My Turn for an Update (Laura)

Okay - I've definitely been negligent in updating the blog in the two weeks since we left Big Bend, so I'll try to update you on my take of what's been happening of late. As Andre has indicated in his recent entries, it has been a series of adjustments back to our pre-Big Bend state.  Sitting for extended periods of time while driving, the relentless humidity, figuring out how to continue healthy eating habits while traveling with limited refrigeration/freezer space. But those things gradually resolved themselves as one day rolled into the next and we re-adjusted to life "van-style".

Leaving Big Bend on Sunday

Included in this adjustment period was a memorable evening that I believe was the hottest night of my life! I don't mean hot-"cool", I mean hot HOT.  Ironically, after spending 3-4 months in the desert in 100+ temps on a regular basis, I have never been so warm as during the seven or eight days after leaving the park.  One night early on was particularly brutal; the hottest night in the van that I can recall. I kid you not - the temperature at midnight was 97 degrees. Yes, I said midnight.  It was an eye opener. I didn't realize it could actually be that hot that late.

We both spent most of the night trying to fall off to sleep, listening to train whistles and hoping for the slightest of breeze to waft through the windows on an evening that was thick, sweaty and stubborn.  By about 5am the temp had only dropped to 90 degrees. The steamy humid weather stayed with us all the way through Texas and into Louisiana as well. Then the rains came - strange adaptation after months in the desert. I am happy to report, though, that today it is sunny and 80 degrees in the Carolinas. Perfect!

A few highlights from the past two weeks:

We enjoyed a stop in Fredericksburg, TX where we walked around the small town that was originally settled by German immigrants and still had a strong German presence including many German Restaurants, Bier Gardens, etc. It was also home to the National Museum of the Pacific War.  We strolled the streets and through many of the outside exhibits at the Pacific War Museum, including an interesting exhibit about the various U.S. Presidents and their roles in the war either through military service or their governmental role during the war years.

Next we enjoyed a fantastic, albeit unorthodox lunch, at Rustlin Rob's, the kind of gourmet food stores with unlimited sampling of hundreds of their own (and others') products including mustard's, jellies, dried meats, salsas, fudge, pickles, hot sauces, cheeses and basically anything you might want to dip a pretzel or a cracker in or on. The store was huge and a full of people making their way from room to room trying every kind of gourmet food on earth. What started as just a quick pop in, ended up being lunch, because we were completely full when we left!

 

 

 

On our way out of Texas we also stopped to check out the University of Texas at Austin. Although we had decided against doing any real sight-seeing in Austin (we decided to save that for another trip) we did take a break from driving for a few hours and got off the highway to walk around the  UT campus.

 

 

We left Texas and crossed into Louisiana in the rain, making one fun stop outside of New Orleans, returning to the Abita Brewery to do a tour and tasting, as we had also done on our way to Texas back in April. We ended up re-tracing a number of our stops on the way back to Florida including a night in Biloxi, Mississippi, time on the beach in Gulf Shores & Orange, Alabama, and retracing some of our steps in Tallahassee and also in Gainesville, FL.

 

Beer Sampler at Momo's in Tallahassee, Florida

 

We arrived in the Tampa on Sunday morning and enjoyed a visit with my sister Kathy and her family before heading to Mom's in New Port Richey to visit and prepare for my job interview scheduled for 4pm on Monday. The interview was for a seasonal accounting supervisor position with PwC. It was strange putting on a suit and heels after being away from corporate life for 6 months but I must have done okay because within an hour of leaving the interview, I got a call offering me the job! I will start on November 4th and likely work through their busy season ending in February. It fits in well with our plan to work a few months over the winter in a warm place before heading off to hike the Appalachian Trail in the spring.

 

After leaving Mom's we headed over to Daytona Beach and then Jacksonville for the Budweiser Brewery tour. We spent an evening in Savannah, Georgia then headed to Myrtle Beach for a night before making our way west in South Carolina to the Spartanburg area to visit my brother and sister in-law. We had a great visit and spent the night then headed to Asheville North Carolina where we are tonight. Whew!! That was a lot to remember.