Huggin' Molly

We received the repair part for the awning topper on the long slideout.  Before we leave, it is necessary to install this part.  It helps keep the awning topper from billowing up like a giant sail on a boat when the wind gets under it.  So to keep from tearing up the awning fabric and/or potentially causing an accident, we make these repairs before leaving Gulf Shores.

One additional item of interest, at least we think so, is how humans interact.  When in a campground, such as Gulf Shores State Park; that is mainly used for recreational campers and weekenders, we have noticed there is not as much neighborly introductions and conversations.  You might wave and have a friendly hello but it usually stops there instead of proceeding to the point of where are you from, how long  are you here, where are you headed to next, etc., etc.  That is until you get out a ladder and tools.  Then all of a sudden you have created a ‘human interaction magnet.’  There is something about working on a RV that peaks the curiosity in folks.  As one guy said when he nonchalantly wandered over to inquire about what we were doing, ‘I thought I better see what you are doing in case I have to do the same thing someday.’  So if you are ever lonely, needing some human conversation, etc. just drag out the ladder and tools.  Presto, change-o; you have created a ‘human interaction magnet.’  Of course, do not expect any assistance other than verbal, jus’ sayin’.  ;) :) ;)

We primarily have relaxed and enjoyed the sights, smells and ambience of the beach during our stay in Gulf Shores.  We will definitely come back to the State Park Campground when in the area.  While here there were numerous activities and events we chose not to attend such as the annual Mullett Throw, a hot air balloon festival, the NCAA Beach Volleyball Championships, Pensacola’s Crawfish Cookoff, etc.  There is just too much to do and folks could tire themselves out without much trouble at all.  We chose to relax and that is what we did.

Sights, sounds and smells of the ocean and beach - very relaxing

We have come to look forward to the local weather forecasts.  In particular, there is one Mobile, AL station that has several weather folks we enjoy.  They are certainly frustrated poets, stand-up comedians and chef wannabes.  It is extremely entertaining to watch and listen to the forecast.  You will hear things like, ‘here’s the number while you slumber’ referring to the nightly low temperature.  Or one of our favorites, ‘you will hear the boom, boom while in your room, room’ talking about the thunderstorms coming through the area or ‘drippy in Mississippi.’  Not to mention, ‘there will be a rumble that will make you grumble’ talking about possible stormy weather on the weekend.  It really keeps you on your toes when listening for these little gems.  Then the daytime guy can barely contain himself when giving the forecast.  He gets faster and faster to get it over with so he can don his apron and participate in the cooking segment.  It is not hard to see where his passion really is and I mean literally can see the shape of things under the apron as well as the glint in the eye.  Sure is fun to watch.

It is now time to move on from the beach.  We are headed inland to do some genealogical research and discovery.  One of Beverly’s favorite pastimes is to wind around long dusty roads looking for obscure cemeteries and then once found, tromping through it to locate headstones of deceased ancestors.

See the excitement as she peruses the cemetery indexes?

Moving on to our genealogical destinations, we stop for the weekend in Dothan, AL.  We use the first day to inspect the area and to keep an eye out for another RV Park closer to the actual location in Abbeville, AL where we will be researching.  As we approach Abbeville, this sign greets us and fires our curiosity.  What in the world is this Huggin’ Molly all about?  Pressing on with that question lingering in our mind, we travel throughout the area checking out other parks.  There are no RV parks in Abbeville, which is where the county records are kept.  We finally decide the best course of action is to keep our current location in Dothan our base from which to operate.

This sign created a huge question for us.

Interestingly, we discover the area we traveled in Henry County, AL is very similar in terrain and flora to East Texas.  If you had closed your eyes in East Texas and somehow was transported to this area in AL when you opened your eyes again, you would not be able to distinguish between the two places.  No wonder so many people from Henry County, AL chose to stop in the Judson area in Gregg County, TX.  It just felt like ‘home’ to them.  In fact, we have seen a number of names that are similar as well; such as Judson, Lawrenceville (if you know your Gregg County history) and many others; which tells me they brought ‘home’ to Texas when settling in the area.

Our researching landed us in Abbeville at the courthouse and library.  A local restaurant, named “Huggin’ Mollys”, between them was our choice location to eat.  The food is very good and you cannot beat the atmosphere or the story behind the name.  The location is on a main street in town just off the square in an old building that still retains its old time look and feel.  Particularly interesting is the Huggin’ Molly Hamburger with Vidalia Onion Marmalade as the main spread.  Mmmm, mmm good!

The name Huggin’ Molly comes from the legend around these parts.  Seems there was a woman named Molly that was 7’ tall and big around as a bale of cotton.  If you (especially the kids) are out late at night , Molly walks the streets sweeping her black skirt as she wanders up and down.  If she sees you, she will chase you down, give you a big hug and scream in your ear.  Well, you get the picture or do you?  Double dog dare you to try venturing out at night in Abbeville just to see for yourself if the legend is true or not.  Check out the story in the attached detail from a lifelong resident of Abbeville.

After literally wearing our bodies and minds out perusing through old records, copying selected items, climbing up and down ladders, lifting heavy record books, we abandon plans to go to the next genealogical stop.  Our brains and bodies need some recuperation time to heal.  There is a huge amount of information that needs to be absorbed and assimilated to see what relevance there is to the family tree and story.  So we decide to move to a quieter and slower paced stop.  We discovered White Oak Creek Campground located on Lake Eufaula, halfway between Dothan, AL and Columbus, GA when looking for a base camp to use for genealogical research.  Here is what the view outside the RV and our patio (front yard) looks like.  Hard to beat, isn’t it?  We literally have shade around 90% of the day.  There will be more to come after we rest awhile or two or longer – be safe until next time.

View of our patio area

View of part of our 'front' yard

Visiting the Beach

Our move to Gulf Shores State Park occurred on a Friday.  We saw a lot of traffic heading to the beach.  In fact, the lady assisting Beverly with reservations had to look around and manipulate the system a bit to get us a place to park for two weeks.  It seems this park is very popular with locals for weekend jaunts.  Typical to all government RV areas, the weekends are always reserved and therefore, it is hard to find one week without a weekend reservation already in place, not to mention two weeks.  But to her credit, the lady not only was able to work her magic, she helped us out on the rates by combining an end of month special, senior discounts and regular daily rates to get us the least expensive total cost.  People really do want to help and are nice, if you are nice to them.

There are signs scattered throughout the park that admonish folks to NOT feed or aggravate the alligators.  Those that know me really well, realize this is the most inappropriate warning for me.  It is almost like waving a red cape in front of a bull.  I have this very strong urge to hunt for an alligator just to aggravate since I am predisposed to aggravate anything that breathes.  It is not my fault, it is in the genes.  I do my best to keep it suppressed but usually with not much luck.  It also seems very odd to me the placement of one of these signs is adjacent to the kids’ park area.  Why do you think the sign is there?  Is it the alligators’ food source or the kids’ absolute enjoyment in aggravating?  I wonder….?  By the way, how do you aggravate an alligator?

Come here alligator, alligator, alligator... where are you?

This area is indeed Beverly’s ‘happy place.’  She has been doing her little ‘happy dance’ since we have been here.  My problem is this place is so relaxing, I only feel like sitting while she wants to ‘dance’ up and down the beach day in and day out.  So we compromise, I sit and watch her go up and down the beach.  Works good!  Everybody is happy, happy, happy!

Happy, Happy, Happy

We tried to watch the Blue Angels (US Navy’s flight demonstration squadron) practice session on the first Tuesday in the area.  Their website is very specific about times, etc.  When we arrived, we found the Air Force Thunderbirds were at the base too and interrupted the normal practice schedule, which had not been disclosed on the website.  The Blues had flown early that morning and the Thunderbirds were flying later.  We like a large number of other folks found ourselves waiting in line to go to the seating area about two hours before the Thunderbirds would start their practice.  Standing in the Florida heat for two hours is not my preferred activity so we decided we would visit again the following week and headed to Pensacola beach to stop at one of our favorite restaurants, Flounders.  Here is a picture of the partially eaten Key Lime Pie from Flounders. Mm..Mmm, good!

Yes, that is 3 Layers of pie!!!

Amazingly after we had finished the pie, we had this urge to go sit and veg on the beach.  The wind had come up and people were leaving because it had clouded up a bit and gotten pretty cool.  As we sat and pondered the surf and waves, I could hear in the distance jet engines.  Looking out into the Gulf, you could make out some airplanes and as I watched, it slowly dawned on me it was not only the Blues but the Thunderbirds.  They made a slow turn towards the beach and started flying right over the top of us at a very low altitude as they made their way back towards Pensacola.  As you can see in the pictures, we hurriedly snapped, all this was done in the Delta formation.  Oh by the way, the pictures makes them look further away than they really were.  They were very close.  My day was made!

Blues are right over my head!

Followed by the Thunderbirds.

On Saturday, we headed to a small town just east of Foley.  Our mission was to explore the German Festival held annually at Elberta.  One of the things on our bucket list is to soak up some of the local flavor by attending arts and crafts celebrations, festivals and fairs.  We knew this was going to be a small one but wanted to check it out anyway.  Sure enough it took us longer to drive to the event than it did to walk through the entire venue.  We did meet and visit with some interesting folks.  It never is a waste of time to check these events out.  The food did not look all that appetizing so we made a strategic decision to eat somewhere else.

Luckily just a few minutes back down the road in Foley is the restaurant, Lambert’s Café, home of ‘throwed rolls.’  Just about every time we are in the area of Branson, MO or Foley, AL we head to this restaurant.  The food is about as down home as you can get and the rolls are always hot.  You can check out our November 2016 post and pictures from Branson to see the type of fare available.  This place in Foley is no exception as it is patterned after the original.  It is owned and run by the same family who clearly likes the beach versus the mountains.  We like both equally.  Here are a few beach photos.

We like to visit churches as we travel around to meet new folks and experience local culture.  It is always exciting and encouraging to see like-minded folks around the country worshiping.  In today’s world, if you watch news programs, you think there are not very many believers left and we have turned totally to secularism.  It is not the case; in fact, I am very encouraged to see the number of young people in worship these days.  Mind you, the services do not look anything like they did when I was growing up but the message is still the same.

We attended the First Baptist Church of Gulf Shores our first Sunday in the area and thoroughly enjoyed our time with them.  The second Sunday, we received an invitation to join the campground Camper’s Devotion time at the activities building.  This particular Sunday a youth group from FBC Brinkley, AR led the worship time.  We really enjoyed them sharing singing, scripture reading and skits.  They had a lot of talent to be such a small group.  There were ten of them plus their leader.  It was as satisfying and encouraging as any service anywhere.

The bad storms that created tornadoes in TX, flooding in MO and AR finally reached us the following Sunday night which was our second Sunday in the park.  We were expecting them all day on Sunday but they did not actually show up until well after dark.  We went to the beach to see the big surf that was created due to the high winds as we waited for the storms to arrive.  When we got there, we saw not one but two red flags flying.  Of course, this means no one is allowed in the water due to the dangers of rip tides and high waves.  Sure enough as we walked along the beach a police ATV came driving by to make sure no one was ignoring the warnings.  They were patrolling the beach all day.

The bad storms hit overnight and we found ourselves doing a bit of rocking and rolling.  The next morning we surveyed the ‘damage’ to see what might need attention.  The grill had been blown from underneath the motorhome and filled with water.  A plant was blown over and had to be re-potted.  The satellite dish was blown over and had to be re-positioned.  The sidewinder sewer hose support was partially in place but fully extended and sticking out the other side of the RV.  Worst thing was the awning covering the long slide is going to need attention.  Some supports are broken and a small part of the fabric torn.  Wind and water combined in such force is pretty scary.

Speaking of scary, there is something I must share with you.  When you are mostly Irish, Scandinavian, Western European, white and fair-skinned then you must protect your skin with sun block whenever you go to the beach.  In the past I have used a strong SPF product to do just that but have always had some issues.  You see, when sweating, it tends to get into my eyes creating a burning, stinging sensation that is extremely uncomfortable.  This time I set out to find a solution to that irritation.  I found it in the local pharmacy.  A high SPF lotion for babies like the shampoo which does not burn or hurt the babies’ eyes.  Aha!  The answer to my anguish for many years supposedly was in this tube.  Our purchase made, we proceeded to the RV to ‘prep’ for the beach.  Now I must warn you in advance, what you are about to read and see in the attached pictures is indeed scary.  In fact, so scary I highly recommend the use of this product to keep unwanted intrusion at bay.  When this product is applied to the skin; it does not disappear like traditional sun block but remains firmly in place with a pinkish tint.  We did not have a single obnoxious (or sweet either for that matter) kid approach us to bother us when on the beach.  Similarly, there were adults who literally went out of their way to avoid us like the plague as we approached each other.  So in addition to repelling the harmful effects of the sun’s rays, this product also repels humans.  See for yourselves the scary results of one application in the pictures below.  WARNING: This is NOT for the faint of heart to see!!!

Yikes!

Comparison picture for effect.

That is enough scary stuff for now.  Until next time, be safe!