Day 9 1/9/2024
We had a very windy/rainy night last night. Wind gusts were predicted to be over 30mph so to be on the safe side we closed all 4 slides so the wind would not damage the slide toppers. The toppers are a material similar to canvas that covers the top of the slides when the slides are extended. That keeps most of the debris from trees etc from getting on the top of the slides and then getting jammed up against the walls when the slides are closed.
That makes moving around in the motorhome a little difficult but not too bad. Luckily we can still use the bed and get to both restrooms and the kitchen and refrigerator with the slides closed. To get to the main restroom we have to crawl over the bed but no big deal.
It was still raining a little this morning and windy but is predicted to get really windy again this afternoon. We decided to venture out before the weather got any worse so we went to the nearest coffee shop only to discover they only do coffee via a drive up window. So we left and found another a few miles away. Nothing to brag about here. Nice size main room with one table and four chairs a huge heavy duty picnic style table and a tall square table with only one chair and a big oversized no arm couch with nowhere to set your coffee cup down. I guess they don’t want customers to sit down in their establishment.
The rain had stopped when we came out so we drove to the Alabama Music Hall of Fame to tour it. This is one of the places we came here to see. There is an amazing number of well known entertainers from Alabama or grew up in Alabama. Hundreds of hit songs were written and performed by people from Alabama and they were lots of recording studios here that produced gold records.
The wind was beginning to get strong again so we returned to the motorhome. The weather is predicted to be better tomorrow for sightseeing. It was really windy until after we went to sleep. Luckily we didn’t have any tornadoes like there was in an RV Park in Florida.
Day 10 1/10/2024 Wednesday
After it warmed up to 41 degrees we ventured out. We drove to Florence Alabama about 6 miles away to the Wilson Dam. A large hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River. There was supposed to be some water falls in the area but we couldn’t find them and the road across the dam was closed so we couldn’t drive over it.
Then we went to the W. C. Handy Home and Museum. Born in 1873, he was raised in a two room log cabin. His father was a freed slave and a preacher that did not allow any kind of music in the home. Which is kind of ironic since his son became known as the Father of the Blues. He was a gifted musician, song writer, composer and music producer.
W.C. saved up money as a kid and bought a guitar. When he brought it home his father told him it was the instrument of the devil. He made him return it and buy a dictionary instead.
We paid our admission fee and the staff lady started a five minute film about W.C. Then she took us on a tour of the artifacts in the museum. She explained a lot about his life. She said we could take all the photos we wanted to. He had a very interesting life. A few years before he died he went blind and then later had a stroke. Two weeks after he died the premier of the movie about his life St. Louis Blues staring Nat King Cole was released.
When we left the museum we went to Cracker Barrel for lunch, then got a few groceries and fueled up the Jeep and returned to the RV Park and hooked it up to the motorhome ready for our departure tomorrow.
Day 11 1/11/2024 Thursday
We only had 169 miles to travel today so we didn’t leave until 10 AM. It seems good the sun is shining and it was 42 degrees when we got up and soon was warmed up and really nice outside. We had an easy drive, except a little dicey through Birmingham AL which is nothing unusual, to our destination in Oxford Alabama at St. John’s Nutrition. This is a Harvest Hosts location. We parked beside their building and was provided free 30amp electrical service.
After setting up we finished up some left over pizza from last Thursday. It was just as good as when we had it at the restaurant. Lena has found a way to reheat it that works great.
Then we visited the nutrition store and picked up a couple of things and had a nice chat with the owner Matt and a couple of his employees. Matt is actually Doctor Matt. He is a doctor of Naturopathics.
It is 62 degrees which feels good since we had had some really chilly days recently.
Day 12 1/12/2024 Friday
We had a good nights sleep last night even with a train running back and forth across the street behind a row of buildings. Or at least I did, Lena said she heard it when it came by about every 2 hours.
We decided we needed to leave our parking spot early before anyone came to this building and parked near us because that would make our exit with the motorhome a little dicey. So we pulled out about 7AM drove about 200 yards and pulled into a mall parking lot that had no cars in it. Then drove the Jeep down the street to the Dunkin Donuts for a quick breakfast. We took it back to the motorhome and ate, then left about 7:30 and headed for Sparks GA.
We exited interstate 20 and took out South across Alabama headed to Georgia on mostly two lane roads. So we got to see some beautiful countryside and not just a view down the interstate.
We fueled up on the way. We had light rain all day long so our nice shiny motorhome is not so shiny now. We arrived at Horse Creek Winery about 2 PM and parked in their parking lot. This is also a Harvest Host location. They produce muscadine wine and have about 40 acres of vines in another location. They do have some vines on the grounds here but this is mostly a retain location as the bulk of their vines and the actual wine making is in a different location. The building is right beside I-75.
We had some hot soup for lunch and then went over to the retail store to check it out. We didn’t want to do a full wine tasting so we tasted two white wines and selected one to take with us.
Two more Harvest Hosts guests are coming later this afternoon. We got here first so we got to pick the spot we wanted.
We started getting heavy rain and wind gust just before nightfall but we slept really good.
Day 13 1/13/2024 Saturday
We only have 205 miles to drive today and check in at the next campground is 2PM so we didn’t leave until 10 AM. After crossing into Florida we stopped at a rest stop for a restroom break and a chance to stretch my legs. Lena made us each a Latte which was good with some left over Christmas snacks.
We arrived at 4 Lakes Campground at 2 PM which is about a 30 drive from St. Augustine FL. I didn’t really want to be this far out but the campsites here are less than half of those near St. Augustine so I can drive about 30 minutes to save about $60 a day on campsite fees. We checked in and the host guided us to pull through site 109. We relaxed for the rest of the day and made plans to visit St. Augustine tomorrow.
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