State Parks near Crystal River, FL January 31, 2008
Posted by jim in RV, Retirement, Un-geeky stuff.add a comment
As we get ready to leave Crystal River, I’d like to tell you about two rather unique state parks — Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park and the Crystal River Archaeological State Park.
The Wildlife Park is an interesting place originally a private wildlife park aimed at tourists in Florida. It now houses everything from injured bald eagles to manatees to a hippopotamus. During the winter, manatees stay here due to the warm spring in the park. My wife and I had a very enjoyable visit to this park. Here are some pictures we took.
Flamingos and an alligator
Manatees from above and underwater
Finally, Cindy as a manatee
The other state park, the Crystal River Archaeological State Park was disappointing. The park is on the site of a pre-Columbian ceremonial site. There is a small visitors center with some displays and some interpretive signs and audio in the park. Unfortunately, if you’ve seen other similar parks, especially Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Illinois, this park is very disappointing. Personally, I found the view of the Crystal River the best point of this park.
We’re enjoying our adventure — hope you are enjoying yours.
Medical Issues on the Road January 25, 2008
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One of the things we dreaded most given our ages and medical histories was medical care while we’re on our road adventure. Strangely, our first challenges came with our dog and with my wife’s teeth.
In our dog, Maggie’s, case, we had gotten her shot records and assumed that we could get her heartworm medicine online when we needed it. Wrong!! We quickly found that (1) heartworm medicine needs a written prescription and (2) our vet doesn’t work with the online services. The vet is sending Maggie’s compete records to us and we’re hopeful based upon what the vet’s assistant told us with we’ll be able to get heartworm medicine from a local vet with her records.
In Cindy’s case, she came up with a rather severe toothache that ended up requiring a root canal. We got the name of a local dentist from the RV camp’s manager who turned out to be very capable. After three visits (one to diagnose and two to do the work by a specialist) and approximately five hours in the dentist chair, we are hopefully past this. (There is still a chance that the affected tooth will need to be extracted, but as some one who only has eight teeth left, I have been assuring Cindy that it is really worth the effort to attempt to save a natural tooth.) Until Cindy recovers from all this work, we (Cindy, Maggie, and I) are dependent upon my skills in the kitchen or finding an appropriate place to eat.
Still enjoying the adventure. Until my next post, I hope all of you are enjoying your adventure!
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Now playing: Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong – A Fine Romance
via FoxyTunes
Relaxing on the Water January 23, 2008
Posted by jim in Retirement.add a comment
Earlier this week, Cindy and I went deep sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. This meant that we had to board Maggie, our miniature schnauzer, for two nights. Since she needed to be groomed, we took this opportunity to get her clipped also. (My hair is getting much longer than Maggie’s – if I don’t get it cut soon, Cindy may send me to the dog groomer!)
We took a party boat from Tarpon Springs, FL that was supposed to leave at 9 AM, but ended leaving at 10 AM due to a low tide and to some peope arriving late. There were only twenty plus on this trip. After about and hour and a half, the anchor was dropped and we started fishing in about thirty feet of water. We later moved to two other deeper spots (forty and forty-eight feed deep). Here’s a picture of Cindy waiting on the boat for it to depart.
I had the best time — I caught more fish on this trip than I think I have caught in my entire life. Even though I threw back more than I kept, I still lost track of how many I caught. (Cindy and I were using the same stringer so it was difficult to determine who caught what.) At the first stop, we caught sea bass with about four keepers between us. At the second stop, I don’t remember any keepers, but I did catch a red grouper that was too small to keep — a truly beautiful fish. At the last stop, we hit a school of Key West grunts feeding. It seemed like every time we threw in our line that something hit the bait.
Here’s our stringer after the last stop:
In other news, there are already some issues with out Newmar motor home. The microwave is broken and the rear “escape” window won’t close without seriously bending the support rods. We’re still happy with our motor home, but it is disappointing to have to start dealing with warranty issues after having some work done with our dealer. I’ll probably wait until we move in February before getting these fixed since we’ll be closer to a Newmar dealer then.
Still enjoying our adventure – until next time.
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Now playing: Dexter Gordon – The Christmas Song
via FoxyTunes
Another Day, Another Dealer June 13, 2007
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My wife and I have been kept busy over the last week with “stuff” – a yard sale to get rid stuff we don’t need as we downsize, finding a handyman to make some repairs to the house before we put it up for sale, getting a hvac service man in to find out why the ac fan was squealing, and visiting trunk and RV dealers. Yesterday, we went to a nearby Ford dealer because the dealer’s web site said it had two Ford F350’s in stock that looked interesting. When we went to the dealership, we found out that only one of the trucks was available – the other one having been sold several days ago. (Rant — when will car dealers ever learn to be good web site citizens and keep their sites up to date — end rant.) We decided to pass on the in stock F350 since it did not have a couple of features that we wanted. We also asked how long it would take to get a new truck if we ordered one and were told eight to twelve weeks. Truly amazing if one’s to believe the news stories (print and tv) about how truck sales are in decline.
Today, we went to a nearby RV dealer that we had not visited previously. I wanted to see several Heartland fifth wheels and according to Heartland’s site, this guy was the closest dealer to us. We also saw a really nice Grand Teton fifth wheel by Thor that was truly amazing and had a price tag to match. We’re still undecided about the exact fifth wheel we want, but at least the hvac repair guy showed up a day earlier that scheduled and fixed our ac fan’s problem.
Fulltime RVing and the Internet June 4, 2007
Posted by jim in RV, Retirement, internet.4 comments
Since my last post, my wife and I have settled upon selling our house and becoming fulltimers — living full time in an RV. We’ve settled upon buying a fifth wheel once the house is sold.
I’m currently investigating how I’ll be connecting to the internet. It looks like some campgrounds now have wifi. Satellite internet connectivity is also a possibility, but it is somewhat expensive. I’m currently leaning towards using campground provided internet, hotspots, and library hosted internet until I find that it doesn’t meet my needs.
I’ve bought two new computers — a desktop for my wife and a laptop for myself. It looks like many of the fifth wheel RVs we’ve been looking at will have an office area where a desktop unit can be housed. Now I need to figure out what applications I’ll be needing when we’re not online.
Broadband, Travel Trailers, and Retirement December 21, 2006
Posted by jim in Geeky stuff, Retirement.1 comment so far
Before I decide what software I’ll be using during retirement, I suddenly realize that I have taken my current low speed broadband access for granted. My wife and I are planning on purchasing a travel trailer and using it a lot. I’ve suddenly come upon the realization that I don’t know whether I’ll be able to have any sort of broadband access while we’re using the travel trailer. Does any one have any experiences with internet access while travelling with a travel trailer and/or RV?
