April's travels and pics

We started slowly and close to home by staying in Sun City's RV park for the first 10 days of April. From there we went to Hunting Island State Park in Beaufort, SC. It remains the most beautiful of campgrounds I have been to, and it was fun to camp next to Mom and Walt for part of that time :)

Next we went up to Charleston for about 24 hours. Jon and his dog Koda joined us. The rock climbing, dining out, and wii tournament were all good, but watching Jon's tent (empty) blow into the lake and him having to retrieve it on one of the boogie boards was priceless. Unfortunately, we were laughing too hard to get a picture or video of that particular memory, so these will have to suffice:

Once leaving South Carolina amidst tornado watches, we arrived at Jekyll Island, GA at a naturally beautiful but crowded campground. Bicycling with the dogs in their baskets was a highlight, as was the sea turtle museum/hospital.

From there we went down to Ormond Beach, FL for one night to visit with Jeff and Erin Ash and family. We helped them open their pool and their beautiful new summer kitchen, and the children got along as if they had been lifelong friends :)

The next day we moved on to the Orlando area. We stayed in a nondescript RV park in Clermont, and I visited an ultrasound school in Celebration which may offer distance learning again by the time I am ready to go back to school. But the highlight of that 24-hour stop was a place Erin Ash had told us about in Longwood: Rebounderz! It is a trampoline play place and fun was had by all three of us. Here is a video:

The following day we headed to Tampa to an RV park which is also a sizable service center/dealership/retail store. That was Easter weekend and we met up with the Davis family - friends from the RV rally in January. They have two girls the same ages as Annalise and Talia, and it was a wonderful, relaxing time. We look forward to this summer when they become full-time RVers and hopefully we can meet up again :)
And thanks to Donia, who made Easter egg coloring possible...

After a week in Tampa, the girls and I drove down to Ft Myers to meet up with two different families. My friends Jill and Vince from Pensacola were there with their children for a wedding, and my friend Kimber who is a full-time RVer was there with her daughters. We only saw Jill and Vince briefly as they had a busy wedding schedule to follow, but we have been at their house in Pensacola for almost a week now - but more about our adventures here in the next update... While in Ft Myers, Talia turned 10! We celebrated by doing some parasailing from Ft Myers Beach with Kimber and her girls.

So, while all our destinations have been interesting and fun in various ways, for me it is meeting up with friends and family that makes the best memories.:)

Birthday on the Road!

It's been awhile since the last post. Since then the RV has been in for it's first service appointment, which is a little different than taking your car in for service. It's more like being homeless for a day! Fortunately, I have a warranty plan which took care of all but the deductible. Unfortunately, I did not find out until last night (my first time driving Howie in the dark) that my headlights do not work! Actually, it's only the low beams that do not work. High beams provided light, but not enough that any of the motorists I passed flashed their brights. Lucky for me, I then arrived at the home of my friends Jill and Vince in Pensacola, and Vince is extremely handy in the building and repairing department. He has narrowed down the problem to a relay or a fuse and should be able to fix it tomorrow. He also lowered my driver's seat to it's original factory-installed position, removing the 3" block a previous owner had remounted it on. This is a repair the service center refused to do due to "liability issues" with modifying a driver seat. I had argued that the seat had already been modified, and that they would only be restoring it to its original, safe position, but they didn't see it that way. So huge thanks to Vince! I am hoping this improved driving position will help alleviate the swelling and pain I've been having when driving... If not, I guess it's "granny socks" for me on driving days - lol!

On a more celebratory note, Talia turned 10 on the road! She is the first of us to have a birthday since moving into Howie. No, I did not attempt to bake a cake. Considering the size and efficiency of Howie's oven, the heat of Ft Myers, and the vast array of yummy options nearby, California Pizza Kitchen and Haagen-Dazs won out.

For the inedible type of treat, the girls got to go parasailing for the first time. Just like my Aunt Jean described it: flying without the plane :) They both loved it, and it was even more fun to be able to do it with friends Elaina and Neva who are also on the road full time. Here they are just lifting off the boat...

And there they are at the end of 900' of rope!

Happy Birthday Talia!

Next time: gas prices and the cost of RV travel...