Back to the Beach - South Padre Island TX

Finally, warm weather and sun – feels like we've found the promised land!

After 4 days on the road through Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, we arrived on South Padre this past Tuesday, January 7.

We took the road trip slow and easy, not driving more than 250 miles most days. After leaving Amite LA, we overnighted in Beaumont TX and then Victoria TX. The day we arrived in Beaumont was an especially short day, as we called it quits and pulled into the park before 1PM. Since the day was chilly and overcast we thought we would use the time to do some laundry and catch up on a few chores, but no sooner were we settled in than a knock came on the door. It was one of neighbors, who informed us that “all the wacky people” were gathering at the clubhouse. Well, who are we to turn down an invitation like that? I don't know how we find each other, but it seems to work. We gathered up some beverages and hightailed it over where we spent the next few hours playing increasingly spirited games of WII bowling and exchanging tales of the road with fellow travelers. So the chores didn't get done, but we had a great time. And chores, schmores, right? There's always tomorrow to get stuff done. That's one of the great things about retirement.

So, South Padre – it is absolutely beautiful here. The town is small, with one main drag where all the shops and little bars and restaurants are, and it dead ends right at our RV park. We're at Isla Blanca Park, which is one of two rv parks run by the county. It is right on the Gulf of Mexico. Our kitchen window looks out on the bay and a short walk around the corner takes us right to the beach.

The park is well appointed, with large sites and a full schedule of activities. I've jumped into line dancing classes two mornings a week and a sort of jazzercize-salsa dancing mix exercise class the other mornings. There are also bike and walking paths everywhere, so getting out and burning up some calories is not a problem. It was overcast and rainy the first couple of days we were here, but this afternoon the sun came out in a glorious way – 73 degrees! But killer winds. 

 I finally got my toes in the water...

We hung out at the beach and spent some time watching the kite surfers.

Earlier in the week, we had watched a deep water drill platform being moved out to sea.

Since we're always on the prowl for little places that have live music, we found Padreritagrill the other night. We went there for dinner with friends Gary and Terry, who we had met back in Red Bay and met up with again here at Isla Blanca. There were some interesting characters around.

The owner of the place, J. Michael Lafferty, plays on the weekend and we're told that he is a trop-rocker – hey, another one of ours! We are planning to see him tonight and then check out a couple of other places that we've heard about. So more to follow on the musical front. In the meantime, it's nice to be settled for a couple of weeks.

We've met lots of full time rvers these last few months, and everyone seems to do it a little differently. We are slowly finding our own style and we find that we like to stay put for a while after a few days on the road. This allows us to really get to know a place and meet a lot of people, which is always a draw for us. South Padre is going to definitely keep us interested for the two weeks we plan to be here. It's a great winter destination and many of the people we've talked to are here for the whole winter. I kind of feel that we're trying destinations out this first winter – if we like it we'll come back, and I think we'll definitely come back here again.

Back on the Road - Amite, LA

I'll start with the good news: we finally finished up with all our business in Red Bay, AL and blew out of there at 0700 this morning. We drove about 350 miles today – more than we usually cover in a day, but we wanted to get far south enough to get out of the cold. It's sunny and pleasant here in Amite, LA, and feels warmer than the actual 60 that it is. We are enroute to South Padre Island, TX and this is our first overnight stop. But back to catching up:

We left the moho in Red Bay at the Tiffin Service facility on December 18, when we drove out to Conyers GA, just east of Atlanta to spend a couple of days with my brother and nephew. From there, we flew to Seattle and headed down to Olympia where our son and one daughter both live, to spend Christmas with the family. We had a lovely week, and as far as wonderful news goes, our daughter Bethany got engaged over the holiday and is planning an August wedding. We are delighted to welcome Matt and little Kylee to our family – gee Matt, I hope you know how brave you are to take us all on! It was a great week and we miss them all already.

We flew back to Atlanta and got back to Red Bay on the 30^th to find it was still really cold there. Everyone kept telling us that it never gets that cold (30s, even 20s overnight) but of course, we must have brought the weather with us. Most of the work on the moho was done but we still had to stay till the end of the week, since our cap rails needed to be replaced under a recall. This is a 2 day project and with the plant being closed for New Year's it put us having the work done on Thursday and Friday. Luckily, most of what we were having done was warranty work so that the big bill we were expecting never materialized. The even better part was all the great people we met, from all over the U.S and Canada. The customer lounge at the service center is an interesting place, where people gather with their dogs and cats while their rigs are being serviced, and there is never a dull moment. A shout out goes to our new friends Kris and Bill, who we hope to see again on the road, or maybe when we get back to Tampa. Then there was the couple traveling with 7 dogs – that's right, 7 dogs. And not little purse dogs - they had 4 whippets and 3 terriers. In a motorhome! Yikes. There is much to be learned from talking to other rvers, especially since we all have similar rigs. Many of the people we met have been rving for years and had much wisdom and information to share. We also caught up with old friends Paul and Mary, who at one time were our neighbors back at Pearl Lake. They have been full time rvers for several years and happened to be staying in Hunstville so we met up at a restaurant about halfway in between. But good parts aside, it was a long stay between the time before and after Christmas and we were really anxious to get out of the cold and head south.

On another interesting note, Red Bay is in a “dry” county. This phenomenon is apparently common throughout parts of Alabama and Mississippi. Not only can you not buy a bottle of wine or a 6 pack of beer anywhere, but no restaurant serves alcohol and there are no bars. We had dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant one night, but couldn't have a margarita. Another night we went to a steak and seafood place but couldn't have a glass of wine. Are you getting my drift here? We were told that the Baptist churches control everything down there and apparently they think Prohibition was a great idea. We would make the trip to a neighboring county every few days where we could pick up whatever we wanted, but that was at least 50 miles each way. Geez...didn't make our stay any more palatable.

In any case, I was able to put our coats away today and this is going to get better as we continue on toward South Padre. This brutal winter is affecting all parts of the country to some extent and we don't expect 80s down there, but the 10 day outlook is showing mid 60s, day and night. We are planning to arrive there on Tuesday so more on that to follow. Hope everyone had a happy new year!

Making the Best of Things and Finding Adventures - Red Bay, AL

When you find yourself having to make the best of things, finding adventures is definitely the way to go. First off, we are still at the Tiffin Motorhome facility in Red Bay waiting to have a recall issue and some other minor problems corrected. Tiffin has a "campground" that enables customers to continue living in their coaches as we wait for our service, but the campground is pretty basic. We have hook-ups but there are no amenities - no pool, no club room etc. Since they don't do appointments, there is generally a wait of a week or two when a customer arrives and we've been told we'll be up sometime next week (we've already been here a week). On the plus side, having service done here means returning to the mothership - they do nothing but build and service Tiffin motorhomes, unlike dealers who might work on every make and every type of RV. These are the experts and Tiffin's reputation is second to none. Since we aren't on a strict schedule, we're fortunate to be able to play the waiting game but not gonna kid you, it's been frustrating. The weather has been unseasonably cold here - no, not Chicago cold but we've been wearing coats, which we had hoped to never have to do again. On the other hand, I always said that winter would be tolerable if it only lasted a month and in this case it won't be quite that long (we hope!) before we can be on our way south again. And we're staying toasty in the moho.

Red Bay is in the northwest corner of Alabama and pretty much in the middle of nowhere. So about the finding adventures thing...we'd been taking drives to nearby towns to shop or just see the local sites and we really hit pay dirt a couple of days ago. We drove out to Muscle Shoals, about 40 miles from here to pick up a prescription at Walgreen's and on the way back we decided to seek out a place I had read about called Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve. Following the GPS took us off the main road and down a narrow gravel road that started getting progressively scarier. Just about the time we started imagining we heard banjo music and decided to look for an opportunity to turn back, we found the preserve "office" which was a simple house in a cleared area. We were greeting by Faye, a lovely lady and the owner of the privately owned preserve. She gave us a trail map - there are about 15 miles of hiking trails through the 700 plus acre property - and pointed out a few of the highlights that would be within the first mile or so. So we started out and soon came to the waterfall.

We spent some time there since you can walk over the rocks and get right behind the falls without getting too wet and of course, I can't resist a waterfall.

We hiked on further to an overlook marked on the map as "The Point" and it did not disappoint either. The place was absolutely spectacular and I'm afraid we barely scratched the surface since we had not come prepared for a long hike - no water or appropriate shoes. But we are definitely planning to return before we leave this area. Faye and her husband are amazing people. They own the entire property, they have built and maintained the trails and they share it with anyone who wants to hike through it at no charge. Not even a request for donations. Both are retired teachers and just very inspiring folks.

Next up was - ready for this one???

We had been hearing about the coon dog cemetery since we got here and of course we had to go check it out. It was about 5 miles down a dirt road and it was probably one of the most bizarre sights I've ever seen. Apparently, only coon dogs can be buried there and it dates back to 1937. We walked around and saw dog graves from 50 and 60 years ago, and others from this past year. Every single grave had flowers on it.

This place is pretty much pure Alabama and I'm really glad we experienced it. One of a kind, for sure.

Our plan from here is to stick around till next Wednesday, then close up the moho and leave it to be serviced while we're off on our Christmas travels. The drive to Atlanta (where my brother and nephew live) is about 4 hours and that's where we'll be heading. From there we'll fly to Seattle for Christmas, so we'll be gone a couple of weeks before getting back here. Hopefully, we'll be all ready to roll by that time. We're ready to head south and get out of the cold!

Taking care of business - Red Bay, AL

Ok, time to update the last couple of weeks since I sloughed off through the holiday weekend last week. We were delighted to welcome Kristin and Billy as our first guests over the Thanksgiving holiday at Tropical Palms RV Resort in Orlando FL. Bill and I arrived on Wednesday morning, after just a short jaunt of less than 2 hours from Tampa and had plenty of time to get set up before leaving for the airport. We did find a very small hitchhiker had made the trip from Tampa with us - I found a tiny lizard (about an inch long) in our sink. I'm pretty sure it rode along with Frosty the shrub since the kitchen sink is where Frosty sits while we're underway. I admit I screamed when I found it - I know, one inch - but it was just unexpected. Bill got it safely outside with a piece of paper. Good thing it didn't go down the drain, which it would have if we had turned on the water without noticing it. So hopefully Lizzie the Lizard is now making new friends in her relocated digs in Orlando.

So Billy and Kristin arrived on Wednesday afternoon. After snacks and drinks at the moho we went to Margaritaville for dinner and found John Frinzi playing. It was great seeing John again, although a cold front had come through and that Florida boy was bundled up to a comical degree on that stage.



The weather got better the next day and for the rest of the weekend, and while it wasn't float-in-water warm, the sun kept shining and all we needed were light hoodies in the morning and evening.

On Thursday we got an early start and spent the day at Universal. We made a beeline for the Harry Potter experience and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. It is set up as several streets exactly like the books/movies.


There are magic wand shops, owls, little stands where butterbeer is sold and of course...Hogwarts in all its glory. Absolutely amazing. Which brings us to the Harry Potter Experience ride...hoo boy. Now, I'm not a roller coaster fan, or a fan of any kind of ride much wilder than a merry-go-round. Kristin wisely opted out of this one but I really wanted to go for the whole experience so I dutifully waited in line with the boys and got the whole experience. I will say that once it was over and I stopped shaking, I was glad that I had done it. But would I do it again, knowing what it's like? That would be a hell no! It's actually an incredible ride - it puts the rider in a game of Quidditch, flying through the air, spinning, dipping, rising and dropping, going incredibly fast...sensory overload in a way that I've never experienced before. I barely survived it. Of course, both guys loved it. So anyone thinking about it, be forewarned. But if you like really wild rides you won't be disappointed.

After recovering from that we spent the rest of the day pretty much doing everything Universal offers, which is a lot. Kristin and I stayed off the rest of the wild rides but the guys did them all. We finished the day with a not-so-traditional "Friendsgiving" dinner at Bob Marley's restaurant which was fabulous.

Friday was Epcot, which everyone knows is Kristin's happy place. She was twirling around with joy from the minute we got there and she was a great tour guide. We made the round of all the countries and a few of the rides and stayed till the night was over to see the fireworks show, which was the best I've ever seen. After a great dinner in Morocco with a belly dancer as entertainment, it was time to leave...really, Kristin!

Saturday was a chill-out day. We learned that a musician known as Captain Josh would be playing at the poolside patio at our RV park so we decided to head over there in the afternoon. Turns out Captain Josh is from Key West, has played at Meeting of the Minds and will be at Music on the Bay in February so we quickly realized that he was one of ours. Although we'd never seen him before, we all became new fans. He did a great show, with some trop-rock but all kinds of music and he threw out music trivia questions throughout the afternoon. A couple of times he offered up CDs as prizes and yep, we came home with two of them, thanks to Bill the Trivia Master! It was a great day.

Sunday, sadly the Bears lost and Billy and Kristin had to leave. It was a great weekend and we were all sad to see it end. Until next time!

We left Orlando on Tuesday morning, for the two day drive to Red Bay AL. The Tiffin plant is located in Red Bay, Tiffin being the maker of our motorhome. Red Bay is sort of the Mecca of all Tiffin owners - eventually we all make a pilgrimage here. Tiffin as a company has an excellent reputation, and back when we decided to look for a motorhome, Tiffin was our choice. Since RVs are much like boats - things go wrong with them - we had acquired a laundry list of issues to be addressed and Red Bay is the best place to get them all taken care of. Since we bought our moho gently used, we also want to have them check to see that all recalls and maintenance issues had been taken care of.

We arrived yesterday and are at Camp Red Bay. It's a pretty basic, no frills campground but we do have full hook-ups. The downside is that the service is first-come, first-served with no appointments. So upon arriving, we checked in and then met with a tech to go over all the things we wanted done and/or checked. We will probably be here at least 2 weeks before everything gets done. The bigger downside is that the weather is about to turn foul here - we will be seeing 40s and possibly even overnight 30s in the next few days. And this is one time that we can't make good on our plan to head south whenever we have to put socks on, so bummer. Hopefully next week will be better. In any case, we're stuck here for a while so we'll just have to find something fun to do in the area while we're waiting. In any case, we'll be flying to Seattle to spend Christmas with the family and then Atlanta to visit my brother and nephew so if we end up having to leave the moho here for a while it's a good time to do that.

We are looking forward to January, when we'll be able to head back to someplace warm!

Getting ready...last days in Tampa

Looking back at the last month, we have certainly enjoyed our stay in Tampa and look forward to coming back in February, but now it's almost time to move on.  

We made many new friends from the Tampa PH club, attending one of their "flockings" as well as a backyard concert. We had a great time last Saturday at Tropical Point in Weeki Wachee (which has to be the best place name I've ever heard!) where Brian Neale  played. The "when in Rome" lesson learned - I never did a conga line to Finz before, but that's how they do it 'round here - and it was fun and different. We met lots of great people there, many of them BVI devotees so we felt right at home. The following day Brian played at the American Legion in Dunedin, and we were invited to that as well. It was nice to walk in and see lots of familiar faces from the night before. We are looking forward to seeing all of them again in February at Music on the Bay.

This last week we kind of kicked back and mostly just relaxed here at the park. As I mentioned, we acquired bicycles and did a couple of long rides including almost 20 miles riding from Clearwater to Tarpon Springs with a group from the park. This is a weekly event that they organize every Friday to a different destination and it was a great time although I admit my tushy was screaming the last couple of miles! The bike trail system in the Tampa area is amazing and we were happy to be able to participate. We've gotten to know several of our neighbors here who are from all over the country. We participated in a couple of traditional retirement activities - we played in a shuffleboard tournament and then attended a bingo night. The verdict - shuffleboard was a lot of fun, bingo was a bit boring for my taste - it would have better with some good tunes playing, but then I probably would not have been able to sit and watch my card. Well, you gotta try everything once, right? 

The weather had been perfect up until a cool front that came in yesterday. I've spent hours at the pool most days, especially after finding a group of like-minded girls to float and chat with. Regardless of what each of us are doing in the morning we all meet up at the pool most afternoons. It has gotten cooler in the last day or so and while we expect 80s again by tomorrow it should be short lived as another cool front is on its way later in the week. I'm assured this happens off and on and it won't last long. 

Today and tomorrow we are gearing up to head to Orlando - a short jaunt of less than two hours on the road. We're heading to Tropical Palms RV Resort and looking so forward to having our good friends Kristin and Billy fly down to join us for a few days. Our holiday plans include the Harry Potter experience at Universal, a day at Epcot and Thanksgiving dinner here at the moho - a little tight but we will happily manage. We are missing everyone back home and it will be great to have them with us for while. 

For all those that won't be with us, a very happy Thanksgiving to all!

Keeping time in Tampa - Tampa, FL

Well, we're still here in Tampa and will be until just before Thanksgiving. We've settled in and met a lot of people, both in the park and outside. We were welcomed as guests at the Tampa PH club meeting a couple of weeks ago and in the course of talking to folks there were invited to a house concert next week. I confess that I don't remember who is playing since it was someone I'm not not familiar with but who cares? It'll be fun anyway. Tonight we have another backyard concert and this one will feature Brian Neale, our friend from Toronto who we know from his gigs down in Cane Garden Bay, Tortola. Brian plays at Myett's every February so we know him well and are big fans. We're looking forward to seeing Brian again and meeting a lot of fun folks.

We've been back to St Pete Beach a couple more times. One day last week we popped over there intending to have a quick drink at Jimmy B's Beach Bar, but then we met Paul and Deanna from Detroit and we ended up sharing laughs and hanging out for the next few hours.

I love meeting new people everywhere we go - you just have to bring your own party and you always have fun. We had another great day last Monday when we decided to go out in a speed boat (http://tampaspeedboatadventures.com/) that you can drive yourself.

There is a guide in another boat and the tour is narrated and directed via a speaker on the boat's console so you aren't left to your own devices. I would highly recommend this for anyone wanting to go out on the water here in Tampa. We had a blast.

We've also been to a couple of beaches in Clearwater, which is just about 20 minutes away. The beaches are beautiful there also, but I have to say St Pete is my favorite so far, just because of the great vibe and the funky beach bars as well as the white sand and palm trees.

As to the day to day here at Bay Bayou, we've settled into a comfortable routine. We walk most mornings and I like to hit the pool and swim laps in the afternoon - for anyone keeping score, 20 yesterday! I can hear the real swimmers out there laughing at me...haha, but I'm making slow and steady progress. The park has a lot of activities going on and we've jumped into a few of them. We have barbecues by the pool on Wednesdays, there was a welcome party with live music last Friday night and I'm doing a girls line dancing class on Wednesday nights. I also acquired a bike and Bill is getting one on Monday so bike riding is another thing we can start doing. We are enjoying this extended stay, although we do look forward to hitting the road again in a couple of weeks and especially to having good friends join us for a few days over Thanksgiving.

I will close out with a birthday shout out today to our Bethany - happy birthday baby, and see you next month!

Sweet home - Tampa?

Yes, we're back at Bay Bayou in Tampa after our little sojourn in Key West. I can't believe how right it felt to get back "home" after a week away. Which got me thinking about the whole concept of home.

Before we set out, one of my concerns was whether I would miss that feeling of "damn, it's good to be home" while we're on the road. It's the feeling you get upon returning home after a long trip, or even a long day/night out. No matter how great a time you had on vacation, or at whatever event you've been to, there is still something so comforting about getting back home to your own familiar place, especially when you're really tired and in need of some down time. Well, we left our home behind here at Bay Bayou last week while we scooted off to Key West for a week. Of course we had a great time in Key West as we always do. In fact, this year it was especially great being back with all our hometown friends that we miss, even though it's only been a few weeks since we left Chicago. But after 6 days - and anyone who's been to Meeting of the Minds knows that means 6 days of non-stop - I was ready to get home. It was about a 7 hour drive from KW back to Tampa (we make a lot of stops) and when we finally pulled up, yes, there it was - that "so good to be home" feeling. So the answer is that the scenery changes, but we're always home in our little place.

We got back on Sunday evening. Monday was unpacking, laundry and vegging. Yesterday we did some beach time at Indian Rocks Beach near Clearwater - and I have to insert my mandatory beach pic here:

Later, we drove south to St. Pete's Beach. We had drinks at Rumrunners and learned that Lightning Jack (from Trop Rock Junkies) is playing there on Saturday, so we'll probably go back. St. Pete's is our kind of beach - white sand, palm trees and a few funky little beach bars scattered alongside. I have to thank Kristin for the heads up about this great place.

We spent some time at the pool today - I'm up to 12 laps, thank you kindly for the applause. Hey, I'm working on my endurance. Tonight we're going up to Whisky Joe's for a gathering with the Tampa PHC. We met some of them in KW, including Patty from the south side of Chicago (!) who actually went to Fenger High School, as Bill did. It was awesome to talk to someone who remembered the same old neighborhood haunts that we did. So we're looking forward to meeting up again tonight.