This time the drive between projects was only about 160 miles.  Easily done in a day. But why take a day, we say, when you can just as easily take two – and see some fun stuff along the way.

We pulled out of Camp Tejas on Thursday morning – a very misty Thursday morning at that!


Hey, wait for me!!!!
He did.
By the time we reached our first stop, the mist was beginning to clear.

Nothing like a brewery tour to start your day! Wink.
We actually had to wait until 11AM for the tour of the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, TX – home to one of Texas’s favorite beers – Shinerbock.

No cameras allowed on the tour (free and very interesting), but here’s a shot of just some of the copper involved in brewing this beer .
Oh, the shine of it all!
After our tour, and a bit of lunch, it was back on the road.


(Take note of the hills – they will soon be gone!)
We spent a quiet night at the Walmart in Port Lavaca

and come morning, we were back on the road for the final leg of the trip.
Here’s the Lavaca Bay in the early morning light -



Hello Boat!

And as the road stretched out in long strips of ribbon

(Good-bye, hills)
We were delighted to spot these big guys mingling with the cattle -


Love those Sandhill Cranes!
We made it without incident to our project – Texas Baptist Encampment, aka Palacios by the Sea. Here is our new view -

Pretty sweet, eh? That’s the Palacios Bay out there, which empties into the Matagorda Bay which empties into the Gulf of Mexico. (Check it out on a map HERE!)
Each project has its own “flavor” and since we’ve just been here a little more than a day, I’m not sure just what that flavor will be. But I know it will be different from our last couple of projects – beginning with our neighbors. November and December our neighbors looked like this -


As in, we had none.
January they looked like this -

As in, fair size group – a nice mix of SOWERs and other volunteers.
And this month, they look like this -

As in – Baby, we got us some Community going on!
All in all, a great start to what I’m sure will be a great month!

Later ‘Gator!

You know the saying, it’s not the quantity of time you spend with someone, but the quality of time that matters? That may not always be true, but for the last couple of days, that was certainly the case with us. We didn’t have a lot of time to spend with anyone, but we managed lots of hugs and conversations, successful annual check-ups, and just plain quality time with folks that we love. Truly, a beautiful couple of days! Unfortunately, I hardly had the camera out the entire time, so all I have to share is pictures of our drive. Wanna see a couple?

We’ve had a lot of rain lately, how about you? But even with the rain, spring managed to make itself known!

Cloudy or not, that’s one pretty farm!

And how’s this for some beautiful Pennsylvania countryside!

After our wonderful time with family, it was back to work for us. Well, we aren’t quite back to work just yet, but we are certainly on our way. Our May project is at Pilgrim Academy in Egg Harbor, NJ. And getting to New Jersey meant crossing the mighty Delaware River.

And that meant major civilization -



Yeah, we’re in New Jersey now!

But it’s not all big roads and traffic.

May should be a good month. We’re close enough to the old neighborhood that we should be able to get together with friends and take care of some hometown-type business (like getting my hair cut by my (used-to-be) regular hairdresser! ) To start the month off right, Friday we’re taking a tourist day and going to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We’re really looking forward to that!
(And yes, I know that it’s not actually May yet, but in our SOWER life, the “next” month begins when we arrive at our project. It’s just the way it is.)
Tonight we’re tucked in at the Wal-Mart in Hammonton. Tomorrow it’s Egg Harbor for us! New friends, new ministry, new blessings!
We’re ready!

Gary was ready to go today. And when Gary is ready to go, we go. I got back from a sweaty morning cleaning the guest house around noon, looking forward to a nice hot shower and lunch before we hit the road. Gary was already in the driver’s seat, the slides were in, we were totally unhooked, and he was ready to go. Nice hot shower reduced to sponge bath. Lunch to be eaten on the road. Gary was ready to go, and go we did.


Lots of mountains on today’s drive.


Ah, the truck runaway ramp.

I love roads with those.
Not.

This is where we stopped for Diesel. $225.00 Gulp.

But you’ve gotta love the truck in the background -

No WWJD bracelet for that guy!

While the Carolina’s were flush with dogwood, the redbud soon took over as the dominate sign of spring when we reached Virginia -


So pretty.
We had a good day on the road. 295 Miles. I hardly gripped the seat cushion at all as we barreled down hill after hill, and I never gasped even ONCE as cars inevitably needed to merge just as we were driving by. Not even once, honest. We are tucked in safely at a Wal-Mart in Salem, VA and only have about 200 miles to go tomorrow. We are surely looking forward to a visit with some dear SOWER friends at the end of tomorrow’s drive.

Now if that cup of coffee we split back at the Flying J would just wear off………

we’ve covered a lot of miles!
We left Waco on Tuesday morning, the 4th, packed to the brim.


825 miles and 14 hours later (thank goodness for books on CD!), we were back to Lizzie in Bonifay, FL.
And as sad as we were to have said good-bye to Lara (and Katie and Denali and Evie and Clem and Bear), it was very good to be home. In our own little place, in our own bed. Very good indeed.
We woke in the morning to pouring rain, so our plans to unpack from one long drive to get packed up and on the road for another long drive was delayed until quite late in the day. However, thanks to a break in the weather in the afternoon we were able to get on the road by 3:30.

Notice anything wrong with this picture?
The brake lights are on in the rig, but not in the truck. Not good. We decided to get on our way with the flashers going on the truck, but we knew we really couldn’t be driving in the dark.
We only made it to the first rest stop on I10 before we knew we’d better stop. And just in time it seemed. The heavens opened again and the thunder crashed and the lightning bolted (?). We were so happy to be sitting still.
The morning broke with lovely sunshine, and the lights were working a little better (maybe they didn’t like the rain, either?) so we continued on our way.

By the end of the day, we were on the south side of Tampa (again at a nice Florida Rest Stop) enjoying a beautiful sunset.

Another 300 miles tomorrow, and we’ll be at our January SOWER project – Island Community Church in Islamorado, Florida. We’re looking forward to getting “back in the saddle” with our SOWER work, and we’re really looking forward to this project. A, we’ve never been to the Keys and are looking forward to the experience (and hopefully the warmer temps!), and B, we’ll be working with a nice mix of folks we know and folks we’ll be getting to know!

I think it will be a great start to 2011!

We really did work quite hard at avoiding toll roads in and around Chicago. And by and large, it worked pretty well. It took us a little longer to get to our meeting place with Jon and Emily, but we had plenty of time to spare and didn’t really mind driving through lots of towns along the way. After our dinner we decided to drive right through downtown (on the non-toll expressway) since after all, it was 8:30 at night and a Tuesday. How busy could it be? It wasn’t actually too bad – we just kept to our lane and let the other crazy drivers go around us. And of course I tried to document the drive – especially trying to catch the beautiful Chicago skyline in the fading light.
Here you go -

The Checkmarks of Chicago

The Inchworms of Chicago

The Candles of Chicago

The Candy Canes of Chicago

The Birds of Chicago.
Kinda gives you a whole new view of the city, doesn’t it!
Needless to say, I either need a better camera or a smoother road, or a perhaps both!