Feb 8, 2011 Our last day at Opp, Alabama

The day was cool but at least the sun was out.  We decided to take a final walk over to the island.  I didn't want to take the dogs because of our last little episode with Tanner but we did.  And again Jack allowed them some freedom.  This time though, Tanner came when called.

Our sign, Jack made.  Sydney and Tanner's sign was a gift from Bill & Terry.  Having these signs opens us up to meeting new people who knows someone, who knows someone who lives in Warsaw, etc., etc. This trip to Opp though we did meet one of the park's rangers who spent most of his life in Warsaw.  Ends up he lived by a gal who worked with Jack for many years. 

We spent the rest of the day doing odds and ends.  Jack changed the oil and filter on the Onan generator that we have on the 5th wheel.  We can run everything on the 5th wheel with the generator and have on a couple of instances when the parks electricity was out or if we stop in a parking lot or rest stop and want to use the air conditioner, tv or micro wave.  For you camping people out there we went opted for the generator and convertor rather than more batteries and an invertor.  Changing oil on the truck or 5th wheel etc. isn't stuff Jack necessarily wants/likes to do but he doesn't trust just anyone to do it so he does it himself.  It's kind of the same thing has us grooming the dogs ourselves.


 The park employees at Opp were all extremely nice.  I would suggest to anyone considering this state park though to think about a few small details when choosing a site;   We chose to park up on the hill away from the lake because of the dogs.  We quickly realized though that we COULD NOT get the wifi service the park advertises.  You have to be, evidently, directly across the street from the wifi antenna and hold your tongue a certain way. Until we talked to some other campers we did not know this little unknown fact.  But more importantly if you choose to stay there during the winter it is best to camp up on the hill where the sun can reach you.  It was a good 10 degrees cooler down by the lake.  And in the winter you go to the South for the sun.

I am happy though to be moving on where, hopefully, there is a lot more to do and see.  Hope you all are well.

Shabby Shelby Wind Creek State Park

I have been wanting to tell you about Shabby Shelby for a week or so now.  I just couldn't fit her in.  But today is again stormy and gloomy so I decided to share my story of  Shabby Shelby with you. Before I do, though,  here are a couple pics to share with you:

These birds were circling over our RV today. Jack said they were waiting for me to drop dead from the many aches and pains I've been griping about since yesterday's bike ride.  He's a real riot.  And Sydney goes totally bonkers when it storms; she also gets nutty if you fry anything or play music. Can you say doggie therapy?  Today, though, it was storming and she shakes as if she is in blender and pants like a dog in the desert.  Can't calm her down know matter what we try.  Here is a pic of her panting uncontrollably:

And here is she and Tanner checking things out to make sure things are okay outside:

 Now on to my story of Shabby Shelby........

When we were at Wind Creek State Park we were doing our afternoon walk.  At that park we would walk a little over a mile each trip. By the time we got to the end of those walks I was exhausted.  One particular afternoon I noticed a dog running loose in the park. He seemed very interested in our whereabouts. Again I was too exhausted to run or go back the way we had come. So we kept a close eye on him.  He would walk towards us then stop.  We'd keep walking, cautiously, watching him, watching us.  Then as we'd get close to him, he'd turn and walk away, very slowly.  Now for those of you who walk dogs you know that any interference by another dog can often lead to disaster.  Especially with our two.  We've seen Sydney go after really, really huge dogs, instigating growling, nipping and everyone trying to get them apart.  So we try our best to stay away from those situations.  But when dogs aren't on leashes there is little we can do.  We've learned though, well, okay, I have learned to pick up Tanner to avoid Tanner going nuts on me. And to me, if the dog is a big dog, all I see is a dog having my dogs for lunch, regardless of Sydney's little attitude.  As quickly as the dog had come stalking us though he disappeared........until I saw his ears standing straight up as he hid in a ditch just waiting for us to walk by. BAM!!!  He came out at us so quickly I had little time to scoop Tanner up.  I started yelling for the dog to get back when his owner came strutting over as if I was some kind of idiot.  "Git back (Shabby) Shelby.  Git back over there now."  Shabby Shelby wasn't having any of it.  She was too interested in Tanner.  Finally the guy gently schmucked me on the shoulder and said in his cajun, southern drawl, "Y'all can tell she is a female, can't cha?  She don't listen too good. She won't bite cha though."  And I thought "You are so lucky I'm holding my dog."  Have no idea what I would have done but the thought of schmucking him back just felt right. Off they go back to their camp and the evening ended peacefully.  "Shelby really was a cute dog but she really did scare me at first," I say to Jack.  "I thought he called her Shabby," Jack said.  "I could have sworn he said Shelby but maybe it was Shabby.  Who knows?"  And hence my story of Shabby Shelby.

And before I forget...just wanted to mention that while we were at WalMart this week we saw, on the end shelf, a whole display of  canned, green,peanuts.  Can anyone please tell me what the heck people do with canned green peanuts? 

We are heading further south Wednesday.  Hope the weather is better there than it was here today.  Have I mentioned I hate rainy weather while living in an RV?

Feb. 6, 2011 Super Bowl Sunday Opp, Alabama

Jack's team went to the Super Bowl....and for a few gut wrenching plays it looked like the Steelers may come back and take the title.  BUT they didn't.  Green Bay, according to Jack, deserved to win.  They outplayed the Steelers.  Jack has been a Steelers fan since we met in 1970.  He is from Pennsylvania so I guess that's a given. 

We woke to another beautiful sunny day.  Started the day with our morning walk with Tanner and Sydney.  I took some morning pictures of the island we visited yesterday.

After the walk we returned to the RV for breakfast.  Jack informed me that "he" needed to do some adjustments on Tanner's hair, since we found a tick on him last night.  Probably from the swim in the gator pit. 

 Here is a pic of Jack's home made dog grooming contraption.  It works really well actually.

BUT THEN Jack reminds me of my anal gland duties that I have yet to perform.  Funny, he should mention that as my Aunt Marilyn just last night asked me if I had done the "deed" yet.  Jeez!!!!  Anal glands - for the love of God.  Anal glands on dogs make about as much sense as appendix in humans.  What good are they? 

When I get to Heaven, trust me, I'm asking about that one.! I really, really don't want to do this thing.  Really.  My stomach starts rolling and already breakfast isn't setting well.  I had been praying that Jack forgot about it or perhaps like the parting of the Red Sea, a miracle would happen and those nasty little things would just fall off. Yell,.....no.  So I suit up and go in for the kill.  You have to picture this scene. Tanner is still on his home made grooming device and I go in as if I really know what I am doing.  Jack is standing behind me, out of shot of anything that might squirt out at him, instructing me, "Up and out, Janet.  Up and out."  Seriously, Jack?  If you know how to do it then please, by all means, step right up.   That didn't happen.  I continue.  With gloved hands I start feeling around poor Tanner's parts.  I find what I think are his anal glands.  Realize quickly that the place I am trying to "Up and out" on is the place where the poor dogs manhood once was. Finally, with much prodding, I found the zone.  I do as I saw them do in the video..........okay, enough said.  Stomach getting a little queasy again.  Tanner got his bath and I felt a huge weight  lifted off of my shoulders. AND THEN, Jack remarked to me, "We probably should go ahead and do Sydney while we are at it."   Wait a minute.  What is he saying?  Bath, cut?  What?  And what is this  WE crap?  Just as the human species are made quite differently so are dogs.  I managed to successfully molest both of our dogs yesterday in places I never want to go again. If only PETA were around, well, let's just say it could get ugly.

After the "dog" exploration we decided to go on a bike ride in to Opp, Alabama.  You can tell that the town is really, really trying to reinvent the downtown area.  They've put a lot of time and love in to the renovation and is worth a look if you are traveling through the area.  Several cute little shops.

We rode past the Opp Newspaper office and I saw this sign in the window.  I thought it was so cute.  How many little towns still do this? 

 It was a glorious ride, except for the hills and the feeling of impending heart failure, the sun's warmth on our face and enjoying the beauty and "togetherness" of a small town.  Ace Hardware already had their annual flowers and vegetables sitting outside for sale.  How bizarre is that?  I wanted to take a picture of it but I wanted more to get back to the RV and relax.  

Steelers lost so that kind of ended a nice day on a sour note.  But in the scheme of life what the heck does it matter to us?  Have a wonderful day.  

Feb. 5, 2011 Opp, Alabama Dancing Under the Stars

This day was beautiful....a gift for which we took full advantage.  The sun made it's full glory around noon.  We were on our way to Andalusia, Alabama to find the WalMart.  By the time I had started and finished a text to my brother, Bill, we were there.  I felt as if I had finally discovered civilization.  Life was good again.  No rain.  Sun shining brightly; gorgeous blue skies.  And a WalMart. We made our purchases plus some.  Jack had to use the bathroom  and heading to the check out I  realized that we had walked in to some kind of southern hell.  I thought a book on  politeness and manners had been passed out at birth to the Southerners.  Well, some of the people I ran in to at WalMart today must have been born at home because they certainly missed the course on " being a nice person."  Whatever, I said to myself.  After two full days of gloom and doom rain, I refused to let ANYONE rain on my bright, sunny, parade today.

After WalMart we stopped for lunch at O'Bradys Sports Pub in Andalusia.   Made some calls; talked to our sons (the day was getting better and better): Jack made a few calls to some friends.  Staff was low and service slow so after all phone calls were made, still no food,  we talked to each other.  We did have our beer so we weren't THAT upset about the staff having to pluck the feathers off of the chickens before serving our wings.   My gosh, could it get any better? 

Made our way back to the RV after finding the post office in Opp.  The day had made a turn towards beautiful so we decided to take the walk we have been talking about since coming to Opp's state park.  Before we hit the first foot bridge I heard a rattle.  As the good Lord is my witness I heard a rattle.  Jack heard it too, but in his way of trying to keep me from hysteria, he said, "Oh, I heard it too.  But it's probably a bird."  A bird, my a@#!!  Since when do birds carry rattles?   I knew what I heard but on we go.  "Trust me," Jack says, "it'll be okay."  Famous last words fools hear all of the time. And then we see these:

Okay.  I've seen enough.  I'm ready to go back.  "Jack," I yell out, (he and Sydney are always ahead of us) "Tanner and I are going back!"  "Oh come on.   It'll be fine.  Trust me."  A fool....a fool....so I keep following, explaining to him that 1) I have my cell phone turned off so if he needs to call for help he has to turn it on first and 2) if I get bitten by anything lethal and die I will come back to haunt him for the rest of his natural life. 

Another warning sign.  Jack stopped to read this and commented, "Well, I'm glad we had our Tequila BEFORE we started this hike."   At this point I could have had all of the Tequila in the world but it still wouldn't have stopped my slow but steady  incline to hyperventilation.  So the "trust me" man, the fool and the two dogs who do not have a say in the matter keep on going across yet another foot bridge to an island.  An island!!!!  Here are some of those pics:

You can see the second foot bridge in the distance.

A picture of Jack and Sydney on the island.

Part of the island

So.....we made it around the island in one piece with no bite marks.  We start walking across the first foot bridge, back to safety,  with Lord only knows what lurking underneath the bridge and our feet.

Jack has been trying to give the dogs more freedom.  They've always been confined to our back yard in Warsaw so they had no real sense of what it's like to run.  Lately, when we are by ourselves with no one in sight and he feels it's relatively safe for them, he'll let them off of their leashes.  Sydney won't go far and always, always stops to make sure we are following close behind.  Tanner, on the other hand, takes off like a little idiot dog.  Sydney listens and will come when Jack yells for her.  Tanner, not so much. 

Sydney returning to Jack when he calls for her. 

 But do you see Tanner anywhere????????????????????????   NO....Guess where Tanner is?  He decided to take a short cut back to us.................through the water...Can you say "gator bait?"  I was freaking out so bad I couldn't even take a picture of him.  Jack took off running and I just stood frozen with my eyes closed.  Tanner has never even been in a lake before so what possessed him to take off swimming like he did totally came out of left field.  He finally listened to Jack and got out of the water.  Wet but safe.  I don't think Jack or I either one spoke for a minute or two.  We couldn't believe what had just happened.

We returned to camp and Jack started a fire.  What a beautiful day and it was still a stunning evening.  Here are a few pictures we took of the evening:

Me texting AGAIN!!

My little uni-bomber

Uni-bomber's wife

We had a few shots of Tequila, enjoyed the fire, listened to music and danced under the stars to Etta James' At Last.  Since hearing that song, for the first time at Matt & Jen's wedding (friends of our son's & ours as well)  some years ago, that song has been our favorite song to dance to together.  So, thanks for that Jen and Matt.

 As the fire grew dim we gathered up our things and headed in to the RV.  It was indeed a beautiful day.
One more picture of the view from our campsite:

 

 As a final wonderful part of the day.... Jack, wondered about my Aunt Marilyn and her friend Jack. So he called her and the 3 of us chatted for a bit.  What a beautiful woman she is....

Until tomorrow..................

Feb. 4, 2011 Frank Jackson State Park Opp, Alabama

No pictures today.  I thought you would want to see the pouring down rain just as much as I'd enjoy seeing more pictures of snow.  Not.  Really don't have too much to share today either.  Happy to report no sightings of any alligators.  Today was laundry day and then dinner in town at an authentic Mexican restaurant.  Not bad but not Hacienda.  Jack loves to try new restaurants and at the new restaurants he tries new foods.  Me...I stick to the tried and true foods I know I like. I seldom venture out of my comfort zone.  I've eaten at Hacienda in Warsaw too many times to count.  I have only ever ordered one item (not to mention their margaritas) and that is their wet, beef burritos.  I'm too many years in to it now to change, I guess.  So, tonight I again ordered the burrito and Jack ordered fish tacos.  Shoot me!!!  The smell alone was enough to make me want to hurl.  He said they were good though and that's what matters. 


We did make the trip down to the Gulf yesterday.  It was just as cool and rainy there as it was here. Jack picked up our water heater element and installed it today, in the rain  (I thought I took the water heater off of bypass after being winterized the first time we used it when I turned it on but I didn't. Water heater elements get real hot when not in water.  Bet I won't make that mistake again. Jack ).  It was a long day and I was happy to return to the RV.  We took the dogs with us as we knew it would a long day and was so glad we decided to take them.  We were gone for a little over 9 hours.  Tomorrow it is supposed to clear up and warm up.  I hope so.  There is an island here that has two huge board walks that you have to take to get there and I'm not afraid to admit that I'm kinda scared.  I feel like a blind person at night when we walk the dogs.  Both of us, flash lights in hand, are constantly scanning the bushes and trees back and forth, back and forth.  I know I ask Jack, every night it seems, if alligators can out run us.   He tells me, "Well, I don't think they can out run me."  So that pretty much leaves me dead.  And since I am the one who walks Tanner,  it pretty much sucks for him too.  Each time I've ever dropped the plastic retractable leash the noise scares him to death and he stops dead in his tracks.  So even if I dropped the leash, while the alligator was chewing my limbs, I doubt Tanner would have enough wits about himself to take off. 

We have gotten numerous phone calls and emails about our blog from family and friends telling us how much they enjoy following us.  Thank you so much for caring enough to read it and for traveling along with us via our blog. It really does mean a lot to us.  We've been ask many questions about how we are doing, do we have regrets about our retirement, what we do all day, etc., etc.  Believe it or not, it's not much different than the things we did at home except we live in smaller quarters.  We sleep very well and very comfortably; for whatever reason much better than we did at home.  While we have a Tempurpedic mattress at home, the mattress in the RV is nothing special to speak of.   We generally get to bed between 11:00 and midnight and seldom set the alarm clock.  Most days, though, we are up by 8 or 9.  Some days, like today, it was raining so hard that I got up at 8:00, looked out the window and decided to crawl back in to bed for more sleep.  There is nothing better than sleeping in an RV during a hard rain. We get up and do the usual stuff; shower, eat breakfast, check emails, read the news and Jack does all of the above as well but he also watches his stock market shows.  Unless we've made plans prior to the day we talk about what we want to do.  If we haven't made plans we usually try to get a good bike ride or a long hike in.  When it rains, though, as it has the past few days we do both get a touch of cabin fever.  Generally the rain doesn't stop us from doing what we want to do but when it rains as hard as it did today there's not a lot we can do outside without getting soaked to the bone.  It's tough on us and it's tough on the dogs.  We have to dry them thoroughly each time they come in from a potty walk.  We take turns cooking.  Just depends on who wants what to eat.  For example I wanted an omelet for breakfast so I made breakfast this morning.  Jack, though, is trying his best to keep us on the straight and narrow, so if he wants fruit and or oats, he'll do breakfast.  We do what we want, when we want.  No more time sheets, deadlines or stress doing what others want us to do.  We generally eat dinner between 6 and 7; clean up the dishes and settle in for an evening of blogging, emailing, or watching tv.  We always take a late walk with the dogs just before bedtime.  We always try to enjoy the area where we are staying.  Although Opp, Alabama is about as boring as they come there is always something to do.  They have a really well maintained little downtown so we are hoping to ride our bikes in to town tomorrow and have a looksie close up and personal.

I'll let you know how the island trip goes if I make it back with all of my fingers in tact.

February 2, 2011 Opp, Alabama

Compose

Welcome to Opp, Alabama.  This is the first thing I saw as we pulled in to the campground.  I'm like, "Oh hell no! I'd rather hear the deer stories."  They have beautiful camp sites that back up directly next to the water.  Yea, okay.  And I want my toenails pulled off with pliers.  Look at Sydney's little face...the thought of her being an alligator's appetizer just breaks my heart.....on the other hand, one chomp from an alligator and Tanner's troubles would  be over.  To further add insult to injury Jack was doing his normal research on Opp, as he does for every town we visit, and learned that Opp is noted for it's rattle snake convention in April.  For the love of God what next?  Cock roach races? 

Opp is short for opportunity.  Looking at the little town Jack said it looks as if they missed theirs. Opportunity that is...At least Opp doesn't have a sign pointing to their "historic downtown" district. The closest Wal Mart is 15 miles away but I like the little town we are in as it is close enough to the campground that we can ride our bikes in to town. Hopefully, the weather will improve and it won't be so cold.

We did do a grocery run in to Opp and found a grocery store that looked pretty interesting.  They had anything and everything you could think of and many things Jack or I had never thought about needing or wanting.  Jack remarked that you know you are in the South when 1/2 an isle of a big grocery store is dedicated to biscuit syrup (who knew?) and the other 1/2 to corn meal.   We did purchase a small bottle of the biscuit syrup (YUK) and some cream corn.  Not just any cream corn but cream corn that comes packaged like a roll of sausage.  It was quite good though. 

We are going to head to the Gulf one day this week to check it out.  After we leave here our next stop is the Gulf. We plan on spending a few weeks there before heading to Jacksonville. We are planning on being in Jacksonville, Florida for Carol's birthday on March 5th.  To spend some time with Jack's sisters should be nice.  We always enjoy our visits but it's been awhile so we are looking forward to it very much.

It's time for our last doggie potty walk.  If you don't hear from us in a couple of days you may want to call someone; anyone.

Last Day in Alexander City Alabama

Well the last two days have been pretty quiet for us.  We did some laundry yesterday and thankfully the clothes dryer at the marina worked much better than the ones in the campground we used last week. The weather here has been in the mid 60's but overcast for the last two days.  Here, like everywhere else in the U.S., a storm front is coming bringing with it colder air and higher winds.  We have been walking and riding our bikes.  Tomorrow we are off to Opp, Alabama home of Frank Jackson State Park.   The park and the people who work there seem very nice, at least talking to them on the phone.   More importantly the park has full hookups including wifi and cable TV.  I want to be sure we get all the TV stations because I want to see my Steelers play Sunday night.  I have been a Steelers' fan for over 40 years I guess because I was born in Sharon, PA north of Pittsburgh.  So far we have been able to get satellite reception (after a little adjustment in a couple of cases) at all of the parks we have stayed at but you never know that will be the case at the next park until you see the site and the tree situation.   The park having cable tv makes the whole satellite deal a non issue.  Jack

As I've talked about in the past Jack and I love to bike and bar ride.  However, this campground was too far out (and too hilly for me) so today, with the yucky weather looming about, we took the truck in to the historic (we've learned this is the adjective small towns use instead of saying, oh, I don't know, old, worn out, dilapidated) downtown Alexander City, Alabama.  We found a sports bar called J.R.'s.  Ordered a pitcher of beer and some chicken livers.  The beer, ice cold, the waitress extremely nice and hard working.  The chicken livers over cooked but Chris, the owner's son, made it right and didn't charge us for the livers.   So thumbs up to him.  Nice get away for the locals and for us as we watched the rain continue to fall.

Came back to the RV and the stormed rolled in.  It rained so hard and so fast our campsite had a small river running through it. Glad were not in a tent.  I sat and scanned photos into the computer while Jack made dinner. Suddenly, the weather alert siren sounded extremely loud and for a second or two I was glued to the chair.  We grabbed the dogs and headed for the shower house as instructed upon check in.   Got there and looked around; no one else was there.  Puzzled we drove up to the office and as is always the case you can never, ever find anyone of authority when you need them.  So I called 911 and frantically explained that we were not native to the area and asked if the siren meant that a tornado had been spotted?   Found out that it was a severe thunderstorm warning signal which could produce hail and or tornadoes.  So, with my nerves calmed a little we returned to the RV.  Jack finished dinner and I sat looking out the window for any signs of Mother Nature rearing her ugly head.   Glad to say the rain stopped just a short time later, the air was much cooler but we were all safe.

We are on our way, as Jack mentioned, to Opp, Alabama as I write.   It is quite cool here but thankfully we are not in the mess everyone has up north.