Ft Worth, Tx 12/1 – 12/3/18

We arrived in Ft Worth around 12:30 today. Glad to be able to stop and visit with an old high school friend!

They definitely do things BIG in Texas!

This first picture was taken back in 1972! The next was taken in August of this year.

What fun it has been to renew our friendship David Pearse!

Thank you to Petra, and your family for making us feel so very welcomed into your house and life for a few days. Sterling and I enjoyed every minute of it and gained at least 5 lbs each while there!

Ft Worth Stockyards!

Then they took us to Risckeys BBQ all-you-can-eat ribs! Oh my!!! (Starting with Sterling, Petra, David, Ryan, Izmir, Karen, Petra’s nephew, and me!)

After dinner they took us to downtown Ft Worth to see the Water Gardens. You might remember some of these sites in the movie Logan’s Run! Wish it could’ve been daylight…you’d recognize it for sure!

Then here are sooo me miscellaneous pictures of our visit.

Thank you again, David & Petra. Wonderful memories were made! Until the next visit. God Bless!!!!

Travel days11/28 – 11/30/18

After we were done touring we headed off to Columbus, MS for an overnight stay at Cracker Barrel.

Next stop was Jackson, MS. We had planned on staying at Camping World there since we had to purchase something from them. When we asked if we could stay there the manager pointed out that they had 10’ high, barbed wire fencing around their property for a reason. They said we could if we wanted to take our chances, as the cops never patrol that area, but recommended we choose the Walmart down the road.

Sooo, we went to the Walmart and bought a few groceries. We asked about staying overnight. They said ‘absolutely’. But by the time we walked back to the RV with the groceries, Sterling had this strange feeling about staying there. So, down the road we went. We stopped at Vicksburg, MS Cracker Barrel (5miles from the Mississippi/Louisiana border). The next day we made it to Shreveport, LA.

Red Bay, AL 11/28/18 Tiffin Motorhome Tour

We have been so excited to be able to tour the manufacturer of our RV! Very, very interesting and informative! It might be boring for y’all to see these pictures but it was very exciting to see how the RV’s are made and how they come together.

Tiffin Motorhomes has the Nations top 3 diesel coaches! The Zephyr, the Phaeton and the Allegro Red. Not bad, huh! They are producing 13 coaches per day. Each of those being pre-purchased by a dealer. No Tiffin coach is built without being pre-purchased! Tiffin employs over 2,000 employees as well as has many outside support companies. The work schedule for their employees is 6:00am to 2:30pm Monday through Friday, bennies and 401k!

Iuka, MS. 11/26 – 11/28/18

We arrived in Iuka, MS and checked into the State Park (which happened to be on the same road as the mechanic we had to take the RV to).

I am sooo grateful that we had heat now as it was 39* when we checked in and 27* the next morning when we had to take the RV to the mechanic!

The mechanic kept the RV about 5 hours and told us that as long as we are in the ‘cooler’ weather the fridge would be fine, but if we went into warm to hot temperatures we would have to watch the fridge very closely. And, eventually replace the fridge. (At $1200-$4500!)

While waiting for the RV repairs, we drove into Tennessee.

First, we had to find a breakfast spot! Wow! Talk about out in the boonies! Great food and reasonable prices.

Much to Sterling’s delight we found a museum for the Shiloh Battle from the Civil War.

Miscellaneous pictures from around the northern MS-southern Tennessee area.

The picture of the gas prices…we saw this and Sterling said we’ll have to go back with the RV and fill up at those prices! When we could actually see the station area it was a flat-concreted spot! NO pumps, no buildings, no anything! Just the sign!!

Thanksgiving 11/22/18 Arley, AL 11/22 – 11/26/18

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. Mostly because we didn’t have service of ANY kind…

Driving thru Georgia and parts of Alabama we found some hurricane damage… most of the damage was cleaned up and put in all the piles along the road. Lots of snapped trees.

So after we drove into Bainbridge, GA and stayed the night at Cracker Barrel, we went about 50 miles down the road to the Camping World (CW) in Dothan, AL to see why our RV had no (battery) power. (We tried using the generator, but it kept stalling out due to lack of juice). We pulled into this VERY small CW lot. We asked if they could check our battery power and they only offered to let us ‘trickle charge’ for an hour. After that hour, we still had no power, so decided to move on because of the dirty looks we were getting from employees.

After spending another night in Calera, AL, Cracker Barrel (FREEZING temperatures overnight-NO heat) and still couldn’t get generator going, we arrived in Arley on Thanksgiving morning around 10:30. Cold, miserable, stinky (no shower/no hot water) tired and hungry! The park host came out to register us into the park and said that we were ‘welcome to join the Thanksgiving meal they were serving at 1pm and was no need to bring anything!’

WOW! What kind words to hear! So we proceeded to find our spot, set up, take HOT showers (in their shower houses-still no hot water), put on clean clothes and make it to the Thanksgiving feast!

After we left the Clubhouse we spotted the most beautiful lake (Smith Lake) right on the other side of campground!

Needless to say we were in bed by 8:00pm that night!

The next morning we drove up to Cullman, AL, to check in with the Napa Auto Parts store to have them check the ‘house batteries’ that Sterling took out and put in the trunk. It took a total of 10 minutes to tell us that 1 battery was DEAD and one was down to the last bit of energy it had. $285 later we were headed back to see (fingers crossed) if that was the issue. Sterling replaced the new ones and turned on the generator and it worked!!

While there we visited the little towns around the area: Cullman, Curry and Arley. Beautiful area!

Travel days. 11/18 – 11/22/18

Travel days go by sooo slow. First night we stayed at Ft Myers Cracker Barrel again.

Second night at Ocala, FL Cracker Barrel. Awesome place! Completely separate parking lot for RV’s!

Tonight is Bainbridge, GA – Walmart. Nice area!

Tomorrow night will be Calera, AL Cracker Barrel.

Then we will be in Arley, AL (campground) until Monday when we will be headed to Iuka, Mississippi! Why you ask? Cuz we had planned on touring the plant where our Tiffin RV was made in Red Bay, AL. But, while we were in the Keys, our fridge died. Freezer still works, but fridge died. So, now we have to go to Mississippi to hopefully get it fixed and back on our way.

We wanted to have Tiffin repair the fridge while we were up touring the plant, but they no longer work on (any) Tiffin rigs over 10 years old😩. Ours is 12! (They did recommend someone in their area to repair the fridge)…

Wishing you all a great and thankful Thanksgiving!!!

Dinner with the fam. 11/16/18

After the Myseum we went over and visited with Bill until Suzanne got off work. Then we went Big Coppit Key to meet Sarah, Casey and the girls. We went and picked up the girls and went to ‘Bobalu’s’ restaurant. (Bill & Suzanne we’re babysitting the girls while Sarah & Casey went to the Marine Corps Ball.)

McKenleigh & Sailor; McKenleigh entertaining Sailor with the fishing floats (or ‘balls’ as Sailot says), Harlan, Bill & Suzanne; Bill & Suzanne. Thank you again for your hospitality! I LOVE your city! We WILL be back!

Here are some miscellaneous pictures along the way!

The picture of the road sign is of Highway 1 — at mile ‘0’!

Key West taxis!

#1. Can you believe how they store boats down here!?

2-4. Today was very breezy!

Wishing you well brother Bill! Stay off that knee and get better! Thank you!!!

Key West,USCGC Ingham Museum. 11/16/18

We drove to Key West again today to spend more time with brother Bill. He had to make an ER visit during the night and was told to stay off his knee so we went to the USCGC Ingham Museum and then went over to his place to visit.

This ship was decommissioned in 1988. It was the longest continuous service (52years) and most decorated ship in the US Military. When decommissioned, nothing was taken off of the ship so it is still in running condition today!

This ship is also famous for taking McAurthur back to the Philippines.

There were 2 cruise ships also in port today!

Key West, FL. & Ft. Zachary Taylor State Park. 11/15/18

We drove down to Key West today to meet up with (Ranger) Bill Smith (Sterling ‘s brother) at Ft Zachary Taylor State Park just before he got off work. He gave us a personal tour of the fort.

Then misc pictures…

We ended the next get with Happy Hour downtown Key West, then onto Dairy Queen for dessert and the our picture at the southernmost spot in Florida!

If this picture had been taken during the day, there would’ve been a line about a mile-long to get here…at night there was only 3 of us couples waiting for picture time! Thank you Bill Smith!!!