A chapel in the Ozark Mountains in Eureka Springs, completely sided with glass, it was tall and narrow, seating about a hundred people
Hi everyone,
It has been about two months since our last posting and a lot has happened, keeping me from posting. I had intended to post about an month ago, but NanCarrol and I both got very sick and we have used the last month to just lay low and rest before continuing on and heading home.
So to pick up where we left off, we were in St. Mark’s, in the panhandle of Florida visiting with our new found friends, Sharon and Mel for about a month. Mel suggested that we go to a place called Wakulla Springs. So off we went and were pleasantly surprised to find beautiful scenery, lots of birds, alligators, manatees and beautiful clear water. I still don’t quite understand how people here swim in alligator infested waters, but they do and several areas of the spring were reserved for swimmers. I hope that the alligators know that they are reserved for the swimmers only.
He's just waiting for one of us to go swimming
It was absolutely one of the the prettiest places that we have been on this trip, and a surprise to both of us, because of the way that it is played down. We went through a state park entrance, paid the $5 entrance fee, and went to an area where they board everyone on boats to take them on a 45 minute guided tour of the swamp area. It was a delightful tour and we all learned a lot on the trip.
Angelina in front of the entrance to Wakulla Springs in the panhandle of Florida
It was a beautiful tour, and we saw birds of all types, turtles, about 40 alligators, a dozen or so manatees that had swum upstream to get out of the cold to be in the warm springs, and were looking for deadly snakes wrapped in the tree branches. The south is known for some pretty nasty snakes, most of which you wouldn’t want to tangle with. Our close friends said that one of the visitors was chased by a cottonmouth viper on one of the trails. They are really nasty looking and I am glad that we haven’t encountered one yet on our outings. On one of our treks on a trail to the ocean, I carried a large stick watching the trail and the brush as Angelina and NanCarrol tagged behind.
We have had many highlights on this trip, but none any greater than watching our granddaughter, Angelina being baptized. I led her to the Lord on New Year’s eve, and she asked if she could be baptized shortly after. I thought about baptizing her by a rope from the boat in Wakulla Springs. No need for both of us to go in when the area was infested with alligators. I figured that if she didn’t get eaten then she would be baptized. She said that she would prefer a church setting. Mel and Sharon had a nice church that they introduced us to and we talked with Pastor Larry about Angelina being baptized. We were staying on the Wakulla River in St. Marks several days before she was to be baptized. An extremely powerful storm came through the area drenching us, and causing us some concern about our location on the river. We decided to move the coach to the church parking lot in Tallahassee about 20 miles away and stayed there for about 4 days until after Angelina had been baptized.
Angelina's baptism day with Pastor Larry and her Nana bringing her up out of the water. Praise God for new life!!
What a joy that day was for us as we watched her give her heart to the Lord and surrender herself completely. Angelina was a happy girl for quite awhile before and after being baptized just enjoying the love that the Lord was pouring into her heart. We loved watching what the Lord was doing in her life. A few days before she was to be baptized, we went down and bought her a camera for the trip home as a present for her baptism. She has quite an eye for beauty and had a lot of fun trying different things with her new camera.
Visiting with our new friend Lily Jones and her husband Dr. Ed Jones
We met an extremely loving couple, Dr. Ed and Lily Jones, at the church and they asked us if we would join them at their house for a meal after church. We enjoyed a wonderful meal together that Lily had prepared, and then sat and watched a football game together and chatted. What a nice afternoon that was getting to know them. One of the nice parts of this trip is the people that we have met along the way. It is nice to know that we will see them again when we all gather together in Heaven. It helps as we travel and meet other Christians to know that we will all be together one day in our final home. In the meantime we are just sojourners, travelling through a place that is not home, but the Lord is preparing us and equipping for his work as we go through each day.
What's the third peddle for?
I spent a lot of time with Angelina teaching her how to drive our Honda. It is a stick shift and she had never driven a car with a clutch, so it was a fun opportunity to find places to take her where she could learn. After killing the car about 40 times, she quickly learned that the third pedal had something to do with a smooth start. After about a week or so of practice she began to get the feel of it, and I asked her to take me to Tallahassee so I could get NanCarrol’s meds. We headed for the Bible book store, to find her a new Bible that Norm and Janet and I all wanted to get her. I laid out a whole bunch of Bibles and asked her to read a little from each of the different versions. After she did, I asked her to look at the different helps and and covers and see what appealed to her. She picked out a Quest Bible in an NIV translation with excellent helps. It is a beautiful Bible and I think that she will be pleased as she enters into a study consistently.
NanCarrol, Angelina and I in the Botanical Gardens in Alabama
We left Florida, saying goodbye to Mel and Sharon, but knowing that we will see them again at our house in August. We headed west along the gulf of Mexico and went into Alabama. Angelina had been having some problems with one of her feet, and so we took her to a clinic on the way to have her foot looked at and treated. We headed out of Florida into Alabama, heading for an estate previously owned by the Coca Cola original bottler. It was a modest spread, some 900 acres, with about 65 acres that were landscaped beautifully with trails that rolled through the hills. The house was spectacular and had been left as it was when they both died, even to the point that the dishes are on the table awaiting a meal. It was fun to walk through the house and the grounds and see a little of their lives. His wife was a master gardener and saw to the planting year after year. The estate was eventually given to the state who oversees it now and charges a healthy admission to help defray the costs of keeping it up. We walked for over three hours on beautifully manicured trails through different types of gardens never once crossing our path. It was hard to guess distance, but I would imagine we walked about three to four miles on trails through the gardens. 
The greenhouse was filled with all types of exotic plants. I am not a gardener, but NanCarrol was in heaven as she she looked at all of the plants. She loves to walk through botanical gardens, so we have tried to make that a special part of our journey finding as many gardens as possible.
Our newfound friends on Dauphin Island
We headed from the gardens to Dauphin Island, the southern most point of Alabama. It was hit hard by one of the hurricanes that ravaged the area, and it took out the bridge and left the island in ruins. The people here are a hearty group that pull together to help each other. It is a a very small island with about three to four hundred homes scattered on the island. We headed for a place to put in for several days at an RV park next to Gaines Fort a fort that goes back to the early 1800’s with a lot of history. We were also parked next to a wildlife sanctuary and had a chance to walk through the trails to see the birds there.
We headed off to a small Baptist church on the island and met a very nice family and went off to a restaurant with them and then to their condominium to spend the afternoon. Everywhere we went, we just seemed to be finding a trail of nice people. After leaving Dauphin Island, we traveled west toward Louisiana, and stopped at the Global Wildlife Center, a favorite for all of us. It was a really fun stop, and it was a little cold. We bundled up, and climbed into the back of an old German military truck for a private tour of the park. Our driver put 20 lbs of corn in the back and gave us some empty cups to feed the animals. It is somewhat like wildlife safari driving through the open range to see all of the animals, except that they feed inside of the truck, and I do mean inside of the truck. We were amazed as all of the animals started to head for us as soon as we got close and then put their heads inside to feed on the corn. We covered it so we would have enough for the 90 minute tour to feed all of the animals. What a fun time it was though. They had no carnivorous animals, what a shame. It would have been fun to share the back of the truck with a couple of lions, bears and tigers. NanCarrol and Angelina both giggled as they fed the insatiable and voracious appetites of the animals that poked their heads toward us. They fed giraffes, antelopes, deer, camels, llamas, goats, and a host of other animals that I don’t remember. It was a great time. It was about this time that Angelina started to get a little homesick, after having been with us for 7 weeks, so we made reservations to put her on a plane out of New Orleans to go home. Before she left however, we went into New Orleans, while the mardis gras, was ongoing down in the French Quarter. It was interesting, but not something that I really want to see again. It is a huge street party, with beer everywhere. We stood on the street as the floats came by throwing beads to the crowds. It was fun, and entertaining, but not the highlight of our experiences. Honestly, we have had more fun at the wildlife centers just walking the trails and seeing the wildlife. I guess, you could say that walking the streets of New Orleans was kind of like walking the wildlife trails and witnessing a different sort of wildlife, but it just wasn’t the same. Maybe it was the screaming and yelling. The following morning, Valentines day, we saw Angelina off at New Orleans International Airport and NanCarrol and I headed west through the bayous of Louisiana. They are interesting, as you drive through miles and miles of bridges that are over the wetlands. My eyes were peeled to the sides looking for gators to wrestle, but alas no gators. Lucky for them. When we got to the midpoint of Louisiana, south of Baton Rouge, NanCarrol said that she was not liking it and said that she wanted to head North toward my sister’s house in Arkansas, so off we went headed North. We headed up through Mississippi on what was supposed to be a scenic ride that went through Vicksburg. In many of the states, the rides are scenic. This one wasn’t too scenic, just miles and miles of trees, not much else to see.
We arrived in Jonesboro Arkansas, and I called Marie, my sister, to let her know we were there. We spent the weekend with Michael, her husband, and Marie. That was a nice time, and we sat and I was able to bore them to death with the thousands of pictures that we have taken on the trip, and that was only the first two months. We really should have stayed with them for a month or so, so they could have seen all the pictures. We miss them both already, and it was a sweet, short visit. I love Marie a lot, and miss her a lot, so it was nice to see her. We all took a ride in the coach to a small town in Arkansas where we walked the streets and spent a little money in the shops. That was a nice day.
After leaving Jonesboro, we headed toward a town that Michael recommended us seeing before we left Arkansas, Eureka Springs. We arrived a couple of days after we left Jonesboro, and fell in love with the town, and settled in to spend a little time here. It is an old town, built in the 1880’s on the side of a hill in the Ozark Mountains. The town has been preserved, and it has a lot of charm as you wind through the hills looking at all of the old houses, and buildings. We found a site at a city park on Lake Leatherwood where we could have a beautiful view of the lake, with all of the hookups that we needed. The geese here honk endlessly. Now we arrived at the end of February. One of the things that NanCarrol desperately wanted to see on this trip was a show in Branson, that is called “Noah”. Only one problem, it was a month away and we were only 30 miles from Branson, so we decided to just hang our hats here, and call it home for a month. That was a good call in retrospect. About a week after we arrived, NanCarrol came down with Bronchitis, and I got some form of the flu that knocked me for a loop. Must have been the Ozark mountain moonshine flu. This ole boy didn’t do to well with it, and it spun me off in the wrong direction, leaving me in a horizontal position for about four days. Fortunately, I was able to get antibiotics for NanCarrol just before I got sick, and stocked the coach with easy foods. So for the next week, we just grunted at each other, a loving way of saying, I am too sick, do it yourself. As we got better, we were able to wander into town and walk about three steps, before falling on our faces. It took a lot out of both of us, and now as we have put it behind us by at least two weeks, we are still recovering. We have been able to catch three shows, two in Eureka Springs, and one in Branson so far. The shows we have seen have been, “The pine mountain jamboree”, “The Ozark Mountain Hoedown”, and “The spirit of the dance”. The last show we will see, on the 31st will be “Noah”. I will have more to say about it on our next posting, but it is supposed to be incredible so we are eagerly looking forward to that. Two nights ago, we had a campfire here, and I invited all of the campers to come and join us by the fire. One of the couples that we invited was ripe for picking, so to speak, and I was able to lead them into Jesus’ arms that night. That was a nice time with them as they shared there stories with us and we shared our travel adventures with all of them. Tomorrow will be our last day here, and we will head toward Branson, Missouri on Tuesday. After that it is westward ho, toward Denver, Fort Collins, Salt Lake City, and then toward Sacramento, and Santa Cruz. If all goes well, we should be in California in about a month to see all of our loved ones there, and we do have a flock there. Well I guess that about wraps up this newsletter. I hope that you are all well, we do miss each and everyone of you and love you,
Glenn & NanCarrol
Lots of pictures to follow,
Now this made us homesick, it is the Bavarian Inn here in Eureka Springs
The Ozark Mountain Hoedown, and yes Grandma was a man dressed up, and it was a hilarious show
Now this is the stuff we expect at home, not here in the south in Arkansas!!
Ft. Gaines, on Dauphin Island
Ft. Gaines along the Gulf of Mexico. It was the fort that protected Mobile, Alabama
A map showing the location of the Fort along Mobile Bay
NanCarrol in the back of the truck feeding one of the animals at the Global Wildlife Center. This one liked her a lot
Angelina with one of the Camels in the background
Mike, my sister Marie, and me at one of the restaurants we went to in Jonesboro.
The largest windchimes in the world, hanging here in Eureka Springs
One of NanCarrol's little friends that she has been feeding. All of her friends got names, squirrels, cardinals, geese, and deer.
One of the many cardinals that NanCarrol was feeding while we were here
Angelina and me in front of the local Baptist church on Dauphin Island on Sunday morning
Holmes Sweet Home 