Monthly Archives: January 2020

January blog and notes

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HAPPINESS,
is to have EVERYTHING,
you need.
NOT the need to have EVERYTHING.

RV, and be free. Houseless not Homeless

 

01.26.2020-Sunday
We’ve moved along quite a bit this week. Most importantly are our travel plans. They now extend to July 02, 2020. The coach looks like brand new with the Diamond Shield now having been removed. A couple of days ago Scott Russell dropped by to say hi. Carla and I will be paying the family a visit in the next couple of hours. As of now our plans call for us having dinner at a local Texas Roadhouse this evening. Most importantly I have finished converting all the posts up to 2020 into the PDF format. These links can be found on the right hand column on the Web Site. In some cases these files may take a few seconds to download, but once downloaded they open up instantaneously. This PDF format produces a very clean-cut product and very easy to read. The best attribute of the PDF format is that the pictures will not move around nor will they fail to materialize.

I am giving an example of this PDF: 2014-RV Travel PDF FINAL 1.19  They’ve only been available for viewing for only a few days but they have received quite a few hits already. In the meantime we continue to view the Impeachment broadcasts.

01.27.2020-Monday-Carla continues to firm up our reservations
for 2020 and points North.

Spoke to my daughter Cheryl and we’ll try to meet up with her and husband Paul in May. It’s taken several months but all the PDFs for all our travels since 2014 are complete and I’m already having some hits on them. Yesterday we spent some time visiting the Russell’s especially since they’re just a stones throw from our site just to catch up and exchange travel stories. Shortly after visiting them we opted to take ourselves out to Texas Roadhouse for an early Dinner.As always the experience did not disappoint. Carla and I want to thank Cheryl and Paul for their Texas Roadhouse gift certificate again. We each had the 6-inch Filet but I had mine with shrimp; delicious! It’s hard to believe that our 2-week stay at Orlando Thousand Trails is coming to an end. Tomorrow, Tuesday, a day we normally would do tanks, won’t be the case.  We’re not sure, but, we think that Tropical Palms (TT) will not have a sewer option, so we’ll wait until Wednesday to pull tanks for a change.Are stay there is only for three-nights than off again, this time back to Wildwood, Three-Flags Thousand Trails Resort. After Three-Flags we try something new. We’ll head just North of Wildwood,FL to Bushnell RVP an Escapees Resort. We’ve just joined Escapees this year.

01.28.2020-Goodbyes to the Russell’s.
We continue to bump into friends, both new and old. We’ve kept in touch with Scott and Vanessa since the first day they began RVing full-time. Little Kora, now ten, will not be “little” much longer considering how fast she is growing.

Right now their plans are to stay at this campground possibly for the year, but it’s still up in the air. I have no doubt we’ll be running into them in the near future, or at least next year at this time. Today we work on the kitchen sink. Yea! Even RVs have sinks that can get clogged. Scott gave us a powdery substance, he says, works well, so we’ll give it a go. Today is our last day here, tomorrow we move to Tropical Palms RVP in Kissimmee, FL. This is a whopping ten-mile drive from here. This will be a short stay, four-nights, basically a gap-filler, to logistically allow us to get into Wildwood, Three-Flags RVP, once again.  With so many campers staying here from the North, not to mention Canada, we have to sometimes do these gap-fillers to make everything work. Once again, we try very much to stay for free whenever possible. 

01.29.2020-Wed,-TROPICAL PALMS, Kissimmee, FL
For a change we took on a 30 minute drive to this RVP. The trip was so short and quick we had to hang out at a local Lowe’s to kill about forty-five minutes to facilitate our arriving at the appropriate time of 1 PM.  By 2 pm we had found our site and are now looking to the skies for a possible shower. This is an Encore(ENC) and Trails Collection (TC) which means we stay duty free. The park is quite nice, the roads, however, are very narrow and do require patience and some skill while backing in to the sites. As we were told the resort provides 50-amp, cable, satellite availability but no sewer options except for a pump-out station in the park itself. 

01.31.2020- End of month again
We’re enjoying our last day at Tropical Palms. It’s been very relaxing but four days was enough. It was a free stay and I would not hesitate to re-visit this RVP again in the future. On a political note it look like Trump will dodge another bullet. It appears that it will be up to the populace to render a verdict now. Once it warms up a bit I’ll have to refill the fresh-water tank and that’s about it since none of  the sewer hoses are out. We closed out the month of January with a movie as usual. Anything was more relaxing than watching the Senate vote on the need for discovery and first hand witnesses, but that’s another story. The film we chose was Les Miserable. Without a doubt it is in the top-ten of our DVD library.

2020 trip destinations


HAPPINESS,
is to have EVERYTHING,
you need.
NOT the need to have EVERYTHING.

 

 

It’s taken three executive sessions, many cups of coffee and patience, but we’ve begun planing out 2020. We have most of the sights locked down.

01.01-Wildwood, FL at 3-Flags TT RVP
01.13-Pompano, FL at Gulf View  TT RVP
01.15-Clermont, FL Orlando TT RVP
Future destinations
01.29-Pompano, FL at Tropical Palms TT RVP
02.01-Wildwood, FL at Wildwood TT RVP
02.15-Sumtner, FL at Bushnell SKPs RVP
03.01-Clermont, FL at Bee's RPI RVP
03.09-Yemassee, SC at Yemassee TT RVP
03.20-Gloucester, VA at Chesapeake TT RVP
04.10-Colonial Beach at Harbor View TT RVP
05.01-Port Republic, VA at Chestnut Lake TT RVP
05.22-Salem. CT at Salem Farms PP RVP
05.29-Bernardston, MA at Travelers' Woods TT RVP
06.05-Wells, ME at Moody Beach TT RVP
06.19-Bangor,ME at Cold River RVP PP-$150.00 ...get oil change possibly
06.22-Westfield,CA at Grand Bay
06.25-Debert, NS at Debert PP RVP

TT being Thousand Trails, never the nicest but cheapest.
PP Privately owned RVPs
SKP (Escapee RVP) something new for us this year
RPI are Resort Parks International.
Below,for those who appreciate visual aids is our proposed trip for 2020 
starting in Florida and, temporarily ending in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The final 
leg has not been determined yet, we're trying to rest up right now.

 

 

 

 

 

Coach New-Look


HAPPINESS,
is to have EVERYTHING,
you need.
NOT the need to have EVERYTHING.

01.14.2019-New Look for an old coach
Today is the day I’ve been waiting four-years for. All coaches when they leave the assembly line are fitted with a piece of plastic called Diamond Shield. This Diamond Shield was supposed to last the life of the coach, but in actuality they were lucky to get five-years before the mold and mildew began eating away at the product. Once this happens the front of the coach starts to look old fast. There’s no way to prevent this from happening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This rash of mold and mildew has been spreading for years. Dennis’s Christmas check to us made bringing the front of the coach back to what it looked like back in 2006. his was not a cheap endeavor. On top of that the front will require additional waxing and upkeep, but it is our home and now it looks like a brand new coach.

Tripping to Orlando


HAPPINESS,
is to have EVERYTHING,
you need.
NOT the need to have EVERYTHING.

 

01-15.2020-Tripping to Orlando TT RVPark
What a feeling. I honestly feel like the coach is as close to new as possible. The front of the coach is sporting a new image, and it looks so beautiful. We started just after 9 AM and finally settled in on our site around 2:30. We have it all; 50 amps, water, sewer and satellite.

 

Tripping, Connie & Pincher’s


HAPPINESS,
is to have EVERYTHING,
you need.
NOT the need to have EVERYTHING.

 

01.13.2020 Monday-PDF Blog, Travel, Connie & Pincher’s
The trip to Ft.Meyers took about four hours and thankfully was uneventful. The city and those around it  have changed so much. Apartment buildings and single family homes are popping up all over. The campground is one of the oldest but very nicely maintained. All the camp road ways are paved but are very narrow. They do provide assistance to newcomers which we took advantage of. We made it to our site without a scratch.

By mid-afternoon Connie and Sharon, family of Carla’s were visiting us in the coach. We had a delightful meeting with them who were also RVers camping nearby. We must have talked ourselves hungry so we opted to visit Pincher’s Seafood Restaurant. Our server, Britt, was delightful and very knowledgeable. she was great in helping Carla with her “carbohydrate-free” meal. We also enjoyed an awesome sunset over the water, made possible since we’re on the Gulf-coast of Florida. I haven’t even mentioned the calamari appetizer. It was a bountiful dish and we made short work of it. After returning from Pincher’s I finished the PDF conversion of the 2019 blogs and journals.

 Please check it out by clicking on: goto Monthly Directory Page

By clicking on this link will take you to a directory of 2019 travel destinations by month. All the blogs for that month are contained in this PDF format. I like it and welcome comments. It’s a very clean format with no chance of losing pictures or even having them get dislodged. Once you get to the Directory Page you’ll need to click on the month of your choosing then click on the file address. The PDF will open instantaneously.
Leave comments on what you think of it.

Repairs, medical and Connie


HAPPINESS,
is to have EVERYTHING,
you need.
NOT the need to have EVERYTHING.

 

01.08,2020-Wednesday-we’re still here!
As I mentioned on my 12/29 Journal entry, we’ve been fortunate to have celebrated several Christmas’s’ with good friends and family. What’s been happening with us? Long story short about 2 months ago, in preparation for our visit to my brother Dennis for Thanksgiving, I mixed up a batch of my Christmas Cookies. In my infinite wisdom I decided to skip the electric mixer and do it by hand; big mistake! The following day I awoke with a sore wrist. I just shrugged it off and took two Motrin in hopes it would go away; no such luck. It only got worse and worser. Yesterday I through in the towel and got an appointment with an Orthopedic Doctor to try to fix things. Up to that appointment time my pain level was at least an 8 and getting worse. Dr.Thomas was able to squeeze us in, knowing our lifestyles. First was a CT scan followed at 3 pm by an MRI. The verdict was that I would live but in some pain until it fixes itself some day, hopefully. Two or three things wrong with me but no tears, rips or anything fixable. Most notably was fluid in my marrow; I must have a leak someplace. To say the least it hurts to type, open cans, lift anything, sleep or even put on my socks. Just getting old. So, the blogs will contain shorter texts, not that I ever wrote that much to begin with, until things get better. In the meantime Carla and I continue to enjoy the cooler temperatures of Florida, upper sixties and low seventies, and she has to put up with my grumbling. We depart Wildwood, Three-Flags, on the 13th.

 

 

 

Fort Meyers,FL
Please take the time to leave a comment at the bottom of this blog. I relish the positive ones and will learn from the negative ones.

 

HAPPINESS is to have EVERYTHING, you need.
NOT the need to have EVERYTHING.

01-01-With the end of Journals, I have to consider using each blog for possibly multiple entries. Basically, I enjoyed the journals. They permitted me the option of  mundane notes to readers or just a quick insight into our comings and goings. 

01.02-Our objective this month is to plot out our destinations for 2020. Nothing concrete yet.

01.13-Monday-in Ft. Meyers. FL
We got an early start this morning in preparation for out trip to Golf Air RV Resort in Fort Meyers, FL. We were here no more than an hour when Carla made contact with Connie, a fellow RVer although part-time and family, to join us this later this afternoon. Our purpose for this trip here is to have the Diamond Shield removed from the front of the coach. We contacted him as well, but have not heard back from him yet. We were optimistic for satellite but that was not to be thanks to a tree intersecting the line of sight needed. The campground does offer cable but we haven’t figured it out yet. This might turn out to be a two-day stay for Carla and I to keep each other company.

01.13- Monday-PDF Blog, Travel and Connie
What a full day. In the morning we packed up and traveled to Ft. Meyers, FL. By mid-afternoon Connie and Sharon, family of Carla’s were visiting us in the coach and by evening I had finished transferring the 2019 blogs to PDF format.  The PDF format is so easy to read, but it does take a few seconds to DOWNLOAD. Currently PDF format is up and published for 2019 and 2018 years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Diamond Shield is off and above are a before and after view of the project. I’ve waited almost seven-years for this day,but it was well worth the wait.