We stopped for the night just below Nashville, TN at Camper's RV Park. It turned out to be a good place to stop because we ended up with a flat tire on our van the next morning, and the people at Camper's were very helpful. As I was checking out the tire, the owner stopped by and offered to help. It turns out he is a Marine and with him was a long term camper that was in the Army. They both took an interest in helping me with the tire. The tire had gone flat and wouldn't hold any air as I tried to fill it with my portable air compressor. It looked like it must be a bead seal leak so I took the wheel off and got it rounded out enough to take some air, but it made sense to get it reseated properly. They took me to a local tire shop where it was fixed for no charge. We were back in the South and the Southern hospitality was very apparent. We have traveled to all 50 states and I have actually worked with people from all 50 states and four US Territories. There are nice and friendly people in each location, but there is a greater level of willingness to be friendly, to the point of going out of the way to be kind in the South. I like it.
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| Back in Sweet Home Alabama! |
After repairing the tire, we drove the rest of the way in to Alabama and made it in time to watch football with family. There is no better place to be to watch college football than in the South. The primary focus for sports in the area is football, and the dedication of the fans to college football is greater than any other place. The cars all have stickers, flags, flyers, and license plates supporting their teams. The fans are wearing logos on their hats, shirts, belts, jackets, faces, etc.. It is unusual to see someone not wearing a team logo on any given game day, and the lines in the grocery stores are full of people buying junk food for the game. We had boiled peanuts - made properly and not from a can like we were forced to do a couple of times out West, ribs, chips with cheese dip, and many other kinds of good stuff. A lot of family came over and it was a great way to start our visit.
We went to dinner with a high school friend of Shelli's and Michael and John had a great time hanging out with their children at their house. John had expressed an interest in learning to play piano, and Shelli's mom (Betsy) taught him how to play "Paper Roses". In addition to piano, John kept talking about wanting a hunting bow and his uncle Tim just happened to have an old one stored in the barn. John made out like a bandit on this part of the trip. Shelli's dad (Popa) was retiring from his position as the President of the Alabama AFL-CIO. We went to his reception near Montgomery, and it was a very nice event with a crowd of several hundred people. There was a big screen showing slides of family, friends, and co-workers and it was really neat to see.
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| Popa's Retirement Party (but only temporarily, he is already scheduled to go back to two part-time jobs after the holidays) |
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| Betsy is teaching me how to play the piano. (John) |
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| Play time at the park. Seeing them all chase the ball is pretty, especially when Beau beats all the big dogs to the ball. (Shelli) |
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| Making Jodi's homemade doughnuts...they are really good too! This is not my real smile, I'm just being funny. (Michael) |
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| Pulling this bow back is much harder than it looks! (John) |
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| Maui's Birthday Party! (Shelli) From the left - Buddy, Beau, Charlie, and Maui |
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| Maui thought the cupcake was lip smackin good! |
To keep the tradition of Michael and John trick or treating with their grandmother, we went to Geneva for Halloween. After stops at a few homes along the way, we went to the Junction (a park area where the Choctawhatchee and Pea rivers join and home to what is believed to be the largest and oldest oak tree in Alabama. The city was hosting a trunk or treat event and it was very successful. There were a lot of people and a of lot stations for trick or treaters. Michael and John enjoyed time with their aunt Vickie and Gramma, who also dressed up for the occasion. They scored a large amount of candy - although someone at the Junction was handing out apparent yard sale leftovers like old dolls and stuffed animals!?!
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| We always try to stop in Troy, AL at Crowe's for some chicken. They have done zero improvements to the place in 20 years, but they haven't changed the recipe either, and that is okay with me. |
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| Ready for Halloween! |
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| Helping Gramma garden. |
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| Making Milky Way cake with Gramma is a tradition. It gets messy somehow. |
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| There always seems to be a little flour and cocoa on everybody. |
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| Even Maui got a little flour on his nose. |
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| The tradition with Granddaddy is eating the cake. |
Michael and John spent some good time with grandparents and extended family. We went to Hartford to shoot the bow John had been given by his uncle Tim. Cousins Blake and Casey had a target for the bow and guns, so we we were able to shoot pistols and a rifle as well. We all had fun.
To keep from staying too long at any one place, we went back to Childersburg to stay while we dropped off the RV for repairs to the awnings from hail damage we had in Montana. We drove about an hour to the Camping World in Anniston, AL. Should have been easy...more on this later.
Shelli's parents were planning a trip to visit her sister Cindy and her family in Flower Mound, Texas. They asked if were interested in going too. Considering our total flexibility, and our feeling that any drive now is easy compared to the one to Alaska, we were game. We loaded the people and bags that would fit into Betsy's SUV for the 10 hour drive, and Michael and I sunk into Stewart's Corvette convertible. Surprisingly, driving the Corvette was a lot like driving the RV with the van attached, only it was faster, cooler, and more fun. I discovered, if executed properly, stepping on the gas can result in the GPS flying into the passenger's lap. It was a perfect homeschooling lesson about Newton's first and second laws of motion. If not for the threat of a ticket, we could have worked on Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity.
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| Yeehaaw :D (Michael) |
We had a very nice visit with the Jones family. There were several great meals including ribs prepared by Rex, breakfast casserole prepared by Cindy, and monkey bread prepared by the Cindy, Shelli and the kids. We also had pizza, and made a trip to BJ's Restaurant, a trip to Rosa's Tortilla Factory, and an after church lunch at
Babe's Chicken.
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| Enjoying our fried chicken, biscuits and gravy for Sunday dinner after church. (Shelli) |
On Veteran's day we all went to the DFW airport to welcome home returning troops. There was a large crowd there with signs and flags. There were many veterans and several
Patriot Guard Riders (the motorcycle group that escorts our fallen during funeral processions). They allowed the veterans to go towards the front (just behind the family members of those stopping in Dallas) and be the first to welcome the troops as they came into the crowd-lined passageway. It was an honor to be there and shake the hand of each one and say "thank you" and "welcome home". We've come such a long way from when my father returned from Vietnam. I hope people continue to remember it is politicians that start and stop wars. The military personnel are just the ones who have to live or die the consequences.
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| This was really a fun and patriotic thing to do, especially on Veteran's Day! (Shelli) |
In Texas we watched plenty of football, played several board games together, and had lots of good discussions. The world's problems were all solved while Michael and John played plenty of video games with Kelsey and Reese (Reese also solved many world problems in between games). We delayed our departure from Texas one day after checking the weather and realizing we were looking at thunderstorms and rain the entire drive back to Alabama if we left as scheduled. The next day John swapped places with Michael and rode back with me in the Corvette. To ensure John learned about Newton's laws, we demoed the GPS in the lap lesson.
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| Playing Apples to Apples makes for many laughs. (Shelli) |
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| Locked and loaded. (John) |
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| Aunt Cindy's monkey bread is a favorite! (Shelli) |
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| This is the soap dispenser at a gas station in Texas. Crickets bodies on the top and legs on the bottom. It was safer to not wash our hands. (John) |
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| Vroom, vroom! (John) |
Popa treated Michael and John to tickets to the Alabama vs LSU football game in Tuscaloosa. Their cousin Jodi and her boyfriend Nathan took them very early in the morning to the game. They went to ESPN's Game Day filming site and were in the crowd as the broadcast ran. After that, they met up with family friends at their RV for their first shot at tailgating. Thanks to Hap and Candy for for providing them a ton of great food!
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| Dad came up with the ideas and Jodi drew them free handed. Its good huh? (John) |
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| Cousins having fun! |
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| For the championship, Alabama is coming back for the win! (Michael) |
It was great to have so much time during the visit. Michael and John had time to help Popa with one of many rounds of leaf and acorn clearing he will be doing this season. Maui got a chance to go to the park for some fun again with his cousins. We got to take some fall foliage pictures at Chuck's house by the tree that turns golden yellow each year, and Chuck and Popa made a target for a BB gun range out of hay bales right in the back yard.
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| Nathan and Maui playing. Maui didn't like Nathan's mask..... DAARRHHH! (Maui) |
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| Sad thing is...the leaves will all be back again tomorrow. (Shelli) |
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| Maui collected beggars lice over and over and over. The little green seeds hang on like velcro and are a pain to remove. |
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| Anyone up for a playdate at the park? (Shelli) |
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| The dogs get pretty tired and have to take a break at times. (Shelli) |
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| Michael and John couldn't wait to climb in this tree in Chuck and Pollye's yard. (Shelli) |
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| Everyone working to build the target in shape of a Christmas Tree. They painted it green later. (Shelli) |
For Thanksgiving we planned to travel back to Geneva and leave from there to go down to Florida. The idea was to have the RV with us and ready to go. BUT, we found out that Camping World had not even ordered the parts for the RV, although the insurance company had approved it and the adjuster had been there and spoken with them twice. The one person that handles insurance claims had been sick, and then still couldn't get her hands around ordering two pieces of fabric and one metal arm. That meant it wouldn't be repaired in time for us to go on our Florida leg of the trip on time. A month wasn't enough time for them to even place the order for the parts! We just picked it up and drove on without the repair.
We drove the RV down to Geneva and got ready for a big Thanksgiving. The cooking really went into overdrive, as it should in the South. We made three pecan pies, a coconut pie, a pumpkin roll, a smoked turkey, a huge amount of collard greens, field peas, biscuits, sweet potato casserole, and cranberry sauce (both from a can & made from scratch). As if it was not enough to make a ton of food for Thanksgiving, we had a family gathering for a Thanksgiving part two a couple of days later at my grandmother's house. All of her children, almost all of her grandchildren, and great grandchildren were there. It was a very big crowd, and the first time in a very long time so many of us had been together.
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| John helping me make the Pumpkin Roll. (Shelli) |
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| Mom's pecan pie is really good. (Michael) |
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| The smoked turkey, ready to go. |
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| We are ready for the feast to begin! (John) |
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| We were able to get most of the family in one photo. If we had taken it before we filled up for lunch, we might have been able to fit everybody in the frame. |
The visit was brief because it was the day of the Iron Bowl. This annual college football match up of Auburn and Alabama stops just about every other thing in the state of Alabama while the game is on. We all had to rush out to watch the game because it doesn't work to record it and watch it later. Someone might call, text, or yell loud enough for the result to be overheard. Regardless of which team is ranked higher, anything could happen during the Iron Bowl. With Alabama having a shot at playing for the BCS championship, we were pulling for Alabama to win. I am an Auburn fan, but having been out of the state for so many years, I will pull for either team if there is a chance at a championship. This concept is foreign to anyone that hasn't been away from the state for so long. Everyone else wants to see their team crush the dreams of the other side - every year. Two years ago I pulled for Alabama and they won the national championship. Last year I pulled for Auburn and they won the national championship. I'm hoping to be three for three when the dust settles this year.
A friend from high school opened a coffee shop, so we stopped by to see how she was doing. It was good to see her business venture and catch up for while. The kids got slushies and she made Shelli and me her signature frozen mocha. Neither Shelli or I like coffee at all, but this frozen mocha was really good. We let Michael and John try it and they liked it so much we decided to come back and bring my mother the next day for round two. Thanks to the Hole in the Wall Coffee Shop for best frozen mochas around!
Another friend from high school and her husband stopped by to visit and check out the RV. It was really good to catch up. A couple more friends tried to meet up, but the time was so compressed with all the family Thanksgiving events for each of us, it didn't work out. Time was up, and it was time to press on with the last big adventure leg of our trip.
We are Florida bound!
