On R&R

Well, we are back on the road again. Rick signed out of the Atlanta storm on the 2nd and on the 3rd we headed for the Carolina's with Charleston, WV being our destination. He has to take care of a flood re-certification required by Uncle Sam. It is a one day refresher class. We missed all the classes held in Texas and now we are down to the last couple of classes offered before the deadline. So... Rick turned down repeated calls to work in Arkansas so he could have a few days of badly needed R&R and get this requirement out of the way.

Spring has definitely come to this region. Everything is in bloom. Trees, bushes, vines, flowers--everything is just beautiful. Many of the trees are starting to leaf out as well. Things will be really pretty in a couple of weeks.

Last Sunday we had the privilege of going to the First Baptist Church of Atlanta and hearing Dr. Charles Stanley preach. With a raspy voice and a stopped up head, he welcomed us "to the pollen capital of the world." He may have exaggerated just a bit, but not much.

Here is a picture of the toolbox in Rick's truck with just one overnight collection of pollen. (The truck is dark blue but that morning it was green.) I watched a bumble bee buzz the truck for several minutes. It circled the truck, trying to decide if it should land and take a walk across the hood, gathering more pollen than his tiny little legs could carry. Poor thing; it flew off, I suppose, deciding it was just not "bee enough" to handle such a big job.

Anyway, after leaving Marietta, we traveled to the Charlotte, NC area camping across the border in Rock Hill, SC.

If you ever see this rig haulin' down the highway, give us a honk and a wave! Our house on wheels, stopping at Camping Worlds and Cracker Barrels as we chase storms and home again.

While we were in Charlotte, we did a little sightseeing. Friday was Rick's day as we did what we could of the NASCAR scene. I forgot to take my camera (an honest mistake I assure you) so I don't have any great pictures. (:<) It was not the best day to be there as the teams were all in Texas. But our tour of Michael Waltrip's facilities was more interesting than I had anticipated.

I'm not surprised that we were there on Friday after the teams left on Wednesday and Thursday. After all, we went to Carlsbad Caverns and the bats were not there. We went to San Juan Capistrano and it was the wrong season so the swallows were not there. So why not go to Charlotte while the race teams are in our home state? Oh well.

Saturday was my day. I took lots of pictures! I'll tell you about it in another post later.