The Comfort Dog
As I start this post we are traveling through Louisiana. It's very green and beautiful but the roads suck. This is the first time that I've had to get up repeatedly to pick things up that vibrated off of counters, tables and shelves. Mary has spoiled me but even she can't deal with the potholes, bumps and ridges. We just stopped at a rest area so that Breezy could go out and John could stretch his legs. I put on my light jacket (it's drizzling) and opened the door. We jumped out into cold temperatures. My Pacific Northwest roots have given me a fairly accurate built-in thermostat. My guess is in the mid to lower 40's. I guess I can't complain being as we heard from Kentucky today that they got six inches of snow, it was sleeting after that and they expect more snow tonight. Yeah, 40's sound fine.
In front of me on the dash is a road atlas of the United States, an Interstate directory called "The Next Exit" (a must for anyone who drives a lot), the Trailer Life Directory that includes the Good Sam approved campgrounds amongst many others. Good Sam is one of the many RV clubs of which we are card carrying members. To my right is my phone, a note pad and pen, my camera and a bottle of water, in my lap is my computer and in various places rest my glasses (I can't see my computer screen with them because of the glare but I can't see down the road without them) and to my left is my husband who is asking me questions at the rate of about one every five minutes. I feel like a reference librarian.
The other day when we pulled out of the service center in Wildwood I had my glasses in my left hand, a pair of binoculars in my right hand and my computer in my lap. I looked to the left, to the right and then at my lap and started to laugh. "Six eyes" I said out loud. The term used to be "four eyes" if you wore glasses. I've added a new dimension to the term.
John actually called Dennis Bowen yesterday. They haven't spoken in a few weeks. We were driving down the road when the ABS light came on. A trip to the Bible told us that it didn't mean break failure but that it may need to be looked at. We were in the Flying J pumping insanely expensive fuel when John decided it was time to call our friend in Wakarusa. When Dennis's phone began ringing the ABS light went out. "I called you to ask about the ABS light being on but when you answered it went off. Just the sound of your voice scared it away," he said. They laughed and chatted like long lost friends for a few minutes and John reassured him that we had not driven off of a cliff and were doing fine with our travels.
We just crossed over the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge. Apparently the Atchafalya Swamp is the largest swamp in the world. The bridge is 18.2 miles long (thank you Wikipedia). It is really cool to be driving down the road, see something that captures our interest and look it up on the Internet. When I'm not trying to figure out where we are or where we are going or where we are staying tonight I can answer questions about what we are seeing. It's cool.
We spent two nights at the Tampa Fairgrounds and had an enjoyable time at the horse show. We are discovering more and more perks about traveling in Mary as go. We arrived in Tampa on Tuesday and set up. On Tuesday night we had dinner in the coach and prepared to walk over to the arena to watch the show which started at 6:30. I looked at my watch and hesitated. I said, "American Idol starts at 8:00." John puzzled on that for a moment. "We'll sneak out and come back before it starts," he says and we giggle and headed for the show. For those who are not hooked on the program like we are it airs three nights a week until they whittle the number of contestants down. So we were in for sneaking out of the show for two nights and then stressing out about finding a place where they had cable last night (the satellite doesn't get local channels). The second night at the show we weren't shy about telling people that we would be bugging out for an hour to watch the program. I ended up staying in the coach after it was over and John went back to the arena where where he was greeted by someone who said, "I heard you and your wife went back to your coach to watch American Idol!" It's strange what people gossip about. So anyway, along with having our own bed, bathroom and kitchen, never having to pack clothes or figure out how to work the shower or the alarm clock (thought I had that one worked out with the Blackberry before I took a shower at 1:25 in the morning in California), we have the added benefit of never missing American Idol!
Last night we stayed at another KOA. I know...why would we do that after our experience in Wildwood you are wondering. Well I was looking for a place to park Mary somewhere near Pensacola and found this KOA that boasted that it was rated the best campground in Florida. Rated by who, I'm not really sure. Maybe that is someone's job...rating campgrounds. Isn't America great? Being as we had a good experience in Cartersville at the KOA we decided to give it a shot. Once we turned off of I-75 we were both in new territory so we drove along taking in the scenery. We found the KOA and checked in without a hitch. When John came back from the office he announced that this was an entirely different outfit than the Wildwood KOA. I glance out of the front window in time to see a man in a tiny green golf cart position himself in front of Mary to guide us into our space like a tug boat towing a barge. Mary had a pilot cart! He buzzed us right into our space on Gulf Pines Lane. The roads in the campground were paved...perfect for exercising Breezy and ourselves on the bikes. It was full of nice coaches like Mary but none as classy as she is for sure. We set her up and got ready for a pleasant evening with cable TV to see who got kicked off of American Idol. Life was good.
We got a few emails from people concerned about impending weather conditions. I assured everyone that we would be extra careful and pull over if we ran into any problems and reiterated that we had all of the technology needed to know if there was a problem. That is all fine and good when you are awake. We opened the windows in the bedroom for fresh air, locked Mary up, turned out the lights and fell into a sound sleep.
Around 3:00 I was awakened by a vibration in the coach. It woke me up just enough to register that there was a vibration but not enough to alert me to any problems. So I went back to sleep. A little while later I heard rain pouring down and the wind was howling but I was still unconcerned. At 5:00 I felt the coach vibrate hard and then saw a flash of lightening. I guess all the years that I lived in Oregon must have set a relaxation mode to kick in when I hear rain on the roof because I still didn't react with any concern. I've slept through so many thunderstorms in Kentucky that I now move into semi-consciousness, say to myself, "Another thunderstorm," and go back to sleep. It has to be pretty severe to get me up. John didn't wake up until 5:30 when we started to get up and around. We had coffee, showers and turned on CNN to find out if what tricks Hillary had pulled in the overnight hours. As I was munching my Shredded Wheat and listening to the reports that oil had hit a new high overnight and the price of diesel had hit an all time high (we just moved into the passing lane to the poor house) the weather woman came on and pointed to a line of thunderstorms passing through northern Florida. "Where in northern Florida?" I ask. "It must be near Jacksonville," John says. And then the weather woman says that it is directly over Tallahassee...directly east of us. It passed over us complete with tornado watches and warnings and we all slept right through it. If the three of us should make a trip over the rainbow in Mary you will know why!
As I finish up this blog post we are in TEXAS. We just pulled into the San Antonio Rose Palace to visit the SAHSA horse show. When I worked at USEF I used to approve the prize lists for a lot of these shows so it is kind of cool to actually visit them and see what they are like. San Antonio is a pretty city and the terrain is quite nice compared to Houston...one of my least favorite cities in the world. In my next post I will describe our adventures in TEXAS so far. It has been challenging...to say the least!
We hope you have a terrific weekend!
In front of me on the dash is a road atlas of the United States, an Interstate directory called "The Next Exit" (a must for anyone who drives a lot), the Trailer Life Directory that includes the Good Sam approved campgrounds amongst many others. Good Sam is one of the many RV clubs of which we are card carrying members. To my right is my phone, a note pad and pen, my camera and a bottle of water, in my lap is my computer and in various places rest my glasses (I can't see my computer screen with them because of the glare but I can't see down the road without them) and to my left is my husband who is asking me questions at the rate of about one every five minutes. I feel like a reference librarian.
The other day when we pulled out of the service center in Wildwood I had my glasses in my left hand, a pair of binoculars in my right hand and my computer in my lap. I looked to the left, to the right and then at my lap and started to laugh. "Six eyes" I said out loud. The term used to be "four eyes" if you wore glasses. I've added a new dimension to the term.
John actually called Dennis Bowen yesterday. They haven't spoken in a few weeks. We were driving down the road when the ABS light came on. A trip to the Bible told us that it didn't mean break failure but that it may need to be looked at. We were in the Flying J pumping insanely expensive fuel when John decided it was time to call our friend in Wakarusa. When Dennis's phone began ringing the ABS light went out. "I called you to ask about the ABS light being on but when you answered it went off. Just the sound of your voice scared it away," he said. They laughed and chatted like long lost friends for a few minutes and John reassured him that we had not driven off of a cliff and were doing fine with our travels.
We just crossed over the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge. Apparently the Atchafalya Swamp is the largest swamp in the world. The bridge is 18.2 miles long (thank you Wikipedia). It is really cool to be driving down the road, see something that captures our interest and look it up on the Internet. When I'm not trying to figure out where we are or where we are going or where we are staying tonight I can answer questions about what we are seeing. It's cool.
We spent two nights at the Tampa Fairgrounds and had an enjoyable time at the horse show. We are discovering more and more perks about traveling in Mary as go. We arrived in Tampa on Tuesday and set up. On Tuesday night we had dinner in the coach and prepared to walk over to the arena to watch the show which started at 6:30. I looked at my watch and hesitated. I said, "American Idol starts at 8:00." John puzzled on that for a moment. "We'll sneak out and come back before it starts," he says and we giggle and headed for the show. For those who are not hooked on the program like we are it airs three nights a week until they whittle the number of contestants down. So we were in for sneaking out of the show for two nights and then stressing out about finding a place where they had cable last night (the satellite doesn't get local channels). The second night at the show we weren't shy about telling people that we would be bugging out for an hour to watch the program. I ended up staying in the coach after it was over and John went back to the arena where where he was greeted by someone who said, "I heard you and your wife went back to your coach to watch American Idol!" It's strange what people gossip about. So anyway, along with having our own bed, bathroom and kitchen, never having to pack clothes or figure out how to work the shower or the alarm clock (thought I had that one worked out with the Blackberry before I took a shower at 1:25 in the morning in California), we have the added benefit of never missing American Idol!
Last night we stayed at another KOA. I know...why would we do that after our experience in Wildwood you are wondering. Well I was looking for a place to park Mary somewhere near Pensacola and found this KOA that boasted that it was rated the best campground in Florida. Rated by who, I'm not really sure. Maybe that is someone's job...rating campgrounds. Isn't America great? Being as we had a good experience in Cartersville at the KOA we decided to give it a shot. Once we turned off of I-75 we were both in new territory so we drove along taking in the scenery. We found the KOA and checked in without a hitch. When John came back from the office he announced that this was an entirely different outfit than the Wildwood KOA. I glance out of the front window in time to see a man in a tiny green golf cart position himself in front of Mary to guide us into our space like a tug boat towing a barge. Mary had a pilot cart! He buzzed us right into our space on Gulf Pines Lane. The roads in the campground were paved...perfect for exercising Breezy and ourselves on the bikes. It was full of nice coaches like Mary but none as classy as she is for sure. We set her up and got ready for a pleasant evening with cable TV to see who got kicked off of American Idol. Life was good.
We got a few emails from people concerned about impending weather conditions. I assured everyone that we would be extra careful and pull over if we ran into any problems and reiterated that we had all of the technology needed to know if there was a problem. That is all fine and good when you are awake. We opened the windows in the bedroom for fresh air, locked Mary up, turned out the lights and fell into a sound sleep.
Around 3:00 I was awakened by a vibration in the coach. It woke me up just enough to register that there was a vibration but not enough to alert me to any problems. So I went back to sleep. A little while later I heard rain pouring down and the wind was howling but I was still unconcerned. At 5:00 I felt the coach vibrate hard and then saw a flash of lightening. I guess all the years that I lived in Oregon must have set a relaxation mode to kick in when I hear rain on the roof because I still didn't react with any concern. I've slept through so many thunderstorms in Kentucky that I now move into semi-consciousness, say to myself, "Another thunderstorm," and go back to sleep. It has to be pretty severe to get me up. John didn't wake up until 5:30 when we started to get up and around. We had coffee, showers and turned on CNN to find out if what tricks Hillary had pulled in the overnight hours. As I was munching my Shredded Wheat and listening to the reports that oil had hit a new high overnight and the price of diesel had hit an all time high (we just moved into the passing lane to the poor house) the weather woman came on and pointed to a line of thunderstorms passing through northern Florida. "Where in northern Florida?" I ask. "It must be near Jacksonville," John says. And then the weather woman says that it is directly over Tallahassee...directly east of us. It passed over us complete with tornado watches and warnings and we all slept right through it. If the three of us should make a trip over the rainbow in Mary you will know why!
As I finish up this blog post we are in TEXAS. We just pulled into the San Antonio Rose Palace to visit the SAHSA horse show. When I worked at USEF I used to approve the prize lists for a lot of these shows so it is kind of cool to actually visit them and see what they are like. San Antonio is a pretty city and the terrain is quite nice compared to Houston...one of my least favorite cities in the world. In my next post I will describe our adventures in TEXAS so far. It has been challenging...to say the least!
We hope you have a terrific weekend!
1 comment:
AWWW, San Antonio! I LOVE San Antonio!! Such wonderful places to eat, shop, walk around. I wish I was there!! Have fun!
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