Finally

Where has the time gone? It seems like it was only yesterday that we toured Jack Daniel’s Distillery and updated our blog entry but here we are, weeks after. Our trip down from Jack’s was uneventful, thank heavens and we rolled in at 7:30PM, a bit later than we would have liked. Excited to be in our second home but we find the rig did not summer well. Our caretaker did more than expected but we had some battery problems and we could not open all the slides. He had gotten the bedroom slide out earlier but the other slides would not budge. So we loaded our food stuff into the fridge and headed out for a quick dinner and to pick up a couple of new batteries – we still abide by the rule that we do not cook on a travel day. Once we got back, we unloaded what we needed and hit the sack!

Wednesday breaks with lots of sunshine and warm weather – oh hurray! Our first job is to check the rig out from top to bottom to see what needs first attention – the batteries are in rough shape. Even after topping off the water in each cell, they would not give us enough power to move the other 2 slides. So, we replace 2 of the 4 batteries and the slides zip out and we’re back to our comfort! Since we had all the batteries out, now would be a good time to renovate the battery tray and mechanism – after the slides were put out of course! So much to do, wash the roof, wash the sides and clean up the gardens and walkway. The Wisteria was damaged beyond repair during a sever storm last April and has to be taken out – it did grow crazily, in just the summer, it had branches grow under the rig from the back to the front landing gear, about 40 feet!

With the help of our friends and being back at the Plantation, it does not take long to get back into the rhythm of the activities in the park. Our first ‘big event was dinner at Larry and Marti’s to celebrate Larry’s

birthday. Larry grilled while Marti put together all the other dishes – of course, Bill & I had to supervise. After dinner, Marti broke out one of Jack Daniel’s finest whiskeys to cap off the celebration. Thank goodness our wives are non drinkers and helped us walk back to our rigs safely!

Barb set up her sewing area and continues to work on a couple of projects she had been working on back home in Ontario. We brought down a small Inuksuk and placed it in the garden under the Magnolia tree. The Sago Palms have had a wonderful growth through the summer and will needed to be trimmed and the young'uns removed.

We will be celebrating the US Thanksgiving here with a pot luck dinner at the club house. We’ll be sitting with about 200 other Escapees and always proves to be fun. Barb helps Marti & Ann to decorate and set up our table early and we converge on the event around 1:30PM for a 2PM start. This gives us time for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres - just what we need, more food! After, Larry & Marti came back to our place for more of the same, beverages and nibblies!

The day after – black Friday – was a busy day, 8 of us were off to Big Daddy’s for lunch then onto Mobile to view the Spanish Galeon moored at the Gulf Quest National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico. It was an amazing vessel that a crew sails around to various venues. I can’t imagine what it was like on the high seas back in the day.

This tour took us to dusk and then we were off to view the Christmas Nights of Lights at the Hank Aaron stadium. It’s a drive through light display that is synchronised to the music of a local radio station that you tune to the radio in your vehicle. It was one of the better light displays we have seen.

The next day we washed the rig, roof first and then we managed to get about half of the sides completed before we both ran outta gas! We’ll finish it up tomorrow. But, enough for now, we are entering December and will be decorating for the Christmas season.

Come back again….