Another pleasant morning, comfortable temperatures and no real reason to get up early.  Oh, let me correct that, I did have to be up by 9 am to snag one of the last five sites in an

RV park outside of St. Augustine for next April.   When I went to bed last night there were a number of sites available, but not by the morning.  It’s a popular place at a reasonable rate.

After that it was time for breakfast.  This morning it was French toast, sausage, along with a glass of V-8 and a couple of cups of coffee.  Delicious and tummy filling. I’ll take this kind of breakfast any morning of the week.

Next on the list was pulling the chassis battery in order to replace it with a new one  while we were in Green Cove Springs today.  For some time now it has not been able to hold a full charge, in fact as of this morning it was already down to 12.4 volts.  So, rather than get stuck some place with a dead battery now was the time to take action.  The recommended battery for a Ford V10 should be a minimum of 800 cold cranking amps

so we purchased a NAPA Legend Battery, 800 cold cranking amps, with free replacement should it fail within the next 18 months.  A nice surprise was the warranty rebate that we got for the old battery, it reduced the price of the new battery substantially.

Then it dawned on me, as of this past October 28th we have been calling Graybeard our home for one full year.  We, however, didn’t actually get on the road until Dec 24th when

we left New Jersey for good and we have not looked back since.  We both agreed it has been one of, if not the best year of our lives.  We have had history come alive for us.  We’ve visited states we never thought for a minute we would ever travel to or through.  New friends have been made in all corners of this great country of ours.  All along the way it has been challenging, interesting and so much fun.  Sometimes stressful.  But always so exciting and rewarding.  The good Lord has blessed us and sustained us and seen us through every twist and turn.  We are absolutely excited about the prospects for the new year.

Onward.  Today we went to Green Cove Springs, the home of our mail forwarding service.

Our mail forwarding service is called St. Brendan’s Isle and they are terrific.

While we were there we picked up our mail, established our legal domicile in Florida, and registered to vote for next year.  Now, if anyone asks where we are from we can honestly say “We are residents of Clay County, Florida”.  

Time to head for home.  We were going to visit a museum in Green Cove Springs but found that it closed at 3 pm.  Oh well, we’ll try again maybe this Saturday or Sunday.  It’s only 30 minutes away from our home.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  I wish I could say we got the other two awnings up, or even the other one on the slide, but alas it was too late by the time we got home.  I did get the new battery installed so that’s one more project to cross off the list.  After that it was time to wander over to the showers to get cleaned up.  The showers are super clean, and there is always ample pressure and hot water.  It just feels so good to be able to stand under the hot water for what seems like forever!

Thanks again for joining us on the road today.  We enjoyed every minute of our day and we sure hope you enjoyed your day as well.  Oh, forgot to mention last night what a display of stars in the night-time sky.  Absolutely awesome!  Unfortunately, tonight we have total cloud cover so no stars to be seen.  OK, I’m out of here, but before I go 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

Ok, I knew it was too good to be true.  Back to a normal morning today, up by 6:00 am and time to turn the coffee on.  Then it was Marti’s turn to go for a walk, one thing you can say about him he is a regular dog.

Breakfast was simple but good, scrambled eggs with ham on the side, english muffin with peanut butter and strawberry jelly.  Add to this the usual glass of V-8 and a couple of cups of coffee and I was ready to start the day.

I started the day making phone calls to various doctors trying to set up an orthopedic appointment for my other knee.  The good news is there is a new program for veterans that in essence says if you can’t get an appointment with the veterans within thirty days we will arrange an outside provider for you.  Guess what?  They can not get me an appointment before mid January at the VA facility in Tampa, so the plan is to send me to

the Orthopedic Surgery Center of Ocala.  I’ve gotten a lot of excellent feedback about the Center so I’m hoping this is really going to come to pass.

After that Barbara and I got our heads together and started planning our preliminary route for 2019.  We’ll start out at the Space Center; then go to St. Augustine; move across the Florida Panhandle to an Escapees Park outside of Mobile, AL; from there it will be on to New Orleans; up the Natchez Trace to Vicksburg; then it will be on to Nashville; next up will be Lexington, KY; and – well you get the idea.  We had planned to spend the winter at the home base park for Escapees in TX until that is we found out just how cold it gets there during November through March.  One person we talked to stated that their water and sewer hoses froze last year.  Nope, not for us.  As of now we are looking in the vicinity of Yuma, AZ.  We’ll find a winter home sooner or later.

Now about those pesky awnings that have been begging to be put up.  Well, it’s taking a lot longer than I ever imagined making me believe I’m losing my handyman touch.  Yet, finally, at least one is up.  I wanted to share a picture with you but Verizon is almost non-existent here in the park.  Hence, we seldom have internet and thus we cannot up or download pictures.  When I can I will let you see what we’ve done.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement. Thanks again for joining us as we traveled along, hand in hand, singing our song.  Tomorrow we’ll be back on the road, at least for part of the day.  Maybe we’ll even have time to get another awning up, time will tell.  I’ll say goodnight for now but before going here is a thought for all 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

 

I woke up and took one look at the clock and could not believe my eyes – it was 7:45 am!  I can’t remember a morning since we’ve been on the road that I’ve ever slept that long.  I will say it felt good.  I woke up refreshed and ready to take on the world.

Breakfast was simple and quick but tummy filling.  A bowl of Cream of Wheat, a glass of V-8, and a couple cups of coffee.  Good, wholesome breakfast that got the motor running.

Forward into the day.  So what is going on with the electrical system?  After some research and noodling it over, and with the help of a mobile RV tech, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Solar charge controller with built in volt meter has given up the ghost.  But wait there is more,  the tech decided to check and make sure there where no issues with the solar panels on the roof.  Remember, these panels were factory installed and are only meant to trickle charge the batteries.  Well, the panels are also bad, cracked in several places and in danger of breaking apart.  So, we have several things that need to be replaced.  Time to call the extended warranty company to find out how much of this they are going to cover.

While we’re on electrical, the starting battery is also going to have to be replaced.  It will not hold a full charge any longer.  OK, that will be replaced on Thursday.  We’ll stop at NAPA and see if they will pro rate the current battery since it is only two years old.  Wish me luck.

Well, they’re up, the awning rails that is front and back.  Tomorrow Barbara and I will work together on getting the awnings on the rails.  Can’t wait to see how they are going to look when installed.  We’ll take it slow and make sure everything is right on the money.

We have new neighbors.  Actually the only neighbors since out of about forty sites there are only five – including ours – that are occupied!  One would think that given the time of year, Florida and all the park would be full.  Don’t know what to say.  But back to our neighbors.  They are Norm and Holly who have been full timing for thirteen years.  They sure have us beat by a few years!  They covered all of America – except Hawaii – and almost all of Canada.  Can’t wait to say we’ve done the same.

That then was on day on The Road of Retirement.  Not a busy one but a productive one all the way around.  Thanks for joining us on our journey, we hope you enjoyed your time with us.   As I bid your goodnight I leave your with this thought 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

This morning was a much more pleasant one with temperatures in the mid 60’s.  That’s the kind of weather we like, cool and comfortable and nice for sleeping.  Weather report for the rest of the week is more of the same.  No complaints from us.

We had an easy morning.  Great breakfast, egg sandwich with ham on an English Muffin.  Add to that a glass of V-8 and a couple of cups of coffee and the day was off to a

great start.  While we ate breakfast we finished up our game of Mexican Train, and wonder of wonders I won the game!

Breakfast finished and our game over it was time to head out to Walmart for  grocery shopping and to pick up a new sewer hose.  I was lucky, I hooked up before we left Alliance Coach and just as I was about to pull the handle on the black tank the hose

separated from the coupling.  Whew, that was all too close to a major catastrophe!  Thankfully I always keep a spare hose with me so I pulled it out and completed the nasty successfully with no spills.  Now I’m back to having an extra on board.

On the way home from Walmart I stopped and picked up the bulb I needed for the brake light.  Simple enough to get the bulb in but then came the process of putting the lens back in place.  That was a bit more challenging.  However, with Barbara’s help it was quickly back in place and all is well again.

I next took a look at what I needed to do to install the awnings over the slide windows. I measured, measured again, made a few adjustments and I believe it should be an easy install.  Tomorrow, hopefully, if all goes well with the other project in the morning.

The other project tomorrow will be trying to noodle out and fix what is going on with our coach batteries and the charging issue.  The converter?  The charge controller?  Or?  We’ll know before the day is over tomorrow.  Stay tuned and I’ll let you know.

So that was our day On the Road of Retirement.  It felt good to get out and about just traveling along, hand in hand, singing our song.  We have a few more places we’ll be going to over the course of the next week or so.  Provided we stay here.  Right now we’re having issues.  We lose water pressure at least two or three times a day.  The same with the electric.   In so many words, it’s a real pain in the butt.

Time to say goodnight but before I go a thought for each of us to ponder and 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