A New Front Porch

Day 60

Tomorrow we leave Florida enroute to a week in South Carolina as we head northeast until an eventual run to Las Vegas to see Oliver with his hip-hop dance crew perform in a competition. Looking forward to SC as one of the man attractions will be a trip to Savannah to see the Savannah Bananas play “baseball’.

Today was just a day of recovery. Now my right hip has really begun to bother me so will increase the use of Voltarin, CBD/THC, and nsaids to alleviate the discomfort. Should also try to lose a couple of pounds to take the stress off. A bit cloudy with scattered showers here in St Augustine, however rain here is sometimes a welcome sight.

Florida is behind us and while it is a nice place to visit, we certainly don’t want to live there. Way to much traffic, very expensive, and way to many hurricanes. So needless to say won’t be moving there. On the road a little after nine and made a couple of stops for relief and then a truck stop for a spot of lunch around 11:30. Pulled into the Oaks in Yemessee South Carolina around 1:45 and set up. Randy and Linda arrived about a half hour later and are nearby. It will be fun exploring Savannah and Charleston with them for a week. Enjoyed a nice supper of McFred’s burgers and onion rings prepared on the flat top. Spent part of the afternoon debriefing the trip with Randy and Linda. Finished the evening watching an old, classic, Cutthroat Island with Geena Davis. Not an incredible cinematic masterpiece, but still very entertaining. Did I mention yet again that we are still loving retirement!

Day 62

Yessamee SC has definitely started Summer early. The thermometer is headed off the charts and the humidity is following right along with it. We are only a few miles from Parris Island, home of Marine Corp basic and I have a new found respect for those guys. Training in this heat would be absolutely brutal! Drove up to Charleston to enjoy a ferry ride to and from Fort Sumter, home to the start of the Civil War. Hard to think that such a small fort played such a powerful part in that significant portion of history. I am still amazed that Southerners still fly the confederate flag. Had they won the war, our country would have been much different. When they say the South will rise again, do they mean, people should own other people? You don’t see Nazi flag displayed (except by extremists) but somehow the flag of those that lost the war is still allowed to be flown. Makes no sense to me.

Be that as it may, I’m off on a tangent. Back to our day. A beautiful drive through the swamps of SC and the majestic oak trees strewn with Spanish moss. Monday was a bit of an expensive day as we ordered Generator parts, car parts and drugs. Legal ones of course, aka prescriptions. Will have to have the parts forwarded to us upon arrival in North Carolina. Then it will involve the You Tubing as I learn installation procedures for an Onan carburetor. It’s always something. Looking forward to our upcoming trip to Savannah to watch the Bananas play “Baseball”. Should be fun!! Not to much else to report and will try to upload some more pictures. Hope you enjoy reading this blog. Drop me a comment whether you do or you don’t. By the way, did I mention, we’re still loving retirement.

Day 63

Another day of high humidity, comfortable temperatures, and motionless air here in South Carolina. Up incredibly early, 4:19, as the insomnia monster raised its ugly head. Guess that’s part and parcel of becoming a senior citizen. Vicki fixed a wonderful breakfast of bacon and eggs, while I enjoyed a 2nd cup of coffee outside. We invited the Brays over for late afternoon lunch, early supper so had to run into Ridgeland SC to the Piggly Wiggly grocery store. Immediately flashed back to Driving Miss Daisy and although this one was in South Carolina, it eerily looked as though it was 1960 in Alabama.

Linda made a delightful Pasta Salad which we thoroughly enjoyed with our flat top cooked burgers. We then taught them the Christy and Robert method of eating cupcakes and they were amazed at the results. Enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of solving most of the world’s mundane problems while watching the parade of new arrivals to the campground. Some seriously large Class A arrived as well as small tent trailers. The campground in Yessamee is definitely a hotspot!

After the Brays left and the hounds were walked, we settled in to an evening of Yellowstone, season 5. A total nighttime Soap opera, but very addictive. Looking forward to tomorrow as we head to Savannah to watch the Bananas play baseball. Should be fun! Yet another day of loving retirement.

Day 63

Talk about a day that started slowly and ending up at the speed of light! Morning started with a subtle wake up of two desperate dog both with their legs crossed demanded to be walked. After we perused the interwebs with morning coffee I fixed a breakfast of french toast with other breakfast meats.

It was then on to the telephone to speak with our insurance broker and sign up for Medicare. Marcus Theilen is the absolute best agent one could have and if you need anything related to Medicare or its supplements, he is the expert who will walk you through the convoluted process that is Medicare. Cannot recommend him enough. We got through the process and then had to go to the SSA to show them my birth certificate. Apparently SSA thinks I was born in a galaxy far away. So we arrive at an empty office and had to take a number. We were there with one other person and had to wait 10 minutes to be callled to a caseworker who was sitting right in front of us. Thankfully it was a quick process and we were on our way to Walmart to pick up drugs.

An interesting experience at Beaufort SC Walmart as I had called our Brownsville doctor to send my 5 prescriptions in to be filled. Got to the counter and lo, the cost was over $700.00. Needless to say, that wasn’t right, so went to the pharmacist and after looking through my insurance information, discovered that there was one number missing. Amazing how one input error can make such a difference. Anywho, the cost dropped to $100 for 5 90-day prescriptions, so that was tolerable.

We then found a Sonic and had a bite of lunch. Food is still greasy, but when you’re hungry, everything tastes good. Over to Petco to restock the girls food and back to Yessamee to catch a quick nap before heading to Savannah.

Around 4:30 headed to Savannah to watch the Savannah Bananas. And OMG, it was like watching a three ring circus where all the performers had had 7 quad shot Americanos in less than an hour. For 4 solid hours the players and stadium folks were going full tilt with dancing, singing, skits and by the way a baseball game was being played as well. They played Banana ball and as a baseball purist, it was still incredibly enjoyable and entertaining. The players were having fun, the fans were having fun, and Vicki and I couldn’t get the smile off our faces until we went to sleep that night. The Bananas organization has their poop in a group and it was rock star entertainment. Where else would you find a player’s walk up music to be a live brass band that escorted him to the plate. Love the rule when there are no walks and you can steal first base!!!! Another aspect of this experience was the venue itself. Greyson stadium was where the game took place and some great baseball players have played there. Names like, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mayes to name a few. Every seat had a great view of the game and the goings on. Also, most of the food to include hamburgers, hot dogs, soda, pop corn and chips, was included in the price of a ticket. Just a great night of family entertainment.

Savannah is a beautiful city with some incredible architecture. We were able to see some beautiful houses as the pathway to the ballpark was right through downtown. Finally made it home around 10:30 and collapsed into bed after taking the girls for a quick walk around the rig. So basically a perfect ending to a perfect day of retirement.

Day 64

Thinking back on this week, things could truly not have been better. What with a nice campground, some great day trips, and spending another day with a high school wingman, it just doesn’t get better. After a wonderful sunrise with my bride, hot coffee on our ‘porch’ and a short walk with our furr babies,today was neigh on perfect. We joined the Brays for a wonderful lunch in Beaufort, SC where we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at a restaurant called Pannini’s. The Italian cuisine was very good and definitely a step above Olive Garden.

We enjoyed a casual stroll down the touristy waterfront and saw some very nice art pieces. In a display we did find an old woman, however it was not for sale. (sigh) Also found Vicki a cute necklace, however the price tag was a bit out of price range as I put my foot down on $2000. Was able to pick up the parts we ordered for the Ford and our new Mifi arrived as promised. So a huge shout out to Brett at FMCA for getting it to us and going above and beyond customer service. Did have an interesting encounter with the AutoZone employee. Apparently AutoZone has a very lax drug policy as the guy searching for my hydraulic lifters had way to much blood in his drug system. He searched for the 36 inch lifters in every small tea cup sized boxes and was sure they were somehow folded up. Really? Finally noticed them hanging up outside the bin he repeatedly searched. Not a big thing, just yet another memorable story here in SC. Returned home, had a great chat with our son and debriefed him on the Banana game, which by the way, the smiles have still not left our faces. Then enjoyed a rib supper and settled in for an evening of RuPaul. I must say, still loving retirement.