Apr 6 - Tuscaloosa, AL and Lake Lurleen State Park

  We have decided that it works best to hike in the mornings, and go into the "office" late morning and early afternoon, taking our lunch to eat there.  That way, we hike while it is still cooler in the mornings, and get home early enough for me to cook dinner.
  So we did the Ridge Trail again.  This time going a mile in and a mile out, but starting from the other end of the 4 mile loop trail.  It's only April, and already the high today is mid-80's.  The trail had some plant identification signs that finally told me what some of the greenery is -- large leaf magnolia and Newport azaleas, just staring to bloom.  On our walk, we were startled by a long, black snake.  What fun.
  We set up in our "mobile office" by the WinnDixie grocery store.  Nice shade, nice light breeze, and relatively cool.  Got an email from one of the charities I work with, saying they were really thankful that I sent them a heads-up email from Peter describing the forgivable payroll protection loan that is currently available.  It will help them cover payroll for a couple of months, at least.  It's nice to see us doing good, even in these difficult times.
  We stopped at Walmart on the way back to pick up Peter's drugs.  Thought I'd might find a face mask there, but instead found empty shelves --just like everywhere else.

Morning hike on Ridge Trail photos:

Big leaf Magnolia plant

Today's "mobile office" photo:

Walmart shelves for face masks, sanitary wipes, and paper towels photo:

Apr 5 - Tuscaloosa, AL and Lake Lurleen State Park

  Now that we have decided to stay at Lake Lurleen State Park for the entire month of April, as it is a great place to self-isolate,  we have begun to explore the best flow of the day.  Today we needed to do laundry, badly.  So we found a good one, that limits the number of people inside at a time, and won't let you remain inside while your clothes wash or dry.  They also won't let you fold your clothes inside, and wipe down the equipment regularly.  Even so, we wore our disposable gloves.  We found a nice shady spot across the street, in an empty parking lot to wait. 
  I had done some research online about how to make your own face masks, since you can't find them in any stores around here.  So, I started hand sewing two.  We'll see how they come out. 
  We went back to the RV for lunch and returned into town to set up our "mobile office".  Our requirements are shade, isolation, and near a public bathroom.  We found an empty strip mall near the WinnDixie grocery store.  It has a large covered patio on the front and the side, so was perfect for our needs.  We set up our camp chairs, our collapsible table and opened our computers.  Voila! Our home office.  It worked perfectly for us.
  I did my family Hangouts call.  It is really, really nice to be able to "see" everyone, including my newest granddaughter, whom I haven't even met yet.  We did take-out dinner, and then played a game of Fox and the Forrest, a two-player card game that Aaron & Anica gave us for Xmas.  Very interesting and challenging--a twist on the usual trick-taking games.

Mobile Office in Tuscaloosa, AL photos:

Sunset at Lake Lurleen State Park photo:

At home in the RV photo:

Apr 4 - Gordo, AL and Lake Lurleen State Park

  We went for a 2 1/2 mile hike on the Ridge Trail this morning.  A very nice 4 mile loop trail through the woods, following the hillside ridge.  We only walked a mile in and turned around and came back, as we needed to get back into town for the internet, for another Peter post.  But it was a lovely hike.
  We have decided to stay here at this State Park campground for the entire month of April.  It is very isolated, is a beautiful area, has lots of hiking trails and places to hang out around the lake, with very few other people around.  It feels very safe.  The only down side is the lack of any internet, which makes us drive into town and hang out there, in and around the car. 
  Tiffin has rescheduled our Tiffin RV service twice now, and they aren't saying yet when they will reopen.  Hopefully before the end of the month.  If so, we will drive the RV up there, spend the night, and return the next day after servicing it.  They are only an hour or so away.  By the end of the month, we will have a better sense of what our return route should look like.
  Instead of going into Tuscaloosa, we decided to drive north a bit and find a "mobile office" spot in the smaller town of Gordo, AL.  So we are hanging out in the CVS parking lot, with great internet, and a shady tree. 
  Researched how to make your own face mask online.  They say the best fabric is a polypropolene reusable grocery bag.  Cotton, apparently, retains moisture, and thus grows bacteria.  The grocery bag does not.  How to sew from an RV -- an interesting challenge.

Lake Lurleen Ridge Trail hike photos:

Gordo, AL "mobile office" photos:

Apr 3 - Tuscaloosa, AL and Lake Lurleen State Park

  We went into town fairly early so Peter could whip out a hot Forbes.com blog post on the new Corona virus-related tax issues.  We found a spot in a shaded parking lot behind the Publix supermarket and set up our "working mobile office".  I sitting outside on my camp chair with my collapsible table, and Peter sitting in the passenger seat in the car.  We brought our "picnic lunch" to eat while "at work".   We picked this spot because it has access to a bathroom.  We stay away from other people, put on our disposable gloves to go into the store, and wash hands a lot, or use our hand sanitizer drops.
  We just read that now the CDC is recommending the use of face masks when out in public.  However, they are just not available in the stores--CVS, Wallgreen, Publix, etc.  I will need to research how to make our own.
  When we got back to the RV, we went for a short walk down to the lake and the picnic pier, and sat and read for a while.  Made dinner and we watched a DVD.

Lake Lurleen State Park Picnic pier photos:

Lake Lurleen RV campsite photos:

Apr 2 - Lake Lurleen State Park hike and Tuscaloosa, AL

  We went for a delightful 4 mile hike this morning.  The trail hugged the lake and went out to the dam.  We sat on the dam and read for about half an hour, then returned.  What a great trail, and what a nice way to spend the morning in our "social isolation" mode.  The weather was sunny and cool, the air was clean, with a mild breeze.  We keep deciding that perhaps this is a really good place to wait out the Covid-19, at least for a while.  Not sure that Massachusetts is a better place to be right now,
  We also got a call this morning from Tiffin, saying that our rescheduled appointment needed to be cancelled.  Did we want to reschedule?  But they aren't able to say yet when they would be reopening.  Should we extend our stay here for the month of April, and hope to get the Tiffin serviced?  The service center is only an hour or so away from here.  But, if we do that, we need to reschedule our remaining stays home--and many States have closed their State Parks, and VA closed the RV parks for reservations of less than 14 days.  What to do?
  The park is so nice, we are considering extending our stay.
After lunch, we drove back into Tuscaloosa, and found a more remote parking lot by the river, and set up to work on the computers.  I worked on tax returns, and more Estate phone calls, catching up on the blog, and trying to look at new routes home.
  Returned to the Park for dinner.  It is actually quite nice not being connected to the internet for a change. 
 
Lake Lurleen State Park Lake trail photos:

Our "office" in Tuscaloosa photo:

Apr 1 - Tuscaloosa, AL and Lake Lurleen State Park

  We left quite early to get to the Fresh Market grocery store in Tuscaloosa, about a 20 minute drive.  They had a Senior shopping hour, and just a few folks were in the store.   This is the closest store to Whole Foods in the area.  I left Peter there, sitting alone outside, with his computer and good internet service.  I took the groceries back to the RV, had lunch, and then returned for Peter.  We drove over to the Riverwalk park, and parked in their parking lot.  We were originally going to set up at one of the picnic tables overlooking the river, but then realized that wasn't a "social distance and safe" plan.  So, we sat in the car, with our computers, doing what we needed to do.
  Drove back to the RV and then drove down to the lake to sit for awhile on a bench on a pier that went into the lake.  Very pleasant after a day in town.  We also walked over to one of the picnic areas, with another pier, a sweet arched bridge, and a hanging swing we could sit on and chat.
  Since we had no internet, we decided to watch a DVD that Peter picked up from Walmart.

More Lake Lurleen State Park photos:

Mar 31 - Left Mississippi and arrived in Tuscaloosa, AL

   Another easy, pleasant trip to the Lake Lurleen State Park campgrounds, just outside of Tuscaloosa, AL.  What a beautiful, well maintained and landscaped park.  Big lake with 3 separate RV campgrounds, and many miles of trails.  We choose a site in the furthest away loop, with just a few other RV's in the loop.  Full hookup.  We set up and hung out.  Unfortunately, there is no internet here.  The site we chose is at a slightly higher elevation, so we have marginal cell service.  So I made some Estate of Len Topolski related phone calls.
  If we need to be isolated and safe, away from the crowds, what a delightful place to be.

Photos of Lake Lurleen State Park: