Alliance Hills RV Resort…take two

March/April 2021

It was too long of a drive to go directly from New Orleans to Marianna, Florida so we stopped for two nights at Gulf Pines KOA Florida. It was a cute little campground, and perfect for just a short stay. The cost was around $72 per night. KOA’s are always more expensive than private campgrounds or HipCamp sites.

The kitties were able to get out into their tents and run around a little. The weather was already starting to get warmer…yeah! On the picnic table next to our site there were lots of Mardi Gras beads; and no, I didn’t take any.

Driving through the small towns along the way to Marianna, Florida was cool too. I just love all the brick this side of the USA. And I couldn’t resist getting a picture of Fricks…there are some strange store names in so many places!

We made it to Alliance Hills RV Park…over 50 park. And I was so excited that we were going to be there for over 2 months. It’s nice to not be moving around too much, I can nap more when we are in the same spot for a while. Plus, this RV park has amazing bathrooms, laundry room, clubhouse, pool, dog park and especially the caretakers!!

During my stay I went through a few tropical storms, edges of hurricanes and some tornado warnings! Those were all scary! The trailer just shook the whole time, and for most of these events I hooked the trailer back up to the truck to help stabilize it in the wind. Luckily the tornados didn’t make it our way, but if they had we were instructed to go to the club house, pets and all!

I even made two videos about these storms:

But for the most part the weather was amazing!!! I took full advantage of the sunshine and took all the pets down to the dog park almost every day, unless it was raining of course! It was so cool being able to let them all run around outside and not be in their tents or the trailer or on their leashes. They loved it!!! I even bought an animal carrier while I was there! The cats loved it, but Parley didn’t. And no, it was not a cat stroller…it was an animal carrier on wheels! lol

I was able to do all sorts of fixes and projects on the trailer too. I put moth balls under the trailer to keep the snakes out. I put the cooler upright into one of the closets (it was on the floor taking up space) and made sure it was all setup and secure for when I was on the road with the trailer. I went through the whole trailer and the back of the truck and got rid of about three bags worth of stuff I didn’t need. I gave it to people in the campground who wanted it and what was left over went to goodwill. It was mostly storage containers that no longer worked for me, clothes I never even wore and some trailer stuff that I also never used or had gotten upgraded stuff! The trailer felt so much bigger without all that stuff, and I was able to buy a fold up wagon to store in the back of the half empty truck! I was also able to eat out at restaurants, but mostly I cooked in the trailer. This was one of my more productive stays!

Then I found a brewery about 45 minutes away that allowed dogs. So Parley and I drove over to the brewery and sat outside in the beer garden in the sun. I only had two beers while sitting there for half the day. I decided to head back to the campground and I tripped over Parley and fell hard on the ground…with the empty beer glass in my hand. That glass cut right through the palm of my hand and started to bleed pretty bad. There was only one couple sitting outside near me and they jumped up to go get some help. One of the guys that works there cleaned up the cut and said that it looked like I needed stitches…fuck. The owner of the bar said he would hold on to Parley for me while his employee drove me to the hospital. Needless to say, it was not fun. Got a bunch of stitches in my hand. Thank God I wasn’t having to move my trailer for a while. I couldn’t have imagined how I would have done that one handed, especially since I’m not one to ask for help. I was so grateful that this happened while I was staying here. But it still sucked…but I did get some pain pills, so that helped a little.

I have yet to go back to that brewery unfortunately. Maybe when I get on the road again, I’ll go check it out! They were so awesome!

Parley, Murray and Sydney also got a lot of time outside in our campsite too. It was a huge area that they loved to be out and on their leashes. Stacie, the caretaker, dropped by regularly to say hi to Parley, and to talk with me about the goings’ on of the campground. Even Sydney loved to jump on her golf cart to say hi!

Sydney tried to climb a tree again. I didn’t think she could get that high!! Murray was asking her how she got up there and how the hell she was going to get down! It was hilarious!

They also used their cat tents all the time, unless it was raining, or a little too windy. Plus, Stacie let me put the tents inside the storage shed that was on the edge of my campsite. That helped so much!! Before being able to use the shed I was collapsing them down and putting them in the front seat of my truck…which got old.