Finding HHHappiness

We plan to head south in the next couple days. Leaving the colder temperatures and threat of snow and ice behind. Each year we head south to the warmer climates, sunshine gets excited to drive back into summer.  (Sunshine wearing a stuffed mushroom hat) Before heading out we are sure to spend some extra time with family and loved ones over the last couple weeks in the Central New York area.  (family at "Illumination for Conservation Binghamton, NY) Alice is ready for a new vehicle inspection before we hit the road.  We have brought her in and been advised we have a leaky wheel seal in the rear end and it needs to be fixed in order to pass her inspection. So an appointment has been made and fastly approaching to have new wheel seals, bearings and brakes done on the back end. This will get everything up to snuff and ready for many more miles to come.  (Alice parked for an overnight) Our first show planned south of NY is Snuggleween at Terrapin hil

I'd like to start off by apologizing for our absence. We have been very busy traveling, working, exploring and meeting all kinds of new folks along the way. The blog will now be morphing into just that, more of a blog, rather than a chronological timeline of our adventures day to day.  (southernmost point; Key West, FL) I'll begin with a general overview of our travels over the past 10 months, then go into much more detail about the individual trips and lessons learned along the road in other entries as we go. There will be blog entries about ways to travel, food, entertainment and tips and tricks for traveling as well. (Alice with the little Key deer) Being I already have your attention, I'll begin the 10 month overview now. We left off headed to the Florida keys to vend the big pine key flea market. We did exactly that and met some amazing folks there, that welcomed us to stay on property with Alice in the future. I'm looking forward to writing

 We were on our way to one day festival at Seminole Hotel & Casino and found out 3 hours into our trip that they cancelled the dhow due to illness.  So we found a place to spend the night at Dinner Island Ranch Wildlife Preserve which is a free campground (reservations required) and got to sleep beneath these gorgeous live oak trees!   Since we were this far south we decided to vend at Big Pine Key and make the best outta the trip.  We headed through the Everglades and saw lots of big alligators in big cypress nat’l wildlife preserve.  We also took a trip to Everglades City and visited Smallwood Store.  There was a nice food truck cooking up bbq and fish soup, so we stopped for lunch.  Tomorrow we’ll be in the keys!!  Thanks for tuning in. 

We spent the weekend in Woodruff, SC at a art and music festival called Hippies by the River. There where 60 total vendors at this event. Unlike most events there was a real focus on vendors here. It could better be discribed as a craft fest with camping and the occasional musical act just after sun down.  (the store set up at night) After a successful little festival we were excited to hit the road furthur south into warmer weather. The temperature got as low as 29°F over the weekend. We packed up all our gear and hot the road Sunday mid afternoon. Making it a good distance south. To the border of Georgia for the night.  (camp for the night. Just north of Augusta Georgia) We got some great rest and are excited to travel through Georgia into Florida. Monday is Carmen's birthday so we may make a couple extra stops along the way. Thanks for tuning in!

We had a wonderful stay at our little camp in Western North Carolina. Relaxing by the fire, working hard on creating things, and a quick trip to to the local brewery. The Brewery is called Sidetracked and their beers served by the glass were great!! Only crowlers and growlers to go, but man what a great atmosphere.  (a view from outside Sidetracked brewing Morganton, NC) (Sidetracked brewing interior) (Thomas the "Dank" Engine, hazy IPA) We returned to Alice to relax at the campfire and fend off the ladybugs. The lady bugs love Alice! We made a couple fun videos on TikTok also. I'll put links to them below.  TikTok video 1 TikTok video 2 (campfire) (Michelle has been hard at work on a large granny square coat project) (tons of ladybugs at most of the windows and a swarm around Alice like nowhere else in the area. (Ladybugs are good luck!)) We retired to the sheets to get some rest for the drive south

We got pretty decent sleep at our pull off the road campsite. Carmen was quick to get things set up to be home for a while. Fetching a fair amount of firewood and making a couple small repairs/improvements to Alice as well.  (camp all set up for a few days) (a view from the road) We both worked through the day creating works for the upcoming show and commissions. Stoking a fire in the afternoon made for a great time to catch up on blog posting and crocheting. (Michelle working steady enjoying the warm fire) It was a nice relaxing day, working rather than driving was a nice change. Thanks for tuning in!