For the last couple of weeks we have been spending a lot of time with friends from Florida to Alabama, and we have had a wonderful time with them. We love being with our family and friends whenever we can, but from time to time, we need an “us” day, and yesterday was the day.
An “us” day is a day we spend together doing anything from working to sightseeing, all by ourselves. A day to enjoy each others’ company, and to remember why we are best friends as well as husband and wife.
We seldom get to bed before 1 or 2 a.m., which means that we don’t usually wake up until about 9 a.m., and are seldom ready to greet the world before 10. Yesterday morning we lay in bed snuggling and talking, making silly jokes, and planning our day. About 10 a.m. somebody knocked on the door, but we were not dressed yet and ignored it. An unspoken rule among RVers is that if the curtains are pulled over the windshield and door, it means do not disturb. We don’t feel rude about not going to the door if we haven’t opened the curtains yet, though we occasionally offend someone by not doing so.
Once we were dressed, Miss Terry made a delicious brunch of French Toast, and we spent an hour or two checking e-mail, our favorite blogs, and reading the news online. We have come to rely on blogs, and in my case Facebook, to keep track of what our RVing friends are up to, wherever they are traveling around the country.
About 1 p.m. we drove down to Gulf Shores, where we stopped at several RV parks there, and in Foley, dropping off sample bundles of the Gypsy Journal. Ever since we started publishing the Gypsy Journal, leaving sample papers has been an important part of our marketing plan. Besides the papers we drop off wherever we are traveling, many of our readers will take a bundle or two from us and distribute them where they are going. It’s like the ripple effect when you drop a pebble into a pool of water, giving us a much greater reach than we could achieve ourselves.
While we were out, we spotted a store called Old Time Pottery that a couple of people have recommended to us. It’s a large place, carrying everything from kitchenware to linens to, of course, pottery. Miss Terry found two or three items she has been looking for, and since one of them was a pan to make me a sheet cake in, I didn’t complain too much about having to spend time shopping in such a “girly” store.
After a quick stop at a Winn-Dixie grocery store for a couple of things, we made it back to Rainbow Plantation just in time for the 4 p.m. social hour. After chatting with some folks there for a while, we went back to the motorhome, checked e-mail again, and then about 6 p.m. we went back out for dinner, at a little place called the Shrimp Basket, in Foley.
We discovered this restaurant on an earlier trip to this area several years ago, and were delighted to find that the food is just as good. In fact, this was our second visit in six days! I had the blackened fish and shrimp combo, while Miss Terry had the crawfish platter, which had both fried crawfish tails and crawfish etoufee over rice. It was all delicious!
It had turned really cold while we were in the restaurant, and as soon as Terry started the engine on our van, I flipped the heater to high. Back at our motorhome, we spent the rest of the evening relaxing with TV and the internet, before it was time to go back to bed and snuggle. The perfect ending to a perfect “us” day!
Thought For The Day – If you are not sure where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Every couple should have “us” days on a regular basis. It makes for a strong relationship.
I know what you mean Nick,,, I get a little overwhelmed by all this togetherness in an RV Park. Sometimes I just like to get off somewhere “alone”, with the person I enjoy the most, Ms Pat.
Cheers!
Togetherness is wonderful and vaulable, but as Mike says, sometimes you need the “us” time. We liked your thought about having come to rely on blogs from other RVers. That’s a very important part of our morning ritual. We follow about ten others’ blogs, some fascinating, others informative, some neither but we still read them.
Nick,
AHHHHHHHHHH!! We love the Shrimp Basket and its best enjoyed on our “us” nite.
No time required to prepare, no dishes, wonderful sea food….Miss Terry it just not get any better then that! Tom & Karen
Won’t intrude on the US day! Waving tho, from Gulf Breeze Campground in Gulf Shores. Been eyeing that Pottery store, now, I know to stop!
Nick,
I just added the Shrimp Basket to the notes for our Florida trip in January. We are in Northern Alabama at the Tiffin plant in Red Bay. If you pass near on your trip north, stop by……….. I will give you a personal tour of the plant. The campground is full of potential subscribers!!
Richard
Nick, Try The Fish River Gill, It is just a short drive from the Plantation. Go right out the entrance to the stop sign turn right go to the stop sign, go left ( highway 32) across the river and a mile or so, watch on the left. They have great hamburgers, try the River burger, or any of there sandwiches. You get a small bowl of soup with your meal. Swamp soup. Very good . Glen
Id be offended if I knocked on your door and you didnt answer because you are still in bed in the middle of the morning! Do you think the whole world should operate on your schedule? Who stays up half the night and sleeps half the day anyway? Didnt you ever have to work for a living? Im up every day at 5 sharp and by 6 i have all of my morning chores done inside and am outside getting busy, or I have warmed up the coach and am ready to pull out of the campground and start driving. You lose half your life sleeping all day long!!!!!
John, I bet you’re the guy with the noisy diesel engine idling and waking up the whole campground while you get ready to take off too, aren’t you?
We are night owls like Nick and get our 8 hrs sleep a night. I could never figure out why it was so important to get up at 6 am when a person is retired. Each of us have different schedules, needs, etc and fit them into our lifestyle. Our son-in-law’s parents live a schedule like John K and are amazed that we don’t.
To each his own.
There’s another Shrimp Basket on the west side of 59 in Gulf Shores shortly before you get to the beach.