Keeping Busy While Our Home Is In The SHOP!!

On Wednesday we gave our home to Lazydays so they can complete the warranty repair work. We moved into a Sheraton hotel in Tampa for the duration (or Saturday..whichever comes first).
This is the first time in quite some time that Gary and I have spent any time in a hotel.

One of the best benefits of living in an RV is always having our own bed wherever we are. And Wed night just proves the saying "there's no place like home"..I tossed and turned all night. Just couldn't seem to sleep in the extra large king sized bed. Go figure..it is perfectly comfortable..just not our bed. We went back to Lazydays last evening before bed to see how the work went yesterday. They had completed the bedroom shelf and removed the bathroom door. So..some progress was made.

Yesterday we went to McDonald's for breakfast. Then drove all over downtown Tampa. The weather was quite cool but brightly sunny. We went over to the University of Tampa's campus too. There is a museum there called the Henry B Plant Museum. It is housed in wonderful old Tampa Bay Hotel built by railroad magnate Henry Plant. It is now a National Historic Landmark. During the 1880's, Henry Bradley Plant was building an empire of railroads, steamships and hotels. The hotel was financed by Plant personally, not investors, at a cost of $2,500,000 and an additional $500,000 was spent for furnishings. It took two years to build, covered six acres and was one-quarter mile long. The 511 rooms were the first in Florida to be electrified. Advertised as completely fireproof, the structure is built of poured concrete reinforced with steel rails and cables in between floors. The building featured all of the latest luxuries including a billiard room, barbershop, shoeshine service, beauty shop, flower shop, telegraph office, formal dining room, Grand Salon, Music Room with orchestra and telephones in all guest rooms. For more information visit their web site at:
http://www.plantmuseum.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=57














About lunch time we went over to University Mall. We walked around for a while and had lunch at the food court.

In the evening we went back to Lazydays to check out the work. THE WALLS ARE FINISHED. We could hardly believe it. They look great.

Today we went back to the Museum. For a donation of $5.00 you can watch a 14minute video explaining the history of the hotel. Afterwards several of the first floor rooms are open to the public with many of the furnishings and fixtures that were collected by Mr Plant. Some of them are quite impressive. Some of it was quite gaudy. Just goes to show how much tastes change over the years. A walk through the gardens finished our visit. I especially love that the University of Tampa is using parts of the building today.











































This afternoon we returned to Lazydays to check on the status of our home. They were WASHING it...great...After a lunch at their cafe (fish, rice and green beans) we caught up with our we service advisor. Upon inspection we found that the caulking hadn't been completed correctly. Also the bathroom window screen had been removed and damaged when they fed some hoses in the window. So..back the service advisor went ..steam rising...and we came back to town. We stopped at Steak n Shake for dinner. Afterwards, we went to the fairground and walked through a Craft Fair. $5.00 to park and $6.00 to get in. Yuck!!! It wasn't worth it. Then, back to the hotel and in for the night. Tomorrow we move back into our home. Hopefully the caulking will be done and screen fixed. If not..Lazydays will have us as their guest until it is... :)

So..night to you all..Deb