Time to Head South?

Wesley Chapel, Florida  (high 67, low 49)

I hope all our blogger friends fared well during Hurricane Sandy.

We were sure glad it didn’t hit Florida, but of course we feel bad for the people and animals in the path of the storm.

Unfortunately, many people are going to now learn they have no insurance coverage for their homes, since they don’t have flood insurance.  So many people think flood insurance is expensive and in most cases, it’s really not.   We have a rental house in Tampa (in a hurricane area) and we pay only $300 annually for our flood insurance.  Money well spent!   Remember, rising water is NOT covered under your homeowners policy.  You do not have to live in a flood zone to need flood insurance!

Our weather here has turned quite cool.  Yeah, I know we were wanting it to cool down and we’ve been complaining about the heat.   It’s nice to be able to turn off the air conditioning  for a change.

It was 50 degrees when we woke up this morning.  For some reason, 50 degrees in Tampa feels much colder than it does other places.  When we were in North Carolina, 40  didn’t feel this cold.  The heat pump is on and the kitties were looking for their electric blanket!

Al survived his sinus surgery just fine.  He was pretty wiped out the day of the surgery, but he felt good the next day.  We had tickets for a political rally, and he decided he felt good enough to go.

The start of the rally ended up being delayed due to an accident involving the child of one of the speakers.  That resulted in us standing for 2-3 hours in a high school football field with 15,000 of our closest friends.   He was pretty wiped out by the time we got home. 

Sunday morning he wasn’t feeling well, but we couldn’t pass up a chance to have breakfast with our friends Carol and John.  They were staying at Lazy Days for a few days.  We got together with them yesterday again for lunch, and we plan to meet up with them in the Keys this winter.

We made reservations for the Keys for two weeks starting November 25th.   We had planned on spending Thanksgiving there, but I neglected to make reservations in time.  Oh well.

We hope to spend as much a lot of this winter in the Keys.  We plan to go back in January after the Tampa Rv Show.    Can’t miss all the freebies and deals at the rv show!

We’re winding down on doctor appointments.  Al has a follow up with the ENT surgeon on Thursday and I have a follow up appointment tomorrow.  It will be good to get those done.

Storms and Sinus Surgery

Wesley Chapel, Florida  (high 80, low 60)

Al had his sinus surgery yesterday, and  got through it okay.   We got to the surgery center at 7am and didn’t get home until about 4:30.  It was a very long day.    My favorite way to spend a day is NOT in a hospital waiting room.

He woke up from the surgery in a good deal of pain.  The nurse gave him a pain pill and it helped.   We had already picked up a prescription for pain meds, so we kept the pain pills going throughout the night.    He is not having any pain this morning.   He was extremely wobbly all day yesterday and  I was worried he would fall.  I don’t recall him being like that after any other surgery.    He’s okay this morning and in no pain.  He just has to be careful not to bend over or lift anything heavy.   He thinks that means I should wait on him hand and foot.       He will have to take it easy for about a week.      I already had to remind him no heavy lifting…he just walked out carrying Baxter.  

 

Hurricane Sandy skirted the east coast of Florida yesterday. We’re on the west coast so all we got were some gusty winds.  This morning the winds have lightened up and we awoke to a pretty red sky.  The old saying held true ….red sky at night, sailors delight….red sky in morning, sailor take warning.

Hurricane season ends November 30th.  I sure hope Sandy is the last one we see this year.  October frequently heats up and then it winds down in November.   We want to go to the Keys, but don’t want to be there worrying about a hurricane.

Hurricane Watch

Wesley Chapel, Florida

We have been keeping very busy since we got back to Florida.  

The weather has cooled down some and we’ve actually been able to turn off the air conditioning at night.  That’s a big plus for us!

We’ve spent the past two weeks visiting doctors.  I’m the worlds worst about avoiding doctors so that’s a big thing for me   We both went to a dermatologist for a routine skin check.  After living in Florida 30 years, we both had some sun damage.  They froze 3 little pre cancer cells off my face and  took a biopsy sample from both of us.  They didn’t think either of us had a problem, it was more precautionary, but we’ll both feel better when we get the biopsy results in a few weeks. 

Our next thing is sinus surgery for Al.  He’s been having sinus problems for years and finally decided to break down and get the surgery.   That will be done tomorrow morning.  Wish him luck.  We’re hoping he won’t be out of commission too long because next week is supposed to be beautiful here with daytime temps in the 70’s!

 

Right now we’re keeping an eye on Hurricane Sandy.  She’s sitting down just north of Cuba and is predicted to skirt the east coast of Florida, then head north with a possible landfall in the New England states. If Sandy veers left instead of right, it could get pretty ugly somewhere along the eastern seaboard.  Although they are not predicting any issues for the Gulf coast of Florida, it’s hard to ignore that big blog that appears to be coming right at us.   I know many of our blogger friends are on the east coast of the country right now.  I hope you are all keeping an eye on this monster storm.   Stay safe!  The winds are about 105 mph right now.

Please note that “cone of uncertainty”  looks to be far offshore, but as the storm becomes subtropical the winds will spread out further. There are tropical storm warnings right now for the east coast of Florida.

Remember hurricane season doesn’t end until November 30th.

Hitch Itch

Wesley Chapel, Florida

We’ve been busy since we arrived back in Florida, but haven’t done anything fun or blog worthy, but we may go kayaking tomorrow.

Al has been doing some of his pest control accounts and I’ve been puttering around home.  I have been cleaning and trying to re-organize cabinets to give me more space.  We love this coach, but I sure miss my big old pantry I had in the 32 footer.  

I finally forced myself to make some long overdue doctor appointments.  I am the worlds worst about seeing doctors.  I even got the ball rolling for my first colonoscopy.   Can’t wait for that!  

We’ve been getting a slight case of hitch-itch, and have been thinking of taking a short trip to the Keys next month.   Hurricane season doesn’t end until the end of November, so we might be wise to wait a little longer as there is a possible disturbance forming south of Cuba.

I have been going through some old pictures and it’s reminding me of how much fun we had in the Keys.

Yeah, I think we’re ready to go back.

Campground Review

Wesley Chapel, Florida  - high 89, low 67

Yea….

We have a Florida style “cool front,”  and we may not even get into the 90’s today.   We got so used to the cool temps in North Carolina that this heat and humidity has really been bothering us.  

 

Most full-timers are constantly looking for great and inexpensive campgrounds. I always try to make note when someone mentions a great campground.  Unfortunately, I seem to forget them before I ever get there!

Some bloggers post their own campground reviews and I frequently check those sites.

A couple that I can think of off the top of my head are:

Rv Dreams

We Called it Home

Adventures With Tassie

Tumbleweed

Do you have any other places where you check out campgrounds?   Let’s share our resources!

I think I may steal Tumbleweeds spreadsheet idea and try to keep a little log of the campsites we’ve been to.

How about it guys….let’s share!   Of course I know some people don’t want to share those special spots….Sherry!

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!

New Titleholder for PDD

Jacksonville, Florida

We will be packing up and heading back to Tampa this morning.  We never get a very early start and I’m sure today will not be an exception.  We only have 200 miles to drive, so it won’t be too much of a problem.  No PDD here!

Our friends, Dean and Shirley are in the running to beat Paul and Marti for the record number of miles driven in one day.  Dean appears to have a severe case of PDD.

For those of you (Dean and Shirley) who don’t  know the story behind “PDD”,  the term was coined by Sherry.   It stands for “Paul Dahl Disorder” and it’s because Paul thinks nothing of driving from one coast to the other in just a matter of a few days, in the dead of winter, boon-docking at Wal-Mart's along the way and driving hundreds of miles a day.

He is teased that he doesn’t know that he’s retired and he can slow down now.  He’s trying to get over PDD, but I don’t think he’s succeeding.

When I read Dean and Shirley’s blog I was shocked to see they had put 583 miles on in one day.   6 fuel stops!    For us, a 583 mile trip is a 3 day trip unless we decide to stay few nights somewhere (like Jacksonville).   There would be two very bitchy people, if we made a trip like that!

Dean and Shirley are planning on arriving at the Grand Canyon today.  I’m waiting to see if they slow down while going by ???    

 

We had some pretty good rain yesterday so our sight seeing was cut short.  We did manage to go by Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park for  a short time.  It’s a county park and we remembered it to be a nice park.   The last time we visited it, we noticed feral cats running around all over the place, and we left very quickly!    We vowed never to go back because we know how we are and one of those kittens (or 3) would have found it’s way into our home.

We decided enough time had gone by and maybe there were no more cats.  We arrived during pretty good rain and they made Al get out of the truck, walk to the office and leave his drivers license just to take a quick tour of the campground. 

The place looked very run down and in good of some good sprucing up.  The beach was okay  with huge sand dunes.

The campground had a lot of tree branches and palm fronts sticking out in the road, making it difficult to get in without scratches.  There were vehicles parked all over the place making traveling the roads difficult.   There were too many people, lots of kids and multiple vehicles at most sites.   There were camp hosts but they didn’t appear to be doing any maintenance.  The entire place looked like it had been a nice place at one time. 

It was not particularly big rig friendly, but in all fairness, we were turned off and didn’t check very well.  We won’t be going back.   On a positive note, we didn’t see any kitties!

We came home, watched a little Tv and then went outside and visited with Jim and Dee for a while.

We have stayed 3 nights at Pecan Park Rv Resort, and found it a great place for a quick stop in Jacksonville.  It appears to be a very popular stopover for travelers heading north or south off of I-95.   Most every site is full every night.

We got the Passport America rate, but we had to stay three nights to get the discount.  After November 1st, you can get it by staying just one night.

Here are a few pictures of the sites.    All are pull through sites with concrete pads.  Very easy for a quick stop.

That’s our coach on the right and Jim and Dee’s 5th wheel on the left.  They had room for all three of their vehicles.

We’ll probably stay here again on all future trips up north.

And a fat kitty picture.

Daytrip to Fort Clinch State Park

Jacksonville, Florida (high 88, low 72)

We only have two days to explore the area, so we got an early start yesterday. We went a lot of places, but for now I’ll stick to our favorite place, which was Fort Clinch State Park.

We had been there several years ago, but didn’t really remember the campground very well.  They have a beach campground and a “river” campground.  I guess there is a river in the area but we never really saw it.

As we drove into the state park, we were immediately impressed.  The roads were wide and paved and there was plenty of clearance for rv’s.

There is camping directly on the beach, but the sand dunes are pretty high in this area, so from your rv, all you really see is sand dunes.

Right over this dune is the water.  You still got the nice ocean breezes.

We really liked this campsite.  #8   Al thought we would pull in forward, and maybe we’d be high enough to see the ocean.

I think we could fit into most all the sites and they were all easy to get into.

There was a nice new bath area with nice private showers.

A short walk over the boardwalk brought you to the Atlantic Ocean.

The beach wasn’t the prettiest I’ve ever seen.  The sand was tan, and not soft like some I’ve been to.  It was firm enough so that walking was not a chore and it was a great place to take a long walk.  I’d love to be there for sunrise.

There were some shells along the high water line.

A nice fishing pier.

The sites were $26 (plus tax) a night for  30 amp electric and water. 

This is the view coming back to the campground.

The other campground area was in a very wooded area.  It was very pretty, but you would have a difficult time with cell or satellite service.  The roads getting in were pretty good, but you’d have to be careful and watch any tail swing.

Several of the sites were huge.

I took these for Sherry and Davis because I know they’d love these sights.

We really liked Fort Clinch State Park and we hope we can stay there some day soon.  There were actually a few available sites in the beach side…made me re-think going back to Tampa. 

I saw this interesting cloud formation on the way home.

We got back to Pecan Park last night to new neighbors.   Jim and Dee from Tumbleweed had parked right next door.   You can see our coach in some of their pictures.

We had sat outside and visited with Dee for a couple hours.  Jim had an important ball game so we’ll see him today.

Al pointed out one of our neighbors.  Apparently, he wasn’t happy with his new 2012 motor home.

Feel free to share these pictures.  Maybe it will all spread these pictures it will help him to get the attention he needs from Monaco.

Notice the slide topper?  Notice the lean to the left?  I don’ t know what his problems are, but evidently they haven’t been addressed.

 

and now…..for my cute kitty  pictures of the day.

Little Baxter is getting big and has outgrown his kitty bed don’t you think?

Here he is taking a nap in his bed on the dash.  He is the furriest thing.  Notice all that fluff on his belly?  

Jacksonville, Florida

Reluctantly, we left North Carolina on Wednesday morning.  It might have been 11:30, but hey…it was still morning!  We sure miss the wonderful cool temperatures and not having to use the A/C.

We got onto I-26 and left the same way we entered the state.  We decided we much prefer going up those mountains, than coming back down. It was pretty stressful and we were certainly glad once we got to flat and straight roads!

When we went down those same grades, it was a little more nerve wracking.  We’re still trying to learn how to drive in the mountains without burning up our brakes.

We have an exhaust brake, and Al tries to use it instead of the foot brake.

We were going down a pretty steep grade with the exhaust brake on.  We noticed a red warning light showing up on the dash, and quickly realized the engine rpm’s were too high.  He applied  the foot brake and the rpm’s came right down.  We think what happened was when he applied the exhaust brake, it brought the transmission down to 2nd gear and I guess that was a little too low.    We’re thinking he should have tapped the exhaust brake instead of applying it steady.  The Allison transmission is supposed to handle all this stuff automatically, so maybe we should have just let it do it’s job.  We sure don’t want a burned out engine like what happened to Linda and Howard of Rv Dreams.   Any suggestions on how we could have handled that steep grade better? 

We drove back to St. George, South Carolina and stayed in the same little Mom and Pop campground that we stayed in on the way.  Jolly Acres is a great stop on the way to Asheville, and it’s right off I-95.

The owners, Larry and Beckie welcomed us back to our same nice, level pull through spot.  We were able to fill up our almost empty propane tank before we left and they even gave us some home made sausages for our freezer!  We much prefer campgrounds that are owned and run by individual’s instead of these big corporate owned campgrounds that are frequently so poorly managed.

We got another late start, but were on the road by 11:30 again. 

We had a little over 200 miles to go to put us in Jacksonville, Florida.

As we got out of the hills and mountains, we were watching the elevation numbers on the GPS.  Once we got into Florida, I had to laugh.  The elevation here is 4 feet!  Quite a difference from the 6600 we were a week ago.    It’s so much more relaxing to drive on flat straight roads!

We found what looked to be a nice Rv park right off I-95.  It was $42 a night, which was over our budget, but then we realized it was a Passport America park.   We arrived during a pretty nasty storm, so we sat in the parking lot and waited it out.

Unfortunately, I didn’t read the Passport America rules close enough.  It turns out, this time of year (until Nov 1) you have to stay a minimum of 3 nights to get the PA discount.  We paid full price for the first night.   

Someone asked me about  Passport America and whether they should get it or not.  I think most full or part time rv’ers use PA. We have found it to be very well worth the $40 some dollars for an annual membership.

You do have to read the rules on each campground, because every park sets their own rules.  Some, like Jolly Acres in South Carolina and Hominy Valley in NC let us use the discount as long as we wanted to. Some campgrounds have a limit to the number of days, and some don’t allow the discount on week-ends or holidays.  They are all different.

Most in Florida have restrictions at least during the high season (winter).  We’re at Pecan Park Rv Resort.  This morning, we decided we’d stay an additional 2 nights if they would allow us the PA discount retroactively.  They did, so we’re staying until Sunday.  There is a lot of interesting places to see in this area, so we’re going to do a little exploring before the afternoon rains come. 

I will take some pictures of the rv park before we leave.  I know how much we prefer to see lots of pictures before we decide on a park.

Davidson River Campground

Candler, NC  (high 72, low 51)

It rained most of the day and night, so we didn’t do anything fun yesterday.  We spent the day at home and started preparing for our trip south to Florida.  We thought about leaving today, but more rain is expected and we don’t want to have to travel in the rain if we can help it.

During our stay here, we visited a few other campgrounds to see what was available for future visits.  We love this area and plan to come back often.  As much as we’ve seen and done, there is still a lot more to see and do.  Some people have a different travel style.  Some people can spend an afternoon at the Grand Canyon, then go on their way, and feel they’ve “seen” the Grand Canyon.  We’re the type of people that want to be there long enough to really  explore and get to know the area.

We’ve been quite happy staying in the Hominy Valley Campground.  The price is right and we have a nice large site with full hook ups.   There is no “it” factor but since we’ve spent very little time here, it’s been just fine.  We have just used this as a base for our explorations, and are generally out the door in the morning and not home till almost dark.  We’ve put a ton of miles on our new truck and have  now have over 5000 miles on it.  Yikes….we have to slow that down!

 

One nice campground we discovered is Davidson River Campground .  It’s in the beautiful Pisgah Forest, at the base of the mountains at around 2000 foot elevation.  Getting there would be easy for even the largest rv’s. 

It’s a big campground.  I think there are over 160 sites, but most of them do not have electricity.

Our Verizon signal was very spotty.  That would be a big issue for me.  I feel the need for internet so that I can at least keep up with the weather. 

The only loop that has electric sites is the Sycamore loop.  Each loop (I think there are 8)  has at least one full hook up sight (water, sewer and electric) for the camp host.  It would be a nice place to volunteer.

They honor the federal Senior pass to discount the sites.

We determined that the roads leading to the campground are wide enough that we could easily bring our motor home to the campground.  The campground roads were also wide with plenty of clearance for larger rigs.  Not every loop, but many would be fine.

 

The problem appears that the electric loop stays pretty full.  I’m guessing people snag a non-electric site and then wait for someone to leave, and then are first in line to grab one of the limited electric sites, which cannot be reserved.

There was one loop that didn’t allow generators but the others allowed up to 4 hours per day to run your generator.

The sites were long with concrete pads.

They were nicely wooded, but a  satellite signal would be possible in many sites.

You can stay 14 days at a time within a 30 day period from April 1 through October 31.  During the winter months you can stay 30 days.

I’m a little unclear about the fees.  The website shows the sites at $20 or $40 for a double site, before discounts.The park ranger said with the Senior Discount it  would  cost us $10 plus an additional $5 for electricity.    So…either $10 or $15 per night.  Not a bad price either way.

The campground is very nice.  There is a nice river, plenty of hiking trails and big rig friendly.  Most of the sites do not have electricity and I believe you have to carry your own water in.  If you are lucky enough to get a site at the Sycamore loop, you’ll have electricity and water.  If you want to work camp, there are quite a few full hook up sites.

My biggest concern would be the poor Verizon signal.  I really like to have my Droid phone available, at least for weather reports.  I would be uncomfortable without internet.

Hiking Along the Blue Ridge

Candler, North Carolina (high 68, low 58-rain)

Our time here in this beautiful state is winding down.  Rain is predicted the next few days, so we spent the past few days getting in some last hikes and sightseeing.

We went back to the Wildlife Center at Pisgah Forest and did part of a 4 mile loop trail that was very nice.    We didn’t get there until late in the day,  and we weren’t prepared for mountain hiking, so we had to cut it short. 

We did see this cute little guy at the visitor center.

 

The trail meandered along a stream that was a popular place for fly fishing.  It was popular there because it located near the trout fishery, and this is where many young trout are released.  It’s a catch and release program, but we didn’t see much catching.

Evidently you can camp anywhere you like.  This almost made me want to buy a tent.  (almost)

We want to go back the next time we were here. 

We have had to start slowly on these trails.  We are not used to the elevation or difficulty of hiking in the mountains.  We had to  work ourselves up to longer and more strenuous  hikes.  We also have realized we need to be better prepared.  You think you’re on a short little easy trail and before you know it, you’re rock climbing.  We finally remembered to bring our walking sticks yesterday and they really helped us cross the many streams, and get up some of the rockier areas.

One thing we noticed posted by the trail was very scary.  Evidently people are taking their dogs on these trails off leash and there have been some fatalities. I can see there would be a lot of places that a dog could fall and be killed.  At another place we hiked we saw a notice of a lost dog.  I would sure hate to lose my dog in these mountains.   Most of the dogs we see are on a leash, but many are not.

 

Yesterday, we decided to go back to Graveyard Fields, which is at mile marker 418 on the Blue Ridge.  It’s a very nice area and very popular on the weekends.  We normally wouldn’t have gone on a week-end, but due to the rain coming, we bit the bullet and went on Sunday.

There was a nice waterfall trail we wanted to hike.  We came prepared with water and our hiking poles.  They really helped.

The trail started out very easy.  It was pretty  and not much elevation change.

There were lots of streams.  Some larger than others.

Some places were really showing their fall colors.

We walked for a long time.  There were a lot of other hikers out there, but less and less the further we went. We were starting to wonder if we would ever find that darn waterfall.  The closer we got to the waterfall the steeper and rockier the climb became. 

Finally….the waterfall.

There was more of the waterfall, but I couldn’t get a decent pictures due to all the people sprawled all over the rocks.  Darn people….don’t they know, they’re ruining my photos?

We ended up hiking about 3 miles in about 2 1/2 hours.  It was pretty strenuous and we were really glad to get back to the truck.  This is certainly not like Florida hiking!

We picked up some fog on the way back.

Our next stop was a Mexican restaurant/bar so that Al could catch the end of the Buc’s football game.  (they lost)

Today, we’re watching it rain and planning to pick up a few groceries for our trip back to Florida. 

 

We will miss these beautiful mountains, but hopefully, we will be able to return next spring for the rhododendron bloom