Well we “shuffled” back over to Styx River RV Resort. It is getting chilly up here, in the 40s last night, time to get going south soon!
Well I am really upset at the media, specifically the Pensacola News Journal. I heard a rumor that a good friend of mine (one who will remain anonymous) in Pensacola was arrested and there was a write up about it in the paper. So i went online to check the archives to read it. When I found it I was shocked!! The newspaper had the facts so wrong. How can a newspaper print so many false statements. Dont they investigate?!?! I mean they did not even get his age right! Anyway, eliminating the details, he was the one that was attacked and defended himself by rendering the man unconscious. What is a man who is in fear for his life to do? Stop and ask the man if he is done trying to kill him? No he does what he has to do! So why is he the one charged! And to read the feedback the readers put on the New Journal website were so appauling. Especially knowing what a great husband, father and person he is. This is a man who has a sparkling clean record. He is a professional career man that adds so much positive energy to our community. To everyone that knows him, which is quite alot of people, he is considered one of “The Good Guys.” I wish I could get into specifics but at this time it would not be right. It will all come out in the end and the community probably will never know the truth, because how would that help to sell newspapers?!?! Be very careful, just because the media reports something, does not make it true. Sharon and I respect he and his wife so much, they are showing a lot of class in the way they are reacting to this, but I would not have expected anything less from such class people. And if they are reading this, we look forward to visiting you when you get set up in your new place.
The Beaches to Woodlands final weekend of events took place and we got some pretty nice shots to add to their collection. We visited the Navarre Beach Bash, toured historic Bagdad and went on the Milton Ghost Walk tour. Wish I would have had time to listen more about the stories but I was busy capturing shots (sorry no eerie lights or apparitions caught on film :(
Went to play some volleyball with friends, felt so good to be back on the beach playing. It was a dream day, zero wind, 80º, no humidity and the bluest skies you can imagine. I played pretty well, and had a great time with my Pcola buddies. And I also got another photo of a shoe for the diaries.
Got to take the “kids” to a dog park for the first time in a bit, we went to the Roger Scott Park and had a great time, the park itself is nothing great, but it does have small and big dog sections with a water fountain for them. Met some really nice people and a 6 mo. old Pug named Peanut. They all ran for quite some time and then it was time to head out.
It is really getting nice out, had the chance to play some ball on the beach with my friends, it felt so good to play no matter how out of practice I am. Quotes of the day: “Jimmy jumps high”. And this one came up when we saw an “interesting” friend of ours coming down the beach with a girl: “I guess even a nut finds a blind squirrel every now and then”.
Being stuck out here in Styx River Alabama without a car can really limit my options for getting food. My only option is to get on my bike and ride a mile and a half to the truck stop with a restaurant at the highway exit ramp. It is a fairly large truck stop, the type which has a complete truck and accessory store, a fast food (fried chicken) restaurant and a full-service restaurant. I opted for the full-service.
I decided to sit at the bar section since I was alone. And I could see my bike out the window from here to keep it from being stolen since I had forgotten my lock. It, the Oasis Cafe as it is named, had the typical truck-stop crowd. Slightly large men with tattooed arms, a little old couple taking a break from their RV, a couple of migrant workers with their supervisor, a few older gentlemen with camo hats on, and of course a very hungry, young good-looking artist guy (that would be me of course :). But what i never realized before now is that there are regulars that come into a truck-stop restaurant. One was so regular, to the point where the servers all know his birthday was coming up and invite his family to come eat on thursday for free. Thursdays are prime rib nights and I heard they sell out of prime rib almost every time so get there early. I was half tempted to go see this event in person. I had a typical meal for a place like this, a philly cheese steak with crinkle fries, good stuff! My waitress, yes they still call them waitresses down here, was in her late 40’s or so, and looked like she has worked hard over her life to survive. She was everything you want in a waitress though, no frills, she was courteous, efficient, and knowledgeable. She seemed to know everyone and everyone seemed to know her. Quite a nice little restaurant that Oasis Cafe turned out to be. As I waited in line to pay, the waitress ringing up the fellow in front of me was taking some grief from him about the amount. He was acting like an ass. When she looked at me all she said as she shrugged her shoulders “He was a yankee what do you expect?” I always chuckle when the people down south still call people from the north yankees. I payed my bill, biked back to the coach and began working again.
NOTE: Saw an Island off of Africa called Mauritius on the TV show amazing race, I looked it up on Wikipedia and it seems like we need to add it to our must visit list.
Since I have this platform I feel like I must vent something. Nothing erks me more than when people are elitists, and nowhere is it more apparent than in RV parks due to the mix of $5,000 RVs and $1.5 million dollar RVs and everywhere in between. Well our first strike against us is our young age. Most RVers are older adults (60+), it is a fact that no one can argue. The second is that we have a coach that is over 5 years old. Well yesterday a really nice coach ($200,000+) pulled into the site next to us, they have been there for over a day now and have yet to say a word to us. Twice we have made eye contact outside and I said hello, he blatently ignored us. Giving him the benefit of the doubt the first time we tried again, and again he ignored us. So now I am on a mission to get him to acknowledge us.
As he was outside bucket-washing his car, (which I believe many old people have become slaves to their coaches and vehicles and they demand to be washed twice a week. Some kind of Jedi mind trick the vehicles use, but I digress :) so anyway I walked right up to him and said hello, nothing at first, then I got him to speak by asking him a direct question. “how long you here for?”. All I got was “not long”. And as he walked away, I gave him a “That’s good” and he was gone inside in a flash. What is wrong with people, I do not want to be his best friend or anything, just say hello for god’s sake, “we are living in a society!” But when I speak about people like this, remember there might be 10 others in the park that are VERY nice and that is something I have to learn, only I have control over whether or not someone like him can make me have a bad day.
5 days later and still the neighbors have yet to speak with anyone here in the park. Why travel in a motorhome and live like hermits? Well time to shuffle again :)
