I am probably the worse blogger ever! It’s been WAY too long AGAIN! For those of you who know where I really am, you’ll see that this blog is about two weeks late, so shhhhhhhh ….. Let’s pretend I’m in Arkansas (and not sitting in the middle of a vineyard in Alabama while I write this). I’ll try to be quick to catch you up, but this may be a two parter.

Wait! I forgot to share the name update! With some help, I decided to go with an Aussie theme (since Cliff is an Australian male), so we have Sydney the Subaru, Oggie the Free Solo OG, and of course Cliff the crazy navigator …….. this is the company I keep between visiting with friends.

Memphis was on my way to Arkansas, so what do you do in Memphis? You visit Graceland – well, not me. It was a circus and they wanted $10 for parking, so I just drove by – Sorry Elvis.

Why in the world would I go to Arkansas?! If you have followed my travels, you can see I am not being very linear, but I wanted to see these people! Chad & Brianna

AND I got a primo parking spot (plus a beautiful guestroom to sleep in). You may remember Chad as Brushy Bob from my reenactment group. I knew him and Bri in Bailey, but I didn’t know them well. I have to say, by the end of this weekend, I feel like I have gained two very special and wonderful true friends!

The weekend started off with Chad asking if I preferred pizza or potatoes – weird question, but I rolled with it and went with pizza. We really didn’t know what we were going to talk about, but spent 3 hours in the bar chatting while ‘waiting’ for our pizza. It was awesome. They have a beautiful homestead, complete with chicken coop, proud roosters, guineas (for bug and tick control), and a mama goat

And I saw a chicken lay an egg! We also went 4-wheeling – what a blast! Although I think Chad had a bit too much faith in my abilities when we went through a river and up a couple of very steep hills. I jumped off twice and said “Nope! YOU do it.” Thank God he was gracious enough to hike back and rescue me (and his 4-wheeler).

I don’t know if you can tell, but these are much muddier than what we started with – and my back was totally mud splashed! They live very close to where the tornado had come through the previous weekend, so there was a lot of debris and some of the trails were flooded, but it was fun!

This is Brianna trying to get a sun tan. Interesting pose, but I can’t tease her too much. It was a wonderful visit and they sent me on my way with a cooler full of delicious stuff. Arkansas was beautiful and I can see why people live there. I don’t think it’s for me, but I’d loved to visit again.

I had more volleyball stuff to get to in Clearwater, and I tried my best to take the backroads, but Cliff went off the rails!!! Every time I went off the main path, he kept insisting I take the highways and somehow tricked me into cutting back to them, and then he guided me straight to locked gates twice! He’s losing it.

I stayed at Cane Creek in Star City and picked up my first tick.

No. I didn’t freak out.

I also stayed at Lake Lowndes State Park, where you REALLY have to enjoy the sounds of nature because the frogs kept me awake all night! The site was OK though.

Oh, and I joined Harvest Hosts! For $179/year, I can stay at tons of places for free! The first night, this was my view

Yes. I stayed at a church/cemetery. Shyla thought it was perfect for me since I used to spend a lot of time in a cemetery, but another friend thought I was crazy and should be scared. Not me! That is, until something went THUNK in the middle of the night! Whooooooooo…..

Tonight I am staying at a winery in Alabama.

It’s very pretty. I walked the vineyards, had a glass of wine, and chatted with the proprietor, Donna, about wine, books and authors. At the moment, I’m in the camper sitting out a rain storm. Perfect time to catch you up! My next HH stay will be at a farm.

I’ll talk about volleyball next time. That’s what I’ve been doing the past couple of weeks while NOT blogging. I should have a lot more to talk about moving forward. Thanks for hanging with me!

Tip of the day: Do NOT try to get a tick out with heat/fire – it HURTS!!! Grab them by the butt with a pair of tweezers and pull straight out – no twisting. Then wash thoroughly with soap and hope it never happens again. Another tip: I hear Gold Bond medicated powder is a great deterrent and I plan to buy some today.