Recovering and Happy New Year!

Our Location today is Old Town, Florida, U.S.A.

This is only our third year coming to Florida as Snowbirds and it is the third year in a row that we seem to come down with flu like symptoms only days after our arrival. Remember the picture of Kathy yesterday sitting outside in shorts and sandals. Today we spent the day inside the trailer with the electric cube heater running because the cloudy breezy high for our area never got to 50 F (10 C). At least we’re warmer here than we’d be back home. 

Enjoying the Florida warmth yesterday.

We spent the day working on the computers researching, catching up on reading and making spreadsheet entries. Some of the research was watching the Weather reports and temperature changes for when we get back on the road Friday to head further south where we’ll spend time visiting with our friends Rick and Elaine at the Glades RV and Golf Resort. 

The high at 3:30 this afternoon was only 48 F.

Kathy and I would like to wish all our family, friends and readers a Safe and Happy New Year and if you are planning on celebrating the evening with alcoholic beverages please don’t drive. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

You Might Be a Redneck If

Your kid’s favorite teething ring is the garden hose in the front yard.

Resolved.

Our Location today is Old Town, Florida, U.S.A.

Last night Kathy could barely keep her eyes open around 9:00 but managed to stay awake until around 10:00. Since I had been training myself for shorter nights and longer wakeful days I stayed awake past the local evening news. Once again after having another restful night here in Florida I was up before 8:00 this morning getting things ready for breakfast and reading morning blogs before Kathy got up just after 8:30 feeling much more refreshed. After enjoying our breakfast we returned to the computers to finish catching up on our morning reading.   

We had noticed a few items we had either forgotten or had not noticed how low they were before we left home. We decided that making a run to Old Town we would be able to find those articles as well it would help to pass a bit of time. I noted last year how much we enjoy coming to Yellow Jacket RV Park because of its peaceful solitude. The loudest noise you hear is when some ones talking as they’re backing into their sites. The most common noise is the sound of the birds playing there melodies high in the trees above or the distant braying of donkeys on a farm nearly a half mile away. Sound carries here! 

By 10:30 we were leaving the park and making the half mile drive to the paved road. Then we drove the ten miles down that road to Old Town. As we pulled into the parking lot of the Hitchcock grocery store we were shocked to find the building empty and up For Sale. The only thing we could think of was to drive another twenty miles to Chiefland to get what we had needed. Turning onto highway 19 we had only driven about five hundred feet where on the right hand side of the road was a brand new Hitchcock grocery store built since we were here last year. What a relief that was not having to add forty miles to our round trip. 

It was nearly 12:30 when we finished shopping there and we were getting hungry so we made a quick stop at the Hardee’s for a couple of Chili Dog combos. The hotdog, fries and pop were great but their chili seasoning turned us both off from ever trying them again. 

We stopped around the corner at the Hardware store. If you recall this past fall I constructed a water cart to support two jugs dispensed water and a case of bottled water. Well the newest jug had a leaky spigot around the cap. I’ve tried a number of things to fix the problem including purchasing another spigot. Telling the clerk my tale of woe and he suggested using an O-ring. As soon as we were back at the trailer and everything was unloaded I installed the O-ring and am happy to report the problem has finally been resolved.   

Since it was early we decided to enjoy our first campfire of this winter season. Since we are using freshly purchased firewood you can be certain that it is damp. Once the kindling burns down and all that is left are the logs you are guaranteed to have smoke. If Kathy is sitting by the fire that smoke is going to chase her even if she moves her chair twenty times. Finally we got to enjoy the fire until the temperature started dropping as the sun began to set. For supper we enjoyed a nice Caesar Salad with chicken. Afterwards while I washed the dishes Kathy did the sweeping and vacuuming that she had originally planned on doing yesterday. 

Tomorrow we don’t know what we’ll be doing since the temperature is only supposed to reach a cloudy 66 F (19 C) for a daytime high. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

Teacher: "Who can give me a sentence with fascinate in it?"

Pupil: "My mother's so fat, she has 10 buttons on her skirt but can only fasten 8.

Reorganized and Updated.

Our Location today is Old Town, Florida, U.S.A.

I must have started to catch up on my rest because even though I watched the late local news last night I still managed to wake up before 7:30 this morning. After getting things ready for breakfast I even managed to get caught up on reading half the blogs we follow before Kathy woke up just after 8:15. The one thing we didn’t do was turn on the Weather Channel to see what kind of weather the rest of the country was experiencing because all we had to do was read the RV blog posts and everyone was telling you what they were getting. 

By 10:00 this morning we had all the windows in the trailer wide open and we were busy reorganizing clothes that had been put away during colder temperatures back home. We also had food stocks that we had purchased since arriving in the southern states to organize in the pantry instead of just putting it where there was an empty space. When we arrived here at Yellow Jacket RV Park yesterday we were told that there was no New Year’s pot luck dinner planned like last year. Since we had picked up chicken for our contribution to that meal we also had to cut it into portions and get it into the freezer to use later. 

After having lunch and gathering the excess packaging from the food stocks we took our first walk around the park enjoying the 79 F (26 C) temperatures. Once we’d disposed of the trash we sat on one of the many benches on the floating docks that line the Suwanee River for a half hour enjoying the view, the light breeze and the sounds of nature. Knowing there was more to get done at the trailer we started walking back but got sidetracked when we stopped to check out the water temperature at the heated pool. It was nearly 3:00 by the time we got back to the trailer so while Kathy took things from the freezer to defrost I busied myself setting up our Weber Q so that I could grill up supper later. 

The few days that we were busy traveling to get here by the time I’d put together our blog at night I was too tired to add the pictures. This past year Yellow Jacket RV Park has greatly improved their WiFi connection so I spent the remainder of the afternoon adding the appropriate pictures to those posts. I actually was working on that while we sat outside and I was slow grilling Sweet Potatoes, a can of Sauerkraut and some pork sausages for our supper. 

Just as we finished eating our meal inside we started hearing something tapping on the roof of the trailer. It didn’t take long to realize that the slight chance of showers had turned into a surefire rain storm. Now we can really say that we’re back in Florida. Tomorrow we’ll be busy exploring the area. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

You Might Be a Redneck If

You strip naked to the waist to eat barbecue.

Finally Florida.

Our Location today is Old Town, Florida, U.S.A.

The last few days of hard traveling has taken its toll on the both of us and it showed when we both slept in until nearly 8:00 this morning. By the time we made it to bed last night most of the truckers around us had warmed their sleepers up enough to shut their trucks off. When we stepped foot outside the trailer this morning it was like a foggy scene from the movie of Sleepy Hollow and there were only a dozen or so trucks left in the massive parking area. 

We enjoyed a good breakfast at the on-site Denny’s taking time to savor the coffee knowing we didn’t have far to travel today. When we finally left the restaurant we drove to the RV fuel islands to top off before heading down the final twenty miles on I-75 for the day. 

It wasn’t long before we were traveling across the Florida backroads heading towards our first stop over destination in the state.  When we had stopped at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store yesterday there were a few things Kathy had on her shopping list that they didn’t carry and others that were just too high priced. As we were driving along this morning we suddenly spotted a Walmart in a small strip mall. It didn’t take long to find everything she needed and the bottle of honey was half the price for double the size. We had plenty of time so we kept walking around the store getting some much overdue exercise. We grabbed a couple of tacos for lunch from Taco Bell that we found more than filling. By the time we walked back to the truck we’d probably wore them off but that was okay. 

For the next hour and a half we wound our way over to Yellow Jacket RV Park just past Old Town Florida. We like this park that is on the banks of the Suwanee River for its quietness and the privacy between the sites. We did have a little problem when it came to setting up the trailer on its site. We were overdressed wearing jeans and shoes in 79 F (26 C) temperatures. It didn’t take long to change into something more comfortable. We also had the task of dewinterizing the trailer and resolving mystery problems that pop-up between seasons. We only stopped for a light supper but we have hot showers calling our names tonight. 

Our travels for today was around a hundred miles but at the end of it we were still tired. Tomorrow once we finish vacuuming the trailer we’ll be catching up on our reading and learning to relax from our travels. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

The World's Great Proverbs

A cherry year, a merry year, a plum year, a dumb year.

Not There Yet.

Our Location today is Lake Park, Georgia, U.S.A.

After spending our second night on the road at the Flying J in Resaca Georgia we felt better rested and not as cold. We didn’t have to run our Big Buddy heater like the first night out either. Then again we weren’t fogging the inside of the trailer with our breath like the first night. What was strange was that we once again woke up after 7:30 and by the time we had breakfast, fueled the truck and topped up our propane tanks it was nearly 9:30. After settling the bill I was on my way to the truck when Denny who was fueling next to me started talking. He and his wife are from Cornwall Ontario and were also on their way to Florida until the end of March.

We only traveled five miles down I-75 when we exited to go grocery shopping at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store. Last year we’d had a problem with the U.S. immigration officers at the Ambassador Bridge so Kathy didn’t take any chances of a repeat performance for this year. By the time we had everything put away in the trailer and were back on the road it was nearly 11:00. 

Traffic sailing through Atlanta.

Once we were back on I-75 southbound we traveled straight through Atlanta without any problems. It was only ten miles down the road when all southbound lanes of traffic came to a sudden stop. Over the next hour and a half we must have traveled all of five miles. If we thought the slow crawling traffic we’d experienced yesterday was bad we could have walked faster today. At that point we saw an off ramp and figure now would be a good time for our lunch.

It was nearly 3:00 by the time we got back on the highway and the traffic was only traveling at about 30 mph. After ten miles we came upon three huge tow trucks on the side of the road that were righting an overturned semi that had rolled off an exit ramp. Once we’d driven by that site amazingly the traffic quickly returned to the designated speed. Kathy and I realized that we wasted more time in the last two days stuck in these traffic jams mostly due to gawkers than what we had for a 7,000 mile trip back in 2008.

It was nearly 7:00 when we pulled into the Flying J at Lake Park Georgia where we planned to spend the night. Unfortunately the RV parking section of their lot was full so we ended up parking in the back lot with the semis. The longer walk to the restaurant helped to limber us up slightly and since we have no fresh water on board yet we made use of the amenities. After 321.6 sometimes slow miles neither of us were very hungry so Kathy had a small salad while I had a sandwich.

Just as we started getting settled into the trailer for the night this one trucker right near us started his truck either to keep warm for the night or to get us to move. I don’t know why they would run them because the outside temperature was 72 F (22 C) at the time. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

Office Jokes, Quotes, and Anecdotes

Coffee smells like freshly ground heaven.

Four States, Four Road Delays.

Our Location today is Resaca, Georgia, U.S.A.

After leaving our family Christmas celebration last night we went home changed our clothes made a coffee to go and we were on our way to the storage yard. We made sure everything was secured in the trailer one last time then hooked up and were leaving the storage yard by 8:00. When we arrived at the U.S. immigrations there was only a short line of traffic ahead of us. With the usual questions and checking the trailer we were on our way down I-75 by 8:30 which is what we had hoped would happen after spending three hours for the same thing last year.

After a long day we stopped at Beaver Dam Ohio for the night after only driving 136.2 miles. Even with the Big Buddy heater running in the other room we still spent a cold night in the trailer which made us sleep past 7:30 this morning. Neither of us felt that rested because we kept waking due to the cold. After a light breakfast at Denny’s we topped off the fuel tank before getting on the road by 8:30 this morning.

We were cruising along making our way south in the state of Ohio when after only twenty miles we ran into a bottle neck of traffic through a construction zone. The strange thing was that there were no contractors working today but the traffic crawled at a snail’s pace bumper to bumper for nearly an hour.

Shortly after crossing into the state of Kentucky we found a Cracker Barrel where we enjoyed a tasty Catfish dinner. It was a good thing we did because not five miles up the road we were once again crawling along for well over a half hour. The problem this time was due to Gawkers. Two vehicles had minor damage with no injuries on the side of the road while the state trooper wrote out his report.

We stopped to use the Welcoming center as we entered Tennessee. This is not a very big center with very limited parking so you can imagine that the place was jammed. Back on the road we were making plans that would save us time tomorrow by travelling just a bit later today putting us into warmer weather. We should have known better than to do that! About ten miles before south bound I-75/I-40 separates to go east and west traffic again started to crawl. Even after we got on to I-75/I-40 west traffic continued to crawl until we finally made it back onto I-75 south.

At that point we were ready to pack it in but figured we’d stop at the first Flying J on I-75 in Georgia where we could have supper, spend the night in the RV parking section and then fuel up in the morning. We should have stopped then and there because that section of the road became another parking lot. That last fifty miles took us nearly two hours. We had supper at 9:00 tonight and will enjoy a better night of sleep in a warmer climate.  

If we had not had the delays we did we might have made it all the way to Florida but as it is we only drove 527.7 miles today. Once we are settled in tomorrow I’ll upload the pictures for the last few days. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

The World's Great Proverbs

Judge not, that ye be not judged.

Celebrating Christmas and We’re Off.

Our Location today is Beaver Dam, Ohio, U.S.A.

After having a typical pretravel night’s sleep the alarm told us it was time to get moving at 6:00 this morning even though we were still tired. After a light breakfast I quickly loaded the truck of the first load of gifts to leave the apartment this morning.

Kylla loving her Fuzzy Blanket.

Tyler likes his Hoodie.

Ashley with her Snowboard Safety Helmet.

Sanford with his new toy.

Karen with a new Food Processor.

Greg with his Solar Powered Shed Light. 

A quick stop was made at the Tim Horton’s for morning coffees to be brought to our daughter Karen and son-in-law Greg’s home for our first stop at 7:30. This has become our tradition over the last fifteen years where the children always wait for grandma and grandpa to arrive before any gifts are opened. I have also doubled as the official photographer of special occasions over the years. Ashley, Kylla and Tyler have gotten so used to this routine that they know to sit facing in my direction as I attempt to capture as many of the expressions of surprise as possible. After all gifts were shared and hugs of appreciation were given it was past 9:30 by the time we headed back to our apartment.

Cameron's all smiles with his 1930 Packard.

Matthew with his Soccer Training Tether.

Kevin is all smiles over his Big Spatula.

Melissa with new dishes.

Even Boots enjoying his new toy.

This time there was a double load that filled the back seat of the truck. It was past 10:00 by the time we were headed out to Amherstburg to our son Kevin and daughter-in-law Melissa’s home. One thing that was different was that Kathy was driving her car while I drove the big red sled filled with gifts. Traffic was not quite as light as we’d expected but we made great time getting to Kevin’s.

Snack at Kevin and Melissa's

We always start letting Cameron and Matthew opening their gifts and there were only big smiles and no signs of disappointment. While the boys were off to the back room Kevin and Melissa had the chance to be surprised by their gifts. We were once again accused of being mind-readers for what we gave. As usual Melissa had prepared a feast of finger-foods that were too good to pass up but with restraint we left room for supper that was four hours away. When we left the car remained at Kevin and Melissa’s for safe keeping while we are away.

Our Family Christmas Feast. 

By the time we got home I was busy loading the last of our belongings that we’ll be bringing to Florida into the truck. At this point Kathy tried to catch a Snap while I finished closing up the computers to bring with us.

Because of our lunch I kept my supper light.

We were once again on our way to Karen and Greg’s shortly after 4:00 for our family Christmas celebration and dinner. Everyone contributed to the meal and it is always great when all the family gets together. Around 6:30 everyone had wished one another their best so we took that as our cue to leave.

(L-R) Tyler, Myself, Matthew, Kathy and Cameron.

Sibs Kevin, Karen and Ken.

After a brief stop at the apartment we locked the door until next spring. By 8:00 we were approaching immigrations on the U.S. side of the Ambassador Bridge. There was more traffic than we had hoped for (Other people thinking the same as us) but we spent less than a half hour before hitting I-75 southbound. The main reason for leaving tonight was to miss the long wait we had experienced last year. Tonight we are parked at the Flying J at Beaver Dam Ohio and then tomorrow we’ll be making tracks further south into warmer temperatures before stopping for groceries.

Again Kathy and I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

You Might Be a Redneck If

You decorated your Christmas tree with silly string.

Packed, Fueled and Cleaned.

Our Location today is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

I actually slept in until 6:00 this morning but as soon as I was up I made certain to start my workout routine and I even managed to increase my reps. It was nearly 8:30 by the time I packed it in and started getting things ready for breakfast. Kathy had really been tired last night and with the heavy fog that we were experiencing outside this morning it was dark enough in the bedroom that she didn’t flinch until she heard the kettle pop in the kitchen. 

This morning after the fog started lifting.

We watched the Weather Channel again this morning confirming that our plans to go to the trailer and finish packing what was coming with us had to be done this morning. As soon as breakfast was finished and we were dressed we started loading the truck. It was a good thing that I had exercised this morning because I had to hand carry a few of the heavier items down the stairs. 

Taking a load down to the truck.

We were at the trailer by 11:00 and spent the next hour and a half putting everything in its rightful spot. Kathy busied herself putting things away inside while I repacked the basement. I then returned inside to help her along. On the way home we stopped at the gas station where I managed to fill the truck with Diesel at only 1.109 a liter. That is the cheapest it has been in Canada in over three years. That will help us to cross the international border at night and make some mileage without having to worry about finding a fueling station at night. 

This is the best the weather got today.

Back at the apartment just before 1:00 we had a light lunch that helped us to finish eating some of the food that we are not allowed to bring across the border with us. Once lunch was finished I had laundry to do. As I’d already figured there was nobody else downstairs today. While the clothes were drying I went back to catch up on my blog reading. Kathy was once again rearranging what Christmas gifts that are still in our apartment. 

Since we’ll only be eating breakfast at home tomorrow and we’ve been emptying the fridge there is little in it. For supper tonight we went over to A&W to have supper. It’s a good thing we didn’t wait any later because when we walked in the door they locked it behind us. We’d forgotten that on Christmas Eve most businesses close early but since we were in they took our orders and we were satisfied. 

Our area is under a high wind advisory with winds expected to reach between 50 and 60 mph tonight. We are presently listening to the windows rattling so we can only hope things don’t get any worse for tomorrow. 

Kathy and I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope you all can spend it with your loving families. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

What song does Tarzan always sing at Christmas?

Jungle bells.