greetings from Red Bay

This picture my friend is all us 'happy campers' sitting and waiting for service in Red Bay Alabama. Tiffen has a sort of campground, lets say we have water, electric and sewer, and there is a large grassy lot where the guys can run and play Frisbee. You wait until you are contacted by the service manager and they will schedule your service and it can take time if you have a big issue. Luckily we have some windows on recall to be replaced so we are scheduled for some time tomorrow. Now remember when you get the call, the slides have to come in, raise the lifts, bring in the electric line, sewer line, water hoses. Move things so they don't fly around, and off you go which is simply around a corner to a bay where hopefully your problems are solved. Meanwhile you sit and wait.

I want to have the carpet replaced with wood flooring which I have in the kitchen and hallways but of course this is a problem and will require a week, no way that is being done now so we will head home at the end of the week stopping in Louisville KY to visit friends.

Now this picture was taken at the Coon Dog Cemetery in Cherokee Alabama, just up the road from us. Kind of interesting Only coon dogs can be buried there and the graves are marked with stones, wooden boards with names burned in, metal markers. Kind of cool Our next stop, before we leave, will be Tupelo Mississippi- about an hour away from here and ELVIS's birthplace. Now how could we pass that up The purpose of traveling is to stop and visit these places and I am amazed at how many of them are out there. Helen Keller's birthplace is about an hour north but i am opting for ELVIS this time out. Should have some great pictures to add to my blog. Admit it folks, i am doing better.

first day of spring- from Alabama

We entered Georgia a week ago on our way to Perry and the FMCA (family motor coach assoc) convention. We stopped overnight at this campground in Park City Georgia, the Spanish moss hung on all the trees. It was lovely although the sun never really came out. Lots of coaches were there on their way to Perry.

Ahh Perry Georgia where the first 2 days it rained and rained and rained. Check out the mud !! there were over 3000 coaches there and we really did have a good time and learned alot but those first 2 days of rain with wet clothes and 4 wet dogs- need i say more.

I attended many seminars from volunteering at a wildlife refuge to fire and safety on your motor home- a bit scary but good information. Of course we spent money on 2 safety features one of which will turn your generator on if you loss shore power- a good thing to have in the warm weather if you have dogs on board. These coaches can heat up really fast.

We left on Friday and headed to Alabama That is a picture of Talladega where we spent the day at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, actually I have to admit it was interesting and I am not a race car fan. The super speed way is amazing, the in-field alone covers 212 acres. When they have races they put out 7,000 trash cans and serve over 12,000 hot dogs. I was impressed with the steepness of the track , it has a 33% bank ( don't know if I said that right) don't know how the cars stay on the track with that much slant but they do. It was a fun day.

Now tomorrow we head to Red Bay Alabama and the Tiffen factory where our coach was built. I have no idea how long we will be there as apparently you show up and they give you a number. However, near by we have the coon-dog cemetery( I kid you not) and Helen Keller's birthplace so it will give me something to do. Now if I can figure out what to do with the 4 dogs while they work on the coach ....... And they are predicting rain. PRAY FOR ME

More news to come, as we begin the ride home to my friends and that beautiful fenced in yard where the dogs can go out without a leash and

moving on out

We are packing up and getting ready to head out to Georgia. We have reservations at a place called Eagle's Roost in Lake City Georgia, under the southern pines. On Sunday we will head to Perry Georgia for the FMCA, family motor coach assoc, international convention. Hmmmm, if nothing else it should be interesting. Wondering if I should sign up for the tour to 'Tara" I kid you not.

The picture shows Deco, obviously not stressed, as he supervises the packing up. I am actually a bit sad to leave, all sorts of people stopping by and giving us their phone numbers and e-mail addresses, not that I will ever use them but it is nice to know we will be missed. I will especially miss my good friends down here in Fort Myers and Pine Island as we have gotten together every week. I will also miss this great weather - 80's and sunny it is delightful.

I met an interesting lady at the Palmetto dog trial, I had spoken with her in Vero Beach as well. She runs the cutest Norwich terrier and a standard poodle. Se is actually camped fairly near me in a women's only campground. She retired as a professor of anthropology from the Univ of Michigan and also resides in Manhattan. She will be running at Granby and I look forward to seeing her. We have plans for training next year - if we both end up back down here. i do think we will be back as it is conveniently located for us and close to our friends and has that great dog area.

CRISIS today- couldn't find Flee's Frisbee . Now the Frisbee is about 1/3 of its former size but Flee looks for it as soon as we get to the dog play area. could not find it today and Flee was distraught . He ran in circles and kept trying to go back to the car- but the doggie god was with me and someone had found the Frisbee and put it in a bag hung on the fence. Poor flee probably would not have survived without it.

I will take pictures of "Eagles Roost" sounds nice. Should have plenty to write about. I really do like this living in a motor home, nice long walks at night with the temps in the 70's, life is good

BINGO-is it time to head home

Here is a picture of Flee and Nemo at the beach, not sure how happy they are about the whole thing. Flee likes to stand in the water but we were able to get him to swim a bit, not his thing. Remember, the water at my ankles is at his chin. Nemo just comes along for the ride .

OK, maybe it is time to go home, I actuality went to bingo last night. Now for me bingo is as exciting as watching my hair dry. You have three numbers, if you are lucky , and people are already yelling bingo. However, I won $15 so I really shouldn't complain. And the night before I went to "card night" and played cards, but I like playing cards so that was OK. Like playing cards and sipping wine but at these gatherings they have lemonade and popcorn. I am becoming an 'camper' scary isn't it.

tomorrow we go to Palmetto about an hour north for an agility trial so I can regain my balance. Have done no training except a few weave poles here and there so never quite know what I will get from Deco. Deco spends his day hanging around with Jim -hopefully this hasn't completely spoiled him for " competition"

Again, I actually like this life. the past week was a bit quiet with alot of people leaving at the end of February and cold weather which slows down 'park-life' . Sort of like a beehive , active when it iswarm, sluggish when it is cold. Gave me time to do some cooking, chicken pot pie and even a lasagna in the freezer for another time. Beginning to get the hang of cooking in a small space with a small oven.

It is interesting as the days go by and you start to interact with a group, some neighbors some you meet walking dogs some just walk by and conversations start. It is all very casual as living in your RV is seriously "here today gone tomorrow". I haven't met anyone that I would want to continue a friendship with , that is not necessarily bad and in fact is sort of satisfying as everything stays pretty casual.

I should say that Jim knows half the park as he is very social. Lots of campers tell me we are the first people to say hello to them, but.... it works both ways you need to stick your hand out if you want social interaction, assumption is that if you aren't willing to do that you wish to be left alone.

You spend alot of time in 10 minute conversations. The women in a RV down from us is from Quebec ( as is 3/4 of the park) but she doesn't speak any English . She was playing the accordion the other day, very well I might add, and I went over and we nodded and I said my 2 words of passable french. Her husband speaks a bit of English and said that she is afraid to venture out with non French speakers . Many many french Canadians here and they stick together- never thought that might be because they were 'afraid' to interact with us non-french speakers. Interesting.

OK this has gone on long enough. We leave for dog trial tomorrow, will blog when I get back. next week we leave for Perry Georgia- more to come on that.

bye

Lindsay