DeFuniak to Dallas

We haven't really told you much about the town of DeFuniak Springs, where we've been staying the last couple of months. It's a small city of around 7,000 in the Florida panhandle located off Interstate 10 between Tallahassee and Pensacola and is the county seat for Walton County, Florida. It has one of only two naturally round spring fed lakes in the world located in the historic downtown DeFuniak Springs area; the other being located near Zurich, Switzerland. The town was developed in the late 1800s as a railroad town and named after Fred R. DeFuniak, who held many high offices with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. A Christmas tradition in DeFuniak Springs is called Christmas Reflections, where more than 5.5 million lights make up displays surrounding Lake DeFuniak. The one-mile circumference area of Circle Drive and the approximate 400 feet to the shores of Lake DeFuniak is illuminated with lights draped in the towering pines and oaks. Also, animated lighted figures, characters, Victorian silhouettes, Nativity scenes and holiday characters are spread throughout the grounds of the park and many of the surrounding homes are lit as well. The cost is $3 per person with the money going towards the following year's displays and various community projects. When we arrived in late October, we drove around the lake and saw inmates from the Walton County Correctional Institute dressed in black and white striped prison uniforms assembling the annual Christmas Reflections show. I didn't get any photos of that but did get these photos when we took the tour the night of Christmas Eve.

The historic district has many quaint little shops and buildings, one of them being the Hotel DeFuniak, built in the 1920s and restored in 1997. From what we've read the entire hotel is full of 19th century European and American antiques, and every room has its own unique theme from the Safari to the Dutch Romantic to the French Country. It's a very popular bed and breakfast location.

One of the great things about this lifestyle (as we may have mentioned before) is the flexibility to make last minute changes. As you know, we were scheduled to stay here until Jan. 3, but Christmas Day Russ asked me if I'd like to got to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Now if you remember, that is where our University of Missouri Tigers will be playing the University of Arkansas Razorbacks on New Year's Day. Well, didn't seem like a bad idea to me! We debated a little as to whether to spend the extra money since Dallas isn't exactly on the way to Baton Rouge, but then we thought 'hey, this is what fulltiming is all about...having the flexibilitiy to do these last minute, crazy things!' Mizzou had released some more tickets for sale so Russ got online yesterday morning and bought two. The Cotton Bowl grounds has onsite RV parking, which opens at 1pm on Sunday, Dec. 30. So tomorrow morning we are leaving DeFuniak Springs, will spend a couple nights at a campground in Monroe, LA, then head to Dallas on Sunday. We'll be boondocking at the RV parking site for 3 nights (meaning no water, sewer, or electric hookups), but between the generator and batteries, we should be ok. We've only boondocked for one night at a time before so this will be a new experience! But, hey, that's what this is all about! The game will be televised on Fox at 10:30am, Jan. 1, so maybe you'll catch us on TV. GO TIGERS!!!

Merry Christmas!

May the wonder of Christmas be with you always.

Peace, love, and happiness from the Farmers.

Time to Reflect....by Russ Farmer

As we enter the last week of 2007 we thought this to be a good time to reflect on our travels. In less than two weeks we will have completed the first leg of real full-timing on the road. We will have come full circle as we return to the starting point in Denham Springs, LA. We've gone more than 4,600 miles in six months while driving the Folly down the road. We have added an additional 5,000 miles in the Saturn Vue, and we have a lot to show for it. One thing that has struck us is the absence of the crime, and the worthy values of those we have met. We found almost every person we met, both in the cities and in the country, to be the kind of decent, caring people we thought had disappeared in our country. We can't really blame it on the media or TV for feeling that way. We are at fault for not getting out and meeting America on her own terms before now. It's too easy to get caught up in isolation induced by job, family, TV, and just not enough time.

I used to marvel at Charles Kuralt and the people he found for his Sunday segment of "On the Road". I wondered how he ever found the unique characters he presented. Not any more. I now know they're on every corner, of every town in our great country. We have only highlighted a few of the people we've met the last six months. We haven't mentioned all the dinners we've eaten with new acquaintances, all of the chats with characters we've met and shared some moments with. Just the thousands of smiles and handshakes would take a book. And we have just begun our journey.

But more importantly, we have met a lot of great people who've helped us make it every inch of the way. Anyone can buy a rig and hit the road, but there's a lot more to it than driving and parking a 55 foot rig and car through narrow roads and towns. RVers are probably the last of the American pioneers. With all the camaraderie, genuine assistance, and common bonds that the early RVers in their conestoga wagons had. As a group we have found them honest, helpful, and as much, if not more, talkative than us!

But more to the point, as we gather each day in front of our rigs, we have experienced more of the old fashioned sense of community, with perfect strangers for the first twenty seconds or so, than I ever felt in a tract house community with neighbors of two or three years. The common bond is that we are doing it, and talking about it. Each person we meet has a story and each story has made us better for listening. It doesn’t matter where someone is from, how old they are, how much money they have, or what type of rig they call home. At these moments in time we are just neighbors.

Last night we watched The Polar Express with a half dozen others. We enjoyed popcorn and a sense of community. There was a line toward the end of the movie: “The thing about trains…it doesn’t matter were they are going. What matters is deciding to get on.” As we walked back to our home, we realized how true that was about our RV. We also realized that we were glad we decided to get on. Home for us is truly where we park it.

Panhandle Opry

Part of the fun of this adventure is taking in the local sights and attractions. Well, Saturday night we decided to visit the Panhandle Opry in nearby Mossy Head, FL. It's billed as the "Cleanest Country Music Show on Earth", and the panhandle's answer to the Grand Old Opry. Now neither of us are big country music fans, but we had heard it was a good time and since it's one of those local attractions, we figured we should check it out especially since the cost was only $6. On this particular Saturday they were having a covered dish dinner an hour before the regular show at no additional charge. The Opry provided the ham, beverages, and dinnerware while all in attendance were to bring a covered dish to share. On the way there we missed a turn so arrived about 5 minutes late, and when we walked in, nearly everyone had already been through the line and were eating!! The food was okay, but the ham was extremely salty even by Russ' standards and you know what a salt fiend he is!

Now we weren't expecting any phenomenal entertainment, and we weren't disappointed. It's a family affair and has a long history in the area. We had heard that pretty much if you've seen the show once, you've seen it all. This particular night they did throw in a few Christmas songs though there were only two that were familiar. Nearly all the songs were slow, and if you like country, it might have been a somewhat enjoyable evening for you. But there were not only musical miscues but they were also having technical difficulties with the sound system. There were a couple highlights of the evening however. One was when two of the grandsons joined the group onstage on lead guitar on Memphis and Heartbreak Hotel during the first half of the show, and on Wipeout on the second half. (This also broke up some of the monotony of the s-l-o-w country music!) And the other was the special guest appearance by "Lulu" singing All I Want for Christmas and Santa Baby.....what a hoot she was!!!

If you want to check out further info and photos on the Panhandle Opry, simply go to http://www.panhandleopry.com/. We can at least say that now we've seen the Panhandle Opry, but it's definitely not something we plan to see again. But then, maybe we just caught them on a bad night....or not. After leaving the Opry, we headed over to the local bar for a couple beers. The band was Vic George & Doublecross, and they were surprisingly good. They played some country but had a really good mixture of other tunes as well. The clientele was quite diverse, and we believe this is the "hot spot" for the local area. We got a kick out of watching the pretty young girls hustling the guys for free drinks. And not just the young guys! Good thing I was with Russ!! Russ commented that the girls were really nasty on the dance floor and enjoyed the show. We even discussed that we should return some evening with the only problem being the action does not pick up until about 10pm. Quite late for us nowadays!

A couple people have asked me via e-mail about my singing, and if I miss it. I've mentioned in the blog about visiting a couple choruses in other states, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I missed out on attending a rehearsal in Ft. Myers. Initially I had hoped to be able to attend a few rehearsals while in this area, but then before we arrived I discovered that the nearest chorus is 1-1/2 hours away. Now I know there are some of my chorus friends who travel that far or further at times to attend a rehearsal, but that's never been something I wanted to do, at least not on a regular basis! I had considered the idea of going at least once during the two months we were here, but the thought of driving that distance by myself at 10pm didn't really excite me. So I haven't been able to sing with a chorus since September, and yes, I miss it, especially this time of year. I've always loved singing Christmas carols, and the smaller choruses I've belonged to always do many Christmas performances as fundraisers and/or community outreach. It's harder for the larger choruses to do this, but they might have a Christmas show instead. In high school there were a few of us that started an annual Christmas caroling event. The first year a few of us along with brothers and other friends decided to go singing door to door simply bringing joy to the neighborhood, but people kept trying to give us money! So we decided we'd go ahead and collect for the American Cancer Society and used someone's knit cap to collect the donations in. We couldn't believe that people actually trusted us enough to put money in a knit cap! Afterwards we went back to my house for hot chocolate. Every year thereafter we'd choose a charity ahead of time (we usually tried to pick one that wasn't as well known and didn't get as many donations), make up a canister, choose one of our neighborhoods, and set a date. Seemed our group got bigger each year, and we so enjoyed doing it. Slowly everyone's lives got busier and it became harder to maintain this tradition, but it's one of my fondest memories. And so, yes, I truly miss singing but will soon be back in Baton Rouge where I can visit my friends in the Baton Rouge Chorus and once more join in song, if only for awhile.

Last week I mentioned about karaoke at hot dog night. The machine wasn't for everyone's use (so no, I did not perform....thank goodness!) But the man who owned the machine and his wife did as well as Wendell, who stays here several months out of the year and plays a mean guitar from what we've been told. And he has quite a good singing voice from what we heard. There was also a special guest appearance by "Willie McLaine". Think he should meet Lulu!!

I shared some photos a couple weeks ago of how folks have decorated their rigs and sites for Christmas so thought this week I'd share some photos of how the owners have decorated the grounds around the clubhouse.

Also, here's a photo of one of the shirts I've painted so far, and I plan to work on another one this week. I'm really enjoying this craft but probably won't continue when I leave here since that would mean buying a whole bunch of new paints since I can't use my ceramic ones on fabric. But at least now I've done it and know the process.

Just a reminder (since someone asked) that if you double-click on the photos, they will open up fullsize...at least most of the time. Every once in awhile you'll find one that won't open. Don't know why since they're all loaded the same way...just won't.

Oh, and by the way, we finally watched Star Wars III, after joking beforehand whether we should first go back and watch number II one more time! LOL Have a great week!

Move to Florida????

Well, we're still here in DeFuniak Springs, keeping active with all the ongoing activities. Yesterday morning was the pancake breakfast. For $2 you got two big, fluffy pancakes, two sausage links, orange juice, and coffee! An added treat for this evening's hot dog night is karaoke and also a few of our neighbors will be strumming their guitars and beltin' out some country music. It don't get no better than this! We kid about some of these things, but we actually find them quite enjoyable.

Some of you may be curious as to the title of this post so we'll take some time to fill you in on our upcoming plans. We will be staying here in DeFuniak until January 3, and then travel back to the KOA in Denham Springs. As it stands now we have a reservation for one month, but still do not know how much longer we'll be staying. We have a few doctor appointments scheduled and are in the process of getting a couple others on the calendar. We hope to have all of those appointments finished by the end of January.

At some time between February 1 and April 30 we plan on changing our legal residence to the state of Florida. Why, you ask? The driving factor behind doing this is our health insurance. When our COBRA runs out on April 30, we will be eligible for a medical conversion policy to Cigna healthcare, which presently administers our health benefits. There are 4 states in the entire country that do not allow this conversion, and you guessed it....Louisiana is one of the 4. If we remain in LA, because of our pre-existing conditions, we will likely have to enroll in the Louisiana Health Insurance Association. This insurance is available to LA residents who have been denied health insurance for any reason. It is expensive, has high deductibles, limited choices, and just plain scary. By "moving" to Florida, we can get the conversion and have been informed that the cost will about $1,000 per month. A little bit more than what's in our budget, but obviously necessary.

In an effort to re-balance our budget we have spent the last few weeks trying to determine the most economical (cheap) way to continue on our travels. The second major expense that we incur each month are campground fees. Although we are only paying $375 plus tax per month here at Sunset King RV Resort, that amount will rise to almost $1,000 per month in Denham Springs. We have found since we left, and although KOAs are consistent and generally nice, staying at them has run about that $1,000 per month. We have investigated a number of different programs to help control this cost, and we have recently purchased a membership at the Breckenridge Lake Resort in Crossville, TN. We made this purchase so that we could utilize Coast to Coast Resorts for only $10 per night. They have campgrounds in almost every state, and although they are generally not located as close to major metropolitan areas as KOAs, there are many located within 30 or 40 miles of areas we would like to visit. The purchase price of this membership was $46, a $125 transfer fee, plus a $32 annual maintenance fee. In addition we paid to join Coast to Coast, which has an annual membership fee of $89.95. The program allows us to stay 14 days for free at our "home resort" in Crossville, TN. The $10 per night fee is available at all the other campgrounds and allows us up to a 7 night stay twice per year at each resort. The day we were making the decision, the resort here asked us if we'd be interested in a membership from them. Their membership included all the same benefits but was priced at $2,000 with a $250 annual maintenance fee. It is our understanding that some resorts sell their memberships for $4,000 - $5,000. So the $46 plus the $125 transfer fee sounded like a pretty good deal to us!

We have also stumbled across a company called My RV Mail, which for $12 per month supplies a Florida legal address and runs a mail forwarding service. They also allow you to view your mail online, delete anything that you do not want, and have the rest forwarded to you anywhere in the country for $4.05. So it looks like we will sign up for that service, change our billing address on the few items that still go to our P.O. Box, and when we leave Baton Rouge, have the mail from our box forwarded to this company. We will use this address to register our vehicles, for our drivers licenses, and for voter registration. It just so happens that this company is located about 20 miles down the road in Crestview, FL.

Another issue we hope to resolve while in Denham Springs is the issue of our storage unit. Most of the items in storage are considered collectibles and probably need to be listed on eBay. We only have a few large items, a dresser, chiffarobe and mirror that belonged to Russ' grandparents, and some glass tables that we purchased in Houston. We will need to go through the unit and determine what items we will try one last time to sell, what items we may take with us to eBay during the coming year, and whether we want to stay long enough in Denham to eBay our Dept. 56 Christmas in the City collection. It looks right now, that we will need to continue paying the $65 per month storage fee for another year. Not sure we want to hassle with it right now.

The last issue is to determine which items we have brought with us that it doesn't look like we'll use. We also have some items in storage that we may want to bring with us on our next trip. Speaking of our next trip, when we leave Denham, we will either come back to DeFuniak for a couple months, or if we stay longer in Denham, we will head north from there. We are leaning toward a trip along the East coast in 2008. We would like to visit some Civil War and Revolutionary War sites in GA, SC, NC, and VA. We're also hoping to see friends in Charleston, SC, spend some time in Savannah, GA, and Washington, DC. We will, of course, stop to see both of our sisters in DE and NJ. Hopefully we can get up and visit New York City, Cooperstown, and Niagara Falls. We also have plans on making it up to Maine, and back to St. Louis for the Missouri/Illinois football game in late August. At the end of the year, we may end up at Walt Disney World, since the FL resident annual pass is pretty reasonable! Plus there are about a dozen Coast to Coast resorts within 30 miles of the castle. 12 resorts x 7 days x 2 visits = 168 nights! Nothing like Disney World in December!

That's all for this week. By the way it was 82 degrees today!

A Different Christmas Poem

Our friend Scott, who we met at the KOA in Eureka, MO, had posted this poem on his blog (www.serenityadventure.com), and we thought it so wonderful that we asked if he'd mind if we posted it on ours as well. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

A Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."

"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December',"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas Gram always remembers.
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile."

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
"I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One,
Al Taqqadum , Iraq

Talkin' Cotton

Well, we had quite the excitement last night here at the Sunset King RV Resort! About 6pm we heard sirens wailing, and they kept getting louder and closer. Last week one of the ladies here had a heart attack and had to be taken away by ambulance. She had a couple stents put in, so when the sirens didn't stop and kept getting even louder and closer, that was my first thought, that she had suffered another heart attack. Russ and I went outside and could see the vehicles coming around the bend, lights flashing and sirens blaring. It was dark, but then I noticed that on top of one of the trucks were several people waving and realized it was Santa Claus! I ran inside to get the camera, and they drove right down our row tossing candy. Now the neighbors and we agreed that we're not sure it was a real good idea driving through the resort like that with so many older folks staying here....just might give someone a heart attack!!

Tuesday last week we went with four other couples to Country Folks Buffet for lunch. It's located in the town of Florala, Alabama (Florala = Florida + Alabama), just 20 miles up the road. For $6.99 you get all you can eat including drink, salad bar, and homemade desserts. The menu changes slightly everyday but we had our choice of fried chicken, baked chicken, pork chops, chicken & dumplings, chicken pot pie, and all sorts of sides. The food was really good and as the brochure states it was "good country cookin' just like Granmaw's!"
We rode with another couple and along the way we passed several cotton fields. On the drive Ed told us a little about cotton picking nowadays. He said that most cotton is harvested mechanically by a cotton picker, a machine that removes the cotton from the boll without damaging the cotton plant. Seems the logistics of cotton harvesting and processing have been improved by the development of the cotton module builder, a machine that compresses harvested cotton into a large block, which is then covered with a tarp and temporarily stored at the edge of the field. A couple of the fields had these huge cotton blocks in them, but unfortunately I hadn't taken my camera. So I went back a couple days later with the camera and the bales were gone, but I did get a couple shots of the cotton fields not yet picked. Oh, and we also passed the sign showing us the way the Lakewood, Florida's highest point with an elevation of 345 ft., just a couple miles down the road.

Saturday was the monthly yard sale. When we first heard about this, we wondered if everybody just traded their junk! But turns out an ad is posted in the newspaper, advertised on the local radio station, and signs put out at the major intersections by the Activities Director. So we had a few things that we had discovered we didn't really need that we put out, and also the ceramic ornaments that I had painted. I had brought some craft things with me, and the ornaments and my paints were part of that. There didn't seem to be a lot of outside traffic this month so we only made $21, and Russ wondered if it had been a waste of time, but hey, what else were we going to do for those 3 hours!

After all, we had to kill some time until the big game that night, Missouri vs. Oklahoma for the Big 12 Championship. For those who don't know, Missouri lost 38-17, so we were slightly bummed. We knew that this loss meant they would not be playing for the National Championship but hoped they would at least get to play in one of the BCS Bowl games. Despite the loss, the Tigers still had a great season and are poised to become a national power for many years to come. They won their first Big 12 North title, finished 7-1 in the Big 12 for the first time since 1969, and the 11 regular-season wins were the most in the program's history. Well, the BCS Bowl rankings came out on Sunday night, and the Tigers were ranked 6th but not chosen. Russ' view on the BCS is that it should be abolished, and the winner of the SEC and the Big 10 should just play for the National Championship every year. The whole process is a joke, and although it is a cash cow for the major conferences, university presidents should be ashamed of themselves for not moving to a playoff system. The Tigers will be playing in the Cotton Bowl on January 1, which is nothing to sneeze at. Before the Bull Championship Shit (BCS), the Cotton Bowl was one of the four premiere New Year's Day Bowl games, and this year will feature a better game than most BCS bowls. This is not sour grapes because the Tigers lost as you can go back to previous blog entries and find references to our opinion on this subject. We're still very proud of our Tigers and will be rooting loud and strong on January 1!

Seems like a lot of folks in the campground were busy decorating for Christmas this week! The decorations range from the very simple to more elaborate.

There are some folks who live here year round in "permanent" housing and are able to do even more as you can see from this picture on the left.

They started a shirt painting class this week so I decided to check it out. I've never painted on fabric but found it wasn't that difficult, and the lady leading the class is very encouraging and helpful. Several of the ladies have been doing it for a couple years and had some very nice work to show for it. You bring your own shirt, stencil the picture on, and then paint it, so it's not freehand, but still turns out very pretty. Most are working on Christmas scense right now but that wouldn't have looked good on the shirt I brought this week. So now I've got another class to add to my weekly agenda along with the exercise group 3 days/week (walking & yoga) and the line dance group, 1-2 times/week. Though some people are still doing water aerobics, I've put it on hold for now....water is way too cold! Then there's the ice cream social and the bonfire hot dogs and the weekly pot luck....whew! There's so much going on here, and we're not even participating in everything! Until next week...have a great one!