Our Travel Blog

You can tell it is time to leave, the weathers getting consistently better. A little cool overnight but clear and warm during the day.

We started cleaning, clearing and packing after breakfast. It started off with “where did all this stuff come from”, followed by “where is all this stuff going to go”, followed by “that all went into a few bags and a couple of totes”, followed by “that wasn’t too bad was it”?

Lyn as usual managed to get stuff packed into about half the space it would have taken me.

We even had time for a walk later in the afternoon.

This evening we went out to the Shrimp Basket for a nice meal of, what else, Shrimp. The meal was good, and hopefully not too many calories. On the way back we fueled up, so all that is left to do in the morning is breakfast, disconnect the water and hydro and head out.

We get to leave the trailer where it is and someone will tow it off to the storage area and re-position it when we come down in October.

Depending on the state of the internet and my state of mind there may or may not be any blogs on the way home. I will put a quick blog on after we have arrived back home.

Seems it cooled down a bit last night as we awoke to the sound of the furnace. It was a clear day, and the temperature climbed up close to 70. After breakfast I set about sorting out the mass of stuff I have accumulated since we’ve been here; the plan is to catalogue  all the stuff I have here so I can track what is at home and what is at the trailer, that way (in theory) I will know what to bring down without doubling, or trebling, up on stuff already here.

It was also time to plan the trip home and book the hotels. The trip is just about 1600 miles, so we will stop twice, once in Tennessee and once in Pennsylvania. At least without the trailer behind us we can go a little faster.

After lunch we noticed a mobile home coming in with a large trailer behind it, on the trailer was as car AND a boat. The photo isn’t too clear, but I think you can see the trailer.

Below is a picture of our trailer on its site.

Later in the afternoon we took our daily walk around the resort. It is now beginning to empty out. Last week was spring break, so there were a lot of school kids around, this week they have gone and so have a lot of the snowbirds.

More rain and thunderstorms overnight, but it stayed warm. As the day wore on, the clouds cleared and the standing water started to disappear.

Lyn heaved a huge sigh of relief later on in the morning when her missing parcels finally arrived. I too was relieved as it was me that told Lyn to go ahead and buy the stuff as there was plenty of time for it to be delivered!

After lunch we headed off down to the State park to get in some exercise and a final geocaching session. Unfortunately due to the amount of rain we’ve had recently we weren’t able to reach a couple of the caches, but we still managed 4 new ones. We also got in another couple of miles walking, which helps make up for none yesterday.

A record for a 1 day rainfall was set yesterday with over 4″ falling, the old record was 2.75″ back in 1886.

It’s now time to try and work out what stuff needs to stay in the trailer, and what needs to go home.

Woke up and had to double check the time. Yup it was wake up time alright, but it was still dark. It was also wet, very wet with thunder rumbling over head. We had to keep the lights on in the trailer well into the morning before the sky lightened up.

After breakfast we decided that staying in may be a good plan, as it was pretty flooded outside. We had over 3½” of rain in just over 1½ hours. For those up north this equates to over 80cms of snow in 90 minutes! So far today we have had over 4″ of rain (1 metre of snow equivalent) and it is still raining!

Just before lunch we decided to brave the weather and jumped into the truck to drive around and see what conditions were like. The far end of the resort was totally submerged as the fishing pond had overflowed, in most places the grass was  flooded as well. Outside the resort the roads were pretty good; they are obviously used to these downpours, and although the storm drains were very full, the roads were not flooded. Needless to say we won’t be walking (or paddling) today. The forecast is for more rain and thunder tonight and then warm and dry until we leave.

A warm sunny start to the day, around 20°C, which stayed pretty constant through out the day, although the clouds moved in during the morning.

After breakfast we spent some time to track down a parcel that should have arrived for Lyn. It was mailed from Washington State on the 18th and should have arrived yesterday. We managed to get the tracking number for the parcel, which shows it is still at the accepting post office; however the sender checked with the post office and it is no longer there. The conclusion is that the tracking label came off, but hopefully the address label is till on, so there is still some hope.

Yesterday, one of the strong wind gusts broke the latching mechanism that holds the main door open. The mechanism is plastic, like many things on the outside of the trailer, and has been weakened by exposure to the sun. After lunch I headed down to the local parts store and picked a replacement part. Eight screws later and a little caulking and the job was done.

Later in the afternoon we headed off around the resort for our daily walk. We actually managed 4 times around (see yesterdays comment!!) for a total of 2¼ miles. These daily walks are going to be tough to maintain when we first get back home unless there is a very quick thaw.

Time to batten down the hatches now as we have 2 days of rain and thunderstorms heading our way.

Noticeably cooler last night, dropped down to 2.8°C. The day was overcast and cool but at least it was dry.

It seems our bathroom scales are suffering from over use, they now seem incapable of giving consistent readings. Time for new ones, only problem is that they are likely to give a different reading from the old ones, and you can guarantee they will read higher.

This morning we headed out for our last weekly shopping down here, and in the process bought the new scales. When we got back I tried out the new scales, and as feared they showed 2.2lbs more than the old ones. Good news is that the amount of weight lost is still the same, just a bit further to go to reach the goal. Given we don’t actually have a goal, this is not a big issue!

After lunch we headed out for some geocaching and got 8 out of 10. Lyn managed to get her 100th find, which was perfect timing as I had bought her a geocaching medal to mark the event and it arrived in the mail this morning.

We discovered a small US Navy airfield tucked away in the back of beyond. There is a major US Navy training field in Pensacola, but there are too many training flights for one airport, so the Navy have a series of small outfields which are old WW2 training fields spread around the area. We even managed to catch 3 aircraft in the circuit.

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.