Awoke to another cool, crisp wonderful morning.  The temperatures at night make for some great sleeping.  I’ll take nights like last night anytime.  The view through the

solarium window this morning was just wonderful, sunshine aplenty and clear blue skies.  Ah, Florida let me count the ways I love you.

Breakfast was great as always.  Scrambled eggs, corned beef hash, my usual glass of juice and as always a couple of mugs of coffee.  What a wonderful way to kick off the day.  Tummy full it was time to get moving.  Then I asked myself, Self where are you going to

move to and why?  And I answered To my recliner to watch Velocity  and read a good book.  So I did and that’s the way the morning went.

Neither of us had any plans for the day other than just kicking back and enjoying life.  Barbara did some more online Christmas shopping.  I on the other hand had only chore I had to attend to.  I needed to go up on the roof to check on the damage, if any, that the

rain of acorns was doing.  Bottom line, they are staining the roof and the slide toppers.  Meaning, I need to go up and sweep each clean of acorns on a weekly basis.

The rest of the day was spent doing odds and ends.  Surfing the web.  Reading.  Sitting in my chair outside soaking up some sunshine.  The normal things a person might do no matter where they might live or what they might live in.  In so many words, just another wonderful day in the neighborhood.

That was our  day on The Road of Retirement.  Hand in hand we traveled down it thankful that we could do it together.  Yes, sometimes we do need some space so to speak.  It’s called going to the Wishy Washy.  Or doing maintenance outside.  By and large though we never grow tired of being together and doing things together.   We each married our best friend and friends forever we will be.

Oh, that document we were waiting for, it is actually a reimbursement check from our warranty company for the replacement of the transfer switch months ago.  Yes, the whole process took a really, really long time to come to fruition for a bunch of silly reasons.  Bottom line, we now have it.

Thanks for joining us again today.  Sorry I can’t bring you something exciting or some new and thrilling discovery.   But some days are just, well, routine.  Time to go but before I do as always a thought for each of us to ponder;

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries, let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and eventually some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road

 

 

 

 

Let it snow, let it snow – not here in Florida but it sure did in other parts of the country.

Here in Florida we didn’t have snow but we had some very unusually cold temperatures for this time of year.  When we went to bed last night it was already in the low 50’s and it continued to drop throughout the night.  When I awoke this morning it was hovering around 45.  I’m not complaining at all especially when I saw what others were going through.  Just stating it is a wee bit chilly here.  As a friend said We expect WARM temperatures in Florida this time of year.

No problem, however, the heat pump was able to keep the chill at bay.  Along with our small electric heater we were snug and warm throughout the night.  This morning the

two provided more than enough heat to keep us warm.  Two more nights of this cold air we are told and things will be back to normal.  It is what it is.

Breakfast was again great.  Barbara made me an egg, cheese and ham sandwich on an onion roll.  Add a glass of juice and a couple mugs of coffee and I was fueled up and ready to go.

Go we did.  We needed to take Marti back to the Veterinarian for another medicated bath to take care of his skin condition.  Unfortunately, as long as he continues to stay here in

Florida, for that matter most of the southern states, he is not really going to get a whole lot better.  We’re working on a permanent solution which we believe will be the best for him in the long run.  We love you little man and want only the best for you.

Home I swapped out the old water filter for a new one.  It’s supposed to be changed

every six months but somewhere along the way I lost count of how many months the old one had been used.  Suffice to say it was way more than six months.  It’s done now and the date it needs to be changed is now noted on the calendar.

Back inside Barbara worked on Christmas gifts, our bills, and other odds and ends.  I worked on Tour America 2019 for several more hours.  I’ve added a new stop, adjusted dates, and searched for more campgrounds.  Regarding campgrounds, there is one in particular we want to get a site at.  I called today and was told they only have 17 sites that can be reserved and if I want one of them they go up for bid on January 2nd.  You can believe I’m going to be on the phone early that morning.  Next year, we’re going to try something new, that being even when we only need an overnight stop we are going to try and stay put for at least two days when and if possible.  A chance if you will to just catch our breath before moving on.

Here’s one for the books.  We have been waiting for a long time now for a very important document.  It was mailed on October 18th.  Guess what arrived today?  Yep, it finally got

here.  I think the Post Office must have gone back to using the Pony Express on this one!

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  As always we traveled the road together, hand in hand, side by side, singing our song.  Thanks for traveling along with us we enjoyed your company.  We hope you had just as great a day as we did.  Even if you had some snow to deal with.  Truthfully, the only time I ever want to see snow again is in pictures like the ones at the beginning of the blog.

Time to go now.  Let’s see where did I leave that extra blanket?  Hey, once again let me leave you with a thought to think upon:

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries, let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and eventually some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road

It’s simple.  This is not Florida weather.  Mid 60’s during the day.  Low 40’s to 30’s during the night.  OK, granted we don’t have snow and ice and blowing winds.  I guess that makes us the winners compared to other parts of the country.

Today we hunkered down inside because it was just down right nasty outside.  A gray, overcast sky and wind from the north made it a really unpleasant day to be outside.  I did venture out once, though, since we had a water leak at the supply faucet that needed attention.  Thankfully I was able to resolve the issue within 10 minutes.  Then it was right back inside.

Barbara spent the day working on finding health insurance for the three months she will be without COBRA.  The way it is going she would probably have better luck finding a raw diamond underneath Graybeard.  She also began the daunting task of figuring out her options when she is finally able to receive Medicare in March.  One thing is for sure, it sure is confusing and everyone she talked to has their own answers.  Which raises the question, who to trust and believe.

I spent the day putting together a list of projects to do and making a list of other items that need attention.  I also put together a review of sorts for this year in terms of mileage driven, states visited, etc.  Take a look . . .

Average miles per gallon: Overall 6.05 – Low 3.62 – High 7.42

Average Cost:  $18/night  $547/month

Number of Campgrounds Visited

Total Campgrounds               32

Casino                                 1

COE                                     2

Escapee Parks                   2

Harvest Hosts                    4

Other                                   1

Private                                15

State Parks                          5

Walmart                               2

Number of States In Which We Stayed: 12                              

Total Miles Covered:  6,478

Some reflections on the above.  The low MPG was probably caused by the fact that we were also running the generator while we were driving as well as when we where at a site.  That figure doesn’t bother me.  The monthly cost we felt was a bit high and we believe by using more State Parks, COE Parks, Harvest Host locations as well as Escapee Parks we can lower this in 2019 by up to $200 a month.  We believe our membership in Harvest Hosts was well worth it and we intend to use it even more in 2019.  Using Harvest Hosts locations means we really don’t need to worry about overnight parking at Walmart during 2019.  The number of states visited and the mileage driven feels about right.  Let’s see how it plays out in 2019.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  Day by day we’re getting done what needs to be done during our winter break.  I will tell you, though, we both already have the itch to get back on the road.  It just seems so, abnormal, to be sitting still for any length of time.

Thanks again for joining us today.  If you’ll pardon me it’s time now to go find that extra blanket and our electric heater.  But before I go a quote for each of us to ponder upon:

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries, let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and eventually some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road

Ok, so maybe we stayed in bed a bit longer this morning.  It’s possible we were moving a

wee bit slower than normal.  The fact remains one moment it was 9 am and the next time we looked at the clock it was 4 pm.  Honestly, we have no idea where the day went.

We were up and out to the chiropractor right after we got up.   I call it the weekly tune up and it is doing a world of good for me.  I’m not going to keep going forever, maybe one or two more times at most.  After that I’ll go only if I really need it.  The nice thing ,though, is that we have someone in the area we can turn to when we need to.

Next stop was at the veterinarian for Marti.   I don’t quite understand all he told us but the bottom line is the little man is not going to get any better as long as he remains in Florida.   He’s going to require a number of different medications and a regular medicated bath just to hold his own.  Furthermore, the more we travel the worse he is going to get in terms of his anxiety and aggression.   In so many words he will probably never adapt to the nomadic lifestyle because it is just not in his nature.  Some dogs can go with the flow and others are not that good at it.  He is in the later camp, unfortunately.

Shopping was the next item on the agenda.  Our church is participating in Operation Christmas Child/Shoebox Ministry and we needed to pick up two boxes and the supplies

necessary for them.  In essence the box gets packed with appropriate supplies for the age specific child you picked.  The boxes once packed are brought to church.  Once at church they are collected and brought to a distribution point and then sent where needed.

Finished with that it was over to Wally World for a few necessary items missing from the cupboards.  In and out in less than 45 minutes, a new record for us.  We’re getting better at this shopping thing!

Back home as we parked in front of Graybeard we both looked with amusement at two people standing in the vacant site next to ours taking all kinds of measurements.  They

measured the length of the concrete patio.  The width of the lot.  They looked for an open spot in the trees for their satellite dish.  Finally I recognized them, Tom and Cornelia from across and down the street.  What was going on?  They were scouting out a different site to stay in next year.  They have a 2005 Beaver 40 ft rig and right now are literally jammed between two trees.  So they were looking at as many still open sites as possible to find a better fit.

Well you know how it goes when RV’ers get together.  We started talking about our rigs. We started talking about our experiences on the road.  The places we have been.  The best place in the area to have one’s rig serviced. We started talking about how we spend our year and where.  They spend six months during the summer gate keeping at a COE park in Georgia and then the next six months here at Sumter Oaks.  Six months work so they can play the next six months of the year.  We talked about health care.  We talked about – well you name it and we probably hit upon it at some point in time.  And now thinking back I know at last where the day went!

It was an absolutely delightful way to spend the afternoon.  Getting acquainted and getting to know one another.  More and more I’m spending time outside just sitting in a chair.  It’s amazing how when you do that any number of people will just stop by to say hello.  I like that.

Back inside in the late afternoon we started to watch some HallMark movies.  Until that is the heavy downpours came.  Then came the message your signal has been interrupted by weather but you can still watch shows that you have previously recorded.  Every time I think of it I’m in awe that the crazy system works at all.  There is that satellite hundreds of miles in the sky.  Rain pouring down.  Heavy cloud cover.  Throw in a few branches to mess things up.  Yet somehow you get a picture – sometimes at least.  Fascinating.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  A little bit of this and a little bit of that.  Nothing major but a lot of little minor things got done.  Thanks again for joining us.  We hope your day was as good as ours was.  Right now we’re sitting and listening to the rain drumming on the roof.  Time now to say goodnight but before I do a thought for each of us to ponder:

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries, let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and eventually some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road