Travels with Snowbirds, Thursday January 26 to Wednesday February 1, 2017 Thousand Trails RV Resort, Clermont, FL

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My happy winter home. I really like it here, and feel very comfortable. I like my campsite, I have a great view of the interior roads, the farm, and the sky. All is well in the world for me right now. I have one more week to go before I head home. I don’t know if I like this shortened version of my Snowbird trip at all, though. I will be sad to leave.

Our elderly, sick neighbor has had the visiting nurse visit him several times, and today I saw someone bring him groceries. All is quiet all the time at his rig. Scary.

Ginnie, Kim, Judy and Larry went to the Amway Center to see Billy Joel on Saturday night. They said, despite the nosebleed seats, it was an awesome show. Kathy and I went to the movies to see LaLaLand. 14 Academy Awards? Really? Hmmmmmm, I don’t think so. Those who know me how much I like musical theatre, and how much I like tap dancing. (to watch, not to do). I loved all that; I loved the costumes, I liked the story, I loved Ryan, not so much Emma (someone with a tiny bit more singing talent, pullllease) and I hated the ending. I know it was the only way it could have ended, I get that, but I hated it. For the rest of our date night we tried to find a Mexican Restaurant via Garmina. She led us there, but it was mobbed. We then settled on Moes. Good, but let down.

Arriving home, Kathy entered her rig and was met with a rotten egg smell. It was really nasty. I helped her search all her drawers and compartments for that elusive dead mouse I knew was there. The holding tanks were empty so it couldn’t be that. I knelt on her entry stairs and they were HOT!!. I asked her what was under the steps, she replied the batteries. Upon opening the compartment, one of the 2 house batteries was steaming. After a brief facetime conversation with a very smart man who knows all about batteries, he told us the battery was boiling from overcharging. The battery kill switch was immediately flipped, which turns off all 12V power to the entire coach, but since she was plugged into electricity, all was good and still worked. She couldn’t sleep in her house as it smelled so bad, so, she brought her blanket, pillow, and dog and slept on my made up dinette. It was quite a date, ending with a sleepover. She already had an appointment for Friday for another repair, which we now realize is related to the battery issue. She spoke to the service tech and he said he would replace both batteries, under warranty, and check the entire charging system and hoped to diagnose and repair and have her on her way quickly. Boy the smell was really bad.

Poor Judy had a bad week. She was walking her dog, Miss B, near my rig. Winston and Miss B lunged at each other as dogs do (Winston was attached to Moya via his long lead) and Judy’s legs got tangled in Miss B’s leash and she went down with a thud. I heard it, didn’t see it. She came up easily, but her hat was akimbo and her glasses were twisted, but all that was hurt was her pride. Her husband Larry presented me and Kathy with a treat this morning, donuts from the amazing donut shop up the road a piece. Chocolate frosted was HUGE and my tummy was happy. Larry’s a good guy. He helps us all out with our mechanical issues all the time, with a smile on his face.

Kim is having issues with her RV as well, a clicking sound is coming from behind the refrigerator and her lights are hissing. She has a mobile RV mechanic coming tomorrow.

I lost my iPhone. What a day Sunday was. Kim took me to Wal-Mart. I always use a scooter there, as things I want are all over the store, and my knee hurts by the time I am done. When I got to checkout, I was 4^th in line. I called Kim, who was already checked out, told her I would be a while. After I paid, I put all my bags into her cart and we headed for her car. Back at the campground I put my groceries away and continued making the spaghetti sauce I had started earlier. I looked for my phone, nowhere to be found. I tried to hook my iPad up to the mobile hotspot, phone not in area. Frak. I sought out Kathy and used her phone to call Wal-Mart, no one had turned an iPhone in. Frak. Kim has an unlimited data plan on her phone, she came over, I hooked my iPad up to her hotspot (one very big negative about my favorite campground is their lack of good wifi. It sucks!! It is for pay and it is awful. I didn’t subscribe, I figured I would just buy more data from Verizon.) I turned on “Find My iPhone” app and there was my phone, moving east on Erlo Bronson Highway!!! Kim called it, no answer. Of course. She decided we would follow it, and then we agreed that was probably not the best idea. I locked the phone using the app, but didn’t erase all the data, as I would not be able to track it if I erased it. It had stopped moving at a gas station. We went to the Verizon (reseller) store up the road. I have been there before, and bought a phone there phones ago. There was nobody there. I was a basket case, and just asked someone to help me, my iPhone was on the move and I didn’t know what to do. Super salesman Faysal came to my rescue. He told me I had to buy a new phone. Once the data was transferred to the new phone, the old one would be unusable, and since I had it locked it was safe. I really was not concerned about my data, I have touch ID on all my important stuff, and double passwords and secret questions on others. Old iPhone 6S was a beautiful Rose Gold thing with a beautiful purple and blue Lifeproof case. Options on new Iphone 7, black 32 gig or black 128 gig. No 64 gig – not made. Growl. I opted for the 32 gig as all my photos and docs go directly to Google. Hope I didn’t make a big bad mistake. I don’t download music or movies to my phone. Keeping my fingers crossed. No lifeproof cases. Frak. Super salesman Faysal told me the Iphone 7 is ‘water resistant’. All I really needed was a glass screen protector and one of any number of shock resistant cases. I believed him and opted for a lavender serviceable plastic case. Total for them, $80. He transferred my email and contacts quickly, but by this time the store was filled up with people waiting, so no apps got transferred. I could go home and do it via iTunes…..yeah, right. You need wifi to do that. But, anyway, I got a phone. Iphone 6 was still dark. He told me to check it several times a day, and if it turns on, call the police, but it was probably on its way to China already. Big bad black market on Iphone 6s. He said Wal-Mart is a hot bed of Iphone theft. The baddies don’t want Samsung or any kind of droid phone, they just want iPhones. They troll the store looking for people using them and pick pockets. They are called Apple Pickers. Now, those of you who know me know I keep my phone in my bra. If not in my bra, it is in my pocketbook. My pocketbook is never in the basket, it is slung cross body and on me all the time. When I hung up the phone from talking to Kim, I was ready to pay, I thought I slipped the phone into my bag while getting my wallet out. I don’t know what happened but it does make me feel good to know it might have been stolen. So, what did it cost me. I owed $275 on the one year left on the two year lease. I was over the threshold of being under water for it, and I cancelled the insurance earlier in January. It cost me no more because I didn’t have insurance. If I find and return the lost phone, I will get the $275 refunded. If not returned in 45 days, it will be billed on my monthly statement. Not a nice bill to be added at this time of year, for sure, but it was as good as it could have been. From discovering the phone was missing until I was back home in Moya, total time, just under 2 hours. I bought a pack of cigarettes on the way home. Kim stayed with me for a bit, and I downloaded a few key apps, Bank of America, weatherbug, AMEX, FaceBook, Pinterest, etc., etc. Faysal told me not to do anything about my 4gig data plan. Once I ran out, I would still get wifi, it would just be slower. He suggested I wait until I run out, see how fast it goes, then decide if I need to buy another gig or 2 until my billing date of 2/15. I can surely try that. Nothing could be slower than the cellular service I have right now. I usually turn LTE off when I travel; it seems to me it uses twice as much data. But 3G here where I am situated in the campground SUCKS!! Sooo slow. 64 TV antenna channels, lousy cell signal.

Food Trucks have arrived at the campground. The gossip is that the manager couldn’t find anyone to run the kitchen for the winter season. He found a company that manages Food Trucks and 5 different ones come twice a week. Monday night, before Bingo, and Saturday night, before the entertainment. (Last weekend’s entertainment was Faux Frank Sinatra and Faux Marilyn Monroe. I opted to stay home. Next weekend’s is Faux Neil Diamond and I have not decided whether to go or not. The others went and said it was good.) I have tried the food trucks twice; first time pulled pork Mac and Cheese was really good and filling. $10. I thought that was a little expensive for the portion size, but it filled me up. The second time I had a mushroom burger that rivaled PT’s Grille from home. So greasy it streamed down my arms. Great bread, wonderful fresh mushrooms, huge patty cooked perfectly. $9 and I was happy. There has also been a lobster truck, soft ice cream, and tacos. All offer drinks and fries, etc. I hope it works out and they continue to come.

Bingo was Monday night. Cost $11 for enough cards to keep me busy. I didn’t win, neither did Ginnie. Several people at our table did, though. Biggest prize was $275, I think. I was cranky crabby – the room was hot and overcrowded, and the caller was very slow. The balls are timed; he just made so many mistakes the evening dragged on.

The weather has been cool! Once the rain came over the weekend, the daytime temp dropped 20 degrees. Monday night it went below freezing, and Tuesday night it was low 40s. It’s supposed to get gradually warmer for the next week. Nice.

I have been riding my bike in the early morning with Winston. It is gorgeous then, just cool. The farm fields are mist covered, and the hot air balloons are gently floating. Best time of day.

So, I lost my pictures on my phone, well, not really lost I just need to restore them from Google or iCloud, and I don’t think I will have anything to post with this blog. Let it be a surprise.



Kat Out

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