Bon Secour and Gulf Shores

Our friends, Rich and Terri Deacon, came in from Campbellsville, via a stop in Nashville to see a concert at Opryland.  Wednesday we had a hilarious time with them and the Mossman’s swapping stories about all our work at amazon.com. We all laughed so much.

Yesterday the Mossman’s were both under the weather, so we left them to heal and took off with the Deacon’s to show them the area.  We drove through Foley pointing out places to shop, get propane, etc. Then we drove to Gulf Shores to see the water.  I always get a kick out of seeing all the colorful houses. They are all on stilts as protection from flooding.  People park their cars under the houses between the stilts.

Rich and Terri enjoyed seeing the Gulf.  Also being from Colorado, none of us are around that kind of water and it is intriguing.

It was an overcast day and raining at times, but we enjoyed it anyway.

Next we drove to Bon Secour to visit Billy’s Seafood Market, a real fav of ours.  Billy’s have their own boats with this tiny fish market on site of their docks.  They feature several different types of shrimp, but we also bought red snapper, scallops and a seafood gumbo.

The last photo is one of the mounds of oyster shells on the property – leftovers from shucking.  Their parking lot is made up of crushed oyster shells. 

By then it was lunch time so we headed for Lambert’s Café in Foley, the home of the “throwed rolls”.  Yes, it is a touristy thing, but fulltime RVing is going to a lot of those types of places to say, “oh, yes, we’ve been there”, and then you can participate in the conversation of the crazy antics and huge servings they have there.

Note the fake ham	Our waitress
Huge rolls	Getting sorghum molasses…yum
Our meals…I got chicken wings.	Jim’s huge chicken fried steak

Yea, I know, I show a lot of photos of food….but you blog about things that are important to you….guess what’s important to me?  Ah, I need to take photos of my Brandy Manhattans now.

By then it was 2 p.m. and after a stop at Wally’s to get more beer and wine we went home for a nap.  About 5 p.m. the Deacon’s came over for happy hour and enjoy the evening together.

It was a full day with a lot of laughter, food, drink and fun.  Life is good!!!

Remember, you are loved.

Sun Reappears

Oh, happy days…..the sun has returned and it is suppose to be 50 degrees here in Summerdale, Alabama. We are doing a “happy dance”.  We opened all the shades and Jim is cleaning all the inside windows….love a man who cooks and cleans!

Yesterday was pretty miserable. We drove to Camping World in Robertsdale, but got there early so we just rode a while wasting time.  Bought a 2010 Trailer Life RV Park Directory as our other one is 2007, when we first went fulltiming.  The Mossman’s got a few needed items also.

The boys stayed at the Mossman’s to watch the Bears football game while Linda and I were in our rig watching NCIS marathon.  It was good for all of us.

Think tonight we’ll get together and have another night of cards.  It sure was fun the other night when the Mossman’s taught us Tripoly and a new rummy game.  If one of our Class of 2007 would send me the rules to Hand and Foot I’d like to teach them that.  We have had so many hilarious nights playing Hand and Foot, but I don’t remember the “class rules” we learned and there’s many versions I understand.

Oh, I can see out the windows again….yippee….think I’ll go take a walk in the sunshine!

Remember, you are loved.

Merry Christmas!!!

Quiet day here in Summerdale, Alabama.  We got up at our usual time of 4 a.m…..got to change that soon. For no apparent reason I was in a cleaning mood and knowing me, you have to take advantage of that as it doesn’t happen often enough.  So there I was a 4:30 a.m. on my hands and knees washing all the floors, deep clean the bathroom and windexing the mirrors….all before breakfast.

Yesterday was a whirlwind of late lunch, going to the movies to see True Grit which wasn’t worth the effort, stopping for ice cream and a little window shopping.  So I didn’t have time to make Linda Mossman a birthday cake, so I did that this morning and also baked a coffee cake that the Mossman’s shared with us.

Jim Mossman is making homemade lasagna for dinner, as none of us were too excited about the ham being served at the clubhouse. Salad and garlic bread will round out the meal….along with the birthday cake, of course.

It’s raining now, but at least it isn’t the “white stuff”.  Temps are about 48 degrees, so it is just warm and cozy.  Jim is “snoozing”, got Christmas music on the TV and soon I’ll be reading on my Kindle.  Not a bad Christmas all-in-all!

Remember, you are loved….a lot!

Summerdale, Alabama

We had an easy trip to Summerdale arriving around 2 p.m. Happy hour soon ensued with conversation about what to do today for Linda Mossman’s birthday.  Her birthday tradition is to go to dinner and have Jim take her out to a movie…only happens once a year.  So Linda chose to eat Mexican, so we’ll go to Vallarta’s in Foley, and then we’ll go see the new True Grit in Foley or Gulf Shores, depending on show time.

I knitted Linda a hat as a birthday present and I think it came out real nice.  Sure fits her personality well.  Wouldn’t she had made a great Flapper?

Happy birthday, dear friend.  So happy you are in my life!!!
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The park here is having ham for Christmas dinner, which didn’t excite any of us, so after a conversation of alternatives it was decided Jim M. will bake a lasagna. Yes, different, but we all have to stay open to change.  Our daughters made shrimp egg rolls for Thanksgiving and they really enjoyed it too.  It’s all about the people with whom you share the holidays NOT what you eat.

Merry Christmas to all our readers…be nice to yourself and share with someone else.

Remember, you are all loved.

Jackson, Mississippi

(I still spell Mississippi out loud like m, i, crooked letter, crooked letter, i, crooked letter, crooked letter, i, hump back, hump back, i.  Do you ever do that?)

We are staying at LeFleurs Bluff State Park a smidge north of Jackson, MS.  What a find!!! Being over 65 our fee was only $13, unbelievable!  It is so pretty….here take a look.

 

We started “happy hour” when we arrived around 2 p.m. so I was really “happy” about 4 p.m. Brought out some dips and cheese to enjoy.

 

 

Love this photo of Indy and Walker waiting for Linda to come out of the rig….that’s devotion, folks.

 

I made up a nice tossed salad with shrimp that came out real nice. It sure will be great to get to Summerdale/Foley area and be able to go back to Billy’s Seafood Market in Bon Secour, Alabama. Best seafood ever!!!

Today we are off to Summerdale, AL where we will stay at Rainbow Plantation, the Escapees RV Club’s park there. We really like this park and this area…it’s one place we’ve considered when we “hang up our keys” and get off the road…many years down the road I hope.  But it is like “going home” for me when we go there.  I especially enjoy the Fairhope area, with it’s picturesque homes, lovely shoppes and boutiques and flower decoration all over town. Should give us some pretty Christmas decoration to view. Plus there are three Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives restaurants to check out.

Jim and I are still getting up way tooooo early in the morning. We haven’t broken the habit of getting up at 3 a.m. to get ready to go to work.  We are staying up later at night, but we are just getting less sleep that way. I stayed up to 10:30 last night and still woke up at 4:30 a.m.  This is getting ridiculous!

OK, I’m off to make breakfast and then pull in the slides and get ready to go….oh, yes, we have to wait for the Mossman’s to get up.

Remember, you are loved.

Tunica, Mississippi

We’ve been staying at Hollywood Casino here in Tunica, MS the last few days.  The Mossman’s have friends who come here often and they wanted to visit them, so we took a detour on our way to Summerdale, AL.  So glad we did.  It has been a nice stop.

The RV park here is very, very nice. Paved, level sites with good spacing between rigs. Plus it is an short walk to the casino for the boys.  Linda and I stay in the rig and read with our Kindles. 

Both Linda and I have used this time to do a good cleaning of our rigs, as at Campbellsville we only had time to eat, sleep and work.  The poor rig got neglected.  But they are both sparkling clean now.  We even bathed the dogs.  The Mossman’s dog, Walker, is a bit of a handful to bathe, so I told Linda to let me try.  I brought him over to our rig and gave him a bath in the kitchen sink and he did fine.  Jim C. talked to him soothingly and I washed and he did great.  Just like children, sometimes another parent can get a child to do something their own parent can’t.  Dogs seem to be the same.

The Mossman’s have been plagued with mishaps with blown fuse that prevented their bedroom slide from retracting, bent strut under the bed and yesterday their shower fixture bit the dust leaking all over and beyond repair. They found a “will do” contraption and while going to Walmart to buy sealant, we saw the Weinermobile

Last night we grilled some steaks and I got the boys in action grilling and clowning around

            

 

 

 

 

 

We had a very pretty sunset also.  It’s not “Arizona pretty”, but not bad for the mid-south area.

 

This photo I call “Best Buddies”.

The two Jim’s have become very good friends and sure have enjoyed spending time together.  Linda and I are like sisters, so it makes for a very enjoyable time traveling together. 

Remember, you are loved.

Bucksnort, Tennessee

After a couple of hours of driving towards Tunica, MS, Jim Mossman was nervous about the bedroom slide coming out, so we pulled off I-40 to secure it more. Wikipedia calls this place

Bucksnort is a small unincorporated community in Hickman County, Tennessee, United States. It occupies Exit 152 on Interstate 40 a few miles east of the Tennessee River. The demonym for Bucksnort is "Bucksnorter". There are no U.S. Census statistics for the location and there is no post office.

This turn off the freeway was like a cul-de-sac that had a running gas station, a closed up gas station, a Travel Lodge and Rudy’s Restaurant. Here’s the town sign, which is on the back of the sign that reads “Motel”.

After shoring up the bedroom slide Jim M. asked if we wanted to go on to Pilot Travel Center to eat breakfast or eat here. Pilot’s food is predictable and we all love the unusual, so we opted for Rudy’s….what a great decision!

Inside was a large restaurant with two other couples eating. The heat source was a kerosene heater in the middle of the floor. After being seated by a friendly waitress we checked out the menu which gave the story of the town’s (???) name.  Seems back in 1880s a man named Buck settled in this area and began to make moonshine. So when the local gentlemen wanted some they would say “I’m going down to Buck’s for a snort”, which got shortened to Bucksnort.  Don’t you just love it?

Here their the Breakfast Special was a choice of bacon, ham or sausage, two eggs, hash browns AND homemade biscuits and gravy for…..get this…..$4.95….incredible!!!  The gravy was the real thing….not from a can.

The Two Jims got ham and it was a good size portion cut off the bone and 1/4 inch thick…very good. My 3 bacon slices were also thick and fried crisped. They even made me some grits instead of the hash brown…I’m not a big fan of potatoes. The food was very, very good.

At the register there was a selection of homemade baked goods for sale…banana bread, peanut brittle, hard candies, mini pecan pies, etc. We bought the pecan pies and peanut brittle and they were also a nice treat later on in the day.

Overall it was a nice stop and one we will certainly remember.

Remember, you are loved!

We’re on the road

We had pretty much readied ourselves to take off from Campbellsville, KY Saturday, so we had a leisurely breakfast at Betty’s Country Kitchen one last time.  Then the boys went to get propane and Linda and I went to Walmart, Kroger and filled the truck with diesel. 

We were set to leave the campground at noon…..but…….when Jim tried to pull away the RV wheels wouldn’t move!!! Everyone was outside telling us their goodbyes and we couldn’t move. If he disconnected the power cord we moved forward fine, but as soon as the power cord was inserted it wouldn’t move.  Jim backed up, moved forward, dragged forward, etc.  Jim figured it was something wrong with the brake controller.

We called a local RV repairman and he suggested we back it up about 20 feet and it should unlock the brakes….NOT!  Finally the campground owner, Rocky, bless his heart, started checking with an OHM meter and checking the cord and woweeee, found that the truck’s electrical cord had repositioned itself and was smashed between the frame and the springs and had pinched the cord causing a short.  The collective minds figure the build up of snow in the wheel well pushed it into a different place.

 

 

So some cutting and splicing of wires and a wrap of electrical tape and we were back in business. 

 

 

Thanks for the help of our buddy, Rich Deacon leaning inside the wheel well to reseat the cord securely to the frame, we were on our way about two hours late.

Thanks for everyone who helped us out, even the moral support was helpful.

We hit the road and drove on I-40 till Dickson, TN and stayed at a Passport America park called Tanbark RV Park – nothing exceptional but we had electricity to stay warm with our electric heaters.

We go on today to Tunica, MS….see you there.
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P.S. When we got up Sunday morning the Mossman’s bedroom slide wouldn’t retract. After a half hour of checking fuses, etc., the Two Jims went under the bed and disconnected the slide from the motor and manually pushed in the slide…no manual crank on this slide.  Then they propped up or shimmied in wood around the slide frame to prevent the slide from pushing itself out while driving down the street….wouldn’t that be a sight on the freeway! 

Remember, you are loved.

Last day of work

Here we all are on our last day of work at amazon.com for the season. Many of us wore Hawaiian shirts to signify that we were on our way to warmer climates.

Pam Frazier, Sheryl Price, Linda and Ray Malloy	Mary Grovemiller and Larry Davis
My look for the day	The group
Butch and wife	The Miracle’s
Jim and Myra Brown	Larry and Judy “O”

We all worked the day and were gathered at 3 p.m. for our “goodbye celebration” in the conference room. All the head honchos including the General Manager thanked us for all our hard work and dedication.  During this Peak season many, many long standing records were broken including the most items receive and stowed in a day and most items shipped in a day.  Attendance percentages jumped dramatically this year---workampers average attendance was 98% and it seemed to rub off on the regular amazonians as their overall attendance increased also….we won’t talk about Staff Management personnel….UGH….you can only imagine!

Here is a picture of the Receiving Department.

Then as we were “badging” out the door, here was Karen, the Area Manager for Receiving, and Jimmie, her Process Assistant, waiting for us with signs…..South Padre or Bust….just too funny.

I gave out a huge SCREAMING “whooppie when I walked out the door.  It’s been a good season for us; much less tiring than previous seasons in Coffeyville; bodies are not hurting as much as previous years.  If we commit to come back next year by January 31 we get our pick of work shifts, so we’ll send in the form. We already put in our reservations for next year at Indian Ridge.  But like everything else in fulltime RVing world, all plans are set in Jello…things can change.

Remember, you are loved.