Tag: travel blog

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.

(As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission for purchases made through links in this post.)

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.

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.

 

RV Life Daily Blog 12/12/23

December 13, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

I woke up this morning with more energy than normal and decided to do some baking. I haven’t done much in recent months and listening to old-fashioned Christmas songs like “Frosty the Snowman” reminded me of my childhood and put me in the mood. My mom and I always did a lot of baking when I was young and lived at home. Especially during the holidays.

I got out my homemade recipe book filled with family recipes and picked out a few things to bake.

First on the list was one of Rich’s favorites, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I love having these recipes. This is a photo of the original written in my mom’s handwriting. I never get as many cookies out of a recipe as it says I should. I guess I make them too large.

Next on the list was one of my favorites, the buttery snickerdoodles.

The recipe below is written by me when I was maybe ten years old and took a baking project in 4-H. I had to write out every step. I think I remember getting a blue ribbon for my cookies.

They turned out great. I stuck most of the cookies in the freezer so we don’t eat them all at once. I’m so happy with the new stove and oven we put in the RV. It cooks and bakes perfectly.

Third, I made some chocolate syrup brownies.

These are heavenly delicious. You simply must try them. I would recommend Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup but today I had Clover Valley from Dollar General on hand. They tasted just as good.

While I was baking, Rich walked the laundry down to the free facility provided here at the campground and washed two loads of laundry.

We have never found free laundry anywhere else. This is a wonderful service and we are thankful for having it. There are only two washers and two dryers but it has not been very busy when we wanted to use them.

After all that work it was nap time for Rich and Medium time for me. I still want to make one more kind of cookie, but it can wait until he wakes up.

While Rich was sleeping I went ahead and stirred up a batch of Chocolate Crinkles and a batch of easy peanut butter fudge and put them both in the refrigerator.

The cookie dough needs to be refrigerated for a couple of hours before baking it.

The easy fudge recipe I use is just one 18 oz. jar of creamy peanut butter and one container of Cream Cheese Frosting. Whipped or Regular both work fine. Put them both in a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir together well. Microwave another 30 seconds. Stir and put in a 9×9 square pan lined with wax paper. Then refrigerate for a couple of hours.

I just can’t get real fudge to set up right when I try to cook it on the stove, but this one is fool proof.

After all that I sat down in the recliner and put my feet up and closed my own eyes for a while.

Overtop of the extremely loud ringing sound that is constantly in my ears, I listened and heard large jets taking off and landing, the small aircraft pilot was giving flying lessons again today but it wasn’t as steady as yesterday was. A few vehicles pulled in and out of the campground and the manager was mowing the grass in several of the empty lots. A bird was chirping incessantly and I wish I knew what it was. I need to download an app that can identify bird sounds. And one of the neighbor’s little dogs was barking at something.

After an early supper, we drove to Gulf Shores Beach and watched the sunset with a great blue heron.

The Great Blue Heron is a large wading bird common near the shores. They are beautiful birds.

He wasn’t bothered a bit by us and allowed us to watch the sunset with him.

It was another great day in paradise. Thanks for coming along with us as we see America and photograph gorgeous sunsets like these.

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

A White Sand Christmas in Alabama

December 5, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

It’s going to be a beachy holiday!

The soft, powdery white sand of the beaches of Alabama is the same color and texture as snow. Both are light and fluffy, and they create a tranquil and peaceful atmosphere. This visual similarity evokes feelings of winter holidays when snow blankets the ground and brings a sense of cozy warmth.

White sand and snow are both bright, gleaming whites that resemble purity and serenity. When you look at a white sandy beach, it can be hard to distinguish it from a snowy landscape, especially when the sun is shining and reflecting off the surface.

The pristine whiteness of the sand, untouched by the hustle and bustle of everyday life brings to mind the look of untouched freshly fallen snow of the northern states. It’s beautiful to experience.

Both snow and white sand are associated with festive seasons. Snow is a common sight during the winter holidays, while white sand is often associated with summer vacations and beach getaways. These similarities remind us of happy times spent with loved ones.

The gentle lapping of the waves against the shore creates a rhythmic sound like the wind blowing and snowflakes falling, further enhancing the connection between the beach and the snow at Christmastime. The warm yet chilly, salty air reminds us of the crisp, cold air that often accompanies snowfall.

The overall ambiance of a white sandy beach, with its relaxed atmosphere, and seagulls soaring overhead, creates a sense of holiday nostalgia similar to the cozy atmosphere of a winter cabin surrounded by snowdrifts.

White snow is not a common sight in Alabama, but the white sand of its beaches conjures up similar feelings of holiday cheer and warmth, reminding us of the beauty and tranquility of winter landscapes.

The contrast between the white sand and the turquoise waters creates a picturesque scene that is refreshing and inviting, making it a fitting place to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life and embrace the spirit of the holidays.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from the white sandy beaches of southern Alabama.

Moving to the Ville

November 2, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

Sweet Home Alabama

We finally made it home to the state of Alabama for two months. This campground will be home for the month of November. We are close to the town of Guntersville on Guntersville Lake. The plan is then to move down to the Gulf Coast for the month of December.

It’s been a bit windy so we haven’t put out the awning or anything yet. We are located halfway between Guntersville and Albertville. We are living in the ‘Ville.

Alabama is a southeastern state that’s home to significant landmarks from the American Civil Rights Movement. I can’t wait to go sightseeing! I plan to see mountains and pine trees and white sandy beaches. I wonder what kind of wildlife we will find.

The first two days of November have been spent just relaxing and living. Sometimes we get tired of constantly going someplace.

Living in an RV is truly a rewarding experience. We have simplified our lives and found a great way to see the country and connect with nature.

Stay tuned as we explore the state of Alabama.

Thanks for coming along on the journey.

 

Traveling With Rich & Julie

July 17, 2023 – Welcome to the new blog.

I have been thinking about starting a new blog to document our travels and experiences since moving into an RV and traveling full-time.

I have been writing faithfully about the places we have seen at Medium, but feel that more people would be able to read about our travels here where it is free to read.

At Medium it costs $4.99 per month to read unlimited stories and articles, although you can read three articles per month for free.

Don’t get me wrong, I love it when you read my posts at Medium because that’s how I get paid, but reaching my readers is more important than the tiny amount of money I might make.

I also love taking photos. All the photos on this site were taken by me unless otherwise noted. Some of my favorites are posted in the side bar slideshow on the bottom right.

I have decided the best way to bring you along with us on our journeys is to post a daily blog right here on the landing page of my website. I hope you bookmark it and check back regularly. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Travel on.