Napa Valley

Nice camp site, peaceful, pastoral view!
Just add vino!

Overnight Winery

Overnight camping in the Four Sisters Winery and Vineyard near Paso Robles using the Harvest Host reservation system. Got there early for a wine tasting and restocked our onboard wine cellar!

Vineyard Harvest Hosts

Tucked up for the night at the Four Sisters Vineyard and Winery! Oh no! More wine tasting!

Overnight snow

Frosty night with below seasonal temps at Anza Borrego State Park brought snow to the mountains surrounding the desert valley. Our three space heaters are operating at full power!

Borrego Springs Farmers’ Market

Farmers' market in Borrego Springs which we just love… bought croissant, French bread, humus, dolmades, tzatziki, marinated mozzarella cheese, 5 lb bag of oranges, green cauliflower, onions, asparagus…. lovely gourmet camping supplies!

Snow in the mountains

Sitting in Anza Borrego campsite in Southern California and overnight the temperature dropped to 37F and snow fell on the mountains all around us! In a few days it will hitting 95F so we prepare for great variances over the next three weeks that we are located in the artistic town of Borrego Springs….

Valentine’s Birthday

David makes sure to have all the ingredients for this special day. A highlight was dinner on the terrace of a restaurant with a French chef in the Catalina Hills. Our Airstream friends Bob and Lisa introduced us to many of the stops we're making on the rest of this trip 3 years ago and chose this spot for our reunion. On our separate five-month trips this was the only night our paths would cross. Perfect!

Four days in Tucson

Yes, we've made it to a completely different climate- cold nights, warm and sunny days. We've made it to the desert and now need to remember how to alter our daily schedule to enjoy it.

Restocking took us to Costco, Zeal's Gluten-free Patisserie, and Walmart curbside. Here at the Lazy Days KOA, most sites have terraces and fruit trees. It's a magnificently run spot!

San Antonio!

What a treat to be here on cool days with few tourists! We visited the elegant Japanese Tea Garden (tea house closed) and even saw a bride posing in her wedding dress.

The ducks were swimming on the river at the heart of the River Walk. After so much driving, it felt good to walk the full circle before sitting riverside for a wood grilled fish lunch.

Crossing Texas

We like to plan, but we're always careful to be ready to change those plans when faced with unexpected weather. And that was Texas! Snow around Dallas meant we missed 4 spots and friends and just headed west on I10. We'll try again a little later next year.

For the first night after Houston we settled on this quiet spot outside Fort Stockton, Hilltop RV. Too bad it wasn't Monday!

Moonlight in Organ Pipe

"Ill met by moonlight" proud Margaret (Oberon in Mid Summer Night'sDream) at full moon in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument National park just a few miles from the Mexican border….

Texas Barbecue

Checking out top Texas BBQ joints! Ate our lunch in our Airstream in the parking lot! Ordered enough for a couple of days to help us as we cross the wilderness from east coast to west coast… brisket, smoked turkey, rack of pork ribs and a few pork sausages along with collard greens, cole slaw and beans! Happy camper! Happy to let the someone else do the grilling and smoking!

Breaux Bridge

RV camp site in Breaux Bridge in Cajun Country around an old crawfish pond. Temperatures around 29F are making us nervous! Stopped two days here to await temperature rise in Texas before we head to higher elevations. Checked out the local Poche Cajun market with crawfish etouffe and andouille! Nice to be in new culinary zone!

Breaux Bridge

RV camp site in Breaux Bridge in Cajun Country around an old crawfish pond. Temperatures around 29F are making us nervous! Stopped two days here to await temperature rise in Texas before we head to higher elevations. Checked out the local Poche Cajun market with crawfish etouffe and andouille! Nice to be in new culinary zone!

Tallahassee visit

Checked in with friends Pat & Laurie from past travels on caravans… photo from Alaska 2018… subsequently Pat & Laurie bought land in Tallahassee and built a custom designed house for their retirement… had drinks at the RV park along with Pat's bbq chicken wings and our steamed shrimps!

Titusville

Spent an overnight in David and Diana's driveway at The Great Outdoors and sampled some very nice Californian wine along with a Big Green Egg beautifully grilled pork chop!

Last sunset

Making our way down the dock after dinner… what a farewell! See you next year!

Stone crab claws

Made a quick trip to Fishbusterz on Stock island and picked a few claws for the journey… a real treat at $50+ a lb! Picked up some 15/20c fresh shrimp, seaweed salad and smoked fish dip - ah the very best fish dip after trying three different sources!

Fishermen returns…

Sitting by dock of the bay… watching the sunset and fishing boats return… with cocktails and a fish dinner on order! Good memories to keep till next year!

Last dinner at GKM

Getting ready to leave after a month in paradise, we have packed all our camping gear into the truck including grills. So we opt for dinner out, a 50 paces hike to the other end of the marina park to find ourselves a table by the water for a splendid fish dinner! Margaret had her usual grilled Hogfish and I went for the whole fried Yellowtail Snapper diet be damned!

Refueling…

Heading west towards California from Florida we make a necessary pit stop at Costco in Tallahassee… meat, veggies, fruit, wine, liquor, and a few discretionary and irresistible treats! That should keep us going for the next thousand miles!

Visitor

Checking out the view from the hood of our truck! Key West abounds with chickens and roosters - they are everywhere, holding up the traffic, jumping on your picnic table, taking walks with you! Part of the Caribbean life!

Charred broccolini

Wonderful tasty charred broccolini or broccoletti. Forget broccoli! Toss a few stems in a ziplock with high quality olive oil and a pinch of salt and grill for a couple of minutes each side. Stems are a bit al dente but that's fine. Our expert chef Lauretta on Camping Gourmet does a parboil and shock in ice water before grilling!

Checking out a new wine

Danger of curbside shopping is being tempted by new and different supermarket items. Using the Publix shopping app reveals all kinds of tasty treats you would never see when doing your regular shopping. Lots of probiotic options, unusual vegetables, interesting dairy options, gluten-free, regional products! Tried out pork belly on the grill!

Raccoon alert!

This baby raccoon came into the tree overlooking our camp site. First thing I noticed was the rapid fluttering of a dove taking off from the tree as the raccoon tried to creep up the tree trunk and surprise the dove. Thank goodness no blood and feathers all over the place!

Airstreamers dinner

Our little group met on the Cajun Country Caravan back in Spring of 2019 and reassemble in Key West every January seeking warmth. Michael and Judy Shelley from Arkansas, Joe and Ronnie Harris who live half the year in Key Largo, the other half near Cannes France. Joe did the cheffing with a steak Chimichuri dish…

Outside my area of expertise!

I was "forced" to taste this!
Not bad at all…

Flotsam and jetsam

Along our regular walk on Boca Chica Key some creative soul had set up three weather vanes and two anemometers using beach flotsam. The wind had dropped considerably when we took our walk after the storm so the wind was not strong enough to activate these mobiles, veritable works of art! … but you get the idea!

Storm front

Quite a difference from one end of this storm front to the other end in Virginia! We had strong warm winds gusting to 45 knots, lightning, threats of water spouts and tornadoes and a good cleansing rain downpour! At the other end, a 1000 miles away, snow and ice which we can see on our webcams….

Coming back from dinner

Coming back to the Reach Hotel after dinner where our friends are staying we walked past a wedding reception in progress and they were just cutting the cake! Ahh! I thought… just in time for dessert! No!

Floating Tiki Hut

Cruising along the Boca Chica beach close to Key West we came across this outboard powered tiki hut and bar along with crew of passengers. You can rent the boat and captain/Batman for a multi hour cocktail cruise. One nice thing about this part of the coast are the many underwater sand shoals so you can jump off and walk around in warm water up to your waist whilst holding your cocktail in hand. Popular spot! Our crew thought it was just a tad too cool to walk the sandy shoals!

Circumnavigativr Key West

Rented a Hurricane pontoon deck boat for a day and went cruising around the island. Dropped in at the Salty Oyster for lunch!

Key West Farmers’ Market

Thursday on the dock at the Truman Annex with about 40 vendors with the usual assortment from veggies to clothing styles, cards, food, jewelry, candies,crafts, baked goods, seafood, ice cream, cbd, etc

Good morning!

Morning view from my bed in the Airstream…

Crab cakes

A reminder of our summer crabbing experience in mid winter! A gluten free baked crab cake sitting on a sheet of crispy prosciutto, over a baked mashed potato cake lying on a bed of mandolin sliced steamed broccoli stems fenced in with grilled sesame asparagus….

Oyster grilling

One of my favorite on the road delights are roasted oysters. We usually buy a couple of dozen in the shell, put them on the propane grill in two separate batches, wait for them to open, and prise off the top half of the shell. Separately we prepare a butter, shallot, parsley, prosciutto and vermouth or white wine dressing which we spoon on to the roasting oysters. A couple of minutes later we have a delicious oyster appetizer!

Flatbread

Credit to Pat Lahey and the NYTimes for his Sullivan Street Bakery no-knead bread recipe. I have been making this bread at home for years and thought I would try an on-the-road version except I would make flatbread instead of a loaf. So I adapted quantities to King Arthur white unbleached flour 150 grams, water 105 grams, salt 3 grams and a new to me sourdough yeast I came across recently 1/2 teaspoon. Mixed in a storage box and left it for 36 hours somewhere between 70 and 80 degrees. It rose well and looked healthy. Added some extra flour after 24 hours to inhibit stickiness. Rolled it out using a wine bottle and put it on the grill and beyond belief it blew up to the size of a small football! Filled it with scrambled eggs a la Gordon Ramsey and enjoyed brunch!

Manatee

This huge seven foot Manatee came gliding by during dinner at the Geiger Key Fish Camp restaurant- moving ever so slowly. It's a threatened species with some 6,000 still alive. Doesn't handle collisions with small boats and outboard engines very well…

Seaside Cafe at the Mansion

Our friends from Tappahannock, Em & Kathy, flew down for a few days of winter relaxation. They are staying in the Reach Hotel and we get together for a few activities every day. Boating, sight seeing, dining, visiting the markets and driving around kW in their golf cart! Lobster pizza!

Paul & Brenda

Long time Airstream travelers - I think we go back as far as the 2016 South West Adventure caravan - Paul and Brenda winter at the Jolly Roger near Marathon. We have our annual catch up lunch at Geiger Key! We did the FallingWater Caravan with them to the Frank Lloyd Wright houses in western PA last May…. time for Key Lime pie!

Friendly Pelican

Our daily two mile walk takes us back and forth along the abandoned beach road at the end of the Boca Chica NAS air base. Yesterday was a quiet evening with only a couple of other walkers so the pelicans were braver than usual and this magnificent representative of the species sat on the wall as we walked five feet away! Maybe he was digesting his fish supper after a feeding frenzy we watched him indulge in a few minutes earlier…

Getting settled in

Arrived at the very end of Route 1, mile post 11 - as far south as you can go in the Continental US and set up our winter camp at Geiger Key Marina. String up the red chili lights in the tiki hut and unpack our two grills, set up the blue laser starfield and comfy chairs so we can watch sunrise, sunset and everything in between. Our first treat after a long long day on the road was fish and chips at the fish camp restaurant, we had grilled Hogfish and Red Snapper waterside while watching real fish cavorting in the boat channel right by our table. The warm Caribbean tropical air with its slightly higher humidity is a contrast which always creates pleasant and long lasting memories.

Back home

Today I checked my webcams at home to watch snow falling… maybe two inches… and more to come towards the end of the week. Talked to friends at home and commiserated the bad weather! Thank goodness I was not on I-95 stuck for 15 hours! Now I know why I head to Geiger Key in January!