Over the hills and thru the woods….

Smudge loves the window view.

We left Red Bay, Alabama to work our way to Jacksonville for Christmas.  We traveled just about 150 miles to Talledega National Forest and Cheaha State Park.  In the park lies the highest point in Alabama,  2744 feet above sea level.  It was quite a climb to the campground which is at the top of the mountain.  Stunning views on the way up but I had to close my eyes at some of the drop offs.  No, I wasn't driving.

Mountains in Alabama….who knew?

Out our window.

Lovely hiking at Cheaha.

Then off we were to Adel, Georgia,  Reed Bingham State Park.  What a great park…serene and lots of trails and wildlife.

Baby Long Leaf Pine.

Timber rattler on trail.  Almost stepped on him but he was cold and not moving too fast.

Dang I need to lose weight!  I'll make this photo small.

On the road……In Georgia, they don't mince words.

Mobile Christmas Decor

Back at Camp Red Bay, having a few small items fixed on the coach, we got ready for our first mobile Christmas.  I got a little teary eyed thinking of Christmases past…...putting up outside lights in the snow, hanging wreaths and decorating two trees.  But all that can happen again.  Now is the time to travel, while our health is good and we have the desire to be free of a "sticks and bricks" home.
So, this is how we decorated and got ready for Christmas this year.  Lots of giggles and had a good laugh!

First Paul had to cut the enormous tree down.  It helps to have the blade guard off, Paul.

Then we had to tie it on top of the car and take it home.  Exhausting!

Then decorating…    

Stockings were hung by the fire.  Hope Santa doesn't come down the black tank vent.

And we drove to "downtown" Red Bay to see the decorations.  Small town America at its best.

Southern Times at the Hollow

I am reminded daily that we are in the soulful, serene southern part of our country.  Polite manners everywhere…I admire being told "Yes Mam" and I am in wonder that there are more syllables in the southern words.  How are kids in the south taught about syllables when words like "mile" become a "mi ell"?
And the more we have conversations with southerners, the more we talk like them.  The southern drawl is contagious!
While the coach was being painted, we stayed at other accommodations.  We found a wooded, pastural area with cabins, called Sleepy Hollow.  The 4 cabins were nestled in the "holler", peaceful and pure.  We could let the dogs off leash and we spent many hours walking the woods, Smudge peeing on every tree.  How does he do that?
The cabin was heated with a gas stove that gave a warm, buttery glow all night long.  We woke up to deer in the yard and a mist over the hollow.  This is why we are living the way we are.

Turkeys and Coon Dogs

 We are at the Tiffin Motorhomes campground in Red Bay, Alabama. Paul wants to get some custom paint done to the motor home and we have a few warranty items to get fixed.  Going to the Tiffin factory and campground (called Camp Red Bay) is a pilgrimage most Tiffin owners make at least once.  We will see a motor home like ours being built. learn a lot about taking care of the coach and the campground, albeit not pretty (its an old landing strip) is very accommodating and fun.
Tiffin is known for their customer service.  They confirmed that for us by providing Thanksgiving turkey yesterday for all the "campers" and we had a pitch in dinner.  Its not like being with family, but it was very, very nice.  And no clean up to do!
Today we went to the Coon Dog Cemetery about 16 miles from the campground.  It is a beautiful place, way off the main byways.  Read the history if you have a chance. It was a lovely,touching experience.    www.coondogcemetery.com.

Cosmopolitan Coons

Many graves had the dog's collars, untouched and unbothered for years.  Some collars had lichens growing on them and the brass name plated had turned a verdigris color.

I bet it is beautiful here in the colorful seasons.

Love the name….

The first dog buried here was in 1937.
Most of the dogs were 10 to 13 years old when they died.  I think God gives dogs shorter lives than humans because when they die, humans are reminded that they have experienced pure love.  

Our home on wheels

I thought you might be interested in how hard life is for us on the road.  We are really roughing it.  Please put us in your prayers.
Here are some photos of the coach, taken from the brochure.  I just can't get the lighting right so I thought I'd  borrow photos.

I have an induction range, convection oven/microwave and a dishwasher.  Smudge and Willow serve as the garbage disposals.

King size, sleep number bed.  That's the tray Paul uses to serve me breakfast in bed.

We have three large flat screen TV's with surround sound and blue ray,  We are in the process of getting satellite .  We have a large outside TV.  Life is rough...

My bathroom. Washer and dryer is in this area.  Paul has a half bath.

I fix dinner like this every night.  Especially the cloth napkins.  LOL

Pauls favorite place to have coffee.

My favorite space, although usually I am outside with my iPad.

Sleeper bed for company.

Pull out island for my gourmet cooking.

View from bedroom

Faux fire place/ heater and we have heated floors.
 Is that Smudge sticking his tongue out at me?????

View from drivers seat, back.

Finally!

Its been a long time since I posted on this blog because we have been very busy!  We had been contemplating living full time in our motor coach and traveling the US and Canada for a few years.  The freedom and peacefulness of travel at our own pace, with our own home with us, has appealed to us since we traveled in our first RV last December.  We love the simplicity…..can't own or carry a lot of possessions.  We love being at nature and seeing new vistas when ever we want, with no packing or unpacking.  And I love the sense of adventure that Paul and I have always enjoyed.

I  mentioned to a neighbor in Indy that I could live in the coach full time but I hated to leave our lovely home and garden unattended for very long.  A few weeks later the neighbor asked if we considered selling and we said we might.  The neighbor had some friends that wanted to live on the lake….could they see the house?  Fast forward…the neighbors friends loved the house and offered us a cash amount that we had to consider.  After a months worth of pondering, we made the leap and decided to sell.

What and emotional journey….telling the Indy kids and grandchildren, saying goodbye to friends, selling all our possessions keeping just enough to put into a 5 by 10 rented storage space.  Letting go became easier as time went by but tears were shed.  I never doubted that I wanted to make the move to full time living in a 43 foot motor home though.

We took a breather from selling things and went to the Smokies in early October, to attend a seminar on full time RV living.  I was so glad we went!  We learned about how to handle mail, maintenance of the coach, choosing a domicile, insurance, emergencies, internet and satellite technology etc. while traveling.  Its all quite easily handled…..  and we made life long friends at the seminar.

So here I sit, on our third day of full timing and I can tell you that we made the right decision for us.  We have much to look forward to, much to learn about our country, and much to talk about with each other.  I am sure there will be days that I will question this decision, but right now, in this moment, I am
thrilled to be on this path!

A group of new friends, met in the Smokies.  Some are full time and others are thinking about it after they retire.

Our view.  

Pauls first tattoo.

On the way home we stopped and parked right on a stream.

Life is good!

Leaves were just beginning to turn.

Gorgeous!

Beautiful Michigan

We have always wanted to see Sleeping Bear Dunes in Empire, Michigan so we drove about 7 hours north of Indy to the west upper coast of the lower peninsula.
We like to take the non highway routes, that can accommodate our rig and there are so many pretty little towns to travel through!  We stayed at a peaceful little RV park, Indigo Bluffs……beautiful!  Instead of lush lawns, they choose to just cut the grass around the RV pads but the rest of the land is lush meadow wildflowers.  And the park is aptly named.  We saw Indigo buntings, and the sky was a deep, clear blue.  Sorry I didn't take photos of the meadows!
We went to the dunes several times and they were stunning.  I'll let the photos do the talking.