RVing With a Purpose

Friday, November 24, 2017

Today was another short travel day. A gorgeous day, although a little chilly most of the day. We left Tuscaloosa at 6:55 this morning in route for Red Bay, Alabama. We will spend the weekend at the Tiffin Allegro Campground and Service Center awaiting service the first of the week. We have some additional warranty work to be done. As was last time, nothing major, but we do think we may have a hydraulic pump leak and we would like for that to be repaired before we head out for more projects the first of 2018. This pump operates our jacks which seem to be working okay but if we are parked for a three week project they seem to leak down slightly. Anyway, the other things on our list are primarily cosmetic but since we are here we will ask that they be completed. We had an uneventful drive to Red Bay with the exception of a herd of deer along side the road a few miles out of Red Bay. We did have to use the big air horn to get them to run back into the woods. Hated to scare the pretty things but they were too close to the road and looked to be considering crossing in front of us.

After arriving at Red Bay, we registered in and went to the local Jack’s for a late breakfast. Back at the rig we completed all the paperwork for the warranty work we are requesting and had the afternoon to relax. A nap, and a nice long walk took up most of the time. We have not gotten much exercise the past few days so the walk to town was great. We were blessed with a beautiful sunset to close out our day. Hope y’all didn’t overdose on the black Friday sales and are continuing to enjoy the holiday weekend.

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you all had a wonderful day. Our day started about like yesterday with cool temperatures and having to use the furnace in FRED to stay warm, but soon the sun was out and it was another beautiful fall day.

After breakfast Anne and her cousin Nancy started back in the kitchen. There was dressing to make, along with sweet potato souffle, English pea casserole, fruit salad, sauteed squash, green beans and asparagus with lots of clean up along the way. There was also a lot of visiting and good times. Anne’s brother Jim picked Mama Ruby up from assisted living and brought her to the house for the day. Later in the morning David and Andrew, Nancy’s sons, arrived from Atlanta. They reported an easy drive this morning. The catching up with each other continued as we worked and laughed together. Jim got busy on the preparation of the turkey and then the frying. Jim has an indoor electric turkey fryer, that he uses outside to avoid the mess in the kitchen. Jim has been using his fryer for several years and can cook a great, moist, flavorful turkey.

Everything came together and the seven of us sat down to a feast about 2:00. While we were still at the table Anne’s nephew Tray, his wife Malia and their two children arrived. They had already eaten but had a little with us anyway. It was great to see them. The kids are growing up so fast and we enjoyed hearing what Tray and Malia are doing these days. None of us needed it but after the meal we shared coconut, pumpkin, and pecan pie along with some wonderful brownies a neighbor brought to us. Later in the afternoon Anne’s brother Sonny and his wife Jan stopped by for a visit. So, Mama Ruby had all her kids together for part of the day. She was a happy Mom. It was so good to see her enjoying everyone. She became really tired by about 4:30 and so we took her back to assisted living and got her settled back in there. Praying that she rests well tonight and that we really didn’t get her too tired today. Sonny and Jan were leaving as we returned to Mom’s house and Jim headed back to Atlanta with David shortly after that. Nancy and Andrew are staying the night and will be leaving in the morning as will we. It was in some ways a bittersweet day. It is strange to be at Mom’s house with out her. It was hard to take her back to assisted living and then return to her house without her. But, we are so thankful for our family and wonderful memories made today. It was a good day.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Today was another brisk fall day. Sunny and fairly warm for a while this afternoon and as long as you weren’t in the wind is was quite nice. In the wind, not so much.

It was nice to sleep in FRED again last night. Love being in our home on wheels. We and Nancy headed back to assisted living this morning where Mama Ruby wanted us to work on a puzzle that some of the residents have been working on the past few weeks. It is a 1000 piece puzzle with little color contrast that they have been having a hard time working. We worked on the puzzle and visited until the therapist arrived and Mama Ruby had to go to therapy. The three of us remained and continued to work on the puzzle and Max played a little pool since the pool table was just a few steps away from the puzzle table. After therapy and lunch Mama Ruby rejoined us until time for her skilled nursing visit. She and Anne continued to visit, took care of the nursing visit and then it was time for us to go have lunch.

After lunch and a quick return to Aldi for some last minute additions to our Thanksgiving menu, it was back to Mama Ruby’s house to begin the cooking. The rest of the day was spent cooking pies, and cornbread, putting a few Thanksgiving decorations out, and making other preparations for our Thanksgiving celebration tomorrow. Jim arrived from Atlanta shortly before 9:00 after a long hard drive in horrible traffic. Thank you God for his safe travel.

Hope everybody has a wonderful Thanksgiving Day tomorrow. Stay safe and enjoy your time with family and friends. We are thankful to God for all of the family and friends that follow along on our journey, while we are RVing with a purpose. Thanks for your interest, concern, encouragement and prayers this past year.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Sorry we didn’t make a blog entry last night. Everything is okay, we were just really tired. Yesterday was moving day again. Moving back into FRED. We spent the day repacking FRED. Only a short trip this time but still need to reload the refrigerator, freezer and load appropriate clothes. Don’t need near all the usual clothes or tools since we won’t be working a project this time out. We really pushed to get things ready to roll. Randy and Debra drove over from South Carolina arriving about supper time and then we all went over to Juno’s house to prepare for moving furniture and boxes of stuff to Aunt Helen’s today. Debra and Anne are determined that we are going to get that house empty and cleaned before the end of the year. It is such a daunting task to try to figure out what to do with someone’s belongings. We were tired when we got home and just crashed.

Today we met Randy and Debra at 7:00 to continue packing. Sometime after 10:00 we took a trailer load over to Helen’s. We changed out some mattresses, and the couch so that Juno could have some of her things and then Debra and Michelle started decorating the den for Christmas. Randy and Max took some old furniture to the mission in Springville. We unloaded lots of additional pictures and other personal belongings.

It was then 12:30 and time for us to do the final preparations to get FRED moving on down the road. Everything on the checklist was complete and we headed off the mountain in route to Tuscaloosa at 1:30. We drove I-59 to I-459 back to I-59 today because the more direct route through Birmingham is under major construction and the television news yesterday said to avoid “malfunction junction” if at all possible. It was possible and we are glad we actually watched the news yesterday morning. Any snowbirds heading south through Birmingham would be wise to avoid the downtown area. It was an uneventful drive to Tuscaloosa. We parked at Mama Ruby’s and got settled in. Anne’s cousin Nancy arrived a little while later. The three of us made a quick visit with Mama Ruby at the assisted living and then made a stop at Aldi to get the fresh items we need for Thursday. Dinner was at Jason’s Deli. That’s about it for the past two days.

What have we learned? Everyone over the age of 40 needs to quit getting stuff. So, no Christmas presents for anyone over 40. We need to be getting rid of stuff.