Living Our Dream

We Finally Make Time for Some Fun

Bushnell, FL - Events of Tuesday, February 17 to Friday, February 21, 2015

As we mentioned in our last post, the weather forecast was calling for rain followed by cool, windy weather. We were trying to plan an outing, but the weather wasn't very conducive to doing anything outdoors. Therefore, we found a couple of fun things we could do indoors.

We have been wanting to see the movie "American Sniper," so we made plans to do that on Wednesday with our friends, Pat and Mike. We headed to the theater in Brownwood Commons in The Villages on Wednesday afternoon. What an intense movie!

Friday was finally a little warmer, but it still wasn't a great day for outdoor sightseeing because of wind. Therefore, we decided to visit the Henry B. Plant Museum in Tampa for some sightseeing that would be mostly indoors.

The Henry B. Plant Museum is located in the south wing of the old Tampa Bay Hotel. Henry B. Plant was a railroad and steamship magnate who built the hotel as a destination to encourage passengers to ride his rail line. Tampa was a sleepy little fishing village with 700 residents when construction of the hotel was started in 1888.

Admission to the museum, which is $10 for adults and $7 for seniors, includes an audio tour. Free guided tours are offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:00 p.m. The museum is closed Mondays.

There are a few parking spaces in front of the museum, but those are hard to come by - especially for a long bed dually pickup truck. Fortunately, we found free, on-street parking (two hour limit) within a couple of blocks of the museum. There is also free parking at the Thomas Parking Garage about 4 blocks away.

The hotel is built in a Moorish style of architecture and cost over $3 million, which was a LOT of money back then.

View of the outside of the Tampa Bay Hotel

The hotel opened in 1891. It was furnished with antiques collected by Mr. and Mrs. Plant on their travels through Europe. It was one of the first buildings in Tampa to be electrified, and it had the first elevator ever installed in Florida. The grounds covered over 150 acres and included lush tropical gardens, a heated indoor swimming pool, a golf course, a bowling alley, a casino and a race track.

Antiques, sculptures and paintings from the hotel are displayed along the first floor hallway.

Antiques on display in the hallway of the hotel

Many of the guest rooms contain displays showing the life of leisure enjoyed by the early guests during their stay. Hunting, fishing, tennis, and golf were just a few of the activities.

The audio tour gives information about Henry Plant, his rail and steamship empires, and the history of the hotel. It also gives descriptions of many of the items on display in the hallway and in many of the guest rooms.

Margery listening to the audio tour

Unlike today where penthouses and suites on the upper floors command the highest prices, the best hotel rooms back in the late 1800s were on the first and second floors because these rooms were the most conveniently located. Some suites on the first floor, like the three-room parlor suite shown in the next photos, even had a private entrance.

Parlor of the three-room suite

Bedroom of the three-room suite

The third room of the suite was a library.

Henry Plant convinced the U.S. military to use his hotel as a base of operations during the Spanish-American war in 1898. Tampa was a deep water port, so men and materiel could arrive by train and then could easily be sent to Cuba by boat. Not only would Plant make money with his rail and steamship lines, but many officers stayed at the hotel while awaiting deployment. Enlisted men were also encamped on the grounds of the hotel. Teddy Roosevelt maintained a suite in the hotel and conducted drills with his Rough Riders on the grounds during the day. 

The Tampa Bay Hotel had a relatively short heyday. Following the death of Henry Plant in 1899, his wife and son had little interest in continuing in the hotel business. The hotel was sold to the city of Tampa in 1905 for the paltry sum of $125,000.

Tampa continued to operate the hotel at a loss until the hotel was finally closed in 1930. In 1933, Tampa Bay Junior College was allowed to use the then-vacant hotel suites as classrooms, dorm rooms and offices. Because of the large amount of space in and around the hotel, the college eventually grew to become the University of Tampa. An agreement between the city of Tampa and the university preserves the south wing of the hotel as a museum while allowing the university to use the rest of the building.

In addition to seeing the museum, visitors can also enter the student entrance to the building (previously the main entrance to the hotel) to see the hotel's ballroom and dining room.

Main entrance to hotel

The ballroom and dining room are now devoted to student activities, but one can still sense the grandeur of the old hotel.

Hotel dining room now used for student activities

By the time we finished seeing the museum, the wind had died down, so we walked across the street to Plant Park, which was part of the hotel's gardens. At the entrance to the park is a fountain commissioned by Henry Plant's wife following his death.

Henry B. Plant Memorial Fountain

Since Tampa is about half way to Anna Maria Oyster Bar in Bradenton and since we both love the fried clam strips at Anna Maria, we planned to drive about an hour farther south to have clams after seeing the museum and park. Going to a seafood restaurant on the first Friday in Lent probably wasn't the best idea because the place was packed when we arrived at 2:30. We always go to Anna Maria in the middle of the afternoon when it is less crowded, and this was the first time we ever had to wait for a table. Fortunately, the wait was only about 20 minutes.

While we waited, we sat in the sun on a couple of chairs behind the restaurant overlooking a small lake where there was a 4-foot alligator sunning himself at the edge of the water just on the other side of the fence.

4-foot alligator in the lake behind the restaurant

In spite of having to wait for a table, our food came out surprisingly quickly. We both had fried clam strip baskets. Margery had onion straws and cole slaw for her sides, and Paul had red potatoes and cole slaw. Everything was yummy!

Paul ready to dig in

With our bellies full, we headed back to Blueberry Hill to relax for the evening. We were planning more sightseeing for the following week, but the weather forecast was predicting clouds and a chance of rain almost every day. We'll have to wait to see if the sightseeing plans work out or not.

Yet More Projects

Bushnell, FL - Events of Tuesday, February 10 to Saturday, February 14, 2015

After we picked up cherry lumber at Hardwood Lumber & Millwork in Lakeland on Monday, Paul got to work on Tuesday morning with a couple of woodworking projects. The first order of business, however, was to experiment with various colors of stain to attempt to match the color of the woodwork in the 5th wheel. After a trip to the hardware store and several tries, Paul hit on the right color. 

First on our list of woodworking projects was a towel holder for the bathroom. Because the 5th wheel has a walk-through bath, there are few places to put a towel bar so the manufacturer of the 5th wheel didn't even provide one. We added a towel ring for a hand towel next to the bathroom sink, but we still needed a place to hang our bath towels.

The motor home, which also had a walk-through bath, had a rack on the back of the door in the stool room that held three towels. That was a perfect solution, but while those types of towel racks were once very common in RVs, they are no longer available. There are similar over-the-door towel racks, but we couldn't find any racks that could be permanently attached to the door. Therefore, Paul decided to make our own using some of the cherry lumber for the sides and the metal bars from an over-the-door towel rack we bought online.

New towel rack added to the inside of the stool room door

Rack holds two towels and a bath mat

The next project was to add a shelf to the coat closet located next to the door of the 5th wheel. There was a bunch of wasted space over the coat hooks that we wanted to put to use.

Coat closet with wasted space above the coats

Paul sanding a piece of wood for the shelf for the coat closet

The shelf will be a good place to store things that we would like to keep handy by the door like cameras and binoculars. We'll also add a couple of hooks on the bottom of the shelf for things like Freeway's leash.

New shelf in place

The theater seating in the 5th wheel has a bin intended for storing things like remotes, and heaven knows we have plenty of them. We also wanted to be able to keep a few smaller items in the bin like pencils, a tape measure and a couple of thumb drives; but there are so many remotes those smaller items kept falling to the bottom and getting lost. Therefore, Paul used some ¼" plywood to build a tray to sit on top of the storage bin and hold the smaller items.

Storage bin for remotes - before after adding a tray for small items

It took most of the week to get those few woodworking projects done, mostly because of the time it took for the stain and two coats of polyurethane finish to dry. By Friday, we were ready to get out and about so we decided to run some errands near The Villages. With Valentine's Day coming up on Saturday, we also decided to celebrate early and go to lupper at OakWood Grill on Friday to avoid the possibility bigger crowds on Saturday.

Since Paul had already told Margery that she would not be getting Hoodie-Footie pajamas or a 4' Vermont teddy bear, she opted for her favorite, ribs, even though they weren't on special. Paul also had his favorite a smoked turkey plate with lima beans and cole slaw. Everything was delish!

Margery with her rack of ribs

With our bellies full, we headed back to the 5th wheel. We spent the rest of the evening and most of Valentine's Day relaxing.

With several projects under our belts, we were ready to get out to do a little sightseeing. Unfortunately, the weather for the following week was predicting rain followed by cool temperatures and wind. We were hoping the weather forecast would change for the better, or else we had to find something to do indoors. Stay tuned.

5th Wheel Projects

Bushnell, FL - Events of Friday, February 6 to Monday, February 9, 2015

The initial move into our new 5th wheel and getting ourselves settled took us the better part of three weeks. We're definitely feeling at home now, but we still have a lot of projects we want to get done before we leave Florida in the spring.

One project that Paul completed on Friday and Saturday was making a platform to sit under the steps of the 5th wheel. The new 5th wheel sits higher than the motor home did, and we have a portable step that we have been using so we didn't have such a big drop from the bottom step to the patio. However, since we stay in Florida for a relatively long time, we wanted something a little bigger to use while we're here. Not only that, but Paul was able to make the platform just the right height so the last step coming out of the 5th wheel isn't uneven. We'll just leave the platform here in the shed when we leave in the spring.

On one of our recent trips to The Villages, we stopped at Home Depot to get a piece of treated plywood for the top of the platform and a piece of treated lumber for the bottom.

Paul built the platform on Friday and stained the exposed wood on the bottom part. On Saturday, he glued indoor/outdoor carpet he had left over from making step covers for the motor home last summer to the top of the platform.

Paul gluing indoor/outdoor carpet to the platform

Completed platform in place

We had covers over the roof vents in the motor home that enabled us to open the vents and to use our Fantastic Fan even in the rain. Therefore, we wanted to add vent covers to the 5th wheel as well. We have two roof vents in the 5th wheel so Paul ordered two Fan-tastic Ultrabreeze vent covers that arrived late on Friday. On Saturday after Paul finished gluing carpet, he installed the covers up on the roof.

Installation is a breeze provided you don't have a problem with heights. You just remove 4 existing screws holding the vent to the roof, substitute 4 slightly larger screws that are provided to hold down 4 brackets, put a dab of caulk on the screws, and use 4 pins to install the cover to the brackets.

Paul removing existing screws from the vent

New covers in place

After working on a couple of other minor projects on Saturday afternoon, we relaxed after dinner with a little TV. Shortly after we sat down we heard a muffled "grrrr" from Freeway. At first, we didn't pay any attention because he frequently does that when he is playing with one of his toys. After we heard "grrrr" a couple more times, however, we realized Freeway wasn't playing with a toy, but he was stuck in the pantry. Apparently when Margery was putting things away after dinner, Freeway slipped unseen into the pantry and didn't get back out fast enough before Margery closed the door.

Freeway stuck in the pantry

We have several projects in mind for the 5th wheel that will involve some woodworking. A couple of those projects are bigger, longer range projects, but there are a few smaller ones like adding a couple of shelves here and there. To do those projects, Paul needed some cherry lumber to match the wood in our 5th wheel. There is a place that sells hardwood lumber of all kinds in Lakeland, FL, which is about an hour and a half southeast of Bushnell. We got some maple there several years ago when Paul installed the residential refrigerator in the motor home and had to build a new face frame for the cabinet.

After calling to confirm they had cherry in stock, we headed to Hardwood Lumber & Millwork in Lakeland on Monday. After Paul picked out the wood he wanted and just as he was about to load up, it started to rain. Fortunately, there was room to back the truck into the warehouse to load, so Paul was able to keep himself and the wood dry.

From Hardwood Lumber, we headed back north toward Bushnell. Since it was late afternoon, we stopped at Pancho's Villa in San Antonio, FL for lupper. We love the corn chips at Pancho's because they are thin, warm, crisp and lightly salted. They are served with two kinds of salsa - regular and spicy. The first basket of corn chips is complimentary, and refills are $1.50. The chips were extra crisp this time so we indulged and had two baskets.

Margery had a chimichanga with ground beef and Paul had a burrito with ground beef. The chimi was nice and crisp and the burrito was smothered in cheese and salsa verde. Both are served with refried beans and rice and garnished guacamole, sour cream, lettuce and tomato. Everything was yummy!

Pancho's burrito

Paul ready to dig into his burrito

With our bellies full, we headed back to Blueberry Hill to relax for the evening. Paul started the first of his woodworking projects for the 5th wheel the next day. Stay tuned.

Market of Marion Redux

Bushnell, FL - Events of Friday, January 30 to Monday, February 2, 2015

Although there are still lots of things to do, we are making progress on getting settled in our new 5th wheel. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and the 5th wheel is definitely starting to feel like home.

We knew the 5th wheel would feel more residential than the motor home, but we had no idea it would feel that much more residential. The motor home served us well, and it was great for how we traveled in the early years of our full-timing. However, we feel switching to a 5th wheel was the definitely right move for how we are traveling now.

As we continue settling in, we have been buying lots of things for the RV from Amazon - a new lamp, kitchen organizers, storage containers, etc. Gotta love Amazon Prime!

Another thing we ordered online arrived on Friday. It was Freeway's flea and heartworm medicine from 1-800PetMeds. They always include a dog biscuit in the package, so Freeway knew right away the box was for him.

Freeway checking out his package from 1-800PetMeds

On Saturday, we decided to head north to the Market of Marion. There are two vendors there who sell area rugs, and we wanted to get a rug to put in the living area to protect the carpet from wear.

Since it was a Saturday at the height of snowbird season, the market was very crowded. For that reason, we usually go on Friday; but we have been running in so many directions lately, we just felt like we needed to hang around the rig on Friday and get more organization projects done.

The larger of the two rug vendors is near the front of the market, so we headed there first.

Rug vendor #1

There were some designs we liked and some we didn't. The rug in the next photo is getting a thumbs down from Margery.

Thumbs down to the red rug

Unfortunately, all the designs we liked weren't available in the size we needed. We moved on the second rug vendor and found nothing there either. We ended up ordering a rug we found online at Home Depot. It's not available in stores, so we had to buy it sight unseen. However, it had free shipping, and we can return it to any store for a full refund if we don't like it. It will take a week to 10 days to arrive.

Meanwhile, we couldn't go to the Market of Marion without getting some produce. We got a head of cauliflower, a tomato for our sandwiches and some peppers.

Margery picking out peppers

Paul ordered a rubber mat to protect the bed of the truck from scratches and dings from WeatherTech shortly after we got back to Florida at the end of December. He also ordered a tailgate liner, which he installed weeks ago, but he had to wait until after the hitch was installed to put in the bed mat because the mat had to be cut to fit around the hitch mounts.

Paul had hoped to get the mat put into the bed before we went to pick up the 5th wheel, but the hitch took longer than expected to come in. Then Paul injured his finger on the way to pick up the truck after the hitch was installed so the bed mat had to wait. Once we picked up the new 5th wheel, there were more pressing issues like getting things organized and stored away inside the rig so the bed mat had to wait some more.

After church on Sunday, Paul finally made time to do the bed mat. It wasn't hard, but the hitch, which weighs around 140 pounds, had to be removed first. Paul got the hitch out okay by partially disassembling it to make it lighter, but it was still too heavy to get it down off the tailgate by himself so he left it sitting on the tailgate and worked around it.

Hitch removed and sitting on the tailgate with Paul working on the bed mat

It was a little disconcerting to have to cut holes and slots into a brand new bed mat, but it had to be done because the hitch has to sit directly on the hard surface of the bed itself, not on the rubber mat.

Paul cutting slots in the bed mat so the hitch can sit directly on the bed of the truck

Bed mat in and hitch re-installed

On Monday, we made arrangements to go to lupper at Beef O'Brady's with our friends, Pat and Mike. We have talked with them on the phone and we have communicated by texting, but we hadn't seen them since we got back with our new rig almost two weeks prior. It was good to see them again.

Beef O'Brady's

Since it was Burger Monday, that's what we all had. Everything was delish!

Mike, Pat, Margery and Paul

We hung around for a long time to chat after we ate. The restaurant started to fill up around 5:00 so we headed back to Blueberry Hill and to our respective rigs for the evening.

As we said, we still have lots to do around the rig, but we are starting to feel like we are making headway. We don't know if we'll have time for sightseeing or if we'll be working on more 5th wheel projects, but we'll let you know in our next post.