October 31-November 4: The long trek back to Arizona

November 4, 2013

Cederholm Compound, Peoria, Arizona

It wouldn’t be RVing if there weren’t issues. We though the furnace replacement in the summer was enough, but we were wrong. Coming out of Gulf Shores, we started to see exhaust smoke from the coach, which got progressively worse. We talked it over and decided to bypass our last stop and head back to Arizona a few days early.

Like the Alabama coast, the Texas Gulf Coast is another area we’ve never visited. Strange, I know given that we’ve been traipsing all over the country 6+ months a year since 2005, racking up 112,000+ miles. But, it is what it is.

So, I did my research and decided that Aransas Pass was a reasonable place to stop for a few days as we traveled west. About halfway between Galveston and Mexico, we could explore the area in both directions on day trips in the Rover, then pick up I-37 in Corpus Christi for easy access back to I-10 for the trip home.

We left Gulf Shores mid-morning, billowing gray-black smoke like a steamer. When it didn’t settle down by our lunch stop, we both agreed that we should try to make it back to AZ rather than make another stop. I called to cancel our reservations and plotted a new course. Actually, the route wasn’t the issue as we picked up I-10 headed west near Mobile and just followed it to Phoenix. But, we needed to have an idea of how long we’d travel each day, know where we’d overnight, and schedule fuel stops.

As it turns out, we followed our original plan for the first day, stopping for the night at a Louisiana Rest Area right in the middle of the Atchafalaya Swamp. We’ve stopped here before and knew it’s a huge area with overnight security. Even though part of the facility was under reconstruction, we had plenty of room.

Thursday was a terrible driving day. In addition to the stress of whatever mechanical issues we were facing, the weather was awful. We drove all day into the path of a front that had dropped flooding rains on central Texas. Fortunately, the front passed, the rain stopped and the stars were out by bedtime.

The next day, we were on the road early and made the Texas line by late morning. Mile Marker 880 started the countdown across the longest stretch of road we know. By late afternoon, we made a fuel stop in San Antonio, then pushed through rush hour traffic for another 100 miles or so to Bourne, Texas. We aimed for the local Walmart, made sure it was OK to stay, picked up a few staples, and called it a night. It was a long driving day at 443 miles.

Now, some people assume we’re “roughing it” in a situation like this. Au contraire. We carry our own water and fuel, and made sure our holding tanks were properly emptied before we left Alabama. I ran the on-board generator for a couple of hours each evening to power the microwave and water heater, and charge up the batteries. We put up the satellite and had as much DirecTV HD as we wanted each evening. A quick generator run in the morning to power the coffee maker was all we needed. All in all, it’s pretty cool to move your house along with you as you travel.

Mile Marker 440. Halfway across Texas!

Saturday, we were up early and on the road before 8:00 AM. Our goal was to finish the drive across Texas, and we were successful in completing the 520 mile trek. We stopped at another known boondocking spot, the Flying J truck stop in Anthony, Texas, I-10 Exit 0 right on the New Mexico state line. We splurged with a dinner at Denny’s, even though we should have known better.

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny, even if we didn’t. We again splurged on breakfast at Denny’s, which was better than dinner. We topped off the fuel tank and were on the road before 9:00 AM, and made the 414 miles across New Mexico and half of Arizona in just less than 7 hours. I’d arranged for our utilities to be turned on the 6^th, expecting to be home on Thursday, the 7^th, so we didn’t have water or Internet in the house. This wasn’t a huge deal, of course, since we had both in the coach.

We continued our tradition of heading to Grimaldi’s for pizza on our first and last nights in Arizona, and had another great New York-style pie and a bottle of Chianti. It was good to sleep in the “house bed”. On Monday, we were up early (having gained two hours with the travel from Central to Mountain time plus the end of Daylight Saving Time), and started the unloading process. Unloading always takes less time than getting ready to travel. At lunchtime, I went to the storage lot and paid for our usual 6-month stay. By mid-afternoon, we were done and moved the coach to storage.

Whew! We made it! It’s really good that we were able to get back to Arizona with the engine acting up. Trying to get it fixed on the road would have involved lots of compromises and probably a night or two in a dog-friendly hotel. This way, I can take it to places I know and have whatever work done at a more leisurely pace.

Some quick stats: we were on the road for 187 days, traveling about 7,315 miles. We bought 1,291 gallons of diesel for $4,865. We didn’t buy any propane this year. We spent $3,928 at RV parks and averaged $21.46 per night, although this is heavily weighted by the number of nights we “freeloaded”.

Anyway, we’ve completed another travel season, so our blog will turn more to life in the desert for a while and posts might be more sporadic (if that’s possible). Life continues to be good…

Just for fun, here's a picture from the yard when we got back. Where the seed for this corn came from, we'll never know!

As always, please feel free to click on any picture to enlarge it.

October 24-30: Finally getting to the Alabama Gulf

October 30, 2013

Gulf State Park, Gulf Shores, Alabama

We’ve been visiting Alabama for years. With family and friends in Albertville and Birmingham, we’re honorary Alabamans. But, we’ve never been to the Alabama Gulf Coast so we made plans to stop this year.

There isn’t a whole lot of coastline in LA (Lower Alabama), but there are quite a few RV Parks in the Gulf Shores-Orange Beach-Foley area to choose from. After some research, I selected Gulf State Park. Now, we don’t often stay in state parks because of our size and power requirements, but this place was super. Large sites, full utilities, excellent power; what more could you ask for?

We left Destin West right on schedule, at the leisurely time of 10:35 AM. This wasn’t actually late, since we only had 71 miles to drive! We stayed on US-98 to and through Pensacola, then FL-295/FL-292 along the coast to the Alabama line. From there, AL-182 brought us to Gulf State Park. After consulting with the office staff, we picked a nice spot and were soon parked.

We had a huge back-in site with a large paved patio. Taking advantage of the space (and realizing that we’d have had more afternoon shade if we’d have parked facing the other way), we even deployed our “EZ-up” canopy in addition to the outdoor kitchen gear.

The next few days are a bit of a blur. Our friends Linda and Wendell were down from Birmingham, visiting their friends Pat and Clarence who recently moved to Foley.

We headed to Foley Saturday and had a great day and evening. Pat and Clarence had their friends Mary and Jack over as well, so we had a crowd. Brunch and Bloody Marys, catching up, a round of Redneck Horseshoes (bean bag toss), a road trip and a fantastic dinner (with wine, of course) made for a full day! Merlin and Maya Lynn came along and had fun wandering around the house and yard, and making new friends.

Our “road trip” was a mini bar crawl in the afternoon (you have to wait until afternoon, right?) down along the beach. We started at “The Flora-Bama Lounge and Package”, sometimes called “Americas Last Great Roadhouse”. It’s built right on the Florida-Alabama state line. Duh. We opted for beer instead of the famous Bushwacker ice cream cocktails and enjoyed the “ambiance” for a spell. After a bit, we continued on to “Happy Harbor Tiki Bar & Pizzeria” for another round calling it a day.

From the Flora-Bama deck, you can look straight across the Gulf to Cancun. At least part way...

No need for anyone else to buy a lottery ticket after Wendell picked the "winner".

In honor of the regulars at The Rez Bar & Grill in CT...

You know you're in a dive bar when...

Sunday was beach day. We met up in Orange Beach, planted umbrellas, and hung out for a while, until everyone deemed it “done”. We then retired back to Pat and Clarence’s for another dinner. We brought some wine, Linda and Wendell really brought some wine, and another good day came to an end.

Now THAT'S a bottle of Merlot!

On Monday, we rested. While the rest of the crowd made another beach run, Geri and I relaxed with the pups and got ready for hosting the evening’s dinner. Linda and Wendell have been taking a sushi class, so they brought some excellent rolls. We cooked and ate outside, and enjoyed some wine and after-dinner drinks before wrapping up just at the 10:00 PM “quiet time” start. There's a rumor that a group photo exists but, well, let's just say nobody's 100% sure...

Tuesday, we recovered. That’s all I’m gonna say about that.

Wednesday, we did our standard pre-departure tasks a bit early, and then met Pat and Clarence at a local restaurant, Cosmo’s, known for meal-sized appetizers and happy hour prices. Their reputation is well deserved! We had shrimp, tuna and probably something else I don’t recall, along with a couple of glasses of wine. It was nice to “hang” with Pat and Clarence and this made for a good close to our visit to “LA”.

As always, please feel free to click on any picture to enlarge it.

October 17-23: Back in the Panhandle

October 23, 2013

Destin West RV Resort, Fort Walton Beach, Florida

After our great week in Cedar Key, this stop in Destin/Fort Walton Beach was quieter and less noteworthy. But, we had a good week nonetheless!

We’ve been to Destin, well west on the Florida Panhandle, before. Although we had a nice spot, the park we used had way too many rules and not so nice sites. So, my research identified another spot for us to try. Although it’s called “Destin West”, it’s way west, actually in Fort Walton Beach.

We had another easy driving day, this time with no Interstates involved. We headed back out FL-24 to the US-19 junction, then north to Perry where we picked up FL-20 heading west. We bypassed Tallahassee, had lunch at a roadside stop, and soon turned on US-331 back to the beach. A few miles through Destin on US-98 and we were at the Destin West RV Resort.

This is a nicely laid out, newer park. It’s on the bay side as opposed to the beach, and it was relatively quiet even though right on the “main drag”. I suspect that might not be the case during the summer season, but we were fine. Actually, the only noise we heard was from the “Halloween Fun House” next door.

We didn’t plan or attempt to do much, and all expectations were met nicely. We walked the pups around the park, watched the birds and fish by the dock, caught up on some e-reading and nap time, made a couple of shopping runs and ate well, and not much else. All in all, a relaxing week…

Tagliatelle with Sausage and Red Peppers...

...and Chicken Thighs with Yellow Rice made for nice meals!

This was the second place we saw cranes just hanging out.

And the sunsets just keep on coming!

As always, please feel free to click on any picture to enlarge it.

October 10-16: Livin’ the Low Key Lifestyle

October 16, 2013

Low Key Hideaway, Cedar Key, Florida

This week’s stop was probably the most interesting place we stayed this year. Similar to the Red Coconut last week, I found it via Internet searches. Essentially, I was looking for a place to “drop anchor” for a week somewhere between Fort Myers and Destin/Fort Walton Beach in the Florida Panhandle.

Looking at the map, I noticed a little peninsula with a town called Cedar Key that seemed right where we needed to be. In researching RV Parks, I found that a lot of people mentioned heading for the local Tiki Bar for sunsets. A little more looking and I found that the Tiki was at a place called the “Low Key Hideaway Motel, RV & Tiki”. Wait a minute. “RV”? Let’s check this out.

A little more poking around and a quick phone call, and we were booked into one of the 4 RV spots that sit adjacent to the 5-room motel. Yes, this is a small place in a small town. We ended up being glad we found it!

Our travel day was easy and uneventful. Because of our mastery of night-before preparations, we pulled the coach out of our tight little spot around 8:45 and were on the road before 9:00 AM. Our route retraced our steps back to I-75 where we headed north. This marked the beginning of our trek back to our winter place in Arizona.

After a fuel break at the smallest truck stop we’ve ever seen and a rest stop for the pups, and us, we stayed on I-75 through the Tampa area. Near Ocala, we broke off onto US-27/US-27A, and then turned left on FL-24, which took us right to Cedar Key. We were soon parked and ready to begin our low key adventure.

This is the view out the windshield

Although Cedar Key is located on the Gulf, the Low Key Hideaway is actually on a back bay or bayou facing west. The RV spots are positioned so you can get the best view out the windshield.

 

Maya says "I like it here"!

Once again, our week consisted of, well, not much. Funny how it went by so quickly, though! The owners of the place, Pat and Cindy, were full-time RVers for several years before buying the motel and “settling down”. It’s “eclectic” to the max, with much of the activity centering on evenings at the Tiki and sunsets. During the day, we were able to watch a pair of osprey build a nest on a platform out in the water.

"Hey! We've seen that sign at The Rez Bar & Grill, too!"

Sounds like a plan to me!

It only took a couple of days for a pair of osprey to start nesting on this platform.

During the week, we made a couple of trips into town, sampling local (OK, “Florida”) beer and getting Geri a seafood fix. It wasn’t far, or crowded. The local “entertainment district” is essentially built on an old pier, right on the water.

Decent, but not awesome...

Ditto...

Sunsets were the highlight of the evenings. We only had one night where there weren’t enough clouds to make for nice color. We took advantage of the deck right outside the coach, and spent part of most evenings over at the Tiki.

Doesn't get much better...

...unless it's this!

Mmmm!

It’s an obvious place for motel/RV guests to go, but also a hangout for quite a few locals. One of the “regulars” works at the local marina and has access to fresh seafood (a lot of commerce is done via the barter system locally), and when he heard how much Geri likes clams, he brought a bag of (over) 100 for steaming on the grill. Another night, he brought Spanish Mackerel (even I enjoyed that!) and Red Snapper for the bar to share. Awesome!

We’ll end with a couple of sunset views, taken from roughly the same place but with different tides…

As always, please feel free to click on any picture to enlarge it.