Jennings Ferry Campground, Akron, Alabama
Our new view.
Isn’t it beautiful?!?
We visited my long-lost brother and his wife, June today! We haven’t seen David and June for several years, so it was great to get to spend the day with them!
Great picture of them!
I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the picture on their wall!
Blaine tried valiantly to find us a campground close to them, but the best he could do was 2 hours away. After several conversations, we settled on a specific date and David was able to take the day off work – even though plenty of people weren’t happy about it. Thanks, David! 😊
To get to Pinson, Alabama (where David and June live) from Jennings Ferry campground, you have to leave Akron and drive towards Cleveland. Ohio people will find this humorous. 😊 But it’s true! There’s actually in Akron and Cleveland Alabama.
Oh! Look! Hills! Actual, bona fide landscape that’s not flat!
Driving through Birmingham
We almost witnessed a terrible accident as a car crossed four lanes of traffic to get to an exit we were taking. Fortunately, he made it!
On to quieter roads now.
This is David’s road
Pretty drive!
Their place is wonderful! Set up on top of a mountain, it has 360-degree views! Although, much to their dismay, one of their neighbors allowed logging that ended up kissing their back yard. They lost some of their wildlife viewing during the process, but hopefully, the critters will return soon.
We’d been told about their driveway, but you know how that is; until you see it for yourself you just don’t really get it.
The start of the infamous driveway
Look at that incline!
And there’s more around the corner!
Let’s just say, I hope they don’t get much snow.
We visited for several hours and during lunch, munching on a light lunch of meat and cheese and crackers, the anticipation of a huge dinner looming on the horizon. You should have seen the way June arranged the plates of food. It was perfect! I can never manage to get anything arranged like that, though I’ve tried often enough in my lifetime. I hated to mess it up! And it was delicious! David had previously asked what we liked to drink and I had told him water or “lightly sweetened” tea. I know how these Southerners drink their tea – cups of sugar with just enough brown water over it to dissolve it! June had no idea how to make it lightly sweetened. 😊 Water it is!
There’s Ellie with her new friend!
I don’t know why the lampshade is crooked. We never noticed while we were there.
The house was immaculate and very orderly! June will probably have a fit when she sees this! : )
The weatherman promised rain today, so before it made its way to us, we headed back outside.
This was our first view of their home.
One of several outdoor sitting areas
The logging area is just beyond the fence.
Another view
Another outdoor sitting area. All the outdoor stuff and many other things, came with the house. They haven’t owned it very long.
Under those chairs there used to be a pool, but it was covered over before they bought the house.
So now that we’re outside, David introduces us to this thing called a “Rhino”. It holds two people and has a small pick-up type bed in the back. He told us we were to take it for a spin. Surprisingly, Blaine told me to drive! That never happens when he’s around!
Time to go!
Are ya gettin’ in or not?
So with David’s assurances that we couldn’t do anything to hurt it, I took off down the winding, narrow driveway to the street, as Blaine says to me, “Don’t you want to test the brakes?!?” “I did that before we took off.” (hehehehe) My daredevil side came out and away we went! As fast as I could go down the driveway and on the road, and then turned around and drove as fast as I could back up the road and the driveway. It was a blast!
But I hadn’t seen nothin’ yet! Neither had the guys. We got back and David traded places with Blaine.
“Do you have another pair of shoes with you?” (David’s been in Alabama so long, he now has their same Southern accent)
“Yes, why?”
“You might need ‘em.”
He directed me down the drive and across the street to drive – – – –
Down the river!!!! Oh my!!!!!
“OK. Just watch for . . .”
Oooops.
I hit a hole and nose-dived into a rock. Crash!
I felt bad. David said, “Back up, and watch out for those.”
Thankfully, no worse for wear! That Rhino is one tough little vehicle! And it drove through the water and over sand and rock like we were on dry pavement! When the water started getting deeper and I had water consistently sloshing over my ankles, we turned around and headed back.
By now, Blaine and June (Ellie, their cute little dog and Toby, their gorgeous Rag doll cat) had made their way down the driveway and were standing at the starting point waiting for us.
Woo Hoo!!!
Now it’s Blaine’s turn to drive! I advised him to remove his shoes and socks first. 😊
After the river, he was able to go up the driveway a bit and off to the side to off-road a bit before returning home. He also had a blast! By the way, if you look to the far side of Blaine’s driving video, you’ll catch a glimpse of Toby.
No amusement park ride is more fun than driving up and down that river – even in sopping wet shoes and socks!
And then the rain hit, so we spent the rest of our time indoors, except for dinner.
Dinner!
Dinner. Wow! No pictures, sorry, but let me tell you about dinner. It’s a Greek-Italian place, but tonight we all opted for Italian. I sincerely believe anything we’d chosen would have been spectacular! I ordered the eggplant parmesan and the others all had lasagna. My eggplant came with spaghetti. The spaghetti alone was enough for a meal! I tasted its goodness, then left it alone, knowing it would reheat well. I don’t know where they got an eggplant the size of a dessert plate, but there it was – and prepared differently than I’ve ever had it. Yes, it was fried, but there were two pieces, and sandwiched in between them was ricotta filling, and topped with more mozzarella than I’ve ever had in one sitting! Essentially, I had eggplant lasagna! Oh, and each of us had a loaf – no exaggeration – it was a 12-inch loaf of wonderfully fresh-baked garlic bread! Oh! And large salads, too. The lasagna? It was 7-8 inches by 5-6 inches and about 4 inches high! Somehow, Blaine and David managed to eat it all.
And then, just as we were getting ready to stumble out the door moaning and holding our stomachs, June comes out with an entire strawberry cheesecake!
I’ll admit, when she served us about 2 hours later, it was really tasty! And they were generous enough to send 4 pieces home with us!
Time to head home. A 2-hour drive awaited us, and David and June had to go to work in the morning.
Our drive home was uneventful. Until.
Tail lights! Just before we stopped.
More stopped traffic on the expressway! Tail lights as far as we could see! Fortunately, we were about to come to a full stop right at an exit, so we followed a couple of semis and got off with them, figuring they’d know their way around the mess. We’re beginning to wonder about Alabama drivers . . . .
The unexpected detour only cost us 15 minutes. Whew!
TOTAL HIKING MILES: .25 (The steep walk up the driveway! Hey, I’m counting it! Both the dog and cat were panting by the time we got to the top!)
Year To Date: 245.25
Daily Average: 2.81