Winter Excursion 2, Day 94

Another lazy morning. I ran in to post and washed the truck. Came back to camp, picked up Cath, and headed to Ronnie and Carol's. The four of us went to lunch in Dothan. It was tough to say goodbye, but we will see them as they are coming up to Birmingham.
Did a few errands on post and then headed to the camper.
We got all packed up and ready to move tomorrow. We are off to Oak Mountain State Park near Birmingham and the best part is we see Jacob tomorrow.😍
I'll do pics tomorrow of our new digs.
A little TV and off to bed.

Winter Excursion 2, Day 93

Today I had an appointment to get my new military ID card. As I'm getting ready to turn 65 (sucks!) our Medical insurance changes from TRICARE (military) to MEDICARE with TRICARE backup. So I showed up for my appointment, waited 1.5 hours, and finally got to see an "ID card specialist". After a brief (30 sec) interview during which I had to produce two picture IDs, I was told I also needed my Medicare Card. Well the Medicare card was mailed to me on 18 Nov 17, we left the house on 1 Nov 17. Bottom line is without my Medicare Card (which is a piece of paper) I could not get a new Military ID! I even had a pic of the card that my neighbor had sent me. So my wonderful neighbor will send me the card and I'll have to get a new appointment while we are in Birmingham. Gotta say I love the bureaucracy (not).
OK...sorry about the rant.
It has actually been a nice day. Our friends came over for a Schnitzel dinner at the camper. We had a great time and probably had a few to many beers along with the campfire.
State of the Union address and then off to bed.

Winter Excursion 2, Day 92

Lazy day. No pics (sorry).
Did some shopping and errands.
Went over to Ronnie & Carol's for dinner. As usual she made some super Mexican food.
Back at camp we watched some TV and hit the sack.
Everyday cannot be an adventure and exciting...LOL😵

Winter Excursion 2, Day 91

Up early and headed to Lowe's. Got the stuff I need to fix Kaylee's monkey business. Got to Ronnie and Carol's and started my project. Ronnie had all the tools we needed ready to go. Here's the finished product, I just need to paint the white trim tomorrow.
This pic looks a little better than the one I posted yesterday.

We had a nice steak dinner with all the trimmings. Brandi and her kids were there also. It was good to see them.
The four of us did a lot of yakking after dinner, catching up on old times and new.
Cath and I were back at camp by 2030. I'll sleep good tonight as I won't have to dream about repairing drywall!

Winter Excursion 2, Day 90

Right behind our campsite is a nesting pair of Bald Eagles. We see them flying around (looking for fish) and we can hear the chicks screeching for food. They keep Mom and Dad busy. You can see the nest high up in the pine in about the middle of the pic.

Hung out at camp until about 1500. Then headed over to Ronnie and Carol's and went to a local pizza joint for dinner.

We left Kaylee at their house in her bed locked in the hallway. We guess Kaylee did not like this as this is what we found when we got back to the house! She tore up the drywall pretty good! She also wore the pads off of her front paws and there was blood spots all over the place. I'm sure she will be sore in the morning.

I didn't plan on doing drywall work while on this trip, but I'll be hitting Lowe's in the morning and then get to work on the repairs. The joys of dog ownership never stop!
All else in the Boss Tiny House is fine.

Winter Excursion 2, Day 89

Had a lazy morning around camp. Here's a couple of pics of Lake Tholocco from the beach at the campground. This is about 100 yds from our camper.
View looking north.

View looking south.

Cath had a hair appointment at 1300. Kaylee and I went to a dog park, but she was having nothing to do with that. We ended up driving around Enterprise. I found some firewood at a flea market for a good price and loaded up the truck. We have enough for the rest of our time here.
Sous vide steak and potato salad for dinner, a movie, then off to bed.

Winter Excursion 2, Day 88

We took a nice day trip through the Alabama countryside. We ended up south of Andalusia near the Florida border at Conecuh National Forest. We drove through some really rural areas.

Open Pond Recreation Area is in the National Forest. It is a wonderful campground with many sites on a small lake. We will probably stay there next year. It is a good starting point to explore the Gulf Coast.

Back at camp I had to take this pic to tease all our Northern friends, notice the dandelions. It was in the mid 60's today and sunny.

We finally found some firewood at a local grocery store. Notice the black color. This wood has been burned in a kiln. I'm guessing it is to destroy any bugs, as the wood is from Florida. It's actually hard to find firewood around here for sale.

Here's Cath & Kaylee getting ready for sunset.

Nice pork tenderloin recipe for dinner that Cath found. A little TV then off to bed.

Winter Excursion 2, Day 87

Got up really early due to the time change. My internal clock said "get up"! Left camp and got the truck washed and gassed up. 

We had a quick breakfast and then were off to Dothan, AL to hit Camping World. Of course they did not have any of the items we wanted, so we headed back to Ft Rucker and hit the commissary. I'll order the few things we needed from Camping World from Amazon and pick them up in Birmingham, AL next week.

Here's a couple of pics from our new campsite.

Played some cribbage this afternoon and puttered around camp.
In the evening we went over to Ronnie's and went out for Mexican food.
Back at camp by 2130, then off to bed.

Winter Excursion 2, Day 86

Travel Day.
We left Edisto and South Carolina at 0800. Drove Interstate for the first 180 miles (yea I know...against the rules). Then got on the back roads of Georgia and Alabama for the rest of the trip. Total 425 miles today, that was enough for me.
Got to Ft Rucker at 1530 after crossing a time zone. Was all set up and ready to go in an hour. The campground is not crowded and we have our same site from last year. Will get some pics tomorrow.
All is well in the Boss Camp, early to bed for me.

Winter Excursion 2, Day 85

We took the longest to pack up the camper and campsite that we've ever have, we took all day....LOL.
This is my favorite pic from yesterday. Kennedy and Granddad Eskimo kissing.

Cath could not find her "pack-up checklist" that normally hangs on our bulletin board. Seems the Kiddos may have hide it. I looked and I think we will have to uninstall the couch to retrieve it, it is way underneath, a snake may be able to get it, but I'm not a snake! 

We went out for an early dinner, could not pass up the shrimp baskets from McConky's.

Here is our last fire this year in South Carolina, sad to see it, but we will be back. 

Off to bed early, we have a long drive tomorrow to Ft Rucker.

Winter Excursion 2, Day 84

We were up early. Quick breakfast, then off to top off the propane.
Nicole and Kiddos arrived around 1030.
Cath & I had a bet for the first thing they would ask for. I won as Cath said Hot Chocolate and I said Skittles. Here they are with Skittles and Pistachios.

Here's Mama watching Granddad and Grandma spoiling her Kiddos, but that's what we are for. We would have NEVER (as Wes would say) let our kids do all this...LOL😈

We had a quick lunch of chili cheese dogs and all the trimmings, then hit the beach.

It was another walk to Conch City and back (2 miles).
Here's Wes on the way back....guess what he's doing. He acts like his Dad!

Back at camp Kennedy wanted to snuggle a little with Grand-pappy. Grand-pappy said OK!

And here's one last pic with the Kiddos before we leave this area. Kaylee had to get into the action also.

We have had a wonderful 2 months with the Kids and Kiddos. Grandparents could not ask for more. We will miss them all starting tomorrow, but will get them back at the Family Reunion in July.
IT'S BEEN FUN!😥

Winter Excursion 2, Day 83

Lazy Morning. We did a little shopping to get ready for the Kiddos (they will be here tomorrow), can't wait!
Back at camp we had some "She Stew" for lunch,
I headed to the fishing spot about a mile north on the beach. It's a little farther than Conch City.
Here's a few pics from the fishing spot, but no fish! Even the locals were not catching anything. But it was a great afternoon, sunny, warm, and quiet!

A pic of the house just outside the park.

Another view.

And yet one more!

This is what the locals use to come to the fishing spot, I had to walk!

While fishing I meet a guy who lives not 1/4 mile from us at home in Lowville. We had a fun conversation with him about home, He has lived there all his life. He and his wife will stop by the campground tomorrow to exchange emails and numbers.

While fishing my phone rang. I thought it was Kevin from our last campground but it turned out It was Mike Kirk (on Kevin's phone; good trick guys😎), he had hooked up with Mike from back home. So we got got caught up a little with Mike and Reggie. The coincidences we run into while camping are sometimes scary, but fun.

All in all it was a fun day, but we are really looking forward to the Kiddos tomorrow, this will be the last time we see them until the Family Reunion in July.

Tacos for dinner, a movie, and then, I'm sure off to bed. Two miles walking on the beach with no fish is enough!  

Winter Excursion 2, Day 82

Another beautiful day. Temps are going to hit the high 50's.
Cath and I took a walk on the beach all the way to Conch City. Kaylee had fun. On the way back we noticed this smoke to the west of us. We think it was loggers burning slash, but it sure was big.

Did a few errands and picked up some local shrimp at our favorite local seafood market. Cath made a yummy Lemon-garlic dish which I cooked on the egg.

The shrimp we have been getting here is some of the best we've ever eaten!

Dinner and then a movie. This camping life gets harder everyday...LOL.😍

Winter Excursion 2, Day 81

Off to the Kids and Kiddos this morning. We are going to do laundry and even though temps are in the 30s, I'm going to wash the truck. The truck is full of sand from camping at Edisto.
Had a nice lunch with Nicole and Wesley.

Played with Wes and got the truck back to it's normal state (clean) both inside and out.
Kennedy got home around 1500 and then the playing really started.
Do-Re-Me pizza for dinner, we really like this pizza.
Bri got home around 1930 and we got the Kiddos in bed (school tomorrow).
Cath and I got back to the camper around 2030, Had a toddy, and hit the sheets. This should be our last night below freezing and we are looking forward to some milder temps.

Winter Excursion 2, Day 80

Got up this morning and hung out in the camper. We are still having very cold weather for this area. Did a few errands, then I went surf fishing. Didn't catch anything, but it was fun just to be on the beach.

Cath came down a little later and Kaylee got her run.

Check out the smile on this Vizsla! 

Cribbage this afternoon (Cath won), then we had a few early toddies.
It's supposed to go to 25 deg tonight with a wind chill of 14.
Leftover sword fish for dinner and then a movie.
We are off to the Kids & Kiddos tomorrow to visit and do laundry one last time before we leave the area.

Winter Excursion 2, Day 79

Took the truck in this morning for it's first oil change and tire rotation. All is well and the truck is running fine. They even washed it for free!
Got back to the camper around 1030 and Cath & I went to the store, Took a little drive on the way and we think we found the largest Live Oak in Edisto.

Spent the rest of the day hanging out and recovering from Kiddos.
Here's the sunset this evening.

Another one of our site and a clean truck.

Netflix, then off to bed.

Winter Excursion 2, Day 78

Another cold night and another shell hunting day. Wesley made it all the way to Conch City today. He is such a trooper!
Here he is at his normal position on Granddad. He thinks he's funny!

Here's the total of the shells for our two days of hunting.

The whole picnic table is full!

We all went to the other seafood joint in Edisto (Coots). This is our view from the table.

Kids and Kiddos left after lunch. Kennedy has school tomorrow. We had a wonderful weekend with them. Cath and I will miss the Kiddos when we leave the area, but we will see them this coming weekend and then again this summer at the Family Reunion.
After they left we both took long, hot showers at the campground bath house. It's a really nice, clean facility. I think we will lay around this afternoon, have a few toddies, eat a light meal for dinner, catch a little TV and then sleep like rocks. The Kiddos will wear you out!

Winter Excursion 2, Day 77

Kiddos were up at the crack of dawn. Pancakes and hot chocolate for breakfast.

Then we were all off for a beach walk and shell hunting. We walked about a mile of the beach in 30 deg weather. We were glad the sun was out.

We did good shell hunting.

And a pic of Cath and Wesley.

Here's Kennedy with all the shells we found.

Better pic of the shells. We named the spot on the beach "Conch City".

Kaylee ran her legs off on the walk as she was off leash.
After the walk we went to a local seafood joint for lunch.

Had a campfire and watched the football games. Sous-Vide steak for dinner, then off to bed. We will all sleep tonight as the weather is still cold and we walked miles on the beach.

Winter Excursion 2, Day 76

Up this morning and got ready for the Kids and Kiddos. We went to the store and stocked up skittles and all the other stuff.
Here's Cath and our camp site.

Mom and Kiddos arrived around 1330.
Here's Miss Kennedy on my chopping block being silly.

The weather has turned cold and this is Nicole trying to keep warm. Temps were in the low 40s and will be below freezing tonight.

Nice pic of the sunset on the beach.

We made pizza on the egg and the Kiddos had a blast making them. They got a quick show and then drifted off to sleep.

Bri arrived late and we yakked for awhile and then hit the sack. The Kiddos will be up early.