Slowing down in Florida

Nov 15 Tues.  Looking for new supplies, we found the local Camping World, Walmart, and numerous lumber yards.  Interesting thing about Florida is we are having a very hard time finding an 8' 4x8 to be cut into 8" blocks for the jacks.  So after much running around we settle on 2x8 cut into 16" sections which Danny will get a saw and cut in half, us liquid nails to glue 2 together and we will have our 4" blocks back.  I really want to find our plastic bins that are water proof, that is probably not going to happen so we will make do on that too.


Nov 16 Wed.  Pep boys  Remember that truck issue with the power steering?  Dan had checked in with his best friend Larry and asked if he had any idea what would cause power steering and breaks to have a problem at the same time.  Larry immediately said sure, the hydraulic assist.  So now we knew what the problem was and sure enough that was the diagnosis.  We got an appointment at Pep Boys and after they check it out,  t
his was going to take all day so I called up to Enterprise and we got picked up, eventually.  Some things just never go easy.  Called Enterprise and they made the 'reservation' and forwarded me to the nearest Enterprise shop, and the gentleman there told me they didn't have the car I wanted, I said I would take any car, he replied that they haven't got any cars and won't have any until after 3 pm maybe. But he gave me the number of another Enterprise outlet.  So I call them and the gentleman there finds my reservations and there is no problem, when I tell him where we are he says we are outside his pickup area and why didn't we call the closer shop.  I replied that I talked to the closer shop and they had no car available for me,  he issued an interesting expletive.  Asked me to stay by the phone for a few minutes and I would receive a call back.  I did, from the original shop who now had a car for me, and would be down to get us right away.  Well they made it and we got a car so we were able to run around and get a few items we decided we really needed.  A new salad bowl for one.  The plastic bowl I had cracked and we found a really nice wooden one at Bed Bath & Beyond.

Nov 17 Thurs.  We picked the truck up first thing, about 10 am....hey we don't get moving too early for much anything these days.  Then we found a nice vegetable and fruit stand and got some great fresh produce.  That is a really nice thing about being in the land of perpetual summer.

Nov 18 Fri  Dan decided to tackle the wood block project today and he got all the blocks sawed and glued and screwed together.

Nov 19 Sat  A good day for a movie and not much else going on for us

Nov 20 Sun Is prep day  we are moving tomorrow.

Nov 21 Mon  We relocate today a whooping 55 miles.  Down to Arcadia Florida.  Now this choice was made for the express purpose of hunting for Fossil Sharks teeth.  We had been here 3 years ago and had a fun day.  So we moved to Craigs RV Park just north of Arcadia and we were in and hooked up by 1 pm.  The weather is slowly climbing as we move south and we are about 82 today.  I had been trying to get reservations for a Fossil hunt and we got it arranged today, for a hunt on Friday.

Venice Beach

Nov 22 Tues.  Since we didn't have any other plans we decided to head to Venice Beach today.  A quick stop at Costco for a few things and then down to Venice to find the scoops and sieves for beach hunting.  We bought a nice 7" scoop at Pleasures and treasures, then headed down to Casperson Beach just a little south of Venice and had our brown bag lunch overlooking the water.  The tide had already turned and we still were able to do a little scooping and searching and ended up with a dozen little teeth...Not bad, but we know that next time we will pick up a sieve.

Nov 23 Wed.  We had a few errands to run around town.  Had to drop off a prescription ....not the best day to go to Walmart. What were we thinking.  Dan decided to fix the tires on my bike and after popping the first tire we made a quick run into Arcadia and the local bike shop.  They sold us another tire and offered to mount it for $5.  I asked if that was the standing rates for changing tubes and they told me yes.  I said we would be right back with the other wheel, we ran home and grabbed the rear wheel and got back just before closing time and now I have both tires fixed, yeah.  Bike rides around the park are in my future.

Nov 24 Thanksgiving.  The best surprise here at Craig's is Thanksgiving Dinner.  All we have to bring is our plates and utensils and they provide the dinner.  We have met the nicest group of people here and dinner just reinforces that.  So with full tummy's and big smiles we head home about 2:30 to just sit back and digest.  Now we start getting our stuff together for tomorrow and I haven't got any tennis shoes to wade around in the river.  There is only one choice, back to Walmart.  This place is crazy!  But I find my shoes and we get in line, and wait, and wait, and then a line monitor sends us to self-check and we are out in a flash.

Nov 25 Fri  Shark tooth hunting.  We meet up with our guide Mark in town and head over to a park on the west side of Arcadia and go on down into the Peace River.  We use shovels and sifters to go through the gravel beds on the river bottom.  Almost every shovel full yields a shark tooth.  These aren't big teeth but little teeth.  It seems the area we are in was a birthing area for numerous sharks and the teeth left here are numerous to say the least.  It has been a fun day and we decide it time for dinner out.  Our neighbors recommend the Pioneer Restaurant in Zolfo Springs for really good fried Chicken and that sounds perfect.  Se we drive the 15 miles and find the place, but, it is Friday night and they don't have Fried Chicken on the menu.  They have fish, and they don't serve chicken on fish nights...Who knew.  The fish I had was very good and Dan had Prime rib that he thought was pretty good too.  We really liked the place and the fact that they had rhubarb pie was a major plus, we were just too full for dessert.


Nov 26 Sat. Not much doing today, a run to Goodwill for a drop off.  A bike ride around the park.

Nov 27 Sun.  Back to Venice for lunch, pick up 2 sieves and head to Manasota beach.  We took our sand chairs to the beach this time and set them up.  Dan headed into the water to shovel and sieve.  I sat down and just thought about the whole thing for awhile.  Then I took the scoop and filled my sieve and sitting right there I found 2 shark teeth.  Well this is pretty easy and it doesn't take the Capt. very long to sit down next to me and start digging on his side.  Pretty funny really, just sitting' and sifting'  yep, this is the life.

That was a great kite!

Nov 28 Mon We scouted out a few places near by that we could get into the river and went off on our own.  We had fun walking the river bank, and we did find a few teeth, but nothing really special.  We met a guy from Idaho who was just wandering the bank and we talked for awhile, we gave him one of the teeth we had found so he knew what he was looking for and in exchange he told us he'd take us crystal hunting in Idaho next time we passed through there.  After we finished up in the river we decided it was a Pie kind of afternoon.  So back to Pioneer and Dan had his Rhubarb pie and I had cheese cake....both really good, good enough for Dan to take a second slice home for later.

Intrepid fossil hunters returning to the truck

Nov 29 Tue  Laundry day.  I know laundry doesn't take all day, but some days you just hang around home and get chores done.  Dan is cleaning the sides of the slides and waxing them.  It takes time and we hope they will slide in and out a little quieter.  Our neighbors had invited us over for an evening of card playing and so we headed the 6 feet over.  We learned 5 crowns and had a very nice glass of wine from Ohio, we are learning, there are some nice wines outside California.  It was a really fun evening and we will stay in touch with Russ and Pam.

Nov 30 Wed. Prepping to move.  We finally got out the new bike cover and with a bar across both bikes to hang from the rack it all fits really nice.

My second beach day collection, while sitting in a chair 10 teeth and 2 ray plates

Family and Friends


Oct 25 Tues.   We left Pell City and headed to Laurel Mississippi,  Sleepy Hallow Rv Park.  It was an easy drive and we found the park to be very rural and very quiet.  We called Cousin Herbie and let him know that we were near by, he gave us directions to a nearby gas station and he meet us there.  We followed him to his place in Heidelberg MS.  It had been about 45 years since I had seen Herbie and it was a great time to visit and catch up.  Butter even got to socialize with Herbie's dogs, especially Kronos.

Oct 26 Wed.  We spent some time around Laurel MS.  That was interesting.  Then we headed back to  Herbie's and we had a great visit and headed over to Cynthia and Nathans for dinner.

Oct 27  Thurs.   Cynthia and Nathan brought the boys with them and came over to Herbie's for dinner.   It was bitter sweet to say goodby ad we will be sure to get back to see them before another 40 years passes.














Oct 28 Fri.  We head off to Enterprise Alabama to meet up with Robert H.   Robert is an old friend of Danny's and while we were in transit he and his wife MAricel decided to return to Japan, if possible.  So Maricel had already left for Japan and had just received word that the job she was trying to get was a go as soon as she passed the medical and the background.


Oct 29 to Nov 7 Visit in Enterprise  Well, the visit with Robert was not what we expected, we expected to be able to help him get ready to move back to Japan, but he wasn't really ready for that, so we visited.  We parked The Lake House in his back yard and monitored the batteries and that led to a whole bunch of things.  First, the frog had to be switched over to Propane, and one of the propane bottles needed filling.  That wasn't too eventful.  Second, the batteries got pulled out and taken to the garage for charging.  Again, not too eventful, except it becomes more apparent each time we have battery issues that we really need to replace the batteries.  They have been run to dead too many times.  So one day we make a run over to Dothan and the Camping World. It's a nice drive and we called ahead to make sure they have the batteries we want, they said they did.  They didn't, well they had 1, but we need 2.  So we checked out what was available and bought the second choice.  We headed on back to the rig and Danny installed the new batteries, except, as he was attaching the jumper between the 2 batteries....OOPS.  Those of you that know batteries, know that you can turn batteries into arc welders, and he did.  Very lucky for all of us, the only casualty was the pig tail that jumps the 2 batteries.  Off to Autozone for for cables.  and we start the process again.  Now the old batteries had 2 different sized posts and the corresponding wingnuts.   We really should have bought new wing nuts!  Danny decides that he is going to finish this simple project today!  Outcomes a wrench and some nuts, as he is telling me how very careful one must be when using tools around batteries, the wrench touchs the opposite poll and we have fire!  Again, we are being blessed with a second chance, or third chance, this time we lost the new cables and one post on one of the new batteries.  So, we are heading back to Dothan and Camping World, with a call ahead to make sure they are open, they are, but the parts department is closed, BUT they can sell us a battery.  Its getting late and I am driving as Danny is just too wound up, this last episode left a score on his wedding ring and I feel blessed that all his digits are intact and he is still hear with me.  We discuss the project, he won't agree to hitching the rig up and having someone else do the job, but he agrees that it will be finished tomorrow.  With a clear head.  We buy the battery, and while waiting, we see some chairs.  Now we have not been happy with the recliners in the Lake House, but were wiling to live with them.  We sit test these chairs, and they are very comfortable for us, and they weigh so little that we can move them around easily.  And we can put them in the back room without adding too much weight while we get rid of the old ones.   On the way home we stop at an auto store and get WING NUTS, and new cables.  On the way back to Roberts we decide to get some dinner.  This is a really good idea.  Bar-B-Q and time to breathe.

Its a new day, and Danny takes the battery down to the House and has everything hooked up and running in a very short time.   We open the back ramp and I re-organize to fit our new chairs into our back room.  We are ready to move on, its time to move back into our home and head south.

I did find a selfie stick that I might actually be able to use.....yep

Nov 7  Time to move on.  I had made reservations for a week in Carrabelle Fl at Ho Hum Rv Park.  The drive down to the Gulf Coast was easy and scenic as we cross the Apalachicola National Forest heading to the Coast.  Ho Hum RV Park is perfect!  small, flat, right on the water, beach beckoning for a walk.  We had intermittent views of the Bay as the spots next to us filled and emptied through the week.

Nov 8 Election  We had sent our ballots off a few weeks ago and it was a difficult day to wait for the results to come trickling in.


I had talked to one of the other guests here at the park and she encouraged me to get our reservations set for the rest of the winter before it was too late.  So I spent a few hours trying to get our plans set for the next few months.  I got all of the plans laid except for Jan and Feb.  We will be in Lakeland next week, and then Arcadia Fl. for 10 days to finish November. December we will be in Ft Lauderdale and with a little luck we would spend Jan and Feb in New Smyrna Beach.

Nov 9  We drove into Tallahassee today and took in a movie  Dr. Strange, had a great escape, it was so very entertaining.  After the movie we headed over to Sams club and did a little shopping, we decided that a hotdog and soda was going to be fine for dinner and then we headed back to our home on the coast.  I also got a call from the park in New Smyrna Beach and we are in. So now all our plans for the next 3 and a half months are taken care of.  That is a great feeling.  We will plan for next Spring later, but for now we know where we will be through February 2017, yeah!

Nov 10  Time t take in St George Island.  I'm up early this morning and make some sandwiches and pack our lunch and we are headed off to the island.  Beautiful State Park, only bad thing is, no dogs allowed, pretty much anywhere.  We took a walk, collected a few shells and ran into a bird counter, yes there really are such people, and now we know why the ban on dogs on the beach, bird nests. 

Nov 11 Veterans Day   We went into Talahassee for a movie and we lost our power steering when we came out.  After walking down to the Sears Service Center and being told that they would top it off if we brought the truck down, so we walked back and got the truck and the service center guy was great, he topped off our power steering fluid, and directed us to where we would find Buca de Beppo.  We had a little wine and a great dinner of Lasagna.  Then we headed back to HoHum and home.

Nov 12  Sat.  I cooked the shrimp from the other day and prepped dinner of sauerkraut and sausages and shrimp cocktail....yummy!

Nov 13 Sun.  It was getting ready to move day.  The power steering is still acting up and Danny wants to do the driving tomorrow until we can get the truck looked at.  yes again.

Nov 14 Mon. Up and moving early, mainly because our neighbor was up at 630 to take his class A into Tallahassee for service, and that was our alarm clock.  We got on the road about 8 and we had lunch packed in the ice chest....Its a pretty easy drive day just a long 275 miles.  The scenery is beautiful especially as we approach Ocala, rolling hills and huge fenced fields for horses.  Then as we head south from there it is moss covered oak trees, huge oak trees.  WOW.  and when we stop for a pit stop we discovered I left the tailgate unlocked and now we have lost our 2 plastic bins of chokes and blocks....oh well.

We are glad to reach Lakeland and Sanlan RV and Golf Resort.  Blue Herons greet us at our site, this is salve to a couple of tired travelers.

  

Oct 10  Heading to St Louis, we decided to stay off the interstates today and since its only about 220 miles to Granite City, we have a nice easy day on the road after a final breakfast with Rob and Rachel and Jan.  We will miss Moline and the noise of Riley and Robin.

We arrived at the Granite City KOA about 3 and got settled in and decide this would be the day to get the laundry done.  An always recurring chore, but with multiple washers and giant dryers to never takes too long.  Then it was time to settle down for a nice chefs salad and watch Dancing with the Stars.

Oct 11  The Arch  We are moving slow, and just take our time getting started, but by this afternoon we head into St Louis to see the Arch.  I remember following the building of this monument to Westward expansion.  I saw the arch once before, at the end of a Mississippi River Cruise, we were docked at the base but we didn't have time to actually see any more.  As there was construction going on all around the monument we were lucky to find a place to park nearby and thats not easy with the dually.   We got tickets to ride the tram up to the top and it is a pretty spectacular view from the top.  We wandered through the exhibits all about the building of the monument and when we realized it was 4, we were ready to get out of town before the traffic gets to bad.

Oct 12  Wed.  Cahokia  The Indian Mounds.  This is another reason for stopping in the area and we are not disappointed.  We think of our society as so advanced and then we find evidence of 40,000 people living in a city covering 80 acres here from 600-1300 AD.  This Mississippian Culture City exceeded anything in America up until the 1780's when Philadelphia reached that size.  The peoples of this area cultivated Maize, Legumes, and Squash.  They left no written history so the research continues as to what their society was really like.  We climbed the stairs to the top of the largest mound and even though it was an overcast day we could make out the skyline of St Louis off to the west.

Oct 13 Thursday. The Melvin Price Locks and Dam.   On our drive into the area we had gone by several signs for Lewis and Clark Monuments so today we decided to take a drive back north and see what we could see.  We pulled into a area marked Great Rivers Museum.  We ended up at the Melvin Price Locks and Dam, operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.  This Lock replaced an earlier Lock 26 and was opened in 1994.  The main lock is 1200 ft long and 110 ft wide which will accommodate the full boat which is 5X3 barges and the goal of all the locks on the river is to maintain a 9 ft navigation channel the full length of the river.  The 9 tainter gates each 110ft wide by 42ft high and looks pretty impressive from the side of the river.  The guide who took us around said they were raising the gates to drop the river at the migratory water fowl refuge up river.  Its the time of year when the birds are starting to migrate, just like us.  Heading south.

Oct 14  Friday.  Lewis and Clark Museum and Confluence  Driving along Highway 143 we had seen a tower, seemed interesting, a Lewis and Clark memorial that gives us a view of the confluence, and that is what you can just see behind us in the picture, thats the confluence of the Missouri and the Mississippi rivers where Lewis and Clark started their trip.  They don't really know where the camp was that Lewis and Clark spent the winter at.  All evidence is gone so there is a cluster of Lewis and Clark memorials all along the river where we stayed.  We spent the better part of the day a Lewis and Clark Museum.  We have been having some pulling issues with the truck and we got an appointment to take it in tomorrow.

Oct 15  Saturday  New brakes on the truck, The Saint Louis Zoo.
We got the truck in early and found that we had a bad caliper, so new calipers and a new brake job, again.  Maybe this time we found the problem at the route of the brake issue.  Then we head on over the river to the St Louis Zoo.  Really great Zoo, but it closes early so we make a priority list and see the few things that we really want to.  We thought the Orangatans were going to stay hidden but after a few minutes we saw an arm and then the mom came out into view and a juvenile.  They are very entertaining.

Oct 16  Sunday  Drive to Horse Cave KY and we had to get this picture because for the last 5 days we have been right off old Route 66, we saw this sign everyday, and even crossed over Chain of Rocks Bridge, also part of the old Route 66, not used any more except by locals.





We got settled in at the KOA at Horse Cave Kentucky and once again, almost no internet, unless we want to go up to the office and sit at picnic table.  Well we have a few caves we want to check out here, so we will be busy.


Oct 17  Monday.  Mammoth Cave  We head on into Mammoth Cave National Park and the headquarters to see what is available in the way of tours.  There is really only 2 tours available this afternoon, so we buy our tickets and also pick up a pair of tickets for tomorrow for one of the other caves.  The tour includes a bus ride to the new entrance and a nice walk underground.  The guide warned about the number of stairs that we would need to navigate, but having navigated Wind Cave we weren't too worried about it and it was a nice walk.  As a novice caver Danny got to see formations that were incredible to contemplate.  One drip of water at a time, seeping down though the strata depositing the tiniest amount of calcium carbonate and other minerals forming drapes or stone. It is amazing!  I never cease to be in awe, even after 20 some caves, and hope to see many more.  Our drive home is an alternate route out of the park and we happen by an old cemetery and decide to check it out.  This was part of the land that was acquired when Mammoth Cave Park was formed, so the old church is still there and it is apparent that this was a cemetery used by the families in the area. We even found one gravestone that talked about the occupant having died in a cave.  humm.

Oct 18  Tuesday.  Great Onyx Cave,  National Corvette Museum.   Up early this morning and letting Butter stay home in the comfort of air conditioning as we have a busy day planned.  First our morning tour to Great Onyx Cave.  This tour requires a slightly longer bus ride and we end up going out the road we had taken the evening before.  This Cave was privately owned and developed and was quite a going concern for many years.  The gal that ran it was quite an entrepreneur in her time.  Enticing people in and then baiting with whats around the next turn, "but oh no thats another tour".  Funny, some things never change.   This cave isn't artificially illuminated so they hand out Coleman lanterns to every fourth or fifth person and I was one of the lucky ones.  We just need to make sure we keep the lanterns spread along the line of people so everyone has a fairly illuminated pathway.  WE also got the story about the guy who died in one of the local caves.  He went off exploring alone and dislodged a boulder which pinned him in pace.  He was discovered but none of the rescue attempts were successful.

deep in the cave and no flashes allowed this was the best we  could do

This was just at the entrance to Great Onyx Cave

After the tour we decided to head to Bowling Green.  My brother had asked if we knew that the National Corvette Museum was near us.  No we didn't, but we do now.  Had a nice simple lunch at the Corvette Cafe and spent the rest of the afternoon touring the history of The Corvette.  We also got to see where the 60-foot-long, 45-foot-wide, 30-foot-deep sinkhole opened up and ate 8 classic corvettes.  We saw that and we saw the cars that were victims of the same ground formation that formed the great caves just to the north.

I am not a serious "car" person, but this museum did give me pause and made me dream of driving down some country road in a convertible corvette, a red one, a 1967, yep I can see that so clearly.

Oct 19  Wednesday  Drive to Pell City, AL  across Tennessee  This was a long drive, but we had decided to alter our plans and take in a Nascar race, so the race is on.  We actually had another night at the KOA but as there was no real driving need to stay, and the internet was non existent we decided to just hitch up and head on down to Alabama.

Pell City to be exact and Lakeside Landing RV park.  We were really happy with the accommodations here.  We got a spot with a beautiful view of the lake and Butter would get to swim everyday while we were here.  Again, pour internet, but it was a choice, close to the lake or close to the router.  I think we made a good choice.  This was the view right out the window.













Oct 20  Thursday  Talladega.  We went over to Talladega today to pick up our tickets for Sundays Race and go through the museum.  When we arrived there was a tour of the track heading out so we bought tickets and headed out in a small bus for a driving tour of the whole complex.  It was pretty amazing to see the 33 degrees of banking on turns 1 & 2 and I sure couldn't see the difference when we rounded over to turns 3 & 4 at 32.4 degrees.  I can tell you that the track looks really narrow when it is up on edge, but visualizing 3 cars wide rounding those turns made it extreme.

Then we took our time wandering through the museum and found several hours later we really needed to get home and have some dinner.  Its exhausting to walk and read!

When we got back home we had new neighbors pull in, 2 couples in a nice 5th wheel.  After introductions we found they were here for the races also and they would be going over Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  The important part of this is that they said they knew all the back roads and we could get to the parking lots with little to no waiting.  That will be very welcome.

Oct 21 Friday.  As this is another park with very poor internet, we can get on early in the morning or late at night.  So today we were determined to find a good wifi service and we didd.  The City Library, we went in and got a few hours of catching up, and I got the last blog posted.  As it was getting late we decided to go out to dinner and found the Pell city SteakHouse.  I ordered the special of the day and Danny got a RibEye, he told the waitress it was the toughest piece of steak he had ever had.  She didn't offer to return it to the kitchen, and he didn't push it, Butter got more then half that steak.  My pork chops were really great and we shared a piece of Apple pie that was pretty darn good.  This is not a place I would recommend.

Oct 22 Saturday  We took an easy day today.  Hung around home and rested.

Oct 23  DEGA  As a Nascar fan this was on the bucket list and somehow I still am just a little giddy that I get to go to Talladega.  Our neighbors proved to be invaluable as they led us right into the parking lot nearest our seats and I was confident that I could navigate us back home at the end of the day.  We arrived early and had our soft side cooler with lunch and drinks for the day and we located our seats and dropped off the cooler so we could gl see the souvineer trailers.  I was very disappointed.  For all the years at Infineon, all the drivers had their own trailers, you could wander and pick just the right trinket, but here Nascar has a huge area and all the drivers 'stuff' is under long tents, with the amount available determined by some factor of popularity I suppose.  Sort of a let down, but Danny found a t-shirt for the Track  Talladega 2016, and we found him a ticket holder so he would always know where it was.  Then it was time to head to the seats and get some lunch and rest our very tired feet.

Oct 24  Monday.    The truck "service engine soon" light had come on when we were on our way down from Kentucky and This was the soonest we could get it into the shop, so here we are again.  Danny takes the truck in and I am just going to hang around home and collect the laundry to get done.  He comes back in about 1 hr and tells me they found the problem and ordered a new sensor, so he has to take it back at 1.  That leaves me with plenty of time to head up to the laudramat. 2 hrs later all the cloths are folded and he is headed back to get the sensor replaced.  Hopefully we will be ready to hit the road tomorrow.