A Little Bit of Everything Lately

Gulf Shores, AL      High:  66    Low:   41

Dinner with Laurie and George Owens (Owens on the Road) at The Oar House in Pensacola...Lovely time...So much fun hearing about what they have learned so far in the first month of full timing...Don't drive after dark! Everybody gets crabby and it's tough to park...Yep! We can vouch for that! :-) The food was VERY good and very reasonable.....

More bike riding around the park and on the trails... This is an observation deck for gator habitat at Gulf State Park, but Sparky has yet to spot one. Phooey!

Sparky is now on a mission to look for L-O-O-N-G pine needles to practice making baskets...(Uh, boy, I'm gonna start seeing mysterious Walmart bags all over the place, I'm sure! says E.)   Yep! :-)

Here's a sample....Sparky thinks they look cool! The long leaf pines can have needles from 7-18" long, the longer the better for baskets.

More visiting different parts of town....We visited Buena Vista, an up and coming upscale RV resort just across the beach in Gulf Shores. The coach houses were absolutely gorgeous and very different from the standard coach houses you see in so many RV resorts. What's cool about the phases coming in Buena Vista, is they are going to have one entire section devoted totally to full time RVers who are in need of rehabilitation services. They will transport people to needed medical services and they are going to have a physical therapist on staff. Sounds like a fabulous plan along with everything else they are building......The park is going to have 111 sites when completed.

Watching the skid car..Hunh? Yeah, a skid car..A skid car is an ordinary car outfitted with a set of "training wheels" that are controlled with a hydraulic system controlled inside the car. The attached wheels lift the car just enough to simulate driving on ice, wet pavement, snow, or oil slicks.  A retired state police officer demonstrates the skid car all over the state of Alabama, training officers and members of different police departments how to control skids. The skid car was going through its paces in front of the pavilion at Gulf State Park. Sparky, always looking for blog fodder, stopped to take a photo and ask questions. An insurance company sponsors the demonstrations and it's only offered to the police departments that are covered by this insurance and this particular car is only demonstrating in the state of Alabama. Which is too bad, because wouldn't this be a terrific thing to have for driver's ed for teens all over the country? THEY need it more than the police department does, in Sparky's humble opinion. Maybe some high schools with a lot of money do use this system, Sparky hopes so! It doesn't look that expensive to outfit the car, but like anything else, it probably is. However, what a great concept! Sparky would to love to try that out! She needs all the help she can get on wet, slick and icy roads...But now that we are not in northern Indiana any more, it's not so much of a worry.

And other stuff....Sparky went to a craft group meeting for the first time at Gulf Shores State Park. The ladies were doing all kinds of crafts. Some were making jewelry with pop can pop tops. The group was fun! Later in the day, Sparky saw a lady on Gator Street in the park making pine needle baskets. Sparky stopped by and Carol Moore, the lady making baskets in her "front yard", offered to teach her how to make a basket...Carol makes BEAUTIFUL baskets and is working on some now. She sells them at a shop in Foley. These have either hickory nuts or walnuts in them. Sparky hopes she can figure this out and make one similar some day. Carol has been making them for about 15 years so Sparky has a long way to go.

Dinner with Greg and Jan White (Our RV Adventures) at Sea 'n' Suds in Gulf Shores...We forgot to take a photo. Eldy had the best raw oysters he has ever had. Sparky had steamed shrimp that was absolutely delicious and she doesn't really like seafood! But she does like shrimp. We always love seeing Jan and Greg, they have great stories to tell, and they know the BEST places to eat! Safe travels, you two!

And if that isn't a little bit of everything lately, Sparky doesn't know what is! See you later......