DAY 36-37

 The COLD FRONT hit! The high today was 36 degrees and we are expecting a low of 23 degrees overnight then in the 40s tomorrow. We are staying in mostly except for a few dog walks. The water hose is disconnected for the night, leftovers are on the menu, and it's all good. Still better than the weather at home. It's been a good time to do some reading, working on an Afghan, and watching mysteries on TV. 

Sunday morning started out at about 22 degrees, but warmed up to the mid 40s before dropping back down into the 30s by evening. Since it was the 1st of February, Gus and I made our way down to the front office, a walk of about a mile each way, to get a new registration card for the car with a new gate code. They even let Gus into the office for a few minutes to warm up before walking back to our site. A lot of campers were leaving the park to go to a new destination.  We didn't stick around to see the onslaught of new campers coming in for February.  There weren't many people walking around while we were out, and definitely no pickleball going on. The weather is expected to improve tomorrow and the rest of the week is predicted to be in the upper 50s and low to mid 60s. 

While staying warm in our RV the rest of the day, we both read books. I finished Dr Seigel's book, The Miracles Among Us, a gift from Marybeth and an excellent read! I highly recommend it! 

We have no particular plans for tomorrow...we will see what the day brings.

Day 35 - Partly Sunny Skies

 The refrigerator is WORKING! We had to throw out a few items from the refrigerator...milk and half&half, but otherwise all is good. We are enjoying partly sunny/cloudy skies, depending on how you look at it, but it's in the 60s! We will take that. Gus and I took a long walk late morning, running into Maise, a chocolate lab, and her owner's along the way. Gus and Maise first met last year when we were down here,  so they are "old" friends now. When we got back from our walk, Jim and I went into town for a few supplies, including milk. We are back now and getting ready to enjoy our firepit...a good day for it! Tomorrow will be much too cold to sit outside at a fire.  Many campers pulled out today, ahead of the front, including our next door neighbors who always came over to visit Gus (and us), but mostly Gus!

This is our first fire for this trip...we have to have many more to use up all the wood Jim brought from home.

Now that's a fire!!!

DAY 34 - REFRIGERATOR FOCUS

 We got a notice this morning that our refrigerator part ( motor for the fan) was to delivered to the local CVS store this afternoon.  Jim went down there to pick it up about 12:30  pm. He spent over an hour installing the motor.

 The refrigerator has been running for 3 hrs now and the freezer temperature is down to 10 degrees, and the refrigerator temperature is below 50. Hopefully we will have the temps where we need them to be before morning. At least it's not making crazy noises....relatively quiet now! 

DAY 32 -33: Sleepover at Fitzpatricks.

 Today, Tuesday, we spent most of the day at Mike & Joanne's, staying warm in their home. We all went out for lunch at Rio Bravo for Taco Tuesday. The tacos were $2 each and fully loaded. This afternoon I worked with Donna to complete her photo book from our Ireland trip, and then Joanne fixed us a delicious dinner of chicken picata, potatoes and corn on the cob. We are staying overnight and Gus is happy to be hanging out here. 

Wednesday morning...a delicious breakfast was prepared by Joanne, following a dog walk around the nearby park. We never seem to run out of conversation, and the times just flies by. We are back on the road headed "home" to our RV. It is a warmer day today, still plenty of sunshine!

Arriving back at camp, we found the fan in our freezer was not working. The whole refrigerator was quite, so Jim tore apart the freezer to see what is going on. Now we have several noises being made by the appliance. The fan motor will hopefully arrive by Saturday and help resolve the problem. Until then we may be "blessed" with screech noices coming from it. 

DAY 31 - Very Cold, but SUNNY!

 I had an early start today my day yesterday, as I signed up for a class about things we find on the beach. We even created our own small terrarium from things found on the beach. The only problem I had was finding the building where the class was held. They did not provide clear directions to the building where the classroom was. I ended up being about 5 minutes late to class.  It was fun though. I will check the schedule to see if I can find any more interesting classes. 

The rest of the day remained cold and windy, so I had to bundle up to take Gus for a walk.

DAY 28- 30 - Lots of walks, bike rides and being outside

 Friday & Saturday we were able to be outside and good part of the day.....getting lots of Vitamin D. The temperatures were mild and partly sunny both days, so we took advantage by taking long walks with Gus, taking a spin on the bike, and just sitting outside and reading.  Today, Sunday,  we had a dramatic change in the weather hitting us about noon and almost taking out our big awning. We were able to get in down while getting ourselves very wet, and it seems to be OK. It is likely that we will have to take it down again tomorrow as they are forecasting strong winds, but no rain. The rest of the day we spent watching football and reading.   It was still a much better day than what was happening at home...lots of snow and ice, very dangerous driving.  We hope everyone stayed safe and warm!

DAY 27- Sunny and Warm!

 74 degrees and Blue skies! YEAH!!! This is more like it. We will enjoy it before another cold front comes in next week. It's still so much better than the weather at home. Keeping everyone at home in our thoughts and prayers as this massive storm is scheduled to hit this weekend. Stay safe and warm. Hopefully the power will not go out. 

I rode my ebike for the first time in a long time...since I busted my tailbone two years ago? Can't remember when I last rode it. I forgot how heavy the bike is, and I still hate the elevated ways with rails on both sides...they seem narrower than the paved paths and everyone rides down the middle. I walk my bike across those, and I am not alone. My destination today was the beach across the road from the campground to collect a few more items for my terrarium project on Monday.   There were many more people on the beach today than yesterday, fishing, sunbathing, and shell collecting.

Day 26- Cloudy but mild temperatures

 I did sign up for the craft activity on Monday, so I decided to visit Shell Beach, about 7 miles down the road and still part of the Gulf State Park System. The beach was mostly deserted except for a fisherman.  With collection bag in hand I walked the beach looking for shells and some more unusual items to use for this craft project. There were lots of little tiny shells, lots of broken pieces of shells, pieces of wood, and lots of feathers. Not much else. Because of the name, I expected more shells at Shell Beach. Now I am wondering how it got that name.  It is still a beautiful, expansive beach, and I enjoyed a long walk on it, although my knee may retaliate later. 

DAY 25 - Sunny & 60°

 

We have a section of the elevated trail system right behind our site. It is busy at times, but once the sun sets it is very quiet. Today it has not been very busy at all. Jim is out taking a ride. I would have joined him if Gus and I had not just gotten back from a 2.5 mile walk, mostly on the walking trails...no bikes! I need time to rest my knee now, and do some laundry.

I am thinking about signing up for a craft class for building a terrarium next Monday at 9 am.  The drawback is ...9 am...that is early for me....still thinking about it. I'll keep you posted on that. 

Day 24 - A Little Warmer snd Sunny

 

Happy Martin Luther King Day. The man is likely rolling over in his grave over the atrocious behavior of the leftist PAID protesters in Minneapolis and elsewhere. I doubt that many, if any, are actually residents of Minneapolis or even Minnesota.  This reminds me of the late 1960s, when rioting was going on across the country in the name of racial equality, only to find that very little was about racial equality.  My community in New Jersey had to deal with outsiders trying to disrupt life in the community and in the high school. None of it accomplished anything, except to see rioters put in jail for their misdeeds. I am sick of what the far left is trying to do...to destroy this Constitutional Republic (not Democracy, because we are NOT a Democracy) in the name of POWER, and control.  When politicians can't even acknowledge that men can't have babies, or that no man should be playing in a women's sports, or that there only 2 genders, male and female, we are in big trouble. I feel like we are living in another Sodom and Gommorah time period.  There is no longer respect for the law, respect for Christians or Jews...watch out because if something isn't done soon, this country will become another Cuba or worse! 

SORRY...BUT I NEEDED TO GET THAT OUT OF MY SYSTEM! I am very worried about the world my grandsons are growing up in, and if the freedoms we grew up with will be taken away from them, in the name of Socialism!

On a more positive note, we made a run up to Aldi for groceries, specifically, cheeses, pizza, wine, salad, Jim's cereal, eggs, and a few meats. We always save money shopping there, although we add things to the list that we might not get otherwise.  We have plenty for the next few weeks, unless Gus eats up all of his ice cream. He has a hard life!!!

We are enjoying spaghetti tonight, thanks to Joanne. I added some Italian sausage, not realizing she already had meatballs and sausage in the sauce she gave us. We will have plenty of meat in the sauce. Bon Appetite folks.  Go Miami tonight!

 

Day 23 - A Cold Day, but no snow.

 The rain ended overnight and we woke to sunshine and cold temperatures.  Gus and I took his morning walk after I got bundled up to face the cold. We walked past the group camping area, a sea of tents and lots of boys milling about. They had some folks in charge of food, and coffee for at least the adults. It is very organized. We will be interested to see if they stay another night since Monday is MLK day. At least the skies are blue, giving some warmth. 

After my walk with Gus, we listened online to our Sunday church service at home, and then had a hot breakfast. Later, we will be watching football games in the warmth of our RV, hopefully with better refs than last night's game. 

DAY 22- A Drive To Visit Friends

 We had a rainy start to our day today, with temperatures in the upper 50s. It is a good day to visit Joanne & Mike in Gulf Breeze after a stop at Joe Patti's. 

It only took about 15 minutes for me to get what I wanted at Joe Patti's.  Jim waited in the truck with Gus while I went inside to get shrimp, cod filet, orange roughy filet, and crab meat. They packed my cooler with the seafood and plenty of ice to keep it until we got back to camp in the evening. 

We then finished our drive to see Joanne & Mike, and enjoy some time together. I worked with Joanne to build their photobook from ours, swapping out about a dozen pics. Joanne fixed us a delicious dinner of spaghetti, salad, bread, and topped it off with coconut cream pie. YUMM!!!

We finally headed back to our RV, about a 75 minute drive, arriving home before 9 pm. 

DAYS 20-21

 Thursday was a very cool day, with the high temperature only reaching about 54 degrees. It was a good day to read a good book.  Today it is expected to reach 65 degrees....much better. It is still sunny, but there are more clouds around today. It might be a good evening to use the fire pit...we will see.

Gus likes hanging out outside, keeping watch over the site. 

I took a good walk down to the trash dumpster, about 3/4 mile away, and watching out for bikers with no respect for walkers. It is amazing how many don't know proper etiquette when passing walkers on a trail. The trail includes regular paved walkways and elevated wooden walkways, as well as directional signs along the way. 

This afternoon we made a trip to the local CVS to pick up an Amazon order...the only deliveries allowed in the campground are UPS and FedEx who deliver directly to the site. Amazon orders are sent by a variety of methods including UPS, but also the USPS, which is not allowed in the campground. That means having packages delivered to a central receiving area, like the CVS in Orange Beach.  Today's order was a replacement valve for the water dispenser on the toilet. Now the toilet valve doesn't leak thanks to Jim's handyman skills and lots of cussing. 

With a motorhome that is now 25 years old, there is always something that needs repaired or replaced. 

Day 19 - Challenges dealt with

 This was a day of challenges. I walked 2 miles up the office and back to cancel our reservations for next year. It actually turned out to be a bigger refund than I expected, but not on the card with the big balance from this month's payment for here. Oh well!  

We are having issues with the freezer fan. Jim is pretty sure he can fix it but will have to order a replacement fan, so we will tolerate the singing fan until that happens. 

I tutored this afternoon, using Zoom, but we had some glitches working off the student's parents account. Since her mother had to leave and go to a meeting, we had to improvise. It turned out that the Verizon system was down at the same time, which didn't help. We did manage to go over everything needed and hopefully she will do well on her quiz tomorrow.  I ended up purchasing 2 months of Zoom Professional so that we don't have to rely on the parent's account any more. 

On a good note, we have found a dog food that Gus really likes. It just means we may need more ice cream, his reward when he finishes his meal.

Day 18 - One more Dentist visit.

 I paid one more visit to the regular dentist...Dt Mary Edward Long. She took out the temporary "filling" and put in a permanent one to seal up my tooth & cap. Eventually I may have to have the cap replaced but this will work for the foreseeable future. No novacaine needed today! The procedure took about 20 minutes, for a cost of $400.  That is in addition to the $2200 already paid for this root canal. Hopefully the dental insurance will reimburse us half the cost. 

Afterward we visited Walmart for an assortment of things, including dog food, a few Mardi Gras decorations, and milk. I ended up in a long conversation about the best dog food to get with a fellow RVer. She also said we should check out a private RV Park in the area, which we may do today. 

This afternoon Jim and I visited Sun Outdoor RV Resort in Orange Beach, after talking with the woman in Walmart. We spent some time talking with a young gal named Madison about the resort and possibly spending January & February next year there instead of Gulf State Park. She gave us a guest pass to drive around and check out the facilities. We were impressed...enough to put down a $500 deposit on a site for next year. Tomorrow I will cancel our reservation for next year at Gulf State Park and get reimbursed about $1400 for that reservation. The private RV park is on the back side of Gulf State Park so we will still have access to the bike trails from there. Each site is fully paved, includes a picnic table, 2 Adirondack chairs, and a propane fire pit. Sun Outdoors has a lot of other amenities, including a restaurant on site, pickleball, corn hole, chair yoga, bingo, and other social activities. It is also close to shops, a movie theater, and several good restaurants, including Doc's Seafood. The big part is that it is only a few hundred $$ more than the State Park, with most of the money not due until we arrive Jan 1, and if we had to cancel we can get our deposit back up to 45 days before. The State park requires cancelation before July to get reimbursed. Below are a few pictures of the sites, including the one we reserved, #112.

DAY 16-17

 We said goodbye to warm temperatures....much cooler temps for at least the next week. At least it is sunny out. The cold mornings make it hard to get out of bed, but Gus insists on being taken out between 6:30 and 7 am usually. Jim has been doing most of the early morning walks, so today I knew it was my turn to put on layers of clothing and take the early shift with Gus. 

Yesterday, Gus and I took a long mid-day walk through the park, including the recreation area. We kept off the grass near the water because of sand burns, which can be very painful to Gus's paws. 

I'm sure we will take another long walk later today to explore other areas of the park. 

Jim took Gus for that long walk while I dealt with a migraine headache. Later we watched the Steelers play a terrible game against the Texans.  Time for Aaron Rodgers to quit football! I have never been a fan of Rodgers...too arrogant and self-promoting.