Mar 6 -Foley, AL and Fairhope, AL

  We drove to our next RV Good Sam's campground in Foley, AL.  It's about 12 miles north of the Gulf coast, and about the same east of Mobile Bay, which is a huge bay(estuary).  We realize that we DO NOT like RV campgrounds that look like a parking lot for RV's,. with maybe a few trees.  Fortunately, we don't actually spend a lot of time at them, as we generally go out for most of the day, but,still, the State Parks are A LOT nicer.  They can actually be a destination spot, not just a place to park. 
  While setting up the sewer, electric and water connections (that IS a nice feature about the RV parks), I turned to go around the back of the RV and ran right into the extended back bed, and hit my head really hard.  The bad thing is that I did it again, just a few minutes later, even harder.  I actually had to sit for awhile, to let my head settle down.  I now walk around the front of the RV!
  After we settled in, we decided to go out for dinner, so we drove up the Mobile bay coastline.  We stopped at a really nice park along the coast, in Fairhope, AL. Going along the coast further north, we came to the Fairhope municipal fishing pier.  This was really long, and we got there just in time to go out on it and watch the sunset.  Incredible colors and clouds. 
  Had dinner at a  marina, outside, under heaters.  Nice.

Fairhope park and fishing pier photos:

 

Mar 5 - Santa Rosa Barrier island & Gulf Island National Seashore

 Lots of sightseeing today.  The barrier islands off the coast of the panhandle of Florida have the Gulf of Mexico on one side, and various bays/sounds on the other.  They do a lot to protect the mainland from storms.  We started driving across a beautiful, long bridge from Niceville, FL over to Destin, FL on this sunny, windy day.   I actually mentioned as I was driving over this bridge, that I was so relaxed, compare to the last bridge, when I thought we'd be swept of in the wind and the rain.  What we realize, is that all these places on the maps look so cool, so interesting, and so inviting.  But, what is actually the case, is that unless it is a National Park or a State Park, then most of these places are very developed, with lots of high rise condos, gated communities, and shops.  Those can be interesting to drive through, for a short time. 
   We stopped at Henderson State Park.  A nice little community beach on the Gulf.  Fortunately, we had our winter coats and hats in the car, which we needed for walking on the windy beach.  Incredibly beautiful white sand, and the colors of the water in the Gulf were amazing.
   We then drove over to Santa Rosa Island, and stopped at the John Beasley Park, again on the Gulf side.  This park was originally created to address the issue that blacks in FL did not have the same nice beaches as the whites.  So this one was a black-only beach.  In 1964-65, all State Parks became de-segregated. 
  We noticed, off in the near distance, a long pier jutting out into the Gulf.  Of course, I wanted to explore it, so we hiked the beach over to it.  It was the Okalossa Beach Fishing Pier.  No fish, but a nice pier.
  Crossed over to the mainland, and drove down the coast to the Gulf Breeze National Seashore.  Hiked a few trails, went through the Nature Center that was mostly dedicated to the Living Oak and it's importance in FL history.  Walked on the very pleasant, isolated beach on the bay side,
  Then we crossed back over to Santa Rosa Island, at the west end,  at Pensicola Beach.  We drove back toward Destin, through the National Seashore--7 miles of incredibly beautiful, powdery white sand beaches on the Gulf. 
  We had dinner at a little Mexican cantina, in the harbor in Destin.  Since this was Mardi Gras day, it was a bit celebratory. 

Henderson State Park Photos:

Sea Slug found on the beach --interesting:

John Beasley Park and Okalossa Fishing Pier photos:

Gulf Breeze National Seashore photos:

Mar 4 - Evie does tax returns, Peter goes into Pensacola, FL

  Peter left this morning to go into Pensacola, FL to meet with a friend from one of his blogs.  So I stayed at the campground and wrote bills, then worked on family tax returns.  It was a cold (in the 50's), cloudy, grey, windy day.  It turned a bit sunnier in the late afternoon, so I went exploring a bit around the campgrounds.  Very nice setting, right on Rocky Bayou (which looks like a lake to me).  When Peter got home, we hiked a couple of the nature trails throughout the park.   We had dinner, and watched an episode of Star Trek--Enterprise.
  Couple of comments about our Tiffin RV.  After living in it now for a few months, we now have a list of about 20 things that need to be fixed, while it is still on warranty.  Actually, we have an appointment scheduled for later this month in Alabama, where they are headquartered.  We keep thinking for such a fancy, expensive, high tech RV, so many little things are broken or don't work right.  Is this shotty workmanship?  Poor quality items?  Did we buy the wrong RV?  The other day when the RV service tech came to fix the bed, we mentioned our discontent.  He said, actually, Tiffin is the best.  All of the RV's have these problems.  It takes awhile to get them all fixed.  At least, that made me feel better.

Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park campground photos & our campsite:

Mar 3 - Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park, Niceville, FL

  Drove 3 hours over to our next campgrounds--Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park.  It is located on the Rocky Bayou leading out into the Choctawhatchee Bay, which is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by a long pennisula/narrow islands.  The drive over was very interesting.  We saw a huge amount of hurricane damage all along the road--trees uprooted everywhere.  All of the trees laying in one direction.  Then, right as we went through one town, all of the trees were laying in the opposite direction.  The 130 miles of road went STRAIGHT, trees lining both sides.  Not much traffic in this area.  Easy driving, until the winds started blowing.  Had to slow down so as to not battle keeping the RV on the road so much. 
  Very nice campgrounds.  Thought we'd explore today, as the campground is right on the water.  However, when we tried to extend our bed slide-out, it wouldn't go - AGAIN, thus today's challenge.  The last time this happened, we called the Tiffin techs, and they walked us through resetting the system.  But, that time, the bed was extended, so we could get to the little black box that had the reset button, hidden away under the bed frame.  This time, the bed was retracted, so we couldn't access the reset box.  CRAZY design.  So, we called Tiffin, which, of course, is closed on the weekends.  However, we have a RV tech service as part of buying the Tiffin.  We called them, and the tech couldn't figure out over the phone how to access it either.  Big help.  So, we called a local RV service company, that works with  this campground regularly, and they came out.  We pulled out the drawer, under the bed, and he crawled in, and since he knew what to look for, and how to push the right buttons, he was able to reset it.  He also gave us some tips on how to recognize when the system is going "wonky" and try to re-sync it before it stops working.   He says, that is all you can do, other than to have Tiffin put the box in a more accessible location, which we will ask them to do when we go there on March 25.
   So, at least we will not have to sleep on the floor.  Tremendous thunder storm right after the tech guy left.

No photos today.  We will venture forth again tomorrow.

Mar 2 -- Battle of Natural Bridge re-enactment

  So, today I dropped Peter off at the Battle of the Natural Bridge re-enactment site and went to do laundry in Tallahassee, FL.  Ask me if I minded missing that particular activity.  In the laundromat, a nice looking black man asked me my name, and said I looked like someone he used to work with.  I then  went out to the car to sit and wait for the washers, as there wasn't much room inside.  While sitting, the man drove his car and stopped by mine on his way out.  He asked me if I was married, and I said, yes, why?  He said I was "cute".  I said "Aren't you sweet, and, by the way, I am old enough to be your mother."  He said no way, that he was 45.  I said, "and one of my sons is 44."  Go figure--trying to be picked up by someone my sons age!  Sort of made my day.
   Went back to the battlefield site, and talked with some of the folks attending, and some of the       re-enactors.  This particular battle was a Confederate victory, and "saved Tallahassee from being captured and burned".   Interesting to see the perspective of some of the southern folks about those times, as well as some of the blacks in attendance, as some of the Union forces were black units.  Peter had a good time. 
  Did our usual Whole Foods/Trader Joe's shopping, had dinner, and came "home".

Battle of the Natural Bridge Re-enactment photos:
 

A Gen-X Fairy Tale

Evie is doing the day by day of our journey.  I have other blogs to tend, so I will only weigh in occasionally. - PJR

Yesterday we were at Bald Point State Park. It is a beach thing - lots of birds.  We were on a platform at the end of a boardwalk.  The place was pretty well deserted.  That seems to happen a lot.  This lovely setting just for us.


Another couple came walking down the boardwalk and went to the rail and was looking out for some birds or whatever (They were sparse at this point).

In a setting like that I have an irresistible impulse to make up a back story for the people, which I will sometimes share with Evie, sometimes to her amusement and sometimes to her chagrin, I whispered to her "She's the earner".

Of course, they were dressed casually, but even at that you could picture her in an office, but him not so much.  He had less executive presence than I do, which is saying something. He was wearing a Dungeons and Dragons t-shirt.  They were a lot younger than us, although not kids.

I think Evie got the conversation going noting his shorts which it was just a bit chilly for the day.  We're from Massachusetts. Oh we used to live in Cambridge, but now we are in Asheville, NC.

Now I'm recomputing the story.  He is some sort of tech guy, that's why he gets away with his presentation.  What were they doing in Cambridge?  (I'm thinking he went to MIT) Oh just jobs.

Now I am getting blunt.  So do you have some sort of tech job? Rob answers that he in fact is a computer programmer.  What sort of programming?  Well I created a solitaire program.  Like World of Solitaire?  Indeed, that very site is in fact his.

I have been spending a lot of time on World of Solitaire, which is really a great site.  Many people think that there is only one game called solitaire.  Actually, it is more of a game form. The game most of us learn is Klondike Turn 3, which is confirmed by the statistics on Rob's site.  Of the not quite 10 billion hands that have been played on WOS over 6 billion have been Klondike Turn 3.  Klondike Turn 1 accounts for another 5%.

WOS has over 50 different games including numerous versions of Klondike. I started going through them in alphabetic order, but fell in love with Algerian Patience and have been playing that a lot.

Here is the thing that is really amazing.  This was the first time that Rob and Tiffany have met one of their players in meatspace.  Rob communicates a lot with users by email.  And the site is just him, which is actually kind of amazing, which brings us to the Gen-X fairy tale.

Rob and Tiffany were both born in 1978.  (As far as somebody named Tiffany goes, really, when else?)  Rob's father gave him a Commodore 64 and taught him Basic when he was eight years old.  After that all he wanted to do was code.  They had vocational training at his high school and one of the choices was computer programming, so he learned a few other languages including COBOL, which to him was like studying ancient Greek - about as useful anyway.

All he ever wanted to do was code.  He got a job at a call center, where he started writing programs to make himself more efficient. Management was smart enough to promote him and use his talents. That led to another job in Boston.  It is probably getting less so, but coding was one area where people had not gotten credential happy.  I mean really, you could judge people by their work.

When he was 29, he met Tiffany.  He had never had a girlfriend up to then.  He found that he couldn't keep his mind off of her, so he decided to take up a project that would give him a break from thinking about Tiffany. He decided to write a solitaire program.  Hardly a unique idea.  I remember it coming with early nineties machines.  He wanted it to be really good though.

Thus was born WOS.  It was a really fun hobby and didn't cost all that much.  But sometime after their marriage, Tiffany suggested that maybe he could consider getting some ads to offset the $300 per month server cost that he was incurring.

So he signed up for adsense and did so well that Google moved him up to the next level.  The ads on WOS are very unobtrusive way over on the right side of the screen and there is a "hide ads" button that will make the playspace better.  He seems really proud of that.

Evie asked Tiffany how well that worked.  She said that they have essentially retired.  Rob of course is still maintaining the site, but that was never work in the first place.  They were in Florida buying a lot for their second home.  Evie noted on the way out that they were driving a Tesla.

Turns out that maybe I wasn't that far off in fingering Tiffany as the earner.  Actually, she was the monetizer.

Rob said he tried another site called World of Card Games, where users would interact with one another, but monitoring their bad behavior was too much hassle.

It is really something talking to somebody who is brilliant and accomplished while being uncorrupted by higher education.  He told me that for a feature on WOS, which I hadn't noticed, called challenges he had preset decks that were winnable.  He wanted to rate how hard they were.  So he had the computer play a million hands making random moves and if it won a lot he rated it easy.

Later on when doing some reading he realized that he had invented Monte Carlo simulation.

Going back to making up stories, I started thinking about what Rob and Tiffany might be making.  It is an extremely broad range, but it is a bit of a meditation on the ecology of the internet.

Here is how I look at it.  You have users, content producers, platforms, advertising sellers, advertising buyers.  The advertising buyers are buying the attention of the users.  Rob and I are both content providers.  He owns his own platform.

I'm doing a lot of projecting here, but based on my reading of them Rob and Tiffany live within their means.  And I would say that their lifestyle calls for at least 300k, certainly not much less.  So that is the low end.

The high end is mind-boggling.  If we consider hands played as equivalent to pageviews, Rob is worth 2,000 times what I am.  And he owns his own platform.  That would put him into low ten figures ceteris paribus.

I doubt very much that Google is paying him that much.  His site is actually designed to discourage ad viewing, forbes.com not so much.  Also it is possible that I get credit for reaching a higher income demographic - people who are worried about tax issues.  Regardless, he is an enviable situation, but I don't envy him.  I delight in his good fortune - and having Tiffany in his life is probably the greatest part of that.

Rob is probably one in a million in his generation, but I'm really glad to have met him and will now enjoy his site even more.

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Peter J. Reilly CPA writes about taxes on Forbes.com.

March 1 - St George Island, FL and Apalachicola, FL

  Great day today!  We drove to the Gulf of Mexico coast and over to St George Island State Park.  Due to the hurricane damage in this area, this was the first day the park has reopened.  The weather today switched from rain storms to cloudy.  So when we crossed the very high 4 mile long bridge over to St. George Island, we could see the rain coming down in the clouds ahead of us.  By the time we got onto the bridge, it had started pouring and the wind really picked up.  Of course the speed limit on the bridge was 55 mph, which I wasn't about to do, given the wind and rain.  At one point, I kept thinking about being swept right off the bridge in the wind.  Should I pull over and wait for the storm to subside or speed up and just get off the bridge?  I ended up getting safely over the bridge to the island.  The park is at one end of the island, which is really rather narrow.  The St George Sound is on one side,at one end of the island, and the Apalachicola Bay at the other end, with the Gulf of Mexico on the outside of the island. 
  We parked looking out at the Gulf, and ate lunch in the car while it rained.  When we were through with lunch, it stopped raining, and had the most impressive, beautiful clouds.  So we got out and did our couple mile walk on the beaches.  We saw 3 dolphins cruising along the coast and were enthralled with the many pelicans that would soar into the air, then dive bomb right straight down into the water to catch a fish,.  They did that over and over again.  With the mild wind blowing, and the sound of the waves, the incredible clouds, the birds & the dolphins -- it was really marvelous. 
  We walked a short boardwalk over to a view of the Sound.  Very peaceful.  Finally, we drove around the rest of the island--rather touristy, and with lots of houses on stilts (required by FL building codes).
  We drove across another bridge to the little town of Apalachicola, FL.  Walked the quaint tourist shops, and stopped for coffee and pastries.  Found a cute park along the Apalachicola Bay.  Then drove home and made dinner. 

St George Island State Park beach photos:

 Storm damage:

Apalachicola Bay side of the park:

Tamara's Shop in Apalachicola, FL: