Category Archives: Florida

Posts related to our travels in Florida.

2014/01/20 (M) Gallery Post

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This is a WordPress Gallery post of photographs from our visit to Cedar Key, Florida today.  Click once on each thumbnail to open it in a separate tab full size.  The largest dimension for any image is 600 pixels wide or 428 pixels high.

2014/01/20 (M) Cedar Key (FL)

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[Note:  I had enough photographs from today that I put them in a separate Gallery Post with today’s date.]

With a forecast of sunny skies and high temperatures in the mid 60’s we decided to head to Cedar Key today.  Mid-morning I e-mailed Cherie that we were headed that way and would drop by the Sunset Isle RV Park and Motel mid-afternoon after checking out the town.

From Williston we took US-27 Alt WNW to Bronson and then took FL-24 SW to Cedar Key, a total distance of 45 miles and approximately one hour driving time.  FL-24 is the route of the old rail line.  Just before getting to Cedar Key we saw a sign for the Suwanee National Wildlife Refuge which is located some miles north of the Cedar Keys area.  When we got to Cedar Key we headed to the Cedar Key Museum State Park where our annual park pass covered the $2 entrance fee for each of us.

We had a nice chat with the park volunteer and learned about the vast amount of land, marsh, tidal flats, and water that is reserved, preserved, and protected along the Florida Gulf Coast stretching far to the north and south of Cedar Key.  We walked through the small but informative museum and then toured the Whitman house which had been moved to the Park as a well-preserved display of housing and domestic life from a bygone era in that part of Florida.  Mr. Whitman was an avid shell collector, and part of his collection was on display the house.

The park was small but had a nice trail that got us down to the shore.  The tide was out allowing us to see exposed oyster beds and large animal footprints leading into the water.  Probably just someone’s dog, but…  We also spotted a mature Bald Eagle soaring overhead.  We then met a woman walking a dog who told us that just down the street behind the museum was the Bald Eagle nest (aerie) up in a large pine tree.  We walked quietly and slowly in that direction.  Bald Eagle aeries are enormous and it was easy to see.  To our delight and good fortune there was an adult eagle clearly visible in the nest.  I took a few photographs and then we left the way had come.

Although the Bald Eagle has been removed from the endangered species list, it is still highly protected as our national bird.  Of more significance to us, however, is that the presence of Bald Eagles is still a marker of wilderness as they require a large area of specific habitat and generally stay away from populated areas.  While Cedar Key is certainly a very remote and relatively small community surrounded by a vast area of protected habitat, the fact remains that this aerie, and what we must presume was a nesting pair of Bald Eagles, decided to live in someone’s backyard.

We drove back to the main downtown/waterfront part of Cedar Key, parked the car, and explored on foot.  Cedar Key is not a big place, but it is old, and very charming, and even a bit “funky.”  We stopped at the only grocery store we had seen, bought some lunch munchies and beverages, and had a quick lunch in the car.  We then headed back towards Sunset Isle RV Park which is actually on a small island just before you get to the main island where most of Cedar Key is located.

We parked in front of the motel and walked around back to find Chris and Cherie’s bus.  (Chris and Cherie blog and write under the name a Technomadia.)  We spotted it right away, but before we got that far we spotted another familiar RV; a beautiful Spartan trailer that belonged to Forrest and Jeri Bone of the Tin Can Tourists.  We first met them at the Arcadia Bus Rally when we attended Forrest’s presentation on the TCT’s and later toured their Spartan trailer during the open house.  Forrest and Jeri actually hail from Gregory, Michigan not far from where our house is located.

We went on down to the Technomadia bus and Forrest came down shortly thereafter.  Chris and Dani then stopped by (they are part of the NuRVers group that converged at Sunset Isle this January) and we had a good visit, Cherie demonstrating a project that she and Chris are working on.  Forrest left to help Jeri do the laundry and Chris/Dani headed back to their rig (a Westphalia camper) to work.  We eventually wandered over to the Tiki Bar at the Low Key Hideaway three “doors” south and hung out there while the bar filled up and the sun went down.  The bar was neat, the people were neat, and the sunset was neat; long and colorful.  We bid farewell to our old and new acquaintances and headed back to Williston.  A quick stop at the Winn-Dixie supermarket for soy milk and the Sunoco filling station for fuel and we were home in time for dinner and some PBS before bed.

 

2014/01/19 (N) Things That Go Bump

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We slept in this morning and had a light breakfast.  I called Cherie (of Technomadia) to see if she and Chris were up for a visit today.  They are camped at Sunset Isle RV Park just a mile north of Cedar Key, Florida.  It is 45 miles from Williston Crossings RV Resort to Sunset Isle and the drive is estimated to take about one hour.  Chris answered the phone and indicated that a front was just pushing in off of the Gulf and that it was raining, and was expected to continue for much for much of the day.  We agreed that it wasn’t the best day for a visit and decided to stay home and try again tomorrow or the next day.  A quick check of the sky showed heavy cloud cover and the weather radar confirmed that the storm front was also going to bring rain to our RV resort, so we decided to get a walk in before it started.  It was a short walk as it started raining lightly while we were out!

Living in an RV is obviously different in many ways from living in a fixed dwelling, but in equally many ways it is not different at all.  One of the ways they are different is that RVs get moved around and so the environment around them changes.  That, in turn, means the pattern of sights, sounds, and smells is always shifting.  Even if you stay in one place for a while, as we are currently doing, other RVs still come and go and the external pattern of daily activity changes.  I suspect most full- and extended-time RVers enjoying the change in their external environment, but it also means you are constantly exposed to “unexpected” stimuli that draw your attention.

One of the ways fixed and mobile living are the same is that our dwellings each have a unique “personality”, which is to say, they are structures full of systems that have characteristic sights, sounds, and even smells that occur in routine and predictable ways.  It’s almost as if they are alive, but we become so accustomed to the personality of our dwelling that we hardly notice it.  Indeed, this is essential to being able to live there.  If we paid close attention to every little detail of a dwelling we would not be able to do anything else.

As long as it is behaving the way it normally does, we are only dimly aware of our home’s personality or the environment surrounding it.  But when there are deviations from the norm we are acutely aware of them and none more so than things that go “bump” in the night.  This evening while watching TV we had such a noise.  It appeared to come from the cockpit area, possibly from the bay under the driver’s seat, and sounded more mechanical, like our A/C shutters, than like a motor or moving air.  That bay is where most of the auxiliary air system components and chassis leveling valves are located, but even when it happened while I was standing right there I could not identify what was causing the sound.  I went outside and checked the bay with a flashlight, but nothing looked out of place.

Mid afternoon I had been working in the front TV cabinet and the media cabinet behind the driver’s seat hooking up the cable TV from the resort.   The media cabinet has an electric toe-kick heater in the base and I thought perhaps a cable was coming in contact with the fan.  I turned the heater off while the noise was happening and it did not go away immediately.  It stopped a short time later, but the sound never lasts very long anyway.  When trying to figure out what is wrong, it often useful to know what is not wrong.

BTW:  I did get the cable hooked up and working and even used the old video switcher to select between OTA TV antenna and cable.  We get more channels on the cable but they are marginal quality analog signals and we only get the primary PBS station.  We get a much better digital signal over the air and get both of the PBS  sub-channels in addition to the main channel.  As it was Sunday evening Linda watched Downton Abbey and then we both watch the first episode of Sherlock Holmes.  It was a double-episode.

We are probably more sensitive to noises in our coach than we are to noises in our house.  For one thing, the coach is a smaller, more intimate space where no noise goes unheard.  For another, it’s capable of being stranded right where it sits if the wrong components fail.  This is part of RV life, and we are much more comfortable with it than when we started, but not completely at ease yet, especially when something goes bump in the night.

 

2014/01/18 (S) On Top Of The World

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Sure, there are days when we feel like we are “sitting” there—we are retired after all, have our health, and are in Florida for the winter at a nice RV resort—but today we were not sitting on top of the world.  Rather, we were at On Top Of The World for a one hour talk on “humanism and problem-solving” by Jennifer Hancock.

OTOTW is a large, upscale, planned retirement community just southwest of Ocala, Florida off FL-200.  We were at a retail/community plaza that included the sales office, a sizeable theater, coffee and ice cream shops, and a few other businesses including one named Master The Possibilities.  MTP is the education center for the complex and offers a wide menu of self-development experiences.

We were made aware of this presentation by John and Marian Hagan from our FMCA Freethinkers chapter and they also attended.  The presentation was sponsored by the newly formed Humanists of North Central Florida (HNCFL), which is affiliated with the American Humanist Association.

After the talk I had to take a phone call from our son.  He was checking the house and called to let us know that the battery on our backup sump pump was indicating that it needed to have water added.  I talked him through that and then the four of us headed to a nearby Panera to talk over food and coffee.  I think it was the first Panera we have been to since we left Michigan on December 19.

We stopped at the Publix supermarket on US-27 just west of Ocala to do our weekly food shopping and got back to the RV resort around 8:15 PM.  We had left at 11:00 AM to do some shopping before the lecture, so it had been a long day.  We were surprised that there wasn’t anyone at the fire pit, when Linda remembered that tonight was a dinner/dance at the resort.

I walked over to the fire pit and found the remnants of a fire still smoldering so I pushed the pieces back into a pile and the fire came back to life.  I spent over an hour tending the fire and enjoying the warmth against the chill of the night air.  A few people wandered by and stopped to chat briefly.  John (from Vermont) mentioned that his son, Matt, who uses a wheelchair, was a ham radio operator, but didn’t have any of his equipment with him.  I offered to lend him one of our Kenwood HT’s and have a QSO with him sometime if he wanted to do that.

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that we met Golda The Adventure Dog at the campfire on Friday night.  A very sweet and gentle animal, she is part Anatolian Sheppard and has her own Facebook page.

 

2014/01/17 (F) Campfire Music

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Today was a day for chores and relaxation.  I did the laundry while Linda tidied up the inside of the coach.  Various RV authors have said that the best way to learn about the area where you are camping, or intend to go to next, is from the people in RV parks and campgrounds where you stay.  And the best place to meet those people is often in the laundry room.  Today I had a long conversation with a fellow Williston Crossings resident with Alaska license plates on his truck while we were both doing our laundry.  He had traveled extensively and was a wealth of knowledge.

For lunch we had the vegan version of one of my favorite sandwiches: crunchy peanut butter and “mayo” with lettuce and pickle slices.  I used to make this sandwich with Miracle Whip.  (I was raised with Miracle Whip and have never cared for the taste of real mayonnaise.)  The vegan version of the sandwich uses “vegan mayo”, of course, and it is an acceptable substitute although it lacks the characteristic tanginess of MW.

It dropped below freezing again last night under clear skies, but rebounded quickly with the sunrise and topped out in the mid 60’s.  Linda sat outside in the sun and worked on her needlepoint.  She needs the light to see what she’s doing, and she likes sitting in the sun.

We ate dinner around 6:00 PM–left over angel hair pasta– and then went to the fire pit for the Friday evening campfire.  Kevin already had the fire going but we were early enough to get two of the rocking chairs.  By 6:45 PM all the chairs and benches were occupied and there were a few folks standing.  There were four guitarists playing and singing in various combinations.  Their selections tended to be country and folk, but they all played and sang well, and the rest of us listened, talked quietly, or sang along as we sat in the glow of the campfire.  It was too dark to photograph and we did not record it on our smartphones so you will just have to take my word for it; it was a warm and thoroughly delightful experience.

 

2014/01/16 (R) Wi-Fi Woes

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The Wi-Fi at Williston Crossings RV Resort has been very good since we got here.  There are professional grade access points with decent antennas positioned on towers all through the park.  The signals have been strong and steady, and the bandwidth generally very good.  Wi-Fi is always going to slow down when lots of people are using it, but the resort seems to have enough access points feeding into a robust enough router and gateway to handle the demands placed on the system by the residents.

A couple of weeks ago the resort announced that they were going to reconfigure the Wi-Fi system slightly and that starting on January 10 we would need a username and password.  We generally prefer “open” Wi-Fi signals since we connect to them with our roof-mounted Wi-Fi Ranger Mobile, which repeats the signal as a secure hot spot around out coach.  Our current configuration goes one step farther.  We have an Amped Wireless SR20000G Wi-Fi router/repeater configured as a bridge to the Wi-Fi Ranger.  The SR20000G creates a local area network to which we connect wirelessly along with a RAID 1 Network Attached Storage device connected via Ethernet.  The SR20000G then connects to the private/secure hotspot side of the Wi-Fi Ranger Mobile, which is connected to the wide area network on the public side and from there to the Internet.  It’s a great setup when everything works correctly.

In the past we have used our Wi-Fi Ranger Mobile successfully with both secure and filtered Wi-Fi networks, and both types are handled through the Wi-Fi Ranger web-browser interface.  Secure Wi-Fi systems require an encryption key, which is entered through the Wi-Fi Ranger control panel and stored for future use.  Filtered Wi-Fi networks are not secure.  After the radio and logical connection is established, you are taken to a web page where you enter a username and password and accept the terms and conditions of use.  Indeed, places like Panera don’t even bother with the username and password, they just want you to acknowledge the terms and conditions of use before allowing you access to the Internet through their system.  Fair enough, the Wi-Fi Ranger is designed to handle that as well right from the control panel.

We have had our system configured and working flawlessly right through yesterday morning.  When we returned from a day of hiking and visiting it was obvious that something had changed.  It still wasn’t working properly this morning so I inquired in the office and they confirmed that the guy who takes care of their Wi-Fi network had made changes yesterday and was working on the system today.  I reconfigured some of our equipment to use our Verizon Mi-Fi to get online and take care of e-mail and some BCM article tasks.  I called the Wi-Fi guy and chatted with him briefly, just to explain our setup and make sure there wasn’t any reason for it to now work.  I spent part of the rest of the day working with and reconfiguring our equipment and by late afternoon everything seemed to be back to normal.  I even found a better spot in the coach for the Verizon Mi-Fi device.

The day ended well, however, as Linda made whole-grain angel hair pasta with garlic, onion, mushrooms, and sun-dried tomatoes, perfectly dressed in olive oil.  It’s one of my favorite dishes.

 

2014/01/15 (W) Rainbow Springs SP (FL)

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Today was a 2-fer day.  Actually, it was a Wednesday, but we got two things done in one trip.

Seminole Falls info.

Seminole Falls info.

Thing one was a trip to Rainbow Springs SP in Dunnellon, Florida.  Located on US-41 just north of Dunnellon, Rainbow Springs was privately owned and opened in 1937 as a major tourist attraction.  The natural springs were “enhanced” with a constructed landscape of streams and waterfalls surrounded by vast gardens.  There were walkways, buildings, a “submarine”, a surface ship, a zoo, a netted bird area, an aerial tram, and a horse arena.  There were also cabins that predated the 1937 attraction.

Seminole “Falls.”

Seminole “Falls.”

 

The Rainbow Springs attraction changed ownership several times over the years and was owned by S&H Green Stamps and Holiday Inn along the way.  The opening of I-75 led to the demise of the attraction and it closed to the public in 1974.  (The opening of Walt Disney World probably didn’t help.)  It fell into serious disrepair until purchased in 1990 by the State of Florida and added to the Florida State Parks system.

 

 

 

Alligator warning (although none seen recently here).

Alligator warning (although none seen recently here).

 

All of the attractions are gone, of course, but much of the infrastructure remains, especially the water features and walkways.  The stables / horse arena is now a butterfly garden and the Park Service, along with the Friends of Rainbow Springs (FORS) is removing invasive plant species and replacing them with native pants.  There are actual (unpaved) hiking trails and a modern campground in a different part of the park.  We caught a brief glimpse of a Whitetail Deer while hiking the yellow trail.

Part of the Rainbow Springs headwaters area.

Part of the Rainbow Springs headwaters area.

 

Thing two was a chance to visit with another couple from our FMCA Freethinkers Chapter.  I had been corresponding with various people in advance of our trip to Florida, and John Hagan had indicated back in October that lived reasonably close to where we would be staying.  I checked back through my information, and it turned out that “reasonably close” meant “in Dunnellon.”  In fact, they lived about one mile south of the entrance to Rainbow Springs SP.  We called, they were home, and we stopped by to visit.

 

 

An Egret on the hunt at Rainbow Springs SP (FL).

An Egret on the hunt at Rainbow Springs SP (FL).

 

John and Marian had only moved in to this house this past April after six years as full-time RVers and are selling their motorhome.  They are still new enough to this part of Florida that they have not had a chance to explore much of it.  We agreed to make plans to take them along on some “explores” such as the Crystal River and Homosassa Springs areas which lie just to the SW of Dunnellon.  We also invited them to drive up to Williston to see the bus and the resort and have dinner.

2014/01/12 (N) More Visitors

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Steve and Karen were headed to Deltona to visit relatives of Karen’s and were expected there around noon.  With a two hour drive ahead of them they needed to be on the road by10 AM.  We were all up before 8 AM, had a leisurely breakfast and set up a tripod to get a few photographs of the four of us before the left.

Linda, Bruce, Karen, and Steve at site 439, Williston Crossing RV Resort (FL).

Linda, Bruce, Karen, and Steve at site 439, Williston Crossing RV Resort (FL).

The more time we spend living in the bus the more normal it seems, but we are still very much aware of the fact that for most of our friends it is an object of considerable curiosity.  I think many of them are also fascinated, perhaps even a bit perplexed, by the idea that we live in even part time, and seeing it in person helps them understand just what it is that we are doing.

Last March (2013), while on our second Holistic Holiday at a Sea cruise, we became friends with a retired special education teacher from New York City named Norma. We exchanged e-mail addresses and phone numbers and have stated in touch with her since then.  Norma has a daughter who lives in Winter Park, Florida north of Orlando and not that far from where we are staying.  Norma has been down visiting, and e-mailed us yesterday indicating that family was headed to a state park for the day and would be close enough to stop in Williston for a visit.  A quick phone call this morning confirmed the arrangements; they would come to the RV resort on the way home so everyone could see the motorhome.  🙂

Linda, Norma, Anna (Norma’s daughter) and Anna’s children in our coach.

Linda, Norma, Anna (Norma’s daughter) and Anna’s children in our coach.

As of this morning our Dropbox client software was still unable to connect to the Dropbox cloud servers.  I was able to log in to our Dropbox account through various web browsers and upload a file, so that was some sort of progress.  I was not, however, able to access my settings page, so the Dropbox servers/accounts were not yet fully restored and functional.

Linda made pan-fried firm tofu with grilled onions and Bar-B-Q sauce served on a whole wheat hamburger bun.  The tofu has something of the texture of a fried egg, and the sandwich, while simple, is simply delicious.  A side of Brussels sprouts and broccoli provided our greens.

I worked on getting the blog up-to-date while we watched Downton Abbey.  I then transferred all of the photos for the Arcadia Bus Rally BCM article to a flash drive.  I need to put it in the mail to the editor tomorrow.

 

2014/01/10 (F) Visitors

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Steve and Karen Limkemann e-mailed yesterday that they were in Macon, Georgia and thought they would arrive at Williston Crossings today between 2 and 3 PM. They left S. E. Michigan Wednesday around noon and got as far as northern Kentucky before stopping for the night.  We had planned to do weekly chores this morning anyway, but that became necessary once we knew their ETA.  My chores included doing the laundry so we would all have clean linens, and dumping the waste tanks and refilling the fresh water tank.  Linda’s chores involved interior cleaning (vacuum, mop, dust, glass and mirrors, sinks and toilet, etc.) and de-cluttering.

Steve and Karen arrived on schedule and came in the new/rear entrance off of FL-121.  They phoned me and I drove over to lead them to our site which is near the original/front entrance on N. E. 5th St.  I had not finished filling the fresh water tank, so I gave Steve a tour of the bays while the tank filled.  Eventually the chores were done and we gathered inside to visit.

Being a Friday it was fire pit night at the RV resort, but first we went out to dinner.  We decided to try Angelina Mia’s, the Italian restaurant and pizzeria we stopped at the other day on our walk to town.  We ended up ordering a thin crust northern Italian veggie pizza, no cheese, and it was OK.  Steve had lasagna and Karen had seafood linguine, and they both said it was OK as well.  By the time we got back to the RV resort a large group had gathered around the fire pit and the fire was blazing.  There were no vacant chairs, and we did want to stand, so we retired to the coach and settled in.

We have had overnight guests in the bus prior to this, but only one person at a time.  Steve and Karen were the first couple to stay overnight, and the first guests to use the sleeper sofa pulled out into its two-person configuration.  In spite of the noise and vibration from the auxiliary air compressor, the refrigerator, the vent fans, and the water pump, they said they were comfortable and slept well.

 

2014/01/09 (R) Rainy Days And Writing

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I finished the first draft of my article for BCM on the Iron Horse converted bus and e-mailed it to the owners.  I also completed a draft of a shorter article on the Cool Cruiser bus conversion.  Both of these coaches were at the Arcadia Bus Rally where I was able to photograph them and interview the owners.

Rainy days are good days for this kind of work.  We’ve had a few recently, and we have taken advantage of them.  Linda has worked on her needlepoint, reading, and some accounting work in addition to putting our meals on the table, playing an occasional game on her iPad, and going for walks.  She is less inclined to sit and work for as long as I am, and rain does not deter her from walking.

Eventually, however, I also need to stretch my legs and get dome fresh air.  Around mid-afternoon we went for a long walk through the heart of downtown Williston and out to the west edge of town.  We stopped at an Italian restaurant to check out the menu and it had some options that would work for us.  We have friends arriving tomorrow mid-afternoon to spend a couple of nights, so we may try the restaurant for dinner.

We found the Win-Dixie supermarket and will check it out the next time we need groceries as it’s a lot closer than the Publix stores in Gainesville or Ocala.  We stopped at a roadside fruit and vegetable stand, sampled several different oranges, and bought a small container of one that was particularly juicy and flavorful.  We also stopped at the ACE Hardware store, checked out the store, and bought an outlet expander (2-to-6).

We were just about back to the entrance of the RV resort when a pickup truck passed us, slowed down, stopped, and backed up.  It was none other than Jimmy and Sadie Clay, the owners and converters of the Iron Horse.  They had driven over from Apopka, where they are volunteers in the state park, to check out Williston Crossings RV Resort.  They have a friend who had stayed there and told them how nice it was.  They were as surprised to see us as we were to see them.  We climbed in the back of their truck and gave them a guided tour of the resort.

Linda microwaved a couple of baking potatoes for dinner and sautéed onions, mushrooms, and broccoli with spices as a topping.  She added some shredded vegan cheese and we had a hearty, delicious meal.

We are both getting anxious to start exploring Florida, but it’s been good to be parked for the last week in our quiet little corner of our quiet little resort with cold, wet weather that gave me the opportunity to make significant progress on several critical projects.

 

2014/01/08 (W) Florida In Winter

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It dropped below freezing again last night here in Williston, Florida, but not by much.  This weather is not unusual for this time of year, and therefore not unexpected.  We normally use our three electric toe-kick heaters and our Broan ceramic cube heater to ward off the chill but when the outside temperatures get down towards freezing we use the Aqua Hot (diesel fueled hydronic heating system).

The unit has been running fine, but this morning I noticed that the coach had cooled off a bit. I checked the blowers on the bedroom and bathroom heat exchangers and the air coming out of them was not warm.  I checked the main unit (in one of the bays) and while the burner appeared to be running the feed lines were cool to the touch.  Normally they would be quite warm.  I turned off all three thermostats (bedroom, bathroom, and living room) and shut off the main switch that controls the burner.  The coolant in the overflow reservoir was at the add mark, so added some.  I turned the unit back on, turned on all three thermostats, and set them high enough to call for heat.  A short time later we had heat again.  The fans for the living room heat exchanger even came on (they haven’t been working the last couple of days).  Ahhh, the mysteries of the motorhome.  I added to much coolant, so of course it overflowed when it came up to temperature.

The weather was cloudy all day and the high temperature barely broke 50 degrees so we stuck around the RV resort.  Linda continued working on the needlepoint she is doing for Madeline and I started working on a featured bus article for Bus Conversions Magazine.  At the Arcadia Bus Rally I had the opportunity to interview Jimmy and Sadie Clay and photograph their 1984 Eagle Model 10 conversion “Iron Horse.”  The interior is done to resemble a railroad car from the Old Wild West.  I did not have a finished draft by bedtime, but I made excellent progress.

We took our usual walks and Linda made stuffed acorn squash for dinner using some leftover rice and other ingredients she had on hand.  She served it with a side of Brussels sprouts that she browned and then steamed.  Simple but delicious, and very satisfying on a cool evening.

2014/01/07 (T) Ocala Florida

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It dropped into the mid-20s last night so we used the Aqua Hot hydronic heating system to keep the coach comfortable and the water bay above freezing.  Although the high temperature only rose to 43 degrees the sun was shining and we needed a break from the confines of the coach.  We had compiled a shopping list over the last few days so we decided to head to Ocala.

Our first stop was the Radio Shack store at the Paddock Mall where I got a small wireless keyboard, a wireless mouse, and some 75 ohm coax cable.  Although we have a few OTA TV channels, most importantly the PBS trio, we have a cable TV hookup as part of our site and a cable TV connection in our utility bay, so we are going to see if we can get it to work.

The dining table in our coach is not ideal for working at our computers and I was developing a sore neck.  The wireless keyboard will allow me to move the monitor a little farther away and position the keyboard more comfortably.

We went to Gander Mountain in search of waterproof camp shoes for outdoor use that we can slip on and off easily, but did not find what we were looking for.  We looked around online later and it appeared that L. L. Bean has what we want.

We doubled back to an outdoor mall where Linda went to Joann a Fabrics and I went to Staples to get a cooling pad for my laptop.  Staples also had and outlet expander (3 from 2) with two USB charging ports and a night light that solved a specific problem for use very nicely.

Our final stop was the Publix grocery store on US-27 just west of I-75.  This store is 22 miles from Williston, seven miles farther than the one in Gainesville, but there is a lot of other shopping in that area.  We did not do a general tour of Ocala, so we will do that another day.

Having uploaded my article and photographs on the Arcadia Bus Rally last evening I decided to do a shortened version of the article for the February issue of our GLCC newsletter.  I selected 17 photographs, most of which included at least one of our GLCC members and/or their coaches.  I finished the article, uploaded everything, and e-mailed newsletter editors Scott and Tami Bruner before I went to bed.  It felt good to get that done while the event was still fresh in my mind and have it off my plate as I have a backlog of articles to work on and keep falling behind on posting to this blog.

 

2014/01/05 (N) Views of WCRVR

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I’ve been hunkered down writing an article for Bus Conversions Magazine on the recent Arcadia Bus Rally and Linda has been working on her counted stitch needlepoint, but both of those are activities from which we need to take breaks and go for walks.  When we do, I usually take my camera along.  Here are eight more photos of Williston Crossings RV Resort that capture some of the features of the park and the ways that residents make their sites uniquely their own.

A cactus garden.

A cactus garden.

The fire pit.

The fire pit.

Grass and palm trees.

Grass and palm trees.

The old quarry from the back of one of the sites.

The old quarry from the back of one of the sites.

This belongs to one of our next door neighbors.

This belongs to one of our next door neighbors.

Tiki huts and rock gardens.

Tiki huts and rock gardens.

Donna & Michael’s Motorhome.

Donna & Michael’s Motorhome.

Donna, Michael, and Linda.

Donna, Michael, and Linda.

2014/01/04 (S) Rally Articles

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Our site at WCRVR with our sign!

Our site at WCRVR with our sign!

Our sign. (Normally reserved for 4 month or longer stays.)

Our sign. (Normally reserved for 4 month or longer stays.)

In addition to writing blog posts I have written three articles in the last five months on RV rallies.  One was on the GLCC/CCO rally last August in Clio, Michigan and was the cover story for the October issue of Bus Conversion Magazine.  I wrote an article on the September 2013 GLAMARAMA rally for the November issue of our GLCC newsletter.  I rewrote that article from a different perspective and BCM ran it as the cover story for the January 2014 issue.  Although different from writing a personal blog, these articles still retained the perspective of personal experience.

Our patio and picnic table.

Our patio and picnic table.

Gary Hall, the owner/publisher of BCM, knew we planned to attend the Arcadia Bus Rally in Arcadia, Florida between Christmas and New Year’s and asked if I would cover the event for the magazine, which I agreed to do.  That made for a different experience, putting me in the role of a reporter with a publisher and editor expecting an article by a certain deadline.  We returned to Williston Crossings RV Resort on the 1st, got settled in on the 2nd, I got to work on the article on the 3rd, and had a complete draft by bedtime today, although I still needed to have Linda proof-read it in morning and then send it off to the rally organizers to fact check.  I will spend the next two days selecting and processing photographs.  I also heard from Gary and Mike Sullivan, the BCM editor, that the article was back on as the Feb 2014 cover story, putting me on a short timeline to get it to them.

The fire pit at WCRVR.

The fire pit at WCRVR.

I can work at this kind of task for long periods of time, but eventually I have to get off my butt, move around, and clear my head.  Williston Crossings RV Resort is an excellent place for walking and I went twice today with Linda.  (She does her first/power walk in the morning without me.)  Resort volunteers build a big fire in the covered fire pit on Friday and Saturday evenings unless there are high winds.  The fire pit is surrounded by rocking chairs and benches and is a social event for some of the resort residents, especially those, like us, that hail from more northerly places.  We went over after dinner, sat by the fire for 90 minutes, and made some new acquaintances.  While most of the residents were hunkered down avoiding the temperatures in the upper 40’s we felt like we were on a fall camp out back in Michigan, complete with a smoky campfire. 

New friends around the campfire at WCRVR.

New friends around the campfire at WCRVR.

 

2014/01/03 (F) Power Dinner

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Linda went to the Publix grocery store in Gainesville yesterday, so we are well stocked for the next week or so.  We also learned last night from Donna and Michael Bartolomeo that there are several vegan restaurants in Gainesville as well as a vegan ice cream parlor / bakery / brewery and a vegan pizzeria.  While we don’t plan to eat out very often, having vegan dining options less than 20 miles away is a nice plus.  The Happy Cow website confirmed their addresses and menu selections.

The overnight low hit 35 degrees F, but that is not unexpected in this part of Florida in January.  We had closed up the rig before we went to bed and did not turn on any of the heaters (other than the refrigerator) so the temperature inside dropped to just under 60 degrees F; a bit nippy, but not uncomfortable.  The refrigerator is a compressor driven residential unit that exhausts heat out the bottom front into the kitchen/dining area.  In warmer weather (no rain) we usually have the ceiling vent open and the exhaust fan running to pull that warm air out of the coach.  But in colder weather the vents are closed and the heat from the fridge helps keep the coach from getting too cold.

We lost power to the coach around 11:15 AM, but only for a few minutes.  The inverter kicked in immediately and did what it is supposed to do.  The microwave clock did not lose its time and the UPS that powers the NAS kept it double protected.  The power was restored before I could go investigate what had happened.  When I checked later there was no code set in our Progressive Industries EMS, indicating that we had simply lost power and then had it restored, which clears any previous error codes.

The View From Our Coach on Site 439 at WCRVR.

The View From Our Coach on Site 439 at Williston Crossings RV Resort.

After her morning walk Linda worked on her needlepoint while the light was good and I took care of e-mail, finished up the blog post for yesterday, and started working on the Arcadia Rally article for BCM.  I had an e-mail from BCM publisher Gary Hall indicating that they planned to bump the rally article to the March 2014 issue, so that gave me a little breathing room in terms of getting it done.  Gary also sent me the January 2014 special edition they produced for the FMCA Great Lakes Area Motor Coach Association (GLAMA).  This issue has an extensive article that I wrote on the September 2013 GLAMARAMA rally.  GLAMA is going to include the entire issue in their next newsletter, which will go out to somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 members.

Tonight was one of the scheduled fire pit nights at the resort.  The fire pit is only 100 feet from our site so we checked it out.  It‘s under cover and surrounded by large rocking chairs and a couple of benches.  We often enjoyed campfires when tent camping, but have not made very many since we started RVing in 2005.  We were planning on going when I got a call from Michael Bartolomeo inviting us to their motorhome for dinner.

Michael indicated that it had been a strange night and that’s when we found out that the whole north section of the park had lost power overnight.  Apparently the short power outage we experienced this morning was connected with the restoration of power to the north section.  We stopped by the office later and inquired as to what had happened.  Sometime the night before someone ran into a utility pole (outside the park) and took out power to half the city of Williston including the north section of the RV resort.  When utility crews finally repaired the damage and restored power, the transformer that feeds the southern half of the northern section failed.  A replacement had to be brought in from some distance away, and residents in that part of the resort were without power for about 18 hours.

Donna and Michael had been without power overnight and when they got it back their furnace decided not to work.  Michael was able to locate a loose connection and tighten it this morning which brought the furnace back to life, but they had a chilly night in their rig.  They had us over for dinner nonetheless and it was wonderful.  We had pistachios (in the shell) for an appetizer, butternut squash soup with fresh apple slices and croutons, and whole bean burritos with guacamole, spicy salsa, and steamed kale.  They served dark chocolate covered almonds for dessert and we drank Pinot Grigio to wash it all down as we continued our conversation from the night before.  No pictures yet, however, as we have not crossed paths with them during the day when I also had my camera with me.