On the road, more bumps than just construction....

Our Location: Exit 108, Burke Outlet Shopping Center, Bessemer, Alabama

A cooler night last night but still nice enough to leave all the windows open overnight. This morning dawned with only a slight chill in the air but warmed up significantly throughout the day. The high temps today 84F/28.8C. It was a warm one. ~laugh~

Up at the fire it was Mac and I for a bit, then Bobby showed up followed by Swilley, then we added Robert to the mix as well as Mike, Pete and Paige. A bit later on Pat and Billy also showed up but I had left at that point. 

US 49 North out of Gulfport, MS heading toward Wiggins, MS

Mr. Swilley came with the news that the river was rising and moving might be in order. Then there was the 'it's not rising very fast so we don't have to worry' followed by ' Butch says everyone has to go" and then 'well it seems to have crested'. We went to the Wolfe and looked for ourselves, it was 6 ft and surging a bit. We left there went to Walmart to get some fuel and dry cat food, came back to the Wolf River once again and it was over the 6 ft mark with no visible signs of any part of the 6, which meant it was still rising. We came home and packed up deciding that it was easier to just hit the road and not hem and haw about it for a matter of a couple of days. Mac left about 10:30 am, and we pulled out about a half hour later. Trish and Mike were also heading out today. 

We said our goodbyes, gave and received hugs from those wonderful folks there that we have come to know pretty well. It's always sad to leave but it's nice to be on the road again. Hopefully we'll see them all again at some point down the road but if we don't our lives have been enriched greatly by knowing them even for the short time we have. We have been fortunate to meet such wonderful people in our life time. Thanks to Mac, Billy, Charlene, Swilley, Mike, Trish, Paige, Pete, Pat, Robert and Amanda for seeing us off today.

Noticed this old timer along the way.

We pointed the nose of the Dogsled north to reach I-10 EAST, then chased our tail to get on to US49N in Gulfport, from there it was a straight shot to I-20/59 NORTH. We passed thru or near the Mississippi towns/cities of Saucier, Lyman, Hattiesburg, Laurel, and Meridian. We crossed over in to Alabama and continued our trek North East until we came to rest here in Bessemer, a bedroom community of Birmingham. We arrived here about 6:30 pm. 

I filled up the Dogsled's food bowl this morning at Murphy's USA on US 90 at Walmart, the price for a gallon of diesel food was $2.19, I was thrilled with that price. I filled up again at Knoxville, Alabama after 5 straight hours (55 mph for a total of 240 miles) of driving. I thought the gauge was faulty, we left before noon and were still driving at 5:30 pm on the top half of the tank. I pulled in to a fuel stop, filled the dog bowl once again and you know what? It was right on the money, used 17.6 gallons of fuel to travel that distance. I am very impressed. That's just under 14 miles to the gallon fully loaded/towing and driving in tow mode as well. I used cruise so I know I stayed consistent at 55 mph with few variations. The big dog did good. ~laugh~ 

His older brother, or maybe just more USED brother.

We pulled into the Walmart here in Bessemer, Alabama went to customer service asked about spending the night. Negative, nada, nope, no. The Walmart does not allow anyone to stay over night. It's not a city ordinance, it's a Walmart decision. The nice young man told us to try the Burkes Outlet just down the hill and so we did. The nice sales clerk told us it was fine and so we tucked in here at the bottom of the hill under the streetlight for the night.

We walked back to Walmart to get a rotisserie chicken even though they wouldn't allow us to park. I walked Riley back to the Igloo and then I walked over to Sonic to get some fries (it's been a long time either of us have had fries) to go with our chicken. We should have skipped the fries, they were awful. It was our first time to eat anything from Sonic, I think it may be the last one too. The chicken was good though. I added an orange to my dinner and we were finished. 

HRH looking around on her travel day in some time.

After that I called my dad to chat for a bit, brag a bit about the Dogsled's great performance today and to tell him where we can be found tonight. After that I started on the paperwork for the border crossing. This is when things started NOT going according to plan.

 I was not aware the brokers needed 5 days to do all the paperwork( I was under the impression they needed the paperwork just 72 hours prior) and I was not aware that the state of Alabama does not give the TITLE to the vehicle in the 'parting' package they gave me. They need to mail the title which will not work in my case and I'm kind of in a dither about that. I need that title in hand no later than Tuesday so I can cross the border and I don't know if a copy will do for me. They can email the title to the broker (a copy if okay for that) but the broker needs to have it for 5 days before I can cross. I also need a copy of the vendors NAFTA certificate to do my dance at the border which Mr. Manley said they would email tomorrow to the broker and a copy to me. 

Military presence here in the south, NO plates.

We will be in Cleveland for a few days and I'm hoping I can pick up the title at a Chevy Dealership there, maybe they can fed ex the thing there or something. I don't know if I could get it at a campground in Cleveland as I'm not sure where we will be staying yet. Hell I don't know if they can even have it in 5 days. See what I get for procrastinating? I need to stop doing that, this will be my lesson for certain!! So instead of sending any paperwork tonight I'll be on the phone in the morning trying to figure this stuff out!

So now you're caught up with us. Are we having fun yet? ~laugh~ I'll just bet you're saying, How come she didn't know she didn't have the title, how stupid can she be? Well I'll tell ya in Ontario you walk out with the title, you know that's the piece you take to renew your tag, they stick one piece on the back of the title and you put the other piece on the plate. They gave me everything I needed to get the tags so I assumed that meant it was the title. Oh how wrong I was and how foolish do I feel now? VERY VERY. 

We have been in and out of this state for a half times this trip.

However there is nothing I can do about it now, I'll deal with it tomorrow and we'll go from there. We can extend our insurance for a couple of days if we have to and I can extend the truck insurance for a month as well. Riley's first appointment isn't until the 14th so hopefully we get everything worked out for that. Stay tuned for the rest of.....yes, she's blonde!!! ~laugh~
 

It's after 11 pm and I'm tired so I'll sign off. Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit. Feel free to leave a comment. Until next time..be safe, take care..   

Water, walk, and the Wolfe River......

Our Location: Magic River RV Resort, Long Beach, Mississippi

(all photos taken in the campground with the Nikon camera)

The morning started off loud and flashy before there was even a hint of morning light in the air. The long awaited storm came upon us with a vengeance around 5:30 am or so. The thunder was loud and seemed directly overhead, the lightning was flashy and often, the rain poured down in buckets at a time. This carried on for some time, probably close to an hour. Finally the skies lightened, the rain tapered off, and thunder along with his pal lightning moved off to annoy someone else. 

The water was laying in many places but also running in other places. If you know anything about the park here you will know that the swamp is easily filled and the water usually flows INTO the ponds, today the water was flowing across the north road between the maintenance shed and the bath house, thru the middle playground area, going thru the tile at the end of the row then making it's way across the back of the row to the EAST pond, from there it was flowing thru the tiles back to the west north west direction into the swamp. ~laugh~ A circle for sure. 

There wasn't much damage, a few loose branches came down but other than the water there was nothing to talk about. A few campers had leaks during the storm but of course anytime you get a strong wind and rain it's possible to have a leak due to driven water. I think it's a tougher kind of thing to solve as you're not certain if it's actually a leak or if it's a case of being driven into a vent opening, etc. Ah well our Igloo was dry, we're happy campers. 

No fire this morning, too wet, too windy, to loud, too flashy, and you get the idea. However we did manage to all come out after the water stopped falling from the heavens, we assessed the water situation, discussed a number of things but basically just patted each other on the back and glad we managed the storm with such ease. 

Monday is cleaning day as you know but part way thru the work I grabbed the Nikon camera put on my new rainy boots and headed out to take some pics. I know you're thinking I left Riley to do all the work but it's not true, honest it's not. ~laugh~ I was able to get tonight's pic while enjoying the cooler air. Even managed to chat with Mr. Swilley for a bit at the maintenance shed. He assured me if we get flooded out I'll have a spot up by the office. I told him I appreciate it but if we get flooded out we'll just head out and start our trek north, but otherwise we'll be leaving here Friday morning. 

After a quick stop to feed the camp cat I headed home to finish up my part of the housework. It was a deep cleaning day today, I emptied the area under my bathroom sink, cleaned, tidied, sorted, tossed and kept a number of items there. Same thing in the medicine cabinet, the closets, and my dresser area. Next I tackled the pantry, rearranging and making note of the things we have. After that it was time to wash the floors. That done I had to have some breakfast as Riley had eaten earlier. The time was now 10:45 am. It was a late breaky. ~laugh~ 

Finished eating and decided to tackle a few housekeeping chores of a business nature. Having trouble paying my Verizon bill on line, I have no zip code to attach to my credit card so it refuses payment. I know rare for a company to refuse payment but you get the idea. ~laugh~ I ended up on the phone to Customer Service getting this issue fixed for future payments. The nice young man explained the plan to me again which wasn't anything like the plan I originally signed up for but we discussed a newer plan that might work better for us, we'll see when reach the island if we can use our mifi or not. Then we'll discuss our options. 

As I"m on the phone with the man from Customer Service I see Charlene & Billy heading out, and I realize it's Red Beans and Rice Monday but I'm just starting to get my issue resolved, hmmm...what to do.... We opted to miss it today even though its to be our last one of the season. I didn't want to lose my place in line with Verizon and I couldn't take the guy with me. ~laugh~ 

After that phone call I had to make a call to Southern Chevrolet in Foley, Alabama  to ask about fees I may have paid while using the debit machine. I spoke with Miss Kim in the finance department and she assured me there were no fees attached to the machine but that I had been over charged when I purchased the truck. Today they have credited my debit card over $1000.00 US, yes that is a thousand! That made me smile. ~laugh~ Now I"m waiting on a letter to state the the price I paid is not what's listed in the paper work so I won't have to pay extra money on it. 

From there I decided I couldn't do anything more until I get this information so we stomped out the door into the Dogsled and with the crack of a whip we were soon rolling over to the sports complex for me to walk. Riley read her book while I put in my 3 miles today. It was pretty warm walking at noon thirty!! I enjoyed it though, it reminded me of my running days when I would run at 1 pm in the heat of the day!!! I just loved it, I'd be warm and the run would come easily as did the sweat. ~laugh~ 

The Dogsled spun out of the parking lot on a mission as we headed north up Beatline to the Passport America office, today was also pay day for them and we left them some good old US dollars for the privilege of staying a few more nights here in the campground. They wished us safe travels and invited us back next year. Nice folks up there. 

Back to the Igloo we realized it's definitely lunch time but I first headed next door to explain to Mac why we hadn't been at lunch. Well it wasn't actually to Mac's yard but to Mike and Miss Trish's yard where they were all standing around chatting. I of course just pulled up a bench and joined in. They are such a nice couple. Miss Trish is from the deep south and has such a wonderful accent and some interesting sayings as well as a way of saying things that you just don't find anywhere else. They are heading out tomorrow morning and we wish them safe travels, good tailwinds and sunny skies. Perhaps we'll meet them again in our future travels. 

After that I really did come home and have some lunch. It was almost 3 pm before I finished. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading both inside and outside as it warmed up nicely, drying up a lot of the still water but not doing much to lower the depth of the flowing water. 

 

 

I heard Robert over at Mac's talking about the Wolfe River and moving up, river watch, etc. so I headed over to listen, it seems as if the river is at about 4.6 but dropped to 4' even. It seems they think it will rise again due to weather further north and west of us and they just want us to be aware that we may have to move, not that we have to yet. So something to keep in mind. When it reaches 8' it's time to move out. If that happens we'll just point our noses north.

Around 5:30 pm Billy hollered at me, they were up at the fire pit, no fire but just around the area. I headed up finding Mac, Billy & Charlene as well as Mr Bobby chatting in the circle. Some of the stories are priceless and I enjoy listening to them. Some people lead such an interesting life!!! ~laugh~Riley came along shortly after Mac departed and we all chatted a bit longer until the bugs started coming out. Magic the camp cat used both my lap and Riley's lap for quite some time while we were sitting there. 

Home again Riley had left over pasta and I munched on a few Triscuit crackers as I wasn't too hungry having just finished lunch pretty late. After that it was back down to a game of Yahtzee. I know you can see my happy face and my happy dance. Yes, yes, yes I won again. ~laugh~ And I rolled a Yahtzee, of course so did Riley but I rolled mine FIRST. ~laugh~ 

After that I finished my book and then headed up here to edit pics, do the blog and check mail, face book, etc. So a busy type day, an enjoyable one as well. Thanks for stopping by, feel free to comment. Until next time..be safe, take care...

Rain, thunder, and old vehicles....

Our Location: Magic River RV Resort, Long Beach, Mississippi

(photo's taken with my phone)

I've been lazy the last couple of nights and didn't write anything, but we truly didn't do much of anything either so I didn't feel as if missing a post or two would be that important.

Weather this morning was warm with overcast skies at 5 am, we had some rain drops up around the fire before 6 am but then over the next while the clouds blew in, blew out, blew in, blew out, you get the idea. At 3 pm this afternoon the heavens opened and we had some pretty good rain for a bit, the thunder rumbled, they even mentioned the possibility of some hail but we didn't have any. The skies started to brighten and the birds started singing even though we could still hear the thunder just about 3:30 pm, however that didn't last long, we returned to rain at a steady pace and some times the thunder rumbled around again. A good time to read the news, hear the gossip on face book and just kind of putz around on line.

Swilley's 94 Chevy Step Side

Yesterday we stayed home all day, didn't even start the Dogsled, which was nice but meant we didn't walk, today we only walked 2 miles but that's okay it was a nice stroll and we had some exercise. We've managed to do some grocery shopping at Froogels and Wally World, we managed to stop at a Dollar General and something called Dirt Cheap where I managed to find a cover for my Kobo Glo for less than $5, which was a great price compared to the almost $30 I've been seeing.  This major shopping was accomplished yesterday.

Today we managed to find the Long Beach Public Library and buy us a bag full of books for just over $2. We've got some good reading material for a while now. We've been reading a number of books from the Log Cabin here but I was on my last unread book today. Miss Paige told me about the book sale always on at Long Beach and Pass Christian library's, so a big thanks to her for her wonderful information. 

Sure is pruddy under here too...

On the way home we pulled to stop at Rick's Meats which we drive past often but have never stopped. Today was the day, we even made a purchase. Alligator Sausage!! Going to bring them north to see if the folks like them. Just a little something we can't get up there. 

From there we came home and pretty much just settled down to do our own things as the rain was threatening all day. I had a nap, and I know Riley was doing something in the kitchen as I could hear her down there but I have no idea what she was into. ~laugh~ I like not knowing, it's better that way.

Walmart Special...~laugh~

The past couple of days have seen a few things happening around. Swilley brought in his 1994 Chevy step side pick up that he's been restoring and it's a beaut!!!!! Black Cherry is the colour, it changes colour in different lights. The chrome is so shiny I needed my shades!!! He's like a proud new papa as he should be, it's a beautiful machine and he's put in a lot of time, effort and money. This year he'll be cruising the coast in style!!!

Bing and Cathy our neighbours from Bluegrass Rv Park in Foley, Alabama arrived a couple of days ago. Nice to see them again. Their son is also camping here although I haven't met him yet. It was a surprise to see them when she walked over. 

Seen this on our way into the Walmart Store

The fella across the way has the  rubber membrane on the roof finally and it's tacked down but he still has some work to do to it. I heard him say he's burnt out doing it but he can't stop now. With this rain he's had to tarp it once again, and since it's a flat roof I wonder how it's holding up for leaks in the rain today.

A motor home pulled in a couple of days ago carrying two women, two big dogs, and two cats. The cats and dogs are all walked on leashes. At least one of the cats is a big cat (I've only seen the one dark cat), I would say bigger than the small yappy dogs most RV'ers have. This cat walks just like a well trained dog and it yowls when they walk just like a dog would bark. It's interesting to see. ~laugh~

At Rick's Meat Hook on Beatline Rd

Morning fires have had most of the same faces around them starting with Mac and I between 5:30 and 6 am. The evening fires when we have them bring in some new faces, but mostly they just pop in for a few minutes and leave. I'm not sure if we smell bad, we aren't friendly enough, or they just don't like us, it must be something. ~laugh~ We however manage just fine. Robert will have to cut some more fire wood soon or we'll have to leave soon, one or the other. ~laugh~

Magic the camp cat is doing well. She curls up on my lap, Mac's lap, Riley's lap or anyone else that will let her on their lap. She enjoys the attention but has also started claiming a chair of her own. I'm not sure if I've convinced Mac to take her home or not, but for now she's at least getting the attention she likes.

See this thing sitting there almost daily

Billy & Charlene have been up around the evening fires with lively conversations and some good laughs. Billy has to have another heart test, it seems he has some kind of blockage and can't have another knee surgery until they figure that stuff out. I wish him luck with all of this, he's a nice guy but seems to be having a lot of troubles. According to the folks this will be his FIFTH surgery on that same knee. It's a tough road in his future!!

Our time here is drawing to a close and we are trying to ensure we have the things we want to bring north with us in sufficient supply so that requires the making of lists, scratching things off, adding things on, writing a new one because the old one is no longer readable, etc. You get the idea. ~laugh~

Purchased at Rick's Meat Hook when we stopped to see the truck.

We've been BBQ'ing dinners most nights but tonight will be pasta due to the inclement weather. Mike the fella from a bit north of here also has a WeberQ that he complained was getting to hot when he cooked, I suggested he not turn it to high when starting it, but on low instead and cook everything on low and slow, if the temps get too high just open the top for about 5 minutes, it lets the grill stay hot but the top cover cool off which helps to keep the temp lowers. He tried it the other night and was surprised as well as happy how well it worked. Being blonde can surprise some folks. ~laugh~ 
 

So as you can see it's been quiet here but still interesting at times. We enjoy this park and the people, I personally have been coming for a number of years, even though I've only been staying here for about 3 of those years. It's truly a community that is welcoming, fun, and enthusiastic. It is a drawing feature for certain but I think Arizona may be our destination next winter and this park may be too much out of the way for us, but we shall see how things go when the time is upon us. I would certainly miss the people very much.

He's got the rubber membrane on under the tarp.

The rain has finally stopped now, it's 9 pm CST here in Long Beach, it's cooled off a great deal, it's very damp and I hope the rain is over the next week or so. No fire tonight but then again it would have been cold anyway up there in the wind and damp.

Talked to my dad this morning, it was a miserable day there on Manitoulin just around the freezing mark but with snow, rain, and freezing rain it was a day to stay inside and out of the weather. He says the sap isn't running either, not cold enough at night nor warm enough in the day time. Other than that the rest of the island is pretty much the same, quiet and waiting for spring, it can't get there too fast to suit the folks.

Notice the sausage BUScuits? 

Love this sign, been seeing it since we arrived. ~laugh~ Not sure what a BUSCUIT is but I like the biscuits they make down here.

So ends another day here in Long Beach. Nothing earth shattering but we enjoyed it anyway. Thanks for stopping by, feel free to leave a comment. Until next time...be safe, take care.....