Monday, October 25, 2010

A Few Trials and Tribulations White Springs, Florida

We left home for our camping trip before noon.

We didn't think we would ever get everything loaded into the motor home.  Thank goodness for our golf cart.  The motor home is up a hill about 300 feet from the house, so the golf cart if a life saver.  It will definitely be one of the last things we sell before we move.  It's those last minute things, like the Tivo box, the cameras, computers, phones, and all their chargers, cables and batteries. 

We decided to go to Suwanee Valley Campground  in White Springs, Florida.  It's only about 95 miles from home so it was a short enough drive.  We had never been here before so we didn't make reservations.    This is only the 2nd time we’ve stayed at a campground that we hadn’t seen previously.

It’s a Passport America park so we got our site for $12.50.  Our new PA membership has already paid for itself.

We drove in and immediately could smell the wonderful pine fragrance.  They are right on the Suwanee River so that was a plus as well.  It' s a typical Florida snowbird park, with shuffleboard, horseshoes, and a recreation room with tv, internet, games, fireplace, library.  The roads and sites are mostly sand and all are pull through.  There is  plenty of shade, which is important with the temperatures into the mid 80's.  By the time we got here we were so tired we would have stayed  almost anywhere.  We normally stay at state parks, but decided we wanted the convenience of sewer hook ups. 

There is a lot to do in the area, with the river and many freshwater springs. 

We got partially set up, but were unable to open the bedroom slide because one of the little “stinkers” got under the bedframe,  through a very small opening when the slide is in.   We couldn’t open the slide until he came out.  He was terrified from the trip and decided to hide.  He is one of the two PITA's that we had so much trouble with last trip.

This is “Medium”, stinker number one!

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He was a wild kitten we found 9 years ago.  He still thinks we might kill him and hides when we start the preparations for camping.  We had a hell of a time getting him from the house to the motor home.  We worked on him for 3 days!

He finally settled down and came out from under his hiding place, but before we could get the slide out, Stinker number 2 decided she wanted to go under there!  Now we had to wait for her to come out.

We took a walk down to the Suwanee River. We were hoping if the place was quiet she would come out on her own.  Wrong! 

When we were walking down by the water  I stepped on something slippery, and I fell down.  I hurt my wrist a little when I tried to break my fall.  My new camera was on a strap around my neck.  Somehow the camera hit the ground as well, and slid in the wet sand, still attached to my neck.  Al did good though. He saw me fall and the first thing he said was,  “are you okay?”  If he would have said , is the camera okay, I would have understood though!  Well I’m glad to say both my wrist and the camera survived the fall.

The next thing that happened occurred right before dark.  We decided to take a walk around the campground.  There was a trailer that had a cover on it.   As we walked by it we heard the unmistakable cries of a kitten that sounded extremely upset.  Uh oh…not good for Al and Karen.  We talked to another fulltime couple nearby and they said there are some wild kittens that live around.   We determined the kitten was not locked inside the trailer as we first thought and the guys were able to get him back with his mother.

Our day was a little tiring and stressful, but at least we made it here safely with no mechanical problems like Margie and Roger have had.  We’re settled in now, the kitties are relaxed  and we were able to get our Directv set up.  We even got local channels!  Al missed the Buc’s football game yesterday, but they won, so he was okay.

Miss Kitty finally decided to come out from under the bed so we were able to put the slide out.  We crawled into our comfy bed.  The window was open, it was cool and the beautiful full moon was shining right over our heads.  It was a wonderful end to the day.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

If We Were Smart

We decided for sure that we are going camping today, but we're not sure exactly where.  We're heading east and will be staying near the Suwanee River, where we'll get in some kayaking.

There are two Passport America parks that have very reasonable rates, and are only about 100 miles away.  It's far enough to give the motor home a good running and there is a lot to do in that area.  We're looking forward to a few days of playing.

If we were smart, we would stay home and continue with our purging/downsizing.  Our Realtor said the Realtor for the potential buyers, said the "buyer"  was going to make an offer towards the middle of the week.  I'm not really sure what that means.  If you're going to make an offer, why not just do it now?  Is she still trying to decide between several homes?  Is she just playing us?  Is she working up the nerve to give us a low-ball offer?

 I spent a pretty sleepless night Friday night thinking about what we would do if the house sells and we have to be out  in a month or so.  Could we do it?  Where do we start?  How do we get rid of all this stuff in such a short period of time?  What do we do first?  We've done well at our weekly garage sales and have gotten rid of a lot of stuff, but we still have a LOT more.  I think the furniture will go pretty easily.  It's nothing special and I don't need top dollar for it.  No antiques or high end furniture.  It's the little stuff that will be the most difficult. I still haven't started scanning photographs.  I still need to go through paperwork and decide what is necessary to keep.   I just don't want to start selling furniture until we have a contract.

The smart thing to do would be to just stay home this week and continue purging....but we've never been known to do the smart thing,  so a camping we will go :)

Check out Ricks blog today about new technology.  It was quite interesting. How do you feel about all the new high tech gadgets?  I understand that it can be difficult for older people, like my mother, to operate many things today.    I don't consider myself among the "older people."  Those people are 10 years older than Al and I :)