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...