Domestic Period

We are fulltime RVers, but we're not doing too much traveling at the moment, as I'm sure you've noticed! I'm getting my traveling fix by watching the Blogs of other RVing friends like Gundyville and Diandy. The Gundys are traveling thru Wyoming and Montana, visiting places that we've been and their blog is evoking my memories. Diane and Andy are in New Mexico, but seeing places we didn't go to. I'm making mental notes to add these places to our itinerary next time we're there. It's good to have a 'domestic' period, I guess. We're spending some time with family. It's amazing to see little AJ grow so fast. He's starting to crawl. On a daily basis, Jim is 'workcamping' in the office here at the park. That's great because it means we have no site fees. And, I need this kind of time to concentrate on learning Coldfusion. That's the web programming language that I use to make dynamic websites. It's not easy and I need focused, concentrated time to build my skills. We're also making some changes in the motorhome. We've always been envious of RVers who have pantries! We've been putting our canned goods in the space underneath the dinette bench. Lynne suggested that the linen closet next to the shower would make a good pantry. hmmmm, ok. Then, where do we put the towels? Jim mounted this nice little rack behind the toilet. We are going to take a little road trip this weekend. Susan and Jim, who attended our seminars at the FMCA convention in Georgia, invited us to come visit. They have a house with an RV 'port' in a big park in Titusville called The Great Outdoors. We're looking forward to seeing it. And, since this happens to be Mother's Day weekend, my Mom is going with us! Let this be a lesson to you. If you invite us to visit ... we do!

Fire, Smoke and Walking

There are major brush fires happening in central and western Florida right now, and the wind seems to be just right to blow all the smoke our way. Sure makes for a dramatic-looking sun. This is sunrise ... not sunset! What are we doing up early enough to see sunrise, you might ask? Well, Bill, the manager here has been walking every morning for the past year or so. He convinced Jim and me to join him. So, we're up and walking at 7am! Jim and Bill walk a 3.5 mile route. Odie and I do about half of that. I'm confident of the mileage because I used Google Earth to measure it. I used the same technique that I recorded in this video about Peace River.

Air and Sea Show

Every year around this time, the Air and Sea Show comes to town. I get a kick out of seeing these fantastic machines tearing up the skies. It's also an excuse to have a party. Our friend Glennuba used to own a condo in a high-rise on the beach. He still has friends there who invited us to share food and drink and an excellent view of the event. Thanks Scott and Carrie for your hospitality. Last year we were part of the spectator fleet, anchored off the beach. It seemed like there were fewer boats out there today, although the weather was nearly perfect. Sunday looks like another perfect day for the event. Here is the B2 Stealth bomber. Here is an A-10 pulling some G's There were several Heritage Flights. The F/A-22 Raptor can perform amazing manoevers. The Air Force Thunderbirds were the grand finale.

From airandsea07

Cell Phone update

A couple weeks ago I wrote about our cell phone bill. I got a lot of email on that, *all* in favor of sticking with Verizon. That was enough for me. The rollover minutes with Cingular/AT&T aren't enough to tip the scale. We're sticking with Verizon because the coverage and service IS better among our circle of friends and business contacts anyway - and that's what counts. I still want to reduce our monthly bill. It's silly to pay for 1400 minutes/month when we only use 4-800. Unfortunately, the next step down is 700. I wish they had a 900 plan, that would be perfect. They did offer me a 'promotion' of 1500 'bonus' minutes. That should work pretty well. So, I switched to 700 minutes/month and re-upped for another year contract. If we go over 700, we'll dip into the 1500 bonus minutes rather than going over the contract. That will give us enough leeway to make it work.

Hooray for Fort Lauderdale!

The north end of Fort Lauderdale beach will remain open to kayakers, surfers, fishermen and divers. Whew! We're so glad. Thank you Mayor Jim and City Council!