RV-Dreams Journal

Maintenance Day - Truck, Linda's Teeth, & Howard's Head

I was out the door by 6:15 this morning to take the F-450 to the nearest Ford Dealership for it's 5,000-mile oil & filter change and it's 10,000-mile service. I arrived fifteen minutes early only to find four other vehichles in front of me. Fortunately, I was in the wrong line as diesel trucks had to go to a different service bay - no one was in that line. :)

Everything checked out great and they filled my tires up to my desired 90 psi. An hour and a half and $115 later, I was on my way. That was a little more money than I expected, but not too bad. Our saftey, that of other people on the road, and our rig are the top priorities, so I'll spend a little extra to make sure a dealership familiar with large diesel trucks does everything by the book.

The forecast was that today was going to be the best day of the week, so I played golf at Windsor Parke Country Club. I decided to play there because they are a member of my Golf Card International. However, their Golf Card rate and their winter rate were the same, so I didn't save any money this time. For $30 it was still a good deal.

I joined two other young guys and played the worst round of golf I have played in a long, long time. The course was nice, but there was nothing worth mentioning about my round. Even the red fox we saw on the course was ragged. I got a couple of pictures (too sad to post), but this fox was mangy and didn't run when I got close - not the typical actions of a fox, so I backed off.

Normally, I enjoy every round of golf, but I played so bad, this one was no fun and the weather wasn't as nice as it was supposed to be. Oh well, I guess I could have been workin'.

The good news was that I got up, got dressed, and got out early. It got me motivated. When I don't see the sun (which is almost impossible in this campground), and when I feel cold, my body wants to hunker down. It almost goes into hibernation mode - "got to fatten up for the long hard winter." So I made the decision to fight through the desire to stay sheltered & eat, and to get out and get some exercise. It's not like it's below freezing here, but when the sunlight doesn't penetrate the tree canopy, psychologically it seems worse than it is. I never thought I would be wishing for a treeless campground. :)

Linda called after her appointment. The good news for her is that the work was not as bad as she expected, and they are going to finish everything up on Thursday. The bad news was that she had to change her flight, which cost us another $139. Still, she won't have to make another trip back to Louisville and the total cost is a lot less than it would have been.

Then Suncoast RV called. They have all our RV parts in (you remember, the ones Emerald Coast RV didn't order). So we are definitely pulling out of here on Monday, the 19th. We will go to the dealership early for Suncoast to install the parts, and go toward Tampa as far as we can before dark. It may be a Wal-mart night. :)

The plan is to spend the holidays at the Escapees park in Bushnell, FL near Tampa and then to spend the next three weeks in the Tampa area, doing the RV Supershow seminar, and move on down the Gulf Coast after that.

Well, it's going to be an early night, since I didn't sleep too well the night before. I rarely sleep well when Linda is not in the same "house". I'll sign off before I fall over on the keyboard and you see jads;ffffffklzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. :)

Linda Flies To Louisville

We were up early to get Linda to the airport for her 10:00 am flight to Louisville. A scheduled flight made us revert to having to think about what day it is and making sure we set the alarm - and we DID NOT like it.

We allowed an hour to get to Jacksonville International, but it only took us a half hour. It's just for a few days, but parting was much more emotional for me than I expected. We are not co-dependent in the psycho-babble sense, but we are very close and we compliment each other so well that there is clearly something missing when we are apart. And that feeling is stronger now that outside influences are not interfering with our connection.

It was an overcast day never getting above 55 degrees. I stuck around the rig, watching football, working on the computer, and waiting for the phone call telling me Linda arrived in Louisville safely. I got the call in the early afternoon. The temps in Louisville were a bit lower than here in Jacksonville, but not as bad as she expected. However, she did say that the big gray curtain God pulls over the sky in Louisville for the winter was in place. I can handle the cooler temps, but I have to have sunlight to keep me sane - that's not too much of an exaggeration. :)

The rest of my day was pretty uneventful as I continued the computer and football vigil. I was watching and TIVOing "Survivor" for Linda when she called later in the evening. She was having a nice dinner her friends Joyce & Mike at Joyce's house. Now this is not exactly the type of thing I would put in the Journal, but Joyce wanted a mention, so here goes. Linda called to tell me that she had just experienced Joyce's customized toilet, which has a heated seat and - I'm trying to be delicate here - let's call it a built-in cleansing system. :) I inquired as to whether Linda was ready to return to the life of such luxuries - I'm sure you can guess the response.

We said our "I love yous" and "Goodnights," to get ready for Monday. She has her dental appointment, and I have to be at the local Ford dealer at 7:00 am to get the truck's oil & filter changed and 10,000-mile service. After that, I am going to start preparing the rig to travel next week. I am ready for a change of scenery and head a little further south for better weather. Plus, I need some new inspiration for a couple of magazine articles. :)

Happy Birthday Linda!!

Linda finally caught up with me, so we are both officially 42 now. Happy Birthday, Honey.

I was up early racking my brain on the personal birthday card I had started a couple of days ago. I scrapped the earlier idea and started over. By the time Linda got up, I had made more of a birthday flyer than a card that included the recent photo of the osprey with the fish and a poem I wrote just this morning.

She still had that "blah" feeling, but she was doing better today since her headache had gone away. We were still lazy today waiting for the sun to heat things up. Man, was it great to see the sun - I actually got to put shorts on for a couple of hours.

As things warmed up, we loaded up the truck with laundry and headed over to Karen's house. Karen was actually at her fiance's house helping with Christmas decorations, but she had left a key for us and we were to meet them later for an early dinner. However, we had to do laundry first, since I was out of long pants and jeans - I just didn't bring that many pairs.

We met Karen & Jay at a restaurant at Jacksonville Beach and had a very nice birthday dinner. Jay's birthday happened to be yesterday, so it was sort of a mutual celebration. After dinner it was back to Karen's house for a family get-together.

Karen's youngest daughter, Ginny was getting in today with her new baby, Emma. It was the first time the family had seen Emma in person. Ginny had moved to Texas with her military husband Phil. Phil just shipped out to Iraq, so Ginny is spending some time back "home".

It was good to see everyone, and a little birthday cake to top off the evening never hurts. Eventually, it was time to get home since we have to leave by 8:00 in the morning to get Linda to the airport to fly home for her dental repairs. She is really, really dreading the trip.

Linda wants me to thank everyone for the birthday wishes. She read and loved each and every one, but was not going to have to time to send personal "thank yous" before her flight. So "Thanks so much for your heartfelt wishes" from Linda.

It will be just you and me for the next few days, so I'm counting on you to keep me company. :)

Another Day Inside

We had heard that the weather was supposed to clear up, and we were anxious, though not desperate, to get outside. However, Linda woke up with a sore throat and headache, so the only time spent outside, after the rain finally stopped, was for me to run and get her some cold & flu remedies.

She felt "blah" all day, and tried to rest and take her medicine at all appropriate intervals. She does not want to be sick on her birthday tomorrow, and definitely does not want to be sick when she flies back on Sunday to the temps in the teens in Louisville.

So I spent a couple hours reviewing the first issue of <b>Interactive RV Lifestyles</B> online. It looks fantastic, but we have to fix a few things overlooked in the rush to get a sample issue online to show advertisers. The viewing software is easy to use, and it takes just a few minutes of playing around to determine how to view the magazine the best way. I think people are really gonna like it.

I also went to the website of the software company that provides the online magazine technology. I was pleased to find ESPN, Time, and the Washington Post experimenting with the technology through this software company. I am chomping at the bit to get started, though it is taking great restraint to stick to my writer role and not overstep my boundaries. There's a shocker for those that know me. :)

By the way, thanks to all those that emailed with "congrats," encouragement, and pledges to subscribe. It is much appreciated. I know that I can trust this audience to provide excellent, honest feedback.

The day plowed on and we just sat back and let it happen. I took some time to work on a few things that you will probably never see in print (or perhaps you may someday). I have these "thoughts" and "opinions" about things as trivial as tipping service providers to global politics, religion, and economics. Since I run these things over and over in my head from time to time, I decided to start writing some of it down. Who knows, someday I may actually have the guts to publish some of it, or start a comedy routine - one or the other. :)

That was pretty much it for this day. We are sure hoping Linda feels better and we can have some fun tomorrow on her birthday.

Great News!

Let's see. It rained all night. I have been up since 1:30 this morning. It rained all day. We watched TV, played computer games, worked on our January seminar, and prepared a list of questions for our dinner tonight. We did not get out of our pajamas until it was time to get ready for dinner, and when we left for dinner, we realized that the door was still locked from overnight - we did not step foot outside until 6:30 pm. Yeah, we really were one with nature today. :)

I spared you the mundane details of our day to get to the good part. Tonight we had dinner with one of the founders of "Interactive RV Lifestyles: The First Online Magazine For The RV Lifestyle." It just so happens that Charles Henry lives right here in Jacksonville, his wife is from Louisville, and they both are good friends of Linda's sister, Karen. Karen knew that Charles was an RVer and putting together this magazine. She had told him about our new life and our website. It seemed that we needed to get together.

Knowing that we were in town, Charles called me before Thanksgiving and asked if we could get together the week of December 5. He was attending the RVIA national manufacturer's show in ....... where else, Louisville. During his initial call he talked about how he had reviewed our website, and that he was interested in me becoming a Contributing Editor for the magazine. I was flattered considering we had never met.

When he got back into town, we made arrangements for Linda & I to have dinner with he and his wife tonight. Unfortunately, the rainy weather and a cold kept his wife home, but Linda & I had a delicious dinner with Charles and we talked for about 3 1/2 hours.

So let me tell you about the magazine. "Interactive RV Lifestyles" will go live January 2006. The first issue will be a pilot primarily for potential advertisers. The magazine will be free to subscribers, so there has to be advertising. I know as a reader, I would love a free magazine without advertising, but it doesn't seem to work that way. :)

The magazine is targeted to all RVers, not just those living in an RV several months out of the year. It will include "helpful hints" articles, destinations articles, stories about events and rallies, recipes, and more as it evolves. On the 5th of every month, subscribers will receive an email that includes a hyperlink. Readers will click the hyperlink and be taken to a site where the magazine will appear. It will look just like a cover you would buy off of the newstand (and better than some of the RV publications we get now). The initial webpage has a tutorial of how to use the magazine "reader."

Once the magazine cover image is clicked, another window opens and the magazine appears on the full screen. It looks just like a magazine. Pages are turned by clicking on the upper corner of each page. Print too small? One click zooms in on the page. The reader has multiple options as to how the magazine will appear on the screen for easiest reading and there are various ways to thumb through the magazine with simple clicks.

I think readers and advertisers both will love it. Here's why.

Readers will love it because 1) it's FREE!, 2) it's immediate - no postal delays, 3) it's colorful and there is no newsprint to get on fingers, 4) the viewing can be customized to personal preference, 5) the articles will be written by RVers in conversational style, 6) the articles will usually be written from personal experience, 7) the articles will be kept together - no "continued on page ...", 8) there are no advertiser cards to fall in the reader's lap, 9) if the reader is interested in an ad or product, he or she can click directly into the advertisers website from the ad or click on a button within the ad for a quick pop-up form to be completed and submitted immediately, 10) no trees have to die in the production, 11) the reader doesn't have to deal with disposal or storage, 12) the reader can easily look back at earlier issues or search for articles using "keywords". These are just some of the pros right off the top of my head - I'm sure there are others.

Advertisers will love it because 1) production costs are much lower and therefore ads cost less, 2) their ads include links directly to their websites, 3) their ads can include immediate "request for information" buttons, 4) there is no extra charge for color in their ads, 5) their ad can include animation, 6) they will receive feedback on the effectiveness of their ads via click analysis reports, 7) their lead time to get the ad in is much shorter. I am sure the advertising sales guy has many more benefits. :)

After chatting for hours about the potential and the needs, I have been offered the opportunity to become a Contributing Editor and be paid for my submissions. We have some details to work out, but basically it looks like I will be writing at least an article a month which may lead to multiple articles and, possibly, a regular column. We are pretty excited that this opportunity has come into our lives, and I am looking forward to assisting in the nurturing and success of "Interactive RV Lifestyles."

When the time is right, I will let everyone know how to subscribe and provide a link to a sample issue. You all will be subscribing, right? :)

Campground Community

This morning we awoke to temperatures in the mid 50s. We can't figure out what is going on since it was supposed to get down into the 30s the last two nights. We'll take it.

After my vegging day yesterday, I was fidgety early. The forecast (not even sure why we rely on it at all) called for upper 60s and overcast with showers in the afternoon. I decided to take my chances with the weather on the golf course.

Before I left, Linda wanted to get out our Christmas Tree - a twelve inch tree/music box/candle holder. My kind of decorating - pull the box out of the basement, unpack it, set it on the table, place box back in basement, done!

There was a soup, salad, and dessert potluck scheduled for 5:30 this evening, so Linda walked up to the community hall to sign up for a dish. She was glad to find that only two people had signed up for dessert.

I headed to the nearest golf course, Windsor Parke, that accepts my Good Sam Golf Card (really Golf Card International). Of course today was the one day I did not call ahead. Previously they had told me to come on out since they were not busy at all during the week, but today they had an outing and the course was closed for play. I drove back to Mill Cove which I had played last week.

On my way to the course, I stopped by the local Ford dealer to get a service appointment next week while Linda is in Louisville. We need to have an oil change and our 10,000 mile service.

At the course, there was no one to pair me with. Unfortunately for my score, I was playing a little too quickly and took some big numbers early. But I didn't get rained on, it was a comfortable day, and I finished 18 holes in 2 1/2 hours.

While I was gone, Linda attended the ladies quilting at the hall. Every Wednesday, the winter campground hosts get together with any other campers that want to participate and they put children's quilts together to donate to charity. Linda knows how to quilt, but they are doing "knot quilting" (don't ask me) rather than the detailed quilting she likes. Nevertheless, she worked on a quilt and then even brought it home to finish after the session ended.

We grabbed our drinks, bowls, plates, plasticware, and Linda's coconut, banana, poppyseed cake and walked to the potluck. There were about a half dozen each of different soups, salads, and desserts. Everyone put on name tags, and we sat down with Dick & Cheryl from Michigan, and our friends Lorraine & Bill that we met at breakfast a couple days ago.

The camp hostesses made announcements about upcoming events, and we had a great meal. Bill & Lorraine entertained us with their stories, and we learned that Dick & Cheryl travel the country working on church construction projects. They have been full-timing about six years. The churches either give them a full hook-up site on their property or pay for their campground fees in return for Dick's volunteering. Like us, they have no steady income, so Cheryl gets side jobs to help pay for their other expenses. Just another example of how folks make the full-timing thing work, and they can't imagine going back to a traditional way of life.

Back home, the rain was starting and we knew we were in for the night. Sitting back in our recliners, we were both dozing by 8:00. Tomorrow we have been invited to dinner at a fine dining restaurant. I don't want to give away too much yet, but depending on how dinner goes, we may have some interesting news by the end of the evening tomorrow. Stay tuned. :)

Linda Goes To School

I had awakened at 3:30 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. Maybe it was the all night rain or maybe it was that I knew Linda had to be up before 6:00 and to her sister's house by 7:00. Linda was going with Karen to be her teacher's assistant for the day.

I dropped Linda off right on time and went to another Wal-mart to fill up on diesel ($2.46/gallon) and to pick up Linda's favorite coffee - Folger's French Vanilla (to which she adds CoffeeMate Fat Free French Vanilla creamer. If we are out of either of those two items, it is a crisis of major proportions. :)

So this Wal-mart had the coffee and I got four canisters of it since it has been kind of hard to find. And since I was there early enough, I picked up some fresh doughnuts which I had for breakfast (& lunch).

Linda helped out her sister at school. She did everything from working on posters and bulletin boards to searching the internet for quotes for kids and assisting with reading time. It was an exciting day with the fourth graders (well, I don't know if "exciting" is the word, but it is certainly never boring at Woodland Acres Elementary).

There were a couple of fights involving Karen's students before they got to her class. When the principal's office came asking for witnesses, every kid raised their hand to go "give a statement." It is unbelievable what these little kids will do and say. But they seem to really like Karen, so they tell her sordid things. I can't go into that stuff without giving this Journal an "R" rating.

Linda's favorite part is sitting in the back of the room and observing the interactions and little things the kids do covertly. While the kids in this school grow up in very difficult situations and their lives are much different than most of us can even imagine, they still are kids and can be endearing. Every time Linda goes to Karen's classes, she manages to connect with one or two kids that fall in love with her and today was no exception.

Little Brandon chose Linda for reading time, and read several pages for her. Linda says it is amazing how smart some of these kids are, even though they have no concept of how to fit in socially in more "normal" circumstances. It sounds like it was an interesting day.

As for me, I considered playing golf, but it was a bit wet out and a little cool. I took the opportunity to just stay home and not think. On occasion, I need a day to just be a vegetable and today was the day.

I went to pick up Linda and we had dinner at Karen's. We had a nice dinner and played some cards with Karen & Jay until it was time for Karen's choir practice. Then it was back home for an uneventful evening until bedtime. Not a real exciting day, but we never have bad days. :)

An Inspiring Breakfast & Dutton Island Canoeing

We got up knowing that this would be our last day with 70+ degree temperatures for quite sometime. So we wanted to make sure that we made the most of it. Unfortunately, the forecast called for rain and thundershowers in the afternoon making us very wishy-washy on what to do.

Since Monday mornings are the usual day for the Camp Hosts to make a pancake breakfast, and since our cupboards had gotten pretty bare, we decided to make the early walk for pancakes, sausage, and juice.

While sitting by ourselves we met one of the host campers and another couple one table over. After chatting across tables for a moment or two, Lorraine & Bill moved over to our table.

I hope I get this at least somewhere close to right - I'm sure I'll leave out a lot. Lorraine & Bill are New York/New Jersey folks that lived in Beaufort, South Carolina for several years. Much like us, they had an epiphany about life and happiness. One day they bought a sailboat, and they lived on their boat for five years having a wonderful time. But Lorraine was feeling a call to help others, although she had no idea what that meant.

At one point they docked their boat for a while to have repairs done and Lorraine, a former teacher, began substituting in the South Carolina school system. Using her experience in business, as a teacher, and as a parent, she wrote a book called "The Total Teacher" and self-published it.

She has introduced her book and her program to school systems and it has taken off. The South Carolina Education Association has adopted her Total Teacher program and now she and Bill live in a Montana fifth wheel traveling around doing education presentations and coaching the Total Teacher program. They live in their RV full-time, even when they are back in South Carolina monitoring the Total Teacher Academy. You can check out the program at <a href="http://www.thetotalteacher.com/" target="_blank">thetotalteacher.com</a>.

We had such an interesting conversation about life, and letting things flow, and allowing an open heart to lead. We stayed and talked long after breakfast was over. Another enjoyable chance meeting.

Lorraine had to go make a call, and after we chatted about the virtues of our RV manufacturer, Keystone, in dealing with issues, Bill walked back to our rig to look at the Ford F450. He was in the trucking business and he wanted to see what we were towing with. We were very pleased to hear that we did very well in what we ordered - great news from an expert that is not a dealer. :) We parted ways for the day, but I just know there is some more great conversation to come with these fine folks before we leave here.

After Bill left, it was decision time. We knew we had to make a Wal-mart grocery run sometime, but we wanted to take advantage of the warmer temperatures first. It was overcast and a little windy, but we decided to take our SeaEagle and go canoeing around the Marsh off of nearby Dutton Island Preserve.

I checked the tides and noticed it was high tide about the time we left and it would be low tide around 5:00 - perfect. So we loaded up our dry bag with the camera, binoculars, GPS, and a snack and took off.

We are getting good at the set-up. Again only about 10 minutes to inflate and get the boat in the water. However, this time we were not launching from the bank but from a dock. We had to step into the boat with lots of deeper water below rather than slide into it in a foot of water. But we managed to do it easily as the canoe/kayak (I may have to start calling it a "canak" or a "kayoe") remained stable.

There was a fisherman on the dock, so I took the opportunity to ask him about the tide and which way it goes out. He said everything will flow back toward the main channel of the intracoastal waterway. Good to know. And duh, of course it does - I should have been able to figure that out. :) But the next thing he said as he skeptically looked at our inflatable was "You know there are lots of oysters out there." I was thinking "Huh?", but Linda was all over it since she remembered how the oysters stuck up like sharp rocks as the tide went out when we were at Timucuan Preserve yesterday.

Great. I had just been worried about sitting out in the middle of a the marsh with the water gone and no way to walk through the mud. Now I had to worry about oysters slashing our boat - even Linda had no contingency plan for that. But did that stop us? No way.

We paddled away from the dock and turned our GPS on so we could track our way back. It would be very easy to get lost in the marsh canals. The water was up pretty high into the grass so I felt pretty confident that we would avoid all oyster hazards as long as we did not stay out too long.

We slowly paddled along and tried to find water that was not affected so much by the stiff breeze. We floated through the marsh trying to get close to the egrets, herons, and mergansers for pictures. But they were much more skittish than we expected and with the breeze and current, it was hard to get good, close shots.

As we went under a road bridge, the water on the other side was pretty well blocked from the wind and we explored the marsh watching the mullet jump all around us. I told Linda that I could have paddled and explored for hours. I liked that she kept the camera at the ready while I slowly paddled and steered us through the grasses. It was too bad we hit a dead end, and had to reverse course.

So we went back under the bridge and paddled into the wind (it took both of us) so that it would help us on our return back to the dock. Every time we turned a corner, it seemed, we startled some type of waterfowl that flew too quickly for a photograph. Then the dark clouds started appearing, and we needed to head back. By that time, we had taken a canal that put is in the intracoastal waterway where the current and the wind was strongest. That was not exactly the plan, and we had to fight the current a bit as the tide was starting to go out. But at least we had the wind with us - we would be fine as long as a really big boat did not come along at warp speed and swamp us.

We made it back to the dock safely, and managed to climb out without falling into the black water (the two young fellas fishing there helped). We carried out the canoe, dried it off, deflated it, packed it up and we were ready to go.

Before the rains came, we decided to check out a little more of Dutton Island. We found a fishing pier that had intended to be a boat dock, and we quickly noted that the tide had dropped a good three feet since we had paddled by there earlier. On a little sign, we read that the owner of the island, Mr. Dutton, had put a bid in on the Queen Elizabeth II ship. He was going to re-sell the ship and keep a couple of the related passenger vessels to ferry people back and forth to his island. He got outbid, but the dock for his plan remains.

We left the island having paddled about 2.5 miles and done some exploring on foot. We felt good about using the best part of the day to its fullest. Then it was a rare fast food stop on the way home. Then Linda finalized the list of the the things we needed and we were off to Wally world. We should be good on groceries for the rest of the month.

The rain was coming hard by the time we returned home, so there was little to do but cozy up wait for the cold front to come through overnight. We had to get to bed early, since Linda is helping her sister Karen at school tomorrow. And so we did.

The Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve

We vowed to do some exploring today. So we dressed warmly and drove just a few miles to the Visitor Center of the Timucuan (Tim-uh-kwan) Ecological & Historic Preserve which is run by the National Park Service. The Visitor Center is 13 miles east of downtown Jacksonville and about 8 miles west of Hanna Park.

The Visitor Center, the Ft. Caroline National Memorial, and the Theodore Roosevelt Area (600 acres), are all located south of the St. John's River. North of the St. John's River lies the majority of the Preserve which totals 46,000 acres. For today we figured 46,000 acres was a little much to see. :) The very nice attendant (a full-time RVer here from Ohio for the winter) did help us with trail, canoeing, and birding information.

So we hiked the one mile trail loop from the Visitor Center past the Ft. Caroline National Memorial through the woods with educational signs leading the way. The Visitor Center explains how the French settled their first American colony here in 1564 with assistance from the Timucua Indians. They named their colony "la Caroline," and the Timucua helped them build a triangular fort. In 1565, the Spanish captured the fort and massacred most of the colonists. It was recaptured in 1568 by the French, but they never attempted to re-colonize and abandoned the area in 1569. According to the literature we picked up, it was the first time European nations fought for control of land in what is now the United States.

The original Ft. Caroline is long gone. The exhibit (a sparse wooden fort) is based upon on 16th century sketch. Also, there are no Timucua Indians remaining as they were devastated by European diseases for which they had no immunity.

After our tour of the Visitor Center and our hike, we crossed the road to the Spanish Pond parking area and hiked two of the three trails in the Theodore Roosevelt Area. There was not much to see along these trails except the mounds of oyster and clam shells that were supposedly stacked there by the Timucua, and which are now the "under-soil" for trees and plants along the marsh. However, at the end of the Timicua Trail is an observation platform that sits out in the surrounding marsh. We watched the various birds and the receding tide for at least an hour.

We watched great egrets, snowy egrets, and little blue herons fish. We saw white Ibis feed. We saw a pair of clapper rails scurry through the marsh right below us. Linda was able to identify the beautiful "ducks" as hooded mergansers. It was just the sounds of the birds, a light breeze, and the popping and suction of the mud as the water drained away. Note to self: Make sure we understand the tides before we take the canoe out or we could be "mucked in" out in the middle of nowhere.

After who knows how long, we hiked back to the parking area before we got locked in. Of course the temperature did get up into the 70s today, so we were both over-dressed. We were sweating by the time we finished our first hike, so we had to drop some clothes before we did the three miles in the Theodore Roosevelt Area.

Back on the road, I decided I wanted to visit another preserve that is a few miles south of Hanna Park that I heard has a canoe launch. We drove into the Dutton Island Preserve which sits in the middle of the marsh and intracoastal waterway (what the locals refer to as the "ditch"). We found the canoe launch, and it does look like a place we could spend quite a few hours exploring. We will come back another day.

On the way out of Dutton Island, Linda spotted the hawk along the road, and she snapped a couple of great shots right from the truck. By then we were pretty hungry, and we made our way back home.

It was a little breakfast for dinner and another relaxing evening as things cooled down. We will have to check out Dutton Island and explore much more of the Timucuan Preserve. We're so glad that these natural areas are being preserved, and I'd pay my taxes without a complaint if I new they were going to the upkeep of these wonderul settings.

A Few Thoughts on "Home"

Overnight was fairly cold again. But it was supposed to get up to the mid 70s for the weekend.

We spent the entire morning working out the next act of the dental saga. The dentist back in Louisville agreed that they would fix and strengthen all of Linda's teeth and build a bite guard for her - all at no charge.

Frequent flyer miles are a complete waste when you want to fly quickly - they work fine if you book a flight six months ahead of time and don't mind being strapped to a wing. We did manage to get Linda a flight back to Louisville from Jacksonville on December 11 & returning on December 15 for $158 - lots better than the $615 we were going to pay here for the dental work.

They are going to try to rush to get everything she needs while she is there, but we understand she may have to go back after the holidays. Still, even with two flights, it will be cheaper in the long run and we will at least know the dentist will stand behind their work. If they screw up again, we will be able to live on the road forever without working by the time I'm done with them - just kidding, ......... sort of. :)

By the way, have you noticed that I have tried to avoid calling Louisville "home." Louisville is home in that it is where Linda was born and where we both grew up; it is where both our parents live; it is where we made most of our friends and memories; it is where we created the ability to have our current lifestyle; and as one definition of "home" puts it it is - "an environment offering affection and security."

However, psychologically, I cannot refer to it as "home" because doing so indicates that we are on an extended vacation and it is the place to which we will return when "we get this out of our system" as so many have said. We have no intent of getting this out of our system, and while it may be true that one day we will and we may return to Louisville, "Home" for us truly "is where we park it" and it is wherever Linda and I are together.

So I guess we really do have two "homes" - one of which exists and will always exist in our hearts, and one, which we consider our permanent residence, that goes with us like a turtle's shell and allows us to change and appreciate our neighbors, our yard, and our views (both out our windows and on life) with a simple "let's go there."

Thus ends my philisophical thought for the day - sorry about that. :)

After getting "the dental thing" worked out, it was time to go meet David & Bonnie Smith who I mentioned a few days ago. To refresh your memory, they have been full-timing for about three years with their two children, and they have a 40 foot fifth wheel (with two bedrooms) and medium duty truck. We had made arrangements to get together around 1:00 today as they are moving on tomorrow.

I changed into shorts as the temperature was rising and the sun was out. And I noticed Kentucky was playing basketball on TV. Now, there was a time when I would have known that months ago, and scheduled around it - "Sporting events must be watched live." Not a big deal anymore. I have no problem hitting "Select" & "Record" on my remote control and watching it later. You see, out here there is no one to spoil the outcome for me, I actually have plenty of time to watch it, and I get to fast forward through all the commercials and blather - Linda loves that part because it shortens the watching time so much.

We walked over to the Smiths' campsite and had a very nice conversation. My optimistic shorts idea was a bad one as the temperature did not continue to rise. We talked to David and Bonnie a while and met the rest of the very polite family. After a quick tour of their rig and seeing how it is set up for a family of four, Bonnie walked to the beach with her daughter, and we stayed behind to talk to David. Later we were joined by our other new friends, Bill & Diane. We all talked until my manly attempt to withstand the cold in my shorts gave way, and I had to wimper home.

Now back in Louisville, we would have loved the warmth of a 60 degree December day (my Mom said it got up to 33 yesterday), but after spending several months with temps in the 75 to 85 range, 60 is cold. We are trying not to whine, but it is tough. I can see why there is such a migration to south Florida in the winter - hope they saved some room down there for us.

Linda whipped up some chicken enchiladas while I fast-forwarded through the Kentucky basketball game. They lost. Oh well, it's a long season and they will be there in the end.

Speaking of fast-forwarding, I have to go back and tell you this little story from last night. Whenever we TIVO something Linda wants to watch, she gets control of the remote during the replay (calm down men, it's a very tiny percentage of the time). Last night while watching a replay - of Oprah, I think - suddenly the fast-forward was not working. Linda would press the fast-forward button and we would see things we had already had seen. She pressed the "play" button and we would get slow motion. After several attempts and getting upset at something being wrong, she handed me the remote. As soon as it was in my hand I realized that she had been holding it upside down - that's right, what she thought was the "fast-forward" was the "rewind", and what she thought was "play" was "slow motion". She had dropped the remote on the floor - Gasp! - and evidently got it turned around when she had picked it up. It was one of those moments that created tears from laughing so hard. I'm sure this did not read nearly as funny as it was - a kind of "you had to be there" moment, but I bet there are a lot of you out there that can relate. :)

I did finish out the evening watching the Louisville Cardinals football game while Linda avoided it - she likes basketball, hates football. She passed the time with her pinball addiction, looking at craft websites, and reading some of our new friends full-timing websites and blogs. Another cozy evening at "Home."