Well we are back (Flushing, NY)

 

It has been a while since our last post, so I will summarize since the last blog.

 

Well, we have been chilling out so much in Sunny Florida that we are pretty much frozen!  Getting the Hitch Itch now!

Friday:

Went to Tampa for our appointment with Ford to have the truck inspected for the extended warranty.  Everything was OK, except the rear main seal on the transmission was leaking.  The good news was, it was under warranty.  The bad new is that is would not be ready until late in the afternoon.  They offered us a free shuttle bus service they had, but where to go?  Of course, we went to the Mall.  Where else??

When we got to the Mall guess what we found, besides Food.

That’s Ann waiting on line for:

Yup, that’s right, a Carousel, smack in the middle of the Mall and Ann could not resist.

 

Saturday:

Took a trip with Fran and Rick to Tarpon Springs, the sponge capital.  Ann picked up some hand lotions with olive oil, she needed.  I told her we had plenty of Extra Virgin Olive Oil at home she could use, but it didn’t work.

After the trip to Tarpon Springs we went back to Fran & Rick’s house. Ann lied down on a recliner and promptly feel asleep! Imagine Ann actually taking a nap (miracles do happen)!

Fran and Rick made a barbeque for dinner. Their younger son, Seth, and his wife, Jessica and their 2 children, Cierra and Chase also came over.  We all had a great time.

Sunday:

Ann and I went down to St. Petersburg.  We took a walk along the pier.  The pier and the river front has been redone and it really looks great.  On the pier we sat and listened to a four piece jazz band.

The pier is right next to the airport, so we could watch the planes taking off and the boats going by.  It was a very pleasant day.

When we got back from back we went out to dinner with Rick, Fran and Rick’s mother, Ellen, at a great Italian restaurant called Johnny’s.

Monday:

In the morning we took our time because it was only a 70 mile trip.  We went through our hitch up routine and pulled out about 10:30 AM.

We pulled into Blueberry Hill campground in Bushnell, where we were greeted by the some of the members of the group who were already setting up.  We unhitched, connected our electric, water and sewer and let out our slides.  We were ready for the fun stuff.

Through the day the New Horizon rigs kept coming in, a total of 17.  During the rally we had seminars  on Solar and Battery maintenance.  General rig maintenance, even a Personal Trainer.  Personal Trainer is one of the other guys with more knowledge will come around to your rig and answer specific question you may have.  I cannot begin to tell you the amount of information we received on the Camper, the truck and the great bunch of people we met.

There was an open house, where all of us opened up campers to everyone else, so all of us could see all of the other campers.  Since the New Horizons are custom campers, no two are the same.  We got some good ideas from each.  We still like our home the best.

Thursday:

Thursday was a free day we could explore the area.  We decided to go to Homosassa Springs with two other couples, Joe and Valerie and Jim and Jan.  We had a great time. 

Saturday:

In the morning we went to the planning meeting for the next rally in 18 months. After that we left for Orlando to store the camper until the house sells.  We pulled into the Adult Toy Storage around 1:30PM,  a little late (the sign said they closed at 1 PM), but there was still someone there and they got us in and parked.  We took everything out of the camper and packed up the truck.  Locked up the the camper and with a tear in our eyes we said good bye to The Roan, our home, had headed north.  (FYI, you would be amazed at how many campers of all sizes and shapes were parked at this storage facility, it is unreal!).

The rally was great and we had a wonderful time from the minute we pulled into the campground.  We made lots of new friends and we are looking forward to seeing them again.  (Roy enjoyed every minute of of this rally, he was “tech talking” every waking moment with the guys about the truck or the camper!!)

The following is not an admission of guilt, but an explanation of what happened.  We headed to north with the truck and all of our possessions.  We arrived in Jacksonville around 6PM and pulled into a motel for the night.  When we were checking in I asked if they had WiFi.  Then it hit me, OH Shit!  I left the Internet air card in the camper.  Not only did I leave it in the camper, but it was turned on and connected to our router.  (It is all Ann’s fault).  So in the morning it was back down I-95 to Orlando, 145 miles, to pick up the air card.  Now I want to repeat, IT WAS NOT MY FAULT!!,  no matter what other people may say behind my back.

On the way back the Tire Pressure Monitor I installed paid for itself.  One of the inside dual rear tires started to give an alarm of low pressure.  I pulled off the road to see if anything was wrong.  It read low, but not too low.  I decided to get off at the next exit to get air in the tire.  After putting more air in the tire, it kept going down.  I asked at a truck stop if there was a tire repair shop around.  They recommended a shop one exit south of us, 4 miles.  Ann called them and they said they would be waiting for us.  When we got their the found a nail in the tire.  If it were not for the monitor we could have lost two new tires.  We only lost a few hours, but saved a bundle of money.

The rest of the trip was uneventful except to say that New Jersey and New York have some of the Worst Roads. 

Well,  that was a long post. 

We are now in our Sticks and Bricks house waiting for a buyer.

See You Down the Roan Road…