....Until It Didn’t...

Just the other day I did a blog about how our luck was holding out. I forgot to knock on wood. We are now spending two days in a motel in Chiefland, Florida, because our RV needs a new transmission. Gulp! One day after the first fix the check engine light popped on again.....so back to the dealership!

This time the mechanic found we needed a much more costly fix. Oh well.....as my sister texted, this is « a gravity issue » meaning it is what it is and you can’t do anything about it! Gravity.....a new way for me to think about things I can’t control.

One really good thing....cable TV shows about flipping houses and demolition projects completely re-doing a home. We’ve watched shows filmed in Chicago, and Boise and Waco. My eyeballs hurt.

It’s probably a good thing we don’t have cable TV at home!

My Souvenirs......

When we travel I usually look for refrigerator magnets as my souvenir. They are small, easy to tuck into the RV and when I get home they help decorate our kitchen in a colorful way. This trip I found two opportunities to purchase quilt fabric. The shop in Cedar Key had a nice selection with good prices....because the owner was going to close the store at the end of April. And then we stopped at the little quilt museum in Chiefland.....in a back room they had some donated fabrics for sale. Much was old and a bit musty....but I found two terrific one-yard pieces for $3.00 each. A real bargain for nice cotton! And these pieces will work well with my stash at home.

Color me happy!

And Our Luck Continues......

We’ve had a really smooth trip.....considering we headed toward Florida with no particular route in mind and no reservations. We know that many campers make reservations at the State Parks a year in advance. But we just wandered.....and lucked out at every park. For instance, we drove up to the ranger’s booth at the entry to Manatee Springs State Park. The ranger came out and asked if we had a reservation. Dave’s response was “No, but we hope you have a site available!” She looked at him and stated “We are completely sold out....but I just now hung up the phone. A family had to cancel and you can have their space!” And here we are, enjoying a very nice park, with manatees, as one space after another opened up.

So...we have been very lucky. Even today, when driving out of the park, the transmission startd to make a funny clunking noise. (Dave said it was the transmission....I just helpfully asked “What was that wierd noise?”)

Long story short but we pulled into the Chevy dealer here in Chiefland....

.....and they have a service center.....

.....and they could take us right away....and they had the part we needed to fix a leaking transmission.

Now our little home on wheels is up on the rack and we sit in the service center and wait. The “lounge” has a television, some pretty comfortable chairs, a McDonald’s across the street and a Dollar Store next door where I bought Fenway’s dog food for his late lunch.

So all is good...this problem could have hit while we were driving down the road in the middle of nowhere. Our good luck continues.....

Bison, Birds and Blossoms.....

We are really lucky to be able to hit the road during the winter and explore warmer places. It makes for a very nice break from Wisconsin’s winter. This year’s wandering will take us to Naples, Florida so that I can go to my almost-annual reunion with five good friends from college. That part of the trip is No Men Allowed.....so Dave amd Fenway will have to go explore on their own for a few days.

But, in the meantime, we’re in this together. Leaving southern Illinois we drove The Trace through Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky. The Trace is the main road right through the middle of this National xxxxxand it follows historic trails made by bison and elk during their annual migrations......before man settled the land. We stopped at a bison and elk preserve and slowly drove the loop. The elk were hiding....but I got my bison fix!

And one of Dave’s goals for this trip was to try to catch some good bird photographs along the way. Alabama and Florida presented him with some terrific opportunities.

And the beautiful blossoms we find along the way continue to dmonstrate that we are a long way from Wisconsin’s winter 2019. Again......lucky us!

And the Birding Continues.....

A side trip to Cedar Key yesterday meant I found some lovely fabric at the quilt shop and we enjoyed a cup of coffee with still-warm home made cinnamon rolls for a very nutritious lunch! And then we made several nature stops so Dave could use his long lense camera....with some very good results! Watching wildlife just never gets old....

The Sad Part.......

Wandering around in our small RV gives us a chance to explore parts of the US and Canada that we’ve never seen before. This trip southeast fromWisconsin to Florida presented a chance to stay in Manatee Springs State Park for a few days. It’s really a nice spot, quiet and picturesque.....but it wasn’t on our radar until we drove out of Alabama and started looking for a next stop.

We were lucky to get a site! As we pulled up to the office to inquire the ranger said the park was full....but she had just hung up the phone. Someone cancelled so we could have their spot.....#6.

It was a nice site, quiet, trees around us, and who pulled in right next to us? Another Roadtrek....and we met a very nice couple from Quebec. Wisconsinites aren’t the only ones fleeing winter for awhile! And then we connected with a couple across the lane....from Cape Cod. Strangers until a chance meeting at a small State Park in northwest Florida.

This is one of the best parts of this  RV “lifestyle” ....the like minded people you meet. We share stories, suggest places to stay, find things we have in common and sometimes very unexpected connections. This happens to me everytime we travel....ask a few questions and you find out that this person, a stranger to you, graduated from your high school, or grew up near your cousin....or worked with your brother-in-law’s cousin! It’s that six degrees of separation thing....over and over. In this case, my new Canadian friend, has a son who was also born in January and just turned 50...and a daughter five years younger. (We commiserated about white hair and “kids” who dare to reach milestone birthdays.)

So the fun part is gathering together, around the campfire or inside the biggest unit for a glass of wine, more conversation and laughter. And the sad part is the goodbye.....new friends leaving the next day and, in all probability, your paths will never cross again. Part of the camping process....part of the fun..... but this one makes me sad......goodbye new friends!

Explorations.....

It was our Christmas gift to each other. I’d been looking for a big globe ever since I saw the one my daughter found several years ago. It was big and just beautiful. Sitting in its wooden cradle next to her fireplace I used to tease that if it ever went “missing” she might find it at my house. And to think that she found it at a re-sale shop for about ten dollars!

I looked for years with no success. But just before Christmas we were wandering through the shops in Cedarburg enjoying the holiday display. We made one last stop at a nice re-sale shop and there it was. “My” globe! Dave and I no longer buy each other big Christmas gifts....our trips are our gifts to each other. And yes, this one cost a bit more than Megan’s. But we stood and looked at it for awhile, went home thinking about it and drove back the next day to make the purchase. It was our gift to each other...and I love it.

I spin it when I dust.....end enjoy imagining another adventure. The world at my fingertips.......

Looking For The Green....

A few days ago we fled Wisconsin....it’s true, we tough Wisconsinites wimped out. We’d been planning this for about a month and a trip southeast was on the calendar for February so it was no surprise to our friends and family when we pulled out of the parking lot.

The first three hours were the worst....salt spray on the highway from Milwaukee all the way around Chicago made visibilty just terrible. I think we went through a gallon of wiper fluid just trying to stay ahead of the layer on the windshield. But we were not battling snow and we got out of town before the ice storm made driving treacherous up there today.

Three days later and we found the green.....and the warm. The RV is clean again and we are enjoying temperatures in the 70’s down in Alabama. Fenway is much happier because we can take longer walks. We are getting re-oriented to living in a very small space. 

But one thing is a bit of a shock! When our kids were little we went on a family trip to Disney World with best friends and their kids. One of the “jokes” on that trip was “Silver hair alert!” That meant we were moving slowly down a road....very slowly.....because an “old person” was driving in front of us.

We are camped in Gulf State Park in Orange Beach along the Alabama coastline. It is a huge park....and just about everyone else has a really big camper.....and they are staying for a month or more. Lots of license plates from the Midwest and places cold. And everyone is silver hair....including us. Doesn’t seem like a funny joke anymore....”Silver hair alert!” is hitting close to home!

Just Because......

We had a real cold spell here in Wisconsin.....as everyone knows. It's getting better.....I woke to 28 degrees with just a slight breeze this morning. Taking Fenway for his morning walk it feels almost "spring-y". Well, not quite.

So I've basically been hibernating for the past three days. Kept pretty busy with projects and the other  night we invited some neighbors from the building to come up/down for a conversation just to break everyone's cabin fever. That was fun.... about a dozen people sitting around our living room and just sharing stories, laughs and what-to-do-when-you-can't-go-outside suggestions.

Lots of the owners in the building flee for the winters so it's nice to get together with those of us who stick around. Port Washington is a very nice place to live, and the people who live in the building are friendly and supportive. Most "meetings" take place in the elevator or the garage....so this was a nice way to extend the conversations

We'll do it again.....but not because of the polar vortex....just because it's fun!