Back to Greenwood

A day later than planned, we made our way back to Greenwood today from Elkton. 351.4 miles, 7hrs 28 minutes door to door, 6 hrs 37 min. total driving time. Nothing to report on the drive up, had some rain showers, but all in all, very smooth travel for the trip.

We heard from the Drs. and he wants to change my medicines, so we'll get that done tomorrow. I also have an appt tomorrow with the eye doctor to take the measurements for my lens implants that will take place on September 9th.

Cooper has been sick with a respritory infection, and has a healthy cough, so he will be staying home tomorrow.

Lots of running around to do the next two weeks....

Fun at the Suns game

Chattanooga
4 8 1
Jacksonville
5 11 0

We headed up to the Jacksonville Ball Grounds at about 4:30, got some good seats in section 102 upper, 3rd base side, and watched the Suns beat Chattanooga 5-4 with a homer in the bottom of the 8th inning. It was very hot at the stadium, but we had a good time at the game.

We've decided to stay over until at least Monday morning so I can check with the Doctor about my test results before we head back on up to Greenwood at least that's the plan for now.

Got to see the shuttle launch!

One benefit to living in St Augustine, if they are going to do a night shoot of the shuttle, from my front yard, you have an absolutely awesome view! I thought I was going to oversleep, but I managed to stumble out- and looked where I thought the trail would be, and sure enough, it was almost surreal- you could see the blast off flame, then it slowly picked up speed, then you could clearly see the seperation of the big fuel tanks, and watch them fall back into the ocean, and then you watched the actual shuttle begin its flight into orbit. Just one word for it- awesome. Combination of luck and clear skies I guess, plus being in the correct flight path- All in all, got to watch it for about 4 minutes I'd say. For sure, it's something I'll remember. Gazza, we'll be sure to head down to Canaveral when you come.

A little St Augustine Culture

Tonight, Bette, the Kingstons and I headed on down to the San Marco Theatre for a performance of "Discovering Henry Flagler," a one-man performance by a fellow named Paul Jellinek. The 90 minute, two-act play narrated the life and times of Mr Henry Flagler, who is basically responsible for opening up much of Florida to the rest of the US by the introduction of his railroads and hotels. He started in St.Augustine, then later expanded to Palm Beach, Miami, and eventually all the way down to Key West. It was a very interesting play to watch, and we all learned a lot about St Augustine we didn't know. Unfortunately, just before the performance, a lady attending took a nasty fall, and cracked her head on a seat back- and twisted her ankle in the fall also. We hope she is not seriously injured- she left, we hope to be taken to the emergency room for observation. Hope she recovers! We enjoyed the foray into the local lore. Flagler was certainly an interesting fellow-

Mr Jellinek in character.

Hanging out, baseball tomorrow night at Jacksonville

We've been kind of hanging out for the last three days, sorry for not posting- just haven't been doing much worth posting- We've gone out to breakfast, lunch and dinner, done some house stuff, and tonight, we have tickets for a presentation about Henry Flagler, the fellow who sort of developed most of Florida as we know it- and tomorrow, we're going up to Jacksonville with the Kingstons to a ball game at the Jacksonville Suns. I also went to the local doctors for an introductory visit, and this morning, got all my baseline bloodwork done, and can now check that off the list. I'll establish with a cardiologist when we get back in November. We are very happy with the husband/wife team of Doctors that the Kingstons recommended, so that worry is taken care of.

Weather has been hot, humid, and today, thunderstormy. We went down to Flagler Beach to our favorite restaurant, The Golden Lion, and the girls walked the beach for a little while, then we went for ice cream.

We have an early appointment tomorrow morning with the window guy to see about replacing all of the windows, Bette is not happy with the existing ones. After that, we're going to pick up the motor home which is at Camping World St Augustine after having a new black water rinse out installed (Like we saw at Denton, TC), and then we'll load up for Sunday's return trip to Greenwood. We'll also head on up to Jacksonville in the early afternoon and putter about before game time which is at 7:05 pm. It's a free T Shirt night- first 3000 get one.

Looking forward to seeing the boys Sunday afternoon late, and then next week, we both have Dr Visits, me for the eye doctor and dentist, Bette for the neurologist for her back follow up. Then, Sept 9th, I have my other eye operated on. Then, about September 16th or 17th, we're off to Nappanee Indiana to the Gulf Stream factory to have the roof repair negotiations and repairs.

Back to Coquina Crossing, our Florida Home Base

Did about 430 miles today, from Robertsdale to Elkton, Florida. Pretty uneventful trip over on I-10. Even managed to not get caught in too much rush hour traffic in the Jacksonville loop, even though we got there at 5:15.

Did a basic unload job on the coach, Bette's got a load of laundry in, and we'll get a good nights sleep tonight. Buster is running around like a puppy in his familiar surroundings, and just took Bette for a long walk.

Dan and Kippy stopped by to say hello and show off their new wheels, a snappy little convertable. We're going to breakfast with them in the morning, so I'll get a shot of it for the blog then.

The house was in perfect order, and we'll be here until either next Sunday or Monday, and then up to Greenwood for my eye surgery.

Got an email from our Maine pal Rosemary that our other Maine Pals the Hortons had got some bad news concerning a family member. They are in our prayers tonight.

Pensacola Exploration day

Today is finally pretty much a rest and restoration day- No waiting on the coach repairs, just doing what we want to do. Think we'll cruise on over to Pensacola, which is about 25 miles or so, and take in the Museum of Naval Aviation, then stop by the Penscola Pelicans ball field- still don't think I can talk Bette into staying for the game, since it doesn't start until 6:05. May try to find some bookstores, antique stores and such also- the one promising stained glass store is closed today and tomorrow. Tomorrow, we've got a 0930 appointment for the new licence plates for the RV, then we're heading on over to Elkton.

Heading over to Styx River Resort

We met Tommy Burke and his wife this morning for a delicious breakfast, and at about 1130 started to make our way on over to Styx River Resort in Robertsdale, Alabama. It will be about a 270 mile trip. We'll stay there 2 nights, then Monday morning, we have an appointment in Pensacola for our license plate for the RV. Tomorrow, we're going over to Pensacola to visit the Air Museum, and hopefully get in a ball game, or at least stop by the park and visit. Doubt I'll be able to talk Bette into the game. After our business on Monday, we'll start heading over to Elkton, might make it in one day, but be there Wednesday for sure. Then next Monday, up to Greenwood.

Done at McClain's, 440 miles down to Lafayette La today

We woke up this morning to yet another new leak, this time caused by the machine they used to test for leaks, it broke a piece of the vent, and we had a good bit of water standing in the coach this morning from last night's rain storm. Geez..... So instead of getting the coach washed, we had to have that repaired, and it took until 11:30.

We decided to hightail it out of Denton, so we hit the trail, over to Shreveport in good time, down I-49, which gets our vote as one of the nicest drives we've been on- anyway, we thought we'd make Natchitoches, beat that, then Alexandria, beat that, and wound up 460 miles down the road all the way to Lafayette, La, which was our target for tomorrow. We plan to have breakfast now with Tommy Burke and his lovely bride, and then start heading on over towards Pensacola. We have a Monday 0930 appt. with the license plate folks.

Sorry we missed the Raffas this trip to Texas, we'll certainly catch them next time- TC, good to see you as always, and thanks for running us around and helping us out as always, and Don, great to see you.

We're in the parking lot of a Wal Mart, right off I-10.

The adventure continues.....

Well, the saga continues.

After lots of phone calls, and emails, it has now been decided that we may need up to and including a new roof on the motor home. We have been invited to take the coach back to the Gulf Stream factory at Nappanee, Indiana.

After going over our schedule for the next couple of weeks, we got an agreement to go to the factory on September 21st. Between now and then, we have to go back to Pensacola, Florida, so we can pick up our permanent tags for the coach.

We'll stop by the house in Elkton for three or four days, then head up to Greenwood in time for our series of doctor appointments for both Bette and I, and then I'll have my surgery as scheduled on 9 September. I'll have two follow up visits with the eye doctor, and then as fast as we can, we'll start heading up to Nappanee to the Gulf Stream factory to see what we can agree on to get the roof repaired. We had planned to go to Ohio about that time anyway, so it's all good. One casualty of the visit may be our 45th reunion down in Beaufort, but we'll see.

So- rock on....Looks like we'll leave Denton tomorrow morning, hit Pensacola on Monday, be in Elkton by Wednesday, then up to Greenwood on the 31st.

First in bay tomorrow again, no guarantee :-(

At about 2 this afternoon, Rick started to work on our coach again- we have been waiting now for three days for Gulf Stream to give the go-nogo on the repairs. This is even after we spoke with a Gulf Stream factory rep who happened by today, and spoke directly with the warranty dept. We have been emailing back and forth.

Rick finished up the air conditioner this afternoon, where he had to rewire a piece that he inadvertently drilled into yesterday; he got the antenna installed, but Bette isn't happy with the way we did the power source, and the antenna needs to be tuned at a CB shop. Good enough for now. Rick then got the refrigerator annual maintainence done- and we breezed through that. Fridge is in excellent working order.

At this point, we still have no roof leak repair. In frustration, I fired off a rather curt email to Gulf Stream basically demanding that they get off the dime and give us an answer one way or the other by 10 am tomorrow morning, one way or the other. At issue is about 3 to 4 hundred dollars in repairs. I'm taking the stand that the pissing match if there is one needs to be over, and either McClains or GulfStream is going to stand behind the earlier non repairs.

But, we are first in the bay again tomorrow! Hopefully, tomorrow, we get the roof repaired, an answer on the kitchen cabinets, and get the coach washed, and we can be on our way Friday morning to being done??????? Stay tuned.

First in bay, but that's all

Another frustrating day- We got our coach into the bay at about 0900, its now 1243, and nothing has progressed. Bette caught a sales rep from the GulfStream factory on the sales floor, and got him to take a look at the coach, and he took photos and got on the phone with Cindy, and I had sent an email to Cindy- I heard back from her at 1139 that they were all reviewing the problem. Nothing back yet. On the other side, I'm frustrated that the other work hasn't been started- the fridge maintainence, the antenna, nor the wash job. Looks like for sure we're going to loose a lot of today- and will now slide into tomorrow- Experince shows! I had budget five days for repairs, and it looks like I'm going to be closer to correct. In the meantime, the guys are all out to lunch, and we're sweating in the coach. Another report at 5 or so.

First in bay tomorrow-

After a zero-progress day today, we're supposed to be "first in the bay" tomorrow- per Mike. They are supposed to do the fridge annual maintainence, mount the antenna, and hopefully, we will have heard back from Gulf Stream about the leak repair. I'll check in at about noon tomorrow with an update.

Just took my blood sugar a few minutes ago, and it was down to 85, which is about the all time lowest I've ever had- that might explain the light-headedness the last couple of days. Bette went out to get me some candy bars, bless her heart. Guess I'll have to monitor it more closely the next few days-

Zero Progress today

Its 3 o'clock and so far not one thing has been done on the coach today. Mc Clains says the reason is that they have not heard back from Gulf Stream about approving the leak repair, which in turn has meant no work has been done on the refrigerator nor has the antenna been installed, So it looks like we'll lose today, unless they do some of the work this afternoon before 5, but I'm not expecting them to. Crap.

Denton, we have air conditioning!

Hooray! Today was a super day at the shop. We got the oil changed, the oil filter changed, the chassis lubed, and for the first time in two and a half weeks, we have front air conditioning! Rick still has a slight repair to do on the unit but it is in and working! Sadly, we had to pay for the new unit and to have it installed, but it is a lesson learned. Tomorrow, they are going to do the annual fridge inspection, and hopefully, start on and complete the roof repair. Rick is also going to install my CB radio, a treat for me. We also bought a new table for the living room today, that Bette got on sale, and it is terrific! It can work both as a table for me and a craft table for Bette. Love it!
It was 106 today here in Denton. I had to remember to stay hydrated.... Got a bad headache.....

Monday running around.

Started off the morning with breakfast at Cracker Barrel with TC, who had come up to McClain's to see if his coach was ready, which it was not. We dropped ours off with our list with Mike, and then headed up to Camping World to pick up the air conditioner.

While at Camping World, we got a new table for the coach, which Bette found, and also an antenna so we can finally mount the CB radio- for me! I miss talking to the truckers, although I'm sure its changed in 30 years.....

Camping World was really confused as to whether or not the air conditioner was there, (it was) and finally we convinced them after we gave them the tracking number and UPS showed it had been delivered at 0900 that morning. Thanks to TC having his jeep on hand, we were able to schlep the unit on down to McClain's, where they should be installing it sometime today, along with lots of other things on our list.

We may stay at McClain's tonight, since the Raffas probably won't be back until late- we'll see. We also managed to get to the Chevrolet dealer and have him figure out which fuse got blown when the 12 volt plugs blew a fuse the other day. Now we have the GPS in the car again. Cross that off the list.

As we speak, we are back in the customer lounge at Mc Clain's, waiting to see how far the guys get on the list today, and see if we can stay here tonight.

Sunday morning at Fort Worth.....

We got up early Sunday morning and headed on over to Ft. Worth to join up with Don Dowling, an old roommate from Newberry College days, and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast catching up with old times, really great we got to visit for a while- Don keeps a condo in town for business visits. Hope we get to see him at St Augustine some time. After breakfast, we drove over to the Stock Yards, and Billy Bob's Texas, and also even stopped by the Ft Worth Cats baseball field, but they were closed. Got a couple of pins, but not any from Billy Bob's or the ballfield, have to go back and visit them later.

Billy Bob's Texas, the world's largest honky tonk.

Don was looking really well and fit. This is his facebook photo, we stupidly forgot the camera in the car.

Planning on spending the rest of the afternoon in the coach, resting in what air conditioning we have, and watching Tiger hopefully win his next major.... Tomorrow morning, we'll be up early to tear down and get on over to Mc'Clain's to drop the coach off.

Saturday night supper with the Chownings

We had a yummy dinner Saturday late afternoon with the Chownings- Bette had steak and I had the Stroganoff- we both cleaned our plates- We'll see TC again Monday when he's going to hopefully pick up his coach at McClain's and then he's going to help us pick up our air conditioner at Camping World.

Red Sox 8- Rangers 4

Got myself invited to a Texas Ranger ball game vs the Boston Red Sox. Normally, they haven't been having many fans to the games, but tonight, it was very nearly a sell-out with about 42,000 fans present. The Rangers were leading 4-3 until the top of the ninth inning, when the Sox scored 6 times to win 8-4. This is a beautiful stadium, well laid out. Our seats were about 30 rows up behind home plate- A fellow 7 seats over from us got a ball, as well as a fellow two rows right behind me- Close, but no ball. I did get a Ranger ball and a pin and a cup for the collection.

Ball Game tonight, Texas Rangers vs Boston Red Sox

Got another comp seat to a ball game, tonight will be the Red Sox vs the Rangers at the Ball Park in Arlington. The Rangers have averaged like 15,000 fans in a ballpark that seats 45,000. Maybe with the Sox playing there will be more there, we'll see. Being picked up at 5 or 6 to head on down I-35 to the game. Think we'll pass the new Cowboy stadium also, Think we'll go visit that while we're here also- They say the tour is well worth it.