Heading North

Friday, we spent half the day at the beach. Morgan and Jaxon were busy surfing while Caye and I chose to stay on the beach because of dangerous marine life warnings from the coast guard. Along with the warnings of creatures below the sea we were annoyed by a constant drizzle from rain clouds taking over the sky and a good ocean breeze which made it the not-so-perfect day at the beach. But, we still had a good time, especially the boys on their surf boards and Hank who got to run around and meet other dogs.

Yesterday, we all made a delicious breakfast of all of our leftover eggs, plantains, sweet potatoes, and of course queso fresco and guava jelly. After breakfast and cleaning up the condo we dropped off Caye and Jaxon in Miami where they are spending a few days with Caye's family before catching a flight to Ecuador(we will be meeting them there in 18 days!) while we drive north to Amherst, WI where Morgan's parents live and where our journey began. We don't have many plans as of now for our return drive but we will be driving through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Wisconsin so I'm sure we will find lots of other exciting things on our 28 hour drive back to where we started.
We made it just over the Florida border as of last night and slept in the car for the first time in probably over 2 weeks. It was a tight squeeze with our quickly growing pup taking over all of my foot space! We plan to make it at least to Nashville, TN this evening.

If you have any recommendations on where to stop, eat, or take a hike please let us know! As for family and friends... see you all soon!

Last Day Along The Dog River

Today is our last day at the Dog River Marina in Mobile, AL. We've been here for five days, and it has actually felt really nice to have a cozy place to stay for more than a night at a time. We are so grateful that Caye and Jaxon have been such great hosts, especially with such limited space in the sailboat. We will all be driving to Florida early tomorrow morning. The weather forecast is predicting upper 70's so hopefully we can do some ultimate "chillaxing", as Caye puts it, alongside some large body of gator-less water.

  

  It has been a pretty uneventful but excellent day here. While Jaxon and Caye prepared the the boat for hibernation, Morgan and I did more car organization and played with Hank before he passed out on a six pack of beer. We're looking forward to more adventures with these guys in the next week and then to going back home for the holidays.
Since most of our belongings are packed up for the trip, tonight we may treat ourselves to some Mexican food in Mobile. Hope you are all having a great December so far and happy Friday!

The Dog River Blues.

First things first. Today is the 29th which means it's my mother's birthday. So HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY MAMA, hope you swam. Now on to the boring stuff. No seriously, we've been hanging out in Surkha, playing on the internet, playing with Hank, making food, talking, hanging out, and watching movies with the Mangos waiting out the weather.

 Yesterday, Jena and I ventured into Mobile to run some errands and realized that the Prius was sitting at 299,999 miles and since I was talking to the previous owner of it at the time, my dad, we were excited to watch it change. BUT, we've now driven 20 more miles and it still says 299,999 so needless to say we are a little bummed by the anti-climactic-ness of reaching 300,000 miles but I started a new trip odometer and will just be adding them together.

Today we tore everything out of the Prius in order to re-pack its bowels so we can fit two Mangos, Hank, and ourselves on a drive to south Florida so we can bask in the suns and lounge on the beaches for a week. It will be a packed trip but it will be worth it for some warm weather. We took a break between packing to check out a bunch of ships in the shipyard and actually were able to climb up and into one of the wrecks here and check 'er out. It was very cool to see the inner workings of a 50 foot sail boat and get good views of the entire marina.

We are now hanging out some more, eating dinner (Domino's - yeah we packed up all the food already and didn't want to do dishes), and going to watch a movie in a bit.

 More updates as we actually get to doing exciting things.

An extra day of sunshine.

We were so happy to have decided to stay an extra night in Jacksonville and get the extra time hanging out with friends. We got a good night of sleep in the car with Hank awkwardly arched over the center console for half the night. Morgan was first out and took Hank on a beach walk while I got a little bit of extra snooze time. Once they returned we headed out again on the short two block walk to the sandy beach to watch the sun rays shoot between gray clouds and surfers riding the rolling waves. Along our walk we encountered many other dogs and dog lovers. It is amazing to see how much having a dog connects you with so many other people. We constantly have people coming up to chat dog business with us and so far have really enjoyed being part of the canine loving community.

After our beach stroll we went to run errands which included buying dog food, vaccines, and a dozen bagels. After errands and a blogging extravaganza we decided to return to the beach. But, before doing so, we needed to administer Hank's epidermal 7 in 1 vaccination. Having never done anything like this I was completely freaked out not only by the needle but also just for the safety of Hank. Luckily, Morgan offered to give the shot while I was responsible for making sure Hank couldn't move. So Morgan grabbed Hank by the scruff of his neck while I attempted to keep him still. Of course, he knew something was up. Even being the normally calm sleeping pup that he is, he was squirming around to get away from the silver needle. Anyways, we were able to give him the shot despite one minor mishap where I ended up getting squirted by some of the vaccine when Hank managed to pull away from my grasp.

After our stressful first shot experience with him we were ready for some relaxation and headed to the beach to meet up with Becky and Judd. There we did lots of people watching, some ocean swimming, and chatting. After getting our fill of sunshine for the day, we headed back to the car and said our goodbyes. We made it to Mobile, AL by 9pm and spent the rest of the night laughing and sharing stories in the sailboat with our Mangolandia friends.

We had a fantastic time in Jacksonville and are now super excited to hang out with Caye and Jaxon and hopefully get some sailing done. Now we just need the weather to shape up!

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

 Our island life continued. We spent Thanksgiving Eve and Day on Little Talbot Island State Park in Northeast Florida. Florida's State Parks' slogan is "The Real Florida" which seems quite fitting because the sites are on dirt roads surrounded by tide marshes and beaches not condos and Humvees.

Thanks to the help of our incredible and enthusiastic Park Ranger pal we were able to find campsites for both nights at the park on this holiday weekend. Apparently it is a popular time for camping here in Florida, which makes sense to us now, but we have been so used to being nearly the only campers at most campgrounds that we didn't think of making a reservation earlier.

 On Thanksgiving day we woke up, had breakfast, and watched Hank hog-tie himself before embarking on an adventure. And I mean adventure - we took the bikes down and put Hank in my backpack and headed towards Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island. What we thought was a couple mile ride, ended up being a 10 mile push which Hank did surprisingly well minus some nervousness over a huge bridge with open water on both sides. After finally making it to the Beach with our angry dog was allowed to run around, play fetch, and meet other dogs. We think he has forgiven us for making him go through the bike ride. Afterwards we headed to the grocery store to get some last minute Thanksgiving meal ingredients: Tofurky Brats, S'mores, Chips n Salsa, and beer. To say that Hank was tuckered out was understatement, he could barely move for the rest of the night.

Before we started our dinner prep we wandered the campground and met some of our neighbors. As has been the custom in the south so far, everyone was more than nice inviting us to some of their food, beer, and chairs next to their campfires. We met a couple from Jacksonville who had the cutest Mini-Doberman (it was about 5 lbs and looked like a Doberman Pinscher) and were enjoying the Turkey Day football games on a 30 inch Flat screen(and we thought we were living the high life camping with our laptops). I was excited to hear that the Pack is still dominating every team they come across. We also met, John and Abbie, a couple from Idaho who had six years prior quit their jobs, sold their house, and headed off onto the road in an old plumber's van converted to an amazing mini RV with a pop-up top.

After our tour of the campground we got down to preparing dinner. With fire started and Port in hand we put together great picnic fair for Thanksgiving dinner: Tofurkey Brats w/spicy kraut and cheddar cheese, baked beans, and S'mores for dessert. After dinner was a little hazy for me(too much Port) and we retired shortly.

 On a sappy note: We we're thinking of all of our friends and family all day, missing being with them on the holidays but being thankful that they are with us via blog-reading or telepathic communications. Yes, we are very thankful to have all you wonderful people in our lives and we wish you the best!

Island life vol 2.

So we left Dreher Island yesterday morning and headed on down the road towards the Atlantic Ocean once again. As we bypassed Columbia, SC and headed towards another State Park (South Carolina's State Park system is fantastic by the way with great locations and good prices all across the state) called Edisto Beach. We once again arrived late and set up our tent in the dark before making dinner. After dinner we settled into our tent and continued to rough it with electrical plug-ins allowing us to watch a movie. [Ed. sidenote: you can get rustic tent sites at both the parks we went to but they are about the same price and aren't located in as nice of areas.] We watched Voy a Explotar an IFC film about two teens in Guanajuato, Mexico who just want to find something to live for "regardless of the consequences." Based on an old myth about the last romantic couple it is an interesting watch which is more frustrating than intriguing due to the characters immature stubbornness. Once the movie ended we were put to sleep by the patter of rain lightly falling on our tent.

Today we were greeted by a warm but dreary morning where we took Hank for a walk, then a jog, then packed up camp and headed to the Atlantic Ocean just a mile from our campsite. There, Hank got his first ocean experience. He was terrified. He kept trying to check the water, but when the waves crashed in he retreated to a safe distance. I on the other hand finally got to body surf for a bit before taking Hank on a beach run before we were pushed back by harder rains.

 With sandy shoes and one dirty/wet dog, we are pushing towards Jacksonville to see one of Jena's friends and camp for a couple days before meeting up with the Mangolandia crew sometime this weekend in Alabama.

Island Life... for a night.

Last night we camped on Dreher Island in a South Carolina State Park and today we awoke to gorgeous views over an expansive lake filled with giant catfish. Today, we head for the coast. How's that for wordiness, James?

Sir Hank.

If you wondering what I meant by saying that we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into camping at the Place on the River, I will now divulge that story. It goes like this - we awoke to a lazy, hazy, wet, overcast morning along the banks of the French Broad River. Stepping out of the Prius was a task and we knew that the Port had done its job. After showering, yeah whole other story, we started up the campstove and set to making breakfast as our fellow PRC residents slowly started stirring, shaking off the night before as they set to their tasks. We met even more people and chatted with some of the same characters from the night before, getting more of their backstories. The wife of our direct neighbor was a 42 year old woman who described herself as a "bonafied Tarheel" and "was born right down the road in an elementary school parking lot, in a snowstorm, in the passenger seat of a '57 Nomad." She showed us her Basset Hound named Hitch and her American Pit named Carmen before bringing us over breakfast and more anecdotes about herself and the community they had on the river.

But then everything changed for us. We met John and his girlfriend, Megan, who came over bringing with them two of the cutest puppies we had ever seen. When they reached us we played with each of them remarking about how cute they were. Upon hearing our delight over the pups, John remarked that they were free to a good home. Well this sent our minds a reeling, could we adopt one of these beautiful guys to be our own and invite him into our journeys. We tried to think logically for a while longer, playing the pros and cons over and over again before succumbing to our adventurous side we decided to adopt a three month old mutt, with no name, from a trailer campground, on the banks of a river in North Carolina.

 

So we introduce to you Sir Hank Albert Moriarty or just Hank. (I decided that he needed a full name but really he's just Hank) He is a bundle of joy, sleeps a lot, stays right with you off the leash, comes when called, sits on command, sleeps perfectly fine in the tent, and doesn't bark. We have had him for just over a day now and we still have no idea what kind of pup he is (so if anyone can give us some hints from the photos we'd be much obliged) or how big he's gonna get but we do know that we are super excited about sharing our adventures with him.