Thanksgiving 2006

We arrived at Beverly Hills, Florida to meet up with old Friends Mike and Ornetta Mehl who have been fulltiming it in first a 5th Wheel and now a 36' Motorhome. They had invited us to join them for Thanksgiving with us having the impression that it would just be the four of us. To our chagrin, when we arrived to meet up them it turn out that we as well as the Maybrant family and a few others (14) were all invited to Betty's Maybrant's house. Betty is one fantastic hostess and we were welcomed like family. Marge, Ornetta and Betty spent a good part of Wednesday afternoon preparing pies and all kinds of wonderful food items for the next days feast. The picture below is of Marge, Betty and Ornetta during a pause in the cooking.
We had a grand time on Thursday and ate very well. Betty as I said was a wonderful hostess and we were welcomed by everyone. It was a very nice day. We had our picture taken with the Mehls and our hostess Betty after dinner - see below.
Marge and I both would like to wish everyone a warm Thanksgiving greeting.

Alabama to Beverly Hills, Florida

We have been moving...after leaving our friends Marvin and JoAnn in Alabama and their wonderful hospitality....although not before they gave us a quick visit to Gulf Shores and and their neat cottage on Mobile Bay - see below.



The beaches are pretty phenomenal with beautiful white sand everywhere. The area where our friends are is generally all beach houses and as we traveled east, the developments became more numerous even with the offshore oil and gas rigs.

We then proceeded along the coast and on to what we hoped would be warmer climates with our first stop at Henderson Beach State Park near Destin, Florida. Again a fantastic state park nestled in the dunes along the Gulf of Mexico. Lots of beach and trails to explore but at 31 Degrees outside we decided to stay warm inside. The following morning we left again heading east hoping to find some warmth. We traveled the coast going through some beautiful old cities...Apalachicola, Mexico Beach, Port Saint Joe, and Carabelle. All are being developed to some degree, but they are a far cry from Panama City or Fort Walton Beach at this point. We stopped for lunch at a roadside park near Carabelle where they trained for the landing at Normandy during World War II. The beach is beautiful as is the whole area.




We received an invite from old friends for Thanksgiving...were off to Beverly Hills, Florida for a Thanksgiving Dinner with them.

Brrrrr - Winter in Alabama

Were in the Florida Panhandle due to a change in weather and plans...last night it went down to 34 degrees tonights supposed to be a little cooler in Destin Florida where we are for the moment. Will be heading further South tomorrow.

Biloxi - Pass Christian

Friday was our last work day and today we decided to explore a little over towards Pass Christian. In all the driving around we have done where there is the obvious destruction one thing we have both noted is the fact that the beautiful old live oak trees have survived when man made structures of some consequence have not. Another thing we noticed is that while Biloxi had major loss back one or two blocks at Pass Christian it was more like five or six blocks back from the beach and there were substantially less trees that had survived. We leave tomorrow without a specific destination but will keep you posted. I have also posted a few more pictures mostly of the area between Pass Christian and Biloxi.

Biloxi II

Thought I would post some pictures just to give you and idea of the devastation that everyone talks about, although you really have to see it to understand the completeness of the damage to the area. Bear in mind, these pictures were taken yesterday 15 months after Katrina.





One thing I wanted to show but wasn't able to, was the neighborhoods. Many have been totally destroyed, but now with the time that has passed, the green has come back in between the paved streets and there is the occassional FEMA trailer seemingly sitting in the middle of nowhere, but there is no neighborhood now! I could not find a picture to take that would show that.

Biloxi, Mississippi - WOW!

We arrived in Biloxi to spend some time with an organization known as "Hands On" for which our niece Sara Hamilton works as a coordinator helping to organize and direct a steady stream of volunteers. There are quite a few volunteers helping out this city after the destruction from Hurricane Katrina, and its needed judging from initial appearances. We arrived Sunday afternoon to find that at least two of the major routes into town were still out (bridges blown away) and the devastation along the shoreline unbelievable. I will post some more pictures as we see more this week, but below are the first pictures we took on the way in. It surprised me that after 14 or 15 months that the devastation was so totally apparent.

One of the many piers that are now longer usable

View from foundations of resturant no longer around

Signs still standing of long gone businesses

One of the areas that Hands On is working

Organizations such as HANDS ON are trying to make a difference like renovating parks, feeding homeless, mold removal, new construction and, even taking care of the animals at the Humane Society. They do anything and everything and work out of a rented church building that now houses up to 300 volunteers. It appears that 90% of the volunteers are between 18 and 25 with a few of us old folks thrown in. Were going to be here through the week to help as we can and frankly feel good about it. Our first job was to work a soup kitchen for the day on Monday...it was fun and rewarding at the same time. More to come.

Mammoth Cave National Park

Main Cave Entrance

After leaving the factory and repairs behind we finally got on the road Thursday morning. When we stopped later in the day we suddenly realized that our time was our own and that we just happened to be near Mammoth Cave National Park. Not having to be anywhere clinched our decision to become adventurous and check out the national park with our "Golden Age Passports" which offer most things free or half price at all the National Parks. I know Emily (our daughter in law) will be disappointed that she was not with us as this sort of thing is right up her alley. I do have to say I was a bit apprehensive and claustrophobic when we first entered the cave. The larger chambers were ok but some of the cracks we had to squeeze through surprised me.







Thought I would attach a couple of pictures from inside the cave which even with a new camera do not do justice to the beauty of all the natural formations we saw. The chambers sometimes were huge with the ranger that was giving us the tour describing what we saw and explaining about the underground waterways that had carved out some 367 miles of cave found so far. They estimate that that is only about half of what they believe to be in the area.

One of two other kind of unique things we saw was the last cable/paddlewheel ferry still in use across the Green River in the national park. See below
On the way in to where the visitors center was I noticed a small strange little engine and railcar that was used in the early years to transport people to the cave opening and the nearby hotels. The trip was only 9 miles but beautiful country side and as I said somewhat special and unique.


Saturday we left for Biloxi with an overnight at a small park near Montgomery Alabama... Northern Alabama is absolutely beautiful with the trees just finishing up their color show.

Coach is done!!!!

Well after three days at the plant having things repaired we feel like we are in a new coach....well almost! Many things repaired and we are pleased with the way we were treated and taken care of. It was kind of nice to be treated like a valuable customer!
While there we met a couple that was written up in the Wall Street Journal a while back about their commitment to establishing a "Lemon Law" relative to the sale of new motorhomes. They have had a terrible time and after hearing the true scoop on things I do not envy the problems they have had with what is now a beautiful coach and almost what it is supposed to be. Below is their coach in the "campground" waiting for service and a good picture of them doing what they do while the work is going on. They have been there since the 2nd of October!!!!


The smiles on their face are nice to see as they have had real problems resolving all that has gone wrong with their new coach (over six figures of repairs and adjustments and 14 months of agony trying to resolve all the issues relative to their home...yes they are full timers and live in this coach full time. What I was most pleased with about their story was that they believe as I do that that this facility is the best and does fix problems to their customers satisfaction. Below are two views of the repair facility in Elkhart where the people know what they are doing.
Thats our coach below in the middle.

Anyway, we are in Cave City, Kentucky heading ? We thought we would have a little respite.....

Just a side note to my good friends Art, Bud & Dave...were only a very short distance from the Corvette Museum at Bowling Green! Maybe tomorrow.

It is great to be on the road again...we will be keeping you up to speed more regularly now.

On the Road!

We leave this morning for Elkhart Indiana to get the last of the repairs done at the factory and then on to ? The plan is to head warm and were thinking Natchez Trace for the moment but will decide in a day or two. Pictures and regular blog reports to come.

Packing the coach

Seems like forever but the coach is pretty much been fixed and were packing to leave early for the warmth of the South. Lots of plans but nothing for sure except a quick stop at the manufacturing plant to finish up a few things and then were off to North Carolina (Durham) for our first stop. Blog will be up to speed as we go and not so dormant like we have been.