BeeLine Back to Brownsville

Saturday was a day filled with baseball, lightning, humidity and more baseball. After having lost a game on Friday, that put Emmett’s Southwest team into the consolation bracket to play for 3rd place. Not bad considering the talent out there and the unfamiliarity of all the players with each other. Florida weather is predictable and why they chose Florida in the middle of summer is beyond my comprehension. The mornings are miserably hot and muggy and that’s followed by afternoon thunderstorms. They do tend to cool things down, however, you can’t play baseball or sit in the bleachers as bats are now metal and so are the stands. Not a smart idea holding a lightning rod as a 10 year old.

The boys played admirably and won two games to get to the consolation championship after an almost 4 hour lightning and rain delay. Again the tournament directors were idiots as they had the championship games at 12:00 when the greatest likelihood of lightning and rain would occur. Also that’s the hottest part of the day in the hottest summer on record. They had 8 unused fields and could have started at say 9:00. Another factor they didn’t consider was lots of folks had afternoon and evening flights to catch. Emmett and Annalise were prime examples. They had a plane that left at 5 pm and since the championship game started at noon, it tightened the schedule immensely. Fortunately the game ended at 2 and our goodbyes had to be rather short. They made their flight so the point was moot, but still…

Sadly, the day was not Emmett’s and the boys finished 4th out of 12 teams from around the country. Not too bad for some kiddos from small town Washington. They did form some new lasting friendships and had some fun doing it, so in the end, an overall wonderful experience for both Emmett and us.

The rest of Sunday was devoted to securing the rig and getting it prepped for the journey to come. Monday was up early with the dogs and a poor nights sleep as always prior to traveling down the road. We headed down the same toll road now heading West and through the nightmare that is Orlando. Holy crap!!! Even at 10 am the road was packed in Orlando, so glad the slow traffic was going in the opposite direction. However, many Florida drivers must watch NASCAR as we had two near misses with idiots passing me on the right. Apparently, they don’t understand that when a directional signal is on for 5 seconds it indicates you are changing lanes and not to speed up and try to squeeze past a 38′ motor coach with TOAD.

Arrived in Tampa and settled into our new home for a day. Sun Retreat was somewhat of a rip off as they had advertised being a part of the Passport America program and so had gladly paid $44 for the site. When we arrived were informed that they no longer were part of the program and we owed $44 more. Bad form, Sun Retreat, Bad form. We then called an old friend from Cabrillo, Sherrie Burris and she treated us to a wonderful lunch at a restaurant probably 3 blocks from out campsite. We had a wonderful time reminiscing about old friends and times we’d spent together over 40 years ago as well as comparing and contrasting each other’s families. So good to catch up and she and her family would be about one of the few reasons, other than my wingman, to return to this state.

Tuesday we’ll be heading north and hopefully this time next week we’ll be settled into Brownsville. Can you believe it, we’re still loving retirement.

Ever have one of those days where your chi is completely out of whack? Tuesday was that day for us. After a wonderful visit with Sherrie Burris in Palm Beach, we hit the road and headed north out of Florida. Thought we had a good sign as we drove out of the park, we saw a beautiful rainbow. Sadly, it just meant that there was rain in the forecast and rain it did. Also, highway 19 out of Tampa is certainly a highway, however, Florida likes to place traffic light at the most inconvenient places known to man. It takes alot to get this rig moving and once going, takes some effort to get it stopped. Stop and go traffic does not do well with gas mileage, passenger satisfaction, and then of course Floridian drivers who think they are on the NASCAR circuit.

Got to our campsite around 1:00 and had a battery issue with the Escape. Deader than the Pharaohs of Egypt it was, so had to call AAA to come jump it as our portable battery didn’t have the juice to do the job. It’s a good thing we weren’t stranded on the side of the road as AAA took almost 2 hours to arrive for a procedure that took all of 2 minutes. Then immediately drove to O’Reilly’s and got a new battery. Have learned a valuable lesson. Will now disconnect the battery in the Escape and see how it pulls and if the brake assist still works. The RV Park, A Stone’s Throw in LaMont Florida, was a nice pull through and mostly level. The staff was friendly and for a one-night stand, a good way to exit Florida. With easy access to I-10 it had us ready for the next day of Travel. Don’t get me wrong, SR 19 is a nice road, but trying to make time as you go north in Florida, the small town traffic lights have a tendency to slow us down.

Wednesday was a fairly long drive to Alabama and the Escapees RV park. Had a bit of mix up with the front desk as they tried to overcharge us, but with a few steps, some introductory math lessons, (Alabama is ranked 48th in overall education) we solved the problem and came to the correct conclusion as to the cost of our 2-night stay. With my negotiation skill s we went from $184 to $62. To be perfectly truthful though, it was a software glitch that would not allow the nice lady to edit my credit card and after 2 hours, finally had the IT guy fix it. Went to Winn Dixie in Foley AL to grab a few items and then returned home for an evening of Chili Baked potatoes and our evening TV rituals. Over all not a bad night and looking forward to a day of just chillin’ before the big push back to Brownsville over the next 4 days. Tomorrow will be a long day as we’ll be driving almost 300 miles to Frog City RV park in Ducson LA. Need I mention it? Still loving retirement.

Thursday saw us in full chill mode. Resting up for the big push towards Brownsville. 902 miles in 4 days. The long drive will be to Duson LA and Frog City RV Park. The last time we were there was in March when we started this expedition. We’ve definitely seen and done quite a bit. Only traveling we did was back into Foley Alabama to get ice since the ice maker is still not functional. Be that as it may, we passed the time relaxing in air conditioned comfort with the temp in the 90’s and the humidity in the 60’s. Not a weather pattern conducive to outdoor activity. Vicki worked on and finished her 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle, while I binge watched Breaking Bad. Also wanted to buy lotto tickets, but Alabama doesn’t participate in the lotto games. How weird is that? You’d think that they would use the extra revenue to improve their education system, but hey, when your 49th in the country, you can always lean on the fact that your not Mississippi. The true highlight of our day off was a call from our Grandson Dominic. He is doing extremely well although working way to many hours by my book, but that’s the life of an apprentice electrician. He did get a nasty cut on his finger earlier in the day, but as an electrician would do, glued it closed and wrapped it with electrical tape. Mimi is beside herself in full nurse ratchet mode, but hey what are you going to do, he’s a grown man.

Do have to put out a shout out to Sherri B as each morning now we are remined of what a wonderful visit we had as one of the gifts she gave us was lemon coffee mugs. So with each morning sip of the life giving coffee we are reminded of what a wonderful visit we had and what a wonderful friend she is.

I did have to truly frustrating experience as I had to cancel our plans for AZ this coming winter as we had a reserved and confirmed a spot in Surprise only a stone’s throw from the Monks. I’m heartbroken that this stupid hip is keeping me from spending a winter with probably one of the nicest Canadian friends one could ask for. Ron and Shar are so much fun to be around and listening to Ron and Vicki debrief their careers is such good medicine for them both. It just frustrates the hell out of me for being the cause of us not getting together. It certainly is what it is, but it still hurts. Ron and Shar know we’ll get together as soon as possible even if we have to travel the globe to do it!!

Forget to mention, as of August 1 I am now officially on the Government dole with Medicare!! WooHoo. I guess that makes me a senior citizen. Absolutely loving it and did I mention? We’re still loving retirement.

I sometimes get the feeling I’m a tenured college professor, it’s publish or die. But this blog is too much fun! Friday saw us arriving in Duson LA at Frog City RV park. Quaint little park with just the most friendly folk you’d ever want to meet. Only distraction being their dental hygiene, but I’ll just leave it up to your imagination. LA is just as hot as Florida, so we basically stuck in the rig with the AC going. We did go across the street and bought a mega million lotto ticket, but like everyone else, we didn’t win. The next drawing is going to be 1.55 Billion $$$$. I can’t even envision that much money, but the first thing I’d buy would be a good financial advisor! After the initial spending spree, we’d have to figure out how to give most of that money away. Who needs the problems associated with it!!

We headed down I-10 to Houston and we are staying in Angletown TX tonight. Other than it’s 99 degrees with a feeling temperature of 127 in the sun, not much else to report. But we are still loving retirement. Look forward to this weeks comments and I’ll try to get back to you as soon as we get settled in South Texas Monday. Until then, stay safe.