My Winter Vacation

For sure it is time to write again. On Monday I returned from 2 very full weeks in Minnesota and barely missing a step, I resumed line dancing and life at Palmdale. Later today, we will go to a movie with Ray and Cyndi since it is chilly and rainy. Sparky has changed his location in the yard and now has his eyes on our new pink flamingos. He never changes his position though in case you haven’t noticed. Sparky is very popular around here and comes up in many conversations.

Before I left for Minnesota, we participated in the Port Isabel Causeway and Fitness Walk/Run. We went with a group of about 10 other Palmdalians and walked with a few thousand others across the Causeway from Port Isabel to South Padre Island (5 kilometers) and then went for lunch at Louie’s Backyard. It was a beautiful sunny and windy day. And we got more souvenir tee-shirts. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

At the Conservatory

Then I flew to Minnesota on January 11 so that I could appreciate the weather in South Texas but more importantly to celebrate Edie’s 4^th birthday. And we did that for several days. Edie planned her own “surprise party” which was held from 10 AM to noon on Saturday. We built and decorated a piñata.  We rode the Merry-go-round at the Mall of America one day and I picked out birthday presents for her. I went with Greg to pick her up from preschool. In Minneapolis, her class is called Alphabet Soup. I met her teachers and admired her artwork. I spent 7 days with Greg’s family and enjoyed many hours of playing with Edie. On Sunday I went with Peggy and Edie to the Conservatory in St. Paul which is one of the best places to go in the Twin Cities in January where you can enjoy a tropical rain forest feeling in the middle of the frozen city. After the party on Saturday, Greg took out his new dutch oven and prepared pot roast. Brothers, Ludwig and Dick came over along with Greg and Peggy’s friends and their two children.

DOM with 2 of the boys

That was only one of many fine meals that I enjoyed with family. Ludwig made a couple of lasagna’s and hosted a family meal of 10 of us where we could discuss next summer’s Mystic Lake trip with several of the participants. One day Ludwig and I went with Nephew Kenny over to Rochester to see where Brother Dick is now living with his daughter Colleen and her 2 children. It was good to see them all doing well. I had 3 days with sisters, Jean, Kay and Elaine for what we called Senior DOM or some called it Old DOM (Daughters of Marjorie – our mother). More good meals and laughter and memories and made some plans for reunions next summer. We took a field trip to the JedFest – a Minnesota Bluegrass and Old Time Music Festival fundraiser honoring their longtime leader. There we met up with brother Doug down from Fargo and Sister-in-law Mandy who was down from Big Fork along with Niece Kelly with friend Noah in town from Chicago. Of course, Ludwig was there as well. Then I came back to Greg’s house to spend my last night with them. Greg filled a spray bottle with colored water, and we went outside and watched Edie decorate the snow with rainbow colors in their back yard. Then we went to Matt’s Bar and Grill for a Juicy Lucy. I flew back to Texas on January 25 now doubt carrying an extra pound or 2. It’s a good thing I was able to step back into the regular exercise and potluck routine at Palmdale.

A couple of more weeks have gone by and I better bring this up to date before I post it. Sparky did get into the Pink Flamingos as you may have noticed on Facebook and since then tore up one of Don’s good shoes. I guess we just need some amusement.

While I was gone, Ray’s childhood friend Harvey and his wife Doreen came to Palmdale, and we were invited along for some of their outings. A favorite was a tour of a shrimp boat on a windy afternoon followed by a shrimp boil. On a windy rainy afternoon, we went to see The Revenant. And last Saturday was the South Padre Island Kite Festival. Doreen and Harvey left Palmdale to go to another RV resort about an hour north of here.

Palmdale is filling up as we have had several new arrivals in the last couple of weeks. For the Super Bowl we bought some wings and had a few friends over to watch the game on our outside TV. It got pretty chilly, but I provided a couple of blankets and enjoyed the “football weather”. It was kind of like a nice October evening in Illinois. New friends Sue and Tom from Des Moines joined us for that along with Ray and Cyndi. Later this morning a new arrival named Sherry and I will try out a yoga class using a video that she has from the yoga studio that she normally goes to in Ohio. Other than that, we continue our regular routine of exercise, line dancing, golfing, fishing, reading novels by the pool, card games, potlucks and happy hours with an occasional night of entertainment. 

Happy New Year from Palmdale RV Park.

Me and Sparky

Thinking of things to write about is difficult this year. Last year I described Palmdale and the easy life here and not a whole lot has changed. Last night we celebrated New Year’s Eve with many of the same friends we celebrated with last year. The entertainment wasn’t quite as good at energizing these old people past 10:00 PM so it was a small crowd of about 40 who made it until the balloon drop at midnight. As Don pointed out, 4 people managed to fall down and not all because of alcohol use. No one was injured because of falls. When I was up getting myself a glass of water, a man asked me why Don wasn’t joining the line dancers. I said that Don doesn’t like to dance but he would be joining us. It wasn’t much later that man’s wife and some others from their table began hassling Don about dancing. One in particular was very pushy and wouldn’t take no for an answer. I had to apologize to Don because I had no idea that my little comment would result in so much attention.

Those of you who are my FB friends know that we acquired a golden retriever pup named Sparky. Sparky has been called the best dog at Palmdale because he requires almost no care, has no vet bill and doesn’t need regular exercise. He gets a lot of attention from other residents who seem to enjoy the mischief that he gets into. Things like tearing up Christmas presents, accosting Santa, stealing his hat or last night drinking a bottle of wine and leaving a mess in the yard. We thought we were getting better dog, but things aren’t working out the way that we hoped.

Sparky with what is left of Santa and our presents

Happy New Year!

I have been putting my Madison South Dakota library card to good use downloading mystery novels and reading 3 or 4 a week. Not necessarily great literature but full of suspense and clandestine activity by authors such as Baldacci, Grisham and John Sanford. Not sure how healthy all of that is.

I’m planning my winter vacation to Minnesota again this year to coincide with Edie’s birthday party. She has her invitations ready to send out and I’m supposed to be in charge of some fun activities. That should be fun. I’m also planning on a weekend with my sisters before I come back here. I will be there for 2 full weeks (January 11-24). Ray and Cyndi are responsible for Don while I am gone.  

Palmdale - Part II

It has been over a month since I last posted. The truth is that since we began traveling the same route we took last year through Texas it doesn’t seem like there is a lot to write about. We stayed at the same campgrounds in Beaumont and Livingston. We then varied the trip to Palmdale and went through San Antonio instead of Victoria and Corpus Christie. I’ve taken few pictures.

Remember the Alamo

We stayed at Traveler’s World RV Park in San Antonio. It was a little more expensive than we are used to but was worth is because of the location in the city and the amenities. We took the bus down to the Alamo and River Walk. It was a chilly damp day though we enjoyed a river cruise with a comedian for a driver. We took advantage of being in a big city and picked up some things at Costco and Trader Joe’s before we left. We had planned a second stop near Corpus Christie, but it was rainy and cold, so we drove all the way to Palmdale from San Antonio and arrived here on November 30.

Peter and Peggy's Table

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Palmdale, it is where we stayed last year and much of the description I gave last year remains unchanged. It is under new ownership since September, and we are all more hopeful that the promised road improvements will actually take place. This year we are in lot # 55, which is where our Wisconsin friends Peter and Peggy stayed last year. They are unfortunately not back this year though we did inherit the yellow picnic table which they painted.  We had hoped to get to know them better this year. Lee and Max also not here and we are missing them and their little dog. Other than that, we are seeing a lot of familiar faces. I have resumed the walking aerobics class and line dancing. My yoga studio moved and dropped their weekday morning schedule. I haven’t found an alternative yet. We have new Activity Directors, Joe and Joyce. They post pictures on the Palmdale FB page and if readers are interested, they can check out that page.

The Parade

What is remarkable about this year is how normal being a Winter Texan now seems to me. I remember being astonished to see the Flea Market and crossing the border into Mexico with all the street vendors accosting us. It all seems normal now. Seeing the local population which is largely young Mexican people with gray-haired Midwesterners and Canadians roaming around the stores now seems normal to me. Again, this year we went to the McAllen Christmas Parade only this year there was no rain and it was a nice balmy evening.

The Winter Texan

Like most of the rest of the country, we have been enjoying warmer than normal temperatures. We have had several days when the temperatures have been close to or in the 80s. Don has taken up fishing in the Gulf and golfing again. We had one meal of fish so far.  We are slipping quite comfortably back into the soft easy life of the Winter Texan, though occasionally the insanity of the Republican primaries intrudes on our lives. If they weren’t trying to select a world leader, we could just enjoy the comedy of it.

Today we finally finished getting set up here when we put the covers over the tires and I cleaned the place up a bit. We are set for the winter and for Christmas since we got our shopping done on-line and our Christmas cards went out last week. I am making my flight plans for going to Minnesota in January. 

The Exhausted Tourist

We are halfway through November so it must be about time to do some writing on this blog. We are slowly working our way through the southern states and have arrived in Texas. We’ll be checking into Palmdale in 14 days.

Leaving Birmingham wasn’t as easy as you would think. When we signed up to stay for a week we decided it would be a good idea to have our mail forwarded from South Dakota. Plenty of time to get mail. Unfortunately I didn’t think of it until Tuesday… but still 4 days… it should be there by Saturday. I called the local post office in Hoover where we were staying and they said they couldn’t accept General Delivery mail. It would have to go to the main post office in Birmingham. So I called them to make sure it would work and got the street address to make sure it went to the right post office. We showed up on Friday morning prepared to get our mail and see the highlights of Birmingham. No luck. Maybe it would be there in the afternoon. We stopped by in the afternoon. Still no mail. They are closed Saturday. We could pick it up Monday morning before we left town. Inconvenient, but we still could do it. On Monday we packed up the camper and left it in the campground, drove to downtown Birmingham. Our mail wasn’t there. We had checked the routing number and knew that it was somewhere in Birmingham. We made them track it. It was in a truck somewhere but they didn’t know which one.  

We decided to pick up the camper and move it to a Walmart in Alabaster, Alabama, about 20 miles south, and prepare to stay there overnight. We would have to come back to the post office again later in the afternoon. So we did that and had some time. We noticed a big AMC theatre across the parking lost so we took in a movie “Truth” which, incidentally, is a pretty good movie.

As we were walking across the parking lot after the movie there was a car parked right behind our car which seemed strange as we were on the far side of the parking lot and there was plenty of parking closer to the store. Then we noticed the car moving a bit. We expected it to leave but instead it went into reverse and turned sharply going up over a curb. We couldn’t tell at the time but it did manage to hit the corner of our bumper putting a hole in the plastic and scratch the side. So then we had to go through the process of calling the police, getting an accident report and calling the insurance company. Fortunately, they had insurance and when we get to Texas we’ll get the car fixed. The young couple driving the car were really worried and wanted to just pay us to get the car fixed. The young woman had been playing around with the gear shift and didn’t realize what she was doing. She had her driver’s permit but no license. They were greatly relieved that since they were on private property she wouldn’t get a ticket. We still had time to get to town before the post office closed. When we got there the worker checked and said our mail wasn’t there and then looked at us like she expected us to just walk away. We explained that it had to be there. She turned it over to her supervisor and we waited and waited. Finally, a woman showed up with our mail. When we had been coming in to Birmingham from the south on I65 we noticed the southbound traffic backed up and going slow all the way to Alabaster. We figured there must have been an accident or something. Not so. This is normal rush hour traffic going out of Birmingham. It took us over an hour. The moral of the story is “Don’t try to get general delivery mail in Birmingham and avoid having to travel south on I65 between 4:00 PM and about 8:00 PM.” I guess I should just be happy that I don’t have any bigger problems than this.

The next day we headed down the road to Montgomery but first we had to deal with our towing hitch. There are plastic caps on the little things that pop up and lock the tow bar in place when you start driving. It is very important for this process to work or one side of the car slides in and out creating the potential for lots of damage. When you stop, you are supposed to push down on the button to release the bars so that the car is easy to disconnect. We have found that just pushing with your thumb doesn’t do the job so we pop it with the hammer. Well I figured that if one pop doesn’t work I need to hit it harder and if that doesn’t work, harder yet. Well I smashed the damn thing to bits when we were in Alabaster and when we started out it was not working right as I described earlier. Don did a temporary fix with duct tape and we headed down to Montgomery. Actually we stayed at the Wind Creek Casino in Wetumpka for 3 days. While we were there we talked to the technicians about the hitch and they suggested using a tie strap instead of duct tape so that is what we are doing until we can find a replacement part.  We’ve added a rubber band as well.

While in Montgomery, we visited the State Capitol building which is largely unused now and the first Confederate White house which is across the street. President and Mrs. Davis lived here where they originally planned to have the confederate capital

until they decided that Richmond was a better location. When we arrived at the house an older man was seated on a park bench under the trees waiting for the workers to return from lunch and open the building. He was wearing a confederate style hat and sporting a shirt with the letters NAACP with an X over the top made of the stars and bars of the confederate flag. He said that he was waiting for them to open so he could pick something up. He made me uneasy and we didn’t engage in any small talk. We were a block down the street from The Civil Rights Memorial and Center and 2 blocks from The Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church.

I’m not sure if it is significant but I observed no security at the Confederate White House but the Civil Rights Center had us go through a metal detector and the guard was wearing a Kevlar vest. The Civil Rights Memorial is a beautiful black circular fountain with the names of the heroes of the movement etched in the surface with water flowing over the entire top. You are encouraged to put your hand on the surface and feel the names with the water flowing over it. My favorite place in Montgomery has to be the Dexter Avenue Church which is across from the State Capitol Steps where the marchers came to hear Martin Luther King talk. Governor Wallace wouldn’t let him speak from the top of the steps so the Sunday school lectern that is still in use today was set up on a platform and he spoke from there. I was given a tour by my tour guide, Wanda. Wanda showed me the Sunday school lectern, we went into the pastor’s office where he wrote his sermons and met with other leaders of the Civil Rights movement. We then went up to the sanctuary, and I walked behind the pulpit and put my hands on the same sides as MLK put his when he preached about peace, love and nonviolence. Some day these things will probably be put behind velvet ropes and in glass covered cases to keep the oily hands of tourists off. But for now they are still in use in this church that is very much alive. I described to Wanda the old man that we saw at the Confederate capital and the shirt he was wearing. She worriedly said that she heard that the KKK is actively recruiting. I felt some alarm and reminded myself that she had locked the door of the church when I came in for the tour…still plenty reasons to be afraid, courageous or both. Wanda is one of those true Christians who make you hopeful for humanity. She sings beautifully and made me join her in “This Little Light of Mine” which I couldn’t really follow because she made it all gospelly. We ended the tour with “We Shall Overcome” which I could follow having gone to college in the late 60’s. She gives tours on the hour throughout the day except for lunch time. The day I was there, she had 2 people before me at 1:00, me at 2:00 and a couple at 3:00 while I left.

On our way back from Montgomery that day, we stopped at Ft. Toulouse/Ft. Jackson in Watumpka. The first Europeans to come here was DeSoto in about 1520. In 1717 the French claimed this place and built the first fort. The French lost this territory to the British who didn’t have much use for it. Andrew Jackson came through in 1814 – you know the song. He built another fort

and went about the business of convincing the Creek Indians to give all their land to the US. While we were there the place was getting set up for a big reenactment for the weekend along with a lot of booths for selling wares. We, of course were leaving the next day and missed this event. You would think that since we have no schedule that we could do whatever we wanted but that is not the case. I can’t remember why we couldn’t stay for the weekend.

So we headed down the road to Mobile where we stayed at Johnny’s RV Resort in Theodore, Alabama. Now I remember why we moved. It was the weather and our full tanks. We wanted to get some place where we could sit still while it poured down rain and dump our tanks. Johnny’s is a beautiful park. It is filled with hundreds of huge live oak trees that provide a canopy blocking out most of the sunshine. And that’s a good thing in southern Alabama. The trees also rain acorns at this time of year. Part of our preparation for leaving was for Don to climb up and sweep acorns from the tops of our slides before we brought them in. We also discovered a couple of leaks in the camper during the rain storm so Don did the research and learned how to replace the sealant around the sky light in the bathroom and some places in the front. We will soon find out if the leaks are stopped because we expect a couple of inches of rain again tomorrow. We took a couple of “administrative” days to do the laundry, make granola, buy groceries, fix leaks and wash the camper. We haven’t totally lost our industriousness though we took time to walk around the small lake in the back of the campground a few times and laid on the couch for one rainy day while I read and Don watched football. We took a day and toured Mobile on their trolley and had lunch at Wintzell’s Oyster House. We drove through the tunnel over to the island and toured the USS Alabama, a huge WWII Battleship. The next sunny day, we drove to Dauphin Island where we toured Fort Gaines which is where in 1864, Admiral Farragut famously said, “Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead!” and managed to secure the Port of Mobile for the Union. Sometimes when someone says something like that they become famous. Other times it never gets recorded because no one that heard him say that survives. After that we walked the trails of the Audubon Bird Sanctuary.

We saw very few birds but the mosquitoes were ferocious. In case you Minnesota people don’t know this, Alabama claims the mosquito as their state bird. I think maybe they are right since they have a much longer mosquito breeding season. On our way back to Johnny’s we stopped at Bayou La Batre and picked up some fresh caught shrimp for supper.

We left Alabama on November 12

and went as far as Hammond, Louisiana, just north of Lake Pontchartrain, where we stayed at Hidden Oaks RV Resort. Their campground had been recently flooded and was kind of muddy but at least the camp site was level. The next day we drove around the area south of the lake to see what there is of evidence of Hurricane Katrina. The area we saw was pretty much rebuilt. There were a few vacant areas that may have had buildings before the hurricane. We saw some heavy duty levies recently built and areas where construction continues on the levy. My brain is weary of being a tourist so I was content to drive back to Hammond. On the way back we stopped at Middendorf’s Seafood on a remote tip of a peninsula between Lake Pontchatrain and the lake next to it. They are famous for thin fried catfish. We split an order of that. While it tasted good, it consisted mostly of the cornmeal breading fried crisply and a tiny flattened fillet of catfish that you could hardly see. We met a couple Yvon & Rose who spoke mainly French from Quebec. Communication was difficult but we told them about the French speaking Canadians who live at Palmdale in the winter and encouraged them to come there. Hopefully we will see them again.

 

We stopped for a night at L’auBerge Casino in Baton Rouge so we could shop at Trader Joes and stock up on wine for the winter. We went into the casino to get our player cards and check out the buffet. The player cards hook was that if you played for 30 minutes, you could get a free buffet dinner. Friday night was all you could eat seafood. We sat down at a couple of slots and I began to play. I was doing well but Don did much better. His machine was broken so when he asked for help, they came to fix the machine while he waited. He lucked out in a big way because they then came and apologized to him for the inconvenience, gave him $5.00 and a $70.00 gift certificate for dinner that night. So I had to sit and watch Don eat crab legs, butter running down his chin. My children know how this goes with all you can eat crab legs. He never gets full because it’s so damn much work to eat them.

We came here to Beaumont, Texas on Sunday

so we could be set up and settled before the big thunderstorm rolls through. This morning it was 75 degrees with 95% humidity when we got up. My finger joints are kind of achy and the barometric pressure is changing fast. Don calls it a “norgulfer”. That brings us up to date.

Alabama

As we spend time in an area, regional differences always pop up to define the uniqueness of that place.  Upon entering Alabama, newspaper availability became an immediate issue for me.  I love to get the daily news…in print.  We have found that most major cities in Alabama publish papers three times a week…..Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.  Fortunately, nothing happens in the local-world market on any of the alternate days.  Newspapers, with one exception, team up with USA today, to get their hard hitting news. On important issues, the paper will have the two articles on the same news story printed in the same or different versions in a separate section.  This happens on several stories each day.  The only exception I have found is the Tuscaloosa news paper.  I assume this is because they are the capital city of the state and they are required by law to print a paper every day.  They print at least four full pages of Bama Crimson Tide insightful news in each paper.  Religious news is on the front page….or any page of the newspapers in the state.  There is no “religious” section, because religious news is news….The Tuscaloosa paper is not circulated around the state on Saturdays, even though they do print seven days a week.

We try to tour State Capital Buildings whenever we are close.  We had an opportunity to tour one of the alternative capitals in the city of Montgomery.  The building was mostly empty of furniture and people.  When we asked why it was so empty, we were told that all government agencies except the executive branch had moved out.  My guess is that they moved to Tuscaloosa to be near the Crimson Tide.  Most rooms do not appear to have any updating for 50-60 years…..probably since George Wallace was in there.  Speaking of Wallace, the tour guide in the capital told us that Alabama is coming out with an official piece of literature stating that when Governor Wallace was at the University of Alabama where black students were trying to enter, he was there to protect them and help blacks enter safely. As the tour guide said, it appears we (Alabama) are trying to re-write history.

As we tour civil rights-civil war areas, the question came to mind…What would have happened to slavery if we had not had the Civil war?  I asked several people that question.  Most said they felt that it would take something of the magnitude of the war to end slavery.  Some were clear that many in the South would never abolish it.  One younger lady said that slavery and civil rights in particular is something the “old people” just do not talk about.  She said that with younger people…she was about 40…… had little to do with civil rights….I came to the conclusion that in the long haul, we are lucky to have the civil war behind us, and we  are on the road forward.  This road will continue for several generations.

And the answer is……Yes……I feel much better now…..

 

 

 

Sweet Home Alabama

This very early morning finds me in at Mill Creek RV Park out here in the woods of northern

Alabama not far from Elkmont, listening to a light rain on the roof of the camper. Living in an RV takes us to some of the most unlikely places. We left I65 on the last Tennessee exit and drove about 20 miles on country roads to get here because the nearest exit would take us on roads with low hanging trees. The driveway takes us about a quarter mile back in the woods to a clearing with several large pull through RV sites with full hook-ups. An older couple (about our age) own and run the place. They live in a little rustic house that sits in front of a huge garden with a chicken coop behind where we normally find them busy with something. They are currently putting a new roof on the chicken coop. Alabama has already had a hard freeze so most of the garden vegetables are finished except for late started broccoli and collards. The front porch is filled with pots of tomatoes, flowers and stuff. It is at a table there that you can get good wi-fi reception right beneath the router. We plan to head further south later today but not too far. We want the remnants of Hurricane Patricia to get past before we get close to the gulf coast.

Saturday, we went to Huntsville which is about 40 miles from here where we visited the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. We took a bus tour where we saw the place where they tested early rockets and the Support Center for the International Space Station labs and learned about the history of early space exploration.

The last time I wrote, we were in Springfield at the Illinois State Fair Grounds. When we left Springfield, we drove to Bloomington, Indiana where Don’s friend Dave and his partner, Julie live. We parked in their driveway in a residential neighborhood. That required both of them watching for traffic while I helped Don back into the driveway.

Our rig filled up the driveway and blocked their garage but since our car was in front we all had a way out. We brought some Alaskan salmon which Dave cooked on his grill, and we steamed some broccoli for a very nutritious and delicious meal. Dave took us for an excellent Sunday brunch and showed us around the area. We stopped at a Tibetan monastery where I found a gift for Kelly at the gift shop and saw many monks in brightly colored robes.  We toured Indiana University Campus which is near where Dave and Julie live.

Once we left their place, we headed to Shepardsville, Kentucky where we stayed at Grandma’s RV Park, just south of Louisville. We toured the Louisville Slugger factory and museum. The picture is of Don with Mickey Mantle’s bat.

We toured the Jim Beam Distillery and got to taste some good Kentucky bourbon. They had a nice tasting room, and we were each allowed 4 tiny samples of a variety of their bourbons. Leave it to Don to pick Devil's Cut for our first taste. At 180 proof it burned and kind of ruined the rest of the tasting. We then went to the place where Abraham Lincoln was born.

Our next stop was Mammoth Cave National Park where we were really lucky to get one of their 2 VIP camp sites. This was probably the best camp site we have ever had and with our senior discount it was only $25. We had a deck, fireplace and a large cement pad. It was a beautiful, wooded place with fall colors.
We took a tour of the caves and spent lots of time walking the trails and did some bike riding. The Park is like a small community complete with a store, post office and laundry. My washer is broke (a paddle came off the barrel and needs to be replaced) so I did my laundry there. I called Camping World in Nashville so they could get the part in, and we could pick it up when we are there. The part is about $18 but they wanted me to pay $35 for shipping of this little 4 oz part. I decided to go online to find the part. I found it on Ebay. Now I need to figure out where we will be so that I can order it and arrange to pick it up at a UPS store along the way. I have to plan for a week to 10 days out for that to happen. Meanwhile, I will use Laundromats.

We spent a few days in Nashville at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone RV Park. We did not do justice to Nashville. Had I known we would stay an extra night I would have found out the Thursday show at the Grand Ol Opry and seen Tanya Tucker.  Shoulda, coulda woulda…. As it was, we toured the town and found Trader Joe’s (where they don’t sell $2 Chuck), Costco and Camping World. When we had our shopping done, we took a day to visit some Civil War battlefields around Franklin, TN where General Hood made a huge blunder and allowed the Union Army to take over the town. Then we went to Stones River National Battlefield and Cemetery near Murfreesboro where the Union won a decisive battle that allowed them to control transportation on a road, river and railroad.

Several days have passed since I began writing this blog and we are now in Hoover, AL just outside of Birmingham. We are staying here for the week. This place is really a big asphalt parking lot with a lot of pull-through level RV sites with full hook-ups. It is conveniently located near the Hoover Met Stadium, grocery stores, Costco and World Market where Don can buy his licorice. The RV Park is owned by the city and is run without a camp-host on site. You just pick out a site, put money in an envelope and drop it in a locked box. I assume someone picks up the money and checks from time to time on the campers but have not seen any sign of that. It is quiet except when Hoover High School plays a football game. We took some time off from touristing to make granola, fix the toilet (it’s always something), do laundry, do some shopping and lay around reading, napping and watching baseball.

On our way to Tuscaloosa yesterday, we came across the Mercedes plant along the road. We made a quick decision to stop with hopes of getting in on a tour that was about to start. No luck with the tour but we got to see the museum which had the world’s first horseless carriage, automobile and motorcycle. We went on to Tuscaloosa to take a look at “Bama” home of the Crimson Tide and last night went to see Hoover HS play North Marion High School from Florida. I’m just saying that Football is important around here. Several of the parents from Florida were wearing shirts with the slogan “Faith Family Football” in bold lettering on the back. Tuscaloosa and the University were pretty much demolished by the Union forces during the civil war so there are no really old buildings. The university was rebuilt and is a lovely campus with beautiful architecture. Today we plan to see the antebellum home in Birmingham from which the generals planned their destruction of the university. I’m getting the feeling that the Union officers found themselves some pretty nice digs when they came south.

 Speaking of level, I have some things to say. When we were at Mill Creek, it took us at least 3 hours to finally get this thing level enough, so all the tires were mostly supported by the ground. By the time we were done, I was ready to abandon ship and go back to living in a stick house. Leveling involves putting down the jacks and seeing the whole front end of this 20-ton camper 6 inches off the ground. So, you take a better look at the ground and move forward a few feet and try again only to find it’s better only 4 inches off the ground but now the right back tires are also off the ground. We carry about 10 2”X8” pieces of lumber in one of our bays so we take it out and place it under the tires. This involves moving forward, putting the wood down and backing up and try the levels again. After about 4 more attempts we finally had it about right. Now to enter the camper, we had about an 18” step up to the bottom step and I have to always remember that when I step down so I don’t fall and break a leg. About 1 hour of our time was taken up by neighbors who came in after we arrived, set up their RV and came over to talk about their life and offer advice on leveling. The other day when I was looking through our file box that doesn’t include the Chassis manual, for the toilet manual I discovered a folder labeled “leveling”.  Something to add to “Things we’ve learned today”.

Midwest tour 10/7/15

Patrix

The perpetual visitor

Thirsty wood

Aqua Hot FIXED

My friend Kay took me to her writer's class while I was there and she suggested the use of prompts. Hence, I've used the above prompts.

Two weeks ago, when John Boehner resigned from the House of Representatives after his audience with Pope Francis I said, “I bet his conscience got to him, and he could no longer stomach what he was doing.” Everybody around me poohed the idea asserting that he was politically run off. Then this week I read Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner and Saint by Nadia Bolz-Weber. I was curious to learn more about this preacher, so I read her sermon from September 15. She speculated the same thing about John Boener only she referenced the lectionary for that week which was where Jesus said you should cut off your hand if it offended you and she was much more articulate than me. So at least 2 of us in the country thought that might have happened.

My sister Jeanne gave… no she loaned me this book when I was in Brainerd last summer and it finally made it to the top of the pile of books in my cabinet. Jeanne, you can relax… I just moved it away from my teacup. I will do my best to get it back to you without a frayed jacket or being soaked with tea or I will buy a new one. I tried to call Jean this morning to talk about the book, but she was busy with her knitting group and will call me when she has time. She has a more purposeful retirement. She creates beautiful things from yarn.

Ever since we got to Montana (Don says Spokane) we have been “perpetual visitors”. I can’t even begin to guess the number of meals we have eaten with family and friends since the end of June. And here we are in Springfield with our meals scheduled out in front of us. Don left me home alone and went to visit some of his old work friends. Remember how happy I was to see familiar faces when we got to Montana. Now we are looking forward to seeing all strangers until we get back to Palmdale, I think. It has been wonderful to see you all and I’m glad that I got to spend time with every one of you. I have put on a few pounds from all that food and that is good if I don’t continue to add the pounds.

The last time I wrote, we were in Omaha and were planning to head for Excelsior Springs, MO to see friends Kay and Max. We arrived at their place, “Black Iris Farm” on September 21 and stayed until October 1. With careful preservation of water and judicious use of our wastewater tanks we were able to remain in one place without full hookups for those 10 days. It helped that we took the car over to Ottawa, KS to see brother-in-law Deed for a couple of nights. During our stay with Max and Kay we lapsed back into the industriousness for which we used to be well known. We had asked them to think of some work we could do to help them with their property as they have not been able to do everything that needs doing and they want to sell the place next spring L. Turns out their 54’X14’

deck needed a little work. It had been constructed with nails which were loosening and sticking up in places. Every board needed to be pried up, nails removed and put back down with screws. Once we finished that, it needed pressure washing which was mostly done by their son. Then it needed 2 coats of stain which we put down with brushes and rollers. Thirsty wood soaked up the stain. I have to confess, I pooped out on the last coat of stain and left Don, Kay and Max to finish the job while I went for a mani-pedi. I’m not proud of that. I don’t have a picture of the finished product, but I will try to get one from Kay. We took some time off while Erik was washing the Deck and worked on the Aqua Hot.

 On our way out of Minnesota, we had stopped at UPS in Maple Grove to pick up the last box of parts that had been mis-shipped. We commenced to remove the old diesel burner and put in the new one. It took about 3 hours and amazingly, when we fired it up it worked!!!!

Enough industriousness for now… back to perpetual visiting.

After we left Deed, who gave us a container of the most excellent pulled pork that I’ve ever eaten and some basil, we returned to pick up the camper and admire our handy work on the deck. It was vastly improved and will not be a detriment when they go to sell their place.

So we headed across Missouri on highway 36 to Hannibal where we stayed at the same place we stayed a year ago, Mark Twain Cave Campground. We had very full waste water tanks and needed full hookups so we could dump and rinse them out. We had dinner twice with our old friends Dennis and Vivian. Dennis was the store manager for Tempo in Jacksonville, IL where Don worked when we first moved here in 1974. We’ve known them a very long time. They are like family to us and grandparents to our children. While they are both dealing with health problems that come with age they have not lost their sense of humor or their gracious generosity. Once more we enjoyed a meal, awesome cake and a lively game of cards at their table.

We continued east on 36 which turns in I-72 and came to Springfield where we are staying at the Illinois State Fair Grounds Campground. It’s a good place to stay as it is close to town. Needless to say, we are once more having dinner with friends. On Sunday when we arrived, I couldn’t wait to see my good friend, Mary with whom I worked for many years in child welfare. She is in walking distance from here so I walked over and we talked while she made a pot of soup and chicken salad for sandwiches. We brought that back to the camper to share with Don and so Mary could see how we live.

Then we had steaks with friend Dwight and his son Adam. Dwight is also a friend from Tempo Days. Last night was dinner at Xochimilko Restaurant with friends Kathy and Jon. I stopped by the office today to see my friends there. They offered me my old job back but I declined. I think they are better off with the young enthusiastic workers who have so ably taken over. Later this week I will have lunch with some of my old lunch friends from child welfare days and breakfast with Kathy before we leave here on Friday morning. More food…. More friends.