Before I begin, here are some of my favorite pictures of the two of us.
Soon after we met, at Itasca State Park, headwaters of the Mississippi.
In the Badlands, Labor Day Weekend, 2017.
Star Wars in 3D!
Biloxi, MS
Our wedding day, February 23, 2018
Dave and I met on June 22, 2017. How do I remember the date? It was my wedding anniversary, a day that was a happy memory for a long time but had been sad for 7 years. I rarely spent the day alone but this time, I had no plans; my kids and friends were all busy. Dave and I had been chatting for a while on a dating site. That afternoon, we decided it was time to meet up in person.
We went to Applebee’s in Mankato, with plans to have a beer, maybe two. We talked and talked and talked but it seemed like just a few minutes. After we left, we discovered we had been talking for 4 hours! That was the beginning of our magic and the magic has not stopped at all.
Dave talked about his dream to buy a travel trailer and travel all over the US. He was planning to do this alone since he did not have a partner. I started looking at trailers with him, and we happened to sign papers on ours on July 12, which happened to be HIS anniversary. See the theme???? Our kids thought we were crazy, considering how short of a time we had known each other. At this point, nothing was carved in stone.
Eventually, we found a pick-up truck to pull the trailer. We took a weekend trip, then a longer trip to the Black Hills, to practice loading and unloading, hooking up and returning. We wanted to leave in early January but I still had some follow up to my icky cancer stuff and was not able to head out until late January. We were heading to Mississippi where Dave’s sister lives. We would spend several weeks there before heading to other locations.
Along the way, we took the truck, sans trailer, to New Orleans. It was my birthday and Mardi Gras. Dave proposed! We got married two weeks later and soon headed out to more adventures.
However, this part of the site is supposed to be my rambling thoughts so here goes… Some of this may have been stated in the different posts so I apologize if I am repeating some things.
I had not spent much time in the south except to fly in and out of West Palm Beach and drive to Disney World, until this trip. The drive to Mississippi was long but got more beautiful as we drove.
Many of the homes in Mississippi are brick. They have porches of various sizes and supporting columns. That seems to be a theme. People all over are friendly but they are the friendliest of all in Mississippi. The schools here are huge complexes and so are the churches, especially the Baptist churches. I did not know much about Mississippi before this trip but did not have especially high hopes of a great region, I was so wrong! It is beautiful and is one of my favorite places to visit.
We moved along to Florida and traversed the entire state. Between Mississippi and Florida and later going further north, some of my impressions are the flowering trees and shrubs. There are so many more than Minnesota, which is also a beautiful state. The roads do not suffer from the wear and tear of freezing and thawing, salt and road equipment. Again, I am properly impressed.
I am a history buff and regret that I have forgotten much of what I once knew. I almost became a history teacher, such is my love of the subject. The eastern part of the US is teeming with history, from colonial days to the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and much more. We visited many historical sites but they are only a drop in the bucket to what is available. Every state, county and city do themselves proud with their exhibits and cooperation between themselves.
It is now late April and I have loved every minute of our travels but here are some of the highlights, in my eyes: Key West, the Everglades (including the dreaded alligators), Williamsburg with my cousin Mandi and driving on beach near Kitty Hawk where we were lucky to come across some of the wild horses.
I’ll post more ramblings, but it may be months. Please watch our posts for the locations we visit and post your thoughts!
7/5/18–I always thought northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin were the forest areas. Boy, was I wrong. Much of the US is wooded and sooooo beautiful!
7/13/18 —
This is the most freckles I’ve had since I was 12!
Something I noticed in Texas is that a large percentages of homes and businesses have gates and walls surrounding them. Most of them are not high enough to keep out whoever or whatever they want to keep out. Also, unless they are electric, they are a pain for people coming and going from their homes!
Another thing I have come to realize, is how beautiful our country is but also how much and how quickly the landscape changes. We have been in several mountain ranges and in desert, at different altitudes. It is all different! I used to think mountains are mountains. Boy, was I wrong! And as we drive along, the landscape can look very different, or sometimes subtley different every few miles. I am so lucky that I get to travel and see this great country.