Change of Pace

Wauchula, FL - Events of Sunday, May 6 to Monday, May 14, 2018

We have now been in the park model for over a month and are starting to feel very much at home. Freeway was a little wary at first, but even he has gotten more comfortable in his new surroundings. He used to like to sit up on the back of our theater seating in the 5th wheel so he could see out the window; but now he has an even better view sitting in front of the sliding glass door to keep watch.

Freeway keeping watch by the sliding glass door

Although there are still a lot of improvements we want to make in the park model, many of the more pressing ones are complete so we felt we could turn our attention from working on practical improvements to decorating. Because of weight and space limitations, decorating our motor home and 5th wheel was pretty much limited to hanging a few family photos in lightweight frames on the walls with 3M Command Strips. We now have no weight restrictions, and we have more space so we are excited at the opportunity to express ourselves by adding some decorative items.

One of the first things we did was to stop at Michael's after church on a Sunday early in May to look for baskets to put on top of our hall closet. The baskets in the next photo are decorative, but we still couldn't abandon our practical side altogether because the baskets also hold most of our winter clothes. We used to store our winter clothes in a large, plastic bin, and moving the winter clothes to the baskets has freed up valuable shelf space in the shed.

Decorative storage containers containing our winter clothes

A little over a week ago, Margery had an appointment for a haircut in Sebring. After the haircut, we stopped at a nearby thrift shop and found some glass bottles and vases for $1 to $3 each. Paul painted some some of them with Krylon seaglass paint so we can use them as decorations beside some additional baskets we got at Michael's.

Decorative basket and thrift shop bottle

More decorative items in the kitchen

After Margery's haircut and our visit to the thrift shop, we stopped at Dee's Place in Sebring for a late lunch of half-pound burgers. This is love bug season here in Florida, and as we walked toward the truck after lunch, the angle of the sun was just right to highlight how many love bugs were plastered to the front. All the bugs in the next photo were from just one 30-mile drive to Sebring that morning.

Love bugs on the truck

For those of you who don't know what love bugs are, they are flying insects that were originally imported from central America. Love bugs get their nickname from the fact they remain coupled, even in flight, during several days of mating. Love bugs occur for periods of several weeks in the late spring and early fall. Fortunately, they don't bite or sting. Furthermore, the larvae feed on decaying plant material, and the adults feed on nectar from various flowers so they are not a threat to crops. They are, however, a real nuisance because of their sheer numbers. Love bugs can clog vehicle radiators; and due to their acidic body chemistry, they can damage paint if they are not removed from the front of your vehicle fairly promptly. According to those we have talked to who live in Florida year round, this is one of the worst years for love bugs they can remember. We have run into swarms along the road that are so large they sound like rain hitting the windshield, and it even looked like we were driving through black snow flurries.

Speaking of the truck, shortly after we made the decision to trade the 5th wheel for a park model, we also decided we would eventually trade in the truck because we just didn't need a vehicle that big. The truck was great for towing the 5th wheel, but it was big and rough-riding as a daily ride. When we had a motor home, we had a Chevy Equinox, which we absolutely loved, so we decided that's what we would get to replace the truck.

When we investigated prices for a new Equinox and the trade-in value of the truck, we realized we could get a brand new, well equipped Equinox and still get several thousand dollars back on the transaction. Therefore, we decided to trade in the truck sooner rather than later so we could use the money we would get back to help pay for the furniture and start-up expenses for the park model.

We wanted to buy from Colussy Chevrolet where our son-in-law J. Michael works, but we would have had to wait at least until we went back to Pittsburgh sometime this summer. We are very particular about our color and option preferences so we almost always special order our vehicles. By summer, it would be too late for a special order so we would have either had to take whatever vehicle they could find that was close to what we wanted or wait even longer until we went north for Christmas. Not only that, but the truck needed new front tires so we would have had to buy them before we made the 1,000-mile trek to Pittsburgh. Since we are so particular about our options, since the truck needed tires, and since the park model startup expenses are occurring now, we reluctantly decided to give the local Chevy dealer in Wauchula a shot at giving us a price. They were willing to special order a car for us, and they eventually came through with what we thought was a fair price so we placed an order 7 or 8 weeks ago.

The Equinox came in May 10, and we went to pick it up the next day. The color is called Pepperdust. It looks gray in the photo below, but it is a warm gray that has a definite bronze cast to it in bright sun.

New Equinox

We are loving the smoother ride and smaller size of the Equinox. Not only that, but the insurance cost is lower, the registration cost is lower, and fuel costs will be lower. The only downside to buying a new car now is Paul will be very busy cleaning love bugs off to keep them from damaging the new paint.

Last Monday, we drove the new car to Hobby Lobby in Lakeland to look for more decorative items. We bought a few smaller items that day, and we also got some inspiration for a new idea for our decor that we will explore over the next few weeks.

We left for Hobby Lobby fairly early so we could stop at Fred's Market Restaurant on the way for their breakfast buffet. All the meals at Fred's are served buffet style. The breakfast buffet costs $7.99 and includes scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, sausage gravy and biscuits, fried chicken, fried pork chops, home fries, hash browns, cinnamon rolls, blueberry muffins, fresh fruit, cereal, and more.

Margery at Fred's Market Restaurant

After breakfast and our visit to Hobby Lobby, we made a couple of more stops and then headed back to the Co-op. Stay tuned for our next update.

Comments

[Mike and Gerri]

The decor looks very nice and I love the new car!! You all will be so much more comfortable
driving and riding in it!! It looks great!!!

[Katie And Bill]

Looks great!

[Janice L Evans]

Love everything you had to say in this post. . .but love the baskets most of all. I feel quite sure you will be tucking some greenery in and around all that decor to bring it all to life. ..right?

Great job on everything!

[Cheryl Helms]

Love your new place and car. Hate we traded our Cardinal in for a new 5th last year. Should have bought a place at the beach. Glad to see Freeway is doing well.