Irons in the fire

Too many things to think about and going on.

We're in the middle of winter and what a winter it's been. Of course not as bad as some places have had but it hasn't been a typical one in southern Alabama either. We're been at the Gulf Shores state park since mid Dec. and we've had nice days, but a high never out of the 60's, some wind, rain, but more cold nights than anything. We've had to disconnect the water quite often and bundle up in winter clothes to go outside.

We've been plenty busy, more with plans changing and replanning. A lot of things going on. All of our kids were able to come for a visit over the holidays, not in the trailer though. We rented a condo for them on the beach and that worked out well. We were planning on staying till the end of Mar., but the park has some overbooked issues and since we didn't have a reservation, can't guarantee us a spot past the middle of Feb. We've been contemplating/shopping for a new 5th wheel so we've added that to our changed plans. This is harder than house shopping and we have it narrowed down to 2 or 3 brands. Actually, we waffle between a new "home" or remodeling/refurbishing the one we have. Back and forth we go on options.  This year we were going to try a trip to Alaska again. We canceled those plans 3 years ago because the gas prices were too high and guess what? Gas is on it way up again, so once again we canceled plan for an Alaska trip. So what to do?

Plans now include leaving here mid Feb, heading to Tampa and shopping for new rigs at a very large RV dealer there and visiting Bill's brother. Then up to Kingsland to visit Brenton and family, go to an RV show in Jacksonville, help paint their house (groan) and stay a couple of weeks. Then, it's over to Little Rock for more family visit and projects, work our way up to MI/WI, more family and checking out places to hunt for ancestors along the way.  We plan to spend most of the summer out west. It's been 2 years since we were "home" in Idaho or the west and we want to get back. Staying along the Oregon coast, visiting my sister in WA, Mom in Idaho, the cabin,  and friends. Hopefully, we will can meet up with some of you if you're around the area.

Then tentatively, we think we will winter down in the AZ/NM area next winter. Well that's the plan this week but who knows, we may just decide to start remodeling the Alfa, update and refurnish, and continue down the road.

Jackson square

We did take a little trip over to New Orleans, before Mardi Gras got started. We rented a car and spent 4 nights in a lovely, old house B&B just on the outsksirts of the French Quarter. We were able to take the streetcar in. It was interesting, old and somewhat run down, lots of character. Some of the old buildings and houses were very interesting. We also drove out to the end of one of the spits and it's pretty much below sea level and just an industrial zone of the oil rigs, maintenance and supply areas and roughneck housing. We are "lucky" to be there during the coldest time of the winter so far. The weather stopped short of snowing in NO, but just north of the lake it didn't. Wet, very cold and biting wind.

They tried

Says it all

So, we're soon on the move again and we'll see what new mischief or adventures we find ourselves in. Check back for updates later.