06th May 2007

In Memory of John Candy

We are now getting organised to be able to live out of doors, we have a large awning (which is a roof canopy fixed to the side of the TT) and a ground sheet. We now have enough chairs for everyone to sit on (including a little fold up chair for Brianna) and tables to eat from, also we have moved the toaster out, so that the heat doesn’t build up in the TT. Because it is warm and has rained very little we are reasonably happy to leave things outside, however there are racoons. Sally and Sarah actually saw one. They were looking out of the window as it was getting dark and saw a racoon head pop up above our little table. It had a look round and then moved off, very exciting, But it means we don’t leave any food out because they will find it and take it. This was nearly our downfall.

At this point you need to remind yourself of the film The Great Outdoors with John Candy and Dan Ackroyd. When I got up this morning I went out and found the toaster exactly where it is in the picture. The racoons had attempted to drag the toaster off into the forest. They are obviously smart enough to know that it still needs to be plugged in to work, but not smart enough to realise that they could have plugged it in to any of the other camp site power sockets, then we would never have found it.

 

Presumably the conversation between Mr and Mrs Racoon went something like this (these are the subtitles and it may have lost something in translation).

‘Hey they think they have really cleaned up round here’

‘I know, these people have no idea of how to put on a menu’

‘They even swept the porch’

‘Yeah, but I can smell TOAST!!’

‘We love TOAST’

‘Hey why don’t we make TOAST’

‘Because we don’t know how to and there’s no bread’

‘Hey, why don’t we use bread from one of the other restaurants ‘

‘We could really do with a TOASTER at home’

‘If we had a TOASTER, we would be really king round here.’

‘We could have all kinds of cool TOASTER parties’

‘Everybody loves a family with a TOASTER’

‘We could cook all kinds of stuff from the cafes here’

‘Waffles, pop tarts and banana skins’‘

OK, we’ll have it, give me a hand to carry it’‘

Oh dear, they haven’t put a long cord on the TOASTER’

‘Shucks, there goes another evolutionary step forward, just because we don’t know where the extension cord is’

‘Don’t worry, We’ll be back!!!

Seaworld

Sunday: Today we are going to Seaworld. We arrived in perfect time to go and see the dolphins in their performance called ‘Blue Horizons’. It was really good, the dolphins did tricks with people and they had acrobats on high swings and also parrots that flew round above our heads, very exciting. We then went to see the killer whales in their performance of ‘Believe’. They are much larger than dolphins and it was a very impressive display. After that we saw the penguins, the sharks (not in the same area) and the actic animals. It was very nice.

In the afternoon Brianna went to see the ‘Elmo and the Buccaneers’ performance. Then within minutes the sky turned black, the wind came up to gale force and it rained and thundered and lightninged. It stormed for about half an hour then was OK again. So a thunderstorm on 2 days running. 

02 May 2007

Preparing for our family holiday

Yesterday we arrived at Lake Griffin, where we are to meet up with Carl and Sarah, and Helen and Amy.

We have set up our TT on one site, and have booked the next door site for the others to camp on. It is very peaceful here we have already sen two types of woodpecker and Sally has spotted a bright red bird called a Cardinal. Last night we caught a brief glimpse of an armadillo in the twilight. Our campsite is surrounded be American Live Oak trees and thick underbrush and palmettos. So I hope that the others will enjoy it when they arrive on Thursday. I have finaly bought the camera I want, it should arrive on Friday (I hope it is worth it).

Today we are going to do a bit of shopping and sample the delights of an Adult Community (an over 55, open, but gated community. I will report on that later).

Family Reunion

On Thursday we were preparing for the arrival of Sarah, Carl and Brianna. Also Helen and Amy were coming for a holiday. We had put up a couple of tents, bought a little chair for Brianna and an inflatable bed for Carl and Sarah. We drove down to Orlando to collect them at 6.15 no problem. Then we returned to Lake Griffin, sorted ourselves out and went for a meal at Denny’s (last choice, but at least it was open). Then at 10.30 I went back down to Orlando to collect Helen and Amy, who were arriving at 11.15. By the time I had picked them up, they had eaten a Mac Meal and we had driven back it was 1.30 in the morning. So we were a little tired.

Family reunion update

This morning Brianna woke bright and cheerful at 6.00 and we all had a nice early morning cup of tea or coffee. Then we took a nice trip to Wal-Mart to get supplies for a couple of hours, spent shed loads of cash on bug sprays.

This afternoon Helen, Amy and I took a canoe on to the lake again, but didn’t see much as I think it was too warm for the animals, so we decided to go on a dawn safari tomorrow, so we will see if that will produce more wild life (hope its not just bugs.

New Camera

My new camera arrived yesterday and I am trying to work out how to use it. It is a little larger than I thought it would be, but I shall try to cope. It is a lot quicker – I can now take pictures of birds, rather than the post they were sat on when I started to take the pic. I can also control the focal length manually, which is good (that would have allowed me to take pictures of the fish through the glass bottom boat. The 9 megapix give a good result when blown right up. All in all first impressions seems to be very good. 

23 March 2007 Momentous Changes.

So our day started, we had made our decisions, we would buy the TT we had seen in BatesRV and then set out into the wilds of Florida. We set out with nervous excitement and drove south. We wanted to check out the TT once more and then drive the price of it down to more comfortable level.
The weather was warm once again, we were taken by buggy to the TT, everything checked out as we had remembered it.
As we set out for the dealer’s office the cell phone rang, our niece Sarah was phoning to say that our daughter Helen was in hospital in Colorado. ................
(She had been taken to ER ..... she is now OK) In an instant everything had changed.
We returned the villa, spent 3 hours trying to book a flight and a hire car, made decisions about what we could carry and what would have to stay.
Next morning we were on our way, return the car, get the plane, arrive in Denver, pick up a new car and by 7.00 in the evening we were 1800 miles away, sat at 9,600 ft, in Helen’s flat, surrounded by the snow covered peaks of the Rockies.
We had no cold weather clothes; fortunately it was quite warm (in the 40’s F). But we were not going to stop there, we were bound for Carl and Sarah’s house, set another 1000 feet up amongst those snow covered peaks.
Ok, so the script had changed a little, we would now spend time in some of America’s most spectacular scenery, with some of our family. The TT and truck would wait.

22 March 2007 Lake Region Audabon Street Nature Center

This is a small nature center which seems to be run by the local neighbourhood. We drove down a narrow track, through woodland, to a small car park, surrounded by trees, which was, and remained, deserted.
It was completely devoid of traffic, or any other human, noise. It was only the presence of a dilapidated notice board that indicated we were in the right place at all. Next to this was a nesting box, with several copies of a map, well an A4 sheet with a vaguely circular thick black line with the odd description on it, such as ‘pond’, or ‘lake’. There was no sense of scale, but we appeared to be in the middle of the area labelled ‘Butterfly Garden’ although the only evidence seemed to be a single, but very beautiful, large iridescent black/blue butterfly floating around in it.
Nevertheless, there appeared to be a track disappearing into the forest. We unshipped Sally’s electric wheelchair and set off. The first thing to notice was the amount of dead stuff all around, the second thing was that the path was quite uneven, wet in places, sandy in others, with lots of roots on its surface, Sally’s chair had to work like an ATV to make progress along this pathway. When we stood in the car park is was a pleasant, warm spring afternoon. By the time we were 20 feet into the forest the atmosphere had changed, it was warmer, absolutely still, and humid, so humid that water just dripped of trees and bushes, almost as though it was raining. We were surrounded by tall pines and palms, with often dense undergrowth beneath, and American oaks (same bark, but not the pretty leaf shape of our oak trees), which had less dense undergrowth. The trees all had those swampy epiphytes (air plants) hanging from them. Lots of ferns and frondy plants. Old dead and rotting trees and leaves covered any clear areas; many of the dead trees had strange fungi on them. We could hear lots of bird noises, jays, and warblers mostly, although we did hear a woodpecker tapping away in the distance. Lots of bright butterflies flitted round the undergrowth.
As we moved along the path you could often hear scurryings of lizards scampering away through the leaves. Sally and I are not bird experts, so identifying them is not easy. We spent some time watching a small red and brown bird carrying nest making material into an old bird house. As we approached the lake (according to the map, because we couldn’t see very far) the undergrowth became more dense, we passed giant bamboo thickets 30 feet tall. It was even more humid here, everything was wet, the ground, even the path, became quite boggy.
When we reached the lake, it was a small muddy beach with rushes to either side, under a large oak tree which over hung the water. There was a small viewing hide there. Sally and I went in; there was a restricted view of the lake. I spent some time taking pictures of the edge of the lake, and then noticed a tree which had fallen into the lake, the base of the trees was about 6 feet to the right of the little hut. As I looked at it I could see an alligator sleeping on the trunk, only about 20 feet away. Our first encounter with Florida’s most dangerous creature! We carefully crept round the shoreline to get a better view of it – it didn’t move, we took pictures of it. We realised it was awake, at least its eyes were open, but the whole time we were there it just ignored us. It was quite big, about 5 feet long and it had ferocious teeth. We sat on the lakeshore (there was a bench) and had our picnic lunch. While we were there an eagley looking bird (there are loads of big predator birds and I have not sorted them out yet) flew past with a big fish in its talons, we saw a terrapin perched on a log about 10 feet away and all the time there were ducks swimming past and cranes flying past and little warblers flitting round in the oak tree above. It was a lovely little adventure in a rain forest. After our lunch we made our way back to the car park, where it was still dry and pleasant and the single butterfly still flitted round in the butterfly garden. This, we decided was our first real taste of Florida wild life. What a wonderful afternoon we had. We then re-emerged into the hustle and bustle of the American freeway and the Audubon Nature Center returned to its quiet and patient pre-occupation with growing, flowering, eating, dying, decaying and regrowing.

21 March 2007 Parks in the USA

Today is another waiting day, waiting to make sure that everything is in place for us to buy our TT and Truck.
We have decided to visit a nature center.
As in the UK conservation, environmental protection and access to ‘nice areas’ is controlled and managed on several levels.
There are National Parks, with some aspect of national importance, such as Yellowstone, Gettysburg, or in Florida the Everglades. Very popular and usually well known. Similar to our National Parks, like the Peak District. Many have campgrounds in them (often several) which are owned and run by the National Parks Dept
There are State Parks which are run by the State and they protect important areas within the state, they are often quite large, up to 100 square miles, or maybe a specific site of interest, such as Stephen Foster House, on the Suwannee River (We hope there will be more on that later if we visit it). These are also well known and often popular. Many of them have campgrounds in them
there are also conservation areas on a county level, sites of interest to the local environment, or community. They may be local parks, walking or cycling routes, bird sanctuaries, small lakes, fishing ponds etc. Also in this section are the many Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Areas, to you and me they is hunt’n’, shoot’n’ and fish’n’ places. (More about hunting later)They do not usually have full time staff. THE UNFORTUNATE PART about them is that they are only publicised locally. They are often virtually unknown except to local interest groups, so are often almost completely deserted. THE GREAT THING about them is that they are often virtually unknown except to local interest groups, so are often almost completely deserted.
Finding out about them can be difficult. What as happened in Florida is that the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has an environmental conservation plan which links all these local sites and state parks, plus forestry and fishing administrated areas, together, so that they form a chain of habitats which are linked to geological features, such as hill ranges, water and drainage basins etc? This database has been used to create guides to fishing and bird watching. All very clever. The end result is there is The Great Florida Birding Trail which a 2000 mile long, state-wide trail of locations that are special for bird watching. Using the guide to a local section we were able to find a number of little nature reserves, which may be only yards away from busy highways, or shopping areas and all close to where we are staying. One such site is the Lake Region Audubon’s Street Nature Center. It was situated behind a large K Mart store (about half a mile away). We had to use the directions in the guide to find it, as it was tucked away in a residential area, down a cull de sac.

19 March 2007 First State Park Visit

Today saw us visiting our first State Park, a few miles away from the villa, called Lake Louisa. We paid $80 for a family pass which is valid for a year and allows eight family members at a time to visit any of Florida's State Parks as many times as wanted free. Good value when we plan to visit as many parks as we can this visit and again next time we come over.
The park had some beautiful views and its 4,500 acres protect 6 lakes, two streams, 11 natural communities and 100 miles of lake shoreline. The communities included sand hills, scrub, upland mixed forest, cypress swamp, wet flatlands and old citrus grove. We had our picnic lunch by the shore of the largest lake, Lake Louisa, very beautiful but very cold as a howling gale was blowing across the lake. The other side of the belt of trees surrounding the lake was hot, hot, hot. I had twenty minutes sunbathing while Terry took photos of birds and butterflies.
We tootled along a nature trail and were amazed at the size and colours of the butterflies - just like being in Butterfly World at Preston Park!! They were gorgeous. We ogled at the cypress trees sitting in the swamp festooned by Spanish Moss on one side of the path and at the turkey oaks and bluejack oaks on the other side - two completely different habitats right next door to each other - fascinating. There were cacti in the dry sand and reeds in the swamp - again right next door to each other. Amazing. We saw a little lizard scuttle up a branch and whacky great big birds (which we couldn't identify) soaring on the thermals at the edge of one of the lakes, they swooped to within about 30 feet of us. Very impressive. Pity we didn't see alligators, deer, red hawks or gopher tortoises which are supposed to be in the park, but Terry saw (nearly fell over) a snake, don't know what sort, big and dark (about 30 inches long). We saw Deer Moss which looks like moss but is, in fact, a type of lichen which grows on the ground in among the grass! No comparison really!
But, never the less, a great day, all in all.

18 March 2007 English/American Mothers Day

It was Mothers Day in England yesterday, but not so here in the ol' US of A. Here, it’s on the second Sunday in May, so that's probably why the delivery man, bearing a beautiful bouquet of flowers in a vase, looked puzzled when he rang the bell. We nearly didn't answer, as it is the first time the door buzzer has been used during our stay and we weren't sure what the buzzing noise was but he rang again and we just got there in time! Flowers from Andrew and Marie- beautifully arranged with a lovely purple bow adorned with a butterfly- and an ecard from JP and Andrea with a singing kitten with a message that brought a tear to my eye. Helen had phoned the night before, so it was lovely to be remembered by the 'kids'. It seems strange that our two wonderful daughters in law are now mothers themselves and experiencing their first Mothers day.

18 March 2007 Yeee Haw

We finally made it to the Bluegrass.
Today we stopped looking for cars ad things and took a day at a local Bluegrass Festival.
It was quite a small affair, but great fun.
There was a big top tent, five bands and about 200 people (that we saw).
Most of them had stayed in their RV out back of the tent. The festival had gone from Thursday until Sunday (last day).
Today consisted of a band performing for about 45 minutes and giving way to the next band. Each band did 2 sets. Finally the top billing, Goldwing Express, gave a performance.
You have to imagine the whole event as being a bit like a small family circus. Big Top, members of the family, granny taking ticket money, girls selling T-Shirts and CD's, boys sorting the sound, and handling the gear. Daddy being the Emcee, promoter and agent. Most of the bands seemed to be from a single family. It was a great sound, but a small and friendly atmosphere. On the Campground people seemed to get on well with each other, most people seemed to be selling something, BBQ, snacks, CD's, magic stones, read your fortune, ice cream. It was a cross between new age travellers and The Ridings Folk Group meetings. At the end of the weekend they all get underway and go to the next venue, looked like fun.
The music was great, each group had different strengths, and combinations of instruments chosen from guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle and slide guitar. All with a rhythm guitar and a bass. All the instruments were played acoustically into microphones. And could some of them play!!
The weather started chilly (in the 60's, but finished up in the high 70's), but bright blue and clear, not a cloud all day.
Our personal favourites were a band called Larry Gillis And Friends, the fiddle player was s... hot. Although the Dixie Bluegrass Express had a really good mandolin player.
We had a great time, came home and stopped at a Cracker Barrel, with it's All American Home Cookin', Like Momma Used To Make, complete with roast apple slices in cinnamon sauce (as a vegetable with the main dish), biscuits (scones, complete with butter and jelly (jam), before the main meal), a box for the half of the meal we could not eat and about 30 rocking chairs on the front porch where we could all 'set a spell' in the evening sun after our meal. Very hokey, very commercial, still we gotta get with the programme.

15 March 2007 Getting a Driving Licence in Florida.

Getting a Driving Licence in Florida.
Step one: turn up in person at the driving licence office.
Step two: Fill out an app form (well they do that for you)
that was easy I thought. Too soon
Step three: Show proof of identity, that was ok passport and UK driving licence
Step four: give address where the licence can be mailed to. . . . . . . . oops. Well we did that – I may come back to that as it got quite interesting at that point)
Step five Photo taken
Step six: Just step over to the computer and answer a few questions about driving in Florida. Well there were 40 questions, you could afford to get 10 wrong, about the highway code and signs - I passed, although the question about what to do if you hit someone’s car when they were not there puzzled me a bit. I did fail on the question which asked what is the minimum distance an oncoming car must be before you must dip your lights
All in all I thought I had done pretty well, so I went back to the desk to collect my licence. . . . . . ..
Step seven: “when would you like to come back for the practical test Sir?”
9.15 the next day saw me practising 3 point turns and parking in a space.
At 9.30 I took the practical test – passed of course, but it was slightly nerve racking.
I am now the proud owner of a Florida driving licence.
I now have the I.D required to buy a car, as Ken pointed out, when you register your car you can use the Florida licence as proof of who you are – you don’t need to be a resident.

14 March 2007 Brick Walls

It’s funny how one small statement can turn your world upside down. I phoned the people at the tax office where you register your car when you have bought it (we have not bought it yet, but working on it). She politely said “You can only register a car if you have been resident for 6 months”. . . . . . . . . Oh, that completely screws us up. I double checked with her, but to no avail. Six months. We can only be in the country for 3 months at a time. Could it be that our plans could come unstuck at such an early stage? We decided to have a cup of tea and coffee (I had a sticky to comfort myself). . . . . . . . . And had a think. Go to a different state, lie, go home, phone a friend. We decided to phone Ken (a really nice guy we had met in Manchester airport who was English, but lives in Florida not far from us.). He said, you can use a \Florida Driving licence to register a car. . . . . . . . So the hunt was back on. Get a Florida Driving licence and all (may) will be well.

13 March 2007 Bob/Ron/Bill

Sally is doing really well physically, considering the driving around we have been doing and the warmer weather we are having (now up in the 80’s)
The pattern has been to do 2 or 3 RV dealerships a day. We get to ride in their golf buggy as we are driven around to look at their TTs, interestingly enough the sales people are interesting:
They are almost all called single syllable names: Bob, Bill and Ron seem favourites.
They all live happily married lives, having been married for at least 30 years (except one guy, who although about 60 had only been married a year).
I wonder if they have assumed identities tailored to their impression of the customer.
When you arrive at the ‘Lot’ they are usually old guys, sat in rocking chairs on a porch (all sales offices have covered porches, think western movie set). You can see them pulling out the persona they will use.
“Oh here come a couple of likely customers, they look like ‘furriners’, so ai’d better, talk slow and choose an easy name.”
“He looks harassed, so ai’d reckon they bin married a long time, so ai’d better develop empathy by having a little woman back home cookin grits and gizzards for me.”
Of course we are too soft with them and are often perilously close to buying from at least half of them.
The inspection routine is a bit like Goldilocks and the 3 bears. They always start you off in a crappy, short, under accessorised and overpriced TT. We look at it, say its lovely, but it’s too small. So we move to the next, larger and slightly better. (This TT is lovely, but the bed is too short, the bathroom has a shower curtain, not a glass door, I can feel that there is a pea under this mattress.). Finally we move to a top of the range, with everything, including a kitchen sink, at a price which we all know is unaffordable, so we look at it and say “This is just right, it’s got everything, even a kitchen sink, but we can’t afford it”. “Ah”, says Ron/Bill/Bob, “let me check with my manager”. “Oh, I think that we can just drop by $3000 dollars if you want to buy it soon”. We say “oh, Um that’s really great, we will have to look carefully at our budget”. Then we all ride back to the office, have a cup of water and say thank you, swop cards and addresses, then move on to the next Dealer, named Bob/Bill/Ron

12 March 2007 Times They Are A changin'

The nation has finally woken up to saving energy, so they have moved forward by three weeks the moving forward of their clocks by one hour. We changed last night, so now we are only 4 hours behind UK time, at least until the end of March. Yippee, we can all rest easy in our beds now. That’s going to save the planet isn’t it?
Back to funny coincidences, since we are talking about time, my watch has given up the ghost; I think I have had it for about 10-12 years on the same battery. Could be time for a new one.
Today is day 3 of our hunt for a TT. We are going to looking at Jayco TT and second hand TT. We spent a few hours in a second hand dealers, and found that many of the TT that were there and cheap had been mishandled in some way. Many looked like they had actually been lived in or had been rental models. I suspect that some may have been used for Hurricane Katrina relief housing. So that at least removed one area of investigation. We moved on to Bates RV and found a very nice TT, an Aruba Lite 298RKS, with most of the things we have been looking for, of course it is too expensive and it will need a bigger (read more expensive) truck to tow it.
The weather has really moved up a gear in the last few days, up into the 80’s, so it was nice to get back to the villa and spend some time by the pool. We also phoned the kids and that was lovely.
I managed to find all the ingredients and equipment to make a Sunday dinner, complete with Yorkshire puds made in a muffin tin. I have bought an espresso coffee machine ($20 would you believe) and want to try it out in the morning.

11 March 2007 Goats Milk Fudge

Bright and early we set out in the other direction: back south and spent some time looking at TT’s in another 2 dealerships. All seem to tell the same story that this is not a good time of year for used TT. – But they seemed to be much more interested in motor homes and 5th wheelers. We may yet have to go north to the New York area to get what we want.
On the way home we stopped at a little gifty shop which makes its own ice cream and fudge. Its claim to fame being its excellent range of Goats Milk Fudge and Goats Milk Ice Cream. Sally and I shared an ordinary ice cream, because they had run out of Goats Milk Ice Cream.
We are seeing some lovely birds as we travel round. We have been taking picnic lunches and finding lakeside places to eat them. Soon (like when I know which birds are which) I will say something more on these birds.

10 March 2007 The Hunt Is On

I have found some hot spots! Almost all of Kissimmee has a town wide network, but it is about 15minutes drive away. Our local resort Hotel at Champion’s Gate also has a hot spot, but I feel a bit exposed sitting in their car park, wondering if at any minute someone will come along and sue me for stealing information. I have seen lots of employees come past in their little golf buggies, but they may not be their job to collar me. Also sitting in a car with a laptop is not very comfortable. So that means that we have ‘limited access’.
Today we have looked for Travel Trailers (TT). We decided to go north to the Orlando equivalent of Portrack Lane, except is about 25 miles long. With about 6 RV Dealerships. As we were given a tour by a salesman we could see:
1. that seeing anything second hand was difficult.
2. That the gap between what we wanted and what we could afford was increasing.
Still I suppose that is the art of salesmanship.
We only managed to see 3 different dealerships but have found 1 TT we like.
After all our exertions we rewarded ourselves by having dinner in Denny’s.
Enter my first pancakes – I had the Grand Slam Breakfast, with 2 pancakes etc., Sally is keeping up the good work on her diet plan and had a chicken salad.

Strange Negotiations.

We are coming to realise that Americans have moved to a different way of buying things. The items we bought today had an up front price, and then very quickly the price was discounted.
Item 1, conversation “How Much”, “$200”, “OK, we will have to decide whether to come down for it”, “OK, I can make it a little bit cheaper”, “Oh, how much”. “What about $150”,”Oh, OK”. Notice I hadn’t even asked for a discount!!
Item 2. “Yeh, we have one in stock”, “How much?”, “$80” (UK price would be about $100 equivalent), “and you get 10% discount”. “OK, thanks”. Now why offer a discount? If everyone gets it, why not just sell it cheaper?
So now we are starting to accept that bartering is not degrading, and discounting seems to be expected.

09 March 2007 Strawberry Festivals Forever

It was a glorious day, warm (hot to us) and sunny. We drove down to the Plant City Strawberry Festival.
It is a county fair.
Lots of agricultural bits, with craft and cooking competitions.
As with many of these fairs the commercial side has grown and the community side has diminished. Lots of concession stands and a big funfair. We enjoyed looking at the decorated cakes and Sally enjoyed the quilting, tapestry and needlepoint (crosstitch).
There were several ‘events’, however they had switched the Little Richard Concert from the Thursday to the Wednesday, so I was slightly disappointed and the Hog Racing was packed out, so I was deeply disappointed.
However, by 3.30 we had both had enough and came back home via the Lakeland Square Mall. Where we finally bought ourselves some mobile phones (Virgin) and had a meal at the food court. It was what they called Chinese food - fried rice, Bourbon Chicken (?), Orange Chicken and Chinese mixed vegetables. But it was the same as the Tokyo Express, Perry’s BBQ as well as China Max were selling! Still it tasted reasonable, was more than enough for 2 of us and with a cup of tea and a coke came to $10.48.
So far in our 4 days of holiday, just doing bits and pieces we have done 279 miles.

Today we lost the internet

Today we lost the internet. Felt very lost. Difficult to find out anything, or where anything is. Sally and I needed to find a charger for her chair. A quick search on the internet became a trawl through the yellow pages; every number outside the local area had to be dialed through a phone card, which means entering a 21 figure number plus the number you want. To find out where somewhere is needs a phone book, a gazetteer to find the rough area, a street directory and a map. What happened to entering the address into Google Map? It took 3 hours to locate a 110 volt charger and a replacement nebuliser. But having located them we had a lovely drive south through Haines City to Lake. Wales. Then across to Winter Garden. We also want to buy mobile phones, so we swung past Lakeland, where there is a Verizon Shop. It’s called the Lakeland District because there are a lot of lakes! There was some very lovely scenery; we saw lots of different birds, egrets, small herons, large herons (grey?) and storks

The Villa

We have successfully arrived at the Villa. It is in an estate just off the Ronald Reagan Freeway
It s a lovely house. It has four bedrooms and three bathrooms.
It has a big L shaped living area which leads out to the pool area.
We are so pleased that Sarah's Mum and Dad have let us use it.
On arrival I popped to the local supermarket called Publix (?) and picked up some food for the evening and breakfast. Some coffee cream, milk and orange juice, cinnamon rolls and some pizza.
By the time we finished tea we were absolutely shattered. It would have been 2.00 in the morning in England.

06 March 2007 Cruising - A Quick Squirt of "Essence of America"

Cruising is at the centre of the American Psyche. It’s about doing something because you choose to, not because you have to. Its about saying to your self 'I COULD BURN EVERYBODY OFF THE ROAD, BECAUSE THIS BABY WILL TOP THE TON EASY, but I choose to drive sedately at 45mph in a 55mph zone, BECAUSE I KNOW THAT ALL THESE OTHER DRIVERS KNOW THAT I COULD BURN THEM ALL OFF THE ROAD, so I don't need to prove it TODAY. Instead I will let them look on in awe at my car as I drive past all the places where the cool people will be sat eating their Big Macs, watching out for cool cars LIKE MINE, THAT THEY WISHED THEY OWNED. While I am doing this cool driving thing I will let my wife think that I am actually taking her to Wal-Mart.'
Today Sally and I woke early, still jet lagged, cos 6.00 our time is 11.00 in UK.
We had a lazy breakfast (including another Cinnamon Bun) and decided to 'cruise' to the local Wal-Mart to pick up the next set of essentials.
The sky is bright blue and cloudless (as it has remained all day) and warm, though not hot.
The car we have is a Chevrolet Town and Country, which is very smooth, with A/C and cruise control, lots of power (it could probably do a ton). Making sure I keep to the right is one of Sally's support roles, her other one is to make sure that know I need the next exit just before I can put my indicator on (I have now taken to giving a running commentary on my driving to let Sally know, that I know, that we are indeed going to take the next turning "I will shortly be going to put my indicator on so that we can take the next turning right". The trouble is that I am now starting to give the running commentary for everything I am about to do!!).
Speed is unimportant and we happily travelled the 10-12 miles at 35 - 55 mph without any feeling of being too slow. We chose the route which took us through the commercial section, which meant that we cruised past a whole variety of eating places, Wendy's, Mexican, Chequer's, Denny's, the odd ice cream parlour, Subway. Mexican, Chinese, MacDonald’s, Pizza.
We had a reasonable look round Wal-Mart, even stopped for a reasonable meal in the Nathan's in store diner.
Now I now that I am getting old, but the age profile of the people who work at Wal-Mart would suggest that they are part of a war veterans work programme. (Second world war of course). I saw several people who looked at least 80. It made for a nice and relaxed (if slow) atmosphere. But since the age profile of the customers was very similar it was OK. Florida's demographic time bomb has gone off already, and there are bits of it all over Wal-Mart.
As I wandered the aisles it’s seemed that it was a lot more like an English supermarket, and had many brands similar to English brands, which is a shame really. As usual though the cakes were very different, but I managed to restrain myself.
Got enough stuff for a spag bog, with chilli for tomorrow night.
Sally and I cruised back (much easier when I had found the cruise control.
Sally then had an hour by the pool.
I was able to talk to Brian, the friend of Kathryn and David, he gave me some

tips about local car and RV dealers.
Nice day, tomorrow we take a look at our first RV Dealer

05 March 2007 The Dream Takes Flight

The thing about weddings is that you make all the decisions, do the planning, you are the centre of attention and its your day, but because you haven't done it before you are grateful that you are surrounded by professionals to guide you and all you actually have to do is say "I do" and even then they prompt you at every step. Of course, the chances are that if you really had to do something serious you are so nervous that you would screw it up totally. Instead you are guaranteed a spectacular event.
Flying is a bit like a wedding. You are the important centre of attention and you are passed gently from one scenario to another (or rush like an idiot from one queue to another).  You repeat sentences so that they are actually your words. "I solemnly swear that I have not let anyone pack atomic weapons parts in my suitcase" etc. But no one would say anything different anyway. You are guided to make sure that you are in the right place at the right time. Place your luggage in their hands and lift it over the threshold of the luggage carousel. Somehow although everything feels as though it could go horribly wrong (you might get jammed in the public toilet, or accidentally throw your passport away, be abducted by aliens) - but it doesn't. You and your luggage are separated in Manchester and somehow reunited in Orlando.
My obviously mellow mood is a reflection of how well the flight has gone. There were no hitches or problems from getting up in the Travelodge to getting the hire car and arriving in the villa.
So now we have arrived in one piece and with very little stress. We hope that this is the way our holiday continues.

04 March 2007 D(eparture Day) - A Tale of Two Radiators

Why is the world full of coincidences? I am sure that there are universal laws about them, a bit like gravity and falling over (I'm sure that if there was no gravity I would not fall over when I am drunk, so that’s an inevitable coincidence).
Wednesday we had the amazing coincidence of both cars giving trouble in exactly the same spot.
Well the latest coincidence is about radiators.
On Monday I took the Toyota to be fixed, partly because it had a water leak.
The man found a faulty hose clip radiator at the bottom of the, problem solved (?).
Today we were ready to leave, just packing the car, when I found a wet patch on the carpet in the hall. Oops! A radiator had a just sprung a pin hole leak and was spraying water. so an hour and 20 mins. later I had isolated the radiator and we were back on track (only late).
We set off and 10 minutes later, the heater on the car failed! PANIC, because if the heater fails it probably has lost water, so the engine will very quickly overheat and fail. So, expecting the engine to boil any minute, we limped down to Carol and Ron's, but amazingly it didn't, we, or rather I, got cold. Sally had a lovely heated blanket that JP and Andrea had give to her for her birthday. But, despite my worries, we got to Manchester Airport safely.
So failing radiators was the coincidence which nearly stopped us getting away on our holiday.

03 March 2007 D(eparture) Day minus 1

It's our last night before we go. We have had webcam links with the kids and grandchildren to say goodbye, we will miss them all. We have gone through long lists of things to take and crossed some off because we can't get them in.
We have had a last minute offer of help from our dear friends, Kathryn and Dave, who have found us a contact in Florida who knows people who use Travel Trailers and even have RV parks. So hopefully it will be lovely to meet them when we arrive.
Tomorrow we are going to take a break on the way to Manchester Airport to visit Carol and Ron, who has kindly invited us to join them in a beef stew and dumplings (could be messy). Ron has kindly offered to renovate my old Takomene Guitar.
Desperately trying to eat everything out of the fridge, (I don't think I will be able to finish the jar of Lemon Curd).
Now ready for bed!

02 March 2007 Last minute preparations, alongside reminiscing!

It's Sally writing for the first time. Two days to D-Day!! Things are getting quite hectic, trying to organise all the things that need sorting before we go. I've been buying last minute things we need, going to appointments with Doctor for prescriptions, getting all my supplements ordered and delivered, having my wheelchair serviced, making sure we have necessary addresses and phone numbers with us, sending off cards and presents for Birthdays, Easter and a Wedding, laying out clothes etc ready

to pack, doing the washing and generally making sure that we have thought of everything. At one stage, as fast as I was ticking off things on the list, the list kept growing! Now there are only a couple of things left on the list and I feel much happier. I'm sure we will forget something, but as long as we have the passports and tickets, we'll be OK. Anything else forgotten can be bought while we are there.

All this and I'm supposed to pace myself carefully and rest (because of my ME) - fat chance!!! I'll be sleeping on the airplane- dead to the world- if I have my way.

Our next door neighbour, Sarah, is a treasure - she is going to thoroughly Spring Clean the house, wash the curtains, feed the birds, water the plants, be a key holder, sort out the post and let the gardener in while we are away. She is going to make sure the timers for lights work properly and alter the position of the curtains every few days. What would we do without her?!!

We are getting quite excited and apprehensive at the same time - can't help wondering if we are biting off more than we can chew - but if you don't try, you would never be adventurous.
This dream has been a long time in the making - dating back from when we were in our twenties. We tried to emigrate to the USA in the 70's but they would not recognise our qualifications and we would have had to pay our way through three years of college, which we couldn't afford to do. Hence, the rosy picture of us travelling round the States when we retire.
We have both camped and caravanned in the States and it's a great experience. Wonderful when a deer walks past the end of your table when you're eating breakfast, so close you could reach out and touch it - don't get that in a motel!! Once we had a skunk lurking around outside our tent in the middle of the night. We could smell it for the rest of our stay!! Thank goodness it didn't spray the tent - would have had to wash it in tomato juice - not kidding - that really is the way to de - smell after being sprayed.

Will have to get ready to drive on the other side of the road and remember how the road system works. If you're not careful, you end up coming off the highway on a slip road because the filter system is different. In the past, we have even been on the correct road but driving in the opposite direction to where we want to be!!! Must remember the USA Road Atlas! Better go and get it out.

Posted by Terry and Sally in America at 08:06 1 comments  

28 February 2007 Organising things

Because we are away for so long we have to organise with our next door neighbour to make sure that the house stays safe, the post is collected, bills paid, lights are switched on and off (Morrison’s are selling mains timers for 2 for £4.00), curtains moved around occasionally (she is also our cleaner). We also have to make sure that the garden is kept reasonable so this has needed negotiation with our gardener. Both cars have had a service ready for their MOT when we come back. We have had to buy and pre-post birthday cards and presents, as well as Easter presents. We have had to get new cases (that deserves a G.O.M. posting on its own). The list seems almost endless.

27 February 2007 Preparing the Wheelchair

We are now getting down to making sure that all the bits and pieces are ready.
Sally is taking her Electric Power wheelchair. This is a complete project on its own.
The last time we flew the wheelchair was mishandled and dropped, thus writing it off!
I have spent this evening making day glow labels to show where the brake release levers are, and how to operate them. I have also been practising disconnecting the batteries (deep inside the wheelchair). Which have to be special gel type? We are also taking the ramps, which need to be strapped together. Hopefully it will not be damaged this time.

24 February 2007 Still trying to work out cars and Travel Trailers

I have looked at hundreds of cars and Travel Trailers on the Internet. Slowly I am becoming clearer about what we want, what we need and what we can afford. The really nice TT are not necessarily expensive (a new 28 ft TT with all mod. cons. may be bought for about $15000 - that is about £8000), but they are heavy. Many of them are over 5000lbs, plus liquid carried on board, plus all the optional extras, which can easily put the weight up to 7500lbs to 8000lbs (nearly 3 1/2 tons). There are a number of vehicles that will tow that sort of weight, but for one of several reasons they are not suitable for us. A pick up is no good - we need to carry Sally's wheelchair. Ford make an Econoline van, the Excursion, and more recently the Expedition, Chevrolet make the Suburban, the Tahoe and GMC the Yukon. The problem is that the bigger engines also have stronger chassis and beefier suspension, so they tend to cost more. Also fewer are sold, so they keep their value in the second hand market. To buy a 'one ton' vehicle in reasonable condition will probably put $5000 on the cost of the car. If we could get away with a standard sort of vehicle it would be cheaper.
Example the Ford Econoline passenger van (minibus) comes as a standard 'half ton' configuration, with a 5.4l V8 engine. These are used by the hundred as rental vehicles which means that one and two year old vans can be bought quite cheaply. But the tow limit for these is 6900lbs, so putting out of reach the most popular TT's.
Would you believe that there is no easily obtainable list of TT weights? So I set myself the task of compiling a list of all the TT's available with a Gross Weight Limit of less than 7000lbs. Easy, until you realise that there are about 30 different companies, each with several ranges of TT, each range with a number of layouts, each with a number of options which affects the weight. Nevertheless I spent several days trawling the manufacturer’s websites finding models which are below the weight limit. I have found 69. There area couple of dozen that have all the acceptable features (we don't want bunks).
So we have now come down to a basic specification for the rig that we want to buy:
A 2-3 year old Ford Econoline E150 passenger van, a 4- 6 year old Ford Excursion, a 4-6 year old Chevrolet Suburban 1500, a Chevrolet Express passenger van, a GMC Savannah 1500, a GMC Yukon, or a Dodge Ram 1500 (although if we find a bigger truck we will be very pleased to consider it).
An ultralite Travel Trailer, preferably new, 26 ft long with a walk round double bed, a sofa, a dining area, awning, microwave, air conditioning. With either a gross weight of 6500lbs or a weight when empty of 4000lbs or less and a hitch weight of less than 700lbs.
All we have to do is go and find them when we get to Florida.
Which do we look for first? I will tell you when we get there.

22 February 2007 Finance

Because we are away for such a long period we have got to make sure that we have sufficient funds to keep us going. This is where I hope that online banking and credit cards will be very helpful. I have spent some time this afternoon checking with various credit card companies to make sure that when they start getting bills from Florida that they don't stop the card to prevent fraud. We must also bear in mind that we will probably pay for the car and TT using a credit card, which may be a rather large lump of money and we would like it to happen smoothly.

08 February 2007 A new laptop!

 We intend to keep in touch with the world using a laptop, so we have paid out to buy a new one (only the second totally new computer I have bought for Sally and I).
Although it may be cheaper to buy in the States by buying it here I can preload software and information about our holiday.
I hope that we can find cheap/free wifi networks in the states.
We have bought an Acer 5633 Intel duo core 2, with 120 GB HDD and 1024mb ram, 15.4" Screen. I am ashamed to say that we have also paid for a 3 year warrantee, as it includes accident insurance which is valid worldwide with courier collect and return. (Even in the U.S.).