Happy Thanksgiving everyone

Where does the time go? Judy & I spent a night at Jody & Bruce's dog sitting while they went to Myrtle Beach so Jody could check out a doctors position there. A day later Judy & Jody drove to St Augustine for a few days to see her sister Margaret. Her brother Clayton was there too with Pat so she got to see them also before they left for San Francisco. I was planning on going too but messed up my back & wasn't looking forward to the 7 hour drive and being without my LazyBoy chair.

We have been playing euchre, I tied for third one night. The next night I went with Judy to play Bingo, she split one Bingo and I won two so we took $75 home. This should fund my poker playing for the rest of the winter.

We have been spending some time with fellow HitchHiker friends, Paul & Dottie from PA, Rudy & Linda from TX and Ray & Barb from CA. The weather has been good, a couple days of rain but lots of sunshine and mid to high 60s.

Blue Angels Homecoming airshow

On Friday we went with Paul & Dottie, Ray & Barb & Rudy & Linda to the Naval Air Station Pensacola to spend the day watching the Blue Angels Homecoming air show. We went 2 years ago and enjoyed it again as much as we did then.

We spent Saturday washing the HitchHiker, Jody showed up (she's on vacation this week) so we put the doc to work helping us.

Sunday Judy and I went to Jody & Bruce's to watch their dogs while they were in Myrtle Beach, SC so she could interview for a position & they could check the area out. Patches spent the night sleeping on Judy's tummy on the couch. Monday we returned to our home sweet home.

Our weather continues to be wonderful, 70s daytime, sunny blue skies and 50s at night.

Tropical storm Ida

Friday we moved over two rows to the area were we have spent the last two winters because we have become friends with snowbirds located there. Saturday we went with Jody & Bruce to Gulfport, MS to check out campgrounds because they might be moving there next year when Jody is finished with her residency in Mobile. It was disappointing, all the CGs we checked out were at least $150 a month more and not near as nice as Gulf Shores. We also rode by the hospital she's be associated with and the clinic where she's possibly work. On the way home we stopped at The Shed for BBQ. The food was very good and the place was just a bunch of sheds, really, connected together. Jody & Bruce are off to Myrtle Beach, SC in a few days so she can check out a position there.

Monday we were visited by tropical storm Ida. If you believed the media it was to be a major event with lots of rain and winds 50 to 60 mph with stronger gusts. Several RVers evacuated from the local CGs and headed north. Some closed up their RVs and went to motels. The state park by the Gulf had a mandatory evacuation and there was a county wide curfew from 10pm until 6am. Most stayed put like we did. Everyone retracted awnings and put stuff away so it wouldn't blow away. It did rain a lot, started about 10am and it really was coming down in the late afternoon, evening & night. We waited for the winds, and waited and waited but they never arrived. The trailer trembled a couple times but that was all, I think the winds topped out at 30 to 40mph. The storm was a bust!

Great weather & good times

We have been enjoying ourselves since we arrived. The weather has been great, 70s daytime, low 60s at night and all sunshine. We have been out to eat LOTS of shrimp at Mike's with Ray & Barb and Rudy & Linda our fellow HitchHiker friends. One day we went for a bike ride in the state park with about 10 friends from the RV park. We saw one gater. I think it was 40 to 45 miles that we rode but others insisted it was only 7.4 miles. It was an enjoyable hour & a quarter. On Saturday we went to see Jody & Bruce. We spent the afternoon with them and then watched the 100+ Halloween kids trick or treating. We went to Lamberts, home of the throwed rolls, one afternoon and had lunch with our HitchHiker friends above plus 3 Escapees couples. I met one on the Escapee forum when they were looking to leave AZ for somewhere on the Gulf coast. I suggested Gulf Shores. They brought along 2 other couples and in talking with one lady we discovered she lives 2 blocks from Jody & Bruce, her daughter is finishing her 3 year residency at the university of Southern Alabama just like Jody and both are chiefs! Yes, Jody knows the other doctor, small world huh?

Gulf Shores, Alabama & settling in for the winter

We arrived here Wednesday afternoon about 2:30 after a non stop drive. When we found a place to stop it was full and no place for our rig so we kept on trucking. There weren't too many places to stop either so we were tired after setting up our home. Judy saw a 'gater while we crossed Mobile bay and the cotton is ready to be harvested. It has been overcast yesterday and today, for the most part. But.....it's in the 70s at night & 80s daytime so the trade off isn't too bad is it? Oh.....and zero rain. You can see in the picture how much Judy loves palm trees! Our friends Ray & Barb are here & our sites are pretty close. We are also bumping into lots of our winter neighbors from the past 2 winters. We are in a site 2 or 3 rows away from where we were in the past but have ourselves set up to move to a good site November 11 when another RVer leaves. It didn't "feel" like home when we arrived, we think it was because we were tired. Today Judy went to Curves, then we had lunch at McDonalds then did 5 loads of laundry. Today Gulf Shores "feels" like home! Ray & Barb wanted to do supper tonight so we went with them....to McDonalds for McRibs....but....it was a different McDonalds. Life is soooooo ruff!

Vicksburg, MS

We made the 250 mile trip to Vicksburg in the rain. Rain rain go away. We spent the night in the Ameristar Casino campground, I think it was full. Oh, it rained all night too. Did I mention it rained a lot?

Toad Suck Park; Conway, Arkansas

Sunday was a pretty wet day in Chicken Creek. Five of our friends left for TX KS and CA. We spent the afternoon eating leftover smoked brisket and other goodies around the campfire until the rains arrived. Monday morning we slept in waiting for the rains to stop then we packed up, said our goodbyes & pulled out about 11am. It rained most of the way here and we arrived at Toad Suck about 2:30. The Arkansas River is about 30 feet behind us and in one picture you can see the bridge & dam. Sure hope the dam holds all this rain! Too bad it's not nice out, this is a pretty place. We did have fun finding it, no signs. We first drove into the administration building, then the dam & locks park & then a Shell station to get directions. We had to go under a low bridge that, of course, has no clearance sign. Judy reminds me this is part of the adventure, I called it something else.