Our exciting week at Napoli Lane

Last Sunday we moved back to Napoli Lane (Bubba and Anna's) home site. We dodged around the rain and arrived in early afternoon. Set up and settled in for the night. On Monday Gary went to Port Orange to see Bubba and ran some errands. I worked and hung out at the house.

On Tuesday morning I worked again. After lunch we went to nearby Lake Ashby Park. Bev had told us about water skiing in/on the lake a few years ago and later in the day learned that alligators lived there...no more water skiing for her.
We didn't see any alligators...just spiders..large and small birds..low flying planes...and lots of trees and scrubs of all kinds.
It is a great place to walk with both natural walkways and a boardwalk that goes out over the lake. We enjoyed having the park to ourselves. Only 1 other family was there. I'll bet this place is very busy in warmer weather.
We met Bob and Bev for dinner at Booth's Bowery in Port Orange. I had a BIG burrito and Gary had a country fried steak. The service was slow (miss server needed an attitude adjustment) and the food and drinks were mediocre. Maybe they were having an "off' night.







































Wednesday was another working and housekeeping day. Gary went for gas for the generator and we eat lunch down the road at a Subway. Afterwards, I went to Wal Mart for those necessary items. About 4pm we went to Bubba and Anna's house. Gary had been over on Monday evening to look at their malfunctioning refrigerator ice maker. He determined that it would have to be replaced and located one at the local Lowe's. He picked it up and we went over to their house so he could install it. We went to a steakhouse near their home for dinner. Webber's Steakhouse. Good service and the food was OK.
Yesterday Anna and Bubba came out to visit us at their home site. We sat around and talked about their plans for their new home. It sounds wonderful. This area is great and I'm sure they will really enjoy living here. We had a great visit.
Today dawned gray and overcast. At least it didn't rain again. I worked a little bit before lunch. We "went to town" to the Daytona Flea Market, Bed Bath and Beyond, Linens and Things, Super Target and Super WalMart and Advance Auto. Out of all these stops we bought a pack of printer paper, a funnel and some Little Debbie Oatmeal Cookies. We're looking for a few things for the house and haven't found "just the right" ones. We also went by Bob and Bev's house and filled up a 5 gallon jug of fresh water. Using our new funnel, we added it to our home tank when we got back. After a supper of left-overs for Gary and a salad for Me, I went back to work. Starting this week, I'm increasing my work hours to 25. Only 1 1/2 hours left to go this week...I'll finish in the morning.
Night all.. Hope you have a good weekend.

Happy Birthday Jennifer

Yesterday was our daughter Jennifer's birthday..29 years old. Jenn, we missed being with you yesterday in person but we thought about you often during the day. Remembering..previous years..celebrations..your growing up..all those special times ..(and the not so special ones too).. We love you.

Happy Birthday to you..Love, Mom and Dad

Workampers Job Fair

On Thursday morning we arrived at Lakeland Center to learn about workamping. According to Workamper.com "Workampers are adventuresome individuals, couples and families who have chosen a wonderful lifestyle that combines ANY kind of part-time or full-time work with RV camping. If you work as an employee, operate a business, or donate your time as a volunteer, AND you sleep in an RV (or on-site housing), you are a Workamper!"

So, since I work part-time for UNC, I learned I am already a Workamper. How about that?!!.

Many Workampers take jobs in campgrounds or amusement parks. We met several Workampers that have worked at a variety of places in the US. Campground hosts, tour guides for museums, worked with Mickie and Minnie..I met one person who is going to Texas to work as a short order cook at a campground on the Mexican border. She's never done it before but thought it would be fun to try. Another couple is going to Virgina and work at a Campground on the Chesapeake Bay ..one of them will work in the office and the other outside doing grounds and maintenance work. Other jobs Workampers do are Christmas or pumpkin lot sales, picking apples in Washington, working for a Time-Share company giving out the prizes, selling t-shirts at sporting events, selling aerial pictures of your house to you, working for the circus..there are so many different ways to earn a little extra money or reduce expenses. Some of the jobs provide the RV camping site while others pay $$ only. Sometimes, it's a combination of site and $$. No one will get rich doing this but it does help you out.
Workamper.com provided speakers for the 2 day Job Fair. They covered how to become a Workamper..Workamper Basics and Workamper 101.
Legal and Financial Considerations of Workamper..who gets your tax money???
How to write a resume..functional based on skills and experience related to the job you are applying for..vs conventional chronological ..like we used in our "previous" life.
And even..how to deal with difficult people..just can't get away from them..can we??!!!
Also present were about a dozen Employers from around the country. Everything from Disney to a RV resort in NC at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. We had a chance to talk with them to learn what types of jobs they offer and what they are looking for in a Workamper employee. It was very interesting. Many of them are hiring for the 2008 summer season (4-6 month commitment). We don't really want to do that so we'll be looking for more short term options. We still want to travel every month of so..just find something for Gary to do very "part-time".
If you'd like to learn more..check out Workamper.com's website at http://www.workamper.com/WorkamperNews/WNIndex.cfm

We're still at Thousand Trails until tomorrow..Gary went to get our propane tanks refilled this morning. I'm catching up on laundry since we won't have the ability to use the washer/dryer once we move back to Bubba and Anna's home site. Using batteries for boondocking doesn't provide enough power for that.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Love to you all. Deb

Rural Volusia County

Since Saturday we've stayed at Gary's nephews/wife's land in rural Volusia County. It is quiet out here. Except for the hum of the generator, dogs barking(kennel nearby) and small airplanes flying over head. (Fly-in community nearby). They are going to love living out here once their home is built. In the meantime..Thanks Bubba and Anna. We appreciate your hospitality very much.

We've enjoyed our first experience with boon-docking with the Cameo. We've kept our batteries charged using our little Honda 1000 generator. It cost us about $19.00 in gas to run it over the past 4 days. We've had a little bit of rain this weekend..not enough as usual.. just enough to make the sand stick together. I think we brought a pound of sand with us when we moved to Thousand Trails today.

Yesterday afternoon we went over to New Smyrna Beach. This is a small town with 13 miles of beautiful beach. The beach suffered a lot of damage from hurricanes a few years ago, but has rebounded for the most part. They have a very nice downtown business district with a park right on the beach. There is also a park at the end of Peninsula Dr that allows dogs on the beach( on a leash). There has been a LOT of building in the area in the past years. We started coming to this beach about 15 years ago. It once was a very small town with miles of undeveloped shoreline. Now, once you leave the older business district on the beach side and travel south there are miles of new condos and houses. Like much of Florida these days.
We went to the dog beach. It cost $3.50 for the day.

We parked and started off on the boardwalk.

It turned out the beach was over a half mile away across the scrub. A very nice walk on a cool day. I don't think I'd like to do it in July heat.
I saw this palm as we walked along and thought it looked interesting..


Ellie wasn't real sure about the ocean. She definitely isn't a water puppy. However she really liked taking a nap in the sand.
































There was an excellent view of the Ponce Inlet lighthouse. http://www.ponceinlet.org/














This morning when we awoke, we learned there had been a terrible accident on I-4 at US-27. Thousand Trails is on 27 and the accident caused I-4 to be closed until at least tomorrow. The pictures on the TV were horrific. 4 have died and over 3 dozen others were injured. When we arrived at TT this afternoon (coming in from the North), we could see the smoke billowing up from the accident site. My prayers go out to all of the families and emergency workers affected by this tragic event today.

We settled into our site late this afternoon and went for a walk in the Palmetto woods. Very different from NC woods, but just as nice.
Time for bed..tomorrow we go to the job fair over in Lakeland. Learning something new!!! Good night to you all. Love, Deb

We're Home

Yesterday we picked up our home from Lazydays. They gave it a bath inside and out. We are very glad to be back in it. Afterwards, we moved across the state to Port Orange. Gary's nephew offered a parking spot on some land he plans to build a house on later. It is out in the county about 15 minutes from Port Orange. The lot is fenced in so Miss Ellie is enjoying being able to run loose. This is our first attempt at boondocking with the new home. No water or electricity on site. We have 82 gallons of fresh water on board and two batteries. We have a Honda 1000 generator that we are using to re-charge the batteries. So far we've made out OK. We are conserving water and power as much as possible. We are going to stay here until Wednesday.

Wednesday we're going to move to the Thousand Trails near Orlando for a couple of days. We're planning to attend a job fair being held by Workamping.com. This organization helps RV'ers locate jobs, mostly within hospitality,recreation or campground companies. There will be classes on Thursday and Friday about working while rv'ing. Some employers will also be on site to interview anyone interested in working for them. We've been thinking about some additional work to help with expenses.
http://www.workamper.com/WorkamperNews/WNIndex.cfm

Today we went to see Gary's brother Bob and his wife Bev. Bev and I went to the Daytona Flea Market. I bought a few paperbacks and some lucky bamboo.
Gary and Bob watched football on TV all afternoon. Bev and I picked up pizza for supper on our way back to their house. CiCi's pizza is pretty good. We even got a brownie pizza which was excellent. Gotta love that chocolate.

It's getting late so I'm off to bed. Sleep tight everyone..love to all. Deb

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

How you seen Pedro??

Today we left Durham about 11am. First stop... to see Pedro at South of the Border. Have you ever visited Pedro? If not, take a few minutes the next time you travel down I-95 into South Carolina. This is another one of those large collections of "things you'd never need" or even "thought you'd want to have". But, I just have to stop there once in a while to marvel at someone's example of capitalism gone a-mock.

I didn't really see anyone spending any of their hard earned dollars, mostly just several groups of folks taking pictures of themselves in front of the animal statues they have scattered about. The restrooms were clean. The food smelled pretty good as we walked by the Ice Cream stand ...I smelled hot french frys and hot dogs. Yum!!! I could hear those arteries hardening.

































Anyway, it was a nice rest break for us.

We came on south and have stopped for the night at the New Green Acres RV Resort in Walterboro. So far, a nice park set in some tall pine trees. I don't think I'd want to be here in an ice storm. Not too bad of a price with AAA or Good Sam discounts. We have a pull-though site (easy parking) with 30amp electric, sewer,water and cable for $25.38 w/ tax. A little more than we like to pay but tomorrow night we'll be at the Orlando Thousand Trails which is free. So that helps us keep our cost down overall. We looked for a Passport American campground but there isn't one convenient to us at this area of I-95.

We're in for the night. Just a quiet New Years Eve for us.

Hope everyone has a fun, safe and HAPPY NEW YEAR. LOVE TO ALL ..DEB

We're on the road again..I think I'll adopt this as our theme song.

Yesterday we left Mom and Dad's house and moved up to Durham. Unlike earlier this year, we are parked at Rita's Mom and Dad's house instead of at the Peaden's RV Park. The RV park didn't have a space that we could pull the VERY LARGE Cameo into. :)
Or at least ...not one Mr. Pearce could easily get into. Thankfully Mr O was there to greet us and doesn't seem to mind that we are taking up space in his parking area behind the garage. Van arrived shortly after we did and helped Gary hook up to an electrical outlet. So..all the comforts of home. We went to dinner last night with Van, Daniel and Rita. Ken and Laverne joined us. Afterwards we went to the Christmas Express store at Northgate and I bought a few things to use next year. A very small porcelain nativity scene at $2.50. Also, a very large inflatable Santa in a hammock hanging from two palm trees. $20.00...I just couldn't turn away. Don't know where I'll be setting it up but I'll be ready.
Today has been a very rainy day so far. I'm feeling a little bit "punky" so I've stayed in so far. Gary has been out and about with Van a couple of times. We're going to dinner with them later. Tomorrow we'll be leaving to travel south back to Florida. We are scheduled to have some work done on the Cameo at Lazydays starting Wednesday. So, we'll be in Tampa at least until the end of the week. After that..we're going back over to the east coast for a while to visit Gary's family again.
After that...westward we will go. Arizona by February.. Hope everyone is doing well and has had a safe and joyous holiday. Deb

Christmas with Doug, Sherry and Family

Last Thursday night we had dinner at Mayflower Seafood in Hillsborough to celebrate Christmas with Gary's sister and family. Van, Rita and Daniel also joined us. The food and service were great. Being with everyone was even better. After dinner we went back to Doug and Sherry's house to visit and exchange gifts. We were able to see our parakeet that went to live with them when we started full-timing last spring. Sherry has named her Blue Bell and she seems to be very happy at her home.

Deb's Mom and Dad

Pictures...Sister Teresa and Family

Pictures..Daughter Jennifer and Husband Mark