Sunday September 29th 2024

Hurricane Helene passed by this area without any significant impact late Thursday. The local TV stations on this campgrounds cable system are from the Tampa area. They provided detailed coverage on all the negative impact of the storm along the gulf coast. The Orlando TV stations that I watched via the internet were much less dramatic about the impact of the storm. Since the storm passed the weather has been on a bit of a roller coaster. Friday was windy and clear. Saturday was cloudy and rainy. Today was forecast to be similar to Saturday, but turned out to be sunny, hot and humid.

Friday and Saturday I worked on getting my new base camp into move in condition. I got new blinds hung on most of the windows to replace the maroon lace curtains the previous residents left behind. Working with my hands above my head requires taking frequent breaks. The muscles in my shoulders did a lot of screaming. The effort was worth it. The resulting look is much more my style.

I also visited a couple of second hand stores to look for furniture. The stuff I found was too big for my purposes, but was in fairly good condition for a fair price. I am not particularly familiar with stores of this type. There are a few more in the area that I’ll visit this week. It is obviously a matter of luck finding the right thing in these stores.

Today I finally got make another visit to Sea World. I’ve been finding reasons not to go for most of the summer. I thought the weather was going to be great for a visit today. It was too good. I was counting on cooler conditions under an overcast sky. I got mid nineties under a sunny sky.

Sea World was crowded. They were holding a trick or treat event for kids. I think that refocused staff from other roles. There seemed to be fewer shows and interactions with trainers. I saw the dolphin show and the sea lion and otter show. The sea lion and otter show is new since the last time I saw it. The animal skills are the same but the underlying story is entirely different. I like this one better. The lines for the indoor attractions with air conditioning were huge and I didn’t wait. As a result I was very warm and going through a lot of water to keep hydrated. It also caused me to leave earlier than planned. People were still lined up to get into the park when I departed in the mid afternoon. The park was only open until 6PM today.

Thursday September 26th 2024

This is the first blog entry on my new schedule of twice a week entries. I am currently hibernating from the weather in my RV home. Hurricane Helene is moving north in the Gulf of Mexico off the west coast of Florida. Here in central Florida we are under a Tropical Storm warning, but it has been mostly dry all day. The wind has been getting progressively stronger as the day went by. Gusts above 40mph have occurred. An occasional band of rain from the hurricane has been moving through the area since mid afternoon on Wednesday. The most intense band is currently approaching from the southwest with tornado warnings embedded, but the current trajectory of the whole band doesn’t seem to be headed in this specific direction. Everything severe in this area is forecast to be over shortly after midnight.

Since Sunday I have moved the location of my RV home closer to my new base camp. My stay at Lake Magic RV resort concluded on Wednesday. Extending my stay yet again wasn’t possible. I am prepared to shutdown my RV home, nor am I prepared to live in my new base camp. My RV home is now at the Orlando Southwest KOA. I have stayed here many times before. It is nearer my new base camp, so moving food and clothes should be easier.

Just moving my RV home took some effort. I spent all day Tuesday packing and getting the RV ready for travel. It sat in one place for almost six months. This is the longest it has been in one place during its lifetime. Despite my attempts at keeping things decluttered and stowed away, I still had a lot to do. I was also concerned about being able to bring in the slide rooms, so I brought those in on Tuesday evening. That way, I would know if my first task on Wednesday morning was going to be a call to a mobile RV mechanic. Luckily the slides came in without issue. In fact, because of the wind from the nearby hurricane, I have kept the slides in for the last two nights. I’ll put them back out Friday after the wind has passed. It is a lot quieter inside without the slide room toppers flapping in the wind.

As far as moving into my new base camp goes, it is a slow process. I have outfitted the kitchen with enough stuff to cook meals and there is a reasonable supply of food in the house. Furniture wise, I have a couple of outdoor chairs in the living room with a TV table in front of a newly acquired TV. One of six new blinds has been installed, but real furniture like a dinning room table, sofa, recliner and bed remain on the to be acquired or built list. Moving my RV home and the hurricane have slowed progress down a bit.

Sunday September 22nd 2024

I have been living and traveling in my motorhome full time for almost 9 years. Over the last few years my travels have slowed down partially because the motorhome needs some service to restore my confidence in travel and I also enjoy staying in one place for longer periods of time. The bottom line is it is time for a change.

I have purchased a lot with a park model in a gated fifty five plus community in Haines City Florida. The community is fairly active and seems like a good place to establish a base camp for my Rambling Road Trip. The road trip will continue after I get the motorhome serviced. I’ll travel for shorter periods in the state of Florida and for longer trips of several months in duration around North America. Eventually I will down size my motorhome, but continue to travel. I just have a place to return to.

The location is very close to the middle of the Florida peninsula. That makes getting to either coast of Florida easy. Going north and south is also fairly easy as well. The park model I found is not furnished. I looked at several that were furnished, but they were older and the furniture wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. I got a good deal on the place, so I can easily afford to furnish it the way I like it. So far I’ve pretty much got the kitchen ready to go except for a microwave oven.

Furnishing the kitchen was a task of dividing up some of the excess I carried in my RV home along with some stuff I had in the RV’s basement that I kept from my last home for this reason. The rest has come from Amazon, Walmart, Target and Big Lots. The living room and bedrooms are going to be more of a challenge. As an interim bedding solution, I bought an inflatable bed. My plan at the moment is to build a bed and a few end tables over the next few months.

The blog will also be changing. While I am in residence at my new base camp the blog will be published on Sunday night and Thursday night. When I am on the road it will be published daily once again. See you on Thursday.

Saturday September 21st 2024

It is almost Fall. In fact when most people read this it will be. Today’s weather was a bit Florida Fallish. The temperature stayed in the eighties and the humidity was down a bit. The sun was still out most of the time, but a few nice cloud formations did form from time to time.

I need to get back on my Gas price soap box for a paragraph. Yesterday, I noted that the regional gas price roller coaster was at a welcome low point. Today stations seemed to break out of lock step. The stations at the intersection I keep track of had dropped another five cents, but at other intersections not to far away the prices actually went back up a couple of cents. I really don’t know what is going on.

The RV resort had a water problem this morning. They had to turn it off park wide for about three hours while it was repaired. I had water in my tank, so it wasn’t a problem. It is unfortunate that they had an issue on a Saturday when there are more people in the park than there have been in a few months.

The other significant change in the resort is with the water retention “ponds”. The daily rain storms that kept plenty of water in the ponds have slacked off with the arrival of fall. One of the ponds has almost dried out again and the bigger one is much smaller now. The water birds that were enjoying the ponds have mostly moved on.

Friday September 20th 2024

The current weather trend is delightful. The dry weather with a high temperature around 90 degrees with average humidity continues. The sky continues to change as the day goes by. Sometimes it is clear with bright sunshine only to have lots of fluffy clouds a few minutes later. There are even times with heavy threatening clouds, but they don’t result in anything bad.

I got caught on the wrong side of the gas price roller coaster this week. Last weekend the price of regular gas was as low as $2.89 a gallon. When I needed gas on Wednesday, gas was $3.13 at that station and as high as $3.39 at others in the same area. On Thursday, after I bought gas at $3.13, the price was on its way back down. It was $3.09 at that same station. This morning it was $2.99 and this evening it was $2.89 again. What the heck is going on? It will probably be back up when I need gas again.

As suspected the RV resort continued to fill up today. It is definitely RV season in Florida for weekend camping. The nighttime temperature is down in the comfortable range and there are sites available since the snowbirds haven’t arrived yet.

Thursday September 19th 2024

Today’s weather was a repeat of Tuesday and Wednesday. That is a good thing. It was dry and not to hot. The temperature peaked around 90 degrees.

I got a slow start to the day. It was near noon before my energy and motivation level reached a level to leave the RV resort to do some looking around and a few errands. Once again the day wasn’t filled with the most blog entry worth activities. A visit to Walmart for a few non grocery items was the most noteworthy activity of the day.

The RV resort continues to gain residents as fall approaches and the weather gets more comfortable. It is still far from full, but as each weekend approaches the place looks a little more active. Since tomorrow is Friday, I suspect more RVs will arrive to add to the mix.

Wednesday September 18th 2024

Today’s weather was a clone of Tuesday. It was a mostly sunny day with medium humidity and a high temperature around 90 degrees. While the was rain in the area, it was very scattered and didn’t fall where I was.

The highlight of my day was a trip to Disney’s EPCOT for dinner and exercise. My meal tonight came from my old standby favorite the Yorkshire Fish County Fish Shop. The fish and chips were very good tonight. They have been inconsistent the last few visits, but tonight everything was great.

The exercise portion of my visit was the walk in from the parking lot and around the World Showcase before walking back to my car in the parking lot. Along the way I stopped for my fish and chips and to watch tonight’s concert at the American Gardens Arena. The band playing tonight was Foreigners Journey, a cover band for the groups in their name and similar bands of the same era. They’re pretty good, but the music isn’t my style or really anything I’m familiar with.

I didn’t stop for any rides tonight. I focused on taking in the atmosphere and general people watching. It was only a two and half hour visit, but it was fun.

Tuesday September 17th 2024

The weather was pretty nice today. It was partly cloudy all day with medium humidity and a high temperature around 90 degrees. The usual threat of rain later in the day was present all day, but as of this writing at 9:30PM it hasn’t arrived.

Today wasn’t a very blog content worthy day. It was filled with a lot of errands and chores. I did manage to take a couple of nice pictures of flowers blossoming on a very wandering vine like plant. I tried a google photo search to learn the name, but it wasn’t cooperating.

Monday September 16th 2024

This morning was cloudy, humid and relatively comfortable. The afternoon was another story the sun melted most of the clouds away and brought the temperature into the uncomfortable range while maintaining the humidity. To top it all off a rain shower managed to wet everything down around 9PM. Overall it was “fun” weather.

I had a busy day. It started early to get to an 8:30AM appointment about thirty miles away. To allow for all of the morning traffic, I departed at 7AM. I had plenty of time, but one little traffic issue could have changed the entire drive. After a short ten minute appointment my day progressed into one errand after another. It was after 4PM when I returned to my RV home although I drove by the entrance to the campground twice while chasing my errands.

Since I’m tired from all the driving and what not, there isn’t much that is coming into my mind to write about in this blog entry. More tomorrow.

Sunday September 15th 2024

The sun made a bigger presence today than the last couple of days. It was still fairly cloudy in central Florida with a brief rain shower shortly after sunset. I was on the west coast of the peninsula today and it was sunnier. Once again the temperature hovered around the ninety degree mark with lots of humidity.

I took a trip to the Sarasota Bradenton area today. Friends from up north were down for a quick visit, so I made the trip over to visit with them. Traffic crossing the state in Interstate 4 this morning was challenging. It seemed like each of the three lanes of traffic was filled with cars all the way from Orlando to Tampa. The trip south from Tampa to Sarasota was only a little bit better. Luckily all of the construction zones were quiet on a Sunday. Coming home this evening the traffic wasn’t any better. These interstates are major arteries within the state.

Today’s traffic was normal weekend travel combined with some of the usual truck traffic. There are many warehouses along the Interstate 4 corridor. Among the warehouses there are several Amazon fulfillment centers and at least one Walmart.com equivalent. All of these have been built over the last few years. The area used to be open pasture lands and wood filled areas. This is one more example of the ever increasing density of developed land in Florida.