Preparations for our 2009 Trip

Well, we’ve done something we said we wouldn’t do - we’ve rented a storage unit. We have always been heavy on the rear axle and we wanted to see if we could lighten our weight any. Of course, the generator, A/C and gas tank are all in the rear of the RV, so we can’t do anything about that.
We’ve spent this week going through the interior cabinets and the outside bays deciding what to keep, what to store and what to get rid of. We donated the clothing and other stuff that we’re not keeping to the Wiregrass Humane Society Second Chance Thrift Store.
We’ve made an appointment for Monday morning to have our tires rotated on the RV before we start out on our trip for the year. After that we’re going to weigh the RV at the Flying J to see how much the RV weighs since we’ve taken some of our stuff out of it.

Snow in Dothan

The weatherman was right about today's forecast - snow flurries. Okay - it wasn't a lot of snow and it didn't "stick", but it WAS snow. We are still in Dothan, AL and will probably be here until mid-April or so.

We got up this morning to snow flurries - we put our coats on and went out to take photos of the snow. Well, we hadn't used our camera in quite a while and the battery was dead and so was the extra battery! Tinker didn't seem to be too impressed about the snow (he might have if there had been any on the ground). The first thing we did when we came back in was to charge the camera batteries.

About 3:30 this afternoon we got some more snow flurries and were able to get a movie of it - still no accumulation. You can click on the link above and it will take you to our snow movies.

Last Friday was like Christmas around here. We had ordered from 3gstore.com a Cradlepoint CTR500 mobile router to use with our Verizon mobile modem and it came on Friday. We have 2 laptops and only 1 of us could be on the internet at a time. After installing and connecting the router and plugging in our Verizon modem, we both were able to share the internet connection on each laptop. We were concerned that we would see a slowdown in the speed of our internet connection, but we haven't noticed any.

One of the local retailers here had advertised a Western Digital 500GB external hard drive for $80. I checked prices on the internet and found out that I could get a 1TB (1000GB) external hard drive from Dell for only $25 more! Such a deal - we couldn't pass it up. We already have a 200GB external hard drive that we use for backup. The new hard drive also came last Friday.

We are rapidly running out of space on one of our laptops (it has 64GB) and I need to transfer some files and photos off to another drive. We've decided to use the 200GB drive to store our photos and files that we take off of the laptops and use the 1TB drive for backup of both laptops and the 200GB hard drive. We could have gotten a larger hard drive for the laptop, but I hate having to transfer everything over to a new drive.

January 10, 2009

I had requested visitor guides from the western states & Canadian provinces that we plan on visiting on our trip to Alaska this year & we have started receiving them in the mail.

We've renewed our subscription for U.S. Military Campgrounds Directory software - a good deal at $7.95 a year for renewal.

Everything we have read on driving to Alaska recommends having a spare tire mounted on a rim for the RV & a full size spare for the tow vehicle (toad). We bought a rim & spare for the RV in 2007 while we were in California. Mike located a rim for the Saturn Vue in Enterprise, AL. On Tuesday, Jan. 6, he drove up there & bought the rim & then he stopped at the Ft. Rucker gas station & ordered a tire for the rim.

Happy New Year

We celebrated the New Year at W.T. & Glenda's house (our landlords here at The Willows). After dinner we went over for Irish coffee & dessert followed by some brandy. We discussed politics, the current financial situation, RVing & anything else that came to mind. We opened a bottle of champagne I had bought for the occasion & toasted in the New Year. A quiet ending of an old year & beginning of a new year, but an enjoyable time.

Merry Christmas

For Christmas dinner I cooked a turkey breast in my crockpot & it was so moist. This was my 2nd crockpot turkey breast & it won't be my last.

Today's weather felt as though we were in South Florida with the temperatures being in the 70's. Just last weekend we had near freezing temperatures.

After dinner we went to The Willows owner's house (W.T. & Glenda) for Irish coffee & dessert. We always have a good time visiting with them.

Update for December

We got the DTVPal converter box that we ordered last month on Dec. 2 & hooked it up. We were happy to see how clear the reception of the local channels was - it worked fine for about 20 minutes & then nothing. The power light was on but we had no reception - we couldn't even turn it off with the remote. I called the phone # on my order & was told they would send out a new converter box. I was given a RA# & was told they probably wouldn't want the defective box back (we're keeping it anyway). We're still waiting for the replacement - after 2 more calls I'm told that it is on backorder.

We went out to eat for Thanksgiving & was seated next to Al (a friend & flight instructor that Mike had worked with) & his family. We had a good time catching up on each other's news.

On Dec. 15 we ordered & downloaded the e-book "RVing Alaska" by Joe & Vicki Kieva & ordered their DVDs "RVing Alaska: What to Expect: How to Prepare" & "Alaska: RV Adventure of a Lifetime" - since we're planning our trip to Alaska in 2009.

Instead of going out for Christmas dinner, I've decided to cook a turkey breast in the crockpot - I did one earlier this year & it turned out great.

Update for November

We're still in Dothan, AL & will be here at least through January 2009. In the last month we've had our regular medical & dental checkups - good reports for both of us. We were finally able to get Tinker's vaccinations for Lyme disease. Since Lyme disease doesn't occur here in this area our vet doesn't have the vaccinations. He was able to get it from the local PetSmart (who do carry it) & gave it to Tinker.

We've taken almost 2600 photos this year - so I'm working on organizing them better. New resolution for 2009 (I know it's a little early for New Year's resolutions) - organize & label photos as soon as we've taken them.

Today I ordered the DTVPal digital converter box from DishNetwork using one of the government $40 coupons. We have DishNetwork satellite service & get the networks from San Francisco & Atlanta, but we got the converter box for receiving the local networks since our TVs don't have digital receivers built in.

Helena, AL to Dothan, AL

After leaving Cherokee Campground this morning, we stopped at a Texaco in Prattville to get gas & paid $2.759 a gallon.

We were getting hungry & I checked the Next Exit book & found that there was a McAllister's Deli at the next exit. We had this sudden craving for their Broccoli & Cheese soup. So we pulled off of I-65 at the exit for our Broccoli & Cheese soup fix.

Since we're going to be parked for a while at The Willows in Dothan, we stopped at Sam's Club to fill up the RV. There we paid $2.709 a gallon for gas. We noticed that the further south we drove that the gas prices were getting lower.

We're here in Dothan to have our regular medical & dental checkups. Tinker also needs to see the vet & get vaccinated for Lyme Disease. We also ran out of his heartworm medicine last month & he'll need to be tested so we can start it up again.

We don't know how long we'll be staying here in Dothan (it could be all winter), so we won't be traveling for a while.

Collinsville, AL to Helena, AL

We said goodbye to Symphony & Al this morning. We then drove 110 miles south to Cherokee Campground in Helena, AL.

Our friends, Dale & his wife Steffie, came over from Birmingham tonight for a visit. We had a great time catching up on each other's news.

We're only staying here at Cherokee Campground just the one night.

Nessa's restaurant

Here is a photo of Mike & Symphony just before she left for work at Nessa's restaurant.

From Collinsville, AL

Tonight Mike, Al & I went into Collinsville to eat dinner at Nessa's.

From Collinsville, AL

Nessa started out with a catering business & this year has opened a restaurant in downtown Collinsville. Symphony was already at Nessa's - she works there as a waitress (she also works in Nessa's catering business). We had a wonderful dinner - the food was excellent. Mike had the Greek Spaghetti, I had the Chicken Picata & Al had Lasagna. We all had Baklava for dessert.

From Collinsville, AL

So if you are ever near Collinsville, AL, stop by Nessa's for lunch or dinner - we can't recommend it highly enough. Also, her desserts are terrific.

Collinsville, AL

We're having a nice visit with Symphony & Al - and Tinker & Chrissie are having a great visit, too.

From Collinsville, AL

Here is Al walking Chrissie -

From Collinsville, AL

Dayton, TN to Collinsville, AL

We left Dayton, TN this morning about our usual departure time of 10:30. We stayed on US-27 until we picked up I-24 west of Chattanooga, TN & then onto I-59. The first thing we noticed when we crossed into Alabama were the wildflowers that were in the median - how pretty.

From Collinsville, AL

We stopped at the rest area on I-59 just inside the Alabama state line for lunch.

We arrived at our friends', Symphony & Al, in the early afternoon. We'll be staying here until Saturday.

From Collinsville, AL

Dothan to Collinsville

We left The Willows this morning at 9:30 - earlier than our usual departure time of 10:30. We stopped in the parking lot of a shopping center just south of Montgomery to have lunch.

After driving 280 miles from Dothan we arrived at our friends' house near Collinsville late this afternoon. It's really good to see Symphony & Al again.

We had stopped by to visit with Symphony & Al last April before starting on our 2007 trip. They also have a bichon, Chrissy. Last year she was still a puppy & practically wore Tinker out. She was so happy to see another bichon & just wanted to play all the time. Chrissy was happy to see Tinker again today; she is a little older, but still wants to play a lot.

After spending the winter here in Dothan, Alabama, Mike & I are more than ready to get back out on the road. We spent the day getting ready to leave tomorrow for our trip up to the Maritimes.

Our phone & DSL service was terminated today. I went down to the post office to close out our post office box & have our mail forwarded to our mail service in Pensacola. Of course there was laundry to do before leaving town, so a stop at the laundromat was necessary & then to Petsmart to get Tinker's dog food.

While I was running errands, Mike was getting the RV ready for the road - disconnecting our extra propane tank, taking down our outside screens, etc.