First Week at the RV Park

We’ve been here a week now but to me, it seems already longer. After the initial shock of adjustment to the upper 20C/80F temperatures here, with a peak of 35C/95F on Friday afternoon, it has cooled down now to more seasonal temperatures like 23C/73F for today. Actually, yesterday afternoon it was cool enough for us to pour us a cup of hot candy cane flavoured coco. Both, the cups and coco a gift from Teresa, our neighbour friend at home. Thanks again it was delicious!

We were almost finished when I remembered to take a photo

Of course it wasn’t long until we had the urge to explore what kind of stores Okeechobee had in the offering. I found all the usual grocery stores and Benno was satisfied to know that Harbor Freight, TSC, ACE and Home Depot were in a short distance of each other. As for clothing, Bealls and Marshall are across from one another but at this time of year I am not keen to visit.

Our boat has a couple of deck plates that were leaking. The only replacements are sold here at a marine store in Ft. Lauderdale but the company doesn’t ship to Canada.  So you might guess it right, Benno took that as an opportunity to drive to the manufacturer downtown and get them. Now Ft. Lauderdale is not around the corner, but it’s a doable drive of about 100 miles/160km. However, we got caught in a horrendous rain storm on I-595 right approaching the city with heavy traffic. Benno said he cannot recall ever to have driven in such a storm. Not even the biblical downpour on the South American Orinoco River matched that, which we had experienced some years ago on the boat. Comparable to driving through a carwash and the windshield wipers on fast making no difference. We went through an underpass and I heard Benno muttering “I hope the truck floats like a boat”. We had a big plash and made it through ok and later the sunshine evaporated all evidence.

For all the sailor blog readers here, you know this place, don’t you? No question about it, after getting our deck plates and looking over the merchandise in that store, we visited West Marine’s flagship store, Boat Owners Warehouse and of course Sailorman, a famous second hand boat supply store, but we didn’t buy anything.

At the doggy park

On my walks with the dogs to the doggy park and around the paved roads I have noticed something I’ve never seen before. There are palm trees throughout the park, but some of the palms are totally enveloped by roots from another tree that seemed to have been planted on purpose next to the palm tree. I presume it’s the roots of Ficus trees, but I’m not sure and I find this totally interesting. Maybe someone with knowledge can enlighten me?

The palm tree trunk in the upper middle

The palm tree trunk to the upper right

A view from afar to see another palm tree encircled 

Oh yes, we've got coconuts too!

And, I spotted this little cutie that sits forlorn waiting for sure for some TLC here in the park. 

Thanks for dropping in again. More next time.

Florida

Yesterday we arrived at the Lakeport RV Park in Moore Haven Florida. It is in the vicinity of Lake Okeechobee. 

Back home we had enjoyed some pretty nice days for December that felt more like spring time. Even some shrubs started budding out and the daffodils in my garden had already shot out of the ground. However, cold arctic air was in the forecast which made us decide to leave a day ahead of our scheduled departure. Every year before we leave the house we turn off the water supply to the house, drain the hot water tank and the pipes. It’s a bit of a pain to do on the morning of the departure day, but it got done.

We had no issues at the border to the USA or driving on the roads other than that it was cold, around -7C/19F and sometimes a bit bumpy (potholes). Our first night we stayed at a Super Walmart parking lot in Franklin, Ohio. The temps dropped to -9C/15F and our furnace in the travel trailer ran nonstop all night long.

The temps stayed mostly that cold all the next travel day and night. However, for the following night we booked a spot at the KOA Holiday RV Resort in Sweetwater, Tennessee. Our electric heater was no match for those temps and we needed the furnace again which unfortunately stopped working sometime in the early morning hours when we ran out of propane. We (Benno in his pjs) then switched over to the other full tank. Because of the cold temperatures we had not put any water in our travel trailer tanks but carried some bottled water and we used windshield fluid to flush the toilet. The shower facilities at the KOA were neat and clean.

Day three on the road we made it to the Camping World store and parking lot right on the I-75 in Valdosta, Georgia, which is a few miles from the Florida border. It still hadn’t warmed up enough to do without the furnace to keep us warm, but it didn’t have to run nonstop.

The route we took was from Detroit, Michigan all the way down the I-75 to Florida junction I-75 and I-10. The I-10 east brought us to Jacksonville and there we used the I-95 south that brought us close to the road which lead to our Florida destination on Lake Okeechobee.

So finally, yesterday in the late afternoon, just when a heavy cloud emptied its contents above us, we arrived at our site and Benno had again the fun job of hooking everything up in the rain! Today it is 28C/82F sunny and breezy and as per weather forecast will be so for the next week or more. 

If you are wondering why we left so late in the year to come down for our winter vacation, the reason was that we got to meet Elyse, the youngest member to the family at my sister's house near Toronto. My nephew, his wife and their 5 month old daughter had flown in to Toronto from Edmonton, Alberta on December 4th to show her off to family and friends. She sure is a sweet and pretty little girl.

Tomorrow we take a trip into the city of Okeechobee to purchase a new shower head hose, because ours jumped off the hook in the shower stall on route and busted a fitting. 

Thanks for dropping in and I’ll let you know how things progress here in sunny Florida.

What a relief

 Do you sometimes think you might have forgotten something? Last week after we had gotten to bed and were ready to drift off, I mentioned that the night temperature was forecasted to drop to -3C/26F. We then both remembered that we had not shut off the water supply to the outside water and power post to avoid it freezing up. So if the neighbours wondered what I was doing outside in my pjs with a flashlight, I opened the faucet so the water could reverse into a bucket. That was after Benno had crawled down into the crawlspace under the house to shut off the water to the post. 

Btw, our furnace is installed in the crawlspace and it is heated, carpeted and cozy down there. 

So we are crossing things off the to do list as we are nearing our departure date for Florida. Furnace and humidifier filters for the furnace were on the list. Our local Canadian Tire store carries the size and brands we need. It’s a great store and I think most Canadians like shopping there. 9v batteries for the smoke detector in the travel trailer as well for the outside thermometer and windshield washer fluid also landed in the shopping cart. With that done and antifreeze fluid added to the water circuit, the travel trailer is ready for me to fill it up with all that we want to take with us. It looks like we will have some mild temps next week and I will do that chore then.

Early morning on November 21st

If you’ve been watching TV you might have seen that the northern parts of Ontario got dumped with a huge amount of snow and more is predicted. Down here we had a little dusting of snow on November 21st and it lasted only until noon. So we are still enjoying the looks of green grass and dry roads. We thought the shrink-wrap guys were done for the year as we had heard nothing further and we had given up waiting. It was disappointing for sure so on Monday Benno started to duck tape up all the hatches and openings on the boat that still need work to keep any snow or rain out. In the evening we got an email that the crew would come out on Tuesday (yesterday) morning to shrink-wrap the boat. And they did! 

Yay the the guys are here to wrap the boat

They know exactly what to do first and then

All teamwork

That is a lot of shrink-wrap

One of the guys is using the torch, the other pulls the plastic

The door gets installed

All done

Well, that is a relief so now we know the boat will stay dry during the winter and hopefully beyond.  Since my last blog post Benno ran wires and installed electrical outlets in the galley. Additionally the fridge and gas cooktop were permanently hooked up. He also finished making the face frame of the galley cabinets in his garage as it got too chilly outside to cut the wood. After the install and plugging of the screw holes I put a couple of coats of varnish on them. We are using for all the trim, doors and cabinet facing the tropical Sapele, a mahogany style looking wood. Next spring we can concentrate on the walls, doors and a drawer before ordering a counter top. I’m looking forward to that.

The glue in the framing needs drying

It does get dusty in there even with the vac

Thanks for dropping in again and until next time, have a great week

So far so good

That phrase is in regard to our weather, but it is also in reference to the progress on our boat project. Today we are enjoying sunshine with 13C/55F temps. There are still some flowers hanging on in my garden and this year I have decided not to cut everything down but to provide the bugs and crawly creatures some shelter in my flower beds and habitat in the accumulated leaf litter around our property.

The boat is still uncovered, although we had booked the shrink-wrap guys at the beginning of October. There must be a lot of business for them as they have had no time for us yet. But time is running out soon. This year we have made a reservation in Lakeport (Okeechobee), Florida to stay for the winter months. It is further south than our previous stays, but will give us the opportunity to explore marine related businesses and perhaps even snoop around at some boat salvage yards and marinas. Benno has a list of items he wants to explore further, we still need a propeller and we want to drive to Miami in February for the boat show. It will be shorter drive time.

Only people with boat building experience will know how much technical stuff is involved before furniture will be made and installed. I’m so glad Benno is doing that kind of work and challenge and turned into a cabinet maker. But he tells me that he is not hot on woodwork and cabinetry is not his dream job, however I’m happy with the outcome. We are working on the galley (kitchen) and space is at a premium, so we try to make the best of it. 

The three burner propane gas cooktop will be sitting incorporated in the “Corian” countertop. The new gas line and hose are already hooked up to the new Composite Propane Tank that is stored outside in a vented locker.  Benno made a “King StarBoard” panel onto where he mounted the propane regulator, shut off solenoid, pressure manometer and it can be lifted out of the locker when the propane bottle needs refilling.  Underneath the cooktop sits the 12 Volt electrical refrigerator that is also wired up. To the left of the cooktop sits a sink that has a foldable tap inside and comes with a Shapiri cutting board to cover it up and to provide extra workspace. There is lots of room in the cabinets underneath and behind to take advantage of every possible space for me to store whatever I will figure out. Of course we will not be able to finish the galley before we leave for our winter vacation, but I’m looking already forward to next spring!

There are 2 propane lockers and each will have a tank

The left cabinet side from the fridge and stovetop

the right side of the fridge and stovetop, all work in progress

varnishing the shelfs

A view of the sink with the swivel tap raised

View of the tap lowered

photo from Wayfair of the sink with cover

So that is what happened in a nutshell. Lots of small things were going on but not worth mentioning. You may have heard about the Canadian Postal Workers strike at the moment and that is another thing we have to deal with if we want to have our mail forwarded while being away. On the positive side, Elsa and Reggie got their rabies shots and health certificates done. All I have to do now is to log onto the website for the Dog Import Form and fill it out before we cross the border. Just one more requirement no one wants or needs.

Elsa and Reggie at the veterinarian

I pray and hope we will have no frosty nights or days before we leave so Benno doesn’t have to winterize the travel trailer, as I don’t care for the taste or smell of the pink Antifreeze solution in our tanks that seems to linger for days even after flushing them with fresh water.

Before we say goodbye to Canada I will probably squeeze in another update. Thanks for dropping by!

Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians

 I hope everyone will celebrate this day healthy and happy and to say thanks for the things that they are grateful for, no matter what will be served for dinner. Over the years I have prepared several turkeys as a way of tradition for this day, but in recent years I have not. Our son is hosting a family get-together (we were invited) and a large butterball turkey will feed everyone. 

Reggy and Elsa also are wishing you a happy Thanksgiving

At this time of year many folks think, or are preparing to leave for their annual trips down south. However, with the two recent hurricanes, many vacation and RV Park destinations in Florida might not be readily available. Benno had been looking forward to visiting the annual Miami boat show in February. It’s several months off, so we’ll see if this will happen. But as he does every year, Benno did grease the wheel hub bearings of our travel trailer on the sunny and warm Thursday last week and gave the whole rig on Friday a good major wash and wax down from top to bottom. So if we wanted to, we would be ready to take off now.

But, Benno is not the one to sit idle and keeps working on our project, the refit of “Albatross” and I help as much I can do. The master bedroom (haha), our forward V- berth cabin is done now with a few minor things that are up to me. Like finishing up the covers for the mattresses and a coat of paint on the shelves under the berth. If you have never done woodwork on a boat, you will have no idea how time consuming and difficult it can be. This is to say, Benno has been busy, but it takes time to show results.  I am happy that he has moved on now to the main cabin where my galley (kitchen) and the settee (seating area) will be. 

Our boat is covered with shrink-wrap to keep the dirt, rain and snow off and out of the boat. We have a zipper door to get in, but that door which is attached to a separate piece of shrink-wrap, is getting loose. As well  the shrink-wrap has already too many patches that don’t hold together anymore. We think it will not survive another winter and strong winds, so we have booked the mobile crew that does this kind of work to come and replace the whole cover and to make a new door. Hopefully it will happen before the weather deteriorates as these guys are busy.  

What else is new? We hosted my sister and brother-in-law who live 3-1/2 driving hours away in the suburbs of Toronto. Their visits are always filled with fun and laughter and I wish they were more frequent. Sadly I learned of the passing of a cousin that not long ago I had reconnected with after we lost contact for so many years. 

I leave you now with some photos of the forward cabin that got done just recently. 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving if you celebrate it and everyone thanks for dropping in.