The quest for cleanliness.

As full blown gypsies we have begun to realize that some things we took for granted as domesticated humans are actually luxuries on the road. Exhibit A. Showers. Our route north gave us the opportunity to meander through Shenandoah National Park (shout out to Cori and Ben!!). Just outside of the park is one of the schools I applied to, University of Virginia. As it stands we are still waiting to hear from UVa so I decided a little visit was in order, you know, to suck up and stuff! But we hadn’t showered since Atlanta a few days prior and I wouldn’t exactly whoo anyone if they could smell me walk in the door. So the hunt for a shower began.

What would you do to try and find a shower?

Strolling around the campus we came up with a GOLDEN idea. Two places on a university campus have lots of showers. Dorms and gyms. Both require some sort of issued ID or pass card to access, neither of which we had. Were we desperate enough to sneak into a gym to shower? Yup.

We pretended to be interested parties inquiring about the facilities. The plan would have worked flawlessly if we hadn’t poorly chosen the smallest of the gyms on campus. I am sure they saw through my request to see the locker rooms. Who chooses a school based on the gym locker rooms? “Yeah the academics are incredible but the gym bathrooms sucked!” But we really had no choice. I was in and out in a flash, and I took the walk of shame with wet hair and squeaky shoes past the front desk and thanked them for my tour.

Our first run in with the LAW

In true vagabond style, we left the comforts of the Brewster’s home, and all of the delicious meals that came with it, without having a destination in mind.  The sun began to set as we meandered through the hills of northern Georgia, and we started looking for a temporary home for the night.  We pulled over on the side of the road to examine a map and look for a road “off the beaten path” where we thought we could get away with squatting for a short time.  We hadn’t been stopped for 3 minutes before red and blue flashing lights pulled into my rear view mirror.  I was sure I had been caught before I had ever even broken the law, just my luck.  Instead we met a real live Gomer Pyle.  With an accent so thick I only really understood half of what he said, he gave us directions to a quaint little spot beside a creek that he said would be ok for an overnight stay.  Unfortunately, as he sent us off into the dark, neither Cels nor I could remember anything past the first turn.  His instructions literally told us to go to the top of a hill and turn past the closed food bank.  Bare in mind we were in Georgia HILL COUNTRY so this meant we had to distinguish between all of the tattered shacks on the road that without an exaggeration undulated like a sin chart. (nerdy math reference?? Perhaps!)

After about 10 hill tops and countless buildings we were both about ready to give up.  And then out of nowhere, Gomer himself appeared, and proceeded to lead us, our own police escort, to a secluded creek side abode.  And perhaps best of all was the appearance of a break in the trees big enough to turn “The Moment” around, meaning I didn’t have to back out the 4-5 miles of narrow winding cliff hugging forest service road. Sigh.

Welts.

Ok, I am embarrassed… turns out its way harder to find a computer to blog on while on the road than I had ever imagined.  But no time for any long winded complaints, we barely have enough time to catch up on the last 3000 miles of our lives!!

As we drove east to see my grandmother (referred to as Mom-Mom for the remainder) we had no idea the sort of pure gluttony that was about to occur.  There was a beach, and waves, the excitement of crabbing and the pain of weeding in the heat, but the truly memorable part of Fernandina beach will forever remain: Food. Before we had even finished our hello hugs my nose caught a whiff of something only people who have experienced as well can relate to: Mom-Mom’s fried chicken. Which is by the way the worlds best fried chicken. And so it began.  Before it was all said and done (all in a matter of less than a week mind you) we had eaten crab cakes, brats, a batch of chocolate chip cookies, an apple pie, a pan of brownies, shrimp salad – twice, fried chicken – twice, pancakes, eggs, bacon, HEAVEN!!!! Needless to say the appropriate thing for us to have done would be fasten some sort of harness system and walk The Moment to wherever were headed next.  Instead we chose to drive to the beach and sit in chairs to pass the time between feedings.  

**As I just read back looks like you already knew most of that... guess thats what I get for not having the internet when I write... but rest assured the following is ALL NEW!!

By the time we had reached Amelia Island to see Mom-Mom, we must have been asked 20 times if we were going to see Savannah.  We even had friends honeymoon in Savannah, so without a schedule we decided to see what the fuss was all about.  Turns out most of the fuss for us (well Cels) was all about trees; rows and rows of giant trees that lined the squares for which Savannah is so famous.  My favorite part of Savannah (in true foodie fashion) was the hour or so we spent in a candy store watching, and sampling, the creations from taffies to pralines.

From Savannah we headed to Atlanta.  Not so much for the touristy sightseeing things, but rather to see old friends and family.  One of Celseys best friends she met while working at Young Life camp (Calla), and my cousin.

I have a few very repetitious memories from my life, one of which involves a cousin, some bruises, and usually a scolding.  I cant really explain it.  Todd was always like the brother I never had.  The only problem is brothers have tons of time to create mischief so they can evenly spread it out.  But in our case we were usually pressed from time, so we had to fit a lifetime worth of brotherly stupidity into periodic meetings lasting only days at a time.  However I am starting to find is that as we grow, so to do our adventures.  And this time was no different. 

As is always the case we sort of stumble upon brilliance.  This time we were hanging out in Callas backyard on a Saturday afternoon.  We saw the neighbor kid playing with a paintball gun and lets just say one thing led to another.  Before we knew it we had invented a game the military would be proud of.  One of us had to try and navigate an obstacle course of plywood, trees, and wheel barrels we had erected in the backyard while the other got to have a free for all with a semi-automatic paintball gun.  It was a painful game to say the least, testing our bravery (stupidity maybe) and agility, but could easily go down as the best game I have ever been a part of: Welts.