Monday night, April 13th

It has been a week since I sent out the last Travelogue. As mentioned in the last issue, the weather skunked us out on Sunday and Monday. The coach can get REAL small with two rainy days and two of us searching for things to do to fight the boredom. Tuesday was a gorgeous day with warm temperatures and lots of sun. We finished got lots of things completed on the house.

Mom’s Place has been our lunch and dinner eatery for last week. We lost a couple of the folks who had to leave, but the hearty ones endured and have stayed for an extra week to get as much done as possible. The roof is almost completed with all the shingles installed. The hip roof over the front porch was a special challenge that wasn’t in the plans. Since the truss company sent a small hip roof, we decided to put it on and dress up the front entryway. Shingling that hip roof was a real challenge - for this beginner roofer. Thank Heavens for Fred’s patience and teaching - I am almost a roofer now! The hardyboard siding is on all sides of the house and we got a good start at installing the plastic soffets and trim. It really looks like a house now.

On Wednesday we decided that we wanted a change from Mom’s Place and drove to Forsythe’s, a restaurant in downtown Americus that served Michelob Amber Bock by the pitcher. That was a pleasant surprise as we have been in a dry county for the past three weeks and Fred and I shared that pitcher. Dottie and I had a pizza that really hit the spot. When we left the restaurant, we drove to the Super Wal-Mart and stocked up on some needed groceries and supplies. Then we stopped at the Wendy’s for a couple of freezes. We returned to the coach by 8:45, got the food stored, and crashed. Like most of the nights we’ve been here, Thursday morning came too early. There are only 6 of us left to do the final effort, and all of us are tired and feeling the minor pains.

Terry Adams, owner of the IGA and resident Harley owner, invited Dottie and me to join his Thursday night riding buddies and go to the Back Porch for the seafood buffet. He even offered me a motorcycle to ride. I was all ready to go after work, but once I got a hot shower, I realized that I was physically beaten and decided to pass on the ride for a quiet evening in the coach with leftovers. Seems like an intelligent decision in spite of my thrill at the thought of a motorcycle ride. Oh, well…

Friday morning we watched the remaining three coaches prepare for departure. They all left at different times, but we were the only coach staying for another night. It was very quiet on Friday afternoon when we received a phone call from Dave Ostrander. He was concerned for our safety as he had been watching the approaching weather that was moving east from the Mississippi area. We began to watch The Weather Channel and followed the severe weather as it moved toward us. There were two huge cells that had tornado potential and we followed them as they continued to Columbus, GA, about 40 miles from us. I finally went to bed with my weather radio in the windowsill. It continued to alert every half hour until almost 2AM. Little did we realize that the tornado-like winds were just north and just south of our location.

On Saturday morning we awoke to a quiet, sunny day. We packed and secured the coach and proceeded westbound out of Preston. By the time we got to the Ft. Benning area, we began to see the havoc of the previous night. Tree limbs and branches were all over the roadway. Highway crews were out cleaning the debris off the roads. The highway was clear, but you could see the effects of the wind and the trees that appeared to be snapped off halfway up their trunks. We saw lots of uprooted trees and trunks that were broken about twenty feet in the air. We realized how lucky we were to not have any damage to us or the coach.

We arrived in Selma around 2:30PM and drove through the old downtown area. The changes from 42 years ago were amazing. We found the Elks Lodge and got settled in for the night. Allan Gaston, the Lodge Secretary, met us and found an electrical outlet at the rear of the building for a 20-amp hook-up. We decided to have supper at The Tally Ho, an old restaurant that I remember from my days in the Air Force at Craig AFB. We drove to the restaurant, sat in the old bar, and had a drink. The current owner of The Tally Ho, Bob Kelly, is a Selma Rotarian and a Past District Governor. I had an enjoyable chat with him about Rotary issues and their District’s RYLA camp. We met Dottie’s long-time friend, Garnett Stancil, for a delicious, quiet steak dinner. When we were through, we took Garnett back to the coach to see it and let Nancy have a short walk. Then we went out to Garnett’s house and visited for about an hour. When we returned to the Lodge, we went in for a drink and endured the smoke-filled bar. We were finally in bed by 10.

Sunday morning, Easter morning, we got up, drove to a Mr. Waffle for breakfast, and headed north out of town. The smaller back roads of any state are the most enjoyable and Alabama’s roads are no different. We savored the views of the greenery, the light traffic, and the peacefulness of the slower highways. We finally got to I-65 and drove north through Birmingham. I recall the stories of the teeth-shattering ride on I-10 through Louisiana, Birmingham is the WORST interstate highway I have driven. There is a lot of construction and roads vibrate the coach and passengers to near insanity! Even at the slower speeds I drive it was extremely uncomfortable. We stopped north of town (after missing the turn-off due to lousy roadway marking in the construction zone) at the Flying J to dump our holding tanks and top off the fuel tank. This Flying J is an exceptional one in that the RV lanes are very well organized and easy to reach. Each lane has a dump station, a fuel pump, and room to turn to exit the lane.

We continued north and watched the clouds slowly move in from the east. By the time we turned off the interstate at Cullman, the sky was almost overcast. We drove the next 50 miles hoping to beat the rain. We pulled up in front of Kathy Johnson’s place in Leighton, AL and unhooked the car. I had to “thread the needle” to get the coach backed onto her driveway, but it all worked. We’re here for three nights and a chance to visit with her. Dottie and Kathy grew up together and we have kept in touch with her all these years. Tow years ago (to the day) we visited Kathy and Wayne and had a wonderful time with them at two of the nearby Thousand Trails parks.

While Kathy and Dottie do some running around and playing together, I have a short list of things to do here that will hopefully help Kathy out. We will leave here on Wednesday and drive 150 miles to Memphis and the Elvis Presley Blvd. RV Park, then to Greer’s Ferry Lake, AR for three long-awaited nights with Don & Vicki Leith at their new home. Our slight change in plans is to enable us to go to Huntsville on Tuesday to see the Space Museum. While we’re this close, we’d better take advantage of the opportunity to visit it.

Wednesday, April 15th

Our original plans were to stay only two nights with Kathy Johnson and move up to the Thousand Trails park in southwest Tennessee. However, as we sat around sipping some good stiff drinks, we decided to accept Kathy’s invitation to stay a third night. That way we could all go to Huntsville on Tuesday and visit the Redstone Arsenal and the Huntsville space and Rocket Museum. Kathy had never been there and it seemed like a great opportunity to see a very impressive museum with some interesting history. As many of you know, I’m not very big on museums - especially those that charge a high admission price. This one is high, but worth every penny! Kathy drove us over in her car and we spent the most of the morning walking around the place. It’s an impressive array of rockets and technology that makes a person realize the hazards of space. To see all the rockets up close and personal is awesome, yet scary. All of the machined parts and the rivets that make up the majority of the manned missions cause one to stop and think about the risks that the astronauts have endured during those space flights. There are several “hands-on” simulators that give you the sensation of no-gravity flights. It was a wonderful day walking among the history of NASA and our astronauts.

When we had finally seen all that we could, we found a Landry’s Restaurant and had a bite to eat. The lunch was large and the food was scrumptious! We drove back to Leighton and settled in for a quiet night of Dancing with the Stars.

On Wednesday morning Dottie and I were up early and getting ready to head west. I managed to get the coach out of the driveway with no damage, hooked up the car behind us, and we left about 9:30. We had an overcast day of driving to Memphis and pulled in to the Elvis Presley Blvd. RV Park. It’s located about two blocks south of Graceland. Graceland has no attraction for us, but the traffic was horrible around the tourist trap. Once we checked in we got parked and headed out to see Memphis.

As many of you know, I enjoy eating (or drinking) my way across the country. My microbrewery guide book listed Boscos as a local brewpub. We plugged it in to our GPS and went in search of it. It’s a typical small brewpub that serves food and has a selection of eight microbrews. I sampled a couple of them and bought a half-gallon growler of their Scottish ale to share with friends. When we finished at Boscos, we drove to the old downtown area of Memphis and looked for Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken. I have seen this eatery on The Travel Channel. It was described as the best fried chicken in the country. Well, we have confirmed the evaluation. We had to wait for almost 20 minutes for the dinner to be prepared. We bought an 8-piece dinner to go and brought it back to the coach. It was fabulous! It is spicy enough to make your lips tingle and cooked to a golden, crispy brown. Combined with cole slaw, baked beans, and bread it made a wonderful dinner for the two of us.

We finished dinner, made a quick run to Wal-Mart and ATM, and finished the evening with the TV. We anticipate an enjoyable trip to Greer’s Ferry Lake to see Don & Vicki Leith.

Saturday, March 28th

We started on Monday morning gathering equipment and getting the supplies ready. The interior walls had been assembled and were lying on their sides on the concrete pad. We began by getting the exterior walls erected and then moved to the interior walls. By Thursday afternoon we had all the walls erected and almost all of the ceiling trusses on the roof and nailed down. Weather had been wonderful all week, but on Thursday we started getting a light shower. We had to shut down our work early on Thursday when the rains became too uncomfortable. We haven’t been able to get back to work since then.

Each day we had somebody in the community preparing and serving us lunch. Every meal has been fantastic! This looks like it’s going to be a “20-lb. build” - we’ll add 20 lbs. to our weight before it’s over. The people here are the most generous folks I’ve ever experienced. If we needed anything, it was immediately take care of. We’ve met some wonderful local folks and they just can’t do enough for us. My only regret is that we’ll probably leave the house before we’ve finished. The goal is to get the house exterior completed and waterproof, but the interior won’t be done. Habitat will have to get some more folks in to do the finishing on the interior.

Several of our evening meals were prepared and served to us in the Fellowship Hall of the Baptist Church. On Thursday night we were going to be on our own, but Terry Adams, the IGA store owner, invited us to join him for dinner in Shellman, about 25 miles south of here. The Back Porch Restaurant has a Thursday night seafood buffet and that small town was packed with cars that drive for miles for that special Thursday event. On Saturday is a special event called “Holy Smoke”, a church BBQ competition. It’s supposed to start about 1PM with preparing the food for the competition and the actual meal will be around 5:30PM. During the prep time will be gospel music singing and socializing. With the weather we’re experiencing right now, it’s doubtful that we’ll be able to go.

Our weather has been interesting, to say the least. About 9:30 this morning we were under a tornado warning. We could sit in the coach and watch the local Columbus, GA TV station with some excellent weather coverage. We could see the radar images of the severe weather cell pass over Preston and see and feel the winds and rain rock the coach. The tornado warning passed and we didn’t have any adverse weather from it. We’re hoping that the weather will clear up this afternoon and maybe on Monday we’ll be able to hit the house hard and get nearly caught up. Several of us were going to get some work done this morning but the weather aced us out.

Yesterday Dottie and I drove to Albany, about 40 miles south of us, to so some shopping at Sam’s Club and the Super Wal-Mart. While we were gone the rains came and we were told about the heavy downpour by the rest of the folks. The ground can only absorb so much water and there are pools on our parking area. We are still in the best spot on the parking area as we are the highest and close to the paved area if we have to leave. So far, there’s been no reason to worry and we’re sitting in good shape.

I have to admit that it was interesting sitting through the tornado warning. We had our side awnings down but I decided not to attempt to raise the awnings and get soaked with the downpour. We sure hope this will clear up, if only for a few days, so we can get some more work done on the house. We have a great group of folks we’re working with and they make the effort worth it all.

On a side note - Terry Adams has a close friend of the family that is a single girl who owns a Harley. Thursday night at dinner she offered to let me ride her bike and take a Sunday afternoon ride with Terry and his riding buddies. We are all invited to Terry‘s house on Sunday afternoon for a good, old Southern boil. She will be doing much of the cooking for the boil and was so generous to offer her motorcycle for a short ride with Terry. I just couldn’t turn down that offer! Terry emphasized that she was serious with that offer and he’d make it a short ride with “the guys” before supper.

It’s 11AM here and we’re watching the TV and the West Coast channels on the satellite (where it’s 8AM) and seeing the beautiful weather. Hope you all enjoy it - we’re missing the sunshine!!

Wednesday morning, April 1st

Wednesday morning and we’ve been skunked again by the rain! The break is almost welcome, but we aren’t able to get the house completed. We have decided to extend our stay here for another week to get as much done as possible.

On Sunday we went to the Preston Baptist Church for Sunday service. It was an 11:00 service and we came back to the coach for a light lunch. We didn’t want to eat too much as we had been invited to Terry Adams’ house for a low-country boil for supper. We both had the opportunity to get a short nap before we headed out to Terry’s at 4PM. Terry and Polly live about 3.2 miles west of Preston on a rural acreage. Their house is on a slight hill and has a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside. He designed and built the house himself. It a big, tri-level home with a two-stall attached garage. Ms. Mona, Polly’s long-time friend, lives with them and does a lot of the cooking. She was in the garage monitoring the low-country boil. Terry also has a barn/garage that’s large enough to house his motor home and nine Harleys. His riding buddies keep their bikes in the garage out of the weather. He has a full tool shop in the garage and room on the end for a garden tractor with all the accessories.

Ms. Mona was in the garage preparing supper and explained the low-country boil to me. She starts with a large pot (much like a turkey deep fryer) and adds the potatoes and spices. Then goes the onions, corn, sausages, carrots, and finally the shrimp. When it gets cooked, the water is drained off and the meal is served right out of the pot. You can’t imagine the fantastic taste of that food! Polly finished the supper with two terrific dessert dishes and coffee. Of course, sweet tea is the drink of choice in the South.

Before we ate, Terry said “Mr. Lew, let’s go for a ride!” I have difficulty getting used to being referred to as Mr. Lew, but that’s the way Southerners refer to somebody older than themselves. We walked down to the garage/barn and he opened the door. Inside was the Harleys, all parked in a row. Terry owns three Harleys and one Yamaha. The remainder of the bikes belong to his riding friends. He pointed out Ms. Mona’s bike and then offered one of his for the ride. Terry has a 2009 HD Ultra Classic full dress motorcycle, blue, with all the chrome and accessories. He offered to let me ride his new bike and he’d take one of the others. I took him up on his offer and we headed out. It’s been 7 years since I was on a motorcycle and it took a couple of miles for me to get the feel of it again. His bike is so smooth and comfortable and I was nervous about riding such a great bike. We drove back to the coaches so I could get my camera, and he offered a longer way back to his house. I led the way to the coaches, but he took the lead on the return trip. It was fantastic!! He told me he and Polly would come by later in the week and steal me away from the build for short evening ride. Wow!!!!

When we got back to his house, we ate the supper that Ms. Mona had prepared. By 7PM we all left and went back to the coaches. We knew we had a good work day in store for Monday and Dottie and I wanted to see some of the Sunday night TV shows.

Monday morning was beautiful and we got a lot done on the house. We managed to get most of the roof trusses up and nailed down. Monday night supper was at Mom’s and was a cube steak dinner. As always, the food was home-cooked good and plentiful.

Tuesday we awoke to sun and got started on the remainder of the roof trusses. Once we got all of them in place, we made sure the house was squared and started on the OSB roofing boards. We almost got one side completed and had to break for lunch. Our noon meals are prepared everyday by somebody in the community, so we can’t pass up the meal. We should have skipped lunch because the rain started about 1:30 and started to pour. We had to get everybody off the roof because the boards get slippery when they get wet. We secured everything and returned to our coaches. The rest of the day was lost to wet weather. We had a hamburger and hot dog supper at the Baptist church.
Wednesday morning we couldn’t start work because of standing water and wet wood. We’ll try after lunch to see if we can’t get the remainder of the roof covered and possibly roofing paper on the boards. This week doesn’t look great for the rainy weather, so we’ll need the extra time next week to finish our work.

Many of us are able to stay next week to get the exterior completed. Some of the folks have prior commitments and can’t stay, but it looks like we’ll have some of the folks from the other build team from Americus joining us for the next week. They completed their build and have offered to join us to complete our house. The town has already told us they will take care of us as long as we stay. Our parking is costing us nothing and they are providing a once-a-week dump service for our holding tanks. Things just can’t get much better with the graciousness and hospitality that has been shown to us. It will be a pleasure to stay and get this project completed!

Friday, April 3rd

Wednesday morning was miserable weather with the rain and wind. But by noon the skies had started to clear and we decided to give it a try. We went to the job site right after lunch and were able to finish nailing down the remaining OSB boards and got most of the roofing paper nailed down. By 4:30 we had it all completed with the exception of a small hole that we used to climb off the roof. And the skies started to open up again!

It rained all night and all day on Thursday. We couldn’t leave the motor home with out getting wet. Our parking area was beginning to look like a little lake with all the standing water. We managed to get up to the Baptist Church for lunch and again for dinner that was provided by Fred O’Donnell, our Team Leader. He had purchased some steaks and had marinated them with Jack Daniels (no alcohol) marinade that was outstanding! It’s a Wal-Mart item and makes meat marinating so simple and tasty. Several of us took our BBQ grills up to the church to cook the meat and we had guests from the Americus Build Team. The meals of steaks, baked potatoes, Texas toast, sweet corn, and drinks were a special meal. Once again sweet tea was served and a hit. We all went to bed on Thursday night with full stomachs.

Friday morning was a beautiful, sunny morning that meant a full day of work. We have started nailing the hardy board siding and the shingles on the roof. I was working on the shingle detail - now I know why you never see any old guys doing the shingling! It’s always the young guys that can bend over and nail as they apply the rows of shingles. Of course, they also use nail guns! We were nailing the individual shingles with galvanized roofing nails. I think I have found some new muscles that I haven’t used for years. My body aches and the muscles are screaming at me! I sure wish we had a hot tub available on nights like this!

For lunch we drove over to Plains to the Mom’s Kitchen there. The New Horizons HfH affiliate supplied lunch for us and it was absolutely delicious. Mom’s had a cafeteria line, so we could choose between chicken, ribs, catfish, vegetables, and dessert - with sweet tea. I had the baked chicken, a scrumptious sweet potato dish, bean’s’rice, and a piece of sweet potato pie for dessert. It was a fantastic meal and none of us wanted to go back to work after that feed. We returned anyway and pushed ourselves to do as much as possible while the weather cooperated.

We plan to work on Saturday since the weather forecast calls for a dry night tonight. But Saturday night the rains are coming again and lasting through Sunday and Monday. We may have good weather again on Tuesday, so we’re hoping to get a lot accomplished tomorrow.