There's No Place Like Home

We made it home about 5 pm on Thursday. It was a very long day and we were all anxious to get out of that truck. We put on 7,057 miles altogether, saw lots of the southern states and now our adventure has ended.

So did we accomplish what we set out to do? Yes we did, we saw lots, visited some old friends, checked out some relatives and bought a house (we think, we still have to close on it). So I asked Gary what his favorite part of the trip was and he couldn't pick just one and neither could I. Reconnecting with old friends and relatives was great fun, the Smokey Mountains were as beautiful as I thought they would be, and finding a fixer upper in Cape Coral took a long time but we did it.

Now I am not sure if I would jump back into the camper, in fact I know I wouldn't. As our trip came to a close I found that I was more and more anxious to get home and get out of that camper. We had about 5 feet to move inside and Gary and I could not meet in the camper, one of us always had to step aside. The dogs probably were more comfortable than we were. Everything gets dirty, there is no room to put anything, and you can only eat so many bolgna sandwichs. So if you know anyone who wants a camper, do we have a deal for you.

Our adventure is over and our camper is for sale. This is the end of the blog and I thank all who came along for the ride. Now I think I'm going to stand in a hot shower for about an hour.

On The Road Again

Tuesday - Left around 8:30 this morning, headed west on Hwy 10 toward Jackson, MS. Very rainy but warm. Took both dogs for a walk before we left and had 2 very wet dogs on my lap for about an hour.

We drove thru rain all morning and hit Mobile, Alabama early afternoon. My first time in Alabama and probably my last. Our plan was to go north from Mobile to Jackson and we were so lost in Mobile it took us an hour to figure out how to get out. At least we saw a lot of Mobile.

Gary noticed that the front passenger tire was wearing badly and so we were on the lookout for a tire place to switch the two front tires. Of course when you are looking for a tire place you can't find one. We finally did in Jackson and were able to switch tires. By this time it was late so we asked to park for the nite at the tire place. So we settled in only to find that we didn't get enough power there, so we moved to another outlet only to blow the circuit at the tire place causing all the lites to go out. So we hightailed it out of there and headed to Jackson. We made it to Durant and caved. We stayed at our first motel and omg, what a treat. Hot showers, big bed, lots of channels.

Wed morning - we headed out early and started to see our first snow flakes just north of Memphis, yuck. And it just keeps getting colder as we go. We drove all day only to get about an hour outside of Iowa, we stayed the nite in Brookfield, MO. We had a lovely view of Walmart right outside our window.

Thurs morning - right now we are driving thru snow flurries and hope to make it home today. Hoping our good friends plowed us out, turned on the heat and the house is still standing.

Sopchoppy - You can't make this stuff up.

This past weekend was fairly cool by Florida standards. We spent Saturday at the campground making plans for our return to Minnesota. Sunday was Superbowl Partytime at Mary and Pat's.

We got to Mary and Pat's early Sunday and Mary decided to take Betty and me for an alligator siting on the golf cart. Apparently alligators hang out near the ponds surrounding Mary's community. Mary was able to point out several branches with eyes in the water that she swore were alligators. After the third one, Betty and I just started agreeing with her. It was just easier. We did see an actual alligator for about 5 seconds before it slithered back into the pond, apparently camera shy. So we did see one "real alligator."

In lieu of a pix of an alligator, I took a pix of a sign that was a little odd. There is some sort of alligator molesting taking place in this park and this sign prevents any of that kind of nonsense. Just how you molest an alligator makes one wonder. Does it start with alligator pix on your computer, luring alligators with candy out of a pond, asking an alligator if they want a ride on your golf cart? It just makes you sleep better knowing that a sign is protecting alligators.

We are headed back to the cold, sitting in Ochlockonee River State Park near Sopchoppy, FL. I want to move here just to say I live in Sopchoppy. Beautiful park on the river set way back from the road. At least we aren't the only ones here.

Moving On - Why Mama??

We left our home away from home on Wed and headed to Ruskin, Florida to a campground near Cousin Mary and Pat. There was nothing left to do but wait in Cape Coral so we decided we had enough, we needed a change of scenery. Ruskin is about 2 hours north of Cape Coral and there is a very nice camp ground called Simmons County Park. It is right on Tampa Bay with lots of places to walk and bike, boat and fish. All we need is a boat and some fishing poles.

We decided to meet up with Mary & Pat on Friday since Mary's sister, my other cousin Betty, was coming into town on Thursday. We found Mary & Pat's place near Wimauma. (Why Mama???) We went out for Mexican and then headed to a nearby fleamarket. It poured the whole time we were in the flea market and then we had to get back to all the dogs, they have 2 Boston Terriers and our 2 mini doxies. The Bostons liked the doxies a little too much so our dogs stayed in the camper.

Mary and Pat have Wii and so we bowled at their house. We have never done that before and it was MORE fun that real bowling. No stinky shoes, sweaty balls, lanes that don't work, wrong scoring, or bad bowling shirts. It was a blast. Pat won every game, he's retired, I think he bowls a lot more than he'll admit.

Rainy Days and Mondays

Rainy and cool was the way Monday started out. First thing I did was open the drawer under the frig only to find everything wet. Apparently our frig konked out during the nite and Gary's bag of ice was melting and it ran right down into our junk drawer. So Gary emptied out the junk on to a towel on our bed which is right next to the frig. We thought about calling Camping World but we had found out earlier that just to look at our frig would cost about $300 and there was no guarantee they would fix it, a new frig cost about $700 and there's still the installation charges so we figured about $1,000 total for a new frig, we paid $1500 for the camper. Do the math.

We had seen a truck in our campground that advertised fixinig RVs so we gave him a call. He came over and knew what to do, got the frig running and now we are waiting to see if it is fixed or it may still need another part to keep running. When ZZTop is not touring he is fixing campers. Who knew?

DeDe Naughty

Since hearing about our home purchase, things are quieting down for us. Well they weren't really noisy but waiting to hear was torture. So last nite, we are happy, had a nice supper and were settling in for the evening. Gary and the girls were up in the bed and I was playing cards on the computer, my latest addiction, thanks to JerBer. Anyway, Gary noticed that there was a wet spot on the blanket and the most logical conclusion was DeDe had an accident. Not only was the top blanket wet, the big blanket underneath was soaked, the sheets and even our new mattress was wet. And since we have no room for extra bedding, I was forced to go do laundry just when I was ready to crawl into bed. At home, this would be a minor inconvenience, here at the campground, without enough quarters, it is a major drag. There is no change machine in our laundry here so I had to interrupt the camp Bingo game and beg the blue hairs for a couple of quarters.

Luckily Gary never learned how to post an ad on Craigslist so DeDe is still with us.

Weather today was hot, rain this afternoon. We had a chance to do some trimming around the house today, not sure if it was ok to work on the yard yet but we are just ansy to get started. Even met some neighbors, so far so good.

Home Owners At Last

We left Collier Seminole State Park near Naples early Tuesday morning. It really got cold during the night and we woke up to a 60 degree camper. We took off early Tuesday to meet with our realtor one last time on the house we have an offer on. This has been a very very frustrating process and we are ready to give it up and head north. Last Friday the listing realtor asked for our highest and best offer which we submitted only to find out late Monday that the listing realtor was asking for our highest and best offer again on Tuesday. We didn't understand the game playing and with much apprehension we submitted our final offer again on Tuesday.

And guess what? They finally accepted our offer at noon today and we are the proud owners of a small house in a very nice neighborhood in Cape Coral that needs A LOT of work, Gary will be busy for years. What sold me was the built in can opener. It doesn't work and it may be tough to find another one to fit the hole in the wall, that's what I'll be working on.

But we are very very happy, we will be staying in the area for a while longer now getting some things taken care of with the house before we head back. Now I just need to find a straightjacket for Gary, too many projects, not enough time.