January 29 - Wilderness Road Regional Museum

Lucky for us, we still have dry roads with some clouds and sun. 

Uneventful drive to our Harvest Host site for tonight - Wilderness Road Regional Museum. This site was Adam Hance’s planned town at Newbern, VA in 1810. 

The grounds of the museum included a 19th Century log kitchen, a loom house, granary, and carriage house. 

I enjoyed touring the loom house. The curator hopes to learn how to make rag rugs soon. 

The curator also told us that the museum was going

To be part of a PBS documentary with Ken Burns narrating. Pretty impressive for this small colonial town. 

Tomorrow we hope to make it home. This will be the last post for this trip until we begin our trek across the US to visit Drew, Erin, Carl, Shan and Arlo in late February or early March. 

January 28 - Time to go North

Not much to report as we head north towards home. Road we’re dry with sun but cold. 

We stayed at Wills Creek RV Park, a good overnight stop with large pull through and lots of space for Lenny and Banjo to roam. 

Since this is our first long trip with Blue Belle, it’s been fun to figure out where we stashed everything and rearrange if necessary. Haven’t added any of my quilts to the walls yet, but have some ideas 😜. 

Tonight we will stay at a Harvest Host called Wilderness Road Regional Museum. 

January 27 - Last Day at Gulf Shores

Mostly cloudy today but the temperature was 63. Started off our last day with our early morning walk with the dogs. 

Then a long bike ride around the trails. We saw an alligator , an eagle, and an armadillo. First time I’ve ever seen an armadillo in the wild. 

We really had a great time at Gulf Shores State Park. We biked over 75 miles and walked the dogs’ legs off. In fact, Lenny lost some weight because his harness is looser than when we got here. 

January 26 - Taking off the layers!

Yes, it is warmer today so not wearing as many layers. We started our day with a walk with the dogs. Then we took a 15 mile bike ride with Lew, Kevin and Kay. 

There are 21 miles of trails. We might have ridden on all of them now. Not quite sure. You can ride from our campground to Orange Beach and also into Gulf Shores. Lew has been our guide on mist of our rides. On this ride, Bill got a picture of an eagle eating a fish. 

Gulf Shores State Park owns over 6,000 acres with close to 500 sites. They are also thinking of adding more sites in the near future. 

For dinner we went to FloraBama Bar, a bar that spans Alabama and Florida. 

Unfortunately, their oyster bar was closed but we were able to walk on the beach and saw a beautiful sunset. 

We watched the Eagles win their playoff division and then Kansas City’s playoff from one of the FloraBama Restaurants. 

January 25 - Sunny and in the 50s

After our morning walk with the dogs, we went biking with Lew, Kevin, and Kay, two of Lew’s friends. 

Rode about 25 miles, all on trails in the park and around Orange Beach. It was sunny at the beginning and then got cloudy. It was a good but a little chilly ride. 

Must still be too cold for the alligators to show their heads. 

These live oak trees with Spanish moss hanging caught my eye as we were riding. 

After dark I like to walk around the campground to check out the lights people have on their campers. This o e is our Belle. 

This is our neighbors. 

Most of these are long-term residents here at Gulf Shores State Park. 

January 24 - warming up to 50 degrees

Today started off in the 30s but it warmed up with the sun to about 50 degrees. 

Life is getting back to normal here. Tuesday and Wednesday everything shut down, even the Walmarts!  It was probably a good idea since a lot of roads were snow covered and icy. Airports opened up on Thursday. Glad Erin and Drew flew out Monday. 

As usual, we had to walk the dogs for a bit. We saw a bald eagle and a pelican. Then we decided to see what it was like to bike at 50 degrees. It wasn’t too bad but I wore gloves and put my hood up to keep the wind from chilling my neck. We biked about 10 miles. A little snow on some of the trails but nothing dangerous for biking. Lots of people out on their bikes. Road past the butterfly garden and saw this large chair. 

Another sunset but with little clouds, it didn’t give a lot of different colors 

January 23 - Warm Up??

Temperatures are supposed to sore to 43 degrees today. Can’t believe that I am excited for that, but at least we’ll be able to take a longer walk on the trails. I did try to bike yesterday at 39 degrees but I didn’t have the right gloves. Otherwise I wasn’t cold. Guess what’s on my shopping list now!

Snow has definitely melted some and roads in the campground are mostly clear. But there’s still snow on the ground. Interstate I-10 is closed because of wrecks. We haven’t ventured out on the roads yet because we don’t think southern drivers know how to drive in snow. 

There was a snowplow that came by once yesterday. Surprised me. I watched from inside!

Temperatures rose to about 40 degrees so we were able to get a couple walks in today. 

On our walk we saw the first Mobile Little Library. Great idea. 

Look at the sky. Hope this isn’t a sign for more snow. 

From our site, we saw this sunset. Hoping to get a sunset photo from the gulf before we leave. 

When we got back to the RV, Winter called to tell us that she passed a welding test and could enter the co-op training program. She only need to go to school on Friday to check in with the teacher. Monday-Thursday she’ll be working. She’s so excited and we’re happy for her. She has quit her prison job, which will make it easier on her. 

January 22 - Begin the BIG Melt

We woke up to 7.5 inches of snow. Beautiful but not exactly what I was hoping to see at Gulf Shores. Sun is shining though, so there will be some melting. 

Remember, they don’t have the equipment to remove the snow like we do. They don’t even have salt. 

Belle is really having an initiation!

The birds are out to see what this white stuff is. 

Looking from the inside out. 

Now we are layering up to go outside for a walk. 

Back outside for a balmy 35 degree walk in the sunshine. Lots of melting and some fun snow people. 

This one even has a carrot!

January 21 - Meteorologists were right

Yep , for once, the meteorologists were right. It started snowing today around noon. 

We did get a walk in before the historic white stuff started. Then we were inside for the day except when Lenny and Banjo had to go outside. 

The beginning

A video of the snow around 5 pm. It’s still coming down. 

Historic Snow

This isn’t my picture but wanted to have a picture of snow at the beach in Pensacola. 

January 20 - Drew and Erin leave early because of weather

We had the day planned, then Mother Nature took over and changed those plans. Meteorologists are calling for very cold temperatures with snow and ice. Definitely not what we expected when we decided to come south. 😫

The kids changed their flight plans so they could leave a day earlier because southern airports were closing and canceling flights as of midnight tonight. 

So we drove east to Pensacola to drop off their rental car, then west to Mobile to catch their flight. From there, they flew to Dulles, DC, and finally home to Sacramento. So glad they made that decision. They are safe on the west coast with 60 degree weather!!

We are hunkered down in the RV to wait and see what happens. The campground told us to let water drip from our faucets because of the cold temperatures. 

More tomorrow on this historic time. 

January 19 - Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Today in Gulf Shores it’s blue skies and sunny but windy which makes it seem colder than 50 degrees. Colder than I wanted! 

Today was Drew’s day to pick where he wanted to go. So away we go to Ocean Springs, Mississippi so he can check another state off his list. 

Drew chose the place for lunch …The Shed. Great BBQ  probably the best we’ve eaten. BUT the place really was just a shed. There’s no way to describe it. You have to go. Yes, it has chandeliers, but it’s still a shed with a gravel floor. 

Lots of interesting things to look at 

Next was a walk around the town of Ocean Springs to walk off some of the BBQ. 

Of course there just happened to be a brewery in the town so we had to have a taste and some King Cake that Erin picked up at the local bakery. The town was getting ready for Mardi Gras and so were we. 

Another great day

January 18 - Drew and Erin arrive

Bill, Lenny, Banjo, and I were able to get a short walk in before Erin and Drew picked me up. Since it was going to be a rainy day, we drove to Pensacola to see the Naval Air Museum. 

Erin’s grandfather attended the Naval Academy and then joined the Air Force. He flew in this plane, the M3N Yellow Peril. 

The next Blue Angels pilots!




It was fun crawling into the cockpit of one of the Blue Angel planes. Not much room in there and soooo many buttons to push. 

After the museum we went to visit the cemetery where Erin’s grandparents were interred. 

On the way back to Gulf Shores, we stopped for some sustenance at Emerald Brewery before meeting Bill at Lulu’s, a restaurant Erin used to go to when she visited her grandparents. 

We topped off the night with dinner at Lulu’s, Jimmy Buffet’s sister. Fun place, good food and music.