Summerdale Part 2

12/02/07 Sunday we went to O’Charlies for dinner, then returned to the park for the ice cream social and entertainment by the bluegrass group called the “Wayfarers”. They were very good and drew a good crowd.

12/03/07 Sandy went to the beading group at the clubhouse where she started making a bracelet. In the evening we played cards at the clubhouse.

12/04/07 Tuesday we went down to Gulf Shores and walked the beach and got our feet wet in the gulf. We then went to DeSoto’s Seafood Kitchen and had a very good seafood lunch. After lunch we rode over around Pensacola and back to Summerdale.

12/05/07 we went over to Fairhope again and walked through the rose gardens at the city park. Fairhope is a beautiful city with their waterfront park and fishing pier. We then stopped at Wal-Mart for some supplies on the way home.

12/08/07 Saturday we went to the clubhouse for breakfast. In the afternoon we went back to Foley and Gulf Shores.

12/10/07 Monday we went for a ride up through Mobile and down the other side of the bay to Dauphin Island and got on the ferry and crossed the mouth of Mobile Bay to Fort Morgan and Gulf Shores. It was a beautiful day for the ride, sunny and in the mid seventies. Fort Morgan on the Gulf Shores (east) and Fort Gaines on the Dauphin Island (west) side were used during the Civil War to blockade Mobile Bay.

Summerdale, AL

11/27/07 Tuesday we went into Foley and the model railroad museum. This railroad layout is an extensive collection of Lionel trains that was given to the city by Alan Goldman of Montgomery, AL. with the stipulation that it be displayed for free and accessible to children. The building it is housed in was built solely to house the layout. The dimensions of the layout are 24’ X 60’ and consists of a quarter mile (1,320’) of track
The train and scenes are representive of the period of time from 1930 to the 1960’s and there are twelve different railroad lines represented.
There are many realistic scenes of varied industry sites including coal mine, oil refinery, logging operations etc. There are also a number of animated sites such as Mel’s Drive-in, a car wash, church, Union 76 gas station and a drive-in movie. This is a great display operated solely by volunteers who spend countless hours setting up and maintaining the display.

11/28/07 We took a ride over to Fairhope and walked along the beach and out on the fishing pier. Fairhope is a very pretty town right on Mobile Bay. There are a lot of nice shops along Main Street and many nice homes on the waterfront.

11/29/07 Thursday we returned to the model train museum to watch the volunteers work the trains and watch a video on the history of the collection.
On our way back home we saw three large cotton pickers harvesting cotton so naturally we had to stop and watch and take some pictures. As we were standing there one of the machines stopped and the operator asked if we wanted to ride along and soon I was in the air conditioned cab riding along picking cotton. Like we say you never know what lays ahead around the next bend. Every day is an adventure.

11/30/07 we went to see a campground near Foley that the Holiday Rambler Full Timers are going to have their spring rally. The Anchor’s Aweigh RV Resort is very new and very nice, but a little pricey.

12/01/07 we went to the clubhouse for breakfast. In the after noon we went for a nice walk then went to CeCi’s Pizza for dinner with Bob and Donna Cole our neighbors at the park.

Raccoon Valley ,TN to Summerdale, AL

11/16/07 Friday, We went to the Golden Girls Restaurant for Sandy’s Birthday dinner. We played Mexican Train Dominoes when we returned to the campground.

11/18/07 Sun. We went to the clubhouse for the jam session and ice cream social. We Then played games.

11/19/07 Mon. We left Raccoon Valley and traveled to Ashville, NC and the Bear Creek RV Park. We went to the Biltmore Estate, Americas largest home. We toured the winery and did a little win tasting in the afternoon and then went through the house for the candlelight showing where they had all the fireplaces and Christmas trees lighted. The house has 250 rooms and many of the rooms are as large as most common houses. There are 43 bathrooms and 65 fireplaces. The estate is situated on 8,000 acres and is a working farm to this day.
The estate is still privately owned and operated by descendents of George Vanderbilt who built the home in 1895.

11/20/07 Tues. We returned to Biltmore as our tickets were good for two days if you purchase your ticket after three pm. Today we took a complete tour of the house which includes sixty of the rooms including the indoor swimming pool and bowling lanes in the basement. After we were done in the house which took about two and one half hours we walked through the extensive gardens and green houses. The gardens were designed by the same man that laid out Central Park in New York City.

11/21/07 Wednesday we left Ashville and traveled to Hartwell Lake Camping Resort in Townville SC. It is supposed to rain on Thanksgiving Day and since it’s the holiday we will not travel until Friday when we will head for Summerdale AL.

11/22/07 Thanksgiving. Sandy prepared a nice feast for our dinner. Chicken and filling with mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry and the works.
After dinner we took a ride into Anderson, SC. We needed to get some Pumpkin Pie for our evening desert. Anderson is where Steve and Michelle lived before moving to PA. We took a ride by the house they used to live in and it looks the same.

11/23/07 Friday we left Lake Hartwell and traveled across Georgia and Alabama as far as Owassa AL. where we stopped for the day at a nice little Passport America campground.

11/24/07 Saturday we traveled on south to Summerdale, AL and the Escapee’s Rainbow Plantation RV Park. This is another of our favorite parks. We have already met several couples that we know. We went to the 4 o’clock social and then played Mexican Train in the evening.

Farragut to Raccoon Valley

November 06, 07 We left Farragut and traveled to Staunton VA and Walnut Hills RV Park. We had a nice visit with Dick and Betty Souter over dinner at the Cracker Barrel.

11/07/07 We traveled south to Raccoon Valley Escapee RV Park at Heiskell,TN. which is one of our favorite parks and is located about twenty miles north of Knoxville just off I-75. We had a reunion with some of the escapee’s we have met on the road over the years.

11/08/07 Thur. We went to Golden Corral for lunch and then to Wal-Mart for groceries.
In the evening we went to the jam session at the club house. These are local people who come into the campground and perform. They are very talented and entertaining. They are one of the reasons we like this park so well.

11/10/07 Sat. We started the day by going to the clubhouse for breakfast and entertainment. Later we took a ride up to the Cumberland Gap Nat’l Park. This is the site of the trail of westward migration through the Appalachian Mountains. This route was marked out by Daniel Boone and was known as the Wilderness Trail. The route many of the pioneers took was west from southeastern Pennsylvania to Chambersburg then south through the Shenandoah Valley then west through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky Bluegrass country and the Ohio River Valley.