Beach Bums Living the Dream

Life's a BEACH!  We're here in Florida now, but to catch up on where we left off... we finished up in Red Bay, Alabama where we toured the manufacturing plant for Tiffin Motorhomes (very impressive) and had a great experience getting a lot of rather minor service work done. My brother Fred told me it's as if a motorhome has to withstand an earthquake on a regular basis.  How true! Lot's can rattle & loosen but we're rolling along again like new.

After Red Bay, we followed our RV buddies Joe & Carolyn to Gadsden, Alabama. Gadsden is near Joe's old stompin' grounds so he showed us the ropes. Who knew Alabama was so beautiful!  We stayed at River Country Campground and were parked just a few feet from the river pictured below. What a pleasant stay!

The view out of our front window

How romantic!

Loved the weeping willows

After staying 3 nights further south in Greenville, Alabama we headed to our holiday destination... Destin, Florida. We'll be here through Dec 15. Our friend Robert Martin told us about Destin and another friend Buck Wenger told us about this RV park in particular (Camp Gulf). What a great place!!!  Destin is just an hour east of Pensacola in the panhandle of Florida so the shore faces the Gulf of Mexico to the south. I hear Destin has the world's whitest sand beaches. The water is so crystal clear and surprisingly warm. They refer to the area as the Emerald Coast. The waves are fairly calm and gently lap the shore... and the sand is so very soft, it feels like cake mix just out of the box!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We're feeling very blessed with our stress-free life. We enjoyed a terrific Thanksgiving dinner with the other RV residents here (well over 100 of them), many of whom return year after year for the holidays. The RV park is not as crowded as we expected and the weather is GREAT. It's been in the 70's this week and feels like endless summer. We could get used to this! We definitely plan to make this a regular stop in our travels.  It feels so good to sit still for awhile rather than being constantly on the move. We'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story...

Our home in paradise (for a month anyway) - this picture taken just a few yards from our RV spot

Having lunch at a nearby seafood restaurant - the Whales' Tail

The 1st couple days were cloudy, but the sunshine soon returned   

The sand is sugar-white and soooo soft!

We're really close to the shore... here's the view from our bus! 

Heavenly skies

Parasailing (no... not us, we're happy to watch
from below)

The water's warm!!  After the first day, we ditched the sweaters & broke out the tank tops, shorts & flip flops.

A slice of heaven... walking along the shore

The water is amazing - crystal clear & fades emerald to azure

There's an air base nearby - lots of aircraft

I think we could stay here FOREVER

You HAVE to go to the beach every evening to watch the sun sink into the ocean.  Ahhhhh..... life is good.

Snowbirds Heading Cross Country

We've been on the road & on the move since the last post... but not all that much to "write home to Mom about". This post is dedicated to our dear friend Joe who reminded us that we are DELINQUENT in posting our updates! Thanks, Joe. We needed that little kick in the pants.

Let's see -- left off in California... in Fresno, we had a nice (but short) visit with Steve's sister Bonnie and her hubby Scott. Then we headed to L.A. (Anaheim & Garden Grove) to see more family. It was also a very short, but pleasant visit. We stayed in a cool RV park across the street from Disneyland. Then it was on to San Diego (El Cajon & Alpine) to see our niece Kathi and her hubby Dean, as well as Rita (our sister-in-law who was married to Don - Steve's late brother). All were well and it was so good to see everyone again.

Steve & Bonnie (siblings)

From there we started the long trek east cross-country. We wanted to hit Denver as we began to make our way toward Florida (where we'll spend the holidays this year) so we headed northeast, staying just one night in the Mojave desert at Barstow. Wow - dry. Next day... we crossed the southern tip of Nevada and on into Utah. We stayed a few nights in Cedar City (just east of St. George). What a pretty little city! Very nice. The next stop was Grand Junction, Colorado.

Willie & Jimi enjoyed bird-watching in Grand Jct.

The fall colors were really starting to come out by this time. Our drive through the mountains and into Denver was really pretty.

Fall colors near Vail, CO

The snow guns were busy manufacturing snow for the upcoming ski season

We took care of vet, doctor & dentist appt's while "home" in Denver but as usual, wished we could have stayed a bit longer to see more of our friends & family. We stayed at our favorite park in Denver and it was especially lovely with the trees if their full autumn glory!

Cherry Creek Reservoir (state park) in Denver -- the fall colors were at peak

After leaving Denver, we headed straight to Tulsa, Oklahoma to see our friend Robert.  Just spent a couple nights there and then it was on to Memphis. We ate at a featured dive from "Diners, Drive-ins & Dives" (emphasis on DIVE)... but the food was good. Southern BBQ.  Mmmmmm. We were actually in West Memphis (Arkansas) and stayed at the Tom Sawyer RV park which was right on the mighty Mississippi river. Nice & slow living there... we felt like singing "waaaay down upon the Swaneee River... "

We watched the HUGE barges go by. Nice place to visit, but probably wouldn't want to live there. We swung by Elvis's Graceland. We would have taken the tour but didn't feel it was worth the 60 bucks they wanted to get in. Nice to see the famous front gate, yard & front of the house, though.

From Memphis, we headed southeast across Mississippi and right now we are in the little town of Red Bay, Alabama. It is where they manufacture Tiffin motorhomes (like ours).  We are waiting to have some work done - mostly cosmetic. It's an incredibly busy place, so we might be here for a couple of weeks while we "wait in line" for service. We were so fortunate to meet up with our very special friends here - Joe & Carolyn who we originally met in Sioux Falls.  They are also full-time RV-ers like us. We enjoyed dinner together a couple of times & got caught up on each others' lives.  (Love you guys!) They have hit the road again to parts unknown but we plan to see them again soon.  Probably in January.

We'll post again from sunny Florida.  We should arrive there by Nov 15th. So long for now!

The Oregon Coast, Redwood National Park and Twin Lakes, California

Updates from Debbie...
Steve and I have been feeling so very blessed to be living this life. Catching up on the last few weeks, we have felt like we're living inside a picture postcard or scenic calendar! We give thanks daily to our Creator for the majesty of this incredible land.  We just left Twin Lakes, California which is a couple hours south of Lake Tahoe.  So beautiful and peaceful.  We met up with extended family there - Chuck & Louise Lewis and their son Steve as well as other family friends.  Good times!  Steve went fishing with the guys and we both enjoyed the quiet.  No internet or satellite reception. I'll use that as my excuse for being slow to update this blog! It was a great time to catch up on reading God's word (my favorite pastime).  It never fails to put things into perspective for me by painting a clear view of the bigger picture.

Driving alongside of Twin Lakes, California on the way to our camp site 

Here's Harley running thru a stream near our campsite

We saw deer everyday outside our window

Today we are in Sparks, Nevada (spending just one night), en route to Fresno, CA to visit Steve's sister Bonnie and her hubby Scott.  Scott's been very ill and Bonnie has a broken wheel so we hope to bring them some cheer and offer our moral support.

On the road today, we drove past a wild fire near Topaz Lake in western Nevada.

There was a helicopter overhead dropping water

We were held up on the road awhile and eventually passed the fire trucks & firefighters right there beside the freeway

God bless and keep the firefighters!

We spent a restful day in Red Bluff, California at a pretty new RV resort that was incredible.  Each RV slot had a well manicured lawn, beautiful landscaping, immaculate grounds, plenty of space and every amenity you could ever want. And it was a gated community!

Fountains at the Durango RV Resort 

It bordered the scenic Sacramento river

We spent nearly two weeks with my sweet sister Jeanne and her groom of 44 years (Chris) in Oregon & California.  We'd been planning this rendezvous for quite some time and it certainly lived up to our hopes & dreams!  Earlier this week, we all stayed a couple days at Crescent City, CA on the beach just south of the Oregon border.  The little town was awfully gray... actually pretty blah but the redeeming quality was its close proximity to the famous Redwood National Park. Wow!!!! I've always wanted to see it but it really surpassed my expectations.  The Redwoods are the worlds' largest trees and stand in excess of 350' and can live up to 2,000 years!  Apparently there are no forest fires there -- too moist, I guess. What a fabulous day we spent among these unbelievable trees.

My sister Jeanne and me

Steve looks (and feels!) like a speck

Chris & Jeanne

Gasp!

The fog and clouds were heavenly

As magnificent as the Redwoods were, it was actually an afterthought to our original plan of spending a week on the beach at Lincoln City, Oregon.  It's Jeanne & Chris's favorite vacation spot.  We stayed in an RV park near their rented Condo that opened right onto the beach.

Chris & Jeanne right outside their condo's sliding glass door

We enjoyed it too!

We had a fabulous time together.  One day we drove to Newport, Oregon (on the coast just north of Lincoln City) and saw the sights like this lighthouse pictured below.  We ate clam chowder at Mo's local diner.  Another day we toured the Tillamook Cheese factory in... you guessed it - Tillamook, Oregon. Free samples! And a great little cafe with super yummy ice cream made right there in the factory. Darn, forgot to take a picture there. 

The Yaquina Head lighthouse built in 1873

Before we got to Lincoln City, Steve & I had a great time in Astoria, Oregon - the northern most city on the coast.

We ate awesome fish & chips (tuna!) from the Bowpicker in Astoria, Oregon

This was another awesome RV park we stayed at in Astoria, OR called the Lewis & Clark Golf & RV Resort.  Our campsite felt like it was on the fairway!  It was one continuous greenbelt adjacent to the course but there was a stream and blackberry bushes that separated the RV's from the actual golf course.  We will definitely stay here again if we're ever back this way in the future. 

This was our first glimpse of the Oregon Coast

Until next time -- take good care and enjoy life!