Starting for Home - #61-11

March 11, 2006 (Sat) Lakeland, FL (2) - This has been another beautiful Florida day. They say that the temperature is above normal. That's all right with us. It got a little uncomfortable in the afternoon (86°) but that was all right too - better than being uncomfortably cold.

Mark spent the morning disassembling the automatic step mechanism, replacing the broken part, and reassembling it again. It wasn't an easy thing to do, especially since he had no idea what he was doing

Ed & Kathy's yard (2)
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March 12, 2006 (Sun)
Lakeland, FL to Englewood, FL (118/2814 miles) - Bright, breezy, and beautiful at 9:30 when we pulled out of Ed and Kathy's yard headed for Joy's mother's home. The clouds looked like big puffy balls of cotton. The temperature, when we thought to look, was 78°. There was only one small annoyance to mar the atmosphere. The step monitor light in the cab was glowing red indicating that the rear step was still down. It wasn't. It was/is a circuit malfunction. (They abort space shots for things like that don't they?)

We made a stop at Costco in Brandon but otherwise it was an uneventful trip down I-75. Bom and Gail (Joy's mother and sister) were waiting and happy to see us.

Q030062 SunTrust Bank parking lot - parked (x3)
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March 15, 2006 (Wed)
Englewood, FL to Lakeland, FL (114/2928 miles)

Our time with Bom and Gail (although she left to start her trip home to Seattle, WA Tuesday evening) was fun and relaxing. Joy went swimming with her mother each of the three mornings we were there (Mark went once) otherwise the activity was pretty much what you'd expect when family gets together.

Well almost. Yesterday afternoon, during a rousing Skip-Bo game at the kitchen/dining area table, a 3 foot long 2 inch diameter Water Moccasin (poisonous) snake slithered up onto the apron outside the floor to ceiling sliding door type window next to them. Joy was able to chase him (or her) away by banging on the window but he was back again this morning as we were packing Q getting ready to leave. The president of the condo association (with some assistance from Mark) was able to put an end to the threat. The details of the battle are best left undocumented. (But we will be happy to fill you in on it in person. Needless to say it was scary and gross. Now, everywhere I walk I look in the grass!! -J-)

After a stop at a discount mall in Ellenton, FL - where Joy bought 2 pairs of Easy Spirit sneakers at a discounted discount price - we arrived at Ed and Kathy's at about 5:00. We played dominoes in the evening and retired early.

Q030176 Ed and Kathy's yard
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March 16, 2006 (Thu) Lakeland, FL (2) - Our big adventure today was to go The Book Bazaar, a used paperback book store, to cash in the books that we have read for some we have not. We have found this to be the best of any book exchange stores we've found. They will take almost any book in half way good condition - they have yet to refuse any book we've brought in, even those that have been turned down by other stores - and they pay a good price for them. We are always surprised at the number of books we can buy for the credit we earn from the books we take in.

For lunch we went to a Chinese Buffet (Ling's) and made brief stops at Circuit City (Hildene's former home), Staples, and Home Depot on the way home. We played Dominoes in the afternoon as Ed and Kathy had to be out in the evening.

Ed and Kathy's yard. (x2)
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March 17, 2006 (Fri)
Lakeland, FL to Fargo, GA (234/3162 miles)

It was 58° when we got up at 6:30 this morning and 64° at 9:10 when we got off. We had planned to take SR 471 between US 98 and US 301 to get to I-75 north recommended by Ed and Kathy - it was a more direct and more scenic route - but decided to stay on US 98 into Dade City in order to get gas at the Flying J station there. It turned out to be a good decision. We paid $2.35/gal whereas the lowest we'd seen getting there was $2.49. (The price was $2.63/gal at a station in Lakeland where it was $2.53/gal yesterday!)

As Lunch time approached along 70 MPH I-75 (our speed was 60 MPH) it dawned on us that we'd forgotten to take the flags in off the back of Q. All that was left was one of the suction cups that secured the flag holder to the motor home. Oh well. It was time to get new flags anyway. We're sorry to have lost them though as they have flown over our campsites for several years in states and provinces from Prince Edward Island, Canada to Florida to Alaska.

Stephen C. Foster State Park in the Okefenokee (Swamp) National Wildlife Refuge is much more crowded than we expected it to be. The last time we were here there were very few sites occupied - but then, it wasn't a weekend and apparently the "season" begins here on the first of March.

On the way in we were stopped at a police road block. We were told that it was a spot check of driver's license and vehicle registration. We suspect that there were other reasons. It was at the end of the 17 mile road, the only road into the the park. The trooper took Mark's driver's license and walked around behind Q (to call it in?) but did not ask for the registration. He expressed concerns about there being any campsites left in the park and wished us a pleasant weekend after giving back the license.

The lady in the registration office asked if we minded being in a handicapped site. "We don't, if you don't but a camper who IS handicapped might have a problem with it." "We have two others." was the response. So our plan of action is for one or the other of us to always be in the motor home playing the part of a handicapped camper so we won't be getting nasty looks.

Q030410 Stephen C. Foster State Park, Farrago, GA #44 w/e/c $17.60s A+
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March 18, 2006 (Sat) Stephen C. Foster State Park (2) - Georgia state parks don't have the restrictions on pets that the Florida state parks do. And the people here seem to be taking advantage of that big time. There are dogs in many sites. We are completely unaware of most of them, as it should be, unless their owners walk by with them. But there is one dog up the way that has been barking all afternoon. It became aggravating enough that we finally moved inside. (The fact that the air is chilly helped our decision some.) There are 5 dogs in the campsite across the way but we rarely hear a peep from them (much less a bark) even though their owners have been away from the site for several hours. We think they are in the process of being trained. When the people are around, there are two cars in the site, they seem to be unusually attentive to the dogs.

Mark spent some of this morning looking for the reason that the step monitor light doesn't work. With Joy's help he even removed the motor assembly and completely dismantled it - in less than half the time it took him the first time. The conclusion is that part of the proximity switch that turns the light off was thrown out with the broken part. A stop at an auto parts store should turn up a replacement for that.

Every time the ranger truck goes by we expect it to stop out front so that we can be thrown off this site. We have both been doing quite well practicing our "hobble". By the time we leave we should be very convincing.