The last leg of our Spain trip in 2008 was spectacular: Ronda, the city on the cliff, Nerja, the beach on Costa del Sol, Granada and its architectural jewel Alhambra, and a stop for cheese in the countryside of La Mancha.
Continue reading “Spain: Ronda, Nerja, Granada, and La Mancha (Honeymoon 2008)”
The next stops on the southern Spain route were Cadiz, the ancient port city, and the lonely rock of Gibraltar, with a sneak peek of Africa.
Continue reading “Spain: Cadiz and Gibraltar (Honeymoon 2008)”
It’s great to have friends and even more wonderful when they are all over the world—and you get to visit them! It so happens that my college roommate of three years and one of my most loved friends is from Greece. More specifically, her family lives in Voula, a town on the edge of the Saronic Gulf, across from the island of Aegina.
We felt a slight jolt of joy and excitement as our RV rolled across the Tennessee state line: we were getting closer to “home,” or at least whatever version of it we remembered from before our trip. To be honest, I was ready to be in a sticks-and-bricks environment after ten months in the RV. As sweet as our home on wheels was, I had missed hosting friends and family, especially at holiday time—of course, thanks to the pandemic, we couldn’t have done much hosting anyway, so not much lost, I guess. I missed the familiar and I looked forward to returning to Knoxville.
Continue reading “Coming “Home” to Tennessee”
From Albuquerque, we headed east on I-40 and stopped overnight in Stinnett, Texas. We completely underestimated how far the little RV park (more like a dirt patch near a field) was from I-40. As we rattled down a country road through peaceful deserted fields, a pebble flew straight up and then came straight back down, leaving its mark—a spider crack—on our windshield. We cursed and trudged on.
Continue reading “Birds-of-Paradise, Lilacs, and Verdant Woods”
