Monday, March 24, 2014

We left Mexico Beach this morning with only a couple of hundred miles to go to get back to Gulf Shores, Alabama.  We had a leisurely start since we were in no hurry to get there.  It was a good thing too, since the highway that we took we ran into a ton of traffic.  Panama City and Pensacola were particularly busy and took us quite a while to get through.  The whole experience of driving up highway 98 was a pleasant one however, since the road was good and the vistas of the Gulf were quite nice.

We rolled into Gulf Shores about 3 PM and quickly settled into our site.   Our old site was gone so we had to select a new one.  We had half expected that would happen so we called Corky and he confirmed it.  He also told us of another site that was somewhat close to them.

We debated about what to have for Supper tonight and then decided that we would go to Tequila’s tonight for Mexican.  On the way to Tequila’s the traffic was horrendous.  We got into the flow and headed south for the beach and it took us at least 10 minutes to get there.  We had been there once before for “all you can eat” tacos and liked the food, and the restaurant.  It was nothing compared to the food tonight, however.  I had a Shredded Beef Chimichanga and Sharon had Chicken Mole’.  Both were absolutely excellent and very reasonably priced.

On the way home we stopped at Corky and Deb’s since Corky had told us earlier that Mort and Joanne were leaving on Wednesday.  We wanted to know if they’re site, next to the Zimmermann’s would be open.  As it turns out the site was already filled.

We came back home and settled in front of the TV for the night.  We were both pretty tired from traveling for the last 2 days, and being busy for the 5 before that.  We did last until about 10:30 though, and we were happy to be back on CST.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

We awoke this morning to another brisk dawning of the day.  I guess we’re back to the cold weather in the morning again.  Although yesterday turned out to be quite a nice day by the time we got to the afternoon.  The wind made an appearance so it really wasn’t that warm.

Sharon took off with the laundry right after Breakfast and I had a couple of repairs to make today, along with hooking up our utilities for the month.  We were still running on the water that we filled up in Holiday, Florida.  We weren’t out yet but it was time to hook everything up since we’ll be staying in this site for a month.

Sharon interrupted her laundry to come home and fry up the Bacon for BLT’s for lunch today.  She went back to finish our laundry and I got hungry so I didn’t wait for her to come back.  I don’t know why she just didn’t ask me to make the ingredients for the sandwiches.  We probably would have both finished at the same time and got to eat together.  Oh well.

I finished up the new Newsletter this afternoon.  I had one story to finish and then design the logo and got it all done by the 25th of the month.  This is one of the earliest finishes since I’ve been writing it for the last 16 years.  Last month was a chore trying to find a few things to write about since we hadn’t gone anywhere because of the weather.

Sharon had Pork Chops out on the counter thawing out all day.  So I knew what I was getting for Supper tonight.  The wind was still blowing pretty hard so if the grill blows out she’ll have to broil them in a pan instead.  But I was getting a Pork Chop come hell or high water.  You might surmise because of my comments that tonight I won’t be getting one of my favorites for supper.  It happens to be one of Sharon’s, however, so sometimes I just have to “bite the bullet.”

We settled in front of the TV for the night and had a couple of our favorites on.  There were also a couple of reruns I’m assuming because of March Madness. But all in all at least we were on CST so we didn’t have to stay up too late.  We headed for the mattress at about 10:40.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

We were off to Waffle House this morning and some culinary entertainment that we hadn’t expected.  We sat at the end of the counter and watched a chef that performed like an intricate ballet for 45 minutes.  She was a short black girl whose mastery of the grill was something to behold.  She spent most of her time on her toes reaching things that were just out of her reach.  We were so entertained by her that we left her a tip when we were finished.

We were having trouble with our furnace thermostat and took it to the Coleman Outlet which was a wasted effort.  If I had trouble with my Coleman cooler they could possibly have done something about it.  We made another stop at Camping World and they were also no help what-so-ever again.

On the way back home we encountered the traffic that’s been plaguing the area since Spring Break has been in effect.  We were in it for just a few minutes the other day when we arrived, but today it was quite busy.

We stopped at Corky’s on the way home thinking we could say good-bye to Mort and Joanne but they were already gone.  I also wanted to ask Corky if he knew anything about thermostats since I wasn’t having any luck anywhere else.  He couldn’t tell me anything definitive, however.

Sharon got extra-ambitious this afternoon and washed the car which is probably going to incite the rainmaker in the next few days.  It was quite mess, however, and really needed a washing.

We had an early Supper tonight of Chili and Cornbread since we were going out tonight for Trivia at the Elks Club.

We picked up Corky and Deb about 5:45 and headed out to the club.  We met another couple there, Dave and Louise who teamed up with us for the trivia.  We got off to a rocky start and then evened off in the end.  We didn’t win again but we had a good time.

We got home about 8:30 and just in time to catch a couple of programs which were recorded.  We hit the hay about 10:30.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

We were up and at em’ this morning with very little to do today.  We sat around home and ate a leisurely Breakfast this morning.  The Sun was shining but it was intending to get lousy later on this afternoon.  We won’t get snow or frost again but the water will fall from the sky.

Sharon had some ironing to do and got on that this morning while I surfed the Internet looking for a Thermostat.  The best I could find was $132 compared to the $121 from Camping World.  I don’t want to have to drive up there again but it looks like I won’t have much choice if I want to get it right away.

By the time we finished our chores it was lunch time and we had a few leftovers over the past few days that we munched on.  I had Chili and Sharon had an egg salad sandwich.  It was a quick lunch but it was good.

We sat around for most of the afternoon until we left to pick up Corky and Deb to go to the American Legion tonight for seafood.  The crowd was quite a bit smaller tonight than the last time we were there at the end of February.  The regulars were there at the “Tennessee Table.”  And of course the food was still good and a reasonable price.

After Dinner we came home and camped in front of the TV.  Tonight “March Madness” was in full swing and there was nothing on TV tonight.  I had a bunch of shows from yesterday on tape so we watched them all night.  We didn’t miss a beat and didn’t have to watch any basketball.  We stayed up until 10:30 tonight before we caved and called it a night.

Friday, March 28, 2014

It started raining early this morning and according to the forecast won’t be stopping anytime soon.  As a matter of fact by mid-morning we had water all around our site.  It quickly drained unlike our other site we had here, but this was a fine “welcome back” to Alabama. 

There will be no outdoor activities attempted today unless we take up water skiing on the puddles.  It would be a good day to take the skylight apart in the bathroom to see if we can track down a leak we’ve been plagued with for awhile.  The last time we had a leak it turned out to be a cracked skylight.  Apparently the sun degrades the plastic and they crack because of the flexing of the coach when it’s going down the road.  By taking the inner shell of the skylight apart it showed that we have two cracks in the outside shell.  I quickly patched them with gorilla glue and hope they keep out the rain at least for today.  Since I can’t climb up the rear ladder anymore I stopped over and asked Corky if he would help me out.  He’ll be over tomorrow when the rain stops to put on a little silicone.  That should hold it until we get home and I replace the skylight.

It kept on raining for most of the day today and was still going by the time we sat down for Supper tonight.  Sharon whipped us up a Meatloaf with sides of Peas and Potatoes.  It was quite good and a nice change of pace.

Tonight’s TV was dominated by March Madness again and CBS had nothing but basketball on again.  After a couple of shows on Fox we switched to a bunch of Impractical Jokers that I had recorded the other night.  We’re not into College Basketball or for that matter any other college sports so we avoid most of that competition when its on.  I usually have enough recorded stuff to avoid it completely.

We were up tonight til almost 11 before we decided sleep might be better for us than droopy eyes.  We headed for the rack as soon as our TV shows were over.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

We woke up this morning to the sound of raindrops on our roof and puddles of water all over the place.  It had rained solidly all day yesterday and the reports are we actually got 6 inches of the stuff.  I can certainly believe that the amount of rain was close to that estimate.  It had definitely rained pitchforks and Hammerhandles.

Corky stopped over around 9 and went up on the roof with his drill and caulking.  He put a couple of holes in the skylight where it was leaking and then caulked it with silicone.  We’re going to leave the inside shield off the skylight for the time being to give the ceiling a chance to dry out.

At noon Sharon and I had a hot dog each for lunch cause we were going to the Undertow Restaurant at 2:15 to get “all you can eat” peel-it-yourself Shrimp for $10.  We arrived at the restaurant and had a tough time finding a parking place but when we went into the bar it seemed relatively empty.  I didn’t realize that they had an outdoor dining area that had a few people in it.  But even so the place wasn’t that crowded as one might expect.  The Shrimp were extraordinary in size and very plentiful.  They were delicious and true to the advertisement, they were all you can eat.  We also had mini-potatoes and ears of corn.  The corn, we had decided was Field Corn with the small kernels and bland taste.  But Alabama doesn’t claim to be the home of  Sweet Corn.  All in all, the meal was a very good one.  Sharon of course, being allergic to Shrimp, had an order of Chicken Wings off the menu.  But she got to drink beer which is always a good thing.

By the time we got back home the meal was already going to my eyes and shortly after getting home they slammed shut.  I napped for about an hour with a full stomach.  Life was good!

We ate so early this afternoon that we figured there was going to be some snacking tonight but that didn’t seem to materialize.  Sharon had an apple to take the edge off and I had some peanuts.  The full court snacking never took place, however.

We had a couple of re-runs of Almost Human and The Following on tonight but I didn’t remember seeing either of them.  So I was entertained until 9 o’clock when we switched over to Lock-up on MSNBC, the only show I ever watch on that channel.  We stayed up until 11 before our eyes and the bed finally got the best of us.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

I got up and the Sun was shining which quickly faded into overcast.  Sharon was off to church when she got up and I was into my Sunday political shows.  She was also planning on making a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries for next week on her way back home.

When she got back home the lady next door invited us to a Happy Hour party this afternoon.  It was unfortunate because we had already been invited to a party at Steve and Ashley’s, the Chef from the American Legion.  Since we weren’t leaving for the party until 2:30 we ate lunch to hold us over.  We both had a hot dog and some chips.

At 2:30 we got in the car and headed for the front office.  We were going to meet the rest of the people who were going there, and then we’d caravan down to Steve’s house.  There were only 4 couples going from the park and we got to the house on Ft. Morgan road in about 10 minutes.  We were the first to arrive and the back yard was all set up for a party.  Soon after, the people started trickling in and filling up the tables that had been set up.  While we didn’t know many of the people who had showed up, we sat at a table with our little group from the park.

And then the food started coming out.  Stacks of crab legs, shrimp, sausage, corn, red potatoes, prime rib, and several different kinds of desserts.  And for the people who didn’t like seafood, hamburgers and cheeseburgers on huge buns, with plenty of beer or liquor to wash it all down.  It was definitely a feast that one didn’t want to miss.  There were probably somewhere between 40-50 people in attendance, and I think every one of them left with full stomachs.

We got home at about 6 and got about watching TV.  March Madness was on with Michigan playing Kentucky.  It turned out to be a “barn burner” with Kentucky winning in the last seconds.

We settled into our usual positions tonight in front of the TV and Sharon was happy I decided to go to the party this afternoon.  We had a couple of regular shows on tonight and we were up til 11 before we hung it all up.