It’s hard to believe it is already the middle of September. The end of June I got in my camper van and headed across the state to Sarasota, Florida, where I connected with a few friends from Philadelphia who were visiting friends in Sarasota. We had a nice time connecting and eating meals together. Then I went to Tampa where I connected with another friend and she took me to the University of Tampa campus and there were very old, historic buildings with amazing architecture. I am hoping at some point I can figure out how to put some pictures in my posts. Word Press changed things a while ago and I can’t figure out how to add them easily. Also, my new computer, well it’s a couple years old now, it won’t find the SD card from my camera to download photos to my computer. Anyway, then I headed west and stopped in Alabama to connect with another friend.
I stopped in Tyler, Texas, at Tyler State Park and it rained the entire two days I was there, but I was able to take a shower which felt good. Showers are a luxury when I am traveling. I went to Frisco to visit another friend and I didn’t want to drive through Dallas so I took some secondary roads and thought it was only 130 miles between the two cities. However, I didn’t know until I got onto one of the roads that almost the entire route was under construction and it took almost 5 or 6 hours to drive the 130 miles. It was not fun!!! When I arrived at Sarah’s house and she got home from work we went out for Mexican food which was delicious. I brought some of my watercolor paints, paper, and brushes and Sarah and I painted abstract paintings which we cut into bookmarks for her to give away.
After visiting for two days, I drove to Fort Worth and Crowley, Texas, see some other friends. There was a leak in the camper van that I found before I left on my trip and in Sarasota my friend Stan and I thought we stopped the leak, but evidently not. So when I was at Sue’s house in Crowley, her husband Mark who is very handy with repairs of many types found what we thought was where the water was coming in and after putting some special paint in the spots and then caulking the entire length we thought it fixed the leak. It seemed to for quite a while. It was also great having time together.
Then I left Crowley and drove to Waco, Texas, where I stopped at Homestead Heritage where I have lots of friends from the many times I have visited there over the past 26 years. My intent was to stay there for about a week or so, then head to Arizona and Colorado, but I realized my body did not want to drive the extra distance of about 1,000 miles, and then I would have that much further to drive back home. So, I stayed in Waco for about 7 weeks and was able to help out at the bakery and also teach a few friends how to weave using the twining technique I learned at Native Rhythms Flute Festival in Melbourne, Florida last November. I am planning to go to this music festival again this year. I have been there annually for many years and I have made friends with several of the performers and vendors which makes it more fun to attend the event. It’s the 2nd weekend of November and more info can be found on the website for Native Rhythm Festival.
I love working at the bakery in Waco, I learn new things to bake and more tips to make my baking more successful and new things to make. I also worked a couple of days at the chocolate shop, and learned about the process of making chocolate from cacao beans to the final chocolate product. They have cacao beans from ten different countries.
I will write more soon about more adventures of my trip.
