Merlyn's Musings~: The Tour has been Named...

So here we are, poised to go south again on our annual Minstrel trip to Florida. Outside my office window there is snow, ice and the thermometer reads 25 degrees. It’s January, so of course that is about right. The weather has been VERY wintry here, and Monty is an icy cold "Pupsicle" after his morning constitution in the snow.

This is Monty after his morning outing EVERY cold snowy morning!

Can you find him snuggling with Mommy?

Even Harry is ready for a change!

Bye Bye Santa!

Hello Harry!

Monty is concerned we are leaving....

This is our 10^th year at the Fort Myers Kiwanis Medieval Faire…and every year we’ve ended up with stories and a tour name for the trip.

Here are the past illustrious names…

Merry Mischief Trip/Tour Names

2004 The "Dear God I hope the Van will make it there" Tour
Where our blue van's head gasket was going en route and we went thru a CASE of oil on the trip.... and thusly.....we also went thru several bottles of Absolute vodka :)

2005    The "Southern Acoustic" Tour
Traveling with a vehicle that had no (knock on wood) problems

2006    The "All Lasagna" Tour
The trip where Harry decided to sample Lasagna at every restaurant that we stopped in :)

2007    The "Titties and Beer" Tour
Caravanning and careening south with Ben Beavers :)

2008 The "Cottage Maiden Voyage" Tour
Our 1979 new to us camper trip...where the steering wheel fell off....

2009 The "Kit n' Kaboodle Oodle of Schnoodle" Tour
Monty the Road Dog's First Tour :)

2010 "Santa's Holiday"
Where Harry's Santa beard preceded him with open doors everywhere we went..

2011 “Fire & Ice- Circle of Life”

Tour on which we saw all of that and so much more!

2012 Magickal Mischief Tour

Complete with fairies, orbs and Harry Potter…and a magickal spell of protection on us and our travels.

2013

Well, here we are. What will this tour be named? The tour usually names its own self.

I did have a good suggestion before starting the trip, from dear friend, Abby Michaels (The Harper & The Minstrel) for it to be called: “The Juicier Tour” as I’ve been having fun with my new juicer since the New Year. I even packed it for the morning’s first meals if need be. Yah, Merlyn’s on another health kick!

That “Juicy” name for the trip and tour DOES have merit for so many reasons…

I like the name because it expresses the need for us all to appreciate Life and its wonderful “Juicy” moments. And lately, I’m all about being appreciative of life. I’m even bringing stationary to write real “Thank You” notes for holiday gifts received. It will start a “Gratefulness Ripple of Goodness” I hope.

Another reason for that being a great name for this tour, (besides the juicer and all the fruit and veggies in the packed car) is because, the day before we left to go, our dog, Monty knew that “something was up.” What with all the hoopla of hustle and bustle of packing, he was a bit extra needy and wanted more petting (which is fine because we knew we’d be missing our puppykins anyways). Yesterday, after saying our goodbyes and setting off on our long journey south, while driving in PA, I reached into my car tote bag (with “important stuff” like clipboard, maps, directions, lists) and I found something very IMPORTANT!

I pulled out something very special. Monty had “packed” a dog toy for us!

Yup! One of his favorites! Now, either Monty:

a) Wanted to “pack” to go with us

b) Or he wanted to “pack something for us to remember him by”

Either way…how AWESOME is that little surprise? DEFINITELY a “juicy” moment!

Here is our 1st morning out...as we left we saw a most beauteous early morning sunrise!

A bit stark...
but Beautiful, isn't it?
We live in "God's Country" that's for sure...

Every year that we travel on this loooong trip, I read a book aloud to Harry as we drive. This time I brought “Mr. Darcy Takes A Wife” (a fabulously fun yet RANDY Jane Austen parody) and “The Bodacious Book of Succulence” by Sark. Both very juicy reads!

We are enjoying the innuendo of the Austen parody very much and it’s a hoot to our historical sense of propriety! Sexual, yet so scandalously titillating!

Because..HEY!
What would a "Juicy" randy tour be without a little "wood?"

So here you go...

While driving, I snapped this pic of a fecking MOUNTAIN of felled lumber.

To give you some perspective....

Those are TREES growing next to the stack by the way....

We stopped to get gas in W VA and met someone there at the pump from our home town! They were traveling too! (it’s a small world after all….sing it :)

We shed a layer of clothing. It’s getting warmer. Now about 50 degrees.

That evening found us in VA at our friends Val & Keith’s house enjoying their company and hospitality. We found our way there up windy mountain roads. The juicy part of this visit was in the joy of the friendship and the fruit of the vine. Val kept refilling my wine glass…

They took such good care of us! Treated us like royalty. Check out our special room:

I woke up with a fuzzy head and tongue :) Val soon fixed that with a healthy breakfast (my juicer stayed packed as we awoke to her cooking in the kitchen :)

We left there with happy hearts, full bellies and it was about 55 degrees and not even noon yet.

Today we are driving from VA to as far as we can to get to Florida.

Along the way, all the traffic suddenly STOPPED. There was an accident up ahead. Fortunately, we were right by a Rest Area so we pulled in. It was a good choice to turn off our car and stretch and relax rather than get aggravated idling in a traffic jam. After a pit stop at the restrooms, we savored the beautiful day. We had just left snow and ice at our house only a day before. Now it was shirtsleeves weather and so we decided that we would avail ourselves of one of the picnic benches, open our guitar cases and practice in the fresh air. There were folks around who also had stopped because of the traffic jam. It was very pleasant and we got some good music practice in, instead of cooling our heels in irritated annoyance on the road!
Another “juicy moment was savored!”

But here’s the best part….

Once traffic started moving, we were back on the road and about an hour down the highway, we see our friends from MA, Jay and Abby Michaels (The Harper & The Minstrel I mentioned before) in their car PASSING US on 95 South on their way to the same Ren faire gig that we are going to! We catch up and honk and get off at the next Rest Area together and visit and end up carpooling and having dinner together outside of Savannah GA.

How’s THAT for a “juicy serendipitous moment?”

Meeting friends you know....on the highway.... about 800 miles from home…

isn’t that ODD and lovely weird???

Evidently, when we stopped for that car accident and got out and played our guitars…we were, in actuality, letting them “catch up to us” and get in sync!

Jay and Abby and we parted ways for now, until tomorrow, as Harry has been driving now for about 12 hours and he wants a break. His neck is killing him and he's pretty tired.

We have stopped for the night outside of Jacksonville, Florida.

Umm....

We decided NOT to park next to this guy…