Back on the Road, Down to the Coast

Hannah flew back to Florida from up north; she had a great visit and weathered that arctic blast at her brother's place with little kids and littler dogs running around the house.  Harvey - even having spent the most relaxing week on record with B&MJ - was still quite relieved to have her back.  Olive was overjoyed.  Meadow actually ran over... then stopped short, briefly acknowledged Hannah and dropped her head to keep grazing... ponies, sigh.

We rounded out the week with B&MJ and played a concert for her mother and their friend.  Meadow didn't want to go; Olive wished she could have romped around the farm chasing golf carts forever.  It was a bit sad to leave them but like the common saying goes: All good things must... be visited again on the return trip.  (That's how it goes, right?)

Our first day back on the road in over 3 weeks was an intentionally easy 6 miles.  We ended up actually asking for a place to camp instead of it being offered (we know, America has spoiled us even on the road!)  The family, the M's in Chipley were super nice and they had a beautiful property.

From the back porch, we looked out over dormant grape and berry fields, at their horses on pasture, across the back field to the tree line a half mile away and as the wind picked up, blowing the afternoon clouds away, a gorgeous sunset gave way to a crisp, moonlit evening.  C, the patriarch of the M's, had a room dedicated to his comrades service on the rivers of Vietnam; four very educational, very sobering walls.  Thanks to our armed forces for their unmatched bravery and commitment.  We played a couple concerts that night and even managed to hit the hay before midnight.

The following 4 days were all 20+ mile days.  We camped in a sandy, brushy field that we think could have been in New Mexico (who knows for sure, we haven't made it there yet).  Highway 20 is straight as an arrow.  It's also an unfortunately sparsely-populated area to travel through when it's raining cats and dogs.

We pulled into Bruce soaked to the core, our feet cold to the bone, our bellies groaning with emptiness when an older guy - a true gentlemen, JW - offered to put us up for the night in his guest house just a couple hundred yards down the road.  Wow... we've never needed a warm, dry place more than that night.  JW apparently makes a habit of helping folks; he fixes bikes and gives them to kids.  We also played music indoors for the first time in a while at Bruce cafe, where the most helpful generous people work.  Thanks to all our Bruce friends.

Five Cent Fiddle sails the open seas...

... sort of.

South of Freeport, getting on towards the evening of another long travel day, a woman stopped on the side of a busy road and asked if we needed a place to stay.  We did.  She had an empty farm... that's right... stables, grass for Meadow, roof over our heads, snacks and even a few brews, all to ourselves for the night.  We heard alligators splashing around in the swamp behind the barn, but we were cozy inside.

The next morning we ran a quick mile to the Hwy 331 bridge over to Santa Rosa Beach area.  A super nice police officer actually gave us an escort over the bridge! What a scene.  Once on the other side, feeling the ocean so close, we made a beeline for the closest beach, Blue Mountain, where we met a dozen new friends...

- FCF


Olive has had fleas for months now.  We've used the natural stuff, the totally unnatural stuff, the flea baths, you name it... Of course, her diet is varied and high quality but the fleas are impossible to beat so far.
Meadow is enjoying a bug free winter and has suffered through very little lately, aside from having to carry Hannah around the world (which she secretly loves!)