Ever since we started RVing, people have told us about Lambert’s Cafe, a small restaurant chain that built a name for itself by serving huge portions of good food, and throwing dinner rolls at their customers.

Yes, you read that right. At Lambert’s, they don’t serve you rolls, they throw them at you! Company legend says the restaurant’s tradition of “throwed rolls” began in 1976, when founder Norman Lambert couldn’t get across the busy restaurant fast enough to deliver warm rolls to a table, and a customer asked him just to throw one. Norman threw the roll, the customer caught it, and history was made.

There are three Lambert’s locations – the original restaurant in Sikeston, Missouri; another in Ozark, Missouri; and the third is in Foley, Alabama. Yesterday afternoon our friends Tom and Karen Weigman came by to visit, and Tom suggested we have a late lunch/early dinner together. I mentioned that we had never been to Lambert’s and Tom said it was a favorite of theirs. So off we went to Lambert’s!

We knew that Lambert’s specializes in country cooking, that the food portions were substantial, and that besides your main course, somebody is always coming by offering free “pass-arounds,” which are down home fare like fried potatoes and onions, macaroni and tomatoes, black-eyed peas, fried okra, and hot rolls with sorghum. Many people we know have told us that they usually fill up on the pass-arounds, and end up taking much of their entrée home to finish the next day, giving them two meals for the price of one.

Karen and I ordered fried chicken, Miss Terry had chicken livers, and Tom opted for the meat loaf. And, of course, a nice young man came by and threw fresh hot rolls at us. Indeed, the portions were beyond generous, and even without the pass-arounds I don’t think any of us would have been able to clean up our plates. This photo was taken after we finished our meals, and there was more left on our plates than you get served in most restaurants.

So what did I think of Lambert’s? Well, you get a lot to eat, but it’s not the cheapest meal in town. My fried chicken was very good, but Miss Terry’s is better, and I don’t think it holds a candle to the broasted chicken at one of our favorite southern restaurants, Golden Girls, in Clinton, Tennessee. If we were having dinner with somebody else and they suggested Lambert’s, I wouldn’t hesitate to go again, but there are quite a few other nearby restaurants that I’d choose first.

Still, I’m glad we went. We had a wonderful time visiting with Tom and Karen, who are a fun couple we look forward to spending more time with. And, I caught a throwed roll, and how many times does a guy get to do that?

Terry and I will be on the road the next couple of days, headed for Elkhart, Indiana to meet the fellow who is buying our bus conversion and complete the sale. The weather forecasts are calling for nighttime temperatures in the 20s in northern Indiana, so you know that we won’t be spending one minute more there than we have to.  

Thought For The Day – You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

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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.

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We have a lot of friends here in Alabama that we wanted to touch base with, and yesterday we got to spend time with several of them, both here at the Escapees Rainbow Plantation and at a couple of other nearby RV parks.

I met Tom Wiegman at an Escapade RV rally in Van Wert, Ohio several years ago, when he and his wife Karen were researching the fulltime RV lifestyle. Tom had some concerns that we talked about, and I assured him that if they really wanted to become fulltimers, they could make it happen. These days they are living their dream, workamping at a neat little RV park called Wales West, in Silverheel, Alabama.

Yesterday we dropped in for a visit, and while we missed Karen, Tom was there helping decorate for Christmas. Here is a picture of the two of us, note Tom’s headgear. Tom gave us a tour of Wales West, which is a neat place. The campground has its own railroad, with over a mile of tracks, and is popular with children from all around the region.

The campground’s owners love railroads and they love the country of Wales. The buildings at the campground are all modeled after buildings in a town they visited in Wales, and railroad enthusiasts love coming here to ride the train. If you’re looking for a quiet, off the beaten track campground with friendly people and great amenities, check out the Wales West website.

Our next stop was at Coastal Haven RV Park in Fairhope, where our friends Paul and Sally Wagner are spending the winter. Paul and Sally are regulars at Elkhart Campground, where we spend a lot of time, and two of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. We timed our visit just right, because another dear friend from Elkhart Campground, Myrl Gautsche, was spending a few days there, so we got to see him too. Here are Sally, Myrl, and Paul enjoying the sunshine.

Back at Rainbow Plantation, Terry happened to look out our window and spotted Di Irrgang walking by. Di and her husband Dutch have been vendors at our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rallies, and we did not realize that they are parked just two spaces down from us!

Norm and Linda Payne have a home here at Rainbow Plantation, and they had invited a few people over for snacks and a visit, so about 4:30 we walked over to their place and had a wonderful evening visiting with Norm and Linda, Darrell and Judy Patterson, and Howard and Linda Payne, from RVDreams.com. In this photo, from left to right, you can see me, Judy Patterson, Linda Payne (of RVDreams.com) Howard Payne, our hosts Linda and Norm Payne, and Darrell Patterson. Miss Terry was behind the camera, so she isn’t included in our party picture.

It was fun to sit around and tell war stories from our lives on the road, compare notes on places we have visited and people we have met, and share some of the goofy mistakes we all make from time to time. Darrell told us about how he did $1,000 worth of damage to his truck and almost as much to his fifth wheel when he tried to use cement blocks to stabilize it.

I admitted that in our first month on the road, as we were leaving a campground I commented to Miss Terry about how friendly everybody was, because they were all pointing and waving their arms at us as we drove by. It wasn’t until I got to the exit and glanced into my side view mirrors did I realize that all of our window awnings were still out. By then there was no way I was going to stop and have all of those people staring at me as I got out and put the awnings up, so I just kept on going, while poor Miss Terry had to open the windows, reach outside and remove the awning catch straps from their hooks, and let the awnings roll up! It took me a long time to live that one down!

Bad Nick isn’t quite the social butterfly that I am, so while I was out visiting folks, he was home writing a new Bad Nick Blog post titled Media Whores. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize that you’re wrong.

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Okay, we all stuffed ourselves yesterday and defeated a year’s worth of dieting, but don’t beat yourself up over it. The way I see things, God made me this way, and who am I to try to change His creation?

Yeah, I know, that was probably sacrilegious, and truth be told, the Burger King and Ronald McDonald are the ones who helped make me the man I am today. But it’s the holiday season, and I officially don’t care until January 1^st. Bring on the pecan pie.

Every year at this time, I make myself a promise not to darken the door of WalMart until at least two days after Christmas. It’s crowded enough the rest of the year, but I just can’t handle dealing with the mobs of Christmas shoppers, who are usually all in such a bad mood.

Fulltime RVers and snowbirds celebrate the holidays in many different ways. We know many fulltimers who return to their old hometowns to spend the holiday season with family members, and a lot of snowbirds delay the start of their winter travels until after the holidays. We spent our first two Thanksgivings and Christmases on the road at Escapees parks, and it really gave us a sense of being with family.

Most RV parks have a potluck dinner, with the park furnishing the turkey and everybody bringing a dish. Miss Terry’s pies are always a big hit at such events. Some people don’t feel comfortable in such large groups, and they have a quiet dinner with just one or two other couples. Since cooking a large meal in an RV can be a challenge, and is a lot of work too, sometimes we have just gone out to a nice buffet dinner. To me, this makes the most sense. Everything is prepared for you, and there is no mess to clean up afterward. I always thought Thanksgiving was really unfair to the ladies, because they spend hours cooking, everybody comes to the table and stuffs themselves, and then the guys go watch TV while the ladies wash dishes.

We have reached the point where we don’t usually give each other Christmas gifts, because we have pretty much everything we want already, and if not, we don’t have to wait for a special day to go get it. We do enjoy spoiling the grandkids a little bit at Christmas. Though we have not been there for Christmas, we have fun shopping for them. Of course, we know that whatever we buy them, they will probably have more fun playing with the boxes than what’s inside anyway.

Thought For The Day – If your heart is not in agreement with your mind, you will be stuck.

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With Christmas less than a month away, I thought I’d make a few gift suggestions for the RVers on your shopping list, or even as a treat for yourself. I use, or have used, all of the products myself.

1. Dyson DC31 Vacuum – When Dyson contacted us asking if we would be willing to give their new rechargeable handheld vacuum a test, Miss Terry jumped at the chance. She loves this new vacuum, which is powered by a digital motor spinning up to104,000 RPM, which is five times faster than a Formula 1 race car engine. For little cleanup jobs around our motorhome, she no longer uses our built-in vacuum, because the Dyson immediately became her tool of choice. It’s lightweight, sturdy, powerful, and versatile. When she’s finished, it’s easy to empty, all she has to do is open the clear cup on the bottom of the vacuum.

2. LED Flashlight – These little powerhouses are small and incredibly bright, and you can never have too many of them. I keep one in my desk, another on the nightstand, one in the van, and a couple in various bays of our motorhome.

3. Hose Buddy – We’ve all had it happen to us, we’ve stuck our sewer hose into the dump station, pulled the black water handle, and had the sudden rush through the hose pop it out and make a mess. Enter the Hose Buddy, a nifty plastic device that fits over your sewer hose’s 90 degree fitting to hold it securely in place. In the past, I had to look for a rock or something to hold my sewer hose in place, but when the folks who make the Hose Buddy sent me a demo, I knew it was a winner the minute I took it out of the box. Made of high grade plastic, the Hose Buddy is so simple it’s ingenious. I filled the reservoir with water (though sand or pebbles would work fine too), put it over the end of my sewer hose, and it works great, even on those irritating campground sewer fittings that extend several inches above the ground!

4. Acer Aspire Netbook Computer – Packing a lot of power into a small, lightweight, and inexpensive computer, the Acer Aspire is great for checking e-mail, cruising the internet, and makes a great companion to computer mapping software. I use mine with my Silverleaf engine monitor. It sits on the dash without moving and doesn’t take up much space.

5. Silverleaf VMSpc – Silverleaf loaned me a data cable to use with my netbook computer so I could review their free VMSpc engine monitoring software, but I am sending them a check because I like it so much I don’t want to give it up! The program monitors every function of my RV’s diesel engine, is more accurate than the factory gauges on my motorhome, and provides a wealth of information.

6. PressurePro Tire Monitoring System - No more crawling around in the mud and wet grass getting dirty as I check my RV’s tire pressures before a trip. With the PressurePro, all I have to do is look at the digital readout on its monitor, right from the driver’s seat! I wouldn’t leave my campsite without it!

7. Restaurant Gift Cards – Most fulltime or snowbird RVers are very conscious of adding any weight to their load, so a lot of times typical gifts are a hassle. We don’t need doodads and geegaws, but we all love to eat. A gift card from any chain restaurant (Texas Roadhouse, Applebees, TGI Fridays, etc) is always welcomed.

8. Mountain Directory Guides – Every RV should have a copy of both the Eastern and Western editions of these books on board. They provide locations and descriptions of over 550 mountain passes and steep grades nationwide, with mile by mile descriptions of what to expect climbing or descending, runaway truck ramps, and other information that prevents surprises that can get you into trouble.      

9. E-book Reader – A year ago the Amazon Kindle was about the only game in town, but now Sony’s two e-book readers are becoming big sellers. Now the Borders bookstore chain is supposed to introduce its own e-book reader, called the Elonex. Whichever model you choose, any RVing bookworm will love it. They’re lightweight and can carry hundreds of digital books.

10. Electrical Management System - We installed a Progressive Industries Electrical Management System (EMS)  in our MCI bus conversion, and over the years it saved our rig several times from high and low voltage conditions. So another EMS was one of the first things we had installed when we bought our Winnebago Ultimate Advantage. It’s worth its  weight in gold!

11. Rand McNally Motor Carriers’ Road Atlas – While it is made for truckers, this is a handy atlas for RVers too. Along with  detailed, full-color maps of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, the atlas includes valuable information for anyone driving a big rig, including restricted route information, low clearances, 40,000+ updated city-to-city mileages, a telephone area code map, and more.

12. Gypsy Journal RV Travel Newspaper – Hey, it’s great reading for all your RVing friends, and I need to make a buck now and then too, so I can do my Christmas shopping!

So what do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?

 Thought For The Day – I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to take a nap when I was younger.

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