Well...

I know I've been lax lately in writing and there are many adventures to catch you all up on but there won't be any new ones. The time has come and I am back in New Jersey for new adventures of life here.




Trailer less now I made it from Orlando home in 3 days which could easily have been a two day drive but had stops to make. Got in yesterday after lunch with sister in DC. Before that I stopped for the night in Richmond to visit with Jess and Mike and new baby Braden (see above for cuteness).

Taylor is parked at a storage facility in Orlando waiting for Uncle Greg to come back down and take a trip to the Keys for the winter. Greg came for a few days this past weekend and we went through the basics of Taylor 101 and saw the Space Shuttle Endeavor launch on the 14th.

The bright light is the rocket booster just after ignition, the white circle in the top left is the just-past-full moon. We watched from across the water about 10-12 miles away and heard the take off a full minute after I took this picture. I couldn't have planned this if I tried, a last minute fantastic way to end the trailer leg of the trip.

Before that I was in Panama City Beach camped at St Andrews State Park. My friend Pat came for a few days and we had intense games of Scrabble , great finds at the dollar store and general chilling by the fire time. A relaxing last few days in the Chuck Taylor.

The week before I was in Biloxi doing Habitat - spent that time siding (a big puzzle), a little roofing and insulation (absolutely no fun - very itchy). It was a good week at Grand Island National Seashore and I ended it with some fellow volunteers with a night of bowling and a brief trip to the Casinos, Biloxi has been called the "Redneck Riviera."

And I think that catches us up to where I last posted. Those are very brief descriptions of the last few weeks but that's the short version of it all. There may be another post trip posting with some grand summaries and lessons learned. But should I get distracted and this be the last one, I want to say thanks to everyone who came on the journey and to everyone who supported me along the way in various ways. It was a lot easier to travel alone knowing how much love and support I had behind me.

Cheers!
Kelly

Election Night Buzz

It's an exciting day. I can't imagine being in a more red state with my blue liberal politics. Mississippi. I have moved on from the build in Louisianna. We finished up over the course of the week, it looks like a house. Kind of cool. Had a nice dinner and said farewell to the work crew.

The Habitat CARE-A-VANNERS crew, Bayou Blue Louisianna

L to R: Bill, Peggy and Bandit, Steve and Jan, Yours Truly, Gwen and Lowell, Jan and Less, Steve, Mike, Roseanne and George

Aunt Jo came to visit for a weekend in Louisiana and got to hammer some nails in. We went to the Voodoo Experience, which was really just a music festival and saw Lil' Wayne. That was an experience for sure. We had good coffee, went to Bourbon Street for a quick walk. It was a short visit but good to spend some time with my Aunt Johanna.

Well Obama is in the lead at the moment but I am not counting my chickens until I hear them clucking. Mississippi, shockingly, went McCain. I am out near Biloxi in Ocean Springs doing a week of Habitat here.

Spent the weekend near New Orleans at Bayou Segnette State Park. Liz came to visit and we had adventures galore. Saw aligators and snakes, drunk people and interesting costumes on Bourbon Street on Halloween. Definitely an interesting place to spend that holiday.

It was time to move on after 2 weeks there. Some interesting social issues that the experience brought to my attention. That is a bit too much to blog at this point but the epiphany I've been searching for came but I can tell you it was a different experience that I was expecting.

Gots to run.

Cheers,
Kelly