Ah, how I love fake Stonehenges. You may recall my visit to Stonehenge II in Ingram, Texas.
The town of Elberta, Alabama, not one to be left out of the Stonehenge fun, proudly displays a 1/3-scale fiberglass Stonehenge. Lovingly named “Bamahenge”, it is one of the coolest tourist attractions in Baldwin County.
Bamahenge in Elberta, Alabama
Shortly before I left Pennsylvania, I took a day trip to Elk Neck State Park in Maryland to meet some fellow campers. It’s on a long peninsula, across Chesapeake Bay from Havre De Grace, home of the world’s largest duck decoy museum. The campground at Elk Neck State Park is heavily wooded, the sites a tad rustic.
The beach a short drive from the Elk Neck State Park campground.
At the end of the peninsula is the historic Turkey Point Light, built in 1833. Although only a 35-foot tower, the 100-foot height of the bluffs on which the lighthouse stands makes it the third highest lighthouse off the water in the bay.
But, wait! There’s more…
Like a good snowbird, tomorrow I’m heading to Florida for the winter. Pennsylvania’s turned cold (but I think that started a few months ago).
I’ve been ready to leave for a new place for a while. I’m really looking forward to meeting up with about a dozen friends and framily (friends who are like family), several who live there, and several as they come through the panhandle. With one exception, these are all folks I’ve met on my travels. You’ve got to love that!
But I’m nervous about this trip, more so than usual, and I don’t know why. It will take me about four or five days to get there, maybe six.
I’d love it if you all would send me good, safe travel vibes! However you do it: prayer, metaphysically, sending the love, just good thoughts – it’s all good, and I appreciate it.
To RV or Not To RV, that is the question.
You all know I wrote a book, right?
Yeah, you know because you probably saw one of the dozen or so other postings about it.
Thank you to those of you who already purchased a copy! You all rock!
And because my readers rock, I’m offering a 50% discount for you all. The e-guide is only $9.95 to begin with, so you’ll get it for less than $5 with the discount.
How do you get the discount? Subscribe to this blogs posts (enter your name and email in the pop-up window, if you haven’t already) OR comment below and I will add you (you can always unsubscribe later, not that you would want to :).
*Once you do that, I’ll send you the code. Sign up for this blog via the pop-up or by commenting below no later that midnight eastern time, Tuesday 10/4/16 in order to receive the discount.
(After a long day on the road, I’ve realized it’ll take more time for me to email the code to each commenter and new subscriber so I’m just going to post it here for the next few days. Knock yourselves out ,feel free to share the code with friends and stuff. It expires 10/4.)
Regular readers of this blog might recognize about a third of the content. If you want to see the Table of Contents and first few pages, click here.
All proceeds go toward gas money. Thank you in advance! 🙂
Ok, please wish me safe travels, even if only in your head! I appreciate it!
xo
Kernut
Tales From the RV Park is now a sporadically posted series. Yes, “sporadically posted” just like “Ten Things Tuesday” is a sporadically posted series when I remember it. Do you realize how hard it is to come up with ten related things for a post?
In the past, I’ve posted several stories about the goings-on at RV parks where I’ve camped. These stories are now grouped into the “Tales From the RV Park” category. Those are listed below, as well as an update on attention-getting Butt-Crack (aka “BC”), and a new resident nicknamed Studly. Someday, I plan to turn “Tales From the RV Park” into an e-book of the same title.
Disclaimer: These stories are fictitious, happened in nightmares, are hearsay, and/or are what others recounted to me. I am part Irish, so there is likely a good deal of exaggeration. The names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent. There is no relation to persons living, dead, or in jail, even if you think so. In other words, don’t bother trying to sue me, and I have no money.
Some stories you may remember:
“Don’t make me get my gun out. Again” There is a slight problem with living and working at the same place. I learned that the hard way during my first workcamping gig in an RV park. Now I’m VERY cautious about mentioning the name or location of the park where I’m camped or workcamping. Thanks, No Boundaries Dude.
“In Loving Memory of Checkers…” is a tribute to my first co-pilot, and about the kindness of rangers, one who built a beautiful box for Checkers to be buried in, and the other who let me bury her in the park.
“Naked people, RV issues, and Kitties (These things are not related.)” A collection of randomness, and some naked thrown in to make you want to read it. People want to have sex in parks. Apparently they aren’t terribly concerned about being naked in crowded public parks during the day.
And no one can forget “I see Butt-Crack…”, least of all me.
Update on BC: But, wait! There’s more…
Disclaimer: I can’t take credit for this, I got it from Facebook. I have no idea who wrote it, nor did those who posted it before me.
After being on the road for over two years, I related to all of these. I’ve added on to the end. Please feel free to add more in the comments!
Home Is Where You Park It
You Know You’re a Full-time RVer When…
1) Your GPS is your best friend!
2) You NEVER know where items are in the grocery store.
3) You dump your own sewage and it is no big deal.
4) Your family has to ask you where you are when they call.
5) You keep both winter and summer wardrobes because you don’t know where you will end up.
6) You know what snowbirds are and have seen them in their natural habitat.
7) Your HOME has wheels.
8) You blog so that YOU will remember where you have been.
9) You look in your pantry and see that you have cereal from New Jersey, pasta from Texas, canned goods from Alabama, and crackers from California.
10) You are always the new guy/gal in town.
11) You know where to find the best, most reliable internet.
12) You own very little and are proud of that.
13) You follow the warm weather.
14) You hang pictures and decoration on the wall with velcro.
15) You don’t own any figurines or other cutesy stuff that sits on countertops.
16) You have slept in a Wal-Mart parking lot.
17) You meet up with a family in Virginia that you met in California.
18) You remember friends by what state you met them in.
19) You grocery shop every three days because your refrigerator is so small.
20) You have been to more museums, aquariums, national parks, monuments and zoos than you can remember.
21) You have “pulled chocks”.
22) You look confused when someone asks, “Where are you from?”
23) You get your mail 2-3 weeks late regularly from your mail forwarding service.
24) You have witnessed your toilet “burping” at you.
25) You crave adventure and can not wait to see what is around the next corner!
Here are the additions:
26) You tell your friends and family not to give you “things”, and you only buy items for which you know already have storage space.
27) When someone asks about your out-of-state plates, you have to explain that you don’t actually live in South Dakota/Florida/Texas/Montana. It’s just where your “residency” is.
Please add yours in the comments!
Ok, maybe that’s only one reason I’m not “all here”.
Me and my ride.
*shameless self-promotion alert*
In between working, sightseeing, and writing for this blog I write a little travel series for Yahoo! called “Strange RV Encounters”. It’s a bit hard to believe they let me write for them, isn’t it? Yeah, for me too.
Some of my long-time readers may recognize a few of the destinations, but I’ve had to write the articles a little differently. Unlike this goofy, poorly worded blog, Yahoo! is a proper, mainstream website — they prefer I keep my articles professional. In order to amuse myself, I sneak in a little phrase or word when I can, just to see if I can get it published.
I used the word “poop” in an article, and it’s published. Out there, on the web, on a proper and popular mega-website. But, wait! There’s more…
Maybe more so than you’d like.
Hey, it could be worse – this could be another post about my cat.
For those of you living vicariously through my experiences, I thought you’d like a few t-shirts and bumper stickers from places you haven’t yet been.
If you have a shirt that says “I stood on the corner in Winslow, Arizona” or a bumper sticker that says “I’ve been to Purgatory and back… Purgatory Correctional Facility, Utah” people will think you’ve been there.
And that you’re cool. Naturally.
No need to tell them you haven’t been.
Or, if you have been there, now you can get the shirt you forgot to buy.
Yup, I’m helpful that way. You’re welcome.
Someone drank a lot of wine. Apparently.
In the middle of nowhere, just outside of Columbus, Texas, you’ll find a huge general store full of the not-so-general. And a lot of “recycled” (aka “garbage”) art. Started in 2006, the Industrial Country Market, and its many structures, are all self-sustaining and fully “off-grid”. Wandering around the large grounds, I would’ve guessed the many well-made outbuildings, extensive art gardens and displays had been started twenty years ago rather than only six.
The not-so-general general store…
…but without the Pinta and Santa Maria. No, I don’t know where they are. They probably blew away in one of the many hurricanes.
It’s been one year since I got my RV and simultaneously became a full-time RVer. ONE YEAR! It’s gone by so fast, and I still haven’t seen even half the things I want to see.
I’m sorry I don’t have a fascinating post to mark the occasion but, frankly, it snuck up on me. I’ve been a bit preoccupied with missing my feline copilot, a little not-so-local sightseeing to distract myself, and looking for a *choke* job. Preferably one that keeps me traveling with my RV.
So instead of a witty wordy post, I offer another of those “mostly photos” posts because I’m phoning it in this week. Like Playboy does, but without the nakedness.
Corpus Christi, Texas
While I was on the Texas Gulf Coast, I made it to Corpus Christi a few brief times. Corpus Christi is a beautiful, clean city with a stunning shoreline. Alas, being the lousy photographer I am, I don’t have any pictures of the aforementioned stunning shoreline so you’ll just have to take my word for it.
In my defense, I always thought I’d have the opportunity to come back and take the photos I wanted, but I never got that chance. Neither did I get to see the U.S.S. Lexington or the Maritime Museum. While I did enjoy a couple concerts at nice concert venues courtesy of some friends, I only got to try one (so-so) restaurant. I’m sure there are better ones.
For your viewing pleasure I offer you one photo of the Nina, without the Pinta or the Santa Maria. (But I’d bet it’s one more photo than you’ve ever seen of the Nina.)
The Nina, without the Pinta and the Santa Maria.
Ok, so it’s But, wait! There’s more…
Thought long and hard about that catchy title, I did.
Welcome to Rockport, Texas!
Rockport, Texas is one of the most beautiful places I’ve yet seen on my travels. That short list includes the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, and Monterey, California. It’s full of palm and oak trees, and bordered by miles of coastline. It’s one of the top fishing and birdwatching places in the nation.
There are more linear feet of fishing piers than sidewalks in Rockport.