Eric & Jessica visit us in Fairhope Pt.2

After leaving Valdosta, we drove back to Fairhope, we had to stop and show Eric and Jessica a Buc-ee's.

The first day we drove to Pensacola and watched the Blue Angels train. We were able to watch them on the flight line. After they were done we toured the Naval Air Museum.

The second day we toured the USS Drum and the USS Alabama in Mobile, AL.

Not sure these look very comfortable.

Barber shop

Blockade

The big guns

The third day, we walked around Fairhope, walked down by the pier and then checked out the Castles.

The day before they left we drove to Orange Beach and walked along the water. We stopped at Doc's Seafood for yummy food. I didn't get any pictures, but we had a great day.

Sunday they headed home and we had a week to get ready to hit the road for the summer. 

Short Trip with Eric & Jessica and a surprise in Valdosta, GA

Eric and Jessica flew down to visit us but first a surprise in Valdosta, GA. Tereasa knew that we were coming to visit her for a few days but had no idea that her Mom & Dad were going to be with us.

She was totally surprised. I didn't get a photo of her hugging Eric.

We stayed in Lake Park, GA which was a 25 minute drive to Valdosta. I love the huge trees with the spanish moss hanging from the branches.

We took a hike on the boardwalk in Grand Bay Nature Reserve.

Largest pond cypress tree on the boardwalk.

I think we saw 3 different gators.

The boardwalk from the observation tower.

The opposite direction from the boardwalk.

A game of Cards Against Humanity

Cornhole before a yummy dinner prepared by Alex.

We all went out of some really good Mexican food the last night we were there. I don't think Tereasa stopped smiling the whole time we were there.

2023 Year in Review

 

2023 was an amazing year of traveling for us. We started in Fredricksburg, TX on New Year's Day and ended up in Fairhope, AL where we purchased a lot that will allow us to spend our winters in a warmer climate. On May 2nd we left Fairhope, AL and our last stop before returning to Fairhope on October 24th was in Gatlinburg, TN. 

In those almost 6 months we:

• Traveled over 13,000 miles
• Traveled through 30 states
• Visited 60 cities
• Stayed at 14 Harvest Hosts
• Visited 9 National Parks, Monuments, Historical Sites, National Reserves
• City of Rocks National Reserve, Almo, Idaho
• Devils Tower National Monument, Devils Tower, Wyoming
• Glacier National Park, West Glacier, Montana
• Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
• Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, Hagerman, Idaho
• Lowell National Historical Park, Lowell, Massachusetts
• Mammoth Cave National Park, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky
• Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Munising, Michigan
• Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Empire, Michigan

We checked several things off our Bucket List:

• Toured Mammoth Cave
• Toured and visited several distilleries on the Bourbon Trail 
• Went to see George Strait, Chris Stapleton and Little Big Town at Lumen Field in Seattle, WA
• Visited the filming place of the hit show "Yellowstone" in Darby, MT
• Visited Glacier Canyon
• Visited Devil's Tower
• Kayaked Lake Superior along Pictured Rocks National Park
• Went to Mackinac Island and across the Mackinac Bridge
• Visited Mari Vineyards (owner is star of the show "The Curse of Oak Island")
• Toured the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in Cooperstown, NY
• Visited and went on a tour in Niagara Falls (this is not the first time we have visited)
• We toured New England Patriots Hall of Fame
• Attended horse races at Keenland Race Track in Lexington, KY

We were fortunate to see all of our children, most of our grandchildren, most of our siblings and we got to travel with our great friends Tom & Carol. We also visited friends in Utah and Wisconsin. This travel season is the last time we will travel in our Winnebago Forza. We are looking forward to making more memories in 2024 in our new Tiffin Allegro Red.

Fairhope, AL - Fall 2023

On our last day of driving, I finally got to drive the RV on the highway, yes going 65 mph, towing the Jeep. I was very comfortable behind the wheel and I think I will be driving again when we are back on the road.

We arrived back to our lot in Fairhope, Alabama on Monday, October 23. Echo was glad to see all his girlfriends here in the park. This is Abby and Echo catching up on the months they were apart.

We also decided it was time to upgrade our home. We said goodbye to our Winnebago Forza and said welcome to our Tiffin Allegro Red. Our Winnebago was a great coach and we have enjoyed it for 3 years. Some things we love are:

• The slides are wider so the interior is bigger.
• The decor, the coloring of the wood, marble flooring.
• The kitchen window brings in so much light. 
• It has theater seating and an additional couch so that we can have guests over and have a conversation without having to turn to the side to talk to others sitting on the same side of the coach. 
• We have hydraulic slides. 
• It is an all electric coach so we no longer have to fill a propane tank for hot water and cooking. 
• We have in-floor heating which is really nice on cold mornings, no more stepping on cold floors in bare feet. 
• We have an induction cooktop, which I am very familiar with. 
• We have 3 solar panels on the roof which will help keep the batteries charged when we are somewhere without electric hookups. 
• There are slide out trays in the basement to make it easier to get things in and out.
• The engine has more power.
• The mobile app to run things from our phone.
• Fans above the dash during hot driving days.

Here are some pictures...

I took these pictures of both before we left after spending several hours transferring our stuff from one to the other.