not much going on, but we're warmer than you!

2013-01-30

Life goes on here in Sunny Florida. We had an interesting morning yesterday, spending it in the local emergency room. It appears I have re-injured an old rib fracture. Had I known that was the cause of my pain I would have done my best to ignore it and not bothered with the medical visit.

It’s my own fault, I never had it cared for properly when I fell in the hole and almost impaled myself on a post many years ago. Now when I re-injure it I usually try to work thru it until it re-knits and the pain goes away. Anyhow the pain progressed from an occasion jab of pain when I reached upwards the wrong way to a constant pain. I felt it snap a couple weeks ago while on the floor playing with the dogs and told Millie that was going to cause some pain. Working under the kitchen sink last week and the bathroom sink a couple days ago probably exasperated the current episode. Both times I was lying with my ribcage on the edge of the cabinet opening and had to reach up to the underside of the sink to work on the faucets.

Because the injury is on my flank at Kidney level and the pain was now constant I figured I better make sure there were no monsters growing inside.

At the hospital I was poked and prodded, questioned, fluids lab analyzed, kidneys ultra sounded, midsection Cat Scanned, and given a clean report as far as the insides go. The rib injury, there’s nothing they can do about that, they gave me some anti-inflammatory meds and muscle relaxer pills and was told to take it easy.

Today I finished setting up the awning and sunscreen, fixed the screen door latch and am going to fix a crack I found in the fiberglass shower this afternoon. What?..... I am taking it easy!

Millie is fine; she walks for exercise most every morning. Yesterday she played Nurse and took care of me, today she mostly read. Temps have been in the mid 80’s; we’re soaking up the warmth! I’ll try to take some new pictures tomorrow.

Orlando Thousand Trails

2013-01-28

Sunday Jan 27 2013. We drove down highway 27 from Olena State Park to the Orlando Thousand Trails campground today. Not much to report about that, it was a nice ride thru horse country, I showed Millie the development I got thrown out of half way through the sales presentation when they found out I had a dog, and the new city known as “The Villages” is still growing.

Here at the 800+ campsite Thousand Trails Resort I was surprised to find it very nearly full. There’s always a big crowd here in winter but I’ve never seen it maxed out before.

Monday Jan 28 2013. Life in the motorhome sometimes has ho-hum days. Today Millie went to the Laundromat and I cleaned the bathroom. Tomorrow will be more exciting, we’ll be going to Wal-Mart!

I didn’t take any pictures yesterday or today so I’ll accompany this post with a couple pictures of the girls.

Still in North Central Florida

2013-01-26

Yesterday we toured the nearby town of High Springs; it is a typical small central Florida town. On Main Street we found an old hardware store that still sold bulk nails by the pound. I haven’t seen that in a while.

By a river landing near the campground we saw a small pontoon boat with the whole deck framed by a screen house. If the mosquitoes’ are that bad here in the summer, I don’t think I would want to be boating around here.

Saturday Jan 26 2013. It’s shaping up to be another beautiful day in sunny Florida. As pleasant as Myrtle Beach is in the winter, I still enjoy migrating south where it is really warm. Maybe it’s just mental, but I have ZERO tolerance for cold weather.

This morning we walked one of the longer trails thru the forest here in the park, I estimate we walked about six miles. In the afternoon we drove to Gainesville to do a little light shopping. While in the city we drove thru the University of Florida Campus. It is very impressive, the tax payers of Florida should be proud.

Tomorrow we move to the huge (800+ RV sites) Thousand Trails Campground near Orlando for a 14 day stay.

Sunny Florida

Friday 01/25/2013. Yesterday we migrated south from Georgia to sunny Florida. Once again we chose to stay off the interstate highways and leisurely wander down the state and county roads.

We are staying 3 nights at Oleno state park which is between Lake City and Gainesville. Oleno has an interesting connection to the lotto game KENO, read the historical marker picture for details.

The Santee Fee River runs thru the campground and it is full of alligators, it definitely reminded me and reinforced my rule of not letting the dogs get near any body of fresh water in Florida.

Our plan for the stay here at the state park is to relax, enjoy the warmth and hike the park trails. On Sunday we move to the Thousand Trails Resort near Orlando for a 14 day stay.

Okefenokee Swamp

Wednesday 01/23/2013. Today we had to drive into town (Waycross, GA.) to go to the post office and did a short town tour while there. We saw all the railroad tracks crisscrossing the town but didn’t stay to train watch. In the afternoon we visited the Okefenokee Swamp Park. Winter is a good time to tour a swamp, no bugs!

BTW, I hadn’t written to the blog after the summer road trip but we did take two trips between then and now. We never used the National RV again; it sat in a body shop in Wilmington NC while we tried to get replacement fiberglass parts to repair it. The insurance company and I mutually agreed to total it after we couldn’t find the parts.

I decided that the replacement motorhome would be one from a reputable company that was still building RV’s. Millie and I also discussed the design and features we wanted. We ended up choosing a Winnebago Adventurer as the motorhome of choice. It has a floor plan very similar to the National and we felt that was about as good a design as there is. I also wanted it to be on a 20,000 lb Ford gas chassis like the National had.

We searched the internet and found several used Winnebago Adventurers for sale that, were in our price range and met our other requirements. The one we purchased came from Virginia and we have been very pleased with it.

On the road again

Sunday 1/20/2013 Well, Millie and I are on the road again. We’ve finally left Myrtle Beach and are on our way to Florida. Our first day of travel was to Hunting Island State Park which is on the lower coast of South Carolina, close to the Parris Island Marine Base and about thirty miles north of Savannah Georgia. Our plan is to stay here two nights and tour the historic town of Beaufort.

Monday 1/21/2013 Interesting town, Beaufort is like stepping back in time and is steeped in history. It is well worth a day if you are traveling thru the area. We also enjoyed a long beach walk with the dogs at the state park. Tomorrow we plan on meandering south about 170 miles to Laura Walker State Park near Waycross Georgia.

Tuesday 1/22/2013 Today we traveled on back roads from Hunting Island South Carolina to Laura Walker State Park in southern Georgia. The park is about ten miles from Waycross where apparently the main attraction for visitors is train watching. Yes train watching, it’s on their tourist webpage. Waycross is a major hub for trains passing thru the south. We’ll check that out tomorrow, today we just relaxed in the beautiful park.