RV Blog--Life in a Box. This just ain't 'camping' any more....

Friday, April 30, 2004:

Well, he went there and did that! All the way to New Smyrna, through Orlando. Got to enjoy 'gridlock' on I-4 on the way home....took 2 1/2 hours to get up there and 5 to get back.... And now he owns a tractor that makes him smile. :) #1 son and family are having a hard time swallowing the thought of a green tractor--but hey, this is a new era! Today he'll own a trailer (also green)..... Pictures will be forthcoming. :) "The Griswalds Go Camping" all the way back to Illinois next week! I guess that's a sequel to "The Griswalds Buy a New RV".... Or, should it just be a 2 part epoch???

So, I'm sittin' here last nite, thinking about the pictures I need to snap of this adventure, and it occurred to me, somewhat belatedly, that if Sony made a camera that records onto floppies, then they probably made a nifty printer that prints off floppies.... duh. And off to eBay I went, where, sure enough, there were 9 identical ones, factory re-conditioned and just waiting for me! LOL! I really like technology..... :) Even if I'm about 5 years behind--at least I get to buy my stuff for 1/4 of what it cost when it was 'cutting edge'!!!

Ya'll take care now...I still have cleaning and sorting to do!

Dinah // Friday, April 30, 2004
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Thursday, April 29, 2004:

Did you know that used slide-in truck campers--which are EVERYWHERE out West--don't exist in Florida? My theory is that everyone who buys one, leaves Florida as fast as they can and never returns! LOL! All we needed was a little, cheap one to slide onto the bed of the bigass truck so we didn't have to mess with motels and dogs and all that on the trip back up to IL..... Well, after days of searching, we'd almost given up and Keith was roaming a lot, looking at the new ones and muttering about the prices. The salesman asked me what we were looking for and I told him "cheap"--as in 'doesn't cost much'. :) Out on the back lot he had this old camper with junk for jackstands...cheap. So we bought it and then stood back to see just how he was going to get it loaded onto the truck. :) He did it. 2 forklifts lifted up the camper, KEith backed the truck under the camper and they let it down into the bed. And there it sits. It doesn't look bad on the outside, but it's been "used"! LOL! Fridge doens't work, stovetop is rusty, upholstery is pretty sad and the canvas (it's a pop-up) has been patched and repatched. But it doesn't stink, it's solid, and it's a place for our 'family' to sleep and store our 'stuff'. :) We're pleased. Didn't cost us much more that 3 nites in motels and all those meals on the road! Put a block of dry ice in the fridge and we've got a place to store food for the trip. Toss in the featherbed and pillows, a fan and shower stuff and we can go camping!!! lol! We do have to go buy a portipotty for it, but we needed one anyhow.

Today Keith is off to New Smyrna to try to buy a utility tractor for us to haul back to IL and use on the farm. DON'T ASK ME!!! I don't understand why on earth he and Jared can't wait and look for one up in the Midwest?????????? But that's what he's doin'. If he buys it, then he has to buy a trailer to haul it! AND get it licensed and insured. And all this so there'll be a utility tractor for his favorite son to use! That boy doesn't know how good he's got it! LOL!

Me? Oh, I'm going to clean and sort and pack stuff all day.... We're moving, ya know.....

Dinah // Thursday, April 29, 2004
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Monday, April 26, 2004:

This is the part where we start paying for the beautiful 70 degree we enjoyed all winter.... Mid 80s and humid! Ugh! Had to turn on the a/c this afternoon..... And then, the clutch went out on the bigass truck. *sigh* The $500 fix turned into a $1500 fix. :( But, the good new is, it didn't happen out on the highway with a big fifthwheel in tow!!!

Dinah // Monday, April 26, 2004
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Wednesday, April 21, 2004:

Oh, tis a dangerous thing--an rv lot. At least for those of us who are afflicted with "itchy feet"! But we didn't go to just ANY RV lot on Monday--we went to the biggest, baddest one in the whole USof A! LOL! The end result of a day on the lot can be viewed by clicking Our New Home. We've traded off our little 27' foot box and the big 35.5 triple glide for a 36' QUAD glide! Quad, as in 4 buttons to push, each causing a different section to glide out from the main trailer giving us scads of room and lots of 'goodies'! This is a "Home"! It just happens to have wheels under it! Space for all our goodies AND our little "dog family"!

Of course, before we can move into our new home, we have to 'dead head' to IL, hook onto the rig that has been sitting there closed up all winter, drag it to the dealership, then come fetch our cozy little unit and take IT to the dealership, and sign on the dotted line. Can't leave here until the 4th, when Keith sees the VA doctor and then we're off and running! Mind you--Keith is NOT all mended and back to being able to do anything he wants to, so travelling will take longer and we'll have to have "help" with things we normally would just do ourselves. The big RV in IL is not ready for the road--we just took out what we needed and closed the place up and left last November!!! I could almost hear our son shaking his head in amazement over the phone line when I told him to clear his calendar for Mother's Day weekend! He's pretty sure we've lost our minds! Maybe so, be pretty soon we'll be 2 crazy people living in a really nice RV!!! LOL!!! And it's so much more efficient to only own one, right???

The only fly in the ointment is that trip up North to fetch the big trailer--in the truck with 2 of our 3 dogs. Since we don't know what kind of time we'll be able to make on the road, we can't very well make motel reservations ahead of time...and naturally, we're unaccustomed to having to find a bed to sleep in on the road! We've been spoiled by always being able to sleep in our own bed at nite and not having to worry about packing a bag and finding a room!

And so, the Saga continues...... See ya later! !

Dinah // Wednesday, April 21, 2004
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Saturday, April 17, 2004:

Here in the "box", things are going great! Keith got the 'okey dokey' to drive some, so he's happier! Yesterday he got out the soap and the the long-handled brush and started washing the trailer and the car. Didn't keep it up for long, but he did accomplish something, at least. :) Today he walked almost 2 miles! At the rate he's going, we'll really be able to leave here and resume normal life in a couple of weeks!

So, today, for giggles, we went and wandered around an RV lot with friends. They'd gone there to look at and buy a used trailer, but someone beat them to it. But, we had an amusing day in the sunshine..... :)

Dinah // Saturday, April 17, 2004
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Friday, April 09, 2004:

Good Friday is threatening to dawn through a foggy haze. It's 68 here already and seriously muggy! At 10PM last nite it was still 78 and so humid we were just sitting around sweating--so we had to crank up the AC just to go to sleep! What an alien planet Florida is! The flowers are pretty, tho.... :)

The trip to the surgeon in Orlando went well. It's a good thing I'd arranged to spent the nite up there. Keith was ready for a long nap after 2 hours in that traffic! Imagine having to get a room for a 60 mile trip!
The surgeon was quite pleased with him and assured him that he's lookin' good. And told us there is no reason to have to keep making the trip up to see him--the cardiologist who started the whole chain of events is a lot closer to where we live! So Keith will be reporting to him from now on. Which means that *I* don't have to do downtown Orlando again! YIPPPEE! We're still stuck here until after he sees the VA doctor on the 4th of May, and gets an official release from the cardio, but we're counting down!

Meanwhile, this little 'box' is getting smaller and smaller and smaller.... It was never meant to be a permanent home for 2 adults and 3 little dogs! We have just about maxed out our ability to cope with the lack of space! The minute we close it up and kick on the AC, it becomes a TINY little RV! We've really been enjoying our 'Florida Room'--if we could get tv reception out there, we could spend even more time in it! We still have to light the mosquito repellent thingies, but then we can sit out there unmolested. :)

TODAY is Lana & Josh's wedding anniversary. I'm ashamed to say I've lost track of which one...but I know it's got to be at least 8 years!!! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Scruffy the puppy went for his last set of shots on Wednesday, and weighed in at 12 1/2 pounds! He was a little over 7 pounds when we got him, 2 months ago! He's such a funny little guy, very independent, fierce, cuddly and just plain silly. He's been so much fun to watch grow!

And so, as the medical bills continue to dribble in, and the total climbs higher, we're doing well and staying afloat...marking time until we can head north again. Most of our Snowbird neighbors are packing up and leaving and we figure by next week a simple trip to the grocery will be less of an obstacle course.... Kind of looking forward to THAT! LOL! Today we're going to head West--take the 'Gun Boat' and go have a look at the RVs on the "biggest RV lot in the Country" over by Tampa. Ya gotta wonder what the salesmen will be saying when we pull up in our rolling storage shed..... LOL!

Ya'll have a great holiday weekend.....

Dinah // Friday, April 09, 2004
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Sunday, April 04, 2004:

Happy Daylight Savings Time to everyone who doesn't live in Indiana.... LOL

After a week of arduous searching in the areas near and in the Black Hills, Keith and I just bought a little lot in Kadoka, SD, pop. 700! Early into the search, it became apparent that everything for sale in the BH area has a gold mine under it, or oil! So we were discussing it with our friends--that would be the ones who dragged us to Florida this winter--and they pointed out that the lot right next to theirs was not only vacant, but for sale--cheap. So, we've made a deposit on said lot--'house' and all. We figure the house is a good candidate for the local Fire Department's practice day.... but, it's a place to park our 'Box', when we're out West. :) Or, will be, once it's cleared, fenced and sporting a new slab of concrete to park on. This lot even has 2 TREES!!!! What a bonus!!! You don't find a lot of those out on the SD prairie! The little town is about 100 miles East of Rapid, which is nothing, out there. Hour and a half via the Interstate, and we're back in our beloved Hills. :)

Now, if we can just manage to get out of Florida and back to the kids in IL for a while..... They're not thrilled that we're selling out in IL, but they'll adapt. We'll put an RV hookup on their farmlette and be there as much as possible.... :) Like, I'm going to be there when Baby #2 arrives October 4!!!

Tomorrow we go to Orlando, in our friends' Tracker instead of our big GunBoat. :) Keith's first checkup with the surgeon is at 9 AM on Tuesday and it's a 2 hour drive up, so we're just going to bunk at the Days Inn overnite, save ourselves the hassle of trying to get there early on Tuesday. And, I'm pretty sure that NEITHER OF US has the stamina for 4 hours together with me driving, all in the same day!!! You might say that our driving styles are in direct conflict??? LOL! He's a 'put your foot in it and get on down the road, kind of guy...I'm a 'bit' more of a cautious driver..... I figure I'll allow plenty of time to get where I'm going and see the sights... :) Ya'll have a great Sunday.....

Dinah // Sunday, April 04, 2004
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