Travels with Snowbirds 2012 Tampa to Webster

---

---

Sunday January 15, 2012

Tampa RV Rally to Webster, FL

Last night’s entertainment was excellent. Ron and Kay Rivoli are a musical RV duo who travel across the country performing at Rallys, RVs being one type. From their web site, it looks like they have also done work for Sarah Palin. Uh huh. Kay writes the words to the songs, many of which are new words to familiar melodies, (such as Tom Jones’ Delilah) but she also writes the melody as well for other songs. Ron sings, plays the guitar and tells very funny ‘on the road’ stories. There most popular song is “Press One for English” which I suggest you all watch thru this youtube link. Bet you will laugh your butts off. If for some reason the link doesn’t work, search youtube for PRESS ONE FOR ENGLISH, and it will be the first entry – it has over 14 million hits, so guess it is pretty popular.

Even though Ron and Kay switched to gospel music as Sunday morning’s entertainment, in lieu of church services, I just didn’t want to walk so far again, so while the others went off, I stayed and cleaned the inside of my rig, even got some of those hard to reach places, and vacuumed everything in sight. It was kind of fun watching everyone pack up their rigs and take off. We learned that there were 786 rigs this year, about 70 more than last year. This was a really fun rally and RV show, and I will definitely join Ginnie and Malcolm next year and hope we can convince some more of our traveling RV friends to join us. I liked the camaraderie, the wonderful RVs, the junk food (yes Judy B there were several Kettle Korn vendors, but I didn’t get any; popcorn really bothers my stomach.) and watching all 5 animals get along so well. Even though I like all the people I went with a whole lot, I thought our RVs were packed in a little too tight. I managed to not run out of water, and did not fill up either grey or black water holding tanks, but it’s getting close to the time where I really need to dump. I had some great conversations with fellow RVers and vendors – it was a really good time.

Judi C went on her way back to Florilow Oaks and we headed northeast, leaving around noon, passing right by the casino. My RV kept pulling me towards the parking lot…I had a $1.40 voucher that I never turned in……but when I saw the parking lot was overcrowded, I kept right on going, knowing Malcolm and Ginnie would have missed me.

I saw that Ginnie and Malcolm were using walkie talkies, so I got mine out and joined them.

Up I75 a few miles to the Flying J. As Flying Js go, this one was small. All aisles were filled, and I had to wait. I pulled up behind a white pickup hauling a white trailer and waited. And waited. AND WAITED. I got out and looked, and there was no one in this unit. Growl. I pulled up as close as I could to him, (after all, this had to be a man, who would leave vehicles for so long in such a busy place blocking a pump but a man) but not enough for the hose at my pump to reach my gas tank. GROWL. After 15 minutes, the stereotypical red neck family came out, (use your imagination to fill in the picture of a red neck family of 3) carrying bags of who knows what. BAGS! Then, he started to fill with gas. I went over to him and asked him if he could please move up about 2 feet before he started filling so I could reach the pump and fill mine. He said, “Sure, Ma’am,” then didn’t. When he was FINALLY finished, he looked at me and remembered that he had forgot, and quickly started his procession out of Flying J. Finally back on the road to the Cracker Barrel just up the road a few miles. When I saw the parking lot, I knew this was not the place for me to turn into, no space. I watched Malcolm and Ginnie turn in – they both are around 30 feet and tow a car. It took them some time to circumnavigate the parking lot while I looked for alternatives; the hotel next door held the overflow but there wasn’t room for the 3 of us large rigs. Next stop Outback, right next door. Malcolm went around front of Outback and was stuck behind a ‘bus’ type RV towing a car that couldn’t fit around the loop in the front of the restaurant. He was smack up against a car parked in the handicap space. He had to unhook his car, back that up (you can’t backup any RV if you are towing a car) he backed up a little, got off the car, and went up the road and parked on the street. Ginnie and I parked in the back lot and got a table while Malcolm waited for all to move and park himself up the street by the bus RV. Quite a scene! Outback special steak and Caesar salad was wonderful and worth the effort. Winston barked the entire time, I am sure, as my formerly clean windows were full of doggie spittle.

Back on the road to Webster where we are 3 of the 5 RVs parked in the lot. It was right next to the lot that Judy and I parked in last week. Malcolm wanted this lot because this owner charged $12/night, vs the one we were in who charged $15, which I thought was $10 but didn’t say anything. This owner came over and remembered them, but was sad to inform us he had increased his rate to $15 this year. (Judy B, this lot is about .2 miles down the road closer to US301 than where we were, same side street.) I saw that the owner also has a ‘used tool store’ and asked him if he had a level I could use, he brought me back a slick tool, I am assuming from is used tool inventory, and I marked level lines on the outside of my rig to put my new bubble levels. We sat in the quickly lowering sun for an abbreviated happy hour, which replaced dinner – we for sure didn’t need a thing to eat after Outback. When the sun goes down the temperature quickly drops 15 degrees, so I went back into my rig. Ginnie turned on her generator, which I quickly realized was right outside my window, so I backed up about 20 feet to escape the noise and fumes. Then I joined her for a few minutes and looked at her beautiful pictures from her RV trip to Michigan and Wisconsin this past summer. I never knew the Great Lakes were so clear and even Caribbean blue in spots. Her pictures of Mackinac (?spelling?) Island were wonderful. Back to my RV and turned on my generator for a bit, and my carbon monoxide detector promptly went off. Open the windows, remove battery from detector, and here I sit watching the Golden Globes on my 12 volt TV. Winston is so passed out in his bed, and when that noise went off both he and I jumped a foot. There is a gentle breeze, it must be the way the wind is blowing that pushed the exhaust right back into the rig, I have never had that problem before. Thank goodness it went off, right?

One last quickie. I stowed the walkie talkie, obviously without turning it off. About 5 minutes after the CO detector incident, I could hear Malcolm’s voice coming from the overhead cabinet just above my head as I sit here at the table. Jump again, then I laughed at my silly self when I realized what I had done. Ah, to be anything but an old senior, I really am losing my mind some days.

Can’t wait to hit the flea market again, they say this particular Monday will be a very large event due to the MLK holiday. Oranges, strawberries, fresh baked goodies, yummy.

Kat out

---