Okay, I would like to publicly apologize, on behalf of Andy and myself, to the five people who may or may not check this blog, for leaving you poor vicarious-living souls high and dry in the update department. The good news is, we're alive and well! We're not starving, under arrest, or scratching each other's eyes out! (let me hear those cheers, o devoted ones...)
It's now been six weeks since we left Omega, and as I sit here in Kennesaw, Georgia on this last weekend of 2007, we've driven through nine states and clocked in somewhere between 2,000 and 2,500 miles. We've stayed in five lovely homes-- a humble thanks for the graciousness and hospitality to Randy, an Omegalove who shared his retreat with us in Montauk, New York, my parents, Deb and Steve Rothaug in Huntington, New York, Wendy and Alix, more Omegaloves who gave us a cozy room in their Charlottesville, Virginia home, the Lipscomb family in Dahlonega, Georgia for sharing their Christmas with us, and presently to my cousins Rick and Bridget Kraics, who couldn't have phoned at a more opportune time last evening. Would we like to drive on over, spend some time, meet my nine month old cousin? I glanced around at the purple police lights obnoxiously filling up the van and said "Sure! Thanks so much for calling!"
Other places we've parked our darling Dolphin for the night: one campground (Oak Island, SC), many a beach (for about a week straight, all down the Carolina coasts), an electrical tower, a truck stop, a Wal-Mart parking lot, and next to and behind abandoned buildings on the sides of both busy state roads and quieter country ones. New and different animals we've encountered include black bears, armadillo, a dolphin, bison, pelicans, and other assorted water birds. We've proudly cooked for ourselves most nights and can count on one hand the amount of times we've eaten out (including a Waffle House "meal" we'd rather forget; who puts a slice of processed cheese on top of grits and calls it "cheesy grits"??), and in the same respect, have only paid to do our laundry once the whole time we've been on the road (at aforementioned campground).
Yesterday was a landmark occasion, because not only did the police decide to politely ask us to leave our location for the third time during our RV Adventure, Dolphin Style (fine, so the first two times- in Kill Devil Hills, NC and Jackson, GA weren't so pleasant....), but I actually cooked an above-average meal, twice! Usually for breakfast it's the same-ole, same-ole granola, courtesy of Omega, and yogurt or soy milk, but yesterday I made hearty banana-raisin-cranberry-cinnamony porridge, perfect for the rainy, chilly morning. And dinner! Dinner was quite yummy and unusual, not to mention cumbersome in preparation and full of spills and grumbles of frustration at the cramped quarters and limited utensils with which to work: five cheese tortellini and fried eggplant parmesan, twice dipped and with an extra coating of parmesan cheese, then topped with fresh mozzarella and baked to delectable crispiness and coated with just the right amount of tomato sauce. For those of you who have not seen our tiny home, and tiny kitchen, well-- why aren't you looking at our pictures? When I say limited utensils, what I mean is that we have four each of plastic knives and forks, one steak knife, and one cheese slicer. The steak knife functions well enough to cut anything we have, and the cheese slicer operates under whatever capacity we demand of it, be it spatula, cooking spoon, serving spoon, or back scratcher. And our dinners are typically much simpler: rice and beans, kraft-y macaroni and cheese, quesadillas, and the like.
A few oddities have presented themselves to us during our drive through the lesser-traversed roads of the South-- no interstate highways for this stubborn pair, no sir. Local country roads it is! And on these roads, we're given the opportunity to spot strange eye catchers that I-95 just does not provide. What's with all the overgrowth? And abandoned houses with ransacked insides, perhaps a bottle of Coke on a ramshackle kitchen table? Why, in North Carolina, did we observe more vanity plates on the cars that anywhere else? What, seriously now, is the immense popularity of boiled peanuts all about down here? Here in Georgia, there are pawn shops a-plenty, with guns, tobacco and jewelry dominating the signs along the thoroughfares. Also in this state, we've both noticed the lack of book stores as we pass every other chain from Anytown, USA, save for Barnes & Noble. But oh, how we jump to every thrift store in sight, scanning the shelves for the cheapest of the cheap, grabbing a $0.75 novel or true-crime book for to pass our evenings in quiet enjoyment.
Where shall we go next? Georgia, you've been quite kind to us, and you get our heartfelt appreciation. Alabama is calling our name next, and Andy and I will keep doing what we've started: wandering and meandering, exploring small towns, perhaps meeting an eccentric local or two, inserting ourselves into the unfamiliar, and revelling in warmer weather.
Click 