Hope you had a fantastic Christmas and wonderful New Year. I spent each by myself in the wilderness and ate tacos.
Getting very cold and quite lonely for me.
I am not able to get my photos going right, but I do want to get this to you today, so here you go.
Will you write me?
December 18–Quite cold last night in Huntsville, Alabama, even with my warm sleepy bag. I had come here to meet up with Brinley Schmuck, who I know through juggling and Facebook. For Saturday she is getting some jugglers together to meet up.
I’m seeing that, in the future, I will have to drive back down south for the warmth and even, perhaps, get a small heater for the van.
Getting around 3 to 4 hours of sleep each night, yet, still functioning fine and not tired during the day.
Dec 19–A hard night. The temp got down to 30–burr. I had purchased an extra blanket, but still was freezing. I was parked in a park on the outskirts of Huntsville, Alabama.
At about midnight I was awoken by a cop lady. She was nicer than most, checked my id and said people are not allowed to sleep where I was, but she would let me. The problem is, I could not get back to sleep. So, pretty much up all night.
The following day I met up with Brinley
How nice to talk with this beautiful lady.
Next, on to Atlanta.
I know Bruce Plott from many years at US juggling conventions (ija). We connected and I am staying in his driveway for a couple days. But, Bruce does have two felines, and I am allergic to cats, so it is hard to stay around in the house. Bruce actually lives on the shores of a small lake, a very nice area.
And, last night my old friend Dan Berg came over. Take a look:
We go way back to the 70’s. Back then we both performed as jugglers, here is Dan in action with his old partner Bruce Pfeffer:
Dan studied computers in the 70’s and started a company with software for the agriculture industry. He went on to sell the company and did quite well. But, he is still there, as “Development Manager”. The company name is “Cultura”, the website is:
“AGRIS” is the leading accounting system in the country for Agribusiness companies (Dan designed it, developed a vast majority of it, and have been managing the developers for the past 35 years)
Their customers are all the companies that work with the farmers – selling them seed, fertilizer, chemicals, and anything they need to grow their crops; and then they buying the raw crops from the farmers at harvest time (corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, cotton, etc.)
Dan helped me financially with a repair for the van, so good of him, a great friend.
Dec 20–As you know past writing, my check engine light has been on, letting me know I have a spark plug problem. Dan said I should have it checked out, so I went to four different places today, I got varying quotes from $360 to $648.
After leaving my van there this morning, I felt very strange. This van has been my home, transportation and part of me for months. It was a weird feeling of loss somehow.
Dec 21–Had a long video call with my daughter, April, and how wonderful it was. As I wrote, she is in Peru staying with a host family and working with kids (she is amazing at dealing with the youth.) Sounds like the only thing that is not pleasant right now is the language, still sounds like gibberish to her. Her brain is superb, she will catch on to Spanish soon.
Here is April: http://
Some years ago I taught April that “experiences” were far more important than “things”. Memories generated, lessons learned, makes a great life.
Dec 22–Stayed a few nights at the home of Andy Ford, who I have also known since the 70’s through juggling and the national juggling convention. He has cats (yikes, not again!), but has a separate apartment he had built for his mother-in-law which I am staying in. Thanks, Andy.
The last few days rain has been coming down, much. Andy has a house and land out in the country. As I was pulling out to get back on the road, my van got stuck in the mud. Andy had a truck and chain and pulled me out, a great thing, saved the day.
This vehicle I have is amazing, getting through so many things so well and running excellent.
BACK I HOP INTO FLORIDA
For Christmas eve I had wanted to find a church to attend, just because, but could not. Also, for Christmas day I had wanted to volunteer to help people, like a food kitchen or something, but, once again could not find.
So, as I wrote that I might, it was tacos while camping in the wilderness by myself for Christmas dinner.
As you might know, I have no belief in any God. The Christmas celebration is mainly for kids, me when I was young, then my daughters when they were. It is a great time of year, even without worshiping a god.
A free campsite–oh boy!
Dec 25-27–I looked on the internet and found Grassy Point Campground, had to go. Getting there was quite hard with the limited directions, but I stuck with it, and so glad I did. In fact, liked it so much I stayed two nights. Take a look:
To get there, at first, quite difficult to find, but search I did, and so glad. I did stop at an autoparts store at one point to ask directions, which helped. I had to go back about seven miles.
This guy I had asked directions of, I do have to tell you about him. I normally will not write about people such, but I have to this time. In my mind I call him “The slimy guy”. It must have been a month since he showered, the smell was extreme. His skin was just kind of glossy and sweaty. And, it looked like it had been weeks since his teeth were brushed. I write about this to remind you to always present yourself in a good way.
After a four mile drive in on a red-dirt road. there were about ten sites, and only two were taken. I settled into a nice site right on the beach. The word amazing comes to mind. Beautiful here. There were picnic tables on each site, as well as fire rings. There was a port-a-potty, things were clean and nice.
I saw some people who came and went up to a tree. They pulled some of the many mushrooms off to take with them, I had to ask. They told me to taste wonderful; I had to try. I fried up some and they were correct. So fresh and good, delightful.
People came in with boats, which they launched to go fishing. Most caught plenty of fishies.
The word, “fish”, is a strange word, once again, the wierd English language. It is the name of the animal, but also what we do when we catch it. We are actually hunting fish, I think. When people to kill deer, they are not deering. Such a strange language.
GPS is amazing, I am depending on it so much. But, in coming out of Grassy Point it had wanted me to take some dirt roads that looked very scary, especially after the recent storms. I wrote before about a six mile dirt road it sent me on and that was a scary mess. So, I stayed on the main road and did make it out.
Dec 29-31–Stayed with Joshua Guidroz through couchsurfing.com. What a lovely place he has, right on a small lake, as with a small boat ramp, too. We got along splendidly, a new friend is found. And, he learned to juggle so quickly, I was surprised.
Dec 30–Well, today it happened. Driving on a rain soaked road with rain falling and the road curving back and forth, I didn’t take a turn right and hit someone. We are both fine, for my van, just kind of a fender bender, but her door got quite knocked in. Embracing and very upsetting for me.
My bumper was rubbing against my tire when I turned to the left, something had to be done. I purchased, at Home Depot, a thing that winches and pulls things. Josh and I went to a park, I tied one end to a big tree, and was able to pull my bumper out so it will not rub. I do have to get a new headlight, though.
Hoping my insurance rate does not go up much. This has really affected my mind and has me questioning about everything.
The person I hit was so very kind. She saw that I was very upset while the cops were there and came over and gave me a big hug.
January 1, 2016–Next, off toward New Orleans.
I am lonely, please write.
January 2, 2016
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