Labor Day Weekend

I put my closet in order and I have way too many clothes.  Slacks, capris and shorts in black, navy, white and beige take up a whole rack.  You can only wear one pair at a time!  And three drawers of casual tops plus another rack of better tops.  Then there is a smaller area of dresses.  I have sworn off shopping for a long while.

I went through our meds and toiletries and got that all situated and the linen closet shelf put in order.  Next up was the pantry which was jammed hither and yon with what we brought home.  We can leave many things in the RV pantry but opened boxes, etc. would draw bugs and go stale and some canned goods are a constant in our pantry at home so I bring them so I don’t find in the middle of cooking that what I need is in the motorhome!  

Last I worked on the things on my desk.  I am always happy when that is all done down to balancing the check book.  I felt good surfacing without feeling worn out.  And, I cooked dinner every night.  

Saturday we went to Mass and I wore a dress I had bought for Cancun in May, that got cancelled.  I had a new bathing suit with me all summer and never removed the tags.  Afterwards we met Terry and Carol at our favorite Mexican restaurant and got caught up.

Sunday I cleaned and cooked because we were having Tommy, Susan, Stella and Jay over for Labor Day.  Ted cooked pulled pork and I made cole slaw, fruit salad, Mac & cheese and beans.  

Susan brought a cake for dessert.  We talked non-stop because it has been a long time since we had been with Jay and Stella.  Normally they are in Colorado in the summer.

Ted went shooting Tuesday and I had my nails done after six weeks.  And in the afternoon I had my mammogram almost three months late.  But you have to wait one year in between which was June 14 and we left June 9.  Thursday we both get haircuts.  The next weeks we will be getting caught up with all our doctors.  

Wednesday Ted went in search of our medical eye files since I could not find our eye doctor, trying three different phone numbers, all disconnected.  He remembered we had seen him at Avery Eye Clinic last year so he went there.  Our doctor was there, only doing eye surgeries and is retiring at the end of the year.  They gave Ted papers for us both to fill out to get our files transferred to the clinic as new patients.  Ted also made appointments for us.  

I didn’t have to search long for our dentist.  He was where I left him!  I made that appointment too.  I received word today my mammogram was benign.  Always good news!

We received a photo of CeCe after she had just taken a bite of a pickle.  She started walking at 10 months and I think she looks as if she is saying “you” whatever came next!  She apparently is an adventuresome and good eater.  

Thursday was haircut day and it took the whole afternoon.  Cindy cuts a little, stops and talks, then cuts a little more.  She could double her number of customers if she talked less and cut more.  But she does a good job so we put up with it.  

Friday Ted worked a shoot at the gun club.  These outings can be trying because you have people who have never handled a gun. Goal #1 - keep everyone safe!  We had brought some LaRosa’s pizza sauce from Cincinnati so we made pizza for dinner.

Saturday was a do nothing day until we went to church at 5:00.  Then we went to Cracker Barrel where I can get chicken or fish and vegetables.  These stubborn two pounds are not going away.  I know, I know ... the pizza didn’t help!

I am starting to work on next summer’s trip.  This year was so hard because so many rules, so much closed, dangerous hotspots you don’t want to travel through, etc.  But we had a great time visiting so much family, some friends and stopping at small towns we probably never would have.  Except for the window thing, it all went well.  

Next summer I know we have to arrive on Sanibel Island around June 18 for a week.  This outing replaces Cancun that got cancelled.  Then we will visit Kristin in Orlando, Tom and Eileen near St. Augustine, Freightliner in Gaffney, SC for yearly maintenance, and arrive in Raystown, PA for our 11th family reunion on July 19.  It’s a start!  This is 2019, Nashville Shores in Tennessee.  

My friend Gerre had surgery awhile back and is still not totally mobile so I offered to take them dinner.  She said she would like to get out of the house and could they come here.  I said of course because I did not have to pack it all up.  Ted grilled pork tenderloins.  I made cherry sauce to go with it.  I told them they were my guinea pigs because I was making my tried and true wild rice in the Instant Pot recipe for   the first time ... and it worked!  Instead of baking for 1.5 hours, it was done in 35 minutes!  Green beans, fried apples and banana cream pie rounded out the non-WW meal!  Fortunately I was 1.6# off my numbers today (in the wrong direction)!

Wednesday was laundry day, and boy did I have a bunch!  Turns out I hadn’t done any in a week and a half.  That and cooking dinner was about all I did.

Our sprinkler system has seen better days so we had a sprinkler company out today to replace the above ground pipes, include a new valve box and cut off two sprinklers that aren’t sprinkling anything needing watering!  I also put a call into a deck company to have someone come give us an estimate on replacing our deck.  We had it built along with the house in 2003.  It gets intense sun facing west and really needs attention, up to and including replacement.

Leftovers for dinner and let’s call this week a wrap! 

What A Trip Home

 Sunday we pulled out of Red Bay Acres in Alabama heading to Vicksburg, MS.  

We had an uneventful trip to Ameristar Casino Campground.  We stayed there several years ago and the park looks better than what I remember.

We continued on Monday, crossing the mighty Mississippi River, and entered Louisiana.  It was near Monroe while I was talking to Kristin, there was a loud crack that sounded like a shot!  It scared the heck out of all three of us.  We guess it was a rock that hit the driver’s side window.  It cracked into a kaleidoscope of small pieces but just hung there.  We determined it was the outer pane broke and the inner pane was intact.  Our intention was to drive to the upcoming rest area and  tape it when Whoosh! It all went flying behind us and broke a lady’s windshield.  We pulled in at a truck stop and exchanged info.  Ted used a whisk broom to sweep the pieces that hung in the edges, sweeping them up so no one would ruin a tire.  Then we  headed out again.  The lower left hand window is the one that lost its outside pane.  However, it is all one unit so the entire thing will be replaced.

It wasn’t too long and the windshield wiper on my side went to the right, past the edge of the window, and stayed there.  We stopped again and determined it was a stripped shaft and just hoped the rain wouldn’t start up again.  Ted’s was working but a broken one, flailing around, could be dangerous.  So we stopped at a Freightliner dealer in Shreveport and they removed it all and sent us on our way.  No charge!

We continued on to Carthage where we had a reservation and stay often.  We didn’t want to unhook the car so we just ate in and went to bed after a trying day.  The next morning we headed to Woodlands Lake for two nights.

I spent the rest of the day and the next day, emptying out and cleaning the inside of the coach.  Ted washed the outside which is a big job.  When we finished, there was lots of stuff to put away at home and laundry to do.  

We also spent a lot of time talking to our insurance company, their glass people, repair facilities, and Newmar.  I think it is falling into place to get the ball rolling.  The window unit has to be manufactured and it will be 4-6 weeks.  That leaves our October San Antonio trip up in the air.  The past two years we have not stayed at my brother’s banker’s Air BnB but we may this year!  It is a nice place but far from the shooting complex so we chose to stay in the trailer closer to the complex but if the RV is not ready, we will join them once again.  

Thursday morning we went to the campground and got ready to put the RV away.  I followed Ted to storage and we backed it in with no trouble.  He said I do a terrific job directing him.  There isn’t a lot of room for error with only two feet on either side. And the huge mirrors stick out pretty far so you have to account for them to get past the poles.  It is clean inside and out.  But now we wait the 4-6 weeks until the window and wiper components arrive from Newmar to be installed.

I stopped at Nancy’s for our packages and mail and to give her a gift and a thank you gift card,  She has all our important things right in the front of the box so it was easy to renew Ted’s driver’s license, activate our new EZ passes, reminded us to get the Expedition inspected to renew its plate, filed our two titles that had arrived, filed some stock quarterly reports, etc.  There is actually very little “important” mail anymore.   Lots of ads and magazines.  What used to take me days to go through only takes an hour or so now.

I will be busy for another day or two getting what we brought back home into the right spot.  I hung our clothes up in the closet but I need to get it sorted by item and color and hung all together.  Then there are the meds and toiletries.  That took a bit of sorting but I got it done.  There is still stuff on my desk that will get tackled on Friday.  I expect by the beginning of the holiday weekend, things will be back to normal.

Laura Ignored Us

We didn’t do much but cook, talk, and take walks while we watched the Weather Channel non stop.  We vacillated between worrying about home and concern for us here in the aftermath. 

Ted and I located all 4 storm shelters and I had a “go bag” on standby just in case we needed to leave in a hurry.   But that never happened. We watched in horror as Cameron and Lake Charles, neighbors to the east at home, took a tremendous pounding. The storm surge did not materialize and that is something to be thankful for. 

What did become a concern was the onward  march of this powerful storm. The prediction was continuing north and a sharp turn to the east.  If it stayed to the west we would be ok and if it turned east far enough north, it would go above  us.  The staggering remnants of Laura swirled all around us.  But our weather remained fine. It wasn’t until Friday night that the final tail swept across us depositing a tremendous amount of rain and she was gone!

The work was finished in Tommy’s motorhome, our coast was clear and we made plans to head for home.  We spent way more time than planned here in Red Bay so we decided to forego Montgomery, Foley and Breaux Bridge and head for home on Sunday.

But we had one more thing we had wanted to see and that was the Dismal Canyon.  The map and unmarked trails were dismal but the name comes from little glow worms that can be seen at night called dismalites.

Susan chose to go with us and what a workout it was.  There was a hill down from the parking lot to the start of the illusive trail and 5 sets of steps to the canyon floor after that.  Then the fun began.  There was a general consensus among ourselves, and most others, that the map was useless.  It showed a trail up one side of the creek and down the other with landmarks with names.  Sounds simple enough!  

The trail is not marked and tree roots and slippery rocks are the norm.  Having no idea where to go was next.  We ran into people coming back because they couldn’t find a trail to continue on without having to walk in the water.  And the landmarks were anyone’s guess!  And there are no signs or markers.  Except one that said Private Property marked off with red tape and two yellow rods forming an X that said Do Not Enter Snake Pit!! 

The area is beautiful and we certainly enjoyed seeing it.  We had a lot of fun and laughs in trying to navigate but it wasn’t easy.  Three times we had to walk in water to continue because we could not find a trail to continue from where we were.  We were all dead tired by the time we returned home to Tommy and the dogs.

Company Coming!

On Friday we moved to Red Bay, AL, also known as Tiffin Country, to meet up with Tommy and Susan.  In a park of 60 units, 58 are Tiffin motorhomes, one is a Pinnacle 5th wheel for the camp host and one Ventana, that would be us.  On a good note, we are the only motorhome in here NOT here for any kind of repair!

We have just been hanging out in this lovely park.  We have driven around town but that didn’t take long. We did eat at a Mexican restaurant for lunch one day.  AL can’t hold a candle to TX in that department.  We have cooked dinner the other nights and have eaten together.

Tommy got his drone out and made a video of the park (video-1597423355.mp4) on You Tube and took some still photos, particularly our roof so Ted could see what it looked like.  

Their motorhome has been in the bay both Monday and Tuesday.  They had most everything done the first half day but Tuesday was an entire day!  But they are now good to go ... but we can’t!  

Here are some photos around the park.

We are now stuck here until Laura passes to the north of us.  We can’t head home into the storm.  We can’t go south to the coast, we can’t go north because she is going to double back and pass right over the top of Alabama and heading East just takes us further from home.  Flooding, traffic clogs, parks open (?) - too many possibilities to take a chance.  Our friend Barry went to our house and battened down the outside hatches.  There isn’t much in either fridge because we brought most with us.  There is not much else to do.  

There won’t be much to talk about (I hope) but by the weekend we should have a plan.  

Our Last Day in Tuscumbia, Alabama

I have to say for what we we thought would be sleepy little circa 1950 towns, Tupelo, Tuscumbia, Muscle Shoals and Florence proved us wrong.  There was lots to see and do, nice people, great history, beautiful nature surroundings.  

We chose to go to Rattlesnake Saloon for a really late lunch after first stopping to visit the Coondog Cemetery!  Where else can you find such an unusual thing to visit.  We were surprised to find the "guest book" had been signed by six others before us and two other couples came as we were leaving!  

I know people love their dogs and it was touching to see plain rocks up to impressive granite gravestones for so many coon dogs.  

 

We drove on Coondog Cemetery Road (original right?) to Rattlesnake Saloon.  It is under a rock shelf along a small stream.  At night they have music and dancing but no dancing is allowed right now, just listening.  Several people told us to get the Rustler Burger because it was voted the Alabama food you have to eat before you die!  

We pulled into a riding stable establishment and had to ride in the back of a pick up down to the restaurant!  The burgers were great but not earth shattering.  The ambience was terrific though.  I wish we  had gone later to hear the music.

We pulled out Friday morning in the rain and proceeded to Red Bay to meet up with Tommy and Susan.  We arrived and backed into our spot, down one from them.  I immediately did a load of clothes because I had wet towels from wiping down the slides as they came in.  The floor was messy too because of the rain so I swept it for the second time and then used the Swiffer.

They followed us in within the hour and got set up and then immediately left to get their name on the Tiffin list for his awning.  He had run over a tire tread that got thrown right in front of him in the way up and he was unable to avoid.  It shot out the back, bending his rock shield/mud flap so now he has two things to get fixed!  

We are way watching these two storms coming next week.  One is headed toward home, the other toward the whole state of Alabama.  Saying our plans are really up in the air is an understatement.  

Still Sightseeing While Masked and Social Distanced

After the water falls, we chose historic homes and grounds for today.  First up was the Belle Mont Mansion built in 1828.  Built originally for Dr. Alexander Mitchell it was sold after a few years to Isaac and Catherine Winston.  After their deaths it was used as a family summer retreat before selling it to the Fennel’s who donated it to the state of Alabama.  It fell into disrepair and restoration stabilized the house and restored much of the interior.  

Built circa 1828, Belle Mont Mansion is one of the most outstanding Palladian-style houses in the Deep South. 

We had the docent all to ourselves and had a delightful tour.  She was knowledgeable and so proud of an archeological find that produced a piece of pottery with a name on it.  She was able to research it and found an entire piece she was able to purchase and put in the museum room.  

Next was a stop at LaGrange Village, site of a military academy and cemetery that has had period buildings added to create an historical site for the area.  Though the buildings were locked (virus?) we were able to walk the grounds and peer into the buildings.  Only 3 other people were there.

Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House

The Rosenbaums remained the sole owners and occupants of the house until 1999 when they donated the house to the City of Florence, AL. The Rosenbaum House was meticulously restored by the city and opened as a public museum in 2002. It is currently the only Wright house in the southeast that is open to the public.

Moving On

We had a pretty quiet weekend with a fair amount of rain.  It poured Friday night but it cleared by Saturday morning and did not interfere with Ted’s morning shoot.  He beat his competitor by one shot!  

We went to church in the afternoon and then to D’Casa Mexican restaurant for dinner.  It was excellent!  I had such a bad headache last weekend at a different Mexican restaurant that I didn’t enjoy the meal at all.  We both had two margaritas and I seldom even have one.  This caused me to fall asleep about 8:30, sound asleep on the couch.  

We left before noon Sunday heading south on the Natchez Trace.  We had traveled north earlier in the week and went far enough to have now traveled 1/3 of the Trace, right out of the middle.  To complete we would need to start in Nashville and drive to Colbert Ferry and then start in Natchez, MS and drive to French Town, MS but I doubt that will happen.

It rained hard off and on but when we stopped it wasn’t raining so that worked out fine.  We had dinner at home and fed the last of the carrots to the horses.

We left the next morning heading to Muscle Shoals, AL.  We traveled on Natchez Trace for awhile, and while it is a smooth two lane highway, the small dips and hills coupled with being curvy made Ted decide to get off and take a parallel highway.

We filled up with fuel just a bit down the road from our campground so we are ready to drive to Red Bay and on to Montgomery where we will once again be on an interstate with more facilities.

We left to eat at Rattlesnake Saloon but as I checked them on Yelp we learned they are only open on the weekend.  So we ate at Mamma Jean’s.  Nothing to write home about but Thursday we will try again.  It is a place to go for sure from what people have said.  

We decided to continue our outside sightseeing and visit three waterfalls in the area.  Our closest turned out to be closed!  The waterfall isn’t turned off but there was a gate across the road.  Open on weekends.  So on to Wilson Dam falls.  This was worth the trouble to find it!  We found the dam and the visitor’s viewing stand with a great view of the dam but no falls.  

We decided to leave but on the way out we saw Rockpile Road and decided to see what was there.  I found a directory which showed where we were and up in the corner was an orange line named Waterfall Walk.  We parked the car and took off along the river’s edge.  Sure enough we came upon the falls, in fact, a couple of them.

There was a small angel altar there.  It had a photo of a young girl and it appears that others have added tokens but I have no idea what it represented..

From there we headed to Spring Park and waterfall #3.  This was easiest to find because it was in Spring Park.  They have a lighted dancing waters show in front of the falls but “it was closed” so once again we miss something!

This bronze sculpture was erected in the memory of those that traveled the Trial of Tears.  She touches the cross in memory of those that died on the journey, her tears represent her sorrow, her readiness to go on shows her struggle and perseverance.  The baby represents hope.  

Finally! We visit Elvis

It took us five days in Tupelo before we found time to visit the Elvis complex.  Located here is the house he was born in, the church he attended where he heard black spirituals that influenced his singing style and a new modern building housing a museum, event center and chapel.  

Things were very sparse for the Presley family.  The house was built with a $180 loan for lumber.  His father Vernon later on altered a $4 check into $40 and ended up in prison.  Gladys lost the house in his absence.  Elvis’s first guitar was a $7.50 guitar bought as a birthday gift at Tupelo Hardware, a store still in business in Tupelo.  The rest is history.

This is the front room of the two room house and the room where Elvis was born.  His twin brother was stillborn at 4 am and Elvis was born alive at 4:25 am.  The wall paper in both rooms is original, or so they tell me.

The kitchen is a real throwback.  The icebox, stove and wall paper are original.  Notice the white high chair and pie safe.  I am old enough to remember both.

Outside there is a fountain, a statue and the entire house circled with markers for each year of his life.

It was interesting but we knew a lot about the King of Rock and Roll.  It saddens me that his career was cut so short by self destruction.  I am sure there were many songs left unsung in his heart.