Homeward Bound

Pensacola to Clanton, AL, to Red Bay, AL to Paducah, KY to (hopefully) Kenosha.  It was a relatively short drive to Clanton but the weather was gloomy when we got there.  The campground management assigned us the site closest to the bathhouse because, "tornadoes are predicted and that was the shelter and if someone knocked on our door in the middle of the night, we'd have to evacuate".  Luckily, no tornadoes but we had thunderstorms all night.  This is the same campground that we left in the middle of an ice storm on our way down south, so we're not feeling too warm and fuzzy towards Clanton at the moment.

As we headed north and west, the weather improved and we checked in at Tiffin in Red Bay and set up for our last night in Chuck for a while.  The goal was to eat and drink as much as possible to lighten the load we'd have to pack in Toad for coming home.  Despite our best efforts, we are  bringing home more wine than we brought with us and Toad is packed to the gills.

Yesterday dawned bright and sunny and so, with no good excuse to avoid the task, we set out to winterize Chuck on our own.  Following our step-by-step instructions, we drained the water from every line, every faucet and every tank, and proceeded to pump 6 gallons of RV anti-freeze into all the lines, tanks and faucets.  Then we moved him to the Outback to wait for the service guys to take care of the repairs we listed for them.  We won't know until we pick Chuck up if we winterized him correctly.  Frozen water lines will be obvious by the leaks.

Then on to Paducah, KY where we spent last night.  Today is the last leg home.  Beanie must be anxious to get home, he bounced around the hotel room yowling most of the night.  I guess he's planning on catching up on his sleep while we drive.

See you soon!

If This Is Pensacola It Must Be Saturday

Yes, like so many geezer-ish RVers, we frequently lose track of days.  And since my watch battery died, I even lose track of time.  It must be 1:00pm somewhere.  However, as we plan for our return we have to start paying better attention to make sure we meet our commitments.

So the decision is made, we'll return to Red Bay, AL and drop Chuck off to spend some time with his maker.  It will allow them to tweak a few things for us and we feel very comfortable storing him there until we're ready to go again.  The plan is to leave here Sunday (tomorrow), drive about 1/2 way to Clanton, AL, where we last camped in an ice storm on our way down here, then on to Red Bay on Monday.  Tuesday morning we'll move what we need into the car and winterize Chuck and start for home.  If the weather is bad Tuesday morning, we'll let Tiffin winterize Chuck and leave even earlier Tuesday morning.  Weather permitting we should be home Wednesday or Thursday.

Yesterday we took a quick trip to Lowe's...or at least it was intended to be a quick trip.  An hour later we had the two items on our list and half a dozen other things that we absolutely needed.  An RV is the gift that keeps on giving....to Lowe's and Camping World and True Value and...well you get it.  A really fun thing was that the Lowe's Garden Center was in full swing.  Yes, it's spring here and you can buy flowering plants outside in the Garden Center.  Whee!

outside Lowe's

From Lowe's we headed to Gulf Islands National Seashore - a string of barrier islands protecting the harbor from the Gulf.  It's home to a lot of history, plants, animals and sand.  It's beautiful and at this time of year, relatively untouristed.

Plowed intersection

Look familiar?  Yes, they have to plow the intersections here but it's sand, snow white sand, not snow.  Interesting problem to have, eh?  The landmass on the barrier islands is low and the wind/tides/storms frequently cover the roads with water and or sand.  You're warned that weather may strand you on the island if the floods comes quickly enough.

One end of one island is home to Ft. Pickens, which one of us insisted on calling Fort Slim Pickens.  It goes back to the early 1800's and long protected the naval base at Pensacola.  There are gun batteries there that were used up through World War II.  It's steeped in history and very dramatic.

part of Ft. (Slim) Pickens

Ammo bunker burned and exploded in the 1800's

 As we drove east towards the bridge and home, the water on both sides of the road turned turquoise and the sand and sky pink with the setting sun.  This photos gives you a hint at the drama of well-named Opal Beach.

Opal Beach at sunset

So homeward-bound tomorrow.  Melt the snow before we get there, OK?

Yes, We're Still In Florida

It's been a quiet couple of days, days without WiFi which makes it pretty tough to blog. 

 We spent 3 nights in St. Augustine; the oldest city in the US.  I remembered it being charming from that visit to FL 40 yeas ago, and it still is, if a bit busier and more touristy than I remembered. However, the fortress is still there looking out over the harbor and other buildings around town that date back hundreds of years are standing and still in use.  

Fortress at St. Augustine

 There are narrow alleyways, one-way lanes, moss-draped tress and lovely architecture.  Well worth a visit.  We thought we'd be clever and avoid traffic by riding our bikes around town, but the narrow streets and pedestrian ways defeated us and we settled for touring via auto.   

Old schoolhouse

Presbyterian Church in St. Augustine

The navigator was very excited by the Fountain of Youth billboard but I persuaded her that it was likely another tourist trap and we didn't go in.   

The campground was a great place on a barrier island just north of town with very private sites, a good restaurant a short walk away on the river, beach across the street and good access to the historic district. 

Riverside dining

Dinner remains - whole flounder

 I also took an opportunity to visit a UU church on Sunday and enjoyed meeting fellow UUer's including a transplant from Winthrop Harbor, IL which is a small town just a over the border into IL from home.  Small world and all that jazz.  This is why my mother says you always have to be on your best behavior.  All in all, we really liked the area.

Superbowl Sunday dinner on the new grill-pork tenderloins with apple/onion hash

From St. Augustine we tackled a long drive and came back to St. Andrews State Park in the armpit of FL's panhandle.  There was some confusion with our reservation but we ended up back in the same site we had before, which is lovely and Chuck was again staring out into bay.  We had one very rainy day which gave us time to do laundry at a nice laundromat with great WiFi and a very perceptive attendant who helped us along. The next day we went back to Seaside and rode our bikes around the quiet streets and enjoyed gawking at the variety of homes.   

Typical (?) Seaside home

Great TV available at St. Andrews Beach - even better than cable.

We're starting to plan the trip home.  We're currently in Milton, FL, near Pensacola.   We have to be back by Feb. 15th take care of some business so the days are winding down.  The dilemma is do we try to find a storage place down here in southern FL or AL to leave Chuck in unknown hands but we won't have to winterize him or,  do we take Chuck back to his maker in No. AL to have  some very minor stuff fixed and leave him in trusted hands but winterize it.  Winterizing is doable; Tiffin (Chuck's maker) will do it for $90 or we can do it ourselves.  We've had some instruction (30 mins back at Will's RV in Sturtevant) and we have the antifreeze in the storage bays. It would probably take us a couple of hours to do it ourselves.  We also have to make sure any liquids are removed from Chuck so they don't freeze.  All doable.  So stay tuned, we'll keep you posted. 

Lights on the other side of the bay at St. Andrews State Park

Disney World

Walt Disney World is fantastic, scripted, sanitized, outlandish, fun, silly, unreal, wild, silly and a whole lot of adjectives.  It’s a great opportunity to be a kid again, or just be childish, especially if you don’t mind paying for the privilege.  Everyone should get at least two chances to go, once as a child and then again as an adult.   

Who is sleeping with Cinderellla tonight?

I’ve been lucky enough to go a couple of times as a so-called adult, but this was the first time camping…or at least our version of camping.

Robin reserved a site a Ft. Wilderness several weeks before we left home, an unusual act of planning, but on-line digging had shown that sites were hard to come by, especially on the weekend.  We were booked for 5 whole nights, which was exciting for me.  I love long stays in campgrounds and 5 nights was our longest stay since boot camp back in September. 

Check-in at Ft. Wilderness Campgound

 

The campground was really nice; Disney nice.  It had good signage, perfectly planned loops and roads allowing privacy and reasonable backing in.  Concrete pads, picnic table, good water, sewer and cable hookups were there.  Nearby were bathhouses, laundries, garbage and recycling bins plus proximity to Disney transportation.  Pools, playgrounds, general stores, bike rentals…all at our fingertips.  It was a great campground at a great price.  But it was Disney.  It goes with the territory!

Everyone has their favorite Disney things, and ours are:

  Good food at Flying Fish Café, The California Grill and Jiko…

  Water parks, especially Typhoon Lagoon’s Crusher Gusher water roller coaster and the lazy river

Your narrator coming off the Crusher Gusher

The Navigator showing her toes on the lazy river

 Magic Kingdom’s Pirates of Caribbean and Jungle Safari – hey the classics are the best 

Caribbean pirate

 Animal Kingdom’s Safari especially early in the morning when the animals are really active, and as always, Epcot.

There's so much I could write and so many pictures I could post, but none of them would really do it justice so I'm restraining myself and following are photos of our some of favorite things.  Enjoy.  

Entry to the Happiest Places on Earth

We're in the "pet friendly" area of the campground

  

Animal Kingdom

The giraffes at Animal Kingdom were romping and playing.

 

Cormorants lined up on a wall in front of the Grand Floridian resort

Not animatronic!

Still not animaltronic.

 

Next up:  St. Augustine.

Desperate Housewives Go Rving

My apologies to faithful readers for the gap since the last posting.  We were without WiFi for 5 nights.  Below is the last report from Titusville.  Next up - a report from the Happiest Place on Earth.

Our last stay was 3 nights at a big “RV and Golf Resort”.  We selected it based upon on-line reviews and wondered what a resort with over 600 RV sites would be like. 

The towering portico at the highway started to clue us in,  then there was the surly rent-a-cop at the gatehouse.   

The Welcome Center resembled a southern mansion pillars and all.  The main road is named Plantation Drive and the on-site restaurant is the Plantation Inn.  We weren’t  in Kansas, or your average RV campground anymore.

This place was our first experience with the “RV resort” concept  where your RV and various permutations of permanent structures become your home.  All the sites have, at the least, a large garden shed.  Others have small, cottage-like building that include a sitting room and maybe a bathroom.  Some sites have small houses with large RV carports.  The most elaborate are actually large houses (3000 sq. ft +) with an enclosed garage for housing your RV.  The roads twine through a golf course with cart paths crossing the roads and “don’t feed the wildlife” signs sprinkled throughout.

Basic site

Stepping up

Chuck would go in the garage on the left

Always room for one more vehicle

 

The preferred mode of transportation is the golf cart, ideally one modified to resemble a 60’s Chevy or a 20’s Ford.  If your dog is trained to ride in the back, it is even better. 

The population was overwhelming white, older and nice.  Everyone waved and smiled at everyone else.  Every site was decorated to the teeth with yard art, name plates and cute flags.  It was a planned community, planned with painful care.  I’m not complaining or criticizing.  We had nice site, big, level site with big trees between us and others.  The bathhouse and laundry were spacious and spotlessly clean.  Dogs didn’t bark and traffic moved at a sedate 15 miles an hour.  There were pools and hiking trails and really nice people everywhere.

Wisteria Lane

Like Seaside, the other planned community we visited earlier, it has a lot of appeal.  It’s safe, quiet  and you’re surrounded by people who presumably will look out for you and vice versa.  Your neighbors are close and a lot like you.  The amenities are abundant and available.  It is sort of spooky to an outsider.  It’s sort of unreal.  It’s sort of like a TV show.  We’re glad we did it, but we probably won’t do it again.

Remember - don't feed the vultures!

 Speaking of unreal.......

....Off to Disney World!