Life on the Road as We See it

Day 6

It’s amazing how life throws us twists of fate. This morning, on a whim, I called Mazalea RV Park office to see if somehow they had come across our lost bike batteries. Wouldn’t you know it, karma smiled on us and someone had found the batteries. We got the phone number of the person and she said she would hold them for us. We decided to jump in the car and drive back to Biloxi and retrieve them. 236 miles later, the batteries were back in our possession, not even a scratch and we are good to go yet again. We gave the lady a $50 finders fee and our profound gratitude at being honest. Definitely restores our faith in humanity.

We did have to cancel our planned trip to Selma to walk the bridge, but we can do that after Perry. The drive to Biloxi was uneventful, but we did hit some brutal downpours thanks to some thunderstorms we encountered. Had forgotten how big the raindrops could get! Made it home without further issues and Vicki had to drive through Mobile traffic. With only a two lane freeway and a major city, traffic backs up to a standstill. I-10 was a nightmare. At least it cleared out once we hit I-65 and headed north. Got home fairly tired so made a meal of potstickers and called it good. Let our brains empty by watching ‘My Fair Lady’ until bedtime. Looking forward to heading to Perry and all that’s involved at the FMCA. Who knows, maybe even get a new coach. By the way, Still Loving Retirement!

Day 7

Had a beautiful drive through Alabama enroute to Perry GA. Using the RV trip wizard as our guide and Siri as a back up we made good time arriving in Perry at around 3. Did have a bit of a scare at the beginning of the day as we mistook the directions of the Wizard and thought we had passed our exit. After checking with Siri, we were on the right track and the adrenaline dump disappeared. Left I-65 and entered I-85. After 60 miles we jumped onto state highways and passed through several little towns and bergs. Amazing how parkways don’t have many places to pull off. Not a rest area one. We finally found a place just before arriving in Perry to stop and have lunch. It was literally a boat launch with an abandoned utility truck. It was big enough to turn around in, so stopped and had a bit of lunch. As we were there, a couple of creepy folks drove through but thankfully didn’t hang around.

When we arrived in Perry OMG. Never seen so many RVs! And over the next couple of days its going to get even busier. Pictures will not do it justice. Literally over 2000 coaches are here. Had an easy time parking and hopefully we can get our part here and get the slide out fixed. It is amazing how much one misses 21 inches of width in a motor coach. Got set up and had a nice supper of grilled burgers and fries. Went to Walmart for a partial reprovision, so should be good for the week. Took the bikes out for a ride around the fairgrounds and covered almost 2 miles to get around. We’ll have a lot to see for sure. Oh, by the way, did I mention we’re still loving retirement?

Day 8

Brrrrr!!! It’s the best description of the temperature here in Perry GA. Had a freeze warning with temps in the low 30’s, For Ron, Shar, Cathy, John, Mike and Lynn, that would be 0 C. LOL! Mindless of the scale, that’s damn cold for the start of spring!!! A great day here at the FMCA convention. Started with a breakfast of Fracos cooked outside on the flat-top. So love that thing. We then cleaned up, walked the girls and then went on a walking tour around the fairgrounds with a mentor to get oriented to the goings on here at the FMCA convention. Betty took us about and have included her picture.

We then headed back to the rig for some leftovers for lunch and a short nap before heading back to the convention center for the first timers orientation. Because of the size of the Georgia National Fairgrounds, we are so grateful for the bicycles. My guess is that we’ll put over 100 miles on them before we are through. We are about 1/2 a mile away from everything, so definitely saves wear and tear on the feet. After attending the orientation, we fought our way through the chapter tables of FMCA. Did find few possibilities of joining a chapter or two, but was rudely rebuffed when we went by the First Responders Table. The lady there said, with disdain in her voice, “We don’t accept Nurses”. Seriously?!?! Not even ER nurses??? Gee, who do first responders interact with when you take your rigs beyond the scene? Well, here’s my prescription for that Chapter, take two heaping tablespoons of KMA and have a good life. Sorry for venting by my wife’s life work is pretty damn important!

Came home and had supper before returning for the final event of the evening, a concert with the group “The Kasauls”. An acapella group which entertained us for a better part of an hour. The did a very nice job and did some good renditions of the Temptations, the Five Satins, and other doowop groups. They fell a little short with Michael Jackson as they just didn’t have a singer with a strong enough falsetto. But overall entertaining.

Do have to jump up on the soapbox abit. Even here there are Karens who just can’t seem to be pleased in any way shape or form. A male Karen complained about the parking and how far away he was from events and “that it’s not what you do but who you know”. Are you kidding me? The folks who park coaches are volunteers. They work tirelessly to park over 2000 coaches. Let that sink in, 2000 coaches. And that is with folks who have not followed the parking instructions properly based on the fees they’ve paid. These volunteers had to pay for their sites, arrive early, and do a magnificent job. Karen’s like this guy need to volunteer if they think they can do a better job, but my guess is its just easier to complain. Bravo and thank you to all the volunteers who make the FMCA convention a success.

Thank sums up most of our day. Looking forward to attending some of the seminars tomorrow. Did I mention? We’re still loving retirement!!!

Day 9

Another great day in Perry, GA. Spent the day in Seminars and looking at new coaches. I attended an seminar of gauges and measuring devices. Multimeters, etc. Vicki went to a genealogy seminar and as always came back with a few useful nuggets. Still a bit cold in the morning as the temp dropped into the high 20’s, or -1 C. Definitely a little frost on the pumpkin! We came back to the coach and had tube steaks and from there we went and looked at new coaches. The new coaches are certainly nice, but their price is one of the reasons I prefer used coaches. $400 k seems a bit excessive.

Had a nice supper of fried chicken and then went to the dueling pianos show. A wonderful hour and a half of sing-a-long! I did get an unusual compliment from the lady beside me. We were a bit early so caught the tail end of the opening ceremony which included the national anthems of both the US and Canada. The lady said she had never heard the Canadian anthem sung so beautifully, which surprised me because I simply know the words and sang it loudly. LOL After the concert, it was back to the rig and it’s a good thing I have a bell. With close to 3000 folks clearing the venue, the road was a bit crowded for cyclists.

We did get our motor for the slide yesterday evening. A huge shout out to Robert and Christy for saving our bacon and shipping it to us. Such wonderful friends. Had a nice chat with a young lady named Jenny who is going to schedule the repair hopefully tomorrow or Friday. Friday doesn’t seem likely though as they are expecting rain. We’ll keep our fingers crossed. We have been chatting with our neighbors as we walk the girls. There are some wonderful folks as most RVer’s are. Only a few Karen’s as I’ve all ready mentioned. Not to much else to report, keep the comments coming and I’ll try to either reply on facebook or on the blog site. (My preferred response site) Keep safe and did I mention? We’re still loving retirement.

Day 10

Another Frosty morning here in Perry. There is just so much to see here, it is definitely sensory overload. We went to a couple of seminars after having coffee and doughnuts in one of the many halls/arenas located throughout the fairgrounds. Walked through the exhibit hall and bought a piece of magnetic jewelry that will supposedly cure tinnitus, but after one night, no difference. Will be taking it back for a full refund. Also looking to add an AT&T hotspot to our rig through FMCA and possibly a new router for streaming and live TV. We scheduled a rock chip repair guy who came out about 3 and did a marvelous job of repairing the windshield. Got a call from the other repair guy and will hopefully get the new motor for the slide installed before the rain comes. Then we’ll have the entire width of the RV returned to us and no longer live in a yellow submarine. Vicki attended the Ladies Luncheon and had a good time. The speaker was apparently so-so. I went to an interesting seminar on generators and learned the basics of that machine. Definitely picking up all sorts of nuggets with these seminars.

We called our Grandson Dominic and gave him the traditional birthday song from the two of us on speakerphone. Can’t believe he is 22! So proud of him and all that he has accomplished. He is still loving being an apprentice electrician. I know he is going to be nothing but successful on the pathway he has chosen.

Have been looking hard at replacing this rig and doing the math. It’s definitely scary trying to come up with a combination of trade value, needs, wants and desires from a different coach. Other than that, we’re looking forward to continuing our journey across America and seeing what we can see. Here in Perry, we are so glad we have the bikes as we’ve put almost 20 miles on them collectively. Sure saves on time and shoe leather. Didn’t go to the 50’s Sock Hop but looking forward to the C & W concert tomorrow. Other than that we are still just loving retirement!

Day 11

Another great day in Perry. The clouds began to roll in and the humidity was bearable. After a wondeful breakfast prepared by my lovely bride it was the start of the waiting game. Vicki went to an early seminar as I waited for the repair guy. John from the Wiseguys repair showed up on time and went right to work. He was from New Hampshire and spent the next 3 hours repairing the slide to perfection! We now have an extra 50 sq ft of space which means the difference between comfort and madness! Went back to the exhibitors and purchased a new Cable TV system. Based on first impressions, was not impressed. But having a 30 trial, I will give it some time before final judgement.

Started cooking fajitas on the outdoor flattop until the skies opened up with rain. It was a definite toad floater that lasted well into the night. Tried watching the TV, but was frustrated with the buffering. Again not too impressed with the high dollar cost. At this moment in time we’ll probably keep Dish Satellite.

Due to the weather, we didn’t get to the C & W entertainment, but hopefully we get to the John Denver tribute on Saturday. Learned lots and having a great time here in Perry Georgia. Will definitely do the FMCA rally again, just not consecutively. Did I mention yet again that we’re still loving retirement?

Day 12

Again, someone left the AC on and got up to another cold Georgia morning. Tried the TV system again and seems to be much better. Went back to the exhibit hall and spoke with the salesperson and she was very apologetic. She said that 2000 coaches had basically overloaded the cell towers and used up basically all the bandwidth. Makes perfect sense because now it works well. That’s probably due to about 500 RVs left today.

We’ve spent some of the afternoon pre-packing the rig and car. Went into Perry to replenish supplies and get some needed sundries at CVS and Krogers. We each went to our last seminars and enjoyed an evening with a John Denver tribute. He was good, but just not quite John Denver. It was ‘Far Out’. Looking forward to getting to Florida and beyond.

Had a bit of sad news. Our grand dog, Isabelle, aka Princess has crossed over the Rainbow bridge. Please send some white light and love to our daughter Elisabeth as she loved and cared for her for 17+ years. It’s always hard to loose a pet. Will continue this journal as we continue this oddesy across American. Our next stop is Ebro Florida at the Sand Pine state park just outside of Penscola. We may even get an opportunity to become sun lizards!! And did I mention, we’re still loving retirement!