Cedar Key - Day # 30 - Wrenching

Sunday morning fog

One of the things you would know about me from reading this blog is my love for bicycles.  I carry in my enclosed trailer a tandem, two road bikes, and a mountain bike.  Before our  Spokane interlude I also had two tadpole recumbents along for the ride.  I carry a bike stand which enables me to get the bike on which I am working off the ground.  I carry a full set of bike specific tools, as well as replacement parts, etc.  Since our arrival here at Sunset Isle RV Park and Motel I have made offers to the members of the NuRvers group to tune up their bikes if that was all that was needed, or address specific mechanical issues they may be having.  

At first I didn't have anyone bringing their bike over, but eventually Debby Kasson (Bill and Debby's Wild Ride) asked if I would look at her beach cruiser for a specific problem (bent rear derailleur hanger), so I had the pleasure of "digging" into her bike for a few hours, and getting it working, and running the way it was meant to.  Eventually the word got out and I worked on Brian's (The Roaming Pint) bike which had major problems.....only one of seven speeds worked, the rear brakes were frozen up, and the front ones were getting there.  It took a few hours of pleasant work to get it running again, but now it works pretty well.  When I took his bike back I picked up Maria's which really only needed a tune up.  Pretty soon I got a message on Facebook from Forrest Clark (NuRvers) asking if I would take a look at his bike, even though it was pretty new.  It just needed a minor tune up and lube.  

Around the same time I got a message from Jay (Slider Magazine), who was currently in St. Augustine, FL, but wanted to know if he could bring his Specialized bike by when he returned to fix an ongoing issue with his rear hub.  He brought his bike by Saturday morning.  It took pretty much every tool in my tool box to fix the problem with his rear hub, but fix it I did, and what a blast I had taking that bike apart, and putting it back together.   He dropped by later in the day after I had returned his bike (he wasn't "home" at the time) asking where his dirty bike was.......he didn't want the "new" one I had left by his motorhome......you see, now that makes me smile.  I told him I have a genetic predisposition toward cleaning, and that I couldn't help it, so he would just have to get used to the "new" bike I brought back.

Friday night I had gotten an e-mail from Karen (of Krash and Karen fame) asking if they could take me up on my offer to tune up their bikes, or at least check them over, so they came by around 1 pm Saturday with their bikes.  All four of us stood out in the trailer while I worked first on Krash's Schwinn hybrid fixing a rear brake issue.....they were continuously rubbing.  Next up was Karen's Diamondback hybrid, which needed some adjustment to the rear derailleur as it was not shifting through all 7 gears properly.  All that "fun" took about an hour and a half.....and, seriously, it was fun.  Thank you to all those who have taken me up on my offer to use my "wrenching" skills on your bicycles.....and to those of you who have not seen fit to contribute to my addiction.....and you know who you are......have a little pity on a wrench addict and bring your bike over for me to play with for a while......pretty please?  Krash left me with 3 bottles of Anchor Steam Porter for my efforts.  Please understand, I do not do this for gain, but will not turn down offers of good brews if they come my way.

Before Krash and Karen left we made a date to meet at the Sea Breeze Restaurant on Dock Street for drinks and appetizers at 5:15.  For one rare time we drove the car into town, and passed K & K on their bikes riding into town....as it turned out, by the time we found a parking spot they were in front of the restaurant locking their bikes....:D

I wasn't that impressed with the appetizers, but enjoyed my Blue Moon draft beer.....I will say I though their Onion Rings were slightly above average.  The sunset did not disappoint, and the conversation flowed without pause.  Yelp reviewers give it a 3 on a scale of 1-5....I would give it a 2.5.

We parted company a little after 7 pm and headed to our respective "homes".  I spent some time working on my Amazon.com "reflections" piece, watched a couple of "American Pickers", and then trundled off to twilight land.  Another day lived well......

# 30 taken from inside the Sea Breeze Restaurant

Thanks for stopping by!

Cedar Key - Day # 28 - Standin, Walkin & Talkin

Some days it's difficult to come up with a catchy title that captures the mood, and character of a given day.....especially when there have been so many special days here in Cedar Key.  One of the things we both cherish about our time here in Cedar Key are the numerous new relationships and friendships that are developing.  Developing relationships and/or  friendships involves getting to know one another, and that involves a lot of talking....sometimes standing in one place, sometimes walking.  Thursday was a day for conversations.  There is something almost mystical about Sunset Isle RV Park and Motel that brings people of varying backgrounds, geography, interests, philosophies, and values together in a way that is simple in its nature, but complex in its composition.  I struggle for adequate words to convey what happens when you spend time here.  Many say this is the friendliest RV Park they have ever visited....and these are people who travel thousands of miles a year all over this amazing country. There is this aura of mutual respect and acceptance that is rarefied, and precious.  That may be why it is painful to think about leaving.

Good examples of the foregoing:  I walked over to Forrest Clark's class A motorhome to pick up his Gary Fisher mountain bike to tune it up......I stood there talking to Forrest and Mary for the better part of an hour, almost forgetting the reason for my visit.  Then while I was tuning the bike Cindy and Danny, out walking their Jack Russells, stopped to talk.....and there went another 30 minutes of pleasant conversation.  As I was delivering Forrest's bike to him, Forest and Cindy Olivier drove up and joined the conversation.  During that time we decided to walk into town with Forest and Cindy for a latish lunch......more walkin and talkin. We talked all the way into Big Deck Raw Bar, and continued while we ate.....suddenly Karen and Krash appear on the sidewalk and we invite them to sit at our table......much, much more conversation.  Before we left on our walk into town I struck up a conversation with a new couple, Jim and Charlotte, who moved into the site next to ours.....they were getting ready for a bike ride, and, of course we talked about bikes.....20 minutes of breaking the ice.  

Of course the walk home from Big Deck involved more conversation.....we stopped at Sandy's Produce to buy cheese.....Forest and Cindy needed some vegetables, and ran into Debby and Bill.  That evening NuRVers was sponsoring an Asian Buffet.......much, much more fun, interesting conversation as we ate great food, and watched another magical sunset that kept evolving for the better part of an hour.  Thank you Chris, Cherie, Kyeli, Pace, Forrest and Mary for your parts in making last night another special evening of conversation and memory making.

As I have remarked often in this blog "at the end of the day" it is the people we have met along the way that will occupy our hearts, and memories for years to come.....sure the places are interesting, captivating, and amazing, but it is this place which provides the wonderful tableau for building these friendships.

Thank you for stopping by!

Cedar Key - Day # 16 - Prime Time

During our sojourn at Amazon.com we enrolled in Amazon Prime.  Essentially Amazon Prime gives you 1-2 day delivery at no charge, no matter how large, or small the item(s) being shipped.  It costs roughly $79 per year.  A number of friends who fulltime in their RV's use this to have things shipped to them wherever they happen to be at the time.  As TLE and I know from our 11 week experience at Amazon.com you can buy pretty much anything through Amazon, including many food staples.  TLE has bought a special honey she likes, some hard to find spices, etc. using our Prime account.  I am finding that a lot of people I know who live in sticks and bricks homes also use Amazon Prime.  Let's face it, most of the time there is no sales tax, and there is no shipping charge, and the convenience of receiving what you need within 2 days is pretty cool.  I have no financial stake in recommending that you check it out.  It, of course, is not for everyone, but we are finding that it works for our lifestyle quite well.

Saturday was "dump the black tank" day.....I think we went close to 13 days this time.  While I was flushing the "cooties" out of the black tank I decided to multi-task and wipe off the T-Bird.....normally, for me, this is not a good idea, because sometimes I get caught up with one task and forget the other......use your imagination.  This time it worked out well.  We decided we would walk into town and browse around.  It was a very humid day (around 89%) with a high of 81 degrees.....not as bad as I have experienced, but a lot warmer than we are aiming for.....:D  By the time we reached dock street we decided we needed to cool down a little, so we stopped off at the Island Trading Company where we acquired two frappuccinos, then went outside to sit in the shade.  Being that it was Saturday the town was packed with weekenders.  We sat there with smug smiles on our faces, because we knew we didn't have to leave this paradise on Sunday to head back to a sticks and bricks life.....we get to stay!

From there we walked over to 2nd street to see what was for sale in the Deja Vu consignment store.  TLE found some purplish earrings to go with her purple summer dress she got in Chiefland the day before, and a tank top........she deferred on several paperback books she saw.....whew!

On our walk back we passed a yard sale in progress so stopped to see what was what.  I found this propane regulator in a cardboard box of tools for $3.....all the fittings, the gate valve, and pressure regulator, if sold separately, retail for around $35, conservatively......SCORE!  Always good to have an extra regulator.....I have two in use in the coach, and they do fail from time to time.....none of mine have, but I like to be prepared.  

When we stopped by Sandy's Produce (we can never pass without buying something) Todd saw the regulator in my hand.....I saw him staring, and told him about my great find....he immediately offered me $10, then $15.....he knew what I knew.  I smiled, and declined his offer.

We continued our walk, and as we passed by a local cafe called the Blue Desert Cafe TLE remarked that we should have dinner there that night.....it is only open from 5 pm to 9pm most nights, but til 10 pm on Saturday nights.  I put up a notice on the NuRVers Cedar Key Meetup site regarding our intentions, and before we knew we were a party of 9.  We started our walk around 6 pm with Chris, Cherie, Pace and Kyeli, and as we passed by Low Key Hideaway we snagged 3 more......Debby, Bill and Forrest.

The picture taken at the Blue Desert Cafe (above) was taken by TLE using her new IPhone camera set on panorama......other than a little distortion in my profile, I think it came out great!  We knew going in that the service at this cafe was slow, but the food is great, and we were not disappointed on either count.  Of course, we are on island time, and enjoyed the time before our food arrived to talk, and talk, and talk......great conversation followed by great food.

The walk home involved more conversation, and before we knew it we were home and it was only 8:45......just in time to catch the end of the Ravens vs. Broncos game, lost in double overtime by the Broncos.....a very close game.  The second game between the Packers and 49ers saw the 49ers emerge victorious.  Sunday there will be two more NFL playoff games, so you know where I will be starting at 1pm!

And, thus we come to the end of another delightful day at Cedar key.

TLE took the sunset picture for Saturday

Thanks for stopping by!

Cedar Key - Day # 13 - Friends, Rain, Chili and Movies

We are in a 10 day stretch right now with high humidity (100% as I type), and much, much warmer temperatures (high 70's, low 80's).  When it warms up in Florida you are reminded why everyone who owns a sticks and bricks home has a screened in patio.  I remember one morning months ago when I woke up in Michigan to another cold, rainy day and realized for the first time in a couple of months I wasn't itching from mosquito and noseeum bites.  Well, "THEY'RE BACK".....these little winged demons seem to love me for some reason.....TLE rarely ever gets bitten.  Maybe they know she is a Florida native and leave her alone....they only go after "foreigners".

Back in March we spent 10 days at the home of my high school friend, Ernie Prociw.  We had a wonderful time reconnecting after almost 40 years......by the way, Ernie has a screened in patio called the "Paradise Club"......he lives on the east coast of Florida.  Well, I got an instant message from him a while back saying he was going to be in Gainsville on business and would we like to get together for lunch.  Of course!  I knew he would be in the area around the 8th of this month, and finally heard from him that he could be here in Cedar Key the 9th for a few hours.....cool.

I got a call from Ernie around 10 am saying he would be here a little after 12.  TLE needed to do some shopping, so we decided to walk into Cedar Key and meet Ernie initially at Kona Joe's, then head over to the Big Deck Raw Bar for lunch and conversation.  Ernie arrived about 12:20.....he is a punctual guy!  We had a nice lunch....garden salad and tea for me for me....TLE had some clam chowder, and Ernie got a bowl of steamed clams......I have to admit for the first time in my life I had a few steamed clams.  Thank you Ernie for taking time out of your day to drive into Cedar Key, and we will see you next month on our way up the east coast!

The night before on our walk into town with Bill and Debby I had offered to tune Debby's bike up, and just before we left to walk into Cedar Key she dropped it off.  After Ernie left to make a run down to Tampa I took her bike over to the trailer and got to work on it.  It had fallen over a while back and the result was a slightly bent rear derailleur hanger, which was causing problems with her shifting, so I removed the "hanger" and "massaged" it as close as I could to its original state.  To make a long story short, I was able to straighten it enough to fix the shifting problem, and get everything adjusted properly again.  Haven't had the chance to tune up a bike in a while, and in spite of the bugs and humidity I had a great time.

While I was doing that, TLE was busy preparing her contribution to NuRVer's Chili Cook Off scheduled for 5 pm over at the same site where we had our New Year's celebration.  Just at about 5 pm the sky opened up and we had a short torrential downpour that soaked everything.  It continued to rain lightly until after 6 pm, but eventually we all gathered at site # 58.....it turned into more of a potluck with all of us sampling the various chili entries....they ranged from "5 alarm" to vegetarian to vegan to meat....they were all good, and we were all winners to be able to sample so many great chili recipes.

After the brief rain storm

After the meal we sat down to watch the movie "Looper" starring Bruce Willis, and Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt on an outdoor screen and had a great time doing all the things that are considered taboo in a movie theater....making comments about the movie out loud, answering ringing cell phones, and just being silly.  It was an interesting movie with an interesting premise.

That was our day......thanks for stopping by!

P.S. - Today was our daughter, Sharon's 28 birthday, and also happens to be the day my father died 35 years ago.......I was just 28 when he died.

Cedar Key - Day # 9 - What day is this?

We awoke to a partly cloudy day.....the forecast indicated 60% chance of rain for a day called "Sunday".  the "Day Clock" on our wall indicted it was Sunday,  but it still felt like Saturday to me.  I thought about checking the battery on the Day Clock, but in my heart I knew it was right.  All that really means is more NFL, right?  I'm starting to really get into EST.....back home in Riverside the first NFL game would be at 10 am, but here in EST the first game is at 1 pm.....that gives me a half day to do other stuff before I start watching football......the second game always starts right near sundown, so I have most the daylight portion of the day to accomplish other things.  All I'm really saying is living in EST allows me to have my cake, and eat it too.....after 63 years....it's about time.....:D  

I don't recall that I have ever talked about numbers on my blog.......how many "page views" per day, per month, etc.  It's not really that kind of blog.  It started as a way for me to keep a sort of diary for myself, and for my family (kids, siblings, Mom) to share our journey vicariously.  It has never been about numbers, or dollars.  I used to get excited if I saw that 20 people had looked at my blog on a given day.  Then we came to Cedar Key the first time back in March of 2012, and we had a hundred page views in one day.  These extra views came as a result of our meeting the NuRVers here, and they all wanted to learn a little bit about us, plus they referred a few others to our site.  After a few days the page views settled back down to 30, or 40 a day.  Gradually over the months I started averaging 60-70....a number that was directly correlated to how often I blogged.  If we were sitting still I usually didn't blog, so numbers would drop, of course.  After we left my sister's home in Spokane I was determined to blog on a more regular basis, and to look for something every day that others might find interesting, no matter how mundane it might seem to me.  I went from 8 blog entries in June (we sat still for 5 weeks) to 21 in July, 27 in August, and then my first 30 blog entry month in September where I blogged every single day for the first time, and since then I have not missed a day.  I write all that to say this......after I started blogging every day I started averaging over 100 page views a day.....a few times just under 190 in a single day.....for me that is amazing.....that almost 200 people not related to me are interested in what I write makes me smile.  I don't have to tell you, but these are not noteworthy numbers in the world of blogging where some get in excess of a million page views a day, but for me it is satisfying.  

After my blog entry the day following our "salsa off" Chris and Cherie (NuRVers and Technomadia) called attention to my blog entry for that day on their Facebook page, and suddenly we had almost 400 page views in one day, followed by similar numbers the next day.  For me that is amazing.....my daily goal is still just to write something interesting on some level.......that almost 400 people other than those related to me read my blog each of the last two days feels really good.  

Now back to Sunday.....I spent a good deal of the morning compiling a pictorial review of our first 11 months on the road.  The title of that entry was (numerically) 12,445.....the number of miles we had covered in 11 months.....that is a lot of driving considering we sat still 5 weeks in Spokane, 2 weeks on Whidbey Island, 2 weeks near Seaside, OR, and then 11 weeks in Campbellsville.  What is interesting to me is that our typical driving day after we covered over 600 miles in one day driving from Mesa, AZ to Midland, TX has been under 200 miles....sometimes under 100.  Anyway, it was a nice trip down memory lane for me......I only got up to the end of July, so I'll have to finish that later today.

Just before TLE and I set out to do some local shopping.......a moment of serendipity hit again when we got a message on the NuRVers Cedar Key Meetup site on Facebook that one of our members was making a run to the Trader Joe's in Gainsville, and offered to pick up some things for those who were interested.....thank you Kyeli!  We ordered a couple of bottles of Trader Joe's Zinfandel ($5.99 per), 2 bottles of Blue Fin Pinot Noir ($3.99 per), and a bottle of Himalayan Pink Salt, all which were in stock.  Since some of our more exotic needs were being picked up for us, we just ran over to the Dollar General store to pick up some Santitas tortilla chips, and other sundries, then over to Sandy's Produce in town for some cilantro, orange, tomatoes, red onions, and a pound and a half of Mahi Mahi to grill that night.

Around the time it began to rain Kyeli returned from Gainsville with our TJ's order, then we set about making dinner, with me grilling the Mahi Mahi while it rained.......so thankful for a patio awning.....a little Frank Sinatra playing in the background, the aroma of fresh marinated Mahi Mahi being grilled, and a sip here and there of Pinot Noir..........mmmmm!

Grilled Mahi Mahi with avocado/corn salad and Blue Fin Pinot!

After dinner I watched a very exciting Redskin vs. Seahawk game followed by us watching three of our favorite shows sans commercials, which had been recorded earlier last week......Elementary, Person of Interest and CSI New York accompanied by the sound of rain on the roof......then it was off to slumberland around 10:30 pm.....early for us.  What a nice uneventful day with just a touch of serendipity.  Monday is supposed to be sunny in the afternoon, followed by the same the rest of the week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cedar Key - Day # 8 - The Sea Eagle

To me every day seems like Saturday now, and I think that is a good thing.  Saturdays have always been one of the best days of the week for me going back decades.  I loved to wake up Saturday mornings with the realization that it was NOT a work day.  Sure, back in the days when our kids were in soccer Saturday meant we were up early, and on our way to the soccer pitch to coach and referee youth soccer all day, which can resemble work, especially with 5 kids, but it was not work in the sense it was something we chose to do for our pleasure, not required in order to pay the mortgage.

Saturday started off mostly clear with lots of early sunshine.....yay!  TLE and I got around 8 am up to see off Todd and Lucy, NuRVer friends, who are heading south to Naples, FL for a multi month workamper job Lucy picked up.  We enjoyed getting to know Todd and Lucy for the week we have been here, and are already missing them.

Lucy and Todd

When we last left off we had just received the Sea Eagle kayak via FedEX, along with TLE's new I-Phone 5.  Whilst TLE spent time on the phone with Verizon activating her phone I opened up the very large box and began assembling our new toy.   We got the Sea Eagle Sport SE-330 Pro Package which includes two double bladed paddles, two deluxe seats, a foot pump, storage bag, repair kit, and dry bag.  The SE-330 measures 11.5 fee in length when inflated, and has a 500 pound load capacity.  Their larger model, the SE-370 is one foot longer, and has a carrying capacity of 650 lbs.  Delflated the kayak weighs 31 lbs. and is 24" X 17" X 7"......great for easy storage!

Around 2:30 we decided to take our, almost, daily walk into town to buy two life preservers, 10 feet of boat line for the bow, and have lunch.   By this time is was getting a little cloudy, but was still balmy.  We stopped in at the "Big Deck Raw Bar" on Dock Street in downtown for lunch.....I had this amazing "Black and Bleu Burger" with curly fries chased by a couple of pints of their draft "double stout".....I am sorry, I do not remember the name of the brewer, but it was excellent!

We picked up the 10' length of boat line on our way to "Big Deck" and the two life preservers on our walk home arriving back at Sunset Isle around 5 pm.....just in time to catch the rising tide.  Forrest Clark, NuRVer, joined us in his single kayak, and eventually we caught up with Bill and Debby Kasson in their canoe meandering aimlessly, to quote Debby, around the oyster beds.  She took the picture below of our maiden voyage in the "Eagle".

Forest in his "single"

We paddled around for about 20 minutes and then decided it was getting dark quickly....time to head for shore!  We'll make a couple of changes to the seat spacing to give me a little more leg room, but overall we like our Sea Eagle, and are looking forward to getting out in it again. We found it to be very stable, and were never concerned with capsizing....well, maybe TLE was for a couple of minutes, but within minutes she said she realized it was not going to flip over.

We said our "good evenings" and thanked Forrest for allowing us to beach our kayak at his water front site where there was a nice sandy beach, and no mud....yay!

I finished watching the Texan vs. Bengal NFL wild card game, and then settled in to watch the Packers vs. Vikings.....a pretty lopsided matchup compared to last Sunday's very close game.

It's supposed to rain today, Sunday, but so far it looks a lot like yesterday.  There will be more NFL in a few hours.....and it still feels like Saturday to me!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cedar Key - Day # 7 - What is it about this lifestyle?

What is the allure of this lifestyle I call fulltiming, which, apparently, is not really a word according to my spell check?  Well, it must be real, because I am living it!  I call it fulltiming, others call it vagabonding, while still others call it nomadic.....no matter what you call it.....it is not conventional.....it is hard to even describe as there are not adequate verbs and adjectives in the English language to properly describe what "we" are all about.  When I say "we" I am talking about those of us who have eschewed the norms of society....have forsaken being tied to "real" property.....a piece of real estate.....living in a fixed location.  We have chosen to live in homes with wheels.  We are able to change our view without going through escrow.  We have no long term plans written down on paper, or even committed to memory.  We like the term "plans written in Jello".  We may talk about being in Maine come April, but may find ourselves in Lawrence, Kansas instead.  We thrive on uncertainty......it does not scare us.....no, it inspires us.

Some of the entrants....that's TLE's on the lower right

Moi leading off the judging

Friday night our "nomadic convergence" group, as Chris and Cherie might.....no, would refer to our gathering, converged for a "salsa off" at their water front site.....there were 9 salsa entries.  Frankly, to me, all 9 were award winners in their own right.  First we each tasted all 9 entries, then wrote down our opinions about them as to the accuracy of the maker's spiciness rating (scale of 1-10).  Then we voted on which was "Best Roasted",  "Best Fresh", and "Best None Salsa". There was a  pitcher of margaritas, craft beer, straight tequila, and wine flowing throughout the evening as we gathered around a roaring fire.  Here was a collection of 20+ people from all sorts of varied backgrounds, lifestyles, belief systems, ranging in age from 30 to 63+, and yet we all have a few important characteristics in common......1) We are all young at heart regardless of our calendar age, 2) We all love to change our "view" on a regular basis, and 3) We love to be with like minded people.  When we come together there is this immediate connection......as if we have known one another for years.  There is an amazing sense of community.

We are not missionaries moving about the country trying to proselytize, or convert others to our lifestyle.  Of course, if asked, we are more than happy to "bear witness" about our lifestyle in general terms.  Yes, we are excited and enthusiastic about how we live and love to share it with others, but we have this internal struggle going on.......if too many people are converted, then it will get a lot more crowded "out here", but as Mt. 22:14 says:  "Many are called (invited), but few are chosen", or, in other words, choose to accept the invitation.

Chris getting a head start 

Okay, now I'll step down off my soapbox and relate a little of what our Friday looked like prior to the "salsa off".....based on weather forecasts (also, apparently written in Jello) we were expecting heavy overcast, and possibly rain Friday, but it turned out to be partly cloudy and warmed up into the 60's.  TLE and I took the 'Bird into town to buy some produce at Sandy's Produce.....some serrano and jalapeno peppers, cilantro, cheese, etc. then dropped by Kona Joe's for another cup of their Kona Coffee.  From there we drove east on State Road 24 to the Dollar General Store just to see what kind of selection they had, and found they carry our favorite tortilla chips by Santitas.  I was tempted to drop the top, but the temp at the time was around 55, and I knew TLE would not consent....:D

I spent some time after returning "home" vacuuming out the 'Bird.....it has been a long time since I did that......probably not since late October in Campbellsville.  Later Chris (Tales from Technomadia), Todd (NuRVers) and I got together to compare notes on LED lights.  Todd's coach is a late model and it appears he can easily replace his halogen bulbs with LED equivalent bulbs, and his fluorescent fixtures with matching LED fixtures.  

Eventually I got a call (thank you Cherie!) that our FedEX deliveries had arrived at the office (Sea Eagle kayak, and TLE's I-Phone 5).....too late in the day to open up the large box, and play with the Sea Eagle, but you know that's what I'll be doing Saturday!  Of course TLE will have her hands full activating her I-Phone 5 and getting it set up.

Around 4 we began to get the area next to Chris and Cherie's GM bus set up for the salsa off.  TLE and I moved our outdoor fireplace over, and some chairs.  Cherie and I picked up a wheelbarrow of wood, and Todd also brought one over.  A wheelbarrow of wood here costs $10, and it is a lot of wood....very good deal.  At most RV Parks you might get an arm full of wood for that price.

Another wonderful sunset

The fire began to die down around 11 pm, and those of us diehards still around the fire began to drift home.  It was another great laid back evening in Cedar Key spent with good friends.  Were we really at Amazon.com just two weeks ago pushing carts and picking?  Seems like a lifetime ago now. 

Thank you, as always, for stopping by!

Cedar Key - Day # 4 - aka: New Years Day

It occurred to me that I hadn't taken any pictures of our camp, other than one taken at night of the awning lights, so here are a couple of perspective shots.  The first is taken from the dock looking back at our coach....you can see Chris and Cherie's GM (aka: "Zephyr")  in the foreground.  The second is taken from our coach looking back toward the water.....the dock is hidden by "Zephyr".

New Year's Day......our first ever celebrated on the road, outside California, and here we are a coast away from our home celebrating in a place where the night time low was in the mid 50's, and the high was close to 70....and there was sunshine.....warm, delicious, soothing, healing sunshine.

TLE and I watched a little of the beginning of the Rose Parade, but it just didn't seem the same watching it on a 22" TV.  Eventually we walked over to site #58 to retrieve our love seat folding chair and fireplace (we ended up, at Sam's request, leaving the fireplace for him to clean and return later in the day).  We were the last ones to retrieve our belongings, and with the retrieval of our chair there was no evidence left of the celebration from the night/morning before.

I mentioned in yesterday's entry that TLE had lost one of her prized dangling earrings the day before on our walk back from town.  She had gone back to look for it, but had not found it.  Even though another day had expired, and the odds of finding it diminished, I suggested we walk back and double team it this time....two sets of eyes are much better.   As we strolled along I sensed that TLE was making peace with the loss, but I just had a feeling we would find it.  We had walked almost half way back to town when suddenly a feeling of expectation came over me that we were near the spot where it was lost, and would come upon it in seconds......the thought was still hanging in the air when TLE announced "I found it!"....there it was laying right on the sidewalk where it had fallen with one of it's feathers broken off.  

This is the second time she has lost one of these earrings, and miraculously found it again.  The first time was in a Dallas hotel a couple of years ago.  We were sharing a suite with our in-laws when TLE could not find one of her earrings......she looked everywhere in our room, but could not find it.  Patricia, married to my nephew Richard, upon hearing the news walked directly to the door of their suite, bent down and picked it up.  She said she had an immediate sense of where to find it.....hmmmmm.

Well, we walked home, retrieved my soldering tools from the trailer, got out one of TLE's cutting boards, and with with TLE holding a large magnifying glass over the earring I proceeded to successfully solder the "feather" back to the earring.  My soldering skills have improved a lot since we were in Mesa, AZ last February where my friend Tom McCloud showed me how to do a proper soldering job.....thank you again Tom!

We lazed around the rest of the day.....me watching Bowl games.....the Rose Bowl, which I always watch, was a defensive thriller right down to the last 60 seconds with Sanford making an interception, the only turnover of the game, to seal the win, 17 - 14, over Wisconsin.  An earlier Bowl game between South Carolina and Michigan came right down to the last 16 seconds.

Near the end of the Orange Bowl game (Northern Illinois vs. Florida State) TLE turns to me and says "I love our life".....well, what husband does not want to hear that from his wife after 41 years of marriage, and 11 months of living a nomadic life in a 200 sq ft motorcoach??

That was a perfect ending to the first day of 2013!

Thanks for stopping by!