What a difference two weeks makes!

Isn't it amazing how much has changed since my last post two weeks ago?  The whole world is reeling from the virus.  All our lives have been impacted, many sacrifices are being made all in the hopes that our complete change of lifestyle can dull the edges of this sword.  Our little world here in Florida in the winter is usually a bustling center of activity, socializing, camaraderie, crowds around the pool, pockets of people enjoying a drink or a meal together, the pickle ball and tennis courts crowded, events like pot lucks or a show that draw in more than a hundred people, just the noise of lots of folks enjoying themselves.  Now we have tons of vacancies much earlier than anticipated, most of the Canadians have run for home, and who can blame them, their insurance has told them they will not be covered here in the US for the virus, other people, rightly so, feel that if they are going to weather this storm they should be back home.  Most everyone is abiding by social distancing, it would be humorous watching everyone space themselves out at 6', if it wasn't a real deal.  All our amenities have been shut down, the pool, rec hall, events, cards, bocce, on and on.  People are walking and riding bikes like never before, there isn't anything else to do.  You still see an occasional group of people together that either don't care, don't believe, or are just rebels.  At least there is a uniqueness here at our park and I'm sure many others that dot Florida in the winter, the majority of these people come here for the season, stay the whole season, and have basically controlled their environment right here, we mostly all know one another, have respect for one another, and don't create a big threat in our closed little group.  Obviously, as you enjoy the restaurants, bars, beaches, shopping, etc, you open yourself up, but we here in Florida have basically shut down, our restaurants are take out only, and many have just shut their doors as they can't maintain the staff for take out only, the beaches, jetties, seawalls, parks are all closed.  Our grocery stores are still open and it so nice to see them individually sanitize the carts and baskets as you arrive, use care checking you out, see the people maintaining space there as well, bottles of sanitizer in most cars as you get back in your vehicle, yes folks there is something real happening here, and people are taking it seriously.  I pray we can beat this thing, get enough time to flatten the curve, make sure the medical facilities are able to deal with it, allow more time for a treatment or vaccine.  I see the dedication from grocery store workers, pharmacies, first responders, police, etc, that are still going to work to provide for the rest of us that are hunkering down, we owe them our thanks.  There are many, many people that are struggling now as they watch their jobs go away.  But we are resilient and I know we are going to come out the other side of this, hopefully triumphant and victorious.

There has been and continues to be much discussion about RVing at a time like this.  Lots of comments that state we are already pretty much self contained and no threat as we travel, it's not a communal kind of life style, you can stay away from people, etc.  But even so, more and more federal, state, city, and county parks and campgrounds are closed.  Numerous private campgrounds are closed, some have even asked the people there now to get out.  Now if you are a part time Rver, no problem, yes your trip might have to be cancelled, but you can always sit it out at home, but what if you are a full-timer like we are?  This coach is our home, and we can be self contained and shelter in place, or socially distance like anyone else, but where should we do it?  What about the fact that your reservation is running out where you are and your upcoming reservations are now becoming questionable, the state parks where you had reservations and intended to stay for several weeks have closed, where do you go?  I happen to think that traveling in an RV is a very safe way to move about, you can fuel without contact, check in to a park without contact, sites are usually spaced apart from one another, you can stay a safe distance from neighbors, does it really matter where you are?  But on various social media along with the banding together to beat this thing, I am seeing little indications here and there of another sentiment, I hope no one is coming to my state, town, village, area and bringing the virus, maybe we shouldn't allow anyone in?  I read a post where someone had gone for a hike in a national park and was appalled there were out of state plates in the parking lot!  Come on, this we do not what we need right now when we all should be banding together to beat this thing.  So what have we decided to do?

Jan and I, with a lot of discussion with her sister Karen and Tom, our neighbor here, and planned caravan partner up through Maine this year, have decided to pause our count down clock for up to 30 extra days.  We have extended here in Florida and are very confident that with this pause it will give us enough time to see where this is going one way or another.  That way we will be here in a known environment, surrounded by people we know, our doctors, should it come down to that, are here, it seems to be a pretty safe area as to the virus, we can maintain our distancing, and it gives us the luxury of time.  We have cancelled most of our plans in the Atlanta area, medical items that aren't absolutely necessary, so are still very hopeful with a good outcome we will still be able to resume our plans of heading to Maine for 6-8 weeks.  We'll see.

So now that I have bored you to tears with all my pontificating about a subject you are probably already sick of, I'll move on to more mundane stuff.

Just so I don't disappoint you I'll start with food, little did we know it was essentially our last lunch out.

Delicious fried clam strips and shrimp!

We were able to have a nice dinner get-together before all this crested with Debbie and Harold, Doug and Nancy, and Tom.  We had a good time, all while maintaining our distancing, and as it turned out it was also goodbye, as Debbie and Harold took off for Canada the next morning and Doug and Nancy back to Maine soon after.  We also had a last time dinner get together with long time friend Ray and Linda knowing it would be the last time before a resolution to this situation appears.  It's so hard not having your hugs as you say goodbye for the season.  It is so surreal, it's like, and I am stealing another friend's description now, being immersed in a sci-fi movie.  Jan has finished Mah jong and I have finished bocce.

If you remember last year our awning over the front passenger side slide had a problem.  When a service center adjusted the fabric they inadvertently broke the extrusion and with the wind and wear it released the fabric on the end.

The broken end

You can see how the extrusion slides in,
and the fabric slides into the extrusion

I called the manufacturer to see about getting a new extrusion and although the part wan't expensive, $40, the freight from California was $200 plus!  After all the entire piece is more than 15' long.  Well that didn't cut it, so I compromised, I bought the whole part and had them cut it to several reasonable lengths and then send it.  I resigned myself to only replacing a piece of it.  What I did was pull the fabric out of the extrusion about 2 feet from the end, cut the piece off, and then inserted a 2 foot piece instead.  It is black, and where it is can barely be seen in or out.  It was a successful repair.

My custom tool to hold the awning fabric while doing the repair

You can see where I cut it

Slipping the new piece in

Jan doing her best to show the repair before I secured it in place

Another project we had been putting off was pressure washing our roof after the oak leaves do a number on it, then washing and waxing the coach.  We still thought we'd be leaving soon so we picked 2 days to do it and got er done.

Before, yuck!

Jan starting the job

After

It is gleaming now with its new wax job!  And to celebrate a tough job well done, happy hour, while maintaining safe distances:-)

My expression reflects the bug trying to drink my bourbon:-)

Our companion in solving the issues of the world, BIL Tom

Then of course we had to have a couple unexpected issues.  We have over 100 recessed puck lights in our ceiling and under our cabinets.  They have a frosted glass lens that are a real bugger to remove to change the bulb.  We have slowly replaced all with LED's, and we had 2 acting up.  I tried and tried using all the tricks I could think of to get the lens off, to no avail so had to end up replacing the entire fixture.  Very frustrating.

One of the new fixtures going in

Then we go back into the bedroom and turn on the vanity light, and find out we can't turn it off!  Our coach has all its lighting done through a multiplex system, basically a computer system where every switch in the coach can be programmed from anywhere to do anything, a great system when it works.  I tried the few things I could think of and finally had to call for help.  The tech had me troubleshoot the system and said we had a bad module, after ordering it, it thankfully came quickly, we got it installed and all is well now.

The lit switch is the culprit

The brains of the system in our back closet

The bad module

New one going in

So that has wrapped up all our projects for the season, not to say more won't pop up.  Now we wait, just like everyone else, praying for a welcome resolution.  Be well.