Living Our Dream

Webster Flea Market

The cold spell continued in Florida for well over a week. After several cool days, temperatures moderated slightly for a day or two with highs straining to finally get up to 65-70 degrees. Then the daytime highs dropped back down to the 50s and low 60s for several more days with overnight lows in the 20s. That's still a lot better than the north, but we were used to 70s and 80s, so it felt pretty cold to us.

As we headed out one morning to run some errands, we saw this fence and nursery that looked like it had been toilet-papered. However, on closer examination we realized it was ice. It was the morning after the temperatures had been in the low 20s. They placed the plants on their sides to get them closer to the ground, then turned on the sprinklers overnight. By the time we drove by, much of the ice had melted; but you can see it still clinging to the fence and in the grass in the foreground.

Using sprinklers to deliberately allow ice to form on the plants is a method typically used by nurseries and citrus growers to protect the plants when there is a hard freeze. The ice actually insulates the plants and helps limit damage from the cold. Nurseries and citrus groves in our area and even vegetable growers much farther south in Florida were all hit by the freeze. It will take several days or even weeks to assess how much damage there was. Oranges that have been frozen can still be used for juice, but they have to get them to the processor within a week or so. The processors will not be able to handle everyone at the same time, so those orange groves that experienced freezing and who can't get scheduled at the processor quickly enough may suffer some losses.

Some time ago, we had seen on another full-time RVer's blog (From Darrell's Chair) where they purchased a Vornado electric heater. Vornado heaters are significantly more expensive than standard electric heaters, but they are much quieter and are designed to distribute heat more evenly by using vortex air flow.

Since the price of propane hasn't come down like the price of gasoline, we are using the electric heater to take the chill off the motor home more than the furnace during this cold spell. Campgrounds sometimes have a separate charge for actual electricity usage, especially with monthly rates, and that's the case here at Blueberry Hill. Since we are paying extra for electricity and with the price of propane still quite high, the cold snap prompted us to take a more serious look at the Vornado heaters. We decided it might be a good time to spring for a heater that was more efficient at distributing the heat.

We weren't able to find the model we wanted locally (Model DVTH) which wasn't a surprise. How often do you need a heater in Florida? Anyway, we ordered the model we wanted from Ace Hardware online. The heater arrived toward the end of the cold spell, but we were able to try it out on a couple of cold nights that got down to about 30 degrees. The photo below shows our new Vornado heater.

One reason we bought Model DVTH is that it has digital controls, as shown in the next photo. The controls allow us to set the temperature we want to maintain.

Another reason we bought Model DVTH is that it has a variable speed fan and variable power to the heating elements. It will run on full power until the room warms up to near the set point, then it will reduce the power and fan speed to maintain the temperature. This eliminates warm and cool periods that occur when a standard heater cycles off and on.

The Vornado heater is fantastic and does an excellent job of warming the whole motor home. The fan is extremely quiet, but still manages to move an amazing volume of air.

One of the days when the temperatures moderated in the middle of the cold spell happened to fall on a Monday, which is the day the Webster Flea Market is open. Webster is only about 15 minutes from Bushnell, so we decided to head on over. It also happened to be Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We figured the holiday would mean a good turnout of customers, which meant there would also be a good turnout of vendors.

The flea market is huge, and we were right about the big turnout. We were there on MLK Day last year, and it was nowhere near as crowded as this year, probably because it was sunnier this year. An announcement on the PA system said the crowd was estimated at about 60-70,000. There were so many vendors, a bunch of them had to set up in an overflow area in the parking lot across the street.

The good news is we got there mid-morning, which was late enough that some shoppers were already leaving. We got an excellent parking place right near an entrance. Sometimes a lot of vendors are leaving by that time as well, but not this day. The crowds were too big, and the vendors couldn't have gotten out if they wanted to. The photo below shows just a small portion of the market.

 

There is something at Webster Flea Market for almost everyone. There are crafts, antiques, new items, used items, food, produce, and you name it. The photo below shows some beautiful panels made by a stained glass artist.

 

In the next photo, Margery is taking a nostalgic look through some old phonograph records.

 

And speaking of nostalgia, Paul found an old toy truck from the '50s exactly like one he used to have when he was a kid. This one was in excellent condition. Not so for Paul's. His pet rabbit ate big chunks out of the rubber tires on the one he had.

 

At the far eastern side of the market is the produce area. There were peppers, lettuce, eggplant, squash, cabbage, cucumbers, and more. The tomatoes all looked delicious, not at all like the pink, plastic-looking ones you find in the grocery stores.

There were also a lot of people selling different varieties of citrus fruit. The 7 to 8-inch diameter fruit in the photo below were labeled "Small Pumelo" (also sometimes spelled pummelo), which is a variety of grapefruit native to Asia.

The folks in the next photo had the fairly large utility trailer in the background filled with carrots. The carrots were $1.00 a bag. Each bag had to contain at least 3 to 4 pounds of carrots.

We picked up a few lemons and a couple of sweet onions, then threaded our way back to the car. We were at the market almost three hours and probably only saw about half of it.

On our way back to the car, we ran into the fellow from the campground who bought Margery's scooter. He said it was really working well for him, and he even got a lift to carry the scooter mounted to the back of his car. We're so glad it's helping him get around, and we're even happier Margery doesn't need it anymore.

Since the temperatures only moderated for a day or two then dropped back down to the 50s, we decided to hold off on any further sightseeing until it warms up again. We'll just chilled out (literally) around the motor home and ran a few errands. 

Tampa RV Show

As we mentioned in our last post, one of the things we have been doing here in Florida is riding our bikes around the campground. As we ride, we like to look at license plates to see where people in the campground are from. If we go up and down all the roads, it's about 2.5 miles. The roads are nice and wide, they are level, and they are all paved so it's easy riding; but it does get us moving and provides some exercise.

We love our Dahon Espresso Folding Bikes, but one of the things Margery found very uncomfortable about our bikes was the low handlebars. Serious cyclists say handlebars should be lower to allow better leverage for pedaling and for less wind resistance. We're certainly not racers, and most of our cycling is on relatively level ground, so we really don't need to have maximum pedaling power. The low riding position hurt Margery's neck and made her feel she was off balance and didn't have good control of the bike.

While driving through The Villages one day, we passed Santos Bike Shop and stopped to see if they might have replacement handlebars with a higher rise that would provide a more upright riding position. They recommended an extender for the stem (the part that holds the handlebars) as an easier way to increase the height. We took Margery's bike back to the bike shop with us on our next trip to The Villages, and they had the stem extender installed in about 5 minutes. Margery was thrilled with the results.

The photo below shows Margery's riding position without the extender...

 

...and the next photo shows her more upright position with the extender. Who knew raising the handlebars only about four inches would make so much difference?

Paul liked the new riding position so well, he asked Santos Bike Shop to order him an extender, too, since Margery got their last one. There are a couple of bike trails in the area, and now that we will both have more comfortable bikes, we plan to go try them out.

Santos is a full-service bike shop that caters to all types of bikers, from racers to mountain bikers to the active older adult who feels more secure with three wheelers or a cruiser that has a very low center bar that enables someone with bad knees get on the bike easily. We were very impressed with the customer service; and with Mike, the technician, who helped us find the right solution for Margery's bike. His comment was, "There's not a bike that we can't customize for someone's comfort." We also found out the store manager was former Pittsburgher.

For those not familiar with The Villages, it is a planned retirement community about 30 minutes northeast of Bushnell that caters to active retirees. There are numerous "neighborhoods" in The Villages, and there are different types of housing in many different price ranges. There are integrated shopping areas, health care, golf courses, swimming pools, and activity centers. They have many educational, sports, cultural, and social activities.

There are a lot of bicyclists in The Villages. There is a club of more serious cyclists with 250 members. There are bike trails in the area, marked bike lanes along many of the roads, and The Villages has miles and miles of golf cart paths that can also be used for cycling. You can get from almost anywhere in The Villages to almost anywhere else using the golf cart paths. They even have tunnels where the paths cross major roads so you don't have to contend with heavy traffic.

In The Villages, golf carts almost outnumber cars. Many people use the carts for golfing, but The Villages was designed specifically for residents to use them for local transportation. We both think it would be a fun way to get around, and it would certainly save on gas! The photo below shows one of the shopping areas of The Villages called Lake Sumter Landing. There are some cars parked on the left; but, except for one car, the entire right side of the street is parked with golf carts.

 

After being back in Bushnell about two weeks, we sold Margery's scooter. There was a fellow who had just come into the campground who had lung surgery and who has difficulty breathing. He can hardly walk anywhere without getting winded. In fact, he would cough and wheeze just standing there. One of the campground employees who escorted him to his campsite and who helped him hook up remembered we had a scooter for sale and brought him by our site. The man was only eligible for partial payment for a new scooter under Medicare, so he was in the market for a used one. He took a quick look, asked a few questions, and said, "I'll take it." We're glad the scooter has a new home with someone who can make good use of it.

Last year we went to the big RV show in Tampa. Although we are still not in the market for a new RV, we went to the show again this year since it is less than an hour from where we are staying. Paul likes to see what is new in motor homes. With all the changes going on in the RV industry because of the high fuel prices last summer and the economic problems going on now, he was curious as to what kind of changes were being made to RVs.

Workhorse (the company that manufactured the chassis on our motor home) has several new, somewhat smaller chassis that are powered by a front diesel engine. The diesel engine is supposed to give better fuel economy. The large, 8.1 liter (496 cu. in.) V-8 gas engine we have in our motor home will only be available for another year or so, so it's only logical that it would be replaced by a front-mounted diesel engine. The photo below shows Paul checking out the new Workhorse W20D chassis with 20,000 lb. gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR).

 

With the high oil prices of last year, there was a definite emphasis on downsizing at the show this year, especially in motor homes. The photo below shows a 32' Damon Avanti motor home on the new Workhorse W16D front-diesel chassis. The W16D chassis is similar to the W20D shown above except it has a 16,000 lb. GVWR and a slightly smaller engine. They are claiming over 14 mpg for this coach, which is unheard of for a Class A motor home. We felt the Avanti was too small for full-timing, we didn't care for the Euro-style interior, and we thought the price was a little high for what you got; but it looks like motor homes like this may become more popular in the future, especially if fuel prices rise again.

 

Although there were plenty of full-size Class A motor homes and 5th wheels on display, we also noticed there were many, many smaller Class C and Class B (van campers) at the show this year. The photo below shows just some of them lining both sides of the aisle.

 

Tiffin has a new Allegro diesel pusher motor home that was very interesting. The Allegro is Tiffin's entry-level model; but with amenities like full body paint and solid-surface counter tops, it is nicer than a lot of manufacturers' higher-priced models. The Allegro had been available only as a front-engine model, but Tiffin now has one floor plan available as a diesel pusher.

It looks like Tiffin is trying to make their diesel pushers a little more affordable. The new Allegro Open Road diesel pusher is a very nice coach for the price. It has air bag suspension, four slides, huge pass-through storage bays, and a decent cargo carrying capacity. There were lots of people looking at it and we're guessing that particular coach would be sold before the end of the show. The photo below shows Margery coming out of the Allegro pusher.

After visiting Workhorse, Tiffin, and taking a quick look at the Damon Avanti, we walked around the indoor vendors who were selling accessories and promoting campgrounds and resorts. At the end of one building was a sand sculpture in the shape of a map of the United States including Alaska, Hawaii, and the Florida Keys with the 7-mile bridge. There were little sculptures on the map representing various parts of the country. If you look closely at the photo below, you may be able to see sun glasses in South Florida (in the foreground), the space shuttle farther to the north, a peach in Georgia, the Capital Building, the Liberty Bell in Pennsylvania, the Statue of Liberty in New York, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, an oil well in Texas, etc.

 

In spite of all the dire economic news, there seemed to be a good turnout for the RV show. The crowds were bigger this year than we remember them being last year, although the fact the weather was sunnier on the day we went this year may have had something to do with it.

It was sunny the day we went to the RV show, but it was a little cool; and it got even cooler in the days afterward. High temperatures were only in the 50s and low 60s with lows all the way down to the upper 20s. It was still better than most areas in the north where temperatures were in the single digits or even below zero in some places. Several areas of the country broke decade-old records for low temperatures.

We experienced a few cool days last year in Florida, but the cool spells only lasted a day or two at a time. This cold snap is predicted to go on for at least a week. They (whoever "they" are) say it's because of global warming. Let's see, if it's warmer than normal, it's due to global warming; and if it's colder than normal, it's also due to global warming...hmmm.

We found some interesting things to see and do within a day's drive of where we are staying, but we'll have to wait to see what the weather does before we decide what we are going to do next. Even though the air temperatures are cool, the sun is out most days. The sun makes it feel much warmer, so we are hoping to get out for some sightseeing soon.

Back in Bushnell

When we left Bluebberry Hill for our holiday trip to Pittsburgh, the front section of the campground had only a few RVs in it and the back was about 60-70% filled. Now, after New Years, the front is about 50% full (although this section is more transient, and RVs come and go), and the back section is about 80-90% filled as more Snowbirds arrive every day. Interstate-75 is filled with southbound RV's now. There's a steady stream, but the occupancy of Blueberry Hill seems to be running a little behind what it was at this time last year. Maybe the economy has brought about some cancellations, or at least some reduced lengths of stay.

When we went to Pittsburgh last spring, we dropped off Margery's mobility scooter to store for a while. Now that her knees are doing so well, we picked up the scooter during our Christmas trip and brought it back with us to try to sell rather than just leave it in storage for the batteries to deteriorate. When we got back, Paul cleaned it up, made a "For Sale" sign, and parked the scooter in front of our site. We'll see how it goes. The scooter served us well, and now we're hoping it will provide mobility for someone else with difficulty walking.

During our Christmas visit with Lora and J. Michael, we got to sleep on our old mattress. Lora and J. Michael took some of our furniture when we went on the road; and, since the mattress wasn't very old, they have it on the bed in their spare bedroom. The mattress in the motor home was always a little soft for us; and now that it was over three years old, we knew it was getting a little too mushy. However, we didn't realize how mushy until we spent a week on our old, very firm mattress back in Pittsburgh. Ahhhhh.

That prompted us to go mattress shopping when we got back to Florida. A lot of RVs have what are called "short queen" mattresses. These are standard width, but are 4 to 6 inches shorter than a standard queen mattress. Although the shorter length allows more walking space in the RV, it limits the choices for replacement mattresses, and it can also be uncomfortable if you're taller. Sometimes you can replace a short queen mattress with a standard one; but if the bed is part of the slide-out and the slide-out was designed for a short mattress, there probably won't be room for a longer mattress when the slide is in for traveling.

We have a standard queen mattress, so we were able to shop at a regular bedding store. It was a good time to shop - seems there were New Year's mattress sales everywhere. We found a nice, firm, Simmons Beautyrest on sale for a good price at the Mattress Giant store up near the Villages. It was delivered to our motor home first thing the next morning. Wow, what a difference! We have always liked a firm mattress to help eliminate back pain. We both slept comfortably the first night.

We do most of our grocery shopping at Wal-Mart because we feel they generally have the best prices. Here at Blueberry Hill, that is really easy since there is a Wal-Mart right next door. However, Wal-Mart doesn't carry a full selection of grocery items, and we sometimes need to stop at another grocery store for special items. One of these items is chicken hot sausage that Publix Markets usually carry. We took a half-hour drive to the Publix in Inverness, FL. We were able to stock up on the sausage plus a couple of other items. Low-fat products are not abundant in Florida or anywhere else in the south, so we're always happy to find some of our favorites.

The route to Inverness passes through Floral City, which was founded in 1883. Although it only has a population of around 5,000 people today, Floral City was once the largest city in Florida because of phosphate mining in the surrounding area. Henry Flagler started building his hotels and railway on the east coast of Florida about the same time, but Floral City grew faster in those early years because of the mining. The mining was shut down during WWI and was relocated farther south near Tampa after the war.

A beautiful feature of Floral City are the Spanish-moss draped live oak trees that line both sides of County Road 48 heading toward the main intersection in town. The trees run for about half a mile.

 

We gave Molly a bath before our trip to Pittsburgh, but we thought we'd leave her coat a little longer for the cold weather and save grooming her until we got back to Bushnell. Soon after our return, we went about the task of grooming. As you can see from the photo below, she wasn't too happy about it and tried to hide in the bedroom.

 

Trying to hide is typical, but once we start grooming, she is usually pretty good and only gets a little impatient toward the end. She has been getting groomed every few months since she was about a year old, so she's used to it. But for some reason, she really put up a fuss this time. She wouldn't stand still and kept trying to sit and lie down. However, we eventually got the job done (more or less) - she's still a little shaggy in a couple of spots, but we'll fix that next time. The photo below shows Molly in a little better humor after the grooming.

 

We took it easy during our first week or so back to Florida. We got caught up on grocery shopping and a few chores like doing laundry and grooming Molly. We also got a new mattress, rode our bikes around the campground numerous times to try to work off some of those Christmas goodies, and played a few games of pool. We're also investigating interesting things to do and see in the coming weeks. Check back soon to see what we come up with.

Home for the Holidays

It was about a two and a half hour drive from the Florida SKP Resort in Zolfo Springs to Blueberry Hill RV Resort in Bushnell, FL. We made this year's reservations for Blueberry Hill last year to take advantage of a 10% pay-in-advance discount.

Blueberry Hill RV Resort has several hundred RV sites. The sites in front are paved pull-throughs, and the ones in back are grassy back-ins. The sites in front are usually given to those staying less than three months. We like the ones in the back because they are very spacious. The photo below shows our site at Blueberry Hill.

Blueberry has full hookups with 50 amp electric and Wi-Fi. They have plenty of activities if you want them, but there isn't a lot of pressure to join in. There is a pool, shuffleboard courts, bocce, horseshoes and pool tables. There are weekly lunches followed by a bluegrass jam session with Snowbird musicians from all around the area. They also have craft classes, occasional bus trips, and various types of exercise classes.

We were anxious to get settled because we had a lot to do. For the first time since we went on the road in 2006, we planned to go home for Christmas. We would be driving north in the car and staying with our daughter, Lora, and our son-in-law, J. Michael. This would also be the first time in two and a half years we would be traveling without the motor home. We are used to having everything with us, but now we needed to try to think in 70 degree weather of everything we might need to take with us for 20 degree weather. We began by making lists. Then we got our winter clothes out of storage, cleaned out the car, and eventually started to put things into piles so we could figure out how we were going to pack with the minimal luggage we had kept.

Even with all we had to do in preparation for our trip to the Pittsburgh area, there was still time to do some holiday decorating. We did our usual, simple adornment of the motor home - a task that only takes a few minutes. This year, since we would be spending a lot of time in the car, Margery wanted to decorate it as well. We bought a few materials at the craft store and put together a wreath to hang on the grill.

One other thing we wanted to get out of the way before the end of the year was the one-year checkup with the surgeon on Margery's knees. After viewing the X-rays, the doctor said her knees were "magnifico" and she won't need to come back for the next checkup for two years. Margery is also very pleased with the outcome of the partial knee replacements.

We decided to try to see if we could make the drive from Bushnell to Pittsburgh all in one shot, so we went to bed early the Saturday before Christmas and set the alarm for 2:00 AM. This was quite a departure from our usual method of traveling only four hours a day, but we thought with two drivers and being able to make better time in the car, we should be able to make it.

We threw the last minute items into the car, disconnected the water from the motor home, stowed the satellite dish, pulled in the slides to protect the slide-topper awnings in case there was a storm while we were gone, and hit the road by 3:15 AM. Traffic was very light until about sunrise, and we made good time - even on the 2 and 4-lane, non-limited access roads.

As the day went on, traffic picked up. There were lots of Florida license plates heading north and lots of cars and RVs heading south. Traffic was heavy all day, but it was moving steadily and there were no delays.

One of the things Margery pondered as we passed Santas decorating yards was how out of place Santas are in the south. Think about it...the heavy, fur-trimmed coat worn by Santa is way too warm for the south, the sleigh meant to travel on snow is seriously hampered by the lack thereof in the south, the reindeer who pull the sleigh are not indigenous to the south, and Santa coming in through the chimney is not practical in a region where there are few, if any, fireplaces. Hmmm. People don't seem to be very logical when it comes to traditions.

It took us only a little over 15 hours to travel about 1,000 miles. It was a long day, and we were tired when we arrived in Pittsburgh; but making the drive all in one shot wasn't as bad as we had thought it might be.

Since we arrived a few days before Christmas, Margery helped Lora do some cooking in preparation for the holidays. Here they are working on mushroom rolls for snacking.  :)

We went to church with Lora and J. Michael on Christmas Eve, then went to visit with J. Michael's family at his brother's house. We got to spend Christmas morning with Lora and J. Michael. The photo below shows Margery getting ready to enjoy some hot chocolate before we started opening gifts.

The next photo shows J. Michael and Lora in their Santa hats.

Brutus is J. Michael and Lora's boxer. He is having difficulty getting around in his old age, but he still enjoyed opening his gift of doggie treats.

Using the Octapod mini camera tripod, we were able to get a picture of all of us.

Among other things, Lora and J. Michael got us a Pantouch digital photo frame. It will be great to display pictures of family and of places we have been. We have a bulletin board in the motor home, but can only display a limited number of photos at a time. Plus, we have to go to the trouble of printing the photos before we can display them. The digital frame will hold up to 8,000 photos and we can download them directly from the camera or from our computer.

On Christmas afternoon, we went to J. Michael's mom's house for dinner. The photo below shows some of the family just beginning to gather around the table. J. Michael's family is great, and they are fun to be with. We are gratified they are always willing to include us in their activities.

 

On the day after Christmas, Margery and Lora hit a couple of stores to make some exchanges and to look for bargains. Summer tops aren't in high demand in Pittsburgh in the winter, and Margery was thrilled to be able to get a few for $1.40 each.  Over the next few days, we played some games, watched a movie on DVD, went out to a movie, and visited with Margery's dad and Paul's step-mom.

Lora and J. Michael have a Garmin Nuvi 260W GPS unit, and they took it along on most of our outings. We were amazed at how well it worked, so we started investigating GPS units ourselves. We have a GPS receiver that we can use with our DeLorme mapping software on our laptop, but we feel the computer is too big to leave open in the motor home as we travel. The computer takes up almost the whole passenger side in the car. Therefore, although we sometimes use the computer for the mapping software as we travel (even in the car), we seldom use the GPS.

We found the price of portable GPS units rapidly falling, and we found a Garmin Nuvi 750 for an excellent price at Sam's Club. It is similar to the 260W Lora has so she was able to teach us how to use it fairly quickly. The name of the voice we chose to use is Jill, but we renamed her Grace because she is so amazing and hopefully we'll be reminded to have "grace under fire" when needed. The photo below shows Grace as she helps us navigate on our way back to Bushnell.

Garmin also has a series of GPS units called Street Pilot which are geared toward bigger vehicles like trucks and RVs, but there seems to only be one model of Street Pilot currently being made by Garmin. The Street Pilot is also considerably more expensive than the Nuvi series (except for the newest, high-end Nuvi models). We'll just have to be careful about reviewing in advance the routes Grace plans for us when we are in the motor home.

We planned our return to Bushnell for Monday hoping the traffic would be a little lighter after the weekend. By the time we packed up and said our good-byes, we didn't get on the road until about 8:45 AM. Traffic was heavy most of the way - especially for the 200+ mile portion that traverses I-95 through part of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida. There were several unexplained backups on I-95 in South Carolina, and there was also a lot of construction on I-95 through most of Georgia. Although there wasn't any work going on at night, it did make the driving more difficult with narrow lanes and reduced speed limits.

There were lots of southerners returning south and, surprisingly, more RV's returning north than Snowbirds heading south.

We finally made it back to Bushnell about 12:30 AM. Being with family for the holidays and seeing Lora and J. Michael again was great, but It was also good to be back "home."

As we approached the end of the year, we took a little time to reflect. It was a very good year for us, and we were blessed in our full-timing lifestyle in so many ways. Most importantly, we have a terrific, supportive family back home in Pittsburgh. We are happy to have been able to see them several times this year. Lora and J. Michael go out of their way to make us feel at home when we visit.

We started out the year with Margery's knee surgery. Her recovery was a little slow at the start. By mid-year, she was doing well; and now at the end of a year, she is doing great. Her knees are almost as good as they were when she was younger, and they are waaaay better than they were before the surgery. Even the many steps at Lora and J. Michael's two-story house during our Christmas visit weren't bothersome.

We weathered the storm of sky-high gasoline prices of 2008 by slowing our rate of travel a little. We're trusting we will also make it through the current economic crisis.

We got to see so many of God's astounding creations in 2008 - the plains and farmland of Iowa, the mighty Mississippi, the geothermal features of Yellowstone, the Tetons as well as the mountains of Montana and Colorado, the azure blue skies of New Mexico, and South Florida and the Keys. We also got to see our first in-person NASCAR race. And we have met some nice people and made some new friends along the way.

We used to party on New Year's Eve when we were younger. In recent years, however, we just spend a quiet evening at home watching a bunch of rented movies. We struggle to stay awake until it is time to see the ball drop in Times Square on TV. Then we wish each other a Happy New Year and shuffle off to bed. This year was no different; but with our 15-hour drive in from Pittsburgh just two nights prior, it was a little more difficult than normal staying up until midnight.

We are looking forward to our time here in Bushnell. Last year, we got to do some sightseeing; but we spent much of our time with Margery recovering from knee surgery. This year, we plan not only a time of relaxation, but also some new adventures.