Month: January 2016

01/17/2016

Week 2 off to a great start!


Once, after proofreading one of our posts, Bill commented, “This is really good!” ONCE. Then I began to take Blogging 101 courses to improve my blogging. I’m now proof you can’t teach an old dog new tricks!

Our last post reflected our mood, so to speak. We were still reeling from our blowout, the weather was either dreary, raining or cold. And every day was “work” except for the day we took off to attend the Florida RV Super Show. And that was a real treat! And perhaps when things began to look sunnier!

I am enjoying time with my sister. Especially when we get to walk together. But we are so glad we have each other to help mom clean out her house and prepare for a new adventure in life (a drastic lifestyle change).

Day one of week 2 started off with a tremendous rainstorm. And we had a 9 am appointment with our GEICO Insurance Adjustor. We were really nervous about them as an insurance agency for our motorhome. You never know how good it is until you need it and then you pray you never need it! All I can say is so far so good! From the initial phone call (Is everyone OK?) to our adjustor’s arrival….and departure.

Here is our disclosure, though. Our daughter works for GEICO as an insurance claims adjustor. And she’s good! No brag, just fact, based upon her performance appraisals, etc. Whenever we need to look at our insurance policies (we normally use USAA since we can), I always get quotes from GEICO and she gets a credit for it. Whether we insure or not. And the few times we have switched, we have saved a ton of money. And these have been for hard to insure things – like in Florida, rental properties are very hard to insure if you have seven properties in the same county! They say it increases their exposure….if you understand such things. And then our motorhome. Both times, we were most surprised and have been very pleased.

OK, this is getting boring but I do want to give GEICO some kudos! And if you’d like a quote just to compare your coverage, let me know so I can give you our daughter’s associate number so she can get credit for it.

Bill had two plans to fix our motorhome. The first plan was to do most of it himself. After all, his background and training meant he could do it. Back up plan was just to take it back to the factory at Red Bay, Alabama. We did love our time there after we first bought it. But the timing would be an issue in the middle of winter. Maybe we would have to wait until May?

For nearly a week, Bill tried to get the part in to repair our steps. That is really the biggest concern. After my glorious three mile walk around our campground, we decided to take some pictures of this issue.

Ugh, the damage.
Unposed and candid pic of me going inside for real.
Starting to pose.
Wanted to capture the problem.
Yep, that’s a big step inside! I have to literally hoist myself in!
Our sad site. It doesn’t help that we are not on a level site

Our adjuster gave us another option after Bill’s attempts to get the part needed failed. Oh the RV industry is not an easy one to deal with. I guess I should mention that Bill used to also be an insurance claims adjuster, was an auto body man and ran an auto body shop among a few of his past jobs. He KNOWS how to get parts. But not RV parts….

We learned there is a GEICO “preferred” repair shop not too far away! That spoke volumes to Bill. I went on over to mom’s to work while Bill went to check out the shop. He was so impressed and excited. First the bad news, they are swamped this month. Then the good news, they can fit us in on February 8, the day we hit the road from here. And it’s only about 45 minutes from mom’s home! So hopefully, I can still have time with her and my sister.

And more good news! They can sell us all the tires we now need, fix the steps AND do the body work. We will then have peace of mind as we really don’t know if our wheel is really safe. On our way back from the RV show, we clocked how far we drove on it after the blowout. At least 1/2 mile (.08 kilometers). We planned to take pictures of that drive, but it was dark when we returned home.

So below is a photo gallery of my three-mile walk around the park on Saturday.

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Love the palms, the blue sky, and the pleasant environment, between an orange grove and a freshwater lake! These photos are not in the best order, took them as I walked from our site and back.

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Week two continues….and we can’t wait to attend church in the morning!

01/15/2016

Week 1 at our Southern Home Base (a diary)


As most everyone knows, we limped into our current “home” for the month. We are now in our official home residence county, but we are trying out a new campground – for us. Normally, when we arrive in a new place, we are excited and I start taking pictures of the entrance and all the cool things in our new “home.” But not this time. We arrived exhausted and right before dusk. We had a glitch in our GPS, which took us into a golf course. Initially, I’m imagining a gorgeous campground…and then we realize the address was wrong. We have to unhook the car in order to turn around. Most of the people were kind to us. I’m sorry I didn’t take a picture as it was a beautiful setting…..And it would have been funny with the golfers pointing at us and laughing!  😁But we were anxious to set up camp which was close to the golf course. And it was getting late….

As we settled into for the night, I caught a glimpse of a beautiful sunset on the lake. But I was just unable to capture its beauty. Here is where the previous post left off:

Imagine the blow out also took out the electric outside stair mechanism.

Imagine the blowout also took out the electric outside stair mechanism.

As you can see from these dreary pictures above, we are not on a flat site, compounded by the fact that our steps aren’t working. The tire blowout damaged the mechanism for them to extend. A neighbor has lent us auxiliary steps. We were not happy with the site and are trying to get moved, but that has additional issues – there just isn’t a site big enough for us. They have offered us two sites to pull into, but it will be an ordeal to maneuver into them….

But there is good news! This is the friendliest and most helpful group of campers we have experienced in our two and 1/2 years of camping! And this quaint “village” is nestled between a lake and an orange grove. We can’t wait to enjoy the beauty….hopefully, soon.

Friday, January 8  First thing we discovered when we got in the car to go to my mom’s home was a cracked windshield,  across the driver’s line of vision! Is this a sign of things to come????

Bill took me to mom’s and had a nice visit. Then he had to to start working on tire replacements (we’ve decided to replace them all), he needs to figure out how to repair the exterior steps, and he decided to level the motor home better since the jacks had to be fully extended, which isn’t good. And of course, we also had to call in a claim for our windshield.

One of my dear friends dropped in to meet mom and pray with us. Then I started helping mom with the millions of things one must do after the death of a spouse, as well as begin preparing her to relocate. We ran some errands and then I brought her by our motor home. She has wanted to see it since it is finally here in the county. We had been offered a different lot, so I had hoped Bill moved it there so mom could see inside. But no, he didn’t feel it would fit. So mom was only able to see the outside since the entrance was a bit high for her to try to climb! She’s a former full-timer herself, also in a motorhome.

Saturday, January 9 I had the energy to start my day with a walk. I wanted to explore the campground so I went for a little over a two-mile walk. It was still overcast, so no pictures yet!

My sister and I met at mom’s house and we rolled up our sleeves. So much to clean out and to prepare her for an upcoming move. It’s hard selling a home as anyone who has been through it knows. But for mom being legally blind, it is even harder. Thankfully, mom has three daughters who are willing to do all we can to help. 💖

Sunday, January 10 It was wonderful to return to our home church! Mom came with us so that was a bonus. Neighbors of hers attend our church, so they enjoyed seeing her and giving her a hug. One husband helped take down the Christmas decorations outside. The community mom lives is known as a “Christmas Village” so there is a lot of peer pressure for everyone to fully decorate – and they help each other.

The sermon was just what we all needed as well. As usual! I really like the life of Joshua. He was mentored by Moses and became a great leader. But he was very insecure. So we hear several times, the Lord assuring him:  “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9) And we, too, need not be afraid for the Lord our God is with us wherever we go!

We went out to eat after church. We are so unoriginal, we went to Bob Evans. We are now in “peak” season here in Sebring. The population really grows January through March and you notice it most in the long waits at the restaurants.

My step-sister and her husband came over to mom’s house after they got off work. They are semi-retired, so trying to match our schedules wasn’t the easiest. We were looking forward to playing Trivial Pursuit with them, my sister and her husband, as well as other friends, enjoyed playing last year.

Monday, January 11 Marsha and I started our day walking together. It was so refreshing and a great way for us to strategize as we see we have a lot of hard work still ahead. But at the same time, we want to take some time for exercise and for quality time together. We took mom out to eat at Panera Bread before we started working. We are trying to not work her too much, nor ourselves.

My sister and I ready to take a long walk.

My sister and I ready to take a long walk.

We had Safelite come to the campground to fix our windshield. What a great service! Bill also continued to try to figure out what parts he needed to fix our steps and trying to decide what tires we should go with. We’ve decided all the tires must be at risk, so we are replacing all of them.

Tuesday, January 12 Marsha and I again started our day walking together. We’ve made some progress on the house. We are in a very boring routine, but it is still a great time of bonding as we work together. We are trying to keep it light and laugh as much as we can. And for us, there is a lot to laugh about as we see how forgetful and clumsy we are!

There is one fun thing we enjoy when we are here in the winter. My sister and our step-sister live in a golf course community. Every Tuesday evening for 6 or 8 weeks, they play Trivial Pursuit. We were looking forward to it….but sadly, we had to miss it due to unforeseen circumstances. Hopefully, next week.

Mom at the Jacaranda

My beautiful young mom at 92, enjoying Christmas decorations still out at the Jacaranda Hotel.

Wednesday, January 13 Marsha and her husband took mom out for the day, so the above picture was from that outing. Mom had a blast and was happy to not think about moving. We have been pushing her a bit and didn’t realize it. Mom can only go but so fast with this major life transition.

We had planned to attend the 2016 Florida Super RV Show in Tampa. We’ve attended it the past three years. And since we need a few parts and need some ideas, we took the day off to attend the first day of the event. Mom had wanted to come with us as she also loves the RV life. But she had an appointment that she couldn’t change so Marsha took her to the Jacaranda after her appointment. And as it turned out, it would have been too cool for her to be outside all day. And we pushed ourselves, walking about five miles. We did learn from the past visits to bring our own lunch and some snacks.

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The last thing we thought we needed was a Tire Monitoring System. But we stumbled upon a presentation and realized, had we had one, we may have been able to head off the blowout. So we invested in it. But we couldn’t decide if we should add it to the car as it is towed. Anyone other RVers have any suggestions?

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My iPhone is nearly three years old and has been giving me some problems. For some reason, they just don’t make them to last. It’s been sluggish and the battery only lasts a short time. I had to keep an external battery attached on a day like this. Wouldn’t you know Verizon had a booth and were offering GREAT deals! So early in the day, I spend some time getting educated on the specials. I then thought about it most of the day and ran it by my daughter. She recently upgraded, too, so she was very encouraging. So we stopped there at 4:30 on the way out….

But since we were there until 6 pm, we were desperate to find a place to eat, knowing we still had a two-hour drive home. We also don’t like eating that late and had hoped to eat somewhere special. But knowing the crowds, we ended up in a food court in a nearby mall. How pathetic. But the good news was that there was a Verizon store in the court! And I needed a few more pointers with my phone….and I forgot to mention, Bill also upgraded his nearly 10-year-old flip phone.  To a modern flip phone. It turned out the battery in it was borderline dangerous….it was “swollen.”  And we couldn’t figure out a few things with it.

So off we headed for home. We were surprised there wasn’t much traffic. We were pleased we were making such good time.  It was pitch dark as we got close to our park. Suddenly, we realize we’ve made one wrong turn. We added about 20 minutes to our ride…and are we ever tired. We realized we really hadn’t recovered from our journey here!

Thursday, January 14  We can’t believe we’ve been here a week and haven’t even checked out the campground. I needed to use wifi to transfer all my data and apps to my new phone. So I headed off to the community center to use it and hoping I can get a good walk in. But the wifi was slow so it took me an hour just to back up my old phone to my computer (using iTunes). My new phone needed updating so I decided to take it to mom’s and use her better wifi. Marsha and I meet over there and continued to clean out while I updated my phone and transferred my data. We also had an appointment with a realtor to talk about listing the house. All in all, a productive day.

And Bill had been waiting all week for the needed part to be in to repair the external steps. And sure enough, it arrived in the late afternoon. I picked the part up on my way home – only for Bill to say it isn’t the right part after all! He’s waited nearly a week for it.  It is not easy “hoisting” ourselves into our home….But finally after dinner, we take a walk and begin to see the serene beauty which surrounds us!

Next up, how GEICO responded to our incident. You never know how good an insurance company is until you use them….

01/09/2016

Oh my my my….


We had planned on writing a fun and exciting blog about our safe and relatively uneventful trip from Virginia to Florida. Sort of like our blogging friend, Ingrid’s post. But, “oh my my my,” to quote our favorite detective, Lt. Joe Kenda!

Love the rural nature of this campground
Departure from Hidden Acres Campground
Hitched and ready to roll

It was just one of those journeys. We were fleeing the cold of Virginia, heading south to Florida to start our winter wanderings. Our destination was 858 miles (1380.82 kilometers), or a little over 13 hours if you drove the speed limit and made no stops (in a car, not a motor home 😁). We decided to stop overnight at two campgrounds on the way. While we needed to get to Florida to help my mom, we were also in a hurry to get to warmer weather.


But we will not travel foolishly and we always hope take little time enjoy the journey. First stop was Florence, South Carolina, which is a tad farther than we prefer at about 337 miles (542.349 km). The second stop was in St. Mary’s, Georgia, approximately 263 miles (423.257 km) and our final leg to Avon Park, Florida at just over 260 miles (418.429 km). As most full-time RVers will say, we prefer to only go 150-250 miles a day. Periodically, we make an exception. And every morning, we do have prayer time and ask for travel mercies on our journey (along with a few other requests)! So here is how the trip went:

Monday, January 4 We are starting 2016 with our RV odometer at 24,633 and our car at 38,837. (As an aside, we bought both in May 2015. Both are used. The RV reading was 21,958 and our car was 23,000. So in seven months, it’s easy to see we’ve about gone 2,675 miles in the RV and 15,837 in the car, which included a trip to Illinois and back to Sebring without the RV.)

Remembering we only bought the RV seven months ago, not driving it or tearing it down the six weeks we were in Virginia meant we were a bit rusty.  Thankfully, on January 1, we had a “shake down” trip. We had to drive it to “The Tire Shop” at a Flying J Travel Center in Ruther Glen, VA. It was not too far away and we had to figure out why one tire was going flat. It was a valve stem issue. They also checked the air pressure on all tires, inflating them evenly at 110 pounds and confirmed all looked fine. In fact, every time we have it in for service, we ask for opinions on the tires since they were five years old. We also decided to get weighed on the CAT scales. We actually weighed less than the original owner, who only used it for recreation. These scales don’t weigh each axle, so that is something we hope to do in the future at one of the rally’s where it is offered.

This “dry” run to the tire store helped our confidence on starting the journey and tearing down camp. Now we just had to remember how to hook the car up. Note: it was very cold at 34 degrees as we were hooking it up. We realized we were leaving just in time as it had been a mild winter up until this week and was to get down to 16 that night. We just had weather in the low 70s.

Long story short, Bill was behind the RV waiting for me to pull the car up. I drove as close to him as he directed me – for the tow arms to reach the car. I was waiting for him to tell me to pull closer or back up a bit. It looked like it was ready for him to hook it up. So I jumped into the passenger seat to do something. But not realizing I was on a slight decline, I put the car in neutral (that’s how we get it ready to “flat tow.” Can you guess what happened next? The car began to roll into Bill! Poor guy thinks I am driving it into him (my my my)…and then he sees me jump out from the passenger’s seat to the driver’s seat to put the brakes on! Not a good start to our journey. Was this a sign of things to come?

We arrived at the Swamp Fox Campground in Florence, SC in about five hours and 40 minutes! Hardly any traffic, so an uneventful trip so far.  The weather was much colder than we had hoped for, but we were ready. We now have a heater hose attached to our water hose in freezing weather and we took other precautions for a possible freeze.  We didn’t unhook the car, which is a real time saver.  We were both exhausted and it was just too muddy and cold out to take a walk. That is never good for me, Debbie. I need my daily walks!

Tuesday, January 5 The next morning, as we broke down camp, we started the car to warm up for at least 5 minutes as the directions say.  And off we went. We are really praising God as we moved down the road as the traffic was minimal both days. And what a surprise, it was still so cold! And sadly, we had agreed to accept a 30 amp site as we didn’t think it would be so cold. That means we have to watch running too many things at the same time, like an electric heater, Keurig and toaster!

Driving around Jacksonville
Interstate 4, before the road construction

Since we stayed two nights, Bill unhooked the car at the office check-in area. And guess what, the car battery was dead! Not to name names, but  the person who started the car said he had trouble turning it off. It’s a keyless start ignition….AND we always turn everything OFF whenever we stop it, radio, heater/ac, whatever. Once he got it charged up (which turned out to not be an easy task as there was no 110 power close by for his battery charger), the wipers and radio were both on! Strange…

So we begin setting up. We needed to run an electric heater as we began carefully preparing dinner. We then ate and took  a walk! Soon after coming back inside, the circuit blew. We thought we misjudged the amperage. We began using more caution as we proceeded to move around inside.  Then the circuit blew again. Bill went outside only to learn the entire camp was dark. There was a campground wide problem, but we all were told it would be fixed within the hour. Brrrr, it was so cold and we were grateful we could run our generator. And in an hour, all power was restored and off to sleep we went.

Wednesday, January 6 Our day off from traveling. Bill lived in Jacksonville, Florida before we were married. He loved Florida, after relocating from Pennsylvania for the warm weather. He has many fond memories there, so whenever we get the chance to stop there, we do. So our plan was to go have lunch at the Metro Diner, visited by Guy  Fieri. Bill saw that show and knew he had to try it. We visited it soon after. We had to go back….well, he had to go back. We are not foodies but I am less than he is….and he is on the hunt for the world’s best hamburger. He didn’t try one the last time there, so this time, he did. His opinion?  He said if only the bun had been grilled, otherwise, one of the best ever.

Campground logo, owned by an Australian!
Part of the mile walk out to the gazebo
View back towards the campground
Water is so peaceful!
Flavor of Australia!
More Australian!

Sadly, the weather was not conducive for a walk on the beach at Little Talbot Island. We have walked on it when it was cold and when it was windy. We just weren’t in the mood to do it again on this day. So we searched for a place inland, with no success. We did know we could get a decent walk in around the campground, so we returned home and took a good walk. We just ran out of daylight! So this was a relatively mild day with a great meal out. And there was time to hook the car up, so it would be ready for the morning.

Thursday, January 7 The weather wasn’t bad, so we managed to start off without incident. We ran the car and were careful to warm it up, put it in neutral and turn it off properly. Traffic was not bad again. Since we had driven to Jacksonville the day before, we knew the better route to take to avoid construction. We hate traveling exclusively on interstates, but to make time, we had to on this journey south. We have traveled on I-4, around Orlando, many times. We knew we had to be on it in midday to avoid any type of “rush hour.” We did pretty well, but the road construction seemed extra annoying this time. The road was so torn up with “detours” around patch work. And going 60 mph while not getting blown off the highway by the big rig trucks who manage to go much faster!

They day was still very overcast but we were starting to feel warmer. We had worn our winter coats at the last rest stop. We made it off I-4 and onto US Highway 27/98 for the last leg of the journey. The sun actually started to burn off the clouds. We are actually “cruising,” just enjoying how smooth the actual driving was going. No real traffic issues!  I’m on social media and posted this picture, saying how great the trip was going:

Finally, seeing some sunshine!
And the weather report was encouraging.

And then it happened:  BANG! Bill hollers, “what happened?” Then, “I can hardly keep the RV on the road!” And I’m praying out loud, ‘Lord, help us!” My ears are ringing, it sounded like a shotgun went off right at my head.  Oh my my my….

Blow out!

Our tire….Blow out!

Bill was driving 60 mph on this north/south rural highway which is heavily traveled by tractor trailers. But they seem to come in groups. We were approaching an overpass and by now we realize a tire blew. I am so serious, we need divine intervention as Bill is hanging on to the steering wheel for dear life.  There is nowhere to safely to pull off the road – if he could even pull off and the fear of stopping right over a blind spot is terrifying.  But over the overpass we go and he’s still on the road. And miraculously, there is a turn lane!

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Let us count the miracles this day: This happened on an open stretch of road. The traffic seemed to clear off the road for us. Bill kept the rig on the road. We didn’t fall off the overpass. We weren’t on I-4 or I-95 for that matter! A professional driver on his day off saw us and came to offer assistance. He checked our rig over and said we only needed a new tire. We should be good to go – at least to our destination which was about 20 miles away. The damage was minor. The weather was beautiful!

I had read Genesis chapters 22-24 on this morning. One story really stuck with me, about Abraham when the Lord told him he would have to sacrifice his son, Isaac. The Lord was really just testing him to see if he would obey him completely. When the Lord stopped him at the last minute and provided a ram, “Abraham bowed down and worshiped the Lord.” And this scenario was repeated. Every time the Lord answered his prayers, Abraham bowed down and worshiped the Lord. That was about all we could do….

For tips on how to handle a blowout, check out this site which has links to a few videos:

http://www.safe-t-plus.com/tire-blowouts-myths-truths/

PS  Our car looked fine after the incident. The next morning when we came out to get in it, the windshield was cracked!

Anyone else every live through a blowout? I actually had one in a van.  That was an interesting story, but later….

01/06/2016

2015 TumbleLees Blogging in Review


I saw another blogger, Christina, share her report and liked the idea! What I plan to do is focus on my most active commenters and encouragers to thank them and give them a shout out! The rest of the report is below and it is a bit interesting.

Vibrant – I just wrote about Anand on my personal blog, so won’t repeat…just visit that blog to see how this amazing man from India and I connected!
placestheygo – Pam and John, two retired teachers living the full-time RV dream, traveling, hiking and enjoying life to the fullest!
Wandering Dawgs – This couple calls themselves life-long Bull Dog fans! They don’t travel in their RV full time, but they sure have a lifetime of great traveling they have done!
Ingrid – She and her husband are also full-time RVers, living the full-time RV dream! Ingrid also has a personal blog with cooking tips and healthy recipes and she is one amazing photographer. They enjoy hiking as much as we do, too!
littlenuggetbignugget – this sweet mom, Jasmin, captured me as she counted down to the birth of her second little nugget! She caught my attention as I watched my own daughter doing the same.

___________________

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,300 times in 2015. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

01/05/2016

2015 Year End Summary Review


boomerang

Boomerang

We haven’t been as good at blogging in the second half of this year. At least we can catch up with a review of our year. The main thing we’ve learned is that we probably misnamed ourselves, The TumbleLees. Perhaps the Boom-a-Rangers would have been better!

We had high hopes of visiting many more places and states by now. Instead, we have re-visited some of our favorite places. Much of our travel this year included trips to help family, especially to our daughter’s home to help welcome to the world our second grandson in August 2015; selling our first RV and buying our second one in May 2015; and, exploring many state parks in Florida. In spite of not traveling to more states, we have had a GREAT year.

Here are some of our stats:

In 2015, we slept in an RV 331 nights (several family visits for a total of  34 nights away from our RV) for a total of 697 nights in a camper since we started in September 2013.  We moved in and out of 31 campgrounds in 2015 with a total of 70 since we started. We hit a glitch in keeping up with the mileage as our truck was wrecked and we didn’t get that mileage before it was turned over to the insurance company as a total loss. Wow, that sure doesn’t happen every year – but it was very timely as we had just sold the 5th wheel it towed. We can guesstimate we drove the truck 10,000 miles between Jan and May 2015. We know we towed our 5th wheel a total of 12,000 miles from September 2013 to May 2015.

Our biggest hike ever, 9 miles in Callaway Gardens, Georgia

Our biggest hike ever, 9 miles in Callaway Gardens, Georgia

If you know us, you know we love to hike! But we haven’t been very good at keeping a written journal of our hikes. But I do use the Map My Walk (or hike) app. While it didn’t work for every hike (either battery went dead or we were in an area without any cell phone towers), it calculated we hiked or walked on at least 220 occasions, for at least 608 miles in 10,686 minutes! Sure wish I had kept the stats of our hikes for the past 12 years. ;-{

Our 28' Keystone Cougar XLite 5th wheel and F-150 Ecoboost Ford Truck.

Our 28′ Keystone Cougar XLite 5th wheel and F-150 Ecoboost Ford Truck.

The first half of the year was pretty wild as traveled and we tried to sell our 5th wheel to upgrade to a motorhome on our own. Whew, that was a real chore, but it all worked out perfectly. The full details are here and here. Traveling in our 5th wheel, from January to May, we visited 20 private RV campgrounds/resorts, one KOA, and 8 State Parks (in Florida). Of these, seven were repeat stays. We learned we love camping in state and county parks as this was the first year we managed to do so. We also figured out there are some state parks with sites to fit a 40′ motorhome.  County parks may be a different story as we have learned. You can’t accept the word of the person who answers the phone…..

We bought our Class A motor home, a 2010 Tiffin Phaeton QTH 40′, in May 2015 as well as our flat tow, a 2013 Cadillac SRX. As of December 31, 2015, Bill drove it 2,613 miles. We slowed our pace down considerably, considering we were averaging 2,000/month in the 5th wheel!  We visited 11 campgrounds total: eight private parks and then three unique experiences in the 40′ bus, one more state park in Florida, one County Park in Tennessee, and one Service Center in Red Bay, Alabama.  We stayed in two repeat campgrounds, near our daughter and at Myrtle Beach.  While we did fit into the County Park, we realized it may be more of a challenge than we thought. We were told they could handle a 40′ motorhome, but the lots were not very level as depicted in this photo:

Lake Marion County Park, Jasper, Tennessee

Lake Marion County Park, Jasper, Tennessee. Normally, we don’t need that step!

We also had many family visits, which were both good and sad. We spent time with Bill’s mom, with Bill helping his brother select an assisted living facility for her in Illinois near his brother.  This visit is not on the map since we didn’t take the RV. We visited my mom and stepdad three times in Sebring (home base) as he battled cancer. Sadly, he lost the battle on December 2, 2015. We are so grateful we had the flexibility to spend as much time with him as we did! And the good and best family times were with our daughter. We were there for her last months of what turned out to be somewhat of a difficult pregnancy, then we were there for the birth of our second healthy grandson. Our daughter stayed home with him for three months. We traveled some during this time. Then we returned to watch him for six more weeks.  He was 4 1/2 months old when he went into daycare and we had to head south. That was a lot of family time. And we managed to visit some dear friends along the way.

Click below to read the posts about some of the exciting places we visited: (The numbers signify the campground stay since we began.)

68) Pirateland, site 158, 5401 S. Kings Highway, Myrtle Beach, SC, 29575 Dates: 10/7-11/11/15 (34 nights)

65) Waynesboro North 340 Campground, Eastside Highway, Waynesboro, VA 22980 Campground office: (540) 943-9573.   6/22-24/201

62)Allegro Campground, Red Bay, AL 6/11-6/18/2015

53)Talbot Island State Park, 12157 Heckscher Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32226. Phone: 904-251-2320. Site 16. 3/21-25/2015 (4 nights)

52)Torreya State Park, 2576 NW Torreya Park Rd., Bristol, FL 32321. Site: 008. 3/17-21/2015. (4 nights)

51)Ochlockonee River State Park, PO Box 5, Sopchoppy, FL 32358. Sites: 024 & 027. Phone: 850-962-2771. 3/14-17/2015 (4 nights)

50) Blackwater River State Park, 7720 Deaton Bridge Road, Holt, Fl 32564 Phone: 850-983-5363. Sites 024 & 020. 3/8-14/15. (6 nights)

49) Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, 7525 W. Scenic Highway 30A, Santa Rosa Beach, Fl 32459 Phone: 850-267-8330 Site, Loop: 083, 102 3/4-8/15. (4 nights)

48) Fallings Waters State Park, 1130 State Park, Chipley, Fl 32428 Phone: 850-638-6130. Site 017 Dates: 2/27-3/4/2015 (5 nights)

47)Florida Caverns State Park, 3345 Caverns Road, Marianna, FL 32446 Phone: 850-482-1228. Site 006, BH1 Dates: 2/23-27/15 (4 nights)

46) Crystal Isles RV Park, 11419 W. Fort Island Trail, Crystal River, FL 34429. Phone: 888-318-1243
Dates: 2/19-23/15 (4 nights)

44) Tampa East RV Resort, 4630 McIntosh Road, Dover, FL 33527 (866) 786-6298. Dates: 1/13-20/15 (7 nights)

In spite of all these great camping and hiking experiences, we have had to rely more and more on the Lord for our strength as we met the many challenges this year. We were blessed to be able to attend church nearly every Sunday, missing only two or three times due to our travel schedule. The last time we had such a challenging year was in 1999 when not only did my dad succumb to cancer, but I also lost my dear brother-in-law, who was truly like a big brother to me.  He entered my life when I was a struggling 7th grader. He tutored me when I was failing English. During that year, the lesson we learned was that God was in control even when life seemed out of control! These verses became more and truer to us this year:

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Proverbs 19:21

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9