Friday, September 25, 2015 – Rainbow Plantation RV Park
Today is my sister Jody’s birthday. She is the baby of the family and just shy of
being 6 years younger than me. I am very
blessed to have three sisters, Cindy, Crystal and Jody (Carla Jo). We all live in Oswego and we get together
every Sunday afternoon from 1-3 except on the 5th Sundays of the month. I host the 1st Sunday as the oldest and we
work down to Jody hosting on the 4th. It
really didn’t start out with the intent of just us getting together. It really centered around going to visit my paternal
grandpa and then my dad on Sunday afternoons each week. We did that for many years. When Daddy died in 2008 we decided we should
continue to do it, knowing Daddy and our mom, who we lost in 1993 would approve
of us staying close and spending time together.
Of course sometimes one of us is gone and can’t make it due to family
birthdays, other family commitments or travels (like me). I’ve really missed my time with them and look
forward to getting together with them when we return home. By the way, whoever is the host for the week also provides a
dessert. One of the best parts. Haha!
This morning is Dean's regular day to eat
breakfast out so we decided to try a place recommended to us by our neighbor Pauline here at
Rainbow Plantation. It is the The Biscuit King, a local place just a short distance from the park. It was in a large, square metal
building. There is a sign just inside of
the door, directing you to the counter to order before selecting your
seat. We picked up a menu and soon made
a decision. Dean ordered his normal
breakfast of eggs, sausage patties, hash browns but today he decided on a
biscuit instead of the normal wheat toast.
I had a ham and cheese omelet, hash browns and a biscuit. The breakfast was delicious, although the
biscuit was a bit dry for me and I only ate half of mine. Dean ate half of my omelet because it was
just too much food for me, but we would definitely recommend this place. He thought the biscuit was pretty good, so it
was a matter of opinion, I guess.
The inside was interesting. There were 3-4 different saddles hanging
around the inside with several pictures painted on the walls. There was a kid’s play area and a small stage
where it was apparent they held music events.
There were both round and rectangular plastic tables covered with
colored vinyl making them quite easy to clean-up. It was just a really neat looking place but
very basic. After breakfast we headed
back to the campground.
When we arrived Thursday we inquired at the office about
RV repair companies and for recommendations.
Bill advised there was a guy in the park we might try and if he could
not take care of our needs he mentioned a couple of companies nearby. Dean called the gentleman (Pat) that lives
here in the park. He agreed to stop by
this afternoon to see what work we needed and if he thought he could make the
repairs. You might remember a roller
fell out of the slide where the “kitchen area” is located. The roller missing should be under the refrigerator,
the heaviest part of the slide. While
the slide is working okay, it is dragging on the floor and has slightly marred
my flooring. We have been putting a
metal plate down and then Dean has to push the slide upwards as I put it out to
keep it from doing further damage. The
other issue we have is with our water pump.
If we are not hooked to a water connection while at a campground, we must fill our
water tank and then use the pump to provide water for cooking, bathing, etc. The pump started running intermittently when
no water was being used, and now runs quite a lot when the pump is on, so it is not holding pressure. We cannot find any leak, but to be on the
safe side we have stayed in parks with water hookups since this problem
started, until we can have it checked out further.
This morning I took the opportunity to clean Bentley –
running the vacuum, dusting, cleaning the shower, etc. We didn’t want to leave in case the repairman Pat stopped by to
take a look at the problems with Bentley.
It was a beautiful day and once I was done with my work on the inside we set outdoors. Our neighbor Pauline walked by with each of
her dogs and we visited some.
Pat stopped by after lunch and took a look at our RV
issues. He said he could jack up the
slide enough to get the roller back in and indicated we would need to have the
pump replaced, as they no longer even try to repair them. He returned a little before 3:00. He and Dean were able to get the roller back
in. The bracket on one end that held the
roller in place was bent. They were able
to get it bent back and Dean believes it works better than it ever has. What a relief! There is still some work that might need to
be done with the rubber that was damaged by the roller messing up and we will
wait and address that with our dealer when we return home as well as the
pump. We can do without the pump for the
remainder of our trip.
We stayed around Bentley this evening. Dean grilled some pork chops and potatoes and
onions and I steamed some broccoli and cauliflower for our dinner. It was very, very good. We watched some TV and called it a night.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
I recalled something I’m not sure I ever shared in
previous posts but it has to do with teeny, tiny little pests called ants. We were talking to Patsy, the park host at the
Old Salem campground one late afternoon when we were getting ready to head out
to see Greensboro, GA and to check out the local Goodwill store. I remarked how much we loved the campground
and how peaceful it was. She said yes
the only downfall is the ants and how you have to be careful about not getting
them in the RV. I made the remark we’ve
not had any problems with them and I sure hope we don’t. Mistake….because when we returned, we had
ants. In the bedroom, the bathroom, at
the front door outside all around the kitchen, behind our loveseat. Everywhere we looked there were ants. I mixed up a concoction I found on Pinterest
of baking soda, powdered sugar and water.
I cut the bottom off a few plastic water bottles and placed some of this
mixture in each one and set them around several locations in Bentley. We went to Lowe’s and bought a spray and some
comet. Patsy told us that comet was what
they used on the ground and on anything they had that touched the ground to
prevent them from getting in their RV. I
used the spray numerous times over the next several days and we finally
eliminated the ants. I had to do a good
vacuuming and cleaning of the pantry and cabinets. By the way the concoction mix I found on
Pinterest was a dud! We are now ant free
and have been for several days. The
spray worked wonders to eliminate them and we now spray the tires and anything
that touches the ground to be sure we do not have that problem again. It gives me the willies just thinking about
them. I felt like they were crawling on
me for days. Finally, we haven’t seen
any since we’ve been here.
So today we set outside for a while, kept busy around
Bentley and went to the grocery store for lunchmeat, veggies and such. We have decided to try out a local restaurant
for dinner tonight, Big Daddy’s Grill.
It’s just a short distance from the park and Pauline told us it was very
good.
Before we ate, I wanted to head to the beach as I had
something I wanted to be sure to do before we left the area. My high school friend Carolyn, who also lives
in Oswego started collecting pictures from different family members and friends
who would write her name in the sand on beaches and send them to her. I wanted to include one from Gulf Shores, AL. We had not yet been on the beach and wanted to
do that anyway. How can you go to a city
with a beach on the ocean or Gulf and not walk the beach? I always forget how tiring it is to walk in
dry sand. It seems like you take 4 or 5
steps but feel like you only move forward one.
It surely is great exercise for your legs.
Unfortunately we arrived as the tide was
coming in and the way the beach is, there wasn’t a lot of room to write in
before the water would come in and erase part of what I had written. I wrote her name with Gulf Shores below
it. I had to redo her name twice before
Dean could get the picture taken. But we
got it done.
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| A shot of the beach as we walked from the parking lot. |
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| Carolyn - Gulf Shores, AL |
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| I love watching the waves come in on a beach! |
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| This is looking back towards the main street. |
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| Looking east toward Orange Beach, AL in the distance. |
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| Sand Dunes in State Park |
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| Beautiful multi-storied resort on beach. |
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| Orange Beach water tower. |
We took an alternate route home that bypassed all of the traffic and went directly to Big Daddy’s Grill for dinner.
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| A shot of the international waterway as we drove by. |
It was in a very nice setting along the water. They provided both indoor and outdoor seating areas. We chose to set outside. The weather was perfect. It had a very nice vibe to it with overhead lighting strung along the trellis and great old 70’s and 80’s music playing. There was a nice sand playground for the kids to play in while waiting for their food, or to keep them busy while parents and or grandparents finished their dinners. We arrived shortly before the sun started to sink so it had great ambiance. Our food was delicious. We both chose the fried shrimp basket. The meal came with coleslaw and hushpuppies and one side of your choice. I chose sweet potato fries and Dean had onion rings. The coleslaw was not as good as we had in Andalusia but it was still quite good. It was a very nice and relaxing dinner.
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| My dinner of fried shrimp, hushpuppies, coleslaw and sweet potato fries. Yummy! |
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| You can see the sand play area just below the sitting area on the deck. |
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Originally we had planned to leave here tomorrow (Monday),
however the weather was calling for significant rain starting later today, with
heavy rains for Monday and Tuesday.
After we had breakfast, and took care of our morning chores we decided
to take a look at our planned route and see how it would impact our travels if
we stayed here until Wednesday. We have
decided to head northwest from Summerdale to Jackson, MS rather than to head
west along the coast in order to shave a couple travel days off. We would have to cut some of our stops short
and would prevent us from really seeing the area so we would rather wait until
we can return to explore properly. (I
love that about traveling in the RV – it’s not like a week’s vacation that you
have little to no leeway with a change of plans). We will then go on to a small
community east of Shreveport and from there to Bullard, TX for the Heartland
rally. This works out really well for us
and we think it’s a good revised plan. I
called the park office to see if we could stay an extra two days and they said
it would not be a problem. We also had
previously decided we wanted to arrive at Bullard a couple of days early so I
also contacted that park to see if that would work and it will. We will only be about 120 miles from Waco,
Texas while at Bullard. I absolutely
love the show Fixer Upper with Chip and Joanna Gaines. Their business is based in Waco and I would
love to visit their store Magnolia, so the day after we arrive we are going to
drive to Waco and do just that. Unfortunately
their new store is not opening until the end of October so we won’t be able to
visit there but hopefully we can take a drive by and see the site at least.
We made another run to the grocery store for a few
things, and after we returned I fixed a simple lunch.
Dean had a little accident with his phone a few weeks ago
and cracked it pretty good. It works but he’s had some problems with it that we
suspect are related to the cracking. We
decided to visit the local Verizon store that was a few miles down the
road. He still had a Samsung 3 so it was
a good upgrade for him from a 3 to a 6.
I’m jealous because of the phone capabilities, specifically the camera,
but mine is working. Yesterday Dean
spent some time with my phone and backed everything up and then reset mine to
the default and reloaded everything. At
the same time he installed a larger SD card to give me more storage and it is
working better, however, I am disappointed to find out it will not allow me to
transfer most of my applications to the SD card. Therefore, I am still pretty short on
storage. I can see a new phone in my
future but will try to hold out for a while.
When we returned we were both playing with our phones
most of the afternoon, trying to get our apps back on, etc. We were worse than two teenagers!
Not too much later the rain started, and it rained all
night long. I made breakfast burritos
for dinner and we watched Forrest Gump, one of my favorite Tom Hanks
movies.
Monday, September 28, 2015
I was up about 6 this morning and it was still raining
but it quit an hour or so later. It is
still overcast and it is expected to rain again later today. According to the local news, Mobile, AL had
over 10 inches last night. That’s not
too far away. After breakfast, we walked
up to the office to pay for the two additional days we are staying. We chatted with a nice couple who are also
park hosts here. They originally lived
in Maine but have been full-timing for 16 years. They used to travel to Branson annually where
they workkamped at another Escapees park there, so we had a nice chat about
Branson.
After leaving there we walked over to the clubhouse to
check it out, including the laundry facilities.
I am not sure if I will try and do some laundry here before we leave or
just wait and find a laundromat in the next town and do it all there. There are 4 washers and 5 dryers here.
It’s about 2:00 as I write this and it has never started raining again as they
predicted. Dean is out washing Bentley
off. While we were at the office paying
for the extra nights he also asked about washing of RV’s. They said yes, we could wash our RV, our vehicles,
etc. as long as we didn’t just leave the water running while scrubbing,
etc. Bentley had so much road grime and
bugs on him it will be nice to see him looking a little nicer.
We pretty much hung out here at Bentley today. It never did rain. Tonight Dean and I actually watched TV in
separate rooms. That really doesn’t
happen often but I am a dyed in the wool Dancing with the Stars fan and even
though he enjoys watching it too, he wasn’t going to pass up Monday night
football with his Chiefs playing. Our
neighbor here, Pauline is a big Green Bay Packers fan. She has been wearing Packers shirts and has a
big old Packers flag in their front yard.
Hmmm!
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
After breakfast this morning, we decided we would visit a
couple of flea markets down the road.
One is quite large and looks like it might be interesting. As we drove in – there was an open sign at
the far left end but the sign on the door near where we parked said they are
closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. We
then realized there was another business on the left end. Oh well, such is life.
We drove on down the road and saw another place so we
pulled in. As we walked in the door I
noticed they had a couple of shelves of Rada knives. I happened to notice they were also marked down
20%. We walked through the entire place
and I came back to the knives. I have
wanted to buy another paring and slicer knife to put in Bentley as I just have
a cheap one. I have 3 Rada knives at
home, 1 paring and 2 slicers. I bought
these from the Oswego Grange Club shortly after I started working for the City
in 1974 and I am still using them. They
are the sharpest knives I own. I kept
going back to this really nice set that also included a chef’s knife, bread
knife, paring knife, vegetable parer, slicing knife and a carver that was
$58. With the 20% off, plus tax I was
able to get it all for $50. (Note: I used the chef’s knife last night, Wed, and
I love it. Man is it sharp!)
We came back for a little lunch and I suggested we see a
movie. We both thought the Intern looked
pretty good in the reviews we have seen, so we got around and headed out to see
it. Since this will be our last night in
the area, we also thought we would have dinner out. A gentleman we talked to at Camping World the
first day we arrived told us about Lulu’s, Jimmy Buffet’s sister’s
restaurant. He told us it was really
good and a fun place so we decided to try it out.
The Intern was a really good show. It had a good plot and Robert DeNiro is just
such a great actor. He still has it,
that’s for sure! We laughed a lot and to
me those are the best kind. We agreed
afterwards this was one of those shows you could watch over and over and always
look forward to seeing it again.
We arrived at Lulu’s a little before 5:00. Our first thought was it was a bit early, but
we are so glad we decided to go at that time.
That place filled up so fast I was shocked. They had live music and he was pretty
good. Their food was excellent. I had smoked pork tacos with chips and
salsa. Dean had grilled shrimp and
fries. It had a great vibe. The overhead garage doors on two sides were
open to a large patio area. Around the
patio was a large bandstand, sand area where kids could play with playground
equipment and many seating areas in different spots around outdoor setting. It was right next to a marina and the
international waterway so you could watch the boats and barges come and
go.
Tomorrow we will get around and head out for our next
stop in Brandon, MS, just outside of Jackson, MS.
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