~On a Roll with Sausage~

We wound up our week at a Sausage Festival in Elberta on Sunday afternoon. Row after row of booths of Arts & Crafts, good things to eat, household products, candles, exercise equipment, farm equipment, fire truck displays, kitchen bands, German bands, face painting, all the things that make a great festival with NO politics. Not ONE politician! These people know how to throw a great festival down here. We even ran into Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Bob. CJ is eating a bowl of red beans and rice in this picture. You can see by the picture, he's not sharing, get your own bowl. We had a wonderful time. The day was warm and gorgeous. The crowds were huge. There was a 40 minute wait in line for the home made sausage. After we left we drove over to Loxley to the Burris open air market to pick up fresh veggies and fruits for our low acid meals this week. We've been putting everything from raw turnips & beets to grated raw sweet potatoes to Chinese vegetables and garbanzo beans into the salads. We got some good deals at Burris' but I do notice all the prices everywhere are up. Bananas are as high as 79 cents a pound. Cauliflower is $3 a head. If the gas prices don't go down soon people are going to really be in trouble.

Friday we spent the day on the beach with Aunt Bobbie combing for seashells. We found some really nice ones too. She showed us how to dig for them. She said they'd rebuilt the beach after the hurricane and pumped in sand from out in the gulf. You can sit in one spot and dig and sift through the sand and find all kinds of nice ones. Friday was a beautiful day for the beach. The best day weather wise we've had so far. We hate it that the winter is drawing to a close. We're going to miss the gulf. Soon it's going to be time to pack it up and head north. The weather up home is still cold. Maybe by the end of April it will have warmed up. We have plans to leave the Orange Beach area this Friday. I hope the weather holds well this week so we can spend as many days as possible at the beach. There's a Portuguese man of war warning up right now so we'll have to be careful. http://www.beachhunter.net/thingstoknow/jellyfish/index.htm shows pictures of some of the kinds we've been seeing. Some of them have tentacles as long as 30 ft. There are purple flags up all over the beach warning swimmers. There's also red flags up for dangerous rip tides. No ones sure how long those will last. The waves have been pretty big. I'm sure that has something to do with all of it.

Today was cold and a bit drizzly. We stayed in and caught up on a few things. CJ got the taxes ready to mail. I put the photos together for the following slide show. Hope you enjoy it.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=enxxrx4.7ysoftog&x=0&y=7mw6m0&localeid=en_US

A New Front Yard~

We've moved again. Gulf Coast RV park was not to our liking so we scouted around and found a much nicer spot. We're closer to my Aunt and right close to the beach. We even have a deck outside our door. CJ managed to park the motorhome about 6 inches from it. I've got all the plants out there. With the awning up it's cozy as can be. There's even a resident cat who seems to like visiting. She's sleeping on my lawn chair right now. It's been a busy Sunday but we're all settled in and ready for a day on the water tomorrow. CJ's back taking a nap right now. I wore him out.

Last night was the annual Memorial of Jesus death and Chuck went with me. He was a little grumbly about wearing a tie on vacation but he looked sharp. Afterwards we went to O'Charleys for supper. I think that was his favorite part. The kingdom Hall here is quite beautiful and the friends were all quite happy to welcome us. I went back to the public talk this morning and had quite a few nice conversations with several new acquaintances. I even met another brother and sister who were visiting from Wisconsin. They are staying just down the road at the State Park in a travel trailer. When I got home Chuck already had a lot of the moving preparations under way and we were on the road to our new site within an hour. I was sure glad to say good bye to that mosquito infested park in the swamp on the Bay Secour River! By the time we were settled in to our new spot I was too tired to fix a big Sunday meal so I just threw together some sloppy joes and made some coleslaw. We even ate on paper plates. It feels good to sit here and rest a bit.

Friday we went to Fort Morgan and played on the beach. Chuck of course looked for seashells and I sunbathed on a beach towel. After we left the beach we stopped at the Nature walk trails to do some hiking but before we got too far in we came across a sign telling us it was against the law to feed the alligators. Alligators??? Well needless to say we changed our mind about hiking. So instead we did some driving and sightseeing. The cottages along the coast were precious. They were painted in all the soft colors of the coast. All built on stilts and lots of white trim. We got to see a pelican up close and he didn't mind me snapping his picture. On the road out I made CJ stop so I could take a picture of the alligator sign. I got out of the car checking the roadside ditch carefully for alligators to be safe, walked around the front of the car to snap the picture when Mr. Chuckles tooted the horn and scared the heck out of me. He's such a clown. He got a great laugh out of me almost jumping over the car. On the way back to camp we stopped at several RV parks to check out their spots and prices. We didn't see anything we were crazy about. I'm glad we decided on this spot we have now. It's close to everything including my favorite restaurant, Docs. Can't wait to go there and eat!

Click on the link below for pictures of Fort Morgan:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=enxxrx4.6mu9x228&x=0&y=i2vb5y

Moving Day~

Moving Day has arrived at last. We've been living in Eagles Landing since December the 14th and the time has come to move on. We were up by 7:30 with the urge to hit the road. After a good deal of sorting and packing and stowing we are all set to go. Our friend Glenn from Washington Illinois is also leaving today. We had last minute good-byes with the friends left in camp. Billy helped Chuck air up the tires on the coach and we were on the road by noon. We took the smaller State Rte 90 from Holt to Milton as we'd not really test drove the coach since we had the new part installed and we weren't anxious to jump right on the Interstate with all the holiday traffic out there. Plus we were also nosey to see if there was any police activity looking for the escaped prisoner from yesterday. A Georgia police officer was transporting a prisoner back to Georgia and they had stopped at the Browns grocery store in Holt about a half mile from the park to use the bathroom and when they were returning to the police car the prisoner squirted him with some mace and jumped into his squad and sped away. It was quite a bit of excitement for such a small town. The funniest part was that the prisoner was a black male who was dressed and had the appearance of a woman. Most of the night last nite we could hear helicopters and dogs searching and as of noon when we left the RV park they still hadn't found him. He had apparently abandoned the police car just a short distance from us in a woods and lit out on foot. There are hundreds of questions as to how something like this could have taken place. I'm reminded of Barney from an Andy Griffin episode myself. Who knows what the "real" truth is. It did add some excitement to our last night in Holt Florida.
We didn't have any problems with the coach on the trip over. It ran like a top all the way to Gulf Shores. Not a hitch or hiccup. Chuck is so relieved that we have the problem fixed, for a while at least. I'm sure with a house on wheels there's bound to be a continueing saga of repair issues. We got to the RV park about 2:30 and got ourselves set up. I'm happy to report I have a huge pink azealia bush right outside my door and it's in full bloom. The park is not as nice as Eagles Landing but it will certainly do. There's a pond just a short distance from our coach that has at least 2 aligators in it and it's reported by our new neighbor that you can hear them croaking at night. He said they sound like huge frogs. I'm sure going to be anxious to hurry down there and check that out >> NOT! Well maybe we could drive the car down there and park with the windows cracked to listen.
I fixed us a Tuna Alfredo casserole for an early supper and we took off for the beach. What a beautiful sight! We know everyone says the Emerald Coast is such a beautiful beach but I have to say it doesn't compare to the beach across the road from my Aunt and Uncles condo in Orange Beach Alabama. That beach is just breath taking. I actually had tears come to my eyes when we walked across the access bridge and saw it again. The waves were pretty strong and the most beautiful light blue color and the sand was stark white. It was about 6:30 and the sky was just beginning to darken enough to make the almost full moon show up brightly just above the water. We were delighted to find a whole cache of seashells just in the short walk we took and Chuck managed to find two starfish, one was quite large. I don't remember ever seeing so many seashells on the beach here.
We noticed so much activity too. With Easter being this Sunday there were lots of extra people in the area for Spring Beach. It should be an exciting time to visit. We're looking forward to going to Fort Morgan tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be clear and sunshiny again so we should have a great day for it!

To view pictures from today click here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=enxxrx4.28rzxv2o&x=0&y=8r179c

One of the members of my campground crafters yahoo group has a great page with some information on the price of fuel at: http://rvecafe.com/oil.html It might come in handy for mapping our travels. The price of diesel fuel is nearing $4.00 a gallon and in some areas it's over that.

Fish Frys, Farewells & Final Flings

Winter is coming to a close. The birds are beginning to sing, the days are getting longer and the weather is warming up. Our evenings of bringing in the plants to avoid frost damage are past. In two days we will be pulling up stakes here in Holt Florida and making our way to Gulf Shores Alabama. Preparations have begun in earnest. A lot of the friends we've made here this winter have already started pulling out and are heading north. The park is starting to have an echo. I think Chuck and I are going to be some of the last ones to leave. It will be sad to say good bye but my feet are getting itchy

A couple weeks ago, our friends Deb and Ty had a fish fry which was our last big hurrah. Debs daughter in Alaska sent her a shipment of Salmon and Halibut so they arraigned a get together for all of us. We all brought food to share & I took Chucks favorite, deviled eggs. He'd been craving them so when Deb asked what we'd like to bring he immediately volunteered them. Just to make him especially happy I put a generous portion of horseradish in half of them. I also braved my unfamiliar convection oven and baked a couple pecan pies with the pecans he's been shelling all winter. It was a wonderful Sunday afternoon of visiting and storytelling.

Chuck and I have been working in some last minute sight seeing. We've been to the beach a few more times searching for more shells. We also did some shopping at the outlet mall in Destin and hit the Chocolate Factory. It was quite windy that day and the visit to the beach was a short one cause it was too chilly and the waves were too too high. We went across the brand new toll bridge at Niceville which cost $2.50. I can't believe how much they charge for tolls down here.

We've made a couple trips into Pensacola with our friends Bill and Amy from here in the RV park. Amy's got us eating wholesome raw vegetables for our diets and she knows of a great health food coop on Garden Street in downtown Pensicola. It's called Ever'mans. We joined it for $12 and got over $50 in free food. Everything there is organic. We're working on getting our pH back to normal and our livers cleaned out. It's supposed to help Chucks high blood pressure and my diabetes and asthma. It should also do wonders for our aches and pains. If it works I'll get mom on it when I get back to Illinois.

We ate at McGuires in Destin where they have over a half million one dollar bills signed and hanging from the ceiling and booths and walls. That was quite a sight! They had a $100 hamburger on the menu which stood out but the rest was mostly good old fashioned Irish food. Chuck ordered a bowl of their 18cent bean soup which was the same recipe as the Washington Senate soup. They brew their own beer and root beer, we chose to have a pitcher of the latter. We also took a trip through their gift & wine shop and found a bottle of imported Irish Meade. It's traditional honey wine made for honeymooners. So naturally we couldn't pass that up.

We also went in to Pensicola to say goodbye to our friends Dave and Laura. We all went out to eat at Smokies Bar-b-cue. Chuck had the all you can eat ribs and I of course had to have pulled pork. Dave and Laura have gotten a new puppy which they named Lady. She's a black and white party cocker and quite charming. She will make a wonderful companion for Goldie. Watching the two of them play is hilarious! We are going to miss Dave and Laura as they've become close friends.

We went to the Crestview Bluegrass Festival where we enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches and coleslaw. The streets were lined with pork choices as they were having a pork cook off that day and all were competing for prizes. We saw a cute golf cart styled after the 34 Fords for a mere price of $16,000. Wouldn't that be nice to have? There was a stage where we saw bluegrass bands playing some really good music. The day was a bit windy but the sun was bright and warm.

We went to the air force museum at Fort Walton and toured the grounds and saw all the old airplanes and fighter jets. We weren't able to go inside because it was closed for air conditioner repairs so we missed seeing all the bombs which didn't really upset me at all.

We got a part put on the coach which we think may have fixed our mechanical problem. Chuck's been in contact with some people over the Internet and found out that the problem could most likely be solved by installing a new fuel shutoff solenoid. Hopefully it will work, it was certainly expensive enough! We couldn't test drive it afterwards cause it was too windy to get out on the highway and get the speed up over 65. We'll find out Wednesday when we head for Gulf Shores.

Yesterday we took a drive over to Andalusia Alabama to check out some RV Parks. We came across a Lawnmower tractor racetrack with red red dirt. It has free admission and races every Saturday night. I can imagine that's a big hit over there with all those Alabama boys! They have a huge lake over there off the Conecuh River. On the way back we found a very nice National Forest Park we might like to spend a couple weeks at next year. There's a small lake in the park called Open Pond. There were some really interesting oak trees around it with all kinds of twisty arm limbs. While we were there checking it out we came across a gecko with a beautiful blue color on it's tummy. He was sunning himself in a nook in a log shelter. He was nice enough to let me get close so I could take some pictures. It was a beautiful day for the drive. We really enjoyed it.

Last week, here at the Eagles Landing RV park an interesting wildly painted motor home came in. The people who own it are traveling ta too artists. There also was a trailer fire in the park a couple weeks ago. A very nice young girl who lives here full time and is a waitress in Crestview was fortunate to get out of her burning travel trailer just in time thanks to one of the other RVers named Todd who happened to be out walking his dog. Thank goodness she has full coverage with her insurance cause her trailer was totalled. Her refrigerator had some kind of electrical problem and caught fire in the early morning while she was still sleeping. She's now staying with friends while she waits to get her home replaced.

We also met a Canadian Couple a few days ago named Peggi and John McDonald. Peggi is the owner of an RVing information web page. She's got lots of exciting things on her site and she has even published a couple hard copy books. I bought her latest and she autographed it. They travel full time and have been for 27 years. She gives seminars at RV Conventions around the United States and Canada. She's done some interesting things with her Luxor motor home. She gave Chuck and I some ideas for ours. Her web site is http://www.rvliving.net/

Today and tomorrow we will spend getting things packed up for our move. Right now Chuck is out spraying down the big rug we had at the door so it can have a couple days to dry. He wants to wash the coach again before we go and it's suppose to be sunny & up in the 80's so he should have good weather for it. We're starting to get antsy to be heading down the road for more adventure. We've been here for 3 months and have gotten to know the area pretty well. We've enjoyed it so much. We love the park we're in and Dick and Judie, the camp hosts are such good people. They've put together their story on a web site also. If you'd like to visit the web site for information on their recreation club and see pictures of Eagles Landing and look up some of their other sister campgrounds go to: http://www.campingandcampgrounds.com/

I've put together a slide show of pictures to highlight the last couple weeks. Click on the link below to view them.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=enxxrx4.abfocn9s&x=0&y=-hanov0