'25/#44 Home Is Where We Park It!

 It's time to catch up. Last week we were in Texas at what was our winter home for three years. That was where we went to Mexico for business and pleasure. That was also when hurricane or tropical storm Rafael reared it's ugly head. It was forecast to head to the Texas/Louisiana coast the same time we would be passing through that area. The decision was made to leave Texas a day early and get in front of the storm. The storm petered out so it was an unnecessary early departue but would get us back to Florida a day early.

Well here we are in Zephyrhills, our winter home for the next several months. Even though everyone in our extended family survived Helene and Milton with minimal damage it was still upsetting to see the damage that both storms did leave behind. We are getting settled in and getting together with everyone we missed this summer. We were gone almost eight months this year. That is the longest we have been away from family and friends except for our winters in Texas. 

Our little group of seniors here have a mess of birthdays all in a few days time so there will be cake, food, drink, and just good times with good friends. The friends we work with are also on the list to get together with as well as friends from our pre-retirement and especially our family. 

Today is Mary's birthday so we will do whatever she wants and just get back into the Florida Snowbird lifestyle. Signing off from our home in Zephyrhills because....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary

'25/#43 A Short Rest

 We are in Texas for a short time. It is nice to take a break from the grind that is daily travel. Even though this is a rest from travel we will be busy. There are friends to see and I also see a trip into Mexico.

We found an excellent dentist when we wintered here in the valley. We have made it a point to pass through every so often. Not necessarily once a year, but often enough to take care of our dental needs and not pay the rediculous prices in the states. I know a lot of people will say that we are crazy but we did our research. He and his staff are educated in the US and the facilities are modern and spotless and the recommendations are neck deep from people we have met all around the country during our travels. When somebody in South Dakota, from Oregon, during conversation just pulls a dentists cardout of his wallet with rave reviews....it makes you think.

We also got some of the medications that we take while we were in Mexico. Again, the meds are in Mexico but they are the same drugs that are sold in the USA for as much as ten times the price. See one of Mary's posts of CVS branded pharmaceuticles right there on the shelf in the Mexican pharmacy. We also did a little souvenir shopping.

Last year we had some suspension issues on the trailer that tore up a couple of our tires. I decided to change all four tires but could not get the brand I wanted so agreed to another brand that were recommended and I heard were good. One year and 13,000 miles later I was very unhappy with the way they wore commpared to the brand I wanted or the brand that came on the trailer. It was time to get the tires I wanted and have peace of mind traveling down the road.

Well it is time to get busy again so I will sign off from our home in Texas because.....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary

'25/#42 Changes In Latitude....

 As predicted the last day in Michigan was cold and busy but everything got done and we were ready to roll southward. Monday morning we left St Ignace and over the next six days we made stops in Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas before arriving at our destination in the Rio Grande Valley. 

Our latitude change from traveling 2000 miles south changed everything. Now the temperatures are hovering around 90 degrees. A big change from the highs in the 50's that we left in Michigan. First thing, after turning on the A/C,was to pack away our cold weather coats and dig out shorts that were forgotten about since I can't remember when. We are at the same park we worked at several years ago so we alerted friends that we were in town. The RV is set up for sitting still for a week before we hit the road again.

We are in the Valley to take care of some things that are better done here and across the border. I have also decided to put new tires on the RV. The tires currently on the RV are not wearing as well as other brands I have used in the past and I prefer to err on the side of caution. That's a lot of vehicle going down the road and and it is everything we own, not to mention our personal safety. 

Once all the errands are done and we have decompressed from all the travel we will continue on our adventure. The next destination is Florida. We have family and friends that we have missed all summer and it sounds like we were missed also. 

We were glad to hear that everyone made out well during the hurricane. It was on our minds and we were worried until we heard that everyone was OK. I think we need to see it with our own eyes and give and get hugs to confirm the good news. 

It is time for dinner so we can get to bed early. The to-do list won't do itself so I will sign off now from our home in Pharr Texas because....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary

'25/#41 Tick Tock

 The last time I blogged we had two days off and four more to work. Now we have two days to work and then we will have the Upper Peninsula in our rear view mirror. Our check list is done and as always every time we check something off we find some thing to add. It's usually just little things that we overlooked or something new we should have added to the original list but it still needs to be done. 

The weather has turned the corner towards winter with highs only about 50 degrees and lows in the upper 30's and just plummeting from there. We are looking forward to temperatures a little bit warmer as we trek south. The heat we have in the RV works well but we still have to go outside. Brrrrrrr!

Today should be an easy day at work but tomorrow is another story. Sunday is the last day of the season here at the KOA. The last guest will be leaving or kicked out and the final steps to winterize and close everything will be completed. Early Monday morning the wheels will be rolling and the next stage of our adventure will begin.

The next blog will probably be from the road, so I will sign off for the last time from our home in St Ignace Michigan because.....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary

'25/#40 And The Countdown Begins

 One week from today we will be on the road again. Lots of "places to go, people to see, and things to do" are in our future and we need to set our priorities and get through the list as well as we can. Yes we are headed back to Florida but will take a circuitous route. That seems to be the theme of our adventures this summer.

We have two days off and then four more days of work and then we depart Northern Michigan. This last week of work is going to be busy getting the campground shut down for the winter. Everything needs to be stowed and prepped for the freezing temperatures so the park can open smoothly in the spring. Four days of busy, busy, busy.

Our two days off we will be getting the rig road ready for our departure. Again things need to be stowed and prepped for travel so we will have smooth traveling over the next couple of weeks. During this time we we will also be making our reservations at RV parks on our route south. We have already done the research to find the parks that are still open this time of year. When we left Maine a few years back we couldn't find open campgrounds along our east coast route until we hit North Carolina. Lesson learned!

We will also try to spend some quality personal time with the few workers that are still here before we say goodbye. Once again we have made friends that I am sure we will keep in touch with. But right now I am starting my third cup of coffee and it is time to wake Mary so we can get started on our "to-do" list. 

The countdown has begun and time will run out soon here, in our home in St Ignace Michigan because.....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary

'24/#39 Moving Day

 No, we aren't leaving Michigan yet. As workcampers we get our RV site free therefore the site is not a premium one that will produce more revenue during the season. Our site was a water and electric site which means no sewer hook-up. To get rid of our waste water we used a pump and an auxiliary tank to take our black and grey water to a dump station and dispose of it. It wasn't a big deal but once a week it took about an hour of our time. We did do it on the clock so we were getting paid to get rid of our poop!

Now that the season is winding down more sites have become available and we have moved to a full hook-up sit with sewer. This will give me the opportunity to back flush all the waste water tanks and have them clean and ready when we hit the road. We are also closer to the office so our commute to work is three minutes instead of five.

In addition to taking care of our tanks we are starting to stow things away so when "D" day arrives we will be ready. "D" is for departure. The next two weeks will be spent shutting things down in the campground and trying to stay warm. This mornings temperature was about 30 degrees and the high will not reach the 50's. 

Gotta get ready for work so I will sign off now from our home in St Ignace because......

Home is where we park it, 

FRank and Mary

'24/#38 Time For Introspection

 It has been almost two months since my last blog. This summer is just one of those periods of time when the excitement of travel wanes. In the last blog I mentioned that coming back might have been a mistake because of our "one and done" rule of not going back to the same place twice. Looking back ( introspection...wink, wink) it turns out we may have been wrong. This summer has not turned out as bad as it seemed.

The disappointment we were feeling turned out to be caused by one particular couple that was working here. They were the type that tries to make everyone around them look bad so they look better than they actualy are. This created dischord an animosity amongst the workcamping group. As the only returning workcampers we were in a unique position to compare and share our experiences of last season to this year. Most of the people here realized that things could and should be better if we all just did our jobs and didn't interfere with anyone else. Eventualy the managers (first year managers at that) were able to get everyone to just work and ignore the disruptive personalities. 

Shortly thereafter the offending couple left and everyone was getting along and doing their jobs. We became a good social working group which is the goal of most workcamping crews. We work together, we live together, we have to get along together. Since things have gotten better and we have become closer with the new managers we have decided that we may come back for a third season!

YES! Three time is definitely a break from only visiting the same place more than once. If you follow us at all you know that this year was different from any of our past adventures. It turns out that sometimes hum-drum can work. We have been able to pad our nest egg a little since we did most of our exploring in this area last year and the new managers want us back in a new capacity. The new jobs will be easier for us old folks and we will be able to help them bring some of the good things that were done this year over into the next.

Well back to hum-drum or what we now call comfortable. The season is winding down and it's nice to watch the nest egg grow in anticipation of our next adventure. So I will sign off now, with a promise to start blogging more, from our home in Michigan because.....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary