Travels with Snowbirds Ocala to Wauchula

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Sunday February 12 Ocala Sun RV Resort to Thousand Trails Wauchula.

Who among my readers has ever heard of Wauchula, FL? Anyone? Not me, that’s for sure, until I joined Thousand Trails.

On Saturday night the entire LOW group gave Kay $2. She went to the store and bought 23 Powerball tickets. $320 million top prize, how could we not buy some tickets? I didn’t sleep well Saturday night, so the TV was on all night and I heard that one person from RI won. Poo Poo. (As I write this on Tuesday they still have not come forward.)

I joined the group for our last breakfast and said goodbye to my old and new friends. It was a fun campout, and I wish I could join the Gulf Lows later this month for their campout at Fisheating Creek and fun times at the Swamp Cabbage Festival. Next year for sure.

I plotted the course to Wauchula over the river and thru the woods on back country Florida roads, me at point, Kathy E in tail gunner position. First stop Fresh Market in Ocala where I stocked up on lots of their prepared food. Along the way I was checking the prices of gas and it kept getting more and more expensive the further south we went. We passed thru Kathleen, and I have always wanted to stop and get a picture of me next to the “Welcome to Kathleen” sign, but it came up on me too fast, and I missed pulling into a decent roadside spot. It would have been cool with 2 Kathleen’s in front of the sign!!!

Next stop Walmart for staples and gas, $3.579, at one of those awful pumps that stops after $75. Yes, I know, I can start another transaction, but if they don’t want my $100, I will be happy to spend it some other place.

Next stop Petco in Lakeland. Garmina and Siri cannot find Petco and I made several wrong turns trying to find it when I had seen it last week when I went to Michael’s. Kathy’s GPS struggled, but finally came up with its location. It ended up being in the same strip mall as Michael’s. I knew I had seen it, just couldn’t remember where. Duh.

The last leg of the trip, down FL 98, put us thru more orange groves than I have ever seen before. No more trucks with pine tree logs going by, but oranges, lemons, grapefruits. There were pieces of citrus all over the road, as they pop out of the overfilled trucks when the road is bumpy. We passed a processing plant, but no place to stop for picture, I hope to make a spot on my next trip past it.

After what ended up being 6 hours on the road to go 120 miles, we landed at Thousand Trails, Wauchula. Wauchula is a larger town than most I passed thru, with a hospital and a Walmart, as well as McDonald’s and Sonic, and lots of orange trees. It’s in the center of the state on an east west basis, about 60 miles south of Orlando. Far enough south to be warm!! Ginny met us at the gate and helped us check in. This place has a very unusual system of check in. Full hookup campsites are assigned on a first come first serve basis. If you want a full hookup site, you sign up on the list in the order you come in. There were 8 ahead of us. Each day at 11:00 the #s of the available full hookup campsites are posted on a bulletin board and you walk/ride around and make note of which ones you like. At 1:00 the first name on the list is called and you pick your site and so on and so on. It was 4:00 so we missed the daily lottery. Latecomers are told which campsites were not selected, and if they like it, they can move in. If not you can wait until the next day’s lottery. There was one such site on Ginnie’s row, G. As it was very near the bathhouse, Kathy was the better choice to take it as she is happier showering there than in her Class B rig. As there was no full hookup site left for me, I was directed to the overflow lot, with only water and electric. I could choose any empty site I wanted, and either opt to stay there for the week or join the lottery the next day. Your options on dumping holding tanks are unhook and go to the campground sewer dump, or pay the local man to empty out your holding tank, around $10 each time I hear. So, I dumped my holding tanks and headed for the overflow lot. I drove around a few times, and really liked some of those sites! Lots of grass, lots of trees, and they were bigger than the full hookup sites. I was zoning in on one to pull into, and I drove around once more and saw what I thought was a full hookup site on row C. Back to the office, and Bill told me it was for a large rig. I went around again, and there is no way a big rig could fit in this site as it was only about 30 feet long. Back again and I convinced Bill to let me have it. I drove up to it, and looked for the sewer hookup and couldn’t find it! I just am not having good luck here. Into the driver’s seat one more time when a neighbor came out and told me what a great site it was and he showed me where the sewer was; he helped me back in and get level on my blocks, and made sure I wasn’t too far from the electric pole, etc. This was insanity!!!! First thing I did was pop open a wine cooler and slug it down. My electric cord was 1 foot too short, so glad I brought the extension. My sewer hose was just long enough to reach its hole. My hose leaked from both ends, and all I could do was laugh when I should have been crying. Ginny made dinner for us and we chowed down at her rig, and Winston enjoyed seeing Linus and George.

Speaking of George, he had a few bad days and Ginnie was concerned. He appeared pale, his gums and inner ears were white when they should have been pink. She would call a local vet she knows from previous years here. Back to my rig to get my TV set up to channel swap between the Grammy’s and Desperate Housewives and passing out at 10:00. The temperature was forecast to go down to 31, the coldest night of my trip so far.

Monday February 13, Thousand Trails Wauchula

Up Monday very early and took Winston for a walk dressed in hat, gloves, sweatshirt and hoodie and it still was cold. I wanted to really check this place out. I did notice a large amount of RVs in the overflow lot, and figure a lot of people come in and like that area because it is so grassy with very large campsites. I had a lot of energy; as it was so early (6:30 now) I cleaned the bathroom, and vacuumed every place I could reach except the cab. I washed the windows. I put up my Valentine’s decorations and wiped off the kitchen counters and scoured the sink, yadda yadda yadda. I heard from Ginnie and she got an 11:00 apt with the local vet. I kept cleaning.

The people are very friendly here. These are the same people who I saw at Orlando Thousand Trails who never said hello to me, but came over here to meet Winston and talk about their dogs – people who never said a word to me in Orlando. How bizarre. AND, there are a lot of dogs. From pugs to Italian Greyhounds, to Bichons to Schnauzers to Wheaton terriers to Huskies. Everyone wants to talk about their dogs and how they got them and how old they are and what fun stuff they do and they all commented how friendly everyone is here and not in Orlando.

There is no internet at my site. Internet is available in the Adult Lounge near the office, a medium walk, but painful carrying a heavy laptop in a shoulder bag. I need a bike. I will not do that walk too often.

At the vet Ginnie learned that George had intestinal parasites and got medicine for that, but the vet’s only guess on his malaise was he is in pain from his unusual leg and feet structure due to his large body and short legs from his dwarfism, and the best Ginnie can do is keep him comfortable with anti-inflammatory and pain meds as required. She was concerned about liver damage from prolonged use of these, but I think she is coming to realize she needs to give George a good quality of life for whatever time he has left and keep him comfortable. Sigh. It is sad to watch my friend in pain as she is saddened by the apparent failing of her beloved dog. I pray she has strength. She was able to collect a urine specimen and drove that back to the vet and is still waiting for results.

Happy hour at 4, and dinner by Kathy, Orange Roughy, broccoli, rice and beans, and apple turnover desert by Kat. Ginnie let Winston inside her rig, a first, and he pulled every toy and bone out of her toy box, then jumped up on her couch and fell asleep next to Linus. It made a very cute picture, a missed photo opportunity, though. Another night early to bed. I gotta stop doing that as I wake up way too early.

Tuesday February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine’s Day! It wasn’t as cold last night, and I didn’t need to keep my heat running all night, but bundled up, socks and hat and slept well. I even covered Winston! I still dressed in sweatshirt and hat for my morning walk, but didn’t need gloves. I even ran 150 steps total this morning, but no weights.

After my walk, I noticed the lady across the street getting a haircut on her patio. My sides are getting a little long; I asked the hairdresser if she wanted to cut my hair as well, and we agreed 9:30 tomorrow morning at her campsite, and Ginnie will join us. Nice little business!!!

I need to donate a paragraph or 2 to Winston. Kathy E has been reading my blogs, and having never really paid attention to Winston before, she got the impression he was an awful dog. He is anything but. He is smart, loving, and generally very obedient. He tolerates other dogs, once he gets over that, “Bark Bark Bark, come over here and pay attention to me, I’m on a leash and can’t reach you and I want to smell you then I will be good.” He heels well when walking. He waits for me to go down all steps first without a reminder from me. He loves to be outside on with his harness and long lead, and sleeps on the rug or in the dirt (yucky) until another dog or squirrel walks by. BUT, when I leave my rig he barks and is destructive. Thus the crate. Each day I leave him for at least an hour, sometimes up to 4, in the crate with either a rug or his bed and my ipod playing something, today it was Classical. I close all the windows and turn on the A/C. He goes in readily, coaxed by a treat. He is quiet in the crate until I leave, but when I close the RV door he barks. When he is in the crate, he cannot hurt himself or destroy anything. Today I left him for four hours, and I spent a lot of time outside before I entered when I got home, and he was not barking. There was not a lot of drool inside the crate. I pray he gets used to it. Despite his high energy, I love him, he is a good dog, he is my buddy, my companion, someone to talk to and nurture. He doesn’t shed, and he doesn’t smell and he is very friendly to all people and loves playing with kids. He does not like cats or squirrels.

We got our walkie talkies all working yesterday, and Ginnie ‘called’ me early and we set up a trip to Dusty’s Camping World in nearby Bartow. She wanted to talk to them about setting up a service appointment for her rig, and Kathy and I are always looking for a new RV, so off we went. They didn’t have anything that met my criteria, but typical of RV sales people, they try to sell you what they have, which I don’t want or can’t afford. Kathy found one she liked, but it ended up being very expensive. They both needed new extensions to their sewer hoses, and we looked at the new and used rigs on their lot and had a good outing. It was a beautiful day, probably over 80. My allergies are in full swing with the Pine Tree Pollen everywhere. Claritin and eye drops are a must, the combination which usually keeps me sneeze and tear free, but not today. I am miserable!!! A quick stop at the grocery store and back home and I made crock pot beef stuff for dinner.

Randomness. I am watching TV and I just saw the best ad. Mutual of Omaha, and this old lady has a great line: Retirement is the time to recycle yourself. I love it!

Ginnie and Kathy were due at 4:30 for happy hour then dinner. I borrowed a rake from my neighbor to move some of the fallen palm fronts and hanging moss when a tall white haired man asked if I the sticker in my window was a Loners on Wheels sticker. I confirmed, and told him 2 other LOWs were coming over for happy hour, why didn’t he go get a drink and a chair and join us and we would tell him all about LOWs.

Roy is a full time RVer from Texas and is as big and ‘large’ as Texas is. Big personality, big booming voice, big rig, big truck. He does the Thousand Trails shuffle, 2 weeks here, 2 weeks in Orlando. His fourth wife died in April, and since they were full time, he has kept the lifestyle while out looking for #5. (#1 28 days. #2 6 months. #3 3 months. #4 34 years.) We gave him the LOW spiel, and hope he joins a campout or 2 on his travels. I gave him one of the cards Mary Clark had given me in Daytona with LOW info, and do think he will follow up. I wasn’t drinking as I needed to get dinner finished and on the table. Ginnie and Kathy and Roy got silly and I laughed and couldn’t wait to join them once dinner was on the way to the table. Roy entertained us with his story about his latest lady, someone he met on match.com from Wisconsin. He likes her, but she will never leave Wisconsin and there is no way he would spend more than 2 months a year there, so this relationship is not long term. He hopes to change her mind and is taking her on a cruise to St Thomas, St Martin and Puerto Rico in early March, which he is paying for in total. We told him to keep looking. She doesn’t want to leave her family to go on the road with him and make frequent visits to Wisconsin, just not live there anymore. Roy wants to make us margaritas, so we told him to join us tomorrow night, same time, we would let him know what place, or maybe make it his place. See, everyone here is very friendly!!!

While we were happy houring, the park manager rode up and stopped with 2 members of the sheriff’s department in her golf cart. She asked us if we had been ‘out’ all afternoon, and we said ‘yes’ thinking ‘out’ as in on the road, not ‘out’ as in sitting out. She went on to ask us if we had seen the drunk wandering thru the campground as had been reported by many campers. That set off the giggles again, and Kathy and Ginnie knew they had to sober up before going ‘home’ as they didn’t want the sheriff out looking for them. What a riot!

Down my ‘road’ a little, I saw a lovely Class C RV, 24’ Melbourne, gray, nice stripes. I talked to the owners for quite a while, and they sang its praises. I should add a used Melbourne to my hit list of google searches and see if I can find one here in FL before I head north.

Dinner was great, more giggles, lots of girlie type conversations, and Kathy shared her sewer hose shower story. The extension she was using belonged to her camper neighbor. She wanted to get her own and did so at Dusty’s. She made the wrong decision which piece to disconnect first and how to clean it out before returning it. She got a sewer shower, and that’s all I will say, the details were gross. She had her dog, Dachshund Oscar, leashed to her camp chair. He saw the local feral cat, and took off after it, dragging the chair along behind him. I wish I had been there with a camera. This same neighbor told her it was alligator mating season and she should check carefully under her rig each morning in case the alligators were doing it there. Yeah, right.

Wednesday February 15, 2012

I made a reservation for next week at an Encore resort in Eustis, FL (a sister Thousand Trail property, but I have to pay for this one, but got a really reduced rate, $100 for a week.) Not bad for a full hookup at a reportedly nice campground. A week might be one day too long, but I can leave early if I need to with no penalty, but no refund. I still am trying to figure out where I want to camp on the way home. I want to be on the beach on the ocean for at least 4 days, or up to a week. Hunting Island SC, Edisto SC and Myrtle Beach SC are all in the running. I just have to watch the weather and see which one is going to work out best. I asked son Tim if he and the family wanted to join me in Myrtle Beach on my last weekend out, and he is conferring with Gretchen and will get back to me; I hope that works out, it will be fun to have the kidlets in the camper again. I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since our DisneyWorld visit in 2011.

Time to crochet and bed.

Wednesday February 15, 2012

I could see by the activity in the campground this morning that a lot of people would be leaving, including 3 of my immediate neighbors. When my neighbors to the right pulled their big bus out I could not believe the pile of soft sand they were sitting on. This sand makes my campsite at Orlando TT look good. I don’t know how this bus got in or out of that site! The good news is, no one pulled in there, and I betcha it will stay empty as it looks awful.

Next stop this morning was to Janey the hairdresser. What a nice lady and what a great haircut Ginnie and I got. My blonde hair is all gone except for a little on the top, and actually, it looks good like this!!!! Janey and her husband are full time winter residents. Ed runs the religious ministry at the campground. Janey only really cuts hair for her friends, but she knew the other hairdresser was on her week out, so that’s why she agreed to do ours. She would do more, but she is diabetic, and really has trouble with her feet and can’t stand too long. She and Ed are saddened by what they see as the slow demise of TT Wauchula. It’s like someone put the budget screws to the campground; staff got fired, activities got cut, garbage doesn’t get picked up as often, roads need work, etc.,etc. It sounds like TT Orlando!! Something is going on here. It will be interesting to spend time at their sister Encore resort to see what the difference is.

Ginnie’s George was not good this morning. She had to carry him outside to pee. He ate laying down. She got a 2:00 appointment with another new vet highly recommended by a fellow camper (remember Linda from TT Orlando – we went to dinner with her at Miller Ale House). She knows someone who knows someone etc. At least this vet could run his own bloodwork without sending it out. I told her either me or Kathy needed to go with her, and I went. Over the river and thru the woods on back country Florida roads once more. I saw more beautiful orange groves today than I possibly thought could exist on our way to Lake Wales. We passed the World Headquarters of Florida’s Natural Orange Juice – what a big place. We saw smoke from a fire (picture herein) we suspect was a controlled fire, but still those things are scary. We got lost along the way, Ginnie’s Magellan is worse than Garmina and turned us the wrong way on the last road. 50 miles, 1 hour, and we were at a beautiful facility, very professional looking, and they took George in almost immediately. A. Fleet Ryland, Veterinarian. Now what kind of name is A. Fleet? Do you look at your baby in the cradle and come up with that name? Or is it a family name. He was wonderful, everything you want in a vet. He was loving with George, and quickly checked Linus as well (forgot to mention he came with us.) His first thought after quickly looking at George and his white gums and white ears and jet black stool sample and asked if we had any idea if George ate rat poison as that is what his symptoms presented. Huh? His quick blood work showed a hematocrit of 8, normal is 40. Huh? That says to this nancy nurse that he has been bleeding for a while. The vet stopped questioning and treated the symptoms – Vitamin K to stop the bleeding and a blood transfusion. Looking at George’s blood they could see immature red blood cells, so his body was trying to produce new cells. While he might be allergic to the antibiotic he’s been taking, or having a very bad reaction to the anti inflammatory the best guess of all the MDs at this facility is rat poison. Yuck. They have a greyhound blood donor on call and he was available and would be right over. Huh? More questions about where he’s been, was Linus sick, did he eat, and, most of all, is there a possibility he ate rat poison. Now George eats grass and licks the dirt. His physical stature is so low to the ground he is constantly picking up stuff in his mouth. Anything is possible. While he is always leashed, who knows who occupied the campsites before Ginnie did and what he might have eaten.

The vet told us to leave George overnight, a very very very tough thing for Ginnie to do, but she was comfortable enough with this facility to do that. Until she asked if someone was at the clinic overnight and was told NO, but George would be safe. A. Fleet wants to get him in better shape then approach the other issues he may have, his malaise since October, and difficulty walking. A fine approach. As Ginnie says, she doesn’t want to put a bandaid on a gunshot wound and expect complete recovery. Let’s fix the immediate danger and work from there. It was a quiet, reflective drive back to Wauchula, but Ginnie’s head is in a good place about her beloved George.

Kathy E took good care of Winston while I was gone. She got him out of his crate and let him run around Ginnie’s fenced yard. We all had a stiff drink and Kathy made us a wonderful dinner. Poor Ginnie fell asleep on the floor before we could leave.

The vet called at 5, just before he was heading out for the day telling Ginnie the transfusion was complete. George was up walking around, went outside, peed and pooped, and was actually a little frisky. A big sigh came out of all of us. He’ll call us in the morning and figure out the next step.

I’m tired. Time to watch the season premier of Survivor. I will get up early tomorrow morning and get to the internet room so I can finally post this very long blog. Thanks for reading.

Kat out

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