Sweet Home Alabama

For a couple of mid-westerners, it's amazing how much time we've spent in Alabama in the last couple of years.  Most of that time has been in the far NE corner in Red Bay, which is Chuck's birthplace and the go-to spot for maintenance and repair.  This time however, we're in the opposite corner in the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area, just over the border from the Florida panhandle, and it's lovely.

Typical view around here

We're in a tiny, family-run campground with only about a dozen sites, right on the water. We arrived Saturday after a hiccup trying to get out of Florida.  It seems that Chuck is going to keep us on our toes this trip.  We were all ready to go, had only to retract the leveling jacks, when one of the four stubbornly refused to lift.  Obviously you can't drive with a jack dragging and we were stymied.  We did have a connection to the Internet and a quick search of the Tiffin RV Owners Forum delivered a reset sequence, that, after 4 frustrating attempts, worked, and the jack retracted.  Did I mention this all happened in the pouring rain?  What did we do before the internet?   Whew.  We were on our way.  Only 90 miles to Bay Breeze Campground in Gulf Shores, AL.

The route was familiar through Pensacola and to the border of Alabama.  We had driven this last year just exploring.  Of course, last year we were in the car in the sunshine, not in 36' motorhome towing 14' of car and towbar in the rain without windshield wipers.  Yes, once again Chuck's wipers failed us, working only when I leaned forward and pressed the washer button.  The rain was torrential, the sky was dark, the road was winding, it was a dark and stormy night...

You get the picture.  We arrived 3 hours later to find wonderful campground owners who came out in the downpour to get us backed in and leveled and hooked up.  We were damp but safe and settled in for the night with cheese, crackers, apples and a little wine.  Really, just a little, really.

The adventures weren't over however.  We were jolted out of sleep early in the morning by an alarming beep coming from the driver's control panel.  One of the cats had bumped the air brake handle causing the brake to release but the jacks were down so they alarmed but you can't retract them unless the engine is running and the seats are turned around so you can't sit down to put your foot on the foot brake and I was trying to dive over the seat to reach the pedal and find the key to turn it on to reset the brake and Robin was yelling from the back and the cats were scrambling and oh my, the excitement.  Good news....it wasn't raining!

Wasn't Me!

We managed to restore order and get resettled and then had a lovely day.  One of my college roommates lives here and we hooked up with her for brunch, bloody marys, and a tour of her home and some sites.  She coordinates a local songwriter's festival to we ended up at the Florabama Roadhouse for some live music, bushwackers and beer.  By 4pm we were exhausted and headed back to Chuck.  There we found a lovely feature of our new campground - a late afternoon "board meeting" where the residents gather for cocktails around a fire as the day gets dark.  I slept very well last night.

Florabama Roadhouse-no we didn't contribute

Today is a bit overcast and we have a short list of maintenance projects including replacing that wiper fuse before it rains again. We're here for a week and we're enjoying the water, sand, trees and peace and quiet.  Happy New Year everyone.