Wednesday, November 01, 2006

We've landed for the winter


Tom at Brushy Lake The goats near our site


Sally and Tom have landed (sort of). We are now at the Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge. Eufaula Alabama is about 60 miles south of Columbus, GA and about 60 miles north of Dothan Alabama. It is a town of about 30,000 on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. The river is the southern section of the border of Georgia and Alabama.

We have only been here two days and have seen deer, a large assortment of birds and goats. The goats are a fixture in the machine shop/workamper area. There are 12 altogether – they are a little shy, but it’s fun having animal companionship. Right now we are the only workampers at the refuge.

The reserve is in place for seasonal waterfowl, a resting place for ducks, geese, etc. There are over 11,000 acres of mostly water and wetlands. Hunting is allowed, but very limited in scope. Farmers are allowed to grow grain corps on the land, but must leave about 25% in the fields for food for the animals. The refuge is right next door to Lakepoint State Park (Alabama). The park has camping, fishing, a lodge and other amenities.

The weather is beautiful today, about 80 degrees and partly cloudy. The average temps for December and January is 60 for highs and 35 for lows, so we are pushing the envelope on winter weather in the RV, but we think we’ll be able to take it.

In our travels down, we used Anniston for a resting place for the RV. We spent one weekend in northwest Alabama at the ATCA annual “Rest your weary bones” campout at Brushy Lake. We attended the University of Alabama homecoming game and events. All in all, we spent only 6 days in Anniston, but it is good to go “home” occasionally.