Snowbird – Duncan Travels

Stop 8 – Mississippi

February 17, 2021 by tduncan8214, posted in Uncategorized

Days 87 – 90 – Waveland Mississippi

We left Alabama and I was pretty excited for our next stop. From what I could see (or thought) we were staying in a place right across from a beach and the gulf. Not only that, the weather was suppose to be nice most of the time. Woo hoo. We already had a golf tee time for a day I took off, and we planned to watch the Super Bowl at a casino down the road from us.

Well, we got to the spot and driving in I’m like where’s the beach? It’s literally the road we are on, concrete wall, no sand, gulf. Dan did find me a spot later on to sit and watch the sun set down on the gulf and that was quite spectacular. Then we pull into our spot. It’s not a bad spot. We get set up and situated and I get back to work. It’s about 3:30/4 when we hear something … Dan says, is that a train? I look out and sure enough there are train tracks right behind the campground and we get to watch the train roll by. It’d be cool if I wasn’t awake at 4:30am the next morning after the SECOND train came by and had me up. Makes for one long day…

Later that morning I mentioned to Dan, maybe we should leave early. There was nothing really keeping us in Mississippi after our day of golf, and we could see a storm coming through Oklahoma early the next week when we were suppose to be driving. I called the KOA in OK to see if they had room for us to be there Saturday instead of Monday, and thankfully they did. With that in mind, we were grateful the train was going to be long gone soon.

We enjoyed the Mississippi camp spot regardless of the train – the state park was a nice area, and we were able to enjoy the sunset over the golf and a night by the fire before we golfed the next morning. Our round of golf was at 9am at a local casino that had it’s own course. The course was designed by Arnold Palmer, and overall it was a nice course. Of course, they had no food and no beverage cart, so that’s always a negative. We didn’t play our best round, but ya know what they say, a bad day of golf is better then a good days work.

I must say it was sad looking at the neighborhoods around us. It was still pretty beat up from whenever the last hurricane was that hit them. It was a poor area and the people looked pretty downtrodden. It’s a time for us to count our many blessings and maybe you will to. We’ve see a lot of great things and have enjoyed so much. However, it is sobering to see that others are not so fortunate. Just a little note to say lets help one another when we can.

The next morning we prepared to hit the road again. We were breaking up this drive with an overnight stay along the way – so we left Friday around lunch and headed out! Little did we know we were heading right for Winter Storm Uri …

Snowbird Travels – Stop 5

December 21, 2020 by tduncan8214, posted in Golf, Snowbird

Days 33 – 39

After we left North Myrtle Beach (begrudgingly) we were headed to Savannah, Georgia. Location wise it was close to friends Wes and Anke, so we would be able to spend time with them, and we could cross Georgia off the list for golf.

We pulled into our spot, and once again felt like we did a great job on picking the location. We were on the end – always a plus to have extra room for the pups – and we were right across from their private lake. Dan was able to spend time fishing and I always enjoy a good view while I am working.

Wes and Anke came up to visit on Friday night, we enjoyed campfire quesadillas, the campfire, and lots of laughs. Saturday we went out for a fun round of golf, where the weather was warm and we were able to bask in the sun a little. After golf we got to meet Anke’s parents, who were so nice and welcoming.

That night we went to River Street at downtown Savannah, to get there we drove around to see the beautiful southern mansions, old cathedral and walk on the cobblestone to get to a spot to eat (where we had to grab some gator bites). The rain percentage was a 14% chance, of course we were there so that changed and soon it was a rainy evening for us to sit on a rooftop patio and enjoy the views. Luckily, we happened to have an umbrella … though it was broken. LOL. Eventually it did die down for us to sit comfortably, but so far these snowbirds have brought rain everywhere we go, lol.

The remainder of the trip we spent hanging at the campsite. It was pretty rainy Monday and Tuesday, so staying in was ok for us. There was a cool trail around the lake that we took the dogs out on which was fun. We went over to the Black Rifle Coffee Company per recommendations, which was a cool shop we got to buy some gifts from. Our last night there we enjoyed some more seafood – a great crab dinner and of course, Georgia peach cobbler!

Off to St. Augustine Florida!

Snowbird Travels – Stop 3

December 7, 2020December 7, 2020 by tduncan8214, posted in Golf, Snowbird

Days 3 – 23 – Thanksgiving(s) 2020

The night we arrived in Arkansas was frustrating. From trying to back in in the dark, to a litany of issues we had trying to configure it all. One of the things that we had done before we left Colorado was to get the rig winterized. The temps had dropped in the teens briefly before we left, and to be safe we thought it best. For some reason when they winterized it, our black tank lever went missing. For those who don’t know, the black tank is the one linked to the toilet. Anyway, when we had left Kansas I thought I had shut the black tank all the way – because of no lever, I wasn’t 100% sure on that one. Turns out, I didn’t. So when we got to Arkansas and were setting up, Dan had asked me to go over and connect the sewer hose. Typically he does it because I can’t ever get the thing open. This time was no different. He comes over to put the hose on, opens the hose connection, and gets covered. When I say covered, I mean covered in what I can only call fermented black tank gunk. Topping it off, we didn’t have the water heater on to get hot water through the trailer, so not only is he covered, he can’t even wash it off. OOPS. We were able to get him mostly cleaned, and tried to spray down the area to get the smell somewhat away, but that made for a long night. Off to get pizza and beer, we decided wait til the morning to get everything else taken care of. Yes, Dan did get cleaned. And a great friend suggested Dan smell coffee grinds to get the smell out of his nose (thanks Dave). To say Dan was ready to turn around and head back was an understatement!!!

The next day was better, as the sun came up and we were able to see the views around us and realize, this spot was pretty nice. Although Dan had his truck in the shop two days with some computer issues and felt stranded, even he enjoyed being fully surrounded by woods. There were a lot of hiking trails we enjoyed with the dogs and my view from my “desk” while working was the trees surrounding us. The best part about this spot though, was the proximity to my Grandma’s house. It was a short 2 mile drive away – and spending the time close to her was well worth it. Not only did we get to spend time with her, it allowed for more family to visit – starting with my Uncle Jack & Aunt Julie from Wisconsin. We enjoyed time with them, getting to play games, sit and catch up, and of course hit a casino to try our luck there!

After they left, my mom came in to spend almost a week. She was gracious enough to get an Air B&B for my brother and his family to stay in as well. With all of them arriving, we got to celebrate Thanksgiving early – with all of my siblings, the kids, and of course the grandmas. It was a wonderful celebration and there were so many laughs shared. Josh and Dan were able to go fishing together and of course they hit the casino as well. Now Dan had some funny things to say about fishing with Josh but that aside he said he really enjoyed just getting away and chatting with him; even if Josh tried to hook Dan a few times, had him tie a swivel on and lost a good lure lol. Josh was the only one to land anything; which turned out to be a 6 foot foam platform of some kind. Dan and I got to enjoy a sleep over with Eloisa – she enjoyed spending the night with us in “her room” (the bunk room) of the trailer.

Once they all took off, we were able to enjoy more quiet time with grandma – from sewing lessons (she gave to Dan), golf, walks with the dogs, and the official Thanksgiving – with NO turkey! LOL. We had our third Thanksgiving that week, when Joe (D3) came out and we went down to my sisters to celebrate with them as well. We gave Slade an early Christmas gift that day, a fishing pole for him to learn on for when we come back around and Uncle Dan can take him out for real. The food was great and the company was also. We will see them again in February.

Some of the other things we enjoyed was a visit to the Cooper Memorial Chapel, a breathtaking chapel located right in Bella Vista. We also popped into a Calvary Chapel service – which was a delight to be able to visit and worship with them. I also made sure to get in my November 5k – this time with Leo along for the fun!

Off to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina!

Snowbird Travels – Stops 1 & 2

November 10, 2020 by tduncan8214, posted in Uncategorized

Day 1 – Travel day

We decided a while ago to take this trip, and our date to go has always been November 9. We spent months planning the trip down to the wire – from gas stops along the way to churches we would want to hit up. Well, Colorado and Covid 19 changed our minds as Covid started to run rampant and it was clear that soon we’d all be on lockdown. (At the time of this, the CO governor has issued a state wide curfew) On top of it, Colorado decided to have a snow storm blow through on November 9, so we hit the road on November 8.

Lucky us, the snow storm was being blown through with wind gusts of almost 40mph sometimes. It was a nail biting drive for sure, but Dan did a great job of getting us to our first stop (Hays, KS) safe and sound. We arrived in the dark and felt uncomfortable leaving the slides out with the wind, so all of us curled up in bed for a sound night of sleep – just to hit the road and chase the wind again!

Sunset view in the rearview mirror during the looooooong drive through Kansas

Day 2 – Off to Arkansas

We woke early in Kansas to try and get a head start.

The Morning view from our site as I took the dogs out

Sadly we woke to more wind, this time accompanied by rain as well. We tried to get out some of the kinks we couldn’t care for in the dark when we had arrived the night before, which wound up getting us on the road around 9am. Off to Arkansas! Windy conditions made for a treacherous drive again (poor Dan!) – this time I was distracted by work but boy the wind whipping our RV is not a fun experience!

Because of the wind, the drive was somewhat slower, so once again we arrived in the dark. This is something we are going to definitely remedy on the next round. Setting up in the dark makes for an unhappy couple, as Dan backed in the RV, and we used just flashlights on our phone and a headlamp to try to figure out where and how to get everything set up. So far, from what we had seen last night, we aren’t thrilled with the location we are in camp site wise, but we are going to make the best of it! Settling in and here to stay to enjoy time & Thanksgiving with family!