Dec 17th - Pensacola

We unhooked our utilities, packed up the motorhome and headed up to B&D for routine maintenance on our motorhome. Engine oil change, transmission fluid change, drain and replace anti-freeze, generator oil change, fuel filters and a few other miscellaneous items. I was hoping the guy at the shop would tell me that we had another year left on our front tires. Instead he said, "I was almost afraid to take it out for a test drive when we done with the work. I thought one of the front tires might blow out before I got back." I don't think they look quite that bad but they aren't great. There is all kinds of tread left but there is some sidewall cracking due to age. He gave me a good price on a new pair of Michelins. We go back in a couple of days and have them installed. Truck tires are EXPENSIVE, over $1,100 for the pair. A little more than today's work. We probably still need an alignment, he recommended a place in Pensacola; then we should be good.

After dropping off the motorhome we had breakfast as the Foley Coffee Shop.

Not a fancy place but good food at reasonable prices. The mural was a nice touch.

After breakfast we headed to Pensacola. First stop was Joe Patti's seafood place. Note the little black building with the white sign, between the orange cones. More about it later.

It is right on the Gulf. Fishing boats are docked along side the store.

Inside this is just one of the rows of counters with seafood. The also have a deli and small gourmet food shop inside.

Walking around inside the store is interesting but the real reason we stopped was so that Kathy could buy some beignets (I think it is pronounced "ben yahs") from the little black building that is outside the store.

We drove out to one of the piers and walked around for awhile. I'd never seen sea gulls this close before.

This was one honking crane on this ship. I wonder if it might be used at oil rigs.

We drove around downtown Pensacola for awhile. We saw some beautiful old homes, many of them are huge. Then it was back to the Summerdale area. We a late lunch, or early supper, at GooRoo's. I had a great half pound hamburger with onion rings. Kathy had a fish sandwich and potato salad. She said both were outstanding.

After that we picked up the motorhome, drove back to the campground (no blown tires) and got things set back up.

I forgot to mention that it got COLD last night. I think the official low was 35, the coldest since we have been here. The dew on the car windshield was actually ice and had to be scraped off. The day was sunny but cool enough that a light jacket felt good. No more lows are forecast to be in the 30's.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 16th -- DishTV Day

Another nice, sunny day here in Summerdale.

The DishTV tech was supposed to come this afternoon. I made the appointment for the afternoon so that I could go to the morning caning class. I was at the class for maybe a half hour, just finishing up repairing the strand that I broke at the end of yesterdays class, when Kathy called me to say the tech would be here in 20 minutes. Ed, the tech, was a nice guy and got our replacement receiver installed without any difficulty. He had gotten his appointments mixed up. He was supposed to go somewhere else in the morning and then come here in the afternoon, he came here in the morning. We may get a lot more channels but the picture quality isn't as good as what we were getting when using the regular RV antenna. I will have to see if there is some way to adjust the picture.

I did go back and do a little more work on my chair, but didn't make much progress.

Several new folks pulled into the park today. One couple has a home base in Vermont. The other couple (Frank & Ruth) have been on the road full-time for over 10 years. He grew up in Florida and she grew up in Washington. They met while in the military. Ruth said that full-time life in an RV suited them well because it gave them a chance to spend time with all their kids & grand-kids, who are spread across the nation. They have been visiting their kids who live in Utah & Texas and, after a week here, are heading to Florida to spend time with their son who lives there. We ate supper with them at the club house.

We had lasagna, salad, a desert for supper tonight. The lasagna was OK, but not as good as Kathy's.

Tomorrow morning we take the motor home in for an oil change and transmission fluid change. We may head to Pensacola for the day, while the work is being done.

May God bless you and yours.

Dec 15th - Yet Another Beautiful Day

Overnight low was 37, lower than forecast. High today was a sunny 68. 68 seems hotter here, I was almost to warm with just a tee shirt & jeans. I think a tee shirt and shorts would have been more comfortable. By noon we had windows and vents open to cool down the motor home.

This morning was my first caning "class". Bob, the instructor, pulled this chair out of their stock and told me to start caning.

It took me 2 hours to get this far

 The "class" is very informal. Bob walks around helping folks, there were 3 other relative beginners. Often you have to wait several minutes for his assistance. I could probably get this far in a half hour if I started again. Getting started in the morning will take some time. The last thing that happened to me was that when I was knotting loose cane ends I broke one of the pieces and will have to splice in a new piece in the morning. I don't think it will be very difficult. After that the "weaving" starts.

Below is a photo of the rocking horse one of the "experts" is re-caning. I can't wait to watch him start on the "saddle".

After caning I did a 3 mile walk around the campground.

Yesterday we paid $2.249 for gas. This afternoon we saw a station selling regular for $2.239.

Kathy did some "junking" and grocery shopping while I was caning and walking.

Todays appointment with DishTV didn't happen, their incompetence is amazing. When I made the appointment Saturday I specifically told the guy that the appointment was for our RV, not our house. I gave him the campground address and he repeated it back to me. Later I received an email "confirming" that a technician would be coming to our house to work on our system. I replied to the email stating that the technician was supposed to come to our RV and included the address. I got a reply telling me that my email had been received. About 12:30 I received a phone call from a Dish tech telling me that he was on his way to our house in Centertown. Supposedly the appointment is now scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, at the campground.

I had a good phone visit with a couple of the Staley/Tate&Lyle guys this afternoon. I miss them a little, but I not missing the increasing level of crap piled on them.

Kathy was talking to Kelsey last night. I think Kelsey had her phone on speaker because we could hear Lydia chattering away. We both talked to her a little. When she asked if she could come to our house we both were near tears. She didn't care about coming to the house, just seeing us. I still tear up just thinking about it. I'm not sure if we will be able to wait until mid-Feb to see her in Texas. We are so blessed. Thank you Lord!

May God bless you and yours.

Dec 14th - Sunday

It got colder than forecast last night, down into the high 30's again. We aren't supposed to have any more lows in the 30's for a week. The high was a sunny 63. 63 here seems warmer than it does in the north, must be the sun. About noon we had the windows open and the roof vents open to cool it off a little.

We attended Liberty Church this morning. It was as good as we remembered from last year. http://www.libertychurch.net/foley-campus It appears that they are still growing. My guess is 300-400 at the 9 AM service. Pastor JT had a thought provoking message leading into the Christmas Season; Jesus is inside all Christians, waiting to be "born".

There is a Ryan's buffet next door to the church so we stopped there for brunch. Then a stop at Walmart, which was across the street, for celery to make potato soup, and it was back home.

We sat outside reading for awhile, until I got hot and went back inside. Our "neighbor" lady came home from a 3 day trip and came over to meet us. She just went out for a few days with friends. Her husband is on his way back from San Francisco. He was out there to help their daughter cook some huge dinner for the daughter's church. The neighbor lady doesn't get around well and I'm guessing that was why she didn't go to San Francisco with him.

Tonight was a Soup Supper at the campground. Kathy made two crock pots full of potato soup. While she slaved away making soup I took a wonderful Sunday afternoon nap. (We brought home a partially full crock pot, so I get to enjoy potato soup left overs for a couple of days.)

There were about 30 different types of soup. The $3/person donation will go to a VFW children's home. They raised $305. The crock pot to the right of Kathy contained a venison soup. The people across the street from us made it. We had only nodded at them and said hello until the supper. Imagine our surprise when we found out that they lived in Stryker, OH. They have only lived there 7 years.

Everyone got a bowl and spoon and was turned loose to try whatever soups they wanted. We even had entertainment to start the evening.

Good night. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 13th - On the Roof

Another beautiful day here; sunny with a high in the mid-60’s, last nights low was 40.

This morning I went over to the club house for breakfast. Every Saturday they have breakfast. 2 eggs, grits, bacon or sausage, a biscuit, orange juice and coffee for $4. Kathy isn’t a breakfast eater and stayed home. Did a 2.8 mile walk around the campground after breakfast.

Kathy did some laundry. She hung out towels. It was amazing how quickly they dried.

I’m still trying to get the satellite dish working. After 3 trips to the RV roof I learned that a switch inside the RV was bad. I jumpered the switch and the dish started trying to aim itself. The new receiver needed to be activated so I called Dish to activate it. I must have been on the phone for over an hour. The first guy ended up telling me that the new receiver I bought would not work with our DishTV service, since we had HD service. I had him transfer me to his boss and finally the boss agreed to send a Dish tech out Monday to install a different receiver, which they are going to trade for mine.

 

Tomorrow we plan on attending church at Liberty Church, where we went when we were here last year. It will be interesting to go back after almost a year.

 

May God bless you and yours. 

Dec 12th - Big Daddy's

Another beautiful day, overnight low 36 but high was a very sunny 61.

Yesterday Kathy went over to the clubhouse in the morning and helped tie a quilt. I took a 2.25 mile walk around the campground. We then went over to Sam's club, about 15 miles from us, and had hot dogs for lunch. Kathy loves Sam's hot dogs and I also like them. She bought a crock pot and I bought a 4# container of "deluxe" nuts. On the way home we stopped at a place that was supposed to have fresh fruits and vegetables. The only thing we bought was a bag of "new crop" pecans. They are good.

In the afternoon we went over to the social hour again.

This morning, as I took my walk, I noticed that the Smart Car was loaded.

Later I learned that these people were pulling out today to head to a big RV show in Florida.

After my walk I went to the club house and watched them cane chairs. One guy is re-caning an old rocking horse. I watched him for a long time. He spent quite a bit of time studying the old caning as he removed it. I've got to take a photo of it next time I'm over there, it is such an interesting piece. Someone just dropped it off at the RV of the guy who "teaches" caning, Bob Derflinger. As I was watching the cane chairs Bob showed be an album containing photos of many of the chairs they have done over the years. He showed me over a dozen chairs waiting, in the club house. to be re-caned. They have more stored in another building. People donate many of the chairs, or the folks pick them up cheap from flea markets. Some of the guys make any needed repairs, strip off  old paint/varnish and get them ready for re-caning. Every year they have an auction to raise money for an assisted living facility that caters to RV'ers. They cane every weekday. I think I will give it a try Monday morning.

While there I also spent time visiting with a guy who used to live less than 15 miles from us when we lived in Niantic. He and his wife have been "full-timers" for quite a few years but they still spend some time in central Illinois every year, to visit their adult children and grandchildren.

We finally made it to Big Daddy's for lunch. I had a hamburger basket and Kathy had an oyster basket.

The hamburger is at least a half pound. It comes with fries for onion rings and a drink. I ordered mine cooked medium and it was pretty red in the center. It was a lot better than it looks in the photo, so juicy that it is very messy to eat. The price increased from last year. The basket and drink cost a whopping $7.25.

After leaving lunch we drove back over to the DishTV place. On the way we saw a partially harvested cotton field. Next time we go by it I need to grab a piece of the cotton. All the white you see in the foreground is loose cotton balls.

At the DishTV place I bought the receiver they told me I needed to work with our satellite. I spent several hours trying to get it to work and finally gave up for the day. I talked to a Tech guy at Winegard (the company that made the satellite) and the next step is going up on the roof, taking the cover off the satellite and checking to make sure there is power at the dish. I may get brave and do that tomorrow.

I had purchased a new sewer hose a couple of days ago. I bought just the hose because I like the end connections on my existing hose, the hose that has several small leaks. When I tried to put them on the new hose I found out that my old hose is a counter-clockwise spiral and the new hose is a clockwise spiral. They wouldn't work. I had another old fitting that would work to connect the hose at the RV but needed to make another trip to the RV store to buy a new fitting to connect to the sewer. AARGH!! Everything is back connected and I dumped the tanks with no leaks.

Kathy made goulash for supper. She had canned, or maybe frozen, some tomatoes from her garden and used them in the goulash. It was GOOOOOD.

Not sure what we are doing tomorrow. Plans are to go to the beach Monday or Tuesday. It is supposed to be sunny and in the high 60's both of those days.

May God bless you and yours.

Dec 11th - Shopping Day

Weather - Today was another beautiful sunny day, with only a few clouds. The overnight low was 36 but todays high was only 54, significantly cooler than yesterday. Not hot but still pretty darn nice.

We did some shopping today. Bought some miscellaneous electric stuff from Radio Shack, a new sewer hose from an RV place and stopped at an RV repair/maintenance place and talked to the guy about getting our oil and transmission fluid changed.

Then it was time for lunch at an Oriental buffet place that we frequented last year. The food was good but would have been better if they had turned up the heat on their steam table. After lunch we stopped at Winn-Dixie for some grocery shopping. Kathy said the grocery prices are really high, $4.39 for a gallon of milk. Fuel is less expensive

In the afternoon I repaired the switch that controls the movements of the drivers seat. It quit working right after we left Crossville. The power wire broke loose from the backside of switch mechanism. I "superglued" it back in place. it works now but we will see how long it lasts.

I brought our Dish Network receiver with us to see if we could get satellite TV while on the road. Our satellite dish, which we have never used, cost the original owner of our motorhome over $1,100. I couldn't get it to work so I went over to a local Dish installer place. They told me that our receiver is a high definition receiver and our 10 year old satellite can't handle high def.  They were nice folks. We can buy an $80 receiver that should work with our satellite, we just won't have high definition. Our 10 year old TV is an analog TV, which can't take advantage of high definition, so that isn't a big issue. I think I will get one of the receivers the next time I go by the place and see if I can get it to work. Since we get all the major networks here it isn't a big deal but our experience has been that we are lucky to get 1 or 2 of the major networks at many places.

We walked over to the clubhouse for this afternoon's Social Hour. It is basically a notification time to let everyone know what is going on at the campground, and in the surrounding area. I asked about the place where I had inquired about the oil/transmission work and had several guys tell me they thought the guy did good work.

After getting back from the clubhouse (it is 0.18 miles over to the clubhouse) we decided to walk one of the small loops (a mile long) around the campground. While walking we saw a motorhome with Missouri plates. The guy was just hooking up his sewer hose and we stopped to chat. He is from the Branson. MO area. He is heading to Florida for the winter. He left Branson 10 days ago and has been wandering around, sightseeing, on his way this far.

It was almost dark when we got back to the motorhome but I took a photo of our lot anyway. I think I earlier said the lots were 40-50' wide, I think they are actually more like 50-60' wide. The post at the left of the photo marks our "lot line".

Time for supper. Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.