Back in DeFuniak

We spent the last couple weeks in Denham Springs with more dr. appointments, more eBaying, and more catching up with friends before hitting the road back to DeFuniak Springs, FL. We had lunch with Brandon, who worked for Russ and is still finishing up work in the area for KB Home. We ate at LeFleur's Restaurant, specializing in fried catfish, and man is it good! They have a daily buffet with plenty of sides to go with that catfish so you definitely do not go away hungry. Then Brandon followed us to our storage unit to pick up a couple items that his grandmother was going to sell at her weekly yard sale...and got them out of our unit!

Then I had lunch with Vicky, who I worked with when our offices were on the other side of town, and before I moved out to the Greystone offices. Then it was margaritas and dinner one night with three chorus friends, Jane, Emily, and Wendy, a real fun group of ladies! And then another night I met up with Gwen and Alex for dinner. Russ was supposed to join us but wasn't feeling too well after two days of dentist visits and insisted I still go. Gwen is also a chorus friend, and was our angel when we first hit the road, picking up our mail in Denham Springs every few days, and mailing it to us wherever we were. We stayed in e-mail contact constantly and got to even better friends. We have now registered with a mail forwarding service in FL so Gwen won't need to help us out any longer, but we wanted to thank her and Alex for being there when we needed them. We know it was somewhat of an aggravation and truly appreciate their assistance and friendship.

A few days before leaving Denham Springs we found something very interesting in our RV. We were rearranging some stuff in the overhead cabinets inside, and noticed that a couple of my cookbooks were damp. There was a small bulge coming through the top, which Russ had seen before but never investigated. Now this cabinet is part of one of the slideouts, so he got the ladder and went to check it out from the outside. What he found was a small hole in the slideout cover and a corresponding hole in the top of the slideout. So he came back inside, made a small incision into the bulge, and after pulling out a little bit of plywood and insulation, what appeared to be a bullet head fell out!! We actually took it over to Bass Pro the next day to the gun dept., and the guy said it was a bullet head, probably a hollow point 9mm. What we think happened was that when we were in Dallas for the Cotton Bowl over New Year's Eve, there were probably folks shooting off guns up into the air somewhere in the neighborhood (as some folks like to do on New Year's Eve), and one of them came down through the roof of the slideout. Just another part of the adventure, eh?

We left Baton Rouge on Monday to head back to DeFuniak Springs, FL, and on the way we passed the USS Alabama stationed in Mobile, AL. This 680 foot battleship was launched and commissioned in 1942 and last ran under her own power in 1946. During her years of service, she earned nine battle stars and was called the "Lucky A" because, during World War II, she lost no American lives aboard her due to enemy fire. She is a National Historic Landmark, and if you'd like to find out more about her and the Battleship Memorial Park where she resides, you can go to http://www.ussalabama.com/. We didn't stop to tour the place, but I did get a couple pictures as we passed.

However we did stop at the Florida Welcome Center and rest area, so I could snap a picture of this U.S. Navy Blue Angels F-9 Cougar replica. We had seen it on our way from FL to LA so Russ remembered on the way back and made this one of our pit stops. As the plaque below it notes, the Cougar was the Navy's first swept-wing fighter, entering the fleet in 1954 as a fighter, attack, and photo reconnaissance aircraft. It was flown by the world famous Blue Angels from 1955 to 1957 and later served as an advanced jet trainer for the Navy before retiring from service in 1969.

We arrived at Sunset King Resort in DeFuniak Springs about 3pm Monday, and once settled, we went down to the end of our row to find our friend, Scott Gad. As you may recall, we met Scott when we were staying at the KOA in Eureka, MO, and he went to the football tailgate party with us, watching the dogs while we went to the game. We stayed in touch all these months, and were responsible for getting him to check out this resort. He arrived shortly after we had left so has been here almost 3 months. When we were in MO, we had talked about maybe doing some traveling together, and as the months have progressed, we've actually worked out an itinerary, and on April 7 we will start a journey up the East coast in a two rig caravan! About mid-June we'll part ways at least for a bit because he is scheduled to go to a rally in Branson, MO, and then will do some traveling with his brother. But then we may hook up again somewhere in NY to travel some more...if we aren't sick of each other by then! LOL

Scott went to dinner with us Tuesday night for my birthday at a little restaurant down the road called Mom & Dad's Italian Restaurant. Nothing fancy, but good food at reasonable prices, and good company.

On Wed. I guess you could say we officially became Florida residents. We had set up a mailing address via the internet a few weeks ago by registering with that mail forwarding service in Orlando. So Wed. we got our Florida drivers licenses! The staff there was very friendly, helpful, and efficient. Then it was over to the tax collector's office at the courthouse to see what all we'd need to get our license plates (you don't do everything at the DMV like in many other states). The lady who waited on us was so incredibly helpful and patient. We didn't have our titles, of course, since we still owe on the car and RV, so those would be needed before we could proceed. After learning that we'd only be in town for a couple weeks, and informing us that we'd need to return to this particular office if the titles were sent to their office, she called each of the two lien holders, asking to fax them the requests, and finding out how long it would take to retrieve the titles. She spent nearly 45 minutes with us very cheerfully and patiently handling our case. We have never experienced such outstanding customer service from any governmental agency! Russ will work on getting FL insurance for the vehicles, both titles should be here some time next week (she'll call us when they arrive), and then we can get our plates.

Well, guess that's all for now so until next time....happy trails!