Today marks the two week mark since we left home. For anyone wondering, we are still happily married and tolerating each other’s continued company well. After the first five days making our way down to the Jacksonville, FL area, we turned west. Very exciting, for us anyway, was our first Harvest Hosts experiences. http://www.harvesthosts.com is a membership thing where you can do overnight stays at wineries, farms, breweries, museums and the like. Our first stop, the Tallahassee Automobile Museum. They had a gate that closed at night and lots of level grassy space on which to stay. Guests are encouraged to patronize the business, but otherwise there’s no charge to park overnight. I picked this place mostly based on it’s location and figured it would be cute. Holy cow, it was actually very impressive. I’m not uploading, nor did I take enough pictures to illustrate what we’re talking about here. Not just cars, DeVoe Moore, the fellow who’s assembled everything, has collected dolls, guns, outboard motors, sports memorabilia, toys, pianos, pretty much anything you could think to collect. Really, just go here and see. After arriving and parking, then spending more than a couple of hours in the museum, we had a very peaceful night’s sleep on the museums grounds.

Our next stop was also a Harvest Hosts pick. We found this place on their map months ago and knew we needed to go. Southern Grace Lavender Farm. What the hell do I even care about a lavender farm? I don’t/didn’t. I just knew from the pictures and the reviews that we needed to go. I think this one more exemplifies the HH experience. It’s not right off the highway, so really no reason you’d know about it or find it otherwise. It was very sweet. They had chickens running around free (I got free fresh eggs), a pig in a pen, and a little shop with lavender wares. They actually had three really nicely prepared actual campsites with a concrete pad, fire pit and firewood, and hookups. We didn’t stay in these, actually we basically stayed in their front yard. This was the first time I’d left V’s immediate presence the entire trip. I took the car and went on a bike ride and a hike while she stayed at the farm. It was weird, but we’ll get used to it. Again, just a peaceful overnight stay, very quiet and we were awakened by roosters in the morning just like you’d imagine. Hmm, I guess I didn’t take many pictures here. I swear I took a picture of at least one big healthy chicken. Oh well, V will probably add some here shortly.

Back to “regular camping” I guess. Next we stayed a couple of nights at Fort Pickens near Pensacola – way out on the barrier island, a National Seashore. Great beach camping, this is the kind of thing we usually prefer. Cool fort. Pretty sunset. The armadillo’s name was “Arney”.

Next, the Bilox, Mississippi area and our third Harvest Host. This brewery was highly reviewed on HH, but again, it was mostly picked for where it was on the map, not too far from I-10 and just a few miles north of downtown Biloxi. We got there early, parked, and then zipped downtown to eat lunch at a waterside seafood place that V’s Mom had recommended. Geez, it was good. The perfect outside corner table, great service, food was excellent. We walked the boardwalk after we ate then figured the best part of the stop was behind us as we headed back to the little nothing brewery. Wow, we were wrong. This place rocked. The owner and our waitress were loads of fun, they had excellent beer and cider, and the food was top quality. Everything about this place hit right. And all we had to do at the end of a fun evening was walk across the parking lot. This Harvest Host stuff is really something. By the way, I really need to do better about taking pictures. I realize as I’m doing this update I’m probably not illustrating what I’m describing. I’ll work on that; in the meantime if you’re so inclined (surely no one will be) you can use the Google machine.

At this point in the journey is where we start pouring on some steam. We had a schedule change on my Dad’s part in CA that’s requiring we get there a little earlier than we had planned. So, we skipped Louisiana entirely. Come to think of it, we skipped Alabama too. We’ll hit both on the way back or another time.

Our fourth HH stop was Frascone’s Winery near Double Bayou, TX. It’s way out there, as you might imagine from the name. This one was weird in the best way. Out of the way, meaning 20+ miles from the interstate and situated in a neighborhood near Galveston Bay. After we were greeted by a friendly fellow, we parked on a lovely patch of grass on a bend in a tidal waterway. We walked across the residential road to the winery, which appeared to be just the lower floor of someone’s house. Now you all who know us know we wouldn’t normally be in for these “people-y” shenanigans, but when we walked in, we were welcomed warmly to a communal table. Neighbors and a fellow HH’er woman traveling solo were among a cast of characters that came and went, and we talked and drank wine and ate dumplings and alligator egg rolls. Really decent folks and the next couple of hours breezed by. Speaking of breeze, it was windy as hell this night. We were secure in our rig, but there was some jostling and noise. I wish I had pictures of the folks we met here, it would have really told the story.

Which brings us current as of this post, San Antonio. I’ve become a real fan of KOA campgrounds. I don’t know why I resisted, but I was shown their appeal on our Yellowstone trip. I’m typing this post on the third of our four nights here at the San Antonio KOA. We were going to stay three nights, but we’ve made a weather related change that I’ll explain below. We were at the pool today. We went downtown yesterday and walked five miles of the San Antonio Riverwalk. We knew we would be here a few nights and I needed a couple of things, so I experienced my first Amazon locker pickups. Very cool. A train is whistling faintly in the distance just now. The thing we’ve found about KOA’s is comfort and consistency. Sure, we love beach camping, state and national parks, and boondocking, but it sure is nice to have amenities (laundry facilities), landscaping, and nice sites. I’m a fan.

Just today, Tuesday the 18th, we decided to add an extra day to our stay here in San Antonio. A cold front is moving across the Southwest. If we had left tomorrow as initially planned we’d experience one or two stays where we wouldn’t get above freezing. I had made reservations at a state park campground near El Paso where our daily high would have been 9 degrees! This front won’t get to San Antonio until Thursday, so instead of getting into all that, we’re staying here. We’ll have a beautiful day tomorrow. Then we’ll drive straight through to the first place where the weather becomes decent again, Tuscon. The benefit of not planning too far ahead. It’ll be a long driving day, but we’d rather not subject the rig and it’s plumbing to significantly lower than freezing temperatures.

So, here for another two nights, then we’ll see you in Tuscon and after. Plans include Pheonix/Scottsdale, San Diego, and Borrego Springs. Following the sun and warmth. Our best to you all, especially if you’re somewhere cold.