Day 17 - Friday, January 21st - Buc-ees & Sam's

 It was cold here overnight, and going to be cold again tonight and tomorrow night. It was 32 at 6:30AM, Today's high was 38. Forecast is for 31 tonight, 49 for tomorrows high and then 27 for tomorrow nights low. It has been misting rain on and off during the night and today. The dampness and wind make it feel really cold. People are bundled up in big coats, stocking caps, etc.

Kathy likes checking out Buc-ee's stores so we went over to one about 20 miles from us. They are a cross between a roadside convenience store and a Wal-Mart.

The few times we have been in one I have always noted the Help Wanted signs, and the payscale. Tell me again why the federal government needs to keep piling debt on my great-grandchildren so that it can hand out money to people who won't work, or people whose irresponsible actions have put them in a position so that they can't work. We constantly hear about shortages and inflation while at the same time there are currently fewer people employed than there were pre-COVID,

Then it was off to Sam's to pick up a few things and get some exercise, walking around the store. I needed to walk a lot more than I did, to burn off the calories from all the junk food I bought.

On the way home from Sam's we stopped at a Farmer's Market type store and bought some peppers, celery, pecans, and I'm not sure what else.

Then it was back home to put water in the tank and unhook the water hose before tonight. The campground sent everyone texts asking that hoses be unhooked to prevent potential freeze damage to their hydrants.

A comment on people wearing masks. My guess is that less than 10% of non-employees wear masks. It seemed like more people in Pensacola were wearing masks, but certainly no more than 15%. Today it seemed like we saw more people (Buc-ees & Sam's) wearing masks, but again, no more than 10%. I don't know if Camping World made their sales people get vaccinated but I noticed that at least one of the sales cubicles had a "I've Been Vaccinated" sign on the wall. One of the guys who we talked to was wearing a mask. Once we got out of the building, and into the coach, he asked us if we minded if he took it off. Since we weren't wearing masks we didn't care.

Found a 2010 Dutch Aire 4304 online, at a dealer in Nacogdoches, TX. Sent them a few questions. It's a couple of feet longer than what we want but I like the extra cargo capacity provided by the tag axle.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Day 16 - Thursday, January 20th - RAINY

 It rained hard here last night and the rain continue on, at a much lower intensity, through mid morning. It was still drizzling up until noon. After the nice sunny day yesterday a damp, windy day like today feels COLD. Today's high was in the mid 50's, it wasn't really cold, just felt that way. It is supposed to get down to near freezing tonight and there is a weather advisory warning of possible ice on surfaces.

I don't think either of us accomplished much today. I traded emails with the salesman for the coach in Haslet, TX. My grandmother used to say if you can't say something good about someone don't say anything at all, nuff said. I contacted another sales person at the place and am trying to work with her. I'm hoping that she will provide me with some of information I've requested on the coach.

Logan, the nearby Camping World salesman, contacted us and told us the coach they had out getting new tires installed was back on the lot and ready for us to see. It is more coach than we want but the price was good (for a more expensive coach that we have in our plans), and we wanted to actually look at one with a full bath in the rear.

It's a 2012 Dutch Star 4346, 42'9" long, 23" longer than the one we used to have. Below are some photos from their website.

The coach is 12 years old and only has 16,000 miles on it. They told us it had been in storage for a long time. We haven't totally ruled it out but doubt that it is the coach for us. For a coach with only 16,000 miles there are a lot of visible defects. Dutch Star's are a very upscale coach. The "leather" upholstery on the couches is the worst we have ever seen. Both would need to be replaced, or recovered. Kathy thinks she can smell mold. She saw some evidence of veneer delamination on one of the cabinets. She also thought the carpet had been wet. I saw no evidence of roof leaks but maybe if the coach has been stored for a long time in a damp area it could have caused the problems. They wanted us to take it out for a test drive but we weren't interested enough to do that, yet. I may talk to the salesman about it a little more.

We had lunch at Gooroo's, just down the road from Camping World. I had a fish sandwich & onion rings and Kathy had fish tacos and onion rings. My sandwich was good, as were the onion rings. The fish in her tacos looked blackened, it was to spicy for her. She ate one of them and I ate the fish out of the other. I thought it was good, but I like blackened fish.

Back at the camper I took a long nap and she read and walked a little.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Day 15 - Wednesday, January 19 - Pensacola

 Weather was beautiful today. At 10AM we had several windows and the roof vents open before leaving for Pensacola. I wore shorts and a tee shirt, but threw a hoodie in the truck. I put on the hoodie when we were walking out by the Gulf.

Our first stop was Joe Patti's Seafood. Kathy is getting us beignets, actually this is on the way out. This is at least our 3rd trip to Joe Patti's for beignets. We didn't buy any fish but she did buy a small container of some type of crab dip.

Inside Joe Patti.

Outside Joe Patti. I don't think this boat/ship ever leaves the pier. It would have to move sideways to get into the channel.

Lots of pelicans around.

Beautiful day.

Then on to downtown for lunch at O'Riley's Irish Pub. Its the building with the green awning.

Kathy had a hamburger and I had Bangers and Mash (sausage and "dirty" mashed potatoes). Both were good. The sausages were a little mild.

Photos of a couple of downtown streets.

Then we went out to the Gulf and walked around some. Not sure what they were doing to the back of this ship but it looked like a lot of work.

This little girl and her gram(?) were feeding the seagulls.

Every now and then they would take flight and then land back around the little girl. She must be around them on a regular basis because she didn't seem scared. When the whole flock of them flew over my head I was a little scared.

It was still nice but the cloud cover really picked up and looked a little ominous.

I think one of these must be Big Toot and maybe the other is Little Toot.

On the way home we stopped at a different T-Mobile store in Foley. I explained my situation to the young man and he said, "I think I can fix that." (a line from one of my favorite movies, Doc Hollywood). It took him about an hour but he got T-Mobile working on the ESIM. Back at the campground I checked the data speed on my phone. It is a little over twice as fast as it is with AT&T.

We are really liking a 2009 Dutch Aire for sale in Haslet, TX. If I can get some good answers to the questions I've asked we may rent a car, drive over there and take a look. Its about a 670 mile drive.

God is good. I pray He blesses you and yours.

Day 14 - Tuesday, January 18 - Stayed Home

 We spent an enjoyable day today without ever leaving the campground. It was cool, 30 degrees, when we got up this morning but the brilliant sun warmed temperatures up into the mid/high 50's. With the sun out and very little wind it felt warmer.

After breakfast I went to the clubhouse and had coffee with folks. Drinking coffee is a time consuming activity. Actually discussing how the US is sliding downhill, and suggestions for stopping the decline, take a lot of time. Morning coffee time starts at 8 and the people at the table where I sat finally left around 9:30.

After coffee I walked the "big loop" around the campground, about 2 miles, and then I wasted over an hour on the phone with another of T-Mobile's disabled "customer service" representatives. At the end of today's discussions the guy claimed that T-Mobile's service isn't compatible with the ESIM in Google phones. This revelation came to him right after I told him I wanted to be transferred to a higher level of Tech Support, because it was obvious that he was not going to be able to solve the issue. Kathy suggested that he was just blowing me off so that his "record" didn't have to show that he couldn't solve the problem. The guy I talked to today had an Indian (Asian) accent that was only slightly more understandable than yesterday's Oriental lady. 

In the afternoon I changed into shorts and a tee shirt and washed my truck. When clean she looks pretty good for a 17 year old pickup.

We did some reading and I took a nap in the afternoon. In the evening we went to the clubhouse for supper. Tonight's offering was minestrone soup and English muffins with pizza sauce and cheese on them. The soup was OK but the English muffins would have been far better if they had just toasted and buttered them.

We visited with a couple, from the Crown Point, IN area, who have been spending winters (4 months) in the Pensacola/Gulf Shores area for the past 12 years. When they first started coming down they stayed in the Pensacola area. H was a vet and the area has some great perks for vets. Then they moved to campgrounds in Gulf Shores area and finally last year and this year they came to Rainbow. They said that the campgrounds out near the Gulf are now charging $1,000 per month, as opposed to the $395 Rainbow charges.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Day 13 - Monday, January 17 - Fairhope and Phones

A lot of today was frustrating. I think I have mentioned that the campground doesn't have WIFI, which we knew, and that once down here we learned that AT&T's cell signal at the campground is poor. It's barely OK for phone calls and a slow internet connection. Forget about trying to stream anything. A couple of guys in the campground office mentioned that they have T-Mobile and that the signal is good. One of them streams Netflix without problem.

I had read that Consumer Cellular plans allow you to access either AT&T or T-Mobile towers. This morning I contacted them and found out that they no longer have access to T-Mobile. Next I contacted T-Mobile to sign up for their unlimited data prepaid plan. During my initial contact with them I clearly told them I wanted a new line activated on the ESIM in my phone. After wasting at least a half hour I was told that they could only activate postpaid plans on an ESIM. I then called T-Mobile to activate a postpaid plan. About a half hour later I was told that everything was set up and that I should have T-Mobile service within a few minutes. 4 hours later still no service. I called T-Mobile customer service. After 67 minutes I finally was able to talk to a real person. Her Asian accent was so bad, combined with my poor hearing, that I had to ask her to repeat everything she said 2-3 times. She wanted an EID(?) number from my phone. I asked her to tell me where it was, she couldn't. After 15-20 minutes of her not being able to do anything positive she told me it was to early to expect the account to be activated. She told me that it can take up to 24 hours. We will see.

Between those frustrating encounters we drove over to Fairhope, AL, about a 15 minute drive, to have lunch, get some groceries at Publix and pick up a couple of miscellaneous items from Walmart.

Lunch at the Agave Mexican restaurant was good. We had enough leftovers that it met our needs for supper. (Once again it is easy to see my lack of photography skills.)

After the afternoon experience with T-Mobile I took a 2.5 mile walk around the campground to burn off some frustration. The temperature was in the 50's. It got dark while I was walking. The moon over the clubhouse was beautiful.

Even when you have to deal with T-Moble, God is still good <grin>. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Day 12 - Sunday, January 16 - Church Day

Dick, one of the guys at the campground said we should try out Fish River Baptist church, we did this morning. There were only around 20 people in the service. The Pastor was home sick with COVID and we were told that most of their attenders are old people, afraid to get out because of COVID. The church live streams the service for them.

I felt the Spirit working as soon as the service started. I liked the music, mostly older hymns. Yesterday morning the Pastor asked the guy who leads the music to come up with a sermon. He did a pretty job.

Dick wasn't there, he and his wife, are on their way back to Michigan. They are moving back to MI because of their failing health. Before the service started Joan, a lady who lives in one of the houses in the residential area behind the campground, came up and introduced herself and her husband. We had not met her nor her husband. They bought a house down here 5 years ago and Dick soon had them attending Fish River Baptist.

Weather was bleak today. The overnight low was 34 and the high was a cloudy, windy 43. Other than my taking a walk, only 2 miles today, we stayed in the camper.

I did more online motorhome shopping. We had seen an ad for a 2009 Dutch Star 4 slide, 40 footer. I contacted the guy to ask him a lot of questions. The coach had a lot of options. The couple bought it 4 years ago for travel and a place to live while they were having a new home built in Lakeland, FL, where the coach is located. (They are selling it because their house is done. Also when they go north they visit family in New Hampshire. It is 40 miles from their family to the closest campground that can handle 40 footers. They are downsizing to a Class C.) They have invested over $15,000 in repairs and upgrades. New tires and coach batteries were the only non-accessory items. The coach has so many options (hydronic heating, residential refrigerator, freezer in the basement, and much more) that the net Carrying Capacity was only 3,100#. (With a full load of fuel, fresh water & propane you can only have 3,100# of additional stuff before overloading the vehicle.) I won't buy a coach for full-timing that has a net Carrying Capacity of less than 4,000#. Another BIG blackmark against the coach was when I asked the guy if he had maintenance records. He hesitated before telling me that he had not serviced the engine/transmission nor the generator while he has had the coach, 4 years and 14,000 miles. We will keep shopping.

How nasty is it down here? It is so nasty that we didn't even go to the Sunday evening Ice Cream Social at the clubhouse.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Day 11 - Saturday, January 15 - Farmers Market

 This morning I went to the clubhouse for breakfast. The food was fine and the visiting even better. I continue to be amazed at the number of people who are here from Michigan. Kathy isn't much of a breakfast person so she stayed at the camper. I did spend a little time sitting outside this morning, knowing that rain was forecast for this afternoon. There was still some clear sky early this AM.

Once I got back we left for the Farmers Market in Foley. Kathy is the one in the red and white stripped top. There were a LOT of people there but not much of a selection of food. We bought a bunch of purple radishes and a bar of scented soap.

A note on masks. There are a couple of people with masks in the above photo. I estimate that fewer than 10% of the folks down here wear masks. Probably fewer than that among the mostly "old people" here at the campground.

On the way back to the campground we checked the two reasonably close RV places. There was only one additional Class A on one of the lots. It was $330k, out of our price range, and we didn't like it even if it had been in our range. Back at the camper I did some more searching on the RV Trader website. I found a couple that looked interesting. I sent an email to the owner of a 2009 Dutch Star, asking for more information. The coach is similar to the 2004 that we used to have. He called me and left a message asking that I call him back. I will do so tomorrow afternoon.

It rained on and off this afternoon and evening but I managed to get in 3 miles of walking today.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.