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- A deer peeing in the woods…
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- A very tame, very large Bald Eagle
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- Florida sunset from our back porch
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- A little scared
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- I like dinosaur swings!
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- The beautiful trees in the south
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- The majestic trees
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- Our gracious hosts
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- Their beautiful home
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- Our guest house
Sorry it’s been a bit since my last check in…Natalie and I have been getting some serious R and R here in Tallahassee, Fl. We’ve been staying at the home of one of her friends, Jesse’s family home. Jesse’s family has welcomed us with open arms, even giving us the run of their guest house where we each get our own room, endless showers and television! Jane and R.E. are Jesse’s parents and Dylan and Gavin are his younger brothers who still live at home. They are all such lovely people and more than happy to have us around. It’s been so nice to be in one place for more than a day.
Their home has been in the family for several generations and is 160 years old. Solid, beautiful and surrounded by endless lush gardens, this place is amazing! We arrived on the second day of spring, the very nicest time of year, bringing the spring bloom with us as well as, unfortunately, clouds of pollen (sneeze time). Through the nearby pine forest you can just spy a large lake in the distance; the squirrels are out in full force bounding through the blooming bushes and trees; the bees are buzzing and the birds flitting through the trees.
An hour before we reached their home the Tuna began to have some troubles. I was driving and noticed, all of a sudden, that the clutch began to have very little resistance and I began having serious difficulty shifting into gears, especially first and second. By the time we reached Tallahassee I was having to use two hands to ram the gear shift into first and we literally just made it to our destination with our hazard lights on. Nightmares of super-expensive clutch replacing auto shop visits began filling our head, but we thanked the stars above to have made it to our friends house. Our hosts were great, giving us the name and number of a friend who would fix the problem, whatever it was, without taking advantage of us. After settling in to our adorable guest quarters, Natalie called Eamon, her brother, to describe what had happened. Ever the super hero with all the answers, he was able to diagnose the problem over the phone. Well not the exact problem, but dang close! He let us know that it was most likely a leak somewhere of our clutch fluid, and not to worry, it was not going to need a new clutch and or a new transmission (god forbid!). We think you’re the best Eamon!
The next day we limped the Tuna to the shop and had the part replaced, a new oil change and were on our way with a small charge of $174! Thank you angles above and flying by our sides! While the Tuna was being tuned up we took a stroll to the capitol building, Tallahassee being the state capitol, had some sushi, saw a very lively rally concerning school funding and got to enjoy the loveliness tat is downtown Tallahassee. It really is a beautiful, lush pollen covered town.
There were a few cool coincidences about Tallahassee and ourselves. For one, the place our guests lived was on Rose Hill, Natalie Rose, and the town has a lake called Lake Ella! One of our guests dogs was also named Ella! Cool!
The next day we went to the Tallahassee museum of Natural History where we saw lots of native animals, all rescue cases unable to be released back into the wild. A red fox; a bald eagle; two black bears; two Pumas; a few grey fox and many many reptiles. later that evening we attended a Florida state baseball game ( GO Seminoles!!) and then stayed up till the wee hours watching bad love movies. Both the tickets for the museum and the baseball game were provided by our wonderful guests. All in all a great portion of our trip! The worst part being that we had to leave. Both Natalie and I fell in love with the family, the town and their beautiful home.
I’m writing from a Starbucks in Columbus, Georgia, where we’ve stopped for a moment of caffeine and interweb use. Another day another few miles!
