Travels with Snowbirds, Wednesday February 6 and Friday February 7, 2013, Palm Harbor to Old Mill Stream RV Resort, Umatilla, FL

---

It is always bittersweet to leave Valerie and Bill’s lovely home. It is good catching up with them, eating great food, doing fun stuff, sleeping in a level bed, using a HUGE shower, and being in a dog friendly environment, but more adventures wait for me just down the road, around the next corner. I was on the road before 9 with 2 MUST stops on my list. Radio Shack to buy the ipod to radio connection cord and groceries. If no radio shack, then Wal-Mart.

I traveled over roads I have been on before, north and east waving at Maureen as I passed Holiday, then to I75 past Bushnel, waving to Judy C and Trena at Florilow Oaks. I easily found a Radio Shack in a strip mall. This was something new for me and (Serenity, KatWinn, or Moya – I still can’t decide which name – I like all, looking for your input, please – I love KatWinn, but it sounds like I love myself a lot, too. She is my serene place, I love that Nathan Fillion TV show, Firefly, and its wandering mercenary starship, Serenity, but I don’t have a thieving bone in my body. That brings up another interesting name, Moya, Farscape’s living starship, which has that Irish sound I have been looking for……Decisions, decisions, decisions. One more day and I will decide). Into the strip mall I turn and encounter lots of low slung Spanish moss hanging from low branched Live Oaks. No avoiding the dragging on the roof. I take up four spaces; spend $14 on a neon green 3 foot cord that works like a champ. I tried to grab a handful of almonds and dried fruit for my breakfast. ANTS. Expletive deleted. I wipe with Clorox wipes one more time and settle on cereal. Waving at Gail and Mike Esperto and thinking of Sue Kuffler and Linda Jacobsen (all Mineola HS classmates who I have visited with in this area) I make it easily to the Publix I remember near Umatilla. Turning in, I follow the signs to TRUCK PARKING, as the front lot looked very crowded. 30 yards down the alley behind the store, ROAD CLOSED – PAVING. I had to back up. Thank goodness for my rear view RV. It was easy, but I was nervous. I did a big grocery shop, and easily completed the remaining 6 miles to Old Mill Stream RV Resort. This is a first class campground; Showbirds galore in their beautiful Class As and large glamorous 5^th Wheels in sites that appear to be full season rentals. $27/night for my site in the rally area. I do not know what the regular overnight spot costs, and I am not sure there are that many available. I saw activities galore, a beautiful pool, large dog park equipped with agility training obstacles lake front and large rec hall. Herschell escorted me to the rally area, and selected my site for me along the fence with a view of SR19 out my front window, a fellow campter to my left, and the path thru the fence to the right. I am out in the sun, no trees, which is nice for a change. Eeven though it is within earshot of busy SR19, it is fenced off with nicely manicured flat grassy sites, paved roads, and our own clubhouse/bathhouse. In total there are 27 MidLows here, quite a large group. I know there would have been more, but there is a dog limit to 40 pounds non aggressive breeds. I find that fascinating, as it’s not the breed that causes aggression, but the owner. The office was busy, I had to wait my turn, and I looked around and saw the campground map. Only then did I realize that most of the resort is NO PETS ALLOWED. Only the Rally area and 2 or 3 streets surrounding the dog part permit pets in the units or even on the roads!!!! Wow!!! Do you think I could keep those people from walking thru the rally area and my dog causing him to bark????? There is water and electric at each campsite, free wifi which went down Thursday night and is not yet back as I write this.

Happy Hour is always fun, we introduce ourselves and generally catch up and here what’s going on for the weekend. We will be having a Valentine’s party, playing games, visiting a Car Museum and County Park, eating out, and just enjoying each others company.

Kathy and I had no interest in the Car Museum outing, we opted for a trip on our own to nearby Mt. Dora, which actually is very hilly. It is a New Hope kind of town, lots of cute shops and eateries with interesting Victorian type homes as well as new modern residences. I think this Lake County area is the prettiest in this part of the state. Lots of rolling hills, trees, and green grass. It’s so far north, the orange groves are not as plentiful as you see further south, but there is an orange processing plant nearby. Kathy said she smelled Orange Blossoms early in the morning; I smelled manure. It was fun riding in Kathy’s red Fiat convertible with the top down, Thelma and Louise on a road trip. We found a wild orange tree down a back road, and I might have appropriated one orange, so much for non thieving, huh? It was hard outside and very fibrous and pitty inside. I did not taste it.

Verizon was NOT my friend Thursday. My ‘new’ plan, $60 for 2Gig data is really not working out; I will go over before my month is up. I called them to see what would happen if I went over. I would automatically be charged $15 for another 1 Gig if I went over. Another option was $70 plan for 4 Gig. I asked if I could go back on my old plan, which was what the rep told me I could do when I switched to this plan. After about 20 minutes arguing, I had to give up. My plan was $29 for unlimited calls, data, text, and grandfathered in from my previous smart phone. In order to add the mobile hot spot to this plan, it cost me $20/month, and would give me 1Gig. I kept that plan for a bit, then asked for more data, and was advised to change my plan to the $60/month. It seems I had 14 days to revert to my $29 plan. It has been 21 days. The ‘code’ for that plan is so old, once it disappears from my customer profile, after 14 days, it cannot be put in as it does not exist in an index to draw it from. I was not happy at all. I do believe this will all go away when I get back to ILM and use my home wifi, but how annoying. I feel scammed. About an hour after I made this change I got a pre recorded customer survey, and Verizon is very clever in its wording. They asked me if the customer service rep was courteous, knowledgeable, and resolved my problem; rate him 1 to 10d. I gave him 9, as he did his job excellently with the utmost respect, but he did not resolve my issue. Giving a 9 led me to the option to comment, which I did. When I get home I will research this whole issue more and see what is going to be the next best option for me. Any suggestions you road warriors?????

I let Winston loose in the rig for the 3 hours I was gone, and that was a big mistake and the last time I do that. No gory details, but he was a VERY bad boy, and I will not tolerate it any more. The crate came out and now when I leave he goes in it. His bed and comfy throw are in it, and if he wants to sleep he goes in it all by himself. He just barks when I leave him, but that is better than what happens when I leave him uncaged.

I made hamburger soup for Pot Luck dinner. All outdid themselves, and there was plenty of good substantial food with great deserts. Then I prepared the Breakfast Before casserole I volunteered to make for Friday breakfast and watched Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal. HOLY COW! I never expected that last minute twist on Scandal; it could be my new most favorite show.

It rained while I was at dinner. My roof vents were open. It rained on my floor and Winston who was under it. While it was not dog related, it was messy and required 2 towels to sop up. One of the first additions I will make is vent covers which will allow me to keep the vents open and the rain and leaves out.

Kat out

---