Traveling Home In Real-Time - #78

We left Bay Hide Away yesterday morning, just before 10 a.m. We sadly bade our goodbyes but look forward to a fun road-trip and hopefully uneventful journey home. 

As problem-free as our first winter was, we seem to have had many issues this year; most were small. I try not to dwell on and let things stress me out; I’ll often say to Charlie -“it’s just money; these things can be repaired.” In just the day prior to leaving - our “check engine” light in our truck went on - again, the toilet in the trailer overflowed ( fresh water), and we discovered our trailer electromagnetic brake controller switch had fallen off and was no where to be found! 

Our truck had been in for service several times for the check engine; everything has been checked - so we’re just sure at this point it’s just an issue with the sensor. The truck rides great. 

 The toilet seems to be fine now; increased water pressure might have been the culprit or the lever just got stuck - however - we take no chances and shut off the water when we’re away and at night. 

And as for the brake controller - this is for the trailer; if for some reason it disconnects from the truck when towed, this switch locks the wheels and prevents it from rolling backwards. We were able to ascertain the wheels were not in “brake mode” and could move freely, so as long as we don’t lose the trailer on the road, we’ll be fine until we pick up another switch. 

The first leg of our trip was 161 miles east, all the way on Route 10 -  Milton, FL; this is in the Pensacola area. We are spending two nights at Avalon RV Park. We arrived early, around 12:30 p.m. and had the whole day to relax. We actually enjoyed watching TV again as we  have not had regular TV at our campground for 5 mos.

Today, Sunday, April 2nd - we had a full day! In the morning we visited the local Flea Market- nothing particularly great;  in the afternoon we went kayaking at our rv park. We “ rented” the kayaks for the afternoon at a bargain basement price of $5.00 each!!! Yup! Five Dollars! It was really enjoyable! 

Tomorrow morning, we hook up again and head to Tallahassee, FL; we’ll be spending 2 days there as well and finally be returning to EST. Again, our travels take us all the way east on Route 10; easy drive.  I guess we’ll see what trouble we can get into in Tallahassee!

The Winter In Review - #77

Today is our last Sunday in Mississippi: we leave next Saturday, April 1st - heading east, then north. We estimate being home Thursday, April 20th.  We are a little sad to leave; we love our Gulf Coast home! 

Our travel is planned, reservations confirmed. We’ve gradually been reorganizing, packing up, discarding -    preparing for getting back on the road. We have eleven stops along the way.  

 

We had a wonderful winter! Weather wise, we certainly had a lot of rain, some wild thunderstorms (even today!) and a sprinkling of colder days, but for the most part, we were outside! 

There is a lot to do and see on the Gulf Coast. If you have never been, you are missing a beautiful part of our country! We had so much fun visiting the towns dotting the coastline, learning about the area and immersing ourselves in our community. We visited many different venues - from art galleries, model train and plane museums, the space center, lots of casinos and southern historical sites…

Sculpture in BSL

Hancock County Beach

 

Beauvoir

Ohr-O’Keefe Museum 

                                 Antiquing 

                   Beautiful Old Live Oak

We loved having our family visit, even though that particular week Charlie and I were not at our best. I’m hoping they’ll join us in Bandera next winter, too. 

We celebrated Mardi Gras! This is serious business in the south! We learned the history, traditions and enjoyed “participating” in the BSL parade - despite the black eye I received after getting hit in the face with a heavy set of beads thrown from one of the floats. I even bought a King Cake to take home! 

King Cake 

Our friends Ellen and Yori surprised us with their impromptu vacay to Biloxi! We had a blast and celebrated Yori’s special birthday! At 65, he’s the baby in the group. They really enjoyed their visit and were surprised at how pretty and friendly this area of the country is!

We loved our campground- Bay Hideaway! We had a comfortable site, enjoyed the activities and met a lot of really great people. For a smaller campground - it had everything we could want! 

 

We made some really cool crafts - both at the libraries and our campground - tie dyed shirts and flag, Mardi Gras decorations, jewel painting, rock painting and jewelry making. 

  

We celebrated our 25th anniversary on Valentines Day! Our campground hosts made a wonderful Valentines Day dinner for all the campers; we were serenaded by Michael, one of our camping friends ( a former opera singer as well as our yoga instructor!) 

We met up with cousins Sally and Jerry again yesterday - also RVing in Gulfport for the winter; they treated us to a wonderful lunch at Island View Casino!

 We had our final Bingo, last Mexican Train and  Left-Right-Center games. Tomorrow morning- we join another camping couple for breakfast at their favorite spot and hopefully- we can fit in a few more things we enjoy by Friday. Wednesday is the final snowbirds barbecue by our camp hosts which should be amazing, as is every meal they’ve prepared! 

Needless to say, we did have our challenging and costly moments. Just after arriving in November, we had a flat tire on the trailer, had to replace our trailer roof, and needed to bring our truck in several times for service. Certain things we do not mess around with; we need to make sure everything is in the best working order as possible to reduce the possibility of problems on the road. 

Leaks are no fun!

Last but not least, our camping cat, Minnie, had a great winter! She actually caught a mouse the other day when she was outside in the tent!

                Recuperating after the mouse ordeal 

We are on the road again in just few more days!  When we return home from our winter adventures - our world feels so much larger. Winter in Mississippi is now a part of us, a great memory. We hope to make more for as long as we can! To be continued…