Winter Blues

Marcia and I decided to sell our house back in 2007, we would buy a motorhome and travel around "CHASING THE 70"s". In the almost three years we have been doing this we have found the 70's to be a very hard temperature to find. We really don't mind if it is above the 70 mark, but when it drops below the 70 mark I feel it in my bones.

Back in December of 09 we found ourselves near Brownsville TX freezing. We were there almost a month and had rain about 3/4 of the time. There were a few good days, but it was like the temperature was on a roller coaster, up and down, with more down than up. We chose to leave our friends in south TX in hopes we would find warmer weather in the Sunshine State.

Jan of 2010 was a very cold month, we went as far south as we could go in the USA, Key West FL. Now you know things are bad when you see people in Key West FL bundled up in coats. We saw the tropical fish in the area dieing because the water was so cold, we saw tomato plants that has been killed buy the cold temperatures. Fl saw record cold spells that lasted for days. Not so much the coldest temperatures, but being cold for several days.

Now here is is the last few days of Feb and we are looking at the temperatures dropping into the freezing mark in much of the sunshine state. Not only in Fl, but all over the USA.
This picture shows it all.


All we can do is turn up the heaters and wait for warmer weather to come. We have almost seceded in getting all the paperwork finished on the Newmar and should have the tags by Saturday. Today I have a dental appointment, and if all goes well we shouldn't have to be around Tampa for several weeks until my next dental appointment, so the Santara might be the only draw back. If we can arrange things with the insurance company and Lazy Days we may just head back down to Key West and wait for the 80's to show up in GA before we start our journey out of FL.

Oh well I guess living in a house on wheels can't guarantee you will always see the sunny side of life....but it sure beats being stuck all winter long......

Sumter Oaks

We have been here almost two weeks now, counting the few days we had to fly to KY for doctors appointments and to TN to see the kids. Last year we spent four months here and enjoyed it most of the time. With Marcia working as a host we were "tied" down and couldn't drop deeper south when the cold fronts were coming, and this year we are waiting on the Santara and the paperwork on the Newmar.

With Marcia not working this year it is different being here. She doesn't have to put in her time, and we can leave if we choose to. We have been enjoying the friends we have here. Walt and Donna are parked next to us and we have been having a good time, and then there is always po-ke-no and bingo, so we have kept entertained.

Today we had a guy named Valentine and his partner wash our rigs. Since they are so close together he almost had to do both of them at the same time or one would have gotten soaked while they did the other one. They used what they called a three step wash, they washed it with soap and then with a wax solution in the water. They both turned out pretty good for what they charged us, but I am wanting to try the "Wash-N-Guard" stuff on our new rig.

Today it got into the 70's which makes me really happy, and I may even put my shorts on tomorrow. I'm kind of envious of the folks out west because they have had the 70's for a few days now, but we don't get the extreme drops in temperatures here in FL like they do out west, so I guess it is all a trade off.

We plan on hanging around here in FL until May, I would rather suffer through a few hot days than get caught in some of those late spring cold fronts that almost always slip down into GA. Once we get things ironed out with the Santara we plan on driving south so we can see more of southern FL.

I have to apologize for not using my camera and sharing some pictures and I will try to start doing better. I know a blog is a lot better if you have pictures to show. So until the next time, ENJOY and BE SAFE..........

Trip to Kentucky

Wednesday morning Walt and Donna picked us up at 5 AM, (I had forgotten there was 2 5 O'clocks in the same day) and drove us to the St Pete airport. THANKS WALT and DONNA! It was cold that early in the morning, but I really didn't realize how cold we would get over the next few days. We boarded our plane with no delays and soon we were in the air headed to see two of our there kids, and our only grand daughter.

As we flew over part of TN we saw that dreaded white stuff, yea SN**. I just can't seem to type the whole word out. The pilot's voice came over the intercom saying it was 23 degrees at the Knoxville airport, and I started thinking, WHY. Why did I get a doctors appointment in the middle of Feb? But I did and we had several errands to take care of while we were there, and we would get to see most of our family so being a little cold would be worth it.

The plane touched down and taxied to the terminal where we departed the plane into the COLD. Excited about seeing our kids we hurried through the airport to see them. Once we walked back outside at the drop off area we looked both ways looking for ride. No Corey, or Jenelle in sight, so Marcia calls to find out where they were. All I got was something about a dog and they would be there in about 10 minuets.

We stood in the COLD, (23 degrees) while we smoked a couple cigs catching up on the nicotine we had missed since Walt and Donna had dropped us off back in St Pete where I THOUGHT it was cold. We had to step back inside the airport where there was warmth while we waited for Corey's Taxi Service.

Oh how good it was to see them when they rolled up.

After hugs and explanations, we were off to change our domicile from South Dakota to Tennessee. Strawberry Plains road was the closest DMV so that is where Corey took us. We walked in hoping we had everything we needed, but the stern lady at the counter wasn't going to help us very much at all. She said we needed this, this, that, and that, and if we didn't have it exactly too bad.

We only had one piece of mail with our names and Jenelle's address and we needed two. Jenelle could sign a statement for us stating we "reside" at her house, but she would need her birth certificate, and Marcia would need our Marriage License. After running here and there I wound up with a TN DL, but Marcia would have to wait. With that out of the way it was off to register the new to us motorhome.

The kids dropped us off at the old courthouse on Main street and we walked through the metal detectors, through the halls into the County Clerks Office. A young man walked up to the counter and ask how he could help us. When we told him his lack of experience stood out as he grabbed a large book and started flipping through the pages to read what he should have known.

We had no worries because Jenelle had already been to the County Clerks Office in Halls and ask what all we needed to transfer the title over. To our disbelief, the young man started asking for a lot of things the guy Jenelle had talked to had neglected to mention. A customs page? What is that we ask, where could we get one? Our answer was "call Nashville, here is the number". After deliberating with every clerk there, and being told to call Nashville to get the answers to every question we walked out.

Corey had taken Jenelle to get her car and she drove up as we were walking out so we jumped in her car and headed for the County Clerks Office in Halls to see the man that Jenelle had talked to. I wanted to look into his eyes when I explained that we had just flown in from FL to register the MH and couldn't because he had given Jenelle the wrong information. Marcia called Corey and ask him to meet us there.

The guy Jenelle had talked to was no where to be found when we entered the office. The ladies we talked to was very good at explaining the need to call Nashville. I heard, " I don't know why that is there, or what that is, or where you find that, but you need to call Nashville" many times. So I said lets call Nashville! I dialed the number and after a recording prompted me to push 1,2, or 3, for this that and the other thing, someone answered the phone. I explained the situation to the voice on the other end and was shocked when she said Mr Jones, I am the lady you talked to at the old courthouse, and you need to get that customs page.

I was just about to blow my top when I decided it would be best if we just walked out. I figured talking to them was a waste of time, and that I could do some research online to find out where we could get a customs paper when we got back to Jenelle's house. So we all went to Nellie's and had a good visit.

The next morning Marcia and I had planned on taking Jenelle's Saturn to KY for Scott. Jenelle had left for work early and Marcia and I took off around 9 AM. We got about three miles from Nellie's when the Saturn quit running. I was able to coast off the narrow road into a driveway before it completely died. We guessed we were about half way between Nellie's and the nearest store, so we called Corey to come and pick us up.

Corey lives about an hour from Nellie, and he had to get him and Miss Jaelynn dressed before he started the journey. SN** is flying, it is in the twenties, and we are stranded miles from anything, and the Saturn was dead. I thought we were going to freeze before Corey got to us, and I was about to start knocking on doors to find a warm place to wait. Walking on that narrow road with the cars flying by was not an option.

To my delight Corey arrived in about an hour. I was soooo glad to see him pull into that driveway. I wasn't as cold now, or the need to get things done warmed me up enough that I didn't think about being cold. Inside Corey's truck was nice and warm, so the trip to Wal-Mart to get a tow strap was delightful, and soon we had the Saturn sitting in front of Jenelle's house.

The second trip to the County Clerks Office in Halls turned out to be an extension of the first. These people know nothing except "CALL NASHVILLE". After the lady had proved again that she knew nothing about her job, and that her answer for everything was "CALL NASHVILLE" we walked out with a messed up title on the Tracker. We were 0-2 n registering our vehicles, but I wasn't going to let that stop us from enjoying our visit with family.

The remainder of the trip was good except for the COLD and SN**. and I was really happy when Walt and Donna were sitting at the airport in St Pete waiting on us to get off the plane. There is no place like home, even if the home has wheels.......

10 DAYS

Today was the 10th day that we have had the new to us motorhome. We are finding places to put things, and learning more and more about the Kountry Star. Today I even found a remote control that opens and closes the awning. Now how cool or unnecessary is a remote control that operates the awning?

We are waiting here at Sumter Oaks until time to fly back to Kentucky to get new DL's and Tags for the Kountry star, my doctor appointment, and most of all to see family. Living full time in a motor home and trying to avoid cold weather does take a toll on seeing family.

Friends and family are something we are really blessed to have. We have our biological family and our Escapee friends and family, and no matter where we are some of them are close by.

The Santara is still in the shop at Lazy Days, I'm really glad the insurance company is paying the bill, and I really hope we don't have any trouble getting our "expense" money when it is all finished. This is the 7th of Feb, and we put it in the shop on the 19th of Jan. The motels were over $100 a night, but I guess the insurance company will get a break because we bought the Kountry Star and have been in it for the past 10 days.

Tomorrow is Monday, the day the Webster Flea Market is open, so we will have to go see what new things might be there this year. Webster flea market is the largest flea market I've seen, and they have a big selection of new and used stuff to look at. All we can do is look because we are going to have to adhere to the full timers rule, something in = something out. If we buy anything we will have to get rid of something so we will have a place to put it.

The next couple days we will be getting things ready for the trip north. with the cold weather we have had here in FL we won't have to dig too deep to get out the winter clothes that we will need in KY. So this will be the last blog post until we get back, unless I find time while in KY to give an update.....

MOVING IN

We have been loading the Kountry Star for the past few days. Finding places to put things have been a real challenge for me. Marcia has plenty of room inside the new rig, and I have had to ask her to find a place for several things that I had stored in the basement of the Santara.

We did take some time off yesterday to ride down to Apollo Beach to watch the Manatees. Walt did the driving and Donna Marcia and myself just sit back and enjoyed the ride. We were impressed at Apollo Beach by the number of Stingrays we saw jumping out of the water. I wasted almost a whole roll of film in my digital camera trying to catch one in mid air. I'll post some pictures when I find my camera, moving things into the Kountry Star the camera got hidden.

After the manatee and stingray watching we went to Circles for dinner. It was a really nice place, and a little on the pricey side, but the food was awesome. we all had something different and everyone commented about how good it was. The waitress was on the ball too, so even thought it was a little pricey I would recommend it to anyone.

Today I had to take the Kountry Star to Cummings to have the exhaust pipe and mud flap replaced. Heinze had already had everything lined out with Cummings so all I had to do was take the rig to the shop. The shop manager and I aligned the new tail pipe so it wouldn't damage anything else back there. (they replaced the too long tail pipe with a too short tail pipe that burned a hole in the mudflap)

Today we loaded almost everything into the new rig. All that remains in the storage unit is some empty boxes, and a few things we will have to carry around in the tracker until we make it back to KY, and a couple things that we will leave in the Santara.

Now that everything will be finished with the moving stuff we will be able to start ENJOYING our new home. We will spend a couple hours tomorrow finishing up and cleaning out the storage unit and then we are heading back to Wachula. We only got to spend one night there last month so we will go back and spend a couple nights before we head up to Bushnell for a couple weeks.