Our Wander Years

Fireworks!

Posted on July 7, 2022 by Sparky

The COVID-19 pandemic killed a lot of fun activities over the past 2 years. One of the victims was 4rh of July fireworks. Most fireworks displays in 2020 and 2021 were simply canceled. And the July weather in southwest Florida is usually not conducive to fireworks – or so I have heard, as I have never been in Ft Myers in July. This year I was in residence, the weather was perfect and Ooma is a big fan of fireworks, so we took a room at the Best Western in North Fort Myers where we could watch the Fort Myers fireworks and, in the distance, the Cape Coral firworks, the Fort Myers Beach fireworks and the Bonitia Beach fireworks.

The fireworks were fine, though a little more distant than we expected. Fortunately there were some private fireworks set off from the nearby parking lot after that main event finished, so we got some up-close-and-personal fireworks, too. And taking pictures with my cell phone was interesting. I had no idea that some very good photos could be taken in very low light. The photo at the top, for example, was taken in near-total darkness. When I switched to “Nightscape” the photos were even brighter. You wouldn’t know that they were taken at night.

Anyway, it was a fine evening of fireworks and photography. I came down with a cold the next day, but that didn’t spoil the fun. A good time.

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Eighth trip north (TN8) preview

Posted on June 27, 2022 by Sparky

I previously stated my intention to go north this summer, but would spend only a month in MA then would head to WI for my 55th high school reunion. That remains my plan. But it has been modified in one major respect: rather than traveling with only Rusty I will now be accompanied by both Rusty and Ooma. As this will be a trip by car rather than RV, packing will be critical. Ooma and I can both travel pretty light, but the Toyota is small and half of the back seat will be reserved for Rusty. Packing will be a challenge.

Speaking of the Toyota, it is currently in the auto body shop getting some minor front-end damage repaired. The plastic grille was damaged 6 months ago – possibly by someone backing into the car while parked. The damage was cosmetic except for one rather important thing: the cruise control no longer worked. Apparently the sensor for traffic ahead (the automatic collision avoidance system) was knocked out of alignment. I was not about to embark on a 5,000-mile trip without cruise control.

I hope to get the car back today. Assuming that the cruise control is working, I will then schedule a general maintenance checkup and get two new tires. Then all that remains is packing and preparing the RV for 11 weeks alone in Florida. There is some work involved in leaving the RV on site in the summer, the most important being obtaining a contract to have the RV moved if a hurricane approaches. I took care of that a month ago. But that also means that I have to leave the RV in a tow-ready state: slides in, utilities detached (except electric), stabilizers retracted. The truck will be left, too, but I need to position it such that the RV can be hauled away without being impeded by the truck. I also need to clear out the freezer as I don’t want to return to rotting food if the RV needs to be moved.

So there is some work to be done before we can head north. But the details of this eighth trip north (TN8) are now set. We will depart July 17 and will make the following stops:

Kingsland GA. Two nights near St Mary’s and Fernandina Beach – two towns that I have never seen but which are highly recommended by Ooma.
West Ashley/Charleston SC. Two nights near Charleston, one of my favorite cities and a city never visited by Ooma.
Rocky Mount NC. Just an overnight stay.
Woodbridge VA. Four nights with Jett’s sons whom I have not seen in over a year.
Elizabeth NJ/New York NY. Four nights near New York. I have not been in Manhattan in years and Ooma has never been there at all. It will be fun visiting the city with a NYC novice. Rusty is a problem on this stop as I had no desire to bring him into Manhattan and I surely wasn’t going to bring him on a train or a bus. So I will be boarding him for 4 days.

Our destination is Worcester MA where we will stay for a month, courtesy of Ray, Jett’s brother, and his lovely wife Kim.

The TN8 will be a trip of about 1,500 miles (plus a fair number of miles spent sightseeing) over 6 hops – an average of 250 miles per hop. Nine nights in hotels – carefully selected by Ooma – will run about $1,300, a cost more than offset by savings on campgrounds and diesel fuel. We will also stay for 4 nights with Jett’s sons, so 13 nights total.

It should be a more leisurely trip than our recent trip to Austin (TX1), but it is 13 nights together, followed by a whole month together in MA (with lots of activities planned for that month – a topic that I will cover separately) and a long trip back to FL via WI. This will be a good test of our relationship.

Categories: Preparation/Planning, Routes, TN8 | Leave a comment

Rot

Posted on June 21, 2022 by Sparky

If you have been reading this blog for more than 4 years you might recall that way back in October 2018 some rotted wood was discovered on the floor of one of the large slides in the RV. I dealt with that problem then by installing a metal plate that covered the rotted plywood – about a foot square – on the underside of the slide and that seemed to be sufficient. At least it kept the slide functional for years. Until now.

Last weekend, as I was preparing to bring the slides in so I could hitch up and take the RV out for a spin – mostly to make sure that the brakes got some exercise – I inspected the metal patch and discovered that it was falling off. Worse, the rotted area under the plate had grown. Clearly, the root cause of the rot – water leaking into the plywood from somewhere – had not been corrected and the rot had continued. Some kind of more serious corrective action was needed.

So, with a great deal of trepidation, I pulled up the carpet covering that corner of the slide (after moving the recliner off the carpet). I was horrified to discover that the rotted area had grown to about 3 ft by 1.5 ft. I set to work removing the rotted wood. In a few minutes I had removed great clumps of wet, rotted plywood, opening a hole in the floor so that I could see the pavers below.

I set to work replacing the rotted section of 1″ plywood with 3/4″ plywood and a 1/4″ plywood layer on top, all fastened with metal strapping. It took me days and it wasn’t easy. And there were times when I was not at all certain the outcome would be positive – I worried that I might actually disable the slide, which would be a disaster. It will take some time for me to be confident that the patch will hold. And even longer to convince myself that the water leak has been fixed (I think it was due to a loose strip of trim at the bottom of the slide), but I was able to pull the slide completely in and then back out again without any problem.

Keeping my fingers crossed…

Categories: FL, Places, RV Living | 2 Comments

TX1 wrapup

Posted on June 8, 2022 by Sparky

Well, it is a few days late but here is the wrapup for TX1.

By the numbers… 10 days, 9 nights, 2,551 miles of travel over 7 hops (about 365 miles per hop). I didn’t track expenses as this was mostly on Ooma’s dime.

Highlights:

The wedding of Peter and Ashley in Austin. This was the reason for the trip and it didn’t disappoint. It was a casual affair, but with great food and drink and was generally a lot of fun.
The 4 nights at the AirBnB in Austin. This little cabin was a treat. If all AirBnBs are this nice then I am a new fan. In fact all of the accomodations were very good or terrific. Ooma did a great job of picking places to stay.
Dinner with Jett’s sister Christine in Austin. Dinner at Cafe Malta is always a treat.
Two meals at Court Street Cafe in Port Allen LA. This place is a little gem.
The one night at the Clarion Pointe hotel in Tallahassee FL. This was the first experience for either of us at this new Choice Hotel brand and we were impressed. Fine accomodations at a budget price. Can’t beat that.
The opportunity to let my relationship with Ooma evolve. Ten days on the road with a new love is a test by fire. It wasn’t all sweetness and light, but we worked through any issues and ended the trip with a relationship that was more solid than when we started.
A brief surprise visit with Ooma’s sister Maggy in Fairhope AL. It was less than an hour but it gave Ooma a chance to see a sister that she hadn’t seen in 2 years.

Lowlights:

Long, boring days on the road. We listened to an unabridged audiobook of Stephen King’s Billy Summers (17 hours!) and that helped, but it was a lot of driving on a pretty boring route.

Categories: Books, TX1 | 2 Comments

TX1 Hop 7: Lake City FL to Ft Myers FL

Posted on June 3, 2022 by Sparky

292 miles, almost entirely on I-75. Cumulative miles: 2551.

We stopped for groceries and gas in Sarasota.

The only time we needed a GPS on this hop was when we decided to look for a Publix. The only difficulty was that we were trying to beat the arrival of Tropical Storm Alex. We did, but just barely – it was raining steadily while we were unloading but the skies opened up shortly thereafter.

Ooma felt better this morning and drove the whole way.

Thus ends the TX1 trip. Wrapup tomorrow.

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TX1 Hop 6: Fairhope AL to Lake City FL

Posted on June 3, 2022 by Sparky

347 miles via US 98, I-10 and I-75 with a stop for fuel and lunch at Ruby Tuesday. Cumulative miles: 2259.

Another easy trip to navigate, but another long day in the car. Ooma drove the first half but I took over after lunch as she was very tired.

Our one-night stay in Fairhope AL was at the Holiday Inn Express. It was a very nice, very clean room in a very new hotel, but this one did not have the bar/restaurant that we enjoyed so much the night before. Still, more than adequate.

Because Ooma was not feeling well when we arrived in Lake City we chose to do takeout from Texas Roadhouse, and only appetizers. She didn’t eat much but I ate more than I should have. Then I watched the Celtics beat the Warriors in a thrilling come-from-behind victory in Game 1 of the NBA finals.

Hopefully Ooma will feel better for the last leg of this epic roadtrip.

Categories: AL, FL, Places, Routes, TX1 | Leave a comment

TX1 Hop 5: Lafayette LA to Fairhope AL

Posted on June 2, 2022 by Sparky

277 miles via I-10, I-12 (north of New Orleans) and US 98. We took a bit of a roundabout way getting from our hotel in Lafayette to I-10 and stopped for lunch in Port Allen LA. Cumulative miles: 1912.

This was an easy trip to navigate, but, like most of the other hops on TX1, was very long. We stopped for lunch at the Court Street Cafe in Port Allen, the place where we had a wonderful dinner on the way west. This time we had lunch: a bowl of gumbo for me and a humongous loaded baked potato for Ooma, both terrific. It was the largest baked potato I have ever seen – the size of a Nerf football.

Our original itinerary had us staying in Fairhope AL for two nights, guests of Ooma’s sister, Maggy, and her husband. Unfortunately, her sister came down with something – possibly the flu or a bad cold – the day before we were scheduled to arrive. So we cancelled our stay at their house. But I thought it would be a shame for Ooma to miss out on seeing her sister altogether so I suggested that we get a hotel for one night in Fairhope and drop by her sister’s house to surprise her with a socially-distanced visit. We did just that, to the great delight of Maggy. Ooma gifted her with some candies, tossing them to her from a safe distance. A strange visit, but one appreciated by both women.

We dined at the Fish River Grill, a Fairhope institution. I had “Oysters NOLA”, a fried oyster dish served on a bed of fried green tomatoes with a crawfish sauce. Delicious. Ooma had a salad and a shrimp cocktail.

Our one night in Lafayette was at the Holiday Inn Express. This was a fine hotel which featured, surprisingly, a full bar and restaurant. Ooma had a ribeye steak and I had a fried shrimp poboy. Both superb. We have been very fortunate on this trip with both the accommodations and the meals.

Categories: AL, Family, Food, LA, Places, Routes, TX1 | Leave a comment

TX1 Hop 4: Austin TX to Lafayette LA

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Sparky

386 miles via TX 183, TX 71 and I-10 with two rest and refueling stops. Cumulative miles: 1635. About 10 miles were due to a wrong turn at the start of the TX 71 segment and a navigational error by yours truly that took us to the wrong hotel. Oops.

This was an easy hop in terms of navigation (except for the wrong turn which I just don’t understand – we were in the right lane and then, suddenly, we were going west instead of east) and the weather was fine, but it was still a long day of travel. We continued to listen to Stephen King’s Billy Summers, which we are both enjoying very much.

An unexpected sight was a herd of galloping zebras as we passed FreBo Ranch. Not something you see every day.

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TX1: 4 days in Austin TX

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Sparky

Attending the wedding of Ooma’s close friends Peter and Ashley was the raison d’etre for the trip to Texas. Ooma had the honor of accompanying Peter down the aisle and joining him for the mother/son dance – his mother was unable to attend as she was caring for her mother in PA.

They were married by Peter’s brother Paul. Ashley was given away by her father Jesse.

The reception included a delicious meal and an open bar. A good time was had by all, including Ooma who had a few of the signature drinks.

It was a beautiful, informal wedding.

The wedding was Sunday night. We arrived in Austin Friday night at 7pm. We had a lovely dinner that night at Cafe Malta, owned by my nephew Nick. I introduced Ooma to my sister-in-law Christine and Nick’s wife Jessica. As always, it was a wonderful dinner and Ooma was very delighted to be welcomed by Jett’s family.

Saturday afternoon and evening were devoted to the rehearsal, hosted by Ashley’s mother. Very informal with a nice BBQ dinner. It was a chance to meet all of the lovely young people in the wedding party.

We had breakfast both Saturday and Sunday mornings at the Stars Cafe which provided good food, good service and a congenial clientele. Good place!

We wandered around Austin a bit on Monday afternoon (after having some much-needed down time Monday morning), We tried to find the venue for Austin City Limits and eventually did so, but the result was not worth the effort – it is a rather nondescript building. We also wandered Rainey Street, a funky night area of Austin that is pretty subdued in the daytime. We got a take-out pizza at Salvation Pizza on Rainey. Very good pizza. While waiting for the pizza Ooma and I played two games of pool and I am proud to say that I took $10 from her. Take that, Ooma!

Our home in Austin was an AirBnB rental – my first encounter with AirBnB. It was impressive. There was absolutely nothing that wasn’t provided. Coffee cups, coffee, champagne glasses, beach towels, corkscrew, snacks… the list goes on. And we had use of the beautiful backyard and gazebo. Ooma said the place was so clean that it seemed like we were the “first ever” renters.

All in all, it was a very pleasant 4 days in Austin. Now we begin the long trek back to Ft Myers.

Categories: Friends, Places, TX, TX1 | Leave a comment

TX1 Hop 3: Port Allen LA to Austin TX

Posted on May 28, 2022 by Sparky

428 miles via I-10, US 69, TX 105 and US 290. Cumulative miles: 1249.

This was a miserable trip that involved nearly 9 hours of travel time. Some of that time was due to the planned breaks, including lunch at McDonald’s, but 6 miles were due to missing the Texas Welcome Center which Ooma wanted to visit and much of it was due to what we regard as bad advice from the welcome center person who strongly advised us to take TX 105 instead of I-10, which was under construction. We will take I-10 on the return trip so we will be able to judge just how bad that route is, but TX 105 was miserable and, we think, probably added at least 45 minutes to our travel time. Thanks for nothing, Texas Welcome Center.

But the Welcome Center experience wasn’t all bad, It had a nature walk that we thought was both beautiful and refreshing. And Ooma got her desired “made it to Texas” photo.

Our lodging on the second day was the LaQuinta in Port Allen LA. While not as nice as the Clarion Point on the first night – and certainly not as inexpensive – it was more than adequate. And we found a local restaurant – the Court Street Cafe – that verged on superb. I had my first crawfish etouffee, which was delicious, along with a chicken gumbo soup. Ooma had a beef filet that she rated as excellent. A bit pricey, but a fine meal in a town without a lot of restaurants other than fast food joints. She also got to instruct the server on how to make a cosmo, which she then enjoyed very much.

Categories: Food, LA, Places, Routes, TX, TX1 | Leave a comment