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First Notation! As I was just getting ready to publish this blog last night...the internet went down! Rats! So now I am publishing this on Tuesday but the dicertatcion reflects Monday’s events. Turn on your time machine. The trials & tribulations of being a blogger.
Up and at ‘em, everyone. Time to get “??On the road, again??”. We had a nice rest at this Tallahassee East Campground but it’s time to go.
We pulled out at 8:15 AM. Cory checked out their continental breakfast before we left. It consisted of a box of frozen doughnuts and two left-over, peculiar dishes that they had at their Mothers Day celebration last night (we didn’t go....you had to take a dish to pass - I only had peanut butter sandwiches). We didn’t indulge in their so-called breakfast . Lulu was miffed cause she was hungry but we reminded her she needs to diet. She is becoming very heavy to carry around. Something has to go. Either her weight or her presence. One or the other, chunky girl!
As we traveled along I-10 on the panhandle of Florida, we saw the destroyed remains of Hurricane Michael (Oct.12, 2018). Trees were knocked down
all over the place. Some areas were completely striped bare of their vegetation. Work crew were putting up new fencing. We could see a small trailer area which obviously suffered greatly. We stopped for gas at a Pilot Truck Stop an hour below the Alabama border. The gal inside said the hurricane was the worst ever! Speaking of weather: today is overcast but nothing like yesterday! Whew! At this truck stop, they had one of our very favorite restaurants “PoFolks”. Part of it’s sign was torn off. It looked closed.....permanently or just until lunchtime? - don’t know. We love going to one in the Clearwater Beach area with Sam & Sandy. Great food, Great prices, Great atmosphere. I have a couple t-shirts from there. Hey....another favorite restaurant on our journey: Fazoli’s. Sandy and I were talking about this great place. We each had one in our areas back home. They closed up years ago. Why? No clue. They were excellent. The folks in this area are lucky, lucky people....theirs is still open!
At 11:10 am, we pulled into the Alabama rest stop to regroup and check our directions from Facebook with our GPS and with a real map. Seemed
confusing. Right next to us was a new looking Tiffin Allegro Bus....tag axle so was very long. Cory figured they were going to Red Bay. Yep....they were. They were full timers, originally from Buffalo. Something in common with us. Their names are Bob & Maike. She was kind enough to share with us their route through Montgomery and Birmingham and onto Red Bay. Very helpful advice! Their bus is a 2018 and new. They said they had many problems with it right after they bought it....big ones! Still have some problems (oil leak +) so returning back to Red Bay. Now they want to sell it....sick of it. They had a 2008 Phaeton just like ours and wish they had kept it and just remodel it...just like we are doing. Now they are building a home in Richmond, VA. and giving up RV life. This happens! Maike told me the campground they had reservations at below Birmingham. We decided to go there, too. The YellowHammer RV Campground in Clanton, AL.
At 2:40 pm, we were detoured off I-65 onto a simple 2-lane highway because of a bad accident ahead. The police car just closed the road seconds before we
reached him. The accident involved 2 semi’s (one a tanker truck). One burned completely. At least one fatality. One gal posted on Facebook they were stuck in traffic, because of this accident, for over 2 hours. I found a write-up about it on FB, also. Looked and sounded horrible. Had we been just a few minutes faster, we would have been stuck in that gridlock, too.
At 3:20 pm, we arrived at The YellowHammer RV. Campground. I know you want the story behind the name but I have no clue and no one to ask. Probably someone here used a yellow hammer at one time. Maybe they painted it yellow. You figure it out and let us know. Ok? It’s a fifty site park with pull thru’s and full hookups. That’s all we care about. A nice little fishing pond is next to us. We looked around for our new and helpful friends.....nope, not here. We figured they had been caught in that terrible traffic tie-up because of the accident. At the rest area, they had gone ahead of us and said we could follow them. That didn’t happen. Pulling out of the rest stop, we got delayed because
of on-coming traffic. We could see them in the far distance. Bob drove like Mr.Speedster did coming down to Florida. Remember that? I took a photo of our speedometer reading 84 mph!!! Remember now? That won’t happen again while I’m alive. No, Cory....I do not want a glass of anti-freeze!!
Cory hooked us all up and unhooked the car. There was a Shoney’s across the road where we could eat supper. He did his evening ritual: scrubbing love bugs from our windshield and front of the RV. Dryer sheets work well in getting them off......plus soap and water.
5:00 pm - our new friends pulled into this campground and set up right next to us. Just like we thought....they were caught in the bad traffic because of the horrible accident. They were about 1/4 mile from it when it happened. They saw the burning tanker and the helicopter landing with medical assistance. We visited with one another again. They didn’t want to unhook their car so we went ahead to Shoney’s. Our backseat is loaded with “stuff” so no room for riders. Shoney’s buffet looked nice but tasted terrible. Such is life! Lulu wasn’t hungry anyway. She lost
her appetite after I told her she needed to diet....someone had to do it!
Once back to our RV, we called our granddaughter, Rachael. She lives in Birmingham. She is getting her doctorate in cancer research at the University of Alabama. She also has to work in their lab as part of her program. We are kind of close to her location (1 hour away) but not close enough to visit at this hour. She had to go back to work, anyway. It was good to hear her voice. We miss her and love her.
Before we settled in for the night, we took a hike around this campground. Took only about ten minutes cause it is quite small...but nice. Found a swing to relax on. Next to it was a sign I hadn’t seen before. Besides saying “No Smoking”, it even said “No Vaping”! Fortunately, we don’t do either. But I was ready to go back and haul Lulu up here to read this sign. Maybe, if she won’t listen to us, she might obey the sign. Never considered she might start vaping!
I called the fella from the little campground we are going to stay
at for a couple nights in Red Bay . We can’t get serviced at the main Red Bay shop because we are a 2008 and they don’t work on any rigs over 10 years old. Our work is being down by former or still employed Red Bay employees. They work independently now. Anyway, Cory had the guy’s name written down as Dan. When I called and asked if this was Dan, he paused and mumbled a similar name. Okay. We are all set to pull in sometime tomorrow. Before hanging up, I asked his name again. He said something like Bayin. I questioned it. Bayin he said again. Strange but okay. Then I got it! His name is Ben! Yes, Ben or as he calls himself with his southern drawl: Bay-in.
Aah reckon so! Y'all come back now.
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Dave
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Accident
Glad you avoided the accident.Often say we have been fortunate in our travels. Is Shoney the new restaurant being built near us at TP?