It’s a Very Small World

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida  (high 72, low 63) Rain

I hope everyone had a nice New Years Eve.  We actually stayed awake past midnight, for the first time in a while.

We spent our New Years eve next door at Pat and Ron’s, and sat outside with several other couples and a few dogs.  We had two identical gas campfires going and it kept us nice and warm…..until the rain started.   There was a slight chance of rain last night and just as we all got settled around the campfire, it started to rain.  We all pulled out our phone apps and checked the radar which showed some patchy rain showers coming from the gulf.  It was kind of funny seeing all these phones coming out at the same time.  :)

We moved the chairs and fire pits under the awning and sat there for a few minutes until the rain stopped. We pulled out our weather apps again to see if any more rain was coming, so that we could move back out from under the awning, as it was a little crowded.  We took a chance and moved and no more rain fell on us the rest of the evening. It was chilly for us southerners, but the Canadians came in shorts.  

Several couples didn’t make it to the midnight hour, but 6 of us diehards actually stayed awake and brought in the new year.   Actually, the Canadians, and other northerners were the first to bail, leaving us southerners to hold down the fort!

 

In a blog post a few weeks ago I mentioned how Al noticed a tag axle Holiday Rambler with a Florida plate, come into the campground we were at and park right next door.  Al thought it could be an old friend of ours.   I dismissed that thinking there just might be more than one Holiday Rambler with Florida plates in the state.   I teased him about that for a few days, however, I was wrong and it did turn out to be our old friends, but we didn’t realize it until we were all leaving.  

So, now when Al tells me something like that I give him his due respect.  :)

 

So, yesterday, he noticed a Tiffin tag axle pull in which had a Louisiana plate and stuffed animals indicating they might be here for the Outback Bowl,  which is being played today at our stadium.

When we bought our motor home from Lazy Days Rv here in Tampa, we found out who the previous owner was and checked with him to make sure there were no surprised.  We have always done that whenever we’ve bought a used boat, rv, or car and it’s worked out well for us.  

We ended up speaking to the previous owner twice and we discovered the only thing they used the coach for was to go to LSU football games.  Al learned that they traded our coach in for a larger Tiffin tag axle and that they were big LSU fans.  

When Al told me he suspected those with the Louisiana plates and Tiffin tag axel, could be the people who previously owned our motor home, we decided to check it out.  I wasn’t going to doubt him again.  :)

They were gone most of the day, but last night we saw signs of life outside so we decided to walk over and introduce ourselves, and see if Al was right yet again.  I was a little afraid they would think we were nuts, but I figured that was okay, because they wouldn’t be here long anyway!

It turns our they were indeed the previous owners of our coach and remembered us too.   They had worried thinking this was our first RV and that we had made a decision to start full-timing without ever having owned an RV.  He also remembered how I got onto the phone with Al and asked questions on my own, and apparently I either came on too strong, or that is not how things are done in his family.  In our family, I figure it’s my money too, and I might think of a question that Al doesn’t think of, so we both like to be involved in the discussions.   I guess he thought I should have let the man ask the questions.  Oh well…….  

 

It just shows once again how small of a world this is.  What’s the chance these same people would end up in our campground with all the other campgrounds in this area.  What’s the chance Al would have spotted them and figured it out?

The coincidence didn’t end there though.  Last night during our fireside chat a Canadian couple mentioned they spent some time in the Keys last winter.   It turns our they were in “our” site number 160 right before we were and remembered all of our neighbors.   It’s a small world.  They didn’t like the Keys much but their criteria is more of who has a nice pool and ours is a little different.  No problem, more room for us.

 

I’m really starting to worry that Florida will sink into the ocean.  Our campground is just about full, and the few remaining sites are reserved for the next few months.  The owner says they are getting calls all day long wanting sites and there are a lot of them on a waiting list.   I wish I could find some statistics that would show the number of snowbirds coming to Florida.    I would think it would have to be at least a million, and of course that doesn’t even count the tourists that come for shorter periods of time.  Really, one of these winters Florida might just sink.   :)    Of course if it does, we’ll have ocean front property in Georgia.

 

It looks like we won’t be seeing any sun the next few days with rain predicted today and tomorrow.  I guess we’ll be lazy today, and I’m sure Al will watch some football. 

Happy New Year!