The Real Adventure Begins!

   So, we feel like the REAL adventure began today as we started the journey to Texas.  We left the base at about 9:15 after filling up the propane tank at the CG.  Then we pulled into a Pilot to gas up Harvey and adjust the air pressure in the tires.  We left there at 10:00.  Alabama, here we come!  Smooth sailing, hardly any traffic, and a beautiful day to travel.  Praise the Lord!!  We decided to stop for lunch at a Love's station off Route 10 at exit 262 in Lee, FL.  We got out to stretch and "potty" and then I made sandwiches which we ate in Harvey.  We were back on the road by 1:30.  We arrived at the CG at Fort Rucker Army Base at 4:00 (including the hour time change).  John said it would take about 6 hours.  What a genius!!  Engineer Beach RV Park is lovely!  There are lots of high trees and the sites are very roomy.  They all have cement slabs and many of them are pull-throughs.  We have one of those.  The park is located near beautiful Lake Tholocco. 

There's Harvey on site 17.  It is actually
parallel to the main road.  It was so easy to pull in!!
John was a bit sorry he didn't get to show off
his backing in skills!

Oh, yikes, how am I supposed to have a
comfortable ride on my bike??

This is the view from Harvey.  Lake Tholocca
is in the background.

These are the sites in the inner circle.  They are
all being renovated with cement pads.

Another view of the lake from the bank.

We got all set up and then took a trip to the commissary to pick up a few more groceries.  I talked with Heather on the way.  She moved from one side of York to the other on Sunday.  Dustin and some other friends/relatives of hers helped also. TW was supposed to help, but he got sick the night before.  A big THANK YOU to all who helped!!   Then we went to the Landing Zone Bar and Grill on base for $5 hamburger night.  The burgers were delicious!!  Good choice, Honey.  You did it again...you're a genius!  We played 5 Crowns when we got back.  I won this time, so we are tied at 1-1.  John did some reading, I worked on the blog, and then we went to bed.
   On Friday morning after a delicious breakfast that John cooked we walked down to the community bldg to check it out along with the laundry, bathrooms and showers.  We don't have sewer hook ups here, so we WILL be using those! 

On the way we saw this "tent" called a "Yurt".  We're
not sure whether it is owned by the CG or if it's
someone's long term tent.  I peeked inside and it
has a bunk bed with a single on top and a double
on the bottom, a 4 drawer dresser and a night stand.

 

We tried to play this Foosball, but we just couldn't
get the hang of it.

 

Nice set-up to watch TV.

Oh, I almost forgot...we get a new state on our map!!  

Alabama has entered the map!!

Then we drove back into Dothan, about 30 miles, to check out the murals that we read about.  But first we stopped at Pizza Hut for lunch.  Downtown Dothan was pretty run down, but the murals were neat.

The steamboat was named after the guy
in the inset.

I'm not into Country music, so I don't know
who these guys are.

This is Ray Charles.  So far, all the murals were
done by the same guy.  All the rest were done
by someone different.

Close ups of the one above.

I loved the turkeys!!

I think the cat won the staring contest!

Lock how much the froggie is enjoying his backrub

John got a little too close...ouchie!

John and his darn ducks.

How majestically beautiful is that?!?

This was outside a lawyers office...
"Blind Justice".

  And the weather was gorgeous...about 75 and no wind.  It might actually be a record for this time of the year here. We stopped at a store called Burkes Outlet.  I wanted to go there because the sign looked just like the Bealls Outlet that I love to shop at in Florida.  It was identical.  I didn't ask if there was a connection, but there must be.  Much to John's surprise, I didn't find anything that I couldn't live without.

While waiting for me to get done at Burkes Outlet
John spied this at the Winn Dixie bake shop.
Gee...the game was Monday night.  I'm
not sure if it would still be very fresh??

  We stopped at CVS and then went back to the base to visit the exchange store.  We both found a few things and then I spotted a clearance rack for the grandboys.  Got some really good bargains there.  The one for the grandgirls was disappointing...didn't find anything.  Then back to Harvey.  We had leftovers for supper and then played 5 Crowns.  I won...now 2-1...me.  John read and watched TV(yes, he can do both at the same time) and I worked on pictures we took today and the blog.  He went to bed rather early.  I kept working.  I think we are having trouble adjusting to the time change plus the sound of helicopters can make it hard to fall asleep.  This Army base specializes in training helicopter pilots.  They fly over the CG all day and all night.  It's 12 midnight and there goes another one.  OK...I'm going to bed now.
   It's Saturday morning and I was a bit of a lazy bones!  John got up about 8am, but I didn't roll out until 10:30.  Well...I was cozy, I was watching the old western, Maverick, and I was answering emails and texts.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!  We had breakfast, got showers and then went to the PX to get some bigger nails to fix the molding in Harvey, but they didn't have the right ones.  Then we went to the Army Aviation Museum on base.  We enjoyed that a lot!  We must have...we were there for almost 2 hours!

This is the kind of helicopter that we hear all day and night!

Looks just like the medivac helicopters on MASH.

All the exhibits were so life-like!

The wheels of this jeep looked like they were
covered with wet mud.

I never saw such a skinny helicopter.  It only
held 2 pilots and was used for firing at the enemy.

The "tube" on this helicopter is used to fuel it
while it is in the air.  WOW!

This "Raven" is used for surveillance and is hand launched!
You can read about it below.

This gives you just a small glimpse of how
many helicopters and planes are hanging from the ceiling!

Notice the Jeep INSIDE the belly of this huge helicopter!

This helicopter is called, "Army One" because it was the
designated aircraft used to transport President Eisenhower.

The wheels had these inflation devices used to land
on the grass at the White House and on water, if necessary.

This is the Presidential Seal on the side.

We had to go off base to find a hardware store in Ozark about 20 minutes away.  We got what we needed and then after a recommendation from the salesperson there we traveled about 10  minutes more to "Milky Moos" for ice cream.  My hot fudge sundae was delicious, but the "homemade" ice cream was a bit of a disappointment.  We stopped for some "adult" beverages on the way back.  When we got back I worked on the molding (with about 80% success) while John did some outside prep for our departure tomorrow.  Then he grilled for supper and we watched the Texans/Patriots game.  We went to bed before it was over.
   Tomorrow we will be travelling to Mississippi to Keesler Fam CG just outside the Keesler Air Force Base.  We have about a 4 hr drive.

We're On The Road Again!!

  It's been 2 months since my last blog post (one that I didn't even finish...sorry...I got busy!)  I had Praise Team practice the Thursday night we got home and the first of 4 holiday craft shows with my pins and scarves that Saturday.  We celebrated Ellie's 6th birthday, Mom's 87th birthday, and I did 3 more craft shows.  We got together with family and friends, hosted Thanksgiving Day dinner, had doctor and dentist appts., decorated for Christmas, hosted Trivia with the Frogettes, finished Christmas shopping, and celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  WHEW!!  Now you know why I didn't get around to the blog.  A few more exciting things happened during the 2 months we were home.  John and I decided to stick to a low carb diet.  John lost 21 lbs and I lost 15 lbs.  Also, on Christmas Day we found out that Arlena and TW are pregnant.  They will be blessing us with our 7th grandchild in mid August!  And last, but not least, yours truly signed up for Social Security.  I guess that means I am officially old (or does that come when I get Medicare??) 



 

Ellie is "Queen for a Day."

 

Emma and their new French Bull dog puppy, Finn.

 

Jack provided a true "Kodak" moment!

 

Alexandra and new hubby, Todd.  Cooper (below), who is
obsessed with fire engines, calls him, "Firefighter, Todd." 
Notice Bennett's shirt.  It says, "I'm the Big Brother."
It's how TW and Arlena told us they were pregnant.

 

Cooper sure enjoyed opening his presents!

Our last week in Mount Joy was hectic.  Michele, Lawn, TW, Arlena, Bennett and Cooper came over on New Years Day for "lucky" pork and sauerkraut.

This was our "big" Christmas gift to all the young
grandkids...an RV tent.

Cooper and Bennett roasting marshmellows and hot dogs
around the campfire.

 The boys stayed overnight and then Heather and Jack came over Monday night to watch the Rose Bowl football game between Penn State and USC.  WOW...what a game!!  We got together with church buddies, Rod and Joyce on Tuesday morning.  I took Mom out for the day on Wednesday while John cooked a Flat Iron steak meal for Dad at Masonic.

Mom and Dad look pretty darn good for 87 and 92, huh?!?

  The Frogettes had their Christmas Trivia on Thursday afternoon.  We celebrated Pat's 70th birthday.  If you noticed, we have our get-togethers during the day now because we're getting too old to stay up late on Friday nights:)

Sue (aka Babs) and Patti (aka Betty)

Susie (aka Lucy) and Jane (aka Jewels)

Our birthday girl, Pat (aka Becki)  Who would ever
guess she is 70!!!

  John and I finished packing and loading the Jeep for our trip during the day on Friday, then he went to York to get the girls off the bus after school and take them for a treat while, as part of her Christmas present,  I took Michele to the Dutch Apple Dinner Theater to see "Shear Madness," a hilarious murder mystery.  It was so fun!!
   We got up early Saturday and were on the road to the Holiday Inn Express in Florence, SC by 7:40am.  We decided to take I-95 figuring the larger highway might get more attention when we hit the snow storms forecast for VA and NC.  It started snowing by the time we got to Washington DC and the snow plows were already lined up!!  By the time we got into VA the snow was coming down pretty fast and the roads were quickly becoming snow and ice covered.  There were cars and trucks off the road all over the place!  Our 8 hr drive ended up taking 11 and 1/2 hrs!!  We finally got to our hotel just over the SC line at 5:20pm.  John and Jeepy did a great job keeping us safe! 

Love this big sign outside the Phillip Morris Co
just north of Richmond.  It was already
snowing pretty hard.

 

Who the heck figures out all these overpasses??

 

Just one of the many accidents we passed.

 

 

The snowplows were out in full force until we hit NC.
There were none to be found and the roads were a mess

 

Visibility was awful!

 

These figures were outside one of the gas stations/
snack mart we stopped at.

 

 

   We left the hotel at 9:00am on Sunday and headed to King's Bay, SC to pick up Harvey.  It was sunny, but very cold!  We arrived about 1:00pm.  We went to the CG to pick up the key for the storage, but Lyn and Jack (our friends from the Corning, NY trip) had arrived just before us and they had the key.  So we drove over to where they had their 5th wheel stored and got the key.  Well, guess what...it didn't work in the lock where we had our RV stored!  The gal in the office didn't have a key and she said we would have to wait until tomorrow to get one.  Well, by the grace of God a police officer drove by and we were able to flag him down.  He called security and a nice young gentleman brought the key.  BUT...it didn't work either.  So...he called security again and had them bring ALL the keys.  After about an hour we were finally able to get into Harvey.  He was so happy to see us!!  He started right up and we were on our way back to the CG.  We were right across from Lyn and Jack!

Jack and Lyn.  They are great people.  We feel
so fortunate to have met them!

  We got set up and then went to the commissary for groceries.  Then the 4 of us went out for supper to Wee Pub down route 40.  It was very good.  We went to bed fairly early...John was especially beat after the 2 days of driving. 
   John washed all the snow and salt off of Jeepy in the morning and then Lyn and I went thrift and antique store shopping.  We are kind of bad for each other that way!!  We got home about 4:30.  John grilled steaks for supper and then we settled in to watch the National Championship football game.  Much to our surprise, the cable here did not include ESPN...now what??  Luckily, Jack and Lyn have a dish, so we went over to their rig to watch it.  It looked like Alabama was going to run away with the game, so we left at halftime and went to bed.  Were we ever surprised the next morning when we heard that Clemson won in the last few seconds!!            
     Tuesday we went to the NEX and commissary after breakfast, then took a walk around the CG and made plans with Jack and Lyn to go out to supper at St, Mary's Seafood House.  We left at 4:00 because Lyn wanted to go back to one of the thrift shops to buy a bowl she had seen and we decided to buy a little ceramic heater I had seen there to use in the bedroom.  Even though it warmed up today the nights still get chilly.  We can save our propane with the electric heater by using the electricity the CG provides.  When we got back we did laundry and played 5 Crowns in the community building.  John beat me by 3 pts. on the last hand :(  There was also a sing-a-long, but it was mostly country songs that I didn't know.  When we got back to Harvey John watched TV and I edited pictures from the camera to use on the blog.  We turned in about 10:30. 
   Jack and Lynn and their 3 Corgy's, Denver, Daisy and Lizzie left about 9:30 on Wed morning.  It sure was nice to spend time with them again!  Hopefully, we will hook up with them again in April at Camp Lejeune.  After stopping at the NEX we headed for Fernandina Beach to look for "baby ear" shells.  We arrived about 11:30.  It was a beautiful day!!  Unfortunately, I only found 9 baby ear shells.

We never spend much time in our chairs on this beach
because John likes to walk and I...

...like to look for "baby ears".

It was a perfect day for the beach, but the water was COLD!!

 We left at 3:45 and stopped at Lowe's on the way home to pick up a couple of things to fix some molding that came loose in Harvey.  We got showers and then headed to one of our favorite eating spots...Sonnys Bar-B-Q.

Did we mention that we LOVE Sonny's??

   I talked to Alexandra on the way.  She started a new job as a lead house supervisor at a group home just off the base.  Todd's boss gave him the night off for working so hard at the fire station today.  Alex was excited to have 2 consecutive evenings with her new hubby!! 

Sonny's sure didn't disappoint...it was so yummy!!  On the way back to the CG we almost hit an armadillo.  We spent the rest of the evening working on the molding, watching some TV and then John hit the sack while I worked on my blog.  It took me forever...I guess I've gotten rusty (and a bit long winded!)

   We'll be heading out tomorrow morning for a military CG in Alabama.  Even though we are very excited to be travelling across the USA on our way to Texas(and getting new states for our map) we are sorry to be leaving King's Bay so soon.  We really enjoy our time here!

 


BTW...these are the baby ears, etc, we found at
Fernandina beach LAST October. I only found 9 today.
John found a few small sharks teeth.

 

These are the "baby ears" close up.