Apr. 30
Today is Lorraine’s birthday, and it finds us in the “Big Lagoon” state park
near Pensacola. This is the last one along the coast before you go into Alabama, and I think it will probably be our turn-around point. We have been here for the last 3 days. We ventured out of the park today to see the Perdido Island National Park that has a beautiful Gulf beach on one side and a bay beach on the other. My senior park pass got us in free, since it is a national park. As of today, Lorraine is eligible to get one of those passes herself, but there doesn’t seem to be any reason to do so as long as we are traveling together; which, after 30 years, still seems to be the plan. There is no camping here, but we still have our site back at Big Lagoon to go back to tonight.

May 3
After we left Big Lagoon, we decided that it was time to head north and east. Yesterday, we drove through Alabama with a few stops to accomplish some vehicle maintenance. First we got a propane fill-up – cheaper than gas - $3.25 a gallon. The propane runs our refrigerator and hot water tank. The next problem was that the deep cell batteries were wearing down, to the point where we didn’t have sufficient power for the TV and the DVD. We needed two new ones that we were able to get installed at an “Interstate” dealership that Lorraine located with her “Droid.” Last night found us at a Wal-Mart again, where we were able to get an oil change done on the vehicle. (And yes Bill, I remembered it needed to be synthetic oil.) We also rented a movie from the Wal-Mart Redbox called “Like Dandelion Dust” (highly recommended – about adoption); and we were able to watch it all the way through without the power going out!
The part of Alabama that we drove through was not near the really bad tornado devastation; but as we were driving, we caught just a glimpse from the highway of a neighborhood that was hit by something smaller. We talked to someone who said that where we are, the swath of the tornado was narrow, but in some places, it was a whole mile across!
We woke this morning to a little rain for just the third time on this trip, which has been remarkably sunny. We are near Chatanooga, TN; and the temperature went down dramatically overnight. Yesterday as we drove, it was in the eighties, but this morning, it is 59, and dropping. We’ve had a month of summer, but I think we are back to spring. I shudder to think what it is in NJ.