Visiting Family

24 Jun - 14 Jul 2023

I traveled to my dad's hometown, the booming metropolis of Ozark, Alabama for my family reunion. I was the only one of my dad's kids that was able to make it this year. Since it was close to 4th of July the town was decorated patriotically. The streets were lined with American flags with names of local service members.

Downtown Ozark

This is what a good Southern family reunion potluck looks like. Everything was delicious!

One of the memory tables. My great grandparents had 15 kids. All of them have passed now but I still have a lot of cousins! We have one every 2 years and since covid cancelled the 2020 one, the 2021 reunion was huge! This one was a bit smaller but it was great to see the ones who were able to make it.

The only picture I took was of me and my dad. Again, I was in the moment and didn't think about it until everyone was gone.

I stayed at Engineer Beach Campground on Fort Rucker (now Fort Novosel). If you're military, this is a hidden gem! Sites are water and electric only but they have a dump station and a really clean bath house if you want to use them. It's right on the lake with a boat launch. There was a dog park just a few miles away that Sage could run around and cool off in the pool.

Right outside the campground is Byrd Cemetery. Acrel and Bartilla Byrd were my 3rd great grandparents. There are actually 3 cemeteries on Fort Rucker and I think I have relatives in all of them.

My next stop was Montgomery. Once again I stayed at Gunter Hill COE campground, but this time in Catoma loop. It's so much nicer than Antioch loop. The sites were huge and paved with full hook ups. I only got to visit my cousin Terri for one day. She had a family emergency and had to leave town (everything is fine now). Montgomery is such a historical city, I was going to do the tourist thing and go to some museums but the weather was near triple digits and I only had one bar of service so my temperature monitor in the trailer wasn't connecting. I had no way of monitoring the temp and if the power went out, the fur babies would be in real danger. I just didn't feel comfortable leaving them alone for an extended time so we just hung out at the campground.

On my way to Nashville I stopped overnight at a Boondockers Welcome. BW are private properties that allow you to camp for free! The folks I stayed with had electric hook ups and 3 acres for Sage to roam. As you can see she enjoyed cooling off in the duck pond. I was surprised she paid no attention to the ducks. It was a great place to overnight and the hosts, Leonard and Phyllis were so sweet and friendly. I had a good time visiting with them over coffee in the morning.

I arrived at Seven Points campground in Nashville and got set up in my site. We had a pretty good view of the lake (I was across the street from it) and got to see fireflies! I hadn't seen them in years. Here's a link to the video https://www.instagram.com/p/CuXBbbKtZmK/

Before I left the BW I checked my trailer tires and found the rear driver tire was wearing on the inside. Last summer I had a blow out on the same tire because of this and ended up replacing all of them (they were all wearing and cheap "china bomb" tires). I knew something was wrong with my axle so I took it to a dealer in Dallas and they said the axles were all within specs and the problem was caused from the trailer being overweight (it was 1200 pounds overweight!). I purged like crazy and am now well under the weight rating so I was surprised when this happened again. None of the shops in Nashville that worked on travel trailers could get me in so a guy in my Keystone Cougar Owners Group FB page recommended Cory Jones. He's a mobile mechanic and he was awesome. He was going out of town the next day (July 4th) so he rearranged his schedule to get me in. He came to my campsite, removed the axle, took it back to his shop to fix it (it was bent) and came back to reinstall it. While he was there he also fixed my awing (yes, again). The day before I left Warner Robins a storm came up and I closed the awning from inside the trailer. I didn't realize I'd left a ladder propped against the trailer where the awning closes. Yep, it messed that same arm up again. Anyway, Cory was amazing and reasonably priced. I'll need to replace that tire even though it only has 5000 miles on it, but hopefully I'll have no more problems.

My niece Keeley, B-I-L Perrin and sis Julie

My little sister Julie and her family came over for the 4th and we cooked out. The kids went swimming and we had a good time. I can't believe my niece is 16 and driving already! Time flies...

Perrin and my nephew JJ

When I first got here, I wasn't sure how long it would take to get the axle fixed so I decided to extend my stay when I saw a lake front site had a cancellation. This is site 33. Man, I wish I had my kayak! I could've launched it right from my campsite. Next time Nashville.

Gorgeous sunsets too!

Sage is always in the water. She enjoyed being right on the lake.

Fitz even got to walk along the lake

I decided to do something I haven't done in awhile and went letterboxing. What is letterboxing you ask? It's similar to geocaching except you don't remove or add anything. A letterbox is a container that has a stamp and a log book in it. Most stamps are hand carved but you can also use a store bought one. Each letterboxer has a signature stamp and trail name. Mine is "Life's a Beach!"

There's a website you log into (Atlasquest.com) and look for boxes in your area. The person that "planted" the box gives clues to where it is. Once you find it, you stamp their log book with your signature stamp and put the date and where you're from. You then stamp your log book with the letterbox stamp. It's fun to look through the log books and see where everyone who has found it is from. This is one I found today.

I didn't get to spend a lot of time with my daughter Shannon. It was bad timing and she was so busy with work and studying for her dietitian boards. This is my granddog, Nana. Isn't she pretty? Not as pretty as Sage of course, but still a beauty. They enjoyed running around the dog park.

Next, I'm headed next to Ohio to visit my brother's family and meet my one-year-old nephew! I'm also visiting a National Park I didn't know existed and some other fun things. See you there!