Well…it’s been 14 days since I posted anything. I guess I could tell ya that we just been so busy doing Fun Stuff© and the like that I just didna get ‘round tuit…but that would just be some BS that I was dealing out so I guess I’ll tell ya the real dealio.

We just ain’t done nuttin’.

As I discussed last time…Connie broke the drain valve on our toilet…well, actually it was the spring cartridge that closes the valve once you’re done flushing your business away and it sort worked. She claims that she didn’t break it…it broke on it’s own and she just happened to be the one that pushed on the flush lever when it broke. All I can say is though…she was in there, tromped on the lever, it went snap and Neil was nowhere in sight…so who else’s fault is it than hers?? That’s my story and Ima stickin’ to it.

Anyways…instead of staying 4 nights in Coffeeville we ended up just staying 2…that got us to the Foley Elks Lodge #2782 on Wednesday shortly after lunch instead of Friday. Neil got a recommendation from Chris who runs the RV park there for Peterson’s RV Repair so we called them up and made an appointment for the next day. Sure enough…shortly after lunch on Thursday Nathan showed up…he was a friendly, trustworthy looking sort of guy and after a quick analysis turned out we needed the aforementioned spring cartridge. He wasn’t sure which of the 2 options we needed so headed off with our toilet model number to either get the part from the shop or get it on order.

He called back a couple of hours later and told us the part would be in around 1100 Friday morning and that he would be over to install it then. Sure enough…shortly after noon on Friday Nathan returned and fixed the problem in about 20 minutes of installation time…cost us a grand total of $110 and the part was $35. I can definitely recommend Peterson’s RV Repair if you’re ever in the Foley/Gulf Shores/Robertsdale AL area…good service, good prices and friendly folks.

We stayed in Foley through the following Friday morning…I wish we could tell ya all about all the cool stuff we did but as I already mentioned we done nuttin’. Drove over to Pensacola Naval Air Station one day and got booze, a haircut for Neil and some groceries from the commissary. Drove over to Mobile one day to visit Neil’s parents at the cemetery and have lunch with his older brother Ron.

We installed some silk flowers at the grave  site and visited his parents for a bit then talked a bit with Ron until it was time for lunch…after a brief bit of discussion we headed over to the Dew Drop Inn for some hotdogs. The Dew Drop has been in business since 1924 but was moved to the current location on Old Shell Road in 1937…it had to be relocated away from directly across the street from the Old Shell Road Elementary School to get a beer license. It’s been pretty much the same since it’s last remodeling in 1967…the owners believe in the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” theory. Among it’s many fans is a guy ya mighta heard tell of before…a fella by the name of Jimmy Buffet who grew up in Mobile and according to his Parrothead Handbook the Dew Drop is where he first developed his burger lust…so it may very well be the source of the original “Cheeseburger in Paradise” that ya may have heard of as well.

We had some of their famous hot dogs and a couple of sweet tea’s and talked about growing up in Mobile and Neil’s parents and siblings for awhile until it was time to head home. Stopped off at the Whole Paycheck (aka Whole Foods) for some duck breasts on the way back home…can’t find them down in Florida…then headed back across the bay to Foley.

Anyways…that was about the highlight of the week…excepting for a couple other eating experiences. We went out to the Acme Oyster House one evening and sat at the bar drinking brews and eating oysters…mighty good. Went over to the burger joint formerly known as The Dock for lunch…it’s now known as The Gulf but is otherwise pretty much the same as it always was…great food on the beach.

We went up to the lodge one night for fish fry and other nights for Happy Hour. Other than that Connie worked, Neil worked on our winter maintenance and upgrade schedule, and we did not much else.

Friday morning we got up early for our 380 mile drive to the Low Key Hideaway in Cedar Key…our favorite home away from home if ya know what  I mean. Before leaving we had to accomplish one last southern AL tradition…Neil headed over to the local franchise and was there at the Krispy Kreme shop right as the “hot donuts available” light went on…the hot light means that the delectable morsels of golden brown deliciousness are still warm and ready for consumption.

Yes my friends…Krispy Kreme’s finest Hot Glazed Donuts…the pinnacle of the donut maker’s art and really the only donuts worth the calories except for maybe the Dunkin Donuts Maple Frosted model.

Still warm, soft, and gooey from the fryer. With our hot coffee they lasted about 3 or 4 bites each and that was breakfast.

One the donuts had been dispatched we got hitched up and were on the road shortly after 0800. We disregarded the first few instructions from our truck GPS that would have taken us back up AL-59 though the traffic to I-10 and instead took the 4 lane, high speed, no traffic Baldwin Beach Expressway…from our analysis it was shorter than 59 would have been anyway, got us to I-10 east farther east than 59 would have, and had no traffic and a higher speed limit to boot. Glad we went that way. From I-10 it was east 250 miles or so then we got off onto US-19 which was again a 4 lane high speed highway although it’s not limited access so one does have to watch out for the at-grade crossings. 

From previous trips to the area we again made the wise decision. The GPS wants you to turn left at Chiefland FL and head down County Road 347 to it’s intersection with County Road 24 as this is the shorter (by about 4 miles) route. The trouble is that 347 is narrow, curvy and has no shoulders so it’s a pretty lousy 24 mile road down to 24 and while it’s doable with the house in tow…it definitely ain’t the way to go unless ya got no alternative. Instead…we took the 4 miles longer route and stayed on US-19 through Chiefland and then turned right directly onto 24. County Road 24 on the other hand…is straight as an arrow and has both wider lanes and shoulders so it’s definitely the better way…once we deviated from the GPS’s suggested route our estimated arrival time changed by 3 minutes…big whoop.

We pulled into the Low Key Hideaway about 1730 and parked in front for a couple of minutes…Neil had called earlier in the day and Amber told him that we were in RV site 3 so Connie want into the Tiki Bar and grabbed one of our RV site mates to help her block traffic. We had pulled in front from the right heading to the left in this photo of us in site 3 so after Connie and our site mate blocked the road he pulled across the road and got backed into our site in one turn since we were blocking the road. As we were pretty tired after a long day we did utilities only and then headed over to the Tiki Bar for a beer. We met Maureen who is the new owner…former owners Pat and Cindy sold the place to her in September and are opening a photo/art/antique gallery in town…they’re going to be like those guys on American Pickers and drive around buying cool stuff to resell. Anyway…Maureen is a pretty cool lady and will be a worthy keeper of the Lo Key tradition.

Our setup in site 3.

Shot showing site 3 and our extremely long commute over to the Tiki Bar…it’s just behind the trees on the right side of this photo. Rough I tell ya, rough.

Again…I wish I could tell ya about all the cool stuff we did here…but there ain’t been much. We rested over the weekend except for happy hour and dinner. Tuesday and Wednesday we spent cleaning the inside of the house of all the Alaska dust/dirt and all the orange clay dust that drifted in in Foley. There was some construction going on next door to the Elks Lodge in Foley…the city is putting in a whole bunch of soccer fields which will be really nice later when they’re done…but they’re still pushing the dirt around at this point, it’s all red clay, and we were directly downwind of the construction all week.

Cleaning involved pulling everything out of just about every cabinet in the rig…cleaning the inside, cleaning the stuff and putting it all back away. Washed every bit of flatware and kitchen utensils we own, floors, nooks and crannies. We spent probably 8 hours in total doing nothing but cleaning…but at least it’s pretty much all done now and we will have an easier first week in Fort Myers next week.

Other than that…so far we’ve had happy hour, watched the entertainment at the Tiki Bar and Connie did a bit of work. We did get a couple of shots of the sunset the other day when it was nice.

Straight out of the camera.

After post processing in Lightroom and Photomatix Pro to put the bracketed HDR images together…this is much more what it looked like to the naked eye.

He walked over to the dock and got a second shot a couple minutes later.

Neil made these fantastic Pineapple Glazed Ribs for dinner last evening. They’re supposed to be grilled on indirect heat over the grill at 275 degrees for 3 hours…but with a single burner grill we can’t do indirect heat…so he baked them in our oven at 275 for 3.5 hours then glazed them and ran them under the broiler for a couple minutes to char/sear the glaze. Darned if they weren’t delicious…we’re definitely keeping this recipe to make again. Fall of the bone tender and super flavor although I think he’s gonna put a little hot sauce in the glaze next time to counter the sweetness of the pineapple juice.

Tonight we’re going to eat at Tony’s…it’s supposed to be the best place in town but we’ve not eaten there…we’ll let ya know how it goes.

Don’t know what we’ll do Friday and Saturday…although after Mass on Saturday afternoon we’ll most probably go down to town here in Cedar Key…they have a Halloween street party and we’ll have some brews and pick up something to eat somewhere along the way. Then Sunday morning we’re off for our remaining 260 miles down to Seminole Campground in North Fort Myers…we’ve done about double our normal annual mileage this summer and are more than ready to be there. Connie’s all ready for Bingo on Tuesday night and choir starting next week.

A couple funny photos we happened across this week.

Alaskan flat tire.

Best…warning…sign…ever.

Well played sign guy, well played.

How to forecast the weather.

Cyas.