Let's start with the trip down. We were frantic to get SOUTH because we were not winterized and we knew freezing temperatures were coming the day we left. We had a terrible day the day we were supposed to leave because the bedroom slide wouldn't close and we didn't get it taken care of until 4PM. We had vowed never to leave at night but we had no choice so we headed out of Lake Winnebago at 5PM on our way to hopefully Little Rock Arkansas which was going to be cold but not freezing. And we did make it. It was a nice trip with very little traffic and clear, if not cold weather. We made it to a nice truck stop in Pinebluff Arkansas. The place was very RV friendly in fact they put us up front in a parking lot under some bright lights with easy in and out parking. We slept like babies.
The next night we made it to Robertsdale Alabama. We stayed at a AMBEST truck stop. It was really awesome. They had 165 parking sites for big rigs and RV's. There were only 3 spots left and we took one between 2 big rigs. The place was packed. Now people say, "How can you sleep with all the diesel truck sounds surrounding you?" Honestly, they lull us to sleep. It was cold both nights so we didn't need to run our generators. We had flannel sheets and a down comforter and we were toasty warm. So 2 nights free. Richard was in hog heaven. But the best part was the next morning. We woke up and looked out on a crisp, cold, clear morning. All the big rigs were gone. There were about 6 RV's splashed around. We went in the truck stop to find the neatest restaurant imaginable!!!It was called the "Derailed Diner" and it looked like the inside of a railroad car. It was huge and the truck stop had a store that had everything you can imagine from horse and western wear and paintings, to a Childs dream store.
We got to Live Oak Landing early and set up. We loved the park and loved the spot.
We are right on the Black River which opens up to a bay that opens up to the Atlantic Ocean. It's beautiful! We're not on the water but it's so close and a perfect place to sit and enjoy!!
The first "catastrophe" that happened was the first time we went out to pull the levers to clean the grey and black (sewer) tanks. And guess what we found....NO LEVER!!!! I am very picky about our black tank because it is my connection to "normalcy which translates into going to the bathroom whenever I need to and not having to walk 1/2 a mile to the community bathrooms....definitely NOT MY THING!!! So now what do we do? No one had ever told us you could loose the levers but guess what.....you can. Over time they unscrew and usually on the road they just fall off. Fortunately, there was a wonderful maintenance man, Paul, who came by and said it was very normal. WHY DID NO ONE EVER TELL US THIS???? Since then we have spoken to several fellow campers who agreed, it happens to a lot of folks. So the next day we drove to Camping World (yes they are everywhere and open 7 days a week) We bought one lever to replace and one extra. Richard came home and was able to stick his finger up where it goes and easily find the opening and screw the new one in. He plans on putting LOC TITE on it, screw it in and we are told it won't happen anymore Now I ask you? If that is all it takes to make sure it doesn't unscrew, WHY DON'T THEY DO THAT AT THE FACTORY? Makes me crazy!!!
The first week we were here it was freezing cold. Got down to the low 30's at night. We left our water running so our hose wouldn't freeze and we were fine. We also covered our hose with a tarp. Several folks in the park did have frozen hoses but after a couple of hours of sun, they unfroze. That was the week the whole country froze including Texas. It was below 0 in Missouri so we didn't complain. We turned on the heat and the fireplace in the RV and we were toasty warm. I loved it!!
By the 18th of January it was a beautiful sunny day. We went to the beach and I read a book....The Rooster Bar, by John Grisham. So far, so good!!
We've begun to clean and wax the RV. After the dust and dirt from the drive, it's very rewarding to clean and wax it and make it all shiny. You can't take the cleaning fetish out of me. After all we did have a cleaning business for 30+ years. I've decided it's my way of feeling accomplished when you take something dirty and make it look clean!! Monday is always cleaning and laundry day in the RV and it's one of my favorite days so see retirement doesn't mean you throw all routine out the window. I do admit that it's much more rewarding to clean up your place inside and out in 1 hour as opposed to all day Saturday!!
Remember this was the close of football season so we had a lot of fun watching football. Richard watched and I baked. Baking is a new found love of mine!
Then on January 24th we met Jan and Ric from Warsaw Missouri. We immediatley hit it off and for the next 2 weeks hung out almost everyday. They are our age of course and living our dream as well. They were parked a street over and next to them was Glenda and Don from Marshall Missouri. We grilled out often, ate together, took long walks and sat around the fire night after night. Don show us how to put a foot long piece of garden hose inside a foot long piece of copper, throw it in the fire and get green, blue, purple fire. It's truly beautiful. We bought a cheap hose to cut up and it almost killed Richard. I had to make the first cut.
We went to an RV show in Defuniak Springs Florida at the Dixie RV dealership. We oohed and aahed at the new 2018 RV's and went in and out of them all. I saw a 5th wheel I would have died for. I swear they are huge and modern and look like an apartment with high ceilings. Then we saw several that were used that were ok but oh so lived in. We went through one that was truly a mess with underwear on the bed and a sink full of dishes. I knew something was wrong. I came out and realized that we had made our way over to the service department row and were touring the ones that had been brought in for service. I was horrified. When the others came out I asked them if they noticed that those in this row had names on the front. They were personal RV's that belonged to folks who left them there for service. I would scream if I left mine for service and 4 nosey visitors walked through it and commented on all the nasty things they saw. Oh well, live and learn. We couldn't believe no one saw us and commented for us to get out of them. Then I remembered that when we had our RV parked at Olathe RV for service a few months ago, Richard and I went out there and got in it to get a few things we accidentally left. They must have thought we belonged in them. OOPS!!!!
One night we went to the community center (most senior RV parks have them to enjoy get togethers in) and we watched a movie. Ended up watching "Gifted" about a little math genius being raised by her uncle and the "system" gets involved because he's not providing her with the "right" education and lifestyle. There were some disheartening incidents with the family court judge and the CPS social worker. I just can't get away from it. I did my best to explain to my new friends that it's not always portrayed correctly. The laws are never explained but that is what runs the policy to the dismay of many social workers. Oh well, at least I don't have to live it everyday anymore but it still can make me sad!!
There was a big super bowl party at the community center. We had a blast!!! The Patriots didn't win so all my Boston cousins were not happy but actually they handled it very nicely. No mean Facebook comments or cussing. I was very proud!!!!
So football season is now over and Richard has ventured into his puzzle era.
He is working on all the puzzles he got for Christmas. He had one that had a picture on BOTH sides and every piece was the SAME. I guess it was a bugger. He didn't want me near it. I already have a habit of getting impatient and making things fit where they don't belong. But he worked on it several nights in a row. It rained for 3 straight days and that's pretty much all he did. Except play cards. We love playing cards and probably do it right after breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's like our cigarette after a meal!!
So I read and watched TV and worked on my dreaded taxes. This year I'm doing them all online and I'm hating it. I will be so happy when they are done and filed!!! It's complicated since I worked for most of the year and was only retired for a few months. By the way, when I say worked on them, I'm only talking about entering data. I don't do them myself but submit them to an accountant. I don't pretend to know how to do taxes. My daughter does her own with Turbo Tax and she does her brothers too but I'm way to afraid. We actually got audited once 40 years ago and I was petrified. I'm all about liability. That's why I did so well at the Children's Division. They are huge on CYA for liability!!!!
My brother has a beautiful condo on Seacrest Beach here in Florida. It is about 15 minutes from this RV park so we have been whipping over there every few days to do laundry and take a long shower and baking big things like cakes and cookies or a big lasagna. That has been very nice and we've been getting it cleaned up because my parents are coming down to spend a few weeks there. It is right on the beach so that has been nice too. They should get here tomorrow and I'm super excited so we will go over there tomorrow and I'll fix dinner for when they arrive and spruce the place up. My folks look forward to coming down each year at this time and that is why we picked this place this first year of traveling. Next year we will go southwest for winter.
Last Monday we had to move spots here in the park. We originally were only staying for one month and then my step mom got sick and they were delayed so we changed it to stay 2 months. Our spot was already rented so we had to move to another spot. We loved our last spot but after 3 days of rain we were just a few feet from an overflowing pond so this was an ok move. And the best thing about it was we didn't fight while moving at all. He is usually so frustrated because I can't figure out how to direct him with the RV behind him but this time it went off in a snap. Maybe we are finally getting it down. We actually love this spot better. We have more people around us but we have a great flat yard and have our CLAM screened in porch up and now that it's warmed up there are beginning to be flying bugs. I love closing up in the CLAM eating or sitting bug free watching the campfire!!
Richard's cell phone started going from 100% battery to 4% in about an hour. We took it to AT&T because we have insurance on it. They said they would take it and just give us a new phone but we had $100 to $200 deductible depending on the phone we got. Well that's a little pricey but I guess it's not $700.00 But we had an awesome AT&T guy who said we could take it to an AT&T certified repair and replace the battery for about $30.00. Wow, let's go that way. Only problem is that the closest certified repairman is in Pensacola, about 2 hours away but hey we're not pressed for time and that's a lot of savings so we made an appointment and two days later we headed to Pensacola. I actually lived in Pensacola when I was in 4th grade but remembered nothing. It is a huge Navy town which was really neat. We got the phone fixed in a couple hours. While we waited we found a nice Mexican Restaurant and enjoyed Taco Tuesday. These tacos were twice the size of a normal taco. Excellent!!!
Needless to say we have eaten at some amazing restaurants. They are really big on fish tacos down here. I'm not that impressed with them. The worst thing I've eaten down here is a grouper taco salad. NO NO NO!! I hated it. But we haven't gotten one bad shrimp dinner. They have been awesome.
Valentines Day was wonderful. Richard gave me a beautiful necklace and I gave him the neatest thing to roll his puzzle up in. We ate at the most awesome place on the beach. After we ate we took a long walk on the beach to burn all the key lime pie calories off.
And that wasn't all. There was a Valentines Party at the community center that night. We watched Karaoke and danced. It was so much fun!!!
It's not been all play let me assure you. We have replaced our water filter. We have replaced our anode switch. The old one was totally corroded.which eventually would ruin the hot water heater.
One night I came in the house and saw water on the bedroom floor. I of course freaked out because I thought something was leaking. I called Richard and he opened the hot water heater bin and nothing was dripping at all. I suggested maybe he pushed something wet over in the front storage bin and sure enough, he had moved the canoe around and it knocked over the gallon of water we carry and it came right into the bedroom. This indicated that the trailer wasn't level. He checked it and sure enough we had to re-level it. I've got to learn not to be so anxious when something happens. Most things are a simple fix. But listening to other campers I should not do. You can't imagine the horror stories I have heard.
But no matter what has happened there is more good than bad and for that reason we have decided to name our little get-away!!
So tomorrow my folks show up as well as my sissy, Starr. I'm so excited. The next few weeks will be a busy blast. So all in all our first month in Florida has been WONDERFUL!! I'm thinking we're loving it still.
So kids, your folks are living the dream and hoping you are saving so that when your time comes you can too. WE miss you all but not that much!! But we love you TO THE MOON!!!! Till next time!
Dana Zizza Jones, better known as MOM!!
