Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Rough Times in More Ways than One

November 10-24, 2020                                      From Congaree to Gamble Rogers
Anastasia State Park                                        Closing October – Back on the Road
St. Augustine Florida


There hasn’t been a lot to take pictures of these past two weeks so I fear this post is even more wordy than usual.  I apologize.

IMG_20201108_141110839In my previous blog, I talked about how bad the weather was at Gamble Rogers.  So windy and rainy.  Not fun at the beach.  Well…just how windy was it?

Take a look at this video to see.

That will give you a good look at the wind but it got worse the next day to the point where I had to  bring the slides in for 3 days in a row and really couldn’t go outside much.  The rain was pouring down and the wind would grab the door out of my hands if I tried to open it.  One of the not so great things about being right on the ocean front.

Here’s a video from inside the RV.  I took it through the window.  It’s amazing how loud the wind is even inside.




Finally there was a break in the late afternoon so I went over to the river side of the park to see the sunset.  Yes I was quite optimistic as you can see.  Or can you even see the sun?

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The raining and wind and slides in and rig shaking went on for several days



In the mean time, I have a morning daily practice in which after watching the sunrise I open Mary Oliver’s Book Devotions to a random page and read the poem that appears and journal about it.  I love my lined 8 1/2 X 11 journals from Peter Pauper Press.  This one is my fall choice.  My introspective time with my favorite poet has helped me not to be too down about the weather and the problems that seem to be plaguing my life at the moment.

 

Another practice I try to do daily is yoga.  I’ve found an on line series that I like but it’s been too windy to do it outdoors and impossible to do indoors when I have to bring in the slides.  But that too shall pass.  One thing I love about Winnona, a rig really too big for me or any one person, is that there is room for yoga and company to come and stay.  I hope I’ll still be on the road when Celia and Colin are old enough to come with their Mom.


I also try to go hiking or at least walking daily for a minimum of 10,000 steps.  With the wind it’s been hard to do on the beach and with the rain, most of the nearby trails are under water so I’m relegated to the campground roads and nearby streets in Flagler Beach.  The campground has a nice nature trail which seldom floods and a separate loop of sites on the river side across A1A.

I got so tired of the fraudulent election accusations that I quit listening or watching the news.  Biden is the first president to win by over 80 MILLION votes.  I can’t wait until the electoral college meets and this whole thing is over.  Although there may still be shenanigans about that.  I suppose there is no chance to get rid of the electoral college but it is certainly out of date for the times.  The person with the most votes from all the people should be the winner.

I fear even after the college meets perhaps it won’t be over since Trump and his supporters are refusing to accept the loss.  Trump clearly likes to say you’re fired but will not accept when it happens to him.  I hope this nonsense doesn’t go on and on and the man actually will move out of the White House and his supporters take down their signs and flags. IT’S OVER ALREADY.  Such divisiveness he’s sewn  Us and them.  I fear he will never go away or stop tweeting in or out of office.  I’ve been embarrassed to be an American for the past 4 years and can’t wait to get back to decency in our government.  Sorry for the rant and politics but how can one avoid it even if you turn off the TV and radio?



I’ve started on a very difficult puzzle and am finding myself avoiding it.  I need a very good puzzle person to give me some guidance on how to attack this.  I love the picture but boy is it hard.   Here is a picture of what it will look  like when/if I can finish it.  The second picture is how far I’ve gotten.  Pathetic.  Like I said, even being stuck inside due to rain hasn’t gotten me very far.





My recent reading on kindle is The Book of Longings, Sue Monk Kidd’s latest.  It’s an interesting provocative fiction about the time of Jesus’ last years.  Kidd is a spiritual woman who has done a great deal of research for this book.  As one reviewer put it, it’s a what if book.  What if we knew what happened during those years of Jesus’ life not recorded in the gospels.  What if he was married. This is really the story of the narrator, Jesus’ wife Ana, a spirited intelligent woman.  I’m sure there will be many and varied reactions to the book.  I enjoyed it very much.




When the rain let up after about 5 days, I biked 7 miles round trip to the little commercial area of Flagler Beach.  They have a park right on the corner of A1A and Rt 100, the main intersection of town.  For years there had been a wonderful farmer’s market there on Saturdays.  I have no idea what happened to it about 3 years ago but I miss it.  The only outdoor venue now is a permanent “market” which gets its vegetables via tractor trailer.  No thanks.  Might as well just shop at Publix.

I’ve reluctantly been doing the business of life of course.  Laundry, which allows me one of my simple pleasures-clean sheets on my bed, vacuuming, cooking, paying bills, and for several days repeatedly STILL arguing with the rip off artists at Truck Enterprises in Harrisonburg Virginia about what they charged me for the work they did not do.  I’ve also made numerous calls about a reimbursement check I’m waiting from my Vision Insurance for the glasses I had made for driving.  They claim they sent it October 29 but as of today it still hasn’t arrived so I’ve had to deal with the automatic phone voice and being on hold forever to report it.  I’m sure you know how the business of life goes these days.  IF you can even do any business with a real person, you have to be on hold for what feels like days.   And then there is  the annual Medicare Part D check in late November.  It seems every year that whatever insurance I have for medications has gone up and so I change companies and then the following year that one goes up and I change again.  I spent an afternoon comparing plans and choosing yet another one.   How in the world did I ever have time to have a job and do all this personal business and have a family and a huge vegetable garden and can and freeze and . . . .   Seems like some sort an impossible dream at this point.



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On Tuesday the 17th, I left my windy, rainy, ocean front site at Gamble Rogers and moved north 35 miles to Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine where I was very happy to be in the maritime forest without wind.





My site 53 is paved so I don’t have to deal with all the sand which is also a relief.  But, when I made these reservations it was just as an interlude between stays at Gamble Rogers.  So I’m only at Anastasia for 4 nights.


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The ocean is nearly a mile away but it’s a good walk with a long boardwalk over the dunes.  Sky is blue and clouds are white  instead of both being gray.  It improves my mood.


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When I get there the red flag is flying – no swimming and the purple which usually means jelly fish.  It’ as windy as Gamble Rogers so no one is enjoying the water or sitting on the beach.   Anastasia has a huge, deep, long beach.

I go out to the water and it looks beautiful but it’s a good thing my hat is tied under my neck as the wind from the water would blow it clean off my head.





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That’s the wind blowing the brim right up next to my right ear.  If you were with me, I couldn’t hear a word you are saying.

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IMG_1033I go over the next the morning for the sunrise and am in time to catch the St. Augustine Light House with its light shining.  Though at the distance from the dune walk over it’s a bit hard to see the light in the picture.  But with my zoom lens I can get a pretty good shot.  Unfortunately, the skies his morning are gun metal gray and the sunrise is no better than at Flagler.  Too many clouds.


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You can barely see the sun at the horizon with all the clouds.


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The clouds are more colorful than the sunrise and they look particularly nice over the dune grasses.

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IMG_1103On my way back to Winnona, in order to pick up some more steps I walk down the 2 campground loops preceding mine and find a wonderful gem, a 1973 fully restored VW bus.  Ever heard of Woodstock?   I’m going to put pictures of this beauty throughout the next paragraphs of the blog.  They call the VW Peanut.  It has its own face book page if you’d  like to see the details of the restoration.   They did an absolutely amazing job.  It looks brand new.


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After reading The Book of Longings, I picked up a give away in the laundry area of Gamble Rogers.  It was the 3rd in a series mysteries, and was titled McNally’s Risk, by Laurence Sanders. This Archie McNally series is not quite a cozy mysteries series but not descriptively violent.  Archie,  the son in the law firm of McNally and Son, has an amazing vocabulary and after reading book 3, I got books 1 and 2 from my library on Kindle so I could look up all the words he uses that I don’t know.  And I thought I was pretty well educated.  Archie’s father is the lawyer and Archie is the only employee in the Department of Discrete Inquiries (aka private investigator).  Archie was dismissed from Yale Law School after streaking across the stage during a Symphony Concert.  I’ve enjoyed their feather weight fare, but after 4, it’s time to take a break and go on to something with more meat.



IMG_1105While at Anastasia, I hosed down the entire RV and Ruby in order to get the salt off.  It took me nearly 2 hours on the most powerful hose setting I have but afterward, I could see on Ruby the salt was still there so I washed her by hand.  The salt is obviously still on Winnona too but the ranger came up when I was finishing Ruby and scolded me.  No vehicle washing in the state park.  I told him I was only using a bucket with water, no soap but he didn’t care.  So poor Winnona.  I guess I’ll be looking for an RV wash.  Hope it’s easier to find here than in Virginia.  I’m concerned about using Blue Beacon with their power washers for fear that all the striping on Winnona which are decals will be damaged or come off.  Do any of you have experience with decal stripes and Blue Beacon?

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The following pictures are of  sunrises and sunsets during  the first two windy rainy cloudy weeks I was at Gamble Rogers.  They reflect the way I was feeling through this ordeal on the Saturday I was moving back to Gamble Rogers.


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And so that brings me to the absolutely terrible horrible no good very bad day that was November 21st when I was scheduled to leave Anastasia and move back to Gamble Rogers.  Moving is a great deal more difficult as a solo.  I have to do both the inside and outside pack up, dump the tanks as well as move the car somewhere, walk back and move the RV to a place where I can hook the car up, then walk to get the car and put it on the back of the RV.  Everything is going fine until I put the brake controller in the car and it will not turn on.  I check all connections and realize that because of Covid, it has been forever since I charged it up and it is  dead and unusable.  I will have to drive back to Gamble Rogers without it.  Towing a car with no brake controller  worries me a great deal so I sit in the parking lot for an hour with the controller plugged in to the electric provided by my solar panels but to no avail. 


IMG_0782I head down the park road and when I get to the very narrow entrance a UPS truck makes a quick left turn in front of me and forces me to put my brakes on hard.  That of course is sketchy without brakes in your car so I’m looking in my rear view mirror am not careful enough with this narrow entrance.  I clip the entrance pillar on my right which rips my rear awning arm off my RV at the bottom.  I have to drive on because there is a line behind me waiting to exit the park.  I drive a few miles on A1A looking for somewhere to pull over or into that I can also get back out of in order to take a look at the situation.  By the time I find such a place, the arm has been swinging back and forth so that the  screws which held the arm on have worn a groove in the side of the RV. 


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The best I can do is get a rope and tie the arm down to the frame and drive on.  But I can’t go faster than 25 or 30 mph without danger of the arm pulling completely away from the RV.  This does not make me popular with those following me.





IMG_0804I make it to Gamble Rogers, get into my site, start setting up and my back jacks will not go down.  I had the springs on them replaced just a month or so ago so it isn’t that.  The fronts went down but not the backs.  Thank goodness the site is nearly level but still in the wind on the ocean front having only half my jacks is not a good idea.  Of course it is late Saturday afternoon and I can’t get anyone to do anything until Monday.  But this is the 3rd in the Murphy series so I think I’m OK until I go out to Ruby to get the brake controller to plug it in and the back door of the car will not open.  The handle is limp when I pull it.  Both the handle and the jacks were working this morning.  SIGH….   Does this mean I’m on my 2nd set of 3 with Murphy?   I mean it’s the controller, the awning, the jacks and now the door.


IMG_0812I spend all day Sunday researching RV Service and Mobile Techs in this area and the situation is grim.  I put up requests on 8 RV facebook groups that I have joined including one each for Winnebago Brave Owners, Full Timers, Class A Owners, Winnebago any model owners, and several Women RV groups.   Over the day I get 5 mobile tech suggestions and 2 service centers.  Thanks so much to everyone who helped.


IMG_0860On Monday I start calling.  One service center does only drive train work, the other can get me in December 22nd.  3 of the mobile techs say they don’t come this far.  They are located 50 or 60 miles from Flagler Beach.  I leave messages for the other two.  Now what?   I am determined not to call the rip off artist who was so nasty last December and charged me double the cost quoted by others to replace my hydraulic motor.  So I wait.  I call HWH, they made the jacks.  Of course they will call me back in a few days.  I google everything I can think of including the HWH manual for my rig which is not with the other manuals. 


IMG_0864When I try starting over by storing the jacks and putting them back down in the hopes they both will go, I find that now neither the fronts nor the backs will go down  and I do not even hear the motor spinning.  I’ve made a bad situation worse.

At that point I am LIVID about the motor. Those of you who have been with me these past years know that last December I paid Mr. Rip Off $800 to have it put in because I had to leave the next day and could not delay long enough to have someone more reasonable do it.  I now see that I might not have been able to find someone else to do it at all in this area.  But I was ripped off and that’s been less than  year ago.  If the motor is the problem, he needs to make it right.


RV Tim

So I give up the hunt and call the nasty Tim from Atlantic Mobile RV. I’m not surprised that he isn’t too busy and can come out within the hour and does.  He is still a pompous ass but not so bad as last year.  He gets under the rig and in about 20 minutes has both jacks working.  He says it’s only a temporary fix since the rust on the wires and connections is the problem and it will just return.  GREAT to know!  Something else to worry about. 

He also fixes the awning arm and the bill is only $175 – $50 for the service call and $125 an hour for his time.  I’m amazed.   This picture is from his website as I didn’t want to inflate his ego any more by taking one of him here.  He reminded me multiple times that he has THIRTY EIGHT years of experience.  I’d say this picture might have been taken at least 20 years ago looking at him then and now.  BUT, he does know what he’s doing.  And I’m very grateful my two problems are fixed.  At least for now.


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As a result, I’ve decided that despite the fact that Gamble Rogers is my absolutely favorite State park in Florida, I will make no more future reservations to stay here or anywhere else within 8 or so miles of the ocean or gulf  because of the salt damage which I have so far been unable to get mitigated.  If you have a clue how or where to get that done on the underneath side of the rig.  PLEASE let me know.  Even suggestions will help.

SO, at the moment, the day before Thanksgiving, everything is working.  Luckily I don’t think I’ve ruined the controller by allowing it to discharge to zero.  Though I have not actually tried it on the car.  AND I have an appointment on Monday after thanksgiving to get the car door fixed.   I do have things to be thankful for.

However, the take home message here is, you’d better have a nice size repair fund if you are a solo without your own personal fix it person or pretty fine mechanical abilities and tools. 

Just so I wouldn’t get too thankful or relaxed, the wind did force me to bring my slides in overnight just last night.  Wind really does get tiresome

Congratulations for making it to the end of this epic tale and Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  Stay Safe, the vaccine is hopefully nearer and so are more civilized politics and greater concern for the environment.

34 comments:

  1. Happy Thanksgiving to you as well, Sherry!

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  2. Happy Thanksgiving to you also.
    I’m so sorry that you had all these troubles and to have had them all at once. But look at what you accomplished. You put one foot in front of the other, thought about what needed to be done and got started. That in itself is huge. There are always going to be hassles on the road. You are showing yourself just how capable you actually are. Good for you.
    Cindy

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    1. Your vision of my situation is much appreciated Cindy! I suppose having All the Troubles at once and getting them all out of the way rather than having them one at a time was actually better and less expensive. Look on the bright side.

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  3. Blue Beacon did a number on my View decals, even though I asked them to please avoid the decals going on. They pretty well stripped them. Of course, they are getting old, but still I wish I had avoided the power wash.

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    1. Thank you Suzanne so much for this comment about your experience. I was afraid of just what you are saying so there won't be any Blue Beacon for me. How do you get your ring cleaned?

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  4. Ugh, more issues! I guess one of the side effects of enjoying Florida and her beaches. I do hope you are able to have a happier Thanksgiving day.

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    1. Thanks Laurie. It's a beautiful 80° sunny day here for Thanksgiving. So it's as beautiful a holiday as it can be without David.

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  5. Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving. Since we park on the beach and then store our 1994 Win Adventure, I have seen major rust on all the underside of it. Just the cost of beach life. Remember the years of 'BOZO' with no wars and bringing troops home. Also keeping Taiwan the democratic independent country it is. Thousands or millions of people will die under the Progresive ( communist) rule we will get on Jan 20. I am having my possibly last USA Republic Thanksgiving in this life.

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    1. Thanks for your wishes Tom. Not sure who bozo is but I'll p.m. you about the political issues. I think you're worrying too much about communism. We didn't lose USA republic under Obama and we won't lose it under Biden either. But we might make a start on the serious environmental crisis looming.

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    2. Maybe Bozo should ask the Syrian people or the Kurds how their Thanksgiving is going? Also, there's a difference between socialism and communism...one that Bozo,Putin and Kim Jung Un know well...The main difference is that socialism is compatible with democracy and liberty, whereas Communism involves creating an 'equal society' through an authoritarian state, which denies basic liberties.

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  6. I so understand your very bad day... Glad at least for SOME resolutions to your issues. Yep the COST of repairs is awful...only to be outdone by a payment, with NO guarantee of less repairs. I just had a new house water pump replaced. Not having access to ready washing during covid seems foolhardy so I just bit the bullet and was able to find someone to repair it the day I called...I'll be moving over to Yuma area to move between my favorite places chasing the warm weather though I will miss the gatherings and will stay more isolated.. Certainly a different kind of year of travel but I am grateful for the warm weather.

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    1. You are so right about having a payment and no fewer repairs or perhaps even more with the flimsy new Riggs they are pumping off the line disease days. Glad you got your water fixed. Would love to know where you are going for warmth in Arizona. I'd like to try that next winter since I have been in Florida due to David's medical issues for the last 10 years. Thanks so much for the comment.

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  7. We've lived near the beach for many years and salt really does a number on everything. Even where we are in Sebring (south central Florida), it takes it toll. It does require constant maintenance on anything outside. So lifespans for heatpumps, metal roofs, outdoor furniture and RVs are greatly diminished. They require constant cleaning and still they will not last as long as normal. Sorry about all the recent issues, but it is normal as the rig ages:o(( But congrats on making your way through and handling everything in a timely fashion. As for the weather...it has been difficult everywhere...we had the hottest weather and would have loved to have a breeze;-)) But things seem to cycle and hopefully you will be headed into a more pleasant cycle. But for now, hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving and that you take time to make yourself some oyster stuffing!!!

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    1. Scalloped oysters on the way. Wish I had the ability to clean this rig more often. But I know I don't have the ability to buy anything newer. So I guess I'll take it as it comes. Sounds like you won't be with the kids for Thanksgiving? How South Carolina in late November? it's 80° here today and I'm grateful.

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    2. It is in the high 60s but will be getting cooler by December. You are correct, not seeing the kids for the holidays this year. We been together every year for the last 20. But the grands are all teenagers so we will wait until the Virus is under control before we get together, especially indoors!! Better safe than sorry!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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  8. Lovely rituals! That journal is gorgeous. And, I second Cindy...well done at taking the mishaps in stride and doing what had to be done. I hope Ruby's door isn't too bad a fix. I hope it's warm and pretty there on the beach today for oyster stuffing! Beautiful beach pictures as always. xoxo

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    1. Thank you sweetheart. Ruby will get her oil change and Lube at the same time so it may be more expensive but it won't be more trouble. 80° and gorgeous here today. Wish you were here with me

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  9. Sorry that you've had several issues to deal with on your own and without Davids help.I've always found that most other fellow campers are always ready to help if you ask them and may be able to either fix a problem or refer you to a local repair shop.If you use RV Service Reviews http://www.rvservicereviews.com/ReviewDetails.asp?Submit=&FacilityID=3403&State=FL&Search=&CategoryID= ,you'll be able to find service and reviews from other campers,I personally have used New Horizons RV
    617 South US Hwy 17, San Mateo, FL 32189 and found them to be excellent.I no longer have my camper,however we used to camp along the St Johns river at Rivers Edge RV Park
    1393 Co Rd 309
    Georgetown, FL 32139
    Very reasonable and right on the river for your kayaking interests.Have a great Thanksgiving!

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  10. Thanks so much for your comment Yankee flyer. I always use RV service reviews but there wasn't much on there for this area. Always ask fellow campers but mostly in state parks they are people who have regular homes not full-timers and whatever problems they have they get fixed at home. not sure where San Mateo Florida is or how close to Flagler Beach but I'll definitely look it up and thanks for the recommendation for Rivers edge. Happy Thanksgiving to you. Really appreciate your suggestions.

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  11. I certainly understand your frustration on the RV troubles. I'm hoping all this China Virus stuff will be mitigated soon so I can take the Journey back to the factory service center in Iowa to get all my slide seals replaced. They leak and have ruined the carpet. I can't wait to see the size of that repair bill. Something I can't do by myself, unfortunately.

    I have used Blue Beacon but my RV has full body paint so no problems there. A friend recently took his full body paint RV to BB and they killed his fridge by pushing high pressure water into the vent and broke one of his electric side mirrors, so BB is not a good place for an RV wash.

    Just so you don't feel lonely about car repairs, my Element toad electric window broke and $500 later it is fixed. Now the transmission is acting up. You'd think that a transmission would last longer than 250K miles, wouldn't you? I'm trying to find a good used one on ebay but so far all the ones for sale have even more miles than mine. Oh, and a remanufactured one goes for over $2K. Don't want to give up on the Element because it is a great toad, even at 18 years old.

    I guess life in general is expensive, so I'm doing my best to get the economy back to normal. ;c)

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  12. Well at least there are some things you can do yourself Paul. There's pretty much nothing I can do myself. I appreciate your Blue beacon stories. I thought I'd better stay clear of there and I'm certain now. Your element and my Ruby are the same age, 18. But like the rvs, they sure cost us less in repair than it would buy a new one. I always look forward to your comments. Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving.

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  13. That's quite a list of challenges you've had, from strong winds to so many RV issues. :-( I'm hoping 2021 will be better for all of us. At least we have a reasonable, sane, compassionate, intelligent person who will be leading our country!
    I hope your remaining time at Gamble Rogers will be as wonderful as it has always been for you in the past. And I hope your scalloped oysters were delicious! You inspired me to make cornbread oyster dressing. :-)) Oh, and I love your morning ritual of reading poetry and journaling.

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    1. Thank you Laurel. Your comments are always so sweet. My oysters were delicious and I'll be eating them for several days since it's impossible to make a serving for one. Hope yours were as good. I've never had oyster cornbread dressing.

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  14. I have that same journal and she always inspires me. I'll have to get that Sue Monk book, it sounds fascinating. I suppose all's well and all that but I know what a nightmare your November 21 must have been! Of course you powered through and got things done. Better weather and the optimism of intelligent and compassionate leadership will hopefully brighten your days. Holiday hugs!!

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    1. I always knew we were on the same page Jodee. Now it's literally true. Have you read previous Sue Monk Kidd? Let me know if you like this one. If you haven't read it already, I think you'd like Dance of the Dissident Daughter. It's one of her earliest and a favorite of mine. Hugs back to you.

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  15. WOW, that's some storm, yet the river looks almost smooth. Then doesn't it just figure when you move away from the beach the sky clears. I always think the 5th-wheel is too big after living in the camper all winter, but nah, it's nice to have the space, just not with the slides in. Seems those jacks have been a problem for years. I always use boards and blocks to level. It's always something, yet you got things done. I have a long list for both RVs and no fix-it person. I know you love the beach, but I hear AZ calling your name. Hope you had a tasty Thanksgiving dinner. Mine was good but nothing out of the ordinary. Sadly I can't eat oysters any more.

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    1. The ocean was actually pretty rough. Red flags both at Gamble and at Anastasia. But I guess calming the winds is the point of nature's creation of a maritime forest. It was a nice break. You are right, it is so nice to have the space in a larger RV but not so great looking for sites. So sorry to hear you can't eat oysters. Seafood is really my favorite food. Would love to know where I should head for a winter in AZ.

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  16. Well I'm glad to see you got someone out to fix your rig. I felt so bad for you when we talked... Loved the pictures of the VW Bus. Every year (but not 2020) there is a cairns event at a small town (Llano) here in Texas. Along with that event, VW Bus enthusiasts bring their restored or partially restored vehicles and stay in them. There were easily 20 of them when we went last year. Of course, the rock stacking event is also a real hoot... It's a shame to have to have your slides in during high winds. If we'd had to do that in our trailer, we couldn't move or get to the bedroom or bath. Take care..

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  17. I love the VW Peanut and the sunsets.

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  18. So sorry to hear of all the trials you have been enduring, but you have survived and managed it all. Hopefully 2021 will be a much better year all round.

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  19. I wish Dave was able to do yoga but his body isn't flexible at all, his doctor once told him he has the suspension of a dump truck. Since there will probably be no activities this winter then there will be no yoga classes :(
    Thanks for the new author to check out, I've been rotating through about 4 authors while reading their books in order.
    We've been waiting for January 20th for 4 years.
    You've faced quite a few challenges recently but November 21 sounds like a doozy of a day. Glad things are looking up a little. Your point about having a repair fund is a point we try to make when the full time conversation comes up with folks who are considering it.

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  20. I am certainly glad I got out of the solo rv'ing life after only a few years! Reading your post I think of how nice and relaxing it would be on your farm in Virginia, with a nice fire going in the fireplace, rather than being blown away by cold wet spray from the ocean or gulf. I'm just not a water person, I guess, and never was. The Shenandoah would be delightful any time of year, to me.

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  21. Well... yes, i did finish and that is quite the story... what is that saying, 'what will, does'.. is that even a saying? At least it gives you something to do? I know, there are better things, right? But glad you are getting along and still Thankful.. Think of you often. Take Care and God Bless. have a Merry, Merry Christmas...

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