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.