Month: January 2024

RV Life Daily Blog – 1/9/24

Post Storm – Traveling with Rich & Julie

The storms and wind rocked and rolled the RV most of the night and sleep was intermittent at best.

Thunder and lightning woke us up, along with the weather warning system on our phones. My stomach sunk just once and thoughts of damage entered my mind.

I am so glad we have a NOAA weather radio in the RV.

I have to admit though that I do love the sound of the rain hitting the roof. You just don’t hear that in a well-insulated house.

I believe the warm gulf air was fighting with the cold north air and lost.

Temperatures overnight were near 70 degrees, and it looks like we will be getting temperatures below freezing this coming weekend.

We just can’t get away from the cold. A friend of ours is parked down near Tampa, Florida and their temperatures are only in the 50’s.

The campground shuts off the water in the entire park at 32 degrees. Looks like we will be without water for several nights.

Today we did a Walmart Grocery Pickup and decided to drive around and see if there was any storm damage I could photograph.

The first thing we noticed was how badly the stoplights were swaying in the wind. It is still quite windy here.

Check out the high waves in the top photo. We were told they were 12 to 17 feet high.

We drove along Highway 292 to 98 out to Pensacola Beach and Pier. We found a few places where water was across the road but it wasn’t very deep.

I saw one broken telephone pole and almost wasn’t quick enough with the camera.

There were quite a few palm tree leaves on the ground but we didn’t see any fallen trees.

In some places the white sand was drifting across the road like snow does up north. I wonder if they call them sandplows down here instead of snowplows?

The white sand blowing and drifting sure reminded us of Ohio.

Most of the beaches were closed today but we were able to get some cool pictures of the waves from the road.

We heard on the radio that the Navarre Beach Pier sustained some damage and will be closed until further notice.

We drove all the way there and couldn’t see anything in particular.

A sign was tipped over and a worker truck was there to fix it.

It was a fun day driving around looking for something to photograph. We came home and played cards with two friends. Walt is from eastern Ohio and Alex is from Arkansas, although she has lived in a lot of different states over the years.

Walt lost a piece of his RV in the wind, but not a vital part. I don’t think anyone else in the campground had any damage.

Life in the RV was good today.

We left our traditional house and way of life behind and pulled out of the driveway in an RV on April 25, 2022. We are coming up on two years soon and I have loved every single day of the adventure.

Thanks for reading and allowing me to share our adventures with you.

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RV Life Daily Blog – 1/8/24

The Stormy Days – Traveling with Rich & Julie

I am combining two days into one post, January 7 and 8. Why? Because it was windy and stormy both days. We stayed home for the most part.

Today is January 8th and we are under high wind warnings, storm warnings, and coastal flood warnings here in southern Alabama. I saw on the weather channel that tornadoes could be possible closer to Mississippi and Louisiana. But that isn’t very far away from where we are.

If you look closely in the photo above you can tell there are raindrops on the windows. It’s been windy and raining most of the day.

Rich went outside and put everything away. He put the awning in, the lawn chairs and tables away as well as anything else that could blow away or get damaged by the wind. We have noticed several of the other campers doing the same thing this morning.

On the radar channel, it looks like the worst of it might miss us thank goodness. My right knee continues to get worse, so the more I stay home and keep it elevated the better.

I crocheted some more on the alpaca scarf for my new friend. It is coming along quite nicely. This is called a v-stitch. It is simple and easy even for beginning crocheters.

I find a lot of free crochet patterns on Pinterest.

Rich and I were playing cards and he said he needed to run to the gas station for a pack of cigarettes. I told him to bring me home something to drink. I didn’t specify.

He came home with something new. A 24 oz. can of Simply Spiked Peach. It is 5% alcohol, kind of like a beer. I’ve never had it before but he knows I liked the Busch Lite Peach when we tried it. I love this. It tastes exactly like carbonated peach juice with a little kick.

I thought the neighbors from Canada had a funny-looking dog until I looked closer and discovered that it was a huge fluffy cat. I’m glad to see that they leash it when letting it out. They have it on a 30-foot leash so it has room to roam. Some campers don’t.

I remember when we camped in the state of Washington, and we heard a horrible catfight outside late at night. The next morning the neighbors told us they were outside and saw it. One cat almost killed the other one. We heard quite a few catfights in that campground.

I don’t feel it is right that they let their cats loose like that. Dogs can’t be let loose, and cats should not be allowed to be loose either.

Either the strong winds affected the wi-fi signal or everyone else stayed in and was overloading it because our television was iffy at best.

We dug out the DVDs and watched movies on the DVD player. We haven’t had to do that for a while. We have a nice DVD binder that we keep them in. We had a lot more DVDs than this, but we sold what didn’t fit. You can buy binders that hold up to 400. I wish I had done that when we moved into the RV. We sold and gave away some great movies.

As the daylight goes away and darkness sets in tonight I have received more warnings on my phone.

We are in the dark yellow high wind warning area only ten miles north of Gulf Shores. Orange Beach is only nine miles away.

The whole time we have been living in the RV and traveling around America, we have never encountered too severe of storms. We’ve been lucky so far.

The RV rocks when the wind is strong.

Hopefully, we survive the night. See you tomorrow.

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RV Life Daily Blog – 1/6/24

Traveling with Rich & Julie

It was such a nice day today, 65 degrees and sunny out, that it was too nice to stay home or stay inside. We are currently living in Foley, Alabama.

We’ve been wanting to visit the Pensacola Lighthouse and the National Naval Aviation Museum, so today was the day.

From where we are camped right now it is only 26 miles to the lighthouse.

Getting to the lighthouse and naval museum requires entrance to the Pensacola Navy Base. Civilians must enter through the West Gate and show a valid government-issued ID such as a driver’s license or passport.

The 1859 lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse on the Gulf. If you want to climb up the lighthouse there are 177 steps. I opted not to do that — like I had a choice. Rich has been careful to not let me do much. He doesn’t want my knee to get worse than it already is.

The museum at the base of the lighthouse costs $9.50 per person to get in and is three full stories. It opens at 9 am and closes at 4 pm. We did not go into the museum. If you have been following our travels you will know that we always try to save money by seeing the free stuff. And, Rich didn’t want me to do very much walking.

Construction on the lighthouse began in 1856 and the lighthouse was lit in 1859. The light is still lit today. Construction was going on when we were there. I’m not sure exactly what they were repairing but they were working on the tower itself. It looked like they were repairing cracks in the structure. If you look closely you can see a lot of cracks.

After the lighthouse, the National Naval Aviation Museum is less than a mile further down the road.

The museum is filled with historic aircraft, cockpits, interactive exhibits, and a vast collection of artifacts that are fun for all ages. Children were allowed to sit in the pit of a Blue Angel flight simulator and cockpit.

The National Naval Aviation Museum is home to tens of thousands of items and millions of documents that span the entire spectrum of Naval Aviation history.

The Blue Angel pilots flew the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet for 34 years from 1986 through 2020. They currently fly the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet.

This museum is huge and we only touched a small portion of it. The Blue Angel displays are what we wanted to see the most. I walked slowly and took my time. Walking on flat firm surfaces in good walking shoes is the only way I can do things right now. I really like Skechers and am wearing a pair similar to the one in the link.

I sat down when I needed to. The seats located throughout the museum are quite comfortable as you can tell by looking at how comfortable Rich looks.

Visiting the gift shop is something we shouldn’t do because we always find so much we would love to buy. We don’t have room in the RV and we are minimalists now. So as much as I wanted a US Navy coffee cup or Rich wanted a new US Navy t-shirt, we did not buy anything.

Visiting places like this is beginning to depress me because I just can’t walk on this stupid knee again. Another doctor visit is in the near future, I fear.

Entrance to the Naval Base is the only way to visit the Fort Barrancas Area of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. We pulled in but then saw that I would have to climb uphill to the entrance of the Fort. Rich said no. After walking around the museum a little bit, my knee was already swollen and hurt to walk on.

And just down the road is the Advanced Redoubt Area of Fort Barrancas. Same thing here. I did not get out to walk around.

The Advanced Redoubt Area was built to protect Fort Barrancas and the Navy Yard from a land attack. It was a fort that protected a fort.

Redoubts are usually square but this one was built in the shape of a trapezoid.

After taking a break at the Redoubt Area, we drove further down the road and thought maybe we would be able to see the Barrancas National Cemetery, but we hit a gate and were told to turn around and go back to exit out the same west gate we entered. We had gone as far as we could as civilians.

Thanks for following along with us as we travel across America and see all of these amazing places. I love showing them to you and telling you about them.

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RV Life Daily Blog – 1/5/24

Traveling with Rich & Julie

We spent the last couple of days at home, but they were far from boring.

On Thursday, we invited some new friends over for grilled hamburgers and homemade French fries.

After eating, we played some cards and games.

On Friday we blew a breaker. It not only made us lose electricity but also the next-door neighbor.

It took the campground maintenance guy and a few of the neighbor guys a while to figure out what happened. They finally had to go through each breaker in each camper until they found out it was our water heater breaker that was causing things to blow.

They finally figured out that our electric heating element blew in the water heater. Still doesn’t make sense why it caused the neighbor guy’s power to go off. He had to run his generator all night long.

Rich spent a couple of hours on Friday trying to get the element out but he didn’t have the right tools; or the right amount of strength. Neither did the maintenance guy.

Well, I take that back; the maintenance guy had the right tool, but it was worn and Rich was afraid it would round off the edges.

We had to run to Home Depot to get the new element which was only $10.98 plus tax. I’m pretty sure the heating element has never been changed in this RV. That makes it 20 years old.

I stayed in the car while Rich ran into all the stores looking for what he needed. The less walking I do right now the better for my right knee.

Home Depot didn’t have the deep socket Rich needed, so then we stopped at Harbor Freight.

Harbor Freight didn’t have the right-sized socket either. Next, we headed to Advanced Auto Parts. No luck there either. Why does nobody sell a simple deep well 1 and 1/2” socket?

While Rich worked on replacing the heating element in the water heater, I did some reading and writing and crocheted on the scarf for my new friend Alex.

Did I tell you that she gave me these three huge rolls of expensive alpaca yarn as long as I made her a scarf before we leave here at the end of the month?

She stated that she bought it in some other country and paid $300 for it. You bet I will make you a scarf and thank you so much for the yarn.

Friday night it stormed and rained. The wind was strong enough that Rich had to put the awning in. We noticed that almost everyone in the campground had put theirs in also.

Thanks for reading about our adventures no matter how boring they are. I’ll keep you posted about the water heater.

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Finding Hope As We Travel Across America

January 2, 2024 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

Where do you find hope in today’s world?

Rich and I find hope in the people we meet and the friends we make.

As we travel across America, our paths cross with countless individuals from diverse backgrounds, each with their own stories of struggles and triumphs.

It’s amazing to hear some of the stories that have led different people to move into an RV and travel. It is in these stories and these people that we find the most hope.

We met a man who wanted to join the strongman competition in the state of Washington. He succeeded this year to win second place.

We met a single lady who had just divorced her third husband and went on the road to find herself. She is the nicest person we have ever met.

We met a man from Cleveland, Ohio, who became sober and now lives in a camper on the road because he lost his house and it is easier for him to stay sober when he is not around his family, friends, and neighborhood. He is truly an inspiration for the human spirit.

We see the kindness of strangers offering help to fellow RVers in the campgrounds all across America. When a new RV or camper pulls in, three or more men head toward them to greet them and see if they need any help. These memories are constant reminders to us that even in our darkest times, there is always going to be a flicker of light nearby.

In the time we have been traveling, we have learned that this journey we are on is not always about the places we go or the sites we see but the people we meet and the stories we hear.

With each encounter, we are filled with hope for humanity and are inspired to believe in the future of the world.

It’s a new year. The best is yet to come.

 

 

RV Life Daily Blog – 1/1/24

Monday, January 1, 2024 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

I spent the morning reading and writing, drinking coffee, and watching some news. We haven’t watched any news for a couple of weeks, and I thought it might be wise to catch up on what’s going on in the world.

Elvis Presley movie on television. Photo by author.

Then, I watched the 1966 Elvis Presley movie “Paradise, Hawaiian Style.” I love all of his musical movies.

Our new RV friend Alex asked if we could drive her to Gulf Breeze, Florida to look at a vehicle she wants to buy. It’s a 2000 Chevrolet Tracker.

We jumped at the chance to go for a drive and help her out.

Having Rich along was great for her as well so he could help her check everything out before she bought it. It was a good deal for the price she paid and now she will have a working vehicle to drive.

The house where the vehicle was had some beautiful blooming azaleas in the yard and of course I had to photograph them.

Alex bought the Tracker and then took us out for lunch to thank us for driving her there and helping her.

We ended up at Olive Garden which was not very busy on New Year’s Day and we were seated right away.

Rich got classic lasagna and I got chicken parmigiana. Oh my gosh, it was so good.

I know what I’m having for lunch tomorrow.

After lunch, we drove under a graffiti bridge and I got some quick photos of it.

Making new friends and helping each other out is what the RV traveling community and lifestyle is all about.

For example, another neighbor named Walt is an enjoyable character who is parked across the street and he needed some tools to work on his truck. He said his tension pulley was squeaking.

Rich was the first one to offer his set of tools. Walt didn’t have the right-sized ratchet to reach where he needed to reach, but Rich did. Having a decent socket set and ratchet is a must in the RV.

We drove past a Veterans Memorial Park and I snapped a quick photo of the helicopter on display. I wouldn’t mind stopping there sometime.

By the time we got home, it was completely dark. We sat down and watched another Elvis Presley movie. This one was titled, “Girl! Girls! Girls!”

Elvis Presley movie. Photo by author.

I could barely keep my eyes open during it and went to bed shortly thereafter.

See you tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

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Most of the items I link to are items that are either exactly like what we have or as similar as I can find. Thanks for checking them out.

RV Life Daily Blog – New Year’s Eve 2023

Sunday, December 31, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

We started the day with breakfast and mimosas. Afterward, Rich helped a neighbor lady fix her television that wasn’t working, and I spent the entire morning reading and writing.

A good Mimosa is just pulp-free orange juice and good brut champagne. Half and half, or two-thirds orange juice and one-third champagne. Depends on your personal preference as to how strong you make it.

We video-called family and watched them open the Christmas presents we sent.

The toys, games, and books were a hit with the grandsons.

After the youngest grandson decided he was done and turned us off, we headed to The Wharf in Orange Beach for supper and New Year’s Eve music and fireworks. A couple we met at the campground followed us there.

We parked the car and walked toward the main street and noticed confetti on the ground everywhere we looked. Earlier in the day there was a confetti drop for the kids. How fun it would have been to be there for that.

We headed to Yo Ho Rum and Tacos for supper. We found this place a while back and loved it. The ambiance makes us feel like we are in a high-quality place while eating reasonably priced-food. Tacos are only $4 each here at regular price and are amazing.

We visited and talked and laughed while watching the sunset in the west.

After supper, we headed to the Boat Bar and sat in some of these blue chairs near the band. The four of us had a blast drinking and laughing and people-watching. I found out that the lady we were with has the same birthday as me. How often does that happen?

I was glad we showed up early, ate some food, and found perfect seats before the huge crowds showed up. It was quite chilly once the sun went down and we were cold. We all had on long pants, long sleeves, and coats and we were still cold.

Some of the people, especially young girls, walked by wearing shiny miniskirts, four-inch high heels, and skimpy tops. They looked beautiful, but I bet they were freezing in the 40-degree temperatures.

I never did find out the name of the band, but they were quite good. They played a mixture of 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. I heard a lot of Elton John songs, Fleetwood Mac, and even some country songs by Alabama.

It was a great New Year’s Eve. It ended up getting too cold for us four old people to stay clear until midnight. We left at 10:30 as it was also getting too crowded and too loud. We wimped out on the fireworks.

Crawling in bed at 11:30, we were able to hear the huge fireworks at midnight only two miles away. I have seen so many fireworks in my lifetime that I was able to close my eyes and see them as I listened to them.

It was a great way to end the year of 2023. We had a nice evening out with new friends, good food, and good music.

I hope you had a nice New Year’s Eve too.

Thanks for reading.

RV Life Daily Blog – 12/30/23

Saturday, December 30, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

It’s New Years Eve Eve!

As I sit here drinking my coffee and glancing out the window, I can see that the campground is beginning to fill up with RVers from all over the country; mostly northerners coming south for the winter.

I expect that a lot of them stayed home to spend Christmas with their families before coming south to warmer weather for January, February, and March.

We have met travelers from Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, just in the last few days. Last week someone from Montana pulled in.

It was such a nice day we decided to get out of the RV and go do something. The first place we went was to the Gulf State Park on Lake Shelby.

Although we have driven through the park we had not pulled in and parked or looked around much. The pier is partially closed due to damage sustained from Hurricane Sally.

There were lots of decorations and I bet it is pretty after dark. I wonder what people in Ohio would think if we had put a lighted alligator in the yard.

Or a shark. The park was booming with tourists. There seems to be more people now that Christmas is over. It is also vacation week for many and we have been seeing more college students.

From the park, we headed east from Orange Beach to Perdido Key. The condos and hotels along the shore are magnificent, and gated.

We drove past Perdido Key to Pensacola and pulled into Palafox Pier. It was packed and all parking spots were full. I didn’t want to walk two blocks so I just snapped a picture of the Plaza de Luna Memorial Monument as we drove past.

Located on South Palafox Street at the end of Palafox Pier. Visitors to Plaza de Luna are greeted by a life-size statue of Don Tristan de Luna, a splash fountain, concessions, and historic markers. It’s a great place to fish, walk, and enjoy a cool breeze. — Pensacola Parks & Recreation

This is a beautiful area, and we will come back on a nice day and much earlier so we can park closer.

We drove by an old Rolls-Royce and Rich said to get a picture of it.

Google says it is a 1960s (63 — 65) Silver Cloud.

Next, we pulled into the picnic area on the south side of the Naval Live Oaks Nature Preserve, which is north of Pensacola Beach.

The seagrass beds in the shallow waters here provide habitat, food, and protection for fish, crabs, and shrimp. A family (mom, dad, and three little children) walked past us carrying buckets and scoopers. I asked them what they were looking for and they said crabs.

Rich walked around down near the water while I stayed up on the shore.

My right knee is quite sore, and swollen, and hurts to walk on it. Rich said he didn’t want me to go down there cause the sand looked wet and squishy.

We both wondered what these hundreds of little sand volcanoes were so I Googled it of course. It seems during extremely low tides, ghost shrimp will burrow up to four feet deep and wait for higher water.

Ghost shrimp live in the Gulf of Mexico and are more closely related to crabs, than to shrimp.

I doubt he is going to find anything. Google says that these shrimp burrow up to four feet deep. Ghost shrimp can live up to six days in burrows such as these without any air or oxygen.

We drive by Columbia Southern University every day on the Foley Express. It is a beautiful building and I decided to get a photo of it today.

We didn’t have much alcohol on hand for the new year, so we decided to stop in a liquor store and pick up a few things. We do enjoy drinking whiskey and soda (like Sprite Zero and Pepsi Zero). This package of Jim Beam and a glass was only $15.99.

We also enjoy some Vodka and Diet Cranberry Juice occasionally. This bottle of Seagram’s was only $6.99. We drink diet because of our sugar. Rich is a severe diabetic and has to watch. I am only borderline.

And of course, for breakfast, a good Mimosa cocktail hits the spot. Some people like 2 parts Champagne to 1 part juice. We usually just do about half and half.

Thanks for allowing me to share another day with you. And thanks for reading.

RV Life Daily Blog – 12/29/2023

Friday, December 29, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

I haven’t journaled much about the last three days in the RV. I’ve been inspired to write about other things. We took a hiatus from sightseeing for a few days and stayed inside doing nothing too interesting.

Wednesday, the 27th, we drove to Walmart in Foley, picked up some groceries, and ordered our monthly prescriptions for refills.

Thursday, we drove back to Walmart to pick up our prescriptions and decided to get the oil changed in the car. Seems it was past due.

Today is Friday and we are moving across the street. Originally, we were scheduled to only stay in this campground for one month, so we were camped in a spot that was already reserved for January through March.

If you look at the main photo above, you will notice that there is an empty spot beside us, and the people coming in are traveling together and wanting to camp side by side.

When we asked to stay for another month our only option was if we moved to a single spot across the street. Yes, that is fine with us. It makes us feel as if we traveled to a new place.

Previously we were facing west which allowed us to watch the sunset at night when sitting outside under the awning. Now we are facing east and will be viewing the sunrise in the morning with our coffee.

The two empty spots are ready for the new neighbors. I wonder who they are and where they are from.

It is quite chilly here today but the sun is shining and the blue sky is practically cloudless.

We have more shade on this side of the street. That can be a good thing when it’s hot, or not so good when it’s cooler.

We were completely moved and set back up by noon.

I dug out some yarn and decided to crochet while watching television.

I love making things like this. Maybe next year for Christmas everyone will get placemats.

Thanks for letting me share my day with you.

 

Christmas #2 in the RV

Monday, December 25, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

I still remember the day we pulled away from our house on the traveling adventure of a lifetime. It was April 25, 2022.

Our first Christmas in the RV last year was spent in Florida. This year we are in southern Alabama. I wonder where we will be next year.

At our age, Christmas is just another day. We slept late, did laundry, and visited with some RV neighbors. Making new friends on Christmas Day this year was truly a blessing.

A man named Walt lives beside us and a woman named Alex lives a few spots down. They came over and sat with us under the Christmas lights and we shared traveling stories.

Instead of celebrating with family on December 25, we had family here for three days from the 21st to the 24th. That is what made this Christmastime special for us. We celebrated, ate good food, walked the beaches, played games, and shopped.

Christmas is being with family. Some of our family is spread out all over and we video-called with those we couldn’t physically be near. Technology helps make it special too.

It’s challenging to wake up on Christmas morning and realize it is just another day in the RV. There are times I feel sad and lonely and know that we are missing special Christmas memories by not living in a house. But I still wouldn’t trade this time that we get to travel for anything.

How was your Christmas special this year?

I hope you all had a great day celebrating in whatever way you celebrate this time of year.