Northgate RV Park, Athens, Alabama
Pleasant words are like a honeycomb sweetness to the soul and healing to the bones. ~ Proverbs 16:24
It poured down the rain just as we were packing up to leave, so we waited about an hour, hoping and praying for a break in the weather. It’s dangerous enough to drive around Alabama without adding rain! At least we don’t have to go through Birmingham. Last time we did that, a car cut across 4 lanes of traffic in front of us, to get where he wanted to go. And that doesn’t include all the zipping and zagging that went on around us!
But that’s old news.
We both get nervous driving around in Alabama. Today just cemented our concerns even more. It was dry when we packed up, but started dripping soon after we began.
Today was to be a short 94-mile, 1 ½ hour drive, under cloudy skies. Instead, it rained off and on the entire time we were on the road, and added a half hour because we were stopped in traffic for an accident. Not us, thankfully!
When you creep along at 3-4 mph, you can eat lunch in your lap. : )
Distracted driver, or did someone else cause it?
So we made it through that, but not without some nerve-wracking encounters with other drivers – both cars and trucks – as we inched along. They all had ‘bama plates.
In another related topic, I still receive text messages from the city of Green, where we’re from, whenever there are weather alerts or road closures. This morning at 6am our time (7 there), I-77 was closed – – the entire thing – – for about 6 hours! My text said it was a car accident. Our oldest son called to pass the time while he waited and waited and waited in traffic on back roads, trying to get to the grocery store. By the time he was able to get back home (an errand that should’ve taken about 45 minutes) 3 hours had passed! I can’t imagine how people managed all that time. At least we travel with food and a bathroom. 😊 It also made us grateful that our expressway slow-down only lasted 30 minutes.
Oh. And Blaine saw in the paper tomorrow that it was all due to a lady hitting a power line. Both she and her Chihuahua escaped with only a few scrapes and bruises. (Wonder if she was messing with her phone or her dog??)
But we’ve not arrived yet, and now it’s raining again even though it wasn’t supposed to start until after we were set up. In the final two miles of our journey today, on the narrow road, there were two more accidents! One came up so fast, Blaine barely had time to slow down and assess the situation. We were on this really narrow road, and there was a guy in a red t-shirt standing on our side, motioning with a limp hand to come on. On the other side, there was a white van in a deep ditch and two guys trying to push it out. There was also a police car in the left lane with the officer sitting inside. Anyway, it was scary to think that we could’ve been a part of that – both before it happened and as we passed by!
The final accident was at an intersection. Looked like a fender-bender that just happened.
We thought all the stress of the day was over, but not quite.
Carson Village, Birmingham, Alabama
While Blaine went off in search of our site, I waited and took pictures. : )
There was a minor set back when we arrived at our site and discovered that Blaine would have to build a bridge to get in. This place we’re at isn’t really a campground. It’s a mobile home park with some campers thrown in. some are seasonal, some actually live here year-round, and some – like us – just pass through.
Because it’s like a neighborhood, they have these asphalt ditches running alongside the hilly streets for drainage. That’s all well and good, but our coach has a low front-end and when Blaine backed in (very slowly) we heard, scruuunch . . . . the bottom of the front end was scraping the asphalt.
So Blaine built a bridge, and it worked (of course), and we parked, and we breathed a sigh of relief, and said a quick prayer of thanksgiving. Whew!!
He’s such a great problem solver!
I think he may be developing a nervous tick . . . .
Later, Blaine drove back to the office to check in (raining, remember?). This place prefers you do it that way, instead of when you first arrive. He came home with a whole bag full of stuff – including about a half dozen pieces of candy. 😊
The item that garnered my interest, was their monthly newsletter they publish. It’s loaded with all kinds of quotes and trivia! So guess what? I’ll be sharing with you! They have several categories I’ll be drawing from – Bulletin Board, Trivia Whiz, Wit and Wisdom and This Month in History. They also have a ‘general knowledge’ section. But there’s more than that, I just don’t think any of us would be interested in the rest. 😊
Here we go! Did you know that November is the penultimate month of the year?
Penultimate means next to last. 😊
And so it begins! Bet you can hardly wait to hear more!
Okay. I’ll give you one more, because I just know you’re anxious to hear more!
In 1924, New York City’s Macy’s department store put on its first Thanksgiving Day parade, establishing an annual tradition.