Travels with Snowbirds Tuesday February 5, 2013, Palm Harbor, FL

---

Tuesday February 5, 2013, Palm Harbor, FL

The one about naming The Vista

Corners. Thanks ILM Newcomer’s friend, Martha L for answering the corners question. I am so humbled and honored to know that people actually read and take the time to respond!! Here is her answer:

<em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I thought what an interesting conversation with handsome rich biker man. I asked (husband) Rob what does <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">corners mean, he said on a motorcycle you lean into corners, and if you corner correctly it is a great feeling!!!! In a motor home Rob says I am sure you feel it lean away from the corner. As you turn a motorcycle it is just the opposite.

I am so excited when I learn something new, and I have never heard that used before; biker chick I am certainly NOT!

And, Gina came up with two nominations for names. Diego Winnebago and Vista Victoria. She is on the right track, I love the way those names flow and use my RV brand name. Valerie suggested Chuck-Wagon, another good one. In my head I have something Irish rumbling around. Teagan: Irish form of Welch name meaning ‘beautiful’. Aoife (said Ee-feh, not Ee-fa): I have always been fond of this name since I saw the beautiful large painting in Dublin with Mary Hill, <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Marriage of Aoife and Longbow. I definitely want a female name. Maureen suggested HRH, Her Royal Highness. Gina thinks a more Italian name goes with the vowel ending Vista Winnebago, she suggested Rafaela, Vincenza, and Josephina, while Roberta suggested Winifred. Please keep the suggestions coming. Spelling Winnifred with 2 Ns, Winnifred Winnebago, that could be the front runner right now, but I am still researching Irish names.

Val and I went to the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg today to see the Titanic Artifact Exhibition. What a nice exhibit it was! Small, but beautiful artifacts beautifully displayed in their plexi-glass hermetically sealed and alarmed vaults illuminated with low light. Valerie and I opted for the $5 extra ‘audio’ tour and we held our wands up to our ears at every number posted. It took about 1 ¼ hours. Part of their shtick is giving you a boarding pass with a passengers name and a short bio about them and their traveling circumstances. I was given Mrs. Edward Ford (Margaret Ann Watson) a 3^rd class passenger boarding in Southhampton leaving her already deserter husband to start a better life in America. She took all four children, pregnant with her fifth. The very last room you tour has 3 large posters displaying the list of all classes of passengers sorted into survivors and non survivors. Margaret and her entire family perished. Valerie was given Dona Fermina Oliva y Ocana, (Maria and her servant) who, with her husband were returning to Madrid from a 2 year honeymoon, but when they heard about the Titanic, they decided to continue their voyage. They survived. Third class passage cost $35, today’s cost about $620. First class went from $1250 $62K by today’s standards. Wow

I have been battling RV ants for 5 days now. I figured once I left Wauchula they would go away. NOT. They are still hanging around. I find them in my empty Brita dispenser and Winston’s water bowl. They must be thirsty from all this traveling. I have emptied cabinets, vacuumed dead ones, bought 8 new ant traps, put piles of (20 Mule Team) borax along their path and crossed my fingers and legs. I have googled eradicating ants; traps and borax is the way to go. Spray does no good, never gets the queen, just kills those you spray (and in my mind leaves a sticky residue). I do not believe there is a queen in my rig, they live in the dirt mounds, and my new RV is NOT dirt.

Dinner tonight at the Thirsty Marlin, a Palm Harbor favorite by the looks of the crowd there tonight. $1 Sushi, I had 2 pieces of Arizona roll, and Fish Tacos served with beans and rice, which were some of the best fish tacos I have ever had. Key Lime Pie and a Margarita finished me up. An awesome dinner, thanks Val, thanks, Bill.

Winston is now doing well in the crate. He still goes after the cats that live here, and got swiped on the nose two times by resident Bailey, but that doesn’t deter him from going after them.

On the road tomorrow about 120 miles north and east to Umatilla, meeting up with Kathy at a Loners on Wheels campout. I am going to go read, well, not read, but page thru my 1.25 inch thick owners manual. It’s about time I did that.

Kat Out

---