Back home

We arrived at the ol' Martin Manor RV park a little before 2:00 this afternoon.  We both enjoyed this trip immensely but it is always good to get back home.

With our kitchen remodeling happening in April we will not plan any trip but hope to get back on the road in May.

Arkansas again

Tonight we are in Harrison, AR not too far south of Branson.  Today's trip especially from Little Rock to Harrison was not a good day for fuel economy with all the ups and downs and slow curves plus many small town traffic flow with stop lights.  Tomorrow we will get back to the ol' Martin Manor.  The weather forecast here tonight is for temperatures in the upper 20s but hopefully that will actually be on the low side and tomorrow will be much milder.  This has been a great trip especially having Phyllis with us for most of it.

Arkansas

Tonight is the first of two nights in Arkansas on our way back toward home.  The RV park name is Pecan Grove and that is just what we are parked under.  The campground cable is lousy and the over the air signals are weak so it may not be a good TV night, no problem.

She is on her way ;-(

Just got back from taking Phyllis to the Baton Rouge airport, her flight is supposed to leave around 1:00 pm.  We enjoyed having her with us for these past several days, it has been fun.  She is going home now to tell all her northeastern friends what alligator, crawdads, and etouffee taste like, all of which she had for supper last night.  I have enjoyed having someone with me to share some raw oysters on the half shell that I like but Jo doesn't.

Tomorrow Jo and I start our trip northerly toward the Martin Manor with a couple of stops in Arkansas along the way.

travel day

This morning we hitched up and moved to Baton Rouge.  Unfortunately tomorrow we have to take Phyllis to the airport ;-( we have surely enjoyed our time with her.  She has never been down here in the mid south along the gulf so we are taking her this evening to a Cajun restaurant so she can sample some crawfish etouffee or jambalaya.  Jo and I have always enjoyed the mud-bugs whenever we are in this area.

a walk to the gulf beach

Phyllis had walked to the beaches, both gulf and bay, earlier in our stay but today was the first time that I made the short trek.  With the bright sunlight and white sand it was a bit hard to see anything without my sunglasses.  I did take a few pictures.

 Heron Nests

we have seen adults on the rim as we passed by in our truck

 Our camping spot

casual day

The weather was great but we didn't have a lot planned so just took it easy.  One of Phyllis' carry-on bags broke a wheel on her way down last week so she and I took a drive to the local Wally world to find her a new one.  That occupied our morning and then this afternoon we played a few more games of cards.  The same score as was reported the other day occurred again, sorry Jo.

Then it was back to "Peg Legs" for another very good seafood dinner.

antique shopping

Today was a day of  driving to a couple of antique malls with Phyllis and Jo doing their browsing and purchasing.  Not sure how Phyllis will get her purchases into her bags for the flight home but if she can't find room we will hold them until we see her again.  We had a nice lunch at a local diner while out and then stopped at the Publix supermarket on our way back to the trailer.

It was a beautiful sunshiny day which is supposed to be the norm for the remainder of this week.  It warmed up enough that we had to turn the AC on in the trailer when we returned.

Two more days here at Fort Pickens before we head to Baton Rouge.

Fort Pickens

After two days of rain it was good to see the sunshine this afternoon so we took advantage and toured the fort that is at the end of this island that we are on.  This was a confederate fort built by slave labor protecting the Mobile bay from the union navies.  At one time it was used as a prison for Chief Geronimo and some of his tribe.

After the walk around the fort with a few pictures taken we drove into the local tourist area for a very good seafood dinner.  Phyllis and I shared a half dozen raw oysters and then we all had a dish of gulf shrimp of one kind or another.

and a Happy St Paddy's day to all

Tis the day for the wearin of the green and havin some corned beef and cabbage with some Guinness.  Jo will put the corned beef into the crock-pot a bit later this morning so it will be ready for supper time.

It rained all day yesterday and most of the night.  It has been showering all morning but they say it should clear up by mid afternoon.  At least the temperatures are holding in the mid to upper 50s.  The weather report for Baltimore is that they have received 5-7 inches of snow that Phyllis is glad that she doesn't have to deal with.  Her office called her to tell her that she didn't have to come into work as they were declaring a snow day.  We have heard from our neighbors that the snow in Holts Summit was mostly a dusting sticking only to the grass but the temperatures are at or below freezing.

Yesterday's card games ended with a score of Phyllis 1, Daddy 1, Mommy 0.  I'm sure that she will demand a rematch this afternoon.

a rainy day

It started around 10:00 this morning and is really storming right now.  The forecast shows that it should lighten up around 2:00 this afternoon.  We are just hunkered down with books and Sudoku puzzles and perhaps a good card game this afternoon.  The good news is that this storm system is heading toward Baltimore but will change to snow before it gets there.  That is good news because Phyllis is seeing only rain instead of having to shovel that white stuff again.  We are here for several more days so there is plenty of time to get out and about.

today's project

This morning when I tried to open our shade at the dining table one of the strings that make it work broke and I was unable to open it fully.  Most RVs have "day/night" pleated shades that have worked well for us these past many years but I have heard that lots of other folks have fussed and cussed at them due to string breakage.  There is a Camping World store here nearby so I made a trip this morning to get a re-threading kit, fortunately it came with instructions.

Phyllis bailed on us and took a walk on the beach while Jo and I tried to figure out the instructions.  She returned in the midst of our progress and snapped this photo of our effort.  Fortunately she didn't have sound with the picture so she couldn't copy our language while trying to figure this dang thing out.

Historic Pensacola Village

Today we drove into Pensacola to visit this museum of several houses and buildings that depict the history of the city.  Cameras were permitted so we got several pictures along the way.

 Old Christ Church

 human hair art

 muzzle loading rifle being made

set for a few days

We checked into our campsite a little before lunch time this morning and will be here for the next nine days.  We are in the Gulf Islands National Seashore park which is across the bay from Pensacola.  This afternoon we found a Publix grocery store to stock up on both forgotten items and what we believe will be needed for the next several days.  We have plenty of time to search out the area for attractions to check out but Jo and I have been in this area many times and we will look for something that Phyllis might be interested in.  Definitely we will be looking foe a good local seafood restaurant to fill our need for the fresh Gulf shrimp and oysters, perhaps maybe a couple of times.

A busy day

It wasn't a long trip today mileage wise but it came out to be wearisome.  The trip started out okay but then as we were passing through/around Hattiesburg, MS there was a massive traffic jam and we lost an hour from our schedule.  Knowing that Phyllis' arrival time at the Mobile airport was a little after 2:00 pm we passed up lunch and when checking into our campground didn't completely set up the trailer but just unhooked and headed to the airport.  We got there at the scheduled time for her to arrive but then received a message on our cellphone that she had been held in Atlanta for an hour after the original departure time so we sat for a bit to finally get to see her.  She was tired as usual when doing air travel but it was good to finally get to give her a hug.

Tomorrow we head to Fort Pickens  and will be able to rest for several days except for the excursions that we want to do.

Florence

Florence, Mississippi is where we are camped this evening.  We found this campground last year on a trip and I works well with our time frame and daily miles for any trip to the central gulf.  It's a small campground run by a single woman and it is well kept with a good cell phone and computer signal.  The name of the campground is Wendy Oaks and the owner is Wendy.  Last Christmas we received a Christmas card from Wendy which was nice.

Tomorrow we meet Phyllis' arrival at the Mobile airport and will enjoy her for several days.

On the road again

Hey, it's time for our first outing of 2014.  Today we followed the direction of several of our spring trips by heading towards the Gulf Coast.  This time we will enjoy the company of Phyllis for a good part of this trip.  This evening we are near Memphis and tomorrow will head toward Jackson, MS.