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......

Maps and the Apps

Gulf Shores, AL     High:  65   Low:  45

Today was spent visiting some RV parks in the Gulf Shores area..There are quite a few, but we visited just two very upscale parks today-- Lake Osprey RV Country Club in Foley, and Bella Terra,  both in Foley, AL. We wanted to view these two parks in the area and compare notes on pricing, sites and amenities. Lake Osprey is small, right now they only have 26 sites, but the website says 188 when all sites are completed. They advertise themselves as a "country club for RVers." There is a beautiful championship golf course right next door, Soldier's Creek, that you can play for a good discount. The clubhouse is classy and gorgeous, and so is the pool.

Unfortunately, the entire view across the manmade lake is dirt. The lake view lots are HUGE, which is nice. They are wide open, and no shade except for an occasional palm. The park is relatively new, so it has a long way to go as far as landscaping and future development for certain sections of the park.

Here is another view from the side of one of the lake lots.

The lots BEHIIND the lake view ones are more developed.

Lake Osprey RV lots across from the lake

Driving to the park does feel like you are driving to the middle of nowhere, it's outside the little town of Elberta, AL. It's a good ten miles back to where the action is in Gulf Shores and to shopping. We thought the landscaping was very beautiful in and around the clubhouse, but in the year's time since we last paid a visit to check things out, development appears at a standstill on the view across the lake. They have a tiki bar which was kind of cool, and FREE laundry, top of the line machines, for additional amenities besides the pool. It was very pretty, but it just didn't quite call us home.....

We decided to go to Bella Terra RV Resort, also in Foley, AL, where we encountered a similar but different setting....Another beautiful pool, an infinity edge walk in pool with gorgeous views.

Monthly rentals range from 800-900 dollars plus $100 electric cap. If you go over 850 kw for the month, then you pay .12 a kw/h after that. During high season which is January thru March, the quoted cost depends on the amenities on the sites--from a plain concrete pad to a site with a screened in gazebo and outdoor kitchen!

Sites are HUGE....They have a special movie theater room with high backed movie chair seating. They have a 6,000 square foot clubhouse, library, free wi-fi, cable, 200 amp service at each RV lot (that's BIG, says E.) sauna, outdoor fire pit, a card/game room, putting greens, and they have Pilates exercise classes. (That's for Sparky, clarifies Eldo.)

Bella Terra living room at the clubhouse

With all the money we are saving the entire month of January, we decided to splurge a little for February. We have been doing really well staying way under budget for campground stays with our Thousand Trails and Encore specials for the past few months. We decided to commit to a month's stay in February at Bella Terra. They only ask for a dollar deposit!

Back to planning mode after visiting these two parks. We have to plan the next few months out...sort of...When you are in the south for the winter, and you are on the east coast and staying in Florida, you better have a plan for the winter months! It's almost impossible to get into Florida State parks, you have to book really far out. We don't usually do that, and we weren't sure what direction we were going to head after this winter--back out east towards Maine again, or out west....We're still not sure of that, but we are sure we need to go to Red Bay, AL to the Tiffin plant in the next few months. They were so busy and backed up this fall, we put it on the back burner.

So-o-o-o...out came the maps, the apps--Thousand Trails app, All Stays Camp and RV (Eldy's favorite), the phones, and the good old fashioned yellow legal pad...We knew we had the following pencilled in:
December--in Sarasota, FL at Sun 'n' Fun....
January--We are booked the first two weeks in the Keys...we want to hit the Tampa RV show the second week of January. We need to get a spot not too far away...we're going to shoot for the Manatee RV Park in Bradenton where we can stay for 139.00 a week on an Encore special, which is available for Thousand Trails members. Going to spend a week there...Check!

The last two weeks of January, we've decided to head over to Lake Magic to use our Florida Max Pass, which was purchased last year to enable us to stay for free or 3.00 a day if we have used up our free stays on our zone membership. The Florida Max Pass was purchased at the Tampa RV show (199.00) to give us six additional Florida parks, one of them is Lake Magic in Clermont.  We've now got January covered.

February--a month at Bella Terra RV Resort and from there, to Red Bay, AL....And that's it so far....

Sounds like a plan...Now, the next plan is to convince Eldy to go back up the east coast to Maine...heh, heh, heh...But Sparky just said that to tease Eldy. As much as she would like to head back to Bar Harbor, Maine, she really doesn't mind a trip heading west....Colorado, maybe this summer, anyone? Anyone? (Hmmmmmmm....says E.)

Buckeye butterfly spotted at Lake Osprey RV park

Sparky, the Firebug!??

Gulf Shores, AL    High:  65   Low:  42

If you've been following the blog, you know that Sparky LOVES campfires...There's something irresistible about the flames licking the wood, the flames dancing around in the fire pit, swallowing up the logs, consuming the wood...Sparky is a great fire starter with her little fire pit method...Get the little fire starter wrapped yellow logs that are sold at Wally World, or use the dark brown little fire block pieces that are soaked in something that get your fire going, make a little teepee of light kindling wood on top of the fire starter log, light a match and watch it burn. Sparky could watch a campfire for hours if she didn't get sleepy while becoming mesmerized by the flames. (It's probably the glass or two of wine that's really to blame, explains E.) And those colorful flame sticks you throw into the fire to cause the beautiful blues, greens and purples? Can't forget those! Eldy always has to put the fire out, as Sparky can never make it to the final minutes of the dying burning embers...(Sigh...That's right, says E. I'm the last one in on campfire nights.)

So when Sparky saw smoke in the sky, she knew there was FIRE...There had to be a big fire in the area....We pulled off to watch it from a distance...

We saw it from several stopping points along the road as we were heading into town for a pizza...The wind picked up...

And the fire picked up.....Clouds of big black smoke billowing towards the high rises on the ocean...

It looked worrisome.....

But it was a prescribed burn..We saw firefighters and equipment monitoring the burn...They have to burn the grasses, debris and forest litter that hurricanes bring in and pack down when the water surges come in and then retreat...The debris left behind packs down and the plants can't breathe and grow. The risk of wildfires increases with the packed grasses so the county does controlled burns to return grasslands back to natural habitat. The burning of the undergrowth release nutrients back into the soil, and helps animals species as well....They have cool season burns and growing season burns in Alabama. Hmph! Didn't know that!

Sparky's stomach was growling so on we went to Papa Ricco's Pizzaria, in Gulf Shores..."home of warm beer and lousy pizza."  The pizza was actually quite good, and the beer nice and cold. We were wondering about the state of the fire, so we went back the same way to check on the way home...When you see a large grass fire, you are wondering if it really is under control, but we guess it was...there was fire equipment on standby, and firefighters watching in all directions...and then there were the gawkers...That would be Sparky and Eldo....(I swear that's how Sparky got her nickname, she's a pyro nut! says E., as he shakes his head, watching his Sparky watch the fire.)

Still burning....Hope it's under control as they said it was....Sparky talked to a fire supervisor briefly, and they were very non-chalant about it so it must have been under control. The amount of smoke in the air was alarming, you would think the public would be hollering about pollution, but apparently, it's an evil necessity to keep wildfires under control. Seems like an oxymoron, sort of....You create fires to avoid fires....OK, then....Here's my last shot of the day...it's so unusual, we're not sure what happened with the camera...driving along and I accidentally hit the button as we were coming back home??? Threw it in the blog just to preserve it....

Just another boring day (NOT!) in the life of full time Rvers.....  :-)

The Rosa Parks Museum

Just inside the door at the museum entrance

If you are ever in Montgomery, Alabama, this is a DO NOT MISS! Along with the rest of the Montgomery's history making icons all over town, (see yesterday's blog), the Troy University Rosa Parks Museum is a wonderful place to learn lots more that you didn't learn when you were in school. Six distinct sections of the museum tell the story and bravery of the early civil rights activists...

There is a marvelous, interactive part that you can do and we did--The Cleveland Avenue Time Machine.... You get "on the bus", a reproduction of the Cleveland Bus of Montgomery, AL, and Mr. Rivets, the robotic bus driver, leads you into a 360 degree surround sound video tour of the events of history leading up to 1955. It's an interactive bus ride through the early history of the south, slavery, Dred Scott and segregation, from the 1800's to the events leading up to Rosa Park's momentous decision not to give her seat up on the bus that day in 1955. No pictures, please! The videos and photos are copyrighted. (Sparky, put your camera away!) The bus "moves", bounces a little, as if you were really riding and you travel back in time to see history unfold in front of you. Sound and video presentation is excellent! Hop off the "bus", and venture to a couple other parts of the museum for more history.

Here's the upstairs second floor viewing room:

A bank of about ten computers on a tabletop research station allow you to access more information--such as oral histories of people who remember the bus boycotts of Montgomery, the effects of segregation on Montgomery's residents, and other archived information.

On to another part of the museum....view Rosa Park's "bus" line set up so you can see a film made to look like you are watching the events unfold right on Rosa Park's bus through the windows when she gets arrested. Then the tour moves into a more traditional museum setting where more short videos are played, artifacts from that time period are displayed and a beautiful Chevy is on view that was used to transport the boycotters during the strike. Did you know that 350 of the cars were purchased and licensed through the local churches to transport the boycotters? The city had tried to block the alternative transportation for the black residents by saying they had to have a business license and pay taxes. The organizers of the boycott got around this block by having the churches purchase the vehicles.  There were lots  more interesting facts behind the boycott...fascinating! Money flowed in from all over the world and the U.S. to support the boycott. Because no one would insure the cars in the United States, a wealthy Alabama businessman had to go to Lloyd's of London to get the cars insured.  The black residents of Montgomery really pulled together to form a highly organized alternative transportation system that worked well for them for the 13 months the boycott was in effect! We learned a lot from our tour guide today, a young man, who did an excellent job of sharing Montgomery's important history. (Sparky forgot to get his name!)

It was a really interesting tour for us today....Every American should be completely familiar with this dark, sorrowful, shameful part of our history. I felt quite a bit of ignorance at not knowing so many details of this historical event. I'm glad I went to see the museum today to learn a lot more. It was well worth 12.00 for each of us, with a 1.00 discount for AAA....We both were glad we came!

Downtown Montgomery, Alabama

We headed to downtown Montgomery, today, to try and find the visitor's center. We did, and it's beautiful! It's in an old railway station depot and train shed called Union Station. This is a BIG station, and it's gorgeous! Stained glass windows, Romanesque rounded windows, a copper marquee, terra cotta details, it's an architectural beauty. This station was a main railhead during the Civil War, transporting soldiers and supplies to the battlefields. At the rear of the train station, is the national historic landmark train shed, one of the very few left standing of its kind. It's constructed of iron and timbers, and it has trusses which are similar to the late 19th century architecture that produced the Brooklyn Bridge and Eiffel Tower. Standing under the beams of the shed, you could just feel the history behind it.

While at the Union Station, we saw a trolley sitting outside and found out that for 3.00 a person, we could tour downtown, hopping on and off at historical stops. The trolley was about to start off on a tour, hold the trolley! Sparky and Eldo boarded, along with two other passengers, and off we went! It was great! The trolley driver gives historical information, and it's supplemented with a TV video about Montgomery as you are riding along. The tour is about 45 minutes total, but we decided to hop off at the state capitol building. Absolutely gorgeous and interesting! Much southern history is here in this very building....

Jefferson Davis stood on the front porch steps of the capitol and gave his inaugural speech as president of the Confederacy....

In this room, Davis gave his secession from the Union speech.....

The rotunda has a series of vignettes of Alabama's history painted all around the domed ceiling....They were amazing! The architectural details of classic buildings like these are awe inspiring....

The door that marks the entrance to the capitol building....Enter into history, Eldo!

Here is the Baptist Church where Martin Luther King preached from 1954 to 1960.....The Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church...This is where the Montgomery Bus Boycott was organized.

The "White House" of the Confederacy.....

There is a Rosa Parks Museum and a Civil Rights Memorial, all within a few blocks of the capitol building....You are taken through a part of town called "Old Alabama"which are storefronts, homes, a school and other buildings that give you an idea of what life was like in 19th century Montgomery.....We didn't stop to tour these things, we wanted to get an overall idea of what the historical stops were along the way before hopping off to see each one. Sparky wants to see the Rosa Parks Museum, it's interactive! We'll probably do that tomorrow....

What was surprising to us was there was very little sign of any activity going on downtown around the capitol building area....probably because the legislative body wasn't in session. But we didn't see hardly anybody walking around, heading to or from their offices! It was a very quiet place for a Monday.....We thoroughly enjoyed our tour and plan to go back today to see a little more.....See you at the Rosa Parks Museum!

P.S. We're still waging war on the ants---the ants have called in reinforcements! Thanks to everybody for their great advice, what an interesting array of options to try! Sparky is all in favor of non-toxic remedies, but is NOT going to live in peaceful co-existence with the little buggers!  See you tomorrow......