Guest – Andria Bramlett

(From Debra- Sometimes people come unexpectedly into your life. Andria did. She’s an avid reader and a “grabber of life.” I got a travel email from her one day and laughed my way through her trip. Now I’m in the list of people to whom she sends travel emails. And I urged her to dip her toe into the blogging world by visiting us. Today’s blog reminds me that I don’t do enough looking up and grabbing the world right in my own back yard. Writers MUST travel and research and grab life. Period.)

Welcome Andria !

If your budget has been as crimped as ours has, you might consider traveling close to home. This spring in an effort to get us out of the house without breaking the bank, we have been making weekend excursions to places nearby. One of my favorite resources is the State Parks website for my state and the ones surrounding us. I particularly like the parks that have cabins for rent; even though most all of them are painted in some type of “government issue state park brown” color, I prefer them to tent camping these days.

I like to pay close attention to all the things we drive by on the way to our destination. For instance, pretend that you are traveling far away or even to a foreign country and that this is the first time you have been to the region. Stop and ask for directions just to see what people will tell you, or strike up a conversation at the gas station or grocery store. For instance, if I had not struck up a conversation with a lady at the gas station last weekend in north Georgia, I would not have known that cooking bear meat in the crock pot with barbeque sauce was a great and popular menu item for Christmas dinner at her house this past year. Also, asking for dining recommendations never fails to amuse me, especially when I ask, “What’s your favorite item on the menu?”

Another thing that never fails to amuse me is the names of local business’ along the way. Like the “Salon and Spa” sign posted in front of a mobile home, or the “Curl up and Dye” hair salon on the main street of town, or the “Sew and Sew Alterations”. See what the local church has posted on the marquee road sign that will either make you laugh like hell or scare the hell out of you.

Road names can be quirky and amusing as well. Possibly even irritating if they are like the streets in Georgia, where one minute you are on Elm Street and without turning left or right you are suddenly on a road named Main Street or Long Branch becomes Hightower at a stop sign.

My family recently traveled to the Okefenokee Swamp (which I highly recommend) in south Georgia and the following account is about a place near the Suwannee River where we stopped for some lunch and the local culture that we observed… or perhaps, they observed us…

The last town before the Stephen C Foster State Park is Fargo, GA. Fargo has one (as in ONLY one) restaurant known as the Suwannee Café, or you can get something to eat at the Gas N Go like fried chickin’ and tater lawgs. We decided to try the café, not because we were super hungry, but because we wanted to experience this little slice of Americana. When we first drove past it there was a man out front in jeans and a t-shirt with long messy grey hair, kind of waving his arms and talking to himself; clearly a “must do” experience. I pulled into the gravel parking lot amongst several large pickup trucks, and a couple of commercial pine tree grower company trucks (I should disclose that we own 3 pickup trucks) and a few tired sedans. My son, Nick and I were the first to step up onto the porch, and a mom and her little girl were sitting out front while dad had a smoke in the parking lot. The little girl had the most beautiful red hair and when I spoke to her she looked at me like, “You ain’t from aroun’ heah arrya”.

Once inside there was that moment of hesitation where you look around and try to get the lay of the land to figure out where you should sit; you know, when you try not to stand out too much. Directly in front of us was a support pole covered in little wooden hand painted signs with southern sayings on it like, “If you want home cookin’, eat at home” and to the right was a wall full of arrowheads, deer heads, snake skins, and pictures of Jesus; below all of that was one lone booth in the corner and that was where Nick headed. It was mauve and teal in color and the décor screamed 1980’s and it was enticingly right next to a big picture window facing the main thoroughfare.

When we sat down the backs of the booth kind of tipped backwards, so that your feet almost left the floor and you had to grab for the table; OOOOFFF!!! The top pivoted and whooshed into my stomach. We kind of blew the chance to not stand out.

My husband Rusty came in, took one look at us and headed for a table with chairs, Nick and I sorted ourselves out and kind of launched from the booth. I was careful not to bump anything that might fall from the walls and hurt or stab me. Once we were seated again, I could really survey all of the artifacts and whatnot on the walls. WOW, I have actually never seen that many arrowheads, tomahawks, and spears in one place. The Seminole Indians had left behind a lot of stuff near the Suwannee River and the owner had collected a surprising amount of it.

The waitress asked us what we wanted to drink, water, or sweet tea? Nothing else…oh, and we could “help ourselves to the buffet”. Mmmm, mmmmmh. The selections were, fried chicken, butterbeans, canned corn, white rice, collard greens, sweet potato nuggets (battered and deep fried pieces of sweet potato) gravy, corn muffin, and a big sticky batch of Hamburger Helper Cheesy Macaroni. I had some beans and rice with 3 chicken wings.

To our left was a large table of eight men talking about hunting and spraying the berries. (What berries?) This reminded me a little of Ireland in that I know they were speaking English, but I could not really understand but every third word. Plus, Rusty hates it when I listen to other people’s conversations, so I have to pretend like I’m listening to him and Nick and hear what the patrons are saying too. It’s tougher than you might think, but I don’t want to miss anything! On the way to the car we passed several men enjoying an after lunch “dip” as in snuff, not swimming, and just visiting in the parking lot.

I adore traveling and like Mark Twain said, “nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people.” Amen to that, sister!

Look Out! Kathleen's Packing.

I haven't been to Romance Writers of America's national annual conference in four or five years, but I used to attend faithfully, was once quite active. But I'm going this year, even though Dallas isn't my favorite destination in July. Part of the ritual for me is packing exactly the number of outfits I need--no more, no less--replenishing the makeup kit, finding multi-purpose shoes, and making sure I don't forget the essential creature comforts, like the small Swedish whatever-that-dense-foam-is pillow.

Okay, start with the makeup. This zippered case is small, and it's like a book with see-through net zipper pouches for pages. I've had it forever, don't remember where I got it, but it's a gem. Went to Sephora last week wanting new eye stuff. It has to fit in one case. Don't want to open a bunch if pallets when I'm doing war paint. I use dark powder and a brush for eyeliner--hate fooling with a pencil so close to my eye--a highlight (pearl white this time) and 2 colors. So the silver square you see holds 4 round thingies, and they're seated with magnets. It was spendy, but I can easily change the thingies. Got that and asked for something to keep the lipstick from feathering. The recommendation? Reverse lip liner. That's a new one. It's very light in color. Tried it, and it seems to work. Mascara--Maybeline XX whatever with conditioning on one end. Cheap and good stuff. Models swear by Maybeline mascara. New brow pencil has a round brush on one end. I've recently realized that eyebrows need a bit of color. I've ignored them most of my life, poor things. (Mind you, the makeup regimen is not a daily thing for me. Far from it. Mama would be horrified, but the cleaning and moisturizing is generally all I do.)

On to the shoes. I live in Crocs in the summer, but I need something not rubber. I'll take 2 pairs of plain dress heels (medium high but spiky)--black and cream--but I need cute slides. What do you think of these? They have to be comfy and versatile. These are kind of copperish color, wedge heel. (Will have foot spa, fresh pedicure before I fly.) I've been breaking them in, and they seem to do the trick. I'll take one other pair--well-broken in--in case shoes turn cruel. Probably the Crocs. As for the outfits, suffice it to say that the one good thing about having the conference in July is that summer stuff is On Sale. And I love it that full skirts are in. I love to swish.

Finally, the away-from-my-nest necessities. Here are a few. I've come to use earplugs regularly, but started out as a hotel thing. (Then found that they helped block out snoring at home, but that's another story.) Sleep mask--you never know when you'll need a quick snooze. The "blister block" product is untried. Found it when I was looking for Band-aids. It's a paint-on thing that's supposed to prevent blisters from cruel shoes. Has anyone tried it? And, finally, the Desitin. No, I'm not wearing diapers again. Not yet. But having grandchildren around brought the Desitin back into the carry-on, and lo and behold, a dab of the stuff before you go to bed on what threatens to become a facial blemish by morning actually dries the thing out. It works better than toothpaste, which, according to some fashion mag encounter at the hair dresser long ago, is what models use. And Desitin is meant for baby bottoms, so it has to be gentle. (This was actually dh's discovery. Give credit where due.)

Now...What's in your travel kit?