Day 13
Perry Georgia is now but a memory and into our review mirror. Someone left the AC on in Georgia as the temperature never got warmer than 50. So nice loading up the house and having all the slides work! Drove around the fairgrounds to the dump station and emptied a weeks’ worth of grey and black water. So nice, believe it or not and only a line of 3 rigs. After dumping, it was on to I-75 and heading south. After filling with fuel, the rest of trip involved secondary roads of Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
The south is known for beautiful architecture and the drive did not disappoint. The backroads got us to Sand Pines state park campground but not until Siri put us on a near impossible dirt road. It literally told us to go the back way and get out and walk the final 800 yards to our road. Are you kidding? Good thing Google came through and directed us to the campground. Did have an incredibly tight turn but made it with only inches to spare. Our trying mission was not yet over as we had to look up a gate code on my laptop prior to entering the campground. Sat in front of a control gate for the better part of ten minutes before we got that done. We finally entered the code and found our reserved site. Nice spot on a tiny pond surrounded by yellow pine trees. Very nice, secluded and peaceful location to recharge, refresh and just generally chill for a few days. Tried out the new TV service and it works wonderfully. Will probably do rig maintenance tomorrow and catch up on household chores before awaiting warmer weather. Then maybe a trip to the beach for some advanced sunbathing. Did I mention we’re still loving retirement?
One more thing before I close. A huge shout out to Dan Bailey for fixing our propane heat as we feel the love everytime the furnace kicks on this morning since it’s 38 degrees and the heat pump doesn’t work.
Day 14
Another wonderful day in Ebro, Florida. Still freezing in the morning. 0 C or 32 F greeted us this morning. The dogs seem to like it for a few minutes but after that its get me back to the rig where its warm. Spent most of the day on rig renovations and maintenance. Tried fixing the back up camera only to discover that it was now working fine. Just a quirk as we drive down the road. Loss of signal for several miles or at a critical juncture while backing up. Such is the life of an RVer.
Drove into Ebro to mail a letter and discovered this is one of the few towns in America without a coffee shop or stand. We’ve returned to the dark ages! LOL So we also needed a bank/ATM so drove into Panama Beach to see what we could see. We found a bank but the ATM did not accept our debit card for some reason, so will have to have to find another ATM to fulfill our needs. Found a coffee shop called ‘The Pour’. The coffee was very similar to Starbucks…burnt. Had a wonderful homemade cinnamon roll. Vicki found a nice clutch purse sourced with environmentally friendly materials. An interesting blend of characters in the coffee house with a gaggle of teenagers showing off their sexuality. I think I’d have grounded Elisabeth for life if she’d gone out like that, but hey, it’s a new generation.
Since we are near Pensacola, we’ve seen the Blue Angels fly by a couple of times. Also saw a Marine Osprey roar overhead. Pretty cool. As we were getting ready to leave Perry, a couple of Army Blackhawks flew over. So we rest assured the skies are safe over the good old USA.
After that we returned to the rig. I used the waterless cleaner to do a section of the rig. Then we went on a bike ride back to the scene of the crime that put a nice scratch in the back panel of the coach. When making the 270 degree turn a stump rubbed up against the panel. Needless to say, buffing compound is in the rig’s future.
Called my wingman Randy and had a nice chat. Fixed pork ribs with baked beans for supper. Started binge watching ‘Ink Master’ before collapsing into bed and taking a gummy to insure a sound, through the night sleep. Digging Florida and still loving retirement.
Day 15
Semi OD’d on gummies last night so was incredibly lethargic most of the day. Went into Panama City Beach to a Publix Grocery store to get some provisions for the next few days. Publix must be part of Whole Paycheck….Whole Foods. Damn they are proud of their food. That said, we returned to the coach and basically lazed about and binge watched Outlander. Did find a tick embedded in my leg so need to keep an eye out for the dirty buggers on both dogs as well as ourselves.
Made plans to clean the coach tomorrow as well as do the sundry things associated with retirement. Thursday have made plans to go to white sugar sand beaches, will include photos. Not much else to report, but still loving retirement.
Day 16
Spent the better part of the morning cleaning the coach inside and out. I used waterless cleaner and the rig looks spotless. Vicki used all the new cleaning clothes and natural cleaners on the inside and the coach never looked better. Finished the whole housecleaning inside and out in less than 2 hours. Vicki did corner to corner cleaning. I did everything but the roof. Love the RV lifestyle.
Took an afternoon nap followed by a planning session with a change in itinerary after hooking up with my wingman Randy Bray. We’ll head west with time spent in Atlanta, Chattanooga, and Nashville along with other points of interest that may tickle our fancy before racing to Las Vegas to watch Oliver with his hip-hop dance troupe. Speaking of Oliver, hard to believe he is going to be a teenager this year. Where has the time gone?
As mentioned in Day 15 will be heading to the white sand beaches of Panama City Beach tomorrow. Looking forward to being a sun lizard for part of the day followed by some incremental packing prior to heading west towards New Orleans. We’ll see what kind of mischief we can create post Mardi Gras. You know what comes next, wait for it…Still Loving Retirement!
Day 17
How does one describe a nearly perfect day? Got up with the girls at 5 am and walked them about the park. The humidity is so high the pine trees are raining on the coach. Then enjoyed the morning scanning the interwebs while writing in the blog. After finishing the first pot of Timmy’s, fixed a nice breakfast on the flattop around 9:30. Worked a bit more on trip routing, so we’re solid to Las Vegas this summer.
We then loaded up the car and headed to the Panama City Beach beaches. It became somewhat of a quest to find parking to get to the white sands of the Gulf of Mexico. Lots of beaches accesses, but no parking!! Who planned this? Lots of condos and hotels but no parking. Seriously? Vicki was ready to just head home, but I gave it another mile. Wela!! We found a parking spot, even close to a trail and we were on our way. Spent a relaxing two hours being sun lizards while surrounded by the sounds of lightly sounding surf. Add in the squeals on youngsters in the waves with the smell of suntan lotion and you have a perfect combination for relaxation. Pure joy as the pictures indicate.
From there it was try to find a bank to pick up Oliver’s birthday gift of cash. Found an atm machine to start the process. Wanted to get a portrait of Grant for him, but since the machine only gave us Jacksons, we had to go to the drive through. But wait, that would be easy. We got there and asked to exchange twenties for fifties. The teller asked if we had an account. We said no, we are just exchanging currency. Keep in mind this is the second bank we’ve been to trying to make this gift thing happen. She said we have to have an account because there cash is monitored by a currency system which is activated by an account number. Are you kidding me? So now this is becoming a quest. We drove further down the road to a third bank where we finally got our Grants. From there it was a simple Google search to find a post office.
Did watch a Kevin in front of us in a line at the post office. Typical passive-aggressive individual who knew more about everything then the poor postal worker who was alone and the line was extending. While I understand you’re in a hurry, what ever you’re rushing to do will still be there and it takes so little to be kind. That’s one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in retirement.
Got home and after walking the dogs, we had our coffee cocktail while enjoying the setting sun. We enjoyed one of our indulgent meals, pork chops, rice and peas. Then binge watched Ink Master until collapsing into bed. Pretty much a perfect day. Did I mention it yet again? Still loving retirement!
Day 18
A travel day as we head west with a final destination of New Orleans, but first we’ll make a stop in Fort Spanish, AL. Why you ask? Why not! We’re retired. Also it allows us to explore a bit more Americana while keeping us to our 150-250 mile per day driving standard. Will stay for 3 nights and see what we can see. Putting Florida in the review, we needed to stop for lunch around 12. What were we fortunate enough to encounter? Bucee’s! They have the best BBQ Brisket sandwiches on the planet so we picked up one for lunch and then one for supper as well!! Soooo Good! Also was fortunate enough to see Bucee there and got a picture.
We were greeted at Blakely State park by a very friendly ranger and were directed to site with ease. The site isn’t exactly level (the front tires are a foot off the ground), but not an issue as he have plenty of cribbing blocks. The humidity was brutal as T-storms are expected later tomorrow morning, Around 3 we unloaded the bikes and road a bit of the campground down to the battlefield of Fort Blakely where the confederates were soundly beaten in 1865. Outnumbered almost 4 to 1, it wasn’t a good day for the Rebels, however the Union was punished as well against an entrenched enemy. Sad to think so many Americans lost their lives at the hands of other Americans.
We then returned to rig, set up the TV, reheated our second Bucee’s Brisket Sandwich and binge watched the 1st season of Outlander. Called our Canuck friends Ron and Shar to find out the extent of his injuries from his bike accident. It was as bad as we feared, so if you could, please send lots of white light and healing energy their way to promote a speedy recovery. Wish we could be closer to help, but by the time we got to AZ with the rig, they’d all ready be enroute back to Canada.
Other than that, we’re good and dare I say it…Still loving Retirement!
