At Lake Blackshear

Peaceful!  I needed this!

Peaceful! I needed this!

When we are headed home to visit family, our route rarely varies.  We make a beeline via the interstate, and usually stop at one of three state parks on the way down, depending on what time we leave home and how far we feel like driving.

Our campsite

Our campsite

We’re at Georgia Veterans State Park tonight, after driving 4-1/2 hours.  It feels SO good to be back in our little Casita and on the road again.  This evening is the first time I have felt truly relaxed in a very long time.  Kind of like where I belong.  🙂

We plan to visit Mom for 3 or 4 days, then head to Ann’s house for a few more days.  Then we want to head toward West Florida instead of Central Florida this time.  Hopefully we’ll be able to camp for a few days at Ft. Pickens and in the surrounding areas.  Then we’ll probably go back via Alabama and maybe camp at a COE camp on the Alabama side of the Alabama/GA border.

There are wildflowers blooming here!  :)

There are wildflowers blooming here! 🙂

Right now our plans are written in Jello… just the way I like them!

And other signs of spring!

And other signs of spring!

Sheba sees a squirrel.

Sheba sees a squirrel.

Best buddies

Best buddies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just Camping

View of our campground from the fishing pier

Another laid-back day soaking in the tranquility of Lake Blackshear.

We had wanted to go fishing today, but it was extremely breezy all day until late afternoon.  And by then, we were out of the mood, so I settled for just taking photos.

When I got to the fishing pier, a huge blue heron (I think) was sitting on the railing.  He let me get closer and closer without moving.  But finally he had enough, and with a loud, raucous RAAAACCCCKKKKKKK!!!!! he flapped his wings heavily and took off.

I think this is a blue heron. I am terrible with bird identification.

I took several photos of him, and one after he took to the air, but I was facing into the sun and he was almost the same color as the gray wood of the pier, so the photos didn’t turn out.

But later, as I was walking back to the campground, I saw him perched near the edge of the lake.  This time he didn’t wait nearly as long to take off, but I did manage to get a shot of him.

Geese

We have also seen ducks, egrets and geese here.  And many squirrels.  But no other wildlife — except for the fish that jump and tease us with their presence in the lake.

I am really enjoying our second autumn here.  At home most of the leaves have fallen, and the ones that remain are all brown.  Here there are still patches of brilliant color.

More autumn in December. 🙂

I thought I’d share a couple of small mods I’ve done to the Casita.  One is a fold-out towel rack in the kitchen that holds 5 dish cloths and towels.  It keeps them out of my way in the tiny kitchen, and also allows them to dry.  I had it in the Aliner, and it’s one thing I made sure I kept, since I’m not sure I could find another one.

The other mod was copied from Andy Baird’s Travels with Gertie website.  I put clear epoxy around the outside holes of the

Fold out towel rack

Modified shower head

shower head, leaving only the center holes open.  Now instead of a broad, soft wash of water, we get a nice, high pressure stream with no additional water usage.

Lake Blackshear

Camping at Lake Blackshear

We had planned to head farther north today and spend a few days at the new Chattahoochee Bend State Park.

But we stopped in Ron’s little hometown this morning to see his sister.  Soon neighbors and other relatives saw us there and came over.  Then we got several “You can’t leave town without saying hello to ____________.”

We finally left around 3:00, only because we needed to make it to the Veterans Memorial State Park office before it closed at 5:00.  And there are probably a dozen people who will be upset with us because we didn’t make it by to see them.

I normally can back into campsites without a problem.  Sometimes on the first try.  Usually on the second or third try.  But today, I simply couldn’t do it after multiple tries.  I simply couldn’t coordinate my vision and my brain.  That was when I realized how totally exhausted I was by all the non-stop visiting since before Thanksgiving (except for the brief time at Manatee Springs).

Finally a neighboring camper came over, asked if he could back the trailer in for me and climbed up into our truck.  After he got it backed in, he must have figured we were the dumb newbies we appeared to be based on my back-in fiasco.  So he proceeded to unhitch the trailer.  The only problem is that he didn’t level it and now we are half a bubble off in both directions, and don’t want to offend him by hitching up and redoing it.

I think the refrigerator will be okay since it’s not terribly off level.

We went into town for dinner and I pigged out on sushi.  I had been craving it for days, and finally got my fix.  🙂

Instead of just staying here one night and leaving tomorrow, we are staying three nights just so I can get rested up.  We’ll check out Chattahoochee Bend next trip.

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