Weighing Our Options

This weather isn’t what I bargained for! Most nights we have had to keep our water dripping, to keep the hoses from freezing up, and we have gone through 3 tanks of propane. Even if the days warm up, it still has that dampness in the air. The temps haven’t kept  Kevin away from golfing.  Personally I think he is crazy…

Saturday’s excitement was watching the Patriots beat the heck out of Denver.. What an awesome game! I really do enjoy watching pro football. Now, I will be happier if the Pats can go all the way..

Sunday we were back to work.  It was real cold and Kevin told me to stay put for a few hours and he would cover the work. On the weekends they have several people working. It was so cold, but the sun did come out and by afternoon it felt pretty nice. I did not have to do all that much. There were not many folks golfing, of course football was on.  Now Monday was another story. We start work at 8am. I dressed well with layers. I had a turtleneck, my golf shirt, a sweatshirt and a jacket on.  We did have some help in the morning. Didn’t really need it then though, because the crowds showed up in the afternoon when we were working alone. They had Kevin out in the cart barn and me in the pro shop. That was until 2pm when they sent Kevin out to pick the range and me to the cart barn. It got crazy and a bit overwhelming.  It seemed like carts never stopped lining up for me to clean and store. It takes time. When Kevin finished the range, it was 4:30 and time to ride the course, lock all the bathrooms and range. I was left with the carts.  We ended up getting through at 6pm in the dark, setting the alarms and locking the gates.  We were both cranky, cold and my back was aching.

We have since been discussing if this is the place for us. I actually started a pro and con list. The pros include free golf, no rent, nice people. The cons include, lousy weather (so far), nothing close by to do, work hours, iffy wifi and bad phone connection. Monday was just a sample of what is to come. We are told that it will start getting real busy in a few weeks, when the schools start golfing, 5 days a week. This is the only course in the county.  We were told we will probably be working 4 days a week in the afternoons and closing each of those days.  (One of the couples told me they will not work 4 days a week) After sampling the closing procedure, we are just not sure about this.

The hard part for me is commitment. I don’t like to commit to something and not finish it. However, they did tell us they have never had 5 rv’s here in the winter before. We also know if we leave early, we will lose our chance of working for a Ga SP again.

Anyway, we are just in the thinking stages…..we will give it another weekend of work and see how it goes.

Set Up For The Winter

We arrived  here in Georgia a week ago Friday. We took our time after leaving  Houston.  Our first stop was at Bay St Louis at the casino for two nights. I had a coupon, good for 2 free nights.  We enjoyed ourselves and unwound from Christmas.  Our next stop was a state park in Auburn Alabama.

When we arrived here at the golf course it was a little tricky getting down the hill, and into our spot, but Kevin managed to do a good job.

The hill going down to our campsite…Not alot of room to turn around down there..

This area is used for tournaments but we can use the bathroom, showers if we want.. Worked out well when our water froze up…

Some of our coworkers….

We have this little pavilion and firepit for us all to share…

Our site…. 

Looking up at the pro shop and cart barn from our site…

  

The next few days were spent checking out the area. Not a heck of alot to do around here. My first thought was how am I going to get through 3 months here! The town has the usual fast food food joints, two small grocery stores. I am told there is a good barbecue place and we found a good cafe for lunch, where I had the best tomato basil soup, yum.  The closest Walmart is 17 miles away. In the other direction, is Athens, about 30 miles,  where we drove to on New Years Eve to get chinese food. It wasn’t a bad drive but not worth it for this chinese food,lol..  There seemed to be quite a few restaurants in the area and also an outlet mall, so I am sure we will be back.

The folks here at the golf course are all real nice. They gave us a golf cart for use and we got our schedules. We are going to be working Sunday and Monday’s for the month of January. Our actual start date for work is tomorrow. Will let you know how it goes. We have use of the laundry at the cabin they rent out. It is quiet season, so nobody renting right now.

We got the cold spell that swept the south. We went from 60’s to freezing for several days. Our hose froze up one night and our water pump stopped working.  We went out and bought several gallons of water, just in case but things have been working fine since.  It has since gone back into the 60’s.  Kevin has been out golfing two days. From what I am told this is a very challenging  and beautiful course, with lots of hills. I will tour it tomorrow when we start work.  Until then, I have my computer, which got a bad virus.  Our friend John called me to help out, and I finally got rid of the virus, but couldn’t get into any of my programs. I finally got the name of a computer guy in the area and brought it in to get fixed up. He did a good job and I had it back in a few days. In the meantime, I had my little notebook.  Not understanding my connection speed though. At times, it is quick as a rabbit and other times so slow I can’t stand it. I did notice one day my air card was very hot. I unplugged it, let it cool for the night and seems to be fine for now. I did find a Verizon store next to Walmart and may have to pay them a visit. I am do for an upgrade, but was holding off until it was time to get a new phone, thinking I could do a package deal… Let me know if anyone has their new iphone…I am a bit interested in it.  My other new toy that has kept me busy is my kindle fire.. I love it. In fact, my neighbor told me to take it with me to work!!  Think I will do just that…..

Welcoming the New Year

Happy New Year!!  We are hoping that 2012 will be as enjoyable as 2011 has been.  We had a fabulous year of travel. We spent two months in Yuma, Az, two months in California, two and a half months in Oregon, one and a half months in Idaho.  Followed by time spent in Wyoming, South Dakota and then back to Tx . In November we headed to Santa Rosa Beach Fl for our annual work camping  gig at Topsail, then headed back to Tx to take care of lots of dr appointments and spend Christmas with our daughter and her family. I had a few tough months in the fall with illness, but all is well now.  A few days after Christmas,  we left Tx once again ,and we are currently in Georgia, where we will volunteer at a state campground golf course for three months.. Our plans are to travel up the east coast, once we have finished here April 1st.  We are looking forward to being back in New England and visiting with family and friends…..

LIG

My Favorite Time of Year

I love Christmas time..I love the lights, music and decorations, but most of all the memories...  I do most of my shopping online, I do love the hustle bustle of the stores just a bit.. I have learnt to try to get the shopping out of the way, so I can enjoy the season.  The greatest part of course, is remembering the reason for celebrating.  I try to talk to the grandkids about the true meaning of Christmas..The birth of Jesus.  (My mom made this many years ago and remains a treasure to me)

We were not back long, before I had our home on wheels decorated..

 

The weather here in Texas this year has been really really nice. We did have about a four day cold spree a few weeks ago. In fact our hose froze up once, during the night. As soon as the sun was out it was fine.  Kevin went out the other day and drove around the neighborhood to take foliage pictures. Yes, there is foliage here in Texas but it’s a bit late getting here.

     

Between Kevin & I we spent 7 days for dr and dentist appointments. Several days, there were double appointments. I am feeling back to normal finally, and all tests came back good. Kevin has had alot of knee pain lately but the xrays don’t show much, except lots of arthritis.  He has also done alot of wheezing lately and although his xray isn’t normal, there is nothing serious that requires any treatment. Lots of scarring, most likely from years of smoking.. Hopefully that is over..

We have babysat a few weekends. Last Sunday I took the boys to a schoolmate’s open house, for their lighting of their house..

Friday was the last day of school for the boys. Brady had a program at his preschool.. He is the blonde curly head, second row up.. We love hearing the young children perform.  

I had a girls night out and lunch out another day with a friend. My son in law took Kevin golfing for his birthday…

This weekend I had a big surprise in the planning. I had hopes of flying to Boston to spend the weekend with our son and family. It was also a family get together Saturday night. I was all ready to go, but once at the airport the flight didn’t look good, due to another one cancelling. I was disappointed, but always have to be prepared for this ,when we fly for nothing..

All in all, it has been a great month. We only have a week left here in Texas, and then we will be heading to Georgia for the winter.

Our Grandkids…

Logan, Joey, Brady  (Tx) 

Christopher and Kailyn… (NH)

 

                                         MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Almost Time to Move Out

Wow, we are down to just a week left here at Topsail. Where is the time going? 

Last week we worked Wed, Th & Fri. It was not busy at all. Not a good thing, because time goes so slow.  Wed was cool and windy, we were bundled up in the morning. Not many folks going to the beach. We picked up lots of pinecones! Just in one spot, Kevin counted 600 just for him.. The following days the weather was warmer and sunny. We had a few folks going down to the beach but the campground is not very busy. But that is about to change. The weekend it will start filling up for Thanksgiving week, as quite a few schools are closed.

At 7am Thursday, I received a call from a Georgia State Park, offering us a volunteer position at one of their golf courses for the winter. I had filled out application online awhile back. Just this past week I pursued it a bit more. It paid off and we landed ourselves this gig. We will work either as a marshal, starter, cart barn or in pro shop. Sounds good and Kevin gets to play all the golf he wants..We are just hoping it doesn’t get too cold to take advantage of it. I may even learn to play!!  The timing works out well as our plans are to head up the east coast for the summer/spring. 

Saturday we did a few things around the home and settled in to watch some football.  Sunday we headed to the commissary at Hurlburt Field, to do our shopping.  We were there when they opened, to beat the crowds. That we did!  Kevin has decided that we wants to spend a nice quiet Thanksgiving here ourselves, so we bought all the fixings for a traditional feast. The campground does have a staff dinner at the clubhouse. They provide the turkey and everyone brings the sides. He would rather relax, watch football and EAT all he wants in the comfort of our home. (think he just likes my cooking!) Anyway, that is what we are doing, didn’t make a difference to me at all. I would have cooked up a turkey either way. Love the smell of it cooking and love having the leftovers…

Yesterday, I started my day sitting outside having my tea. What a beautiful day.  I headed to the outlet stores and did some Christmas shopping.  I do online shopping ,but also enjoy getting into the stores and hearing the music and seeing the decorations. I will not do this on black Friday!!  I came back, picked up Kevin and we drove to the harbor in Destin where we have a favorite place we get seafood. We sat outside on the deck and both had grouper sandwiches. We enjoyed, but were a bit disappointed in the fish, didn’t have much flavor.

   

Today we are not sure what the plan will be. We may head down to the beach for a few hours if the sun will stay out. Forecast is for cloudy sky’s.

We will work our last three days this weekend. It should be busy. On Monday, we pack up and leave this beautiful Emerald Coast. We will head back to Tx for December. We are already scheduled to babysit when we get back for 3 days…….Until then

Everyone have a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Work and Days Off

Wow, this week sure has gone fast.  We worked Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We are suppose to start around 8:30 but usually start a bit earlier. Kevin heads to the shop to pick up the golf cart, comes back to pick me up and then we go to the office to get the check out/in list of campers for the day, along with a radio. We do our first tram run at 9am. When we get down to the beach Kevin blows off the boardwalk and I check trash cans. I love the beach early morning.

Just the seagulls and us…

    

This time of year, we only do beach runs every two hours until 4pm. In between runs, we blow off sites and pick up pine cones (lots of them!). We were lucky to have beautiful weather the days we worked.  Since then it sure has cooled off. We have six days off..

Thursday I drove over to Panama City to meet JoAnne Doubrouillet at Olive Garden for an early lunch. It was great to see her again, and hear how she is doing, since she lost her husband Doug. She seems to be doing well and sure keeps herself busy. She has an exciting trip coming up..

Friday was Veterans Day. Thanks to all our wonderful Veterans for their service!!   Kevin & I went to Pensacola, after a stop for an early lunch and another stop at Camping World.  We were planning to head to the airfield at the airbase to see the Blue Angels, but traffic was real bad and we heard we probably wouldn’t get in, at least in time to catch the Blue Angels show. They were expecting 100,000 people, so we headed to Ft Pickens, where we knew would be a good spot, since it’s across the water from the airstrip. It was crowded but it was a great choice to watch the show.

 

They started with 2..

Then there were 4..

 

  

And 6…

There were tumbles and turns and so much more…

 

It was truly awesome!!

Unfortunately when it ended we got stuck in the sandy parking lot. Kevin helped several people get out, figuring his big truck wouldn’t have a problem but it sure did. After many attempts at him pushing with several other guys and then someone trying to pull it out with a strap attached to his car. It was still a no go. At this point the rear tires were in up to the axles. I got on the phone to AAA. They arrived in 40 minutes and had us out in 2 minutes..I wanted to hang around for the night airshow, but at this point he said NO Way..

 

 

We did stop on our way out for this pretty sunset on the beach..

 

Moving Day and A Surprise Overhead

Today we were to move to Topsail Hill Preserve in Santa Rosa Beach. An easy 68 mile drive, so not too hurried.  Good thing, because I started hearing the blast over head..Yup, sure enough it was the Blue Angel’s practicing..

     

  

 

It was really cool to watch them.. We hope to get to their Veterans Day Evening Show next week.

We finally got packed up, hitched up and were on our way…

When we arrived at Topsail Hill, we checked in, were assigned our site and given our schedule for the month. We will be driving the tram and our first day isn’t until next Monday.. Not bad, we have almost a week to get settled!

We are Happy Campers!!!!!