So here we go, the dust has settled, not really, it’s very dusty here in Texas. Where I left off was with the arrival of the ‘97 Damon Intruder. The “new” RV. Graduating in a way to a motorhome. Moreso a necessity for our desired travels and the accompanying zoo.
Well I took a flight all the way into the deepfreeze called Flint, Michigan. Wow, I wish flights departing anywhere in Canada were at the same prices as the US. Good ol’ taxes. As it happens, on this mid-January day, it hit record lows for daily temperatures. A nice balmy -19 degrees. Go figure Cat didn’t go for that ride.
The Intruder got the cold start test, and amazingly it started after the third crank. The generator started right up and the heat slowly began to flow. Then the drive test… to Walmart. No prob, a little shaky getting used to a new rig, especially on snow laden roads. Alright, after getting everything sorted out and stocked with some supplies, I was off.
It was a very agonizing drive for the first 7 hours or so. Not that I was uncomfortable driving, it didn’t take long to catch the hang of it and how it responds. The problem was the road conditions. There was a winter storm approaching, and I wanted to get the heck out ahead of it. With wind and flurries already coming down, it was a very slow go. I was lucky to be going 40 miles/hour, and there were occasional standstills. Yikes, some drivers… these weren’t even bad roads yet, not like in PEI anyway!
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We would like to wish a Happy Holidays to all our family, friends and readers! We’re spending this Christmas on our own, just the two of us. It’s something different, we may miss being with family and friends at times, but it is nice spending it together.
Here are a couple pics of our Christmas decorations. 
That’s our cozy little Christmas setup although some people deck things right out. Here’s one display we liked in the park.
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Whoa, need a break. We are in Miami now, and it’s hot. Thank goodness we are settled for the month. It lets us focus on work and some maintenance. Yes, I just changed the anode rod in the hot water heater. Wow, until a little while ago I had no idea what an anode rod was. After living in a condo, and leasing a vehicle, well it sort of encourages one to leave everything to someone else to care for.
Now we are pressing forward into the DIY spectrum. It’s much cheaper that way, well… sometimes, and especially useful if you actually learn something valuable and develop corresponding skills. A new old Class A will be a definite test.
But one must also realize the limit to their own capabilities. For example, I was a bit stubborn trying to fix a camera, a small Sony point & shoot. So what do I do… take it to a repair shop… NO!! Actually it would have cost more to repair it than buy a new one. So instead of buying a new camera, I get the same model, a used one with a cracked LCD screen for cheap. Ahhh, put 2 and 2 together… you got it! Well, in theory it could have worked. But my thumbs were a little too rough for the delicate ribbon underneath. Doh… on to camera 3. Same model again, used, but this one works so far, so I will leave it alone… until something breaks on it. But I’m sure I would get one camera working this time, really!
So back to the anode rod, take a look.
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We have embraced the American holiday weekend, it beats the pants off the Canadian Thanksgiving and then followed up by one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Cat loves the chaos but I prefer sleeping in. The poor suckers camping outside BestBuy at 3am in Maine. And that takes us to a tragic note. Three people were killed in the madness of these sales. One Walmart employee was trampled and two others at a Toys R’ Us shot one another over a piece of discounted merchandise. Come on! Yesterday was Thanksgiving wasn’t it?
So we are looking at the Class A, as Cat highlighted in the previous post, the main reason being the discomfort in moving long distances with a 5th wheel. No slides is fine, I don’t want to have to pack up and move a lot of items everytime we go somewhere. We’re going with an old one since we would have to get another vehicle regardless in June once the lease is up on the truck. Trading the Escalade makes zero sense… we’re in a negative equity situation, and the prospects of getting that much more money is slim. So the next step will be to find a piece of land where we can park the Escalade permanently. I’ll have to talk to the bank to see if they’ll consider it a primary residence (mobile home), and then work on negotiating a much more favourable – traditional mortgage. I’m aiming for the least amount of debt right now.
We are currently at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, and it is significantly warmer here than North Florida. It was the first day we have run the A/C — instead of the fireplace! Love this park, it has really grown on us. The first time we came here, we thought it very decrepit, the place is brush filled and has fire charred trees. It’s a very dry area and the park often conducts controlled burns. I really like the area around Jupiter. It’s more laid back before hitting busy south Florida.
We made it to our destination, good ol’ Florida. Only thing is, we got a little confused, or maybe it was mother nature, because it sure hasn’t seemed like Florida the last three days. It has been freezing, yes freezing in Florida. Albeit we’re in north Florida, near Jacksonville, but these are record lows we’re seeing. It was 30 degrees F the night before, and inland it dipped to 20, that’s well below the average nightly tempature of 50 degrees. It’s so mixed up that it was warmer in PEI the last 3 days. Go figure. But this cold front will surely break soon, plus we’re headed farther south in a few days, then Cat can go outside again;)
Cat snapped a pic of the welcome to Florida sign, but it turned out blurry. I like this one a lot better.
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Alright, we’ve been on the road again and I’ve been short on my time online. As per the last post, Cat never got to see Billy Corgan… better luck next time. Right now we’re in Savannah, Georgia and soon onward towards Florida.
We left Toronto on Monday, and yes, it was cold, and a bit of snow too. Our border crossing was the quickest one yet, through in a minute flat. The border guard was cool, he asked if we had any hand grenades or bazookas. We might need them in Miami!
Generally we keep driving till it gets warm. We stopped in Charleston, South Carolina for a couple days. It actually reached 80 degrees. Stayed at a great State Park on the ocean, Edisto Beach, it’s on an island. Checked out Charleston on a drive through and on our way. Destination Jacksonville for over a week.
Lots of palm trees on our site
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Hey, hope everyone had a Happy Halloween… Hooray! Ok, enough of that. We kept it nice and relaxing… in haunted houses and on roller-coasters through the pitch black haze. Much tamer than all that getting dressed up and thrashing about among all the drunken ghouls and super-heroes at the clubs! A change of pace, it made Halloween a little more romantic in the red glowing mist and haunting music. Canada’s Wonderland puts on a good show for Halloween every year. Everything is more fun in the dark;)
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Well, the things you own, they end up owning you… as goes the quote from Fight Club. Love that movie. We still have old possessions weighing us down, scattered over the country. In a couple provinces anyway.
And we still have to deal with this junk, errr – I mean keepsakes. Depends who you ask. Fortunately for good friends, we had stored several boxes and a couple pieces of furniture at ‘JC’s house. Now you sorta forget about this stuff, and who really knows where the time goes, but 2 years later and he is moving – selling his house. That meant we had a fun Saturday.
Our short term solution was moving it to another friend’s house. Eventually you have to deal with problems. Now we’re not total mooches, in return friends have been well furnished. To make a lesser demand on space, we spent the afternoon condensing boxes and allocating a fair portion to goodwill and the old garbage can.
So now we get to the good part of the story. The night before we went out for a few drinks, dancing, go to bed at 4 type deal. We stayed over at our friend’s house. Our boxes to sort through were out in the garage, which is separate from the house. They were going out for the afternoon, but we were welcome to stay and take care of the boxes. The key was left inside and the door open, both Cat and I were in the garage when they pulled out. Fine, kept working away, then Cat walked around to the door to go in….
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Well, I forgot we had a site… hmmm. Actually, what happened to the summer? It has been a busy, hectic, stressful, uncertain time that we are enjoying! I have been enthralled by the whole credit crisis and subsequent market meltdown. I’m obviously ‘pot committed’, so now the challenge is to gain from the volatile times ahead.
a handful for Cat to band
A brief recap of the summer: following lobster fishing in the spring, we spent 2 months at Southport RV Park in PEI, across the bridge from Charlottetown. In our opinion, it’s the supreme location on the Island. A bit pricey minus a long term rate. There is also talk of the park being developed – errrr- turned into condos. It’s happening everywhere! Apparently half the park is being sold off next year with the future looking dismal for RVing that close to the (mini) city…
Charlottetown Harbour
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Hey hey,
I haven’t written a post in ages, thanks to Cat for keeping things going. I like the wordpress platform back on, I had been doing my own journal but I said screw it for awhile, after the server was hacked and I lost my content.
Spring is here and it is getting to the turning point on the compass, we’re leaving our current campground west of Miami tomorrow morning. From here on out we will be heading progressively North. Cat dreads when we start heading “up” but I enjoy something different. We can take a few days here or there, we’ll be stopping in Ft. Lauderdale next, then West Palm and back to Cocoa Beach for a bit, although for less than a week in each spot.
It was a nice rainy Easter weekend, with a little thunder, and lots of food. It sure beats the snow, I did the “home-cooking” ham and sweet potatoes. Anyone else think RV ovens are useless? Ours doesn’t even light anymore but no matter, the only thing it ever cooked decently was the turkey last Christmas. It would burn the bottoms of any dish and leave the top raw, so you have to flip it. Well, we use ours as a wine rack and beverage holder. The best thing I bought was a big toaster /countertop oven, one that fits 12″ pizzas. Everything cooks perfectly. http://www.proctorsilex.com/cgi-bin/main/co_disp/displ/prrfnbr/1688/sesent/00/6-Slice-Toaster-Oven
Plus it sure beats burning through propane, that built-in oven would take forever to cook anything. Cat really wishes it was possible to swap it out for a dishwasher. No affordable option, and we have absolutely zero room for a countertop model. So it looks like I’ll be stuck with the duties for the unforeseeable future. I don’t mind, anyways, more later.
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