nursing staff. The twins munched mini-m&m's as we sat and talked, looked over pictures and shared stories. Joe sprawled on the bed and Louisa walked up and down the hall with my mom meeting and greeting as many women as possible.

Second stop... just 15 minutes away live my paternal grandparents in the same hometown where both of my parents were raised, fell in love and were married. We hugged everyone, the kids settled in front of the TV, I did a needed load of laundry and then we toured the garden. Our meals were fantastic... here's a sampling:

Day 1
Smoothered fried chicken
Homemade mashed potatoes with butter and sour cream
Homemade macaroni and cheese
Butter beans with fatback
4- day Coconut Cake

Day 2 (with my aunts, uncles and cousins)

BBQ Chicken with sweet mustard sauce
BBQ Pork with sweetly tart tomato based sauce
Slaw
Potatoe salad
Squash casserole
Tomatoe Pie
Baked beans with brown sugar, hamburger and sausage.
A dessert that I don't know the name of but which consists of chocolate pudding, cookie crust, coolwhip, pecans and sour cream in layers like a cake. (Kev says Chocolate Delight)
Another dessert like Recee's Peanutbutter cake (which the kids adored)

My grandparents house is always full of wonderful home cookin' southern style.

Edisto Beach Part 2

What a wonderful time with our dear friends the Claytons, at a fantastic campground site just over the dunes from the Atlantic Ocean. The sound of the waves helped us drift off to sleep each night and the kids loved the chance to experience the ocean on this continent. "Wow! Look at the RIVER!" shouted Nate. The water was pretty cold, but all four kids rushed right in. The waves knocked them over and up they all popped for more. Nearly 45 minutes later they were still at it, although their legs were shaking something fierce and their lips were blue. Nate was afraid if he left, the river might dry up. I guess the tide rolling out was disconcerting. That first night as the temperature dropped to nearly 40 degrees Nate looked at us all and said, "We need to go back to Nana's house, right now!" Of course, both twins were a little confused when we explained that for the foreseeable future this plastic structure was indeed our "house."

Michael Masso always asked us "Are you life-long learners?" when we lived with them in Bundibugyo. So in that vein here are a few things we learned camping those first two nights...

Do not leave slightly wet jeans outside overnight at the beach. By morning the heavy dew had soaked them.

Don't hit the screen room roof to "flick" off the dew in the morning. Instant shower for everyone inside.

Don't forget to buy firewood before all of the stores close for the night.

When swimming in ice cold oceans, hot showers are AWESOME.

One thing that Savannah learned was not to climb up the outside of the tent! Sigh.



On a sad note, I grabbed the wrong memory card reader at my mom's house and can not download the multitude of pictures I have been taking. Hopefully we will fix that shortly at a local Wal-mart or Target.

First Stop... Edisto Beach, SC

We're off! Packed to the gills with all the things each of us feel we "need" over the course of the next 10 weeks, but feeling incredibly blessed by the wonderful gift of our new (to us) minivan. As we begin this Odyssey in our Odyssey, we realized that nearly 40 years ago Kev's family made took a journey to Edisto Beach- our first stop. The above photo shows the Bartkovich family beside the wagon. Kev is the smallest boy in front.