Touring North West Alabama

Tuscumbia, AL

Being a nice day we thought it would be a good time to visit a few (somewhat) local sites.  Also a good time because our friends Jim and Darlene, full-time RVers, were visiting us on their way back from the west coast to Pennsylvania.

Their rig on one of our sites:

This is Darlene and Jim

We started off stopping at our favorite Amish Bakery Dutch Oven for a few goodies.  Biscotti for me, Jalapeno bread for Leonard and chocolate covered pretzels for us both.

Then we drove the 80 or so miles to Tuscumbia to the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.  Some of the artists from Alabama:

The group Alabama (of course)

Hank Williams

Hank Williams Jr.     He's from our current hometown of Cullman

Sonny James

William Lee Golden from the group Oak Ridge Boys

Nat King Cole

We found that Tammy Wynette, Jim Nabors, Lionel Ritchie and the Commodores, The Temptations were from Alabama.  And so many others.

Here are the 4 of us

Just a couple of miles away was our next stop.... Helen Keller birthplace and home

Helen was not born deaf nor blind.  She was sick at about 18 months with a virus that left her deaf and blind.    Her parents knew they needed help with her so hired Annie Sullivan age 20 who had just graduated from a school for people with those afflictions in NY.  Annie was with Helen for the next 50 years.

The house was built in 1820 by Helen's grandfather.  At that time it sat on 640 acres.

Most of the furnishings in the house are original.

If you saw the movie The Miracle Worker with Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke you might remember the scene with Patty Duke as Helen would walk around the table and take food off anyone's plate.  This is the table and same dishes where that actually occurred.

Annie realized that she could only do so much for Helen with the parents protecting her.  So she and Helen moved into the Birthplace Cottage a small building next to the main house.  Their clothing.

Also if you saw the movie you will remember when Helen first connected the word water when Annie had her use a pump and feel the running water.   This is that pump.

If ever in the area it is worth worth a visit.   A guide will take you through the downstairs of the house and explain various items.  Then you are invited to see the upstairs and other buildings and gardens on the grounds.

By this time we were ready for lunch.   We found a Lenny's Subs.  We've had them once while in Mississippi.   These were good but not as good as the ones we had in MS.

Our next visit was about 20 miles away.

Yes!  A cemetery for Coon Dogs ONLY.

Time to head on home.    Winding narrow roads.  A detour.   Took a while.   But we got here.  Darlenegot busy making chicken and rice and vegetables in her Instant Pot.  When done she and Jim brought that plus salads and Whoopie Pies she had bought at the Amish Bakery to the house for dinner.

We so much enjoy the company of Darlene and Jim.  They pulled out about a half hour ago headed for a few days in Nashville then on to Kentucky and back to Pennsylvania.   We hope to see them sometime this summer when we plan to be in the Hershey area.

Until next time.

Feeding frenzy

Cullman,   AL

A few months ago a neighbors duck started flying over to spend time in our pond.  I would take duck food out for it and after I left he would waddle over to eat it.  Gradually it got to the point that he would come as soon as he saw me and would let me pet him.  He  would follow me around the yard.

Then we went away for several days.   When we came back I would look for him but I never saw him at our pond.    I asked his owner where was "my" duck.  He assured me the duck was still coming to the pond.   Still I didn't see him.   And I looked.  Often.  I missed him.

On Saturday March 9 we were in town.  Len pulled into Tractor Supply and said we were getting me some ducks.   Okay.   We temporarily  put them in a large Rubbermaid container in my office.   I quickly found that ducks poop a lot.  A LOT. 

People suggested names.   None fit.   I named them Poopsie, Stinky and Craps.  That fits.

Len got busy in his shop building an enclosure for them that we planned on putting in an open shed in our side yard.    Just long enough that they would be safe until they were bigger and got used to the area.   We have many hawks in the area.

So, he was out in the shop building the pen.  My phone rings.  He says come out to the shop.  Genius that he is, he placed a steel four legged short stool on top of a wheeled gardening wagon that he built.   The stool slipped off.  He landed face down on the shop floor.

Bottom line, he has a large tear in his left shoulder.   He will be seeing the orthopedist on Friday regarding surgery.    The pen sits undone.  The ducks are growing and still in the container in my office.   THEY STINK. I clean the container several times a day.   Only so they can stink it up again.

And they are messy.   Being ducks they love water.  As soon as I place their water feeder into the container they not only drink but they splash around.  Within minutes it is empty, their bedding is soaked, and they are screaming for what I suppose is more water.  More water means more fun for them and more cleaning up for me.

Oh, and about the neighbors duck not coming here and being the reason we bought these three joys, he showed up again the very same day we came home with the ducklings.  And he now comes up on the porch the eat.

And  brings along two friends who also are looking for a meal.

 There are others looking on from across the road.    I am now feeding four ducks and two peacocks.   With these I draw the line.

Until next time.

Our tiny RV park

Cullman,   AL

Our house sits a bit back from the road here in Cullman.   When we purchased the property there was a double wide trailer closer to the road.  The mother of the woman we bought the house from lived there.   We were asked if we wanted to buy the trailer also.  No.   So they sold the double wide and had it moved before we took ownership of the house.

The porch was left behind.   We agreed to give it away.   Just move it!

Arrangements were made to have it moved.

Turned out to be an all day job.   In doing so, our water connection was run over.  No water.  The crew said they would be back the next day to fix it.    It is 26 months later.  Still waiting.  (Don't fret...it was fixed the next day without them).

Lots of trash was left so our first job was to clean it up.

Since there was electric, water and a septic tank already available, we decided to convert the area to two RV sites.  One site would be 50 amp electric and water and the other site 50 amp electric, water and sewer.

Setting up the electric system:

Then running sewer lines

Next we had a load of stone spread over the area.   We were ready for guests:

April 2017.   Carol and Jerry Wright.   They were on the way to Red Bay, Alabama to have their yearly check up on their beautiful rig. 

Their motorhome below.    It was then we decided we needed more stone so had another load delivered the next week.   We look forward to Carol and Jerry again over Easter weekend on their way north following a NOMADS project in south Alabama. 

In October 2017 we had a few days visit from George and Lauren Owen who were on the way back from California headed to Pennsylvania.  You can barely see a bit of their fifthwheel to the right behind the shop.

On October 25th our friends from NJ Dan and Carole Baxter stopped by after a RV trip out west and before returning home to NJ.   The next day, October 26th, another couple of friends from NJ pulled in.   Adam and Helena Cerquoni.

From the left Carole, Dan, Leonard, Adam and Helena

Dan and Carole left on the 27th.  Shortly after they left RVing friends Carol and Jerry Pearson pulled in.  They were headed to Texas after camp hosting in Virginia and Tennessee.

From the left  Helena, Adam, Jerry and Carol.

That was a busy few days.  WE LOVED IT.

In March 2018 we got a call from a couple just finishing a NOMADS project in Florida.  They were headed to their home in Illinois and looking for a place to overnight.   In their search they looked at the NOMADS website and found us.  We were right on their route north on I-65.   We welcomed Greg and Karen Batt.    If I took a picture I can't find it.   Shucks!

Also March 2018 we welcomed Jim and Darlene Price.   We met this couple prior to their going fulltime RVers when we were in Pennsylvania a few years ago.   We are excited as they will be here again in a few weeks after their trip west.

In May 2018 our great-niece Emilie had a tour scheduled at University of Alabama.  Coming down to our house at that time was my sister Debbie, Niece Kelly and Emilie.   Debbie used our guest room.  Kelly and Emilie used our guest house.... our RV.    This is a perfect guest house for visitors who prefer more privacy or when the guest room is in use.

In September we attended the NOMADS annual meeting in Memphis.   A week following the meeting we were going to a project at a location just 55 miles from home.  We would be volunteering with two other couples.  We live in a direct line between Memphis and Gallant, AL where the project was located.  We invited the two other couples to stay on our sites. 

Cheri and Butch Frey and Dennis and Nancy Williams along with Leonard

November, 2018.    Again friends we knew in NJ.   Linda and Bob Webster are now retired and living in Maine.   They also serve as NOMADS.   They were on their way back north from volunteering in Texas.   The Websters and their sweet little RV.   We are hoping they stop this way on their trip back to Texas again.

February, 2019    Lon and Billie LaBumbard are NOMADS volunteers who live in Wisconsin.  They were scheduled to work along with us at Dooly Campground in Georgia.  Their route was down I-65.  Great!!!  We were so glad to have them visit here for a few days prior to the project.   Didn't get a picture of them and their rig either.      They have to come back here so we can get that picture.  However, here is Billie at the project.

Speaking of the Dooly project.  While there I fell in love.  A neighborhood dog hung around the campground every day.   She would follow us everywhere.  She tried to get in our rig.  When I got up from my lawn chair she would climb up and lay there.  I would have loved to kidnap her.  Such a precious lady.

Well.... that is the story of our tiny RV park.  So Far.   Looking forward to many more visitors.

Until next time.

NOMADS..... People we've met, places we've gone.

Cullman,   AL


When we planned retirement we decided to sell our home in New Jersey, buy an RV and travel for a while.   Thus I began my research.    We joined the Escapees RV Club.  In the first issue we received of their magazine was an article about NOMADS by a now alumni Sue Keel.  I say that was a God Thing.   Even as a life time Methodist I had never heard of this organization and we were intrigued.  We joined sometime in 2018 or 2019.

For those who want to know more about NOMADS  go to    nomadsumc.org


We hit the road in February 2010.   In March we did our first project at Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, TX. 

Later in the year we attended the annual meeting held in North Carolina where we were introduced to THE AUCTION.    What fun that can be.

After the meeting we served at Hinton Retreat Center in Hayesville, NC.  We didn't know that working on a roof three stories up was a no-no.   But the job got done!

We've worked 24 projects.   We've been to Mercedes, Tx three times;  The Boys Ranch in Gore, OK two times;  Decker United Methodist Church in Austin Tx 2 times and Dooly Campground in Vienna, Ga 3 times.

Some of the delightful people we've worked with:

August 2011   Camp Aldersgate in Rhode Island:

May 2012 at Camp Fontenalle in Nebraska

Decker UMC in Austin, TX

August 2012  Circle J Ranch, Ten Sleep,  WY

January 2011 -   Hope UMC in Tucson   AZ

July 2014  Birchwood Camp, Chugiak,   Alaksa

Camp Casowasco in Finger Lakes region of NY.   

There is quite a story behind this door.  Ask Brenda Forrest or Sheryl Travis

And Mercedes, TX

And our last project Dooly Campground

We've also served at Central Methodist in Fayette, MO;  Moss Point, MS;  Buckeye, AZ;  The Owl Center in Dubach, La and Camp Sumatanga in Gallant, AL

And now our time as active members comes to an end.   Health concerns have slowed us down.  But NOMADS will always be a part of our hearts as we transition to Alumnus.   We love the people we've met and the agencies that gave us the opportunity to serve.

As Bob Hope would say.....Thanks for the Memories

Back to Work

Vienna,  GA

Here we are.   Back at Dooly Campground for our 3rd time.  We are again pleased to lead and work with a great group of NOMADS for the next three weeks.

Both Leonard and I are a bit sore and exhausted from this first day of work.  The entire team put forth their finest efforts and we got a lot done already.

Today's work.   Beginning of taking out 3 windows to replace with doors.

Replacing Panel Boxes

Looking for supplies to

Wash blinds

And windows

Tomorrow is another day.

Until next time.