Dinner and a movie

We brought in Chinese from a favorite place - first time this season in Florida - glad they are still in business!  Picked up "Bridesmaids", it was funny, the female version of "Hangover"!

Rain and getting away from rain

A rainy day today but can't complain too much because of the nice week it has been.  We went to Brownsville for the afternoon, did some shopping and ate dinner.  We picked up a Red Box movie "The American" with George Clooney.  Was an interesting movie, with George it has to be good!  Then we had our first pumpkin pie of the Fall.  The AC will be on tonight, won't be able to sleep with 100% humidity.

No Rena!

It appears that hurricane Rena will fizzle out by Cuba and not be a threat to central Florida - good news.

We ate dinner at Papa Joe's Italian Restaurant with a group from our Sumter Oaks RV park.  Food was good and visiting great!

Rena

Hurricane Rena is forming, the question is will it be headed our way.  Most maps show it is going to Cuba BUT one forecast is for right across the area we are at!  Cuba can have this one-----

The Excursion has landed ---

--- in Sumter Oaks RV Park in Florida.  After a 9 hour drive, mostly uneventful we go here about 4:15 Eastern Time.

Since we left last March we have been in and out of 4 time zones.  We were in the most NW area of the US 48 states and now are in the SE.  Tonight it feels like we did it all today!

Peanut Picken' Time

In Mississippi it was cotton picken', here it is peanut picken'.  We couldn't figure out what was planted in some fields until we saw a trailer full of peanuts pull out of a field.

There is a pub not far from here that has a sign out front "Cold Beer and Free Advice", we were temped to stop in and see if they could help with the little problems we have been having. And a cold beer.

We ate breakfast at Don's favorite place this morning, Waffle House and had dinner at Chick-a-fila a southern chain.  Tomorrow we hitch up again and do the long day's trip to Sumter Oaks.

Gulf Shores

We got to Gulf Shores (Summerdale) about 3PM.  The trip went fine, I just hate the traffic in Mobil, Alabama before we reach the Interstate.  Just 2 states today, we traveled in 4 states yesterday.  When we got here the ABS light was on in the car, don't know why.  We still have brakes just not ABS.  Always something!!!

Dinner was at Zaxby's, a chicken wings fast food chain in the south east.  Something different anyway.  It is really cooling fast this evening.

Way down South in the Land of Cotton

It must be cotton picken' time, we went by many fields today that were just picked, being picked or ready to pick.

We had 8 hours on the road from Branson to Vicksburg, Mississippi.  All went well, we are tired.

Water heater saga goes on

The water was cool, too cool for showers this morning but the propane worked and we had hot water in minutes.  The electric part has worked all day.  We don't know what if anything is wrong with the water heater, time will tell.  One of these times we will have no hot water no way.

We decided to hold off on moving south for another day as it was raining.  Good choice, it rained until noon and is raining in the direction we are going.  Not that we can't travel in the rain, but if we don't have to - why?  Getting up early tomorrow heading to Vicksburg, Mississippi for an overnight.

Water Heater goes on the fritz

I noticed when I was taking a shower that I had to turn the hot water almost on full which is not usually the case.  We checked later and found the water was hot but not as hot as usual.  After an internet search where we found people with the same problems but no solutions, Don called Atwood, the manufacturer.  They had him do a test on the heater which indicated it was the "mixer valve".  (Keep in mind a motorhome water heater is different from a house water heater.)  We decided we could live with the problem until we got some place where we could easily get parts - then the fault light in our control panel came on telling us there was another problem.  By this time of day it was too late to call Atwood again - more tomorrow.

Apple Trip

We went about 40 miles south in Arkansas to find Black Arkansas apples.  We found them at our usual place just beyond Harrison and purchased half a bushel.  These apples are such a dark red that they look almost black, they are firm apples and tasteful.  They are picked mid October so no use looking for them earlier as we have found in past years.

Another show

We went to The Presley's (not related to Elvis).  This family group was the first group in Branson and we first saw them in the 70's.  They put on a great show, by now they sure know how to entertain.

Thanks Verizon

Thank you Verizon for upgrading to WiFi to 4G in this area in the last couple days!  Sure makes a difference

We go to a show!

We went to one of our favorite shows in Branson "The Haygoods".  This is a family that have been performing together for 20 years - 7 brothers and a sister.  They are all in their 20's and 30's,  We first saw them at Silver Dollar City over 10 years ago.  As always they put on an excellent show!

Thunder, Lighting, Rain and more Rain

The title about says it all!  This is the first real rain we've been in for a long time.  Even had some storm warnings but all has cleared now and the sky is mostly blue except for one big puffy cloud.

Poor Pig

We ate at the Rib Crib tonight, they had an all-you-can-eat special.  It was very good:  ribs, sides and especially  the okra.  Don ate three servings of ribs - I commented that he was really dedicated  to those ribs.  He said "not as dedicated as the PIG!"

Big spenders

We went to two of the three outlet malls in the area - I purchased nothing, Don spent 3.25 for a lock for the hitch.  We are such big spenders.  I also went to Kohls without buying anything and then we went to Wal Mart and spent our mandatory $50 and more.  We've had some rain today for the first time in a long time.

Sunday

We went for breakfast on the far side of Branson, shows how far we'll go for good food!  We came directly home and did some things around the motorhome.  Don grilled salmon and that with a couple baked potatoes and a bottle of wine made a great dinner!  Later I phoned both Sheila and Brenda as well as Jay.  Jay has been getting a lot of our mail and wanted to know how to handle it.

Dam Drive

There is so much traffic in Branson we have been going the "Dam" route - we go south then through some hills and trees and over Table Rock Dam that gets us into mid Branson.  It's a nice drive but a long way around, it does save time!  We picked up tickets for the Haygoods show next Thursday and the Preselys (not related to Elvis) next Saturday.  We had dinner at Fudruckers.

Baby Doll

We had lunch today at a favorite place here in Branson, Grand Country Buffet.  They have quality food and always fine service.  Our server, a woman in probably her 50's kept calling me Baby Doll!  Only in the south, I love it - couldn't get away with that in cold old MN!  Just makes me smile to think about being a Baby Doll.

Visiting friends

We had lunch today with a couple who we worked with in 2002 at Happy Holiday RV Resort in Rapid City, SD.  We have kept in touch and find our paths cross now and again.  We are still enjoying the nice weather in Branson!

Hollister, MO (Branson)

Here we are in the self proclaimed "Country Music Capital of the World" - and we're not even big country music fans.  We arrived about 3PM after a good day on the road.  We stopped twice for diesel and twice for breaks, not too much road construction.  The campsites at Turkey Creek that we wanted were full so we had to take another slightly more expensive site but it is nice, big, level and we can get satellite TV with no problem.  So we are good!  We are also tired---

Heading South

Despite the fact that we saw many RV's heading north, we feel that it is time to head south.  We left the campground about 8 AM and got to Terrible's in Osceola, Iowa about 2PM.  The traveling got scary for a few minutes on the west side of Des Mones where in addition to road construction (narrowed lanes), two major interstates intersect and for added nerves there is a truck stop where trucks are wanting to merge into the highway.  At one point we had semi trucks on each side of our big MN - not much room for error on anyone's part!  We got to Osceola where Don was determined to get cheap diesel only to find the station is closed.  In fact due to some major construction our favorite camping stop on the way to Bronson may be history soon.  Also the place we eat while here is closed.  We got salads from McDonald's and must find a place for diesel early tomorrow!

Goodbyes

We're leaving tomorrow so it was time to sadly tell everyone goodbye until we fly north at Christmas time.  We had lunch with Brenda and Becca.  Later we went to Sheila and Ken's to tell them and kids goodbye.  We've had a nice visit with everyone over the 2+ weeks we've been in MN.

Nice Saturday

After a cold night we bundled up and went to Zach's football game in the morning.  It is fun seeing the kids play their sports!  Later we took a drive to see the fall colors and ended up at Pablo's in Shakopee for a good Mexican dinner - too much food!!!