6-28-15 2 more weeks

6-28-15

It's been over a week since the last blog. What a week !

I've been starting our pre-checks for leaving in 2 weeks. The first gremlin I found was our Motorhome engine battery was very low. Since it is 4 years old I decided to stick in a new one. Wally World had the best price, $90. I picked out a deep cycle marine battery with 850 cranking amps. That should last awhile. It's also good to know that if we need any warranty work we'll always be nearby a Walmart. The Caddy will need an oil change & lube this week. I'll wait til next week to check all the tire pressures.

We've been here 6 months so there are a lot of things to put away in the trailer. We kinda spread out when we plant for awhile ! It's nice to have some extra room in the trailer since I sold the motorcycle.

The second gremlin to pop up was my Acer computer screen crapped out yesterday. No recovering there ! I'm not too upset though because it's 5 years old. Another internet research and off to Wally World again ! Picked up another Acer Inspire Laptop with a 1000 GB (1 Terrabyte)hard drive...WOW ! It's got a 15.6” screen and way more periphials (?) than I'll ever use. It comes with a new soft case and a wireless mouse. $350..I remember when a similar unit would have cost $1500+.. the bothersome part of that is having to reinstall all my stuff, God bless backups. I'll probably have to put in a couple days to get it all in order again. I'll save that chore for rainy days.

Plans are in the making for a 4^th of July party. We decided to stay here til the 6^th and avoid the crowds that weekend. Fireworks off the bridge will be entertaining. Might even get a few ourselves ! This is the latest we've ever stayed on the island.

Our new Coleman Canopy has held up to 5 storms already. Sure beats that piece of crap we bought at Northern Tools.

 

It's nice to sit in the shade in the afternoon. We setup a fan and our radio out there too.

The summer sunsets, out over the ocean, have been spectacular every evening. It's a habit to go to the point and watch it. In a matter of minutes the sky changes thru several shades of red and if you blink it'll change..never get tired of that show.

Ms. Heather has been helping a neighbor, June, paint her place all week. They try to start early before the heat becomes too much.. usually they stop about noon. June's place is about 90% done and looking real good.

 

 

Carl, our friend and resort manager, has been trying to get all his outside work done before noon too !! He wears me out just watching him !! I don't think I could work in this heat for very long nowadays. It's great to be retired. AC is my friend !! We have the AC on from 9AM til 9PM almost every day, sometimes longer.

I feel somewhat remorse about leaving Mama Cat behind again this year. She comes and visits every day. She sure got lovey this year. I'll miss her napping with me!

Looking forward to getting back on the road !

REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!

Charlie & Heather.

5 O'CLOCK SOMEWHERE !!

Why does it seem like June is flying by ?? Here we are in the middle of it already. As our regular readers know, we're still on Matlacha Island in SW Florida and we're putting up with 90+F every day. Another phenomana is the 5 O'clock rains, almost every day. Now, I know it's the tropics but why does it have to do this every day ? It messes with happy hour, ya know?? We were sitting outside and enjoying a few brews and as usual, even though the weather guessers said late rains today, a “ pop up “ cloud appeared out of nowhere and put a few drops of rain on the party. Oh well, at least we don't have to worry about soaking our long johns !! Just as amazingly it all went away in 30 minutes. We were able to go out and solve the world's problems once again !!

On the fix it / solve it newsfront, our new canopy has arrived at Wally World and we'll pick it up tomorrow. I'm hoping it'll hold up longer than the last piece of sh** !

Around about 1030 PM last night we had a power outage. I was engrossed in the last ½ hr of a TV show series , Texas Rising , so I just reached up and flipped on the generator and got back into the show. I love motorhoming !! Just a bit after the show was over the power came back on. Oh well, I needed to exercise the Genny anyways as it hasn't run in months. I was even able to run the AC .

I'm glad we're not in Texas, have ya been following all the rain & flood news ? Now they have a tropical storm headin' towards them.

A fellow blogger, Billy Bob , has been doing some serious doctoring lately and I'm happy he has family around to help him. It's amazing how many people have back problems. Seems like a lot of seniors go thru that trouble.

The Old Fat Man, another blogger, is still having fun in Texas but he's keeping an eye on the weather. He has a great blog.

RV Dreams, another blog site that influenced us a LOT to do what we do, just got done putting on a rally. You'd enjoy reading their blog if you're ever tempted to take up the RV Lifestyle. All of these blogs can be found at www.hitchitch.com .

My mind is daydreaming about our takeoff day. Since Ms. Heather will be driving a chase car ( Cadillac ) this year we'll have to carefully plot our trips. We usually do anyways. I don't wanta lose her, ya know ? The usual method of planning involves where to, weather, watching out for tricky towns to manuver thru, I check RV Park Reviews to see if there are any negatives for our destination. This year will be different as we plan on staying for a week at a time at each park so I'll watch for stuff like laundries and pools. I'm looking forward to shorter trips than we've done for the last 4 years. Gonna save a ton of $$$$ on gas too ! Of course we will do more exploring with the car. Guarenteed it'll be different this summer.

I've still been enjoying Facebook. It seems like every week someone from my past connects with me thru it. Amazing where everyone has settled in all over the USA. I'm dazzled by the young'ins that are becoming grandparents !! Of course, I'm in complete denial about my age !! Ha ha ha ha !!

We hope all of you are having a wonderful summer.

REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!

Charlie & Heather

JUNE 11^th & THE HEAT IN FLORIDA

Yep, we're still in Matlacha, Florida !! This is the latest we've stayed down here in 5 years . Usually we're on the road, headed North, by the middle of May. We decided that since we aren't going too far North this year we'd stay a while longer. I wanted to see if I could acclimate to the heat. Ms. Heather loves the heat but I find hiding in the AC more to my likeing . I've learned to avoid noon til 4PM. Great timing for the geezer siesta. Our normal temps have been 90F every afternoon. Usually a shower happens early evening for an hour or so, it is the tropics, ya know ?? We open the car windows a bit every day to let the heat out, gotta get some of those reflective panels for the windows. Our adopt-a-cat, mama, likes to come in and lay in the AC too, every afternoon.

I think I told you that I decided to sell the motorcycle. I've got ads out and it's parked out by the road in front of the RV park. Been getting about 2 calls per day on it. If my inseam was about 3 inches longer I'd keep it.

Great news !! Sold the bike 6-6-15. A guy, Dennis, called after dinner and took it for a ride. He's a Honda guy and his 1982 Goldwing is on its last legs. He liked the test drive and bought it ! Now I'm wondering what kind of toy I'll buy next !!

We've been enjoying “ Island Time “ every day. Fishing, group dinners, music, etc. are making the weeks fly by. Hard to believe we've been here since December. Kinda grows on ya !!

Got quite a bit of doctoring done on this old body this year. Had my annual physical a few weeks ago and that found a high red blood cells count which led to seeing another Doctor. The fix for that was donateing blood. My COPD causes it and it's something I'll have to monitor in the future. My primary doc noticed a bump under my nose and wants me to see a Dermotologist. Got another appointment for that next week. Ain't it hell to get old ?? This all is more doctoring than I've had my whole life !

We've been enjoying the Caddy. It's handy to have a car again. I put some new tires on it to eliminate a slight shimmy, probably caused by sitting too much. Tires don't like that. My mechanic, Jeff, found out the '97 Cadillacs had a recall on a fuel rail so he took it to work one day and changed that out. The original fuel rail was plastic and they develope leaks, the new one is stainless steel, he also installed a new fuel regulator while he was a it as they have a reputation of failing. Kinda handy having a Cadillac mechanic as a friend !!! He also did an inspection underneath and checked the brakes. All okay !!

Our very dear friend, Dora, has started a new life adventure ! She sold her business in Michigan recently, after 35 years ! Now she can travel in her motorhome that she bought a few years ago

. We hope her dreams come true and she enjoys her time in it ! Hopefully we can all meetup somewhere down the road. I'm gonna try to talk her into doing a blog so we can follow her adventures.

Daydreaming ! That's important, ya know ?? I've been looking at maps and hitchitch is in gear. I haven't made up anything but jello plans so far but I've seen some interesting spots to see this summer. Most are along the ocean roads and a few are inland Florida. No rushing this summer so we'll probably be doing 1 to 2 week stops. If we go as far North as South Carolina I'll be surprised. I'd like to see Cape Canaveral and Tybee Island. Gonna aim at RV parks with pools and pool tables. Sounds like our Passport America membership will treat us well again this year. 50% off is good !!

We decided to buy an outdoor canopy. The motorhome doesn't have an awning. It'd be nice to sit in some shade. I researched them and decided a nice heavier duty one would fit the bill. Decided on Northern Tool's sale offer. We picked one up on Tuesday 6-9-15, set it up the next day. Had a rainy night and got a suprise the next morning !!

Seems like it didn't hold up to a rain very well.The store mgr. didn't seem too interested when I called so I contacted Northern Tool's main office in Minn. before I headed to the store, they were expecting me when I got there. Needless to say, took it back and got our money back. I guess we were lucky to get it back in the car as it was pretty twisted up, had to get some help to fold it. Thank You Carl !! . Gonna get a Coleman canopy next. I ordered one from Walmarts. Should be here next week. I hope it works better.

REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!

Charlie & Heather.