Memorial Day

I salute all our veterans out there and of course pray for the ones that we have lost.

It is always a somber day for Kevin. He reflects on all the friends he lost in Viet Nam. He started his day on his knees. For years while living in Ma, he marched in a parade on Memorial Day to honor all his heroes. He was one of the lucky ones that survived!

Well, two days in a row we have tried to make it a beach day. Hmmm, not working out. Yesterday we took the 9am tram, got all set up and by 10am the ranger was clearing the beach beach because storms were heading our way. This morning we sat out and had our coffee/tea and it was such a beautiful day. By the time I got all lathered up and in my suit, the clouds were heading in. It just rained a bit and we are hearing thunder but it seems like it is trying to brighten up. Now if I start to get ready again, I suppose the rains will come!

We are thinking we should move to our new site today. As much as we don’t want to. We are scheduled to do to it tomorrow, but we are starting our 3 days of work, so we won’t have the time to do it then. The reason we have to move is we are filling in here these two months and we had to take the spots of those that cancelled. It is two different people.

I hope you all have a Happy and Safe Holiday today. Remember to take a minute to reflect on the reason for this day…..

LIG

Visiting Pensacola and Ft Pickens

Today we woke to another nice day, even though showers were predicted. We took off around 10am for Pensacola, about a 50 mile drive from here.

Our first stop:

This is a small store but we managed to spend $100+.. Isn’t there always something we must have..

We were amazed to see how many windows on this 5er!

 

Then on to:

And:

Its been awhile since we visited Ft. Pickens. The road to the Ft looks like this:

Kevin said it reminds him of snow..

This area was destroyed by hurricane Ivan several years ago and was closed for quite some time.  We camped here about 8 years ago and we enjoyed the campground at that time. Today we were not impressed.

The picture actually does it justice. It really wasn’t in good shape. Doesn’t seem like they are keeping up with it, but they are still rebuilding, so perhaps that is why.

Alot of the trees were destroyed:

We can’t believe the Fort Pickens is still standing:

The cannons on top:

This Fort is the largest of 4, built to defend Pensacola Bay and its Navy Yard. It operated from 1834-1940’s. Geronimo was once a prisoner at this Fort in the 1800’s…

While there, we watched a few of these fly over:

Kevin seems to think it was an F18 fighter jet..

Quite often in this area you can see the Blue Angels flyover while practicing, but not today..

Now we were hungry, so our drive back along the National Seashore:

Until we reached my favorite restaurant in the area:

For their She Crab Soup….mmmmmm

This soup is served with sherry on the side!

Kevin had the fish plate:

And I had the  crab cake sliders:

Yummy…   We love it here, it is right on the beach and they play great music:

 

What a great day….

LIG

Making Plans and Changing Sites

 

Tues… Beach day.. We took the 10am tram to the beach. It was quite hot but with the chair by the water I had a nice ocean breeze and sat with my feet in the water and my book in hand.  Of course we had to take quite a few dips to keep cool also.  You can see Kevin is enjoying it.

 

Wed….I have put off cleaning long enough.. Today was the day. I didn’t get as much accomplished as I would have liked but at least it’s a start. 

I also went to the office to talk to the boss. Got us on the books for next year. Will be back for the month of May and Nov.  It’s so hard to plan that far ahead but if we don’t schedule it now, we will be out of luck.

We are upset that we will have to move from our spot here on Tuesday.  We really like it here on volunteer road. Nice and shady and lots of privacy.  The next spot we have to go to is very open and very sunny. One of our least favorite in the park.  Oh well, we will make the best of it. 

Our site now….

 

 

Thurs… I slept in this morning. I then cooked us a big breakfast.  Kevin was busy outside, washing and waxing the truck.  He then moved to washing windows on the RV..   I decided to head out to see about getting a haircut and pedicure.   I struck out.. Need an appointment for a haircut.  I stopped in 3 nail salons and the first was nice but busy, the other two, I didn’t like the looks of. I am fussy when it comes to pedicures. .  The plan was we would head to the beach maybe around 3p today but it is getting pretty cloudy out. I heard we may be in for some rain tomorrow. That will put a damper on our plans to head to Pensacola tomorrow.

LIG

Back to Work

 

We had a very relaxing day Wednesday. We headed out to do some shopping  with several stops. Then  had lunch at McAllisters, it was okay, but we like Jason’s Deli much better. The plan had been to head to the beach in the afternoon but we both agreed that we were tired and would rather hang out in the RV.  We are heading back for our 3 day stint working tomorrow.  I’m sure being the weekend, it will be busy.

Friday.. Back to work. We did the usual beach runs and had an unusual one.  We had a group of 30 journalists from all over the world.  They arrived on a bus and were checking out areas in Florida to write about.  They boarded the tram, we drove them to the beach and waited for them, as they walked the boardwalk to the beach.  The rangers did a narrative for them on the drive.

Saturday.. A very BUSY beach day.. We escorted  347 people back and forth to the beach today.  I think everyone in the campground made the trip!   Today we also got to meet up with a couple  that I had met on the Heartland Owners Forum.  I have chatted back and forth with Anita a few times and knew they would be arriving for the week.  It was so neat to meet.  They are also going to the rally in Nashville that we will be attending in July.

Sunday… We were busy with 63 checkouts today. It was the usual work day but not quite as busy for the beach. 

Monday…. We are off for the rest of the month….. Very nice.  It is really hot today, very humid. Feel like temp is 100… Too hot for me to sit on a beach. We drove over to Eglin AFB today. Kevin needed a haircut, we shopped and then checked out the campground. Not bad for $20 a night. No reservations.

Lunch Date and Dr

Well today was the day that Kevin had an appointment with the VA  at the NAS in Panama City Beach.  That happens to be where fellow RVers Doug and Joann are spending some time. Joann sent me a message asking if we would like to get together for lunch and a plan was made.  We had made the drive just two days ago so we thought we knew how long it would take. Wrong…the traffic was terrible and we somehow took a wrong turn. We were late. We are not usually late for anything and I don’t like it.  We finally did make it and had a very nice lunch and visit with these two very fine people.  I have been following their blog for several years and met them this past January at a dinner with Howard and Linda and several other RVers in the Tampa area.  Perhaps we will get to visit again.  Can’t believe no pictures. I actually remembered my camera but had forgotten to put the card back into it.

Kevin had his appointment to have his ear checked. He has some kind of growth on the lobe. I figured, maybe a cyst but the dr tried several times to lance it,  but nothing.  He thinks maybe its just tissue but put him on antibiotics and gave a referral for a dermatologist.  This may take some time. Who knows if we will get it done before we leave here July 1st.  This is one problem that we will most likely run into with being on the road.  The VA can be slow in processing and getting appointments with specialists.

No plans yet for tomorrow. It’s our last day off before returning to work…

LIG

Loving The Beach

We spent last weekend  in Houston. We flew in on Saturday morning and arrived back in Florida Monday night.  We helped out our daughter with a babysitting issue so she could work.  It was nice being with the grandkids for Mothers Day.

We still had a day to ourselves before we had to head back to work.  Did some grocery shopping but that was about it.  Did snap a shot of this pretty Magnolia.  There are lots of Magnolia trees scattered throughout the park.  They smell so good…

 

Wed, Thurs and Friday it was back to the tram. Beautiful sunny days and lots of people heading to the beach.  We didn’t have that many checkouts, so it was easy going.

Now  another 3 days of work behind us.   Even though we love what we do,  we are still tired by the last day. They are long days.  Now we have 6 days off again!

Saturday:  Lazy morning. We decided since the Preakness Race was today that we would head to the track to place a wager.  They had a buffet lunch,  so we decided to hang out in the dining room, have lunch and bet a few races.  We didn’t win a single penny. Oh well, had fun anyway.

Sunday:  It was cloudy so we just hung out. I did go grocery shopping.  By late afternoon the sun was peeking through. I sat outside for awhile.

Monday:  Kevin has a growth of some sort on his ear. Since he gets his health care from the VA, we decided to head to Panama City Beach Naval Air Station to get him put into the system. This is something you must do before getting to see a dr. We will return on Wednesday for his appt.

Driving to Panama City Beach:

When we returned, I decided to head to the beach.  It was just beautiful down there.

The sand dunes:

This morning Kevin and I decided to head to the beach early. Again it was so beautiful. We spent quite a bit  of the time in the water.

Think I will now head out to do some errands.

Ahhh, Life is Good!!

Back to Work

Ok, I know I’m not suppose to say the w**k word anymore.  But this is fun.. We just got finished doing our 3 days here at Topsail. Although our days are long, we start at 8:30 and finish at 5:30, we don’t mind.  Our tram run is every hour to the beach  and in between the runs we blow off the sites as rv’s pull out. We then report to the office who has left.  By afternoon the sites are all done and we just stop back at our rv in between our runs.  We love meeting all the people we drive to the beach. Our schedule is great this month. Work 3 days and have 6 off.  Not bad at all…..

Thursday was a sunny beautiful day. We headed to the beach for several hours.  The sand was so white and soft and the water such a beautiful green color.  We just have to keep our fingers crossed that the oil slick doesn’t reach us.  What a shame if this beautiful place was ruined. It’s just hard to imagine…

Friday is another beautiful day. I have things to be done though. Shopping, laundry..neither of which I enjoy.  Done now and will have time to hang outside and maybe read a book.

We decided to take a drive down the road to one of the other beaches.   This is what we found….

They are preparing for the oil slick with these large rolls of hay..

They were loading this cement to bring down to the beach..

What a shame that in a few days, this may all look so different.

 

I am  thinking LSU fans live in this beach house..

 

We may be travelling tomorrow to Houston for a few days. Will most likely fly out early afternoon and return Monday night. I will get to spend Mothers Day with my grandsons..

Time to Move On

Well after spending the last 3 months in Texas, it was time to head out.   To avoid traffic,  we pulled out at 5:20am.  Driving thru Houston gets tricky so you have to leave before the rush hour or wait it out. We opted to leave early so we wouldn’t hit traffic in the afternoon Baton Rouge mess.  We have travelled this route from Houston to Florida many times and have some experience in the timing.  

First stop, Hollywood Casino in Bay St Louis, Ms.  This is a nice little stop that we frequent.  We arrived around 12:30, got settled, had some lunch and gambled a little.   We had been notified a few days ago that Mark and Dortha were enroute to Alabama and would also stop for a few nights. We parked across from them and when they returned from site seeing, had a nice chat with them. Dortha had planned to cook  dinner and since we had all eaten lunch, we dined on grilled chicken sandwiches.   Yummy, thanks to you both.  The plan was then made to head over to the Silver Slipper Casino.  We have never been to that one and really enjoyed our time there. Kevin liked it even more since he came out way ahead. He offered to buy dinner for us all the next night at the Crabfest.   Unfortunately, Friday’s weather forecast,  forced Dortha into deciding that they should leave a day early, to beat out the storms.  So after hugs, they were off.  We relaxed, took a drive and of course stopped back at the casino. After all, Kevin had to give back some of his winnings, lol… We enjoyed a wonderful dinner buffet. His was comped but we had to pay for mine. They had lots of choices but I made my choice of dunganese crab. They were so good.

 

We took our time Saturday morning packing up. It was 9:30 when we pulled out. We only had about 240 miles to go.

We passsed thru Mobile, Alabama…

 

Then thru the tunnel…

 

Passing the USS Alabama…

 

Until we entered Florida..Anyone that knows us, knows how much we love Florida. So this is always a welcoming sign…

Home of the famous Blue Angels…

Over several bridges…

 

The end result was arriving at our destination for the months of May and June…..

 

 

We checked in, received our work schedules for the month and are all settled in…