Sharp's Travels

We left Atlanta at 10:00 am and arrived in Paducah, KY at Duck Creek Campground around 5:00 pm. This is our third stay here, easy on and off of I-24. We put in a good day with 382 miles. It is now 90 degrees here. No other news.

We were up and ready to leave for Darren & Jodi’s by 10am. We planned on going to church with them at 11:00. What a great service. They tape all their services and we purchased on of the cd’s made by the choir. The service was all about going to Heaven. The music was wonderful. They had a piano, guitars, bass, drums, percussion, synthesizer, tenor saxophone, violin, and banjo. It was like a concert. The choir and director were fabulous.

Jodi had brats and burgers ready to do on the grill when we got back from church. She’d made potato salad and a cherry pie. It was all so good.

Gay and Darren did a little work on the GPS unit for Darren’s car while I loved up the kitties.

We played another game of dominos in the afternoon. The gals won by 350 points. Robyn, I had to write this blog because Gay said he wouldn’t let everyone know how bad we skunked them!

This morning Grandpa, Grandma, Cheri and I met Darren and Jodi at Golden Coral restaurant for breakfast. Darren and Jodi treated us. From there we all went back to Darren and Jodi’s place. Darren and I went to Northern Tools to look for an additional fuel tank for our tuck. They didn’t have one in stock, so we will wait and check the store in Milwaukee, WI. Cheri and Jodi went shopping and when we got back Grandpa and Grandma were watching TV. Darren did some updates to our computer. Later in the evening we had a hot game of dominos that us guys won by over 200 points!!!!

We were up by 6:30 am and Grandpa, Grandma and I went to the Rec Hall and had free pancakes for breakfast. Cheri didn’t want to go. We took our time getting ready to leave as we had only 150 miles to go to be at Jones RV Park in Atlanta. We arrived there around 1:00 pm. Darren and Jodi came over for supper. After supper Darren took us to see a new truck like the one we have, but with a lot more extras on it. It did have a couple of things I would like to add to ours. In dash GPS with backup camera and blind spot cameras that work when you put on the turn signal. A nice safety feature.

We were up a little after 5:00 am. Got everything closed up and headed over to Grandpa and Grandma’s. Put the rest of their stuff in the van and closed up their trailer and was on the road at 9:00 am. We arrived at Southern Trails campground in Unadilla, GA about 3:00 pm which is about 100 miles south of Atlanta. We stayed at this campground last year on our way north.

At 6:00 am it was already 66 degrees and on to a high of 86. Cheri and Grandma went to Wal-Mart to pick up medicine groceries. Cheri also did laundry and put things away for the trip north tomorrow. I washed the truck and trailer. After lunch we went over to Grandpa and Grandma’s to help them pack up. Later we took our evening walk and ended up at Grandpa and Grandma’s to load the up the van. We plan on being on the road by 9:00 am.

It warm up quickly to a high of 87 degrees, our warmest day this spring. I finished packing the basement and put the bikes on the bike rack. I went over to Grandpa and Grandma’s and put the golf cart away for the summer. Late this afternoon Dean, Betty Grandpa, Grandma, Cheri and I went out to Golden Coral to eat. Dean and Betty are leaving early in the morning. We took it easy the rest of the afternoon, to hot to be outside. On our evening walk we stopped at Dean and Betty’s to say our goodbyes.

Today we left for Bush Gardens about 9:30am. This was our last chance to go before we leave for Wisconsin.

We arrived at 10:30am and were lucky enough to park right up front. We hopped on the trolley and were taken up to the front gate. All the flowers in the park are just beautiful. There is never just a little display; all the beds and flower pots are huge. They had a floral design in the shape of an eagle and others in the shape of butterflies. We went through the Bird Gardens first. I had a couple of parrots sitting on my shoulder and finger. The flamingo area was so neat. They sleep standing on one leg with their head lying back on their body.

We took in the show in the Land of the Dragons. This is all geared towards kids. The show was really cute. The kids loved it.

It was getting on towards lunch time so we headed for Stanleyville to the Zambia Smokehouse. We bought the sampler plate so we could try the ribs, chicken and the beef brisket. It was good.

At 1:30 the show started at the Katonga Theater. We didn’t want to miss that. We were first in line at the main doors. Two gentlemen flanked each side of those doors and they said they could entertain us while we were waiting. They began singing. They were so good. What a treat! We had perfect seating in the theater for their 40 min. show. It was a journey to the heart of Africa in a live musical celebration of animal folklore, as aspiring storytellers weave their wonderful tales. The staging, scenery and costumes were so elaborate. What a show!

We still had time to catch the Mirage Canteen show. You travel back in time in this musical revue, which brings a once thriving hot spot back to life through song and dance.

Our tickets are good until the end of December, so we plan on coming back a few more times in the fall.

We arrived back home at 3:30pm.

Click on Photos to see new pictures of Bush Gardens

This morning Grandpa, Grandma, Dean, Betty, Cheri and I went to church in Wesley Chapel. This afternoon I emptied the fresh water tank and refilled it for the trip north. I also rolled up the patio mat and put it in the basement. We took it easy the rest of the day. We didn’t take our walk until 7:30 pm, wanted to wait for it to cool off as we had a high of 82 degrees.

This morning we went downtown to the post office to get our mail forwarded and then to Wal-Mart to pick up some bug killer to spray under Grandpa and Grandma’s trailer. When we got back we went right over to Grandpa and Grandma’s and got bug killer done and also put the charger on the golf cart. On our early evening walk we stopped at Grandpa and Grandma’s to take the charger off the golf cart. We stopped at Ken and Eileen’s to say our goodbyes as they are leaving for Wisconsin in the morning. Later we went over to Dean and Betty’s to play dominos. The girls won one and us guys won one. When we got home I had to watch the NASCAR race, didn’t get to bed until after 1:00 am.

This morning I took Cheri downtown for a hair appointment to have a perm. From there I went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things and fuel up the truck. At noon I went and picked up Cheri and came back to the trailer for lunch. After lunch we sat outside and read for a while, and then Cheri gave me a hair cut. After I took my bike ride Ken and Roger brought over some boxes that we are going to take back to Wisconsin for them. On our evening walk we stopped to visit with Dean and Betty. After we got home Grandma came over for a visit. Later we went down to see Ken, Eileen and Roger.

After our morning walk I washed and waxed Grandpa and Grandma’s van. Cheri did some major cleaning getting ready to leave. I did some odd jobs around the trailer. This afternoon I went over to Grandpa and Grandma’s to do some odd jobs and put the charger on the golf cart. I want to make sure we have it at full charge before we leave. Our evening walk took two hours as we stopped to talk to people that are leaving tomorrow.

Today we all (cousins and friends) went out for Chinese lunch here in Zephyrhills. Later in the afternoon Roger, Cheri and I went out Geocaching in a county park near Dade City. Roger had a new GPS that he wanted to learn how to use. It was fun comparing it with ours. Roger’s is much nicer than ours. We got home around 4:30 pm and then sat down at the computer and set up a Geocaching account for Roger. Later Cheri went with Eileen over to Bealls shopping and I went over to Wal-Mart to gas up Grandpa and Grandma’s van.

It was a perfect day with a high of 80 degrees and no humidity. We did our morning walk and saw Ken, Eileen and Roger leaving for the flea market. Cheri spent the day painting on a couple of projects. I continued to get things ready to leave. Changed the water filter, changed vacuum cleaner bag, clean and washed the storage bins on the truck, greased the trailer and finished cleaning the basement. I even took my bike ride around the park. This evening all the cousins were invited down to Ken and Eileen’s to visit with Roger and play some games. Four played cards and seven of us played dominos. I was the lucky one at dominos; I don’t know who won at cards.

It was 46 degrees this morning and very windy, in fact it was windy all day with a high in the low 70’s. If you could stay out of the wind and in the sun it was very nice. We skipped our morning walk. We ran out of LP this morning so we headed out to get our tank filled. Cheri wanted to stop at Big Lots on the way and I wanted to stop at Dollar General. Somebody was telling me that they carry a product called Thunder Blaster and is good for taking black streaks off the 5th wheel. This afternoon Cheri did some baking and laundry, I did some searching on the internet, looking for a cell phone signal amplifier. This evening we went down to Ken and Eileen’s so Roger and I could go over his new GPS unit. We figured out how to put in waypoints. So now we are going to go out and do some Geocaching this week. We also played a card game called Five Crowns. Cheri and I had never played it before. We played two games, Roger won one and I won the other. A good time was had by all.

We had a bad rain storm with high winds that come through this morning. It didn’t last very long but was on the scary side. It stayed very windy all day. The high Temp was 70 degrees. Ten of us went together down town to church this morning. I miss having church here in the park. This afternoon we went with Ken and Eileen to pick up Roger from the airport. He’s going to drive them back to Wisconsin. It was 7:00 pm when we got home.

It was a high of 89 degrees and very humid today. It was one of those stay inside days. Although we did take Grandpa and Grandma to Wal-Mart for groceries and medicine, we also need groceries. At 1:00 pm Cheri and I went down to the Rec hall to help set up for the 5:00 pm potluck supper. The food was very good. It was an evening of TV. It was after 9:00 pm before we took our evening walk and was still 81 degrees.

Oh my, today is Friday the 13th! Only good things happen for us today.

We decided to make that trip to the beach that we have been talking about all winter. About 10am we headed for Tarpon Springs. It is only about 40 miles from here. We made our way to Fred Howard Park. They have a beautiful beach on an island that juts right out into the Gulf of Mexico. We walked all around the island in the edge of the water. Some areas were warmer than others and some had nice sandy bottoms while some were covered with tiny shells all crushed up that made it hard walking. There was a nice breeze. A perfect day for the beach.

Around noon we went to the docks in Tarpon Springs. We found a nice little Greek restaurant for lunch. Our food was good and when we finished we headed for the Spongeorama Cruise lines for a boat ride out into the gulf. We saw a few bull nose dolphins jump up out of the water in front of and along beside of our boat. We were told we would see sting rays and big turtles but didn’t see any of them. It was a nice ride but we were a bit disappointed that dolphins were all we saw.

They harvest a lot of natural sponges in the Gulf of Mexico and most of the shops carried a big variety of them. We watched a movie on how they harvest them and get them ready for sale.

We checked out a number of shops and stopped for an ice cream cone before heading for home.

Back in Zephyrhills we stopped at Bealls so Gay could buy some dress shorts and arrived back at our 5th wheel at 7pm.

We are both to tired to walk so I am sure it will be an early night for us.

Check out the pictures we took. Click on photos and them click on Tarpon Springs.

We had a high of 84 degrees today. The weather was perfect for our morning walk and took some extra time to really enjoy it. Not much going on around here today. I work on cleaning and repacking the basement. I still have more to do. Cheri did some major cleaning in the trailer and she put a pot-roast in the crock pot and made a blackberry pie for supper. We had Grandpa and Grandma over for supper. It was still 80 degrees at 7:00 when we took our evening walk.

After two days of gloomy weather we have sun this morning. It was a high of 87 degrees. On our morning walk we stopped to visit with Dean and Betty. Cheri did laundry this morning and I put a wiring harness in the neighbor’s car so he can pull his boat. This afternoon I did a few things to get ready to leave here. The rest of the afternoon we stayed in as it was very hot. We didn’t take our evening walk until after 8:00 pm. At 9:00 pm the weather service had a storm warning posted for our area and a tornado warning for Dade City which is 6 miles north of us. We did get a lot of rain and was over by 11:00 pm.

We didn’t walk this morning as we were getting ready for the washer. I had to shut of the water and take out the toilet to get it back in the cabinet. So by 8:15 am I am ready for the washer because the repairman said he would be here between 8:30 am and 9:00 am. At 9:30 am no repairman, 10:00 am no repairman. Cheri calls and wants to know why the repairman hasn’t arrived. The office girl said she would have the repairman call us. (We have friends coming to see us and plan on going out for dinner) 10:30 am no repairman or a call, 11:00 am no repairman or call, 11:30 no repairman or call. (Friends are now here) 12:00 pm no repairman or call. So Cheri makes another call to see what’s going on. The office girl said he would be there sometime today. Now this isn’t what you say to a woman that has here legs tightly together because she needs to go potty and none here. Will the smoke started to roll and Cheri began to tell her in no uncertain terms that we were going out for dinner and the washer would be delivered after 2:30 pm. Will to make a longer story shorter the washer was delivered at 3:00 pm and the repairman also got his pedigreed read to him. I am happy to say at 5:00 pm the washer and toilet are installed and every body can now go potty. Grandpa, Grandma and we went down to Ken and Eileen’s for supper and a game of dominos. The girls won.

It was a gloomy day with no sun and rain showers on and off all day with a high of 58 degrees. This morning we got a call on the washer and they said the control board for the motor was bad and it would cost $329.00 to get it fixed. This was the price of the control board. We dug out our warranty information and found out there was one day left on the two year warranty. We went to their shop and show them our warranty, now the control board will be covered by Whirlpool. They called me late in the afternoon and said it was done and we owe an additional $60.00 for labor. I said I thought that was in the price of the service call and they said that was to diagnose what the trouble was. So tomorrow they will bring it back. That’s enough for one day!!

Happy Easter!!! It was another 46 degree breezy morning; it did get up to 74. Today was the last church service here in the park until next fall. After church Ken & Eileen, Dean & Betty, Grandpa & Grandma and us went out for Easter dinner. After we got home and settled in for and afternoon we got a call from some people in the park that need help to move a computer and large computer cabinet. Late afternoon Nikki called to wish us a happy Easter.

It was a cool 46 degrees this morning and breezy all day with a high of 64. As I mentioned yesterday the washing machine would not go into the spin cycle. So that was my project for the day. In order to get the washer out I had to remove the closet doors, toilet, bathroom door and door jam. Then it was still a tight fix getting it to the living room. I looked on line and couldn’t find any information or repair manual. So after doing some basic checks and couldn’t fine anything wrong, we called the repairman. He came and did some basic checks and thought it was the CU board, but wasn’t sure because he didn’t have any information on it. I helped him load it into his service van. Charged us $64.19 and said they would call us Monday to give us an estimate on the repair cost. Cheri made me some chocolate cookies, so now everything is OK.

Today I finished washing and waxing the 5th wheel and truck, glad that job is finally done. I also put cutter extensions on the 5th wheel to help get the water away from the side of the trailer. Cheri cleaned and did laundry. Late this afternoon the washing machine quit working, wouldn’t go into the spin cycle. That will be tomorrow’s project. It was a very nice day with the high of 76 degrees. It is suppose to be much cooler tonight.

Eleven of us went to Lakeland for Chinese to have lunch. After wards we stopped at Harbor Freight so I could pick up a ¾ drive socket set. When we got home and I opened the socket set and found that there was an extension missing. So it was back to Lakeland (60 mile round trip) to make an exchange for a different set. This time I checked it before we left the store. This evening we went over to Grandpa and Grandma’s to play dominoes. Ken and Eileen were also there. Grandma said I better put it in the Blog that the girls won big time. It was a bad night for the guys. We got a little rain last night, the first rain we have had in a long time. It is very dry here.

After our walk this morning I went right to work on the 5th wheel washing and waxing. All that is left to do is the roof. Cheri took Grandma for her doctor appointment and then to Wal-Mart for groceries. Late afternoon I took my bike ride. This evening Dean and Betty came over for a visit and to play dominos. The guys won one and the girls won one. It was another beautiful day with a high of 84 degrees.

It was very warm today 86 degrees and very little breeze. For me it was back to washing the trailer. I think I will have the sides all done by tomorrow. This afternoon we went down to see Ken and Eileen. Eileen was having some trouble with her computer and so I checked it out and everything was OK. Once again we waited for it to cool off before we took our evening walk. We are starting to look forward to heading north. A lot more people left today.

We skipped our morning walk so we could leave early to go to the Webster Flea Market. It is suppose to be the biggest in the country. We were there until after 12:00 and never did see all of it. We will have to go back again next year. We stopped in Dade City at the River Road Smoke House for a pulled pork barbeque sandwich. Then Cheri wanted to stop at Big Lots. We got home around 3:00 pm. Stopped by Grandpa and Grandma’s for a shot visit. We did our evening walk a little later as the high temp today was 85 degrees.

After church Dean and Betty and we went out to Wada Burger for lunch. It is a fast food place, but the burgers are made while you wait. Later in the afternoon we went over to Dean and Betty’s to play some dominos. The guys won!! And by the way the guys won last night also. We took our evening walk, watched some TV and called it a night.