Mar-Apr’07

Next project was painting the fence at the park entrance. It hadn’t been done in a few years. While we were working on other projects, Ron had been pressure washing the fence in preparation for us painting. Bob, Donna & I started on it. It soaked up the paint as it was so dry. When we got to the sign I climbed the ladder to do the top and saw that the board was eaten away by termites and rot. Gail (ranger) went and got a board and I replaced it. When I was doing that, the board just crumbled in my hand but I didn’t see any sign of the termites.

Since we were leaving the first week of Apr I started checking things on the coach. With the intermittent problems with the steps I checked them first to make sure they would go in & out. First try the linkage broke. Took it off, braced the step and ordered a new one. This is the second time the linkage broke—first time was about ’02. Not an expensive part but a pain to change.

I checked the air in the MH tires and discovered that 2 of the valve stems (both the outside duals) had been partially cut away from rubbing on the wheel cover. Kay did a lot of calling and found a place that would come to the park and change the valves under our road coverage policy (can’t think of the proper name right now). Remember these are 22.5” tires and torque on the lugnuts is over 400 lbs. Even if I wanted to tackle this myself I don’t have those kind of tools with me anymore.

Remember the damaged compartment door from a couple of years ago? Finally found a place to get the aluminum skin. Since we were getting short on time I had the place replace the skin instead of doing it myself. Now I have to paint it sometime. :>)

The Royal Lipizzan Stallions train about 50 miles from the park. Kay, Bob, Donna and I took a day and went over there.They train the horses all winter here and then take them on the road. Twice a week the let the public in for free (donations) and put on a show. These are beautiful and talented horses. In a couple of the pics you see them kicking but they are supposed to do that. They were war horses and that was a defensive measure. Another move is the “Airs Above the Ground” where all 4 legs are in the air-another defensive measure. I wasn’t able to capture a pic of it but I think there are a couple on their website (www.Hlipizzans.com). If you are ever in the Myakka City, Fl area it is worth a day to witness it. One fact I remember is that the horses are born dark colored and turn white as they get older.

Kay’s birthday was Mar 19th and for her b’day she wanted to go to Tampa Downs Horseracing track. Kay, Donna & I went over and on the second race I won over $400. I am not a racing guru—over the years whenever we went to the races it was a big joke to bet on the first gray horse of the day. So I did—a 50:1 shot, bet him across the board (win, place or show) and he came in first. I didn’t go overboard the rest of the day and came back with almost all of the winnings.

The park borrowed a stump grinder to clean up some of the mess left by the hurricane a couple of years ago. I ran the grinder. Did the front, some in the picnic area, and a lot of stumps in the new (in progress) canoe launch area. This was a rustic area that they cleared a road for and a parking area. Lots of trees came down and lots of stumps to grind. Put in a few long days as the grinder was scheduled to go to another park in a few days.

Over the years our solid surface countertop had developed cracks in the drain area. I had been searching for repair material for 2 years with no luck. For dealers only. Then on RV.NET, a forum I visit, someone was talking about repairs for these cracks. I contacted him and he sent me the material to fix the cracks. Unfortunately the color was an old one and we couldn’t match it. He sent me the material and instructions at no cost. Awesome! I took the drain apart, did some grinding on the cracks with a Dremel, cleaned the area, applied the material, waited an hour and started sanding, gradually moving to finer grit sand paper. You can definitely see the repair but it is smooth and no cracks. No cracks=no leaks.

Kay & I took a day and went to the Orlando to visit with Pat & Wilma Phillips, long time friends that had recently moved to that area from Illinois to be near their daughter and grandson. They are both retired so it was an easy decision for them. They both have had serious health problems this past year but they looked good and were feeling better.

Our friends, Rich & Diane Emond, were in the area the week before we left for Ga. B & D, K & I, went to the Elks to meet them for dinner and a lot of BSing.

First week in Apr, the 4 of us hooked up our rigs and headed for Savannah. We parked in my nephew’s driveway. He put in a slab for ours and had plenty of room in the driveway for B & D.

I’ve been working on the electric hookups but came down with bronchitis so it has been slow going. Then Kay came down with it also. So we haven’t done much this month (Apr).

Later                                                          Pictures