Sharp's Travels

Last night the lights over the table and recliners quit working so that was my project for the day. It took me awhile before I found out what the problem was. The neutral wire had an open in the connector to the light over the table. So I cut out the connector and used a wire nut to make the connection. While I was working on the lights, Bud stopped by to see if we were going for a motorcycle ride today. So at 11:30 am we headed out to New Port Richey and made a stop at Gulf Coast Harley-Davidson. I bought a signal light converter that makes the signal lights into running and brake lights. The one that was in the bike didn’t have the running light feature. On the way home we stopped a Wendy’s for lunch. It was 4:00 pm and 84 miles later when we got home. Cheri was working on a new quilt craft project. It would be way to much work for me to do. When we did our evening walk we see a lot more people came in for the winter. It won’t be long and the park will be full. I know a month ago they only had one site left in January.

It was 35 degrees this morning and warmed to 62 degrees. We had to put on a heaver coat for the morning walk. It looks like we have another week of this cold weather before we get a warm up. Cheri took Grandma for her doctor’s appointment to get her H1N1 flu shot and then to Wal-Mart for groceries. It was 12:30 before Cheri got home. I had just got done mowing and trimming the lawn. I also mowed the neighbor’s lawn. I had some trouble keeping the lawn mower running, had to take the carburetor apart and clean it. As soon as Cheri got home we headed out for Lakeland to do some shopping. We stopped and had Chinese for lunch and then on to Kohl’s to return a couple of Christmas presents. Cheri bought a couple of hoodies. We got home around 4:00 pm and decided to take our evening walk before we got settled in. We see a couple more motor homes came in for the winter. No supper tonight because of the big lunch late this afternoon.

It did warm up today to the low 60’s, better then yesterday, but very windy today. I worked on getting our Christmas decorations lights down. Then I went down to Ken & Eileen’s to take down their Christmas decorations and lights. This afternoon Cheri went shopping back up to the quilt store in Dade City. She got the right day for the 30% off sale. She bought another quilt kit. I did some searching on the internet for a dc voltage monitoring system for the 5th wheel. I couldn’t find what I wanted. We have a problem with the power converter. The lights get pretty dim before the converter kicks in and recharges the batteries. I was looking for something that would record the high and low voltage of the charging system. So I guess I will buy a dc gauge and install it and do my own recording.

It was45 degrees this morning and a high of 55 degrees, overcast and some rain showers, never did see the sun today. We picked Grandma up for church this morning at 9:15 am. After Church we dropped Grandma off at home and then went to Wal-Mart grocery shopping. When we got home I ordered in Pizza for lunch and then the leftovers for supper. I watched the Packer game this afternoon and Cheri read and napped. Today sounds like a repeat of last Sunday and I guess about the only thing different is the Packers won today. They have secured a spot in the play offs.

It was 48 degrees this morning and a high of 63 degrees. I did my Saturday chores around the 5th wheel this morning. Cheri and Bev went shopping in Dade City at the quilt store. Cheri thought today was their end of the year material sale. But she had the wrong day; the sale isn’t until Monday & Tuesday. Of course Cheri still bought some material. I went up to Paul’s and helped him clean off his roof and eves troughs. Being their park model sits under an acorn tree, they get a lot of acorns and leaves in the rain gutters. When I got back to the 5th wheel Cheri was working with the material she just bought. I then spent a good part of the day on the computer searching for a whole house surge protector. After a lot of reading and searching I have settled on EMS-HW50C made by Progressive Industries. Every travel trailer, 5th wheel and motor home should have one. We never know what kind of power we will receive in all the parks we stay at. I am going to wait until we go to the big RV show in Tampa next month. That way I can have hands on and check it out before buying one. Plus sometimes they have some good show special pricing on things. This evening Paul and Bev picked us up and we went down town to the car show. At the time the temperature was 53 degrees out. We were surprised at how many cars were there and the amount of people looking at them. By the time we got back home Cheri and I were both cold. So I made us a couple of big cups of hot chocolate to warm us up. Then we settled in for an evening of TV.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! We had a little shower while we were on our morning walk, not enough to get wet only a little damp. The first thing after breakfast we went down to Ken & Eileen’s to visit and wish them a Merry Christmas and then up to Grandma’s to wish her a Merry Christmas. Then on the way home we saw Paul and Bev to wish them a Merry Christmas and a happy birthday to Bev. At 12:45 am we headed down to the Rec Hall with Paul & Bev for the Christmas dinner. There were over 150 people for dinner. The Park furnished the ham and scallop potatoes. Then everyone brought a dish to pass. After dinner we went over to Grandma’s to play Five Crown, each of us won a game. This evening we were invited up to Paul & Bev’s to play dominos, which the girls won. It was a great day to spend with family and friends. Kari called us this evening to wish us a Merry Christmas.

It was a nice morning for our walk. I got our luminaries out and ready to set them out tonight. Most everybody in the park sets them out for the evening. The temp was quickly warming up so I took the bicycle down to Bud’s to see if he wanted to go for a motorcycle ride today. He was sitting outside when I got to his place. So by 10:30 am we were on the road for a 122 mile ride. We took some back roads and ended up in Wild Wood at the 75 Chrome Shop. It is store that has everything you would ever want or need in chrome, lights and all the other accessories for semi trucks. We stopped at Mc Donald’s for lunch. We were back home by 3:00 pm. Cheri did some stuff on the computer and did some reading. She was doing a web cam with the kids when I got home. It was nice to see and talk to them. We went up to Paul and Bev’s for a short visit and then home for some supper. Cheri and I went to the 6:00 pm Christmas Candle Light service. When we got home we took our walk around the park to see all the Christmas lights and luminaries.

It was 43 degrees this morning and then warmed up to 74 degrees with over cast skies, the first nice day we have had for a while. We went up to Paul & Bev’s this forenoon. Paul was out trying to find the pipe in the yard to put up his clothes line. I helped him look for a good half hour and couldn’t find it. We gave up and Paul decided to put in a new pipe. We went inside and I hooked up their TV and showed them all the different channels they can get. At 11:30 am we went over to get Grandma’s van to use to go to Camping World and then to see Larry and Denise who are now staying at Lazy Days campground for a week. We stopped at Arby’s on the way down for lunch. We had a nice visit with Larry and Denise and then headed back home. Cheri warmed up a couple of bowls of left over chili for supper. Neither one of us felt like walking this evening so that didn’t happen.

It was another very cool morning but not as bad as yesterday. We had a high of 65 degrees. It was another day of being lazy. Cheri made a big crock pot of chili for supper, sure does smell good, and can’t wait for supper time. This afternoon we went over to see Grandma and played a couple of games of Five Crown. It was my lucky day as I won both games. When we walked this evening we could see that a few more people have come in for the winter. Paul and Bev got back late this afternoon from Palm Bay where they were doing some painting and other work for their son. He had bought a condo and needed to have the painting and furnishing done before he could rent it out. They stopped by this evening for a visit.

It was 39 degrees this morning, our coldest morning this winter. I guess I can say that as it is the first day of winter, also the shortest day, for daylight. It did finally get up to 60 degrees, took until late afternoon to get there. Cheri took Grandma for her eye doctor appointment this morning and then to Wal-Mart for groceries and to drop off a prescription. I read and played on the computer. With the weather being what it is, it’s hard for me to be motivated to do anything outside. This evening we stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up Grandma’s medicine and then took a ride up to Dade City for the Christmas walk on Church Street. It was very nice with all the houses decorated with all the lights and trimmings. We watched several bands playing music and singing Christmas songs. We stopped by one of the churches and had some hot chocolate, tasted good on a cold night. It was around 8:30 pm before we got home.

It was 43 degrees this morning and we had a high of 56 degrees, too cold for us. We picked up Grandma, Carol, and Ed & Larraine for church this morning. I even warmed up the car before we left. After lunch (ordered in pizza) we went for a short walk around the park and to stop to see how Ken was doing after his fall last night. They weren’t home so figured that he was OK. Cheri and I played some games this afternoon. Then walked back down to Ken & Eileen’s, Ken said he was pretty sore. When we got home I watched the Packers play, they lost a heart breaker. Cheri spent the time reading. We were going to go to Dade City this evening for the Christmas walk on Church St, but Paul & Bev called and said they would be here tomorrow and decided to wait and see if they would want to go tomorrow night with us.

Well the rain is over and it is a cool breezy day. Not really a comparable day to be out and about. So we played lazy this forenoon doing a lot of nothing. This afternoon we went to see a movie. We saw Did You Hear about the Morgan’s? It was a fairly good movie with some humor. This evening we were invited down to Ken & Eileen’s to play cards. Before we started to play cards Ken went to get something and tripped over Eileen’s walker and fell into the heater and knickknack stand. He ended up hurting his shoulder and can’t seem to raise his arm. Plus he got a cut under his chin and a burn from the heater on his neck. Cheri and Eileen put some ice on his shoulder and a band aid on his chin. We still played cards and Ken probably will go to the doctor Monday for his shoulder.


Here is a picture of Cheri’s Christmas project.

It was a miserable rainy wet windy day. I guess that says it all. We did go to Wal-Mart for Groceries. The rest of the day was spent reading and watching TV. We did get a call from Grandma and wanted to know if we wanted to go out for a fish supper. That sounded good so Grandma came over at 4:00 pm to pick us up. This evening Dean & Betty came over to play dominos. The ladies won the first one by a big margin, but we guys won the last one.

It was a cool breezy walk this morning. After breakfast Cheri gave me a much needed haircut. Around 9:30 am we had a visit from the lady that is doing the quilting for Cheri. She wanted to see our 5th wheel. She picked up a piece of backing material for one of the throws she is quilting for Cheri. Cheri finished her Christmas craft that she was working on. Around noon I got a call from Carol and she was having trouble getting her TV to work with the converter box. So I went and got the TV and converter box working and redid the TV lead in cable for her. Later in the afternoon I went for a bicycle ride around the park. After I got back I did some internet searching for a third brake light for the motorcycle. I called and got the measurements of the light. I am not sure there is going to be enough room for it, but I ordered one anyway.

Cheri and I went for a 65 mile motorcycle ride this forenoon. We rode down to Tampa to a Honda dealer. I was looking for a third brake light for our bike. I found them on the internet and this place in Tampa was a dealer for them. Well when we got there they didn’t have any and never stocked them. We still had a nice ride and made some stops on the way home to shop. We bought some more Christmas lights so you know what I did this afternoon. Cheri worked on her craft project this afternoon. After I got the lights up I went for a bicycle ride around the park and stopped to see Lynn and Ivan Greene. They just arrived in the park a couple of days ago and this is the first time I’ve got a chance to see them. When I got home it was time to get the grill out and grill up some brats that Roger and Jean sent to us, they sure were good and still have enough for a couple more meals. On our evening walk we stopped to see Dean & Betty so it was about 7:30 pm before we got home for the evening.

Cheri had an appointment with the quilter this morning. This is a new quilter and for us. So I went with Cheri has she wasn’t sure how to get there and I wanted to see her work. She does all her work free hand and we got to see samples of her work which was beautiful. The quilter saw our truck when we drove in and couldn’t believe we had such a big truck. They also had a very nice 5th wheel and we got the tour through it. It will be mid February before she gets Cheri’s throws done. After lunch we went up to visit with Paul and Bev. Then this evening we went out for supper with them. We started our evening walk around 6:30 pm. When we walked by Paul & Bev’s they asked us to come in as they were having trouble with their cell phone. Then back on our walk we stopped by Ken & Eileen’s as they were sitting outside. We had a nice visit with them and it was 10:00 pm before we got home.

It was a warm muggy day with a high of 84 degrees; in fact it was 62 degrees when we got up. It was a day of play for me. At 9:30 am Bud and I went for a 118 mile motorcycle ride. We stopped in Lakeland at the Harley dealer to look around. Bud bought a Harley hat. We rode on down to Winter Haven for lunch and then worked our way back to Zephyrhills. We got back around 3:30 pm. Cheri went shopping and worked on her craft project. Paul & Bev Webb got here from the North Country around 5:00 pm. We talked with them for a little bit and then went on our evening walk. They still had to open up their trailer and get their truck unloaded. We will visit with them tomorrow.

We picked up Ed & Lorraine for church this morning. Grandma didn’t go with us this morning as she went to church in the park with Carol. After lunch Cheri worked on her craft project and I watched the Packer game. The Packers won again and if they can keep it going they should be in the play off with a wild card. After the Packer game we took Grandma’s van and went shopping over to Wesley Chapel. Cheri wanted to go to Target as they had king size flannel sheets and she needed them for the backing on her quilted throws. On the way home we stopped at the Wire Grass Shops to see the Symphony in Lights. They have one huge Christmas tree and a smaller one on each side of the big tree. They were lit with one quarter of a million LED lights, 1000 watts of sound, and ten tons of holiday décor combine to create an unbelievable holiday experience. What a site it was to see and hear. We got home around 7:00 pm.

It was much warmer this morning around 57 degrees and overcast, took awhile before the sun came out, then warmed to a high of 78 degrees. Perfect for our morning and evening walks today. Cheri is working on some kind of new project. Something for Christmas, I don’t know what it is but she is cutting things out of material. I did some more maintenance on the 5th wheel. At 2:00 pm we went down to the Rec Hall to get things set up for the monthly potluck supper. At 4:30 pm we headed back to the Rec Hall for the potluck supper, everything was so good. After everything was cleaned up we headed home for a night of TV.

It was another cool and windy day with a high of 60 degrees. Not really a bad day, just the wind made it unpleasant to be out and about. Our neighbor Merle & Barb Wagner, were having trouble with their TV. They could only get two channels. So I checked things out and found that they had a bad matching transformer on the antenna plus some bad connections. When I got done, they now get 23 channels. This afternoon Cheri and I went to Wal-Mart. That was a mistake as the place was packed with people, didn’t think we would ever get out of there. Cheri finished getting her quilt throws sewed and now is ready to take them to be quilted. She has put away the sewing machine until after Christmas. This evening Merle and Barb took us out to eat for the work I did on their TV antenna. We went to Dade City to a new pizza place, it was pretty good.

It was 74 degrees when I got up this morning and that was the high for the day. At 2:00 pm it was down to 60 degrees. Plus we had rain all day. At 1:00 pm we took the truck (because of rain) down to Larry & Denise’s to return his motorcycle seat. I think we will be ordering a seat like theirs. We visited for a while and made plans to take the motorcycles and leave at 6:00 pm to go down to Brandon Harley dealer for a free drawing on a new Harley. But because of the rain we took Grandma’s van. It was fun looking at all the new motorcycles. They canceled the drawing for the motorcycle because of the rain, not very many people there. The new date for the drawing will be 1-14-09. We got back to Larry & Denise’s around 8:30 pm. We visited for a while and then headed home. It finally quit raining around 7:30 pm.

Around 10:00 am we walked down to see Larry & Denise Loeffen. They are couple that came into the park a couple of weeks ago and they both ride Harleys. We had only got to know them a day before they had to move out of the park. Well they are back for another week. We had a nice visit with them and are going to leave at 5:00 pm with the motorcycles and ride to Lakeland for Chinese. It is our favorite Chinese restaurant and they have never been there. Larry has a different seat on his Road King then we have. So we swapped seats to see if Cheri liked there seat better than ours. So this afternoon Cheri and took a 45 mile ride to check it out. Cheri said it was definitely better than ours. So we will have to check on maybe getting a different seat for our Road King. We had a nice ride down and back with Larry & Denise; the food was good as always. We got home around 8:00 pm and Larry & Denise made a stop at Wal-Mart. Our Bedroom TV arrived late this afternoon. I did get it put up to see if it works now and seems OK. I will finish the install tomorrow.

Cheri left early to take Grandma for her doctor’s appointment at 9:00 am. Later in the day Cheri went shopping. Bud and I left at 9:30 am for our motorcycle ride. We rode 148 miles and end up in Leesburg at the Harley dealer. Just as we were coming into Leesburg there was a big traffic backup, so we pulled into a boat landing by the lake and waited for about 45 minutes for it to clear out. There had been a bad accident with a car and big truck. I got a call from the RV dealer telling me that our TV was repaired and that there was a $115.00 charge for the repair. They said that a diode in the power supply was bad. They said that there had been a power surge and that it wasn’t cover under the warranty. Strange that the TV was the only thing that didn’t work, if it was a power surge we should have had a lot of things that didn’t work. Sometimes I think companies will do anything to get out of taking care of their customers. Now that it has been six weeks without the TV the RV dealer said they would eat the charges and it will be another week before we get TV. They are trying to cover their tracks for not taking care of us. I bet they will charge the cost back to Excel. I guess I will be talking to Excel. This evening we were invited over to Dean & Betty’s to play dominos. It was around 11:30 pm before we got home.

We had rain again this morning and wasn’t able to take our morning walk, although it had quit by 9:00 am. The rest of the day was warm, overcast and gloomy. We made a trip to Wal-Mart this morning for groceries and to CVS for some pain rub that they still don’t have in stock. Cheri worked on writing our Christmas letter and doing Christmas cards. I on the other hand didn’t do anything until very late this afternoon when UPS drop of my package of motorcycle parts. I had ordered a tail trunk for the bike. So it was after dark before I got that installed, wanted to get it done as Bud and I are going for a motorcycle ride tomorrow. It was after 6:00 pm before we did our evening walk. Tonight we watched Monday Night Football. The Packers were playing and won! It was just after midnight before the game got over.

I was up early this morning, didn’t sleep very well last night. It was only 40 degrees this morning. It was cool and windy for a high of 62 degrees for the day. We picked up Grandma and Ed & Lorraine at 9:15 am and headed for church. After church I planned on going for a motorcycle ride with Bud to Webster for the big motorcycle swap meet. On the way back from church we stopped by Bud & Joyce’s and we decided to cancel the bike ride because of the weather. After lunch we picked up Grandma and headed for Apollo Beach power plant to see the manatees. When we get some cold weather they swim in from the golf up near the power plant where the water is warm from cooling the power plant. There must have been at least30 or more of them. It was neat to see them. It was 3:00 pm by the time we got home. So we decided to take our evening walk early. On the way we stopped and talked with Fern & Sharon so it was almost 4:30 pm before we got home. Then we ordered in Papa John’s Pizza for supper.

I have uploaded pictures of the Manatees. See Album Manatees.

It was still raining when we got up this morning. It didn’t stop until noon and we didn’t see any sun until 3:00 pm. It only got up to 55 degrees for the day and was windy. Today was the city and park wide garage sale day. With all the rain it was a wash out. It was also the craft sale at the Rec Hall. Grandma called and wanted to know if we wanted a ride down to the craft sale and for lunch at the Rec Hall. She picked us up at 11:30 am. There were quite a few people there for lunch. They had turkey and vegetable soup and hotdogs and pulled pork sandwiches, also a bake sale with lots of desserts. After lunch we stopped back at Grandma’s to play dominos and Five Crown. Then we took our evening walk late in the afternoon. We stopped by Ken and Eileen’s. Eileen said she was happy with the wireless phone, so I got that mounted on the wall for her. We visited for a while and then finished our walk. The evening was spent reading and watching TV.

What a boring day. It started raining at 5:45 am and was still raining when we went to bed tonight. No morning walk and no evening walk. Cheri did do a couple loads of laundry. We played some games of Five Crown and the dice game. We decided to take in a movie this afternoon. So on the way to the movie we stopped by the post office to mail a Christmas package to Cece. Then to the movie which started at 2:00 pm (so I thought). We had left early for the post office as you never know how long it’s going to take there. Well be got to the movie at 1:30 pm, not too bad only have to wait 30 minutes. We wanted to be early as it was a first showing of a new movie and it was raining so we thought the theater would be packed for the movie. Well we were the only ones there until 1:55 pm and then a guy came in. I told him that we thought we were going to have a private showing. He laughed and said that more people would be coming as the movie doesn’t start until 2:20 pm. So we were plenty early, as it turned out there were only eleven of us watching the movie. The movie was called Armored. It was a fair movie, if you like cops and robbers movies. The rest of the evening was spent watching TV and reading.

This morning Cheri and I headed out to the new flea market on the south side of the airport. Not a lot of vendors but more than the one at the community center. I think as time goes on there will be many more. This afternoon we went to pick up a tank of LP, the last tank we got was in Maine. I dropped Cheri off at Big Lot’s while I got the LP tank filled. When we got home Cheri wrapped Cece’s Christmas presents and got them ready to mail out tomorrow. I spent my time on the computer and reading. We both took a late afternoon nap, not planned. A cold front passed through late this afternoon and had to have a jacket on when we did our evening walk. We were surprised how cool it was when we went outside.

The first thing this morning Cheri and I made a trip to Wal-Mart to pickup medicine for Grandma. After we got back we walked down to see Ken & Eileen. Eileen had a wireless telephone she wanted me to check out and see if it would work in the kitchen. It had been stored for a year so I plugged it in so the battery could charge. While that was charging I helped Ken trim the shrubs and put up Christmas lights and decorations. After that was done the phone was charged enough to see that it worked. Eileen wanted mounted on the wall and I told her to use it for a few days to see that it worked OK. After lunch we went over to Grandma’s to play dominos and Five Crown. This evening when we started our walk, we hadn’t gone very far and it started to rain, so we headed back home. They have predicted high winds and lots of rain for this afternoon and evening. Later in the evening they had a tornado watch posted. Will it never really started to rain hard until around 10:00 pm. The rain only lasted about an hour and the wind wasn’t that bad.

Today was another perfect day with a high temp of 79 degrees. We put up some Christmas lights around the front of the 5th wheel and also put up our large wreath on the front. Cheri spent the day working on her sewing project. I did some general maintenance on the 5th wheel. Checking screws and replacing broken ones. This turned out to be an all day job. As we did our evening walk we see each day more people are coming in and more Christmas decoration being put up. All the lights are so pretty.

Cheri spent most of the day with Grandma, took her for her eye doctor appointment, then to Wal-Mart to get groceries and drop off a prescription for Grandma. Later Cheri went back to Wal-Mart to pick up Grandma’s medicine. I on the other hand played all day. Bud and I went for a 143 mile motorcycle ride. We rode north to Crystal River near the Golf Coast. We made a stop at the Harley Dealer in Crystal River. It’s always fun to look around and I needed some screws for Cheri’s helmet. On the way back we stopped in Dade City to look at a used van. I was thinking about buying to use while we are here in Florida for the winter. After checking it out I decided to wait. When I got home Cheri said that Grandma’s TV wasn’t working. So we went over to check it out. It turned out to be the cable on the back of the TV came off. The fitting on the back of the TV was broke and I had a hard time getting it reattached.

It’s hard to believe we have been here in Baker acres a month already. Where does the time go when you’re having fun? We were slow getting around this morning and Cheri didn’t think we had time to walk in order for us to get ready for church. We picked up Grandma and Ed & Lorraine at 9:15 am and head for church. By the time we got back home it was 11:30 am. Cheri fixed a nice salad for lunch while I finished reading the Sunday paper. Early afternoon we took the Sunday paper over to Grandma’s. Then we walked over to see Dean & Betty. They were outside putting up some Christmas lights. We didn’t stay as Betty has caught Dean’s cold and wasn’t feeling that great. So we kept our distance and only talked for a couple of minutes. Then we walked down to see Norm & Nata Lewis. They had just arrived from the north on Friday. We had a nice visit with them. Then we stopped by Bud & Verlin’s to visit as they were sitting outside. Then we stopped to see Ken & Eileen. There was no answer at the door, think they were napping. Then we walked on down to see Bud & Joyce to see if Bud wanted to go for a motorcycle ride tomorrow, but they weren’t home. So we headed back home and enjoyed a Papa John’s Pizza for supper and watched some TV.

When we got back from our cool 43 degree walk this morning we didn’t have any electricity. The whole upper half of the park was out. It turned out to be a broken high voltage wire behind the 5th wheel. It was almost 10:00 am before the power company found it and got it repaired. We felt sorry for the people that had no water or heat as it was cold. It didn’t bother us much as we had water in our tank for an emergency. With our batteries and propane we also had heat and hot water. So the only things that didn’t work were the TV and microwave. The temperature finely did get up to 60 degrees and didn’t see the sun until this afternoon. Cheri did some laundry and worked on her recliner throws. I put a coat of wax on the front of the 5th wheel. This afternoon we walked over to see Dean & Betty as it is their wedding anniversary today. They weren’t home so we stopped to see Ed & Loraine and asked them if they wanted to go to church with us in the morning. Then we stopped to see Grandma and she was sleeping, didn’t want to wake her up so we came back home. On our evening walk we stopped by Grandma’s to tell her we would pick her up for church in the morning at 9:15 am.

So today is Black Friday. If everyone did as much shopping as us which was none, it would be known as Bright Red Friday. We had a low of 43 degrees this morning and a high of 59 degrees for the day. I waited for the 5th wheel roof to dry off which was after lunch. Then I put a coat of wax on. It was a good time to do it as it was cool. Glade to have that much done, want to get a coat on the front also but the old bones said I had enough. Cheri has started a new sewing project, said she is making throws for the recliners. Don’t know much about them so we will have to wait to see what develops. We did our evening walk before dark, been a long time since we have walked in the daylight. Being cool out there weren’t anyone out walking. It is also dark in the mornings when we walk, but always see the same people walking. Nothing much on TV, but did find a couple of movies on the Hallmark Chanel

Here’s wishing everyone a very Happy Thanks Giving. We all have many things that we are thankful for. We all should take time to count our blessings and realize how lucky we are to have so many friends and family and live in a great country where we are free. We took it easy this morning after our walk. The daily paper was full of advertisements and took a while to read. At 1:00 pm was the Thanks Giving pot luck at the Rec Hall. The park furnished the turkey and dressing and everyone brought a dish to pass. We had 147 people attend and the food was great. We left as soon as we got done eating and a little visiting as I wanted to get back to the 5th wheel to watch the Packer play. They played a good game and fun to watch when they win. While I watched the game Cheri went down to Ken & Eileen’s to play cards. She got home shortly after the Packer game was over. Nikki and Darren both called us this evening, was nice to hear what they have been up to.

Shortly after we got back from our morning walk it started to rain and it was still raining when we went to bed. So with the rain there wasn’t much to do. Cheri did do some laundry and she trimmed my hair. Then she worked on getting her salad made for the pot luck Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow down at the Rec Hall. I spent most of the morning on the computer and reading. This afternoon we went to see a movie. It was called The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock. It is the best movie we have seen in years. We highly recommend it for everyone to go and see. After the movie we headed over to Wal-Mart to get some groceries.

Bud and I left for our motorcycle ride at 9:30 am this morning. We rode south to Ellenton where the Prime Outlet Mall is, they have over 100 stores, a women’s paradise. We looked in a couple of stores and found that they had some good prices. Now I will have to take Cheri there. On the way back we ran into some sprinkles between Plant City and Zephyrhills, not enough to get wet. It turned out to be a 165 mile ride and got home at 4:30 pm. Cheri worked on her purse project and got that done. We were getting ready for our evening walk and it started to rain. So we waited awhile for it to stop raining and then started out to walk, had to cut it short as it stated to rain again.

It was damp and foggy this morning and figured it would be a good time to wash the roof of the 5th wheel. I also got the front cap washed. Now if I can get a coat of wax on before its time to put up some Christmas decorations. Last week we brought some snow flake lights to put around the front of the 5th wheel. Cheri has started a new sewing project. She is making some kind of purse. She quit working on it around 2:00 pm this afternoon, said she was having trouble with it. I did take a bicycle ride around the park this afternoon for some more exercise. When we went for our evening walk we got to see Dean & Betty, they just arrived and were unloading the car. We stopped just long enough to say hi. They both looked tired from the long drive.

Today was the first church service here in the park for the season. They had coffee and cookies after church. Ken & Eileen invited us out for lunch today, but didn’t go as we are trying to lose a little weight and eating out doesn’t help. After lunch we made a trip to Beall’s to look for some new tennis shoes for me. I always buy New Balance 608 shoes and they didn’t have any in my size. I have a very narrow foot and have to have a B width shoe. For the last four years I have been buying them at Beall’s and was surprise they didn’t have any. When I got home I checked on the internet to see if I could find some. I even went to New Balance home page and apparently they don’t make a narrow width any longer. I sent them an e-mail and now waiting for an answer. Cheri read this afternoon and I watched the last NASCAR Race for the season. I wasn’t able to get the Packer game, but see on the internet that they won. We got ready to go for our evening walk and just as we walked out of the 5th wheel it started to rain, so no walk tonight.

The last few days when we walk we see a couple that came into the park that has two motorcycles with them. One of the bikes is just like ours. It has a tour trunk on the back of it and I have been thinking about getting one for our bike. So this morning Cheri and I decided to go for a bike ride. We rode down by their place and stopped to talk to them about the tour trunk. Their names are Larry & Denise Loeffen. We talked about different bike related things and I told them that we would stop back this evening with the information that they wanted. We took a 75 mile motorcycle ride and ended up in Brooksville. They had a small flea market on the main street so we stopped for a break and to eat lunch. Then we worked our way back home using all the back roads. We like doing this as we can take our time and see more things. We got home around 2:00 pm. This morning before we left Cheri started some potato soup in the crock pot and when we got home, the soup smelled so good when we came into the 5th wheel. At 5:30 pm we started our evening walk and stopped by Larry & Denise’s to drop off the motorcycle information for them. We sat outside and had a very nice visit with them, in fact we didn’t get home until 8:30 pm. They are leaving tomorrow and moving farther south. I hope we can keep in touch with them and get together again this winter.

Ken & Eileen picked us up at 11:00 am along with Grandma and we headed to Lakeland for Chinese. It was our first trip to Lakeland this fall. In fact Cheri and I haven’t been anywhere since we got to Florida. It was around 1:00 pm when we got home. I have wanted to get the lawn mowed and this afternoon was the time to get it done. I have put it off long enough. I mowed two other lawns beside ours, the neighbors on each side of us. Then I got the weed eater out and did the trimming. After I got that done I was soaking and wet with sweat and dirty, so it was time for a shower. Cheri finished her table cloth quilt. Yep I know I have said that before but this time she said it is done. It really looks nice and here is a picture of it. This evening we went to CVS to pick up a few thing and then to Wal-Mart for groceries.

We had another pretty sunrise this morning but not as pretty as yesterday morning. It was another nice day with a high of 79 degrees. Cheri decided not to take her table cloth quilt to the quilter; she decided to do her own sewing on it. What she has done looks very nice. That consumed her day. I worked on replacing some broken screws on the 5th wheel. I have run out of new screws and will get some more tomorrow. I also worked on the motorcycle. It had speakers and amp for an I-Pod hook up. I wanted to remove it has there is no way to hear it while riding and I don’t listen to music while riding. That project took me all afternoon, had to take a lot of things apart to remove it. I wanted to remove it in one piece so I could sell or give it to someone who enjoys music while riding.

What a beautiful sun rise this morning, had to go back and get the camera to have a picture of it. At 9:00 am I left with Ken & Eileen to take Roger to the airport in Tampa. His flight leaves at 11:35 am. It was 11:30 before we got back to Zephyrhills. Cheri did house cleaning while I was gone. After lunch I took the golf cart manual over to Harold and Joanne. They are really enjoying the golf cart. While Cheri worked on another project I took a ride around the park and stopped to visit with Bud & Joyce. When I got home Cheri was reading and so we watched some TV. We needed to get caught up on some of the shows we had recorded. Weather wise it was a perfect day with a high of 78 degrees.

This morning I received an e-mail from Excel. Jack said that no one from Tri-Am had contacted him about our problems. So I wasn’t happy to hear about that. I sent an e-mail to Rod Speed the sale person that sold us the 5th wheel. The e-mail came back undelivered. I called and asked to speak to Rod and was told he doesn’t work there anymore. I asked for the manager and told him my problem with his people and forwarded the e-mail I got from Jack at Excel and the one I sent to Rod. He told me to give him some time and he would get to the bottom of it. Well I received a call from Jamie (manager) this afternoon. He was all apologetic; he told me we had slipped through the cracks. I wonder how long it would have been if I hadn’t called. He assured me that we would have our TV in two weeks. He said they sent it in for repair this afternoon. The other problems will be address when we head north in the spring. We sold Grandma’s golf cart this morning to her neighbors. They were happy to get it as Harold has bad knees and can’t walk very far. Cheri ran out of sewing thread and had to make a trip to Wal-Mart to get more. I was going to mow lawn today but our neighbor was doing laundry and had clothes on the line. I took Roger for a ride on the motorcycle; Eileen had called and asked me if I would take him for a ride. Cheri has her table cloth done and ready to take to the quilter. We played some games this afternoon (Dice game and Five Crown). It was 6:30 pm before we took our evening walk.

Cheri left at 9:00 am to take Grandma to Wal-Mart to get her medicine and groceries, also a few things for us. Then Cheri made a trip to see get some material for her table cloth quilt. I left for a motorcycle ride with Bud at 9:30 am. We headed for Webster to look around the flea market and then on to Leesburg for lunch a Mc Donald’s. We then stopped at a RV and park model store. Bud had been there before and was looking for paneling for their bedroom, didn’t find anything that he liked. Then it was off to Ocala to the RV dealer to see what was going on with our bedroom TV. It has been three weeks and they said they haven’t heard anything from the factory. So when I got home I fired off an e-mail to the factory to see what they have to say about the TV. From the RV dealer we stopped at the Ocala Harley dealer. It’s always fun to look and not buy. From here we started our ride back to Zephyrhills. We made one more stop at the candy outlet store, Bud said he was out of candy. We got back to the park at 5:30 pm. We had a nice 175 mile ride. Cheri was still working on her table cloth quilt when I got home. She only has a little bit left to do before she takes it in to have the quilting done. It was after 6:30 pm before we took our evening walk. On the way we got a phone call from Roger and he wanted to know if we would pick up Grandma and come down to Ken & Eileen’s to play dominos and watch Dancing with the Stars. We stopped by Grandma’s but she wasn’t home. So we went on down and had a fun evening, the fact that I won the domino game helped.

The mornings of late have been on the cool side, but nice for walking. We picked up Grandma and other friends and headed for church. Church stared 15 minutes earlier this morning as they are going to start having two services. We bought a Sunday paper so Cheri could look at the sale advertisements. I headed over to Grandma’s to get the golf cart and take it for a ride. I stopped back at the 5th wheel and picked up Cheri. We rode around the whole park. I took it back and put the charger on it again. The afternoon for me was spent watching football and the NASCAR Race. Our son in law is a big Cowboy’s fan and me being a Packer fan, I called him and had to rub it in that the Packer beat the Cowboys. I had to rub it in as most of the time the Cowboys win the matchup. Cheri worked on her table cloth quilt.

We were late getting around this morning and didn’t get our morning walk done. Roger and Ken picked us up at 9:30 am. We headed for the airport for our 10:00 am ultra Light ride. When we got there the guy (Larry) that was supposed to take us up was gone to a fly in. I gave him a call on the cell phone and he told me that no one informed him that we had an appointment. So he said he would come back and be there by 1:00 pm. So we headed for the Big Top Flea Market. Roger wanted to get a set of numbered dominos and we wanted a dice cup. We both got what we wanted. I was real happy about the dice cup. Everywhere we have looked, they were $20 to $25 dollars and we got ours for $6.00. On the way back to the air port we stopped by Burger King for lunch. Roger was the first to go up in the ultra light. When he came back he was so excited about the ride. He said what a rush! Then it was my turn, I had gone once before about four years ago and still enjoyed it very much. Then it was Ricks turn to go, he also thought it was great. When we got there Janis said there was no way that she would fly in one of those things. Well before it was over she also went up and had a big smile on her face when she came back. So it was a success for all of us. We were a half hour late getting back to the park to set things up for the 5:00 pm pot luck. When we got there everything was already done. We had a lot of good food and as usual I eat too much. After we got things cleaned up from the pot luck we went over to Grandma’s to play dominos with Grandma, Ken & Eileen and Roger.

Well Friday the thirteenth, is it a lucky or unlucky day, let’s see. It was a cool 51 degrees this morning. I even started the furnace to take of the chill in the 5th wheel. Yes I know we are getting soft (and lazy). Cheri worked some more on her table cloth quilt. I worked or should I say played on the computer. Today was Roger’s birthday so we used Grandma’s van and at 12:30 pm to pick up Grandma, Ken & Eileen and Roger. We went to Golden Corral for lunch. We met Rick & Janis there. We had a nice lunch together and the food was great. Then we all went back to Ken & Eileen’s to visit and play dominos and five crown, it was a fun afternoon. It was 7:30 pm before we got home. Nothing bad happened so I guess it wasn’t an unlucky day.

The first thing this morning we went over to Grandma’s and put the charger on the golf cart again. We were going to use the van to go to Wal-Mart but Grandma was already gone. So we walked back home and got the truck, on the way out of the park we see all the cars down by the Rec Hall. We forgot that this was the first Thursday morning coffee hour and Grandma was there. When we got home Cheri started working on her quilted table cloth. What she got done today looks very nice. I did some work on the computer this morning. I took the car charger a part as it had quit working, the transformer was shot. This afternoon I rode my bicycle down by Bud and Joyce’s to visit with Bud and see how much was done on their new roof. They are having three inches on insulation added to the top of the old shingled roof and then a rubber roof over that. It should make a big difference in the heating and cooling. Later I stopped over by Ken & Eileen’s to see what Roger was doing. We jumped in the car and went down to the airport to check on the ultra light ride. If the weather is good on Saturday we are set to go up. When we walked this evening we stopped to see how Grandma was doing and to take the charger off the golf cart. It looks like it could be put on charge for another day.

There was a little mist in the air when we walked this morning. In fact we had a mist on and off all day. I took the air compressor over to Grandma’s to pump up the tires on the golf cart and also put the charger on it again. Then I went down to Ken & Eileen’s to see what Roger was doing. They were still trying to get the golf cart to charge. I took the car charger and put it on two other batteries for a while and then on the last two for a while and then plugged in the cart charger and it started to charge the batteries, Ken was happy. This afternoon Cheri, Roger and I went Geocaching. We found four caches and did a lot of walking through the state forest near Zephyrhills. On the way home we made a stop at the airport to inquire about doing an ultra light ride. The person that gives the rides wasn’t there, so we will stop back tomorrow. When we got home I hopped on the bicycle and rode over to Bud & Joyce’s to see about our motorcycle ride tomorrow. They were suppose to have a new roof put on the park model today, but didn’t do it because they thought it was going to rain. So now they are coming tomorrow to do it, which means no motorcycle ride tomorrow.

The first thing this morning I made a trip to Wal-Mart to drop off a prescription for my medicine. They told me it wouldn’t be ready until evening. Cheri went down to help Eileen clean her cupboards and wash dishes. I worked on Grandma’s golf cart. I got the new connections put on the charger to golf cart. I put the charger on and it wouldn’t charge because the batteries were dead. So I got out the small car charger and put it on two batteries to bring up the voltage so the main charger would work. Around 3:00 pm I was able to get the main charger to work. At 11:30 am I went down to Ken & Eileen’s to see how Cheri was doing and to see if Ken’s golf cart had taken a charge. He had barrowed a car charger to get a couple batteries charge up like I did on Grandma’s golf cart. While I was there Roger wanted me to program the TV remotes. Late this afternoon Grandma said she had to go to Wal-Mart to pick up her medicine. So Cheri and I took her van and went and picked up her medicine and I was also able to get mine. Just as we were ready to go for our evening walk it started to rain, so that was cancelled.

When we did our morning walk we see that Ken & Eileen are here. So later this morning we walked down to see them. They arrived at 7:30 pm last night. I took my air compressor down with me so I could air up the tires on their golf cart. Roger was just putting on the wheel when we got there. This afternoon we went back down to Ken & Eileen’s. I checked out the golf cart as Ken didn’t think the batteries were charging. I used my meter to check the voltage; the voltage was so low that it is going to take awhile before the charger can get the batteries back to where they should be. Cheri helped Eileen wash some dishes before she came home. Cheri fixed a big supper for all of us (Ken & Eileen, Roger and Grandma) this evening. She did a pot roast in the crock pot with potatoes, onions, carrots, biscuits and cherry cheese cake. This evening we are starting to get some rain from the hurricane. I don’t think we will get very much as it has been downgraded to a tropical storm. It was pretty windy today with a high of 79 degrees.

Yesterday I talked about my watch being dead and nothing would make it work. Well when I got up this morning I was going to throw it away. When I looked at it, it was working and so far so good. I pumped up the tires on Grandma’s van; they were about ten pounds low on air. We picked up Grandma and other friends and went to church. We really enjoy going to Cedar Point Church. After church we took Grandma and went to Wal-Mart to get some groceries. Ken & Eileen and their son Roger will be here tomorrow. Cheri is going to fix supper for them as they won’t have time to get groceries and will be tired from the long drive. The afternoon was spent watching the Green Bay Packers get beat and watching the NASCAR Race on TV. We ordered in pizza for supper form Papa John’s. We like their pizza and it is close by so it is always hot when we get it.

Today Cheri finished her fall house cleaning. She is happy to have that done and says she is going to get her sewing machine out and start on some of her quilting projects. I washed the truck and now all that’s left to do is give it a wax job. Hopefully I can get that done Monday. On our way to Dade City to see the monthly car show we stopped at Wal-Mart to have a new battery put in my watch. Well the battery was OK so the watch is dead. I have always bought Timex watches because they last, but this one died after only six years. We had a nice time at the car show. Cheri picked out a couple she said she would like to have and I found a 1936 CMC pickup that would work for me. It’s fun to dream about having something like that to drive around in. Maybe some day after we settle down in one place we can have an old car or pickup. We were back home around 6:00 pm and decided we had enough walking at the car show and so we called that our evening walk.

It was a nice morning with a temp of 54 degrees, very nice for the morning walk. It got up to 81 degrees which made for a very nice day. This forenoon Cheri worked on the fall cleaning of the bedroom and I worked on cleaning the inside of the truck. We both decided to take the afternoon off and relaxed. We were going to take a motorcycle ride and do some Geocaching. But the wind was blowing pretty hard so we decided to wait another day. So it was an afternoon of reading, playing games, and watching TV.

Cheri took Grandma for her eye appointment this morning and did some laundry this afternoon. I got the bicycle out and pumped up the tires and then we for a ride down by Bud & Joyce’s to see if Bud wanted to go for a motorcycle ride today. He said great, so I headed back to the 5th wheel to get my riding gear on. We did an eighty mile ride up to Webster and back. It was a perfect day for riding. We got back around 11:30 am. We would have done more riding but Bud had an appointment to have cable TV and phone service installed. Cheri got home just before I did. We had lunch and then Cheri finished her laundry and did some reading. I started to take the golf cart connections apart and I need a soldering gun to put the new ones in. I don’t have one and will wait until my cousin get here this weekend as I think he has one I can use. I took a bicycle ride around the park to see if anybody we knew came in for the winter. Then I took a motorcycle ride downtown to the post office to mail a package. I also got the GPS mount on the motorcycle and tried that out on the way to the post office and it works great.

It was another perfect day, not much humidity and a high of 81 degrees and a low of 62 degrees. Cheri is still doing her fall cleaning; she said all she has left to do is the bedroom. I spent all day finishing the washing and waxing of the motorcycle, that was a big job and happy it’s done. I got out the grill and grilled a nice rib eye steak for supper. After our evening walk we did a Wal-Mart run to pick up a few things like ice cream. We were out of ice cream and I needed my ice cream fix this evening.

Cheri and I didn’t do much today. I had one of those headaches that just wouldn’t go away. We did go to a flea market this morning down by the airport here in Zephyrhills. It was very small and not much. We did buy a big bag of craisins (dried cranberries) for $3.00, they sure are good. From there we went to Lowe’s so I could return a couple of things that I didn’t need. After lunch we went over to Grandma’s. Cheri visited with her while I took the power connections a part on the golf cart. I received the new parts today. I brought the connections home so I could work on them here where I had the tools I needed. I also received the North American maps for our Garmin Dakota 20 handheld GPS. Now I have a GPS that we can use on the motorcycle and also use for Geocaching. With my headache I didn’t feel like doing anything else. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading and watching TV.

It was a wonderful day, High temp of 81 degrees and a low 64 degrees and low humidity. It was a great day to work outside. The first thing I did was mow Grandma’s lawn and then I spray under her trailer and the lawn for ants and bugs. Then I did a bunch of odd jobs around the 5th wheel. I also spent a couple of hours cleaning the spoke wheels on the motorcycle. Cheri continued her fall house cleaning; think she is just about done. It is hard to get use to the new time as it was dark by 6:00 pm. Some more people came in yesterday. Bud Avery stop to see me this afternoon and he brought his motorcycle with him this year so we will be able to do some riding together.

It’s hard to believe that November is here already. Only 54 shopping days left before Christmas. Today was a lazy day. We picked up Grandma at 9:30 am and headed for church. On the way home we stopped so Grandma could get a Sunday paper. Cheri spent the afternoon reading and watching TV. I watched the NASCAR Race and then the Green Bay Packers. The race was good and the Packers, well we wouldn’t talk about them. Grandma came over at 4:00 pm to watch the Packer game. We ordered in Papa John’s pizza for supper. Grandma went home after the game and Cheri and I settled in for an evening of more TV. It wasn’t as hot today, much nicer with a high of 81 degrees.

Happy Halloween to everyone. It was another hot day but the humidity wasn’t as bad today, we had a high of 87 degrees. Cheri was cleaning cupboards today and my project was cleaning the motorcycle. I spent most of the forenoon power washing and cleaning the wheels. For a break we took Grandma’s van and filled it up with gas. We also stopped a Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. We did the no-no thing by going there near noon and on a Saturday. It was so busy we could hardly get around the store, how soon we forget. We took our evening walk around 6:00 pm so we could see the park during the day light. We got to talk to several people along the way and didn’t get back home until 7:30 pm.

Today is our daughter Nikki’s birthday, happy birthday Nikki. It was another hot and humid day with a high of 87 degrees and a low of 72 degrees. We did our morning walk at 6:30 am before it got hot with the sun out. Cheri continued with her fall cleaning inside and I worked on outside stuff. I power washed the grill and now it’s ready for some good ole grilling. I cleaned the grease off the pin box on the 5th wheel so I could get Old Glory out and display her. I went over to Grandma’s and fixed her toilet and checked out the golf card. I placed an order for new connection parts between the charger power cord and the cart. They weren’t making a good connection anymore. We didn’t do our evening walk until 7:30 pm and didn’t get back until 8:45 pm, stopped and talked to a few people along the way.

We were up doing our morning walk by 6:30 am. It turned out to be another hot and humid day with a high temp of 87 degrees and a low of 74 degrees. This morning Cheri did some laundry and went with Grandma to get groceries. I worked on getting the patio mats out and installed for the winter. I also got the water softener regenerated. By the time I got done with that it was too hot to work outside. So I did some inside fall cleaning. I cleaned the air conditioner filters and the furnace vents. This afternoon we went to get our yearly flu shots and then I dropped Cheri off so she could get her hair cut. I went to Lowe’s to get some spray for Grandma’s lawn and parts to fix her toilet. We waited until 8:00 pm to do our evening walk and it was still 80 degrees. It may be hot, but it is much better than being in north where it’s cold.

While we were waiting for the dealer to finish the warranty work Cheri gave me a much needed hair cut. Then of course I had to go and do some shopping in the RV store. I bought a book on Camping with the Corps of Engineers. It is a complete guild to campgrounds owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The sites range from free to around $20.00. I also bought a UHF adapter for the TV antenna that will help bring in the 14 and above channels better. The dealer was done with the warranty work at 10:00 am and we were on the road by 10:30. We arrived at Baker Acers around 12:00 pm. The first thing I did was mow the lawn and sprayed it for ants before parking and setting up the 5th wheel. By the time we got set up I was soak and wet. It was 86 degrees and very high humidity. Cheri had gone over to see Grandma while I mowed the lawn. I went to see her late this afternoon. This evening after it cooled off a little we took a short walk around the park to see who has already arrived for the winter.

We were up early this morning so we could be out of the way so the warranty work could be done. We took the motorcycle and went for a ride. We did some Geocaching and found three of them this forenoon. We came back to the 5th wheel for lunch and then off to do some shopping. It was a warm and muggy day and threatened to rain while we were out riding. We ended up putting on 60 miles and it did rain this evening.

We drop the truck and 5th wheel off at the RV dealer to have some warranty work done. Then we gave Larry & Emmy Becker a call to see if they were home. Sure enough they were so off we went with the motorcycle to see them. We spent the afternoon together visiting and then out for supper at the local restaurant. After supper we headed back to their place to get the motorcycle. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the 5th wheel. We got back at 7:45 pm. Just in time to get the TV antenna up and the TV on so Cheri could watch Dancing with Stars (Her favorite show). We are able to stay in the 5th wheel while the dealer does the warranty work.

JB and Douna pick us up at 9:30 am and we went to Welaka for breakfast. Then it was back to the 5th wheel for a visit. JB and Douna left around noon and we packed up and headed for Ocala. On the way out of the campground the sewer bracket got caught on the edge of the black top road as we were coming out. There was quite the hump coming up on to the highway. It bent bracket pretty bad. I use some bungee cords to secure it for now. I will work on it after we get to Zephyrhills for the winter. It was 2:30 pm when we arrived at the Wandering Oaks RV Park. After getting set up Cheri did laundry and I watched the NASCAR Race and the Packer game at the same time. It was a tough job, but I suffered through it. It was a nice relaxing evening.

We left St Augustine around 10:00 am as we only have 50 miles to go today. Our trip today took us to Welaka to spend some time with friends JB & Douna Hamilton. We arrived at their place around 11:15 am. It has been several years since our last visit. The plan was to park the 5th wheel in yard of their rental property. As I was backing in to the yard the 5th wheel started to settle deep into the yard. The next thing I know I am stuck in the sand street. After much work I finally got the 5th wheel back on the sand road. JB and I headed down the road to the River wood RV Village. JB knows the owner of the campground. After I got the 5th wheel setup we headed back to JB and Douna’s place. After a nice lunch we put their pontoon boat in the St Johns River. The four of us took a nice boat ride into Little Lake George and then up the Oklawoha River which winds its way into Ocala National forest. We saw several gators and the trees and Spanish moss was beautiful. After we got back we went out for supper in Welaka and then back to the 5th wheel for a visit. It was a great day to spend with friends.
I have uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Ocala National Forest

We began at the Visitors Center in St Augustine, Fl this morning.
We parked the truck here and began our walk of the city.
We picked up our maps at the Oldest Drug Store; it was filled with old time remedies for whatever ailment you had.
We passed through the Old City Gates onto St. George Street. We walked by the Oldest Wooden School House, built prior to 1763; the Spanish Quarter, a 1740’s Spanish village and Saint Photios Greek Orthodox Chapel.
We also did all the little shops all the way down the street.
We stopped for lunch at a little café and we each had a Penni Sandwich, which was very good.
By 1pm we were ready to head for the Castillo de San Marcos Fort. They had volunteers dressed in costume ready to demonstrate the firing of the cannons. Gay got lots of pictures of the fort.
We had to go back to the Visitors Center to pick up the truck to cross over the Matanzas River to Anastasia Island to visit St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum.
We took the audio tour as we moved through the grounds and up into the lighthouse. We got all the history that way. This lighthouse is 165ft. high and you have to climb 219 steps to reach the top. We enjoyed the spectacular view of the city and beaches from up there. We learned about the keepers, their families and browsed through the museum.
Our last stop was Ponce de Leon and the Fountain of Youth. We had a drink of water from that Landmark Spring. We took in the Navigator’s Planetarium and the Explorers globe as well as checking out the grounds.
Today we had 85 degree weather. I guess we have finally made it back to the warm weather here in Florida!
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: St Augustine

We were packed up and ready to hook up and leave by 9:30 am. Now the fun started, the site we were parked on was on a concrete pad with a lot of washed stone in front where the truck was setting. Trying to get hooked up I got stuck in the washed stone that was about six inches deep. After much forward and backwards I finally got the truck hooked to the 5th wheel. Now the trick was to get out. On the first try, I backed up to get over so I could get by the power pole. So now things should be good. As I was turning out Cheri said the motorcycle was going to hit the power pedestal. So once again I back up to get over the opposite direction. Finley we got out of the site was on the road around 10:15 am. We arrived in St Augustine around 1:30 pm. We are staying at St John’s RV Park. We got the last site that we could get into with our 5th wheel. We plan on being here for two nights. Tomorrow we will explore St Augustine

Today we went to Cockspur Island to tour Fort Pulaski. Construction began in 1827 and required $1,000,000 and 25 million bricks to build it. It took 18 yrs to complete. The fort was designed for 140 cannons but only 60 were installed.
There is a Moat, 7 ft. deep, completely surrounding the fort. The water was brought by canal from the Savannah River and controlled by tide gates. There is a drawbridge at the entry point.
We arrived in time to watch the Park Ranger demonstrate the soldiers clothing and gear worn back in the Civil War era. She also demonstrated the loading and shooting of her musket.
They were doing some building at the fort and we found out it will be another site for scenes in the Robert Redford movie being shot in the Savannah area.
We continued on to Tybee Island and used Gay’s new GPS to locate a cache hidden in a big old tree. Someone had hollowed out a limb and stuck the cache inside it. Clever!
We drove down to the beach and the fishing pier. We didn’t stop because you had to feed the meters while you were there. No free parking.
We headed back to the Tybee Island Light Station. It’s one of America’s intact Light Stations, having all of its historic support buildings still on its 5 acre site.
It had the Head Keeper’s House, Summer Kitchen, First Assistant Keeper’s House, Second Assistant Keeper’s House, Garage, Fuel Storage Building and the Lighthouse.
They did a beautiful job restoring it all. We toured the buildings, as well as climbed to the top of the 154ft tall lighthouse. There were 178 steps to reach the top. The light from atop the lighthouse can be seen 18 miles out to sea. The lens is one of thirteen First Order Lens in the United States, which still functions in a Lighthouse as an aid to navigation. The Tybee Lighthouse is Georgia’s oldest and tallest. The view from the top is marvelous.
We walked across the street to check out the museum housed at Old Fort Screven. They displayed artifacts found, weapons used in numerous wars and Tybee’s role in defending the American Coastline.
It was another nice day. We stopped at Applebee’s for supper and then headed for the 5th wheel.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Tybee Island

Today was beautiful, about 72 degrees. We took the truck to downtown Savannah. We parked at the Visitors Center and went inside to check out our options for getting around town. We found we could hop Savannah’s free transpiration bus that makes 10 different stops in the historic area. We also found out the Paula Deen’s restaurant, The Lady & Sons, was within walking distance of the Visitors Center so that’s where we headed first.
We ran into the filming crew preparing the streets for Robert Redford’s new movie. No luck in seeing the actor! They were putting dirt and bark on the streets to give it an old look for the movie.
We didn’t have to wait in line to make reservations at Paula’s restaurant. We walked right up to the desk and we able to get a 12:30 lunch time reservation. WOW!
We had 1 ½ hours to look around before lunch. We walked by the Capitol building. It was very impressive with its gold top. We also checked out some of the shops including Paula Deen’s store. All her cookbooks are personally autographed.
We checked in for lunch early and within 10 minutes they gave us a ticket to take the elevator to the 3rd floor. We were seated by a window. We each ordered the pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and jelly roll fries. Gay wanted to try the green fried tomatoes too. We each had lemonade to drink and for dessert I ordered pecan pie! We have watched lots of Paula’s cooking shows on TV and now we can say we’ve eaten at her restaurant.
After lunch we wandered the streets, checking out the City Market Stores and the city’s magnificent architecture and made our way down to the Colonial Park Cemetery, where one can wander the grounds and check out the many crypts and grave stones dating back in the 1700 and 1800’s.
We also went inside the huge Cathedral of St. John the Baptist with its twin spires and Gothic features. The windows and carvings inside were beautiful. The architecture inside the church was beautiful.
We made our way back to the Visitors Center by way of some of the 21 park squares that are laid out throughout the city.
By 3pm we were headed back to the 5th wheel. We didn’t use the bus service at all today. We walked everywhere and were ready to call it a day.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Savannah

It was another cool morning a temp of 42 degrees, although it did warm up to 68 degrees. We went to the Savannah Mall shopping today. Some time back our GPS that we use for Geocaching died. When we got to the mall I see they had a Bass Pro Store. So I checked out the GPS units. I bought a Garmin Dakota 20. I can also use it on the motorcycle. On the way home we stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a few groceries and fuel up the truck for $2.329 for diesel, the cheapest since we were in Georgia last spring. When we got home I played with the GPS for a while and it’s going to take a while for me to figure everything out. I got the grill out and did some hamburgers for Cheri to freeze and a rib eye steak for supper.

Everyone took their time getting around this morning. It was 47 degrees this morning, the high was 59 degrees and windy. So we stayed home today and visited with Darren and Jodi. We did watch football on TV. Cheri fixed pancakes for breakfast and around 1:30 pm Cheri and Jodi went to the local Subway store to get subs for a late lunch. Around 3:00 pm Darren and Jodi headed back to Atlanta. Sure was good to see them. The rest of the day was spent reading and watching TV. I think Cheri has some plans for tomorrow on what we are going to see.

We were slow getting around this morning. It was very cool day with a high of 60 degrees and was very winding making for a cold day of site seeing. Our first stop was the Harley dealer as Darren wanted to get a T-shirt. I bought one and Darren didn’t fine one he liked. From there we headed downtown to the historic part of Savannah. We parked at the visitor’s center and got tickets for the trolley tour. It was an interesting 90 minute tour of the historic district. After the tour we made a trolley stop at the Sorrel-Weed house. We walked down around the corner to the Mellow Mushroom pizza place for a late lunch and early supper. After we eat we went back to take the tour of the Sorrel-Weed house. It is the most haunted house in Savannah. There has been many sighting over the last 200 years. Ghost Busters have visited the house and found things that proved that it is indeed a haunted house. After the tour we headed down to River Street. This was my favorite place. All the old building had a lot of history and it was fun to see all the big ships pass by. There was a Harley Davidson store there where Darren did find a t-shirt he wanted. Then we had some ice cream and waited for our tour. At 7:00 pm we got on the Ghosts and Gravestone Trolley tour. It was interesting to see and hear all the ghostly stories the tour guild told us. The tour lasted about 90 minutes. We got back to the 5th wheel around 9:30 pm. We were all cold and tired. In fact we were cold most of the day.

It rained during the night and on and off most of the day. Very overcast and didn’t see the sun today, which was OK because we didn’t have anything planed for the day. Cheri did laundry and cleaned, I tried to stay out of her way. This afternoon we did take a little ride in the rain. We wanted to find a place to eat this evening when Darren and Jodi got here. They arrived around 7:45 pm and we headed out for a late supper. We had a nice visit while eating and after we got back. Darren went right to work on our computer getting the updates that needed to be done. He also took care of some small issues we had. Nice to have someone that can do all of the computer things for us. We watched a little TV and call it a night at 11:30 pm.

It was a cool 45 degrees this morning and a mist in the air. We decided this morning that we would do the 300 miles to Savannah today. So I got on the phone and made a reservation at the Savannah Oaks RV Park in Savannah. It was a cloudy overcast day, nice for driving. We arrived at the campground around 4:30 pm. We will be here for seven days checking out the history of Savannah. Cheri wants to go and eat at The Lady & Sons restaurant. It is owned and operated by Paula Deen and her sons. Darren and Jodi are driving down from Atlanta to spend the weekend with us. It will be good to see them.

We were on the road by 10:30 am. It would have been earlier but I wanted to fill up the truck before we hooked up at the station across the road from the campground. The fuel was soooo slow that after 45 minutes I gave up, only got 60 gallon. We run into rain around 1:00 pm. The good thing it was only a mist while I was setting up. As I write this it is still raining. We are staying at the Four Oaks RV Resort in Four Oaks NC. We will be here for the night and then tomorrow we will push on to Savannah GA. It is 300 miles from here and probably take two day to get there.

We paid to stay another day here in Williamsburg. When I had our mail forwarded I forgot that Monday was Columbus Day and no mail. It probably was a good thing because Cheri and I were getting burned out by being on the go the last few days. So this was to be a day of rest. We did take a short motorcycle ride this afternoon and stopped and took a tour through the Williamsburg Pottery factory, very interesting. Then we made a stop at the Williamsburg General Store. We got home around 3:00 pm. I got the grill out and grilled a ribeye steak for supper. Tomorrow is pack up and move day. Don’t know where we will end up tomorrow night. All I know is it will be south.

Americans won their independence here in Yorktown during the last major battle of the American Revolutionary war on Oct. 19, 1781. British troops surrendered to General George Washington and his French Allies. Yorktown played a very important role in American history.
Today we visited Yorktown battlefield. We watched a film that discussed the importance of the battle and then went out onto the battle field with a Park Ranger. The National Park Service has reconstructed a nearly complete picture of General Washington’s siege. Our guide took us to 3 different locations on the field and explained how the battle took place. She was really into history so it was very interesting to listen to her.
We also took the 16 mile driving tour to the British Inner Defense Line, the Allied Siege Lines, the Moore House, where the negotiations for the surrender terms took place and the Surrender Field where Cornwallis’ Army marched onto and laid down their arms.
We were able to catch the trolley into Yorktown and saw Cornwallis’ cave where he made his headquarters, the Yorktown Victory Monument.
Yorktown Victory Center consisted of great artifacts museum. We also checked out the Army Encampment. It includes sleeping quarters, supply tents and cooking fires. They demonstrated the firing of one of their big cannons.
Also at the Victory Center was a re-created 1780 Virginia Farm. There was a house with a detached kitchen, a tobacco barn and fenced crop fields.
It started to sprinkle so we headed for home making a stop at Wal-Mart for a few groceries.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Yorktown

Our destination today was Jamestown Settlement and historic Jamestown in Virginia.
When we arrived at Jamestown Settlement we had time to watch the introductory film before we met with our costumed guide that led us to the Powhatan Indian Village. She showed us the ceremonial dance circle and told us how they planted their food. We were led into the village. It consisted of several dwellings. We went in to check a few of them out. There was also a gal explaining how they hollowed out a tree to use as a canoe. There were also demos on cleaning skins and rope making.
We headed down the trail and were met by another costumed guide that led us to James Fort. It was a re-creation of the one constructed by the Jamestown colonists on their arrival in 1607.
Inside the wooden stockade are small thatched roofed houses, including the church, a storehouse and an armory. We visited the blacksmith and a gal preparing the daily meal.
We walked to the waterfront and went aboard the replicas of the Susan Constant, Godspeed and the Discovery. These were the shops that brought the settlers to Virginia. It took them 4 ½ months to sail to Virginia from England. These ships were managed by crews living and working on the main deck while passengers remained below with the cargo.
We stopped at the Glassblower to watch costumed craftsmen demonstrate the 17th century art of glassblowing. It took them no time at all to make a small vase. They did some gorgeous work. Their ovens were built just as they were back in the 17th century.
Historic Jamestown was on down the road a little further. It is the original site of the James Fort, the first permanent English settlement in 1007.
Park Rangers conduct guided tours of the site. Our guide was fabulous. Ruins of the early settlement are still visible, including the brick tower of a church built in the 17th century.
There are statues and monuments of important personalities. So far they have unearthed 1000’s of artifacts, some of which are on display in their new museum.
It was another long day of walking. We got back to the 5th wheel around 4:30pm. I got supper and we settled in for the night.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Jamestown

We took the bus from the Visitors Center back to Colonial Williamsburg at 10am this morning. We got off the bus at the Capitol so we could finish the buildings at the far end of the complex.
Our first stop was the Apothecary. They sold herbs and spices that could be made into medicine. The costumed interpreter told us all about all the items for sale.
We went to the bakery. We just looked around and didn’t buy anything.
The Golden Ball Jewelry shop had some beautiful items and right next door was the Silversmith. They told us how the silver was melted down and demonstrated how the cups and ladles were made.
We checked out the Milliner and the Tailor Shop. They were busy cutting our pattern and sewing gowns that were ordered
We got tours through the Raleigh and Wetherburn’s Taverns. It was neat to see the different eating spaces and check out the sleeping quarters. The gentlemen could be sharing a room and bed with someone they didn’t even know. They could be quite a number of men in one room.
The Wigmaker shop was closed but we peaked in the window and got to see all those head pieces the gentlemen of that time period wore.
We went into the Tarpley’s Store and I bought a Gimmel Ring. In the 18th century they were used as wedding rings. It consists of 3 bands joined at the base in such a way that when closed, the two hands are clasped one in the other. Traditionally, the conjoined rings were separated at the engagement ceremony: the outer bands were presented to the bride and groom and the middle band to a close friend of the bride. At the wedding ceremony, the bands were reunited on the third finger of the bride’s left hand. It is so neat!
We watched the military band march the streets and the firing demonstration behind the courthouse. They had cannons fire off and the red coats firing their muskets.
We had to go into the Magazine and Guardhouse to see all the weapons that were stored in the Magazine. The walls in the Magazine were lined with hand guns, rifles and swords. It was quite a site.
We toured the court house and listens to a gentleman explain some of the laws back in that time period.
The Blacksmith, Post Office and Printing Shops were next. From there it was on to the Cabinet Maker. The furniture was beautiful. We checked out a couple of desks with hidden compartments. At today’s price, these pieces would go for about $35,000.
We headed back to the Castle to the Palace Scullery, where they brew beer. They had just finished a big pot that was brewed over the fire in a big kettle.
We headed back to our 5th wheel for supper and at 6:30pm headed back to the Visitors Center to catch the bus for the Capitol. We had purchased tickets for “Cry Wolf”. We were to weigh the evidence and determine the guilt or innocence of “The Virginia Witch”. We were 2 of the 12 people who were chosen to sit on either side of the Governor as his High Counsel. The court room was full and the prisoner was brought in and sat on a stool in front of the Governor. The evidence was presented and witnesses were called. At the end of the trial we were all asked if we thought she was innocent or guilty. I voted innocent and Gay voted guilty. As it turned out our vote allowed her to go free. All the characters in the play were great. It was fun to hear how trials were done back in the 18th century. They were able to find evidence that this person really was found innocent back in the day.
Once again we caught the bus and were back home by 9:15pm.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Colonial Williamsburg 10-10-09

We spent the day at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. It is a 301-acre historic area that brings Virginia’s 18th century capitol city to life every day.
We began our tour by walking through the Great Hopes Plantation and then took the orientation walk to get some pointers on what to see first.
We checked out the Bruton Parish Church. Many prominent men attended this church. They included Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Richard Henry Lee and Patrick Henry.
This church has been in used since 1715 and still serves as an active congregation. It is the original building. It is laid out quite different inside.
We went into the gunsmith shop and then to the home of George Wythe. He was a professor of law and teacher of Thomas Jefferson. He was the first among Virginia’s signers of the Declaration of Independence.
We saw how wheels were made at the Wheelwright shop.
We toured the Geddy House, looked through the weaver shop, shoe shop and the Market Square.
At 2pm the Shawnee Indians put on a skit up by the Governors palace and then it was time for our tour of the palace. It was the residence of 7 royal governors and the first two elected governors of Virginia, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. We had a costumed interpreter take us through the house and explain all about the furnishings and the people who lived there.
We watched a reenactment of the reading of the Declaration of Independence at the Capitol building and then we went on a tour of the Capitol.
It is unbelievable the craftsmanship of these buildings.
It was time to get something to eat before our Ghosts Amongst Us walking tour at 7pm. We were led by lantern to 3 different homes and told some ghostly stories.
By 8pm we were at the bus stop and ready to head back to the visitors center to pick up the truck and head back to the 5th wheel.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: colonial Williamsburg

Today is our last day in Washington DC. Gay wanted to check out the International Spy Museum. We got there around 10:30 am and never came out until about 3 pm. You gain access to the world’s largest collection of international espionage artifacts. There are exhibits about weapons, cameras, disguise and surveillance. It was all very interesting.
Their gift shop was full of spy novels, spy movies and games. All the kids around loved it.
We got back to the 5th wheel earlier than usual and Gay did some chops on the grill for supper and some brats to freeze for a later date.

Today we were at the National Museum of Natural History. When you enter there is an eight-ton, 13ft tall African bush elephant. Hugh!
We went to the Butterfly Pavilion first. I knew it would be warm in there and I didn’t bring a jacket today and I was cold. To our surprise on Tuesdays the exhibit is free. There were hundreds of butterflies in the Pavilion. One landed on Gay’s shirt and stayed there quite a while. You had to be careful where you stepped, the butterflies were landing on the walkway in front of us. They were all so colorful.
We went back downstairs and picked up our tickets for the 3-D IMAX show on Dinosaurs and another 3-D show on Wild Ocean.
We had time to check out the Ocean Hall before our movies. Some of the many fascination exhibits were a full-scale model of a North Atlantic Shale and a 1,500 gallon aquarium featuring a live Indo-Pacific coral reef ecosystem.
We took in our two 40 minute movies and then went for lunch at the café.
We went through the Gems and Minerals. We saw the 45.5 carat Hope Diamond. WOW!
We checked out the Dinosaur Hall, the gigantic fossilized bone of all those creatures. There were lots of different ones on display.
We looked at all the mammals and watched a gentleman in the lab work at getting fossils out of stone.
We spent the whole day in the Museum of National History and by 3:30 pm we were ready to start our trip home.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Natural History Museum

Here we go again. We caught the 9:30am bus to the Metro. We took the train all the way to the U.S. Capitol today. We walked through the Cannon House Office building U.S. and by the Supreme Court building and then made our way to the U. S. Capitol Visitors Center. We were lucky and got tickets that were good for a tour of the Capitol Building leaving in just 1 minute. What timing!
Our guide took us into a theater to watch a short movie that describes how the U.S. Congress established a new form of government, tells the role Congress plays in the daily lives of Americans, and introduces us to the building that houses the U.S. Congress.
We were taken into the National Statuary Hall. Congress invited each state to contribute two statues of its most notable citizens. Today some of these statues are displayed in this room. Next it was into the Rotunda. It is the heart and center of the Capitol. It serves as no legislative function; it is a ceremonial space where state funerals have been held since the time of Abraham Lincoln.
We were shown the Senate Chambers and the House of Representatives Chamber. It was a neat tour.
We walked the underground tunnel from the Capitol over to the Library of Congress, but did not exit the building; we turned around and went back to the Visitors Center for lunch at their restaurant.
We checked out the Exhibition Hall and then headed outside and walked around the Capitol and got a few more snapshots.
We got pictures of Ulysses S. Grand Memorial, Peace Monument, and Garfield Statue.
We strolled on into the U.S. Botanic Gardens. It’s one of the oldest gardens in North America. They have more than 60,000 plants for exhibition, study, conservation, and exchange with other institutions. The collection includes economic plants, medicinal plants, orchids, carnivorous plants, cacti and ferns. Historic specimens include original 1842 founding collection. All the flowers were so pretty.
Another day in Washington D.C. and still much more to see!
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album U.S. Capitol

Today is Sunday and the bus leaves the park every hour instead of every ½ hour. We got on the bus at 10am and took the Metro green line and then transferred to the blue line landing at the Smithsonian stop.
We headed right away to see if we could get tickets to go up in the Washington Monument. They were all sold out for the day. That was ok. Yesterday we did go up in the tower at the Old Post Office and got to oversee the city.
We walked up by the Washington Monument, got some pictures and moved on to the World War II Memorial. It honors the 16 million Americans who fought in the most devastating war in world history. Gold stars on the Freedom Wall stand for the 400,000 Americans who died. It is all laid out so well. There is a reflection pool that stretches from this memorial all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial.
We walked over to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. We had been there once before, years ago. There were people there today that were trying to make an imprint of their loved ones name on the wall. We walked past statues of men and women who served in Vietnam.
We continued on to the Lincoln Memorial. It was designed in the style of a classical Greek Temple. It overlooks the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol. Within this building is a 19 foot marble statue of Abraham Lincoln. He is flanked by inscriptions of his second inaugural address and the famous Gettysburg Address.
We strolled over to the Constitution Gardens. Here on the stones, they list all the signatures of the people who signed the Constitution.
We walked up by the White House and got to see the front, back entrance and lawn. The living quarters for the president and family are on the second and third floor. It was an impressive site.
We went down to the White House Visitors Center and watched a 30 minute video on the rooms inside the White House, the furnishings and china used for special events. There were lots of pictures of past and present presidents and families.
We tried to tour the Ford Theater where President Lincoln was shot but it was closed because they were having a show today. We did tour the house where Lincoln was taken and died, after he was shot, located across the street from the theater.
We were ready to quit touring for the day so headed back to the metro to head home.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: DC mall

We were ready for another day of walking. We were at the bus stop by 9:15am and headed for the Metro Train. Our first stop today was Arlington National Cemetery
When we entered the cemetery, we headed for the Tomb of the Unknowns, established in 1921. A sentinel of the Third U.S. Infantry maintains vigil around the clock. The sentinel paces 21 steps alongside the tomb, pauses 21 seconds, then returns. The changing of the guard takes place every hour. We had 10 minutes to make a 20 minute walk to the top of the hill to catch the 11am changing of the guard. I was puffing real hard by the time we got there. We made the climb in 12 minutes and were there to see the ceremony. Following that, they had the placing on the wreath ceremony.
The cemetery covers 624 acres and shelters the remains of over 320,000 servicemen and women, Veterans from every war and major conflicts in United States history.
We walked by the graves of the astronauts, Edward Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy and his eternal flame. It is a very solemn place.
We had to hop back aboard the Metro to go to the Pentagon Memorial.
The memorial captures that moment in time at 9:37am, when 184 lives were lost as flight 77 came crashing into the Pentagon. Each Memorial Unit is a cantilevered bench, l lighted pool of flowing water and a permanent tribute by name. Each memorial bench is made of stainless steel and inlaid with smooth granite. At night a light reflects off the water and onto the bench.
Paperbark Maple Trees are clustered around the Memorial Units. They will grow up to 30 ft. tall and provide a canopy of shake over the Memorial in years to come.
You can see the difference in the color of the side wall of the Pentagon where the repairs were made after the attack. This memorial was beautifully done.
We decided to get continue to explore and took the Metro to Pennsylvania Ave and check out the Old Post Office. It was built back in 1899. The architecture of this building is something else. They sure made buildings pretty back then. Today it houses shops and restaurants and daily entertainment.
It has a 315 ft. clock tower that you could go up in and get a great view of the city. We only waited in line about 10 minutes before getting our turn to go up. We checked the panoramic view and took the stairs down to the 9th floor so we could check out the big bells in the tower.
Once back on the ground floor we went over to the National Archives building. This is where you can see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and the Bill of Rights. One needs lots of time there to check it all out.
It was 5:35pm when we got off the Metro and we had another 45 minutes before our bus came to take us back to the park. It was a long day. We needed to sit down and put our aching feet up!
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Arlington Cemetery

Today we took the bus from our park and headed for the Metro Station to hop aboard the train that would take us to the National Zoo in Washington DC.
We managed the metro quite well. We had to switch from the green line train to the red line train and arrived at the zoo around 11:30am. This zoo is one of the world’s leading research zoos. They are working to save animals and build healthy populations in the wild.
The direction we headed for first was the giant panda habitat. We saw one outside playing with an orange crate and then inside we got an up close look at one sleeping on the rocks and another sitting down with his legs stretched out in front of him eating a carrot. When he was done he just fell asleep there. They are a neat looking animal.
We loved the gorilla habitat. They just had a new baby girl born there and the Mom was holding it and lugging it around. The little one even put her hand up on the window and all the little kids wanted to touch the window by her hand. It was so cute.
We saw the bear, cheetah, elephants, leopard, lions, meerkats, monkeys, sea lion, tiger, turtles, zebra and much, much more.
The zoo is on a hill and we walked downhill to all the exhibits and were lead to believe that there was an entrance at the bottom of the hill. WRONG! We had to climb back up the hill to get out. I had to stop a couple of times to rest. Thank goodness for those benches on the sides of the walkway.
Back out on the street we headed for the Metro train. It took us 1 hr and 10 minutes to return to the park.
There are 25 other Excel campers here in the park and we stopped to talk with them a bit before heading for our unit.
We call this a GREAT DAY!
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: National Zoo