Gotta escape the rain and more rain and more rain....

 Rained all night and rain again this morning and the forecast is for another few days of rain! Now, we don't mind rain but after 5 days it gets aggravating. So, go to plan #2. To the Hollywood Casino RV Park just a few miles East, in Bay St. Louis, Ms..
  Pulled out of Bay Hideaway at 1030hrs and headed East about 11 miles and scooted into a slot by 1115hrs. These long drives are wearing me out. The sun was out till 1230hrs and you'll never guess what happened then! More heavy rain, again. The few dry minutes was just enough to get hooked up again. FHU, Cable and casino entertainment which includes a stage show tonight. The park has a shuttle service so we won't melt enrt. We've stayed here before and have had our share of good luck gambling! If the weather clears up we'll use the hot tub and pool in the casino hotel area, that's part of the package too.
  SO !! Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain !!
  REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!
Charlie & Heather.

Cam #86 Bay Hideaway RV Park , Bay St Louis,Ms.

 We decided to stall our departure from SW Mississippi and wait out the week of rainy, windy weather that's been forecasted. May as well move around a bit and explore and sample some other RV parks in the area.
  We are at Bay Hideaway, about 5 miles West of Bay St. Louis, Ms.. It's another PA park, $20/night, FHU, good phone and sat service. Nice pool and laundry. Clean restrooms. Owners are very pleasant.
  Mother nature is making up for the dry spring in the area. It's too bad the folks in the SW USA couldn't share in the deluge. The ground is saturated and causing some local flooding. We're keeping a close watch on this event. 
  Supposed to be wet for another day or two. Tomorrow we're going to move a few miles East and partake in a little casino action. Hollywood Casino has a nice RV Park and we've had good luck there in the past. After that we should be able to start the move NW and N. that requires cutting thru a piece of Louisiana via I-10 into I-12 westbound and North on I-55. We should recamp somewhere near McComb, Ms., about 120 miles of driving.
  We picked up our "to the store" order at Wally World. It's a new piece of memory foam for my bed. We replaced the mattress about 1 1/2 years ago and it's flattening out. (must be my big butt!) We have memory foam on the main bed and it's held up very well ! ( even though Heather's big...better let that alone !)(grin!!!) It's a bit of work to replace it and we've stopped at several stores to get the stuff to replace it and finally are ready for the changeout. I'd like to put some pictures of the progress on here but Blogger isn't cooperating. Haven't been able to post pictures for about a month now.
  REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !
 Charlie & Heather.
  

Westward Trek..Camps 82,83,84 & 85. Movin' right along!

 As usual, time is flyin'! Our last blog was about a week ago. Where does the time go?
   Since we pulled out of Rocky Bayou State Park with our new to us generator, we've hit 4 more parks. Trying to get in a position to start the North trek up the Mississippi River via the Great River Road. That'll require positioning ourselves in the far West side of Mississippi. Really don't feel like going to Baton Rouge or New Orleans. Way too crowded over there so we'll hit the river in SW Ms.
  I dug thru our paper maps and found the COE  ( Corps of Engineers)map showing all the "hidden" CG's. Of course we use the internet and other sources to pick our stops but paper is good too. The standard site to use is recreation.gov but it's a PIA to maneuver thru it. Imagine that? A .gov site that isn't easy !!!
  Camp 82 was River's Edge in Holt, Fl.
   Camp 83 was Bluegrass RV in Foley, Al. where we visited with some old friends, John & Lisa Nichol. Haven't seen them for over a decade.
   Camp 84 was Magic River in Long Beach, Ms.
   Camp 85, today is Pass Christian RV Park in Pass Christian, Ms.
  WHEW !!! Gonna sit here thru the Memorial Day weekend. Hoping to install some new goodies in the rig while we're here. I received a vacuum advance for the distributor via Fed Ex today, that will only take a 1/2 hr to changeout. Also have a new "Jack Antenna" to install, that's gonna take awhile. It's supposed to be the newest and greatest ! Time will tell. I hate to punch a hole in the roof but this thing's supposed to be great. Talked to a lot of folks that are using it and they all seemed pretty happy with it. 
  I've seen a lot of my fellow bloggers are starting to make their moves to escape the down South summer heat. We've been experiencing high 80's and high humidity too. It's caused the AC to be turned on before noon for a few weeks now. Time to escape!! (grin)
   My Michigan folks are bragging up the fact that they've been hitting the 70's !! Ooooooo !! Still rather cool in the evening up there though.
   We're really missing our Island home in Matlacha. Guess we had too much fun this past winter.
   Let's all of us have a safe and fun summer !! We''ll see ya guys in Michigan around about July. (written in jello !)
   REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!
 Charlie & Heather.
  
  

Camp # 80 Defuniak Springs, Fl. - Bass Haven CG

 Pulled out of Mayo, Fl. at our usual 1030AM after a leisurely 2 hr coffee fest. Checked the weather and it looks like a good travel day. Got a little extra miles than we normally do, 179mls on the agenda.
  The drive included 2 stops. To eat and shop at Wally world. I almost pulled out of Wally World when I saw the no overnight parking signs..matter of principal. We weren't gonna stay the night anyways.
   Our lunch was at Waffle House and as usual was great. I love them for their consistency. Always good. I had their BLT and it was loaded with bacon like I make them.
   Pulled into Bass Haven CG in Defuniak, Fl. just a few miles North of I-10 and got greeted by the owners. Very nice couple whom have owned the park for 3 years. We have a nice site on a lake and cable (86 stations!) Going to stay for 2 days. Another nice Passport America Park for $15 per night.
   We missed a little rain that hit this area just before we got here and it's nice and sunny now. Weird Florida May weather! :)
  We took a stroll around the property and it's got a great location. Out on the dock we saw some turtles. I went back to the rig and grabbed a bag of cat chow we had onboard. We fed the turtles for awhile and they must have called all their buddies over for the party! Before we knew it we had dozens of them mooching.
 Enjoyed another pretty Florida sunset and decided we'd head in for the night. I was surprised, for as swampy as this area is, that the bugs didn't bother us. STRANGE !! Lot's of frogs singing their songs, that'll be a pleasant sound tonight. It's supposed to stay in the 70's tonight so we'll leave the windows open. We were able to shut off the AC by 8PM.
There's a nice almost full moon too. AHHHH !!
   REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!!
 Charlie & Heather


 

Camp # 79, Mayo Florida.

Getting caught up on Camp Count since we went fulltime.
Camp # 76  was Weekie-Watchi near Spring Hill,Fl. while we had some annual maintenance done.
 Camp # 77 was Homosassa, Fl.
  Camp # 78 was High Springs to get the generator replaced.
   Camp # 79 is Mayo, Fl. to wait out some bad weather.
We're watching the weather carefully. Most of the bad stuff is West of us. Sure glad we're not mid country right now. May is always a nasty time of year in the center and S.E. USA. for travelling. We learned that over the last few years.
   REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!
Charlie & Heather.

Ready to boondock again..new stuff.

Tues may 6th Productive day! Got a generator replaced ( 4 hrs ) and a new fridge outside access door installed.
  Ya gotta love salvage yards and competent help.
Total cost?? $ 410  YAHOO !!
   The generator is a 1995 with low hours. tarts right up and runs well under full load.
    Lost the old fridge door ??????????  $10 for a replacement.
Found a local fellow that specializes in Onan generators. Traded the old genny for his labor!! I love wheelin' and dealin!!
   Can't get any pictures to post with blogger today????????

Sunday Weather. NICE

   Sunday 5-4-14 1000hrs...Finally the SUN is up! Other folks are out walking around and being friendly.
  Met the camp host and yakked a bit. Met some Canadian campers. Got to sit outside all afternoon and soak up some sun. Of course, with moisture comes bugs! Used our super sprays all around the picnic table and held the critters at bay til the sun went down. Finally escaped inside cause the bugs were winning.
   We decided to eat some chow. I baked some potatoes on the grill and we already had a grilled chicken from the store.
Very easy, tasty and quick dinner.
   Got a few things to do tomorrow. Laundry ( one of our favorites), last minute stuff to get the generator changed out Tues. and a little shopping. Not too busy.
   Watched a weather channel special on past tornado seasons. SCARY stuff. We head North and West on Thursday and ya can betcha we'll be wary of weather at this time of the year !
   Hope all our up North friends are enjoying spring. Good to see it's getting warmer up there.
  REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!
 Charlie & Heather
  
 

Hiding from the precipitation ! 5-3-14 Saturday

  I think I'll type in "blue" today. Hate hiding out from rain.
But, on the other hand I usually get a lot of little things done.
A little cool for Florida, 72F, so we don't mind cooking inside. Made up a big pot of spaghetti. I managed to get some paperwork done and also ordered a "Jack Antenna".
 It's a state of the art RV antenna for VHF & UHF that some friends of ours recommended. I read reviews on it and the specs sounded good. If it works as well as advertised we may get rid of the "Dishtv". I'm amazed with 250+ channels to pick from just how few we actually watch. News, weather, and an occasional show is all we use. The fact that the dish usually goes out during storms isn't too impressive either. It would be nice to monitor storms when it's booming!
   No one is out wandering in the park today. As usual, during yuk weather, everyone just hunkers down in their rig and waits it out. Rained yesterday evening and all night. On & off all day so far. (1200) It's supposed to end this afternoon.
  A positive side for a rainy day is the ability to meditate a bit. Time to think! You'd guess a retirees day would avail one's mind to wander. Not always! Like Billy Bob says in his blogs ( http://billybobsplace.blogspot.com/ ) Being a geezer doesn't mean ya don't need to slow down once in awhile.
  Just checked the weather maps and we may be coming to the end of the rain.( 1330hrs) Good..got some outside stuff to do if I can. Haven't heard any rain on the roof in 1/2 hr.
  At the end of these blogs is a spot to click called comments.
If ya want to ! We love comments ! It'll ask ya to register. That's so we don't get any spam. All ya need is an email address. I might even send ya a personal note back!!!!
  Finally at 1500 hrs the rain stopped. I decided to find a spot to set up our portable satellite dish.  It took a bit of hunt & peck but I found a spot about 50ft away.Lots of trees here but I'm getting good at finding a hole to grab a signal. Since it was so far away I gave Heather one of the walkie talkies and she kept telling me how my aiming was doing. BAM- got it !! Oh I love technology !! If we didn't have walkie talkies we mighta used the cell phones !! And--this is a park that everyone, on  http:// www.park reviews.com, said you can't get satellite signals. PSSTT!!
   NOW WE CAN CATCH UP ON COMMERCIALS !! lol
   Back to black & white cause the rain stopped !
   REMEMBER, LIVE TOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!
Charlie & Heather


 
 

I feel like an America Picker !!

  Rained all night. Still rainin' this morning ! Now this weather doesn't inspire me at all. But, the generator replacement project continues.
  After our coffee hour(s) we got rolling at  10AM. Hit the dump and dumpsters, stopped in the park office to extend our stay at O'leno State Park thru next Thursday. Moved our stuff to a different site due to the weekenders are coming. ( I doubt that. Supposed to rain) The office said our lot was "reserved" for the weekend.
  Took a trip a few miles South to the salvage yard where our replacement generator is coming from. They were supposed to test run it. That hadn't happened yet so I got a little "pushy" and more or less took over the test. Jumper cables, a gas supply, a little starting ether....Luckily my installer happened to be there and watched this procedure...and VROOM VROOM..It works !! Now--if they can get it delivered to the shop where the work is to be done we'll be all set up for Tuesday's install.
  I think the folks at the salvage yard were a bit intimidated with the push but, after all, I gave them 3 days to "get 'er done"! I'm gonna keep on top of all this til it's delivered too.
   Remember last fall we lost the rear access door to our Dometic Refridgerator ? Been running with a homemade door since then. While I was at the salvage place I spotted one and picked it up for $10..yahoo!!
  I really enjoy being turned loose in a "junk yard". Reminds me of the days we used to restore old cars. One man's junk is another man's treasures. This yard has all sorts of RV parts. A little slow to deal with, but tolerable. Best of all it's affordable.
   On the way back we topped off the LP tank. Been 6 weeks since we filled up last. Only took 8 gals. That's good! Got some grocery shopping done too.
   The weather is supposed to be clear & sunny all next week so it looks like a "go" for the genny replacement.
   REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!
Charlie & Heather.


  

Newer generator coming.

   Like most of us vagabonds, I'm all about watching our expenses. Thus, it leads us to this story!
  Since our rig is a classic it has it's pros and cons. The biggest pro is it's paid for! Over the last 2 years we've puttered and fixed most of the cons. We've done the usual yearly maintenance and checked or repaired the critical stuff.
BUT THAT DANG GENERATOR.......PPPSSSTTTT!!!
   So, the time has come to do something about the stalling, hesitating and etc.  We've been advised by an Onan repair shop that we should replace it. No parts available to rebuild the carb,  it's at the end of it's road.
  So I put on a self educational campaign via internet. WOW !! New generators are totally out of the question. Okay, so, hmmmm!!  EBAY? Craigslist? AHA!! RV salvage!!!
   One nice things about www.hitchitch.com is it's resources page. That started my search for salvage yards. Besides scaring the bedazzles out of me seeing pictures of fire damaged and wrecked RV's I did find several yards so I started calling around.
  Found a yard a little outa the way but near our planned route out of Florida. So off we went to see what we could accomplish.
   I found a 4KW Onan from a wrecked newer RV with very low hours. Asking price?? $400 !!! Yep..that's more like it. Also found a guy here that wants my old generator for some needed parts. He's installing the replacement in exchange for mine. Ya gotta love it ! It includes a tuneup and fresh oil change too. We have to stick around for a few days til it's done but that's no problem.
   In the meantime we are camped at O'leno State Park which is very close to the repair shop. Nice, woodsy park, which we like a lot..Great space between sites. Lot's a wildlife and birds. Saw a lot of Cardinals today.
  Ran into a little rain while running around today. Had to use the wipers and noticed they were getting frayed! They're only 1 1/2 years old. I guess Florida's constant sun ate them.
Gonna have to sissy up and put covers on them next winter.
   Beer time !! Gotta go !!
  REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME  GOES BY QUICKLY !!
Charlie & Heather.