Day 10, Friday, January 14 - Phone Plan Shopping

 Kathy did a weeks worth of laundry this morning, at the campground laundromat. While up there I took the photos below. The campground pool looks so nice and clean. To bad it isn't heated.

I previously mentioned RV's parked at some of the houses behind that actual campground. People are living in both of the RV's in this photo. They are parked in the yard of one of the houses.

After that we headed to the Target store, a 20 minute drive, to get a Consumer Cellular (T-Mobile) number set up on the esim on my Pixel phone. The guy in the phone/electronics area was stunningly uninformed about procedures. On top of that they didn't even have a Consumer Cellular/T-Mobile in stock.

The good news was that on the way back we stopped at the Peng Garden Restaurant for lunch. Back at the camper I "chatted" with a Consumer Cellular rep, was told that I needed to be transferred to another department, minutes later was told that there were so many on hold that I would have to get back to them at a later time.

I had been to a T-Mobile store and the guy I talked to didn't know how to set up the esim on my phone, or just didn't want to be bothered. Today I "chatted" with a T-Mobile, telling them I wanted to have a prepaid account set up on my phones esim. I was told that I would have to call them. I was given a phone number and when I asked, "Will someone at that number actually be able to set up a "prepaid" number on my phone. The response was, "That is the post paid number, The following is the number to call to get a prepaid account activated." Is their anyone remotely competent in the business world today?

If we go back to full timing I am going to miss being able to bypass having to deal with uninformed, untrained store employees.

Kathy went to the clubhouse in the PM and worked on a new puzzle. I did some walking around the campground, 2.7 miles for today.

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

Day 9 - Thursday, January 13th - Truck Problem Minor

 This morning I went over to the clubhouse for the 8AM coffee get together. The minor reason was to get to know more of the people who are down here but the major reason was to get recommendations on mechanics for Duramax's. Two different repair places were highly recommended. Finally about 9:30 I headed back to the camper, we had some great discussions. More on that later. Back at the camper I started the truck to try and do a better job of diagnosing what was causing the noise. I didn't here the noise until I stepped on the brake so that I could put it in gear. I shut it off and checked the last underhood fluid level, that I had not checked, the power steering fluid. There was none on the stick. I called a friend who is a mechanic and he once again gave me great advice. The power steering pump could not get enough fluid and basically the fluid was foaming (the pump was sucking air?). 12 ounces of fluid filled the reservoir and the noise is gone. Everything seems to be working well. I have never noted any stains from fluid leaks but I will pay more attention. Praise the Lord that it was not a big deal!

Several of the couples at coffee this morning are from Michigan. We discussed the big county fairs Centerville, Coldwater & Hillsdale. One of the guys, when he heard I grew up in Coldwater, told us that when his father was born he was turned over to the state and was adopted out of the State Home. One of the guys I was talking to was a Methodist, another a Baptist another a Lutheran and another was a reformed(?) Mormon. That led to some interesting discussions.

More folks are showing up every day, but there are still empty sites. There are 100 FHU sites here plus several "boondocking" sites. At the back of the campground is a "housing development" where some former snow birds now live year around. Many of the still have their RV's and use this as a home base. Some of them rent RV sites to snowbirds.

Kathy spent several hours, some in the AM & some in the PM, at the clubhouse, working on the same puzzle. I managed to get in 2.8 miles of walking, for some exercise.

This is one of the many trees at the campground. We walk by it when we take the shortcut to the clubhouse. As we walked by it on our way to supper we again discussed how Nolan would love climbing many of these trees.

There were 70-80 people there for the meal tonight (meals available most Tuesdays and Thursdays). We left after eating but many stayed to play bingo after the meal.

Weather wise was a good day. Weatherbug said the temperature was 32 degrees when I got up around 7AM, but it didn't feel bad walking over to the clubhouse. The high was in the high 60's and it was sunny. Several folks were out washing their campers, including our neighbors. He had a ladder so that he was able to get up and scrub the top of his slide toppers. I don't know if actually washed the roof. I think his wife was washing the windows.

Another good day.

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

Day 8 - Wednesday, January 12 - Motorhome Shopping

 Kathy spent a good part of the morning at the clubhouse, working on a puzzle. I read for awhile and then did a loop around the campground while walking our trash to the dumpster. I also checked the propane tanks and found that one was empty.

Then it was off to Mama Lou's for lunch, a place we had eaten in the past. The buffet was good, just plain food. 

After a hearty lunch we headed down to Camping World to look at Class A's. Tomorrow we are going back to look at a 42'-2012 Newmar Dutch Star 4346, with only 16,000 miles on it. It was out getting new tires put on it today. It's bigger than we want, and a little above the top of our budget but.... Their price is 10% less than NADA book value (even without considering any optional equipment it might have), and it has new tires ($2,000-3,000). We also stopped at another place to look but they didn't have anything that interested us.

Then it was off to get our propane tank filled. The tank "expired" in May 2021 so I had to find a place that would requalify/recertify it. A guy at the Camping World service department told me where to take it. The place was within a block of our trip back to the campground. We dropped it off and then headed down to Publix for a little grocery shopping. On our way back to the campground we got a call telling us that the tank was ready for us to pick it up. The cost to requalify the tank was $17.50, which I thought was very reasonable. I think a new 30# cylinder is around $80. The total for recertifying and filling the tank was $46.

On the way back to the campground my truck starting making a weird noise when accelerating. The noise changes with engine rpm. Gauges all read good. Checked the oil & trans fluids when we got back to the campground. Oil was full and trans fluid still is pink. Maybe I was getting to bored without trailer axle problems, or flat tires, etc. 😀

Nolan, this is one of the campground trees that I thought you would really enjoy climbing. There are some that are much bigger than this one.

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

Day 7 - Tuesday, January 11 - Oyster House

 It got down in the 30's last night, but we were "snug as bugs in a rug". The camper furnace will keep the camper comfortable even when outside temps are in the mid-high 20's.

Kathy went over to the clubhouse this morning to participate in some type of quilting get together. They didn't have it this morning so she hung around the clubhouse and worked on a big, partially completed puzzle that was on a table in the clubhouse library. I stayed at the camper and tried to get my new printer working. I printed a couple of test pages before leaving home but was unable to get the computer to "see" it this morning. After posting this I will give it another shot.

We are a little "crippled" here because the campground does not have wifi, which we knew before making a reservation. What we didn't know was that while AT&T claims that they have 5G service in this area, what they really have is pitiful 4G LTE service. (It is flat as a pancake here, and rural. There is nothing to interfere with a cell signal.)  The signal is as bad as it is down in the "holler" at home. A guy at the office said he has T-Mobile and has a good enough signal to stream Netflix via his cell phone. He also said that Verizon service is even worse than AT&T's.

For lunch we drove down to Gulf Shores and ate at the Original Oyster House. Kathy's mouth has been watering for their fish tacos since we arrived here. I had a blackened flounder po boy sandwich. Both were very good, and reasonably priced.

After lunch we drove over to the beach. It was sunny and in the mid 50's, but rather windy. With the wind it was chilly enough that we chose not to take a walk along the beach.

We did get some exercise walking around the campground later in the afternoon. I had nice conversation with a couple of full timers who recently bought a used Newmar Mountain Aire. Their toad/dingy is a Jeep. I was curious about how they liked it. They do, because it pulls good (behind their 450hp Class A) and because they like to spend time in the sand and in the mountains. They do plan on getting a larger version in the future. They took the back seat out of this one so that they would have more room for cargo. My impression is that they have only been full timing for a couple of years.

As i was leaving to take my walk a lady was walking by with her dog. She saw our license plate and asked where we live in Missouri. I told her near Jefferson City. For the past several years she and her husband have worked for the Corp of Engineers in the Branson area, during the summer months. They work in some type of exhibit area. She wondered if they were going to be asked to work there this summer. Because of COVID part/all of the exhibit area was not open last summer. They still worked, but only did catch-up filing and finished up work that had been undone. By the end of last summer they had caught everything up. They have been full timing since retiring in 2012.

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

Day 6 - Monday, January 10 - Stayed Home

 Not much activity today. Kind of a rest day. We stayed around the campground. Did some walking around the campground, and some camper cleaning.

Skies were mostly sunny, but it was windy. High was in the mid 50's. It felt cold after yesterday's sunny mid 70's, with not significant wind. People we met while out walking looked like they were bundled up for winter.

God is good. I pray that He will bless you and yours.

Day 5 - Sunday - January 9 - Church at Liberty

 We didn't use much propane or electricity last night. We slept with the windows open. It was in the mid 60's when we got up. It was a sunny 73 at 10:30 when we left for church.

We went to Liberty Church today. It was where we went when were down here many years ago. Over 10 years ago they turned a 12 screen theater in to a church. I worked during one of the work days. I helped tear down a wall between two of the theaters. 

The people seemed friendly and excited about being to be at church. It seemed to us that the attendance is smaller than it was when we attended 10 years ago. They have made so many changes to the interior of the building that it was difficult to remember the old layout. One lady mentioned that they had put on a new roof. I wonder if some storm badly damaged the building. The main sanctuary is not open because of ongoing construction activities. The Pastor preached a decent message on the prodigal son, Luke 15:11-32. His delivery was to theatrical for my taste, but each of us likes different delivery styles.

After church we headed to Publix to pick up a few groceries. Then it was on to Peng Garden Chinese Restaurant. Both Publix and the restaurant are very close to the church. The restaurant was as good as we remembered. I have no doubt that we will be return on at least another Sunday while we are down here.

We also stopped at Wal-Mart on our way back to the campground. I destroyed a couple of my plastic levelling blocks at the last campground. The site here is a little unlevel side/side. After blocking up the tires on one side 2 blocks high I ran out of blocks for the jacks. Also, I have about a years worth of hearing aid batteries (bulk purchase), but they are all at home. I bought leveling blocks and hearing aid batteries.

Then it was back to the campground for coffee and reading out on the "porch". I stink at selfies.

At 6:00 we went up to the clubhouse for the Sunday night ice cream social. There were 50-75 folks in attendance. One of the guys at our table grew up in Marshall, MI. After full-timing for a lot of years he and his wife finally bought a house in Battle Creek, MI to be closer to their great-grandkids. They are down here for 3 months. The other couple at our table consisted of a 49 year old Alabama DOT worker who has lived in the area all his life. His wife grew up in the Detroit suburbs and also lived in the Kansas City, MO area for awhile before moving down here. They live in one of the houses back behind the campground.

People meet at 8AM at the clubhouse every morning for coffee and bull sessions. I'm lazy in the AM, don't know if I'll make it.

Tuesday and Thursday nights they have supper at the clubhouse, cost is $6-7 per person per night, cost depends on the meal main course. We signed up for Thursday night. There are many other daily activities. Tonight they were signing up people to go as a group to a local Mexican restaurant. When we were here before we went to a Mexican restaurant, maybe the same one, with a group. We sat outside. It was cool, it rained and the wind blew, and we still had a good time.

Last month when I reserved a site here the lady told me that we got the last 30 amp site available. We see quite a few empty sites. I wonder if folks are still on their way down from the north, or maybe it was just that they had only one site with no nights reserved for an entire month.

We did get a little rain this evening. Right now, 8:45PM the temperature is still 61 degrees, but the rest of the week looks like it will be cooler.

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

Day 4 - Saturday - Jan 8 - RV Show

 The overnight low was 37 degrees. At 6PM it is still 61. There are only 2 nights in the 10 day forecast with lows below 40 degrees. It was sunny this morning but clouded up in the afternoon.

We went to the "big" RV show in Mobile today. It was disappointing for people who were interested in looking at Class A motorhomes, there were less than 10 of them on display. Even with so few one lady heard a salesman say they had already taken orders for 10 units by 11AM. The prices for the ones on the floor ranged from $350-475k. There were a lot of Class B's, Class C's, 5th wheels and travel trailers to look at. We wore our masks to make the fearful more comfortable. Probably less than a third of the crowd were wearing masks. We were a little surprised. We had the TV running yesterday evening, local channels, and it seemed like all we heard was a constant barrage about how bad COVID is in the area, etc.

Thought this Class C unit was interesting, for those who don't want to feel cooped up while on the toilet.

If the door swung wide open it would be a big reach to get to the toilet paper holder.

I understand that we are red necky, conservative, fuddy duddy cheapskaets but we can't help but be amazed at the number of RV's that have "fireplaces" and multiple TV's. Kathy looked at an online ad for a 2016 Newmar Ventana. The ad included a photo of the original sticker. There were $2,662 in audio/video OPTIONS, and that didn't include the cost of the dealer installed mobile satellite TV system, probably another $3,000. The $581 fireplace wastes a fair amount of storage space. The "sticker" price was $247,393, before adding the dealer installed satellite system, the stackable washer dryer unit and a few other miscellaneous options. Total sticker was probably close to $255k. The 2004 Dutch Star that we had had a total sticker price of around $240. A new one like the one we had would sticker for $500k today.

The Convention Center is right on the water. We noticed these "ships" across the waterway. I wonder if they were yachts for preppers. A couple of 50 cals & a rocket launcher and you could do a great job of repelling boarders.

After seeing the RV's it was off to Big Daddy's Grill for a late lunch. We enjoy Big Daddy's and try not to miss it when down here. It is less than a 10 minute drive from the campground. It we don't have lunch there at least 3 more times while we are hear I will be surprised.

It was warm enough to sit at the outside tables while we ate our lunch. It was a little windy but there were clear plastic drapes to block the wind where we sat. Some folks did eat while sitting at the bar show in the photo below. It was a little to cool/windy for that without a coat.

Then it was back to the campground for coffee, a cookie, a nap & later a 1.4 mile walk around the campground. 

I don't know if I mentioned it yesterday but my GPS said it was 804 miles from our driveway to the campground. Truck odometer said it was 786 miles. We averaged a little over 10 mpg pulling the camper; actual calculated mpg.

We used a little space heater to do a lot of our heating last night. For the day we used 16 kwh of electricity, about $1.80 for the day; electricity is metered and you pay for it on top of the $395 monthly rate.

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