Month: March 2019

Choir again, surgery scheduled, and a new embroidery machine!

How’s that for an odd title? Fairly descriptive though. Wednesday was choir practice, the first one I attended since Christmas. It was wonderful. Life is always better after choir practice! My director is amazing. She plays the piece we will be singing on her piano while recording it. She then adds a synthesizer voice (instrument) to the piano track for each part (soprano, alto, etc.). Each person gets an email specific to the part we sing as a MP3 file along with a scan of the score. It lets me practice ahead of time and get comfortable with what the others have been doing in my absence. We are doing two gospel songs, one baroque piece, two “regular” choral pieces plus the Hallelujah Chorus. Pretty fun!

Thursday I went to the ophthalmologist for a consultation about cataract surgery. Yes, I need it, and yes, he can do it. My left eye is scheduled for 16 April and the right eye is scheduled for 14 May due to the doctor’s vacation in the middle. I am soooo ready for it. It will be back to no glasses for distance and readers for close work, but I am fine with that. The surgery center is in Cedar Rapids, 60+ miles away, so we are just going to stay in the motorhome for a few days at a campground not far away. They want you there at obscene times of the morning! More medical stuff too – dermatologist appointment to look at spots on my hand, and trying to schedule an allergist which is proving more complicated than it should be. The referral nurse at the clinic scheduled me with an ENT, not an allergist, so I am going to have to work it myself.

I have started the sewing for my new granddaughter. One crib sheet is finished, and I should have the second one done tomorrow. The delay is because today I bought a new embroidery machine, a Bernina 500. I was just wasting my big professional 12 needle machine, so I decided to buy a domestic single needle machine. It takes up hardly any space, and it is portable to take to workshops and such, something I was never able to do with my multi-needle. I am really excited about it. I am unpacking it tonight, and hopefully I can get a burp cloth embroidered.

Home is always nice

We left Paducah on Tuesday morning. The KOA really needs to do some trimming on the trees in the campground. We did let them know, and they said they would. The poor owners are trying hard to get the place upgraded. We spent Tuesday night at Spindler Marina Campground in Peoria, IL. It was a nice quiet campground in late winter during the middle of the week, but I bet it would be crazy in the summer or on weekends. I was pleasantly surprised by the interstate in Illinois. It was much better than the last time I went through many years ago.

While we were really anxious to get home, we did stop at the World’s Biggest Truckstop on I-80. I was looking for a much better lumbar support for the motorhome’s driver seat, and they had a good collection. I ended up with a mesh one that feels wonderful! Between the tire alignment, the Safe-T-Plus, and the lumbar support, I am much less tired while driving. We ended up just taking the motorhome to the house to unload most of our stuff. Thank goodness most of the house construction is done on our street! Once we got the motorhome to the storage unit and us back home, we just kind of collapsed. It has been three months, and the mail pile was huge!

We still have some things to put up, but we are going to have all the kids and grandkids over on Sunday for dinner which wil be fun. I also spent some time with my vinyl cutter. I experimented with labels, and I got all my spice containers labeled nicely. I also decorated two little onesies for my new granddaughter, scheduled to arrive some time in May.

My daughter really wants girly things, so this was the pinkest pink I had! I think they are cute. It was a good thing I had her spell the baby’s name since I would have done it wrong! I also bought some other baby things, just since it is so much fun buying baby clothes.

We are gradually getting back in the groove. Tomorrow morning will be church, then I get to start cooking. Grilled pork chops, roasted carrots, smashed red potatoes, and flan for desert – yum! Kevin has already checked the grill works, and all it needed was a propane refill. We also made a nice big Amazon order to get a bunch of things we need before our next trip. We have also bought tickets for a show in Cedar Rapids, and I made reservations at a local campground for Mother’s Day weekend so we don’t have to drive back after the show. We have also made reservations for right after the FMCA rally this summer. We figured there would be 1000 rigs all trying to go somewhere, so it was best to make reservations. That will be the start of the next big trip to the Pacific Northwest. Oh, and Kevin is ordering a Sanicon system for the motorhome. It is similar to a macerator, but has a bigger hose. He will be installing that himself too. I figured there was no way he could last an entire summer without ordering and installing something <grin>.

Land Between the Lakes and Paducah

We got on the road about 10:00 on Friday and headed north. We were only going to somewhere just south of Birmingham, so we weren’t in any rush. We tried a number of campgrounds, but they were full. Between Spring Break, nice weather, and a weekend, we shouldn’t have been surprised. We ended up in a Walmart in Pasqua, AL. It was very nice! They had pull through sites marked and ready for semi overnight parking. We left that to the truckers and found a spot off to the side where we could put out our slides easily.  We did do some trash pickup and bought some things. The passenger seat of the coach had a couple of loose bolts and a broken cotter pin, so Kevin bought the pin to replace it. Good thing he found it!

We spent the next three nights at a KOA in Calvert, KY not far from Paducah and the Land Between the Lakes (LBL). It was a nice little campground in need of some modernization. The new owners just bought the place in January and have a lot of plans. It was very, very quiet.

The view from our site. Sorry for the electric box.

We spent Sunday wandering through the LBL. Those lakes are BIG! They even had shipping on the lakes.

This barge was headed from Kentucky Lake (Tennessee River) to Lake Barkley (Cumberland River)

We wandered around the LBL looking primarily at the historic sites. Turns out they mined iron in the area. There were a few ruins in the old town of Hematite (named after the iron ore). Here is the central furnace where the ore was smelted. The white rock was where the heat was applied and the bricks were insulation.

Our favorite spot by far was the Homeplace Historic Site. It is an interpretive  site with an 1850s farm with docents working on the farm using historic tools, seeds, and animals. Here is a bunch of pictures of great spots.

A “Two Pen” house (two main rooms each with a fireplace)
The Two Pen had an addition at the back too
Lots of historic buildings
A more macro view
The first house would have been a “One Pen”. You can see one of the costumed interpreters
Historic sheep
And, surprise, historic cattle

I picked up a great book that included history and recipes of the area: “The Homeplace History and Receipt Book” by Geraldine Ann Marshall. I loved reading about the history from a woman-centric view. It is organized by the activities that occurred seasonally.

Monday we went to the National Quilt Museum in Paducah. I was underimpressed. The quilting was absolutely stunning, but the vast majority of the pieces were appliqué. I expected a more historically-oriented display, but it was mostly drop dead gorgeous modern quilts. I actually preferred looking at the murals on the river wall. They had numerous historic scenes that were quite interesting. I also went to Hancocks of Paducah, a big fabric store. I picked up a bunch of fabrics for my granddaughters nursery, with the approval of her mom. I will show those as I finish them.

Today we left about 9:00 and arrived at Peoria, IL a little after 4:00. We are staying at Spender Marina Campground, a municipal campground right in town. I am sure it would be impossible to find a site during the summer, but it is on,y about half full tonight. $27 for full hookups is a good deal. Kevin is going to clean all the tanks really well, and I am going to finish the deep clean inside that I started yesterday. Tomorrow we get back to the “sticks and bricks” house.

 

Last days at the Gulf

On Wednesday the weather was again surprisingly good, so we took a trip to Johnson Beach, part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. The beach was really, really lovely though. Since there is an entrance fee to the National Seashore, there were very few people around, a nice change from the spring break crowds at Gulf Shores. While here was some blue sky occasionally, the wind was fierce. I am still amazed at how super fine and white the sand is. “Sugar sand” is a very appropriate name.

Thursday would be our last day at the Gulf, so we decided to visit the Naval Air Museum at Pensacola NAS. Like every other military museum I have ever been to, it was fantastic. I always prefer looking at the older planes because I have less experience with them, and they had a tremendous collection.

The oldest one from WW1 days
One of the last “Flyting Boats”. It even has a keel line and rudder.
Just a great older helicopter
Fantastic replica of the Apollo moon landing

While at the NAS, we also visited the headquarters of the Gulf Islands National Seashore so Kevin could get a pin. He tries to pick one up at each park we visit, and his collection is pretty impressive. We took the long way back across the beaches, then went to dinner at Acme Oyster Bar. Luckily they had more than oysters since neither of us like them. I had a great lightly fried fish with a gorgeous butter/shrimp topping, and Kevin ate a good roast beef open face sandwich. I hadn’t had seafood the entire trip, and I just had to get some. We also finished catching up on laundry and other exciting housekeeping chores.

We left today, and we are spending the night in a Walmart on the south edge of Birmingham. We tried to get a campground, but all the good ones were already full (oh the joys of spring break in the south). Lily is really getting into the groove of travel.

She just loves this one particular lap quilt, and I am sure she thought Kevin left it on his lap just for her. She probably sat there a total of 2 hours in a couple of different shifts.

Tomorrow we arrive in Paducah, the quilting Mecca. We will stay 3 days so we can see the National Quilt Museum, do some shopping for my granddaughter due in May, and probably drive some in the land Between The Lakes area.

A ferry trip and Bellingrath Gardens

Today we decided to take the ferry from Ft. Morgan to Dauphin Island and back. It was a quite enjoyable ferry ride, and the gardens were incredible!

First, some pictures of the ferry ride. We were on the small ferry that only holds 18 vehicles. The big one that can even carry motorhomes was in repair. That made for some long wait times.

We were up front both directions.
There were gulls that sat on the ramp at the beginning and end of the trip looking for fish the engines kicked up.

We then went to Bellingrath Gardens, a huge estate begun in the 1930s. We chose to just go to through the gardens, not the house, and I am glad we did. The gardens were huge, and my back couldn’t have taken anything more than the gardens. The azaleas were the star of the show.

The view at the entrance to the gardens
Camellias and azaleas together
Look at the size of this southern magnolia!
Isn’t this a perfect camellia?

The audio guide to the gardens said this was the most popular photo in the park. It used to be a muddy creek bottom, but good design, a lot of dredging, and a small dam made a lovely little lake.

There was a lovely glass house with multiple rooms for different types of flowers.

I really can’t recommend the gardens enough, at least this time of year. There are many, many plants other than the azaleas, but they really are the star of the gardens.

We ended the day with a short trip to Orange Beach. I want to collect some shells for the grandkids, but my back told me very, very clearly I was DONE! I did find a few nice small ones, but we will spend more time at the beach tomorrow when we have chairs and a sunshade.

Gulf Shores, AL

We made it to our RV Park on Friday. We are staying at Gulf Breeze RV Resort, and it seems like a nice place. Folks are friendly, the sites are level, and we have at least a small amount of space between sites plus grass and trees. Lily the cat is thrilled! It took a bit of maneuvering to get the coach backed into the site due to the narrow roads, but we made it. Friday we just stayed put and started laundry.

Saturday we went to Ft. Morgan, an Alabama historical park. While the first fort was built for the War of 1812, the big effort began in the 1830s and continued through World War II, with various times of deactivation. The main masonry/earth fort is pretty impressive.

Kevin at the main gate
The vaulted rooms were pretty impressive
Sorry it is dark, but this thing is BIG
World War II modifications
There was a group of red actors there this weekend
They even had a WWII surveillance plane flying

We also took a long drive along the coast, stopping for lunch at Picnic Cove, a nice restaurant I recommend, at least for their smoked chicken and brisket!

Sunday we just stayed around the coach, doing laundry and relaxing.

Today we took a trip to Mobile Bay to look for dolphins. We had lunch at Lambert’s, a tourist spot that has “throwed rolls”. It was barely so-so. The green beams with my meal were definitely canned, and Kevin’s beans seemed like standard canned pork and beans. The rolls were good though, as were the fried potatoes and the hamburger steaks themselves (loaded with onions, mushrooms, and green peppers). The charter was a bit over two hours, and I enjoyed it immensely! We took a charter from A-Pair-A-Dice at Barber Marina, and saw lots more than dolphins. Eagles, cormorants, ospreys, terns, loons, and brown pelicans were showing off in the area. Note most of these pictures were fromKefin since his camera takes much better zoom pictures than mine does.

Some of the pelicans posed for pictures
Loons in their winter plumage

One group of dolphins were mating, so they were rolling all over themselves.

Mating dolphins

It was a long trip, and I am afraid my face is slightly sunburned!

In and out of Red Bay (again)

We drove into the Tiffin Service Center campground in Red Bay, AL on Sunday, 3 March. We got seen by the evaluator on Monday, and we were told it would be the middle of the next week before we could get into a service bay. That gave us some time to wander around, but it was so cold we didn’t enjoy it much. We did get to a small shop in downtown Red Bay and ordered a custom hand towel in the basic colors of the coach.

However we got a call early on Friday morning to head to a bay! We got everything we needed done by Tiffin early, a nice change. However we still had some woodworking to be finished by an outside vendor, and we had an appointment for diesel service and installation of a SafeTPlus steering system on Wednesday. The woodworking was done on Monday, and we got the diesel work done as planned by Bay Diesel. Since the service center work was complete, we moved to a private campground nearby, 1st Class Campground. It is another gravel parking lot, but at least the owner turned the water on a few hours a day. Pretty much all the other campgrounds had water shut off completely due to the freezing temperatures.

Cup holder showing my travel mug

 

Linen drawer open
Linen drawer closed
Liquor cabinet

The diesel service went well, and I already LOVE the SafeTPlus. It makes driving much, much easier and less tiring.

Today we had the coach detailed, the first time it has been washed in months! We were scheduled for the 4 hour job to begin at 9:30, but just after we left it the water faucet they used broke due to the cold! The detail guy had to spend the first few hours replumbing the water line, so instead of being on the road by 2:00, we didn’t leave until after 4:30.

We had thought about gradually heading back to Iowa, staying at some Corps of Engineers sites for a couple of weeks, but I was so tired of the cold! Even Red Bay was getting down to lows of 20 or so, almost unheard of for March. Kevin found a campground in Gulf Shores, AL near the coast. We will be spending a week there, hopefully warming up. The forecast is for lots of rain though, so it is not an unmixed blessing. We are spending tonight in a Walmart parking lot in Cullman, AL.