Monday, November 2, 2009

Nov. 2009

















Nov. 25th wow we don’t realize how time flies on by as it was 10 days since we updated our blog/journal. We have been busy as on Monday’s we bowl and Tuesday’s and Thursday’s Jon golf’s. Kathleen is kept quite busy with fixing up our new home. She is also getting ready for the nutrition class on Monday’s which start next week. We washed ½ of the home and then the rains came and we will finish up when they stop. At the present time we are getting ready for Thanksgiving. Turkey day we are going to Jon’s sister’s relatives and from what we hear quite a few people will be there; I guess that’s why we are having ostrich for the meal. We would like to wish all a” Happy Thanksgiving” -- the best part is Florida style, which means it, is warm. We are adding a few pictures to this entry and hope that you enjoy. Just another good day.

Nov. 15th we went to church this morning, and it was great just to be back with a lot of friends that we made over the past year. We hadn’t realized how much we missed them till we returned today. We also were happy to be in the presence of Pastor Andrew and the sermons that he gives, as he preaches right from the text of the Bible. After church we did a little shopping for some things we needed to get done and we are well on our way to making our home the way we want it. Jon went to connect the DirecTV today with some of the existing cable in the house and he could not get a good signal. We called for a service tech to complete this task, this is the first time that Jon couldn’t get it tuned in. It was another exhausting day as we continued to put the place together. We will sleep well tonight and as always it is a good day in Florida.

Nov. 14th the first think we did this morning was to wash the MH and the toad as they were quite dirty from the journey down. Jon had washed the roof of the MH back in PA and all of the salt residue from ME was on the sides. After the washing, it once again looked like a new rig. We then went shopping to get items for the home and we did very well in our adventure. We are sure you all know how it is when opening up a new home. This is the third day in a row that we put in some long hours, in a few months everything will be to our liking. It was a great day in Florida.

Nov. 13th the dreaded Friday the thirteenth, for us just another day of unloading and getting things in place for the winter months. What we want here and what goes there all day long, but we did have a good time and knew that it is for the future and we will be better off.
Nov, 12th we wanted to get an early start and we were on the road by 7AM; this was after a short visit with Eddie & Debbie over coffee, as we bid them farewell and knew that we would see them for Thanksgiving. We arrived at Adelaide Shores RV Resort a little after 8AM and got to take a look at the park model we agreed to buy. After a look we were overwhelmed at all it had to offer. We made settlement and started to unload the MH. Can you ever believe the stuff you can accumulate over a few years, we could fill up the park model twice and it is three times the size of the MH. We had Dennis, Pat and Kate helping us unload and bring items into the home. After getting all the stuff in the fun part started in which we had to find a place for the items. It was a long and tiring day; I guess we are not fulltimers any more but just part timers. Another good day in the camping world.

Nov. 11th we awoke early and continued with our appointments. We had to be there early in the morning and go back for a follow up in the afternoon. Every think went fine and at 3 PM we left to go to Orlando to meet up with Jon’s sister to deliver a sewing machine and other articles that we transported for her. We had a nice dinner with Eddie, Debbie, Angie, Larry and Gracie, after that we returned to Debbie’s place and had a short visit as we were camping in her driveway. It was a good day and a very stressful one as well.

Nov. 10th as we noted in yesterdays journal we were on the road before 6 am, and once again we realized just how weak our headlights are on the MH. We were grateful that we only had to drive less than ½ hour till sunrise. We stopped for fuel right before we left Ga. and filled up and then drove about 30 miles to Jacksonville were we had some appointments today. We were very lucky that where we are going they had some RV parking and we were early enough to get a spot. After the appointment we learned that we needed to be there the following day, so at that time we called Adelaide Shores and informed them about our delay in getting there. It would be alright and out transactions that were to be done in person on Wednesday could be done by mail on Thursday. We then found a Wal-Mart about seven miles away and set in for the night. This place was very quiet and we got a good night’s sleep. We are so happy that all is working out and that our journey so far has been safe and all things are working out.

Nov. 9th what a great Wal-Mart location in that we had a TV signal and we also had Wi-Fi in the parking lot and it was quite. We continued our journey today and had an uneventful drive, would like to say at this time it is overall the best condition that Rt. 95 is in for the most part. The only major construction was in Ga. And within a year or so we will probably see 6 lanes throughout all of the state. We pulled into another Wal-Mart and in contrast it was a real contrast as the RV’ers that were there were abusing the privilege of the lot. With at least 4 units there with all slides out and on jacks and disconnected from the pull trucks, not only that they had their chairs out in a group sitting in a circle, plus a trucker there had his rig running all night. Around 7:30 another MH pulled in right next to us and started his generator and ran it all night, at about 10:30 because of the fumes from the diesel generator we moved to the rear of the store where we knew we could stay till about 5:30 or so as this was the area of the shop. At about 5:30 am we moved back to our original spot except to the other side and we left out MH run with the exhaust right at their bedroom slide, and as Jon was preparing the car for travel the hood slipped out of his hand and slammed shut and when he pressed the remote to lock the car he held it too long and the horn went off about 4or 5 times.

Nov 8th we awoke and started to finish up what little packing we had to do, and connected the car which we say when connected it is our cargo trailer. After checking that all of our connections were complete and correct we left Lickdale CG a little after 8am. Being on the road for about 10 minutes a car passed us and waved and it was Jon’s sister as they were going to church. When we passed the church we gave a blast on the air horns. Kathleen did a lot of the driving and all day she took us across the state lines, out of PA, through MD and WVA and into VA were Jon took over through most of VA. Kathleen then took over into NC and then Jon finished the first day’s journey to a Wal-Mart in NC where we stopped for the night. We did a little shopping at Wally world, put up the TV antenna and tuned in the NASCAR race and had some TV for the night. We couldn’t sit in the living room/kitchen area of the MH as we are filled up transporting stuff that we cleaned out from Jon’s mother’s apartment, some of it is going to Jon’s sister in Orlando and we are taking the rest with us. It was a very good day and a safe day on the roads, more then we can say for a lot of the deer we saw that were killed on the roads; one looked like a 10 point buck.

SHOCK OF THE DAY: While Jon was pumping diesel fuel and Kathleen was waiting inside the store, an elderly man who could hardly talk and walk bought two packs of cigarettes that cost $12. A younger gal bought two cartons of cigarettes that cost $85. We are so glad we do not smoke!!

Nov.7th well all week we have been busy getting ready to travel south to Fl. for the winter. Kathleen babysat Sammie 5 days this past week and she stayed overnight Friday night, it is such a blessing to have her and she is such a wonderful granddaughter. During the days we went out and did a lot of our winter shopping as we went to a few Amish stories to buy supplies, you can really get great deals on canned and boxed items at a fraction of their normal price. We visited Jon’s mom every day and know in our hearts that she is in a very good nursing home, and that her ailments are not as bad as we originally thought, and she is better now as she cannot live alone any more. We met with some of our friends this past week and the waist line shows it, this too we will have to get over. We see some exercise in the future and trying to eat less. Today we had some of Jon’s mom’s grandchildren go through her apartment and pick out what they wanted, to clean out the apartment. It is a sad day for America today with the passage of the health care bill that just opens up new ways for lawyers to strangle us with bad lawsuits. We are looking forward to going south as it is getting cooler all the time here. Just another great day at being a fulltimer on the road.

Nov. 1st we went to church in the morning and we didn’t stay to socialize as we had to get back and get ready to have a family gathering with Kathleen’s sons and their wives. We had a Lobster dinner at Dave’s place and just had a great time in talking about what happened over the summer and what our future plans are. They were happy for us as we told them about us buying a Park Model in Florida and about our plans on working in Pa. next summer. This way we will be able to spend more time with them throughout the summer. After that we went to see Jon’s mom for a while, then returned home for the rest of the evening. Today we set the clocks back an hour and after the day we had yesterday we needed it. Another great day in the CG.