DECEMBER 2015, GOODBYE SUMMER, HELLO WINTER !!

I know it's been awhile since my last blog but I think that's normal when us bloggers finally settle in somewhere. I miss blogging but my plan is to only occasionally write one. We signed a 2 year lease on our place on Matlacha Island, Fl. And put our motorhome in storage. If we start to travel again my blogging will probably increase again.

Ms. Heather and I are quite content to be planted again. We do miss traveling but our decision to sit awhile has been good. Matlacha Island is a great place to be. We, of course, have made a lot of friends here after snowbirding for 5 years.

We found out that the weather is very hot in the summer til about the end of October. Did a lot of AC, like the locals. November brings a break in hot and starts to get comfortable again. We used to get here in late November so this year has been a learning curve.

We've slid in to “Island Time” in a big way. Music, seafood, and other ways to while away the time. Our weeks slide by effortlessly.

We put on a karaoke party Monday evenings at home, Tuesday's we play Bingo. ( unlike most bingo's this one is FREE, free is good) , Wednesday's we go play pool with some friends. FREE. Thursday evening our favorite band, The Hipnauticals, entertain us, ( No commercials) The weekends are a mix of diversified island things, never the same !

Being land based has inspired our culinary skills. I've been getting creative and started baking again. It's great having a full sized kitchen again. I do have to get in a lot of walking to make up for the extra calories though !!

The holiday season on Matlacha Island, Florida is a mixture of fun. A few fund raisers, like most communities and everyone is preparing for “Season”. It's usually about the second week of January when the license plate colors changeover to reflect the mass migration of folks from Northern States. I regularly will go sit out front and check out the plates on the vehicles. I can see the broad mix of states enjoying the area. Most of the businesses have the next 90 days to make it or break it. Like our previous domicile, Houghton Lake, Michigan, they have a majority of their yearly income generated during the season.

Ms Heather has plans to expand her custom jewelry business this winter. It's good to see her excited about it. She will be getting more exposure of her craft at a local market. It will probably require a few hours every weekend to set up and teardown but it's worthwhile to generate a few $$$ !

Right after the holidays we're planning on a good scrubdown and wax job on the motorhome in storage. I was out there checking on it and it's dirty. I go there every few weeks and fire up the motor and generator to ensure its health. Hoping to get a couple short camping trips in, this winter, too !

We still don't miss winter at all !

May all our family and readers have Happy and Holy and safe

holidays !

Charlie & Heather and Rolling Earthquake .

8-6-15 Settleing in

Well, our housewarming party went very well. We had almost 100% of our invited friends show up and it was pretty laid back. Its was nice to see people intermingling and meeting new folks. Ms. Heather & I appreciated all the donated food and gifts and the words of encouragement, both personally and via the blog & e mail & socia media !! It's great to have great friends.

I've got ads posted locally and on Craigslist to sell the motorhome and tool trailer. Got a few calls on each but nothing solid yet. No hurry, no worry !!

The Florida summer weather seems to be tolerable although hot. It's been near 90F most days this past month but regular late afternoon showers do cool it off . Our central AC has been great. I wonder how much the electric bill will be …. time'l tell !

As is true with most moves, the “ where is this and where is that” seems to be slowing down thank goodness to Ms. Heather's great memory ! I haven't missed finding very much this week.

Mama Cat has settled in quite well including licking my feet and getting kicked off the bed a few times. I CAN”T STAND THAT !!! So she's moved over towards Ms Heather's side of the bed for survival !! ha ha ha ha !!!

We've met a few of our neighbors and so far so good.

Went to a “ celebration of life” memorial for one of our island friends. We were kinda surprised how many people we know from the island. Quite a few more than we realized. I suppose, after 5 years of snowbirding down here, that's inevitable ! There was quite a turnout at the church for Danny “Dog” Dobbins !!.

We decided to NOT get involved in the boat after all ! Wants & needs just don't require 125HP to go fishing a few days every month. Besides, fishing from the bridge and canal fronts is just as much fun. We already know several folks to go fishing with, so why take on the aggravation of boat ownership ?? ( A hole in the water into which you pour $$$$ ) .

A few years ago I sold all my good sound gear and since we're land based now I decided to “ go big “ again. Over the last few weeks I've reaquired some kick butt sound equipment again. Ms Heather and I fired up the karaoke stuff and have had a few close friends over to share some music ! Of course some libations were involved too ! It's fun to have a good sound system again ! Since our nearby neighbors are snowbirds and gone for the summer we haven't had anyone to irritate . I wonder how that will fly this winter ??

Fellow blogger, Billy Bob ( http://billybobsplace.blogspot.com/ ) , has had some bothersome medical problems. I hope he get's straightened up so's he can get on the road again. There, but for God, I could go !!

As I still read blogs, it makes me daydream of travelling. I wonder how much we'll miss that ???

Ms Heather has picked up her painting business again. Since June she's done a few jobs and now she's doing a complete interior job.

I'm building a wall hanging, home entertainment cabinet for the living room. I love the smell of wood ! This should put all our TV and sound stuff in one place. Did I ever tell you I love Lowes and Home Depot. Like a kid in a candy shop !!

Windows 10 has been installed on my laptop for a few days and so far so good..the install went seamlessly and it works a bit faster. The replacement browser for Explorer is called EDGE and works better. Still not as good as CHROME though !!

My buddy, Daniel, who lives just a few miles from us, has been over a few times and it's been nice to see him. He is a great musician and we have fun with a lot of music.

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

Charlie & Heather

7-23-15 Beginning life off the road !!

7-23-15 --HOW TO ADAPT TO LIFE OFF THE ROAD !!

Have you ever had a major re-direction in your life ? We have !! Several years ago we decided to hit the road and see the USA in a motorhome, that led to writing a blog and that became a semi daily high point of the day for me ! I thought it'd be a great way for our families and friends to see what we were doing. 28 States and 100k miles later we have decided to settle down again.

We had been talking about stopping our gypsy travels last spring but we thought we'd do that this coming winter. We kinda put some feelers out for a place to settle down on Matlacha Island, Fl. as we both love it. As luck would have it a nice place showed up and we both loved it. If we tried to get a place like this at the beginning of “ season “ it wouldn't happen !! So we flipped our “ jello “ coin and grabbed it !

The past 1 ½ weeks we've been “ moving “ out of the motorhome and into our new place. It's amazing how much stuff we had in the motorhome and trailer. I guess none of us pay much attention to our collection of stuff. We really didn't find anything we don't use but there was a lot of it ! Ha ha ha ! One of our concerns was our “ Kitty “, Mama Cat, that has adopted us. She's pretty headstrong and is an inside/outside cat. We're wondering what she'll do ???

Our new residence gives us about 416 square feet more space to survive in. Now that's not a lot but it's nice to have a little more room. Our MH was 28 x 8 ( 224 sq ft )and the new place is 40 x 16.( 640 sq ft ) Hmmmm !! Kinda like the old days ! We also aquired a 21 ft boat with it.

Since I had a boat for 20 some years up in Michigan I'm looking forward to being on the water again. We're on a canal front and on Matlacha Island, Fl. which is a spot we both love. We have made many friends here in the last 5 years so we feel at home.

I've been finding the hot weather here is something to contend with. AC seems to be the answer every afternoon. I suppose we'll get used to it as time goes on. I do know I'm never gonna do winter again.

Ms Heather has been grinning ever since we decided to do this ! I'm grinning because I was getting tired of driving every week. It's nice we're both so happy !

Now, we've got a motorhome and trailer to sell. Hope they go to a good home. We have a lot of adjustments to go thru. I still try to flush with a foot pedal and feel bit awkward not having to dump tanks !! We are finally able to pass by each other without any scootching !!

I suppose we'll have to changeover to being Florida residents now ! Of course there's advantages and disadvantages to that. I totally find all that cr** to be a pain in the a** to do, but necessary. Would be nice to be declared a USA retired resident with a national license for driving, CCW, voters card, etc. !!

Ms. Heather has solved the kitty dilemma. She put her in a carrier and hauled her over to our new place. She's been here for a week now and seems to enjoy the AC as much as I do. Of course we had to get all the necessary cat stuff and she has totally adapted to inside living so far !! The silly kitty seems to have a grin on her face too. ( We did find her sleeping up on the motorhome motor while we were gone and didn't wander to far away from her “ big box “. I guess she missed us !! Awwwww !!! She's even been joining me for nap hour.

We having an open house party tomorrow, Saturday for our old neighbors and the new ones. Hoping the weather cooperates.

I may/may not continue the blog. What do you think ??

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

Charlie & Heather

7-1 thru 7-10-15 big changes !!

7-1-15 JELLO PLANS CHANGE AGAIN

Ms. Heather & June's painting project is just about done. June's house looks real good. They've managed to get the bright yellow paint on them pretty well too ! ( & the ladder )

Got a call from my skin clinic that the biopsies they did a week ago require the spots on my lip & back be removed with a MOHS procedure. Got an appointment for July 6^th, early, to get that done. Kinda sounds like we may be here for a few days more. We were gonna take off that day.

We removed our 2 seat cushions from the table seats and had them reupholstered. Found a lady on Pine Island that was reasonably priced. We had pull the chairs and flip them to remove a few dozen hog ring fasteners. The only worn fabric was the seat cushions. She did a nice job and revamped them to be drop in cushions. She added zippers to them, we can flip them now and if needed they're washable. Much better setup ! Total cost was $160.

The humidity has dropped a bit, making the heat bearable. It still gets up to 90F every afternoon.

I'm thinking we'll get some fireworks for the 4^th . Haven't done that in awhile! We'll join a lot of other folks by the drawbridge and celebrate ! A park party is in the makings too !

We had a great party on the docks Saturday. The food was yummy. We pounded fireworks for over an hour. The fireworks I bought were fantastic. I think my friend, Carl, had more fun than I did. We were like a couple of kids again !!

WOW !! Change is in the air !! A BIG twist in the jello plans occurred on Thursday, July 2^nd. Ms. Heather and I have been toying with the idea of when we'd quit roaming and had kinda figured that we'd get serious about planting somewhere after this summer. We totally agree that Matlacha Island, where we've been coming to for 5 years, would be a great place to settle into. I've been researching the idea, via internet and all our contacts here, to get a feel of the prices and possibilities available. I put a few business cards out with my inquirees. Lo and behold, we got a call from the resort next door. A couple, Bob & Barb, had a place available. We took a walk over and looked it over, it's furnished and on a canal and comes with a nice boat on a lift. Hmmmm!!!

This place is newer and in very nice shape. So we all sat and talked. Ms. Heather & I decided to make the plunge 'cause we aren't gonna beat this deal. We signed a 2 year lease and it looks like we're earthbound again. Wheww !! Gonna be busy for awhile !! Anyone out there want to buy a great motorhome ?

Our move into our new place really shouldn't take too long. Life in a motorhome keeps the amount of 'extra' stuff to a minimum. We'll start transferring stuff on Wednesday after Ms. Heather does some prep work. It certainly will be easier than our last move !!

On Monday 7-6 , I had an appointment at my dermatologist's to remove some basil cell carcinoma from under my nose and a spot on my back. ( MOHS procedure ) My primary doctor found those a few months ago and sent me to get them looked at. Good catch !! I'm paying dues for all the sun in the past. I never used sunscreen in the old days, I do now ! Gotta walk around with my upper lip all bandaged up for a few days. Real pretty !!

The days fly by ! Here it is Friday, 7-10-15, and we've been busy. We started our move in on Wednesday and have been hard at it every day. Got about 80% moved so far. I hate moving. Even though we have been in a motorhome there's still lots of small stuff. Luckily our new place comes furnished and with appliances so we haven't had any heavy stuff to move. I'm too old for that anyway !!

We had Dishtv here today and took advantage of their moving service. Got a new sat dish permanently mounted and tuned in. I called them at 1000hrs and the field tech was here at 1600 and done by 1730. Gotta love it. We managed to live without TV for 3 days..whewww, I was going thru withdrawal !! LOL !!!

I suppose this blog is long enough.

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

Charlie & Heather

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.