Oh my goodness-May 31, 2011

Where do I begin? First of all, 8-10 lanes of traffic in Knoxville caught us off guard. It is also the first city we have been through where the downtown area of the city is only a block off the interstate. Usually downtown is only visible in the distance. I think that's why the traffic was so horrendous. One would question why they built it that way? We passed about a dozen NASCAR trucks headed for the Kansas racetrack for this weekend's race. They are such pretty trucks and so exciting to see. As for our RV park, it is acceptable. The road construction and traffic are not acceptable. It cannot be described in words. Because it is so hot we are going to Smoky Mountain National Park tomorrow in high hopes of finding lower temps. I will say this whole area owes everything to Dolly Partin. She is from Sevierville. I have heard her describe what it was like to grow up here and I can tell you there is no way anybody could have predicted it would take 8-10 lanes to get the cars in and out of here. It was a tiny two lane dirt road when she lived here. Oh my goodness. Wonder what she thinks now? Maybe I should just call her on her cell and ask her!!

Outta here-May 30, 2011

It was a nice Memorial Day. We saw many extremely nice tributes to our veterans today. They were well deserved. We have made reservations at Riverside Plantation RV park in Sevierville, TN for tomorrow. So, we will get up in the morning and go through the routine. It is not hard at all and we already have it down to an art form. As we depart I always love that first look out of the front windshield. It is so huge and it gives such an awesome view. I am reminded of something my friend from junior high school, Linda who lives in Texas, shared with me. To paraphrase, it said the windshield is always many times bigger than the rear view mirror because we are to spend our time looking forward, not backward. I love that. We look forward to seeing more beautiful scenery and to meeting more interesting people. We will play less at being tourists in Tennessee than we will in North Carolina. We want to see the Biltmore House way more than we want to see Dollywood. And we want to see Smoky Mountain National Park from several different entrances. I wish everyone a great Tuesday. Try using your windshield more than your rear view mirror and see if it makes a difference.

Dinner at home - May 29, 2011

What a shock today was. This is a tourist area and every semi-decent eating establishment was closed including the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. We did not go anywhere. No need if it's closed. We ate at home. No complaints. It's much healthier. We tried to walk around the park but the smoke was so thick it was hard to breathe. I think it would take the fun out of walking if we had to have rolling oxygen tanks. We never dreamed so many people would do that much cooking outdoors. We have been trying to figure out where we want to stop next. There are way too many places near Pigeon Forge/Sevierville/Gatlinburg area. All reports we have read say the road construction is terrible, so we may not stay there as long as we originally planned. North Carolina is looking better and better. It was an incredibly hot day. It was in the mid 90s, a mere 10 degrees above normal. Silly old us. We thought being in the mountains meant cooler weather. Our son says it is extremely cool in Colorado for this time of year. Maybe we should head that way. Odds are, it would hit record highs the day we got there! All is well. Our day was not ruined in any way. It was just a different adventure than we planned, but still a wonderful Sunday. Happy Memorial Day tomorrow. And thanks to all of our veterans who fought for the freedom that allows us to complain because all the restaurants were closed. That puts life in perspective.

Full park-May 28, 2011

The park is full today. There are a kazillion people here. Well, maybe not quite that many. Everybody cooked outside tonight so there was so much smoke we did not have to worry about mosquitoes when we went for our walk. We were walking in a fog. Somewhere in that fog was a red covered wagon being pulled by a red pick-up truck. It was giving rides to the kids in the park. But I thought at first that we had inhaled too much smoke and our oxygen deprived brains were seeing things. I'm not ready to camp out. I want my food cooked inside and eaten off of glass plates. We stopped and talked to the couple next store who are originally from Illinois, but now live in Alpharetta, Georgia. (I have an uncle who lives there). We spent over 2 hours with them laughing and sharing coach info with each other. They do have problems and are going to have to leave tomorrow. Then he said he will repair it himself. This ended a day which started out at the biggest mall in Tennessee. Jerry really wanted to see it. I say if you have seen one mall, you have seen them all. But I took advantage of the excursion to walk inside in the air conditioning. We did not buy a thing. Once again we found our own way back without getting on the interstate. That is so much fun. You can sure find some pretty houses that way. It was a good day. Tomorrow maybe we will find time to go to the Chattanooga Choo-Choo for a meal. We'll see. I wish all of you a blessed Sunday. 

Incline-May 27, 2011

We have ridden the incline up to the top of Pikes Peak reaching an elevation of 14,110 feet. The Lookout Mountain incline is only 2100 feet. So, why did I not like it? Because there's a funeral home and monument manufacturer at the foot of the hill, where the incline stops! I could not muster a single laugh at that sight. When you get on this incline at the bottom, you are seated leaning back. When you get to the top you are leaning forward because it is a 78% incline straight up the side of the mountain. Pikes Peak uses switchbacks to prevent that step incline. It is much more comfortable to go up Pikes Peak. However, this does provide a very pretty view of Chattanooga  and a unique perspective of the meandering Tennessee River. It was a cool day, thankfully, because we chose to walk 3 blocks down the street (still on top of the mountain) and go through Point Park. It was still a great view, but lots of trees filled with guess what? None other than those pesky Potato Bugs that we found in Lacey's Spring, Alabama. Here they are called Katy Dids. So, now I know for sure they are all related to locusts. The noise was almost defeaning under those trees. A Park Ranger told us that the tornado that destroyed Ringgold, GA hit the top of the mountain on April 27th. There was extensive damage to a couple of houses there and many huge trees pulled up and thrown down. Just another reminder of how blessed we are. We remain very thankful.

Rain-May 27, 2011

We stayed in the coach all day yesterday because it rained cats and dogs. And when the inventory of cats and dogs ran low, it rained frogs and toads. We thought we were going to be testing this coach to see if it was amphibious. We suspect it is not. The rain was fine with us because we were waiting on a month's worth of mail from Orange Beach to be delivered to us. That package of mail was like a Christmas gift. We had so much fun opening it. It is still overcast this morning but we are headed to Lookout Mountain hopefully to ride the Incline. Have a great day!

Aquarium and more-May 25, 2011

I don't want this to be long but I think it will be. We had quite a day. Several people told us to see the Chattanooga Aquarium. We have seen two or three other Aquariums across the country including the one in Denver where there was a restaurant inside. I bonded with a cute fish that watched me while I ate. I wasn't eating any of his family. I had a salad. Anyway, we had a weak moment and thought we would go. After an unbelievable and frustrating attempt to buy tickets, we finally got ours. The Chattanooga Aquarium is TWO separate aquariums, one  called Ocean Journey and the other called River Journey. We walked for at least 3 hours and I can't estimate how many miles. It was set up beautifully. There were fabulous displays in both buildings. But as far as I am concerned they could have skipped the snake displays. The Tennessee River display had weird banjo music playing. We almost left through an exit! There were some beautiful frogs. The jelly fish display was the most unique of all. They had lights in the bottoms of the tanks that changed colors while some very pretty music was playing. Really nice. There was also a rain forest inside and a butterfly room. The orchids were beautiful. I can't think of enough adjectives to describe the hours spent in those aquariums. It was costly and worth every penny. Then we walked across the street to a Mexican restaurant. Yet another adventure. When we sat down, a fly (yes, that's disgusting) started annoying the daylights out of us. The food came and the fly left. Jerry said we should not eat food that a fly runs away from! I did not eat much after that hilarious statement. So far we are fine. We came all the way back to the park without ever getting back on the interstate. Amazing how wonderful maps are. I'm so sorry for people who rely on GPS. Life is so much more fun when you figure out your own way. We are watching the weather and hoping for the best..........for everybody. What a great day we had. Wish you had been with us.

Arrived!-May 24, 2011

We are all checked in and connected to the Holiday Trav-L-Park Chattanooga which is in Rossville, Georgia. If you can follow that you are better than I. Anyway, we have settled in already for a week's stay. We did not want to be on the road over the Memorial Day weekend. The only bad part about this is that it is in the Eastern Time Zone. We don't like that, it messes up our favorite TV shows. But, we are determined not to let anything get us down. Central is the very best time zone as it agrees with our internal time clocks. There are many, many things to do here. You have been forewarned that the upcoming blogs will be about our tourist adventures, at least for the next week. It is hot, but A/C is working great. For the first time, our coach is at the correct direction for us to sit outside and watch our "downstairs" TV. We can't wait for it to cool down to take a walk and see all the coaches that are here. One section is for 5th wheel trailers only. We are in the pull-through section. Thank goodness. This is rated as one of the top 10 parks in the US. Our park manager in south Huntsville came out to say good-bye to us this morning. (that's not typical). He's such a nice man. I hope we do see him again. I am so confused. I think it is near 4:00 and it is really 5:00. That changes everything. but it's ok. We need challenges to keep us sharp, to teach us how to be humble and help us remember to be grateful for all we have and do.

Leaving Tuesday-May 23, 2011

A man who came into the park yesterday came over this evening to talk about our "rig". I thought that was a semi truck, but anyway, we thanked him for his kind words. He worked for Caterpillar in Illinois and was laid off. He came here looking for work. We know nothing about jobs available here, but we wished him the best. So much sadness around us. We are so incredibly blessed. Not sure there's any way to help this man, but we certainly hope he finds a job. We will be leaving tomorrow morning, headed for Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is just a short hop up the road. We will stay there until after Memorial Day. We did not want to be on the road that weekend especially since this is still new to us. We have had this "rig" since March 14th and we will be out of Alabama tomorrow for the first time. We've been feeling like a ball in a pinball machine. Bouncing around from one spot to another but never really going anywhere. Tomorrow we hit the jackpot!

TV Show-May 23, 2011

I promised myself I would use this forum only for our trip, but I must share this with you. Last night on the National Geographic channel there was an hour long special entitled Tornado2011. It was about the April 27th outbreak of tornadoes. There are no words I can think of that adequately describe what footage they showed. Check your TV line-up to see when it replays again. It is worth watching and that's an understatement. They had footage that has not been shown on any channel at any time. One was a cell phone video of a young lady in her car when the car was picked up and flipped by a tornado. She survived, thankfully. They showed footage of downtown Cullman that no one has seen. It was unbelievable. Please try to watch it because it shows how complacent Southerners have become because we have so many warnings that we ignore them. It will change how you feel about those warnings. I'm so happy to see the sunhine this morning!

Space Center-May 21, 2011

We became tourists again today and went to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. I've known about that place all my life, but never did I really understand what went on there. I did not give them enough credit for their part in the space race as it was called years ago. I knew about Wernher Von Braun coming here to work on our ICBM program, but did not know that he and his entire crew had actually surrendered to the U. S. after the war. He worked first in Fort Bliss, TX. We are certain that our park manager was part of that program. He has shared so many wonderful stories with us. We were amazed at how tiny those original capsules were. Our astronauts were really very small men in physical size, but big in heart and courage. They had to be small to fit in! It was an incredibly interesting visit. The Lunar landing module was very small too, for such a big step in our space program. If you are ever near here, be sure to see it. It requires a lot of walking through gigantic buildings and on the grounds, but it is so worth it. Just another reason to be proud of the United States.

Unclaimed Baggage-May 20, 2011

Today we decided to drive to Scottsboro, Alabama. It's just "up the road". And the roads were wonderful. Unclaimed Baggage is the place that gets ALL of the lost airline baggage that does not get connected with its owner. They get 7000 pieces of unclaimed baggage per day. It comes from all of the airlines. You cannot imagine what this place is like unless you have been there. We went there a couple of years ago and had talked about going back since then. It is a fabulous place. They have a great merchandiser and the entire place has been updated and rearranged since we were there. There are some wonderful bargains if you take the time to search. I got a watch today. I had broken my other one. I'm not sure why I now need a watch, but I was lost without one on my arm. Jerry got shorts, shirt and belt. I passed up a brand new Michael Kors handbag for $147.50. It was beautiful but so heavy that it had to have been half a tanned cow. I told Jerry this is the second time I have passed up a nice handbag in that store, so next time, I'm saving my dimes and pennies and I'm going to get a real beauty. A girl's gotta have dreams! It was such a pleasant trip. The weather was very nice. We ate at the Magnolia House as we did last time. Delicious. If you ever get close to Scottsboro, by all means, go there. You just have to see it to believe it.

Potato Bugs-May 19, 2011

Today as we were going about the business of being tourists, we kept hearing this really loud noise in some thickly wooded areas on the smaller roads. Finally we stopped at the Valmerosa (Alabama) Post Office to ask what that noise was? I'm so sorry this blog does not have sound because the man who replied had a hilariously thick accent from the back woods. He said "Them'ses Potato Bugs." Ok, but there are no potatoes grown around here. "Don't matter, they only show up ever 11 years and they don't stay long." Now I ask you what are the odds that we would happen to be here on that 11th year? The noise they make is unbelievable. Based on the volume "them'ses bugs" have to be the size of rabbits. The man also said only the male makes noise while trying to attract females. If I were a female potato bug, I'd tell that dude to shut up! We did not hear them tonight on the way back to our coach. Apparently they get tired or really bad sore throats. Changing the subject, we ate in Decatur with friends from Ono. We learned that Decatur and Huntsville are really not too close together. That's quite a drive. But it was a nice evening.

The world gets smaller-May 18, 2011

Point Mallard in Decatur is packed to the gills through Memorial Day. We suspected we might run into that. So, we picked a phone number, called and was directed to Mountain Breeze RV Park in Lacey's Spring, just south of Huntsville. The couple who own this park have a house in Foley, Alabama. They live part of the year there and part here. For those out of state, Foley is just north of Orange Beach. They even know some people on Ono that we know. This has been two extreme "small world" happenings in a week. So, see, we were not supposed to stay in Decatur. Again, this part of Alabama is beautiful. Big hills, tons of trees abound. We may stay past Memorial Day since everything could be booked. We'll use this as home base and make small side trips in the car. We might even venture back to the Unclaimed Baggage warehouse in Scottsboro. That's a place that cannot be described. At this point we are not sure exactly what we are going to do. But I will say it is quiet and peaceful here. I'll keep you posted as we progress through the upcoming days. Every day is fresh and new and we welcome the adventure.

On the road-May 18, 2011

What a beautiful day it is! Our service work was completed early. Our service tech, Stanley, was one of the nicest men we have EVER met in that line of work. We stayed in the coach while he worked because he was so much fun. They have a very nice lounge, but we enjoyed laughing with him. He lived "seven miles down the road" and his great niece who is 4 years old calls him every morning to see if he is going "to work over".  We decided to wash this baby when we backed out of the repair bay. That means we both took an unplanned shower! It is a whole lot of vehicle to wash. Then we checked out and got on Hwy 24. We just passed Russellville. Decatur is a short drive, but that's ok. We are going to visit with friends for a couple of days. Then we will decide our next stop. We have to plan ahead because of the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. It will all be fine. We are driving through some pretty country right now. I just love this MiFi! Bless Verizon. Have a wonderful day.

Factory-May 17, 2011

While we were waiting on our turn at the gigantic repair shop, we went into town and took a tour of the Tiffin Motor Homes production facility. Well, one of them. They have several in several cities in both Alabama and Mississippi. While we were signing in it was announced that we were all from Alabama which rarely happens. Then in came Oklahoma, Tennessee and New Zealand. Yep, you read that right. I so wanted to ask them if they drove, but decided I'd behave myself which I rarely do in public. They were a couple of really unusual people. As if that wasn't enough we saw them tonight at dinner, too. The tour took a little over 2 hours, all of it on foot. It was actually very interesting. While they use computers to get the measurements accurate, they still build their coaches by hand. Tiffin employs 825 people at this location. The town is only 3500 people so they are a critical part of this economy. I can vouch for the fact it is a town of very, very nice people. We have a fan left to be repaired tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM. Then we are done and we will leave immediately after that. We will head to Decatur and hope to find a space available at the Point Mallard RV park which comes with excellent recommendations. Not sure how long we will be there. Will keep you posted. Now we can say we have been to Red Bay, Alabama. Can you say the same thing? We spoke with a couple from Tennessee tonight who gave us directions around Pigeon Forge and suggested the best place to stay. That's probably how we are going to make our way across the country. That could be a big mistake or it could be loads of fun. We'll see.

Proded-May 16, 2011

Well, the man with the cattle prod finally got to our corral at noon today. We told him what we needed and he said we qualify for "express". That means we get a tech or two for 3 hours. And they will do all they can on our list in 3 hours. Then we are done. We pack up, pay and exit. If we had wanted to stay until a tech was available for a regular service appointment we could be here two weeks. No thank you. We have adjusted our list and will be doing a few things ourselves. What we are learning is amazing. I am so sorry I was not ready to go outside this morning to take a picture. At 7:00 AM there were 49 coaches all lined up at huge bay doors, noses to the door just like cattle at a trough. It was hilarious. Some of them got to go home. And some had to limp back to their original corrals only to go back to the trough tomorrow morning, same time. This is way too funny to put into words. We will be taking a tour of the factory tomorrow. It is a very small facility for the number of coaches they turn out in a month. We drove the entire city today. They have two huge cemeteries here. Seems odd for such a tiny town. They have one Mexican restaurant, the Piggly Wiggly buffet and Gill's Grill. That's it for food except we found a farmer's market today. The tomatoes weigh over a pound a piece. Do cattle eat tomatoes?? Everybody has been really nice. But we can't get away from feeling like cattle going to slaughter!

Arrival at Red Bay-May 15, 2011

We have checked in at Tiffin Motor Homes. Their park is an old airport landing strip. Very elegant. Not. But cheap. We already feel like we
are in a huge herd of cattle. We're all members of the same herd but with slightly different markings. Some brown, some tan, some black, etc. We fully expect to be awakened by a cattle prod to the derriere tomorrow morning. Then they tell us when we can go to the trough and feed. In our wildest dreams we never expected to see this many motor coaches waiting for work to be done. Silly us. A service person will talk to us tomorrow about how long our requests will take. Then we will know how long we will be in this little tiny town. If Tiffin was not located in this town, Red Bay would not exist. They are the largest employer in a 4 county radius. I doubt I will have time in the morning to blog. I will be waiting on the herder to get us moving. I mean mooo-ving.

On the road again-May 15, 2011

We were treated to another fireworks display last night. It was very different that the one the night before, but it was equally as pretty. What a treat! They must have heard we were leaving today and wanted to give us a good send off. It is very chilly this morning. Just our luck. We could barely breathe last week and it was miserable heat. Today is very crisp, 65 degrees inside the coach. We love it. We have had a wonderful week in Birmingham. We have been blessed with fun times with great friends, meeting new friends. We've had so much delicious food. If we continue at this rate we are going to need "wide load" banners, not on the coach, but on us! We have had more time with mother than we've had since Ivan and enjoyed that time immensely. We met my niece's two precious children which we never had the opportunity to do before. It was a week of firsts and it was great. Now it's time to move on but we will return again soon. Our goal today is to get to Red Bay, Alabama and check in at Tiffin Motor Homes. We want to make a few changes inside which we prefer they do. I wish everyone a blessed day.

A cloudy Saturday-May 14, 2011

At exactly 10 PM last night we heard a noise that made us think we were going to be part of a "drive-by". For a split second we didn't know what to do. Then we saw the light outside of our windshield. We were treated to a fabulous fireworks display at the adjacent baseball park. We are parked facing the stadium and the Birmingham Barons are home all week. We had no idea there was going to be any fireworks. It was the best fireworks display we have seen in at least 10 years. There were many we have never seen before. Such a treat. Who would have thought there would be such a happening on a Friday night and on Friday, the 13th, no less? It was terrific. Sorry you missed it!

Forgot-May 13, 2011

I failed to tell you about the tornado damage we saw today. It was in a part of Birmingham known as Cahaba Heights. We were in the area of Rocky Ridge Road. We had not heard a word about it on TV. It was pretty extensive damage. All of the gigantic trees that were blown down have been chopped up and they are lying on the sides of the roads. Blue tarps abound. Brings back negative memories of life after Hurricane Ivan. In some places the electrical wires had been on the ground and someone (Power Co people?) had used ropes to tie them to trees just so cars could navigate the road. It was really sad. We rode through there in shock. I said a silent prayer for them as we drove through. It is a very nice section of town so hopefully they all have insurance to help them out. Sometimes I need a Divine slap in the face to know my life is not bad at all. In fact it's wonderful!

Blog missing-May 13, 2011

Unfortunately I have a blog missing and I'm not sure where it went. I hope it's just on my end and everyone got to read it. All I can do is carry on. We have had a couple of very busy days. Not complaining. It started raining while my niece and her two adorable kids were here this afternoon. She said "oh, listen to that sound". Rain on our roof is the next best sound to rain on a tin roof. It is heavenly. It's the kind of sound that lets your mind relax. I forgot to tell you that we met a very nice snowbird. On the coast, nice snowbird is an oxymoron. He suggested places for us to stay. He has spent the winter in Florida and was heading home. We plan to go to Michigan one day and drive in the left lane with our right turn indicator on, never exceeding 20 mph. That's what we have had to deal with on the beach. It's our turn! We are staying here one extra day, not because we like this RV park, but because we need to spend another day with my mother. We've not had enough time with her as we had planned.

Good visit-May 12, 2011

Jerry put a note on the State Farm guy's door yesterday. So, as soon as he, Todd, got home from work he came over. We had a great visit. He helped us, probably without realizing it, understand how appraisers work during a catastrophe. It is not at all what we thought. His kids are 2 and 4 years old. He talks to them on Skype. I think we need to explore that. It sounds easy which us poor tech-lacking people need. He thanked us for a change in his routine and said he would see us again before we leave. Living in an RV park makes us live like we used to when I was growing up. Nobody knows anybody's phone numbers so you can't call or text. You have to knock on their door. It's really kind of neat. And then you actually sit down and talk to your company. In that sense, this lifestyle is so much simpler.

Small World -May 11, 2011

There is a travel trailer and a red pick up truck parked two aisles over from us with Colorado license plates. Last night, at dusk, we went over to ask what part of Colorado he is from. He replied at first that he is from Fort Collins. Our surprised looks prompted him to say that he actually is from Berthoud but nobody knows that name. We really had shocked looks then. When he told us what road he lives on we both about fainted. It is the same road we lived on, that Jerry grew up on and also farmed. The same dirt road. County Road 46. As he continued, we know very well the people he lives beside. He works for State Farm and is working on claims in the Birmingham area, mainly west of here. He said their orders are to be extremely visible and to assist as many as possible. He already knows he is going to be transferred to Memphis as soon as the Mississippi River starts to recede. We are going to try to talk to him again tonight. He is away from his wife and children. He said he has to complete 4 weeks before he can start going home every two weeks. Bless his heart. He is such a nice young man. We went for a walk after that and kept saying to each other, "Do you believe this?". In this case the world is way smaller than we thought it was. And you never know what you will find when you reach out to somebody.

Hot--May 10, 2011

I can tell you quite honestly that I am going to be a good person from now on. It is hot as #@&* and I do not want to live forever in this heat!! Unbelievable. We are both drained and struggling to go outside at all. 91 degrees and 90% humidity. We still have people we want to see. Then we are headed to mountians somewhere. I hope it is cooler where you are.

Monday Morning-May 9, 2011

We woke up this morning to fog. We're on top of a hill (called a mountain here) and the fog looked like glistening snow over a sea of beautiful green trees. It is so pretty here. I can't say that enough. We might explore some today. I grew up here but it has changed in that eons of time. Yesterday a Newell motorcoach came into the park. That's my dream coach. It's not Jerry's because he knows we can't afford one, not ever. It is beautiful just to look at. I cannot imagine being inside. Newell's are what the NASCAR drivers live in while they are traveling. In fact Richard Petty's old coach was listed for sale on the internet the last time we checked. I say a girl's gotta have dreams. Here's wishing everyone a wonderful day!

Arrived-May 7, 2011

We are in Hoover RV Park, in Hoover, Alabama. Nice park but it's on asphalt. We will be here a week.
We felt a little better today but it was tense coming through road construction. We have learned that these coaches do not stop on a dime and you cannot dodge potholes in the street. We have also learned several things not to do. 1) Do not leave your DirecTV antenna on during travel. It searches the whole time you are moving and when you finally stop it is not a happy camper. It goes on strike. 2) Do not trust that all drivers understand that a motor home does not yield to traffic zooming down the on ramp onto the interstate. 3) Do not fill the fuel tank from only one side. There is only one tank but it has a ballast in the middle and both sides must be filled. Otherwise you get better gas mileage, on paper, than you do in a car! You know that means something is not right. We think we have at least a kazillion things to learn in the days ahead. Hope we are not too long in the tooth to do so. This is still quite an adventure. Happy Mother's Day to all my friends who may or may not get to share the day with their younguns.

First stop-May 6, 2011

We made it to just south of Montgomery. We were completely exhausted from having to learn so much just to get down the road.
Poor Jerry was so tired, he said early this afternoon that he was sick and tired of the car that had been following us all day. (We can see it on the back up camera). Bless his heart, it was our little CRV. That stands for Cute Red Vehicle. I knew then we needed to stop and let him get out from behind the wheel. Weatherwise it could not have been better, but the stress was immense. We have already laughed about it tonight, so we'll be off again tomorrow morning to another place. We hope to spend a week at Hoover RV Park. It sounds nice and it is as close as we can get to Mother's house. If it is as nice as the pictures we'll stay there about a week. So, Birmingham friends you have been warned that we are on the way! We have started talking about a destination after this, maybe North Carolina for a couple of months. That's the fun part of RVing. You are free to go anywhere.

ON THE ROAD! May 6, 2011

 We are on I-65 north of Atmore. We stopped across from the casino to walk around the coach and check the car.
I could hear a slot machine calling my name, but Jerry pushed me back in the coach and we are on the road again.
This gigantic windshield gives one a whole different perspective of the world. The seats are very comfy. The ride
is much smoother than we anticipated. But people drive just like we had been warned. We are going as slow today
as a conestoga wagon carrying pioneers. Now I know what they felt like except we had a wasp in Jerry's front window
and I doubt they had that problem. We have indoor plumbing, too! We are so blessed. Our goal is Prattville tonight.
Sorry you can't be in here to experience this adventure first hand!!

Ok to go-May 5, 2011

First thing this morning, before coffee, I called a refrigerator repairman recommended by Norcold. He had a spare part left because the RV he ordered it for pulled out and left. So, he came right out and our refrigerator is ok to go. This is how this entire journey has been so far. When we hit a roadblock, with prayer, a door is opened and we move forward. We are so extremely blessed. We will spend the remainder of the day going over things and relaxing. Then we will, God willing, hit the road tomorrow. This repairman lived in Colorado not far from where Derrick is right now. So, he and Jerry are standing outside on this beautiful day shooting the breeze about all things Colorado. We hope for no more excitement today!

Fridge trouble-May 4, 2011

Very late this afternoon Jerry happened to open an RV magazine and see a recall on our refrigerator. I called the toll free number and was told to disconnect the refrigerator immediately and get it repaired locally as a fire could happen and cause us harm. Well, duh, this is our home and we lived without refrigeration after Ivan. I'm not going to do that again in bright sunshine. However, I do not want to enter a blog that says "She's smoking!!!!!" so I guess tomorrow we will see what we can do. Seems odd that we finally get a day to call this our official home and then start putting things together to leave and the magazine ad falls in our lap. The dealer did not notify us nor did the manufacturer. There must be a reason for this, but we are buffaloed at this point. Will keep you posted. Do any of you know a good RV refrigeration man????

We are adjusting-May 4, 2011

Jerry said on Sunday that the water closet in this coach is so small.........how small is it?..........it's so small that a man cannot take care of business and read the Sunday paper. There's only room for a Reader's Digest. So, for his birthday today, Jerry got the latest copy of Reader's Digest. Now he's a happy camper!
We are adjusting. You know you can't change the wind but you can adjust your sails. We have many adjustments in our sails in our future.

About ready to leave, May 3, 2011

We will not leave tomorrow as planned. We should have everything ready to go by tomorrow night, so we think we can leave by Thursday. I think we are just going to have to quit moving stuff around and trying to plan ahead and get on the road. We can just stop at Wal Mart (ugh) and buy what we forgot. I do believe we would both appreciate a prayer for our safe journey. Jerry said if we made it to I-10 the first night he would call it successful. I was sort of hoping for I-65!