Savannas Recreation Area & Campground - continued

Dec 11 - 19

Not much exciting to report as we are just catching up on routine things like doctors and dentists etc. 

I really like my new doctor. He listened and interacted (unlike my previous one). I think he might be from Haiti and occasionally I needed to have him repeat something due to not following his accent. He did call me at home twice and it was harder over the phone to understand him. He gets points for calling me at home about a medication issue I was having. I had requested my “welcome to Medicare” visit, but it turned out to be a “meet your new doctor visit”. So, I go back in early January for that.

Once we get the kinks worked out with my new mail away pharmacy and using a local pharmacy, things can go back to “normal”. Medicare doesn’t cover one of my meds and we are better off NOT using our RX plan and just buying it as if we had no insurance. Yeah, that makes sense……

We took the coach in and are currently in a hotel again. We got a pleasant surprise that they upgraded us to a suite. The extra room is appreciated. Though don’t get too excited about the word suite as it is a Fairfield. (nice, but not grandiose)

Greg had oral surgery. (bone graft) and he has just about gotten over his cold. He goes back after the first of the year to get the sutures removed.

We actually had a decent experience with La Mesa RV’s service department this time. Both of the guys we dealt with during the 10 weeks of “our worst nightmare” are now gone. A woman was our Service Advisor this time and she actually answers her phone and returns calls. They had it fixed in the promised 3 days and other than the Whirlpool part, went well. Time will tell if all goes well with all the fixes…… Yes, we are skeptical. She did say that they are booked well into January for a service department, but if there are any issues she will work us in. (update...so far so good. Everything appears to actually have been fixed correctly this time)

We had already paid for the extra night in the hotel, so we picked up the coach on Thursday and got it set up back at the park and then went back to the hotel and checked out the next morning. We had our dermatology appointments (annual skin cancer check). I was fine again and Greg just had a small area on his neck frozen off. (he’s not having a good month)

I had another ‘bad” hair appointment. The cut was fine, but despite the long conversation about more gold less ash, I came out really dark and ashy. I could tell when she was cutting my hair and it was hitting the cape and it was dark brown. She laughed it off and said it’ll fade after you wash it. I went back the next day and the owner lightened it for me and told me to ask for her next time. It came out much nicer.

We were having no luck finding a place to store the coach while we are gone for 60 days, every place Greg called had a long waiting list. One place sounded perfect as it was indoors and had electric to keep it plugged in while we are gone, until the owner said he had a waiting list and the guy at the top of the list has been waiting for 2 years and is still waiting. We are headed to Silver Palms in the Lake Okeechobee area where we already had the month before the cruise booked and so Greg asked if we could leave it there. They had availability, so he grabbed it. It’s the full monthly rate plus utilities and our car can stay there too. Not the cheapest way to store it, but it will be very convenient and they have availability and we can leave it plugged in. It will need to be winterized since it does get a bit cold in the middle of the state, but it definitely gave us some peace of mind for leaving it there while we are gone, plus when we get back it will be all set up with very little to do after we return. We hope to get on the road with it about a week or so after we return so we can cram in as much as we can in our last year in it.

We celebrated my birthday on the 18^th since we are moving sites on the 19^th. I wanted Bonefish Grill for dinner and Killer Cake from TooJay's . We stopped to get the cake first and after the guy took the order for 2 pieces went on to do everything except get Killer Cake. He goes back up to Greg like he just got there and asked if he could help him. When he said 2 pieces of Killer Cake, a light came on and the guys realized he had forgotten. To make up for it he tossed in a 3rd piece of the cake. 

Dinner was good at Bonefish, I just love their coconut shrimp with Thai chili sauce. We both had checked to see what their special dessert was as we both love their dark chocolate crème brulee with Grand Mariner. It wasn't listed so that's why we got the Killer Cake. They only have it around once a year, but we were too full to get any and we had a ton of Killer Cake to ruin our diets with. 

Earlier in the day I had gone to get my bloodwork done and that went well. (I have difficult veins) She got it the first time and 5 tubes later I was done. I went back later to return my urine sample and she just happened to come around the corner and she was all excited to see me. She said I was just getting ready to call you, I need to get one more tube of blood. Again, she got it first time. 

Martin Health is on the ball. On the drive to bring back my sample they called with the results of everything else. 

We arrived at Silver Palms RV Resort yesterday and it's a nice place with a lot of amenities. 

I want to thank everyone for their birthday wishes! Such great friends and family! 

I'll leave you with some final photos from Savannas. They did open up the nice walking path and it took us several hours to do that. Beautiful walk.

 beautiful sunset 

 American Kestrel - male 

 Great Blue Heron drying wings

 Catbird

 the turtle appeared to be laying eggs

 Limpkin

 Corn Ssnake

Eastern Phoebe

 Anhinga

Palm Warbler eating a juicy worm

Savannas Recreation Area & Campground – St. Lucie County Park – Fort Pierce, FL

December 7 - 10

We now have moved from once coast of Florida to the other. A bit over 4 hours to get here with stops for diesel, propane and lunch. This is a nice campground with few amenities (we have 50 amp power, sewer & Water hookups) but lots of nature and inexpensive. ($28 per night) They do have kayak and canoe rentals for $5.00 per hour. We would have loved to have done that this afternoon, but Greg is under the weather with a cold. Today will be our last really nice day before a cold front comes through. It was in the 80's today and soon it will be lows in the 40's and highs in the 50's or 60's.

We are here until December 19 and then we go to Silver Palms Resort in Okeechobee, FL

We took a couple of walks today around the park and unfortunately all the hiking trails and the observation tower are closed. Still a lot of nature to see from the ponds. When we were setting up yesterday the guy next to us yells to his wife, “want to see an 8 foot gator?” We have a “toy hauler” on one side of us and a small trailer on the other. It’s peaceful here despite the trains that seem to go late at night and early in the morning.

 view behind our coach

 our spot

On our morning walk this guy asked if we’d take a photo of him and his dog Dakota.

 Tri-colored Heron with a small fish

 Limpkin

 Canoe & Kayak rental

 Common Gallinule

 White Ibis & Little Blue Heron

 the office

 male Kestrel

 Palm Warbler

 Little Blue Heron

 security onsite

 Great Blue Heron

 Killdeer

 Loggerhead Shrike

 Great Blue Heron

 Loggerhead Shrike

Little Blue Heron

 male Kestrel 

 Little Blue Heron

male Kestrel (several around here)

In the afternoon there was a guy with a Blue & Gold Macaw. It was just sitting on a picnic table and I figured it was stuffed or a statue. Nope!

 nice long tail

 White Ibis

 Snowy Egret

 small alligator

 Tortoise going into its' hole

 Grackles

Mourning Dove

Well, the cold front came through with a bang. We woke around 6:00 not to the usual train horn, but to loud thunder and pelting rain & wind. The grass area across the road in front of our coach had some low areas that turned into ponds. A duck came waddling up and went for a swim in one. A pair of Sandhill Cranes spent most of the day there as well as a Little Blue Heron.

 Sandhills in the puddle through the windshield of the coach - it was pouring rain

 pretty sunset with the Sandhill Cranes in the puddle

This morning we woke to around 40*. Burrrrrrr……… At least it is sunny today! We went for a short walk out. A bit too cool and windy for our taste, but out of the wind it wasn't too bad. We walked past a lady sunbathing out of the wind. I was in 2 sweatshirts!

 sleeping Sandhill Cranes 

 Common Gallinule

the side of our coach

Tomorrow I have a routine Dr. appt with my new doctor. (welcome to Medicare visit) and haircuts and  we need to spend some time organizing the storage space.

Tuesday we take the coach in with the list of things that need to be fixed and some routine maintenance. So, we will spend an unknown amount of time in a hotel. It could be 2 to 3 days or who knows……

On the drive here from Sarasota Greg said he really wants to do the 2019 World Cruise, but he wants to sell the RV right before going. He says he just doesn’t have the personality for RVing. He can retire, but he can’t retire his mind from being an engineer. (anal and everything has to be done a certain way) Uh, you didn’t hear that from me..... 

Most of the work falls on him. I’d like to help, but of course I wouldn’t “do it right”. He says he spends all his time maintaining this thing, planning the next route and selecting the next site. He said he just didn’t feel confident taking this to Alaska. We definitely prefer cruising and we both miss the laidback lifestyle that Panama has. This RV thing should be relaxing, but for Greg it isn’t. It’s stressful. I don’t handle the cold well and though this provides way more protection than tents or trailers, these tile floors (and the toilet seat) can be freezing cold. So, making the trek across Canada to get to Alaska would be beautiful, but I would be complaining about the cold the whole way.

I think when we were researching RVing we were focused on the small space and we knew we would be fine with that. Truth is a motor coach is a lot of work. (a trailer would have been less in hindsight and they store easier) We didn’t start off well with all of the issues we had with it new off the showroom floor. We debated selling it then, but wanted to give it a fair try. We have learned that nothing is easy to fix in an RV. A simple refrigerator or washer & dryer repair, means not a simple visit from a repairman, but a trip to the RV dealership to have those things uninstalled and then the repairman goes there and the RV place reinstalls it. (time consuming and costly and you never know how many days it will take)

All things we can deal with, but for someone that wants a less stressful life it’s probably not a good thing. The thought of having to set up or leave while it’s pouring rain, cold or snowing (or just routine dumping of the gray and black tanks in that weather) isn’t appealing either. While in Sarasota we had the power go out and once we determined it was just our site we called the office and they came and fixed it. We also had the water go out. All things that can happen in a house, but with so many things that have gone wrong with this thing, it’s just one more thing. Again, we remember how “stress free” living in Panama was. We were lucky there to have Jill & Sharon as our apartment managers as they were responsive and took care of things quickly. (Plus, we rented so it wasn’t our stress) So, I guess we just aren’t RV people. Road trips and hotels are sounding better and better. And cruising of course!

So, we will RV next year after we return from South America and then sell it right before going on the World Cruise. We are still working out the itinerary for 2018 RVing. When we return from the WC in 2019 we’ll rent some place in South Florida until we find a small place to either rent or buy. (once we decide what area we prefer) We both would like to do the Trans-Siberian train from Shanghai to Moscow via Mongolia, the train across Canada, some River cruises and of course other long cruises depending on itinerary. So, again we feel the need to move on to something new. So far, we don’t tire of cruises. We have always said we have never been on a bad cruise. Some are better than others, but they are all good!