Move Back to Gulf State Park, Gulf Shores, AL.

 Wednesday 1/1/2014

We didn't have any reservations at any park for January, so when we arrived here we put our name on two parks waiting list, (The 3 Gulf Shores parks that we like were full for January). The first of December, Gulf Breeze RV Resort called us and told us an opening came available, so we grabbed it. A few weeks later, Gulf State Park called us with an opening so we call Gulf Breeze and cancelled, and took the Gulf State Park opening. Because my Nana kids have a hard time understanding our lifestyle, I like them to ride with us when we make our move from one park to the next while we are in Gulf Shore. It helps them understand that our home moves and why we are gone during the rest of the year.  Lennox sat up front.

Maddie sat in the back, and I followed the bus in the Honda.

We picked out a site that backed up to the park swamplands, site #380.

One morning I did my Grandma duties, and got up by 7AM so I could watch Maddy for a day in our Nest. Alisha dropped Maddie off in her PJ's. half asleep. Malley and I were half asleep as well, as we never get up before 8AM.We had a great day with Maddie, though I have to admit, taking care of a busy little 3 year old all day gets very tiring! The little ones want to touch and turn on all the buttons in the motor home, especially behind the driver seat. We tell them no touching the buttons, but if you are not watching them constantly, they seem mess with them anyway. Last year a button got turned on and Joe found out latter, because it ran down our batteries. On another day when Alisha came with the kids to take them on the bike trails, Noah pushed the lock button on the front door, without us knowing it. When we came back to get inside, the door was locked. The keys were inside because we never lock the doors when we leave. Fortunately we leave a small floor window open for Mallery, if for some reason she need to get out for an emergency. Joe manage to open the screen window and Noah was small enough to slide into the window and unlock the door.

I picked our site in the Gulf State Park, because I thought we would have sunsets to the back of us over the swampland. Because the earth had rotated since we were in the park in November, the sunsets were at the end of the road instead.

We found out that almost everyone that was on our street were from Michigan. That must be a sign that we are on the right track. (We are going to Michigan this summer to look for summer home).

The park is almost completely full in January. There are a few sites that are booked for the weekends making it not completely full during the week.

This is a picture from another street on another night, that has the best sunset views. Next year we are thinking of trying to get this site.

November and December had pretty nice weather, but January has been pretty chilly with more rain days. One night the temperature was to dip down to 32 degrees, and Joe decided we didn't need to run the water facet, because he thought we would be OK. Before I went to bed I decided to be on the safe side, and I turned the facet on and let it run slightly. If for some reason it got cold enough and the park water pipes froze, we would be responsible for the damage. We had just paid a service and labor call that day to replace a circuit board for the water heater, that cost us $270. (A 30 minute job). The day prior Joe had taken the removal entrance panel to the water heater to a shop to be painted. The original one had blown off this summer, and we had replaced it with a white one that needed to be painted green and gold. That cost us $80, which is a lot less than we thought it would be. Because we had had a lot of expenses, I didn't want to take any chance on anything freezing up during the night. The next morning Joe woke up at 6:30 to go to the bathroom to find the shower water overflowing into our Nest. What I didn't know was Joe had closed the grey tank the night before, because he had plan on flushing the black tank the next day and wanted the grey tank to fill up to full. (The grey tank helps clean the the hoses after the black tanks are emptied). I had woke around 5:30 and there was no water on the floor, so somewhere between 5:30 and 6;30 the grey tank became full (from me running the water facet all night). When the grey tank is full, it overflows from the shower. For those who don't know what grey water is, it is shower and dish water. Luckily the water was contained to the bathroom, and a stream to the refrigerator, and a stream next to the side of our bed. We were both up at 6:30 mopping up the water and turning fans on for the next two days. The lesson to the story is a husband should never close a grey tank without telling his wife! I guess he has turned off the grey tank at night for years without me knowing it. This time it didn't pay off!