The Ray Adventures

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Pensacola, Fl. 2/26 - 3/5 2015

We are still in Pensacola, we decided to stay here until we leave for Indiana. We've enjoyed the Recreation area, so many trails to walk, we are able to let Luci off leash to run some of the stuffing out of her. The roads wind through pine forests, disc golf courses, paintball field, a WWII airstrip and  along the beach of Perdido Bay.

Thursday, Feb. 26th. I had a bunch of errands to run, thank goodness for GPS, since I don't drive much and have such a lousy sense of direction, I'd never made it back to camp. I ended up at the Mall to get my glasses adjusted, the traffic was worse, if you can imagine, than Lancaster Drive in Salem. I saw the funniest thing when we got home, Gary was talking to our neighbor, he had a Patriot hat on and Gary had his Super Bowl Seahawk hat on. No comments were made not even a "thank you". Best of all, we had re-runs for dinner.

Friday, Feb. 27th, We headed off to Tarkiln Bayou State Preserve, essentially right next to Blue Angel Recreation Area, 4,200 acres of rare and endangered plants and wetlands bordering Perdido Bay. There was a string of 11 geo caches in the park we wanted to "find". We took the 7.9 Tarkiln Bayou trail, traversing ponds of water in what should have been the trail. Since we were the only people in the parking lot we broke a couple of rules, we let Luci off leash and let her play on the beach. It seems like all the beaches in Florida do not allow dogs. While we out on the beach Gary ran across a weather balloon at the edge of the forest. The balloon part was in shreds, inside the instrument was a plastic bag for you to return it to NOAA National Weather Service in Kansas City, Missouri. The trails took us to the point of the park with beautiful views of the bay and Blue Recreation area. We weren't smart enough to take snacks or water, we were beat after 4 hours of hiking. Towards the end of the hike Gary asked me how I was doing, I told him I kept hearing a scraping noise, turned out it was just my behind dragging the ground. We took Luci back to the coach, Gary was hankering for pizza and beer, after missteps by Miss Sally (GPS) we found Bella Luna on Perdido Key. Pretty tasty especially since we were so hungry and thirsty. Since it was 3 o'clock when we ate we skipped dinner.

Saturday Feb. 28th, We wanted to tour Pensacola's historic downtown village, Gary thought Saturday would be a good day, less traffic and better parking. Wrong. Pensacom and the Color Run were happening. Pensacom, from what I understand, is a convention where people come in costumes of comic book characters or sci fi. It was especially well attended, Leonard Nimoy's death was just announced. The Color 5 K Run/ Walk is a Pensacola tradition, the participates dress in crazy costumes, several men were wearing tu-tu's, the crowd throws colored powder at them. Anyway it was pretty crazy downtown but we were able to find a parking spot near the village. We took a guided walking tour of two houses and Old Christ Church ,built in 1832  that continues to hold events and meetings, a wedding was scheduled at 4:00. The oldest home was built in 1805 while most of them were built in the mid to late 1800's. After the tour we had lunch at Carmen's Lunch bar, more like "linner" it was about 3:00.

Sunday, Feb. 28th, Big day we cleaned and did laundry. After the coach was clean from stem to stern we took Luci on a 3 1/2 mile walk. After dinner she started reverse sneezing, we thought she might have snorted something up her nose, being the hysterical pet parents we are we almost took her to the emergency vet, thankfully she stopped before we spent big $$$$'s.

Monday, Mar. 1st, Woke up to Luci "sneezing" again. We took her to a close by vet we really like, she didn't try to run up the bill with expensive tests and x-rays, she thought it might be an upper respiratory infection. Luckily Luci had some sneezing fits while we were there. She seems a bit lethargic but of course still wants to go walking. It looks like the drugs are starting to help.

Tuesday, Mar. 2nd. I took Gary out to the National Naval Aviation Museum while I had a facial. MMMMMMMMMMMMMM it was wonderful I look years younger! Then I joined Gary at the museum for lunch, the restaurant and bar are a replica of WWII bars in the Philippines. Gary had been wandering all over the museum getting coordinates for a multi-cache. After lunch we took in the Pensacola lighthouse, established in 1824 it is still a working lighthouse. Gary climbed the 177 steps to the top.  He couldn't see much it was quite foggy that day. Gary took Luci on a long walk with our "neighbor" Dan, a very chatty character, and his dog, later we enjoyed adult beverages by the campfire.

Wednesday, Mar. 3rd,the weather has been lovely all week, tomorrow the forecast is for another cold front to arrive. In the afternoon we decided to do some geo caching, since Gary had the coordinates for the second part of the multi we were able to pick that one up. We visited Fort Barrancas on the bluff overlooking Pensacola Bay, work on the site began around 1719, enlarged several times over the years under 5 different nationalities, Spanish, French, British, Confederacy and now the US.

That's it for this week, enjoy the pic's.

TTFN

Gary and Pam

Sunset on Perdido Bay from our RV spot

Dropping down

Sending weather instrument back to KS

One of many pelicans in the area

Our guide Phoebe

Lavelle house built in 1805

Inside Old Christ Church

Old Christ church built in 1832

Downtown historic Pensacola, reminds us of the French Quarter architecture

Phoebe said Pensacola is older than St. Augustine, supposedly oldest city in US

Our spot at Blue Angel see 12 flag on cactus, spurs a lot of conversations

Pensacola Lighthouse

Just a few of the 177 steps

View from top in the fog

Pelican at the lighthouse

Pelican on NAS Pensacola

A National Historic site

Great spot for shooting cannons at ships

Gary looking for pirates

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Robertsdale, Al. to Penscacola, Fl

We are staying at Wilderness RV park just outside Robertsdale, Alabama, it feels like we are camping at one of our favorite spots near Sisters, Oregon. Four families of us, took our kids, dogs and adult beverages, enjoying many weekends alongside Jack Creek in the pine forest. The difference being we have full hook-ups and less dirt.

Thursday, Feb. 19th, We had picked up a brochure in Theodore. Al about a crazy diner named De-Railed Diner at a travel center along I-10. As we took our exit to Wilderness RV Park we noticed the diner on the other side of the interstate, So after getting settled we decided to go to lunch there. It was built to resemble a dining car that had run "amuck". One section inside did look like a dining car, our area was quite eclectic. The lunch counter stools were a mix of saddles, motorcycle seats and tractor seats. Another area, the tables were the tailgates of pick-up trucks. Two Alabama ladies were seated next to us, they had driven down from Northern Alabama to see BamaHedge, somewhere near us. They said it looked like Stone Hedge in England. According to them it wasn't worth the drive. We enjoyed talking with them about Alabama "sites", I quizzed them about the Lost Luggage place in Scottsboro, Al. near Huntsville, we plan to stop on our way north, they said the place is huge. Gary wasn't real brave, he had a Ruben sandwich, I tried the chicken, rice and beans. Good grief it came with two sides and cornbread that was heavy as a piece of cake. Needless to say a lot of it went home with me. The weather was cooperating, sunshine and not freezing *** cold so we picked up a string of 16 geo caches on the way back to the coach.

Friday, Feb. 20th, It got very cold during the night, down into the 20's. Brrrr. I sent Gary off to the USS Alabama, a battleship in Mobile Bay. The Alabama was launched in 1942, mothballed in Bremerton, Wa. in 1947 then towed 5600 miles down to Mobile Bay in 1964. The site also includes 25 airplanes, Korean and Viet Nam war memorials, tanks, artillery pieces and a submarine. He spent about 5 hours in the Memorial Park. I was very happy to stay behind, for one, I was warm and I was able to do some cleaning without him underfoot. After I finished my chores I started my new quilt project.

Saturday, Feb. 21st., Gary's sister Carol's70th birthday! Happy Birthday Carol. The weather was a little bit better so we took Luci off to day care and went to downtown Mobile. We headed towards Oakleigh a mansion in one of the historic districts in the city. Tours were given on the hour, we had some time to spare so we ate lunch at the Kitchen on George, just a couple of blocks away from the mansion. We chose it because it was close, the other restaurant was a cupcake and coffee café. The place was packed with a whole bunch of very loud women. It turns out it is a training restaurant for culinary students at Virginia College in Mobile, the staff of professional chefs provide a learning lab and teaching establishment for wanna be chefs. Oakleigh was started in 1833 by James Roper a wealthy Mobile merchant. The furnishings are period pieces, very few of the Roper's belongings survived the Civil War. Two ladies gave the tour, Debbie, a member of Historic Mobile Preservation Society gave us the background and showed us the first floor, then a debutante, an "Oakleigh" girl gave the second floor tour. The girls, seniors in high school are chosen for their grades and community involvement. Our next stop was Fort Conde, which served as a administrative and military center for the Louisiana Territory, a scale model of the 1700 fort served French, Spanish and English troops. There was a Welcome Center inside, an overzealous volunteer filled us in on the history, I think my eyes glazed over after hearing about all the battles and who took over from who. A history buff would have loved him. We had to hurry across the bay to pick up Luci at daycare before they closed at 5:00. Besides having a very tired dog, there was no charge for the first visit to the daycare. What a deal!

Sunday, Feb. 22 We dropped Luci at Doggie Day Care so we could have some "alone" time, the weather was warm (ish) and sunny so we couldn't leave her in the car for an extended period of time. We drove down Scenic Drive Hwy 98 to Gulf Shores and Ft. Morgan Peninsula. We wanted to stop at Fort Morgan last week but the ferry from Dauphin Island to the peninsula was out of order. On our way down we drove through Old Town Daphne, Fairhope and Point Clear, there were many historic homes and businessses along the way. We wanted to see the Grand Hotel in Fairhope but Marriott is now the owner and you need to be registered to get through the gates. Gulf Shores is the tourist destination in Alabama, we passed through on our way to Ft. Morgan built in 1812 to guard the ship channel into Mobile Bay. Deactivated after the Civil War it was reactivated in 1941 until after WWII. It certainly is not handicapped accessible, most of the stairs were very steep and the rise was about 4 inches taller than modern day steps. Gary scampered up them like a billy goat but I stopped to admire the scenery on my way. The scenery was beautiful, we could see Dauphin Island across the channel, oil rigs close to shore and cargo ships entering and leaving the bay. On our way back we picked up 7 geo caches, having to cheat on one. A cache was located at the office of the National Wildlife Reguge, we were about to give up when the ranger came along. We felt so stupid, the cache was in a fake pine cone in the landscaping. Oh Well! We stopped at Tacky Jacks Grill right on the water, it was nice enough to sit outside. We had to scurry back to Daphe to pick up Luci before 5. We had them give her a bath just before we picked her up. The day care was free again, with a bath there is no charge. Whoopee!

Monday, Feb. 23rd, It drizzled in the night with more rain in the forecast. It is moving day for us, we drove a whole 30 miles to Blue Angel Fam Camp outside of Pensacola off base Naval Air Station Pensacola. We took the secondary roads through the country, mostly flat farm land. Located along side Perdido Bay we think it must have been a seaplane base in it's day, there were several ramps to the water and tie downs in the large concrete pad. Lots of activities here, boat and paddleboard rentals, 18 hole disc golf course, horseshoes, bike rentals, paintball, fitness trails and even (our favorite) mini golf. After setting up we drove into town to pick up our mail, it has been several weeks since we've stayed one spot to get the mail sent. Located in historic downtown, the area reminded us of New Orleans with the wrought iron railings on the second floor balconies. We picked up our first Florida geo cache along the pier in the marina, we've now picked up caches in 23 states and 3 countries. We stopped at the commissary on the way back to the coach, I was trying a new recipe and I needed kale. The dish was browned hot Italian

Our space at Paynes in Theodore

Luci keeping warm in front of furnace vent

Calamity Jane at USS Alabama Memorial Park

USS Alabama on Mobile Bay

The guns USS Alabama

A-12

Another view USS Alabama

Front of Oakleigh Mansion

Our "upstairs" tour guide

Fort Conde downtown Mobile

Breezeway into Fort Morgan

Brick archways inside fort Morgan

Steep stairs

View of ship leaving Mobile Bay from Ft. Morgan

Space Capsule at National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacole

View inside museum of many exhibits and planes

Blue Angels Planes hanging from ceiling

The only plane of it's kind

The dreaded A-6, Scared the dickens out of me a long time ago flying low over Banks Lake, Wa

Sunrise over pond in Theodore, Al.

sausage, charred and split grape tomatoes with rigatoni, ricotta and of course the kale. Delish! Next time I'll cut the calories if I can find hot turkey sausage. The weather is turning nasty again, the wind is up and raining.

Tuesday, Feb. 24th, We walked about 3 miles picking up geo caches, then hopped on our bikes to get some that were out of walking distance, probably 3 or 4 miles. By the time we got back it was freezing *** cold. Time to hunker down for the night. The town of Pensacola, established in 1688, has a population of 52,000 at an elevation of 39 feet. Most of the town looks like a typical military town, lots of pawn shops and bail bondsmen. Many, many marina's in the area, the bay is beautiful and lovely white sandy beaches.

Wednesday, Feb. 25th, It is our first granddaughter Alyssa's 26th birthday today, Happy Birthday Alyssa. We are going to the National Naval Aviation Museum, the largest in the world. It traces the history of aviation from the beginning to present, including a space capsule. The Blue Angels train in Pensacola so of course there are the A-4 Skyhawks suspended from the ceiling. It was a good day to be inside, they forecast 1-2 inches of rain with temps climbing all the way to 41. The weather is supposed to start improving tomorrow with 70's by the week-end. Thoroughly cold by the time we got home I made homemade chili and biscuits. Warmed up the bellies.

That's all for this week, enjoy the pic's,

TTFN

Gary and Pam

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Gulfport, Mississipi, Theodore, Alabama and Robertsdale Alabama

Well it seems we have a knack for finding unseasonably cold weather. The temps have been up and down, when it's good it's very good, when it's bad it's very, very bad. Meanwhile our friends in Rockport are lounging around the pool. No matter what the weather we feel blessed to be living our life on the road. The Carnival season ended Fat Tuesday with parades all over the south. We skipped going to the parade it's just too cold, there were many revelers downtown Mobile in spite of the temperatures and wind. In the south schools were closed most of this last week. We were curious, do they get a spring break too?

Tuesday, Feb. 10th, I spent the morning getting my blog (s)out, in the afternoon we drove down to Biloxi to see the sights. The town is quite a tourist area with numerous casinos and resorts. On our way back to Shields we stopped at Beauvoir, the last home of the first and only Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The Presidential Library/Museum and home were extensively damaged by Hurricane Katrina, so much so the library and museum were beyond repair. A 24 foot tidal surge hit the home which has an elevation of 20 feet, they had a 4 foot flood throughout the house. All the furnishings, which were original from the Jefferson  days had to be completely cleaned and or restored. The pine floors held up well but had to be refurbished, the antiques had to be restored, they didn't say how much it cost to fix everything, but our tour guide did say it cost over $4,000 just to repair the grandfather clock. Of course I enjoyed seeing a crazy quilt made by Mrs. Davis for her daughter. The Presidential Library and museum was rebuilt, which also must have cost a fortune. Originally on over 3,000 acres, now has 51 which includes a cemetery and animals running around.

Wednesday, Feb. 11th. A beautiful warm day with only a light breeze, since we were going to be on lock down because of security training we decided to wash the coach and Jeep. Many neighbors offered to let us wash their rigs too. Later in the evening we found a tick on Luci, icky, Stacy told us how to remove them, we tried but she wouldn't hold still.  We applied her flea and tick treatment, it was time for the monthly application. I hated the thought of sleeping with a tick. (No Gary didn't have any ticks)

Thursday, Feb. 12th, As soon as we could leave the base we took Luci to a walk-in veterinary clinic to have the tick removed, $25.00 but money well spent. The flea "stuff" must have worked, the technician that removed it said that it was dead. We missed having Beignets in New Orleans, we heard Triplett and Day Drug and Soda fountain in downtown Gulfport makes them. Delish! They make them out of their biscuit dough, fry them then douse them in powdered sugar. We didn't realize they were so big, we both got an order, 2 HUGE beignets for each of us. We had been warned not to inhale while eating. I guess it give you the coughing fits for quite a while afterwards. We skipped lunch, they really stuck to our ribs (and butt too). Once in a lifetime is enough though, I'd hate to get hooked on them. I have enough vices without adding one more. Just up the road from Gulfport, in Biloxi, is Keesler AFB, we decided to check out their fam camp and commissary. We are so glad we chose to stay at Shields it is so much nicer.

Friday, Feb. 13th, No bad luck for us today. We drove back to Biloxi to the visitor center. They had some beautiful costumes for King and Queen of Krewe on display. We heard some of them cost $5,000 to make. We had lunch at the Hard Rock Café and Casino, I had a delicious Portobello veggie sandwich, Gary ate a burger that was a specialty of the house. We didn't gamble, we normally don't but since it was Friday the 13th we didn't want to try our luck. Poor Luci, she was cooped up all morning so we took her to the dog park on base, no other dogs were there but she chased some balls to amuse us.

Saturday, Feb. 14th, Happy Valentine's Day! While Gary was at the dog park with Luci I puttered around. He was so sweet he brought flowers back. Not from the park . I tried to go downtown to pick up a special dessert for dinner but the streets were blocked off for the Mardi Gras parade, not being familiar with the town to go the back way I headed back. I barbecued some Baby Back Ribs for Gary for dinner, I smoked them for 3 hours then bbq'd on low for another 2, fresh asparagus, twice baked potatoes and sautéed mushrooms to round out dinner. Champagne too of course.

Sunday, Feb. 15th, Another beautiful day, we busied ourselves getting ready for our move to Theodore, Alabama tomorrow. We took Luci to the dog park, this time there were several other dogs there for her to play with. Nothing better than a tired dog.

Monday, Feb. 16th, We left base around our usual time 10 but fueled up first. Regular unleaded was $2.10 and diesel was $2.39. The price of gas has gone up, it seems silly to complain about having to pay over $2.00 a gallon for gas. We were meeting Ron and Sharon Espersen across Biloxi Bay in Ocean Springs, they are riding their bicycles from St. Augustine, Florida to San Diego. Our timing was perfect for us to connect with them for lunch. We parked the coach in an elementary school parking lot (no school until Thursday) drove into the quaint downtown area with lots of eateries, boutiques and antiques. We at Mosiac Tapas, they seemed to be out of everything due to Mardi Gras parties and changing up their menu. Gary and Ron had 2 for 1 beers while Sharon and I enjoyed their water. We just about left to find another restaurant when, voila, they managed to come up with the food for our order. Pretty tasty but pretty much a comedy of errors. Ocean Springs has a population of about 17,000, with an elevation of 22 ft,   During lunch Sharon mentioned to Gary she needed to find a bike shop for Chamois Butt'e (known to bikers as butt butter), Gary made her day, he went back to the coach to get her a tube. She was pretty happy. While Gary was gone Sharon and I checked out the boutiques while Ron watched the bikes. Cute things, it's a good thing we didn't have more time. We spent about 2 hours with them but had to say our good-byes to head off to Theodore, Al. and they were going to spend 2 nights in Biloxi and maybe catch a parade. We got to Paynes RV Park, out in the country, about 2:30, let's just say it's a "rustic"park. It's okay we'll only be here 2 nights and we have stayed in worse places. Our view is a pond filled with ducks and geese. We made a quick trip into the visitor center just before closing. Sweet lady, she was so helpful.

Tuesday, Feb. 17th, Very cold and breez but seemingly not as windy as forecast, we loaded up Luci and headed to Bellingrath Home and Gardens set on 65 acres about 8 miles down the road from Payne's. When we pulled into a nearly empty parking lot we spotted a Jeep with Oregon plates, we are always on the look out for fellow Oregonians. The lady in the gift shop said we were only the second couple in that day and the other couple was from Portland. Walter Bellingrath, the second Coca Cola distributor and his wife Bessie created Belle Camp in 1917. Did you ever wonder where the term soda pop came from. Mr. B. coined the term because of the sound the bottle made when taking the cap of. Who knew? Originally a fishing camp they hired a architect to turn it into a country estate. There were over 2,000 varieties of roses in the garden, too bad they weren't in bloom. There were tulips, daffodils, camellia bushes and magnolia trees in glorious color, especially in comparison to the sky. The house 10,000 square feet with 15 rooms plus a basement was built using bricks dating back to 1853 and iron works salvaged from historic structures in the 1870's. It is completely furnished with the antiques and collectibles collected by Mrs. Bellingrath. Our tour guide Paula told us she had so many sets of China Mrs. B. and the butler would go down to the basement to every morning to pick out 3 different sets of china for the day. Well I have one lovely set of trailer china. (paper plates)and I don't have to go down to the basement to choose.
Basically the home and gardens were untouched by Hurricane Katrina. We met up with the couple from Portland at the house, we had a little time before the tour started so we had a nice visit with them. We were the only ones on the tour, after we finished the garden tour and had a nice lunch with them in the cafeteria.   They are on their way to Florida to catch up with a Caravan tour that will take them down as far as the keys. We left Bellingrath gardens to go out to Dauphin Island to catch the ferry across to see the historic Ft.Morgan on the tip of the peninsula. We took a 3 mile bridge across the Intercoastal Waterway then hoped to catch the ferry across Mobile Bay to the fort. Well wouldn't you know, the ferries were having maintenance done. So we went to Ft. Gaines, on the opposite tip of the bay, a historic fort that was the scene of civil war and Spanish American war conflicts. Gary went inside for the walking tour, me I "wussed" out, Luci and I picked up a geo cache on the grounds then sat in the car with the heater on. We drove through a residential area right on the beach, all the homes were built on stilts. There was public access to the beach so Luci got to run in the sand and of course roll.

Wednesday, Feb. 18th We left Theodore for our long drive, a whopping 43 miles through Mobile, across the bay to Wilderness RV park in Robertsdale, Alabama. It a fairly nice park, located in a forested area BUT we are able to get satellite. The sky is beautiful blue with the breeze that cuts right through you. I thought a nice nap was in order since we had such an arduous drive.

Whew, so far so good, no major boo-boo's. Enjoy the pictures!

TTFN

Gary and Pam