Winter 2014-Habitat for Humanity and Goin' Home

Wed. Mar. 5—Sun. Mar. 9: It was still chilly when we got up in the morning, packed up the lunch Marv had made the night before and headed to the work site. It was a rehab house that was nearly finished and there was one other volunteer waiting in front of it when we arrived at 8:00, as instructed. Tommy volunteers once a week and lives in a town near to Biloxi. The Habitat for Humanity crew didn’t show up for nearly an hour. We worked both days with Ken and Joel as supervisors, usually one at a time, and a group of AmeriCorps workers named Jessica, Colby, and Shane. Once opened up, the house had a furnace that kept us comfortable for working though it didn’t get above the fifties that day. We spent the morning figuring out the “giant jigsaw puzzle” of the trim from the living room and four bedrooms that the carpet installers had dropped pretty indiscriminately in the bedrooms. Before lunch we managed to work things out for all but one bedroom and got it all painted. Since the others were going out, we went to Wendy’s with them for lunch and got to know everyone a little better.  The afternoon was spent applying the trim and caulking and spackling it, and then cleaning up. We were back to our campsite in time to hike the short nature trail on the ridge along the creek that runs through the campground before we ate our lunch for dinner.

Biloxi House #1

The next day we were sent to a house near the downtown, just a few blocks from the Gulf shore. It was also a rehab; apparently a rare repossession of a Habitat for Humanity build. It wasn’t as far along and was in pretty bad shape. The furnace was newly installed and, though they fired it up for a bit, it wasn’t used while we worked. Luckily, it was a little bit warmer than the previous day. We spent the entire day painting the kitchen, hallway, and two bedrooms. They are trying to do a “rush job” on the house because there is a buyer for it and, despite its poor shape as we worked on it, the Habitat folks figured it would be move-in ready by the next week or so. Hard to believe! We went to “Quality Chicken and Seafood” for lunch and ate with Ken, but it was probably too expensive for the AmeriCorps workers, who eat out every day on a limited budget. Had we realized the dilemma, we would have enjoyed taking them out to eat, and were sorry that wasn’t readily apparent. Marv had half a smoked chicken with sides and I had shrimp gumbo with half a fish po’ boy. It was good, and it was interesting to look over the array of fresh seafood for sale in the main part of the market. Marv and I took time to drive over and see a bit of the beach, since we were so near before we returned to work. Back at the house we finished up around 3:00 because the others had a 3:30 meeting. It was just as well because we had to empty and clean the refrigerator, winterize the camper, and get it all ready to head north in the morning.

Biloxi House #2

The Biloxi Pier

The Beach in downtown Biloxi, Mississippi

Having stayed on Eastern Time we were up and on the road by 8:17. We ate lunch out of the cooler as we drove and spent several hours of our trip on the Natchez Trace. It speed limit is only 50mpg but there is little traffic, few crossroads, and goes at a diagonal to the north east so it made for a very pleasant afternoon and we made it to Frankfort, KY to spend the night at a Comfort Inn. 

The original Natchez Trace

The Natchez Trace today

A pleasant by-way for a break

We arrived at the Penquites’ Saturday about halfway through Jordan’s sixth birthday party and were there to see him blow out the candles on his Captain America cake. Ken, Jen and Josh were there and, after he opened his family presents, we took everyone out for Jordan’s birthday dinner at Stacked Pickles before the Dunns went home to Fort Wayne and Marv & I went to see Craig’s new firm’s office in an historic building in downtown Carmel. Sunday morning we sang in a quartet at both services and with the choir in the second service at St. Peter’s UCC. Craig and Eli went to a baseball try-out for Eli, and the rest of us went to McDonald’s so Jordan could get the Happy Meal he wanted for his birthday. 

Figuring out the new Microscope from Aunt Jen & Uncle Ken

(from left) Elijah, Jordan, Ken

Marv helping Analyn hold her cousin, Joshua

(left) Craig, Sarah, Marv, Analyn, Ken
(right) Elijah, Jordan, Peggy, Jen, Josh

Always the Happy Girl!

Jordan is six!!

Marv and I left from there and drove the two hours up to Fort Wayne. We picked up pizza that Ken had ordered and got to their house in time to watch most of the sad, final MSU regular season basketball game, which they lost. It’s been a disappointing season, that’s for sure. We celebrated Ken’s 31^st birthday at halftime and left before the end of the game. 

Josh and Peggy Ken open is new bench grinder

Joshua and Grandma Cookie

Joshua at 3 1/2 months

Josh loves the Johnnie Jump-Up handed down from the Penquites

Joshua and Boppa get some quality time together

There were no problems on the last leg of our long journey and we arrived home to a warm house, thanks to the Puentes coming over and turning up the heat for us. The driveway was cleared enough to back the trailer in and get it over to the side so that we’d be able to get the car out past it in the morning. But the banks of snow on each side were about four feet tall and encroach from each side leaving only a vehicle’s width for an entrance. We had driven 4280 miles and gotten 16.3mpg. The trip hadn’t included the stunning beauty of being Out West last year. But we had done some good work volunteering and seen some of our favorite people along the way. And even if it wasn’t as warm the whole time as we would have liked, we could always comfort ourselves with the knowledge that it was much colder back at home in Michigan! And we have our next trip, a Tulip Time river/canal cruise in Netherlands and Belgium with Kris & Heidi, to which we can look forward the first full week of April. Maybe the snow will be gone when we return from it!

A postscript: Monday was sunny and 52° at home. We managed to open, unpack, clean, close, and put the camper back in the garage in relative comfort. Tuesday was a bit cooler and cloudy. That night and into Wednesday morning East Lansing got 6.5” of new snow. Wednesday night there was a record low of -5°. Thursday was cloudy with temperatures in the 20s. Friday was sunny for the morning, then cloudy for the afternoon with a high of 50°. The Winter of Discontent shows no sign of leaving completely anytime soon. 

Winter 2014--Big Lagoon State Park

Sat. Mar. 1-Tue. Mar. 4: Gulf Shores State Park, in Alabama, where we had stayed a few years ago, was full but Marv made a reservation for Big Lagoon State Park in Florida, which was only about 15 miles east of Gulf Shores. We were so lucky to have clear, sunny skies and temperatures in the low to mid seventies for the weekend. The park reminded us very much of St. George Island State Park, and is situated on the dunes between the Gulf of Mexico and beside where the intracoastal waterway cuts inland to form Perdido Key. Our site was short and low with salt marsh behind us and next to a (closed) boardwalk into the marsh so it was pretty private.

 After we got settled we drove 13 miles west to Orange Beach, Alabama, where Bob and Nancy Muhlbach own a condominium. They had picked up Bob and Sylvia Stevens from the airport in the morning to stay with them for a few days. We all gathered around 3:00 (Central Time Zone for a few days) to watch MSU get beaten by Illinois at home in basketball. L At 5:30 we walked across their parking lot and stood in the main drag beside the beach for a Mardi Gras parade. The sun set as we waited for the parade to begin. The floats were lighted and some were animated and the crews were throwing beads, moon pies, cups, mini-footballs, and stuffed animals in abundance. We half filled a grocery bag with beads, four footballs, a few moon pies and 1 cup. 

Bob and Sylvia Stevens with Peggy

After delivering our loot to the truck and theirs to the condo the six of us plus their friend, Chet, walked to the other side of the parking lot to Wintzel’s Oyster Bar. We would have had to wait for a table so we sat around the corner of the bar where we could watch the oyster shuckers open a whole trough full of fresh raw oysters. Bob Stevens was the only one who ate his raw, while Nancy had hers fried. Marv & I shared a big plate of red beans and rice with sausage and chicken. It was spicy and filling and, with a side salad, very satisfying. The Stevens were on Eastern Time Zone and had begun their day at the Flint Airport at 6:30 so they were really tired. We drove back to the campground, enjoying a really nice Mardi Gras firework display from Perdido Key for most of the drive. We made a stop for groceries on the way but still got back to the camper before 9:00. So we grabbed a flashlight and walked the half mile or so down the boardwalk to West Beach and looked at the stars and into the dark water of the Grand Lagoon.

Bob shows off an oyster

Marv got up and started the coffee in the morning as usual and we both took showers and got dressed for church. When I asked Marv what time it was as we ate breakfast he said 9:15 but then we both realized he had looked at the one clock we hadn’t changed and it was only 8:15! We had plenty of time to eat and walk the boardwalk again in the daylight and even read for a while before we drove back over the beautiful S-bridge and a few miles to the state border. We met the Stevens, Muhlbachs, and Chet at the huge, sprawling Flora-Bama Bar for “Worship @ The Water”. Over 500 people squeeze onto bleachers and into folding chairs and stand around at the back, flowing out of the outdoor “tent” part of the bar, all gathered for Worship. There was a large enthusiastic Praise Band to lead the worship and we sang about 8 songs from their self-published “Honky Tonk Hymnal”. A nervous young woman gave the message, filling in for Jeremy, who usually preaches, and another woman gave a testimonial witness, and the place was really rocking. It is sufficiently popular that beginning next week they will go to two services for a while (Spring Breakers will replace the Snow Birds who have been in attendance). It’s not quite my cup of tea and very different from Edgewood but it was fun to experience…once. Afterwards the seven of us went to Cobalt for a fantastic Mardi Gras-themed Brunch that included Eggs Benedict, omelets, roast beef and pork, French Toast, strata, and a variety of salads and sides, with beignets, Crème Brule, and King’s Cake for dessert. The buffet was $19 a person but the Bloody Marys were only $2 with the buffet! We were stuffed by the time we finished. So we returned to Muhlbachs’ condo to change clothes, took chairs and towels over to the beach, and all went into comas in the sun to digest. When we had partially recovered, the Bobs and Marv and I walked about a mile west on the beautiful white sand beach. The tide was just going out so there wasn’t a lot to find but it was a nice walk nonetheless. Since we hadn’t seen that much of the campground Marv and I elected to head back, arriving with time to ride our bikes 3.1 miles out to the Governor’s Pavilion (where a wedding was being held when we came on Saturday) at West Beach and catch the end of the sunset. It was dark when we returned and put the bikes away in the truck and we read and listened to the iPod for the evening. 

(form left) Marv, Peggy, Nancy M., Bob & Sylvia S., Bob M.
at Cobalt, enjoying our brunch

Orange Beach, AL

Peggy & The Bobs work off some of the brunch.

We weren’t expected back to the Muhlbachs’ until 4:00 Monday so we had scrambled eggs loaded with veggies, did the dishes, and got over to the Library across from the park gate before they opened at 10:00. I spent the next almost three hours, desperately trying to finish up and order a Photo Book from Picaboo for which I had a Groupon that was running out on Tuesday. Around noon I admitted defeat and figured I’d have to just put the money towards a full price book. But Marv said to contact the company and see if I could get an extension. Sure enough, the site had a chat line and in a few minutes I had a month more to finish the book! I will do it at home with our faster and more reliable internet. A few minutes later we went back to the campsite and had soup for lunch for the first time in several weeks. It tasted good because, although the light rain we had had all morning had ended and the skies were clearing, it was windy and in the low sixties so it felt colder. With time left in our schedule we drove across the bridge onto Perdido Key and spent a couple hours hiking around at the Gulf National Seashore area. There was no one at the gate and very few people in the park which must be jammed with beach combers during spring breaks. We especially enjoyed driving out to the end of the less than 50 yards wide spit of land that poked out into the Intracoastal Waterway. By then it was time to drive to Orange Beach for the last time. The six of us went to LuLu’s in Gulf Shores for dinner. The owner is the younger sister of Jimmy Buffet and several of their specialties, including their draft beer, are called Little Sista’s. Brett Burnes is a favorite performer of the Muhlbachs and he sings at LuLu’s on Monday nights. He is sort of a cross between Jimmy Buffet & Jeff Daniels as a singer/story teller, very entertaining, and with a big following, so we had a hard time finding a table. We ended up in the bar next to the plastic windows and the cold air was streaming in through broken zippers. But we enjoyed the food and the ambiance and the songs before going back to Muhlbachs to play dominoes.

Gulf National Seashore at Perdido Key

Nature Hike Boardwalk at Gulf National Seashore

(from left) Marv, Peggy, Sylvia, Bob S., Bob M. & Nancy
at Lulu's

HAPPY MARDI GRAS! There wasn’t a big hurry to get to Mississippi the next morning and it was cloudy and only in the high thirties after a cold night. What a sad difference from the weekend. I was depressed as I packed away my shorts and sandals, realizing they wouldn’t be needed again on the trip. Since we had time I decided to check my email and was pleased to find an email from Janice with an update on their travels. I was surprised to read that they had been at Torreya State Park the day before we were. But I was shocked to find out that they were now camping at Big Lagoon State Park!! We thought that the New West van camper that was parked near us had just moved to a new site when we saw it the night before. Instead it was the Oiens. We walked our coffee over to their place and woke them up, so they made their coffee and we got caught up on things. As we talked I realized that the couple from Michigan that Ranger Howard had told us about was none other than Janice and Lou. How amazing!! We got on the road later than expected but as we drove out of Florida, across the foot of Alabama, and into Mississippi it began to rain harder and harder. The temperature dropped to 35° and things looked pretty dismal. The GPS found the Big Biloxi campground in de Soto National Forest for us and we got set up in off-and-on light showers with no end in sight. We will have a thirty mile drive to the Habitat for Humanity worksite to which we’ve been assigned for the next two days.

Winter 2014: Torreya State Park

Thu. Feb. 27 & Fri. Feb. 28: We got on our way after a quick breakfast and drove to the northwest and the panhandle of Florida. Marv had checked state parks the night before and found that there were no campsites available at St. George Island State Park, where we had stayed on our two other trips to Florida. Instead we hoped to get to St. Andrews State Park on a barrier island west of Panama City where they had some sites available. It took longer to get there than we anticipated and when we got about an hour and a half away we called to be sure they still had sites. The ranger said they had sites but we had to arrive before sundown at 6:30 when they would close their office and lock the gates. That didn’t look possible to us so we looked for something nearby and came up with Torreya State Park, set high on a ridge above the Apalachicola River. This is yet another CCC park and they still use one of the old barracks for Registration/Office/Camper’s Lounge, complete with a wood burning stove and chairs and tables. The tiny campground has only 30 sites but there were perhaps four taken and the YURT was occupied so we had plenty to pick from. We set up on #30 for one night with the option to stay another night, if we wanted. There was no one else near us so we could leave the curtains open and enjoy looking over the ridge and into the woods around us. As we looked over their map we found that there were lots of hiking trails and an old plantation house to tour so we decided we would stay another night and made reservations for the three days after at Big Lagoon State Park, just about on the border of Alabama. We warmed up our can of New Brunswick Stew from Brenda’s parents and watched a Northern Exposure as the temperature dropped down to the high 30s overnight.

CCC Barracks

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KEN!! In the morning we took our time getting up and enjoyed apple-cinnamon pancakes made from a Jiffy muffin mix while the sun slowly warmed the day into the fifties. My cell phone was showing the time sometimes for Central and sometimes for Eastern Time Zones so Marv went down to the office to find out what time it really was. In the old CCC barracks that is used for a campers’ lounge and registration office there was a clock that had a sign beneath it warning us that we were in the Eastern Time Zone and that one couldn’t rely on cell phones for the time. That meant we needed to drive right over to the Gregory House in order to make the 10:00 tour. Ranger Howard took us and a couple from The Hague, Netherlands on an informal and personalized tour of the Gregory Plantation House. We learned that the house was built in 1836 by Jacob Gregory on the opposite shore of the river on his 2000 acres of land with a River Boat landing right in front of the house. He ran his very successful plantation there until the Civil War and then had to leave when he couldn’t sustain his success without slaves. He sold the plantation and moved away. When his daughter was older she bought the house and 200 acres and lived there until her death. The house was abandoned until a lumber company bought the land and offered the house to the State of Florida on the condition that they move the house across the river to a parcel of land on the high bluff that the company also donated in order to get the fire hazard away from their lumber. The CCC dismantled the house, numbered the boards, took it across the river and reconstructed it overlooking the Apalachicola. It is beautifully restored and furnished with some of the original furniture, donated by the family, and other pieces of period furniture. Ranger Howard was a “good ol’ boy” from the area and he did a nice job on the tour. He was knowledgeable and not canned or robotic. He knew a lot about the house, history and furnishings. He mentioned that he had had a couple come through the day before from Michigan who knew all about furniture and wood and taught him new things. He mentioned they even got out their tablets to look up things on the internet.

Gregory House

Courting Room/Parlor

Apalachicola River from high  on the bluff by the Gregory House 

We enjoyed the tour very much and then returned to the campsite, where we made chili in our little CrockPot and took the on the mile “Weeping Ridge” hike right from our campsite. The trail descended steeply to a spot where the water flows out of the ridge rock and makes a small waterfall before going back underground. When it has rained a lot it apparently has a small stream above and below but not when we were there.

The Weeping Ridge. Water is dripping steadily in front of the white rocks

 As we climbed back up the ridge we could appreciate why Ranger Howard had said that the area is the far southern tail of the Appalachian Mountains. The topography is unlike anything we had seen or knew existed in Florida. After a lunch of turkey wraps and veggies we took the same trail down the ridge side and then turned off to hike about half of the Torreya Trail. We had learned that the Torreya is an ancient prehistoric pine that forms a fruit instead of a cone for its seeds. This variety grows only along the Apalachicola River and there are only about 200 specimens left. As we hiked we saw a couple of small trees protected by fencing. The trail was hilly and rigorous and afforded some lovely vistas over the river far below. We climbed Lawton Hill and were hundreds of feet over the river. The trail also descended to the river level before climbing up over other ridges. There were several different biomes to pass through and we enjoyed seeing the different plants along the way. The ground was littered at different times with live oak leaves, sweet gum seed pods, big magnolia leaves and seed heads, slippery longleaf pine needles and sweet smelling yellow jasmine flowers. There was no wind and the sun shown down from a perfectly clear blue sky but since it only got to the mid-sixties it was remarkably comfortable for hiking. Surprisingly, we saw and heard very few birds and saw no animals the entire way. We were really tired after the three and a half mile hike so a cold beer tasted great. The campground that had been so nearly empty Thursday night slowly filled until there were only 2 or 3 empty sites by nighttime. We had the chili with some corn bread and a marinated vegetable salad and did all the dishes. Marv built a small campfire to enjoy until it became too chilly so we retired to the camper to write and read before settling down for an episode of Northern Exposure.

Torreya Trail #1

Torreya Trail #3 (note the difference in vegetation)

A Florida trillium just ready to open

The river from atop Lawton Hill

Torreya Trail #3 (a steep hill, for Florida!)

Torreya Trail #4 (Marv is standing out on a point and the forest
falls about 60ft. on three sides of him)

Jasmine in bloom smells lovely!

Winter 2014--Lakeland

Tue. Feb. 25 & Wed. Feb. 26: By rising a bit early and working quickly we actually managed to leave the state park before Ann & Shelby! We wanted to get to Lakeland, buy tickets if possible for the Detroit Tigers’ first game, set-up in our new campground, and be back to the ballpark by 11:00. It turned out that the game, which appeared sold-out online, was a sort of Exhibition Exhibition—an annual first game VS the local Southern Florida College. So there were LOTS of tickets available and free parking for the game. We bought tickets and went to find Saddle Creek County Park. It was a few miles away on the other side of Lake Parker. There are only about 25 sites there, 2/3 of which are for trailers and the rest for tents only. But we had plenty to pick from and got set up on the bank of one of the many little bays or inlets of the apparently man made, square, lake maze-like, and island filled “lake”. As we popped the camper a small alligator swam down the inlet. We made it back in time to meet Ross & Pat Mack, John Sternberg and Ann & Shelby at Joker Marchant Stadium for the game. We were very early so we bought lunch to eat in our seats and then walked around the stadium for a while. Since there so many empty seats we moved into the grandstands under the roof for some shade and then enjoyed watching the Tigers basically cream the plucky college kids who must enjoy their chance to play against the “Big Boys”. They actually got three hits but no runs and were beaten 12-0, but everyone seemed to have a good time. The others left before the game was over but Marv and I moved down right behind home plate and stayed to the end. On the way back to the campground we got some groceries and got on the internet at McDonald’s before returning to make dinner and read until bedtime. We fell asleep with the windows open, listening to a chorus of frogs.

Joker Marchant stadium from the "cheap seats"

Old Friends: Ross, Marv & John

Cabrera was out on a fly ball

There was a threat of showers in the afternoon Wednesday but the morning was clear and mild so we enjoyed our coffee and read the newspaper on our tablets outdoors for the first time in a while. Then we drove the short distance to a public access site, inflated the kayak, and went for a paddle in the maze of islands and waterways. Luckily, we took the old GPS with us to make a track so we could find our way back! The area is teaming with water fowl that seemed to stake out favorite roosting areas by species, so that one area was mostly pelicans, one full of anhingas, another cormorants, etc. One can tell the favorite roosts by the leaves underneath “painted” white. There was one slow and quiet fishing boat, a couple fishing as we left the access site, and four people in full beekeeper’s gear working in an apiary on the ridge beside the lakeshore, but otherwise we paddled in blissful peace broken only by the noisy ibises, nearly hidden in the long reeds and grasses. After nearly two hours we had circled back and the winds had picked up so we headed to shore and put away the kayak. 

Pelicans a'Plenty!

It wasn't really this dark on the water, just cloudy

Tricolor heron--notice how blue the beak is!

We came in from the upper left and then made that crazy path

Our campsite at Saddle Creek County Park

After a quick lunch we drove to the nearby campus of Southern Florida College. In 1938 the president of the small private Methodist college on the banks of Lake Hollingsworth appealed to Frank Lloyd Wright to design a truly American campus promising to find the money to build it if he would agree. They both envisioned functional buildings made of local materials and not the ivy covered brick buildings that mimicked old English institutions. Wright accepted the challenge and designed 18 buildings, 12 of which were built under his direction. They employed the use of what he called “Textile Blocks”, which were concrete bricks formed in wood molds, and thousands of small pieces of colored glass. In 2013 one more building was built, a so called “usonian” that was intended to be faculty housing. It is now the Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center and from it we began our self-guided walking tour of the 12 original buildings. After touring the site, Wright remarked that he envisioned buildings rising “out of the ground and into the light, a child of the sun”. The campus remains a very unique and remarkable collection of Wright’s work (the largest collection in the world of his buildings in one place) and they are mounting an ambitious campaign now to renovate and refurbish the buildings to continue to share them with the world.

Usonian House

Water Dome--unique in its time and before there were hydraulics to make it work as he intended

Classroom building beside the water dome

Chapel

Under the esplanade

Esplanade

From there it was a short drive to the Lakeland Library where I needed to work on completing a photo book using a good internet signal. We sat next to a large window overlooking Lake Bonny and as we worked the skies opened up once again and it absolutely poured, making us glad we were not still outside walking, or kayaking on the lake, or even just stuck in the camper at the campground. By the time we finished the rain had let up and we returned to the campground to make our dinner and begin packing for another move.