We’re heading west. From here on, the Airstream’s nose will be pointed into the wind, heading for the sunset, and home base.
Our Disney World vacation complete, we zipped up to Green Cove Springs and got our business done there, spent a night, and moved onward to Thomasville GA (about 30 miles north of Tallahassee) for the event of the season: The Sword Swallowers’ Wedding.
After many years together, our friends Alex and Charon have finally tied the knot in a very lovely ceremony of their own design. At least, that’s what I was told. Since we had to drive about 180 miles to get to the wedding site, we didn’t actually make it there in time to see it ourselves. We arrived about three hours after the actual event, just in time to see a few toasts and help eat the leftovers. (I’m sure it was very nice, but I have to admit it’s more my speed to just show up for the food. I’m sort of heathen that way.)
Still, it was worth the detour from I-10 to drop in and see our friends on their very happy day. We won’t see them again until we meet up in California after Christmas. Being both trailerites and sideshow folk, Alex and Charon have a very interesting circle of friends. I always feel very ordinary when surrounded by their other, more colorful, artistic and talented associates. This event was no different. When we arrived they were all arranged in the living room clothed in fantastic garb, a mix of Victorian and Renaissance with little touches and symbols ranging from Oddfellows to motorcycle clubs. As always, everyone was friendly, talkative, and fun, and they quickly made us feel at home.
We have a copy of the “wedding invitation,” an old fashioned letterpress poster, which will be framed and added to our treasured collection of road memorabilia. It’s not every day you get invited to a wedding like this. No swords were swallowed (Alex commented to Charon, “You’re not working today”) but it was still wonderfully unusual.
The hosts of the wedding were kind enough to offer courtesy parking on the street in front of their house, complete with an electrical cord. We’ll spend the night here and then mosey back down to the panhandle of Florida. I need to get back to work (making up for taking vacation last week) and so I’d like to find a comfortable spot to settle in for a few days. There are several great beachfront state parks between Port St Joe and Pensacola, and we’ll be arriving on a Sunday afternoon in the off-season, so our chances of scoring a spot are excellent.
The climate has turned cool rather suddenly. We were experiencing humid days in the mid-80s last week, until a cold front came through on Friday morning and turned northern Florida into something more like North Carolina. Now it’s dipping into the upper 30s at night, and days are barely breaking 60. We’ll be running the catalytic heater all night tonight and probably for the next several nights. Tomorrow I will have to find some place to pick up a tank of propane. I still don’t know where we are headed exactly, but Fall has finally caught up with us, and that may be the biggest factor in our trip planning from here on.