Running Out of February

Here we are - February 22nd ... Wow how did that happen? It seems like we just escaped the frozen north yesterday when it turns out - it has been 4 weeks! I guess it just happened one day at a time and I wasn't paying attention!

Photo Courtesy of the Patterson Gulf Shores RV Resort

We have managed to stay busy and entertained these past few days - although I can't say we did anything too exciting. We've explored the area around Foley and Fairhope - mainly just seeing whats out there. Neither area is what you would call "urban" -- just nice sized communities where people live their lives -- surrounded by small farms. 

During our exploration we spent some time "shopping" for a new swivel rocker-recliner to replace the one that came with Winne. The original chair is past starting to look a little worn and it's time for a replacement. We found one that we think will do quite nicely at a furniture store in Foley and made the purchase yesterday although we won't pick it up until Monday. The new one is a light blue, should match the interior just fine, and is small enough to fit where it needs to fit with no problem. Nothing like a new place to sit - even if it's in the same place!

I also completed my troubleshooting on Winne's heat pump system that won't heat. Winne's electric heat is accomplished by the air conditioning system that includes 2 independent compressor loops contained within the same enclosure. When running in the "heat" mode both compressor loops are supposed to run in "heat" mode at the same time. An electrically controlled valve in each loop controls whether the compressor runs in "heat" mode or "cooling" mode. Unfortunately, one of the loops' valves is not working and we are ending up with one loop trying to heat while the other loop is trying to cool - not a good recipe for getting the inside temperature to rise! The fix will more than likely require replacing a solenoid coil on the faulty valve. Not too tough a job, or terribly expensive -- as long as I do the job myself. The coil will probably cost around $30 to $40. Unfortunately the AC enclosure will have to be removed from Winne to accomplish the replacement ... and that isn't necessarily easy. Looks like a job to accomplish back home in the driveway on a couple of nice spring days - so for now we'll burn propane and use our portable electric heater to keep us warm. The Good News? -- it's not all that cold down here at the moment!

Since we are running out of February real fast - it's time to start thinking about our return trip. We plan on staying here at the Patterson Gulf Shores Resort until 1) They throw us out or 2) the calendar rolls around to near the 6th or so of March. At that time we are still thinking of heading towards LaGrange, GA to see if Mike and Gerri Jones might be receiving company - and while we're in the area - we may sneak over and check out FDR's Little White House near Warm Springs, GA.

From there the itinerary gets a bit fuzzy. We'll probably head over to Savannah for a while because we really like that area, then wander north near the Atlantic Coast ending up near the Jamestown/Williamsburg area for some more sightseeing. I know that late March may still be a little early to get that far north so we'll probably let the weather forecasts help make our travel plans.

And then?? well perhaps we end up in Gettysburg in early April seeing sights with the NJ Evringhams if they can make it. One thing I know for sure - Peggy will be in Maine for Baby E's baby shower on the 14th of April!

Other than that Baby Shower thing - I'm really in no rush. Although the weather has been a bit wet down here - the temperatures haven't been all that bad and they appear to be getting warmer over the next few weeks! 

Not to mention the shrimp that remains to be eaten!

Just Another Day in LA

Good News! Yesterday's repairs to the propane furnace system seemed to have been successful. All it took was a bundle of cash for a new control board, a bit of installation time outdoors on a cold and windy day and voila! I hope I'm not being premature on claiming success but it worked all night long to keep the rig warm -- so I guess it's all better.

Today Peggy attended church services while I cleaned up the rig a bit and took care of some fun chores like emptying and flushing our waste tanks. After Peggy and the Pattersons returned from church we (I) decided it was a good day to partake in more Alabama seafood - so off to Big Daddy's we went. Once again we ate our fill of grilled shrimp, crab claws, onion rings, potato and sweet potato fries, onion rings, and fried pickles. It was a tough job - but we managed to fight our way through it!

After returning to the Plantation and attending to a few more minor things around home Peggy and I ventured out for our walking "loop" around the park. We only walked a bit over a mile - but it was good to get some exercise after our little trip to Big Daddy's.

Tomorrow looks to be a pretty decent weather day so I'm hoping to accomplish a bit of troubleshooting on our heat pump system and then maybe join Peggy in a bit of afternoon shopping. Shopping for what? Who knows - probably something as boring as groceries - but it may get more exciting .... or just be another day in "LA."

Can't wait to find out ...

Whining Away In Margaritaville

Time to catch up;

We finished up the 2013 Mardi Gras season here at the Plantation with the big finale dinner, skits, and de-throning of the King and Queen on Fat Tuesday. A great time was had by all -- but I think many, maybe most, folks were ready for it all to end. All that merriment, meyhem, and mirth is tough on us "old" folks. We'll need to rest up and then do it all again next year!

With Mardi Gras behind us we spent the last few days resting up and dodging raindrops. On Thursday we joined the Pattersons for a Valentines dinner at Lambert's Cafe - "The Home of the Throwed Rolls." As always - the food was great and there was way too much to eat. We all brought home at least some of our meal for finishing on Wednesday. Those "throwed" rolls were really yummy - hot and right out of the oven! 

I have been working on motorhome maintenance projects these last few days. Mostly minor little things like dealing with a balky lock mechanism, preventing the toilet paper holder from falling on the floor, and fixing a pulsating and noisy light fluorescent light fixture  - but then there are the heater issues. Winne's two major heat sources - the propane furnace and the electric heat pump have been pretty reliable over these past 9 years or so but both failed the night before last. The heat pump system runs but doesn't heat and the propane heater wouldn't even start. I took the propane heater partially apart yesterday and it started working again -- so I put it all back together thinking perhaps that a loose electrical connection had been the culprit. I tested it a couple of times afterwards and all seemed fine - until last night when it needed to work ... and didn't!! So I get to work on that again today. Then I'll move on to figuring out what's going on with the heat pump, then maybe I'll work on replacing the front brake pads on the Vue.

I'm whining this morning so that ya'll don't think life is all warm and rosy down here in Margaritaville. We have real issues that need to be dealt with ... 

We just don't have to deal with them in the snow!

Kings and Krewes

The Mardi Gras celebration has been in full swing here at the Plantation the last few days. You can see from these pictures that some of these gals are really enjoying this year's "Roaring Twenties" theme!

We started off with the kick off dinner on Friday night and the crowning of the King and Queen. When the King cupcakes were passed out after dinner and everybody bit down carefully -- we were fortunate to be sitting at the table where both the King and Queen were selected. Our 'ol buddy Darrell was selected as this year's King and his (our) neighbor Linda Payne was selected as the Queen. These two are liable to get us all into a lot of trouble over the next few days!

The festivities continued on Saturday morning with a pancake breakfast at the clubhouse and then D&J and We headed over to nearby Point Clear to take in the parade put on by the Krewe of Mullet Mates. This was a fun local afternoon parade with lots of kids, backyard cookouts going on, and plenty of "throws" to catch. When attending these parades it's all about the "throws." Your typical throws are colorful plastic beaded necklaces, then there are the plastic Mardi Gras cups, a rubber chicken or two, and then the most sought after - the moon pies! Between the four of us we must of come home with a hundred or so necklaces and more moon pies that anyone wanted. Some of the goodies will be used to decorate us over the next few days, some will decorate Winne, a few will travel back with us, and the rest will be recycled back at the clubhouse for future celebrations.

The weather has turned a bit windy/rainy here as some thunderstorms moved through last night and more are forecast over the next couple of days. The Plantation is scheduled to have their Mardi Gras parade this afternoon so here's hoping they can get it in around all the raindrops. I'm sure we will find something to keep us occupied over these last couple of days of the Mardi Gras celebration - in spite of the potential rain.

Based on all reports from back home - our Northeast gang seem to have all survived the Nemo Nor'easter with the only damage being some sore snow shoveling muscles. The pictures I've seen have been pretty impressive. It has been quite a while since our area of Maine has seen that amount of blowing snow from any one storm! 

That's about it from here in Lower Alabama - moving from one party to another in between a few raindrops. I'll sure be glad when we can get back to the normal routine of sunshine, seafood, and siestas!

Laissez les bon temps rouler

Today's post is dedicated to proving to all my readers that all is not fun-and-games with these Maineiacs In Motion. 

Wednesday was ditch digging day here at the Patterson Gulf Shores RV Resort. Darrell started work at oh dark thirty (actually it was around 9:00 AM but "early" for this Workamper) and before you knew it - he had determined the path for the "satellite" sewer connection to be used by Winne and others who are fortunate enough to stay here at the Patterson Resort. We dug a little, rested a little, dug some more, layed the new pipe in place, and then put the dirt back in that we just took out. 

Of course any project like this at Rainbow Plantation will bring in all sorts of additional supervision. One of Darrell's neighbors, Don Martin, came by to make sure Judy had it all under control.

With that project successfully behind us - and after some necessary showers - we declared Tea Time and joined the Patterson's and Jim and Ellie Meacham on the Veranda for afternoon Margaritas. A great addition to another successful day.

We awoke yesterday morning to some pretty heavy rain and tropical breezes gusting up to about 50 mph. When the storm finally passed we found out where the low spot on the Patterson's new property was located. Right under us!

After the storm passed the clouds cleared up rather quickly, the standing water drained away, and it turned out to be a pretty nice day.

The weather today here in Lower Alabama is supposed to be pretty nice as well with temps up into the low 70s. Unfortunately those folks up in Maine are looking forward to a monster storm with 2-3 feet of snow forecast. Now that's a lot of snow no matter where you live. We'll be thinking of you Mainers throughout the day. Hope all goes well and the power stays on as you sit home watching the white stuff pile up. Stay safe! 

Today is start of the Mardi Gras celebration activities here at the Plantation. The kick off event is a big feast this evening and the coronation of the King and Queen.

Well - maybe it is all fun and games after all ... As they say down here this time of year "Laissez les bon temps rouler" ... (Let the good times roll)!!

Settling In

Yup, I know - I have not posted here in several days. I have no excuse except for my general laziness. But now it's time to catch up.

We arrived here at "the Plantation" on Sunday after an uneventful drive of about 240 miles. We enjoyed watching the temperature rise as we drove south - making it to the mid-60s as we pulled in here at the Patterson Gulf Shores Resort. As we pulled in we were greeted by our landlords Darrell and Judy Patterson who not only are providing a nice spot to park Winne but provided a nice arrival day meal and front row seat for Superbowl viewing to boot! What a deal!

Monday was a work day. Well - it was for a few hours anyway. The  electric service here at the newly purchased Patterson Resort originally provided 2 - 30 Amp outlets for RV use and needed to be upgraded to 50 Amp outlets. Darrell and I started our morning with a trip to Home Depot for supplies and then returned "home" to complete our work. I concentrated on re-wiring the electrical supply box while Darrell started doing some excavation for future modification to the Patterson Resort Sewage Disposal System. The wiring modification was complete in a few hours and now both of our rigs are being supplied with 50 Amp power. Darrell completed the initial phase of his excavation during that same few hours so it was time for a celebratory "cold one" on the Patterson Resort Veranda. About this time Peggy had finished up laundry day and I declared it was time to visit Big Daddy's Grill. After all - it has been almost a year since I had some of Big Daddy's shrimp and I was ready! I had the blackened and onion rings, Peggy had the grilled and sweet potato fries, Darrell had some sort of whitefish, and Judy went for the Phily Sandwich. Yum - Yum.

Yesterday morning Darrell and Judy had a bunch of errands to run - so he gave us "Workampers" a day off. Peggy and I used the morning to get some grocery shopping done and I took care of a few minor projects here on Winne. We visited for awhile with the Patterson's in the afternoon and then had a nice quiet evening. 

Have I mentioned the weather? Well let's see -- it has been a bit dampish -- and it's really foggy this morning -- but the highs in the high 60s to low 70s have not been hard to take. I even got to wear shorts all day yesterday!

Today is another work day for us Workampers. It looks like we have a ditch to dig and a sewer pipe to lay. I suppose it can't all be play time! Not to mention the fact that we will need to dump our waste tanks pretty darn soon.

So that's pretty much the way it is. We have survived all those winter events during our drive south and are settling in here in Lower Alabama while resting up for all the Mardi Gras festivities next week.

Getting Warmer

Peggy and I spent a quiet morning on Friday just goofing off and staying warm. In the afternoon we met up with Gene and Judi at the Museum of Appalachia to see what they had to see. As it turns out - they had lots to see. The Museum has collected everything from buttons to buildings from all over eastern Tennessee. It has not just collected a few of each thing - it has collected many of each thing. Unfortunately - many of the items on display were in outer buildings that were not heated and Friday's temperature was somewhere in the mid to high 20s. We still managed to spend a few hours going back to a simpler time. A time when strong folk built fruitful and busy lives with simple things - many of those things they made themselves - with what they had. We could learn a lot from those folks!

Still built by Popcorn Sutton Hisself

After our cold Museum tour we joined Gene and Judi for an early supper at a local eatery where the food and conversation were both wonderful. Thanks to the Curps for a fun afternoon. We'll be seein' ya down the road I'm sure.

After another cold night at Raccoon Valley we pulled out and headed further south yesterday morning. Most of the trip was uneventful but once we approached Chattanooga things got a little interesting as we found ourselves in the middle of a blizzard. The blizzard itself wasn't all that bad as I didn't feel the roadways getting slippery - but apparently many other drivers did as traffic slowed to a crawl for the next few hours - mainly due to all the cars off the road into the woods or smashed against the guardrails. We didn't see any accidents that looked like serious injuries would have resulted - but there sure were a lot of scared folks.

The weather improved as we finally got south of Chattanooga and the temperatures even made it into the 50s as we stopped for the evening here just south of Birmingham.

We should finish our trip to Rainbow Plantation today as we only have a few hundred miles left to go. I understand the temps should make it into the high 60s this afternoon so perhaps I can change into my short pants before settling in to watch the Superbowl. 

And then my stint as a "Workamper" begins. Since our RVing buddies Darrell and Judy recently became land barons at the Plantation and since some utility modifications appear to be necessary - it looks like we will be staying on their property and I will be "workamping" to earn our keep. I sure hope Darrell finds my engineering and supervisory skills satisfactory as he performs whatever it is he thinks needs to be done. Otherwise we will find ourselves both sitting in lawn chairs sipping adult beverages waiting for manual laborers to wander by looking to perform real work!

Sounds like fun!

The Frozen Tundra of Tennessee

Just as predicted the line of "severe" thunderstorms hit the Wytheville area right about 3 PM on Wednesday. The winds were winding, the gusts were gusting and the rain was raining! The worst of it was pretty much over by 5 PM but it remained pretty windy and rainy all night long. And then it turned cold!

When we awoke on Thursday morning it was right around 27 degrees with a flake or two of snow falling once in awhile. The wind had calmed to a steady 20 mph or so - good enough to travel as long as the gusts didn't get too bad. What the heck happened to those 70 degree temps?

We got on I-81 heading south around 8 AM and had a fairly calm drive down to I-40 and then over to the Raccoon Valley Escapee RV Park here in Heiskell, TN - just outside Knoxille. We had several stretches of time with some decent snow flurries - but nothing white was really sticking to the roadways.

After settling in here at Raccoon Valley for a bit we traveled over to Maryville, TN to visit with our RV buddies Gene and Judi Curp at their new abode. The Curps were fulltime RVers for several years and then decided to "settle down" again - purchasing a very nice, modern, triplex out in the country a bit. They still have their motorhome and plan on part timing in the summer - but I'm pretty sure they are enjoying wintering in their new digs. After visiting for several hours we joined them out for dinner at a nearby Italian Bistro. 

Today we plan on taking a leisurely morning and then meeting the Curps for a tour of the nearby Museum of Appalachia. I'm told that it is a pretty neat place to visit and I'm looking forward to it. 

Believe it or not - it was supposed to snow an inch or more here last night! As I write this at almost 8 AM there is no snow on the ground but the outside temp is in the low 20s! 

When I complained to Judi Curp yesterday about the cold weather - she informed me that if I wanted warm weather I needed to drive South! Wow - I thought I had. My odometer says we have driven over a thousand miles since we left Maine and most of the time we were headed south. Obviously we haven't driven south enough yet!

Tomorrow we plan on leaving the frozen north of Tennessee and heading south once again. Hopefully to the balmy temps and white sand beaches of Lower Alabama where the daytime highs may at least make it into the 60s!

Short pants may be in my future yet!