Something Fishy, Luau, & Elvis Is In The Building!

Yesterday morning David was up early and down at the lake fishing. Morgan, being a typical teenager, slept in. When she had finally woke up and discovered her Dad had gone fishin without her - well! Off she went so she could catch up. Total so far - David - 15, Morgan - 10. Maybe she'll pass him today. She is doing really good for a beginner - putting worms on the hook and even taking the fish off. More than I would do!

The afternoon was a lazy one. Sitting in the gazebo just watching the world go by and talking. Oh, I should have said watching the coaches roll in. Some really big ones too! Morgan and I played a couple of games of backgammon - she beat me - beginners luck.

At 5pm the Luau began at the clubhouse. The food was very good and the pig was delicious. Around 6pm Elvis was to make his appearance on the pool deck but mother nature had other ideas. Just as he was getting started in rolled a severe thunderstorm. No problem, we just moved back into the clubhouse and had a great evening's entertainment. The gentleman who did the Elvis impersonation is the assistant principle at Foley High School. His name is Shane Tucker and his web site is www.elvisatthegulf.com if your interested. What fun those kids must have with him.

Elvis was great - doing three era's of his music in three hours. Of course there was the handing out of the sweat scarves and the some of the ladies, no, not me, went crazy. You would have thought it was Elvis re-incarnated. He did sing to Morgan and gave her a scarf and later gave her a teddy bear. I know she was embarrassed but she was gracious and smiled. After the show I took her picture with Elvis. It's posted on Facebook and I'll be posting it at Picasa soon.

So ended another day of fun, food and relaxation here at Bella Terra. I think Lulu's is on tap for this afternoon - yummy!

Come on back when you can and thanks for stopping by.

Oops, haven't posted this yet so figured I'd come back and catch up with today. It has been a lazy one with continental breakfast at the club house then Mimosa's at 11. The storm clouds have been around and forming into small storms but have missed us till around noon. Then we got a little rain and it has continued off and on most of the day.

Around 1:30 we went to Lulu's and after a 45 min. wait got a table by the water. Actually that was pretty quick for a holiday weekend. The food was as good as usual. We are back at Bella Terra now and David and Morgan are at the lake fishing. This evening will be relaxing, as has the whole weekend been.

Nothing on tap for tomorrow. Breakfast in then David and Morgan will depart for Montgomery. We will be staying till Tuesday when we move back to Coastal Haven for a couple of weeks.

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend, I know we did. Please remember to pray for our troops! Till next time.......

Bella Terra Motorcoach Resort

We have been looking forward to this weekend for quite awhile and it has finally arrived.

Reservations at Bella Terra Motorcoach Resort had been made awhile back and David and Morgan were set to join us.

We left Emmaus RV Resort around 11 am and arrived here about 11:30. We had all of about 12 miles to travel - long day huh? The gals at check in were waiting for us and greeted us like they had known us a long time. Sure did make you feel welcome right off. We were shown to our site, which is one of the first sites you come to, right across from the pool and clubhouse.

Our site for four nights is, well, wow! One of the nicest sites we have ever parked on. Nice wide pads and patio's and ours (being a owned site) has a screened in gazebo and a out door kitchen. There is a really nice patio set in the gazebo and a smaller one out on the patio. Of course, the site is a full hookup including cable and the park has free wifi. The only thing else I could want would be some shade but the enclosed gazebo makes up for that.

David and Morgan arrived around 4pm - just in time for Happy Hour at the clubhouse. Wine and cheese is what were were told but when we got there they had a long table of all kinds of cheese, crackers, cheese balls, pigs in a blanket and more along with a keg of beer, soft drinks, wine and some mixed drinks.

It didn't take long for Morgan to decide she wanted to swim and her and her Daddy were off to change and into the pool. They do have a beautiful pool here. You can see it in some of the pictures I've posted at Picasa.

Later we had dinner, in the gazebo, and then they went off to fish in the lake. It is a freshly stocked lake so not many big fish yet but that didn't stop them. We were told that they had stocked bass and bream, not sure about that spelling. David caught three and poor Miss Morgan didn't catch any, well, not quite - there was the one that made it to the bank by holding onto the worm then dropped off and swam away!
You know the story - the fish that got away - LOL!

Today promises to be another great day. David has already taken off to the lake with pole in hand. Morgan and Dean are still sleeping and I'm just enjoying the cool morning air.

I'll update again soon as tonight is Luau night at the clubhouse complete with pig roast and after we eat Elvis will be in the house! Should be a night of lots of fun!

Emmaus RV Park, Summerdale, AL

With a new wind sensor on the awning, new rear jacks and a new slide tray in the basement we left Carpenters in Pensacola on Friday morning heading for S. Alabama.

Our good friends Anne & Henry Goldman are doing park inspections for Trailer Life Directory in Alabama this year. They recommended that we check out a brand new park that technically isn't open yet. I called and was told to come on over so that's where we are parked.

The name of the park is Emmaus RV Park or Emmaus Motorcoach Resort, I'm not totally sure as they don't have a sign up yet. I do know that for now any type of RV is welcome and someday they would like to make it a motorcoach resort. Their web site is: www.emmauspark.com

We selected a site that had some shade but a clear view of the southwest sky so we could get satellite. The first thing we noticed, for this site, is that with a 40' coach, the space for backing in was tight without running over their grass or doing a lot of maneuvering. Some of the sites would be a lot easier as they are angled with the road.

The patio is great! Just about any type RV parked here would have no problem lining the door up with the patio.

We started to put our awning out and oops - a cedar tree was in the way. No problem, they came over and cut it down. The owners said they knew that they would have to remove more trees but at this point were not sure which ones would be in the way.

When finished, this will be a nice park. As of now there are still a few things that need to be done in order to bring in the masses. The first being a bath house! It is in the planning but not started yet, along with laundry. Next is a club house - any group, be it snowbirds, family or RV clubs would desire the use of a club house.

They have long range plans for more sites along with a pond, cabins, swimming pool etc. Just how long it will take till these are finished, time will tell. The plans for these amenities are on their web site at www.emmauspark.com

If you like being out in the country, this park will be for you. It is definitely in the country and is very quiet. Although, we drove to Wal-Mart in Foley today and discovered it was only 10 miles one way. Not to bad. To Winn Dixie in Robertsdale I believe it's about 6 miles one way. So, you have the peace and quiet of the country with the convenience of shopping not to far away. The beach is probably about a 20 - 30 min. drive depending on traffic.

I am posting some pictures I took this morning at Picasa. Go take a look and let me know what you think. My comment box is now back open.

Montgomery, AL

I believe I left you when were were in Gulfport, MS. Well, we have moved on. Our first stop was in Mobile, AL at Freightliner for a oil change etc. We then moved on to Pensacola, FL to Carpenters (again). OK, so I got my new microwave/convection installed but still no jacks. It seems that HWH is behind in production, so we are still waiting for rear jacks! We stayed overnight and the next morning when I went to bring in the door awning I hit the big awning button by mistake. Good thing, it seems the sensor went bad and the awning would not go out! I'm beginning to think something that Dean used to say applies to motorhomes. He would say that a boat is a hole in the water in which you pour your money. Well, maybe a motorhome is a spot on the road in which you do the same! Always something. OK, so sensor is on order and we drove to Montgomery, AL for a couple of weeks.

We haven't been here since last Fall so we were due a visit. It has also given us time to get stuff out of the motorhome that we want to put in storage. You know, if you haven't used it in a year....except we're not getting rid of it, just storing it.

We also were here for our granddaughter Morgan's 13th birthday. It was so nice celebrating it with her. I took her shopping a few days before her birthday at one of her favorite stores, Aeropostle (I think that is how it is spelled). After shopping we went to lunch and out to visit her Dad (he was working). A very enjoyable afternoon with Morgan. I don't get to do that often enough.

We made arrangements today to have four new tires put on the back of the bus. We had two new ones put on the front last year and the back ones are due. Look out pocketbook! Ouch. We will have them installed the day we leave to go back to Carpenters, yes, our jacks and sensor are in!

David cooked one of my favorite meals on his new grill for Mothers Day. A eye round roast done on the spit. It was yummy. Since that was also Morgans birthday we had her favorites, mac-n-cheese and lima beans. Of course there were birthday cupcakes along with a pretty heart shape cake for me. Sorry but I have no pictures, forgot my camera. It was in the car but it was parked at Suze's.

We have a week left before we leave and I'm not sure what we will be doing. I'm sure meeting Suze for lunch will happen and spending time with David and Morgan this weekend is for sure. Other than that we have no plans.

Guess I'll close now. I'll be back after we have our four new tires installed, our new awning sensor installed, our new jacks installed and a new slide tray for a bay in the basement installed, when we get back to Carpenters. I'm not sure where we will be parking for a week till Memorial Day Weekend. We have reservations at Bella Terra in Foley, AL for that weekend. Looking forward to staying a this beautiful motorcoach resort.

I'll be back soon. Till then, stay safe.....

A Week in Gulfport, Ms

We arrived in Gulfport, MS a week ago today and found a perfect pad at the CB Base in Gulfport.

We don't usually stay in military FamCamps because they are usually out of the way or it is next to impossible to get into them because of permanent party personnel utilizing them as their homesteads. This base isn't much different except they keep at least 10 sites for "transits". That is if you come before or after snowbird season! Anyway, full hook-ups along with free wifi and cable for $100 a week. Good deal!

Our primary reason for stopping was to visit with Dean's youngest daughter Krystal and her husband. Unfortunately, it didn't work out and we didn't get to visit with them. Maybe next time?

We have stayed busy, catching up with a lot of friends that still live here that we haven't seen for awhile. One in particular, Bill & Bette, were glad to see us. They are the ones that recently bought their first fifth wheel. Bill was having problems with one of the fantastic fans and Dean was happy to help him solve the problem. Bette cooked us a wonderful meal of roast, potato's, & carrots.

We also went in search of a couple of our "old" favorite restaurants. The Dinner Bell used to be located in D'Iberville and I would go there for lunch when I worked at Keesler AFB. Like so much, Katrina displaced them and they are now located in Woolmarket. Not to worry though, we found them and I had my dressed/pressed po'boy! It was soooo good!

We made a return trip to The Blow Fly Inn in Gulfport, another one of our favorite places. We had a wonderful lunch of rib eye steak, roasted potato's, salad and banana puddin for dessert. This was at lunch time and was the lunch special for $7.00 including tea.

We drove the back roads looking for the house the Dean and his Dad had built in the 70's. Found it but time sure has changed the area! I had to look twice to make sure it was the right house. Of course we made a drive by our old house on Hand Drive and drove the beach and Pass Road several times. It still makes me sad to drive the beach - so much has changed and will never be the same. I still don't understand why New Orleans got all the attention from Katrina when there was so much devastation along the whole Mississippi Gulf Coast. There are so many empty lots, two blocks deep, as you drive along the beach drive. Very few houses are being rebuilt - it's very sad.

Saturday night we went to the Hard Rock Casino for the Tim Conway & Friends show. My daughter, Suze, bought tickets for us for Mothers Day/Fathers Day since she knew we wouldn't spend the money for them. A BIG THANK YOU WITH LOVE SUZE!! It was a fabulous show and I'm glad we didn't miss it. Tim Conway was so funny. He did some stand up comedy along with several skits with his Friends. The friends were Chuck McCann who has done a lot of voice over for commercials and cartoons, and Louise Duart who does impersonations. She was very good starting with Edith Bunker and ending with Carol Barnett. In between was Barbara Walters, Cher, Carol Channing & Joan Rivers to name a few. A wonderful evening of great entertainment.

Yesterday we visited the church we belonged to when we lived here - Handsboro Baptist Church. When we went there the church was always full on Sunday mornings with lot of young folks. Yesterday, it seemed very empty. Is this another dying church? I hope not. Dean and I both sang in the choir and there were at least 30 members when we were active. Yesterday there were maybe six in the choir. This really saddens me. Where have the people gone? I know that a lot of the "mega" churches have drawn from the mainstream churches - could this be the problem here? It was nice seeing some of the members that we know and catching up with old friends. My second daughter Susan (didn't know I had one, did you?) and her Mom were there. It's always nice seeing them. Suze is coming to Gulfport to spend Memorial Day weekend with Susan - they were BFF's in school.

So here we are, Monday, May 3rd and tomorrow we depart Gulfport for Freightliner in Mobile to get the engine oil changed and the chassis lubed. Then on to Pensacola to Carpenters to get my new Microwave/Convection installed. I don't think the jack are there yet so that will have to wait. Then we will head to Montgomery for a few days to see our granddaughter, Morgan, for her birthday.

It has been a relaxing, fun week with a little sadness at not getting to visit with Krystal & Ed. Can't believe it's almost over. So....till next time, Stay Safe.

I've posted a few pictures at Picasa.