Jackie's New Family

In a previous blog I posted a picture of Jackie with her brother while we were in Holt Fl. We moved to Panama City where 2 of his children live. We spent 3 nights at the Moose Lodge and had a chance to get with her brother and his family. Bobby is Jackie's half brother whom she had never met, so spending some time with him and his family was a big deal for Jackie. She was not sure how she would be received but it turned out to be a high point of our trip for her so far. The group picture includes her brother Bobby, his daughter Maureen and her family. The picture with the sheriff is Bobby and his son David. We all went to dinner one night, then Maureen had us to her home for dinner the next day. Went sailing the following day on Bobby's boat The other 2 pictures are from a rv park near Tampa. We spent a couple days there before heading to the everglades. For the next blog all I can say is Alligators. Oh, Maureen's husband Joe told a joke and it is so stupid that I cracked up and have used it. "Where does Orka come from?" "Orkahoma!". I'm laughing just writing it. Thanks Joe.

This one is for the guys.

Felt it was my obligation to remind all of those back in Nevada what they are missing. The safety meeting/morning droolers have heard of beaches and bikini's but summer in northern Nevada is fleeting and the chance of seeing anything like this is about as rare as a bigfoot sighting. Your welcome guys. We spent 3 days in Panama City visiting Jackie's family (more on that in next post) and stayed at the Moose Lodge. They had water and electricity and only a $10 donation per night. Rv parks around Panama City are pricey so this saved us about $30-40 per night. Weather has started to warm up. We are 83 degrees today but not much humility. Oh, almost forgot the building upside down is not a result of a hurricane but part of Ripley's Believe it or not. We have moved south to near Tampa and will be here for a few days. Have to have some work done one the 5th wheel front jacks. A gear drive has a broken gear so they have to order a new one. We had only planned on one night here but will be staying for 3 days now then on the everglades.

Pensacola Aviation Museum

The museum was done real well. They have an outdoor tour in a tram where they show and discuss the history of Naval airplanes. Many are actual historical planes that were used in different wars. The inside museum is huge and is in 2 buildings. The way they have is set up was fun. Up stairs you could walk around the outside edge where they had different exhibits from WWll. The museum is free but take donations. It is one of those places that you can spend more than one day walking around. Our stay in Pensacola was not the greatest. Weather was bad the whole time we were there. Saturday it rained almost 5 inches. Every time we planned on doing something it would storm. I think there was only 3-4 days of good weather the month we stayed. We would have left but had some business to take care of and sort committed our selves to stay. We moved to Panama City today and are staying at the Moose Lodge. They ask for a $10 donation per night. Panama City rv parks are $35-55 per night so the old Moose Lodge is looking good. Our plan is to stay here for 3 nights to visit some of Jackie's family then on down to Tampa area and then on to the Everglades. Will be posting more blogs now that we are out of Pensacola and the hub of tropical storms.

Day trip to Fort Walton Florida

Since we have been in Florida the weather has been cloudy and light rain almost every day. But the other day it was nice and we took a drive to the coast. We are about 30 miles inland. What I noticed first about the beach is that the sand is white. Bright white. We made a bit of a loop thru Destin and Fort Walton. They are loaded with condos and hotels and places to eat. Very tourist type place. Beautiful but not the type of towns we enjoy hanging out in. Stopped by the local Moose Lodge to take a look and see what type of Rv parking they had. Some of the lodges have an area to park. They have a grass area out back with water and electricity which looked ok for a few day stay. While there they gave us a free cocktail and lunch. Can't beat that!! We are going to Panama City next for a get together with Jackie's brother's family. There is a Moose Lodge there that we can stay at. $10 donation per night is all they ask. We are going to Pensacola today to tour the Naval Aviation Museum. The weather is cloudy but warm so it won't be to bad.

Holt Florida

We are up in the panhandle of Florida. About 40 miles east of Pensacola. We have been here about a week now. There are two reasons for us to be here. The town of Crestview is about 10 mile east of us and that is where we have our mailing address and it is where Jackie's half-brother lives. Bobby Sullivan is her brother and she and he had never met. Jackie was excited to finally met him. We met at a local restaurant and had a real good visit. His daughter is planning a family get together for all us the next week or so. The second part of us being here is we are changing our licences and registrations to Florida. We got the licence done last week. Since we arrived the weather has been bad. Rainy cool and cloudy, it seems to be following us. Also Pepper got sick and we had to take her to the vet. She is doing better. Then I got sick and ended up in the urgent care. After an IV and an assortment of drugs I am feeling better. We have hit a bump in the road but at lease when the weather get better we will be healthy. We are in a Rv park next to the Yellow River. The spots are large and right now not many people are here, so we have now one next to us. The river has rose since we have had so much rain the past few days. But before the rains lots of people were fishing here because of the boat ramp. One of the locals said they caught a 12 foot alligator up the river a while back. No fishing for me. Hope to get out to the beaches next week and look around.

Waynesboro Mississippi

We spent a week here at Maynor Creek Campground just outside of Waynesboro. The main reason we stayed here is it is the only rv park within 30 miles. But we were real happy with it. We were given a double size spot and backed up to the lake. Full hookups and only $96 for the week. We were here to visit Jackie's family. She has an Aunt and 4 cousins living there. So this week was mostly family stuff and bad weather. On the nice days we could watch bass boats fishing outside our window. The only down side was there was no phone or internet service at the campground. But we put this up as one of the best places we have stayed. We are now sitting in Holt Fl. in the panhandle. Got here a couple days ago and just catching up on chores. Weather is cold. Might freeze tonight. Sunny Beach, thought I could break out the shorts but not until mid week. We took some time today and looked at how many miles I have pulled the 5th wheel since we left Nevada. It doesn't seem like it but we have pulled 6775 miles. We have been in 10 states so far. Alabama was just a 60 mile drive through it but will be returning. We are averaging 13.1 miles per gallon pulling. 2 blow outs on the trailer tires and no trouble with the truck. Drank 32 1.75 liter bottles of scotch, a bowl of the best clam chowder (the Splash in Pismo Beach) and to die for bbq brisket (Blacks in Lockhart Texas). Now I am wanting some dinner and a scotch. Dinner is not ready but...........

The Shed....(don't read this on an empty stomach)

A little catching up to do. We moved from Ocean Springs Ms to Waynesboro Ms and spent a week there visiting Jackie's family and now are in Holt Florida. It is near Pensacola Fl. During the week we were in Waynesboro we didn't have phone or internet. But back to the Shed. One of the places we had on our list of things to see and do was the Shed. It was on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. It is located in Ocean Springs Ms which is next to Biloxi. I ordered the combination plate which has 7 meats and 3 sides. We ate on that thing for a couple days. It is a fun place to just walk around. They have blues singers on the weekends. As for the food it was ok, nothing great. Had better BBQ in Lockhart Tx at Black's. The chicken and sausage were good but I (not bragging) make better ribs than they do at the Shed. Some of you who have ate my ribs are nodding your head yes right now. Something else about the south, every fast food and restaurant has sweet tea. Out west if you can get iced tea you have to add sugar. Also in the stores you can buy sweet tea by the gallon for a few dollars. Sweet tea and something deep fried.