RV Show in Jacksonville FL

Yesterday I drove up to Jacksonville to the RV show to see what vendors were there and I wanted to look around at the new coaches. I bought some QuicknBrite cleaning products (supposed to be the only cleaner one ever needs) and as soon as I use it I'll give you feedback. Then I purchased some tape and Velcro strips and when I use those I'll let you know too. The one thing I bought that I've been looking for is a motion light for my porch light. It's LED so when I get that installed (means I have to take my ladder down from the back) I'll take a picture and post it. Only thing about the motion light is when my little critters visit again, my light will go on and off during the night. LOL

I'm now a member of Passport America which provides a 50% discount on campsites at certain member campgrounds. Should pay for the membership of $44. within a couple of stays in RV parks. By signing up at the RV show I got 6 months additional and the book which I would have paid $5 to have it shipped. If anyone signs up and mentions my member # I get $10 referral fee for ea new member. I only joined for 1 year because I want to make sure I'll be using the campgrounds listed in the book.

Next at the RV show is the LazyDays seminar that focused on RV maintenance. I was the only one at the seminar so it was like having my own private RV service technician for an hour to ask questions and take notes. It was just so cool and Steve was patient and very helpful. LazyDays is more than a place to sell RVs, it's a lifestyle. When I'm in the Tampa area I'll definitely stop by, they gave me a 2 night free site so what the heck. I will check it out.

So today, I took my notes out and flushed my water heater, cleaned around my refrigerator and furnace. I also put dog flea collar strips in each of those things 'cause Steve told me it will keep the spiders and dirt dobbers out of those areas. So I'm ready to repel the little varmints. Steve also told me that when I'm parked for a long period of time to have a full tank of gas and put a product called Stabil in the gas tank. So I picked up some today at Walmart to use when I'm in Key West for 3 months and they asked for my ID, seems you have to be over 18 to buy the stuff. I asked why and the young clerk said it's used for huffing. Oh, well.

My black & grey tanks are about full and I so hate to break down and go dump before Monday. I leave here then and am trying to hold out until then to dump. So I've been going to the bathhouse for the bathroom and showers. Now that it's turning a little colder and Fl State Park bathhouses are NOT heated I sure do hate the idea of going down there tomorrow for my shower. Guess it might just be a sink bath tomorrow.

I know, too much information (TMI) so sorry about that.

It's bike week and this park has filled up quickly today. No more room for anyone else. Nice bikes and nice rigs carrying them in. I'm sure that they don't like riding those shinny bikes on this dirt road.

Okay I digressed from the topic of this post but when I finally got started on this post I couldn't stop. I appreciate everyone making comments, I read every one, in fact I have to read them and approve they be posted. There is just no way for me to email back to you to respond to your comment. So if you ask questions, check back at the post and see if I have answered them. Several of us have the same problem with commenting back to our readers, seems that blogger.com hasn't come up with a way for us to do that. Anyway, keep you comments coming, I like them.

Also, I don't know if I have mentioned the ads on my page, guess I could look back at my posts and see if I have mentioned Google Ads but this will just serve as a reminder. If you see something that interests you on my site, clicking into the ads will give me a few cents. After I get enough clicks, Google will deposit those added cents to my bank account. You don't have to buy anything but just clicking helps.

Later...

Outside my front door...

...they were digging for breakfast and when they looked up at me I felt as if I were intruding on them. I had to get pix but I just knew when I went back into Somewhere to get the camera they would be gone. NOT!

First there was one:







Then there were two...









Then there were three:


I used to be petrified of these little masked bandits until I watched Over the Hedge. Someone had to study their behavior to make those little characters behave the way they do. So I stayed outside a little to watch them and they in turn watched me.

Now I'm glad that I have Sedona's soft sided play pen. When she is in it and she starts barking I go outside to see what's up or look up from by book and see we have critter company.

Follow-up on Terrific Weekend

The fabric I used for the screen was purchased at Lowes and it's found out on the patio area and it's called sun screen. You can get it in a roll, cost was about $25.00 for the size I got. They also sell it by the yard. It comes in different colors and I have found that not all Lowes carry it. It's very light weight and does a terrific job.

One thing I left out of yesterday's post is the fact that Nan is a Florida Gator fan, follower, believer, etc., you get the idea right? Well I'm just as avid a Tennessee Vol fan. We have a greed we can still be friends, we just won't discuss, religion, politics and schools. Right! Even though I know that TN Vols are the best. tee hee See my blog, I can say what I want!!
Later...

Terrific Weekend

I have been looking so forward to this weekend because a couple of my internet (though I think we are past the internet part)friends were coming over to see me. They are from the Women RV forum. Nan arrived on Friday around 5:00 and as soon as she got her rig set up she and here min-pin, Bear, came over and we sat by the fire got caught up on news. Did I every tell you that I love company???

Saturday morning Margie drove over from Orlando for the day. She and Nan had never met so it was good to do those introductions. Margie is my friend from Tennessee. She and her husband Roger are full timers. Margie also has a blog that is a most interesting blog on fulltiming.

Nan is a handy person and she had shown me at the FL GTG a sun screen that she had made. I purchased the fabric and grommets and Nan got busy. So out came the bloody mary's and to work she went. Of course, Margie and I were just admiring her work. It was unreal how much difference that fabric made in the temperature. It was a lot cooler behind the fabric. I believe that will help as I move farther down the coast. Big Thanks, Nan.







It was time for lunch and I had made chili (thought it was going to be cool)but being behind the shelter of the new sunscreen we enjoyed lunch and cool refreshing margaritas. It was a great day.


Finished product! Photo a little blurry.
Later...

Rainbow over Camping World

Yep, I'm still here. Seems as though I had some leaking issues with my windshield and front cap of my roof. Had to have that repaired, they said I caught it before damage was done. They had to take the windshield off and reseal it.

While I was waiting for everything to be taken care of, I drove on down to the campground where I'm gonna be for a while. OMG, washboard roads. Kind of reminds me of TN State parks, you see the sign for the park and 10 miles down the road, there it is. LOL Anyway, I made arrangements to go there tomorrow. However, I am going to get an estimate on having my carpet removed and a different floor put down. As I said estimate! It will probably be too much to have it done. More on that later.

Yep, an unexpected expense but at least they allowed me to stay in the parking lot again, this time with electric and water hookups. Nothing can get me down, it's all good, plus they threw in a rainbow.

Later...

This is a First for me!

Yep a first for me. I'm sitting in the parking lot for the night at a Camping World. I know that my friend, Margie, used to do Walmart's all the time and it didn't bother her so here I am. I decided to leave Jonathan's today and cross the border into Florida. The sun was shining brilliantly and thus my spirits soared.

I made an appointment to have my electrical cord looked at and the end changed on it. While I was at Mark's a few months back the extension cord and the main power cord melted together (note: that's also when I had the problems with the TVs getting fried and a few other things) anyway since I'm going to be staying in a number of state parks I decided I needed to get it looked at and taken care of. I have an appointment early in the a.m. and then will head on for my 2 week stretch at a FL state park.

Later...

Nutin' Much

My neighbor, Mary Lou, ordered some socks and brought them over for me to see. I loved them so much I had to order a pair and now I wish I had ordered more. I love their saying that "Life is too short to match socks." I have to agree. They are comfortable too. I got the anklets while Mary Lou ordered the regular socks. Fun!

Right now I'm staying in Jonathan's house while he is away having a Valentine weekend and Taylor is at her Mom's for the weekend. Jonathan has a Dyson vacuum cleaner so I thought I would take the opportunity to give Somewhere a good cleaning while I'm here. OMG, I felt like I had been visited by a salesman where they come into your house and vacuum one spot and it looks disgusting. Well I vacuumed one spot and it was disgusting. So now I have a fresh carpet and it conveniences me that I need to get most of that carpeting out. I'll have to check to see if they have a small one to haul around.

When I left A Big Wheel RV Park in St Mary's I had some fire wood left over. So I loaded it up in Grey Goose and plan on hauling it with me. No use in letting good wood go to waste especially when it was free. Glad it's so cold, hopefully I'll not contaminate GG with insects. Ugh, gotta get that stuff burned.

Jonathan has a dog, Barbie, and a cat, Sassy. I've been trying to get those two and Sedona together for a "family" picture to no avail. Sedona get's along better with Sassy than Barbie, go figure. She's a cat lover.

Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day tomorrow. Don't forget the candy goes 1/2 price on Monday. LOL

Candy Making Videos

Some posts back (around December) I wrote about candy making with the church ladies in Etowah. I have been trying to post short videos of us doing that. I think I have finally figured it out. They are quite self-explanatory. The first one is the longest, at about 7 minutes (sorry but worth watching) and the next two are about 2 1/2 minutes. Get your popcorn and sit back, click on the blue links and enjoy...
Wanda_Patsy

CandyMaking

Shirley

From CandyMaking

Carolyn

From CandyMaking

Later...

When the Saints go marching in...

...aka Who dat! nation. Congratulations to the Saints winning the super bowl 2010. I just couldn't believe that we did not hear the song "Oh, when the saints go marching in, oh when the saints go marching in." Guess there was a reason they adopted the "Who dat" instead.

I spent the evening with Jonathan, Taylor, Dena, Josh and Meghan, the latter three being Jonathan's girl friend and her 2 kids. Good sausage balls (sorry Dena we devoured them before you got there), Rotel dip and hamburgers & hot dogs. Good job as host, Jonathan.

Taylor go her new Dell computer. She is busy getting it set up and playing games on it and having a good time. This was a delayed Christmas gift from her Dad.

My neighbor, Jack, brought his tire inflator over and checked out my tires for when I leave her on Thurs. Found out that the back four are low and were probably not inflated properly when I got the new tires. I'll have to go to a tire place to have them inflated properly. We couldn't get the inflator connection to the outside tire, not enough space for fingers and the connections too. What a hassle! I stopped at a place yesterday and they told me to bring it in and they would inflate the tires. I asked how much and they said for "free." Hear that Cullum & Maxey, for free. LOL

Since I am leaving on Thursday I took the opportunity to put a lot of my things in the bays where they travel. It's started raining and I didn't want to wait until they dried out again so got one step ahead of breaking camp.

Before I leave here, I'm picking the brain of my neighbors, Judy and Clark. They are from New Hampshire/New York. I'm planning the next leg of my trip in July through October and am asking them what are some good routes and good places to see while I'm out and about. It's fun doing research and chatting people up who have been there personally. Clark is good about road descriptions and letting me know where to stay away from.

Since it's raining and it sounds so good on the roof of Somewhere, I think I'll take a nap.
Later...

Cumberland Island National Seashore

Here is a slide show of the trip to the Cumberland Island National Seashore. The island is a must on any one's list in the St Mary's GA area. It was a perfect day for us to go as it was a little cool but heated up during the day and there were no bugs to bug us. Us? Mary Lou and Jack my neighbors from the park in which I am staying and I went and it was enjoyable to have someone with whom I could enjoy the day.

We rode the ferry from the waterfront in downtown St Mary's. This ferry leaves at 8:45 and returns at 12:45 or 5:00. We chose to catch the 5:00 ride because we wanted to hike from the Dungeness ruins to Sea Camp and over to the Atlantic. As we ferried over we had some dolphins swim alongside us. The island has wild pigs, wild horses and lots of armadillo. It was funny because Mary Lou said she had never seen an armadillo, well by the time we left the island, she had seen about 50. She can't say that anymore.

Our hike up and across the island was nice and easy. We knew we had plenty of time to get from one point to the other before we caught our departing ferry. When we got to the Atlantic side of the island, over the dunes, we were ready for lunch so we had a seat on the sand and had our snacks we had brought. By this point we were quite ready for a little rest. I'm just glad we didn't get a visit from one of the wild pigs.

I would recommend anyone who is in the area to go to the Island. Be careful about going in the heat of the summer, I hear that the bugs will carry you away and munch on you for their lunch.

Here is a slide show that Jack made, his narration is a little livelier than mine.


Later...