A few more RVs here this weekend

We had a few RVs come into the campground this weekend, but it still felt like we were the only ones here.

We spent the day just working around the RV. I did do laundry here at the campground laundry. There are 2 washers and 2 dryers in a separate small building next to the restrooms & showers. So far the laundries at the state parks have been really inexpensive - $1 for the washers and dryers.

From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa

Tomorrow we are going over to St. Petersburg to go to the Salvador Dali Museum, which we've been wanting to go see for quite some time.

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!