Day 7 continued...

We were busy today! We cleaned the rig, dumped the tanks and got fresh water, grocery shopped(we bought more candy than real food!) and then I took a nap. So what else is new? The rain has been with us off and on all day. We had tv dinners for supper tonight. Grandpa had meatloaf, Paulie had BBQ chicken and I had sweet and sour chicken. They were pretty good. TV dinners have come a long way I'd say. There is just enough and no left overs and best of all no clean up! Since it was raining I didn't get a picture of our water heater cover on the rig. Hank was not impressed...I'm with him, LOL!

Elizabeth and I are ditching the guys and going shopping tomorrow. We are going out for lunch then maybe to some of the stores along the main street leading up to the base. I hate going with Paul and Grandpa...I am constantly grilled about WHY I need whatever. Grrr. Woman need to shop. What is the problem with this? Why don't they get it. Pffft. Sometimes I buy something just to honk off Paul. I am quite adept at this after 21 years.

Well, there is alot of activity here in the Marina building. Revolving cards of some sort. I guess I am the odd ball...I hate cards and games. I guess it has something to do with early experiences as a child playing games. If I won, my older sister would smack me. If she won I never heard the end of it. Sometimes I feel that my poor kid got gyped when it came to Mom's playing games. He run to me when he was little and beg me to play games like CandyLand or Old Maid. I sent him to his father. Of course we know the end of this story...Zack is a poker junkie. However he did learn to count cards and is very adept at math. So, I guess I did him a favor...I still can't add numbers in my head. I need a caculator for the simplist things. Oh well, in my next life I will have money and be smart. I am quite satisfied being beautiful....hahahaha.

Later
dennise



Day 7
McDill AFB, Tampa FL

We awoke to the steady smattering of rain on the roof of the rig. It was dark and dreary, but we still got up at 7 a.m. We are to meet Hank at 7:45 and accompany him to the pass issue station so we can stay another couple of days. I think we will be pulling out Thursday so we get home by Sunday or Monday. We were the first in line at the pass station. The lines are very long for most of the day so this was going to be a cinch right? Nah, the guy working the desk tells us we have to have the ok from the recreation dept at FAMCAMP first, and they don’t open til ten. Grrrr. So we drop off Hank and go back to the rig. We make some bagels and cream cheese and finish off the most delicious cantaloupe I had gotten at Publix last week. Gee, Grandpa even said it was good…nobody can pick fruit like Grandpa can. Well that’s what he says anyway LOL!

At 10 we meet Hank at the FAMCAMP office, sign up for a few more days dry camping and head to the pass station again. There must be 50 people in line…and since we were there bright and early then had to come back the guy behind the desk said we could just pass up the line and go directly to his window when we got the FAMCAMP okay. No one seemed upset that we had gotten in ahead. So, back to the rig we go. Paul is going to have to dump both waste tanks and get some water. I need to have a shower and so I get all the clothes ready. I grab my shower gear and Paul decides to come with and help with the laundry. What a guy!!! So after my shower I grabbed the ‘puter and came over to the activity center. Since it is raining EVERYONE is here ‘putting. When I get done here, we will go do the dumping stuff. It is a pain to do this as you have to secure everything in the rig because we’re moving and things get jostled around. We have made tentative plans to go to Sarasota tomorrow with Hank and Elizabeth either Tuesday or Wednesday. I would prefer Wednesday as the weather is supposed to be warmer. I guess this rain is welcome as most of Florida is in a bit of a drought. Tomorrow is only supposed to be 65 and I’d rather not wear a coat. We are going to visit some touristy shops along the coast and then have lunch at a seafood place. Sounds good to me.

dennise

ps I added some pictures from St Pete on the Pier. Paul took these photos of the cars on display there. I just don't get why these cars ring his bell...




Day 6
McDill AFB, Tampa FL

The weather was cloudy and a cold front was coming in. Of course I knew this way ahead of time…you know my weather predicting ears, that is. I spent most of the day in bed. Paul and Grandpa met the Kerr’s for lunch as planned at CiCi’s Pizza Buffet.

When they returned, they worked on replacing the water heater release valve. Whenever we put the heater on to get hot water (which should be all the time, however that is really a waste of energy. We only need hot water to do dishes as we are showering in the shower house here and in other campgrounds. It is so much easier…no shower to clean also) we had a problem. The replacement valve was not the correct diameter, and they couldn’t find one with the correct diameter, they purchased a reducer so it would fit. This then caused the valve to be about ¼ of an inch too high for the side of the motorhome door over the water heater to close. To solve this they used some airplane tape (this stuff must be 30 years old, Paul got it when he worked at Continental…it’s what airplanes get patched with.) I will take a picture tomorrow when it is light so you can see what I am trying to describe. The best part of this is that we can have hot water again. Every time we turned on the heater the pump would go on and pump all the water from the rig out through the hot water heater because this release valve was defective. The first time this happened was in Minnesota at the Midwest FMCA rally…that was over two years ago. Well, I guess over two years of my nagging finally worked. Actually it was my little tempter tantrum the other evening when I was doing dishes. It is terribly difficult to get clean dishes using only cold water. To conserve energy as we are dry camping, I am doing without quite a few things, such as TV, however that is not a problem. I just cannot do dishes in cold freaking water! So, now I can turn on the hot water heater for 10 minutes and do the dishes! Wow, such little things make me happy!

We are still deciding about leaving here. We need to decide as our permit to stay at the AFB expires tomorrow. Hank needs to know so he can meet Paul at the pass place and extend our paperwork. I’d like to stay a few more days and then come home leisurely over a couple of days. I hate the 12 hour days of driving. We can’t do that very well with the animals now either. Paul has to have his pre-op tests on the 7th of February, so we will probably stay here until Wednesday and leave for home on Thursday the second. We should be home by Sunday. This has been a very enjoyable part of our trip. We have had such a great time with Hank and Elizabeth. The weather has been really great, well except for today. Not to warm and not too cold. Really very pleasant. It will be hard to go back to the dreary winter back home. *Sigh*. We do have a lot coming up in February. Both Paul and I have having “repair work” done, his shoulder, and my stomach. March will be just recuperating for us both. Then spring will be here before we know it and Zack will be home for Spring break. He had to submit a resume and letter to his boss at the Residence to request to be rehired for 2006-07 school year. He is concerned that he won’t be rehired. I don’t think he should have a problem. He has learned an awful lot this year in the area of human relations, lol!

Well, not too much happening from this point, so I will post more adventures. I am sure we will have something exciting to report in the next few days.

Later

dennise