March 2 Thurs. Today is potluck day! So I talked to sister Sylvia and got the recipe for tomato pie and collected the needed ingredients and guess what? We christened the stove today. Having a combo convection and microwave we just haven't felt the need to fire up the stove. But the weather is a little chilly and overcast today and I want to make sure we actually have a functioning oven. We do and the Tomato Pie comes out perfect. About 530 we head on over to Wizards space and have a great dinner with about 30 of our fellow Gold Rockers. Then just as we finish up eating the rain starts, not real hard but enough to chase most of us on back home rather then hanging around the fire place.
March 3 Fri.
March 4 Sat.
March 5 Sun.
March 6 Mon. We thought we had someone coming over to wash the Lake House today, but I guess not...humm, we will have to go talk to the guy again. But we do have a list of chores to get done today, so we start with a stop at DD for Chai and muffins. Then we needed to drop off some sales at the lab, but waiting in line for any amount of time is not my idea of fun so we decide to come back another day and head on up to Daytona. Danny had found a Harbor Freight in Daytona Beach, and he finds the tool he needs without much trouble. The nicest thing was another shopper decided to share a coupon he wasn't using so we got 20% off and a free 25' tape measure and you know you can never have too many tape measures. Then we head down to Port Orange Imaging for more tests. It really is important to keep up with all the annual medical tests even when we live on the road. And I get my left shoulder xray'd while I'm here getting the annual mammogram. We shall see what the deal is, since I don't have full range of motion with the left arm and that has been going on for about a year. I told Danny I was feeling in the mood for Chinese for dinner and while 2 is really very early for dinner we head over to the Fuji Buffet and just relax with a late lunch.
March 7 Tues. We got the Lake House washed while we were out and about today and it is so nice to have her clean!.
After the first Week of March I just decided to take a break from the daily blog and now as we are well into May, in fact May 6 It is time for a big catch-up.
During our stay here I decided I wanted a new bedspread and we had discovered Bealls in Florida, love that store! This looks so very Florida.
March played out with weather up and down and lots of Drs. appointments. Dental work is almost done, Dan goes back for 1 more crown fitting next week. The Dermatologist did 2 deeper cuts to get clean edges and Dan is done with that for at least 6 months now. The ENT we got set up with really didn't like the way his ear wasn't healing and put him on prescription antihistamines and we have another appointment next week and meet with the audiologist to see how his hearing has been affected. We talked to Keith about postponing the scuba certification until Nov. when we will be back in the area. I got clean bills of health. and a referral to physical therapy for the shoulder that just wouldn't work right. The 8 weeks really helped and I have a few tools to use to keep it loosened up.
Butter really enjoys all the space after the chairs and sofa were sold, and frankly we love the space.
On March 19th we decided to go up to a Nowruz celebration for Persian New Year. So we drove up to Port Ormund and had a really great meal. We stopped at a local grocery to try and buy some Barbari. Well no luck with that as all the Persian flat Bread has gone off to various celebration so we decide to wait a few weeks and try again.
We took the truck in for a check up on the transmission and it flunked, so we got a rental car, and decided to have a rebuilt tranny put in. So much for no big repair bills on the truck for 4 months. Hopefully we will not have anything else for awhile on that front.
We did get out and around town and checked out the museum in downtown New Smyrna Beach, that was a very enjoyable and informative day. The group here at the park had a few more pot lucks and a few more dinners out and it was always a good time. Having gotten to know several of the neighbors pretty well, it was sad to sit here and watch them all head out. We planned to be out of here in March and it ended up a good thing as the weather on the east coast was not travel weather in March or April for that matter.
One day in April we got tickets for a Soccer game in Orlando, it was a really nice outing. We got to Orlando early so we could find a place to park the beast and we found one of those neighborhood lots. you know the guys with a really big yard and packs about 10 vehicles in for a little extra money. Hey it worked for us. We walked on over to the park sat on the steps of the new Orlando City Stadium with dozens of local Pride fans. When the doors opened and we found our seats, we learned a very important lesson about outdoor venues in Florida. We must pay attention to solar orientation. The sun came out and within 10 minutes I needed to go up to the mezzanine and cool off. Fortunately when the game started, the clouds moved in and protected us from the sun for the rest of the day. The Pride tied with the Washington Spirit and we got to see Marta's first game as a member of the Orlando Pride.
May arrived and the weather warmed up. Florida has been in a draught and we have had wildfires burning all around the state. One day when we drove to Orlando we passed by acres of part trees and through smoke, it was pretty intense and later that day the highway we took we closed so the firefighters could work the fire.
We decided to domicile in Florida. Yes I know we were half way through the process in South Dakota, but Florida made us a good offer, no sales tax on our home. So I started a new mail service in Green Cove Springs Florida and we waited a week to receive a few pieces of mail. I downloaded all the forms for vehicle registration, and new Drivers Licenses, for voter registration and 'declaration of domicile'. We took one day and drove up to Green Cove Springs, which is a beautiful little community on the St. Johns River and we stopped in and picked up our mail and got a map with the order of stops to make. We went to the County Court House to file our declaration of domicile. Then over to the DMV. There was no line! No wait! we drew a number and were called immediately to the window, and there we stayed for about 90 minutes. The gal took our forms and started with the title to our %th wheel and truck. They issue new titles on the spot, if you want to wait, and we did, or you can have an electronic title, we wanted paper. The actual names on the title needed to be squared away on the 5th wheel so it took a little longer, but eventually I was standing in front of a camera and getting a picture taken, then Dan had his turn. We walked out with new plates, new registration, and new drivers licenses. One very interesting difference is the sequence of reg. first then allows the state to use our 5th wheel's plate number as the address n our DLs. It looks a little strange and I'm sure if we ever have to produce our drivers Licenses for identification we will be asked about the address.
We handed over a single check for about $650.00 and we are officially Floridians. On last stop to register to vote. Now we need a good meal and decide to try Longhorn Steak House. This was a first time for us and won't be the last. And with full tummies we headed home. That was the last errand we needed to accomplish and Dan had 3 Drs appointments this second week of May. The ENT said his ear has healed, and he is cleared to try diving again, but GO SLOW, we will pick up with Keith in November when we return to SMB. He checked in with the Orthopedist and the shoulder is a candidate for surgery, but that also will wait till November, but in the meantime he got a cortisone shot to see how that helps. And he gets a replacement crown, the Dr. didn't like how thin the original gold crown was and now he has another new gold crown. and we are ready to get on the road.
May 15th. We are on the road. After 4 1/2 months at New Smyrna Beach we are headed north. We made our reservations for November. But now is the time to see what new adventures we can find.
