Hello February

This past month we have been doing our normal activities here in Gulf Shores.  Judy leads water aerobics 4 to 6 mornings a week and has added a new more vigorous program.  She also co-manages the Tuesday afternoon euchre games at the senior center,  Wednesday evenings she plays euchre at the Legion and sometimes plays big bucks bingo in Elberta Friday nights.  She also organized the ladies Friday poker games in the pavilion.  Judy also organizes the monthly casino bus trips to Biloxi.  She's happiest when she's active or cleaning something.  I play poker 4 afternoons a week with the guys and do not try to keep up with her.  Together we run the Tuesday night euchre here at the park and also play Sunday nights.  
I entered the Texas Holdem Tournament and came in 6th to get my $20 back, much better than I usually do weekdays.
Every Friday at 11 am we meet up with 8 or 10 friends at Mikee's for lunch.  We seem to eat out more that eating in.  The senior breakfast at Krystals has been our favorite meal and we go there at least twice a week.

We did have some excitement this week, Judy called Wednesday afternoon while I was playing poker and said the truck died a horrible death with fluid all over.  I had Mike give me a ride to Orange Beach and we found a wide trail of diesel down the road into a parking lot ending under our F350.  We called Good Sam Emergency Road Service for a tow and while waiting spotted a fuel line clamp on the engine fuel filter loose.  Problem identified.  I went inside the government office belonging to the parking lot and talked with them, they had the fire department respond as diesel is a hazardous material and there was a nice sized spill.  Two firemen in a pickup responded with oil dry to clean up the mess at no charge.

I called the Ford dealer in Pensacola were we purchased the truck and they had changed the oil and fuel filters earlier this month.  I politely informed them they screwed up and I was not a happy RVer and was on my way there on a tow truck.

 The dealer knew they screwed up as the mechanic that performed  the routine maintenance was from ITT Tech and had been at World Ford only 3 days.  They paid the extra $80 tow to come to Pensacola (I had the closer Ford dealer in Gulf Shores screw up a turbo hose in 2008 and wasn't going back there) and kept the truck 2 days to go over the work the new tech did and clean up the engine compartment.  The fuel pressure on these new diesels is over 20,000 psi so you can imagine diesel going everywhere, it came out the grill, headlights, hood, fenders and of course ended up under the engine.  It was funny when the 4 mechanics standing in front of the truck with me with the hood was up and the service writer turned the ignition on to get the mileage......we had a 5 foot diesel fountain until the mechanics yelled at him.  We had a loaner minivan  and picked up the truck Friday afternoon and enjoyed the diesel aroma on the way home.  

The weather has been very good this winter compared to last year. We had one record setting night when the temp got down to 24 or 26 degrees.  Other than that it;s been in the 60s and very sunny.....although today it's 65 and raining at noon. 

  

Home, home at last!

The two week road trip is over and I'm exhausted and sick with the crud.  We both had a great time and really enjoyed the time with the kids and grand kids!

20.3 mpg on the final 396 mile leg home.  WOW. 

Christmas with little kids!

A good time was had by all.....except me.  I got sick, we call it the labama crud.

19.7 mpg on the 397 mile trip from MI.  Not too shabby!

Their driveway is narrow and twisty so I parked off it a tad.  Error.  I had to call Good Sam road service to pull me out after sinking into the loose dirt and wet leaves going uphill.  Last time we used them was a trailer blowout in CO a few years ago.  

Hey Uncle Randy.....thanks for the ducks.  They were quacking all day long!

Preparing for Christmas in Georgia

Renato took Dustin to get some immunization shots in his leg and we wasn't fazed at all.....at least not until several hours later.  Granny, big sister, and Bertha nursed him back to happiness. 

Time to frost the Christmas cookies!

It was another 2 day trip down to GA for Christmas with the new family.
Snack time with granny.

Christmas in Michigan

Randy has Devyn the week before Christmas and she's with her mother this year for the holidays so we went up early to be with Devyn.

Devyn still loves to play cards,  lots of Kipf blood in the girl!

                                                                       Concentration!

Cookie making time, Judy did much of the work while devyn was in school as we only saw her after school.

                                        I even got to help making the chocolate coconut balls.

Here's Randy and his girlfriend, Jesse.  Looks like a ruff life huh?  Nap time.

  We celebrated Christmas on Thursday, here's Devyn with Jesse's daughter Shay.

Devyn is 15 now and can drive with her permit and an adult.  She is impatiently waiting for April and her 16th birthday to get her drivers license.  She's in the 10th grade and is already thinking ahead to taking college entrance exams next year.

She is still very serious about soccer, this last year she lost 4 balls to the underbrush near the fields they played on so she got several new ones (some un-inflated) for Christmas.

The five and a half days in Onsted went fast.  Devyn continues to beat me playing rummy.  We played a lot of Pegs and Jokers.  The weather was typical MI.....overcast, damp, and chilly.  At least we had to trouble with snow and ice.

Road trip!!!!!

We have decided at the spur of the moment to  made a Christmas trip up to MI see Randy and Devyn them down to GA to see Jody & Renato AND FAMILY!

Huntsville, AL visitor center.  It's the home of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Therefore the rocket.

It's a full 2 day trip, we took the truck for comfort and it looks like Patches is into comfort.  How nice of Judy to make such a nice nest so see can see out the windows.

This is not a sight you see now days!  We were on US12 in MI between Coldwater and Quincy and had to stop at a railroad crossing.  We fist spotted the smoke and thought there was a fire behind a commercial building until the locomotive popped into sight.

It was the Christmas train!  Judy checked and there was only one more trip which was sold out.  We beat the train into Quincy where it uncoupled to pull the cars back to Coldwater.

I was very pleased with 18.3 mpg on the 977 mile trip to MI.  This was the first long haul without the trailer.  I kidded a friend about this compared to his new Ram until he showed me his 19 mpg on a trip back to Maine.

Back to Gulf Shores

Another Friday lunch at  Mikee's.

At our favorite breakfast joint.....Krystals!

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