Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Settling In

Lutz, Florida

We left Lazy Days Campground yesterday and drove about 30 miles to our new home.  We’re staying at Winter Quarters Rv Resort in Lutz, Florida, which is a little north of Tampa.

It’s the closest place to Mom’s house,  and we stayed here quite a bit last summer.  Their rates get pretty high starting October and snowbird season so we spent the winter (when we weren’t in the Keys or Fort Myers) in another park that’s a bit further away.

We’re booked for 33 nights for a cost of $499.  That includes the 10% discount they gave us for being Thousand Trails members.  This year, they have new and better management and they allowed us to pick a “premium” site.  The park is not full by any means, so why not?   We chose a site that gives us some afternoon shade on the patio side.   We always seem to get sites that have full sun on the patio side, so this will be nice.  There are a lot of park models here but we don’t have anybody beside us and on the patio side there is a beautiful large Oak tree that we enjoy.  The bird feeders will be going up today.

So…I guess this is it for a while.   (sigh)

We decided we needed our  living room window awning since the hot afternoon sun was shining hard in that window. We’re having to pay electricity here, so we didn’t want that!

The little pull strap had gotten wound up in the shade, probably from when Lazy Days removed it when they replaced the slide gaskets.  We had never bothered to get it corrected but yesterday was the day.  We  discovered we had two problems.  The missing strap, and also the right side was locked up and wouldn’t extend.  Al finally took out a bolt on the arm that holds it in place, and we were able to extend the window awning.  What a difference that window awning made.

Our project for today is to install the sunshade on the window by the captains chair.  The afternoon sun shines right into that side, so it will be helpful.  It’s been hot here, and we’re expecting 90 degrees today.  We ordered the side window shades when we ordered our front window shade right after we got this coach.  You have to install the magnets that hold it in place and we never really needed it, so it hasn’t been done.  Todays the day!  Exciting, huh?

Oh, how I wish we could head north!  Jeanne and Eldy are enjoying Savannah.  Ralph and Donna are in Washington DC seeing all the interesting sites.  Both are places we had hoped to visit this summer.   sigh

It’s not that there aren’t lots of fun things to do in Tampa, it’s just that after living here 30 years, we’ve done most everything more than once!  Boy, if Al only had a boat!

10 comments:

  1. $499 for 33 nights in Florida doesn't sound too bad. Nice to be close to mom.
    I think I must have missed something along the way. Why can't you leave the area and head North?

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  2. I just wish we had only been sitting for 33 days. We have been here since November with only a short break to go to Q. I am so ready to be on the road. But health issues - be they yours, hubbies, or Mom's take precedence. And it's time we really won't regret.

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  3. That last sentence made me laugh out loud, Karen. You must be "there" when it comes to Al's boat desires.

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  4. I agree with you about the window awning. Sure am glad we got one put on ours. Now if we can just get a good ceiling fan...
    Syl

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  5. Sure hope Al reads your blog. If he does, I'm sure he's already visiting a few boat sales!

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  6. A nice boat would sure make the heat more bearable:)

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  7. I love the last line too. Looking forward to seeing how this all works out.

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  8. The new park sounds nice. I understand your frustration of being tethered to a geographic location. We are trying to figure a solution to that also. We are still planning on wintering in FL but are reluctant to travel much further until we sort our house situation out. Enjoy the time with your mom.

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  9. sounds like a great park...esp where you were able to get a premium site...enjoy your time with your mom..

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  10. Those window awnings are really helpful in blocking that hot Florida sun. I wish we had bought the side Magna window covers when we bought the one for the windshield. How much to expect a month of electric to run? Do you have to pay the water/sewer bill also?

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