Friday October 2nd 2020

I drove up to the Camping World store on Interstate 4 east of Tampa today. They had the 32 inch wiper blades I needed to replace my old shredded set. I also found a replacement Carbon Monoxide and Propane gas detector for my RV home. My current detector reached the five year expiration date last week. It chirps to indicate it needs to be replaced until you reset it. Three days later it repeats the chirping. Eventually, the only way to stop it will be by disconnecting it from the twelve volt power. When I go home I replace the wiper blades. Tomorrow I’ll replace the CO/Propane detector.

The trip up to Tampa was a little more exciting than I needed. Traffic on Interstate 75 between here and Tampa was very heavy. Each of the three or four lanes of travel was full of cars. I was in a middle lane with cars on both sides. A squarish brown thing came bouncing down the highway between lanes in front of me and then into my lane. I had nowhere to go but right into and over it. I believe it was a sofa cushion or pillow. It hit the front of my SUV and went under the car. It looked like blue foam rubber in the rear view mirror. So far, I haven’t found any damage. I still need to crawl under the vehicle and look more closely. Everything happened quickly. Somehow I knew it wasn’t a very dense object by the way it was bouncing, but it still wasn’t a fun experience.

Back at Lake Manatee State Park this afternoon the park has filled up for the weekend. Tents, tent trailers and small travel trailers stated showing up Thursday afternoon. Tonight most of the sites are occupied by people exhibiting all the characteristics of weekenders not travelers. They have plenty of toys like kayaks and bikes and they gather around smoky campfires. The sleepy campground has turned into a hub of activity. Now if the four dachshunds at the next site would stop barking every time I step out of my RV, it would be a peaceful weekend.