Travels with Snowbirds, Wednesday January 16 2013 Bushnell FL to Tampa, FL

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Tuesday January 15, 2013, Florilow Oaks, Bushnell, FL

I am sitting here writing on Wednesday. I did not write Tuesday night. It was a wonderfully boring day. The only thing of note I/we did was have a wonderful breakfast made by dear friend, Judy C. Fresh squeezed OJ, blueberry muffins, and breakfast casserole of eggs, turkey sausage, hash browns, cheese. It was sooooo yummy. Thanks, Judy. Also of note is a new friend, Karen, had a bark control apparatus she wasn’t using, and she gave it to me to try and potentially buy. It emits a high powered noise when dogs bark, yet unheard by humans. Runs on a 9V battery, and sits on the counter, or hangs on hooks on the wall. I did NOTHING. NOTHING for the rest of the day. I did not go out, so I could not try out the new anti-bark gizmo. I took a nap, and that ruined me for sleep, but I survived.



Wednesday January 16, 2013, Bushnell FL to Florida State Fair Grounds, Tampa, FL

The One About the New Campsite.

Today started out like any other day on my trip, up, get dressed, walk Winston. The Florilow site I am in had no sewer hookup. That means short or no showers, or go to the common bathhouse, and I opted just to wash in the sink this morning. Coffee, Donuts, Social at 9:15 where I said hi to so many old friends, and met some new ones as well. There are lots of new faces in the park, and I am happy that some younger, new owners are making their homes there.

Ginnie came running over around 11; her cousin Malcolm called, and he, like us, had been denied a site at the RV show, but he took a chance this morning and arrived bright and early. He was greeted with something like, “Were glad you came. We had so many cancellations due to the flu we have plenty of spaces!!!” Being a good guy, he called us. We immediately made the decision to break camp and head south to Tampa. BUT, we hadn’t gone to the local orange farm stand, so we zoomed there and back; I bought 5 pounds or juice oranges for $5. I am happyI brought my electric juicer with me!!! Can’t wait to have some!

I said goodbye to Judy C and then looked for Karen to make her an offer to buy the gizmo. She was not home. I left a check with Judy C and hope Karen likes the offer I made for it!!!

The hardest part of breaking camp for me is my new rug. It is so big and unwieldy. Being on top of the sand, it is a mess. It must be swept, folded and stowed in the form fitting case. Not easy to do by myself, especially without a picnic table to put it on while putting it in the case. I love the fact that it is so big, 9x12, but it sure is tough for this old nana to manage. But then I look at what Ginnie does, and she is superwoman. She has this elaborate arrangement of wire fences and a gate that she puts up on the side of her rig to contain the dogs. Then she has to hook up her car to the back of her RV, also tough heavy work.

A quick stop for gas ($104 worth at $3.299/gallon. FRAK!!)

Down I75 with a quick stop at a rest area to figure out where the heck we were going, and we arrived around 2:30 or so. It was like they knew we were coming. “Are you with Richardson??” Yes. “Good, we’ve been waiting for you!!” We were escorted to our site and there were 2 spaces next to Malcolm left open for us. Amazing. From being refused a space because they were sold out, to having 2 spaces held for us!!! As I look around I can see that attendance in the camping area is down from 2012. We are 3 or 4 rows closer than we were last year, and not so many came in after us.

The FRVTA (Florida RV Trade Association) is the RV industry trade association for the state of Florida, of course. This includes RV dealers, vendors, campgrounds, on and on and on. This is the largest RV show in FL and certainly the largest one I have ever seen. It is about 4 times as big as the one in Hershey. It is held at the Florida State Fairgrounds. In the fairgrounds is a Tractor Trailer driving school. The campground is set up in that area. As you might figure out, there are lots of roads and turns in this area, railroad crossings, bumps, mud holes, all kinds of training exercise areas for the 18 wheeler trainee. The area is HUGE. I have no way of telling how many RVs are here, but all are crammed in close to each other. There easily could be 1000 rigs, I have no way of telling, but suspect they will tell us at one of the nightly entertainments. When the Big Class As put out their awnings and slides, they are on top of their neighbor. But, who cares, it is just such a fun environment. Most people come with their friends, so no one minds how close you are to each other. Ginnie is on one side of me, and a small Class B is on the other side. I met this neighbor, a recent widow traveling for the first time alone with some friends from marriage who forced her to come, and she is determined to have a great time. She has a Maltese that never goes outside. She has a pen for him that she sets up next to her rig, canvas and screen, kind of like a play pen, that she lays newspapers down in and dog does her business there. She can put the dog outside in a chair and the dog will not move. I think I got the wrong type of dog…….It looks like they reserved this tiny corner of the yard for small rigs, as other than Ginnie’s class A, my Class C is the next biggest at 21 feet. It’s nice to KNOW that my antenna will be high enough to be over the surrounding rigs and ensure that I get a good signal!!! The front of my rig is on a paved road, the back is on grass. The grassy area looks like it floods. I sure hope it doesn’t rain, it will be some mess.

When you get assigned a site, the electrician comes up and makes a connection to the electric lines laid down behind the rigs, and tests for power. These lines go to the hugest generators I have ever seen, and I thank God, once again I am nowhere near them. They are on wheels as big as car tires, and my estimate is they are 7 or 8 foot cubes. They take up a full campsite and make a tremendous amount of noise. So lucky not to be near them, so lucky.

Dogs are everywhere. All shapes, all sizes, so I will not feel bad about leaving barky Winston alone in the rig. I still have not really tested the anti bark gizmo.

Ginnie and I were hoping to call the RV washer as soon as we got here and sign him up to wash and wax our rigs, but his card was not in our material, so maybe he didn’t come this year. Poo Poo, as he was cheap and did an awesome job.

No internet service here, so I will test out my mobile hot spot for sure when I upload today’s blog. I can see a wifi signal from HardRock Casino right across I4 from me, but can’t log onto it. Great TV service, I have over 50 air channels, many of them Latino, but great reception!!!! I downloaded the NBC, ABC, CBS, Lifetime and Syfy Apps to my iPhone and managed to catch up on GH, NCIS, and Vegas. Technology is a wonderful thing.

Supposed to be a little cooler tomorrow, I hope it is less than today’s 85, we have lots of walking and RV viewing to do.

Kat Out.

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