RVing With a Purpose

Friday, 11/06/2020

Tuesday when we arrived at Oak Mountain State Park, south of Birmingham, we checked the electricity at our site and found the voltage was too low. We talked with the rangers at the office and found there were a number of sites that were having problems. The power company was supposed to be working on it but of course the had some higher priorities such as schools still without power. Hurricane Zeta caused tremendous damage south of Birmingham last week. The winds were still tropical storm strength when they arrived at Oak Mountain and there were many trees down. (Very unusual for Alabama to suffer from hurricanes 250 miles from the coast.) The park was closed for about a day and a half while they cleared roads. The campground was without power for a couple of days and the park was still without phone service when we arrived Tuesday. The rangers and volunteers were so helpful in trying to find us another site. They were trying to keep us close to Mark and Jo but all those sites were having the low voltage problem. They did the next best thing and provided us a full hookup 50 amp site at the equestrian campground for Tuesday night – while still holding our reserved site for when the power was repaired. The equestrian campground is at the opposite end of the park from our original site. However, about 7:00 Tuesday night while we were enjoying a campfire with Mark and Jo, the power company arrived and made the necessary repairs. We still stayed the night at the equestrian campground because we didn’t want to move after dark. We actually were glad to learn of the equestrian campground because it is about 5 minutes from I-65, south of Birmingham, and with nice pull through sites it would make a great place to overnight for people just passing through.

Wednesday was another beautiful fall day at Oak Mountain State Park and after breakfast we moved back to the main campground where we had a site close to Mark and Jo. The four of us headed out to do some hiking mid-morning. We decided on a trail around the lake and really enjoyed ourselves. The trees and the lake were beautiful and we saw areas of the park we had never visited previously. Mid-afternoon more NOMADS friends, Rita and Dave who live in Birmingham, joined us for a great visit. The 6 of us have worked together in the past and it was again a great time of catching up – of course with social distancing. So much fun!

Mark and Jo pulled out Thursday morning in route to their next project where they will be leaders next period. We spent the day hiking and geocaching, and exploring other areas of the park. Oak Mountain was one of our state parks that we had visited once or twice with friends but had never camped at and never really explored. The staff was amazing and the park beautiful with many amenities. We really enjoyed our stay and plan to return.

Tuesday, November 03, 2020

After we returned from Tuscaloosa we spent a few days working around the houses. Then after we voted today we drove to Oak Mountain State Park to visit with Mark and Jo, NOMADS friends from Iowa, as they are passing through to their next project.  It’s been about two years since we have seen Mark and Jo – way too long!   It’s hard to see them after so long and not be able to share some big hugs, but we refrained.  We did get to catch up on what’s been going on in their lives around the campfire tonight.  Such good times!! So thankful for good friends.

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

We left Moundville this afternoon to get set up back on Pine Mountain before any of the weather associated with Hurricane Zeta reached our area. As soon as we turned on the local weather this is what we saw:

Seriously, pray for all in the path of this storm since many of them are still trying to recover from other storms.

Monday, 10/26/2020

Work, Work, Work, Work. Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Today. Its been busy. All four days have been spent cleaning out file cabinets, and cleaning out the warehouse and filling the dumpster. There were tax returns from back in the 1960’s and forward. And of course all the supporting documentation from the accountants. At least we had taken care of all the bank statements and returned checks several years ago. There were still lots of paid invoices to glance over. The things that took a lot of time were old deeds, mortgages and the like. Since Anne, Sonny and Jimmy all worked in the business at different times, it took all three to determine what to do with some items. Fortunately, in the end, the vast majority of the paperwork could be put in the shred pile. The shred truck should arrive Thursday morning. The warehouse is about clean enough to sell. The dumpster is full. The file cabinets are empty and some decisions were made about some real estate. It’s been a successful four days. Now if we can just follow up with our plans. Praying.

We have really enjoyed our time at Moundville Archaeological Park. The campground is small, and peaceful (except for some close by trains that didn’t bother us.) It’s only about 10-12 miles from interstate 20/59 in Tuscaloosa so not too far for an overnight stop. It’s first come, first serve and we don’t know what it is usually but it is wide open right now. All sites have water and electric and 5 or 6 have sewer. However, there are not very many sites that are large enough for larger rigs – maybe 4 or 5. You should call and check on availability and always avoid Alabama home football game weekends. We spent some time in the museum today. It is well done and informative. We learned that the museum building was built in the 1930s out of concrete, by the Civilian Conservation Corp and it still looks great! We also climbed the largest mound today. It is thought that it was the Chief and his family’s home. At it’s height, Moundville was the largest city between Mexico and New York. There were around 10,000 Mississippian Native Americans living here and it is called the Big Apple of the 14th Century. In the 1960s and 70s you could climb all the mounds but no longer as some are burial mounds and we are much more sensitive about such things now. We are headed home tomorrow before the rains from Hurricane Zeta arrive. Everyone stay safe!