Day 97 of the Journey - Raleigh, NC

It started out cloudy and foggy.  I was a bit upset because the weatherman said it would be a bright, sunny, warm day.  He was half right, as it finally did turn out to be nice at around noon.

After doing a little bit of client work this morning, we went to our favorite home away from home synagogue (Chabad of Cary) where they have a Lunch & Learn program (bible study).  This week's topic was on the meaning of the open prayer of Yom Kippur  (Kol Nidre) which absolves us of the vows we make from this year to next.  Very interesting stuff.

Next, we visited the famous Raleigh Farmer's Market.  We've been there a few times before.  We wanted to buy some homemade preserves and real, non-commercialized honey which is in abundance there.  It was a really tough choice.  We did lots of tasting but at $5.00+ for jam and $8.00+ for honey, we didn't want to indulge in more than 1 each.  We ended up buying apricot jalapeno preserves, tulip honey and a lovely bruschetta salsa.  We also needed some fresh veggies and bought farm fresh zucchini, tomatoes, a huge onion, beets, a butternut squash and some sweet corn.  Also some peaches.  There is such a huge difference between the stuff the farmers bring straight from the farm to the market versus what you buy in the supermarket from the commercial farms.

I've been getting pretty lax about doing my exercises every day, but I do continue to take at least 2, sometimes 3 walks a day.  Mitch joins me for our after dinner walk.  I like to check out the other RVs and hope to find people to talk to, but mostly I'm unsuccessful at that.  It seems that the more I walk, the more my other leg has been bothering me (it also has arthritis which is getting worse).  My repaired hip is doing very well though.  Still a bit of discomfort after walking, but improving all the same.

Days 92-95 of the Journey - Raleigh, NC

Days 92 & 93 - Thurs & Fri
Spent most of the day (from 9:30 - 2:30) in shul.  Rabbi Yisroel Cotlar is extremely charismatic and offers very deep and profound messages.  His congregation has been our "home away from home" when we lived in NJ and visited Raleigh and I am glad we have the opportunity to share the High Holidays with him.

For my readers who aren't familiar with this season, it is a time of introspection, repentance and "teshuvah" - return to God.  A metaphor is used: that there is a Book of Life which is opened on Rosh Hashanah.  God judges our thoughts and deeds and inscribes our fates for the coming year.  This is sealed on Yom Kippur.   We are all forgiven and start the year with a clean slate.  Rosh Hashanah is also known as the New Year - the anniversary of creation of man.

Day 94 - Sat.
We again joined the congregation for Shabbat services, which as always was very inspirational and spiritual.  They have a lovely lunch afterwards.  Instead of driving back to the campground, we went to the kids' house and hung out there until about 9pm.  I napped for about 2 hours.

Day 95 - Sun.
Today was a driving day (not traveling).  Knowing we need to leave the NC State Fairgrounds next week due to the state fair being here, we wanted to scope out the next closest places.  One such place is about 15 miles away.  It's also a mobile home park, and after our experience at the very first place we stayed (outside Orlando), we needed to see how much space we'd be dealing with.  The other places, which seemed much nicer were about 30 miles away.  Mitch determined it would be too far to travel to jobs in the Raleigh area.  At about 8 mpg, 60 miles roundtrip would cost more in gas than he would make in a day.  Plus the location was out in the middle of nowhere; the nearest supermarket was 10 miles away. 

Right now, plan B is for him to contact one of his bigger contractors and learn where in the country most of the jobs are now, and we'll use that as a destination.  Barring that, we'll try to make a reservation at the closer place, although they told me they were mostly filled up during October (overflow from the state fair).  We must make this decision by tomorrow.

We also stopped at Dollar Tree for a bunch of household items.  Also dealing with internet issues today.  Seems the setup Mitch purchased isn't working properly.  Hopefully he can reach tech support tomorrow as well.

Day 91 of the Journey - Raleigh, NC

Not only am I wearing a long sleeve shirt today, but we had to put the heat on!!!  (we're using the electric fireplace rather than the gas furnace and it's doing a wonderful job).  I can't believe it's only been 2 days since I was still wearing shorts and flip flops!  It's also been a steady, miserable rain all day.  I was hoping to take a nice walk around, but it's definitely not the day for that.

I am gearing up now for Rosh Hashanah.  Like Shabbat, we shut off the world so I will not be online again until Saturday night (family: you know the signal to reach us in an emergency to answer the phone).  Today I am doing the cooking.  Looking forward to having Jess, Shana and Jared over for a holiday meal tomorrow evening.  Since I can't  light the stove to warm up the food, it's going to mostly cold salads (potato, egg, tuna, greens with pomegranate & oranges, hummus) plus matza ball soup (kept warm in the crock pot).  Of course, apples dipped in honey.

We don't like to drive on Shabbat or the High Holidays but unfortunately we had to choose to do so this time.  Originally we were going to bring our home to the parking lot where services are being held (we made arrangements in advance; they said they had plenty of room in the far back end and since we can be fully self contained, it would have been great).  We would leave today and return after services on Friday (ok, still sort of breaking the rules as holiday isn't over until sundown and goes right into Shabbat).  However, the campground we're staying at (NC State Fairgrounds) is expecting to be completely filled this weekend due to a HUGE football game plus a few other large events in the area.  This place does not accept reservations, even if we paid for the spot in advance.  If we leave, there is no guarantee we'll have a place to return to on Friday.  The next closest places are about 30 miles away, which is too far to travel during the holidays.  So we decided not to take the risk of not having a place to stay.  Not to mention that services aren't over until 2:00 on Friday, and we'd have to back up and set up from scratch again and prepare for Shabbat as well.  That would be way too stressful.  Hopefully God will understand and forgive our transgression here.

L'Shana Tova!

Day 90 of the Journey - Raleigh, NC

After wearing nothing but shorts and flip flops for the past 3 months, it was quite a change having to wear long pants and a sweatshirt today.  It was actually COLD!  I suppose it's to be expected on the first day of autumn.

Nothing too exciting to report today.  Shopping day mostly.  We started out going to the nearest Camping World, about 20 miles away as there were some supplies we needed that weren't sold in the RV section of Walmart (1 more mat for the outside steps as the last place only had 3; clear elbow for the sewer hose; a water pressure regulator, and a special antenna so we can watch tv when the campground doesn't have cable).  I've been looking for some nice coasters to replace the cardboard ones I bought in the dollar store, and found a nice plastic set.  I also found a tailgate chair.  I've never actually seen this before, but it was just so perfect for my needs, I had to have it.   Because of my hip problems, it is very difficult for me to sit on a regular camping chair because it is low (I need to sit on 2 cushions to raise it up high enough) and also it is too soft and floppy, making it very difficult to get up from.  This chair has very sturdy metal legs and body and is raised up much higher than a camping chair.  Now I feel happy that I can comfortably sit outdoors without being afraid.

Afterwards we went to Target so I could buy more jeans.  I only have 1 pair but after losing weight, they are 2 sizes too large and constantly falling down.  And since I was planning to be back in NJ in August to clear out the storage locker where my fall and winter clothes are, I needed something to tide me over.

We then stopped for lunch at Mitch's favorite place in Raleigh - Noodles & Co.  Then I went to Supercuts for a cut & color while he went next door to Harris Teeter for groceries.  Fortunately, we avoided having to go to Trader Joes, although that is one of our favorite places so we'll plan on going within the next week or 2.

When we returned, I unpacked everything and Mitch went up on the roof to install the antenna.  Tv - yay!  Ok, very limited, but still something to watch if we want, especially the news.

Oh - we opened and tasted this AWESOME drink which Mitch bought at a Hess station in South Carolina.  Gotta love the redneck packaging!  I'm told now that SC is known for their odd booze.  This stuff is apple cider moonshine, but like the name suggests, it does taste like a piece of apple pie, even though you feel the heat going down!  It's 28 proof. Gotta stock up on this stuff next time we're down there!

Day 89 of the Journey - Raleigh, NC

Made it to Raleigh!  We actually got started an hour later than planned, as sunrise wasn't until 7:00.  It was very difficult to do all the outside work in the dark!  Most of the packing inside was done yesterday when we had to take the rig out for lessons, so it only took about 15 mins to pack up.  Outside took a little longer, and hitching took the longest, but we made it out of the campground by 8:30.  We arrived in Raleigh at 3:30, but we took 2 breaks: 1 for lunch and 1 short rest.  We stopped for brunch at a Pilot truck stop.  Fortunately, the truck area was relatively empty (it was full when we left - great timing!) and there were a number of long pull through spots.

The drive up was smooth and uneventful.  Mitch did all the driving.  We are staying at the NC State Fairgrounds and it is much lovelier than we expected.  Also lots of high end, expensive rigs here.  Unfortunately, no tv or picnic benches, but if we want to be outside we can use our camping chairs and the plastic table.  The weather is very cool and there are no love bugs!  The sites are very spacious, though.  There were plenty of empty ones (although it will be filled by the weekend due to a HUGE football game plus a few other big events) and we have a field across from our site, making it super easy to back in.  It took 15 minutes!!! (we budgeted 3 hours).  I'm very proud of Mitch!

Funny story - as we were backing up, a woman was standing nearby.  I called over to her to bring her lawn chair and beer for the afternoon entertainment.  She said she wanted to watch how it was done as she was a newbie and had no clue.  HAHAHAHA.  I laughed and told her this was only the 2nd time we're doing it, and the first time someone had to do it for us and she wasn't going to learn anything by watching us.  I feel good that we're not alone.  Lots of newbies out there I suspect.

We briefly met fellow "RVillagers" Brittany & Eric (RVWanderlust).  There's another couple from the Village here as well.  I hope we'll have a chance to hang with all of them before they head out.

We finished setting up by 6:00 and Jessica and Griffin came by at 6:30.  We had a lovely sushi dinner out and they liked our new home - said it was more like a one bedroom apartment.

Tomorrow is a big shopping day in preparation for the Holidays (Wed - Fri nite).  I also need to buy more pants and need a haircut/coloring.  So busy day planned.

Day 88 of the Journey - Charleston, SC

Today we had our RV driving lessons.  What a long, exhausting but very productive day.  Jim Miller, From RV Basic Training LLC was our instructor.  He arrived at 9:00am and we finished at 4:00pm.  We spent the first 1 1/2 hours doing "classroom" type stuff - talking about driving techniques and all sorts of safety issues.  Then we went out driving.

Jim chose a new subdivision (an area where houses to be built are under construction).  There were a lot of windy roads and turns, but plenty of areas where we could angle the RV to pretend we were backing into a spot.  It was very, very hard work and although we learned the principles and basics, we were far from mastering anything.  It will take lots and lots and lots of practice to learn how to hitch and park this thing quickly.

I have to confess that I had a slight meltdown and threw in the towel after a while.  Background: if I got a 99% on a test, I would beat myself up for not getting 100.  I put too high expectations on myself.  So when I tried and tried and tried and just couldn't do it (back in), frustration took its hold and I just quit for the rest of the day.  Fortunately Mitch had far more patience and pushed himself to figure it out.

Very early to bed (8:00).  We want to get up at 5:30 and hit the road by 7, to head up to Raleigh.

Day 87 of the Journey - Charleston, SC

Today was spent predominantly washing all the love bugs off the CoW and Bull.  What a huge, nasty job!  Due to the fact that much of it was either too high or too low for me to reach, and also required a lot of elbow grease, Mitch did 98% of the work.  Looks pretty good now.  Praying we don't get many more on the way up to Raleigh next week.

We met a nice family in the trailer next door.  They travel and have 2 kids: 3 and 5 year olds.  The 5 year old wanted to help wash the truck (and he did!).  We also had a few visitors:

Towards the end of the day we had more rain.  Here is a picture of what's outside the door.  As I said the other day, these sites are all grass and dirt, which makes puddles and mud.  I will not be coming back here any time soon!  I love (and need) to go out walking and it's very difficult to do that here after it rains, which is pretty much all the time.

Day 86 of the Journey - Charleston, SC

We wanted to get out of bed at 7:30 to get started on figuring out what the problem was with unhitching, cleaning the love bugs off the vehicles, and then venturing off to the downtown area for a day of touristy stuff.  That didn't work out quite as planned.  We got out of bed closer to 9:00 and puttered around a bit on the computers (I had a little bit of billable work to do anyway).  Mitch was able to figure out the problem with relative ease.  It's amazing what being fully rested and calm can accomplish!  It was a matter of a button that needed to be pressed in.  So we dis-attached the Beast by 11:00 and decided to go out.  The cleaning can wait another day, as that will be very time consuming.

The ride to the City (downtown Charleston) was about 20 mins away.  It was a pleasant drive until we hit the city limits.  Did I ever mention how much I HATE cities?  Ok, so far Raleigh is the only exception.  This reminded me of lower Manhattan, specifically Chinatown, Little Italy and Greenwich Village - where the streets are very narrow and congested and there is no easy parking.  Mind you, we have a truck that takes up the length of at least 1 1/2 cars, so even if we found a space, chances are it would be too short.  We rode around a bit and finally found a lot with 2 back to back spaces.  What luck!!!  We parked there, and walked over to the sign that said $10/day.  What we didn't see until we got to the sign was "Private Lot - Parking by Permit only.  All others will be towed."  Oy!  We didn't want to take the chance, so we got back in the Bull.  We were going to pull forward but discovered there was a large curb, so we had to back up out of the space into the street, which had 2 way traffic and was very narrow.  Since you know nothing ever goes smoothly for us, this time was no different.  We had a little accident.  There was a car in the street that was in his blind spot so when he was slowly backing up, he gave the car a little love tap.  There wasn't even a dent in the other car - only a few scratches on the bumper and a broken piece of plastic covering the taillight on ours.  No big deal on either vehicle.  But it was an older, foul tempered woman who said she just bought the car less than a week ago, so she was not going to let this go.  She had to call the police to report it.  An hour later, we were finally able to get back in the car after the paperwork was done.  The officer told us where we could find a day lot that would accommodate the truck, which we found and were grateful for.

We put this aggravating incident behind us, so the rest of the day was very nice.  The city, in general, is very old, with a few modern buildings thrown in.  There are no skyscrapers or skyline to see in the distance.  The houses, which run anywhere from $2 million and upwards, are very old and some of them in great need of repair as they are about 2-300 years old!

En route from the parking lot to the area where the tours began, we passed a lot of artisan type stores as well as the City Market.   The City Market is like one large craft show with high end artists and craftsmen.  Very beautiful and creative stuff, although there was nothing I needed or wanted to buy.  On the other hand, there was a lovely spice & tea shoppe.  I am a sucker for spices and tea, so of course I had to go in there and purchase a few items.

We took a horse & buggy carriage ride through the historical district and learned quite a lot about the time periods of the Revolutionary War and War Between the States (we Northerners call it the Civil War).  Pretty amazing how these horses get through the narrow streets along side the cars.  Below are a few pics of the carriages:
 

Horse drawn carriage

Another view of carriage.  That's the step stool needed to climb up into it.

View of the carriages lining the street

We finished the one hour tour at 4:00.  Not too far away (but too far for me to walk) was the Aquarium and Fort Sumter National Park (you actually need to take a ferry from the park to the actual fort).  I wanted to go there but we would have faced the same parking issue.  I think all will be fine in the future when we get our urb-e's.  Then we can park outside the city limits and use our scooters to get all over town.  It sucks to have such bad arthritis!  At least I was able to walk quite a bit today.  Not as much as I would have liked, but it was probably about a mile in total.

We left the city and stopped at a Walmart to pick up a few needed pieces of hardware to use for our washing job tomorrow.

One more photo:  the speed limit in the campground.  It is very difficult to maintain this speed exactly!

Days 84 and 85 of the Journey - Lee, FL & Charleston, SC

 Sorry - very long post.....

Tuesday - Day 84.   Although Mitch came home at 8:00 am, this still proved to be our last day in Panama City Beach.  He slept until 2:30 and really had an itch to get on the road.  He's not the type who really enjoys going out sightseeing or doing touristy things, but for some reason, he really wanted the extra day in Charleston.  We were planning on 2 days - stopping at about the halfway point to overnight and then driving the rest of the way the following day. 

Packing and hitching took 2 hours (from 3:30 to 5:30), and went fairly smoothly until it was time to hitch up the truck to the RV (or the CoW to the Bull to create the Beast).  Just to side-step a little: I needed to use a special step stool to get in and out of the Bull.  It needs to be extra wide because I need to be able to turn my body around completely so my tush is facing the seat (this way avoiding the forbidden motion of twisting).  I also need the extra width to put my cane down to give me leverage when climbing out.  Well... Mitch was extra efficient and put the stool next to my door in advance.  However, when it was time to line the hitch up to the pin, he had to move the Bull forward a few feet first.  Neither of us remembered that the stool was next to it and... you guessed it... a $70 step stool is now a totally flat piece of metal.  On the bright side, at least it didn't slash the tires!   Regarding the rest of the packing, I had a wonderful 3 page list which was extremely helpful.

Ok, we get hitched up and leave.  We were aiming for Baldwin, FL, about a 4 hr drive, but figured we'd stop whenever Mitch got tired, especially since he was driving at night.  We planned to also stop in a rest area/truck stop for dinner.  About 1.5 hrs into the trip, we started to get a little hungry.  We pulled into a Pilot.  Realize we have always parked in the car area.  Being that we are as large as a semi, we need to be in the truck area.  This was a brand new experience for us.  Mitch was not only totally intimidated by all the trucks, but the only place to park was along the edge between 2 other trucks (needing to parallel park).  Mind you, we came to this area to get driving lessons, with focus on learning to park and back up.  We are no where ready to do this.  Fortunately, there was a clear area in the car section, so Mitch took up about 10 spaces and just ran into the convenience store section and picked up some junk food (McD parfaits and 2 bags of chips.  I had 1 parfait only.  Good girl!)  That would have to hold us until we came to another place that perhaps had more parking.

Wednesday, Day 85.  He drove for another 1.5 hours.  It was now about 11:00 (10:00 if we hadn't crossed over from Central to Eastern time).  We found a Loves truck stop on Interstate I-10, in Lee, FL with 120 spaces, mostly full, but again, they were all back in spots and he didn't want to deal with all the truckers.  Fortunately, there was a large space across from the gas pumps, so we just pulled in there and set down for the night.  I was very uncomfortable and didn't get very much sleep.

We woke up at 8:00 (the alarm didn't go off) and pulled out at 8:30.  We drove until about 10:30 and found a truck stop (TA) near Jacksonville that had a Country Pride restaurant.  Again, same situation with the parking. It was almost full and all spots were back in only.  Another thing: many campgrounds are at least 18' wide.  Truck parking spots are only 12'.  Imagine us trying to back our rig up next to two huge semi tractor trailers, when we don't know how to back in!!!  Well, being hungry (didn't even have a sip of coffee or tea) Mitch decided to suck it up.  He got out of the Bull, walked over to a truck driver who had just gotten out of his rig, told him "we just bought this RV, never drove one before.  We're on our way to learn how to drive it.  Would you mind helping me park it?"  The guy got a kick out of it, but he was incredibly nice, and of course, had it parked perfectly in less than 3 minutes (he's been driving trucks since 1969).

We left the restaurant at 11:30.  The rest of the ride was uneventful except that it was incredibly bumpy.  Even with the air suspension, we were bouncing all over the place.  Unfortunately, I didn't think to pack away the new ceramic plates and cups we recently bought (they were in the plate closet).  The closet opened and one of the cups fell out and smashed on the floor.  In the scheme of things, not a great loss.  It was only $2 and is open stock at Target, so easily replaced.  But next time I have to pack away the breakables.

We finally arrived at the campground at 5:00.  First impressions - I hate this place!  The roads and sites are not paved nor do they have gravel - it's all grass and dirt.  They've had lots of rain recently so it's really all dirt and MUD.  Doesn't give me anyplace to take a walk unless I want to swish around in the mud.  Then again, I don't particularly care to go outside because of the LOVE BUGS.  Not the camp's fault.  Not only was our windshield and CoW completely covered with splattered bodies, but when you step outside, these things are swarming by the thousands.  I'm not sure what kind of bug they are exactly, but I'm told they're called love bugs because they are mating while flying.  If you take a look, it appears to be a 2 headed bug: 1 head on top and the other on the bottom.

We pretty much set up within an hour, but Mitch had a problem getting the Bull unhitched.  It was starting to rain and he was very tired and cranky.  It was difficult to level the CoW while hitched, but he decided that we'll just have to live with it being very uneven tonight and deal with it in the morning after a good night's sleep.

So plans for tomorrow is that we'll get up early, unhitch, if it's not raining set up the brush and hose and try to wash the bugs off, then head into the downtown area for some sightseeing.  We decided on a horse drawn carriage tour.  On the way back we need to stop at Walmart and Home Depot for a few things.  But you know how plans go......

Day 83 of the Journey - Panama City Beach, FL

Yesterday, we visited our beloved family, Fred & Twila (the ones who put us up and put up with us for almost 2 months before and after surgery) to say so long until we return (hopefully) in Jan. or Feb.  On the way home, we saw an awesome sunset.  There was a large thunderhead forming and some of the clouds formed a mist that made it appear that other clouds were drawn on a mural.  Unfortunately, my phone camera (which is not a smartphone) is horrible, so the photos below don't come anywhere close to capturing the beauty.  The sky was also orange, not yellow as in the picture.

We also stopped at Camping World to purchase replacement carpet for the outside steps, as one of them had a rip in it.  We installed one of the steps today and decided we really don't like it very much.  We'll need to return them and find something else a little nicer (we went for cheap).

Mitch is scheduled to work tonight.  Depending on whether he gets home in the wee hours (earlier than 3am) or after 5 will determine if we hit the road tomorrow or the following day.  He still hasn't finished troubleshooting all the connectivity problems yet, but that may take a little time.

Day 81 of the Journey (Shabbat) -Panama City Beach, FL

First, the good news... the carpet is completely dry now.  Looks like we came out of this unscathed.  Definitely counting our blessings! Below are some photos of the equipment that took up our living space:

The humidifier - in the doorway

One of the 2 fans

All 3 in the living room

It was extremely LOUD and the machines generated a lot of heat.  We mostly stayed in the bedroom with our newly fixed door closed where it was quiet and cool.  Hopefully the equipment will be removed tomorrow and we can get back to normal, whatever that is.

As for the rest of the day... we have been very hungry for a shul (synagogue) to go to.  We used to go almost every week for the past few decades, but haven't gone to services since we left NJ - mostly because there was nothing in the areas we were staying in, or due to my immobility.  We searched the internet for something in this area, and came up empty handed.  A few days ago, Mitch saw a sign for what sounded like a shul, just a few miles down the road.  It was kind of a hole in the wall place.  I looked up that name online, found some contact details and learned that they do indeed have services!   In general, we don't like to drive on the Sabbath (it's forbidden), but in this lifestyle, we need to make exceptions.  It gets lonely not to have a community to share the sabbath with, so we decided that if there's nowhere within walking distance, but within a reasonable driving distance, we'll drive there.  So we did today.

It was unfortunately not very much to my liking.  It is a sephardic synagogue.  For those who don't know, there are 2 main cultural streams of Judaism: sephardic and ashkenazi.  The former has roots in the Middle East, and the latter has roots in Eastern Europe.  Although beliefs are the same, the traditions and practices are somewhat different.  In this community, all of the congregants were Israeli.  Except for 1 or 2 times, they did not make much of an effort to converse in English, so I felt like a stranger in a strange land (at least the prayers are the same, although the tunes are different.  Glad I can read Hebrew, even though I can't speak it).  Still, it was nice to be with other Jews on Shabbat.  The only drawback is that services were 2 1/2 hours and I had a lot of trouble sitting and standing for any length of time.  I don't know how I'm going to handle the High Holiday services in 2 weeks.

When we returned home, we took a little nap and then went out to the pool with our magazines.  After a brief swim, dark clouds rolled in, as did the thunder, so we had to pack it up.  Spent the rest of the day reading and napping in the quiet, cool bedroom.

Tomorrow is the last day we can get anything major accomplished, as we hope to leave on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.  I hope Mitch can finish working on wiring the antenna.  There's a lot of drilling he needs to do inside the cabinets so we don't have all these unsightly wires and cables sticking out.  I'm hoping to take the long brush and soap and try to wash the outside of the CoW.

Oh, and one last thing...  there was this huge bug inside the light fixture over the table.  From the shadow it was casting, it looked like a dragonfly.  Mitch couldn't get it because the bulbs were hot and it would have required turning the light off -- another thing we don't do on the sabbath.  He said to wait until the evening.  Well, now the thing is no longer in the light.  I have no clue where it went.  I hope it doesn't land on me in the middle of the night!  It's a big MF!

Day 80 of the Journey - Panama City Beach, FL

Not starting out to be a good day at all.  In yesterday's post, I talked about how there was a pinhole leak in the water line to the ice maker, which was replaced.  Well, at 4:30 this morning we were awoken by the sound of gushing water.  Apparently, the hose wasn't attached properly and it popped out, causing a MAJOR FLOOD.  There was about 2" of water covering the entire floor and ALL the carpeting is completely soaked.  No clue how much damage may be underneath the carpet either.

So far, the day has been spent on the phone with the repair place (the tech came back and fixed the hose, admitting it wasn't on right; we are waiting for them to send someone to extract the water), and the insurance company.  This could be as simple as getting the place dry, or as complicated as having to remove and replace the entire floor and everything underneath it.  Watch here as the saga unfolds...

UPDATE:   At the rv repair place's expense (no questions asked), they sent a disaster recovery company to the rescue.  They used a giant vacuum and sucked up as much water as possible, and then left a giant humidifier and 2 giant fans.  (The humidifier has a water hose attached to it and helps get the water out of the flooring under the carpet).  See Day 81 for some pics on that.  End result is that we seem to be unscathed and are now happy campers.  With any luck, no further damage was done below the floor and into the insulation.

Day 79 of the Journey - Panama City Beach, FL

Repairs were made.  Rv tech came out to the campground.  Turns out the leak by the refrigerator was NOT the solonoid valve but a small hole in the water line tubing.  The refrigerator had to be pulled out somewhat to access the line; a job I'm not confident Mitch could have done by himself (yet).  He also fixed the door so it slides smoothly again.  Cost?  $100 total as it was all covered under the warranty, including the service call!!!  (if you are an RV owner and not family/friend reading this, I highly recommend Wholesale Warranties!)

Other news - had my follow up exam with the orthopedist.  She had to remind me that the reason I'm still not at 100% is that it's ONLY SIX WEEKS, which is still VERY EARLY.  It feels like it's been forever.  Three months is probably a better checkpoint and six months is even better.  Otherwise, I have made excellent progress.  I should just keep on doing what I've been doing.  Also got green light to drive, as long as I'm comfortable.  So I guess when we're ready to hitch up, I'll be ready to help.  I also may get behind the wheel for driving lessons next week as well.

Day 78 of the Journey - Panama City Beach, FL

Nothing exciting today.  Mitch had a job that he had to start at 6am, and he didn't come home until about 11am.  I had some client work to do anyway, which is good.

I enjoyed a nice swim on a beautiful day. 

The last piece of equipment came in so Mitch is busy trying to set everything up.  Lots of wires and cables and stuff, stuff, stuff, stuff all over the place (ok, deep breath - don't let the clutter get to me.  It WILL all get cleaned up when he's finished.  Just because I burn food because I need to clean up the mess instead of stirring the pot, and I put or throw things away as I go, doesn't mean everyone else works that way.)  This is all for a good cause - more reliable internet service on the road.

Last night's dinner was new and interesting.  I found a recipe for "congo tofu" which was cubed tofu mixed with chopped onions, garlic, diced tomatoes and peanut butter.  Sounds yucky but was actually quite good.  Served over a bed of quinoa.  What shall I make tonight I wonder?  Probably vegetarian burgers and a bag of Steamables.  Not in the mood to cook.

Day 77 of the Journey - Panama City Beach, FL

We started this morning with a phone call for Mitch, inviting him to work another Sonic job this coming Monday night.  Plans made in jello, right?  Fortunately, we have the wiggle room (pun intended) here.  The plans had been to leave here on Monday, stay overnight at a truck stop at the halfway point between here and Charleston, SC, and arrive at the campground on Tuesday, giving us all day Wed/Thur/Fri for exploring.  If Mitch takes this job (which he did), he would not be home until about 6am on Tuesday.  He still wants to head out on the road after a quick nap, but I'm very insistent that we don't.  For one, there are way too many details in packing up and if he's tired, some important things could be overlooked (like connecting the trailer correctly).  Not to mention how dangerous it would be to drive while tired.  The site is paid for through Thursday (it was a 1 month rental), so another day won't kill us.  I suggest he sleep as long as possible when he returns on Tuesday.  Then we can pack up as much as possible - taking it slowly - and head out early on Wed.  We wouldn't arrive at the campground until Thursday, thus doing the touristy stuff would have to wait until another time in the future, but such is life.  Work and safety come first.  The final decision is we'll PIBE (play it by ear).  There's a chance the job may end much earlier, so if he returns in the wee hours of the night and can get some sleep, we may head out on Tuesday.  We'll still lose a day of exploring, but that's perfectly fine.

Mitch spent the morning up on the roof, continuing with some of the repairs that he started a few weeks ago.

On another note, for the past few weeks Mitch has been doing extensive research on how to set up the rig for the best and most telecom coverage.  His wifi hotspot from AT&T via his cell phone works, but besides the risk of going over the data limit, it's useless to me if he's away.  The plan is free wifi at the campground as primary, his phone as secondary, a mifi device (Millenicom) as second secondary when he's not around, and a data plan for my cell as tertiary (down the road a little).  Also, in order to boost the free wifi signal and/or find signals in a wider range, a booster/antenna are needed.  Last week Mitch narrowed down all the equipment he needed and starting yesterday all the pieces started to arrive.  So today has been spent building and installing stuff.  He's still waiting for another piece, but we should have much better internet connections before we leave here next week.

Day 76 of the Journey - Panama City Beach, FL

Not a whole lot to report on today.  The thunderstorms and rain started in the middle of the night and pretty much continued all day long, with the exception of an hour here and there.  During one of those brief spurts, we went to the supermarket, planning to pick up 5 items, leaving with 5 bags of groceries!

Got 2 leads for potential new clients; we'll see how that pans out.  I could really use the work right now.  Mitch was working pretty steadily while I was in the hospital, but that seems to have faded.  Such is the life of a freelancer.

Regarding the broken solanoid, the part needed to be special ordered and should arrive on Wednesday.  I managed to convince Mitch to let them come to us rather than packing and hitching up to bring it to them.  We'll see how that goes later this week.

Otherwise, quiet day.  Made hot dogs in Pillsbury croissant dough buns and a bean/corn/tomato salad for dinner. Oops; I did mean to take a photo of it.

Day 75 of the Journey - Panama City Beach, FL

We were woken up at 4:30 this morning by some pretty loud thunder and then a warning from the weather radio.  Fortunately, it was a marine warning only.

We heard about a Farmers Market ("lots of vendors, baked goods, entertainment....") a few miles down the road (at Capt. Anderson's Marina) that's open on Sat & Sun. so we decided to check it out, especially since we need some more fruit and veggies.  What a huge disappointment!  Most likely they are very active during the summer.  Today the place was almost empty and the vendors were unimpressive.  One place did have some excellent (and high priced - $9.00) felafels (we hadn't eaten breakfast so that was our splurge) and we picked up some garden grown tomatoes, eggplant and peaches.

So far, today is partly cloudy and muggy.  Not sure if I'm going swimming again or not.  If it keeps up this way, then probably not.  Happy to stay indoors in the a/c.

Tomorrow we are hoping to get an appt. with the RV repair place.  We will need to pack up & hitch to bring it over there.  But then again, that gives us a good excuse when we return to practice backing into camp sites (and if we are unsuccessful, there are plenty of pull thru sites available now that we can use).

Day 74 of the Journey (Shabbat) -Panama City Beach, FL

Day 74??  Before I know it, the number will be in the thousands!

First the good news: I was finally ready to immerse myself in water, as the incision is now completely closed up.  We indulged by going swimming in the pool, which was more like a hot tub!  Very, very warm, just the way I like it.  Sooo delicious!  We took some magazines with us and enjoyed hanging out there for a while, reading and relaxing. I got a good workout; hope I'm not too sore later.

Then the bad news: another item for repair.  We noticed a small puddle under the refrigerator, seemingly coming from the wood on the side.  It appears the problem is a leak from the solonoid valve which is part of the refrigerator.  Mitch is trying to figure out what to do online now.  He was able to create a makeshift thing out of tin foil and a disposable glove to divert the water so it doesn't leak into the house, but this will definitely need to be repaired before we hit the road again.  With any luck, he'll find a part he can replace from Home Depot and DIY so we don't have to take it to a repair shop.

Day 69 of the Journey - Panama City Beach, FL

Today is Labor Day.  While working at the kitchen table, I was watching all the RVs pulling away.  Now, at 4:30 in the afternoon, the park is just about as empty as it was when we arrived 2 weeks ago.  I have to admit, although it appeared crowded, it was a quiet crowd.  Mostly everyone kept to themselves; no loud, drunken parties or wild kids or pets.  Still, without all the RVs in sight, it's much more scenic.

Spent the afternoon at Target.  Didn't get anything good on sale, but we needed a few household things such as a new pillow.  We ended up buying a set of nice dinnerware though.  We have a nice Melamine set, but we really need something that can survive the microwave.  Plus those plates are 12" which are too large to eat off of.  We went in looking for just 2 8" plates and landed up getting a 12 piece set.

I'm also a sucker for palm trees.  It makes me feel like I'm not "anywhere USA" but somewhere exotic.  So, the view from the Target parking lot: