Our Whirlwind Week is Over, and Successful

We made our way back down to Florida a week ago to get in position for my procedure at the Sarasota hospital bright and early Friday morning.  We drove through the worst weather we have ever experienced in all our years of traveling.  Torrential rain, fog, no visibility, all to be topped off with extraordinary winds that threatened to blow us off the road.  300 miles of constant challenge. We saw many accidents, close calls, and even trees down blocking a lane on the interstate so I can't tell you what a relief it was to arrive at our campground for the week. And we passed a milestone that I usually take a quick pic of, turning 200,000 miles, but I was just a bit too busy to do it:-) 

And speaking of the campground, since there was no room at the inn where we have stayed each winter we chose another place in Bradenton, a bit north of Sarasota proper instead of south.  We are very pleased with our new find, Timberlane RV Park.  It is a smaller park, about 100 sites, very quiet, no activities, although it has a pool.  It is 55 and over, mostly dark, all paved roads with large sites and no park models.  It really impresses us, and the owner could not be nicer.

So after a long 9 hours in the hospital, I was released to go after a successful procedure.

Still kicking

It turned out that coincidentally Jan's sister Karen came into town the same day to get ready for she and Tom to leave, so we were able to get together with them several times and also another treat as we were joined at dinner by our nephew, Walker and Mirasol.  So although we bid good bye to Karen and Tom yesterday, they are going to catch back up with us next week outside of Nashville for a few days before we each part ways on our individual trips.

I have been resting up, but still enjoying going out and around.  Today we went to a place we have been talking about for a long time, Starfish, and since it is near Anna Maria island, and pretty far from Nokomis we hadn't made it.  Now that we are here in Bradenton it is much more convenient.  So even out of season now, the traffic was pretty dense, it took 45 minutes to go the 17 miles.  

The restaurant and seafood market is right on the dock and has been there 100 years!  It is rustic and very crowded.  We talked to a few regulars and it seems that it was kind of a sleepy hole in the wall until the New York Times as well as other media outlets made it famous.  The restaurant part opens at 1130am, and when we got there then, there were already tons of people  milling about.  Someone helped us with the procedure, they have 20 numbers out, you pick whichever one is on top, ours was 17, and then queue in order in line, 1, 2, 3..........  We finally got to order about 1 hour later.  It is cash only, order at the window, then they come out, call your name, and hand you your food, meanwhile you try to snag a table somewhere.  Interesting.

We had a delicious fish chowder, fried scallops, and a grouper sandwich, all were very good, but  exceptional enough for us to go through this whole long procedure again, no, we both decided.  It was great food, but other equally great food is available all over the area.  We were glad we got an opportunity to try it.  In this case my pictures aren't very good:-(

Also, our future plans have changed again.  When we left RCR we indicated we had found another park and we had, made reservations and everything, but we found we really like this place.  It is closer by 10 miles, it is well established, has nice shade, very quiet, and as it turned out they had a couple open sites for the season, we picked one we liked on a pond, and we now have a reservation here for next season:-)

Our new site

Another shot

So today we head north and get on with our travels, unbelievably we will be in Maine in 2 weeks!  Our detour back to Florida messed with our plans a bit, but if it fixed me, it was obviously worth it.  Cheers!

Back to Florida

Our 9 days here in Georgia have flown by, always a good thing.  Have to admit I'm not too keen on going back, especially the procedure, but we are hoping it will solve my problem, fingers crossed.  But we are looking forward to trying out a new park that is actually closer to the hospital than our old park.

One of the first things we did once we arrived in Ellijay was to go have a delicious pizza and amazing burrata salad at Ellijay Wood Fired Pizza, exceptional!

As I mentioned we had a lot of appointments to go to while we were here, first on the list was getting Jan's hearing aids.  We had a big disappointment in Florida and so we had arranged it so we could go to a company here in Jasper that would be able to cut through the unbelievable red tape, order the hearing aids and get it all done before returning to Florida.  We showed up and Jan had to have another hearing test, NBD, then they started jumping through the insurance company's hoops.  2 hours later, which was making us very tight on our dentist appointments 50 miles away, we ordered and paid for hearing aids that were supposed to be delivered in under a week.  Then we ran south to our dentist, made it just in time, we both had our teeth cleaned and I had a permanent crown installed.  A long day to say the least.  One of our challenges while we are here in Ellijay is the distance to the doctor, dentist, friends, etc.  It is just a reality, a 120 mile round trip because we chose to stay in this very nice resort, Talona Ridge, due to the fact there are really no decent campgrounds closer, although we have our fingers crossed as a new one is being built much closer in.

The next day was dermatologist day, I got a 6 month reprieve, but Jan only got 3 months.  Then on to meet our good friends, John and Diane.  We had a great visit, went out for a nice lunch, came back for a cigar, and finally headed back north.

While here and between lunches we did a lot of exploring around the area.  Although we lived in the Kennesaw area for numerous years, we never took a hard look around the Canton/Woodstock area, and we really enjoyed what we saw, and the dynamite BBQ at Williamson Bros.

Delicious and plenty left for lunch the next day

A big item our list was to go see a gentleman and electronic wizard, Paul Whittle, from our Monaco Coach forum that has taken it upon himself to build and repair numerous electronics parts and pieces for our coaches that have been discontinued.  We have a multiplex system on our coach that controls lights, pumps, heating, awnings, shade, etc.  That way any switch anywhere can be programmed to turn any item on or off, but unfortunately the system in our coach has been discontinued.  We had one switch that was not working, in fact it would not turn off, and I had contacted Paul to see if he could fix it.  He lives close enough so that we could run down to his home where he promptly completed our repair and in fact installed 6 new switches in the panel.  Great experience and we really enjoyed meeting him in the flesh:-)

The panel in question, it was the galley that didn't work

And then out for Mexican food.  Maybe not SW worthy, but pretty darn good.

We had to move sites as a big RV show was taking over the area we were staying in at the park, so we moved up the hill to an overlook site.  This park is very interesting as it is built in 3 separate areas, a bottom, halfway up, and all the way up the hill, the views and the prices get better and higher as you go up:-)  We moved halfway up to a very nice site.

Moving sites turned into bit of a challenge as they had over 59 people exiting that morning, and we had to delay and mix in there somewhere.  

As you can imagine there are interesting projects, fun projects, but some are neither, but necessary.  Replacing the dump valves is one of the latter, but they were starting to seep a bit so it was time, and like all projects there has to be a bit of a snag no matter how careful you are.  It's a little messy, as nothing is keeping the liquids in either tank while doing it, but before you're too grossed out, I rinsed and rinsed the tanks, and then tipped the coach over away from the valves to keep it as dry and clean as possible.

The old valves

The new valves and tools

All in

If you've never done this job it is a bit challenging, you need 5 hands.  There is a rubber gasket on both sides of each valve, they have to be aligned perfectly while sliding it into position all the while holding the pipes to spread the opening just wide enough.  I use a lot of silicone grease to help hold the gaskets in place and to lube the gate valve blades, and it usually works okay.  So, of course, with the diesel mechanic, Jan's help we got it all in and tight.  Then you test it with a lot of fresh water and.................go look to see how you did.  We got 50%:-(   The black worked perfectly, but the gray side was just pouring out as if we hadn't even installed a valve!  If you have to pick one or the other this was the desirable option.  Back out, more grease, careful alignment and we got it.  Job done.

So Monday came and we still had 2 items, Jan was supposed to get her hearing aids first thing in the morning, halfway there she gets a call that they never arrived!!  I'll come back to this in a minute, and I had to go and get a root canal.  We headed down south, had a nice lunch then off to the endodontist.  Jan ran some errands while I was taken care of.  We had to drive right past the hearing aid people so on the way back we stopped in to see what was what.  Seemed the hearing aids were sitting in the Fedex distribution facility 60 miles away and hadn't been put on the truck.  No excuses, no real resolution.  I can't tell you how frustrating this is.  We got ourselves calmed down and went back to a gorgeous night for a drink and a cigar and pondered a few solutions to this problem, biggest issue is after Florida we are not coming back here again.

Well the stars finally aligned at 4pm our last day.  Jan got a call from the store that her hearing aids had just arrived so she is now on her way to pick them up.  Now we can work on heading through Atlanta tomorrow on our way back south.

Bittersweet

I have been hinting for some time about changes coming up in our life, well one chapter has just ended.  We have been coming to our winter digs here in Nokomis for years and years, more than 20.  My mother lived nearby and we would come visit many times throughout the year when we lived in Atlanta, truly the area seems like a second home to us.  We have enjoyed and cherished numerous friendships here and had a lot of great times.  We have seen people come and go and experienced a family member, BIL Tom, and Jan's sister Karen come to this park and embrace the camaraderie and activities.  But since Covid and actually even before some of the shine on the apple has diminished for Jan and I.  While the park is still a wonderful place, there have been a lot of changes, not good in our estimation that started us looking for another spot.  Management handled Covid poorly, started not enforcing rules, or very sporadically at best, a total fiasco with hurricane Ian as far as policy, rentals, etc, held a lot of folks high and dry for weeks on end, although they did get it cleaned up in record time, the park started to have spots that were trashy and not taken care of, numerous units looked like they were derelict with so much moss and mildew it was hard to tell their color, and hadn't seen a washing in literally years.  But when the manager disrupted the park 2 years ago for no good reason, displacing at least 20 people from sites they were on for years and years, showing no compassion at all, a situation we got wrapped up in forcing us to spend $4000 more per year than we had with no intention of staying any longer, well, that was the last straw.  And when a two tier rent schedule was imposed, that really did it.  We looked and looked for an alternative park, as we still love the area, still have our doctors here, and many friends, we actually found several contenders.  We weren't even planning on being here this season, but the park we had chosen was working on a big brand new section that wasn't going to be ready in time, so we bit the bullet and just spent our last 3 months here at the very highest price per night that we have ever paid.  Will we miss the park, well of course, we have a lot of years invested here, we will miss the very fine friends and a few very dear friends, but Jan and I know it is time to move on even if it is difficult.  We have kept this very secret, as one of our absolute goals was to be sure our site didn't end up in a free for all. We'll still be in the area, and look forward to visiting, but it is time to go.

One of our very last Happy Hours joined by our daughter, Kelly

A fond farewell to dear friends, Debbie and Harold

Rolling out for the last time

Now we are on the road again, but we had a big surprise with my last doctor appointment, seems I have a heart issue in addition to my stents that I got 11 years ago that needs to be taken care of, so we are still leaving for the Atlanta area, dentist and doctor appointments there, getting a oil change, chassis service and our transmission filters and fluid changed on the way, and then we will return to Florida for a week to have a procedure done and followup.  We expect a good result and then we will head back out and resume our travels.

So the first day was pretty uneventful, except for very heavy rain for the last few hours to Ocala where we were getting our service done at Detroit Diesel and Allison.

We got out in record time, back on the road before 1100am for our leg to a new RV park, Tifton Overnight, a no-contact, all paved with concrete pull through sites.  It was very nice, although there are way, way, too many lights, a lot like a Walmart parking lot!  On our unexpected return to Florida we will be staying there 2 more times, one south and one north, and we endeavor to move sites to see if we can alleviate a bit of the light. So we'll give it an 8 out of 10.

BUT, getting there was a bit tough.  Jan and I thought about it, and only 3 times has our coach actually put us on the side of the road, that's in 199,000 miles and 16 years of ownership.  The first was soon after we purchased it on our first leg from Florida to Atlanta, it quit dead right on I-75.  After some troubleshooting and checking every fuse we could think of on our new to us coach we found a blown 10 amp fuse that was in a spot labeled 25 amps, replaced it and it has been perfect ever since.  The second was many years ago in the middle of Kansas when we had an air line fitting blow, we managed to get it off the side of the road safely, and since we didn't have a lot of extra air fittings at that time had to wait for a mobile guy to come, crawl under and replace the bad fitting, and the third time was on the way to Tifton.  After a lunch stop, we were just purring along when the "Check Engine" light came on, immediately followed by the "Stop Engine" light, much more critical, and finally an alert saying low coolant!  There was an exit about 1 1/2 miles ahead so I idled in, got off to the side and immediately shut it down.  We ran out expecting to see a blown radiator hose and coolant spewing from under the engine but it was dry??  But under the compartment where our AquaHot lives was a lot of coolant dripping.  Remember our AquaHot provides our hot water, heat, powered by electric, diesel, or the heat from the engine.  After looking and looking, we finally found a short piece of hose had failed on the antifreeze loop from the engine and had managed to pump what we later found was about 36 quarts of coolant out, and a lot of it was dripping all over the AquaHot compartment.

The spot of the failure

The culprit
Ha, I noticed the petroleum jelly in the picture, I needed it to get
the new hose on the fittings

We were oh so lucky in so many ways, the failure was identified quickly, we had everything we needed to repair it with us, it was accessible so that I could actually deal with it, and from where we sat on the exit ramp we could see a NAPA store!  Our cooling system holds about 55 quarts, we had no idea at that moment how much we had lost, so we unhooked the truck, Jan ran to the NAPA store and bought 6 gallons of antifreeze.  Only bad thing you couldn't go back down the wrong way on the exit ramp so she had to drive 6 miles to another exit make a U-turn and come back.  Perfect because it took me about that much time to do the repair and some of the clean up.  We found out pretty quick 6 gallons wasn't enough, so it was my turn to get more, I bought 7 more gallons and did the U-turn thing and we ended up putting another 2 gallons in, enough to get it started, knowing it would probably settle and we'd have to add more later.  So 1 hour and 50 minutes on the side of the road all told, pretty good.  We were lucky it was a beautiful day, NAPA was right there, we could fix it, and we only had 30 miles to go:-)  PS: We put another gallon in before we left for Atlanta in the morning, and imagine we might have to add just a little more.

So now we are in East Ellijay, GA at a favorite park, Talona Ridge for 9 days until we turn back around and head for Florida once more to get me taken care of, in the mean time we have hearing aid appointments, dentist appointments, root canal appt, dermatologist appts, and will try to see some friends in between.  More to come later.

T minus 10 Days and Counting

Our departure date is fast arriving now.  We're getting the last few things taken care of, trying to get the last lunches in, visits, HH's, and of course a few chores here and there.  

My drive to Atlanta to get my new crown was a mixed bag, it reminded me, even though we've driven it a hundred times, it is still a long, long drive, 8 and 1/2 hours each way.  Maybe I won't be so eager to do it in the future, although going to our very favorite dentist is very compelling, and then just to let us know Murphy is still alive and well, I found out I need a root canal on another tooth as well.  When it rains it pours:-)

Jan cheering me while I was in Atlanta.

Cheers!

You knew there would be food pics.  Jan and I ran down to Punta Gorda for a change and had a nice lunch on the water at the Riviera Bar and Grill.

Fried shrimp and onion rings, and those are pig wings on the bottom, yum!

I actually made dinner one night, seared scallops and fried corn over, yes, Jan's mashed potatoes.

I have completed my physical therapy for my left leg and I think it helped, I can walk much better now.  Also my medical tests have been completed and I have my final doctor appt later this week, hopefully all good news.  We also have been tweaking our summer plans.

Spring has sprung, maybe too much, pretty humid these days, but littles are appearing.

Yes, that's a baby tortoise

Jan and I went to one of our go to restaurants, the Dockside, we hadn't been to yet this year and had nice lunch. 

We split Ahi tuna nachos, and

a grouper wrap

Then we splurged again with yet another lunch at the Crow's Nest, complete with a Guinness!

Jan and our daughter, Kelly had been planning a mother-daughter cruise and the day arrived, Kelly flew in the night before.  I drove them up to Tampa where it was leaving from and on the way we had a nice lunch at Crabby Bill's on St Pete Beach.  A bit overcast, but nice anyway.

So after I got back and started my week of batching it, they got on and left the dock headed for the Caribbean.  I made the best of it with a nice bourbon at the motorhome, on the boat, Kelly with a G&T, Jan with a Canadian whiskey, and off they went........

My choice

Jan's

Kelly's

Underway

Under the Skyway Bridge leaving Tampa

My next post will most likely find us out of Florida, see you then!