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.

Saturday September 14th 2024

It was another cloudy and humid day. The only real difference from the last couple of days was an early afternoon rain storm that managed to find my RV home. The storm occurred while I was out running errands, but the wet conditions and puddles gave evidence to the event. The temperature hovered around the ninety degree mark, but the humidity made it feel much warmer.

Gas prices in this area have been going a little nuts in this area. On Monday I saw gas prices at $2.99 a gallon for regular. When I went to fill up on Wednesday gas prices were twenty cents higher at the same stations and other stations were as high as $3.39 a gallon. I held off until Thursday only to find the prices back at $2.99 a gallon. My gas tank and I say thank you for the nice price. Now today comes along and the price of gas at some stations is down to $2.89. Maybe the prices spiked because of the hurricane that hit Louisiana, but came back down once the lack of significant damage was determined.

I got in my full two mile walk around the RV resort today. This the first day in more than a week that I have completed the full circuit. Rain and heat have kept me from leaving the upper part of the resort near my RV home on my walks a lot lately. As I mention in a previous blog entry, the resort is getting busier. There are fewer empty sites and many of the RVs that were closed up and battened down are now occupied.

Now that the weather is starting to cool down the resort has also started a lot of maintenance tasks. Each of the restroom buildings have been closed for a week or so for updates. A contractor has been redoing the office at the entrance and the main clubhouse is closed for some kind of update work. They are getting ready for the busy season.

Friday September 11th 2024

Today’s weather was a repeat of yesterday. It was cloudy most of the day keeping the temperature in check, but the humidity was extreme. The rain held off most of the day. A few light showers have arrived with the darkness of night.

This was lawn mowing day in the RV resort. With the air conditioning and fans running in my RV home, I don’t get distracted by the sound of the landscaping equipment. It just blends in with the background noise. I’ve noticed that the sandhill cranes seem to like the manicured lawns. They show up after the landscapers leave and don’t seem to be here on other days of the week. I got several pictures of the cranes on my afternoon/early evening walk around the resort.

The RV resort has gradually getting more active since the beginning of September. Some of the RVs and Park Models that have been empty all summer are now occupied. The number of empty sites is also decreasing. I don’t think the regular sites are getting occupied by snowbirds yet, but rather by Floridians taking advantage of the slightly cooler temperatures for a few days of camping.

Overall this was a good day to get some chores done and make a grocery run to Walmart. Unlike my last grocery run, I stayed dry this time. The store wasn’t too busy in the middle of the afternoon. This particular Walmart isn’t afraid to open a lot of “assisted” checkouts. I still prefer these checkouts over the self service ones. Today I only had to wait for one other customer to checkout before I was getting checked out.

Thursday September 12th 2024

The sky was filled with a thick cloud layer today thanks to the hurricane making its way up the middle of the country. The temperature stayed down in the eighties, but it was very humid. On a positive note, the rain held off until after 9PM.

With the weather cooperating I went to Disney’s Magic Kingdom this evening. I got there shortly before 6PM and stayed until just before closing at 10PM. It was a crowded evening, but I managed to enjoy a few attractions and the fireworks.

To expedite this blog entry, the picture captions will tell much of the story.