Industrious ants

We were eating popcorn outside on Saturday afternoon and dropped a couple of pieces on the ground. We didn't realize that the garbage collectors would be taking care of it before we got up!

 

 

In case you ever need to jump out of a plane without a parachute...

While working on a project a couple weeks ago, a friend was dealing with an extension cord that was caught up on other things as he was trying to pull it out. He commented, "I hope if I ever have to jump out of an airplane without a parachute that I can grab an extension cord on my way out -- I can count on it getting hung up on something and keeping me from falling!"

We were dealing with unplugging an extension cord that we had used to plug in Miss Doozie on the farm, and, sure enough, when we unplugged it, it got caught up on other things as we pulled it out, reminding us of the friend's comment. So... you might want to carry an extension cord along on your next flight, just in case you have to jump out without a parachute!

Into Alabama

We made it into Alabama and to Escapee's Rainbow Plantation on Thursday.

Miss Kitty in her customary location and demonstrating her flexibility (hind foot up by her head) while we were traveling. She loves being on a lap!

As we were driving on I-10 heading west, Carl noticed dozens and dozens of line trucks heading east. He mentioned that they must have been working on lines that had come down in storms. We also saw signs indicating a detour for US98 south. We remembered hearing that the bridge that we had crossed back in March (which had just completed construction and they were in the process of dismantling the old bridge) had been damaged by a barge during a hurricane -- the damage happened during Hurricane Sally in September (http://www.pensacolabaybridge.com/construction-traffic-updates, http://www.pensacolabaybridge.com/overview, https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2020/09/16/pensacola-bay-three-mile-bridge-missing-hurricane-sally-what-we-know/5821373002/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pensacola_Bay_Bridge) and the bridge is anticipated to be closed until March of 2021.

When we got into Alabama, we found that the storm had wrecked havoc in this area too. There were piles of debris along all the roads, I guess waiting for trucks to come pick it up. We saw some power lines down still near the RV park (I said that I thought that the line trucks hadn't quite finished all their work!).

When we got to Rainbow Plantation, we found that the park had a lot of damage too:

Some of the piles of debris along the main entry road.

More debris down through the park.

Where there used to be a line of trees, now a number of stumps and a number of trees broken off or leaning.

 

We met for "coffee" with some of the folks who live on the housing lots behind the RV park this morning. They said that it was quite a horrific time. They lost both water and power for several days (5 and 7 days, I think). Being in an RV you can deal without having those things (with onboard water tanks and generator), but they are in houses or "park models" and don't have tanks or generators. Trees blocked access to be able to leave the park or even travel on the roads. The businesses in the area didn't have power so they weren't open. They said that churches in the area cooked meals in parking lots and provided meals to people who needed it.

I don't know how long the RV park has been back open. There are a lot of trees missing. There are still some other trees with yellow "Caution" tape around their trunks (I don't know whether they are planning to cut more down or whether these trees still have broken branches that need to be trimmed out). Talking to the folks who weathered the storm reminds us to be thankful for our lives and for being safe. 

Even though the park is open, due to COVID, the office is not open for folks to enter. They left our registration materials outside in a box and we picked it up to know which site was assigned to us. All the communication was by phone or email -- not the friendly environment that we are accustomed to find in Escapee parks. But there are still friendly smiles and kind greetings between folks in the park, and we're glad to stop driving for a few days.

Amelia Island

I posted one picture of us on Amelia Island Beach yesterday... today a few more pictures from our visit:

crossing the dunes - looking south...

...looking north...

... looking east!

We drove to Peter's Point Beach Park (*great* recommendation by cousin Marty) - you could drive onto the beach at this location, but I think the sign indicated only Nassau County residents. We wanted to walk, so we parked and walked over the raised walkway access to the beach.

The beach and the waves were so beautiful.

The beach was very broad and hard packed -- great for walking.

I wish I could share the sounds of the surf and the feel of the breeze with you!

Same picture from yesterday's blog - now more in context.

We saw a pier from where we got onto the beach and made it our goal to walk to it. It was about 1.5 miles away, so we got a 3 mile walk - so good after sitting and driving for two days!

Under the pier

At the pier

Heading back south toward where the Jeep was parked.

 

We particularly wanted to come to Amelia Island so we could visit Patti's cousins Marty and Irene. They invited us for supper and we had a wonderful visit. So nice to catch up!

We also had brought some of Aunt Libby's boxes that I had had in our house in Coppell, which had been moved to the container in Virginia, nicely labeled with "To Marty". We unloaded the 3 boxes into the garage (Carl had had a nightmare that we forgot to unload them and only realized it as we were heading west across Florida -- Irene said her nightmare was that we would remember to unload them!).

I got a message from Irene this morning that there was something unexpected in one of the boxes:

Marty asked if we meant to include this! He added that so far, only a skin was found...

Ugh! I should have checked the boxes after taking them out of the container!

Many, many thanks to cousins Marty and Irene for the great recommendation of where to access the beach, and for a lovely dinner and visit, and for taking the boxes from Aunt Libby - even including the extra contents that I did not intend to be in there! My only regret is that we did not get a picture with them.

Further along...

To wrap up the story that I posted on Tuesday while we were in the traffic jam... we ended up being stopped or nearly so for about 90 minutes (6 miles) as, the freeway was totally shut down due to an accident southbound.

All the traffic exited...

I guess the accident was under the overpass.

At the end of the exit ramp, we were directed into the oncoming traffic lane and crossed over the road and back down onto the on-ramp.

We normally do not travel after dark, but, since I had several Walmart parking lot options identified for our overnight, we didn't have to worry about finding a campsite in the dark, so we kept on driving for longer than we normally would, eventually stopping at the Walmart in Walterboro, SC -- which would make our drive for Wednesday a little shorter.

We've had beautiful days for driving so far!

Entering Florida

Walking on the beach on Amelia Island

More pictures and info about stopping at Amelia Island - hopefully tomorrow!

On our way...

It is Tuesday, election day 2020, and we're heading south from Virginia.

But... before we left... Carl had mentioned that we would probably not be with family for Thanksgiving or Christmas, so Regina fixed us Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday evening!

And we even got to have Thanksgiving leftovers on Monday evening!

Gracie leaving from behind the shop

Jeep hooked up behind Gracie before leaving the farm

We have been making good time until now (2pm), just north of Godwin, NC. We've been at a total standstill for a few minutes, and now we're moving a little. Waze had been indicating that there were accidents on the northbound side, and delays on southbound, but now it is showing an accident on southbound too. Oh well, we are comfortable in Gracie, and we have options for where we can stop this evening.

 

 

Update on Miss Doozie

Today, Monday, we dropped Miss Doozie off at Commonwealth Boat, Aircraft, and RV...

The folks there will be working on locating her next caretaker...

I have to admit, it was kind of hard... I wish we could have found her next owner before we left Virginia, but... we'll be heading south on Tuesday, so it was time to turn that responsibility over to someone else.