Sugar Bowl, Bethany Visits, and it was cold.....

Had a couple of spectacular weeks following the Buckeyes to a National Championship.

It started on New Year's Eve as we drove to Baton Rogue, stopping to pick up our daughter in Houston at the airport.  Not conditioned for those long drives any more, it doesn't seem.

New Year's Day we drove into New Orleans.  Our first stop was at the Mid City Yacht Club, the official bar of the OSU Alumni from New Orleans, the Cajun Buckeyes.  Was a real throw back bar, in a neighborhood, surrounded by row houses.  Had a great time there.  Met Buck-I-Guy and Archie Griffin, had a few beers then headed downtown towards the Super Dome.

Parked in our spot a few blocks away from the Super Dome and hopped on local transit to the French Quarter.  Stopped for lunch at Crescent City Brewhouse.  Nice place, filled with Buckeyes and Bammers alike.

Next was on towards Manning's where ESPN had been broadcasting.  Got there just as they were striking the set.  <sigh>  Was still a good place to stop, rest, have a few beverages and watch some football.

Continued our walk to the SuperDome where there was a Fan Jam going on outside the stadium.  Met up with an old friend college, a Bama fan we had met on our cruise to Hawaii in 2011, my cousin from Orlando and our friends from Bellevue, who's brother I went to school with.  Was a really fun atmosphere, got super psyched for the game.

We got into the SuperDome in plenty of time to see all of pre game.  We didn't have an usher for our seat, we had sherpas.  They were up there, but still a great view of the game.  Needless to say, it was the desired outcome.

Drove back with Bethany to Rockport the next day, and spent the next two days recovering from the 3 day blitz.  By Monday, we had decided the price of tickets was going to be too high, the weather in Dallas was going to be too cold, and we bailed on taking the rig to Arlington opting instead fly Bethany back from Corpus Christi.

Spent the next week indoors most of the time.  Temp highs in the 40's will do that when you're in an RV.

Had a great tailgate party with the Porter's for the National Championship game, but that afternoon our furnace didn't fire.  Turns out the circuit board was bad.  Would be till Friday until we got the part, so I got a little portable heater.  As the temps didn't clear 55 for a week, it was cold in the rig.

Again, the National Championship game had a desired result.

Started a Euchre Night here at the park on Tuesdays, and we think its going to roll.  Played twice a week at Pioneer RV Resort in the fall and really wanted to keep playing.

Finally going to get to play golf this Monday as the temps are going back to their normal mid 60's for this time of year.

Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to read our doings.  Till the next time......

Tuscaloosa Fun

We sure enjoyed our time in Tuscaloosa.  Met a lot of great folks that made us Buckeyes feel very welcome.

Wish I would have felt up to driving in to the campus just to get a look at how they tailgate.  They have an area similar to the Grove at Ole Miss.  The Quad becomes party central on game days.

Would love to come back and enjoy another college football Saturday with these folks again.

Roll Tide!

From Memphis to Tallahasse....

Sunday was getaway day for us.  We really enjoyed Tom Sawyer's Mississippi River RV Park.  Electric and laundry were included, making it a great value for a month stay.  We'll miss our walks to the river and just there and watch barges go by.

Sunday, we left at our typical 10:30a and was a pretty uneventful ride to a suburb of Birmingham, AL (Bessemer) where we stayed at an Elks Lodge.  Road was surprisingly good, spare a few miles that looked like they were the last to be repaved.  When we entered B'ham, we noticed some storm damage from the April 2011 tornado that really raked some damage on this area.  Parking at the lodge was one of our first challenges with the new rig.

Monday morning, we took off with the girls to Tuscaloosa to see the home of the Crimson Tide.  Again, before reaching campus, we saw the devastation that they really haven't recovered from with that awful storm.  Very hurricane-ish the way there was just a swath of nothing where the storm touched down.

Bryant-Denny stadium was nice.  They've really done some nice work on the walk up with statues of all the coaches who have won national championships, plus brick work that includes the names of all the players on those teams.  Lots of reminders of Paul "Bear" Bryant

We took a quick run out to see the Sewell-Thomas baseball stadium and Coleman Coliseum.  Both were impressive, especially the basketball arena.  From the outside looks like a barn, but once inside they've done a great job with their facilities and looks like a wonderful place to watch a game.

After some work upon returning to Bessemer Elks Lodge, we went out to dinner with our old friend Dick Turner and his new wife Cathy at the Southern Legacy BBQ in Hoover, AL.  The food was fabulous, half price beers and appetizers through 7p.  We had some BBQ nachos that were splendid.

Catching up with our old friend was a treat.  It had probably been around 15 years since we've seen Dick.  We spent the night laughing, catching up on everyone we knew, our families, their new life in Birmingham and our business and RV'ing lifestyle.

Tuesday was an easy getaway day.  We came upon a wreck in Birmingham just after it happened, and was about a 45-50 delay getting out of town, so that up and going at 8a was wasted.  It's really one of the first long delays we've had which is pleasantly surprising.

We're in at the Tallahassee Elks, which has really secluded, wooded sites.  Not sure what tomorrow will bring, which is as it should be!