Relaxing in Fort Myers

HAPPY NEW EVERYONE
We hope that the coming year will be filled with nothing but good health and happiness for all of our friends and family.

One of the first things that Sandy and I had to do when we got to Fort Myers was clean up the pickup, motorcycle and motorhome. That meant while Sandy was busy scrubbing the inside, I was busy cleaning the outside. When we think about this cleaning project we both agree that it would be nice to have the 26 foot Lazy Daze again.
Here Sandy caught me actually working, LOOK AT THAT SHINE!


One morning Sandy took the garbage to the compacter and came across this golf cart. Sandy just had to take a picture because we have a friend, Jerry, who worked at the Ford Plant in St. Paul for over 40 years.





On Tuesday, Fred, a full-time RV friend of ours from Minnesota, stopped by around noon and we went to lunch and got caught up on events since we last saw each other. When we got back to the motorhome we started to look for a lot to rent for January and February. There were a few open for January but not February. We eventually found one that we have to rent for 3 months so we will stay until the middle of March before we head to Savanna, GA.

Here is a night-time picture looking to the north from Dale and Mary's lot.

We celebrated New Years Eve here at Cypress Woods. Dale and Mary had given us their tickets and we sat at a table with Bob and Brenda, friends from Minnesota, and 3 other couples who have lots near them. The theme of the party was "Margartaville". We had a great time and I even danced (?) some. They had a DJ, gave out prizes and the JUGS (Just Us Gals) did a dance routine.

After they were done, Captain Morgan came by to offer them some refreshments and they seemed to be happy about that.








Here are Bob and Brenda dancing to a country song. I’m sorry about the poor quality picture, but it shows that they are having fun.








After we celebrated three New Year Eves (Buenos Aires, Argentina; New Brunswick, Nova Scotia; and New York City) it was time to head home. We only had a block to walk back to the motorhome so dodging all the golf carts was not too bad. Although for safety reasons, I think they should make them sound like a diesel pickup truck so they don't come sneaking up on you.

Until next time,
Dave and Sandy

A couple of days in Memphis, a week in Red Bay, AL and now we are in Fort Myers, FL.

First off, Sandy and I want to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS. It's different for us to wake up to 71 degrees with 91% humidity on Christmas Day. But it's so much nicer then what people are getting back home in Minneapolis, MN.

On Monday the 14th when we got up in the morning we found out that we were on 12 volt battery power and batteries were running low. I called the factory and talked with a tech. After some trouble shooting, he thought that our transfer switch box was bad. We had partial power so we decided to stay here in Memphis and visit Graceland, then go to the Tiffin factory tomorrow and have them check out the electrical issue. We last visited Elvis’s Graceland in about 1985, the place has changed so much since then. The house and yard were all decortaed for Christmas which was Elvis' favorite season. More "tourest trap" areas (gift shops) and museums have been added across the street including 2 of Elvis' private airplanes. Sandy said that this is what will probably happen to “Neverland Ranch” now that Michael Jackson is dead.

Graceland

A room full of records and awards that Elvis received.

More awards and stage costumes from his shows.

We stayed at the Tom Sawyer’s RV Resort located right on the Mississippi River in West Memphis, AR. Tomorrow we head to Red Bay, Al to have some work done on the motorhome.

On Tuesday when we drove into Camp Red Bay. There were only about 40 coaches in the park. A far cry from when we were here before. The camp host said that this is normally their slow time, but wait until after New Years and this place will be over flowing.





On Wednesday when they came to check the automatic transfer switch, everything worked OK. Maybe it was bad wiring at the last camp site. I hope so.

It was Friday before they could get us into the paint shop where they caulked around two windows for us. We are now done here at the service center but will stick around and have some work done by Brannon at Custom RV, Inc on Tuesday of next week.

We drove to Florence, AL and did some shopping on Saturday and on the way back we stopped at a unique cemetery. I'm sure ya'all know there are pet cemeteries around. But this one is for Coon Dogs only. It was started in 1937 and there was at least one buried there this year. Some tombstones were very elaborate while others were just stick crosses made from tree branches.






















On Monday the 21st I went to the Tiffin manufacturing plant and took some pictures of a guys’ motorhome chassis that was starting the process of being made into a motorhome. This is a common occurance where someone having a coach built will ask (on the Tiffin forum) if someone could take the time to go to the manufacturing plant and take some pictures as it is being built.

The next day we had a 7:00AM appointment with Brannon at Custom RV, Inc to have some work done. After we finished there we went to the Tiffin chassis plant and had the computer in the motorhome reprogrammed to act like the “Automatic Brake Switch” which sets the Jake brake to actuate when stepping on the brakes rather than letting off the throttle. After we were done (12:45) we left Red Bay and headed to Ft. Myers, FL. We stopped around 7:00PM just south of Ozark, AL at a rest stop to get some sleep. On Wednesday morning we got up 2:30AM and were back on the road by 3:15AM. Dale, now we know why you like driving at night. No traffic.



I think we were north of Tampa when we were slowed done by a traffic jam that was created by a semi that had its trailer frame break in half. At least the driver got the rig onto the shoulder before it completely fell apart. We listened to other trucker comments on the CB radio. Their language was much more "colorful", but they said some of these trailers are built so cheap, then the put the load all in the center of the trailer rather then spreading it out.













It was around 3:00PM when we pulled in to Cypress Woods Resort where we will be for a couple of months. Right now we are sitting on Dale and Mary’s lot until they get here the middle of January. They were kind enough to let us use it until we can find another one to rent. It’s much cheaper if you can rent from the person that owns the lot, rather than through the office.



It's 72 and cloudy right now and it looks like we will be getting a little rain today on Christmas.

Until next time,
Dave and Sandy

We have made our escape!!!!

First I want to bring everyone up to date on my brother Joe. He is back home and doing great. He had an appointment last Wednesday with his oncologist and all his tests were normal or close to normal. I guess that means the lymphoma is inactive which is great news. His next appointment will be in a month.

Now for us!!!

Last Wednesday the temperature was 14 degrees at 12AM and continued to fall all day until it was -1 degrees at 11:59PM. We had about 7 inches of snow with wind gusts of 41 MPH. It’s time to leave!!!!


Thursday we went out to eat with our friends Jerry, Donna, John and Pat. This will be our last get together until next April. We will sure miss them. The next morning Jerry and John came to the garage and helped me load the motorcycle into the pickup. After that was done Donna said "maybe you guys should head south today (Friday) rather than wait until tomorrow morning". Thanks for the suggestion Donna, because an hour later I called Sandy at home and asked, would she be OK with leaving today after she got her hair cut. Without much hesitation we were rushing around getting things done and were on the road at 3:30PM heading south. When we left the temperature was 16 degrees, but along the way it got down to 4 degrees. The roads were clear all the way, but south of Waverly, Iowa there were a lot of vehicles in the ditch from the earlier storm, including one semi that went into the ditch backwards. When we finally stopped for the night it was midnight and we were in Bowling Green, Iowa where the temperature was a balmy 31 degrees.
Saturday morning when we left Blowing Green it was still 31 degrees. Again, the roads were clear until we stopped at a truck wash in Blytheville, AK to get the salt washed off the RV. We left the truck wash and it started to rain a couple miles down the road and continued to rain to West Memphis. So much for a clean RV, but at least the Minnesota salt is off. The temperature was 42 degrees when we stopped.
Sunday will be a rest day for us, Monday we are going to find the "Ghost of Elvis". For the next couple of days we are staying at the Tom Sawyer’s RV Park in West Memphis. We can sit and watch the barges pass by as the river is only 100 feet away. Nice park to just sit and relax. Tuesday we will head over to Red Bay, AL and have some work on the motorhome at the factory. If all goes well we will be at Cypress Woods RV Resort in Fort Myers before New Years. Dale and Mary have graciously offered us the use of their site until they get down the middle of January. After which we will have to pay the big bucks to stay there. Then we have reservation at Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground from 2-5-10 to 2-12-10. We have not decided where we are spending the rest of February but we will be heading to the Savanna, GA area in March before heading home in April.
We will post periodically as we go along.
Until next time,
Dave and Sandy