Quick Update

I just noticed that it has been a solid 3 weeks since I posted, no we didn't disappear, it's just we feel like we are in purgatory.

As I mentioned we had a nice visit from our son Jason and Joanne, showed them the land.

After our plans came back and we sent them to our prospective builder the first estimate came back much higher than expected, enough that we had to question the whole project:-(   We were in a bit of a funk, and told ourselves we needed to take a deep breath, let some time go by, digest it, and then sent it out to 4 other builders.

Meanwhile we decided to take care of our tire issue, so we ran up to a great place in Dalton, GA, Southern Tire Mart to get new tires for our steer axle and had them move the old steer tires to the tag so we could get rid of the 2 tires that had timed and worn out.  We did some more figuring and determined we had put about 70,000 miles on those tires, so not bad:-)

With all the time we are sitting around waiting, we managed to find a few new, to us, restaurants, one a pizza place in Cartersville, The Mule House, which has a very unique and delicious brussel sprouts appetizer and quite good wood fired pizza, definitely added to our list.  

So where are we now, Jan and I have sat down and worked hard to save money on the build, downsizing, altering, taking out some of the extravagances, you know, like running water, to see if we can't make this manageable without changing the complexion and feel of what we want.  Only time will tell, we knew when we embarked on this change in our lives that we might not be able to do exactly what we wanted and knew there would have to be compromises along the way.  Turns out that it might be one of the worst times to do this.  Our plan now is over the next week or so is to get back with the architect and change the plan to incorporate our savings ideas and add in any he can come up with, resubmit it to our prospective builders and see what we can come up with, otherwise........who knows.

An Update With Little to Report

Well, we are about 3 weeks in and thought we'd be rolling along by now, and have a lot to report, but no.

We are all settled into our 2 month site, and found out at this RV park, there are different rules for monthly renters versus overnighters or shorter term stayers.  We were told on check-in that although we might see a lot of folks with canopies set up, we were not allowed to have one?!?  So if you're here 29 days you can put up a canopy, but if staying 30 days or more, no can do.  Then another item caught us, we were told and in the rule book it says they want the sewer hoses to be elevated, why I don't know, and something we have never done or been asked to do in all our 30 plus years of doing this, and then we figured it meant if you had a normal 3 inch slinky hose you had to elevate, for what purpose, who knows?  Since we have a small macerator hose we didn't give it a thought, although we did run our hose carefully up the concrete, then made the turn to the hookup.  Well, about 3 days into our stay we had a staff member walk over and present me with an envelope, saying, "I was told to give you this, and I'm only the messenger", what?  I open it up and it says we have 48 hours to comply with elevating our sewer hose or else!  Well, we guess they are serious.  The commercially made supports are all made for 3" slinky hoses and they cost about $80!  So Jan decided she could comply with what we had on board, so she got out our folding ladder and a couple flower pots and managed to support our sewer hose on the ladder top and then across 2 flower pots, it must have met their criteria since we haven't heard anything more:-)  And looking around, we have to admit that although the short stays rarely have their hoses elevated, all the long term we could see, do.  Oh well, what it comes down to is this is the only acceptable park somewhat near our property, and the long term price is very good, so we'll just have to accept their funky rules and very lax caretaking and landscaping of the "resort".  You can also see in this picture the weeds growing near us, we haven't seen them cut any grass yet.

Jan has already started her garden, even before the house:-)

And even has a baby tomato!

Now as for the house, we have received all the final drawings and documents for the build, and all have been forwarded to the builder for his pricing.  He said about 2 weeks, and at the 2 week point, he reported that he had about 90% of the required estimates, but was still waiting on lumber and trusses estimate, we thought that might be fairly important so we were told another week or so.  Our anxiety level goes up and down depending on the day and what we are internally thinking at each moment, so we have to get through another week or so hoping, fingers crossed that his number is going to align with the stars and our budget and we can actually get this rolling:-)  We do go down to the property often to look around, visualize, have coffee, watch our new neighbor's progress, keeping our fingers crossed all the time.

Jan checking things out

So we are a bit stir crazy, but have been able to visit some friends, go out to eat here and there, met Karen a couple times, and just had a very nice Easter weekend visit from our son, Jason and Joanne.  We found out that our little cupping on the tag tires is bad enough to have to replace them, they are the oldest tires on the coach also with the highest mileage, so it's time.  We will buy 2 new tires for the steer axle and move the present steers back to the tag.  Frustrating that we didn't catch it when we were in Florida at Josam's as it's where we've bought our last several sets of tires:-)  So we'll do some research and maybe hook it up with a short trip to be doing something worthwhile while we wait.

Back to Atlanta, and Wow, Wow, Wow!

With only a week left we had several things we wanted to take care of.  Jan washed and waxed the truck, and then we both washed the motorhome after Jan washed the roof:-)

 

We went back to the Lobster Pound for their amazing red snapper sandwich and added some whole belly clams to the mix.  Jan was also able to get several pounds of fish for the freezer.

We also were able to meet BIL Tom for a couple lunches and visits, one more memorable lunch with Harvey, and packed up our site.  We found an interesting restaurant nearby, Seasons 52, it is a chain, but very good.  Very tasty and fresh menu and nothing on the menu is frozen and they don't have a fryer, their entire menu is below 600 calories, but don't think foo-foo.  We went 3 times all together and enjoyed flavorful, tasty real food, highly recommended!

Jan had a fresh tomato flatbread and a green salad

I had a cheesesteak flatbread and lobster and corn bisque

So the time to leave came, and so did the forecast calling for rain, right after the washing of the vehicles, of course, right?  We left a little early to beat the first wave to go to Orlando to Josam's Truck Alignment where we have any chassis, tire, shock, etc work done.  It was Sunday so we spent the night outside their gate so as to be ready for our appointment in the morning.  We made the most of it and got ready for the torrential rain that did arrive that evening and night.

Chilling

Had a vistor, a very large and colorful lizard.

Now for the WOW.  We were ready right at 0700am and so were they with a knock on the door and an "Are you ready?"  In we went, now this particular visit was intended to be short, we were just getting an inspection of the chassis to be sure everything was A-okay, and it was and then we needed our desiccant cartridge for the air system replaced.  It keeps water out of the system and has to be replaced every 2-3 years.  And the first wow, we were done and on the road headed for Ocala before 0900am!

We were headed there to Detroit Diesel to get and oil change service and a chassis lube done, our actual appointment was for Tuesday so to say we were early would be an understatement:-)

We pulled in a little after 1000am, and wow, they had us in the shop in less than 10 minutes!

We had planned to spend the night there and continue to a campground on Tuesday night.  We ran out for an early lunch and decided to make a reservation for 2 nights back in Madison, FL since we all of a sudden gained a whole day.  That is what we did, we were driving out of DD before noon and arrived in Madison at 3pm.  So 2 services, and 211 miles all before 3 in the afternoon, WOW!!

The last cold blast of the season, I hope, came through and was expected in Atlanta as well, so we thought we'd avoid some of the real cold by staying in Florida, well, 32 our first morning and 30 the next!  But we are over the hump now.

We are back in Atlanta now, an uneventful trip north, except we discovered some cupping on our tag tires, need to look into that.

We are hoping to enter the next phase of our lives in the next few weeks, the final plans should be completed this week and forwarded to the builder to get some final numbers, and with a lot of luck, we'll be able to get started on a new home.  Hopefully a lot to report in the upcoming weeks.

One Week to Go

Amazingly, we are down to only one week left here in Florida, and if it sounded like I was complaining about all the cold weather, I can now say we are fully into warm and humid Florida weather now.  In this case it's welcome, we have been able to go outside, eat outside, have HH outside, and with the upcoming daylight savings time, we'll have even more daylight in the evening.  Why that is good we don't know, neither one of us is a fan, because being early risers we get to go back to it staying dark until after 730am :-(

We even got a couple chores done.  It was the first since my surgery that I was even able to help, bending is working better and better every day, but as the pictures show, Jan, the diesel mechanic did the brunt of the work.

We had to replace our water hose and it is easier and cheaper to replace the hose right along with the reel.  With the hose out in the sun every single day of its life it gets brittle and breaks, we had already lost 9 feet of it so it was obviously time.  Overall a pretty easy job except for the difficult access.

The backside where the hose connects into the motorhome

Jan trying to wrestle it out

The new one

In place and ready to wind up

Had to go back to the New England style place we liked and this time got awesome pan seared haddock sandwiches, of course had us dreaming of Maine.

We have two small ponds here in the park and had a brand new little visitor show up.

He is just a baby, only about 3 1/2 feet long

And in addition to meeting BIL Tom a few times, we were able to meet an old friend for lunch, Harvey.  We had a great visit!

And as far as the finger crossing for the house plans, we were able to get the final revisions submitted and are expecting all the final drawings early next week, so there is real progress being made, like anything worthwhile a lot of patience is required:-)

Making Progress

The weather is starting to cooperate, we have been able most evenings now to go outside for HH and a cigar, very pleasant.  Jan is still creating wonderful dinners every evening, I even contribute once in awhile:-)

Last year we found a local restaurant, The Lobster Pound, yeah, here in Florida that has in addition to warm water fish, also a lot from New England,  We stopped in for an excellent lunch, delicious clam chowder, maybe better than any we got in Maine, a fried haddock sandwich, but the star of the show was Jan's pan seared red snapper sandwich!

We completed a few small repairs and ordered a few parts, our fresh water hose needs to be replaced, it only lasts about 4-5 years because it spends its entire life out in the sun and gets brittle, in fact we had to cut 9' off to get to flexible hose.  

One of the big things we have done is to shorten our time here in Florida by two weeks, we felt that as things keep developing up in Atlanta we need to be there not here.  And speaking of that we have made real progress on the house plans, the final floor plan is done and over to the builder for his estimate, fingers crossed.  Hoping to hear in a week or so.  We made reservations in the Atlanta area to cover us if, or I guess I should say when we start building, back to those fingers crossed.

Then since our time here is waning we wanted to go a very favorite, actually two very favorite places, the first Saigon Bistro in Lakeland, we discovered several years ago, they make an incredible pho, and for me to go to Parkesdale Market near Plant City for the very, very best strawberry milkshake in the entire world, not that Jan agrees, she doesn't like strawberry milkshakes, can you imagine:-)  No picture of the pho, I forgot.

We've met up with BIL Tom a few more times for lunches.  Ran up to Earth Box Store nearby to get some supplies for a change, hoping to grow some veg this year, and looked over appliances to try to get familiar going forward.

A new restaurant opened up across the street, a small chain called Seasons 52, so we gave it a try, we were both impressed.  Starting with a cup of amazingly delicious, rich savory mushroom soup, then Jan had a flatbread and side salad, and I had a tuna salad, very, very good.

We still have several more things on our agenda while here, numerous restaurants to go to, what can I say, washing the motorhome once the pollen stops, and other little chores.

When we stayed at Royal Coachman in Nokomis all these years we were very used to seeing gopher tortoises, in fact, there was a preserve right in the park, so we were very surprised when we went out the other afternoon and came face to face with an inquisitive guy right here in Bradenton.

So I'll ask you to cross your fingers for us as we are hoping for big progress in the next week or so.

Over the First Hump, and Finally Warm Florida Weather

I hate to say it but I have 4 doctors here in Florida, and all their appointments were jammed into the first two weeks of Feb.  And all but one are in Venice, a mere 35 miles away.  So we tried to connect the docs with lunches down that way we enjoy.  First up, a favorite, Star Thai, where i had an absolutely delicious duck salad that I never had before, and Jan had a great pork larb.

It was a great lunch made better by the fact we both had to fast for our labs that morning:-)

The weather up until 2 days ago was too cold to sit out, even walking around was a challenge, mornings were in the 20's and 30's, in FLORIDA!  We did manage to get our hut up and ready for warming weather.

We have been able to meet BIL Tom several times for lunches.  Good times.

I can proudly say I can now put on my socks and shoes myself, even my left one, and my walking is increasing all the time.  Another doc of mine is in Sarasota, so we went out to Walt's after and had a great lunch, good conch chowder, tasty grouper bites, and amazing seared tuna sliders.

Two days ago we were able to have our very first outdoor HH in months and months, and luckily, the forecast looks good to continue going forward, after all if we are in Florida we should enjoy some of what it offers:-)

So barring anything unexpected, we both got another year on the doctor front.  We are making progress on our house plan as well, we got the first and second draft so far and feel it will only take one more to have plan in hand to be able to use.  Hopefully in several more weeks we can put all the ducks in a row to pull this thing together, fingers crossed.

On to Sunny Florida, or.......Record Cold

We have actually gotten a tremendous amount of things done while fighting the weather.  Cold as in almost single digits, torrential rain, ice, wind, astonishing.  And leaving for Florida on Saturday the temp at our first stop in Madison, FL is supposed to hit 20, and arriving in Bradenton on Sunday they are calling for a high of 49 and low of 38!  This global warming is killing us:-)

I have been fully released by the surgeon and have finished PT, I can tackle stairs normally now but I'm pretty sure getting my left sock and shoe on is way out in the future.

We are making progress with the house build, we have finished up our plan and met with an architect to make finishing touches and a buildable plan that should be accomplished in several weeks, we have essentially picked out the builder, had numerous conversations, looked at 7-8 houses on the outside he has built and toured 3 on the inside and we like his reputation, answers, and what he does, we just have to put it together once we have hard plans in hand.  Fingers crossed.

Just so you don't think you are getting away without a few food pictures, we have been getting out for lunch and even dinner more and more as I heal.  Starting with delicious sushi at Yoon Sushi in Canton.

With all the cold weather we decided nothing would suit us quite like a bowl of warm and delicious pho which we found at Super Pho and Boba in Cumming.

We had the forecast of an incredible ice storm coming in with the potential of shutting down the city, doesn't take much here, and calls for as much as 1/2" of ice which could cause extensive power outages, the storm was forecast for Sat night into Mon morning, so on Saturday afternoon we wanted to get out and were able to meet friends, John and Diane at a local cigar bar for a cigar and a beer, and were later joined by OD and Tammie, it was a pleasant break before all of us would be hunkered down for two days.  As it turned out we got freezing temps, but the rain didn't fully align with the cold temps so thankfully we got just a little ice, but about an inch of rain coupled with wind, and when it all came to an end the icing on the cake was an overnight temp of 11!

We had a good lunch at a Chinese place we hadn't been to in years in Kennesaw, Fire Stone.

These are crunchy, tasty morsels of chicken

Then we discovered a hidden delectable item at a BBQ place we have been to many, many times, Williamson Bros, these are the most amazing onion straws I would say we have ever had anywhere!!

Just wow!

So we are meeting friends for lunch and a visit today, John and Diane, and Ted and Pattie, and tomorrow get all set up to leave early Saturday, the Friday overnight temps are calling for 23 so we want to be ready.  

John, Diane, Moi, Jan, Pattie, and Ted

See you all in Florida.  Oh yeah, a picture of our drive, and Yes, this is in Georgia!!!