2014-9: A Bunch of Hooptedoodle

 1. Apparently spending my youth in Pennsylvania was enough for me to find all the green that predominates in much of the country outside California to be normal, while Doug is enamored of it, constantly remarking on how grand it is.

2. Try to avoid campgrounds that cater to long stays, for they gouge overnighters. Last night's campground near Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC, was quiet and the weather perfect, but we found this morning we needed our own toilet paper....

3. I do love the sun. I enjoyed the weather variety in Siesta Key, FL ("America's No. 1 Beach"), while visiting my aunt and cousin. Coming from where it is sunny about 340 days a year, anything different is welcome. However, when on the last afternoon the sun returned, I was ready to stay another week just soaking up the rays, for when the air is dry, the temperature about 80, and the sun out, I am truly a lazy sun worshiper, skin cancer be damned.

4. Laugh and hug a lot when you travel, and don't travel with another English major.... Doug and I both were....

5. Make a breaking-camp check list and always follow it. It lessens the chances of your emergency escape window falling out on the highway. But as my brother-in-law Steve, says, "You can't plan adventures."

6. Stop complaining about smart phones. I found a glass shop on my phone in under two minutes. It was a half mile away and a great shop. Do, however, train in Siri lingo before departing, as while I had an address, Siri still could not figure out what Doug was seeking. (See #4 above about English majors.)

6. Today I automatically responded, "Yes, Sir." Everyone in the South says Yes, Sir and Yes, Ma'am, not just the Marines.

7. Always travel with stuffed animals. That way when you come upon an adventure, like your emergency escape window falling out on the highway, you can take cute pictures of them sitting on the window sill sans glass perplexedly discussing what the hell just happened.
8. Make sure an apparently coastal highway on the map is actually on the coast so you don't drive all day without ever catching sight of the ocean. So far, driving from Savannah through all of South Carolina and more than half-way through North Carolina, we have yet to see the Atlantic. That will surely be resolved when we take the ferry to the Outer Banks later today!

9. As Aunt Gret was warned many moons ago—before she went too far—in Florida, all golf balls in the water belong to the alligators.

10. Don't leave an expensive REI nylon, sunscreen protected ball cap every time you go on a trip. I left the first one irretrievably in Panama. Fortunately, this one Aunt Gret will take home to Toledo, where we'll see her again in a few weeks. We debated having her take the leftover salmon, also, which, to Doug's chagrin, I left behind, but decided against.

11. Don't write a military schedule in ink. Our Marine Andrew's schedule has changed almost every day lately. Fortunately, our schedule is flexible.

12. Just because Spring in the East is lovely, don't get all crazy and think about moving. Summer, humidity, and insects are coming. So, you live there just temporarily before or after they arrive.

13. We've seen very few highway signs indicating how far it is to the next town(s), highway, road, etc. Can't figure out if everyone in the South knows where they are, or doesn't find it important, or you'll be in the next state soon so why bother.  I've found it a bit disconcerting, wondering where I am all the time, but my iphone can tell me....

                                                                                    —Marilyn

P.S. "Hooptedoodle" is explained in the side column.