The Vagabond Kinions: January 2012

Sunday, January 1

We attended church service at Mandeville (Louisiana) Christian Church. There was a Mexican restaurant in Covington where we planned to eat lunch because we had seen an ad offering a 15% discount on Sunday if you brought in your church bulletin. But it was closed for New Year’s Day, so we ate at Five Guys Burgers (our first time at this chain).

Tuesday, January 3

We had lunch at Carreta’s Grill (the place we’d planned to eat at on Sunday) in Covington.

Wednesday, January 4

We moved to Styx River Resort in Robertsdale, AL and ate dinner at Derailed Diner, a truck stop close to the resort. The decor was very unusual. It had a wide variety of chairs and seats - assorted “diner” style chairs, saddles, tractor seats, benches, etc. There was also a large cut-out school bus that filled one wall and the door to the bus was the door to go into the kitchen. Of course, Kent had to tell them that their bus was backwards because the door was on the wrong side.

Thursday, January 5

Drove around the area and went to Camping World in Robertsdale.

Sunday, January 8

We decided to attend the service at the resort chapel. Only about a dozen people were there, including us. The pastor asked if anyone could pay the piano. I was waiting to see if someone would volunteer when the pastor’s wife looked at me and said, “I think she can play.” So I said I would. The “song leader” told me that the hymn books set out were from Assembly of God but if I preferred a Baptist hymnal, they had those too. I told him it didn’t make a difference. The service lasted longer than we anticipated, so we didn’t have time to make it to the Christian Church.

We had lunch at Manci’s Antique Club in Daphne (a DDD). A couple at the next table told us they liked DDD also, but asked if they could recommended a local restaurant--R&R Seafood. Sounded fantastic and we'll try it.

Monday, January 9

After lunch at Steak n Shake in Pensacola, FL, we toured the Naval Aviation Museum. Kent showed me the jet engines that he had worked on while in the Navy back in the 60’s.

Wednesday, January 11

We drove to Mobile for a quick breakfast at Steak n Shake. Then we went to Battleship Park and spent 4 hours touring the USS Alabama (a battleship) and the USS Drum (a submarine).

For an early dinner we went to R&R Seafood Restaurant (the place recommended on Sunday) and had great seafood. The main dish we had was the steamed royal red shrimp platter. The shrimp were huge, tender and sweet. Royal reds are caught in the deep gulf waters (600 ft.).

Saturday, January 14

We had lunch at Panini Pete’s (DDD) in Fairhope. We ate outside on the patio.

Sunday, January 15

We attended Belforest Christian Church in Daphne and had a late lunch at Danny’s Fried Chicken in Robertsdale.

Monday, January 16

We went to Biloxi, MS and did the Historic Walking Tour and walked along the beach boardwalk back to the lighthouse.

Ocean Springs was the next stop for a late lunch at The Shed BBQ (DDD). It was definitely a shed, but great BBQ.

Wednesday, January 18

Moved to Pine Lake RV Park in Fountain, FL. Nice, quiet location.

Friday, January 20

Drove to Marianna. Had breakfast at Subway in Walmart while having the truck serviced. Stopped to pick up a late lunch at Austin’s Smokin Butt Hut on the highway in Fountain. It was just a small building with a smoker outside. Good BBQ.

Sunday, January 22

Went to the Christian Church at Panama City. Met Linda and Dale Paul who are from Indiana, but wintering in Panama City. Kent was wearing a HHCC t-shirt and Dale asked him if we were from California. When Kent told him we had retired from Heavenly Hills, they told us that they know Joel and Tatia (the couple who took our place) and we had a nice little visit. What a small world! We grabbed a quick lunch and then went to the beach for a little while.

Wednesday, January 25

Moved to Old Town Campground, Old Town, FL. Drove around to see what was in Old Town and Chiefland.

Thursday, January 26

Manatee Springs is located six miles from Chiefland. Manatees are sometimes sighted in the area during the winter, but we didn’t see any. Manatee Springs is considered a “first magnitude spring” and discharges 50-150 million gallons per day. This caused us to think differently about springs -- especially the Bible story of Moses striking a rock and God causing a spring to come forth. Drawings depicting that story shows a small stream of water. But God was bringing water to a million Israelites. It makes sense that the spring flowed more like a “first magnitude spring.”

There’s a boardwalk from the spring following the flow to the Suwannee River. It was a nice walk.

Site of the Spring

Flow to the Suwanee River

Suwanee River

On the way back to the campground we had dinner at the 19/98 Grill, a unique local cafe, in Fanning Springs. The food was delicious.

Friday, January 27

The Nature Trail in Old Town was a nice place to take a walk. The trail goes to a bridge that crosses the Suwannee River. Then we had dinner at Gail’s Cafe in Old Town.

Sunday, January 29

Attended worship service at the Christian Church in Chiefland. After church we drove to Cedar Key which is on the coast and walked around the waterfront and out on a pier. The sea birds on the pier had no fear of people and acted like they owned it. They didn’t move and we had to walk around them.