Sunday, May 5, 2013

Home

For some reason my blog from yesterday won't post. First I thought it was due to the campground wifi, but now I'm home and it still won't post.

Here are some interesting pieces of information I hadn't put in my blogs:

1. Gas was about $3.19 around Tampa Bay but got steadily higher as I went north. Gas was cheaper in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana than in most of Texas.

2. None of the rest stops in any of the States I went through allowed over night camping. Even when they had 24 hour security, it still said no over night parking. That is a shame.

3. What the dogs seemed to miss most, besides their regular dog food, was going into a building. We did stay at La Quinta 2 nights so the other 3 nights they headed for any door they were near. I guess they were getting stir crazy in the camper. And they were too little to jump on the bed, so they had limited floor space to roam. Of course, at home they are stuck to me like magnets although they have the whole house to roam!

4. I have never seen so many CVS and Walgreens as I did in Florida. They seemed to be on every corner. I guess they are meeting the needs of all the retires.

5. When using my GPS, it tells me my speed. But my van will show 70 mph and they GPS will say I am going 65. I wanted to go through a construction zone where they show your speed to see which was right. I went with the GPS.

6. I love traveling with the dogs. When I was gripping the wheel tightly during the high winds, and probably complaining, each dog would come up front to check on me. I would pet them on the head and say "Everything is all right ", and they would go back to their carrier. It calmed me down when they did that.

We drove about 7 hours today and I decided to just come home instead of trying to find a campground. As much as I loved the trip, the dogs and I are happy to be home! But I am already planning our next trip.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Texas

Friday, May 3, 2013

Biloxi, Mississippi

We finally got through Florida. The northern part was all tall trees and few towns, so it was much easier driving. I was getting a little low on gas so I can't remember which town we were in, but I used my GPS to find a Walmart. It sold gas and if you had a Walmart gift card, the gas was 5 cents cheaper. I bought the card and paid $3.18/gal. My MPG was about 16 1/2 and that was driving mostly against the wind. My old van only got about 12.

I did some Walmart shopping and broke down and bought a pillow, some junk food, paper goods and Dog food. I haven't been able to find their kind of food and they won't eat anything else. I finally found some Seymour will eat but Zooey is still holding out. Not that she won't eat a few chips, but no semi healthy dog food!

We quickly drove through Alabama and in to Mississippi. I love all of the water around here. Beautiful! When we got to Biloxi, it was like little Atlantic City, casinos everywhere. I am not complaining about that, but none had camp sites. I stopped at the Visitor's Center and heard about the Cajun RV park, near a casino, and off we went.

I finally set up the camper, plugged in the electric, turned on the A/C, swiveled the passenger seat toward the back and logged on to the free wifi.

Here are pics of the inside of the camper. That is Seymour and Zooey in their bed and my bed behind them. My bed became our bed during the night.




This is the front of the camper. Notice the chairs facing each other? A great lounging area.



After the dogs were fed and walked, I headed to the casino for a few hours of fun. I ordered a shrimp poboy to eat back in the camper. When I got back, the camper was dark. No lights, no A/C. Luckily it was pretty cool outside. All I had was one of those thumb sized pinch flashlights. I checked the electric connection and the fuse box (not an easy thing to find) and still no power.

I finally decided to at least eat my poboy while I contemplated my options. A shrimp poboy should never be eaten in the dark. I heard the first shrimp hit the floor almost immediately and by the time I was done, I squeezed the little light to see a family of breaded shrimp on the floor. And the dogs wanted nothing to do with them.

Back to the electrical problem. I was cussing out Meryl, my camper's new name, because I thought she done me wrong. Then, with no other options I opened a few windows to get a little breeze and tried out the bed. It's not bad. I do like the layout of this camper and how they used the minimal space so well. It's a shame I couldn't see it.

But, sometime during the night, I was awakened by a light in the camper. The electric had came on! Don't know what happened but I'm pretty sure Meryl wasn't to blame for the lack of power. Since I am now wide awake, I decided to write my blog. Besides, Seymour and Zooey have decided they like the middle of my bed best!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

End of a Long Wednesday

Well, I jumped to conclusions about the van. Yes, it is old and there are dents, patches and spots. But, it seems that the shocks are fine. Steve picked us up at LaQuinta and took me to mechanic who worked on the van. He said he looked it completely over and there are no problems. And I have driven about 250 miles today with no problem. But back to the start of the day.
Steve picked me up after getting the title from the seller and then he took me to the DMV to get a temporary plate. That took over an hour. Then back to the mechanic to put on the plate and show me a few things about how to use the van. Unfortunately, the seller didn't leave any manuals or paper work on the van and Steve or the mechanic couldn't answer all my questions. I am sure I will be googling when I get home.
Through it all, the dogs mostly stayed in the pet carrier. Zooey would run to me and squirm like crazy until I took her out of the van - and then she 'd potty. Good girl. Seymour just holds it until we stop.
We finally headed out and the GPS took me on I 19 which has stop lights at least every quarter of a mile. We were stopped for about 45 minutes due to an accident and when I tried to take a detour, it took me to a road that was flooded. I forgot to say it was raining all day. I waited until I saw a few people cross the flooded road, and then I chanced it. I was telling the dogs how much I hated driving in Florida.
After looking for different campgrounds to stay, it started getting late and I decided to stay at a hotel again. I need to stop earlier tomorrow so I can figure our how to use the camper.
Tonight we are all cozy at La Quinta in Tallahassee.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad