It looks like smoke but it’s actually the morning fog lifting off the Suwanee River. Apparently Florida isn’t exempt from the wintry weather that has been wreaking havoc on other parts of the country. The last few nights the mercury has been declining into the 30′s, however the days are still sunny and we’re eeking into the upper 69′s during the day. The last two days have been uneventful to the readers’ eye but of awesome substance to this writer. Daily walks, afternoon bike rides, interspersed with watching the Suwanee flow to the Gulf. Frantically, we’ve been tracking packages and shipping destinations of our Christmas purchases. Everyone this year is receiving something that has been purchased on-line. That is, except for Robin and I have my eye on a gem just down the road in an iconic have-it-all store known as the Point of View. Throw in jaunts to Walgreens and Walmart for good measure and you have the makings of days of awesome serenity. Tomorrow is another trip on the river as friends invited us along. We had planned on a morning run and then meeting Judy and Stoney for a Blues festival in Gainsville but the trip had to be changed until the afternoon due to the overbooking of the boats. We’ll have another get together with them prior to heading north for the holidays. We ended the day by making our favorite beef soup, while Robin scooped out some homemade noodles. A fire and then some SEC football made for another glorious day.

Sunrise on Tuesday prior to leaving.

First things first. I’ve received many an email asking about the condition of Brutus. I mentioned he had a vet visit and never posted the outcome. Brutus if fine. He was put on some steroids and has rebounded admirably. All the itching is gone and he’s back in full swing. This was the third vet that said “northern dogs” often get allergies to things in the South that don’t die out due to the warm weather. But he has adjusted just fine.
We’ve been spending the last couple of days just hanging out with friends, walking the beach and playing Texas Hold ‘Em in the evenings. Larry, of Larry and Charlotte stopped down to see if I was interested in going out on a boat and doing some deep-sea fishing. It was an all day affair heading out from Destin and the company provided everything but refreshments for less than $50 per person. That sounded like a great deal and we had planned on taking that excursion. However, this morning we received a call that changed all our plans. We have been hired by the California Angels major league baseball team for a spring training stint out in Arizona. Since I’m going to be a deck supervisor they asked us to come out a bit early to obtain all the necessary licensing. The positions are only until the team heads back for the regualar season in April but will give us a change of pace that I need and some extra jingle in our pockets. So we packed up the rig in about an hour and set out to find friends to bid adieu. We stopped by Greg and Sherita’s (Nevada). Then on to find Susan,(Oregon) the traveling shaman. We exchanged hugs and handshakes with Jim and Patsy (Colorado) and received and invite to camp out at their place in Colorado upon leaving our stint in Arizona. We didn’t get to see Larry and Charlotte (Wisconsin) as Larry was out working and we couldn’t find Charlotte. I felt bad about this as I wanted to tell Larry that I would have to renege on the deep-sea fishing venture. Hopefully, you’ll be reading this Larry and accept my apologies. By noon we were on the road West. We passed through Pensacola and across Mobile Bay. Southern Mississippi was full of natural eye candy as this part of the trip was especially pleasing. We passed through Pascagoula and lunched at a rest area near Biloxi. It was then that I changed my mind to head toward Baton Rouge and suggested we go south for some ‘cajun cuisine. That’s it. We’re headed for New Orleans. We pulled into the Big Easy around 4 p.m. into the Ponchartrain Landing RV Resort. I just love how loosely the term resort is used. I’ll go into this later when evaluating this campground. Just settled in for the evening and relaxed. In the morning we’ll be heading out to the French Quarter for some cuisine and touring. Perhaps we’ll even be able to find some tickets for the championship game on Sunday. All you see everywhere you look here are Saints flags.

For the past several days we’ve been anchored here in Cabin Creek Campground in Jacksonville, NC.  We’re spending time with the owners, learning all the daily machinations of the operation, interviewing them, they interviewing us for a possible fit as general managers. Jacksonville is the home of Camp Lejune, the marine base that is the center and basis for the economy of life in these parts.  There will be more about this as we learn the area.  We’re only a brief fifteen minute ride from Topsail Beach and Island, however, the clouds have pre-empted our visits there so far.  While we have much free time to ponder and daydream, I’m finding my thoughts often traveling back to Medora.  I’m missing my recent friends. None of these thoughts center around  the golf course, the retail shops, the musical or the cafes. What comes to the mind’s eye is the people. I find myself thinking of them often and smile at all the interactions, both good and bad, that we’ve had. I love the traveling, the wandering, and the gypsy life. What I realize, however, is the true quality of those meanderings are the people that we encounter, befriend and continue to maintain interaction with in the future. Thank you, all, for enhancing my life.

Sunday morning we worked at the golf course.  The afternoon was so slow there was no need for our services so we were permitted to leave.  This is unusual to me.  A golf course back home in Pennsylvania, any course, would be packed to the gills on a Sunday afternoon.  And the Bully Pulpit is ranked as a top course in the country by Golf Digest magazine. Go figure. Hopefully, it’s just early in the season but I’m woeful that this economy may prove to bear bad fortunes.  So off to Dickinson for flowers and shaving cream.  And this is the view we saw leaving Medora and looking into the Painted Canyon along Interstate 94.  Several stops and attempts at something special to spruce up the site came up empty. Finally, a hanging basket Robin spied was just the right touch. And now a wrought iron hanger to adhere to a tree to hang it from.  Must make things presentable for Ryan (#1 child) and fiance Carolyn are coming to visit at week’s end.  Momma is delirious with anticipation.  It’s been five months since seeing them last. Much is planned for their visit to avoid boredom.  The purchases were made and then the trip home a mere two hours after initiating it. What a difference a few hours makes.  The scenery was worth the drive.  We had to pull off to take in the grandeur. It makes one feel small. Agree?      

The early departure from work allowed me a chance to stop at the Medora Community Center to retrieve a print I had entered into a photo contest two days earlier.  It was winding to a close and liking the print, I wanted to salvage it for another day. Lo and behold the print was gone, purchased by a tourist who took a fancy to it.  And it was then that I learned “Cowboys Praying” had taken first place in the ranch and farm division.  An additional twenty-five dollars first prize to add to its sale. In fact, I have had several requests by readers on here to purchase prints.  In lieu of this, I shall be displaying greeting cards, adorned with those photos, for sale shortly via the website. I’ll let all know when they’re available.  So now it’s off to the chiropractor as the photo celebration is short lived and the back is still in need of an adjustment.

For you readers out there that are not golfers, this slideshow will not top your Oscar list but the process here is fascinating.  After watching this you will be a learned and extremely knowledgable individual. You will be esteemed in your social circles and your conversations will be held in awe by the masses.

 I’ve been on a golf course hundreds of times.  I know they aerate greens to keep them from compacting and for water drainage.  But I never actually saw the process of “plugging” as it’s known.  The process begins with Kyle, the course superintendent actually taking plugs of Bentgrass and earth from the greens.  The plugs are spaced at two inch intervals. This is done in rows until the entire green is complete.  I have taken a plug and photographed it in my hand to give you an idea of their size.  Once completed the summer college help attempts to sweep them into heaps.  The next step is for a sweeper to come along and pick up the residue. As you can see, Duke, the super’s best friend has full reign of his kingdom here at Bully Pulpit GC.  Once the green is swept clean, Luke spreads fine sand over the entire area. Unfortunately Luke, the ass’t. super is from Cleveland.  And we Steeler fans can’t help but feel sorry for those lost souls hailing from “the mistake on the lake”.  Sorry Ohio.  After he has done a great job of spreading the sand, Headman comes along and sweeps the sand into the holes left by the removed “plugs”.  Headman is in his second summer here from Namibia. Finally the sand is almost all in the ground orifices and Chad then takes the Mocha Mat (heavy brown carpeting) and drags the entire surface.  Chad hails from neighboring Montana and is the Irrigation Technician of the course.  As you can see from the slide show, this process has made the green look almost normal once again.  The next to last step is to have more college summer help come along and blow away and remaining debris. Again, Duke, the king of the realm, surveys everyone’s work.  Finally, the coup de grace.  Radio controlled sprinkler systems are turned on to pack the sand and provide growth stimulation for the bent grass.  The Bentgrass (greens) specifically grows horizontally therefore, in short time the plugged holes will be filled with green turf eliminating any evidence of holes, sand or plugs.  So there you have it.  Now you can act as an expert whenever “green plugging” comes up at your next social gathering.

Arising later than usual on this final of two free days.  Train whistle through the night made for intermittent sleep. As the sun peeked thru the shades and into my lids, I forgot that I must have altered the location of a disc yesterday during golfing. It really caught me off guard when my feet hit the floor. Oh my, still a bit serpentine.  Waddle out for coffee and I knew if I didn’t get down and maneuver on the workout ball, I wasn’t going to maneuver anywhere today.  So that being done, I decided that we should walk the two mile round trip to the post office. Get that blood a flowin’ boy!  Back to the RV, I wrestled with the extra propane tank as it needed to be hauled to the office for a filling. Learned that the camp office manager is a young man that spent three years working out of West Newton, PA, about a half hour south of Pittsburgh.  Imagine finding him up here in North Dakota.  Oh, by the way did I tell you the people here are not referred to as North Dakotians, but Nodaks.  Yep, that’s it.  So now it’s time for a solo bicycle ride with a desire for more spinal manipulation.  While I was gone Robin went cheese on the place.  The patio rug was layed, the lit palm tree was ablaze in strip lights, and dangling from a branch were her two favorite parrots.  Lawn recliners bookended two plastic end tables and Carole King was groovin’ to the Tapestry on the sound system.  I felt guilty joy riding while she toiled about Margauritaville .  So it would be decided by gypsy decree that we would finish the day utilizing the chairs to adjust our attitudes and meld into the music. It wasn’t hard twisting Robin’s arm as her need to play ‘curb appeal’ had ended. Shortly thereafter,  our altered state led to belly laughter that we haven’t had on a few months.  It was good. It reminds one of friends missed and times gone by when now memories provide the laughter. See my blog last week regarding memories.  I told you it was one of the only vestiges that we possess that make us who we are. A chat with neighbors was followed by chicken breasts grilled on the ‘barbie’ coupled with garlic rice.  You don’t need to see a photos of this as some blogs do.  Surely you’ve seen grilled chicken and rice thousands of times.  Believe me, it’s not that motivational. I’ll spare you the eye candy this time.  Watching the sun go down now, listening to the wind chimes alert us to a weather change, life is good.  A really good day.

Carthage

One piece of eye candy was the courthouse as Carthage is the seat in this county. Nothing different about it other than the fact that I really liked the clean look it had along with the architecture.

On the way out of town we drove through the Vietnamese Catholic seminary and were taken in with a few of the statues.  That was about it for Carthage. We leave for Wichita next.