Gulf Shores Alabama

Woke up today and made blueberry paleo pancakes for us. I washed two loads of laundry and Jim went outside and grilled chicken. I ate some grilled chicken for lunch and I made Jim a sandwich and he grilled it outside. it was leftover chicken fingers from Ruby Tuesday's that I didn't let him eat because I wanted him to have a sandwich with it later. it was the chicken fingers provolone cheese barbecue sauce a piece of uncured bacon and grilled outside. Then we got ready and left for our next adventure. We went to the Gulf Shores, nice drive a lot to look at. We walked on the beach, quite a lot of people out.

Was a little Breezy but pretty warm. We went for a long walk, the sand was very firm and easy to walk on. When we left we did our shopping on the way back. Found Publix, it was the first  stop there we   mainly bought food that I want to make  for three different parties we're going to here.

 We stopped at Walmart for some food and beer. We stopped at Camping World for anode Rod and a light around the license plate that was out. Lowe's we needed a smoker cover, stainless steel screws for the panels that were falling down, and some black duct tape. We got back just as it was dark, beautiful sunset. I heated up the last of the turkey lasagna made some green beans and a salad. And Jim watched the hockey game.

Sweet Home Alabama

Today we're heading towards our Sweet Home Alabama and escapees Park for a week, unless we decide to move closer to New Orleans area. Jim woke up around 3:30, the motorhome that came in after us was gone. He looked to see how much power the inverter still had, he acted like he wanted to stay up, and I said NO go To Hell  back to bed. As usual he listen to me and was very glad 3 hours later when we woke up again. By then power was very low but not totally shut off. Fridge temperature was up a little but still on.  He fired up the generator charged it up it only took about an hour. Jim made the coffee  and I made him some eggs. He unhooked the fifth wheel and went and got diesel right next door because it was so cheap at 262 a gallon. Then he came back hooked back up and we took off. We stopped at our first rest area, we always walk around check everything out. Jim said we have a problem. Something  I do not want to hear. The access panel for two of the holding tanks had dropped down and insulation was hanging out. So we had to dig out some screws and his DeWalt and get to work again. Luckily it was an easy fix but it was freezing cold out. We went in the bathroom grab lunch and back on the road. Traffic was pretty light and we realized we hadn't done the blog from yesterday. So we did it on my phone going down the road. Which is really nice made the time go fast. We arrived here at our first Rainbow Escapees Park around 2.  We got set up, and realized on the other side the access panel fell down and he had to fix that too. Jim played with the satellite for a while, but he finally got it.

We went and signed up for all the Christmas activities coming up. Christmas Eve bring a finger food and a gift, Christmas Day they're doing potluck tables so each table does their own thing, the club provides the main entree turkey or ham. And the day after Christmas they're doing a dessert or side dish. Just Like Home 3 days of eating. For dinner I heat  up a premade instant pot turkey lasagna I had Frozen.  For an appetizer we ate the rest of the fish and shrimp we had at Ruby Tuesday's. They actually made me a second one and I took it home because I said I didn't want parmesan cream sauce and they gave it to me anyway. We watch some TV and Jim went to bed first I went later. We decided to stay here for six days, through Christmas and get some more things done.

Rainy travel day

Rainy travel day, heavy at times. We left the Nashville KOA North headed towards Alabama. Traffic was heavy Nashville area and Birmingham, which we expected the rest of the driving wasn't bad.
We arrived at Walmart in Alabaster. We parked went inside to ask permission, they said no problem,  just park in the back. Walked around couldn't think of anything we needed so we went back out.
Jim leveled the fifth wheel as best he could while still staying hooked up. Then we tried to start the generator, which is in the bed of the truck. Our surge protector said faulty ground. Ok, now WHAT. By now we were starving  and there was a Ruby Tuesday's right next door ,  so we decided to go eat  and think about the situation .  He had a drink or two  wonderful meal  more money than we wanted to spend for our free site . So we made a second trip back into Walmart for some electrical supplies he said he needed. Came back out he worked some magic, went back into Walmart a third   time's a charm as they say he's amazing. And he fired it up again, Eureka it works. So we felt it was safe then to put our two slides out on the back side. I really wanted to cook something of course Too Late by then we had already eaten. Had the TV on tried to catch some weather. Talked to Tony and Sue charged everything back up, Jim went out and shut the generator down , went to bed around 10. Their time our time don't ask me which one.

Trolley Tour of Nashville

We woke up excited about our adventure for the day. I made us bacon egg and cheese sandwiches, we had our coffee and got ready for our adventure. Jim called for an Uber so we would be able to, as they say bar hop and he'd be happy. Our very first Uber ride arrived around 10:30. Takes about a good 20 minutes to get there he dropped us off.

We bought tickets for the trolley ride tour. The whole round trip ride has 15 stops, we rode a good half-hour and our first place we got off was Marathon Motor Works. They have a marathon car that was built before Ford there's eight left and there was four of them there, Ford Company put them out of business, here's some pictures.

A lot of cool gift shop areas it was a Hair Salon Spa in there all kinds of old tools, Jim love looking at, the machinery.

Jim also did a whiskey tasting there five different types of whiskey. Then we got back on the trolley and rode some more. We got off near the end and then went to eat lunch at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. There were two guitar players in there, that is what brought us in, they were so good. The food wasn't bad either kind of pricey.

Then we did our bar hopping, I think Kid Rock's Bar  was the first one we went into and that place was hopping .

We went to the WildHorse, they taught a line dance there so we got to line dance a little,

there was another bar where a guy was playing Garth songs, called Big Shotz.

Then we went back to Kid Rock's Bar, different group was playing but it was really good.

Every place we went to the music was just incredible. By this time it was well after Dark,

we are die hard Survivor fans I realized it would be on in about an hour. So Jim called Uber, and it's amazing how fast somebody is there, they picked us up and we got home right before 8 I took a quick shower and a snack, Jim packed up some stuff outside because  we leave tomorrow and we watch Survivor and worked on the blog. Which ended one fabulous day in Nashville Tennessee.

Walking Tour of Nashville

Jim was up before me today and made coffee. I also made a green smoothie. Watched some of the Today Show, as I love to do. Jim grilled some chicken for later meals. I made him breakfast of leftover perogies sausage and some eggs, from last night. Then we got ready to leave and headed towards Nashville.
We drove to Nashville took about 20 minutes highway traffic is crazy busy. We found the parking lot that the camp host here at the KOA said to park in for free. It was at the Nissan Stadium where the Tennessee Titans play. Then we started our own free self guided walking tour of Nashville. Every bar and restaurant you walk
by has live music playing, it all sounds so good. We had lunch at Blake Shelton's new bar Ole Red.
We went into the Country Music Hall of Fame and walked around, beautiful building.
We we're walking through the Music City Hall of Fame Park, and there was another couple there and I asked them where they were from and they said, oh Germany. I said Jim was born there and we started talking. Jim and his mother  talked about taking a trip to Germany which I really think they should do. So I asked this couple and she made a little video talking to my mother-in-law in German why they should take the trip her and Jim. I thanked her very much for doing that. We  said our goodbyes and kept on walking.
We walked around a little bit more and headed back towards the truck around 3:30. Which was probably good timing traffic was super heavy.
When we got back we went in and talked to the camp host here she's very nice, from Texas. I looked around at all the cute little gifts they had. Talked about stopping back again, on our round trip.
We had a little soup and salad Jim watch hockey upstairs and I wanted to watch The Voice, I feel very close to Blake Shelton here in Nashville.
 

Sunny Beautiful Day

Happy Monday, we woke up around 6:30. We drank our coffee, I made Jim a breakfast burrito. I had a yogurt, he took the truck and filled it up with diesel. We left around 9:05 this morning, heading towards Nashville. It was a beautiful sunny drive. We passed through Lebanon TN., thought it was kind of funny since we are from Lebanon PA.
Traffic was very light until we got close to Nashville, then it was quite heavy. We had a time change during the trip which was very funny and weird, till we realized what was happening. It's an hour earlier here.
We arrived at Nashville North KOA around 1.

The lady inside was very nice she gave us a lot of details about touring Nashville and how to do it. We pulled into our site, sat at the picnic table almost right away and ate our sandwich I had pre-packed. The temperature inside the camper kept going up and up so we propped the door open and opened some windows, it was very sunny and got to almost 60° out. We  set up and I vacuumed cleaned up and finally put some stuff away. Then we went to Walmart we wanted to buy some binoculars and a few other things of course some beer. We filled the truck up with diesel  for 2.61 a gallon,

that is 78 cents cheaper a gal  then it was in Pennsylvania. So we got home it was dark out by then. I made some sausage and pierogies, we watched  The Voice,  Jim talk to Byron, when we called it a night.

Another unexpected wake up call

I unexpectedly woke up to the smell of coffee. Jim pre set the pot and accidentally put the alarm on for five like he did when we were working. I woke up early at 4:30 and realized I smelled it. I was going to get up till I saw what time it was. I got up around 6:30 started drinking coffee Jim got up shortly after. He thought it was funny that he accidentally turn the pot on for 5. I made smoothies, I made him some eggs and a banana muffin. We both took showers. Left around 9:15 this morning.
Our first brake was at a very tight rest area, grab our lunch and got back on the road. The next rest area was closed so we kept going.
Saw something along the road we never saw before, a bear that was killed on the road.
So we had to decide where we were going to stop for the night. We wanted to Boondock at a Bass Pro Shop. It was right a Sevierville, so I called them but it wasn't allowed in the area. So we had to decide if we were going to find another spot which is hard around this area because they're so many campgrounds. So we decided just to go to our favorite spot that we know Riverview Plantation so that's where we spent our second night on the road. Went for a nice walk not too many people here, did a little laundry Jim had a fire. I heated up instant pot spaghetti I had pre-made for travel for dinner.