Travel to Tampa

Wesley Chapel, Florida (high 91, low 69)

We left Jacksonville about 11 am for an easy 200 mile drive. We’re getting better and can do 200 miles without too much trouble.  (easy for me to say, says Al)

We headed  south on I-95, to I-10, then south on Hwy 301 to I-75.  Thanks Sherry for the tip on Highway 301.  It was a lot shorter and a nice divided road.

The only problem with Highway 301, that it takes you through  the very well known speed trap towns of Starke and Waldo.   We try not to speed normally, but especially driving the motor home.  These two towns try to catch you by quickly changing the speeds and not giving you time enough to slow down. 

Before we got to Starke we were shocked to see a huge sign warning of a speed trap.     I missed getting a photo,  but I got one just like it at before entering the next speed trap town of  Waldo.

Something else I found interesting was a sign warning you of a speed limit change up ahead.  It would say 45 (or 55 or whatever)  with an arrow pointing up.  I thought that was interesting.  Even with all these warnings, it was still difficult to get your speed down quickly enough at times.  Al just started driving under the speed limit in anticipation of the next change of speed.  The speed went from 65 to 30 at one point.

We made it through Waldo and Starke without any speeding tickets and the rest of the trip was smooth sailing.

We arrived back in Quail Run and moved to our new winter site.  It’s larger than the site we had before and we have plenty of room for the coach, both trucks and still have a nice patio area.   The park isn’t full yet, so we don’t have any neighbors close by.  It’s a nice place to spend the winter.  We know people and the management is very nice.  It will be our home base, but we’ll be able to come and go as we please.   Can anyone say “Florida Keys?”

We have some repairs we need to get done while we’re in the Tampa area.  We loved Lazy Days when we bought our coach, but we hate having to go back there for repairs.  We’re wondering is we can find a mobile rv mechanic to work on the slide problem.

Here is our problem, and if anybody has any thoughts,  I’d appreciate your input.

When we got to Asheville, we noticed our big living room slide had crept out less than an inch.  I felt sure we had fully retracted it when we left South Carolina.

While on the road back to Tampa, we noticed it would creep out a little while we were driving.  Again, less than an inch.  We have an automatic locking mechanism on the slide, so we didn’t feel it would go out any further.  I did some research on the forums and found this is not an unusual problem and it appeared it would only creep out a little bit.  We were a little worried about it, but kept a constant eye on it.  Every time we stopped, we’d bring it back in an inch.

We have an extended warranty that we’ve never used.  We may get a chance to see how good of a policy we have.  Of course, it will depend on what’s wrong to determine if there is any coverage. 

We can sure tell we are back in Florida.  Not only is it hot and humid, but we got a strong thunderstorm yesterday.   The summer rainy season in Florida is supposed over, and October is supposed to be dry…unless there is a hurricane or tropical storm.  Apparently the rain hasn’t slowed down yet.  I’m looking for some cooler and dryer weather.

One  thing I like about Florida is the pretty clouds.

I snapped a few pictures while we were driving yesterday.

Pretty huh?   Unfortunately, these probably are the same clouds that drenched us later!