April 30

Last night after posting to our blog I looked up the Museum of Aviation at Robins Air Force Base on the internet. I found out that there is an Air Show this weekend at Robins Air Force Base - talk about good timing!

Robins AFB is about 36 miles northeast of Unadilla. We're planning on attending the Air Show and visiting the Aviation Museum on Saturday.

Unadilla (means "gathering place") is a small town with a population about 2800. There is a Piggly Wiggly grocery store, Subway, Country Boys BBQ and Dairy Queen at the I-75 exit.

Today I went to the Piggly Wiggly for some groceries. I bought a few things we were out of, but decided to find a larger grocery store when we went to the Air Show on Saturday.

We met our next door neighbor today. Rosemary is a single RV'er. She has a 1989 Winnebago Chieftain. She's driven out west along with friends who have RVs. She lives in Ocala but likes to stay at Southern Trails often. The campground here has card games most week nights plus occasional dinners and a Sunday non-denominational church service. You can just see part of Rosemary's motor home in this photo.

From Southern Trails RV Resort

Lake City, FL to Unadilla, GA

We left Oaks 'N Pines RV Campground this morning at 9:30. We passed by a Huddle House restaurant just south of I-10 yesterday on our way to Oaks 'N Pines and decided we would get breakfast there this morning. We were back on the road by 10:30 after eating breakfast.

We stopped at a rest area on I-75 near Lake Park around 1:00 to feed Tinker his lunch. We were still full from the breakfast we had at Huddle House.

We arrived at Southern Trails RV Resort about 2:00. Southern Trails is our "home park" with Coast to Coast, so it isn't costing us anything to stay here. This is the third time we've stayed here; on our previous visits the longest we stayed was 2 days. This time we will be here for 6 days.

From Southern Trails RV Resort

We're in site #66, a pull through, with full hookups (50 amp). We did pay for cable TV at the site ($12 for the 6 days), but it is shared with the site next to us and a splitter is used to allow both sites to connect to the cable. Some of the stations come in fine and others have poor reception. We are next to a large pecan tree and our rooftop satellite is pointing right at the tree. We may put out the portable satellite dish later.

From Southern Trails RV Resort

Kissimmee, FL to Lake City, FL

We left Mill Creek RV Resort this morning a little after 10:00. We retraced our route back north on the Florida Turnpike (paid another $10.50 in tolls on the turnpike) and I-75.

We stopped at a rest area on I-75 south of Ocala for lunch. We decided to get off I-75 at exit 414 and take US 441 north through Lake City to Oaks 'N Pines RV Park our destination for tonight.

When we got into Lake City we found out that a part of US 441 was being repaired and we had to take a detour on US 41 for several blocks before getting back on US 441. Check-in at Oaks 'N Pines is 2 p.m. and we arrived at 2:06. We're in site #48, a pull-through, with full hookups (50 amp). We're staying here under Passport America. This is the third time we've stayed here when passing through the area.

From April 2009

From April 2009

I'm using Microsoft Streets & Trips 2009 and Delorme Street Atlas 2009 with the Delorme gps on my laptop. This morning both Streets & Trips and Street Atlas lost the gps signal after we had been on the road for about an hour. I had to restart the laptop and then the gps and software worked fine. Sometime after lunch (I shut the computer down while we were stopped) Streets & Trips lost the gps signal, but Street Atlas was working fine.

I've made some changes in the Delorme Serial Emulator software and will find out tomorrow if it fixes the problem with Streets & Trips.

We're leaving Florida just in time - the love bugs are starting to appear. Mike washed the love bugs off the front of the RV this evening. We had a few on our drive down from Dothan 2 weeks ago, but not to the extent we had today. Hopefully, we will stay ahead of the worst of them as we go north.

Monday, April 27

We spent the day preparing for our departure tomorrow to head north.

We've had a great time visiting with my brother and his family, but 2 weeks just isn't long enough. Hopefully we will be back later this year for an extended visit (maybe spend the winter here).

The weather has been comfortable except for the last few days when the temps got up in the upper 80's. But that is what the A/C is for, right?

We went over to my brother and sister-in-law's house tonight for a final visit and to say our goodbyes.

Sunday, April 26

Fletcher left this morning to go back home to Big Pine Key. It was great to see him, but wish he could have stayed longer!

We spent yesterday going shopping with him and running errands. We topped off the day with dinner at Olive Garden.

Fletcher has a rat terrier named Vala who is obsessed with tennis balls. She will chase and retrieve them almost to the point of exhaustion if you let her.

From Kissimmee, FL

We're planning a trip to Alaska next year and Fletcher and Vala are planning to go with us. It will be the first time Fletcher will accompany us on a RV trip. We're all looking forward to it.

Family Get-together

Our son, Fletcher, arrived this afternoon to spend a couple of days with us. It's been  2 years since we've seen him - the last time we were down here at Kissimmee.

After having dinner at Zaxby's Mike, Fletcher and I drove over to my brother and sister-in-law's house for a family gathering. Their children and grandchildren came over, so we had quite a crowd. We were missing one of their granddaughters who is in college in Oklahoma.

What a great looking family!!!

From Kissimmee, FL

Mill Creek RV Resort, Kissimmee, FL

The temperatures this morning were quite comfortable. We've opened the windows in the RV this morning and kept them open until mid-afternoon when it started to heat up. Hopefully, the temperatures will stay like this while we're here.


Mike didn't hook up the water and sewer connections until today since it was raining when we pulled in yesterday. As I wrote yesterday the sewer connection is on the curb side of the RV - luckily we have plenty of sewer hose to reach.


We're in site #11 and on a corner lot. Most of the units here are permanent mobile homes and RVs. The laundromat is on the road behind us and has 8 Maytag washers and 8 Maytag dryers - all fairly new.

From Kissimmee, FL

From Kissimmee, FL

Tallahassee, FL to Kissimmee, FL

We woke up after 9:00 this morning and although it was cloudy outside there was no rain. We bought gas at the Pilot Travel Center before leaving – we paid $2.059 a gallon.


We were on the road by 10:30 and heading east again. We connected with I-75S and got on the Florida Turnpike at Wildwood. At the Leesburg Toll Booth we paid $7.50 for the RV and car - $2.50 for each axle on the RV and $2.50 for the car. When we exited the Turnpike at Osceola Parkway we paid $3.00.


We stopped at the Murphy gas station at Wal-Mart to get gas in the RV and paid $1.999 a gallon. Then down Michigan Avenue in Kissimmee to Mill Creek RV Resort.


Mill Creek is a Passport America member and we will be here for 2 weeks. The staff here is very friendly and they were already expecting us when we arrived at 3:30.


The site is grass and dirt with a concrete patio (no picnic table). It’s a fairly level site with 50 amp service. The water and electric connections are on the driver’s side as usual, but the sewer drain is on the passenger side next to the patio.


We had no rain on the drive down from Tallahassee until we got to Wal-Mart and then it started. It was still raining after we got to our site, so Mike just hooked up the electric for now.


I called my brother who lives a couple of miles from here to let him know that we had gotten in safely. It’s been 2 years since we’ve been here and we're looking forward to seeing everyone.

Dothan, AL to Tallahassee, FL

We were up early this morning. Besides having an 8 a.m. appointment to have the tires rotated on the RV, we were trying to beat the severe weather that was moving in.


While Mike dumped our holding tanks and disconnected the electric and water, I stowed the last minute things away and picked up the throw rugs before bringing the slides in and lowering the antennas. Mike paid W. T. for the electric for our last week and it was time to leave.


It started raining just as we left The Willows and the lightning was getting closer and more frequent. Then it REALLY rained – it was like driving through a tropical storm (not quite hurricane rain). Mike was driving the RV and I was following in the Vue. We would outrun the rain, but would have to stop for a traffic light. By the time the light turned green, the torrential rain had caught up with us – this happened 2 or 3 times before we made it to Bell Frame and Brake.


We had put Tinker in his crate in the RV for the drive to Bell’s and we left him in it instead of taking him out into the rain. We drove over to Flying J to have breakfast. Actually Mike had the breakfast buffet, I had toast since I had an upset stomach and hadn’t been feeling well since yesterday. After breakfast we went by the UPS Store to check our mail and turn in the key for the mail box we had rented.


We got back to Bell’s by 10:30 and they were just starting on the RV. The camber on the front wheels was out of alignment and after talking with the owner about it, Mike had them also bend the axle to bring the camber into alignment. So after having the toe-in on the front wheels corrected, the tires rotated and the camber aligned we were finally on our way at 4:30.


We drove over to the Flying J and had the RV weighed. The last time we had it weighed we were 50 lbs over weight and now we are 560 lbs under. So between what we stored and the stuff we donated, we had lessened our load by about 600 lbs. We hitched up the Vue to the RV and left at 5:30 – in the rain.


After leaving the Flying J we drove south to I-10 and headed east. We had planned on spending the night at the Flying J just west of Tallahassee at Midway. But when we pulled into the parking lot a little after 8 p.m. E.D.T.(we lost an hour when we entered the Eastern Time Zone) we weren’t able to park in the area for RVs. A couple of RVs hadn’t pulled into the parking spots straight and so everyone else who came in was also parked crooked. We decided to go up the road and find the Wal-Mart, but saw a Pilot Travel Center not too far from Flying J and decided to park there.


There were some long parking spaces there (not in the truck area) and after some maneuvering Mike was able to go between some trucks and come around the back side of the spaces and park in the last space. By this time it’s 8:30 E.D.T. and after driving in rain since Dothan, we were just ready to stop for the night (forget about the breakfast tomorrow morning at Flying J we had been looking forward to).


This was our first time driving the RV at night – we’re usually stopped for the night by mid to late afternoon. The high beams on the headlights show up great, but the low beams are LOW. Did I mention it rained all the way here?

Last night in Dothan

We’ve spent the last couple of days preparing the RV for our trip. Mike washed the RV yesterday and I ran some last minute errands.

From Dothan, AL

Tinker made his last trip for a while to For Paws Only on Friday for a bath and grooming.

We’ve also been watching the new mom and foal. Every once in a while the foal breaks into a run around mom and she quickly moves over to make it stop. We’ve seen the foal go from having wobbly legs to running circles round its mother in the last couple of days.

It would be fun to be here to watch the foal’s growth and development, but the road is calling and we’re ready to go.

Surprise!

We found out a little while ago that one of the mares in the pasture next to us was pregnant. Since we’re leaving on Monday we knew that we wouldn’t be there for the birth.

So what should Mike see this morning in the pasture when he got up? – a palomino foal! He called W. T. and told him that the mare had given birth sometime during the night and to let the owner know. She came over after a while to check on both of them.

From Dothan, AL

From Dothan, AL

Preparations for our 2009 Trip

Well, we’ve done something we said we wouldn’t do - we’ve rented a storage unit. We have always been heavy on the rear axle and we wanted to see if we could lighten our weight any. Of course, the generator, A/C and gas tank are all in the rear of the RV, so we can’t do anything about that.
We’ve spent this week going through the interior cabinets and the outside bays deciding what to keep, what to store and what to get rid of. We donated the clothing and other stuff that we’re not keeping to the Wiregrass Humane Society Second Chance Thrift Store.
We’ve made an appointment for Monday morning to have our tires rotated on the RV before we start out on our trip for the year. After that we’re going to weigh the RV at the Flying J to see how much the RV weighs since we’ve taken some of our stuff out of it.