March 10th...our last night on the road...

Missed the turn from the NJ Tpke to the Garden State so we ended up going over the GW Brridge.  We are spending the night at a Walmart in Norwalk...we just couldn't go any further...we were on the road the longest today!

Feb. 2-Mar. 11, 2014

At the end of this journey I wanted to provide some fun facts, so here goes!

License Plate Game:  We spotted 27 states, most notably Washington, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and North Dakota.  We also spotted three Canadian Provinces, of note Manitoba.

Mileage/Gas:  Our average mpg was 8.4!  The average price for gas $3.34/gal.  We traveled almost 2800 miles!

Tolls:  $132

Passport America:  We saved $274 using Passport America campgrounds, not counting the $45 sign up fee for 2014.

Money spent on eating out:  $101. Money spent on groceries:  A lot.

------------

Notes for next year:

Get EZ Pass for tolls!  Joe is right!

Need bigger rig with two slides, more storage for clothes and food, more comfortable cab and better suspension.  First priority will be a visit to Lazy Days in Tampa!

Utilize space outside of rig more to extend living space.

Make beaches a priority!

We need Tv with cable hookup at campgrounds so we can relax with our favorite shows.  Robin sit in comfy chair with feet up, blanket on legs so Pip can relax into her spot!

Robin needs to be the one to sometimes go into stores leaving Pippin with Steve so she remains used to being apart from Robin for short periods and so Robin can enjoy shopping!

Stay in one place for a week or so, so we can really unpack, set up and relax!

       Manatee Hammock in Titusville

       Phipps Park or Army Corps of Engineers in Stuart

Drive more miles every day...200+/day if Robin can be more comfortable.

Can we figure out a route that avoids the NJ Tpke...the tolls are exorbitant!

Walk Pippin everyday we can on a leash so she gets exercise.

------------------

This is the route we took which combines Frank & Julie's way with Carol & Jerry's way (Barb, this is for you!)

95S to Tappen Zee Bridge to Rt, 287W, exit 14A to GS Pkwy, exit 129 onto Nj Tpke/95S over the Del/Mem'l Bridge, exit 1A onto Rt 896 to Rt. 301/50 continue to Rt 207 to 95 in Richmond, continue on 95s

This route bypasses Baltimore, Philadelphia and DC!

3/9 -10/14

Woke to a chilly but delightfully sunny morning in Milford, VA.   We are headed to Middletown, DE today taking scenic Rt 301.  Not sure where we'll stop, but that's how we roll...

We made it to Frank & Julie's Walmart in Middletown, DE!  

Just wanted to let inquiring minds know of something Steve found at the last Walmart we stopped at:  In the frozen case he found Wild Salmon Fillets distributed by The Fishin' Co. in Seattle...six individually wrapped fillets for $9.68...that's a fantastic buy for wild caught salmon!  

Back to the Walmart in Middletwon, we don't have wifi so that's why two days will be posted tomorrow.

--------

It's Monday the 9th and we finally took the plunge and bought a Straight Talk Mobile Hotspot at the Walmart we are parked at.  It's the TracPhone of Mobile Hotspots, and I can't believe we only have one more night on the road when we finally bought one of these!!!  But that's how I am posting this!

We are going to continue north stopping one more time.  We called Joe to figure out how to start winterizing.  We can't get the plug off the hot water heater to drain that, but we did find the plugs under the rig to drain the lines and we are going to let the water in the holding tank drain as we drive.  We will try to stay in a truck stop tonight and perhaps they will have a place to dump our tanks.  More tonight!

First Snow Sighted, in Virginia

Woke to a beautiful sunny day...the weather so far has been either beautiful or horrible, very few so-so days.  We are headed for Ashland, VA to look at Class As.  Steve got some very good advice in the laundry room last night from a seasoned RVer...his perfect rig would be 32 feet and no more than 12 ft high with two slides...make sure when the bedroom slide is in you can still easily get to the bathroom...really check out whatever you think you might buy...lie down on the bed and the couch...make sure you fit...can you see the TV from wherever you might sit or lie without craning you neck, etc.  The rigs we expect to see are really too long, but at least he can test drive one.

Well, the first RV dealership was closed when we got there, and when we pulled in we couldn't turn around so Steve had to unhook the car, get both vehicles turned around and then had to retook the car.  By that time he had had enough!  So we saw a Goodwill that we are going to, and then the campground.

It's absolutely beautiful today, but sad to say we have seen our first snow here in Ashland, VA!

We ended up at R&D Family Campground where ironically we stayed on the way down!  Passport America (even though they say not on Fri or Sat, they gave it to us anyway!) and we paid $24 for the night, saving us $24.  Can't wait to tally up at the end to see how much PA saved us!

For the record the wifi is only so-so...

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Pouring rain and driving wind turned this day into a sleep-in, shower, laundry, clean and reorganize the rig day--maybe even watch a movie day, here in northern NC.  Good thing we topped off the propane recently because the furnace has been crankin'!  It seems very strange to be thinking about "coming off the road" soon.

Our next stop is McGreggor RV dealership in Ashland, VA where Steve wants to look at some used Class A Motorhomes.  We really need more space if we're doing this every year...two slides, one in the living area and one in the bedroom, more storage for clothes and food and a more spacious cab.  It would be great if he could test drive one to see how it feels.  We need it to be older but still nice and especially affordable.

Taking on water in the cabinet under the refrig and sink...it's always something!  

(This campground has cute little rental cabins, furnished, for $69 a night...Gram?  The wifi wasn't too bad.)

It's Cold in the Rockfish Capital of the World!

Woke to something new this morning...no water.  Steve did some investigating and the water from the site coming into our hose had frozen overnight.  He boiled some water and poured that on their flexible  rubber hose that was our water connection (unusual, usually it is a stationary spigot on a post.). Then he stretched as much of their hose as he could into the sun to speed the thawing.  After about an hour he was able to reattach and voila, water.  Tonight it's supposed to be a bit warmer so we'll probably be okay.  Good thing we had some water in our holding tank!

This gazebo was outside of our camper!

Today we looked for some thrift shops, etc.  We came across the Rockfish Capital of the World!

Then Steve saw this sign and thought it was funny; guess you can only get the shot in your left arm!

At one of the thrift shops the ladies were telling us how they had just had really bad weather over the last few days...snow and ice; then we saw this on a sidewalk...hail that had still not melted!

As we were driving out of town, we saw this fountain in a very nice front yard and just had to stop and take a picture!

You can't tell in the picture but water was freely flowing still at the very top of the fountain.

Roanoke Rapids, NC

Woke to a chilly rainy day in SC.  We decided to blast north through NC almost to VA because we found a campground with a heated pool...yippee!  Long drive but we finally made it...but the pool isn't open yet because it's been so cold here!  😡

Decided to stay for two nights anyway so we (I) could have a little break from driving.  Steve picked up pamphlets in the office and there are three thrift shops in the area, so I'm happy (well, not as happy as I would be if I could swim a couple of times tomorrow, but this is second best.)  Decided to put off the Walmart run until tomorrow, too.  

This is our little Pippin where she rides every day on my lap. She needed her coat this morning in SC!

  

Dillon, SC and Storm Damage in SC

Woke to a very chilly day in Walterboro, SC (30s).  Stopped at Walmart yet again for supplies.  We are noticing a lot of damage to some substantial trees along 95N...wondering if it's from the snow and ice they had here recently.  Trees just snapped in half, and the wood looks fresh so this damage is recent.

No real plan today except to travel north at our customarily slow pace.  

Here is an example of one of Steve's little projects to organize all of our keys:

May not look like a big deal but he's tickled by it!

While on the topic of Steve, he has begun chattin' up everyone he meets!  I know, quiet Steve!  He's been so relaxed on this trip that even our crises haven't upset him!  Well, he was a little nerved up waiting for the guy to come yesterday with our oil but that was because it felt like every big rig that passed us on the side of 95 was going to blow our rig right over, and at times it was very windy and pouring rain.  It didn't take much to talk him into looking for a Cracker Barrel or a Walmart after that!

The oil guy said you burn more oil when you are towing...but a whole six gallons?  Joe, any ideas?  Steve checked under our rig this morning and thankfully there was no puddle, and he checked the dipstick and it was right up to the top.  He will continue to check that now that we know.  

We made it to Dillon, SC (almost to the border of NC) after sitting in bumper to bumper traffic for an hour.  Saw many crews along the way clearing the storm debris...they'll be a year at this as we saw snapped off trees and branches from one end of SC to the other!  Hopefully it will put some unemployed folks back to work!

Just got the winter coats out...it's 38 degrees here!  

Whole Foods in Savannah and then some more excitement! 3/3/14

Left our campground in search of the Whole Foods in Savannah.  Success!  Robin stocked up on her diet necessities, and we were on the road agin, headed for a new campground in SC.  

A smooth ride was not to be...along the way, Steve noticed the oil pressure gauge starting to drop and then rise, drop and then rise.  All of a sudden it went down and stayed down!  Screech, we pulled over,again on very busy Rt 95N!

Called Good SAMs Roadside Assistance for help...they asked Steve to check the oil level and sure enough, the dipstick didn't register anything!  We had the oil changed before we left on this trip but evidently we're burnin' oil!  We had extra oil on board, but you may recall the incident where we went around a corner and one of our compartments flew open and we lost some stuff?  Yep, some of that was the oil!

Well, it took two and a half hours and $150 dollars...come to find out running out of oil is not covered!  It took six full quarts, so thank goodness Steve pulled over where he did!  

Decided to ditch the campground idea and pulled off when we saw the next Cracker Barrel sign in Walterboro, SC.  Dinner and bed!

Historic Savannah

Our last day of beautiful weather I'm afraid (even broke out the short sleeves and shorts today!) was spent taking a trolley ride around historic Savannah.

Open air windows and bright sunshine; Pip was a trooper!

Beautiful iron work

Beautiful iron work

Beautiful parks

I remember this house...the whole thing was purchased from the Sears catalog but there were no instructions for how to install the windows, and they were all put in upside down!

This was one of two character actors that boarded our trolley along the way to tell the story of the historic person they were portraying.

Keller's Flea Market in Savannah

Today was flea market day for us here in Savannah.  This one was not as good as Pecan Park in Jacksonville, but we scored something we've been looking for for quite awhile:

We need to polyurethane it, and then attach the two pieces with little chains and then figure out a way to hang it from a shepherd's crook so we can display it outside of our rig on our camping trips, but Steve loves projects like that!  

After the flea market, yet another trip to Super Walmart and then home to make a big pot of soup and then relax.  Got another rotisserie chicken for dinner...

Tomorrow we are going on a 90 min trolley ride around Historic Savannah, and I found a dog-friendly one!  

Savannah Oaks Campground

Traveled north a bit to a campground in Savannah. The alternative was a campground on Tybee Island but they made me mad when they said that no beach on the island was dog-friendly and if we were caught there was a $500 fine!  

My goals for Savannah are 1) Keller's Flea Market running this weekend, 2) taking a trolley ride which is a historic tour of Savannah, and 3) going to the Whole Foods here and stocking up!  (Also making a big pot of soup because the freezer is almost empty!). 

The weather is sixties moving toward low seventies through Monday and then a cold front is coming through so then we'll move again.  We want to avoid the big storm that we think is hitting the NE this weekend, etc.

No photos yet for today.

St Simons Island

Nice day to explore St Simons Island, an island next to Jeckyl Island off the southern coast of Georgia.

We have seen lots of these big ships off the coast here and we understand that a lot of foreign cars are imported through this Georgia Port Authority and vice versa.

Steve went down to the beach to see if there was any beach combing but there wasn't.

The lighthouse on St Simons.

Good example of Spanish moss growing everywhere here in GA!

Rainy day...

Still at the campground in Brunswick, GA...very close to Jeckyl Island.  It is rainy and chilly today, but tomorrow it's going to be sunny and chilly so we are going to spend the day exploring the islands here.  My mom is interested in St Simons Island for next winter.  For $17 a night and excellent WIFI, ya can't beat it!  Got out my suitcase today to switch over from shorts and tank tops to long pants and sleeves...sigh...

Jeckyl island Beach. 2/24-25, 2014

Overnight in Cracker Barrell parking lot in Jacksonville, FL...no WIFI...today (Tuesday) drove to Brunswick, GA,,,Golden Isles RV Park, PA campground only $17...beautiful day so we are heading to Jeckyl Island Beach!  

Wow, we had a tremendous afternoon on Jeckyl Island!  The weather was spectacular!  We drove around a bit, and even if the weather is lousy tomorrow, we can still check out St Simons Island, etc.  The rate here is $17/night with PA with a three night max. and the campground actually on Jeckyl  Island is $28/night with w/e.  We could easily spend a week here, maybe beginning of March to ensure warmer weather...

We re-upped for a second night here and may spend a third night!

        

(Note: This is a really good campground...down to earth and flexible...could stay here for a week next year!)

Onward to Alachua, FL. (I know...where?). 2/23/14

Still too humid for me here in central Florida, even though it's a bright sunny day. After much debate we are going to start meandering north, starting with Alachua, FL which is still inland but we want to circle around Daytona. There is a Good SAMs campground there called Traveler's Campground that we're staying in for one to two days, then due East. There will be a big climate change between here and there!

From there we are going to make our way up the coast, looking for beaches! I can't believe I'm saying this, but we haven't been to a beach yet! Granted there's accessibility to contend with as well as dog policies, but I am going to make it a priority to hit a few on the way home!

--------

Made it to Alachua in the pouring rain although it's cooler and less humid.  Tomorrow doesn't look much better and this is a one-horse town at best, so we will push on tomorrow to the Jacksonville area.  Tuesday looks good for weather!

----------

Really poor internet here hence no blog post for yesterday, but here it is!

Davenport, FL

Rained hard early this morning and again this afternoon, but it's still humid. Still not feeling too chipper. We have been kicking around a lot of ideas of where to go next...I'd like to get back to lower humidity but the weather is not cooperating. Turns out it's race weekend in Daytona so that area is all locked up and much too expensive anyway. 

I think we are going to start back north...slowly meandering, maybe a more inland route...not at all sure. Want to get back to being able to reliably use Passport America, and optimally find some places we'd like to spend a few days. It was too cold for that on the way down, but maybe it will be different on the way back.

Steve has been working on customizing our rig while I have been resting! Nothing major but just to make things more organized and user-friendly. The only new thing that's broken is the pull strap on our awning which a nice campground employee replaced for us. 

Sick in Paradise

Ok, yesterday was basically a lost day for me. Several times a year I get hit with a bout of vertigo that sends me to bed for about 36 hrs and it hit me about 36 hrs ago! I keep Bonine in the house and the rig because that's the only thing that helps a bit, plus ginger. A bit better today...I was able to go in the pool here at the campground, which is good because I'm also dealing with humidity here :(. 

We are trying to balance the a/c with fans...it's either too cold or too hot in the rig. Problem is that a front is coming through and it's humid on the coasts as well. I'm going to investigate where we should go next, maybe tonight if I feel a bit better. No sense being miserable here if we can move to be more comfortable somewhere else. That's how we roll...  (Our new motto!)

Visiting With Friends 2/19/14

Had a great visit with our friends Joe and Karen yesterday, just wish it were a little longer.  We had a fabulous lunch at Duffy's in "Old Stuart"...can't wait until next year to be able to check out the cute little shops!  FYI from 2-4 everything on the menu is 40%off!  Then we got a tour of their home in Stuart and had some R&R in their infamous garage!  Next we went to a great fruit and vegetable market so Robin could stock up on her veggies for awhile.  Nice to connect with camping club friends here in sunny Florida!

Phipps Park in Stuart is quite nice!  Pippin had a little excitement this morning...she was running off some energy when the land just disappeared under her and she slipped down the embankment!  Luckily she didn't go too far and Steve was able to climb down a few feet and get her.  Of course he would have climbed down as far as he had to to rescue her, but she was only about four feet down.  We tried for a little reenactment photo but she would not go near the drop off but you can see Steve standing where he had to get her.  

(That's a towel on my lap because Pippin's feet were wet, but that's right outside of our RV at Phipps!)

We are taking off inland to a campground in Davenport for a longer stay...maybe four or five days!  Yeah! And it's a Passport America campground!  Kissimmee RV Resort.  

Having a some problems with vertigo so that's why this blog is a day late.  May be my body's way of saying I'm doing too much and not sleeping enough...good we're here for a bit.

Cracker Barrel Night!

Stayed at Cracker Barrel which worked great...we were even able to pick up the McDonalds WIFI.  On to a municipal park near Joe and Karen's, lunch with them, and then tomorrow we are off to Kissimmee South Carefree RV Resort in Davenport, FL.  Passport America with heated pool and WIFI!  Even though it's within driving range of Disney, they still have availability!  Yipee!  No internet tonight, so wanted to dash off this post now.  

Hobe Sound

Left Fort Pierce and traveled down to Hobe Sound to spend the day with Barb & Jerry.  Drove around sight-seeing with them so they could show us the sites.  Robin swam in their pool and then we had Chinese.  Tonight we are staying in the Cracker Barrel parking lot here in Hobe Sound.  Robin is waiting to get a prescription filled at the Walgreens in Stuart, one town over.  We are hoping to hook up with our friends from our camping club who winter in Stuart, hopefully tomorrow.  Tomorrow night we're staying at Phipps Park but they only have dry camping sites available. Then we're planning on heading inland to be able to use Passport America again.  Turns out this is the school kids' February vacation week so the coast is absolutely mobbed!

Fort Pierce

Staying in Fort Pierce for the day...Super Walmart, swim in the pool...hopefully some relaxation.  Tomorrow (Monday) we will check out of Treasure Coast and head back to my step-mom's house--we can park our rig at her Clubhouse but just not sleep in it.  Then she is going to take us site seeing around Hobe Sound followed by a swim in her pool.  We are dry camping at the Cracker Barrel in Hobe Sound, then we're off on another adventure...

Photos below are of our rig in Treasure Coast, a ridiculously expensive park with really bad internet service.  Also, a photo of this cool shelf unit Steve just got at Walmart to organize all my stuff I keep by the sink in our bathroom.  We should have taken a before and after! 

Visiting Family! 2/15/14

Traveled south to Fort Pierce, FL to Treasure Coast Campground.  We are still about a half hour north of my step-mom's house, but this was as close as we could get because it's a holiday weekend.  It was chilly this morning in Titusville but I can feel it's warmer here, just a bit more south.  Got set up, I went for a swim in the heated pool here at the campground, and then we jumped in the car and drove about 30 miles south to Hobe Sound.

Barb and her husband Jerry have an absolutely beautiful home!  We enjoyed a fabulous home-cooked meal with them.  Then home again to our little house on wheels.

Spotty internet here so the blogs may be less predictable while we're at this campground :( !  

Hang-around Day

Pippin took a bad fall off the bed last night, falling thump right onto her back.  She didn't get up immediately and made some sounds I have never heard her make before.  She let me carefully pick her up and put her on my lap.  We gave her a good dose of Rescue Remedy and in a few minutes I began to gently flex her limbs, rub up and down her spine, then her ribs and finally palpated her abdomen.  No yelps or flinches.  She was very sedate after that.

She is fine today.  It there is such a thing as a dog "having the wind knocked out " of them like people do, that is what I think happened to her.  Love our Rescue Remedy!  

I'm staying put at the campground today...so far it's a bit chilly...I won't say the temperature out of deference to our CT folks who are cold, wet and snowy!  Steve has a load of laundry in, making more tuna Mac salad for himself, and we're going to clean and vacuum the car...much too cold to do this before we left home!

Tires in Titusville, FL

Rain last night but a beautiful day today in the 60s.  Dropped the rig off to get new tires.  They said the tires were all about seven years old so Steve decided to have them all replaced--$1250--seemed like a good price from what Jerry Clark said yesterday, which included valve stems, balance and alignment.  Now we are exploring Titusville!

Found a health food store and then a thrift store which benefited the SPCA...doesn't get any better for me at least!  Also lunch and Walmart.

When we picked up the rig from the tire place (a Goodyear dealership) the owner showed Steve the valve stems and said it was a good thing we came in today, because several of them were hanging on only by a thread!  Phew, I think we dodged a real catastrophe!

Manatee Hammock in Titusville. 2/12/14

Slept in a bit because I was so exhausted.  We decided to stay here at Manatee Hammock Campground in Titusville for a few more days just to catch our breathes! We realize we've done nothing but drive, albeit relatively short distances, without any real R&R plus we need to deal with our tires.  Gram, I gathered us some air ferns!

We called the really nice guy who came out yesterday to change our blown out tire for a recommendation for a reliable place to take our rig here in the area to inspect our tires and replace any that need it.  He recommended a guy in Cocoa so we have an appt to drop the rig off tomorrow and we'll take our tow car and explore.  Here is a photo of the blown out tire...pretty scary looking!

      

Then we seriously began working on a place to stay this weekend so we could visit my step-mom and her husband in Hobe Sound.  It turns out this is a holiday weekend, so we had to call a number of places!  We finally found Treasure Coast Campground in Fort Pierce who had a site for us for Sat. and Sun., and we were able to extend our stay here at Manatee for Friday night, so we're set for the weekend.  We have not been able to use Passport America here in Central Florida because this is on-season for them, but Manatee is only $25/night, and frankly I don't know how much Treasure Coast was, I was just relieved that they had a site for us!

We waited for the heat of the day to subside (low 80's) and then took a walk out on a long fishing pier (you can tell from the pictures that a storm is blowing in!). On the way we encountered this bird with only one foot...wonder how he lost the other one?

       

On the way back, we were shocked to see some familiar faces--our friends the Clark's from our camping club back in CT!  They are staying here until the beginning of March, so after we deal with our tire situation, hopefully we can visit with them a bit!

Double excitement! 2/11/14

Woke to a chilly morning but it's going to warm up considerably.  We want to go to the thrift shop and the laundromat so we think we'll break camp early and then park the rig and the car in a central location and use the car to bee-bop around Daytona Beach.  Might even find the beach?  

On a side note, we were disappointed in the free WIFI here...it was extremely spotty at best.  That's why the blog was late yesterday.  We double checked and this is not a Good SAMs Park and I don't think we'd stay here again.  

A little excitement soon after we left the campground...we were on a limited access highway and needed to turn around.  Found a good place where we could do a wide u-turn which Steve needed to take rather fast because of on-coming traffic.   As we completed the turn I heard a car honk it's horn.  Then a pickup pulled up beside us on the left, made the motion for Steve to roll down his window and he told Steve one of our compartment doors had come open and we lost a couple of quarts of oil onto the ground.  Then a another pickup does the same thing on my side and yells that we "lost half our load back there."

So we turn around and try to retrace our steps...we finally found the site of our spill and there is a lot of traffic.  Steve pulled over into the breakdown lane on the right and we tried to see what was on the road.  We saw the quarts of oil and some rags, but no milk crate that the oil and rags were in and no chair that Steve thought might have been in that compartment.  Cars are wizzing past and we both agreed that it was too dangerous for Steve to even get out.  We decided not to pursue any pick-up.  

Lesson learned that it's not enough to just walk around the rig to see if everything is secure; he has to physically touch and check every compartment.

Excitement addendum:  Steve later checked and the latch on that compartment was latched but the latching mechanism had come loose and he was able to just tighten a screw on the inside of it.  Still going to do a better walk-around before departure, though.

We went to two thrift shops, did two loads of laundry and then Walmart to get a new sewer hose, propane tank and two important wrenches that Steve discovered had also flown out the compartment door, and finally got on the road again.  Of course it was too late to get to the original campground we had picked out in Melbourne/Grant so we selected a new one in Titusville.  Then we had our second even bigger excitement of the day!

Yep, we had a blow-out on 95!  (BEFORE YOU READ ANYMORE, WE ARE FINE!). I was trying to nap on the bed in the back and we blew an interior tire that felt like it was right under the bed.  Steve pulled over and said, "What was that?"  I knew immediately what it was from the sonic boom, the flapping and the terrible smell.

After we took a few seconds to get our bearings, Steve called Good SAMs Emergency Roadside Assistance and a tow truck was here in less than thirty minutes.  Our spare tire appears to be brand-new because it still has the stickers on it (thank you George!) so the guy is using that.  I've got the window open and I heard the guy say we have some dry-rot on at least one other tire and tomorrow we're going to want to get all of our tires checked out.  I'm sure someone at the campground can tell us where to go.  

We're going to sleep well tonight, I hope.

Internet problems thus the delay! 2/10/14

Woke to another sunny morning though it's a bit chilly--think is went into the 40's last night.  

Have some great news!  I couldn't find my Kindle when we got to this campground and was in a bit of a fit looking through everything we had packed up from the last Q.  Called the hotel to ask if they had found it by any chance in our room.  Received a call back somewhat later saying they hadn't found it.   😥    Then last night someone else called from the hotel to say they had really torn the room apart and btw what color cover did I have on my Kindle?  They had found it!   ☺️  They are mailing it to my step-mom's house here in FL!  Yippee!  

It warmed up fast so I did my pedaler outside in the sun:

Steve discovered that we lost a bolt and a cotter pin to our tow car light system, so the campground directed us to an RV service center to get replacement parts.  Brake lights still are working on our tow car but we need to secure the wires better.  But no luck there.  We're going to keep it the way it is for now.  Then gas and a few groceries!  Found a Super Walmart, so we all went in...I need more shorts and tops!  Found a few tops and started working on our grocery list until Pippin got too antsy so she and I came back out to the rig for lunch and Steve continued with the list.  There is a Lowes right here so Steve is going to check there for the parts he needs.  He found what he needed but it took quite awhile. Haven't gone five miles and it's 2:00 already...and we both got up at 7:30!  

When we finally got on the road, we made it as far as Daytona and got a site at Daytona RV and Garden for $22 (saved $22).  I noticed there is a thrift shop right next door so we'll go there in the AM.  Somehow we lost our sewer hose and we just realized we don't have any propane tanks for the grill so back to Walmart at some point.

So far we have saved $100 dollars by using Passport America campgrounds and they have been everywhere we wanted to camp.  Very satisfied campers!  😊

Flea market and sunburn! 2/9/14

Woke to a sunny day here in Jacksonville, FL.  We called the front office to see if we could extend our check-out time so we could enjoy the flea market, which we could for an extra $15.  We got the warmer weather clothes out and put on long pants and long sleeves, but as soon as we got outside we changed into this including sunscreen!

Walked over to the flea market and discovered it's all inside...walked in and it's really chilly in there!  So back to the rig, soaked up some rays...(got a little sunburn)...

...and back into long pants!

The flea market was huge, and turns out we only saw about a third of it, so we might want to catch this again on our way north!  We then decided to stay here an extra night because it's going to be even nicer tomorrow!   Plus we have some little projects we'd like to do around the rig. We'll get back on the road tomorrow whenever checkout is!