Talk About a Busy Week

MONDAY

I was up at 4;15 AM to get cleaned up before Don or our grandchildren. Brad and Maddy had a 7;25 AM return flight to Indianapolis, Indiana. At 4;30 I woke up Don to get cleaned up, letting the kids sleep in an extra half hour. We packed the few remaining items into their suitcases, grabbed a box of Pop Tarts and we were out the door by 5 AM heading for Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers. Thankfully it’s still small and easy to navigate but change is in the wind.

I’d had a restless night worrying about not being able to stay with Brad and Maddy while they waited to board. I was concerned they’d miss their flight due to inattention. My worry was for naught, the airport allowed us both access to the passenger waiting area. One escort per underage child. The kids and I had no problem passing through the scanner but Don set it off once, twice, three times. That’s when it occurred to us that it was his knee replacement triggering the alarm. Too late! Don got his very own personal TSA agent to give him a very thorough body frisk.

Amidst groaning, Brad and Maddy boarded without another incident. The groaning was because I had informed them that it would be 45 degrees colder in Ellettsville, Indiana than it was in Fort Myers, Florida.

Don and I stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrel on our way back to the campground. Once back at to the Suite Pea the bed was calling us to return to it.

After our 1 1/2 hour nap we were once again ready to take on the world. I tackled the laundry while Don picked up the rig and packed away the air mattresses. Next we met for Euchre in the clubhouse. So many of our card players had departed for their home states that we only had one foursome to play. Don came out with the highest score again. Not a bad way to go out for our last Euchre get together. I on the other hand brought up the rear.

We wrapped up our day by going grocery shopping. Our pantry was looking alot like Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard after hosting two growing teenagers this past week.

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY

Wednesday was a repeat of the previous day. Don cleaned the truck’s interior then washed it. He also washed and waxed Suite Pea. I gave every nook and cranny on the inside a cleaning. Tucker’s bed and all the floor mats were laundered. Interior windows, screens and shades were cleaned. I even washed the walls where Tucker lies. It doesn’t matter if he’s groomed regularly or not, a dog’s coat still leaves dirt on the walls where they lay.

While Don was on the roof cleaning, he notice the seal channel on our backside had pulled away from the outer wall. He promptly contacted the mobile  RV repair here in the park to come out. We have an appointment set up for Thursday. Don said he’s having the pass-thru door fixed too. The bracket on it wasn’t installed correctly at the time Suite Pea was built. It’s been giving Don fits off and on since we purchased our RV and he’s tired of tinkering with it. Doesn’t matter if it’s a stick and brick house or a home on wheels, there’s always maintenance to be done.

By days end on Wednesday, Don was certain we wouldn’t be able to get our sore old bones out of bed come Thursday morning.

THURSDAY

Another busy day. It began with coffee and doughnuts in the clubhouse. This is an every Thursday event. The park’s owner is usually in attendance to answer questions and take suggestions. He’s very approachable and pleasant. He’s also good to his word. The coffee, tea and doughnuts are on him and there’s always a good turnout. We’ve found this is a good time to meet new people. It’s how we met several of the folks in the park this Winter.

While Don waited for the repairman to show, I headed to the laundromat in town so I could use a big heavy duty tumbler to wash our quilt. I took the opportunity to do errands. I had to shop a few specialty shops which meant a lot of running around. Easier to do when Don’s not in tow. I needed to replace Tucker’s fan since the old relic finally fell apart. You’d think it would be easy enough to locate a 3 speed floor fan that could be rotated up or down and where I could access the blades for cleaning. BUT NO!!!! I’d find fans that met all criteria except easy access to the blades. I went to five different stores but still came back empty handed.

Back at the campground, Don said the repairman never returned nor called after he’d stopped by earlier in the day to inspect the job we wanted performed. Don spent the time I was gone cleaning the Fantastic Fans, scrubbing the interior of the entry door, organizing the pass-thru and packing up the patio items.

Don grilled steaks for dinner, then we walked over to the clubhouse to play BINGO. Don had never played before coming here, now he’s addicted. He loves it when Thursday comes around, free doughnuts and Bingo. Not as many people tonight but we sat with a fun couple we’ve become friends with from our birth state of Michigan, Tom and Jean, and three of our little foursome hit for a jackpot tonight.

Uncertain about how tomorrow will play out. We had made plans to meet friends Greg and Ginger from back home for lunch on Sanibel since they’re down on vacation but we’re still needing repairs done before we leave here on Sunday morning.

FRIDAY

Located a fax machine nearby so we were able to fax our signed tax form back to our CPA in Indiana. Whew, am I glad to have that chore over. The RV repairman showed up shortly after our return. Seems he had an emergency yesterday and apologized profusely. So while he was working on our rig with Don and Tucker in tow, I defrosted our refrigerator freezer and washed the fridge interior. Once Don gets the new carbon monoxide detector installed the only thing we’ll have left to do it batten down the hatches to roll. We’ll wait until Saturday to do that.

 

WE never did meet with our friends the Mourning’s from back home. I guess it just wasn’t meant to happen this time. Seminole Campground hosted one final fling before all the Snowbirds return home. They brought in Wayne Deloria, a one man band to play for the park. Show started at 7 pm at the clubhouse. There wasn’t very many campers left in the park to attend, just a handful of us. We all gathered round outside at the tables near the blazing campfire, wine and beer bottles in hand and enjoyed the mellow sounds being performed by Wayne. It was a mild, warm comfortable evening. I think everyone in attendance had a good time.

Suzanne and Jack Turner. Tucker stole my seat while I was taking photos.

Tom & Jean Moore

Wayne Deloria

SATURDAY

A very rough start to my day. Apparently the single glass of wine I drank last night caused my blood sugar to drop around midnight. (I’m hypoglycemic.) I ate some protein to help alleviate my symptoms but it took 3 hours before I felt “normal” again. I know I really shouldn’t have any alcohol at all but once in a while I do like to have a mixed drink or a glass of wine. I finally crashed around 3 AM and crawled back into bed. At 6::45 AM Don got out of bed waking me. No matter how I tried I couldn’t go back to sleep so I got up as well even though I felt groggy and knew I’d feel that way all day. I wasn’t up to going over to the clubhouse for the pancake breakfast so Don went without me. He did scramble me a couple of eggs before he left, more protein.

About 11 Tom & Jean came to pick us up. We’d made plans last night to have grouper tacos at the Island Cow on Sanibel. Tom and Jean had never eaten there before. Jean’s a big fan of fish tacos too and that’s what she and Don ordered. Tom’s not a fish person so chose the fried shrimp basket and I opted for the shrimp tacos this time. Everything was delicious as usual. Jean was impressed with the numerous choices on the menu. We have never been disappointed with our meals here.

John & Pam Cook
50th Wedding Anniversary

Back at camp we barely had time to pack a few items when it was time to head back to the clubhouse to celebrate John and Pam Cook’s 50th Wedding Anniversary with them. John is one of our Euchre buddies, he’s quiet, friendly and has a dry sense of humor. Pam is a lovely, vivacious, outgoing woman. I liked her immediately the first time we’d  met. They are full timers like us. It was a very nice get together and a wonderful way to end our stay here at Seminole. We are looking forward to visiting with some of our new friends this Summer as we navigate from town to town, others we’ll see back here again in December when we return.

Our destination in the morning will be the Titusville/Mims area of Florida on the Atlantic side.

Here’s lookin’ at you kid……………………..