When we first considered Gulf Shores, AL as a wintering-over location for 2011, Randy Mc highly recommended the state park here. I passed as it didn't have cable TV, and we didn't own a satellite TV receiver & antenna at the time. (Of course having a sat antenna and receiver doesn't guarantee you TV reception, either.) After arriving in Gulf Shores last year and given a great tour by Greg and Judy Bahnmiller, we knew this was the place to stay and our first few days here in 2012 has not disappointed us.
If you were to zoom in on the park using Google Earth, we're on a cul-de-sac just to the left (west) of the swimming pools. Hard to get a picture of what we see from the trailer as you really can't see much to the south due to the new tree growth and bushes. Plus we're pointed northwest and we catch the sun full-on to the rear of the trailer making any pictures to the south hard to take. If we get a good sunset or sunrise, I'll get on the roof and try again.
This is bicycle riding territory, too. Apparently, we can ride from Perdido Bay to Fort Morgan on bicycle friendly roads or trails. Donna's averaging over two hours a day on her bicycle. Today was my first day out on the bike, and it's truly a bicycle friendly location. So bring your bikes when you come.
It's been an expensive first few days here. A month's rent for the campsite, a new satellite receiver, and a new bike for Donna has created quite a bill in just a few days. Campsite rent includes electricity, so we're not complaining. Donna's never been real happy with her bicycle as it only had seven gears. A choice of adding more gears vs. buying a new bicycle quickly turned to a new bicycle. (Just like it did with a new 1990 Acura Legend over 20 years ago.) She now has a silver, super-duper 24-gear, rapid-fire gear changer, Trek Navigator 3.0. Yep, she's happy now! Remember, this is a lady who loved the Acura Legend and took my corvette away from me to be her own. Only the best...
Ah, the satellite receiver. We have satellite TV reception now, and we have no idea why. On Monday we tried the DishTV directions for setting up a new receiver to no avail. My droid app showed we had a clear sight-line to satellites 110, 119, and 129, but we didn't have any reception on sat 119. We decided to try the Winegard directions Tuesday morning, and it still showed no sat 119 reception. Just as I was about to turn everything off to go to lunch with Greg and Judy, the darn system started downloading the channel guide and we were off to the races. I'd still like to know just what the correct procedure is. It's a shame no one thinks to put it in their owner's manuals! (Oh, there's directions there, but are they the correct directions? Apparently not!)
We're beginning to get out and meet the neighbors. We've got friendly dogs to play with. And the gossip group meets each morning in the center of the cul-de-sac. So we're learning. Anyway, this blog post is way too long. So this is it for today from Gulf Shores, AL. Later, David
Not too long, loved every minute of it.
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