Week One - Florida 2002

Thursday, December 19, 2002

Today we start our Christmas Vacation.  We are going back to Florida again this year, but no Harleys this this time.  We are towing the Dodge Dakota.

We got up at 5:30 this morning, intending to get up at 6:30, but since we were awake, we go up.  Continued loading up (started last night), and got all loaded about 6:45.  We went to Love's for fuel, what an ordeal, wait in line, pump did not want to work.  Finally left there about 7:30, but still earlier than we planned.

I drove to Beaumont & then on to the La Welcome Center.  From there we traded off driving and napping.  Mostly good weather until we got to Mississippi.  We could tell there had been rain earlier, but no hard rain until later.  Donna was driving as we got to Mobile and did a great job going through the Mobile tunnel. It was about 40 more miles to the Florida Welcome Center with the last 5 miles during a hard downpour.  After getting parked and the satellite up, we noticed on the Weather Channel that there might be tornadoes in the area.

We got here about 7:30 and had Eggs, Ham, and Toast for dinner.  Staying here in the Welcome Center tonight just reading and watching TV.  We are not real sure of the plans for tomorrow, but will continue on I-10, then south on I-75 toward Orlando - Kissimmee, and then over toward Ft. Myers and Tampa on the Gulf Coast about mid-way down.

Friday, December 20, 2002

We had a nice peaceful night at the Welcome Center, even though the 18 wheelers were coming and going all night.  They never bothered us.

I got up about 5:30 (6:30 Eastern Time) and Donna about 45 minutes later.  We had breakfast, biscuits and bacon, and left about 7:30 (Texas time).  We were not sure if that part of Florida was on Eastern Time or not.

Along I-10 we took several breaks at Rest Areas and then stopped at the Flyin J for fuel.  Later, at about 1:30, we stopped at a Wal-Mart in Live Oak (MM 283).  There was lots of cars in the parking lot, and I got into a bit of a bind trying to circle around to get parked headed out.  I was lucky in that a guy in the car I was about to hit, moved out of the way when Donna pointed out to him my dilemma.  We was a Wal-Mart employee on his lunch break.  Otherwise, I would have been in a real mess, and Donna would have really yelled at me.

Well, we made it out of the parking lot without further incident, thanks to the good guidance of my co-pilot and navigator.  Back on I-10 for a few miles, then south on I-75 headed for Tampa.  We made a couple of stops for refreshments and a snack then about 8:30 we stopped at a good rest area at about MM 344.

Its now about 9pm, with Hannity and Colmes on Fox, discussing Lott's decision not to run.  Newt Gingrich is guest.  More on Iraq later, I suppose.

Saturday, December 21, 2002

We parked last night at a rest area about 10 to 15 miles south of Gainesville, maybe a little more.  Not many truckers and lots of space.  It was rather cold last night.  I got up about 6am, and our temp gauge said it was 41 outside, but when I went outside, the truck had 'ice' on the bed cover.  So I guess it had been much colder that 41.

We left the rest area a little before 8am.  A few miles north of Tampa we stopped at the Foretravel dealership in San Antonio.  We met a nice salesman, and he knew Ron, the guy in Nacogdoches that had sold us our coach.

Continuing on toward Tampa, actually Sefler, we exited I-75 onto I-4, then to the Lazy Days RV Center and Rally Park.  Very nice park, all sites are back-in, but good and level with a patio and table.  All service is 50 amp, free cable, free newspaper, free breakfast and lunch at the RV Center, and all for $25 per night.  Beautiful place with 300 sites.  We paid for 3 nights, but may stay longer.

After getting settled in, we went to the RV Center, huge place, over 1000 units in inventory.  We got to the RV Center about 11:15, and had a FREE hot dog, which was fair, but with watery chili and beans - UGH!

Then we asked to meet with a sales person, which turned out to be a really nice lady named Julie Mitchell.  We looked at quite a few high end coaches, liked some, some not.  Naturally, it got pretty confusing after a while.  About 2:30, as we started to leave, Julie introduced us to her mentor, Bob White.  He 'just happened' to know about a 'new' trade-in that was a 'hot deal'.  Sooo..  we went to look, but the owner had not vacated yet and it was locked.  Donna decided to open one of the bay doors, and SET OFF THE ALARM!

Anyway, we looked at a bunch more, on our own, and then to the Cracker Barrel of apple pie and apple dumplings.

We went back to the coach for a quick nap for Donna, then we drove over to St. Pete & John's Pass for dinner at 'The Friendly fisherman'.  Donna had frog legs and I had stuffer flounder.