November 27-29, 2009. Days 131-133 Pensacola FL.

We stayed in Pensacola for three more days after Thanksgiving. On the Friday after, “Black Friday” we did NOT go shopping. Only crazy people do that. We slept in, had a good breakfast then later went to see the movie “Blind Side”. It was really good and we recommend it to everyone. Afterwards we went to eat dinner at Sonny’s Bar-B-Que.

On Saturday after Kathleen and Thomas went shopping at Wal-Mart, we hung out at the RV Park all day. Thomas watched the movie “The Grudge”, very scary, and Andrew and Kevin watched college football all day including the Georgia, Georgia Tech game that night. Of course, Georgia won! We were thrilled since UGA had not had that good of a year. At least this win helped to soften the disappointment some. During the day, Kathleen and Rachel took long walks along the beach to the Light House and they also rode bikes a lot. Rachel made a friend with a lady in the park who had a 6 week old puppy that was the cutest thing you ever saw. Rachel could not leave them alone.

On Sunday, after our internet church service, we all went to see the Aviation Museum they have here right on the base. It was incredible. After having been to all the aviation museums in DC we thought that this one was just as good if not better in several ways. If you ever have a chance to see it you must go. Later that day Thomas had one of his friends, Tabatha Garrett, come and visit with us for a while. We all went down to the beach again and played some football. It was right at sunset and the whole setting was beautiful. All in all we had five great days with Thomas and his friends. It was comforting to see how well he is doing and how happy he is. He has really taken to Navy life and we think he will do very well as a Navy Air Traffic Controller.

November 25-26, 2009. Days 129-130 Thanksgiving in Pensacola FL.

We just had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Pensacola FL, camped on the Pensacola NAS right on the water. They have a beautiful camp ground there for military members and their family so Thomas got us a reservation. The drive down from Montgomery went well and the roads were better than I thought they would be since you have to take a few non-highway roads. We arrived right at 1 PM and Thomas met us at the gate with his roommate, Jeremy Wallace. They rode with us to the campground and spent some time with us. We were so happy to see Thomas. He looked so good in his Navy Blues. After they left we got all set up and started planning our Thanksgiving Day dinner. We bought a turkey that was only 13 lbs. already stuffed and seasoned and also with directions that said you don’t defrost it you just put it in an oven frozen. All that was perfect for an RV. Thomas had asked for a traditional thanksgiving dinner so Kathleen had planned for all the normal dishes. On Thanksgiving Day Thomas and Wallace came over from their dorm at 9 am and Kathleen made them French toast for breakfast, one of Thomas’ favorites. We started cooking the turkey at 9:45 with an expected finish time of 2:45 but we were real nervous about it all since the turkey was still frozen. But right at 2:45 we took it out of the big electric roaster we had bought just for it and it looked wonderful. We got it all carved up and the stuffing out and everything we made tasted great. It had all turned out perfect. During the day we watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, the football games, played our own football and later went and walked on the beach. It was an awesome Thanksgiving Day and we had so much to be thankful for.

November 24, 2009. Day 128 Montgomery AL.

Today we moved from Birmingham AL to Montgomery to see the capitol. It was a short 88 mile trip and we camped at The Woods RV Park just south of town 4 miles. After getting set up and finishing school, we went to the Montgomery Visitors Center at the Old Union Station building. Our RV camp host suggested we go there and then ride the Trolley around town. For only $1 per person you can get off and on a Trolley that takes you all around downtown. Since it was after 1 in the afternoon we rode straight to the Capitol and got off. On the way the Trolley has a recording that plays for you telling about the different buildings and places you’re passing by. It gives history and other interesting facts. At the Capitol we took a self guided tour. They apparently don’t give guided tours. It’s hard to describe their capitol without sounding critical and that’s not our intention. All we’ll say is it was quaint and modestly decorated. For us that was just fine. There was a very unique dual stairway toward the front entrance that went up three flights. It’s one of those stair cases that seem unsupported. It took you to the first level that you could see the rotunda. The rotunda was impressive in color and paintings but not in size. The Capitol is no longer used for the purpose it was built because in 1985 they moved the House and Senate out to a bigger building. The Governor also is located somewhere else. All in all this capitol just gave us a less than “Wow” experience. Still, that is fine. They all shouldn’t be the same, aren’t the same and that’s good. After touring we went out to take our picture in front of the capitol. Then we walked a short distance to the 2nd Baptist Church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached from 1954 to 1960. We then got back on the Trolley and finished riding around downtown and back to the Visitor’s Center. We saw many significant historic sites along the way. We recommend this as a method to see Montgomery. The only thing we regret not seeing was the Civil Rights Museum we passed. It was almost 5 PM when we went by it and the Trolley stops running at 5:30 so we would not have had a ride back and it was getting dark. Maybe if we move to Alabama we’ll come back to see more. Tomorrow we’re off to Pensacola for Thanksgiving with our son, Thomas who’s in the Navy. He’s going to be a third generation Air Traffic Controller. We’re so proud of him and are excited to see him.

November 19-23, 2009. Days 123-127 Birmingham AL.

We’re just finishing a 5 night stay in Birmingham Alabama. We arrived on Thursday, November 19th from Jackson Mississippi. We came here because for several years now Kevin has had the idea to retire to Alabama. Since he calls Georgia home he’s wanted to move back to the south for a while now. However he doesn’t want to move back to the Eastern Time zone. As a big sports fan he’s found he likes it when the games he’s watching end well before midnight. On the Eastern Time zone many games finish after midnight. Even if you just want to stay up to watch the news you still are awake until 11:30. It’s not that our lives are all about TV; it’s just one thing that can make a difference. Anyway, we came here to look around at schools, homes, land and churches. Everything looked great and the people were so friendly. We mostly looked around Hoover, Alabama, which is south of the city off I459. It’s a very pretty area. There’s rolling hills and plenty of hard wood and pine trees. Everything was so pretty and green. It’s quite a bit different than Albuquerque. During our stay in Birmingham we also got to visit with Kevin’s niece, Paige. She attends school here and is finishing up her Doctorate. We think it’s in Rocket Surgery or Brain Science, we can’t remember we just know she’s very smart. On Saturday she came to see us at the RV and to have dinner with us. She also showed the kids how to play the card game, Spoons. They had so much fun and laughed and screamed a lot. We had a great visit. We camped at the Hoover RV Park at Regions Park Stadium. Regions Park Stadium is where the Chicago White Sox Double A team, The Birmingham Barons, play. It’s also where the SEC holds their yearly baseball tournament. The park is really nice. It’s all paved with W-E-S, cable TV and phone hookups, all for just $23 a night. If you pay for 5 nights you get 2 more free. It’s a great place to camp in south Birmingham. One of the things we liked about this stay was how slow a pace we took while here. We slept in till 8 each morning, and after 9 on Sunday. We got the bikes, the grill and the Rip Sticks out. We did a day of school before we went anywhere and overall just felt so much more relaxed. It’s our plan for this second leg of the trip and its working so far. Tomorrow we’re off to Montgomery to see our 35th Capitol.

November 17-18, 2009. Days 121-122 Jackson MS.

On November 17th we drove 195 miles from Memphis TN to Jackson Mississippi. The Mississippi capitol would be our 34th capitol we visited. On the 17th we arrived at Le Fleur's Bluff State Park & Golf Course campground at 1 in the afternoon. We decided to finish our school day and go see the capitol and Jackson the next day. The campground was very nice. It’s right near downtown, only 4 miles away, but you feel like you’re way out in the woods. You take a 1 mile drive off the main road on a winding road around several small lakes. There are high trees at every campsite and most back up right to the lake. We really liked it. Kathleen had plenty of long roads to walk on although she feels a little nervous being in the trees where it’s not always easy to see people coming from a distance away. We had W-E hookups for only $16 a night.

On the 18th we went to see the capitol and downtown after finishing another school day. We are on day 53 of 170 days of school on this 122nd day of the trip. With the trip being planned at 375 days we should be on about school day 60 to stay on an every other day pace in order to finish on time. We’ve decided to do a school day Monday thru Friday from 9-12:30 to help the boys and Rachel stay on track. We had been just doing school on the days we were traveling but that has not been enough and it spreads their days out too much so the M-F plan should be much better.

Back to the capitol now, we went downtown the whole 6 miles we were from the capitol and found free parking right next to it. We had to do another self tour because they only give tours to groups of 10 or more. We started on the top floor and worked our way down. It was a very pretty capitol in the traditional style of most capitols. The Senate and House Chambers had been restored a few years ago and were impressive. Their library and Supreme Court rooms weren’t impressive but are not used anymore anyway. They also had a big beautiful rotunda some 180 feet high. The grounds still had bright green grass cut well with big shade trees. All in all it was a very nice capitol. Better than that though was their Old Capitol that was a few blocks away and now a museum. We walked to it through downtown Jackson, which allowed us to see a lot more, including the Governor’s Mansion. The Old Capitol was really well restored and had a lot of Mississippi history throughout. We really enjoyed that. After our time downtown we went out to eat at Outback and then went back to the RV.

November 14-16, 2009. Days 118-120 Memphis TN.

On November 14th we left the Wal-Mart in Lonoke AR and drove to Memphis TN, We actually drove to South Haven MS a small town on the TN MS border, 8 miles south of Memphis. We camped at the Southaven RV Park, a little park with full hookups that was quite nice. It didn’t take us long though to find out it sits a couple miles south of the Memphis Airport and when the planes are departing south they are pretty loud. We got used to it pretty soon though. It was a Saturday so we decided to stay at the campsite for the day because Kevin was very tired from sinus issues and needed to sleep a little before watching his UGA football game later that evening. We got the kids bikes out for the first time in months and they enjoyed that a lot. Kathleen went to the post office and to fax a timesheet so we did get some things done. Our plan was to go to downtown Memphis on Sunday after church and to Graceland on Monday to see Elvis’ mansion. Great plans, that didn’t happen after all. On Sunday we did our internet church but never left to go downtown. The kids were having a good time playing with other kids in the park and Andrew and Kevin were happy to just watch football. That’s what is great about this trip. We set our own schedule and although we almost always go do something in each town we were fine with just staying “home”. We did try to go to Graceland on Monday but they wanted $125 dollars for us all to get in and we thought that was way too much to pay to see gold shag carpet and 19” TVs from the 70’s. We instead went to see the movie “2012” and then went out to dinner. We liked that much better and the movie was incredible. BTW-GA beat Auburn 31-24! Go Dawgs!

November 13, 2009. Day 117 Little Rock Arkansas.

On Friday the 13th, uh-oh, we drove to Little Rock AR from Dallas. We thought we were just going to stay at a Wal-Mart south of town but after we were all set up and eating dinner a security guard told us we couldn’t stay over-night because they weren’t open 24 hours. She was very nice about it though. She even told us how to get to several other Wal-Marts that she knew we could stay at overnight. We ended up moving to a Wal-Mart 30 miles east of Little Rock which was on the way toward Memphis. Our tour of the capitol went well. We parked on the street in front of the capitol and almost got run over taking our normal in front of the capitol picture. This capitol was really pretty especially since they had begun decorating it for Christmas. Our tour guide was a young girl from Texas who had a nice little southern accent. She gave us a nice tour. She denied knowing Bill Clinton personally. They also have an old capitol building that we tried to go see but we couldn’t find any parking and it was getting near 5 and we didn’t want to get stuck in traffic.