Well a little late today...I'll be caught up in the morning..promise!
If you look at a map, you might wonder to yourself...Savannah is only 150 miles from St. Augustine, why on earth is this, a late post, whats that like 2 hours of driving?  Taking I-95 directly, yes.  But by now you know that we rarely take the most direct route...we went way out of the way, way out!
This was the Parks Services greeting for visitors going into the old and I mean old Spanish fort in St. Augustine.  The fort is a national monument, built in 1565 (not a typo), it's old!  St. Augustine is the oldest settlement in the U.S founded by Ponce De Leon.  I honestly didn't remember this, I kept thinking it was the Pilgrams or the guys in Jamestown!
What is it with all the pirates at these east coast tourist spots...they are everywhere!
The kneeling pirates name is Steve, the other guy didn't say a word.  Steve was very informative on a number of topics...I kept thinking this guy must be from Texas.
It's National Parks week with FREE admission to all parks, nationally!
The Rangers (who took this picture) convinced me to write to write this. 

And now you know why I agreed to write it...they were hysterical!  They giggled the entire time we were there (thank you Ruby).  I never got their names...they couldn't speak! Did I mention that they were maybe, 21-22 years old...but they were really adorable..the blond reminded me of a girl I knew in high school..Andy Brilowski.

Meet Cary...she loved the Rubes.  She was very helpful, helping us on what to see in the shortest amount of time. It was a sizzlying hot 87.  Rubys not happy with me when I drag her out walking in the heat.

Ive been searching so long....

This church was built in 1820...STUNNING...
It's in the small town of St. Marys, the second oldest settlement in Georgia (after Savannah)...a long way from the freeway!  St. Marys is at the head of the inlet that goes to Cumberland Island, our original plan. Cumberland Island is the one that I saw on either Discovery or the Disney Channel that has wild horses on it...really!
The only accesss is by boat.  We missed the last one by an hour.

With all of the damn bridges (must have crossed 30 or 40 like this) in the South...theres gotta be some money left to fix the freeways in California.  They were the worst we've been on...something is wrong.

Ahhhh! The Ocean!...the Atlantic this time...I still like the Pacific the best!

Ft. Frederica was attacked by the Spanish...the Spanish lost.
Nicely excavated town.
I like history
FREE NATIONAL PARKS WEEK1

Like there being a lot of bridges, there are lot of beautful churches.

She used to sleep in a crate
Goodnight...

Well,  3807 miles under our belt and we have finally reached the Atlantic.
Yesterday marked the end of 2 weeks on the road since we left Corona Del Mar.  My god have we seen alot and only after 2 weeks...hard to believe that we made it here in such a short period of time!  lol!
We have seen quite a bit since leaving California...we have gone from the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, which pre-date humans in North America and which our native Americans have adopted as sacred and holy places, to Billy the Kid's gravesite to the eastern expanse of the Chisolm ( massive) cattle ranch (think John Wayne as Chisolm, John Chisolm!), to old cowboy towns (Pecos), San Antonio, Austin, Fort Stockton and Roswell (no alien crash site)..what a disapointment.  We have crossed many great rivers that originally helped lead to the discovery of our great country...the Colorado, the Rio Grand, the Pecos, the Mississippi, the Colorado again-running through Austin, (I had no idea that there was a Colorado on the eastern slope of the Rockies), thru some very rugged country for which I was greatful that the Jeep has 4 wheel drive.
Gas prices that have been all over the map...California at $4.40, Arizona at $3.95, the Navajo reservation-$3.17, New Mexico-$3.45, Texas-universalley pegged at $3.79 (wouldn't you think Texas would be the lowest?), I did, Louisana at $3.61, Mississippi was $3.69 Alabama-$3.71 and Florida at $3.65. We reached our southern most point at Grand Isle (I've since learned that, that is one of the great fishing areas in the world!)...shoulda stayed longer and got my pole wet. 

The marina in Destin Florida.  What a beautiful part of the country!  Probably among the best beaches I have seen...except for Hawaii.
This marina holds a very special meaning for me.  You see when I was working for Chysler in Atlanta, the family would come to Destin for some ocean time...we are all native Californians!  When my son Colin was 7 or 8, I took him deep sea fishing for the 1st time from this marina.  That morning he charged out of bed when I woke him at 5 am.  He was so excited!  As is typical for most fishing trips we all put money into a pot, whoever caught the largest fish won the $80 jackpot...Colin toward the end of the day reeled in (by himself) a 50 pound Cobia...a very desirable fish to catch in this part of the world!  Suffice it to say Colin won the $80!
Colin's love of fishing has continued to this very day...fishing for Tuna out of San Diego, Salmon, Halibut and Ling Cod in Alaska...many times in the process winning the jackpot!  Colin is a very good fisherman..probably better than his old man!
Colin worked with me at the dealership for 7 years after graduating from U.S.C.  He did a wonderful job there going above and beyond the call of duty numerous times!
I am so proud of the man that Colin has become!

Ruby at the marina trying to figure out why they have machines to feed fish but not dogs...it's wrong, just plain wrong!

Panama Beach, about 40 miles east of Destin...looks like Hawaii to me..just beatiful!
Ruby and I would have spent some time here (I need some sun!), but once again Ruby has been ostracized by the dreaded..."No dogs allowed" sign.  Why don't more people like dogs?

I tried to get artistic with this shot..still don't kow if it worked.
Still Panama Beach by the way.

Ruby at Panama Beach...I thought the picture as taken looks like it was done at a studio with a fake background!
Notice the sand on her nose?  Thats my dog, always smelling everything.  She has now smelled her way accross the southern tier of the United States!  Some people have commented to me that Ruby is beginning to look like a stuffed pork sausage!  Try spending 2 weeks in the car with me...eating but very little exercise...actually that makes 2 of us that are getting a little rounder.  We have to get some exercise!

This is Paul Evans...the honey and bee man!  We ran into Paul on a 2 lane highway while trying to find I-10.
Without question Paul is the most interesting man that we have met thus far.  When I told him that I was from Orange County he said that he kind of remembers that area as he was stationed in San Bernardino when he was 18 years old and working as a smoke jumper (they parachuted into wildfires throughout the west)
Paul told me that he was 25....times 3 (after a well timed pause).  He works 60 hours a week on his honey and beekeeping job and 40 hours a week, woking for the state forestry service as a burn control specialist (1 of 2 in the state).  They find the areas in need of controlled burns and oversee the actual burns to help lessen the chance of wildfires.
I love honey and have become somewhat of an afficiando.  Always wondering why different honey's from different places taste so different.  Paul explained this to me in a manner that was plausable and extremely interesting..this man knows a lot of stuff about a lot of things!
I couldn't leave without buying some and after Paul explained the intricate details of the types of flowers that the bees collected from and the subtle differences in flavor I ended up buying 3, (more stuff to carry another 5000 miles!).
I purchased "Florida wildflower", "Ti-TI" and one called and I really questioned him on this "Tupelo Honey"...Van Morrision anyone?  I got a larger container of the "Tupelo" because Paul said that this area of Florida was the only place in the world that it is collected, is extremely rare and sought after by honey lovers world wide...I guess I'll have to take him at his word until I get home and sample it!  He also claimed that it is the only honey known that will not crystallize over time.  Probably talked to Paul for at least a half hour, felt like 10 minutes.  I want to be like him when I grow up!
I've got Paul's phone # if anyone wants to order honey from him.

Another Florida rest stop and no I'm not looking for the place Ben Siller found.  This was unquestionably the most beautiful rest stops we ecountered...cut out dense forest about a half mile off of I-10.  It probably was the least clean of the ones we stopped at.  They really could use a guy like John "yesterdays post..or maybe the day before) to keep this place looking like it should.  I think I'm going to write the State and see if I can get John promoted to this spot...his work would do it justice.
So, I've got to close now.  Ruby is anxious to get on the road.  Today we are going to St. Augustine to see the oldest settlement in the country, then and finally we head north.  Take care of yourselves and your loved ones...in the the end that's all we really have...isn't it?

As you can see, we didn't cover a lot of ground yesterday.  I could make a number of excuses on the lack of progress, but the bottom line is we encountered many geographical obstacles that I really didn't anticipate..we went off the beaten path to get to Mobile, seeing beautful vistas of the Gulf, many beautiful forests and many small Southern towns.
When we got to Lafayette I noticed that the water, when taking a shower was very soft, you know when you take a shower you rinse and rinse and rinse but just don't feel like you've gotten all of the soap off?  It has continued through last nights stop in Milton...must be a southern thing.  Another thing you may have noticed is that every day we leave the scenic areas and retreat to I-10 at night.  We have to get out to the freeway (or as they refer to them here)  the "Interstate".  I had a difficult time trying to get to I-10, actually a difficult time communicating my desire to find the freeway after getting hopelessly lost comming out of Grand Isle the other day with a woman working at a coffee shop in a small restaurant, in God knows what little town we where in, in Louisiana.  When she finally got what I was asking for...easily a 5 minute conversation her directions were equally confusing, " go down the road thissa a way, take a right at the third blacktopped road, take that until it deadends then take a right go about 5 miles then go left".  The highway signs leave a lot to be desired, they don't tell you where the road goes, just the highway number!
I'm trying not to use GPS...I know.just not a techie!

I found out from my good friend Otis Favre ( distant 3rd cousin to you know who!)  Otis is a Chrysler dealer just outside of New Orleans that his former partner Larry Hart was in town..apparently a rare occurance!  Larry is the Chrysler dealer in Biloxi.  I've known Larry for 20 years and is one of the all time great guys beside being one of the most avid fisherman I know.  No wonder I like him so much!
The Longhorn shirt was bought as a way to get Ruby and I out of Texas safely!  We went a number of places yesterday were people were giving me the "hook 'em horns" sign.  It took me a little while to figure out what the hell they were doing!  Stupid me...I forgot that I had this shirt on!

Despite what we may believe in California the Confederacy lives on in the hearts of many people in the South.

Biloxi is the home of Jefferson Davis..1st ( and only President) of the Confederacy.  These pictures are of  Davis' home..Beauvoir.  Biloxi is now more famous for being the home to some of the largest casino's this side of Vegas.  They are everwhere!
I asked Larry where the old mansions in Biloxi where and he kind of laughed and said "there aren't any anymore, they all where on the coast and were destroyed by Katrina"

As stated earlier we took the long ways around Mobile and also Pensacola, 2 very large, beautiful bays.  There were homes around Pensacola Bay that were absolutley stunning with stunning views of the bay and the Gulf....very niiicce!
Here we encountered the newly placed U.S.S. Alabama (Mobile Bay).  It costs $5 to enter..I passed and asked the lady at the entrance booth if I could turn around and take pictures of the ship, she said "just as long as you don't try to go in without paying" Hmmm..do I look that devious...don't answer that!

Meet John!  We pulled into a reststop outside of Pensacola (I don't normally stop at them)...remember the scene from "Something About Mary"?.  When I went to the restroom I couldn't help but to notice how clean and spotless the mens room was.  I've never seen a reststop so immaculate!
While walking Ruby I couldn't help but to notice this large man watching us.  I thought he was a truck driver.  I said hi to him, he said hi and said "my that's a handsome dog that you have there".  Upon seeing him smile Ruby went over to him and immediately she had a new buddy!  I have never seen a dog that has the ability to make people happy...she is truly a unique dog.
Anyway, after talking with John and seeing his shirt we learned that he was in charge of the reststop.  I complemented him on the cleanliness of the stop...he said that it was his job to keep everything clean to show people from "not around here" what a great place Florida was"!
 John is a simple man, one who probably doesn't want for much but he does want to make sure that his job (not a glamorous one to be sure) is done correctly and to the best of his abilities day in and day out.  I really wish that there were more people in this world like John, who are happy to have a job and do everything possible to insure that they do it the right way and not just go through the motions.  Imagine the effect on the national debt if there were more people like John! 

I still love flowers!  I got this trait from my mom at a very early age...this picture was shot just before sunset when the light was slanting accross the terrain as it does before sunset.  I thought the brilliance of the colors should be included in todays entries.  Hope no one cares!

3180 miles covered so far!  Hopefully, we will be in Jacksonville by tomorrow night at which point we will head north for a little while...a long while!  Oh, by the way we got into Biloxi, Miss. last night.

I couldn't resist this picture of Ruby this morning.  I had just gotten out of the shower and Ruby had taken my spot in bed.  The look she gave me was like "Clay lets just stay here today....please!".  She has been such a great dog.  She jumps in and out of the car when she is supposed to, she sleeps while we are trying to cover long distances and most importantly approaches each day as a new and fresh start, filled with fun, adventure and new sights to see and new smells to smell!
I try to follow her example by waking up happy, energized and excited to begin a new day....Ruby doesn't dwell on what happened yesterday or before that.  What happened in the past is in the past, today and the future are what is most importantant to her and to me..should it be for you?

We couldn't be this close to the world famous "Tabasco" factory and not stop!  Needless to say I spent too much money buying t-shirts and Tabasco sauce that I could just as easily bought at home...I kept telling myself that it was better here, maybe fresher, better tasting, spicier?  Who am I kidding?  Now I've got one more bag to haul the next 5,000 miles...I'll keep trying to justify it in my mind!
Oh, apparently the Tabasco factory is a big attraction for young school children in this area and right before this picture was taken Ruby was mobbed by about 50 little kids saying "what a pretty dog".  Anyone that knows Ruby knows how much she thrives on adoration!
Who doesn't?

We drove a long, long way to get to Grand Isle.  It's at the very southern tip of the Mississippi River Delta.  I wanted to see this area because as you'll recall, Grand Isle was the nations maybe the world's focal point twice in recent memory...Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill.  I was hoping to talk with some of the locals to get their take on how life has changed since those two monumental occurences.  Unfortunatly I either caught them on a bad day or they just didn't want to talk about it.  In retrospect, it might have been the new Jeep with California plates or maybe the SC t-shirt I was wearing

Ruby doing what Ruby does best...having fun and enjoying the moment!
This is a beach is at the southern tip of Grand Isle..the water the Gulf of Mexico.
Looked for but didn't see any remanents of the 2 disasters, no oil on the beach, no dead vegetation, no nothing (including tourists).
Just Ruby living in the momement!

Couldn't resist this picture...this entire economy does revolve around fishing (and oil), but mostly fishing.  This really explained to me why I heard so many of the locals venting about BP's lack of help on all national news services.

Our 1st sunset in Mississippi..Biloxi to be exact...probably and surprisingly the prettiest we have seen since leaving!
I'm sure glad that I was paying attention in school when we learned how to spell..M I SS I SS I PP I!

Meet Ami (with an "i").  She is the night manager at the Ramada Inn in Biloxi.  She wins the Rube award for being the nicest person that we met yesterday...she kept telling Ruby that she was the prettiest dog she had ever seen.  Ami wanted to take Ruby home for her kids...now you know why Ruby voted for her!

These are the pictures that I wasn't able to upload yesterday.  Please check out yesterdays posts to get a complete view of our run from Houston to Lafayette.
This is Port Arthur, Janis Joplins hometown.  Having seen her birth city it was pretty obvious why she had to get the hell out of town.  I wonder how many ultra talented people have gotten stuck in city's like this because of circumstances that were beyond their control or more importantly just didn't have the guts to make a change in their lives...to follow their dreams.

 

Janis' exhibit in Port Arthur...thats her Height Ashbury Porsche in the forground..."O lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz, my friends all drive Porsche's and I must make amends".

Putting Texas in our rearview mirror...finally!
I had a great time in Texas and wish to thank everyone who welcomed Ruby and I into their homes!
It's going to take some time to work off the weight I gained there!

We had waited so long to see the ocean again and this was our 1st glimpse of the Gulf...not exactly the beautiful scene I had hoped for...I guess I really miss the Pacific!

All the houses in this area are built on stilts..for self explanatory reasons.

Our surprise ferry ride

When we made a bee-line to the Gulf (I needed to smell the ocean again!), the highway ran out and we drove directly onto a ferry that took 3 minutes to get underway, 4 minutes to cross...really cool!  It was a nice surprise and we were still going in the right direction!

Ruby's 1st ferry ride...about half of the total time she was awake (20 minutes) from Houston to Lafayette.  The girls in Houston wore her down, she was at least a day behind on her naps!

Our 1st sunset in Lousiana..Ruby now has been in 7 states, not bad for a one year old!

I had another batch of pictures that I thought uploaded,  I'm not sure where they went? They were of Port Arthur Tx., Janice Joplins hometown.  Apparently there was no love lost between her and the city.  She said the city was a dump..no agrument fom me..they said she was a drug addled hippy..also a true assessment. Had to see it for myself...seemed like a really difficult environment to live in.  Lots of refineries, lots of desolution but some of the happiest people in the world!  I asked directions from 2 guys and both were extremley nice. David Collazzo my last savoir.  He worked as a security guard at Lamar (Hunt?) State College which seemed to have major a influence on the downtown area.  In addition to giving me directions to the museum he told me that his dad had been friends with Janis and has a picture of her sitting on his Mercury before she was famous!
Tomorrow I think we'll take run down to the Tabasco factory then on to the area at the mouth of the Mississippi that got racked by Katrina and the BP spill.

Here we are in Houston, spending a couple of wonderful days with my cousin Jan and her husband Chris!
I have an apology to make to ya'll (yes we have finally reached that part of U.S. where the shortcuts taken in word usage makes sense to me!)  I guess over the next little while we will be encountering numerous types of dialect.  For me personally, I like it!  It shortcuts a ton of words, rolls off the tongue easily and just sounds cool!  Back to the apology...on our last post I mentioned that we had driven some 4800 miles, in reality we have covered only 2477.  Blame it on old age or fatigued eyes from the long drive...you can pick one, I pick the fatigued eyes!  My kids would probably pick the other option.

I can't do a post without showing you some of the beautiful flowers that we encounter in route (I like flowers!)  If you look closely at this picture you can see numerous bees doing their job.  I admire bees and ants because they are always working for the collective good of all in the hive or colony.  They do whatever is necessary to ensure the continuation of the life that they have created now and for future generations.
I think that in this country, we have somehow become a people of "what's in it for me" rather than thinking of what's best for the company or for that matter, what is good for the country.  I wish that our politicians, would embrace the practices of bees and ants and start (for a change) doing what is best for all of the people, rather than the special interest groups that they all seem to pander to or doing things that serve their own individual needs.
What ever happened to "for the people, by the people"?

Another of the quirky stops that we made on the way to Houston.  This church is reputed to be the smallest Catholic church in the world!  Gotta tell you I don't think that 7 people (including the priest) could stand inside this church while mass is being conducted, much less sit down!
Then I remembered that we were in Baptist country and there really aren't many Catholics around.  Maybe this was about as big as Catholic churches get in this part of the country!
This church was just out side of La Grange and anyone that knows ZZ Top's songs knows that their song titled after La Grange isn't about anything to do with religion it's about a famous brothel that once existed in La Grange.
Even with strong religion, everyone has needs...know what I mean?

Our gracious hosts, Chris and Jan.  We had such a good time here...eating, catching up on old times and discussing family issues.  You see, that within the last month, our family has lost not only Chris and Jan's niece (very tragic and very sudden) but also Jan's mom, my aunt 10 days later.  Her passing was a blessing as she had been suffering for some time and I think was ready to move on.  Chris and Jan as well as my cousin Sue and her husband Tom have gone through these ordeals with strength and compassion  It hasn't been an easy time for anyone, but particularly for these 4.
Probably the best thing to come out of this is that it has brought our entire extended family together in a manner that the family has not experenced for quite some time.
For that I'm very grateful.

Ruby, Lucy,Lovie and Jan.  Lovie and Ruby had some "issues" when we first arrived..they are both alpha females  and like humans take some time to discover the ins and outs of each others personalities.  They are now best buddies.  I've said it before and I'll say it again..given enough time Ruby can convert any dog or person into her best friend!

Ruby and her buddy looking for food!  This was the perfect stop for Ruby as she got an extended period of socializing with other dogs...she really needed it!

It seems like the only thing I've been doing in Texas is eating and eating extremely well.  Too well as a matter of fact!
This was part of the meal that Chris and Jan prepared for us our 1st evening in Houston.
Ahhhh...Texas beef...nothing better and much cheaper than what we pay in Orange County!
The cost of living seems to be substantially less expensive...ergo the huge influx of Californians into Texas!

Chris took me fishing for catfish (we are in the South after all) at this little pond close to their house. Unfortunatly, all we caught were 2 sunfish and 2 turtles.  Disappointing but a ton of fun!
Ruby on the other hand had the best day she's had since leaving home.  She spent the entire time in the water, swimming, running up and down the banks, chasing the bobbers connected to our lines as we cast them (we finally took them off so she couldn't see where the line was going)  and finding sticks in the water!  She was fascinated by the turtles we caught...another 1st for the Rubes!
She got a much needed bath after this and I finally got the Monument Valley dust and Texas butterflys off of the Jeep...so, we are all clean and ready to continue east today!

Meet Maddie, she was our charming server last night at Pappadeaux, an extraodinary Cajon restraurant close to Chris and Jan's house.  She gave me my 1st "ya'll"!  While talking with her we discovered that, are you ready for this...she was from California!  Her dad got transferred here 5 years ago and is originally from Lodi..CCR.."stuck in Lodi again"  Lodi is up north by Stockton. We started with 3 and 1/2  lbs. of "mud bugs"..or crawfish..awesome.  Proceeded to the greek salad..awesome.  I had a main course of crawfish ettouffe..awesome.  Then desert of bananna pudding with vanilla wafers embedded in the pudding...beyond awesome.
Maddy's full name is Madison, which she would still be called (I think) if she was still living in California.
She was a sweetheart and I'm glad that I got the chance to meet her!

So, as mentioned earlier today we go east.  I have no idea where we will end up, but I can guarantee you one thing...we will see some sights that we have never seen and meet interesting and nice people!