Thanksgiving to present!

To blog or not to blog....that is the question. Just realized my last post was in November and so much has happened since then. My plan was to be really vigilant about staying current on the blog - well you know how that plan went.

So back to November. We went to South Padre for Thanksgiving and a week of fishing. Chris came with us and we had a really good week staying in a condo and fishing off the jetty or wade fishing in the bay. I caught the first flounder on our first day out. It provided a great dinner for us all. The next day, Chris caught the second flounder and we had another super meal. Well Ernie was getting a little miffed because he had yet to catch a flounder - even with the lucky fishing cap and the lucky cigar! Needless to say, Lady Luck finally smiled on him and gave him a 26 1/2 inch flounder. A whopper of a fish!

 He was mighty proud of this fish - and rightly so! Danny joined us later in the week to spend Thanksgiving and do some fishing.

The four of us went out on a bay charter and caught a pretty hefty mess of fish. Took our fish to a local restaurant and they cooked the fish 3 ways - fried, grilled and blackened. Between the margueritas and fish and fixins, we were very happy campers that evening.



















Went to Boise to visit Tom and Karla in mid-December and spent my birthday with them. They moved there in September and were homesick for friends and we were eager to see their new home and new city. Had a great time with them and got snow on my birthday. What a great birthday present! We also went to the Potato Bowl to see Utah State play University of Toledo. I know, not quite UT level of play but it was really fun. Got to see the really blue and orange Boise State University Bronco stadium. It is really blue!

Spent Christmas with Angie, Kevin, Chris, Gracie and Turner and had a great time. Stayed in town for New Years and got ready to head on for our road trip. We left on January 8th and headed to Gulf Shores, Alabama. Our first foray out was one that we will never forget. Boy have we learned sooooooo much since January 8th. The first campground (Southern Leisure) we stayed at was a disaster. Hindsight said we should have stayed in Buda for a couple more days but we were so eager to get started and just knew that all would work out. We drove all day (and a long day at that) to Many, Louisiana. We arrived in pouring rain, at night and the campground had no lights. The roads in the campground were very hilly and broken. We managed to get into a site and level the camper (2 boards on one side - so much for level sites). Unfortunately we couldn't get the truck unhooked because it was also not level but in the opposite direction from the camper. We stayed hooked and opened the slides and spent the night. Next day, we got an angel from an RV place to come help get us unhooked and figure out what the problem was. Turns out it was a perfect storm situation that included bad site, bad weather, new operators, etc. He got us squared away and we also moved to a more level site. Spent 3 days there and then moved on. We're not really sure why we stayed for three days other than that was the plan and the plan was not to be messed with! OK, one of the early lessons was that the plan is always flexible!!!! Another lesson is that if a campground is dicey, move on down the road and stay in a parking lot if necessary.

When we bought our truck, a good friend recommended we get 4-wheel drive. His thinking was that we would probably never need it, but the time or two that we would, we would be very glad we had it. Well, while trying to find a site in Southern Leisure, we had to go up a really steep hill and it had been raining all day long. Halfway up the hill, we started sliding back. We being the truck and a 34 foot 5th wheel camper. I stopped, changed to 4-wheel drive and made it up the hill. I have thanked Brett and our boys (in my mind) numerous times for recommending 4-wheel drive.

As we drove to Gulf Shores, the flooded houses, rivers, streams that we saw just broke your heart. Wound up staying in Gulf Shore for 3 weeks because we so enjoyed it. Went fishing on the pier one day. I dropped my line (pompano rig with shrimp) and Ernie was still putting his rig together. Ernie finally dropped his line and got a hit within 10 minutes. When he started to reel in, he realized he had a problem - a really big fish and no drop net. I got to run down the pier to find someone with a drop net while he worked on tiring out his catch. Imagine our surprise when he and a really nice lady with a drop net brought up his 18 lb, 36 inch black drum! We also went out on a charter and brought in 5 really nice sheepshead. In fact, we have one filet left in the freezer.

Did I forget to mention the flat tire we had on the camper as we were driving to Gulf Shores. We were going to stop for breakfast on our drive to the campground. After two tries to get to a Waffle House, we gave up on that (short entrances, small parking lots, basically impossible to get into with the camper and no large parking lots nearby). Driving down the road, we spotted an I-Hop in a shopping mall. BINGO! Really big parking lot and lots of space to turn around. When we got out of the truck - back in the south 40 - we notices that one of the camper tires was going flat. While waiting for breakfast, Ernie called the road service - thank goodness for emergency road service! Finished breakfast and went to the truck and camper that now had a totally flat tire and waited 10 minutes for the tow truck. He jacked up the camper and replaced the tire and our spare. Thankfully it was good. Got to Gulf Shores and arranged to buy a new tire and get that taken care of. While driving from Gulf Shores to Charleston three weeks later, we had a blow out on another camper tire. God was watching out for us and we were able to get off the road and never lost control of the vehicle. As luck would have it, there was a campground just the other side of the fence and we arranged to drive there and stay for a few days while we got all new shoes for the camper. As I said, God was watching out for us. Not exactly the way I would have liked Him to - with no incidents - but rather with no injuries. I guess He was sending us a message with the flat tire and we just didn't get it. So rather than cause a major accident, he sent another message - basically - hey stupid, what didn't you understand! What is so surprising to Ernie and I both is that he is usually right on top of anything having to do with the tires and we both just totally overlooked that whole aspect of this lifestyle. Major DUH! Made it to Charleston and enjoyed two weeks there. Great seafood, plantations, a pub crawl. Forgot how really beautiful this area is. We also visited the only tea plantation in the North America. We also forgot about things like boiled peanuts (you can even buy them in the 7-11 type gas stations), Huddle House restaurants, Bi-Lo and Ingles grocery stores. Lots of memories from the past.

From Charleston, we moved up the cost to Rodanthe on the Outer Banks. As we started this whole trip, we never thought about the fact that a lot of things would be closed because it was out of season. Oh well, live and learn, and learn we did! While in Charleston and dealing with out of season, Ernie decided to call some of the piers at the Outer Banks to see if they would be open while we were there. Imagine our surprise when one of the piers had a message that said "Come on down! Highway 12 is now open and we can't wait to see you." To those of you unfamiliar with the Outer Banks, Highway 12 is the only road down the barrier islands from Nags Head. It seems that Hurricane Sandy not only left destruction in New Jersey and New York, she also decided to take out some of the middle eastern coast. Parts of Highway 12 were washed out and they just reopened 2 1/2 weeks before we got there. Between Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Sandy in 2012, the Outer Banks has really taken a hit. In fact, Irene opened a new inlet between the existing Oregon Inlet and Rodanthe. Sandy took out the bridge over the new inlet and part of the road leading into Rodanthe. We got to drive on the temporary military bridge over the new inlet. The highway department built up dunes on the left side of of the road - literally just on the water side of the road! As you are driving, you see the paved road and a dune leading up from the road. Guess what, the water is just on the other side of the dune.

While at the campground there, we had really strong winds and a storm came through. There were high tide warnings and when we went to Nags Head the next day, we had to drive through the water that came over the road from the storm the day before. We knew there were high tide warnings and flooding in low areas so we walked to the beach closer to high tide to see how bad it would be. The photos below were taken from the top of the path over the dune to the water and we were still 2+ hours from high tide.

A couple of days later, we walked the beach. It was so sad to see the destruction from Irene and Sandy. Passed a dozen houses that had condemned notices nailed on. Six of the homes had the first 2 rows of pilings in the water - at low tide! The others would have some of the pilings in the water at high tide. There were at least another 14 houses that will be in the water at the next serious storm. I didn't have a camera with me when I passed one house that had pilings in the water and the name of the house was Front Row Seat. How very sad!

Yes this house is leaning - and it is condemned. This is actually on the sound side of the road and was flooded by the backflow from the sound when Sandy hit.

We left the Outer Banks a week and a half ago headed to Fair Play SC on Lake Hartwell. This is were we used to camp when we lived in Simpsonville SC. We spend many weekends and summers here. On the way to Fair Play, we wound up driving through a winter storm and had us going through snow. Thankfully none sticking on the roads but that did nothing for my comfort level while driving. We have now spent the last week strolling down memory lane, visiting our ole home, where the kids went to school, going to Helen Georgia (a beautiful Bavarian town in the Georgia mountains), going to White Water Falls near Cashiers NC, stopping at Calhoun covered bridge.

 Had to stop to buy some moonshine. They were giving samples and I was surprised at hos smooth it was going down and then it hit down and lit a fire in my gut!

Where's a gun when you need one. Saw these wild turkeys near White Water Falls

 So Ernie and I have been talking a lot about our life style choice and whether it was all that we thought it would be. We had been a bit disappointed because it didn't feel like the camping we remembered. After thinking about it, we realized it wasn't that the campgrounds or campers had changed and it wasn't that we had changed, it was simply seasonal. The weather we have encountered has been cold - much colder than we expected and much colder that normal for these areas. With cold weather, you don't get out as much and don't sit outside, you tend to hunker down in the camper. The last week has warmed up nicely and we've been able to sit outside and have campfires and YES it is all that we remembered and wanted.

So my final words for this posting are happy trails to you and your yours, til we meet again!