Little Trip to Florida

 If you go back to my last post, you will see that we had thought not to go to Florida to see Jesse compete in the National Art Battle. Well, we changed our minds. Actually, we had a little fight about it. Toby said something like "I don't want to spend so much time driving to get to Florida..." I said something like "What the heck did you think we would be doing when you suggested we drive rather than fly?" Then I left the house to go do some CTAC function, and I was hot - needing to "get" someone. But there was no one to really get, so I got over it. I don't think I realized how much I wanted to go. If he had offered a better excuse for not going - something like, getting things done around the farm - I might have been okay with not going.  A month ago when he suggested that we drive, I had thought it would be a pretty tough drive, but I was game. On Sunday morning the week of the art battle, he said that if I could find a house-sitter, we would go. I found one easily at church - a young lady who has sat for us before and deals well with all my animals. Yay! And we hustled up and went. 

First day, we drove to Hemphill, TX, to see my aunt on Toledo Bend. My cousin (her daughter) was there visiting from Hawaii. We spent the night and had a great time - what a beautiful place. Then we drove to I-10 and started the trek to Florida. We spent the night in Pensacola at an RV park - a very nice place. Then we drove on to Daytona Beach. Each day was a lot of driving, but we did not get in a hurry or rush around or make ourselves crazy. We just drove and listened to Great Courses - The Civil War, which was very interesting.

Daytona Beach reminded me of South Padre, but maybe more beautiful. We stayed at an RV park, which was pretty nice. Saturday morning we picked up Jesse and her friend, Kat, and went to the beach area for breakfast. They were staying in a hotel across from the big Daytona Speedway. After breakfast on the terrace of the Hard Rock Hotel, we walked out to the beach. Toby noticed people riding their bikes and

thought that looked like fun. We happened to have our bikes in the truck, so he got them out, and we rode up and down the beach for miles. The sand was hard packed and easy walking or riding. It was a beautiful day, and we all got a little sunburned. 

That evening we went to the hotel where the girls were staying for the Art Battle. It was held in a huge outdoor tent area called the Winners' Circle. The evening weather was perfect as was the event. It was a much smaller affair than the National Art Battle the year before in Wichita Falls. It was also much tougher competition. The best part was when Jesse won. The whole thing was very exciting. After the battle, we had a late night supper on the roof of a nearby restaurant with the other artists and people from the Art Battle. I am so glad we went and saw her win. We carried her huge trophy home with us, so that she did not have to carry it on the plane. 

The next day, we started home. We spent the night in Pensacola again. Then we drove to Vicksburg, MS, and spent the night. The next day, we rode our bikes through the battlefield park. We started early while it was cool. It was a little windy and there were lots of hills, but it was great fun. We left around noon and drove to Shreveport, LA,  and spent the night. The next day we drove home in the rain - the only bad weather we had the whole trip. We stopped in Dallas at Trinity Clay and picked up more clay and glaze. 

I thought the whole trip was amazingly great.

At the beach.

At the Art Battle.

 

At the Vicksburg Battlefield. Notice our bikes at the bottom of the steps