Another Family Visit

June 2, 2010
Lexington, SC

We left Alabama yesterday morning, heading for Columbia, SC. We followed US-431 south to I-20 east, and followed the Interstate all the way to our destination. As usual, we passed some interesting signage along the way...

Ummm, I'll take the Plate of Ribs, thanks...

Our destination (actually in Lexington, just west of Columbia) was a bit of a crap-shoot. "The Barnyard RV Park". Barnyard? Hmmm. Actually, the "barnyard" is really a flea market. Double Hmmm. As it turns out, the fleas were away (closed) and the park was quite nice. Away from the road, it was relatively quiet (only a few evening trains rumbled past), spacious (100' pull-thrus about 45' wide), and just what we needed for a couple of nights.


So, why are we here? One of Geri's great-nephews, Ron, lives here with his family (Angela and Sebastian). We haven't seen him for almost 20 years, as he joined the Army at an early age and was gone every time we visited the family in California. He's now an officer, been deployed twice, and is currently stationed at Fort Jackson. They'll be moving to San Antonio soon.

Angela and Sebastian came over to the coach in the afternoon and we visited for a while (including some love from Merlin, who was uncommonly good) before Ron joined us. Afterward, we headed out through the raindrops to Outback for dinner. It was another great visit, seeing Ron again and meeting Angela and Sebastian for the first time. Back home, we did our normal preparations for travel.

Wrapping Up In Albertville

May 31, 2010
Albertville, AL

Today, we wrapped up another great family visit in Albertville. In the morning, we headed back from Smith Lake. In the afternoon, we had plenty of time to prepare for travel and get in a bit of relaxation before we all headed over to Gerry and Lois' place for a Shrimp Jambalaya dinner. Excellent! Tomorrow, we're back on the road again...

We'll miss Laurel and Hardy, the dogs next door.  Or, they'll miss us...

Family conference

Smith Lake Visit

May 30, 2010
Albertville, AL

We took a couple of days this weekend to make a quick trip to visit our friends Linda and Wendell at their place on Smith Lake in central Alabama. It's about a two-hour drive from Albertville, and we packed a bag instead of taking the coach (nowhere easy to park). It's an easy drive, and we always see something interesting along the way.

As always, a great time was had by all. Saturday night, Geri whipped up her famous "Chicken & Brie" (credit to Jim & Barbara for the original). In the meantime, Wendell came home from his job at a local marina with a whole BBQ pork butt that they were smoking overnight. With the continued rainy weather, things were pretty slow on the lake, so Wendell grabbed one to take home. Man, was that good! Linda simply pulled some off and put it in a bowl with four forks and it just "disappeared".

Sunday, we had breakfast (our traditional Huevos Rancheros with all the leftovers - this time pork butt with onion, pepper, and avocado) and then took a couple of rides. First, we took the Rover around to the marina and picked up another butt. Later, Wendell took us for a spin on the lake. Dinner was another great meal: Wendell hand-cut rib-eyes from a huge slab of meat and they were great on the grill. Another great visit!

Phone service is always an issue out in the country. "Can Captain Morgan hear me now"?

Another Wine Tasting?

May 28, 2010
Arab, AL


You bet! We're always up for that. In this case, it was at a local wine shop called "Vino!" in Arab that Annette's father, Gerry, ran across. After a nice dinner at a new (as in "we-don't-have-our-beer-and-wine-permit-yet new) restaurant called the Fat Rabbit Grille, we did the four-part tasting at the wine shop. Even though there were about 20 people there, we seemed to be the only ones willing to pick up a few bottles. Interesting selection, not bad prices...

Dodging Showers, Staying Cool, Eating Well

May 27, 2010
Albertville, AL

It's been another quiet week, as we're nearing the end of our stay here in Alabama. The weather's been alternately hot and sticky or threatening. We've tackled several simple projects but managed to get a lot of relaxation in as well.

After last Friday's graduation, Saturday was "party day". Erik had a group of friends over in the afternoon to complement the family on hand, mass quantities of burgers, hot dogs, and cake were consumed, and a good time was had by all. We played some push-pull rummy on Saturday night, but concluded that it's not a "drinking game" when you have eight people at the table. By Sunday, Alyson and Henry were headed back to Hattiesburg, Annette's sisters were headed back to Charlotte and Orlando, and things became very quiet. There's nothing like a house full of people to keep things hopping!

All week, it's been warmer and more humid (although nothing like the heat wave they're apparently having in the Northeast!) all week. In this part of the country, that's a recipe for pop-up thunderstorms and, the more they "pop", the more severe they can be. We haven't had any really severe storms roll through here (like with damaging hail), although we've had showers just about every day and some thunderstorms have passed by within several miles.

All in all, it's been a week for mostly "inside projects". I've paid bills, puttered around with the widgets on the Blog, played around with a couple of things on the coach (generally in the morning before it gets too hot), finished washing the outside of the coach, signed up to have my remains donated to medical science when I kick the bucket, updated my iPod - just lots of "stuff" that fills up the days. The pups went for grooming and Geri went to the Salon so they're all looking pretty. Geri and Annette went outlet shopping, so I had some cabinet rearranging to do. Rick and I played a few hands of cribbage and we spent too much time watching reality TV, second-guessing the scoring (DWTS, Idol).

We've eaten pretty well this week, working our way through the leftovers from last week and Erik's party mostly at lunch. We made a plan for the week on Sunday and Rick did the shopping. Put it on the list and it magically appears in the pantry; I could get used to that! I made a pot of sauce (aka "gravy") and we had pasta on Sunday. Geri made a great meatloaf on Monday, and we finished off the lobster ravioli and mushroom ravioli that we had in the freezer (Rick passing since he doesn't like either). Yesterday, Rick made "4-Way Skyline Chili", an Ohio favorite (Annette's originally from Ohio) that we'd never had before, serving the chili over pasta with cheese and onions on top (hence "4-way").

Tuesday was Rick and Annette's 25th anniversary (Congratulations for "25 on the 25th"!), but we decided to have a celebration dinner tonight since neither of them has to work tomorrow. We'll be making Chateaubriand with pan-roasted baby potatoes, haricots verts, and a Béarnaise sauce. With a couple of "better than everyday" wines and a "sweetie" dessert wine to go with Geri's pear parfait, I'm starting to get hungry already. Guess I'd better get started with the main course!

Erik's Graduation

May 21, 2010
Albertville, AL

In spite of 36 hours of thunderstorms and threatening skies all morning, the clouds disappeared and the sun shone for Erik's High School Graduation. Even though the school and surrounding grounds were heavily damaged in a F-3 tornado less than a month earlier, the community did a great job of recovering and making sure that everything was in place for the festivities. We attended along with quite a few other family members, including Erik's aunts and families, who traveled from Florida and North Carolina.

The graduation itself was a smooth and relatively quick affair, with over 200 graduates involved. Things went off without a hitch and, before we knew it, tassels were switched and caps were in the air. Fantastic!

Click here for a photo album with more pictures...

A relatively slow week...

May 20, 2010
Albertville, AL

It's been pretty quiet this week. Alyson and her beau, Henry, arrived mid-week, in town for Erik's graduation. I did a pork loin on the rotisserie; we put a dent in the wine supply. I took a ride over to Arab on Tuesday and found the specialty wine shop there closed (ouch!). The weather was nice mid-week, so I was able to wash the Rover (about 3,000 miles of road grime) and half of the coach (shady side). Yesterday, Geri and I made a shopping trip to Huntsville, about an hour away, hitting Costco and Publix and stocking up for a while. The weather's turning rainy, with lots of thunderstorms here and predicted. This is unfortunate, since Erik's graduation is traditionally held on the football field and inside seating is severely limited. Storms are predicted throughout tomorrow, so we'll definitely be playing it by ear...