TOUR AMERICA, 2021: SUNNY OAKS RV PARK, JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

Monday, July 19

Sunshine and Thunderstorms, Temperature 91 Degree

The Great Escape

Woops! I Guess I Dug Too Deep

Then The Rains Came Down

During the last several days we’ve watched Murder Mysteries and The Gand Ole Opry, we’re read several books, and of course played numerous games of Mexican Train.

Today, though, we planned The Great Escape. We need to get out, out of the dark and into the light. So, summing up all our courage, we threw open the front door and boldly stepped into the light of day.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that there was an Einstein Bros. Bagel waiting for us at our first stop. I ordered my usual which is an Everything Bagel and Ms. Barbara had an Asiago Bagel. And, before we left, we grabbed a dozen more to bring home and freeze. Never hurts to be prepared for a bagel craving in the future.

Time now for the real adventure of the day. We needed to put fuel in the car. How many times would it stall out afterwards? Yes, we thought at one time it was finally fixed but that turned out to be false hope. We’re finally talking about getting rid of it, and we will when we can afford to buy something similar. However, the price of used cars is insane right now. We’re going to have to wait a bit.

We then went to pick up our mail at our mail forwarding center. We’ve been with them ever since we’ve been on the road and have only had one negative experience which they in time turned into a positive.

Ms. Barbara picking up our mail. Yes, though we are vaccinated, we have gone back to wearing masks indoors. Especially here in Jacksonville where COVID cases are rising faster than anywhere else in the country and the state.

A quick pit stop here for a nice, cold, unsweetened ice tea and we headed toward home.

This is what we found at 1 pm when we returned home. Seems they had been digging next to our site and accidently found and cut the main water line for the park in half. We were told, no problem, they would have it fixed within the hour. That turned out to be an overly optimistic estimate. The line was finally repaired around 8 pm and the water was finally turned back on.

No water, no chance to do dishes. So, based on the recommendation of a couple of locals we went to Jenkins Quality BBQ. Suffice to say it was neither quality nor appetizing. We’ll never go back there again. This is only the second time in close to four years of traveling that we’ve been skunked in terms of a recommendation for a local eatery. It happens.

When we returned home and while we waited for them to fix the water line, the rain came down. It came down in buckets, and the thunder and lightening was horrendous. We had one lightening strike in the back of the park which is about a football field away from our site. That strike took out the WiFi for the park.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement. We got out and about, and absolutely enjoyed our time together. The day had a little bit of just about everything which made it a lot of fun. Once again, the good Lord smiled upon us from start to finish.

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog.  We always appreciate your company, your comments, and your suggestions. Remember, take time to stop and smell the roses and live each day that God gives you to the fullest.

 Our continuing mission remains: Departing from our base as often as possible to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!