Technology /  by Dave Hileman

Our first day took us to Savannah, GA where we stayed the night in a restaurant parking lot, Coach’s Corner, on the East side of town. Good food but then you will read about that tomorrow. We did not realize we were just a short drive from Tybee Island and Fort Pulaski National Monument. We had visited here once before but during Covid - things were a bit more open this time. Off to Gamble Rogers, Florida, in the morning. The fort was built 30 years before the Civil War and was substantial. Its role was to protect Savannah but covering the river access. The confederates were well supplied and armed ready for a long seige/ The Union landed on Tybee and unlimbered the newest cannon with rifled barrels. In short order the brick fort was about to lose any protection for the gun powder as the shells destroyed the outer layer of brick. So the siege lasted less than 24 hours. National Park, Fort Pulaski, Georgia

MOOSE ALERT

TLT:

I would like to welcome Cadillac Moose back to Two Lane Touring. You may wonder where he has been as the last we saw of him was in Hawaii. Unfortunately, he fell in with a bad crowd. A tattooed bunch of wild Hulu Girls on their Vespa scooters captivated him and off he went. Until his downfall when…

C. Moose:

That’s enough information - no one needs to know the details. All they need to know is that I have finally found my purpose. And have extensive training courtesy of my brief stay out of the limelight in Hawaii. By the way, my education there was free, so no student debt. I have graduated from the Medicine Bow, MT, Online Community College of Culinary Arts with a PhD in Food Assessment. My degree from the prestigious MBOCCCA was almost $50 so you know it is quality. My minor is in ice cream, coffee and swamp plants.

My goal is to become a judge on the Great British Baking Show. How perfect am I for that gig? I realize I need to acquire some experience so I will be the new Two Lane Touring food critic. Until such time, maybe 4 or five months, as my innate talent surfaces and the GBBS calls me to replace Mr. Hollywood. How he ever got the job I don’t know.

We are heading back to Texas scene of the last disaster TLT had with PhotoMan at the helm so I hope he can actually get us to some restaurants in the wild west. Yet, once again, I am not too hopeful cause we are sitting by the Atlantic Ocean and that is not the West.

Stay tuned for my first exciting post, unless, of course, the GBBS calls me tonight.

Full moat at the fort

The parade ground. Gun ports on all walls and cannon mounted on the top as well

Damage from the 1862 bombardment - newer brick to the left where the wall was about to collapse.

On The Road Again... /  by Dave Hileman

We are off. If we are on schedule we should be at Gamble Rogers along the Atlantic Ocean in Florida sometime today. Posting for the trip will begin tomorrow, Wednesday. All the posts this trip may not be linear but I will try to have a post every day. In fact somedays will have more than one. Restaurants and ice cream stops will be separate posts along with camping posts but on the main blog. So, some days one post, some days two or four. All of course, brilliant:)

We will have photos from lots of places on our 120 day journey. Those photo will include many from the 34 new NPS units we hope to visit and the 11 or so we will revisit. A new feature will be an ID on each photo for easier searching of the National Park sites. I will also do a summary of our time at each park.

We will be joined by the indecipherable Cadillac for many of the posts. But I will let him tell you his story - with a few corrections to make it more accurate.

When You Rule! /  by Dave Hileman

This is the King Louis XVI of the bird kingdom. The Hooded Merganser: showy, proud, gilded, and a style setter for the rest of the flock. You should see his palace.

Consultation with one of his ministers.

Kingfisher at Speed /  by Dave Hileman

This is a medium size fast bird that flys erratically and I have failed many times to photograph one. They are often difficult even when you find one sitting cause they abruptly dive from their perch and flit here and there. I have a few sitting shots but never one in flight. I was shooting birds in a pond when I saw from the corner of my eye a bird racing low across the sky, I just turned and shot three shots, didn’t even know what bird it was at first. When I got to view them all three were in focus. The AF system with the bird detect - which I had engaged as I was shooting ducks on the small pond, worked wonderfully. I am very pleased with the performance of the Fuji X-T5 so far. And they are promising a firmware update to improve the Auto Focus system. I have including a couple more birds that took off from the pond when I got too close for their comfort. Didn’t mean to but they were down in the reeds where I could not see them. Again the system worked well.

Ibis

Even this egret that did not have an eye visible (focus looks for the eye) did well with the feet and the bill sharp.

Applause, Please /  by Dave Hileman

I am thrilled to have taken this shot of a Clapper Rail. (Right, applause) I have seen this species only one time about 30 years ago. I would have been excited to see one again as they are usually deep in the reeds in swamps and tidal pools. A very secretive, quiet bird. This one was startled and swam across a small pond. As soon as it reached the other shore, maybe 25 feet across, it disappeared into the reeds. Thrilled to get the shot.

Impact /  by Dave Hileman

This photo is part of your reading assignment. “The Man Who Moved a Mountain” is about Bob Childress and his impact on the people of Buffalo Mountain, seen here at sunset from the Blue Ridge Parkway in south-central Virginia. The area of Buffalo was notorious in an era and a place where people were tough, life was always hard, often brutal and short and there was very little contact with the outside world. Until a gang of brothers rode their horses into the Hillsville Courthouse, killed several people and fled with their kin. The FBI and newspaper reporters descended on the community to report back to the “civilized” world. Bob was struck by what he did not know and made the decision to change his life and it was momentous, leading eventually to Bob becoming a minister and going back home where he helped turn the violent and backward culture around. It is a wonderful, compelling and inspirational story. I have traveled the area to see most of the churches he built, the house he lived in the store he had to help people out. Do yourself a favor, read the book.

Afterthought /  by Dave Hileman

I took these quick shots of tools my grandson uses just on a whim when I saw them on a work space he uses. It sparked a long-dormant idea that i would like to take images of old tools in some yet to be determined creative fashion. I have always been enamored of the old tools you might find in a barn or a shed that have been used for years or decades. Old tool boxes that are battered and worn but tools inside still ready to use. The worn handles and lost luster speak of projects accomplished. iI that photo project ever happens, you read about it here first and if you wish you can get your name on the waiting list for fabulous prints:)

No Planning Needed.....Really! /  by Dave Hileman

We were told once, in what was clearly another era of travel that having an RV meant you could just decide in the morning which way the wind or your whim might take you. Well today that might find you parked along side a road hoping no one bothers you. Reservations for Florida State Parks are 11 months in advance and it is not easy to get into most of them over much of the year. When we made reservations for Yosemite a few years ago 425 campsites were gone in 11 seconds. SECONDS. So you can just bop a long, and we do sometimes, but not without some sense that it is an okay thing to do at that location at that time of year. If you want a busy campground, national park, state park or near any ocean, plan ahead.

Here is our travel plan done on software called RV Trip Wizard. There are six pages here covering 117 days with 54 stops and 7700 miles between those stops not counting travel at locations. Are you still flexible? Somewhat. We have a small number of unplanned days, we have several Harvest Hosts and they can be changed easily and with no fee, most parks you can also cancel within time frames. So, yes, we do have some options and likely will not hit all of these as planned. But Big Bend, Zion, Arches and many more we will keep or lose the opportunity. Trying to visit and photograph the 400+ National Park Units means planning or an unlimited budget. Hmmmm..

Boy + Cookie = Happy /  by Dave Hileman

This young man, Lev, was the ring-bearer at the wedding we attended last June. Smart, funny kid just a joy to be around. And he liked his cookie.

Another goal, might be too strong a word but I would like to learn a bit about taking portraits. I heard of the 100 stranger challenge - where you ask 100 people you do not know if you can take their photo. Intimidated by that idea but….

Photo Goal 2023 /  by Dave Hileman

One of my intended goals is to get better at bird photography. This is an example of why i need to do that! This is a Common Snipe and the first one I have photographed. I took this image in Texas on the Gulf Coast where Whooping Cranes winter. ( I did see three Whoopers but at several hundred feet) I saw three Dowitchers along the shore and took a couple of shots, then this one, in poor light with lots of bright reflections in the wrong place caught my eye and I snapped a shot thinking it was yet another Dowitcher. Wrong. Again. It was my first sighting of the Snipe and, obviously, my first photo. Because I was careless I did not even ID this until months after and still wish I had been thoughtful with the photo. If it is worth taking it is worth taking as well as one can.

So, one goal is more thoughtful shooting in general and planning for birds in particular. (By the way this Snipe is my 421st North American species)

"When at first you don't succeed..." /  by Dave Hileman

Winter - Spring travel plans are set. We will leave depending on the weather on the 22nd of January - just two weeks to finish preparations. This is partially the same trip we cut short last winter but with a lot more time in Florida and the sun.

Our first destination is on the Atlantic where we stay a few days at Gamble Rogers then on to Silver Springs and many other state parks, Harvest Hosts and a stint at Disney. We will have six weeks in Florida including a week in the Panhandle on the Gulf and then head to Texas to finish - hopefully - the trip we aborted last year when we had a serious electrical malfunction and returned to Hohenwald for repairs. In Texas we have a brief stop in the East then head for West Texas and Big Bend National Park, Fort Davis, Guadalupe National Park, Carlsbad Caverns (NM) then with a couple of more parks we are on to Southeastern Arizona and the Chiricahua National Monument (soon to be a National Park). Then going north we see six or seven additional parks in AZ, revisit the Big Five in Southern Utah along with three new ones and two state parks, then back to the north part of New Mexico after a short stay for three Colorado parks. We have 11 National Park units on the plan in the general area around Albuquerque. Next stop is Amarillo and the two parks plus a state park in the Texas panhandle, a stop in OK City, a NRA in Centrial OK and our last park in AR, Fort Smith. Our final stop is at the Oliver Rally at Lake Guntersville, AL in late May and an overnight in Knoxville on the way home.

Altogether we expect to be gone 4 months and travel about 11,000 miles and add 33 new parks to the growing list and 12 to enjoy again. We still have some trailer preparation to make, obviously lots of packing of clothes, gear and food. The actual planning is up to the last bit in May but we should be finished with that this week. Most of the reservations are made with some too early to make but we have them alerted on our phones. We also intend to have a few “where will we stay” places.

Our friends, Rusty and Janet, will join us at a few places in Florida and travel to the Texas parks. One concern is my camera. The new one developed a glitch and would not turn off, so they are sending me a new one, just a bit of a race to make sure it is here before we leave as they are in very short supply.

Frozen in place in Waco, Texas shortly before the electric issue sent us home. We hope to avoid both electric malfunctions and the 17 degree ice storms next time around.

“For I can't help falling in love with you” /  by Dave Hileman

Cindy (and I) at Disney’s Grand Floridan lobby during Christmas season. Disney is one of her favorite places and we enjoyed the gingerbread Christmas displays at several locations around Disney World. Celebrating her birthday adds a special day right as the winter seems to close in after the New Year. I am privileged to have been a part of most of her celebrations and blessed everyday just being with her.

We are embarking an extended trip starting late this month and the planning is almost done. I will share the details Monday but most of the planning, scheduling, navigating and much more that makes a trip (and a life) successful is due to her comprehensive approach to our trips. We get to spend hours together on the highway, in campgrounds, on hiking trails, in National Parks and exploring byways and local restaurants. Those moments provide special memories.

Even if the memory is being iced in in the middle of Texas.

Happy Birthday.

Test Four /  by Dave Hileman

I tried the “eye detect” for birds and was pleased. So I went out to a park to “borrow” other people’s dogs to try the eye detect for mammals. One stationery dog and three walking toward me. 19 shots and two not in focus. Shot with my 56mm lens. I was very happy with these results. And grateful to the nice dog owners who were all gracious.

Steady walker - first one missed others good

Bouncy puppy black with black eyes, five shots no misses

hyper active little dog with just one miss

placid, easy going older dog, no misses.