North Carolina – Monday, February 25
The first thing I did today was a shopping trip for the Holy Grounds Food Pantry. This food pantry is supported by the proceeds of the Holy Grounds Coffee Shop, and I liked the idea of a food pantry being associated with a coffee shop – that’s something I haven’t run into before! Their motto is “Fill your cup to feed the hungry.” The coffee shop is a spacious, comfortable place and I’m sure people spend many a cozy hour there. The food pantry is located in a big room right off the coffee shop, and is open a couple Saturdays each month. It’s a nice arrangement, and they sent me on my way with a complimentary cup of tea on this chilly morning.
The Holy Grounds Coffee Shop was on the outskirts of Wilmington, and in finding them, I drove past a bike path and a couple parks. So Tula and I got out and walked nearly 4 miles on the park paths and out on the bike path. There were quite a few people out walking and it’s a very dog-friendly place – the park even had a water stop for dogs in the form of a fire hydrant and fancy black and white checked water dish. Tula took advantage of it!
From there I did another grocery shopping trip, and headed to downtown Wilmington and Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, a food pantry that’s open 5 days a week, and Monday was one of their open days. Families are allowed to visit the food pantry once a month, and they get a 3-5 day supply of food. For those people without a stove, they can come in once a week for groceries. And, they also have a section of shelving reserved for food for people with diabetes. This is the first time I’ve seen that (which doesn’t mean other food pantries don’t take that into account – it’s just the first time I’ve seen it!). It’s just one more thing to take into consideration when planning what food to give people. Jane was a wonderful lady who showed me all around, and it’s a big, well-organized facility with a large group of volunteers who rotate in and out – they were eagerly awaiting the arrival of some freezers in the next day or so. The initial rush was over by the time I got there, but people were still arriving for food. Later Jane emailed me some information about the numbers of people they help, and it’s mind-boggling. There was a graph showing how the need has gone up in the past 3 years – in 2012 they helped 30,762 people in 13,475 families. Amazing – especially when you think that this is one food pantry in one city in one state in the country. One wonders what all these people would be doing without this food….
The Wilmington River was just a couple blocks away, so we headed out for a chilly couple of miles. Wilmington has a coast guard station and I was able to see a Coast Guard boat up close, and wonder about the missions it’s been on! We also walked through the downtown area a bit, then I put Tula back in the car and walked a couple more miles through downtown and the historical neighborhoods. Despite the chill in the air, it was a good city for walking. I did 9 miles altogether today. It was starting to get dark and I wanted to move on just a little, and ended up in Jacksonville for the night as it was starting to rain a bit.
North Carolina – Sunday, February 24
State #23 is North Carolina – I’m making my way to Ohio for a little grandma time! I stayed in South Carolina last night – heavy fog set in about 40 miles from the border, and I didn’t want to be driving in that at night. So once we crossed the border into North Carolina, I stopped in one of the first towns I came to – Lumberton. It was time to get out and stretch our legs. I walked about 1 1/2 miles in town, and it seemed like everything was brick – buildings, sidewalks…it was almost too much brickwork! And it was very quiet – almost a deserted sort of feeling, which was why I didn’t walk any longer there. I found part of a rail trail just outside of town and that was much better – I got another 3 1/2 miles in. I was heading toward Wilmington, and stopped in the town of Whiteville on the way, which was a good town for walking, and I got another 3 1/2 miles in. I’m glad it’s staying light a little bit later each day – it makes a difference!
No donation today – Sundays can be hard with many places closed, but I have 2 lined up for tomorrow!
Florida – Saturday, February 23
I started the day off with a nearly 6 1/2 mile walk on The Black Creek Trail right near the motel. It was a beautiful day for walking. My donations for Florida were done, and I only had a little more walking to do, and I wanted to finish it up near the ocean again. So I headed for Amelia Island, right at the very northeast corner of Florida. It was pretty driving across the bridges and causeways to get there. I stopped in a wonderful old beach town called Fernandina Beach. Lots of people were out and about – I think there had been a chili cook-off, and lots of people were out shopping. Tula and I got out to walk through town, and all of a sudden I heard someone calling Tula’s name – and I couldn’t imagine who knew Tula on Amelia Island! It turned out to be Toni’s roommate, who had headed up that way with a friend, and Tula was happy to see her. After walking all through town and some of the side streets, I headed for the beach for the final bit of Florida walking, and there were a lot of shells so I had to gather up a few of them.
Florida was a divided state – 2 days of the journey before the Pacific territories, and 5 afterward, plus a few days to get acclimated to the correct time zone after the islands. In the end, I got all 56 miles of walking done, and made all 7 donations – Manna Food Pantry, St. Joseph College Teaching Zoo, Warrior Institute, Bread of the Mighty Food Bank, Heart of Putnam Service Center, Green Cove Food Pantry, and St. Francis House. Then I was looking forward to getting in the car and putting on some miles toward State #23!
Florida – Friday, February 22
I headed back down to Green Cove Springs to shop for their food pantry, and got tuna, canned chicken, pasta and spaghetti sauce, juice, peanut butter, soup and canned ravioli – they had a wish list on their website. I had a little trouble finding them and had to call for directions – which were given to me using landmarks, not street names, but it got me there! They were a bit off the beaten track, and at first looked kind of small, but inside it’s a big, well organized facility. They’re open 5 days a week, and have a lot of volunteers, and have helped thousands of people over the years. They have refrigerator and freezer space too, which is nice, and had a number of bags packed up and ready to go, and the bags are packed according to family size. I enjoyed talking with the volunteers and learning about their facility.
From there, I went to Spring Park to see the springs for which the town is named. One of the food pantry volunteers told me that water from the spring flows right into the community pool, and the flow volume is so high that the water goes right back out the other side of the pool area. And they don’t need any chlorine or anything for the pool – there are enough natural chemicals in the spring water that it stays clean and doesn’t need further treatment. I did notice a little bit of a sulphur smell, and I don’t know if that bothers people when they’re swimming. The water in the spring is so clear that I could see all the way down to 28 feet. The sign says the 78 degree water flows at a rate of 3000 gallons/minute – hard to comprehend that much water always flowing out! It makes its way down to the river after going through the pool. Tula and I did a little walking in the park.
After grabbing a Subway for lunch, I headed for St. Augustine, the nation’s oldest city. It has a great historic district and a long road of old-time shops and cafes that is closed off the vehicles. The oldest wooden schoolhouse is on that street too. It was pretty crowded even though it’s still not really tourist season. I was here back in 2004, when Florida was the first of the randomly-picked “state trips” that we did during the summers. Castillo de San Marcos, an old fort that’s part of the National Park system, was within walking distance of the historic district, so we walked over there too. There were volunteers dressed up in Revolutionary War uniforms teaching people how to fire a musket. Tula couldn’t go into the fort of course, so we walked through some neighborhoods by the ocean instead. Then I took her back to the car, and walked back to the fort, and got in just as a ranger was demonstrating the variety of shot that a cannon can use. He mentioned one other effective offensive move that I hadn’t heard of before, and that was to fire glass balls at enemy ships – sailors back then went barefoot on deck because old-style shoes (which had neither a right or a left-the shoes were the same and one could switch them back and forth depending on wear)were slippery, and a bunch of shattered glass on deck with bare feet caused more than a little havoc. And all they had to do with other sharp-edged cannon balls was rip a sail or 2, and that also slowed down the enemy progress. They were pretty ingenious with what they had. The fort was getting ready to close for the day by the time I left, and I took the long way back to the car.
I had wanted to make a donation in St. Augustine since it is the oldest city, and St. Francis House was nearby – they’re a soup kitchen/shelter that serves dinner to its shelter residents at 7. So I caught them as they were starting to put a meal together and they have a nice big kitchen. Their shelter doesn’t have as many beds as they would like – they’re the only shelter for 4 counties – so they’re always full. They serve breakfast to the shelter residents every day, and then serve lunch to anyone, so lunch is their biggest meal of the day, averaging about 150 people 7 days a week. So I gave them a donation check – I hadn’t been able to reach anyone in mid-afternoon to see what they needed, and didn’t want to just guess.
Tula and I went in one more short walk to finish off our miles, and headed back to Orange City.
Something really strange happened to the first batch of photos I tried to upload, so these are extra for now. They still seem to be in my photo file, but missing from what I can upload – I’ll have to try to figure it out later!
Florida – Thursday, February 21
I had to backtrack just a little to the town of Palatka where I was headed to make my donation. But I didn’t mind because it was dark when I drove this way last night. I’m in agriculture country and there’s lots of fields – some ready to harvest and some not. It is apparently harvest time for cabbage (which seems strange to me because it’s only February!) because not only did I see fields of cabbages that looked huge, I also saw some trucks loaded with cabbage. We made our way back over the St Johns River and found the Heart of Putnam Community Service Center. I had called ahead to see if a food donation or a financial donation would be most beneficial, and they said a financial donation would be most helpful. This agency is a “one-stop service center housing a group of non-profit agencies” so that the different groups can combine efforts and resources so there’s no overlapping of services. That seems to be an efficient way to approach this! There were people in the waiting room, and they were busy, so I gave them my check and left. Then I got out for a quick walk through town, leaving Tula in the car for this short bit. At one end of town I found a park by the river, so I drove back there and got Tula out, and we walked through the park, and along the river on the sidewalk in front of some very nice river-front homes, covering a couple more miles. When we returned to the park, the sheriff department must have been conducting a training exercise in the water because there were about a half dozen sheriffs out on jet-skis – or maybe they were looking for something, or worse yet, someone. They seemed to all be in the same area.
Then I drove out to Ravine Garden State Park, and Tula and I walked nearly 3 1/2 more miles there. They’re getting ready for their Azalea Festival in 10 days or so, and lots of azalea flowers were in bloom, so it made for a pretty walk. There was a scenic drive around the whole park which Tula and I walked, and we went down into the ravine on the trails too. We crossed part of a swinging bridge over the ravine, but Tula was a little hesitant of the unsteady footing!
After that I headed up to Green Cove Springs, and walked a couple more miles through some pretty neighborhoods and into another park. From there I stopped for a bite at a little BBQ joint, and stopped for the night in Orange Park.
Florida – Wednesday, February 20
It took a while to get the last few things loaded in the van, and the condo cleaned up. Then I took a final 2.5 mile walk around OJC – the rolling hills and oak trees and horse pastures make it seem more like Kentucky than Florida!
From there I went to the little town of Micanopy, a wonderfully charming old Florida town. It’s not big, but has a lot of character. There’s lots of little antique shops in old buildings that have been around since stage-coach days. Tula and I walked a couple miles through the little town, and out into neighborhoods with street names like Ogeohee, Okehumkee and Eestaulkee. There was a sleepy quality to it all, like things have been around forever, and may or may not catch up with the present! I always knew Micanopy would have to be part of my walking when I was in Florida! I’ve been here before and I’m sure I’ll be back!
From there I headed back into Gainesville to the Bread of the Mighty Food Bank – I liked the name and wanted to do a food pantry donation in Gainesville since I’d been around there a lot. They were just getting ready to close, but they were happy for a donation, and then Anne, the director, asked me to come back to her office where she told me a bit more about the program. As a food bank, they help over 100 different churches with smaller food pantries, in several counties. They also partner with about 80 local stores and businesses to collect
food that is getting near its expiration date, or has packaging that is slightly damaged, and she mentioned how generous Walmart is in particular. Not only do they provide a lot of food, but they provided a lot of shelving in the storage area. And Trader Joe’s is a new store that recently opened, and they’re already on board with helping too. They have several refrigerator trucks so they can deliver perishable things to food pantries, and one of the trucks was donated through American Idol’s “give back” program. This lady is 85 and still going strong – and her 90 year old husband is often around. She figures it’s better than sitting at home! It was fun to hear about all the teamwork and the different organizations that are a part of a large food re-distribution program.
After a quick stop at Toni’s apartment where I took Tula and Ella on a last quick walk together (for now!), I headed south out of Gainesville. I passed Bolen Bluff state park that was on the other end of the Paynes Prairie Preserve, so I got out and walked a couple more miles – dogs weren’t allowed in this park either (which doesn’t stop some people!). By this time it was nearly dark, and I headed a little east across the state and stopped for the night in Elkton.
Florida – Tuesday, February 19
The adventure begins again! I spent 2 days in Florida before heading to the territories, so there’s only 5 left. Since I’m still waiting on my ATM card (I’m hoping it’ll be here today!) and I didn’t actually pick up my phone til this morning, I stayed local for today. I did some walking at the Ocala Jockey Club, then went to Payne’s Prairie Park for some more miles, which is near Toni’s apartment, but is a huge wetland preserve. Tula couldn’t come with me there because of all the animals, but that’s just as well – she’s had a quiet month, and I’ll give her some miles off as she builds back up to our normal routine. It had been a bit chilly the last few days in Florida, but the sun was out today, and that brought out a lot of alligators! The trail at Paynes Prairie started with a boardwalk, then was a wide grassy path. There were countless alligators out along the banks of the water – I read that they need the warmth of the sun to get their energy, and they were all storing it up! One big guy looked like he was smiling, and totally oblivious to the surroundings. I also saw some of the wild “cracker horses”, and there are also “cracker cows” and buffalo, but I didn’t see any of them. I’m not sure what the “cracker” refers to, other than being an old southern term. There was an observation platform at the end of the trail which provided a good view of a wide expanse of land, but I didn’t see anything else. There were still a lot of alligators along the banks on the return walk – but a few seemed to have moved. It was starting to cool off again.
My donation of the day went to the Warrior Institute, a huge project that Toni and several other people have spent a couple years on – and they just recently received their 501(c)3 status, so it’s an officially recognized organization now, after a lot of hard work by a whole team of people. Its goal is to provide some non-traditional therapy and rehab opportunities for veterans in outdoor settings with family members. In fact, Toni is getting ready to leave on a 5-6 day canoe trip down by the Everglades with veterans and their spouses – the first joint Warrior Institute/Outward Bound excursion. Toni’s a recreational therapist, and has led other outdoor adventure trips, but this is a big step in a new direction! So I made this donation as a proud mama!
Florida – Friday, February 15 – Monday, February 18
It took me a few days to take care of everything and get re-adjusted to the proper time zone. I started by sleeping past noon and still feeling tired, but got better every day. My neighbor had sent down a lot of mail with all my tax stuff, so I started getting that organized, and got most of my replacement credit cards, and dealt with a couple fraud reports. I also got help with my laptop (thanks, Mike!), so that’s working again. It took a while to get the replacement phone straightened out, but in the end, that all worked out really well. Plus there was a recall notice for the van, so I made an appointment at the dealership, and that’s ready to roll again. And I enjoyed some time with Toni, and also visited with Pat, my brother’s neighbor, who is a horse trainer and it was fun to see her horses, and one of my brother’s, during evening rounds. It would have been fun to watch a morning workout, but I could scarcely get myself up at a respectable hour, let alone in time for the early hours of a workout!
Bit by bit I took care of everything, and now I’m in good shape for the next leg of the journey, and can’t wait to get back on the road again!
In the Air – Day 3 – Thursday, February 14
I noticed last night that TSA had inspected my duffel because they left their flyer inside, and the zipper on one side of my duffel seemed to be coming off the track. But it still zipped all the way up from the other end. Gunnar drove me back to the airport bright and early, and I began the first of 3 legs to get back to Gainesville. There aren’t many direct connections from San Diego to Florida to begin with, and flying into Gainesville usually adds another stop, but is way better than a couple hours in the car from Orlando on the other end, plus all the tolls and gas. So I flew from San Diego to Dallas; had a layover; Dallas to Tampa with another layover, and finally Tampa to Gainesville. I lost another 3 hours time-wise, but I’m sure I didn’t know if I was coming or going at that point! My duffel bag was a bit of a mess. It had been inspected again – there was a second TSA card in there, and apparently they were not gentle with the zipper, and it popped open. My bag arrived heavily taped on both ends with a luggage strap around it. Toni picked me up, and it was great to see her, and then be reunited with a very happy, enthusiastic Tula! It was late, but I caught up a bit with Toni, and picked up all the mail that had arrived. My brother let me stay in his condo at OJC since no one was currently in it, and it’s only about 20 minutes from Toni’s apartment. My days and nights are mixed up with a 15 hour time change, and I have some re-organizing to do, so it’ll be nice to have the extra space for a few days while I get re-adjusted.
After 21 take-offs and 21 landings in a month, I’m happy to be back on the ground! I know I’ll never have a crazy flight schedule like that again!
In the Air – Wednesday, February 13 #1
My duffel weighed in just over 50# so I moved a couple things to my carry-on. Overweight bag fees seem to run between $100-200 – ouch! The flight left on time and was pretty uneventful – 8 hours from Guam to Honolulu. It was hard to believe my month on the islands was over – I saw so much, and learned so much, and met so many people, I almost didn’t want it to end, but I’m also really looking forward to resuming my journey on the mainland in my own van, and being reunited with Tula, and spending some time with Toni. They served us breakfast, then ice cream sandwiches for a snack, and sandwiches later. My seat mate was a native of Guam – about my age, and we talked about the island, and he mentioned how the younger generation isn’t learning the native language or anything. It turns out he’s a former police officer who mostly does crash investigation now. We talked about the theft of my purse, and he’s very aware of some if these thefts and told me how quickly they can break into vehicles. He offered to look into my case when he returned from Hawaii because he still knows everyone on the force. And when we exchanged cards at the end of the flight, I wrote down “my” officer’s name, and it turned out to be this guy’s nephew! What are the odds? If they can catch the guys, what they did was a felony and they could end up behind bars.
We took off from Guam at 7:15 Wednesday morning, and crossed the international date line, and arrived in Honolulu about 8:30 Tuesday night, 11 hours before we took off! Weird! But it makes up for losing the day on the way out.
I just stayed at the airport overnight – had to be back at the crack of dawn anyway – and Honolulu hotels are so expensive, especially with taxi fares it both ways – the couple hotels that actually had shuttles had been booked up for a while. And since I wasn’t tired it seemed silly to waste a lot of money. So I found a spot with a comfortable bench up against a wall and settled in, and I could get on the computer, so it started off fine. After a while, a young lady the age of my kids wandered over with her backpack and gear – she was flying home to Australia after an extensive backpacking trip throughout the US. We talked for quite a while and that helped pass time. She pulled out her sleeping bag and got comfortable on the floor, and it made me wish I had my sleeping bag! A couple other people were sleeping on the floor too. Eventually I got a little tired, and by then the airport was pretty quiet, and I tried to get comfortable using one beach towel under me and one as a blanket, but I only got a little fitful sleep – just couldn’t get very comfortable!
In The Air – Wednesday, February 13 #2
I got checked into my flight to San Diego at dawn, and then had trouble staying awake both in the waiting room and on the plane. So I got a bit of sleep. We lost a couple more hours on the way to California, so it was evening when we landed again – back on the mainland! My cousin Gunnar picked me up – he and his wife Linda live in Denmark but have a home in San Diego, and they were in town, so we had a great evening at their beautiful home. I hadn’t seen them for years and it was so nice to get caught up. Linda had made a really nice meal, and we stayed up late visiting despite an early flight in the morning back to Florida – I slept like a rock when I turned in, and wished I could have slept another 10 hours! The lack of sleep is catching up!
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