A Great Weekend

After finishing a full day in the service bay at Red Bay on Friday, we packed up and headed for Birmingham.

It was nice to get aways from the campground for a few days. We enjoyed the Crimson Clover all along the highways

This is such a nice highway if you need to travel between Memphis and Birmingham,

and there are several fuel stops that are large enough for RVs. It is a road well worth marking on your maps. And it wasn't long until we found that we were

to our exit which would take us into

the city and then on South to

my brother's house where my sister in law always has a cute

sign on the door! But, Uncle Mark was waiting for

this welcome from Danielle, the youngest of our four nieces.

We also enjoyed visiting with

Megan, who is enrolled in nursing school at the University of Alabama, Birmingham

and Evan, our oldest niece, who is an Auburn graduate and now working in Birmingham.

I am sorry we missed Sarah, who is in college in Kentucky.

What a beautiful weekend it was to sit out on the back deck and enjoy the spring

While Danielle played

and Conlee took pictures while I was taking pictures

of Danielle and her caterpillar

and jumping on the trampoline

and watching the birds

And digging for worms...with this being the big catch for the day

Danielle wants Megan to stop her studying to look at her worm and Dad, you can look too

This morning Dannielle and I had to pose for mom to take our picture in our pretty church clothes.

We had a fun two days with family. We got to meet and share dinner with friends of Dan and Conlee's on Friday evening, we had full day on Saturday and a good visit today. Soon it was time to think about packing up for the trip back to Red Bay, but first we made a stop by Evan's to see her apartment. Gosh, it is hard to believe these girls are grown up and own their own. Then after a short visit there, we had one last stop to make as we had made plans to meet Jim, Ellie, Carol and Steve for dinner. Dan, Conlee, and Danielle joined us and got to meet and have dinner with some of our friends.

After a great dinner at Jim and Nick's, we had to finally get our good bye hugs and get on the road as,

the sun sets on yet another adventure. And, as I close this post for the evening, we have just arrived back in Red Bay to the campground where we will be back in service bay #5 at 7:00 a.m. in the morning and start another week at Camp Red Bay.

It's Our Day!

It's Friday, we are still in Red Bay, and we are in...

Bay #5 and

ready to tackle the list of things to be done!

So..........we will let these guys get to work and see how much they can accomplish today!

Then, this afternoon, we have decided that we will close up the motor home, run the slides in, disconnect the water, pack an overnight bag, jump in the car, and drive down to Birmingham for the weekend to visit with my brother and his family. I am looking forward to the visit as we don't get to see that often. The weatherman has promised us a beautiful weekend with temps in the 80's. I will have lots of pictures to post from the visit.

See you back here real soon...hope you have a good weekend.

Happy Birthday Caden

Happy 2nd Birthday to Caden...

What a blessing and a joy you are...we love you!

Moppa and Poppa

Mid Week and Still Waiting

Good Morning from Red Bay, AL...it is now Wednesday, the weather is beautiful, and we are still here just waiting our turn for service. According to the service rep we are about 5 away from getting into a service bay. So, maybe, just maybe, (for my sake) we will be getting some attention either this afternoon or tomorrow! LOL

Other than just waiting, not much is happening here in Red Bay. After Jim and Ellie left us for the big city life, Sylvia and I ventured out for an afternoon of shopping. After a quick stop at the post office, we went to Fred's, which is the local "want to be Walmart", then it was over to CVS to pick up a few items. After all that shopping, Mark and I decided pizza sounded like what we wanted for dinner. Now, where in Red Bay do we find pizza? Where else, but the gas station! Don't laugh, it was pretty yummy and $9.00 for a large, with one topping or loaded. Bet you can't guess what we got...but, I know it was healthy because it came with every vegetable you can name. Afterwards, we walked over to sit out with Glynn and Sylvia until the chill ran us all in for the evening.

Yesterday, was a beautiful day, with temps in the 70's. While Mark was busy here in and around the motor home, I fought my way through the laundry room. I always thought Monday's were laundry day, so I waiting until Tuesday. Someone must have changed the rules because there was a wait for the washers and dryers. Oh, well, I have learned that you meet some of the nicest people at the campground laundry rooms.

While I was waiting my turn, Sylvia dropped in to tell me she was going downtown to get her hair cut and also to invite Mark and I to dinner. Great, I will bring a dessert. She was planning on grilled pork chops, cole slaw, and baked sweet potatoes. So, I decided on making a peach cobbler. However, my choice necessitated a trip to get peaches. So with the laundry now done, I went to see if Mark wanted to go down the the Silver Dollar store,"the bent can store" as he calls it. So, we made our way a few miles down the road and across into Mississippi, wandered through Silver Dollar, picking out a few items we thought we needed in addition to the beautiful frozen peaches I purchased. Then it was back to the motor home to get the cobbler in the oven. We enjoyed a great visit and a delicious dinner. Thanks guys for the invite!

And, this post brings me back to where I started. It is still Wednesday and we are still waiting, but things are looking up. Mark is off shopping in the Campers Choice store and I need to get to the rest of the laundry and a little cleaning. Glynn and Sylvia are waiting on the mail to be delivered and then they are leaving for Decatur, AL for a short stay before they make their way on towards Virginia and on to Massachusetts for the summer.

I guess that just about wraps up life in Red Bay on this beautiful spring day! Enjoy life wherever you are.

The Calm After The Storm

Yesterday we woke to the sound of rain, rain, and more rain. I made breakfast pizza and Mark delivered some to Jim and Ellie. Around mid morning, the rain slacked off for a little while and Jim made a run to the laundry. After her returned we decided we would go to Gill's for lunch. Ellie and I chose grilled shrimp and baked sweet potatoes while the guys opted for chopped sirloin with grilled onions, mushrooms, and brown gravy.

After lunch we wandered back to the RV Park and settled in at Jim and Ellie's for an afternoon visit. We worked some more on our summer plans, played on Google Earth, laughed and had a good visit. After a long while, we decided it was time to go home. As we were leaving, we noticed a dark cloud coming up over the service center. I decided to take a look at the weather radar, and sure enough there was a storm alert that had just been issued for Red Bay, which was to include large hail and high winds. By the time I could open the window and tell Jim, the campground host was coming around to alert everyone. We pulled in the slides and headed over the service center/customer waiting area which is the designated storm shelter.

And, almost before we got in, the rain came, the hail came, and and wind blew. The hail was about ping pong ball size with jagged edges. OH NO! Thank goodness it didn't last a long time, and thank goodness, Mark and Jim had pulled the cars up against the building. The storm moved through pretty quickly heading east. By the time it got past us, it had turned into a tornado watch and ruffled up some areas south and east of here.

The rest of the night was pretty quite weather wise. The second storm of the evening took place inside my motor home as I spend the rest of the evening on the telephone with Direct TV. What a treat. I was trying to get a new account set up for the motor home separate from the account we were sharing in Fort Worth with Karen and Kenneth. Gosh, I thought I was asking for something easy, but after talking to seven different reps/techs, I was was connected to the one that knew exactly what I wanted! So, after about 2 hours, I finally accomplished what I set out to do. Yeah, now we can get local channels almost everywhere we go. Maybe, we will have to get East/West coast programming, but for now, we are going to try it by just programming in the local zip codes for the area where we are camped. Oh, my where did the evening go? Guess, we better get to bed as tomorrow we will be back to the waiting game in Red Bay.

So, not knowing if they would call us or not, we were up early this morning, showered, and dressed by a little after 7 a.m., just in case they were going to call us to a bay. In the meantime, Mark was out and on the roof to see if we had any hail damage. None to the motor home, thank goodness, and just a few pings to the roof of the jeep. Jim and Ellie fared well too, while Glynn and Sylvia had damage to the slide out covers and a/c vent covers. And, there were several in the park that had quite a bit of damage. Two of the service guys have been going around today checking every one's motor homes for damage. If necessary, they are writing a report for your insurance company.

Mark also, installed an additional towel rack in the bathroom for me. And, as usual, that turned out to be a major job because one screw refused to cooperate. LOL While Mark was busy with that project, Jim was checking out in the service area and Ellie was busy packing things away inside the coach. We had planned to go down to the local Mexican Food for the lunch buffet.

Today is a travel day for Jim and Ellie. They will be leaving after lunch to go to Birmingham to have the 2nd recall done at the Cummins dealership. Safe travels you guys...see you down the road real soon.

Meanwhile life goes on here in Red Bay...we are now in the calm after the storm. Glynn got their motor home into a service bay this afternoon for the last of the work he needs done. Sooooo, maybe just maybe our number will come up sometime this week. So, until it does, we will continue to enjoy ourselves in Red Bay.

Getting Back To Normal

Finally, things are starting to come together back home

The new couches have arrived....they are lazy boy recliners

Lilly is thankful they didn't get rid of her favorite chair

And since everyone is tied up with all the remodeling, clean up etc...

It appears that Koutney is now dressing herself. Love those boots!

Repairs and Remodels

Hello once again from Red Bay, Alabama. Before I get to the remodeling update in Texas, I will give you the report from here at the service center in Red Bay.

We now have our TV and microwave back from service. Both are working great. The microwave had some thermo something or another go out, so they replaced it. I gave it a good workout cooking baked potatoes and so far so good. Now, the video cable that we thought was the problem for the TV turned out to be a bad circuit board in the TV...so they say. I guess we will just have to wait and see, but for now, it is working great. With those items scratched off the list...now, we just wait our turn to get into a service bay. Hopefully our number will come up by mid week, even though they told us it could be 3 weeks.

We knew they wouldn't call us yesterday, so to pass the time away we decided to head out for a day of shopping. So, we loaded up with Ellie, Jim, Glynn, and Sylvia and made our way over to Florence, Alabama to the mall. But, everyone knows you can't shop on an empty stomach, so we made a stop at Applebee's.

Now, with full stomachs, shopping was next, and the first stop was Best Buy. I needed a camera case for my new little camera so it wouldn't get scratched while carrying it around in my purse. Sylvia also needed a camera case for her big camera. While we made our purchases, Ellie shopped around looking a computers and wii games. Okay, mission accomplished...let's head on across the street to the mall. The guys shopped at Sear's tool department while Ellie, Sylvia, and I shopped where else, but in the clothes sections of Dillards, Belk's, and Penney's. We each left the mall with a bag or two. We still needed to make a stop at Home Depot...wow, I thought we would never get those guys out of there! By this time, it is time for us to make our way back to Red Bay. However, we decided it would be a nice treat to stop for an ice cream cone on the way out of town. Yummy, that just hit the spot. Once we were back in Red Bay, we sat around and visited, enjoying the last of the sunshine for a few days as we are expecting an overcast rainy weekend. But, what a nice finish to a fun day with friends.

Today is Saturday and no service work, so the guys decided to do some servicing of their own. They replaced the anode rod in the hot water heaters. Ellie worked on cleaning their car, inside and out. I didn't do much, but pick up inside the coach and get a grocery list together as this is my night to cook. Sylvia was busy getting their things together to make an overnight trip to their son's house in Huntsville. And, it is looking more like rain as the day goes on.

Now, for those of you that thought I left you hanging on to the progress of the remodeling going one back in Texas...Karen sends a few new pictures.

Painting is finished...carpet is down...now, we just need that new couch

The completed entry with the new wood floor

The new ceiling fan

The new doors for the hallway...bedrooms, closets, and bathrooms

This is the new door to the office...Looks as if Kourtney is wondering...where does this door go?

Today, they are delivering the new couch. Maybe I will get some pictures later today.

Everything is looking great guys...you did a good job. Dad says, maybe he will repo it now that all the work is done. LOL...I said, no way, this 40' is all I want to take care of!