February 28th - Lunch for the Stranded Snowbirds

Kelly and I are members of the Carri-Yals which is a chapter of the national RV Travel Club. The Carri-Yals chapter covers all of Illinois and the Eastern half of Missouri. We have members from Chicago, Illinois in the North to Perryville, Missouri in the South.

Most of our chapter members winter in Florida or Texas. Several members, like us, were unable to spend the winter in Florida this year for various reasons. We decided it would be nice to get together for lunch in St. Louis, which was a central location for those attending.

We had a nice lunch at Tuckers South and had the server take a picture of the group that we could share with the others.

 
Our first chapter campout will be in May and we hope to see each other there again and those lucky chapter members who are enjoying warmer weather in the South.

January 15th-18th - Last Days in the Gulf Shores Area

On January 16th John and I drove to Mobile, Alabama to take a tour of the Battleship Alabama and the WWII submarine they had on the property as well.  My dad served on the Battleship New Jersey in WWII so it is always interesting for me to tour battleships and get a sense of what he experienced as a young man of 19 years of age going to war.  Here is a picture as we walked on. One of those smaller guns on the side was my dad's battle station.

Here is a picture of the teak deck with lots of metal patches. It would not have looked like that during the war. I don't know but I image the reason for the teak decks is so that they would not be as slippery when wet.

Here is a picture of the front deck. I remember my dad telling me that in good weather sailors would lay out there to get a tan and often lay out there at night to look at the millions of stars that can only be imagined from most places on land.

Here is a picture of the sixteen inch guns battleships are known for.  It took three powder bags to propel the 54 inch shell. Dad said the blast was so powerful that if two guns were fired at the same time they would roll over the ship. Hard to imagine. Also hard to imagine who loud they had to be.

Above you can see the chains running up the deck for the anchors. Here is a picture of my foot by a link to give you an idea how big the anchor chains are.

Here are a couple of pictures of the inside showing what a massive operation feeding, providing medical and dental car, and provide sleeping quarters for 2000 sailors plus marines going across the ocean was.

Only the Captain had spacious quarters. Here is a picture of his bedroom and adjoining stateroom for entertaining officers and guests.

This is a picture of his bedroom on the bridge. Believe me this is necessary. You climb a lot of stairs get from the quarters to the bridge.

Of course the ship had a barber shop with three barbers, a butcher shop, a bakery, a post office, etc.  It was a truly a floating city. If you ever get a chance to tour one of these ships be sure and do it.

While we were touring the battleship the ladies went shopping at the mall. Naturally they found some sales they couldn't pass up.

On our way back to the condo we bought some shrimp and they boiled them for us. Carlene made a nice salad and some yellow rice. Sue and John joined us and we had a nice relaxing supper at the condo.

On the 17th we just relaxed and made arrangements to have a late lunch at Fishers Restaurant on Orange Beach. Our daughter Annie had gotten Kelly a gift certificate there for her birthday. This time of year the place wasn't crowded and we had a nice relaxing afternoon of drinks and food.

Here is a picture of the restaurant which was a very nice place.  Upstairs is a higher end restaurant but it was not open at this time. We opted for the lower level anyway which was a much more relaxed atmosphere. (Who wants to dress up on vacation anyway.)

Kelly ordered a Margarita with salt and this is what it looked like. The salt was foam, which we had never seen before. Always fun to come upon something new.  I had a couple fancy Manhattans which was great.

This leisurely meal and drinks made for a great ending to our week. When we got back to the condo we bade John and Carlene goodbye. They were great tour guides since they have been coming down here for years. We then packed everything up and loaded the car for the trip home. We headed out at 5:00 a.m. The trip home was a little better than the trip down. It rained a lot of the way and it absolutely poured as we drove through Jackson, Mississippi. Upon hitting the Arkansas border though the sun came out and it was sunny the rest of the way home. We arrived home at 4:15 p.m., stopping only for fuel.

It is always fun visiting a new place.

January 14th - Foley, Alabama

In the morning we headed to Foley, Alabama to see the railroad museum, the medical museum, and the old time drug store there.

The railroad museum was in the old train depot. The depot was going to be torn down by the railroad in the 1970s when rail service to town stopped. Some people got together and moved the depot to another location where it sat for twenty-five years. It was then moved once again back to its original location in town and refurbished for a museum inside. The area is a beautiful park now. Pretty cool. Here is a picture. Where the vehicles are parked is where the tracks were.

Inside a building behind the depot is a model train layout which is quite impressive. It only runs on certain days and we were lucky to be there on the right day. We learned a lot about its operation and maintenance from a docent who comes down here every winter from New Mexico to help out.

From there we walked across the street to see the Holmes Medical Museum. It was the first hospital in Foley and established by Dr. Holmes in 1936. When the hospital was closed in the seventies they just locked it up with everything inside. Here are some pictures.

This is the operating room and sterilization equipment.

Here is a picture of the bed pan cleaning and storage area. Lots of different shapes and styles.

Here is a picture of the nursery and birthing room with an incubator which kept the baby warm with a 150 watt light bulb.

From there we walked down the street to an old time drug store that is still in operation with the soda fountain and all. It still had the screen doors on from the days before air-conditioning.

Here are a couple pictures from the inside. 

From there we drove ten miles down the road to check out the Escapees Rainbow Plantation RV Park which we heard about from our model train layout docent. The park had a clubhouse with a pool but we were not impressed with the park overall. All rigs had full hookups but they were just backed in on grass, no gravel or concrete patios. In the park were many homes with RV garages as well. A different vibe from most parks.

We then drove back to Foley to see the movie “1917”, which was different from what I expected but a great movie. I highly recommend it.

January 12th-13th - Exploring Gulf Shores

Sunday morning it was quite foggy. We went to church at “Our Lady of the Gulf” which was packed with all the northerners visiting. After church we went for breakfast in Orange Beach and then took a drive through “Gulf State Park”. It is a huge park with hundreds of full hookup campsites, cabins, a gigantic swimming pool, tennis courts, etc. We were surprised that the campground wasn’t full but many may be coming in soon. We were really impressed with the campground, the size of the campsites and the fact that other than the tents sites, all sites had full hookups. It is flat with miles of roads to walk and ride bikes on. Many of the sites are right on the canal and very scenic. After that we went back to the condo and watched the Packers win. Yippee! Go Packers!!!

Monday we headed to Pennsicola and had lunch at McGuires Irish Pub. It is a huge place, a block long, with a lot of  atmosphere. Here are a couple of pictures of the outside.

They are known for their huge plates of food and the dollar bills hanging everywhere. You can write your name on a dollar and hang it up. The waitress told us the last estimate was 2.8 million dollars hanging everywhere. Here are a couple of pictures.

We were seated in a room with a view of the 5,000 bottle wine cellar. Here are a couple of pictures. A few bucks tied up in there.

The food portions were large and delicious. A burger is 3/4 of a pound plus fries. Here is a picture of one.

Kelly ordered the special “Shepherds Pie”. Here is a picture. She said it was delicious but had to bring half home.

From the pub we headed down the road to buy some fresh seafood at “Joe Patti” to take home.

It is a busy fish market and one of many in the area. They give you number as you walk in like the old butcher shops. We bought shrimp, tuna, and flounder. We will have some good meals back home.

From the fish house we drove to the Florida-Alabama line for a drink at “Flora-bama Bar” which is on the Florida and Alabama line. It is a gigantic bar and an absolute dump. One form of decoration is bras thrown over ropes and pipes. Here are a couple of pictures.

We had a couple of beers in the main bar and listened to a lady singer and guitar player who was quite good.

We then headed back to the condo. We passed the evening playing a game and watching the LSU-Clemson game. Great day even with the foggy weather.

January 11th - Travel Day

Saturday we left Perryville at 4:00 a.m. for the ten hour drive to Gulf Shores. It stormed all night and luckily I woke up at 1:00  a.m. to discover that the electric was off. I got my cell phone and set the alarm on it. When we left the house the electric had still not come on. Upon driving out of the subdivision we realized why. A tree near the entrance to the subdivision had fallen on an electric pole and broken it. There were at least four Citizens Electric trucks out there and I saw one lineman installing hardware on a new pole.

We met Carlene and John at Rhodes, got a cup of coffee, and headed down I-55 in the pouring rain. The further south we got, the harder it rained. It isn’t fun driving in the dark in the pouring rain, especially when you have to pass 18 wheelers throwing lots of spray. At one point we drove by a tractor trailer laid over on its side in the median with its lights on. It must have just been blown over because there were no skid marks, no median damage around, an no emergency personnel on the scene yet. Scary.

In Mississippi, South of Memphis, traffic stopped all of a sudden without warning. Just ahead crews were working at getting Pine trees off the highway. It had to be a tornado a couple of miles wide looking at the twisted off trees as we drove through. Here are a couple of pictures. The first picture is the driving lane. The passing lane was open but we had to drive over a lot of small branches.

If we had come by earlier we wouldn’t have been able to get through. 

About a hour from our condo we stopped for lunch at Felix’s Fish Camp. 

It didn’t look like a place you would want to stop and eat but Carlene and John had been there numerous times and said the food was great. They were right. Here is a picture of what we ordered.

We arrived at the condo at about 3:00 p.m. and unloaded our stuff. A nice place. Our condo is on the ninth (top) floor. Here are pictures of the view off our balcony. We have never stayed in a beach front place before. I’m looking forward to sitting out there and drinking my coffee as the sun comes up (even if totally cloudy as predicted).

The surf was really rolling. John said this was not normal. The  thunder storms were obviously  churning things up.

It was a long day and after a night cap we turned in early so we will be fresh to explore the area tomorrow.

January 9th, 2020 - Headed to Gulf Shores, Alabama

Since there is no Florida trip this winter we decided to rent a condo for a week in Gulf Shores, Alabama. We are staying in the same complex as some friends from Perryville.

Unfortunately it does not look like the weather will be cooperating to allow us to walk along the beach much if any. We are driving down on Saturday with rain and thunderstorms predicted all day. Then it is supposed to rain every day we are down there until the day we leave. Oh well, the chances you take when scheduling a vacation. Hopefully it will be warm enough that we can sit on our balcony and watch the ocean roll in while we sip a little coffee in the morning and cocktail in the evening.  I hope to blog some pictures.

December 28th - A Little Electrical Project for Marge Using a Christmas Present

The 50 amp electric cord that came with Marge is 36 feet long, thick, heavy, very stiff, and thus really hard to handle. Very rarely do I ever need a 36 foot long cord to plug in at a park pedestal. I decided it would serve our purposes to cut the cable at about ten feet and install a male plug on the ten foot cord and a female plug on the remaining section. By doing this I can just pull out the ten foot cord for almost all hookups and plug in the other section as an extension cord when I need it. With this project in mind I put on my Christmas request list male and female 50 amp plugs.

Well, Santa (daughter Erin) was good to me and I received the plugs I requested. Today I went to the storage shed and retrieved the electric cord from Marge. I brought it home, cut the cord, and installed the plugs making a shorter cord and an extension.  Here is a picture of the finished cords.

This modification will make future electrical connections much easier. This cord is about an inch in diameter and has a black polyvinyl casing which is really stiff and hard to handle even in warm weather. If I ever upgrade the cord I would go with a cable that has a rubber casing which is much more flexible. Those cables, however, are more expensive and I just haven't been able to bring myself to spend $300-$400 for a new cord when I still have a functioning one.

Also on my Christmas request list was a portable LED work light. So many times I am working under one of the campers or on something else around home and I need a lot of light in a dark area. I have good flashlights but they throw a small beam and I have to hold them to get the light where I need it. In almost all things I'm working on I need two hands for what I am doing. Flashlights just don't work very well for that. Santa Erin came through again and got me two LED work lights. They are really bright with two settings plus a flashing setting for emergencies.  The lights came with Lithium batteries, are rechargeable, and have a nice adjustable stand which allows me to set them on a surface and point the light where I need it. Here is a picture of one. They are about six inches wide.

I will leave one light in my shop toolbox and put the other in my toolbox in Marge. They are exactly what I wanted and are well-made so they should last a long time.

Another nice item I got for Christmas from daughter Alexa, is a "Pad Pillow".  It is a wedge shaped foam pillow which I can sit on my lap and browse away on the internet without having to hold the I-pad. It has a lip on the bottom which keeps the iPad from slipping off. Here is a picture of it on my lap.

I love it!  I use the iPad a lot traveling and camping while sitting in my recliner. It will get a lot of use at home and on the road.

I also got some nice clothes from daughter Annie, some of which fit, come of which didn't. The pants that didn't fit have already been sent back and I'll pick out a replacement soon.

Hope everyone else had a Merry Christmas.

I wish we were in Florida for the winter but just not in the cards this year. We have, however,  scheduled a week in a condo in Gulf Shores in January. We have never been there and will enjoy seeing it for the first time and visiting with Perryville friends who will be there. We are also thinking about scheduling a short trip South in April when the Chemotherapy is complete. We will see how things go.

Happy New Year to everyone.

November 28th-30th - Thanksgiving and Repairs

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Mountain View. It is great to get the whole family together.

Kelly’s family has a tradition of giving a “Jack Horner “ gift before dinner. Here is a picture of everyone opening their gifts.

Here is a picture of my gift.

Here is a picture of all of us after dinner.

Friday morning Adam and I decided to tackle a couple of kitchen projects. The first was installing new LED lights in the kitchen. There were three two-foot fluorescents, one of which didn’t work at all. Here is a picture of the new lights. A major improvement. Adam will have to do a little patching on the ceiling.

The next project was replacing the thirty year old faucet. Of course being that old the mounting bracket below was rusted beyond recognition. There was no way it was going to come loose as intended. I ended up carefully prying on it from below and bending it until it finally came out above through the hole. The installation of the new faucet was then a piece of cake with no leaks. Here is a picture of the finished installation.

Today we wrap Christmas presents we brought out with us then we fly home. It will be a long day because we don’t land in St. Louis until midnight. We won’t get back to Perryville until about 3:00 a.m. on Sunday.