I've noticed I've repeatedly been making references to my childhood in these blog posts.

When I was little I liked to draw a lot.  My father brought home used printout paper from work and I would turn the pages over and draw on the blank sides.  There was a lot of paper, and I kept up with the supply pretty well as I created heaps of drawings.  I liked to draw houses, and animals, and trees, and cars.  I drew people too, but they didn't hold my interest as long so I never got very good at drawing people.

Color drawing of camper and house in the trees
The month I turned four I drew this picture of a house in the trees with smoke coming out of the chimney.  I told my mother the vehicle next to it was a camper.  I was apparently intrigued with campers.

Line drawing of car camper and house
Here's another scene I drew the same month.  My father had a 1966 VW Beetle for over 30 years.  I seemed to like tall houses.

Color drawing of a tall camper
So why not a tall camper?  Here's one I drew the following month.

A "living car" with curtained windows and driver
Over time I became particularly enamored with homes on wheels.  I called them "living cars."  Here's one with a long-necked person, perhaps the driver, sitting on top

A child's drawing of a city on a large wheeled platform
Creativity has no limits.  If you can have a house on wheels, why not a whole city?

Scrapbook photos of airplanes and a class-c motorhome
By the time I was about eight years old, I still hadn't lost interest in the camper idea.  I put together a scrapbook using cut-out pictures of animals and other things I was interested in, such as airplanes.  RVs were there too.

1970s Volkswagen camper van caption Home is Where Your Bus Is
I really liked this pop-up camper van.  I even came up with names for the kids enjoying their hideaway spot inside

our campsite at Sea Rim State Park with surrounding structures
Here's our living car parked at Sea Rim State Park.  The boardwalk connects the campground with the ocean and provides an elevated view of the surroundings.

Huge oil refineries in the distant background

Oil rigs dot the horizon at sea and oil refineries on land (pictured above, distant background) remind us we're in Texas.

State stickers mark the states we''ve traveled through so far
We're now more than halfway across the country

Ladder next to motorhome with clothes hanging on it
A ladder makes a usable makeshift drying rack in the Texas sun

A boardwalk trail across the wetland with sunset in background
The Gambusia Nature Trail is entirely across water, all 3/4 mile.  But be careful...

Sign says don't get near the alligators
Better take this sign seriously

Jadelyn and I enjoyed wading into the ocean here.  The water is so warm you could stand in it all day.  We watched pelicans swooping for fish along the crests of the waves.  I stepped on something hard that turned out to be a hermit crab.  We let him crawl around on the beach for a minute or two before returning him to the waves.

Right now we're sitting in the RV with the windows open to let the evening breeze blow through.  It's much cooler now, and the winds are working on blowing in some more thunderstorms, according to the weather report.  We'll have the hatches all battened down before bedtime.  Life is but a dream...

Next stop:  Baton Rouge