Living Our Dream

Finishing up in Summerdale, AL and Heading to Bushnell, FL

Bushnell, FL - Events of Friday, November 30 to Tuesday, December 4, 2012

We approached the end of our time in Summerdale with mixed emotions. On one hand, we love the area. There is a lot to see and do, there is convenient shopping at all the major chains and there are lots of good places to eat at reasonable prices. We are also making friends with fellow Escapees who are regulars at Rainbow Plantation. On the other hand, the weather was cooling off, so we were itching to head farther south; and we were also excited to see all the changes at Blueberry Hill.

We wanted to take advantage of the special lunch prices at Big Daddy's one more time before we left Summerdale, so we headed there on Friday for a late lunch with Darrell, Judy and their friends Jim and Ellie. Jim and Ellie were located three sites down the road from us at Rainbow Plantation.

The weather had warmed up, but there were little bugs flying around our faces as we stood outside the door trying to decide whether to eat inside or outside. Well, that made the decision easier - inside it was.

View of Big Daddy's with patio to the left

We all took advantage of the lunch specials. Darrell, Judy, Margery and Paul all had Philly beef and cheese sandwiches that included one side for $6 ($10 after 4:00 p.m.). Ellie had a blackened shrimp basket and Jim had a blackened fish basket. The baskets include cole slaw plus one additional side for $10 ($15 after 4:00 p.m.).

Darrell, Judy, Ellie, Jim, Margery and Paul

Philly beef and cheese with sweet potato fries

If it seems like all we did was eat out the entire time we were in the Summerdale area, that is mostly true. Margery did have her cataract surgery with several perliminary appointments and several follow-up appointments, but we did quite a bit of visiting with old and new friends. Visiting is conducive to eating, and that's what we did a lot of. We went to eat at all of our favorite restaurants, including two new ones, at least twice in the 6 weeks we were in the Summerdale area.

On Saturday, we did our weekly cleaning of the motor home and began putting things away in preparation for departure. Margery caught up on laundry, and Paul checked the air in the tires. After church on Sunday, we did a little more packing and some relaxing. Darrell and Judy stopped by to say good-bye.

We headed out to Big Oak RV Park in Tallahassee, FL on Monday morning. It was a 4-hour drive plus a stop for gas. Since we also lost an hour going from the Central Time Zone to Eastern, we didn't pull into Big Oak until around 2:30 EST.

We have stopped at Big Oak twice before. It is conveniently located about half way between Summerdale and Bushnell. The main road at Big Oak RV is part asphalt and part gravel. The pads are all gravel and the patios are paved.

There are full hookups with free Wi-fi and cable. The Wi-Fi was fairly fast, but we got dumped off several times in the evening so we switched to our Verizon Broadband, which is 4G in the area. Some sites have 30-amp electric, and some have 30/50 amp. We got a 50-amp site, which costs $3 extra. Our total after the 10% Good Sam discount was $36. The photo below shows our site at Big Oak RV.

Our site at Big Oak RV

Big Oak has mostly back-ins with some pull-throughs. We always like to get a pull-through when we're making a one-night stop so we don't have to unhook the toad. There are quite a few large live oak trees around the campground; but, fortunately for us, a few of the pull-throughs are a bit more open so we were able to get good satellite reception with our roof-top dish, and we didn't have to fuss with the tripod.

View down the road from our site

Big Oak RV Park takes its name from the huge live oak tree that stands in the middle of the campground. It has been dated at over 350 years old. The arching branches create a densely-shaded canopy.

350-year old live oak tree from which Big Oak RV gets its name

The following morning we were on the road again with about a 4-hour drive to Blueberry Hill RV Park in Bushnell, FL. We arrived shortly after 1:00 p.m.

Ous site at Blueberry Hill

View down the road from our site

We have spent 6 winters at Blueberry Hill, and we have had the same site for the last 5 of those 6 years. The sites in the front section, which are usually used for shorter stays and for rallies, are paved with a strip of grass between, but they are a little narrow. The sites in the back section where we stay are all grass and are huge. There are full hookups and 30/50-amp electric on all sites. There is free cable and Wi-Fi with good coverage available for a fee. There is free Wi-Fi at the clubhouse, and the signal reportedly reaches some of the sites that are close by.

One of the things we like about Blueberry Hill in addition to the convenient location and extra-large sites are the fairly affordable rates. Winter rates for 2012-2013 are $500 a month plus electric for stays of 3 months or longer.

Just before we left last spring, the sale of Blueberry Hill to new owners (Sun RV Resorts) was finalized. The new owners have been busy making improvements all summer. They repainted the clubhouse inside and out and they remodeled the office and gave it a new entrance so guests no longer have to go through the clubhouse and possibly interrupt an event that may be going on. The new owners also widened the entrance road and added new landscaping, added a fenced-in dog park (complete with a faucet to provide water for the pups), brought back the bocce courts which had been removed by the prevoius owners, resurfaced the shuffleboard courts, replaced the chain-link fence around the pool with a white vinyl fence, replaced the pool furniture, added a fitness center and added a lighted pickle ball court. We'll have some photos of some the improvements in an upcoming post after we get settled and have time to go for a walk to check them out. We may find some other things to do as well, so stay tuned.

Winding Down in Summerdale

Summerdale, AL - Events of Thursday, November 22 to Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Rainbow Plantation had an organized dinner for Thanksgiving in the clubhouse, but we decided we wanted a little more quiet meal, so we decided to go to Cracker Barrel down in Foley as we have done in the past. Pat and Mike joined us. Not that a crowded restaurant is all that quiet, but we find it a lot easier as we get older to carry on a conversation with only a few people sitting around a smaller table when there is a lot of background noise.

Cracker Barrel

Cracker Barrel has a great Thanksgiving special that consists of turkey AND ham, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, cranberry relish, biscuits or cornbread, your choice of vegetable, your choice of beverage and pumpkin pie all for only $8.99.

Lots of other people decided the Thanksgiving dinner at Cracker Barrel sounded good because it was pretty crowded when we arrived at 2:45. The porch was lined up with people sitting in rockers on both sides waiting for their names to be called.

Waiting in rockers on the porch at Cracker Barrel

Paul and Margery waiting on the porch

There were also lots of people milling about in the country store inside, too. Although it was more crowded than we remembered it being about the same time last year, the 45-minute wait passed quickly as we chatted with Pat and Mike.

We got a great table right in front of the big fireplace that runs along the wall of the main dining room. They had a fire going, and it felt good since the air outside was getting cool out on the porch as the sun sank lower in the sky.

Nice, warm fire in the fireplace

We all had the Thanksgiving special. In addition to the special, you can also order from the menu. Last year, Margery had catfish. Catfish for Thanksgiving? Really?

Mike, Pat, Margery and Paul

Everything was delish! You get a lot to eat for $8.99, and we all decided to take our pumpkin pie home with us to enjoy later. It was delish, too.

We hung around the motor home on Friday and Saturday. Later on Saturday afternoon, we invited our next door neighbors at Rainbow Plantation, Lu and Larry, over for "happy hour" at 4:00 since they were leaving on Sunday. We enjoyed getting to know Lu and Larry better and look forward to seeing them down the road.

We hung out at the motor home again after church on Sunday. On Monday, we made a run to Sam's Club in nearby Spanish Fort.

Pat and Mike planned to leave Rainbow Plantation on Wednesday. L.A. Barbeque was one last favorite restaurant of ours in the Summerdale area we wanted to introduce them to, so we headed there on Tuesday afternoon for lupper.

As we have mentioned before, L.A. Barbeque has sandwiches for $4.25 to $5 with combos for around $6 to $7, lunch plates including 2 sides for $6 (chopped pork) to $8 (ribs) and dinner plates for $9 to $13 including 2 sides. Since we went for lupper, we all had dinner plates. Pat and Mike had chopped pork, and Margery and Paul got one beef brisket plate and one chopped pork plate and shared the meats.

Mike, Pat, Margery and Paul

Beef brisket dinner plate with cole slaw and potato salad

The pork was delicious as usual - tender, moist and smoky. The brisket was outstanding - even smokier than the pork. The brisket was so good it hardly needed any barbecue sauce.

As it was the last time we went to L.A. Barbeque with Darrell and Judy, the drive through was fairly busy, but the restaurant itself was not. Therefore, we spent another hour and a half sitting and chatting with Pat and Mike after we finished eating. As we said, Pat and Mike were leaving the following morning, so we said our good-byes when they dropped us off at our rig after we left L.A. Barbeque. It won't be that long until we meet up with them again at Blueberry Hill since they winter there, too.

On Wednesday, Margery had her last followup appointment with the ophthalmologist following her cataract surgery, and all is well. As we mentioned previously, depending on how things go as she gets used to the new lens implants, she may need glasses for distance vision; but for now, she says she can generally see better without glasses than she could with glasses before the surgery.

After the mid-morning doctor appointment, we drove south to Orange Beach Public Library. Many libraries offer cards to non-residents for a fee, but Margery found out from the blog of a fellow RVer's the non-resident cards are free at Orange Beach. Margery was not looking for a source to borrow hard-copy books, but rather e-books. With the free card, she can now download and borrow e-books for her Kindle from Orange Beach or any of the libraries that Orange Beach is associated with in their consortium.

The library was only about 5 minutes from The Gulf, which is the new restaurant we tried about a week and a half prior. The air was quite cool, but the sun was nice and hot, and it wasn't very windy so we decided to go to The Gulf for lunch since it was a little after noon. 

As we found out on our first visit to The Gulf, the restaurant is constructed from four stacked shipping containers. You can get an idea of how they are stacked from the photo below.

The Gulf restaurant is built from four stacked shipping containers.

As we stood in line waiting to order, the owner happened to walk by and stopped to talk to us. He was pleased to hear we liked the place so much it was our second visit in about 10 days.

All the seating at The Gulf is outside, so we grabbed a table in the sun. Since we both had jackets, we were quite comfortable in the sun in spite of the fact it was only about 60º and there was a breeze at the waterfront.

Margery sitting at our table in the sun

We both had burgers with blue cheese and we shared an order of hand-cut fries. Yum!

After lunch, the owner stopped to talk to us again, and we got a chance to ask him what they have planned for the future because we had heard a rumor they were planning to build a large, enclosed restaurant. Although he was fairly non-committal, he did say they had lots of good ideas including a boardwalk. We told him how much we liked the outdoor patio and beach seating, and begged him to keep it no matter what else they did. We can't wait to go back in the spring.

There were several blue herons hanging around on the vacant lot next to the restaurant. There was one sitting on a fence, one standing in the tall beach grass and one standing on the seawall. We stopped to take photos on the way to the car.

Blue heron on the seawall next to The Gulf

We headed back to the motor home and made stops at Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart and Winn Dixie on the way. We settled in for an evening of relaxation and TV.

We have only a few more days in Summerdale before we head to Blueberry Hill RV Resort in Florida for the winter. When we got back from spending Christmas in Pittsburgh last December, we found out Sun RV Resorts was negotiating to buy Blueberry Hill and several other Florida campgrounds from their previous owner, Morgan RV Resorts. The deal was finalized shortly before we left in the spring, and Sun RV Resorts spent much of the summer upgrading many parts of the campground. The managers have been sending out newsletters with photos all summer, and we we are anxious to see all the improvements in person. We'll be able to tell you all about them soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Summerdale, AL - Events of Tuesday, November 20 to Wednesday, November 21, 2012

We thank God every day for all His blessings. Our biggest blessing is our salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. God redeemed us while we were yet sinners.

Another blessing we have is we live in a country where we have many freedoms - freedom to worship, freedom to gather and freedom to express ourselves. We have the freedom to pursue our dreams, and as full-time RVers, we are thankful we are able to be doing what the name of our blog says - Living Our Dream. We have been able to experience, see and learn so much. And we're grateful for you our readers. We are always gratified when we hear from readers who tell us they enjoy reading about our adventures or glean valuable information from our writings. 

This year, we are especially thankful for Margery's successful cataract surgery. The surgery on her first (right) eye was done early in the morning on November 8, and the surgery on her left eye was done on Tuesday, November 20.

For the surgery on her second eye on Tuesday, we had to be up bright and early because we had to be at the hospital at 6:00 AM. Everything went well, and we were back at the motor home before 9:30. Both of us spent the rest of the day relaxing.

On Wednesday, Margery went for her one-day, post-surgery checkup. Dr. Friman, the ophthalmologist, said both eyes are doing well. The vision in her left eye that was just completed, although still a little fuzzy, is very good. Now that both eyes are done, she can begin to better appreciate the overall improvement.

We'll tell you all about our Thanksgiving Day celebration and anything else we find to do in the next few days in our next post. Stay tuned.

A Day Along the Gulf

Summerdale, AL - Events of Monday, November 20, 2012

On Monday, Margery had a pre-admission appointment at the hospital to fill out paperwork prior to her second cataract surgery. After the appointment, we met Pat and Mike and headed south to Gulf Shores. We had read about Gulf Shores State Park in another RVer's blog and we all wanted to check it out for future reference. We also read in the blog about a new restaurant in nearby Orange Beach we wanted to try.

Our first stop was Gulf State Park located just to the east of Gulf Shores, AL. The state park has beaches, a 1,540-foot fishing pier, a golf course, a swimming pool and a campground. We were primarily interested in the campground.

Although the state park lies along the Gulf of Mexico, the campground is across the road from the beach. We drove around several loops of the campground. There are almost 500 sites with full hookups and 30/50-amp electric. The pads and patios are paved, and the sites are nice and big. There are both pull-throughs that are parallel to the road and back-ins. Gulf State Park has definite possibilities if we should ever want to stay closer to the water when we come to Lower Alabama.

The volunteer at the entrance gate also invited us to stop at the nature center located in the campground. There are numerous live reptiles and amphibians in the nature center as well as taxidermy mammals and birds.

Live baby alligators in a plastic pool inside the nature center

Deer and black bear exhibit

Mike and Pat checking out some of the displays

From the state park, we drove a few miles east to Orange Beach to the new restaurant called The Gulf where we had arranged to meet our neighbors from Rainbow Plantation, Lu and Larry.

The Gulf just opened about two weeks prior, and there is little information about it on the internet. They have a website, but as of this writing, the website has no real information about the restaurant - not even the address, hours or phone number. We wouldn't have known about it if it hadn't been for the blogs of a couple of other RVers who happen to be staying in the area.

The restaurant is located on the western side of Perdido Pass, which is a channel through the barrier island. The pass is actually the mouth of the Perdido River. The restaurant has an interesting design. It is constructed from 4 stacked shipping containers.

The Gulf

Ordering is at a walk-up window. There is a chalkboard menu beside the window. The most popular items seem to be the burger and the grouper sandwich, but there are other selections available including one or two specials that the chef comes up.

Order window with chalkboard menu

The Gulf has no indoor seating, so we're not sure what their plans are for winter. It has a lower deck, an upper deck, a grassy lawn and a sandy beach. There are tables and seating located in all these areas.

View of the lawn, lower deck and beach from the upper deck

Note the fine, white lines in the photo above. There is monofilament fishing line strung from the palm trees to the upper deck criss-crossing over the lower dining areas to keep the sea gulls away. They seemed to be very effective because we didn't see any birds at all in the dining area.

One of the picnic tables had stools made from cast-iron tractor seats. Margery tried one and said it would make a perfect bicycle seat!

Margery trying a stool made from a cast-iron tractor seat

There is comfortable lounge seating on the beach...

Seating on the beach

...and on the upper deck. The floor of the upper deck is real grass and has its own irrigation sprinklers.

Comfortable seating on the upper deck

More seating on the upper deck

We chose a table on the grassy lawn because those tables had umbrellas for shade. Shade seemed like a good idea when we first arrived. However, we spent almost two hours there eating, chatting and looking around, so we were wishing for more sun as it cooled off in the late afternoon.

Larry, Lu, Mike, Pat, Margery and Paul

Lu and Larry had grouper sandwiches, and the rest of us had burgers. The prices at The Gulf are a little high, but aren't bad considering how good the food is and considering the waterfront location and ambiance. The grouper sandwiches are $12, and the burgers are $6. Hand-cut fries are $4. The sandwiches are served with half a huge dill pickle. Cheese for the burgers (American, blue or Swiss) is $1.50 extra bringing the total for a cheeseburger and fries to $11.50.

Burger and fries

After we ate, we tried out some of the seats on the beach.

On the beach

We loved The Gulf. Like Bahama Breeze, it really makes you feel like you are on vacation on a tropical island. Not only that, but the food is excellent. We can't wait to go back!

Still Hangin' Around

Summerdale, AL - Events of Friday, November 16 to Sunday, November 18, 2012

On Friday, Margery had her one-week follow-up appointment after her first cataract surgery. The eye had healed well, and there is no longer any danger of infection. The few restrictions that Margery had following the surgery have now been lifted.

However, when Dr. Friman checked Margery's vision in the eye that had the surgery, it was better than before the surgery, but not quite as good as it was when he checked it the day after the surgery. Margery's vision continued to improve for several days following the surgery, then seemed to deteriorate a little. She thought it was just eye fatigue caused by having the vision in one corrected and the vision in the other eye still uncorrected.

Dr. Friman said it is relatively rare, but the new lens can sometimes end up a slightly different position within the eye than intended because the implanted lens is much thinner than the natural lens. In Margery's case, the lens is a fraction of a millimeter too far forward making her slightly nearsighted. It's not a big deal, but it means she may need glasses for distance vision even though she went with the more expensive multi-focal lens implant to try to avoid having to wear glasses.

Margery's checkup at the ophthalmologist was at 1:00 PM so we couldn't go to Panini Pete's for beignets as we had done before, so we did the next best thing - we went to Panini Pete's for a late lunch. This time we had made arrangements to meet Pat and Mike there. The air was cool, and it was breezy so we ate inside.

Paul, Margery, Pat and Mike

Pat had a muffaleta panino, Mike had a burger, Margery had our favorite turkey panino, and Paul had a roast beef panino. Everything was delish.

Roast beef panino

Fairhope has a nice park along Mobile Bay so we drove down to look around before we headed back to Rainbow Plantation. The wind had died down somewhat, so we decided to take a walk on the Municipal Pier.

View of the Fairhope Municipal Pier

The pier was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It was rebuilt and reopened in November, 2006. The pier has a restaurant about halfway out and a small marina.

Fairhope Municipal Marina

The park also has a beach and picnic area along the shore as well as a nice fountain and rose garden.

Fountain at Fairhope Municipal Pier

After our walk on the pier, we headed back to Rainbow Plantation. We took the scenic route along the bay so we could gawk at the expensive bay front homes.

On Saturday morning, we did our weekly cleaning chores. After lunch, we picked up Pat and Mike and headed south of Foley to Billy's Seafood in Bon Secour to get some fresh shrimp.

Billy's Seafood

Margery with the large selection of shrimp at Billy's

The picturesque shrimp boats tied up at the dock near Billy's have a lot of character.

Shrimp boat

After watching the last NASCAR race of the season on Sunday (Jeff Gordon #24 won the race, and Brad Keselowski #2 won the overall championship), we had the shrimp for dinner cooked our favorite way - sauteed in a little oil with garlic and Old Bay seasoning. Margery de-glazes the pan at the end with some white wine. The shrimp were delicious dipped in melted butter.

We have a new restaurant to squeeze in before Margery's second cataract surgery. We'll tell you all about it in our next post.