Yes, We Have No Alligators Today

Instead, we enjoyed a blue sky decorated with wispy clouds, with sugar-white sand beaches and the Gulf waters gently lapping the shore.

I got up early and made it to line dancing, where the class continues to grow.  When I got home, Jim informed me he had prepared a picnic lunch and had the car loaded and ready to go.  Wow – what a guy!  He earned himself about a million “hubby-points” for that! 

We took off towards the coast and ended up turning East – towards Florida.

We stopped at a public beach along the way:

Where we enjoyed the warm, sunny day and the beach treasures:

We continued and found the Gulf Islands National Seashore:

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed our picnic lunch at the National Seashore:

 

After lunch, we continued on and ended up at the National Museum of Naval Aviation, located on Pensacola Naval Air Station.  We enjoyed wandering through the massive exhibit hall where there are many planes displayed.  What I found most interesting was this exhibit – Quilts!

This is a quilt challenge and traveling exhibit celebrating 100 years of Naval Aviation.  The stories attached to each quilt described the relationship of the quilter to the Navy – and they were wonderful and touching to read.

Just across street from the museum, we found the Pensacola lighthouse, lit in 1859 and still active today.

The closest to an alligator for today was this guy Jim found loitering around on the lighthouse porch:

What a day!

More This ‘n That

The rain left us with some cold air, and that’s finally moved on and left us with sunny skies and warm temperatures, at least during the day.  Nightfall, which is coming along entirely too early now, brings a chill along with it.

I’ve mentioned before that we are very blessed with generally good health, so we don’t have to deal much with medical stuff.  The main exception is my blood test that I need a couple of times a year.  For some reason that always presents a challenge.  I think I’m finally getting to the “nitty gritty” of the problem, it has to do with an insurance code that my doc’s office doesn’t put on my order.  If I can get them to add that little, but evidently important number, I shouldn’t have to make 2 trips to each facility every time I need to get my tests done.  This time I found a local hospital about 10 minutes from the Plantation that could do the lab work, and took my order in last Friday so they could look at it and call my doc’s office if needed.  Which they did.  Only problem was, the doc’s office didn’t return their call, so when I went back in at 6:00 (yes, that’s a.m.) yesterday morning, they didn’t have the code.  They took an educated guess and got my blood anyway.  I have to fast for 12 hours prior to the test, and if you know me at all, you know I don’t function well until I’ve had my coffee with milk and sweetener, therefore, if I can’t just go get the blood drawn and get on with the coffee,  I get just a bit cranky about the whole thing.  Sometimes I use a commercial lab, but I found the people at this hospital to be far more pleasant than I typically find in a lab.  I think the worst experience I had was in California last fall, where I needed to have a local doctor duplicate my Colorado doctor’s orders before I could get the tests done.  That was expensive for us, since we have a very high deductible on our insurance. 

Other than getting that pesky blood test handled, we’ve been having a little fun.  On Sunday morning, we got word from Sandy that Kathy and Chuck were arriving that day, and would we like to join them for a travel-day dinner.  Sandy provided the food (we did contribute a pan of Clayton’s Beans) and we gathered at their place, along with Judy and Darrell, for a wonderful meal.

Here are Chuck, John, Darrell, and Sandy

watching Kathy and Judy fill their plates with some of the brats, burgers and salads that Sandy provided:

As always, there was a lot of laughter as we all swapped stories and enjoyed a meal together.  Kathy and Chuck are parked in the space next to Sandy and John, right behind us.

Yesterday morning, as soon as I got done with the blood test, I went to line dancing.  Every time I go, there are more people in the class, the park is definitely filling up.  We learn at least one or more new dances each time, so it stays challenging for me.

We recently found out there has been an additional recall on Norcold RV refrigerators.  When we checked ours with Norcold, we found out that yes, ours is on the list.  Jim called around and found a mobile RV service that will install the necessary part.  We’re also having some problems with our furnace, so he called the same mobile service to have them take a look at the furnace as well.  The tech arrived yesterday afternoon and got part of our furnace problem solved.  We need a part ordered, so later in the week, he will be back with both the part for the furnace and the refrigerator.  Thank goodness for mobile RV services!  We’ve found them to be very handy!

Today we decided to get out and combine a little sightseeing with some necessary shopping.  We went over to Meaher State Park near Mobile, Alabama. First we enjoyed this flyover (Terry, we thought of you when we saw these pelicans):

Here’s another view – they flew right over us:

We noticed this sign posted in a couple of different places:

As we walked around the boardwalk at the park,

we spotted this guy taking in some sun:

And we managed to avoid feeding or harassing him!

After our park adventure, we went to Spanish Fort to visit Best Buy for a camera filter, then to Petsmart and Sam’s Club for some pet and people food. 

We got back home and got our goodies put away before picking up Judy and Darrell for a dinner out at Big Daddy’s, a local seafood grill.  We had a great time getting in a visit with them, and the food was excellent!

Life is good – we are savoring every day and hope you are too!

Random Notes and Thoughts

Today’s picture is another one we took of the sunset at Gulf Shores a couple of days ago – we haven’t been taking many pictures since it’s been raining!  The last 2 days have been mostly “at home” days, catching up on a couple of projects.

A lot of you already know that Jim is a spice nut.  I have to watch him pretty carefully, or our whole kitchen area could be overrun with spices.  Yesterday was our day to re-organize them.  We now have 6 shoe-box size plastic containers with our spices nicely arranged and catalogued for easy access!  Oh, yes, he’s already been shopping in the Penzey’s latest catalog!  They have a store in Houston, I see a visit when we get to that area.

Today was laundry and cleaning day.  While Jim was at the laundromat, I got both dogs bathed, their crates cleaned, and the floors vacuumed.  I needed a haircut, too.  I actually thought about going to a salon to get it cut, even made a phone call to see if I could get in today.  Every once in awhile I see a cut on someone else that I like, so I ask where she gets it done.  In this case, I called the person she uses, but couldn’t get in today, so I cut my own again.  It took me two hours, but I like the way it turned out.   I just take my time and cut a little bit at a time until I get it right.  That 2 hours probably saved me at least $20 – well worth it to me.

We’ve been getting some questions lately about different aspects of this lifestyle – how do we pack up for moving so often, what clubs & associations do we belong to, how do we handle things like mail and medical needs on the road, do we miss our family, home and friends – so I thought I’d answer a few today.

First, the packing.  Let me just say, tile floors, rough roads (including construction zones) and anything breakable definitely do not mix!  I’ve learned to cushion things that can rattle or break.  I also use those expandable bars on several cupboards as well as the shelves in the fridge.  I try to keep knick-knack type things at a minimum so I have less packing to do when we move.  I roll up our big rug and lay it on the couch for travel.  The glass coffee pot goes in the sink, along with the sugar bowl, salt & pepper shakers and other little things that sit on the counter.  We use the rubber non-skid mats that come in rolls, and Handitack – a sticky substance (available at places like Hobby Lobby, Michaels and sometimes Walmart) that is something like bubble-gum to hold things in place.   We learned most of this by trial and error, every rig and the stuff in it is highly individual, so we all sort of learn what  we need to do based on how our  own “stuff” behaves.  (Insert a plug for motorhomes here – we are right here with all our stuff as we travel, so we know right away if there’s a major problem).

As to clubs and associations, we belong to Escapees, Good Sam, KOA and Passport America. I don’t have a financial analysis in front of me, but as far as whether we think they are all worth it, if we were to drop any of them, it would probably be Good Sam, although we do like their emergency roadside assistance program.  We keep KOA because it does save us a little money when we go to Colorado Springs.  Most of the time, though we don’t stay in KOA campgrounds because we can almost always find better places to stay for much less.  Passport America always pays for itself, in our experience.  Escapees definitely pays for itself, and we use their mail forwarding service as well.

We have purchased a National Parks Pass, although I will be 62 soon, so will get what I call the “old people’s pass” on my birthday in January. 

Mail – we’ve switched the vast majority of our financial transactions to be handled online, so we don’t get paper bills very often.  We use the Escapees mail forwarding service, and I order mail every couple of weeks or so, using their online form.  We always have our mail sent via priority delivery, so we have a tracking number in case something happens.  Most campgrounds accept mail for their guests, but if we’re at an Escapees park or out boondocking, we use general delivery.

Medical – we’ve been very blessed with good health, so our medical needs are minimal.  We each have a prescription or two, and use Walmart’s pharmacy. We usually don’t have a problem transferring refills to new locations. We kept our doctors in Colorado Springs, so we take care of routine physicals when we’re visiting each year.  The few times we’ve needed to visit a doctor on the road, we’ve had no trouble getting seen at a local facility.  A few months ago, I stopped in a “walk-in” clinic in a grocery store to get a prescription for a muscle relaxant for a pulled back muscle.  Talk about easy – I was in and out before Jim got through the produce section!

Do we miss home, family and friends back home – yes, we miss our family!  We keep in touch, of course, but it’s not the same as being there.  So, we make it a priority to spend as much time with family when we make our annual visits to Colorado Springs. We have our home with us all the time, and we do not miss the “sticks & bricks” one we used to own.  We miss the friends who are still in Colorado Springs, and we have made a lot of new friends on the road, which makes for kind of a balanced situation.

So that’s how it is for us with some of the aspects of our life on the road.  We appreciate questions, so ask away!  Just remember that living life on the road is totally different and unique for everyone.

The rain stopped today, but it was windy and chilly.  We’re expecting colder temperatures tonight, and another chilly day tomorrow.  What happened to my summer!  Oh, well, life is still good!

Life at the Plantation

Often, people ask us where we plan to “settle down” when we’re done traveling.  Sort of reminds me of the question asked of me as a child, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” How the heck was I supposed to know the answer to that!?  This is the same feeling – we’re not done traveling, so how can we know where (or if) we want to settle?  With that said, IF we HAD to make a choice right now, this part of Alabama would be pretty darn high on the list.  I specifically love Rainbow Plantation.  I like the area, the weather, the RV sites, the price is right, the people are friendly, and there’s a wealth of choices when it comes to choosing activities.

We’ve been busy the past few days.  Jim took time to make some habanero jelly (yes, there are 10 of them here):

And those 10 peppers went into these 7 jars of jelly:

Our friend Carol, from Birmingham, (well, she actually lives south of there, but it’s close) and her sister, Susan, came down for the weekend.  They stayed at a hotel in Orange Beach, so we spent a lot of time going back and forth visiting, shopping, walking on the beach, eating, and just generally having a great time. Yesterday morning, we had breakfast with them at the hotel before they started their homeward journey.

I got my closet cleaned out, and gave away all of my craft projects to good homes!  Besides craft supplies and projects, I let go of several items of clothing and shoes as well.  I still have several drawers to go through, so I know the bargain table in the clubhouse will have more things added to it over the next few days.  I’m not sure why I thought that once I’d cleared out all my stuff from the sticks & bricks house I would never accumulate clutter again, but clearly that was a mistaken assumption!  Clutter Happens!

Yesterday afternoon we joined Darrell & Judy at their home, along with John & Sandy, and Norm & Linda for a wonderful gathering to share a batch of Darrell’s famous fish chowdah, Judy’s delish apple crisp, and Sandy’s homemade coleslaw.  Norm & Linda were returning yesterday from a rally, so of course, with it being their travel day, a gathering was necessary!  The food and the company were delightful.

As usual, line dancing was on the schedule for this morning, and the regular instructor was there and ready to go!  He just arrived at the park about a week ago and originally said he wouldn’t be starting to teach until December, but changed his mind.  Great!  It was a good class!

Later this afternoon we decided to get out for awhile, so we dusted off the cameras and went for a drive.  First we drove over by Fort Morgan, which we visited 2 years ago. This time we just snapped a couple of pictures of the area:

 

We ended up with our lawn chairs at Gulf Shores Public Beach to watch the sunset.  While we watched the shore and the sky, we also watched people and birds.  This young gull grabbed a morsel from the incoming surf and took off running down the beach with it, chased by several of his companions:

The sky put on a gorgeous show for us:

And finally, the sun was gone:

We gathered our chairs and cameras and headed back to the plantation, where we found the population had increased in our absence.  We now have neighbors across from us, on each side and behind us.  It’s getting busy here!

Many of my readers also read Janna’s blog, Tin TeePee/Log Cabin and know that she is making a quilt for me.  In her blog last night, she posted a picture of it.  Today she sent me a couple of additional pictures which she took when she got home from her quilting retreat.  Here’s a close-up of one corner:

I think the colors work so well together, this is going to be one beautiful quilt.  A former neighbor of ours in Colorado Springs happened to be the store clerk helping me pick fabric and materials when we were there last summer, and she was the one who took a look at a throw pillow from the bed, along with a towel that contains the burgundy accent color and just grabbed all these different fabrics for me to choose from, making suggestions along the way.  I am one lucky woman to have these angels looking out for me, I would never have been able to accomplish this on my own.

Life is good!