RVing With a Purpose

Merry Christmas – 2024

December 25, 2024

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO All!!!

We hope you and your family have had a wonderful Christmas season. We pray that in the middle of all the hustle and bustle you have taken time to remember what is really important. And it’s not just that it’s Jesus’ birthday. We are celebrating the Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace coming to earth. It’s the beginning of The Story, the fulfillment of prophecy. If you have been too busy, this evening would be a great time to sit down, take a deep breath and maybe pick up your Bible and read the Christmas story again.

We have spent our “vacation time” resting, reading, catching up on some work, working puzzles and watching Christmas movies. There have been lots of beach walks, and bike rides, eagle sightings and lots of good food. Most importantly God has blessed us by allowing us to spend this time listening to Advent devotions and enjoying the beauty He created here.

Our campsite this year

This heron has been a daily visitor to our campsite

We have taken several walks on the beach even though some days have been quite cool.

For most of last week the purple flags were out at the beach meaning that venomous sea life was present. They really weren’t needed because it was too cold to get in the water.

The pier is open again so we can walk on it any time. Since we are staying in the park, we don’t have to pay to walk it.

We see sharks every time we walk on the pier.

We attended a park presentation on raptors and got to see Archimedes the screech owl.

Of course, we have made several trips to the eagle nests. Yesterday we finally caught both of them on the nest at the same time.

On one of our hikes we stopped to watch this osprey eating a fish.

These grilled steaks fed us for a couple of days.

One day we took the afternoon to make Aunt Inez’s Tea Cake cookies.

We made them bite-sized this time because they are easier to eat on travel days. They probably will not survive another whole week to our next travel day.

Believe it or not, we actually worked our Advent puzzle the way it was intended – one small section at a time. We have really enjoyed it.

We tried a new recipe for for breakfast today – cinnamon rolls baked with eggnog.

Our traditional Christmas dinner of snow crab legs

As we have the last few years we took the time to watch our favorite Christmas movie again.

Back to Gulf State Park

Sunday, December 8, 2024

After a wonderful Thanksgiving with family in South Carolina, we drove to Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama to spend the month of December. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you will have a wonderful Christmas. Cherish your family. Take time to share your love with family, friends, and people you don’t even know. We continue to ask for your prayers for our family members who are fighting serious health problems. We learned Friday of another cousin with possible cancer. That makes four. We know God is still healing and He is in control.

We really enjoyed this year’s Thanksgiving with family. And the smoked turkey.

December is a good time to be here. The weather is usually really nice although we have had a few cold (by our standards) days. And there are fewer people here than in the other winter months.

One of the first things we do when we get to the park is go pick up a pound or so of steamed shrimp and eat it immediately.

So far we have made it to the beach all but one day.

Since we arrived we have seen the Blue Angels practicing, the bald eagles, many other birds and this one gator who decided to brave the cool weather today.

The park has many miles of trails for us to hike and bike.

Earlier this year we bought a 1000 piece Advent puzzle. Inside the box are 24 small boxes, each containing a few pieces. We are supposed to only work one section of the puzzle for each day in Advent. So far we have held to that.

As part of our Christmas decorating we maintain a decades long tradition started by Max’s mother of filling the little mugs with Raisinets. And we like Raisinets.

Catching Up Again

Sunday, November 24, 2024

Sorry for the long absence. We have been busy, just haven’t told you about it yet. In addition to regular RV maintenance and repair, we spent one week in Alabama for our annual medical appointments.

While in Alabama we attended a hilarious production of “Exit the Body” by the Covered Bridge Players in Oneonta.

We have continued to clean up trees in South Carolina.

It took about half a day to get this cedar stump out of the ground

One of our debris piles by the road

The day before we headed back to Alabama for our annual medical appointments, the state contractor came by and picked up one load of debris. The rest is still there.

We spent a few days with our friends from 1 Strange Adventure at our favorite RV Resort, Talona Ridge. We always enjoy our time at Talona in Elijay, GA. The trees were not at peek but it was still a very nice and relaxing visit.

We enjoyed getting together with our RV friends and learning about solar power.

Sunrise at Talona Ridge during the men’s Bible Study

We visited the RiverBanks Zoo in Columbia, SC.

We got to watch them feed the sea lions.

Still cute but not like seeing them in the wild.

This tiger got up and posed when we walked by.

A komodo dragon is not something you want to run into if you are afraid of lizards. This one is about 6′ long.

And we spent part of a day at the Pioneer Days in Lincolnton, GA.

The owner of this tractor was also born in 1929.

The sawmill demonstration was very interesting.

We hope you all have a great Thanksgiving week. Be careful out on the roads and just remember to be thankful everyday for we are all truly blessed.

Balloons and Trees

Thursday, October 24, 2024

After leaving Selma, on our way to South Carolina we made a too brief stop to visit Anne’s brother south of Atlanta. We had a great time visiting some sights around Peachtree City, sharing meals and catching up.

City Hall Fountain in Peachtree City. The tubes gradually fill with water, then tip forward and spill the water.

Since we arrived at Max’s brother’s house we have been enjoying our time here catching up and clearing trees downed by Hurricane Helene.

One of many trees down at Max’s brothers house. We were actually very blessed that none of the trees fell on the house or on our motorhome that was parked there.

The tree in the picture above pushed to the right-of-way for pickup

The four of us did take a weekend camping trip to North Carolina to see the Carolina BalloonFest in Statesville. We camped at Blake Farms RV Resort which is a small family-owned campground. There are large full hookup gravel sites, a short hiking trail, and all the miniature golf you want to play – at no charge. There is also a general store. We recommend it to anyone needing a campground in the Statesville area.

Our campsites at Blake Farms RV Resort

Saturday was our day to spend at the BalloonFest. We were up early to be able to see the first balloons go up at about 7:30. There were about 25 balloons in the morning flight and there was a competition to see which pilot could drop their streamers closest to the center mark. Later in the day there was a mass ascension of balloons and later still there was an evening glow. It was a day of great fun. We particularly enjoyed the special shape balloons.