Ahhh...

We enjoyed a whirlwind 10 days of holiday cheer in Ohio, spending time with family and dear friends. I think we only ate a meal at home twice. In spite of our "social engagements," we managed to get a long list of things accomplished before we left. We were scheduled to pick up the trailer in Kentucky on 12/30 and needed to reorganize all the things we brought home from the trailer because we felt it would not be wise to leave them at the RV dealer where repairs were being done.

We also decided to empty the fridge to save $30. per month.

 This was easier said than done. In the end, we convinced our neighbor that he should grill some steaks since we could not fit them in the cooler. 
I was in my top "Type A" form with lists and time frames. Larry kept saying "Everything will work out..." and went through those last few days being relaxed...a trait that I envy. 

By Wednesday evening, the house was looking good again,

 the fridge was empty and clean, Larry had magically fit everything into the truck,

 the mailbox now sported a laminated sign...triple taped onto a sealed lid...hoping the paper delivery people would actually follow instructions this time, 

 

and my BFF put on her "brave" face at our last-breakfast-for-a-long time!

 

 Wednesday night's forecast for freezing rain was not encouraging, nor was the call to the RV people who said our custom awnings for the trailer slides had not yet arrived...although we ordered them in plenty of time.
They thought the shipment now in Missouri, might arrive on Thursday morning. We were hopeful...but knew we were ready to leave the snow and cold in Ohio. Plans to clean up the patio certainly didn't work out!

Our departure was delayed by the ice on Thursday,

but by the time we stopped to get breakfast, the temp was about 35 degrees and the roads were fine. We did travel through rain and fog most of the way to Kentucky.

 

Downtown Columbus is somewhere in this cloud.

Our arrival in Kentucky was a disappointment finding that NOW the awnings were at a terminal in Ohio and "might" be in Kentucky by Monday. Well...we paid for the work they had completed and told them to refuse the order when it arrived...since delivery had been specified to be required by 12/27. We hooked up the trailer and headed south finding the Walmart in Franklin, TN to be an excellent overnight stop. 
Friday was another day of clouds with on and off rain as we drove though the same system that was impacting most of the country as it moved east.  By the time we reached the Alabama line,

this was what our temp gauge showed.

 As we neared our destination, we saw a sure sign that we were near the beach...palm trees.

 We are staying at Gulf Shores State Park, right on the Gulf of Mexico. After a rainy, muggy, foggy New Year's Day, the system moved on and we could see the hotel lights on the beach to our east.

This morning, we woke to a cold, north wind blowing...but the sun was shining all day and temps were in the low 60's. 
We did a few chores around the "house" before taking a walk to the beach.

The morning view from our campsite.

The oil spill continues to impact the entire area.

We did see clumps of what we believe is oil on the water's edge, however, the beautiful dunes have escaped most of that damage. These are the kind of drifts I like!

 We had a great morning.

 We took a trip to get lunch at Subway and grocery shopping at the local Walmart, then set out to ride our bikes on trails that wind through out the park. We rode over 14 miles and still have paved trails we did not have time to ride.This is a great park with 265 RV sites, nice facilities including store, laundromat, activity center, large pool, tennis courts and several play areas for kids. There are a few children around, but most of the current "campers" are older than Larry and I. This does not seem to be a typical "snowbird" place. There are people walking, jogging and biking all day long. We like that! This may be a spot we visit each year. We appreciate our friends, Jim and Myra, who told us to meet them here. They were also volunteers at Grant-Kohrs last summer. We enjoyed bringing in the New Year with them and there are "plans" for other adventures before we collectively move on in a week.
There are some other neighbors that we met today. Here's one!

 

We didn't exactly meet these neighbors...and are not sure we want to do so. However, that is our trailer in the background!

That's it for now. Everybody stay well and warm.