Sharp's Travels

None of us got around very early this morning. We did go to church for the 11:00 am service. We got home and had left over brats and hamburgers that we did on the grill last night. Jodi and Cheri went shopping and Darren and I went to Harbor Freight to get a wheel chock for is motorcycle trailer. We did some modification on it so it would be easy to take off the trailer. Darren also said the lights on the trailer didn’t work. We found some bad wiring on the trailer and got that repaired and signal and brake lights don’t work. After checking several fuses and relays on the truck we found a fuse blown. After all this was done we were ready to load the motorcycle on the trailer. When Darren went to move the truck and trailer the truck wouldn’t start. It won’t crank and the wrench light comes on along with the engine light. We have checked everything we can think of and it is now 9:30 pm and have given up for the night. Pulling and replacing fuses must have screwed up the computer and probably will have to have it tolled to the ford dealer to be fixed.

Darren got the new computer up and running. It is a little different from the old on and will take some time to get use to it. He still has a couple pieces of software to install that I have to get from the 5th wheel. I will do that Monday as the 5th wheel is in storage and can’t get to it until then. This morning Darren and I jumped on the motorcycles and the girls in the car headed for Dawsonville about 50 miles north of Atlanta to visit the Kangaroo Conservation Center. It is an 87 acre preserve that boasts the world’s largest collection of kangaroos outside Australia. They have around 250 kangaroos. We also learned how to throw a boomerang. We spent about 4 hours there and had nice time learning all about kangaroos. It was 4:30 by the time we got back to Darren and Jodi’s.
I have uploaded pictures from the Kangaroo Conservation Center

It was another lazy day. Cheri spent the day reading and watching TV. This forenoon I made a trip to Home Depot to get some sealing tape for the wiring I have to change on the fuel tank. This afternoon I took a motorcycle ride north of Atlanta, put on about 50 miles. This evening after supper Darren and I rode the bikes to Best Buy and Cheri and Jodi followed in the car. I have been having some problems with our lap top computer and thought it was time for a new one. We wanted to get it while we are here so Darren can get it set up for us. We got back to Darren and Jodi’s at 8:30 pm and Darren went to work on setting up the new lap top. Knowing Darren he probably will be working on it long after we go to bed, he is a real night owl.

We were slow getting around this morning and we didn’t need to be in a hurry. We got the 5th wheel closed up and put in storage at 11:00 am. Then we headed for Darren and Jodi’s stopping on the way for lunch at Quisznos. Then we stopped at the UPS store to send back the controller box for the new fuel tank on the truck. It was working in reverse from what it was supposed to. It would only pump fuel in to the main tank when it was above ¾ full. I called the company and they said they had sent me the wrong one. This afternoon Cheri read and I cleaned the motorcycle. This evening we took a motorcycle ride north of here to a bar that has a gathering of motorcycles on Thursday night. It was neat to see all the different bikes.

We went for free pancakes at the Rec Hall this morning between 7:00 am and 8:00 am. We only had 150 miles to travel today so wasn’t in any hurry to get on the road and besides there was a light rain falling. We finally got on the road at 10:00 am and drove in rain most of the way, it did stop before we got to the campground. We got to Jones RV Park in Atlanta around 12:30 pm. Darren came over around 4:30 pm. He helped me unload the motorcycle. We waited for Jodi to come and arrived around 6:00 pm. On the way to Darren and Jodi’s we stopped for supper at the Arena Club. When we got to Darren and Jodi’s Darren and I took a short motorcycle ride. Around 8:30 pm they brought us back to the 5th wheel.

We did our morning walk and it was already pretty warm but no rain. At 9:30 am we went over to Grandma’s as Cheri had to do some paper work and make some calls for Grandma. I headed back to the 5th wheel and started packing up to leave. We were on the road by 11:00 am. Just south of the Georgia border we drove into a hard rain and lasted all the way to our campground, even set up in the rain. Of course it quit raining right after we got set up. We are here in Unadilla Georgia at the Southern Trails Campground. We went down town to fill up with fuel and we eat out. Cheri had a pulled pork plate and I had a rib plate. It was pretty good.

We picked up Grandma and Carol at 9:30 am and headed for church. It was noon before we got home. Cheri and I spent the day watching racing on TV and reading. We got a hard rain this afternoon so that canceled anything I was planning to do outside. So as you can see it was a very lazy day.

Cheri and I went to Wal-Mart this morning I wanted to get an AB switch for the TV cable that I put in yesterday. I ended up going to Radio Shack to find one. When we got home I started the install and decided I needed an additional outside jack for the cable TV as I am going to use the existing jack for the third input to the portable dish. So this afternoon we picked up Grandma and took a ride to Camping World to get an outside TV jack. My $6.00 jack ended up costing about $50.00 as Cheri found some things she wanted. On the way home it rained so hard we could barely see to drive. We stopped at Dean & Betty’s to give them a house warming gift. They were getting ready to go to Golden Corral for an early supper and asked if we wanted go. We couldn’t say no to that. As soon as Rick arrived we went for supper. When we got ready to leave Golden Corral it was poring rain. We waited for it to let up some and then made a dash for the van. When we got back to Dean & Betty’s we end up playing a game of dominos which we guys won.

More rain predicted for the day. We were able to do our morning walk. Late morning we went over to see how Grandma was doing. I took one of Grandpa’s old canes and cut it down so Grandma could use it. Grandpa was over 6 feet tall and Grandma is just over 5 feet tall so I had to cut off almost a foot. It will help her to walk around the park. This afternoon I decided to run the new TV cable from the dish on the top of the 5th wheel. I had been holding off because of rain. So far it hasn’t rained so I went work on it. Well about half way through the job it started to rain and I got soaked. I went inside changed clothes and waited for it to quit raining (about an hour). I did get the outside work done at 5:00 pm. I have to finish the inside work tomorrow. We finished our evening walk with rain sprinkles.

I am lazy this morning on getting yesterday’s blog done. It was raining again this morning so no walking. It rained on and off all day made it hard to get anything done, good excuses don’t have much to do anyway. We did help Dean & Betty move into their new park model. We also took Grandma to Wal-Mart to pick up medicine and groceries. It did stop raining long enough so we could do our evening walk.

It rained most of the night and stopped around 6:00 am so we were able to do our morning walk. It was cloudy most of the day and did start raining again around 3:00 pm. It stopped long enough so we could do our evening walk. Cheri took Grandma for her chemo treatment this morning. The doctor told her that her blood test came back normal and wouldn’t have to take anymore chemo treatments. This was great news. I worked on building the steps for Norm & Nata Lewis. I finished up in the rain and got done 4:30 pm. On our evening walk we see Dean and Betty have arrived from the north to move into their new park model. We stopped and visited and got a tour of the new trailer. We weren’t home very long before it started raining again.

It has rained all day so no walks today. Cheri continued to work on the grave side service for Grandpa. I went to look at a project of building some steps in a back entry for friends here in the park. I have to build a series of 3 in steps to reach a porch that is 18 in high with two landings. This afternoon we went to see the movie Angels & Demons. We didn’t think it was a very good movie. It was hard for me to follow, and had a hard time staying awake. I guess that’s why I had a hard time following it.

We had to cut our morning walk short as it started to rain. It rained all day so nothing got done outside. Cheri took Grandma for her blood work appointment and then to the nursing home to sign some papers. I spent most of the day doing paper work. Cheri made some calls and we have a grave side service set up for Grandpa on June 20th at 1:00 pm at the Boscobel Cemetery in Boscobel Wisconsin. Not a very exciting day even had to cancel our evening walk because of the rain.

This Sunday was almost a repeat of last Sunday. We picked up Grandma and Carol and went to church. After church we dropped Carol off at her place and then went out for lunch. Grandma treated us to Chinese. When we got back to Grandma’s Cheri and I sat down and looked at all the condolence cards she received. Then we played a game of dominos that Cheri won and a game of Five Crown which Grandma won, so I was the big looser today. Late afternoon we got a call from Nikki and a call from Cheri’s girl friend Pat. I made a trip to Lowe’s to pick up some TV cable. I want to run another cable from the roof top dish to the TV, tomorrows project I hope.

I did some more maintenance on the 5th wheel today. Every time I think I am done I remember something else I wanted to do. Cheri worked on her quilt. We also worked on getting a grave side service set up for Grandpa back in Wisconsin. We will know more about that on Monday. That pretty much was our day along with reading and watching TV.

This morning I moved the antenna for the back up camera on the 5th wheel. On our short trip north and back the display in the truck would fade in and out so I moved it to a different location. It seems to be a steady display now but will not know until we are on the road. Cheri spent the day doing paper work and making telephone calls for Grandma, glad that is done. Late this afternoon we made a trip to the bank for Grandma and then stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up groceries. Around supper time we got a lot of lighting and thunder, the sky got pretty dark but no rain. It is still very hot during the day.

I was up before 5:00 am this morning; my mine was working and couldn’t get back to sleep. We did our morning walk and when we got back we took it easy and were in no hurry to get showered and dressed as we didn’t have to be anywhere this morning. Cheri did do some laundry and I cleaned the love bugs off the front of Grandma’s van. This afternoon we read and watched TV. It was just too hot to be outside. About the time we were going to do our evening walk it started to rain and was still raining when we went to bed.

I went to work on washing the truck this morning before it got too hot. It was covered with love bugs. It took a lot of scrubbing to get them off. It was noon before I got done and already hot. Cheri took Grandma for her doctor appointment this morning. Then she had to make a trip to Wal-Mart to drop off a prescription for Grandma. This afternoon we took it easy reading and napping. At 3:30 pm we went to Wal-Mart to pick up the medicine for Grandma. She had two medicines to pick up and had only one ready, so we had to wait a half hour before it was ready. We had rain off and on all afternoon, but the temperature didn’t drop any, another very hot day.

This morning we went down to the funeral home to make the final arrangements for Grandpa. There are several other things that need to be done, but we must wait for a death certificate, which will take about a week. We came home had lunch and went over to Grandma’s to pack up all of Grandpa’s clothes and take them to the Hospice thrift store. I also put the charger on the golf cart for a while. It has been in the high 90s the last few days and to hot to do anything outside. It was after 8:00 pm before we did our evening walk.

Happy Mothers Day. We did our morning walk and said goodbye to the last snow birds to head north. The park is really empty now. We picked up Grandma and Carol and headed to church. After church we stopped at Golden Corral for dinner. After dinner we dropped Grandma off at home and we went back to the 5th wheel to get a few things done for tomorrow. Later we went back to Grandma’s to play some dominos. Cheri won the game. All in all it was a very nice day. Cheri got a call from each of the kids wishing her a happy mother’s day, it made her day

Today was Grandpa’s 89th birthday and God came at 4:50 am to take him home. He will truly be missed by Grandma, family and friends. He is in a much better place with no worries, pain or suffering. At 7:00 am Grandma, Cheri and I went to the nursing home to say our goodbyes. We spent the rest of the day together doing the things that needed to be done. Thanks to everyone for all their prayers to help us cope with our lost.

We did our morning walk and then got ready to go see Grandpa. We picked up Grandma at 9:30 am and went to the hospital. We talked to the doctor and he said there was nothing more they could do for him. Around 12:30 pm they shipped him back to the nursing home. We now have Hospice taking care of him. Their job is to make his last days more comfortable. They put in an order to have a nurse be with him 24-7. It was around 8:30 pm when we got home.

Late last night we got a call from the nursing home telling us they were sending Grandpa to the hospital, with low blood pressure and trouble breathing. Grandma called us at 12:30 pm and said Grandpa was in very bad shape and none responsive and that we should come back to Zephyrhills. We packed up and was on the road by 1:30 pm. While we were on our way we got a call from the doctor giving us an up date. He said Grandpa’s condition is not good. We arrived at Baker Acers at 6:30 pm. After we got set up we went over to Grandma’s to see how she was doing. Tomorrow we will be going to see Grandpa and meet with the nurse. We did do our evening walk as we needed to unwind.

At 7:00 am we went to the Rec Hall for free pancakes and coffee. We had to take our own place setting. Cheri also took the peanut butter, she likes it on her pancakes, guess I do too. After the pancakes we took a walk around the park to see if we could work off the pancakes. At 9:00 am we left for the Museum of Aviation at Robbins Air Force Base in Warner Robbins, GA. We spent the whole day looking at all the airplanes and exhibits. They have a great web site at www.museumofaviation.org you can see all the airplanes on their web site. On the way home we made a stop at Mc Donald’s for a chocolate shake. It was 4:30 pm before we got home. We waited for it to cool off before we took our evening walk. It started to rain shortly after we got back to the 5th wheel.

I have uploaded pictures of the air museum, see album Museum of Aviation.

We left the RV dealer in Ocala at 8:30 am. The trip to our campground in Unadilla, GA was uneventful. The last 60 miles we were on wet roads and finally caught up to the rain as we pulled into the campground at 12:30 pm. When we got into the campground office they said they were having a soap lunch starting at 1:00 pm. They invited us to come and said don’t bring anything that they had enough for us. So we went and parked the 5th wheel and then went for soup. There were about 10 couples; we had some great soup and a nice visit. When it quit raining we headed back to the 5th wheel to get it set up. Well just as we started to set up it started raining again. So we jumped into the truck to wait it out. This happened 3 different times before we got things done. It rained off and on all afternoon and evening.

We stopped by Grandma’s and said our goodbyes and got on the road by 8:15 am. We arrived at the RV dealer in Ocala at 10:00 am. At 10:30 am we got a call from our friends here in Ocala (Larry & Emmy Becker). We met at the shopping center and went out for lunch at Bob Evans Restaurant. We were going to go to Red’s but it is closed on Mondays. After lunch Larry and Emmy had a meeting to go to. We went back to the RV dealer. A little after 3:00 pm, Larry called and said they were coming over. We checked out some new 5th wheels with them and then went over to ours to visit. They got our 5th wheel done at 5:00 pm. Larry and Emmy left at 6:00 pm. Cheri and I settled in for the evening and will leave here in the morning.

We picked up Grandma and Carol at 9:30 am and went to the same church we went to last Sunday. After church we stopped at the Chinese restaurant in Zephyrhills. It has been a couple years since we were there. It had been really bad and dirty. Will it has change hands and everything was nice and clean and the food was very good. This afternoon we went to see Grandpa. He has a cold and wasn’t feeling very good. We didn’t get home until 4:30 pm. I started some updates on Grandma’s computer and then went home as it was going to be awhile before it would be done. We went back at 6:30 pm it was done. We stopped to see friends on our evening walk. It was 8:45 pm before we got home.

Today was pack up day. Cheri got everything done inside the 5th wheel and I worked outside. I got everything out of the basement and everything out of the shed that I want to take with us. Packing up this 5th wheel is a little different then the old one. So it took some time to find the right place for each item. We were done by early afternoon and went to Wal-Mart to get groceries and fuel up the truck. This evening we went over to Grandma’s to play dominos. Grandma make a lemon pie, sure was good, I had two pieces. When we left Grandma’s we did our evening walk.

Cheri did house cleaning and I washed the truck. We were both done by 1:00 pm. So the rest of the day we took it easy, stayed in where it was cool as it got up to 90 degrees and no breeze today. I was going to clean the basement and pack for our trip north, but decided to wait until tomorrow to do that. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and watching TV. We waited for it to cool off before we took our evening walk.

Wow hard to believe this is the last day of April already. We will be leaving here and heading north on May 4th. I finished the installation of the rock guard this morning. The next job was loading the motorcycle. We had to close up the 5th wheel and pull it ahead about 30’ to get the motorcycle loaded. The storage shed was in the way and couldn’t get to the lift. Any way all went well and the bike is loaded and the 5th wheel is back in place. This afternoon we went to Lakeland. I dropped Cheri off at Jo-ann Fabric’s and I went to Harbor Freight to get some bungee cords and tie downs for the motorcycle cover.

I have uploaded some pictures of the rock guard and motorcycle loaded on the back of the 5th wheel.