Gulf Shores, AL

Home again! Jody went to work early this morning and Judy got up with her (always a mom!) and washed our clothes as we didn't bring any for today. Of course I got to stay in bed as I had no clothes to wear, darn. We stopped for lunch and at Camping World to schedule plan F on the rear inside duallies valve stem extensions. We put up another outside Christmas decoration (half off now!), I played poker and about broke even while Judy did MORE shopping, and at 6pm Bennie and Irene (Kristi's parents) pulled in and set up a few sites from us. we are having supper with them shortly. I have a couple pics of Patches, our grandcat, who only drinks from the fish bowl. If you blow up the second pic you can see Bert swimming in the bowl. OK Bev, do you remember Patches? She doesn't get along very well with their dog, Bama. Want me to see if Jody will let you adapt her? I really doubt she will. Patches remembers me well and still cuddles in my lap.

Mobile.AL

Today, Christmas, we are at Jody & Bruce's home. We drove over yesterday after Santa made a stop at our trailer. He brought Judy a nice diamond and tanzinite necklace and I got a puppy! The puppies head bobbles when we walk heavy in the trailer, best of all it doesn't shed or shit. Well, how about a Christmas Eve service at 11pm and they keep the outside doors open? Jody & Bruce attend an old Episcopalian church about 3 or 4 blocks from their home. They just repaired an old organ and last night was the first time they used it. The organist really had it fired up, I wonder what the neighbors thought? We have attended several Lutheran churches and services at the campground but it was interesting last night as the pastors all had serious southern accents. Today Jody and Judy prepared and excellent Christmas meal, turkey and all the fixings. She had another resident doctor and her husband over (Sam and Ralph) to join us. The meal was great and it was interesting talking with Sam & Ralph about her med school experiences and living in Mexico, she went to med school there. It was late so we decided to spent the night again.

Gulf Shores, AL

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! Judy is doing some last minute running around while I'm catching up here. We are returning to Jody's this afternoon, she works until 8pm and we are all planning on going to 11pm Christmas Eve service at her church. Judy will be making her Parisian vegetable soup. Bruce is with his parents and family in South Carolina. It's sunny and in the mid 60s today. We played euchre last night after returning from Jody's and I finally beat Judy again, she was almost the low score which would get her $1 entry fee returned. There were only 6 tables as many snow brids have returned home for Christmas. Christmas Eve and the outdoor roses & flowers are doing good!

Mobile, Alabama

Well, my solution to access the inside read dual tire air valves will not work so we returned the parts to Campers World this morning on our way to Jody & Bruce's home. I'm working on plan F now. We stopped as we passed through downtown Mobile at a waterfront park and I got a few pictures. I mentioned this park and fort about two weeks ago but didn't have the camera, today I did! The first 3 photos are of the fort; check out the groundskeeper, I didn't know they had cell phones in the 1700s. The next pic is of some of the harbor docks; then a cruise ship and a passing train; Judy kissing Clark Kent; a downtown pic with the tallest building in AL being the teachers & education association, the dark building is the Radison hotel with a BIG crane used to lift a structure currently being built on the buildings top, the low white building in front of the teachers is a convention center; the last pic is of a US Navy ship under construction. You can click on any of the pics to blown 'em up bigger for a better view.
We also stopped and picked up Jody's Christmas present for Bruce, we needed the truck to haul it and we placed them in their yard. Bruce went to his parents for Christmas but Jody is on call a few times so she wasn't able to go and we came here to spend the night dog sitting while she's at the hospital for a 30 hour shift. Aren't we nice parents? What oh what will they do when we leave in two weeks? She was busy and not able to eat supper while the cafiteria was open so we stopped at Arby's and had a quick supper with her.

Gulf Shores, AL

Busy busy day. We had an 8:30 appointment to get the oven repaired as the thermostat was in and we had to tow the trailer to see if the truck vibration was repaired. We broke camp and had the trailer hooked up and ready to go. I discovered we had a flat tire on one of the inside duallies. I put air in the tire and the valve stem was leaking. We disconnected and the second tire store I stopped at removed and replaced the valve stems on both inside duallies. If one was bad the other one would soon would be too. Back to get the trailer and we towed it to the RV dealer who repaired the oven. The truck still vibrated. After the oven was repaired we drove some more to be sure the vibration was the same as before the Ford dealer adjusted the rear end. We called the Ford dealer about noon and towed the trailer back to them. I drove the mechanic around their lot so he could feel the vibration. He's calling his tech support in Detroit and mentioned having an engineer look at it. We were set up about 1pm back at Gulf Breeze RV Park. Then the rain came. We've been here since 11/5 and today was the first bad weather day (it was still warm...65). It has rained twice during the night but today it rained from 1pm until 7pm. Mobile had 3 inches this afternoon. We then took the loaner car back to Hertz and did some shopping for a couple hours. I'm pooped!

Gulf Shores, AL

Judy went to Curves, I played poker this afternoon and had a very good 2 hours, we spent the afternoon finishing up washing the RV. Judy, the one with the cleaning fetish, even lubed all the gaskets on the inside and outside of all four slides. The Ford dealer called and the truck is ready to test. We picked it up and will break camp, again!, in the morning and see if the vibration when towing is fixed. We'll also stop at an RV repair shop and have them replace an oven part (the pilot will not stay lit) under warranty. We even had some time to do some shopping; had a WalMart cooked chicken and some sides for supper. Enough chicken left for chicken salad tomorrows lunch, umm goodie! The weather was, again, wonderful. 70s and sunny.

Gulf Shores, AL

Sunday, Monday & Tuesday. Sunday we went to the church service here at the park. We then went to Jody and Bruce's so the Christmas cookies could be frosted and sugared. We had supper before returning home to plat euchre. We were far from winners. Monday we packed up and took the trailer to the Ford dealer so they could continue working on the truck vibration when pulling from a stop. As the warden said to Paul Newman in one of his movies "what we have here is a failure to communicate". After discovering they didn't need the trailer, and we had unhooked at the back of their lot, and were told they needed the truck for 2 or 3 days......we hooked up and went back to the RV park. I took the truck back and returned in a Honda loaner. I hope to hear from Ford Wednesday. The rest of Tuesday was spent oiling all the cherry wood in the kitchen and then washing the rear of the trailer. Judy, the old German, is on a cleaning kick. Wednesday Judy lead the water aerobics class then we washed one side of the trailer and the front, made a post office run and had breakfast/lunch at a Mexican restaurant and played euchre again. No joy. Goodnight y'all.