Major Computer Problem!

We got up this morning and drank our coffee and had breakfast. Then I booted up our Dell laptop (the one we got last December) and nothing - Windows wouldn't start. I tried everything I knew to try to get it to boot-up & nothing.

I got went online with our HP laptop; I checked on Dell's support site, googled what my problem was and none of the solutions I tried worked. I called the Dell support line and explained to the tech what my problem was and what I had tried to fix it. The suggestion he had was for me to reload Windows 7 and reinstall everything - not really an option as far as I'm concerned. The only other suggestion he had was for me to take the computer to a repair shop and see if they could recover my data and restore my hard drive. He suggested Best Buy or maybe a local computer repair shop. He emailed me the instructions for reinstalling Windows 7 should I decide to go that route.

After getting off the phone with Dell I called a Best Buy in Tampa and found out that if their local tech couldn't fix the computer, they would ship off to their service center in Tennessee and it could take about 10 days to get the laptop back - not an option!

So I searched online for a local computer repair shop and found one that was open on Saturday. I called and explained my problem to the tech and what I had tried to fix the computer. He told me he should be able to recover my data and restore my hard drive, but if not then the only thing he could do was to reinstall Windows 7.

We loaded up the laptop and an external hard drive (I had backed the computer up on it, but it was an old back-up) and headed over to Tampa to Tampa Computer Doctors - about 40 miles from the state park.

When we got to Tampa Computer Doctors, we tried booting up my laptop and Windows wouldn't start. I had had a nagging feeling we would get there and the computer would work perfectly. We explained that we were leaving state park this Thursday and would need the computer back before then.

The tech was going to run diagnostics on it this weekend and see if he could fix it without having to reload Windows. He would try to retrieve my data before reloading Windows.

After leaving the computer shop, we drove down to MacDill Air Force Base and to look at the FamCamp there.

From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa

Before leaving MacDill AFB, we stopped at the gas station on base to fill the tank in the Vue and paid $2.559 a gallon.

I did get a photo of the cruise ship, Carnival Inspiration, leaving port and the Tampa skyline.

From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa

From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa

Little Manatee River State Park

Mike took photos this morning of our campsite at Little Manatee River State Park.

From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa

Site #2 is an ADA (handicapped) site, but since it is the slow season and there are 2 other ADA sites we were able to reserve this site. We are next to the restroom/showers/laundry.

From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa

This is also a very large site.

From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa

This is a small campground with only 30 campsites. There is an equestrian camping section in another area with 4 campsites. Right now there is only 1 other RV besides us in the main camping area.

Winter Quarters, Lutz to Little Manatee River State Park

We left Winter Quarters RV Park this morning around our usual time of 10:30. We drove east on SR-54 to connect with I-75 and then south to SR-674 east to Sun City Center. We found a small shopping center just off of I-75 where we could stop and fix lunch. There was a Home Depot near the shopping center and after lunch we went there to get a new filter for our water filter system before heading out to Little Manatee River State Park.

On our way through Sun City Center (a retirement community), we saw several of these signs.

From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa

We drove about 2 miles east on SR-674 to US-301 and then south 6 miles to the entrance to Little Manatee River State Park. We arrived at the entrance a little after 12:30.

From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa

Since we had already made a reservation, all we had to do was check in with the ranger and receive our map and directions to the campground. Mike called the park this morning before we left Winter Quarters to see if we could check-in early here at Little Manatee. Check-in is 3 p.m. but since we are about the only ones staying here, it wasn't a problem for us to arrive early.

After a 2 mile or so drive through the park, we arrived at Site #2. It is a back-in with 50 amp electric and water service. It is a paved site and we are right next to the restroom, showers, & laundry.

We will be here for a week and with our Florida Senior Resident discount, we are paying $86.24 (inc tax).

Mike didn't take any photos of our site today, so he will do it tomorrow.

Trip to Lazy Days

I got back from Kissimmee on Monday after helping my sister-in-law set up her new computer.

This morning Mike & I drove down to Seffner to visit Lazy Days RV Supercenter & Camping World. We needed to get a couple of things from Camping World and then we went over to Lazy Days to look at some Class C motorhomes. Even if we stop fulltiming in the future, we don't want to give up RVing, so we may downsize to a Class C then.

Since Cracker Barrel is there by Lazy Days, we decided to have lunch after looking at Lazy Days. We also got gas in the Vue at Flying J ($2.569 a gal) before heading back to the rv park.

Tomorrow we leave Winter Quarters and go to Little Manatee River State Park.

Sue goes back to Kissimmee

My sister-in-law, Elaine, has been having trouble with her computer. Her son-in-law has worked on it and I worked on it when we were in Kissimmee. It has now gotten so bad that she is getting a new computer. We had ordered her one from Dell when we were in Kissimmee earlier this month. Last night she heard that it was still not shipped and she could cancel the order or wait.

After talking with Elaine last night and checking online for stores in Kissimmee selling computers, she decided to just buy a computer in Kissimmee. I left Winter Quarters this morning and drove over to Kissimmee to stay for a few days.

I stopped in Lutz to get gas in the Vue ($2.559 a gal) before heading over to Kissimmee - about 100 miles. After getting to my brother's house, Elaine & I went to Best Buy in Orlando and bought her a Dell desktop.

I spent the rest of this evening setting up her new computer. I had transferred her documents and photos to CDs earlier this month in preparation for her new computer.

I will be here for a few days helping Elaine with her new computer. Mike and Tinker stayed in Winter Quarters in the RV.

Hillsborough River State Park to Winter Quarters-Pasco

We left Hillsborough River State Park this morning a little before noon and stopping at the dump station to dump our tanks. We headed south on US-301 to I-75 and then north about 12 miles to SR-54. Once on SR-54 we went west about 6 miles and stopped at a Publix supermarket. After getting a few groceries, we stayed there long enough to prepare and eat lunch.

After lunch we headed west on SR-54 for about 4 miles to the entrance to Winter Quarters Pasco RV Resort. We arrived here at 1:30. After checking in at the office, we disconnected the car and went to check out the available sites. We decided on site #81 and went back to the office to move the RV over to site #81.

From July 2010

We are staying here with our Coast to Coast membership so we are using our trip points. We did pay a resort fee of $3 a day. We have full hookups and 50 amp electric. Site 81 is a back-in and is covered by grass and is fairly level. This is a large park - there are about 250 sites and quite a large number of them are permanent. Everything looks well taken care of and clean.

From July 2010

We are just north of Lutz, FL and will be here for 1 week. We had a really short drive - 27 miles!

River Rapids & Baynard Trails

This morning after breakfast we went over to the Hillsborough River to walk on a couple of the trails here.

The first one we took was the River Rapids Trails that follows along the river. Here we were able to see the Class II rapids in the river and the many bald cypress trees.

From July 2010

There were places on the boardwalk we were able to get a good view looking down the river.

From July 2010

Tinker had a great time "hiking" on the trail and was eager to see what was around the next bend.

From July 2010

After the River Rapids Trail, we crossed the stationary bridge to the Baynard Trail.

From July 2010

We had more view of the river and saw the interesting ways some tree trunks had grown.

From July 2010

We had a great time on the trails, but we were beginning to feel the heat by the time we left. For quite a while we were the only people on the trails, but as the morning got later we started to meet walkers on the trails. We were glad that we had come earlier in the morning and were going to miss the July mid-day heat.

After getting back to the RV, we fixed lunch and then prepared for our departure tomorrow. Our next stop is going to be Winter Quarters Pasco RV Resort between Lutz and Land O'Lakes.

Laundry & Campground Reservations

This morning I washed clothes at the laundry here at the park. I paid $2 a load for the washers & dryers. I had 4 loads of clothes, so it took a while to get the laundry done with 2 washer & dryers.


Mike made reservations this afternoon for John Prince Park in Lake Worth for a week's stay beginning Oct. 20. Mike has a 50th high school class reunion that week.


He also made a reservation for Little Manatee River State Park at Wimauma, FL for a week starting July 29.

Quick trip to Kissimmee

Last night after I posted yesterday's blog, I got a call from my brother, Cyril, and we had some mail delivered to them on Saturday.

We had planned on going to the ranger guided tour of Fort Foster today, but I made a trip back over to Kissimmee to pick up our mail. We had hoped that the mail would arrive before we left Kissimmee, but it was delivered yesterday.

I left Hillsborough River State Park mid-morning and met my brother & family at Cracker Barrel in Orlando for lunch. I paid a $2.50 toll on the Osceola Parkway - a big difference from the $7.50 we paid for the RV & car last Thursday.

After lunch I went to my brother's house for a short visit before returning to Hillsborough River State Park.

While in Kissimmee I stopped at Petco for pet supplies and at Wal-Mart Supercenter for a few groceries.

While I was over in Kissimmee  today, Mike took a few photos of the campground.

From July 2010

From July 2010

Hillsborough River State Park

Hillsborough River State Park opened in 1938 and was one of the first Florida State Parks. It was originally established by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) during the Great Depression in the 1930's as a public park.

In 1835 Fort Alabama was built to protect a bridge over the river during the Seminole Indian Wars. It was soon abandoned and then destroyed by fire. In 1836 Fort Foster was built on the same site and there is a reconstruction of the fort in the park.

There is a ranger-led tour of Fort Foster on the weekends and we plan on going on the tour tomorrow.

There is a huge swimming pool between ranger station at the park entrance to the campground. The pool has been very busy every time we pass by it. Hillsborough River State Park isn't just for camping and a lot of people come here just for the swimming pool.

Kissimmee to Hillsborough River State Park

We had a short travel day today - only 71 miles from Mill Creek RV Park in Kissimmee to Hillsborough River State Park.

Before we left Mill Creek we stopped by the office to pay for our electricity usage while at there. The total bill for our electric usage was $126.46; we paid a $50 deposit toward the electricity when we checked in and that was applied to the $126.46. After saying goodbye to Gordon and Chris at the office, we left the rv park at 11:30.

We drove north on Michigan Avenue to Osceola Parkway (a toll road and we paid $7.50) and then west to I-4 south. We stopped for lunch around noon at a rest area on I-4 near Polk City. After lunch we continued on I-4 to McIntosh Road which is about 6 miles west of Plant City. We took McIntosh Road north to US-301 and 3 miles north on US-301 to arrive at Hillsborough River State Park at 1:30.

After checking in at the Ranger Station and getting our campground map, we drove to the campground. We are in site 51C - a pull-through. We are on a corner site and we decided to pull into the site the opposite way it's laid out.

From July 2010

If we had pulled in the "correct" way, our door would open toward the street and the picnic table would be on the other side of the RV.

From July 2010

Site 51C is a paved site and we have 50 amp electric and water hookups. We put out the portable satellite dish so we can receive TV - the rooftop dish is blocked by trees. We will be here for a week and with our Florida Senior Discount we're paying $94.08 for the week.

Car fixed

We got the Vue back today from Starling Chevrolet. They replaced the ignition housing and cylinder and hopefully this will have taken care of our problem with the key not turning in the ignition.

We spent the rest of today getting ready to leave tomorrow and head over to Hillsborough River State Park.

We've had a great time visiting with my brother and family this last month. We didn't do any sightseeing here this time - we've been to Disney World and Sea World before and decided to skip them this time.

Car Trouble

Last night I was going to drive over to my brother's house for a visit and I couldn't get the key to turn in the ignition. We've had this problem before with the Vue and by turning the steering wheel back & forth and turning the key in the ignition we've been able to get the car started. Not last night! Both Mike and I took turns trying to get the key to turn and even switched keys, but it wouldn't budge.

This morning both Mike and I tried to start the car and the key still wouldn't turn in the ignition. Last night I "googled" our problem with the ignition and found out that a LOT of people had the same problem and it wasn't just with the Vue - there were a lot of car models with the same problem.

Mike called Starling Chevrolet here in Kissimmee and told them our problem and that we were going to have to have the car towed in. Then he called our roadside service and told them our problem and the address of the rv park and that he had already spoken with the Chevrolet dealer. They said they would contact a towing company for us. About an hour after our call to the roadside service, a tow truck showed up and then loaded our car onto the flat bed.

From Kissimmee

From Kissimmee

Mike rode over to the Chevrolet dealer in the tow truck. After talking with their service department and explaining to them that we need the car fixed in a couple of days (we're leaving here Thursday), he called my brother, Cyril, to pick him up at the dealer and bring him back to the rv park. We're supposed to have the car back by Wednesday.

I called my sister-in-law, Elaine, tonight to ask her to pick me up tomorrow morning to go grocery shopping with her and her daughter, Kathy.