Finally in south Florida, and a new floor!

When we left northern Florida on Monday it was cloudy and humid, and looked like it could rain at any moment.  As we made our way south on I-75, though, the clouds cleared and the temperature continued to rise through the 80s . . . but it was still humid!

It was our last 300-mile day, and we were anxious to arrive at our winter destination.  Even with a 45-minute drive to get to the freeway, we made great time, and arrived at the Cypress Trail RV Resort just before 2pm.

It’s a gated community, and we were arriving a day early, so we had to call the Sales Manager to let us through the gate.  After checking in, we got parked on our site and set up for a long-term stay.

I’ll do a full post on the resort later, with lots of pictures, but for now I just have a couple of the area we are in.  It’s a really beautiful resort . . .

Monday afternoon is “Happy Hour” and Tuesday morning is “Coffee & Donuts”.  We went to both, and met the other workamping couple and several campers.  There aren’t too many people here yet, but we’re told they are fully booked for January and February.

Here comes the Maintenance Supervisor on his cart . . .

 

Oh, it’s Tom!! 

 

 

 

 

 

Since we’ve been here, we’ve gotten caught up on laundry, stocked up on groceries, and tackled a “home improvement” project.

We’ve always had a carpet remnant that we roll out in the garage area when we’re parked, but in the last year or so, the backing has been disintegrating and leaves a powder all over the floor when we roll it up.  We threw it out before we left Michigan, and have been looking for something to replace it.  Tom had seen some other toy haulers that use 2’ x 2’ foam interlocking squares on the garage floor, so that’s what he been focusing on.  He found some on craigslist here in Ft. Myers that look like a wood floor, rather than just black, which most of them are.

We took a drive over to look at them today, and bought them – $75 for about 150 sq. ft. – not a bad deal!

It was more than we needed, but it worked out good because we used the extra pieces as an additional layer between the tie-down rails, so that the finished layer would lie flat across the whole floor . . . and it added a little extra cushion!

Tom and Bryce came up with the perfect layout . . .

and did all the measuring and cutting.

It came out really good!

 

Casey gave it her stamp of approval!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and the resort is having a catered/potluck celebration . . . I made sweet potatoes and mini cheesecakes . . . two of Tom and Bryce’s favorites!  It’s nice to have that done already – tomorrow all we have to do is show up for a delicious dinner!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Fall Colors

It seemed like the trees around here were never going to change color, but then we got a few warmer days . . . and overnight everything changed!

Tom and the boys have been working in the campground to pay our site rental and electric, but mostly just to keep themselves busy during the day. 

They started out raking leaves, then switched to clearing a trail last week, but after all the rain we got this week, there’s a ton of new leaves on the ground!

 

We’ve also been taking care of all of our annual checkups, and Nicolas has gotten a few little issues fixed on his car.

We had a birthday celebration for the 3 cousins with fall birthdays,

and took advantage of a nice day to go to our favorite orchard to pick apples!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a beautiful day, and the apples were plentiful!

We picked our standard bushel . . . gala and golden delicious for eating, and northern spy for making pies!

We also bought some of our favorite treats – cider and donuts, and caramel apples for the boys!  YUM!

Last weekend it was time to make our first pie!

We had just gotten our pie put together, and while the oven was pre-heating, it suddenly shut down.  The display went completely blank and we couldn’t do anything to get it to power back up!

We put the pie in the fridge, and took it to my mom’s house the next day to bake it . . . it still turned out really good!

So, Tom had a new project for this week . . . fixing my convection oven!  We had a similar problem with this oven when it was new, and a GE Appliance Tech in Colorado made several service calls to get it fixed.  He was pretty helpful, so Tom gave him a call on Monday morning, and he recommended some things to check.  With his help, Tom had the problem to (hopefully) a few small components. 

 

His next call was to GE, who agreed to overnight the parts to us at no charge, even though we were out of our 1-year warranty.  If that didn’t work, they would get us a brand new oven for $220 --  delivered and installed . . . not a bad deal! 

I was kindof hoping that the parts wouldn’t fix the problem!

 

 

 

As promised, the parts arrived on Tuesday, and after dinner Tom and Nicolas got the oven put back together.

 

It worked!! 

OK, I’m glad I don’t have to be without an oven for a week or longer . . . but a new, clean oven would have been kindof nice . . .

One thing we did replace is our scanner.  We had a color printer/copier/scanner, but several months ago it stopped printing.  I tried replacing the ink, but I still couldn’t get it to print.  The scanner still worked, but it was kindof big to keep around just for scanning, so we bought one of the little portable scanners that just plugs into a USB port.

It’s handy and works pretty well.  My first task is scanning all the photos in albums that I didn’t get to before we went on the road.  With this new little scanner, the process goes really fast!

Although, starting with Nicolas’ baby pictures probably wasn’t the best idea . . . with just over a month until he leaves for boot camp!

We’ve got a little over a month left to stay in Michigan, but most of our fellow-RVers are making their way south by now.  Just a few days ago, we said good-bye to Roger and Joyce . . . and the kids . . .

 

as they make their way toward Texas for the winter.

 

 

 

 

We’re hoping that the weather holds out until we can leave for Florida . . .  we’ve had some cool nights, but nothing too bad so far, and not even an overnight freeze yet, either.

We’re pushing our luck by staying into November . . . but we’re pretty tough . . . we’ll handle any weather that comes our way!

Gearing up for winter camphosting in Arizona

We left Williams last Thursday and headed south out of the mountains toward Phoenix . . . just in time, too . . . they’re getting a winter storm up there this weekend!

There were a couple of steep grades on I-17 south of Flagstaff, but we just took it slow and had no trouble at all.  After a quick stop at a rest area for lunch,

we continued on to Lake Pleasant Regional Park, about 30 miles NW of Phoenix.  We checked in with the Park Supervisor, and were directed to site #2 in the Roadrunner Campground.

We got setup under our protective structure – everything fits!

We’re out in the desert, as evidenced by the variety of cacti that surround us,    

but we’ve got a great view of the lake and the mountains that surround it – beautiful!

There are two campgrounds in this park – Roadrunner which has 75 sites, all developed (electric & water), and Desert Tortoise which has 75 sites also, some developed and some primitive.  There are 4 host sites in Roadrunner, and 2 in Desert Tortoise.

Tom will be one of the hosts, and the boys and I will help out when we have time off from work & school.  We’ll be here through the end of March.    

 

On Friday morning we met with the Maintenance Supervisor, and then we headed down to downtown Phoenix to get finger-printed for our background checks.  Since we’re from out of state, the checks could take up to 2 weeks, and we can’t start working until they are complete.  So for now, we’re just hanging out and getting to know the area!

On Tuesday, the 4 of us, along with 3 other new hosts, went to the required safety training – we learned about defensive driving, hazmat, blood borne pathogens, fire extinguishers and suspicious packages.

It was a long day, but at least it’s all done!

Phoenix was having warmer-than-normal weather before we got here, with temps in the 90s still, but it’s cooled down to a nice comfortable 80 degree range since we’ve been here, and staying around 60 at night, with low humidity . . . we’re loving this!  We’ve even been sleeping with a window open, which is great!

We haven’t been down to the lake yet – the “locals” say it’s cold, but our fellow camphosts from Oregon assure us that it’s “all relative”!

Nicolas has been taking advantage of the warm weather to get the car and truck all cleaned up,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but it’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow, so they’ll probably get dirty again!  Poor Nick!

The campground is pretty quiet during the week, but fills up on the weekends, and we’re supposed to be packed next week for Thanksgiving – we’re looking forward to seeing lots of people around!

We’ll have plenty of time for exploring the area, so we’re working on our list of things to see and do . . . recommendations are welcome!  We’ll also have plenty of time to relax and enjoy the beautiful desert sunsets!

Just hanging out

By the end of our first week here at this higher elevation, Tom and I realized that we hadn’t been drinking enough water and we were starting to feel the effects of the altitude!  So, we’ve been taking it easy the last few days, drinking a lot more water, and just hanging out at the campground – other than going into Mancos to do laundry and pick up a pizza.  We’re feeling a lot better now!

There are a few more workampers here now, and on Monday we had a potluck dinner.  One couple made BBQ brisket, and everybody else brought side dishes and desserts – YUM!!

One of the guys even provided a little entertainment!

 

We had a cold front come through earlier in the week, and had some chilly nights – one night our furnace even came on because it was too cold for the heat pump!  It’s getting warmer now, though, and tonight we had several of the other workampers join us for a campfire – it was a really beautiful evening!

Nicolas and Tom gathered some more firewood around the campground, and Nicolas went to work splitting it as much as he could . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

that big stump ended up going into the fire as is, and it lasted all night!

With all the clouds earlier in the week, we had some really spectacular sunsets . . .

and the colors in the sky were incredible!

We’ve also had visitors the last couple mornings, and today I finally caught them with my camera!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boys have been working hard at school this week, getting things finished up for the year, and Tom and I are feeling better, so we’re all ready to enjoy the long weekend and do some exploring! 

Happy Memorial Day – and welcome to summer!