Our Travel Blog

A little cooler last night, the furnace got a bit of a workout this morning, but as the day progressed the temperature rose, as did the wind speed. By mid afternoon we were getting quite strong gusts, certainly enough to rock the trailer.

Another lazy day lounging around the resort. I am starting to get things sorted into what goes home and what stays in the trailer. A week today and we’ll be on our way north.

This afternoon Lyn headed over to her last crafts meeting. While she was gone I set about finishing the camera install in the back of the truck. I was going to leave it until we got home, but we are likely to have the back seat of the truck filled, blocking the rear window, so the camera will have its uses driving home, rather than it’s original purpose of helping in reversing.

Once Lyn was back from crafts we got in our 1.5 mile walk. A year ago we wouldn’t have dreamt of walking 3 times around the resort, now it seems the right thing to do. Don’t tell Lyn, but we may even manage 4 times around before we leave.

Going down into the 30’s tonight, but the forecast is looking warm for the next few days

Overcast and not quite so warm  this morning. Lyn went off clothes shopping as the diet is still working, and her old clothes are a little large!

I had a couple of problems with some eBay purchases over the last couple of weeks. Both of these were resolved today as one package arrived and I got a full refund for the other. With the combination of eBay / PayPal I feel pretty confident of not getting “ripped off” with any purchases I make on line.

Outside the RV are a couple of trees that have gone from bare to just about fully leafed over the last week. Spring has sprung. Unfortunately a number of palm trees in the resort have not fared so well, their leaves were damaged by a frost a few weeks ago, and have died off. Hopefully this won’t mean the death of the tree.

After lunch we headed out to get some exercise and do some more geocaching. We headed south down towards the state park and the trail we went on a few days ago. We managed 7 for 7 today including an oversize mouse trap.

The base was 4′ x 2′, and obviously located off the beaten track. We managed to get to the cache (in the box in the middle) without getting caught in the trap!

Just to prove spring has sprung, there are flowers growing in areas around the sidewalks.

Back at the trailer it warm enough to sit outside and have our afternoon coffee. Today was meant to be the coolest day of the week, let’s hope they are right.

Last night the forecast was for thunderstorms today, we woke up to overcast skies but warm. When I checked the forecast the thunderstorms were no longer an issue, just overcast for the rest of the day. About an hour after breakfast we heard the rumble of thunder! Checked the forecast again, still no sign of thunderstorms, but a severe thunderstorm warning had just been issued!

Lyn headed over to do the laundry after the rain stopped; just like last week the laundry was empty following the shower, it’s obviously the best time to go! As the day went on the humidity continued build, but at least there was a breeze that helped make it more bearable.

I spent some time trying to run a cable from the back of the truck, where I am thinking of putting a small camera (it’ll save those little bumps that happen in the parking lot when I misjudge the length of the beast), through to the cab. The hardest part, as usual, is getting the cable from the outside of the truck to the inside. Luckily I found a small air flow filter at the back of the cab that the cable would go through.

After lunch we put in our now standard 1.5 miles walk around the resort. We took a little longer than usual as we met up with the brother of a couple we met last year. Unfortunately the husband of the couple we met had health problems last year, and has not yet recovered. We missed meeting with them by a couple of days when we arrived here, so we caught up on the news through his brother. Hopefully we’ll meet up with them when we come back in October.

As the afternoon wore on the wind increased and the temperature started to drop. Hopefully it won’t drop too low.

This is getting (pleasantly) repetitive. Woke up to sun and clear skies with the temperature climbing up into the 70’s again. I noticed back home that they are having yet  another snow storm, hopefully that will be the last one and the weather will warm up before we get back.

This morning we sat around outside enjoying the warmth, the resort is pretty much full, which includes a bunch of kids. Good news is the kids will be leaving tomorrow, hopefully I can say the same for another yappy dog that has arrived opposite us.

After lunch we headed south towards the beach but turned off the beach road  for some geocaching. The road to the beach was busy and slow, this is probably the best weekend this year to go to the beach, combined with the fact that spring break is in full swing every one was heading that way.

We managed a record 10 for 10 on the geocaching, although technically I guess 10 for 11 would be more accurate as there was one cache that we knew where it was, but couldn’t reach it due to all the water in the surrounding ditches.

A couple of the caches were hidden in a area that was obviously being developed as high end housing before the financial crunch hit. All that is at the site is an expensive looking sales office / clubhouse. Hopefully as the economy picks up construction will start up again.

As we drove around a loop back towards the resort we came across just about every type of accommodation possible in just a few miles ranging from high end estate homes down to decrepit trailers.

Tomorrows forecast is for thunderstorms, so maybe the good weather has finished.

Another beautiful warm and sunny day, I am sure we’re going to pay for this soon.

After breakfast it was time to take down another of the blinds and restring it, I am hoping this isn’t going to be ongoing maintenance, that’s two blinds this trip. Anyway this one went far easier than the first, experience is a wonderful thing. Once I had the old thread out it was easy to see what had caused the failure; one of the metal eyes that the chord ran through had a rough edge, causing the chord to fray.

Once the blind was back up I abandoned ship, Lyn was busy waving a duster around before wielding a vacuum cleaner. My allergies seemed to have cleared up over the last day or so, and I didn’t want to tempt fate with any dust that may be lurking as I know that will set the eyes streaming. While outside there was suddenly a loud sound of an aircraft engine, a Cessna 172 came buzzing over the resort at about 300′, climbed did another pass complete with a wing waggle and disappeared. Not strictly legal, but good to watch anyway.

Another pleasant lunch sitting outside at the picnic table with the temperature somewhere in the mid 70’s. After lunch it was time to do a little more maintenance. I mentioned a couple of days ago that one of the roof vents had got very brittle due sun exposure. After a little searching on the web I found a replacement and ordered it. That replacement arrived today. Taking the old one out was a bit of a challenge, as every time it tried to grip it the thing cracked even more. Finally with the old one removed, fixing in the new one was a pretty simple task. A a result, it is now a lot brighter in the bedroom, as well as being more air tight.

We increased our walking around the resort to 1½ miles today, which combined with the heat should have shed a few calories. I think I may have discovered a downside to weight loss. We are going to a wedding in the UK shortly after we get home, I have a horrible feeling that my one and only suit will be too big for me.

Another blue sky day, with the temperature climbing up to 24°C. After breakfast and a quick stint catching up on blogs and e-Mails, we headed about 35 miles east to the city of Pensacola in Florida. Pensacola is home to the US Naval Air-Station and hosts the Blue Angels aerobatic display team. There is also a good aviation museum on the Air Station, but as we’d been there in a previous trip we didn’t go there this time.

We were in Pensacola mainly to hit some stores, this time there were a couple that were good for me. At Harbor Freight I bought some tools for the metal working I do at home, as well as a couple of tools for the trailer. We also went to another store so that Lyn could get some thread for her new “toy” at home, the long arm quilter. JoAnn fabrics figured in the tour next so I stayed in the truck playing Angry Birds! Lastly was a large Hobby Lobby store that catered to both our interests.

On the way out of the city we picked up some lunch, and them headed down to the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. We arrived by the inland route, so we decided to take the coastal route home.

Of course no trip would be complete without a touch of geocaching, so we stopped a few times and got 3 for 3 including our first in Florida and my 100th find. Thanks to Paul for the 100th find medal he got me!

Back at the campsite we found a lot of new RV’s including two new neighbours. Around this time of year the residents change from long stay “snowbirds” to week-enders. This means there is a lot of trailers moving around, as many of the week end trailers are stored on site and have to be towed to/from the storage area. The guy that moves the trailer on to their sites really shows how bad my reversing is with the RV. Whereas I will take six or seven shots at getting the trailer in the correct position on the site, this guy reverses in first time every time.

Another good forecast for tomorrow, I could get used to this

A beautiful sunny morning, and day, with the temperature climbing up into the 70’s. We’d decided yesterday that we would just hang around the campsite today if the weather was good, as we are heading off on the mighty trek to Pensacola, Florida tomorrow.

As some of you may be aware both Lyn and I have being doing a bit of dieting since  just before Christmas, and we have both lost just over 25 pounds each. Unfortunately, I have also started to suffer from allergies, which I am assuming are pollen related, or could it be the dieting? Maybe I need a few chocolate bars and doughnuts to ward off the pollen!

We actually headed out for a while to do our weekly shopping, but I behaved and resisted the urge to do some geocahing, despite the fact that I am at 99 caches found.

Just before lunch we were plagued with a yapping dog from a nearby trailer; the owners had just gone out and the dog was not amused. This noise carried on for the best part of an hour. I was at the point where I was considering going over to the office to complain when we saw the resort owner driving around. Before we could say anything she stopped and spoke to Lyn saying that the noise was unacceptable. We figured that she would have words with the dogs owners when they got back, but in fact she phoned them and asked them to return to their RV immediately, which they did. I was very impressed.

We walked for about a mile around the resort, it’s amazing what a burst of good weather does, there were a lot of people out cycling, walking, working on their RV or truck or just sitting around relaxing outside. On the cooler days we can walk around the place and not see anyone.

Back at the RV I did a little work on the roof, cleaning the bedroom vent. Unfortunately a little repair work is needed as the vent cover has been affected by the UV from exposure to the strong sun and has got so brittle that it is starting to crack.

There’s no rest for the retired.

A little disappointed to hear the furnace going at times during the night and when we woke up. Combined with the fact that it was overcast I figured we were in for another not so good day. However as the morning wore on the clouds gave way to blue skies and the temperature started to climb. After lunch we headed out to a State Park down on the coast, this park is probably 5 or 6 miles long by 1 or 2  miles wide. It contains an RV site which has full services and pretty good rates. Also on the north side of the park is a new walk / cycle path. We “discovered” this path as a result of seeing a number of caches in the area on the geocache map. It was obvious that this path was where we were going to get our exercise today.

We finished up walking just under 2 miles and getting 7 out of 8 caches. The one we didn’t find was in a lightly wooded area with a couple of small decomposing trees on the ground. The only clue given was “Acts 7:59” Even after reading the reference in the hint I still had no idea what to look for.

After the walk we headed down to a store further down the beach to get some more (can you guess) craft stuff.

Back at the resort it was still warm enough to sit outside and drink our coffee. Tomorrow is forecast to be even warmer.

Cooler overnight and a few lingering showers. After breakfast we headed out to the stores as Lyn needed some stuff for her crafts this afternoon and I needed to get a parcel mailed. Unfortunately, when we got to the post office I found out that I had left the address at home. Before anyone asks why the parcel wasn’t already addressed, it was because I hadn’t got the mailing box yet. All was not lost as I picked up a (free) box from the post office.

I now withdraw some of my praise for the US postal service from a couple of days ago, when we got back to the RV I went on line to pay for and print a label for the parcel. All went well until it came time to pay. It appears that the US post office (and many other institutions) will only accept US credit cards! Not to worry, the post office will also accept payment from PayPal. Guess what, even though PayPal is an internationally recognised form of payment (like credit cards), the US post office will only accept payment from a US PayPal account. Looks like another trip to the post office is needed.

After lunch Lyn headed over to crafts and I headed back to the post office. I didn’t take the direct route, instead I did some geocaching on the way. I managed to get 5 out of 5 today and at the post office I finally managed to get the parcel on its way.

Once Lyn returned we headed off around the resort for our exercise. The forecast is promising for the next few days, so hopefully we will get out and about.

It was 18°C when we went to bed and 21.5°C when we woke up. As we prepared breakfast the first few drops of rain fell, then some more, then some more heavy ones, then a lot more etc, etc. Finally we got some nice thunder and lightning activity and a tornado warning thrown in for good measure.

In between the really heavy bouts of rain Lyn walked back and forth to the laundry. Problem was the rain had let up when she left the trailer, but inevitable intensified when she was on her way back. There was a bright side though, no one else was using the laundry!

By lunch time over 1.5 inches of rain had fallen and the concrete pad that we are parked on had a couple of inches of water on it. After lunch the rain let up for a while and we took an abbreviated walk around the resort, there is a large fish pond at the back of the resort; it had overflowed its banks onto the road. There was a large pump there that was losing the battle to lower the ponds level.

Just after we got back the rain started up and is is forecast to hang around until sometime tomorrow.

A couple of weeks ago I asked the Canadians to keep the cold weather up north where it belongs, this appeal goes out to the Brits, please keep your rain to yourselves.