Good-Bye to Summer

 

 

  Well, the Fall Camp Taz is already over, and today is Jim’s birthday, so I guess it must be time to bid farewell to yet another summer.  Where do they go so quickly?  It seems like we just got started with our fun summer activities and already I’m looking for jeans and sweaters.  The blanket is back on the bed, and I know soon we’ll actually have to plug it in.

My week at Camp Taz was a much needed break from all the activity and eating out that we’ve been doing for the past few weeks.  There were 8 of us this time, and we were up early every morning and ready to get out on the water for an hour or more of kayaking before getting our morning treat – a homemade latte.

One of the best treats, though, is getting to see sunrises like this:

 

I got back to Birmingham on Tuesday, in time to spend a little time with Dortha and Mark before they needed to continue on their journey back to Fort Worth (with a little side trip back to Red Bay one more time).

We also got to see Alan and Jeanne for just a few minutes on Wednesday evening.  We met them at the RV Dreams Rally in Branson in 2008.  I’m sorry we didn’t get to spend more time with them, but they were heading out the next day and we were on our way out to dinner with Dortha, Mark and her brother & family.

On Friday we got the call from the mechanic working on our car saying that it was ready.  He wanted us to come and drive it before we accepted it so we could be sure it seemed ok.  He was able to find an engine in Louisiana that had nearly 20,000 fewer miles on it than our old one.  As he got into tearing out our old engine, he found that the flywheel was also damaged, so that needed to be replaced as well.  Some luck was on our side, and we did not have transmission damage.  The car is fixed, and we are a bit poorer, but hopefully much wiser about being diligent with our pre-travel check-list!

Now, if you ever find yourself in Pelham, Alabama with a need for a good, honest mechanic, we are very pleased with the work at Barrett Automotive.   Jimbo is the owner, and he was very up front with us about the costs, and kept us updated every step of the way as the car was repaired.  He took us in to the shop to show us exactly what he was doing, the damage to the flywheel, and the parts that were still ok.

We’ve been celebrating Jim’s birthday for a couple of days now.  Yesterday we went shopping for his gifts, and he picked out a new laptop to replace the sad, dying one he’s been using for several years, and a new lens for his camera.  Today I made a lemon coconut cream pie for him, and our friend Carol took us to lunch at Applebees.  Thanks, Carol!  And, a very Happy Birthday to the love of my life!  I hope we have many more opportunities to celebrate your birthday!

We’ll be here in the Birmingham area for a couple more days before joining a group of friends in Tennessee.  Now I need to go dig out my warm jammies, I wonder where I put them?