April, 2002
Where
has the winter gone?? It's hard to believe that it's April
already. As we mentioned at the end of March, our Bounder had become an
oasis in the empty sea of RV spaces here at Holiday Village. There are
about 35 spaces in our section and we were the lone survivor. On
April Fools Day we took the Bounder to get an oil change and lube. We also
stocked up on groceries and made a trip to the pool. In the evening we
gathered with a few of the remaining residents for some cards. On Tuesday
we did a few more maintenance items in the morning and in the afternoon Tom
played bridge while Mary and her mother "did their thing" going to lunch and
shopping.
On
Wednesday, April 3, it was time to get rolling once again. Our plan was to
stop in Seguin, TX for regular service on brakes and transmission and then head
east to Florida with a few stops along the way.
We
arrived in Seguin Wednesday afternoon and checked in with the service
manager. We were scheduled for first thing Thursday morning. So,
Thursday morning Mary headed to the laundromat and when she returned near noon,
the Bounder was still waiting patiently "to be seen by the doctor."
Service was begun after lunch and continued again on Friday. By 6:00 on
Friday everything was taken care of (fluids all changed, brakes re-packed, other
35,000mile items checked) except the "oxygen sensor" which was not in the scope
of Pro-Tech's abilities. We spent one more night in the back lot at
Pro-Tech ("free", of course, if you don't count the $550 service bill) and early
Saturday went to the local Ford dealer. Unfortunately they were also
unable to deal with the Bounder, so we headed on through Houston (breezed right
straight through on I-10) and made it to Vinton, Louisiana. We spent the
night at a small RV park where we had stayed a year ago right off the
freeway. We took time there to clean off the coach batteries of an
accumulation of "crud." Sunday we were on our way again, getting to
Slidell, Louisiana, just outside of New Orleans.
Monday
morning, April 8, we went into New Orleans, keeping in mind the storms that the
weatherman had predicted. Our first adventure was taking a ferry across
the Mississippi River to the "Algiers" section where we walked around in the
quaint neighborhood and were able to see a "riverfront view" of New Orleans from
the other side of the river. At lunchtime we walked through the
"Riverwalk" center braving the convention crowds and browsing a few of the shops
and having lunch. By then the skies were getting darker so we got the car
and drove up and down streets in the French Quarter. We stopped and
followed a guided tour group through one of New Orleans famous cemeteries.
All the graves are above ground in tombs that resemble small buildings, so that
the cemetery looks like a miniature city, complete with fences and
gardens. Next was the Garden District of big,
beautiful, historic old homes. By then it was pouring rain!
After a few circles through that area we headed back to the campground - which
took about an hour at 35mph. The 5:00 news reported 3.5" of rain in that
period...and it continued to pour until about 5am. Luckily, we stayed dry
and had no leaks in the RV. Remembering that we had visited New
Orleans 12 years ago with our kids we decided that we weren't anxious to stomp
through more rain and puddles to see much more of the city.
By 8am
on Tuesday we were at the Slidell, LA Ford dealer where their computer confirmed
that the Bounder oxygen sensor needed to be replaced. So, two hours and
$300 later we were rolling once again with a new sensor installed.
Hopefully, our gas mileage will climb back up to its peak 8mpg! By early
afternoon we had crossed miles of swamp on I-10 - into Mississippi, Alabama, and
Florida. We had caught up with the easterly moving storm and the
campground we had chosen from a directory was a sea of red mud. We moved
on to DeFuniak Springs, FL and found a place with paved roads so we weren't
worried about sinking into the mud in the night as the rain continued.
We'd seen more rain in 24 hours than we'd seen in months! Too bad some of
it couldn't have gone to the drought-stricken Rio Grande area of
Texas.
New
Orleans from "Algiers Point" across the river.
St.
Louis Parish Cemetery #1 in New Orleans.
Wednesday morning, April 10, we continued on across I-10. We passed
many areas of wildflowers along the interstate, but they didn't compare to the
glorious color along the Texas highways (thanks to LadyBird Johnson!) We
spent that night at Lee's Campground in White Springs, Fl at a campground we'd
visited last December. It's a small privately owned place and the owners
are quite friendly. We took advantage of their modem hookup and also the
outside laundry - just as a thunderstorm let loose! Next stop, on
Thursday, was at the SKP (Escapees) Resort in Zolfo Springs, FL. We chose
this place because it is a location central to much of the area we wanted to
visit, and because of the inexpensive cost. The gas for the Olds will be
much cheaper than for the Bounder. It is quite a nice park but many of the
winter residents have moved on, so it is very quiet. We even could see
stars and hear the cows mooing at night. We spent the next several days
making trips into Bradenton to work at cleaning up Tom's parents house and yard,
and also down to Naples to visit some Ohio friends. We also made a trip to
the East coast for another visit with friends and to the Atlantic beach.
In both areas, and around Zolfo Springs, we looked at lots of RV parks to see if
any of them might be a good place to spend some time next winter. There
certainly is a wide variety of RV parks, amenities and pricing! A big
observation is that there are lots of citrus trees and cattle in this part of
the country!!! And you can sure tell when you drive near a juice
processor...it smells like orange juice--of the nicer industrial odors we've
experienced!!! One day we made a stop at a Verizon store where we had our
cell phone software updated. We had been getting a message that we needed
to enter pin numbers and calling card numbers in order to make calls. All
seems to be back in order now. Our major excitement for the week was that
Tom was not feeling well one evening. His symptoms were similar to
problems he'd had several years ago, but after a while he decided he needed
professional help. We made a trip to the ER at the hospital in Arcadia, FL
where the kind and efficient staff determined that he should have his
gallbladder removed. Within 24 hours Tom was feeling pretty good again and
has made an appointment with doctors in Maumee to see about surgery when we
return there in several weeks. So, after a week in Zolfo Springs, on
Friday, April 19 we moved on to the Thousand Trails Resort in
Orlando.
It was
a hot, sunny weekend at Thousand Trails. There were quite a few people at
the preserve and both swimming pools were used well into the evening. Our
friend Jacques Everhart (our Alaska travel companion) arrived on Saturday
evening and parked next to us. On Sunday morning we washed up our coaches,
then headed out to run some errands and then stopped by a local vineyard for a
wine/art/jazz festival...hot but fun! There were some other Bounder owners
at TNN for the weekend and on Monday we all moved from the Orlando area to the
Tampa suburb of Seffner to the Lazy Days Rally Park to attend the Bounders of
America International Rally. On Monday and Tuesday we got organized
and registered. Mary attended a driving course, which she had done last
year, as a refresher on driving a big rig. By Wednesday 296 Bounders (19
of them from our Michigan-O-Bounders Chapter) were filling all the available
sites in the park and the activities had begun. The Fleetwood service
technicians came to our coach and did some minor repairs. We attended
various seminars and presentations, toured all the new model coaches and vendor
displays and enjoyed wine, food and entertainment in the evenings. It was
a warm week-temperature around 90 each day and low at night around
70.
The rally was officially over on Sunday morning, April 28, and Rally Park became eerily empty, but several coaches stayed over until Monday. We had an impromptu get-together at our coach Sunday evening with several M.O.B. members. After taking advantage of Lazy Days' free breakfast on Monday, we headed north on I-75. It was a long hot travel day, and we spent the night at a rest area in Georgia. Tuesday we sailed right through Atlanta at 55mph with a little rain hitting the windshield and temperature dropping. Knoxville wasn't as easy and we were separated from Jacques. We got back together and spent the night at the Escapee's Park, Racoon Valley. We'll be back in "Buckeye Territory" in a few days.
Looking down our row of Bounders at Rally Park, Seffner, FL during the
BOA National Rally
