Wandering America
January, February, March 2009
| Hunkering Down After the "Great Depression" of 2008, we found ourselves hunkering down at our leased site in Alabama. We had lost about 40% of the value in our investments and could not afford to take funds out for our 2009 living expenses; therefore, we just stayed put for the first three and a half months at Rainbow Plantation. However, it certainly was not a real painful experience. We have many friends who winter at the Plantation as well as lots and lots of activities to keep us busy. Also, we had other friends who dropped by for a visit and made a bunch of new friends as well. Actually we were quite lucky to have our ERPU lot as a retreat; that was a major key to helping us cope with our financial picture without going into debt. We began the year doing what Escapees do best - eating. New Year's Day found the East Traveler Street bunch engaged in an all day long progressive meal. It began with breakfast (main course was Baggy Omelets) followed by a one o'clock all-you-can-eat hors d'oeuves buffet. Next was salads and the main course (Brats and Hot Dawgs) came out around three with desserts in the evening. Oh my, that was one heck of a pig-out fest. There were about 30 of us involved and the camp fires burned from morning to night; what a way to start out the new year. Throughout the month of January we had friends from all over dropping in at Rainbow Plantation. Our old friends Dick and Jodi from Michigan spent a couple of weeks before heading out for a winter of travel. Also, Ray and Pat from Michigan arrived to spend a couple of months at the Plantation, they come every winter. Randy and Terry returned from their Christmas trip back home (Pennsylvania) and we got to meet Jim and Linda who brought Myrddin (pronounced Murthen) the motorhome to Rainbow Plantation. Myrddin has quite a perspective on the full time lifestyle as you can tell from his website - Myrddin's Travels. I studied to become a Tax Professional for H&R Block, worked on our "Ta Do List", and did a lot of reading while Miss Judy kept herself busy learning several new basket weaving endeavors. We both participated in the afternoon Social Hours at the clubhouse as well as volunteered to assist in serving at the Tuesday and Thursday evening meals. We did do one outing which was a trip to the beach at Gulf Shores. Judy and I both grew up on the waterfront - she on the shores of Grand Traverse Bay in northern Michigan and me along the shores of Penobscot Bay in Maine - therefore, we both enjoy spending time on the beach. During the winter months, once the "kids" are back in school, we have miles and miles of white sandy beaches pretty much all to ourselves. We'll take our lawn chairs, some reading materials, and some drinks / snacks to the beach and spend a couple of hours just listening to the waves, smelling the salt air, and watching the tide roll in (or out). The gulls will be squawking in the background just to add to the ambiance. Mardi Gras February was Mardi Gras month with plenty of celebrations, parades, and events going on to keep just about everyone busy. Fairhope has the "best" parades in the area but most of them are at night. Miss Judy was fighting off some sort of bug and we had to keep her out of the night air. We did go to the Foley parade which is during a Saturday afternoon.     Rainbow Plantation had its own celebration with a reigning King and Queen, several dinners, costumes, and a parade. As you can see from the pictures below we at Rainbow Plantation enjoy getting together no matter what the cause. (Place your cursor over the picture to see people's names)         Early in the month we had a "chat and chew" with Gary and Vicki Watts (We're Wingin' It). I had discovered their website while we were workamping at the Nashville KOA and found out that they would be "wintering" in Fairhope. We stopped by for a visit after church one morning and they invited us over for a "chat and chew". They are wonderful people and we hope to meet them often as we travel in and out of the Nashville area which is where they are from. Also, we met Gene and Judi Curp (West by Southwest, 2009) who spent a few weeks at the Plantation. They left to travel out west for the rest of the year and we plan to get together with them in the Nashville area in the fall. Gene and Judi love to walk and belong to the American Volkssport Association that promotes walks all over the country. Allan and Jeanne Webster (Dream Reachers) have been following our site for a while and surprised us with a visit to the Rainbow Plantation Mardi Gras celebration at the clubhouse. We had never met them before so they just walked up and introduced themselves to us. They were doing a volunteer church build in Robertsdale and agreed to stop by our house for a visit with us later in the week. As it turns out, they will be workamping in Vermont this summer, not to far from where we'll be workamping at Lake George Escape, so we plan on getting together with them again at that time. Did I ever tell you that one of the best parts of this lifestyle is the friends that you make along the way. The East Traveler Street bunch had another food extravaganza, this time it was an old fashioned New England Boiled Dinner party. There was a ham and a brisket dinner with huge pots just-a-boiling away. We sure do eat enough while being hunkered down in 'Bama. If you don't like to eat then this is probably not the place for you. A couple of other noteworthy events took place during the month of February. I was accepted for the VA Benefits which chopped around $7,000 out of our annual budget and I started some water painting lessons. The lessons ran into the month of March at which time I pretty much decided that this isn't exactly my "cup of tea". I really wished that I had the talent (and/or patience) for painting but I don't so my artist daughter-in-law, Amie, will be the recipient of all of my supplies (about a hundred and fifty dollars worth). I will just have to leave the "basket weaving" endeavors to my bride who does have the talent (and patience) for it. Visitors From The Northeast Arrive Mike and Peggy Ervingham arrived the first part of March to spend a couple of weeks with us at Rainbow Plantation. Judy and Peggy are good friends from waaaaay back when we lived in Maine and we always look forward to getting together with them. More on their visit later. Shortly after their arrival my brother Mike and his wife Shauna arrived for a couple of days. They were on their way to Texas to guide some canoeing trips on the Rio Grande in Texas, on the Verde in Arizona, and on the San Juan in Utah. Needless to say, their truck was loaded down with supplies and a trailer full of canoes. The six of us spent a day "gunkholing" by taking a drive to Gulf Shores to walk the beach then taking the back roads to Magnolia Springs and Fairhope before landing at Big Daddy's for a mid afternoon dinner. It's always a nice drive around the Gulf and Mobile Bay. On our way to Fairhope we stopped at Punta Clara Candies where you get to sample everything before you buy it (Guess what? When you sample, you buy). Each couple left with their favorite sweets in hand - pricey but down right tasty. Here's a picture that Miss Judy took of the rest of us on the dock at Fairhope.  Mike and Shauna departed heading west leaving Mike and Peggy along with us to get into mischief on our own. We did a day trip over to Dauphin Island and Fort Gaines. And, as always, on the way home we stopped to eat (What else? Seafood)!! You could easily spend a full day or two on Dauphin Island. It has a nice beach and fishing pier, historic Fort Gaines, a bird sanctuary, and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. We only had a few hours so decided to to visit Fort Gaines. Fort Gaines was established in 1821, however, it was not completed until the beginning of the Civil War in the early 1860's. The fort is located on the southeastern shoreline of Dauphin Island and its major conflict was the Battle of Mobile Bay where Union Admiral David Farragut uttered those famous words, "Damn the torpedoes - Full speed ahead!" The three week naval and land battle resulted in the capture of Fort Gaines, two other forts, and the Confederate Fleet by Union Forces. Fort Gaines continued to be an active military post until 1946.  The fort had "Disappearing" Gun Mounts which housed 6 inch disappearing canons. They were called "disappearing because for loading purposes the cannons were lowered to the level of the concrete platform and to fire they were raised above the wall. The picture below shows the Powder Magazines (on the left) and the Quartermaster's Offices (on the right).  The
picture on the left is a view from the Southwest Bastion looking across
to the Southeast Bastion while the picture on the right shows the
location of the Bakery, Blacksmith shop, and enlisted housing.   While
we were there we witnessed the firing of a couple of the canons off the
north flank of the fort. The picture on the right is one of the
many Bastion Magazines. The next two pictures shows the many
different uniforms worn over the life of the fort and a typical
officer's quarters.     One of our annual pilgrimages seems to be to the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola, Florida. Each year we have visitors who have never been or haven't been in a long, long time. So Mike, Peggy, Judy, and I made the journey to the Naval Air Station. Along with touring the facility and looking at all of the various aircraft, we took in the I-Max film on the Grand Canyon. Afterwards, we went to Vallarta Mexican Restaurant which was highly recommended - it was good but I like El Toro in Gulf Shores, Alabama better.  It seems that we have a monthly community get together some where in Rainbow Plantation. This month we had two - one was a hot dawg cookout at Clyde and Sarita's on East Traveler Street and the other was in Ron and Ruth's back yard (which happens to join our backyard). Clyde and Sarita just wanted to have a community get together so invited the entire park to their site for the hot dawg roast. They supplied the hot dawgs and buns with everyone else bringing a dish to pass - oh yes, don't forget to bring your own chair!!! There was more than enough food for everyone with more than fifty people in attendance. The gathering at Ron and Ruth's was a farewell pot luck. Toward the end of March people start traveling again and heading out to parts unknown for the summer. So this was another huge gathering with all sorts of food, fun, and fellowship. Rainbow Plantation is a great place to form bonds with old and new friends alike. We all look forward to hitting the road again, but look forward to getting back together next winter.   Right after the first of the month of March I managed, somehow, to delete over 70% of the Wandering America website files so I had a whole lot of work to do to restore them. That is one of the reasons I fell so far behind on my travelogues. By the end of the month I was able to restore the files and better organize the website. There were a lot of hours of work involved but I was able to republish everything with very little, if any, disruption to our website followers. Well, that concludes our first quarter of 2009. Beginning next month we will be traveling again making our way to Lake George Escape in the Adirondacks of New York where we'll be workamping for the summer. |