On the road again

  No, you can't hear me sing, but it feels good to be back out on the road.
 We left Statesville on Friday after almost 7 weeks. Wow the time there went fast. We had a good time and enjoyed helping with the projects. I said we'll return when we can't stay so long :).
 We drove about 6 hr to GA/AL border. Stayed at Big Oak RV Park near Tallapoosa,GA. It was just a one night stop and started to rain after getting set up so didn't get to check out much. One thing it was less than a mi. from freeway and didn't hear much traffic noise.
 We had planned one more stop before getting to our main destination but as we had got a good start and traffic was light we kept on going. We pulled into Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale, AL. This will be home for the next month or so.

 Rainbow Plantation is an Escapee Park. Escapee's is a RV club with campgrounds located mainly in the south. They have locations in Fla.,Texas,Ala, and a few others. They are also a support network for RVers. They offer discounts at other parks, publish a very nice magazine bimonthly and have a forum full of information on all aspects of rving.
 The park looks nice. The sites are spacious and nice shade trees on all sites. They have a clubhouse and activities throughout the week. We will post more about those later.

 We choose this area because it is less than 20 mi. from the ocean (Gulf Shores). Mobile AL 30 mi west and Pensacola FL 40 mi east. There should be lots to see and do.

   

Merry Christmas

  Hope you all had a joyous Christmas.

 The past week has been busy with finishing getting ready for Christmas. Shopping and planning Christmas dinner and breakfast. (Well- Wendy and Mandi anyway).
  We volunteered  Wednesday at a toy collection site in Charlotte. Mandi has done this before and recruited us along. Had a good time mostly spent wrapping gifts.

   Saturday we drove to the mountains by Boone, NC. It was a cold and windy 34. We saw some light snow.  We stopped at a mall as it was to cold for a mountain walk.

 Sunday we drove to our Packer bar. We have been here so long and this was our third trek there- we feel like regulars.
   We skyped with the family in WI on Christmas eve and Christmas morning. We hadn't done that before but will have to do that more. They had gathered at a water park in Wisconsin Dells.
  We did get a nice walk in on Christmas day. Went with Mandi and the doggies. We love the holidays but the good eats and drinks get the best of us.
  Wendy has been busy doing research on our exit plans from here. We had planned to head out on Thursday but that may change. Our grandson (Alex) is driving down from WI so we may stay and visit with him for a day or so.
 If we don't post before then have a Happy New Year and GO Badgers!!!
 

Hitch Itch

 There is a site where different fulltime RVers blog called Hitchitch.com. We have read on many of the other bloggers as we prepared for our life as fulltimers. Take a peek in if interested.
 Hitch Itch also is a term used when you have been in one place and are getting the urge (itch) to move on. So we have almost completed the bathroom remodel and we are feeling it is time to move on.
  We had planned to stay through the holidays and then go, but think we will stay for Christmas and then head out on Dec. 27.
  It has been great to have been able to spend time with Mandi and Pat. We enjoyed keeping busy making the days here seem to fly by.

 This past week was busy we made Christmas cookies and did some more shopping. We also worked hard to get the bathroom usable and house cleaned for a little party on Friday night. Things went together good and we had the sink and toilet by deadline. Mandi was happy!!

  Mandi had invited some friends over for dinner and drinks Friday night. We met some nice people, played some dice games and had a campfire in a burning barrel. The highlight of the night was to be blowing a pumpkin up. Pat had seen the neighbors had a pumpkin still sitting on their wall. He asked if he could smash it for them. Well the plans changed to use some small fireworks and blow it up.We are in the south ya know. Well turns out try as we might the pumpkin lived through it all. Oh well, we all had a good laugh.
  On Wednesday we have plans to volunteer putting some holiday baskets together for the needy. Mandi has done this before and sounds like a nice thing to do.
  And so the plans are to have a nice Christmas, then on the 26th get things ready to go and leave out on the 27th and head towards Foley, Alabama. We want to spend a month or so at an Escapees park there. It is about 20 miles from Gulf Shores and the ocean.
           Wendy and I want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Rocky Face

Hello all,
  Been a busy week for us. On Monday the weather was a beautiful sunny 74 degrees. Wendy was busy searching for a place for a hike. There are many nice state park areas around but more near the mountains requiring more than an hours drive. She then started to look at the geocache site and seen a bunch of caches in an area close by. It is a county park called Rocky Face Mountain Recreational Area. Only about 20 miles away. So we packed a lunch and wrote down some of the coordinates and headed off.
  Our GPS would not take the park address so we had a bit trouble finding it. Turns out we had missed a small sign on a post. Once there we found a beautiful newly redone park. A very nice pavilion and new roads and parking lot.

 The parks main feature is the Mountain. Not big but they have a good trail that loops about 4.5 miles. They have a short paved trail and there were about 17 geocaches in the park. They also allow some rock climbing with a permit.

 We only did 5 of the caches but if we get another chance may go back for more. We got a travel bug in one that we will move on.

 We spent most of the rest of the week working on the bathroom remodel. As per usual with an older house it has been interesting overcoming odd issues.
 We did take a day to go Christmas shopping, but not much progress was made. We just can't seem to get into the spirit when your shopping in short sleeve shirts. Usually in Wisconsin we were dashing in the cold and snow from car to stores.
 On Sunday we get to visit with our son Nate. He is a utilities locator and has taken a three week assignment in Gainesville Ga. It is about 4 hours away so we will meet him half way.

Remodeling

Hi all,
 So what have we been up to.
After the Jekyll Island trip we have been mostly settling back in at Mandi's and getting back to projects. We painted the kitchen and put up trim.
We have been busy helping planning the remodel of a bathroom. This is going to be a big job, pretty much gutting it out and replacing most everything. We'll keep you posted on how that's going.

 We have been getting some short walks in with her dogs. Max is a border collie/ Australian Shepard and Dixie is a dachshund/ border collie/ black lab- oh just say a mix up. They are pretty well behaved and quite friendly. Wendy and I have never been pet owners but we do not mind animals that behave. 
 We went to catch the Packer/ Viking game at a bar. Had a pretty good time and was quite surprised to see a good 40 or more other Packer fans.

  On Monday we plan to goof off and go hike as it is suppose to be in the 70s.
 How's your Christmas shopping going? We have a start but this is a very different year for us. We have to think do we buy and ship or just try and find on line and deliver to their houses?? We don't really want to go the gift card route but in the future who knows?