GO BUMBLING

TO WANDER AROUND WITHOUT PURPOSE (I love the term.  We actually do have a purpose - go where it’s warm in the winter and go where it’s cool in the summer)

Thursday – January 12 - We decided Wednesday that we had no reason to put our trip off another day so we decided to leave Thursday instead of Friday the 13th. We had a goodbye dinner with Alecia (she makes a fantastic lasagna), Lee and grandchildren Wednesday night. Alecia and I were going to a cooking class but they changed the menu and we weren’t interested so we did a little shopping, had lunch and were back home and on the road by 1:15. We haven’t driven after dark since before we retired, but decided it was only a 4 hour trip, it was very cold and we needed hookups. So we made the supreme effort. And we are very glad we did. We got the last campsite at Davis Bayou Campground at the Gulf Islands National Shore in Ocean Springs, MS. Monday is a holiday so we knew the CG would be crowded.  Great price, W&E, for $8.

Friday – January 13 - We had a wonderful day. We did a little exploring, stopped at Rouse’s Supermarket. It is a Louisiana grocery store and we really like it. But the wonderful part started at 3:00 when we went to Dave & Judy home. Judy was my college roommate at Alabama. Our friends, Ken and Nancy, from Mobile came over for dinner. Nancy was a bridesmaid in our wedding. That tells you how long we have known each other. Judy and Dave cook and I do mean cook. If you leave their home hungry, then it is your fault. We had appetizers, and lots of them. Dave grilled some delicious steaks and chicken. We had salad, baked potatoes and Nancy brought some wonderful marinated vegetables. And if that wasn’t enough, we had dessert. It was chocolate cups, filled with your choice of unique ice creams and a hot chocolate topping.

But we did more than eat and drink. We haven’t seen them in about three years so we had a lot of catching up to do. A wonderful way to start our trip.

Saturday – January 14 - We had one of our laziest days ever.  We got our coffee and snuggled back into our beds.  Finally had breakfast at 9:00, very late for us, then more coffee.  We did not get up and moving until 11:00.  After lunch and nap we went back to Judy and Dave’s home.  Dave wanted to watch the football games, so we had hors d’oeuvres once again, but added Bloody Mary’s.  Then we had spaghetti with very good Italian sausage, followed by key lime pie.  But most of all, Judy and I talked and talked and talked!  Being with someone you knew when we were young just makes the years disappear.  Thank you Dave and Judy for feeding us so well.  And thanks to Nancy and Ken for driving over to spend time with us.  Special thanks go to Dave and Don for putting up with lots of giggles.

Dorothy is a happy camper.

Sunday – January 15 - We arrived at Stacey’s home (Don’s cousin) and then headed to the New Orleans fairgrounds for a horse race.  Stacey had a horse running.  We had not been to a horse race before.  I liked the name of one of the horses (Fancy Feet) so I bet on her and won a little money.  Horse racing could be addicting and it’s more fun than the slot machines.

Moak Farms 55 South

Koko has passed two milestones – we have now spent 800 nights in her and the odometer just turned over 50,000 miles!

Monday – January 16 – Before we got away, we found Stacey’s Senor Seabolt, to make some requested pictures for Stacey Kate.

Moak Farms Champion Senor Seabolt at left

Today we made the 3 hour drive to Lafayette, LA.  We are camping at Acadiana Park Campground.  It’s a city park and it’s pretty good.  There are 57 campsites and only 4 campers here.  We made another trip to Rouse’s grocery store to get some homemade Italian sausage.  I keep buying stuff, but we have not had a meal in Koko until tonight.  Our refrigerator and freezer is stuffed.

Tuesday – January 17 – Bands of light rain are forecast today, so we decided we could stay put and eat breakfast at Prejean’s. I had Prejean’s Napoleon A tower of delicacies- a crisp polenta cake sits below a plump crab cake, crowned with a poached egg, drizzled in hollandaise sauce and laced with fresh shrimp and smoked tasso. Don had, Breaux Bridge Benedict Grilled butter biscuit, homemade boudin patties, topped with two poached eggs and smothered in crawfish etouffee.

Wednesday – January 18 – We left around 9:30 for the drive to Pearland, TX (which is just outside the I-610 loop in Houston) to spend a few days with our friends, George and Betty Schaeffer, whom we first met on the Lazy Daze Baja Caravan.  The drive on I-10 and I-610 was not bad as we had thought it would be, so we arrived in good time.  We had a nice visit and I enjoyed fixing dinner for our hosts.  Betty made a very good cake.  We are "camped" in their driveway.

Thursday, January 19 – we went into Houston, George driving of course, to the King Tutankhamun exhibit.  I had wanted to see it years ago in New Orleans, so this was our chance.  We really enjoyed it, but we had expected to see the sarcophagus that had been in New Orleans in the late 1970's, but it was not at the exhibit.  We did learn more about Egyptian history.  Maybe the Egyptian government doesn't allow the very priceless irreplaceable items to go on tour now.  Afterward we drove to The Pit and had a barbecue lunch.  Since we were all new, the owner came out and talked to us a while and gave us a tour of the barbecue pits and told us how the meat was cooked.  He also gave us a bottle of his barbecue sauce.  Another fun day, but I was very tired by 8:30 and we retired to Koko.

Friday, January 20 – We didn't leave this morning until almost noon going to TopWater Grill in San Leon on the bay.  We all had a good seafood lunch and then we had a tour of the area.  We both got a little nap this afternoon.  Of course, we enjoyed the hospitality of the Schaeffers again for cocktails.  In the years since Baja, we have seen George & Betty several times during our travels and have really enjoyed getting to spend more time with them.  They are wonderful hosts.  Hopefully we will see them again on the road this year.

Saturday, January 21 – We are headed two hours west to near Victoria to stay with some RV chums for a few days.

GETTING READY TO LEAVE

Hope everyone has a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

2011 was our year to stay home and get things accomplished. We sold our home in Hoover in August and bought one the next day that we really like in Montgomery. It’s close to our daughter and her family. It is so nice to be close to family after so many years. Our favorite thing about the house is that it’s one level. We are settled in our new home, Christmas is over, and it’s time to get ready to travel. We have missed being on the road. The goal is to leave around the middle of January and take a meandering trip to Alamo or Mission, TX, visiting friends and relatives along the way.

Before we can leave, I have to clean KoKo. Even if you don’t go anywhere, you still need to vacuum, dust and wash things. It’s going to be easy to pack this time because I only have one small step to get outside to KoKo. I am really getting excited about the trip.

My goal is to be stress free during the packing process, which I think will be easily accomplished.

Not that I’m counting, but it’s 13 days until we leave.

How New Mexico Looks To Us

This photograph was taken by Elizabeth Coachman on a NM road. To us, it captures the essence of the magic of the state. Can’t wait to return.

A Coupla Days At The Beach

We have had glorious weather in the south since the second week in September - warm dry days and slightly cool nights.

We left Thursday and got back today from a quick trip to Pensacola to see the Blue Angels. It’s been on our bucket list for 40 years.

We parked at the Ft. Pickens CG on Santa Rosa Island. Not a bad place. W&E for $10 on the geezer card. You can see some of the air show from the CG since the base is just across the water. And the beach is some of the best on the Gulf Coast.

To see the airshow up close, you drive a horse shoe route for 40 minutes. We got to the base at 9:30 in time to see the stunt planes and WWII warbirds do their thing. The opening ceremonies were at 11 and from then until the Blue Angels performance time was filled with a lot of waiting.

For me, the Angels were not as much fun as the performances by the prop planes earlier in the day. Oh yes, the Angels are good, perfect I suppose. They make it look too easy. When they make a pass over the demo box, they are moving at 500+ so they are not in view very long. After each pass, they take a long run out to one side and set up for the next pass. So the spectators spend more time looking at empty air than at the Angels.

After the show, we drove out to Perdido Key to eat at the Point Restaurant, a place we frequented the years we raced the boat at Grand Lagoon.

I wanted to see the night show with fireworks, but after being in the sun all day I was exhausted and napped during the show.

Saturday, we went back aboard the Naval Air Station to tour the Naval Air Museum. It had been 10+ years since we had been there and meanwhile they had built another building to house all the planes they have acquired.

It’d been like a vacation according to Dorothy because she got to eat most meals out starting Wednesday night when Doug and Roxanne came to Montgomery. Eating out is not something we do a lot because we usually aren’t in places that have a restaurant that appeals to us.

A plus for the trip was that we got to visit with Jim and Gayle who were parked next to us.

The New Place

We arrived at our new place in Montgomery Monday the 10th, KoKo is parked in the driveway and is our home. This move would not have been possible without KoKo. We were committed to the LDRA and we were equally committed to accepting the offer on our home and getting out when they needed to get in.

Making the move in two parts cost us double, but that cost will soon be forgotten.

While we have made many trips here to see our daughter and family over the last 13 years, we knew very little about the city. So far, we are impressed. We think it’s more livable than Birmingham. Certainly smaller. We were concerned with the high black population here. In Birmingham, more often than not, blacks are afflicted with attitude towards whites. We have seen none that here. Everyone is cordial. We had black neighbors in Birmingham, we have them here.

We were able to get “our” painter to bring a crew from Birmingham. They camped out in the house this week, while we slept in KoKo. This place has LOTS of trim, including divided windows. They managed to get the five carpeted rooms and all the windows done this week. They will be back Monday and expect to finish late in the week. The carpet will be installed Wednesday. Plantation shutters have been ordered. The kitchen has a new refer and we are trying to get a gas line run for a stove.

Since KoKo is stocked for extended trips, there is very little we need until the movers bring it all out of storage on Halloween. Besides our daughter lives less than five minutes away.

The New Place

Our Current Living Arrangements

The Back Patio

Montgomery Bound

 

Did you know?

Southern Arkansas is FLAT. North of the Arkansas River it is hilly and the roads wind constantly. Serpentine is a apt description. One day we drove 115 miles in 3.5 hours.

Friday – October 7 - The Regional Adventure is over. Based on the comments we heard, it was enjoyed by all. Several folks came a day or two early, several stayed a day or so after. I think that speaks well of the event.

We quickly fell into a routine of coffee and breakfast, an activity, cocktails, dinner and finally campfire.

 

The view from our campsite

It’s Harder to Kidnap Fat People

The LDRA Balloon Fest

We left Thursday morning and drove 2.5 hours to Lake Maumelle and stayed at a COE park on the Arkansas River. Today, we are reaching out 4 hours to get to another COE park near Oxford, MS. That will put us almost half-way to Montgomery – our soon to be home base.

ARG! The GPS could not correctly route us to the park near Oxford. The COE campground book we carry with was wrong also. They mixed the directions for two nearby parks, a sentence from each was interchanged. That cost us an extra hour of driving on not so great roads.

Saturday - We passed by the Ole Miss campus. WOW! I had wanted to visit Rowan Oaks this morning, but since the CG was 10 miles away and we were in a hurry to get on the road that will have to wait until another time.

We are spending our last two days on The Big Ditch - the Tenn-Tom waterway. You will recall that it is taxpayer funded infrastructure project that is not used much. We can get our laundry done here before arriving at our unfurnished “home” Monday afternoon.

This will be our last post of the trip. The next few weeks will be fast paced as we struggle to make a new nest.

Moving North

Before I start talking about something else, here are two more pictures taken at Pendleton Bend CG. Our campsite in low light and the sunset from our campsite. Amazing that the pictures were taken within minutes of each other.

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Sunday – We spent three hours moving 100 miles, stopping at Wal*Mart and to eat lunch. We arrived at a FS CG just west of Little Rock called Lake Sylvia. Another FS CG with hookups, new shower house, dump for $10. It was billed as campsites with a view. You can see the lake from several sites, but none are on the lake. It may be the only FS CG that has a swimming platform and a bath house? The latter is probably WPA construction, but in good repair.

The look of inbreeding is evident in this area.

Monday – We decided that one day was enough at Lake Sylvia and headed north. Lake Sylvia is at the foot of the mountains, after we had driven less than 50 miles north, the scenery changed dramatically for the better. The difference is like that between central and northern Alabama – flat vs. short mountains.

We decided to take 65 rather than the narrow twisty route 9. We arrived at Tyler Bend about 1 and we were impressed. This is the most fluffed and buffed Park Service CG we have seen. It’s part of the Buffalo River National River. Three sites in the CG are occupied tonight and one is by some folks from Hoover.

Your tax dollars at work – $6 a night

Tuesday – As soon as I could yank Dorothy out of her nest, it was after 9, we positioned the yaks at the put-in and the Jeep at the takeout. By 10:45 we were on the water. It is a scenic river, no doubt of that. We were warned the water level was low and we did have to drag the yaks over gravel bars in three places. There were several riffles that sped us along. In higher water, maybe five feet, the river would be a hoot. We arrived at the takeout, 6 miles downstream, before 2.

The Buffalo River below the US65 bridge

Wednesday – We singled up all lines and headed west to Eureka Springs. This is close to Bransom, so we saw all sorts A’s headed south. It must be freaking bike fest week in these parts. There are Harley’s over the place. I would tax them $10,000 a year for having straight pipes.

We went to the CG first. A really good thing as when when got ready to see the tigers our GPS routed us to downtown Eureka Springs. We did not even know there was an old town of Eureka Springs. [People came here for the waters] We are glad we were not in the MH. Narrow streets like a few western mining towns. Bisbee, AZ and Deadwood, SD come to mind. While I doubled-parked, Bacall went inside to find where the cats were. .

Many miles out of town, we saw lots of tigers. We hung around for feeding time. We are going back tomorrow. We think they are the best looking of all animals.

We are parked on a point on Beaver Lake. We are the only ones here. $5.25 a night with electricity. Your tax dollars at work.

Thursday - Fat People are Harder to Kidnap

We went into town to people watch and take a few photo’s. Not many of the locals were up before noon, just us touristas.

After lunch we went back to see the tigers. It was 90 and hours from feeding time so they were not pacing, mostly just snoozing like cats do. Since they were still, we could better observe them. And so we did. I know we have seen tigers before, but it never registered with us how tall they are. When you see them head on, they almost disappear their camouflage is so good.

There is a cold front moving in and the breeze was up on the lake. We sat outside and recalled the fun of planning in such a breeze.

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It’s Friday. We are parked at Buffalo Point on the Buffalo River having lunch. We are about an hour away from Mountain View the place we will be for next few days for the Lazy Daze Regional Adventure. This seems like a place to end this post. Until the next time.