Well, we survived a Michigan holiday season which turned out to be more wintry than average. Mother Nature exposed us to a beautiful, but very damaging ice storm followed by a 15 inch snowfall which allowed Dale to 'play' with his former snowblower which now resides in East Lansing. Then she unleashed temperatures as low as -14F on us. Talk about missing all that cold weather gear that went to Salvation Army. Dale was glad to finally legitimately use one the two articles of warm clothing he kept: new flannel lined blue jeans. Although she didn't say it out loud, Dale is sure Lisa was totally jealous. The other article of warm clothing was his 40 year old down coat from his Michigan Tech days. Speaking of Tech, Dale's oh-so-thoughtful college roommate, Don Illka, kept him apprised of the warmth that the Big Brown Bus was basking in at Don's mother-in-law's godsend parking spot in Eustis, Florida.
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| Michigan State's Sparty adorned in roses in anticipation of the Big Game |
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| On our way back out to East Lansing during the 15 inch snowstorm |
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| Kristy & Matt's driveway prior to clearing |
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| Dale 'playing' with his former snowblower |
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| Lisa just loves this stuff |
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| Next morning after the storm |
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| Dale (sporting his flannel lined jeans and 40 year old coat) & Kristy |
After numerous wonderful and blessed family and friend gatherings during this holiday period, on the afternoon of January 9th, we hit the road back to Florida. We made it to Lexington, KY the first night and Lake City, FL the second night. Except for a snowy section through Ohio, the drive south was thankfully uneventful. After waking the bus up from its brief hibernation we drove from Eustis about a half hour to Recreation Plantation near The Villages, FL. Recreation Plantation is huge (850 sites) and is, in our opinion, the best camping option if you want to enjoy the The Villages, which we describe as Disney World for the senior set. We absolutely loved the two months we spent in a rented house in The Villages during February/March of 2012. We made several friends during that stay and wanted to spend time getting reacquainted during this winter in FL. The site (#59) we have in Recreation Plantation is all grass and some sand, and is a bit unlevel. This set the stage for once again providing entertainment for our fellow campers. Our first attempt at leveling had the left front wheel a couple inches off the ground and the right front about an inch off the ground. Not terrible, but not ideal either. Dale came up with a plan to back onto boards at the front end so that the tires would still have some load. Now throw on top of this the fact that Dale learned in his Camp Freightliner class that when parked for a month or more it's beneficial to put a barrier between the ground and the tires to prevent the emollients in the rubber from being leached out prematurely. Cardboard is an acceptable barrier so he stocked up on a good supply of cardboard from Kristy and Matt's house while we were in Michigan. He moved the motorhome forward, positioned the boards just behind the front tires and the cardboard just behind the rear tires. He then took his seat and with Lisa standing just outside the driver's side of the coach put it in reverse. A little throttle didn't result in any movement up onto the boards. Well, we just need more throttle, right? A few seconds later Lisa was emphatically yelling 'CUT! CUT!' Dale couldn't understand what the problem could be, and why she was obviously overreacting. Lesson learned: 1) Never try to back up onto boards with slippery cardboard sitting on top of slippery sand under your drive wheels and especially without dumping the air out of your tag axle. The slippery cardboard had gotten the tires spinning and after shooting the cardboard forward the tires just kept spinning and digging. Dale had managed, in a matter of seconds, to dig himself a hole under the four drive tires. Thankfully after getting rid of the slippery cardboard and dumping the air out of the tag axle, Dale was able to move forward out of the hole without needing to tow it out with the Jeep. He then backed a little further into our site so that the front tires were actually able to maintain contact without the boards. Needless to say this month the tires will go without cardboard. Maybe next month. We actually inquired about moving. That didn't pan out, but the neighbors we've met so far are great and will make this an excellent month even if the site isn't perfect.
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| Site #59 at Recreation Plantation |
We are definitely looking forward to this weekend. We'll travel to what we believe to be the second largest RV show in the country, the Tampa RV Supershow. Some contend it's the largest, but we believe the show in Hershey, PA to be the actual largest. But the size of this show isn't the important part. The thing we're looking forward to is meeting up with as many as 10 of our fellow Newmar Hoots. Yes, these are the same wild and crazy people we met with in Tennessee earlier this year. We'll leave the BBB here in The Villages and drive the Jeep down to Tampa. While in the area we'll also have another bonus get together with members of our St. Matthews Bible Study gang. We'll meet Mary Englehardt at the home of Dennis and Joanie Frantz. Mary who still lives back in Michigan is visiting Florida for a month while Dennis and Joanie moved down here a little over two years ago.
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