Tuesday November 1st 2022

Communities in the local area are experiencing record high temperatures. Here it was in the upper eighties near ninety, but did not set any record. The day began very humid with low cloud cover that was almost fog. The temperature didn’t start to climb until the sun broke through the clouds near the noon hour. It went up fast from noon onward.

My first stop of the day was at Camping World in Kissimmee. I don’t need anything specific. This is one of the bigger stores, so it is interesting to check out various items that I might need. Nothing crossed the threshold from don’t need to need today. I looked at replacing my outdoor chairs with newer more comfortable units, but the ones I have are fine for now. A similar though process when through my mind looking at new grills. There is always the possibility I’ll be back before I leave this area.

While I was out I took note of the gas prices. Despite the fact that the gas stations are required to collect the twenty five cents per gallon state take again starting today, the price didn’t go up twenty five cents overnight. There were various increases ranging from a couple of cents to the full twenty five cents of more. The average increase seemed to be about ten cents a gallon. This would seem to prove that the gas retailers did not pass on the full twenty five cents per gallon tax savings during the state moratorium to the consumer. Unless you believe they are eating the extra expense today so they don’t cause a price increase panic in the consumer.

My second stop of the day was for groceries. I chose to stop at a Walmart in the resort area. Since the store is near Disney and often frequented by tourists, it has a little different focus. The most obvious difference is the big area in the clothing section that is dedicated to Disney logo merchandise. The differences in the grocery section are more subtle. The emphasis on snacks, prepared food, and frozen foods is greater than at most Walmart stores. They do this by making sure all of these types of “easy” foods are quick to find and available in sufficient quantities. If I had any doubt, the contents of the carriage checking out in front of me was added proof. The lady was clearly stocking up a vacation rental. Snack foods, frozen pizza, Clorox wipes, bottled water and a few Disney T-shirts dominated the contents of the cart. It was a long wait.

On my walk around the RV park this afternoon I encountered a new species of bird. Peafowl have joined the ducks and Sandhill Cranes. I believe there was one Peacock and several Peahens wandering between the RVs. Without an elaborate plumage displace by the male I can’t be sure there was a Peacock in the mix, but one of the group was a little more colorful than the rest.