Back in the Keys and Some Big Changes

 

Cudjoe Key, Florida (high 70, low 57)

 

So much has been happening that I don’t know where to begin.  Our plan for continuing to be full-time RV’ers has evolved over the past year and we just made another big change.

Since we have RV lots in the north Georgia mountains, and one in the Keys, and spend a lot of time in each place, we decided to put a fifth wheel on each lot.  Last summer we purchased a used fifth wheel for our Blairsville lot and recently we bought another fifth wheel for our Keys lot.

Our plan is to eventually trade in our motorhome for a smaller Rv like a B+, that we will use for travel.  That won’t happen while Mom is still alive, but it’s our plan for the future.

We had been looking for months for the right RV and we finally found one that seemed to be in good shape and priced right.  It’s not new, or pretty, but it fit on our small lot in the Keys.  It passed the rain test last night, so that’s always a good thing!  We had an extra air conditioner installed and bought a washer/dryer combo, so hopefully it will work out.  We had it towed down here, since we don’t have anything that would have pulled it.

We normally rent out our lot a few months in the winter to help with some of the annual expenses and we still may be able to do that.  We could have it towed and stored at the place where we used to store our boat.  We will play that by ear.

One good thing is that there are a lot of pre owned RV’s in the Tampa area and it’s a buyers market.  We knew that closer to the end of snowbird season, the prices would come down and they did.  We got a good deal on our new to us Fifth Wheel. 

 

We bought it from a lady who stored it inside this fabulous garage/barn.  It was HUGE.  The owner has a horse stable and a trucking business.  The horse trailer next to our fifth wheel is a 53 foot (the size of a trailer semi’s pull).  It is a horse trailer with RV quarters.  You can see how huge the storage building was.

The owner, Jeremiah agreed to tow it down for us and also keep it there until we were ready to move it. He allowed us to have a Rv tech come and add our bedroom AC unit. He gave us his gate code so that we could come and go from his beautiful property at will. He and his wife Jen were so nice and helpful.

We will miss going out to the beautiful property and watching the horses jump. 

The tires on the trailer were dry rotted, so Jeremiah told us about a tire place nearby and he arranged for us to get a discount.  He then had his workman Jared take the tires off the trailer. We got the new ones and Jared put the new ones back on the trailer for us.  How nice was that?  We also used Jared to help get the very heavy Splendide washer/dryer combo inside the fiver.  Of course we gave him some money for his efforts.

We were a little concerned the Fiver wouldn’t fit on our Rv lot and still leave us room to park our truck.  We have to park up under the front a little, but Jeremiah managed to get it on our small Keys lot.

You can see why I was a little worried.  There was a patio and a power pedestal that needed to be avoided.

He slipped it right in there and maneuvered it so that it was straight and where it needed to be.

 

Here are a few pictures of the inside.  It has a rv size King bed, which of course means it’s smaller than a regular king bed, but it’s much larger than we had before. The cats have plenty of room now too.  I tossed this old comforter out, put a pretty blue and white one with a beachy theme.

 

 

 

The recliners travel sideways, but turn for use.  Unfortunately, they seemed comfortable at first but we’ve changed our minds.  The only good thing, is you don’t tend to want to sit in them too long and waste the day away on the internet. 

 

 

We’re settling in and trying to do a little decorating “Keys Style.”  

We’ve managed to eat at or favorite places and got our first hogfish sandwich of the season.

 

We took a trip to Key West for sunrise one morning.

We were lucky enough to watch a cruise ship come into port.  It was interesting how they got the huge dock lines from way up high on the ship, down to the water below and tied off.

 

The lines are dropped and a guy in a small boat takes them over to the dock where someone else is there to attach them.

We didn’t wait around to watch the gangplank being lowered and the people disembarking.

 

Did anyone notice the predicted temperatures today for Key West?    Yep…..there is a cold front.  We nearly froze last night in Key West.  My teeth actually chattered and I cannot remember the last time that happened.  

We’re Still Alive

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida (high 78, low 52)

 

It’s been so long since I posted a blog, I had to go back and read up to see where I left off.

We managed to be able to stay up in Georgia until the first week in December.  We’ve  never stayed there that late in the year, but the weather was unusually warm so we stayed until the cold weather pushed us out.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, we bought a Fifth Wheel that we are keeping on our lot. We thought it would be easier to come and go, but now I’m not so sure.  We had to remove any products that would be damaged by the cold.  No food products to attract mice or bugs, and we had to winterize!   We need to work on our exit strategy the next time, because it was a lot of work. Hopefully with more practice, we’ll speed up the process.

 

As I previously posted, I found a lady (Stacy) to live in the house with my Mom, and assist in her care in exchange for room and board.  My brother also lives there, so it’s working out well, and we couldn’t be more pleased.  It has taken a big load off Al and I.

Mom has been having some major issues again.  She gets these urinary tract infections which in elderly people can make them crazy.  She hallucinates, is argumentative, mean, and extremely uncooperative. Getting her to eat and drink is next to impossible. She had been on antibiotics but nothing seemed to help and finally ended up back in the hospital after she got so bad that she kept telling everyone she was dead.

She is resistant to antibiotics due to overuse most of her life, so finding an antibiotic that works is difficult. After many tests, was sent home with a diagnosis of another UTI and a prescription for five days of antibiotics for a total cost of $5000.      Thank goodness her insurance paid for it.  She improved some but we think the five days didn’t do the trick and we’re waiting the results of another urine culture.  

So, despite the fact that we have Stacy, my brother Steve and also home health care 7 hours a day, I don’t feel comfortable leaving town while she is like she is.  Hopefully we can get her back on track soon.

Our plan is to head down to the Keys on March first. Our Rv lot there  has been rented since December and will be waiting for us when/if we are able to get there.   Hopefully we’ll get things figured out with Mom and be able to get back to our happy place in the Keys.

 

Our big excitement this winter was going to Lazy Days for tires and an oil change, and then 2 days in Ocala, at Rainbow Springs State Park and another 2 days at Silver Springs State Park.

Since we got last minute reservations, the best we could get was two nights in a row, but it was nice to get away and it gave us a chance to run the motorhome, which had been sitting for over a year. 

We didn’t do any kayaking, but enjoyed a little time enjoying the beautiful Rainbow River.

 

We were shocked to see some construction of a natural gas pipeline near Rainbow Springs.

 

We do not intend to keep the motor home after Mom is no longer with us, but the tires were aged out and we didn’t feel like risking a blowout, so we bit the bullet and got new Toyo tires.  We had done some research and decided we were comfortable with them and they were much cheaper than the Bridge Stone’s we previously had. The six tires cost $3000 out the door.   Two days before our appointment to replace them, I put an ad on Craig’s List to sell the old ones.

I had heard truckers buy used RV tires and we figured anything we could get would be better than nothing.

I stipulated they would need to pick them up at Lazy Days on the day we replaced them.  There was no way we could haul those big things home in our truck. I didn’t have much hope, but figured it was worth a try.  Long story short, we sold them for $450!    Sometimes things just work out! 

Before the tires, Al decided to replace all six batteries which were 6 years old.    The motorhome had been sitting unused too long, and when we got back from Blairsville, the engine wouldn’t start.  We pushed the battery boost button and immediately heard a loud boom.  We hoped our cat Baxter knocked something over, but it turned out to be a battery that had blown up!

Al marked each end of the cable to the corresponding battery post and successfully got them all re-connected properly.

 

 

We did some other fun stuff in Blairsville before we left and I have some pictures.  Maybe one day I’ll go back and post some of them. 

Wish us luck getting to the Keys.