Wandering America
January 2008
| Wintering in Summerdale On December 31st we had a gathering outside to celebrate the New Year. It was shorts and sandals weather but then on January 1st (as if on cue) a cold front moved in and we had a couple of hard freezes early in the month that required us to disconnect our water hoses. It has been a month of cold weather and rain with a few warm days thrown in here and there for good measure. The south is in desperate need of rain but we are ready to have the water turned off. After all, we are fulltime tourists!!! Ray and Pat Faber, part-timers from Michigan, arrived in early January. They enjoy geocaching so they invited us to join them on a hunt and one of our finds was quite significant. It was a place called Tolstoy Park which is located just north of Fairhope. After Henry James Stewart was diagnosed with tuberculosis he began seeking an area where the climate would be easier on his lungs. In 1925 he set out from Idaho heading for Alabama where he purchased some land just north of Fairhope. The story is captured in Sonny Brewer's novel "The Poet of Tolstoy Park". "After Henry lives through the whipping winds of a hurricane, awakening to find himself curled into a ball, he watches an osprey fly overhead carrying the scraps retrieved from debris of the storm. He watches as the bird begins building a nest. He asks himself why birds build their nests in a circle. Then he looks around and sees that he too has the perfect place for a circular hut on the top of a knoll at the highest spot in his ten acres, which he named Tolstoy Park." - Wayne Greenshaw, Southern Scribe Reviews. The hut still remains today and is open to the public.    Also, we had several more friends from the past arrive at the Plantation this month. Randy and Terry Guiler returned to the deep south after spending the Christmas holidays in the frigid north country. Dave Tholen returned from Indianapolis leaving Sharyl behind as she was helping a family who had just had quintuplets. She will be arriving here on February 2nd. Norm and Linda Payne arrived after spending time with friends at the Tampa RV show. It was nice to see them again and Norm looked wonderful after spending two plus months having radiation treatments. I have spent part of the month catching up on my reading. It has been a long time since I was able to just sit down and real a novel. I've actually read a dozen novels as well as watched the History Channel's documentary entitled "The Revolution". This series begins with the Boston Massacre and goes through to the election of the First President of the United States. It is over 10 hours long and is very well done; I highly recommend it for all of you history buffs out there. Judy has been working on a new craft called paper embroidery. She is making cards to send to our family and friends for birthdays, Christmas, and other various occasions. They are very nice and as she continues to perfect her skills she is also becoming more creative. Here are a picture of some of them, however, the picture does not do them justice.  We have continued to enjoy our gatherings with the folks on East Traveler Street as well as at the clubhouse and at church. The social times are what make it easier to tolerate this winter weather here in the deep south. Judy and I joined in with a group from the park that took on employment with RGIS and after trying it for a while we decided that that was not the best use of our time so we are no longer w*rking for them ( I guess you could say that we gave up w*rking for lent). Now there's only two months left before we hit the road again. In those two months we need to build shelves in the shed, go to Tennessee to get our "stuff" from our son's house and move it into the shed, wax the RV and truck, install the wainscoting on the front wall next to the entrance, rebuild the kitchen cabinet under the sink, and install the inverter. Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it. We still want to do some more sightseeing in the area so we will certainly be able to keep busy - but it will be a good kind of busy. Well, this has not been a real productive month when it comes to sightseeing. However, this lifestyle isn't just about traveling all the time; it's also about having time to spend with family and friends as well as some time to spend on our hobbies. The great thing about this lifestyle is it allows us to accomplish it all. Until next time, "Happy Motoring". |