SO GREAT HANGIING OUT WITH AUNTY JEAN THESE PAST COUPLE DAYS

‘SPEEDIY GONZALEZ’ (AKA AUNT JEAN) ROCKETS US THROUGH SARASOTA’S HEAVY TRAFFIC……I THINK WE WERE DOING ABOUT 85 MPH HERE DOWN A DEAD END STREET:))

The last time we had seen Aunt Jean was in April 2013 when she had flown from Florida to Canada for her brother, my Uncle Harry’s funeral.  Jean and I talk weekly by phone now and how great it was to finally see her again in person early Sunday afternoon when she drove out to our location.  Big happy hugs all round and I can tell you Aunt Jean is the number 1 reason we are here.  Lots for us to talk about and discuss over the coming days as we plan to do a lot of hanging out at Jeans:))

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Luckily it’s not too far a drive from our Fruitville Road area location to Jean’s condo so we followed her back in the Jeep about 20 minutes away.  How nice to be in a sticks and bricks house again.  Jean  has a real nice cozy little place.  Pheebe was right at home.

AUNT JEAN’S DIGS

Jean took us out for supper at Miller's Ale House and I was so glad she drove.  She is quite the little speed ball as she whips around through Sarasota’s traffic mosh in her sporty little 07 Toyota Camry.  I think maybe I get some of my driving skills and long distance tendencies from her.  It’s kinda in our family.  Miller’s Ale House is a kind of a sports bar and I’ve never seen so many HUGE flat screen TV’s ringed around a big open room like that before.  Of course I’m like a little kid in a candy store looking around at all the great dancing colors on the big screens.  Miller’s Ale House is a very popular eating place in Sarasota and Jean said during the winter season people are lined up outside to get in.  Kelly had some of those ocean grown Shrimpy things while Jean and I had ourselves a mess of BBQ’d ribs which I just loved.  Of course I had mashed potatoes and gravy with mine which was also excellent.  When all else fails in life just give me a big smash of mashed potatoes and gravy.

From the Ale House it was back to Jean’s where I continued working on a couple loads of laundry.  With this Florida humidity my oily skin sweats a lot so I generate a lot of laundry. It was slightly after dark when we said goodnight and headed back to our campsite in Sarasota’s north end.  Had some power issues with the coach when we got back which caused us some stress for awhile but at least the night air was thankfully cooling down and we were able to resolve the issue.  And that catches me up for Monday.

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Had some running around to do this morning so Pheebs, Kelly and I were off first stopping at an RV store to check out a couple electrical things.  From there it was Wal-mart and after that Kelly slipped into a store called Burlington Factory.  On all these stops I stayed in the Jeep with Pheebs because it was just too hot and humid to leave a dog in a vehicle by itself.  A couple burgs at Culvers.  It was about the burger stop that the Sarasota traffic finally wore me down causing me to have myself a little melt-down.  Not pretty.  ‘

SURE DOESN’T LOOK LIKE THE HULLET MARSH

Took our Walmart groceries home then turned right around headed for Jean’s place.  I just couldn’t believe the traffic and it’s not even the busy season yet.  We landed at Jean’s shortly after 1 and spent a relaxing afternoon looking at some old Tavistock home town photos on my computer.  Soon as we come in Jean turns on the A/C for us then slips into a warm sweater, mitts, ear muffs, wooly socks and a big furry warm hat.  Well Okay, the sweater part is true.  I think I dozed off in one of her comfy chairs a couple times.

ONE OF AUNT JEAN’S CUTE LITTLE NEIGHBORS

Kelly had liked the looks of our ribs Sunday night at Miller’s Ale House so it was decided to head back to the Ale House again for their Monday night rib special.  We all piled into the Toyota and ‘Speedy Gonzales’ whipped us around through the traffic again and minutes later we were seated inside Miller’s Ale House.  Kelly and I had the special while Jean scared up some chicken wedges.  When our order came my eyes widened like a couple saucers when I saw the size of the ribs.  The rack of ribs on my plate was well over a foot long.  I hadn’t seen so many spare ribs in one place like that before.  Guess it shows I really don’t get out much.  I proceeded to hurt myself when I promptly fell into the trap of overeating.  Had stomach cramps for the rest of the night and  you would think after having been so sick last week I would know better.  Nope:((

MILLERS ALE HOUSE

BY GOLLY I CAN TELL SOMEBODY IS PRETTY HUNGRY AND ANXIOUS TO GET INSIDE

“OPEN UP OR I’LL HUFF AND I’LL PUFF AND BLOW THE DOOR DOWN”!!!!

“HEY, I THINK THEY FORGOT MY BROCCLI STICKS”!!!!

Jean safely rocketed us back through the heavy traffic and again it was only minutes before we were again at her place.  It was going on 7 o’clock so we gathered up our stuff, loaded Pheebs into the Jeep, said goodnight to Jean and blasted ourselves north up I-75 back to the rig.  So nice to get back to our little traffic free sanctuary east out Fruitville Road and so glad to be out of the bumper-car road race.

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I’ve decided to give up my sleeping pills.  They don’t seem to work anymore and lately I have been waking up with bad headaches.  I’m also wondering if they could have been contributing to my currently weakened medical condition.  My day started at 3 a.m. so I guess I had just better get myself used to much longer days from here on in.

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Not feeling well all day Sunday I didn’t have enough energy left Sunday night to finish the post I had started earlier in the day so had to keep it short.  Aside from a few photos in the cooler morning air I didn’t get any of Jean, her place, or our supper at the Ale House Sunday so I tried to make up for a bit of that today.

JEAN HAS AN ONGOING BATTLE TRYING TO KEEP THESE LITTLE GECKOS FROM SLIPPING INTO HER HOUSE

GROANER’S CORNER:(( For his final project in a statistics class, a student decided to conduct a survey. He chose to find out peoples' favorite pastimes. The teacher required that he sample at least 100 people, so he started out his project visiting a fairly large apartment building near the university.  He knocked on the first door and a man answered.  "Sir, what is your name?" asked the student. "John." "Sir, I'm doing a school study and would like to know what is your favorite pastime?"
"Watching bubbles in the bath," came the reply.
He liked the esoterical answer and continued down the hall, until he came to the next door.
He asked again, "Sir, what is your name ?" "Jeff."
"Sir, Would you please tell me your favorite pastime?"  "Watching bubbles in a bath," was the answer.
Quite amused and confused, he went on to ask a good number of people in the building and all of them had the same pastime..."watching bubbles in a bath". He left the building and walked across the street where there were several row houses, to continue the survey.  At the first house, he knocks and an attractive girl opens the door.
Our surveyor starts again - "What is your name?"
"Bubbles."

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When the waitress in a New York City restaurant brought him the soup du jour, the Englishman was a bit dismayed. "Good heavens," he said, "what is this?" "Why, it's bean soup," she replied. "I don't care what it has been," he sputtered. "What is it now?"

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- He who laughs last thinks slowest.
- Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
- The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
- I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol.
- Support bacteria. They're the only culture some people have.
- Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7 of your week.
- Get a new car for your spouse. It'll be a great trade!

GREAT AFTERNOON WITH AUNT JEAN WHICH I WILL TRY TO GET CAUGHT UP WITH IN MONDAY’S POST

Only the soft ticking from our 2 battery operated clocks could I hear in the silent night air.  Big change from our past week’s noisy nights.  Our 2 clocks hang at each end of our large living room slide.  From where I sit facing forward I can see the clock towards the front of the coach and from where Kelly sits she can the clock on the wall behind me as she looks towards the back of the coach.  They’re sound is like a couple of slow ticking staggered metronomes.  Annoying to some perhaps but soothing to me.  I did hear one odd sound in the night though which I figure maybe was a cross between a multi winged Rhinosaucerous and a rare flying sloped back Elephantogemy.  They do have some exotically different creatures here in Florida than we do in Ontario you know.

At the first hint of sunrise we were serenaded by the sweetest sounding little song bird somewhere outside our door.  Noticed some wading birds down by the pond which I am guessing might be Egrets or Ibisis.

BEGINNING TO LOOK A LITTLE HALLOWEENY OUTSIDE OUR DOOR

We tried to keep our morning low key but the coach needed cleaning and re-organizing so we busied ourselves with that.  Also tried setting up our satellite dish but didn’t have any luck getting anything to work.  Don’t ask me about the humidity and I won’t grind on you with my whining.

LOOKING A BIT LIKE A FLORIDA SWAMP AROUND HERE ALRIGHT

I wrote the above 3 paragraphs late this morning but am just not feeling well enough tonight to finish my post.  Just know we had a great time with Aunt Jean today and I’ll try to get today’s happenings caught up tomorrow…………. 

GROANER’S CORNER:)) Bumper Stickers::

- Hard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off - now.
- I won't rise to the occasion, but I'll slide over to it.
- Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy.
- Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.
- I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.
- Where there's a will, I want to be in it.
- Okay, who put a "stop payment" on my reality check?
- Few women admit their age. Few men act theirs.

ADEL GEORGIA TO SARASOTA FLORIDA……SOOOOOOOO GRRRREAT TO ‘FINALLY’ REACH OUR DESTINATION:))

HOW ‘GRRRRRREAT’ TO FINALLY REACH OUR FLORIDA DESTINATION

Knew right from the moment I woke up this morning that I was feeling better and had at last turned a corner.  So much so that for the first time in a week I was able to pop right out of my recliner and take Pheebs outside for her morning constitutional.  My day just kept getting better from there.

MORNING SNUGGLES HEADING SOUTH ON I-75

Nestled in amongst a sea of big trucks we spent the night just fine.  A bit noisy but at least it was a steady noise.  No jarring car horns going off or local young guys in their pick-up trucks storming around revving up their big rumbling custom muffler systems etc.  We were on the road by 8:15 with lite traffic but of course being I-75 it didn’t take long to ramp up.

HOLY SMOKES THEY THEY HAVE COWS IN FLORIDA

Fuel stop at a Flying J and minutes later we crossed the Florida State line.  It was 9:45.  Still feeling good we pushed on through to Sarasota stopping only once at a rest area where Kelly rustled us up some scrambled eggs.

HEAD US A MESS OF SCRAMBLED EGGS AT THIS REST AREA

PHEEBS IS SO HAPPY TO GET OUT OF THE RIG AT EACH STOP

Heavy traffic is nothing new to me because I used to work in the miserable stuff years ago driving for the Stratford Airporter running the Kitchener/Toronto corridor of the 401.  I avoid traffic now but sometimes there’s no going around it so I have no choice but to deal with it using all my old driving skills again.  As traffic thickened up especially around Tampa it made me very thankful I packed in my Airports job when I did over 16 years ago.  A lot of 4 wheel Kamikaze pilots down here mixed in with a healthy bunch of Road Rambos!!

TRAFFIC TIE UP BUT WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH WORSE HAD IT BEEN A WEEK DAY

AND TO THINK I USED TO DRIVE IN THIS KIND OF STUFF DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY YEARS AGO

CRAZY-CRAZY-CRAZY

Scenery wise it is not the most exciting countryside along I-75 but I’m sure if I were to get myself off onto some back roads I could probably rustle me up some nice scenics.  But it was no back roads for us today as we interstated it all the way to Fruitville road in Sarasota.  What a relief it was to finally exit I-75 and land ourselves only minutes from our destination.  Found a parking lot area and un-hooked the Jeep knowing where we were going was a bit of a sharp turn into a narrow driveway.  I had scouted it out on Google Earth about a month ago. 

BEST SCENERY WE SAW ALL DAY JUST NORTH OF SARASOTA

WE GOT OFF AT THE SECOND EXIT

Aunt Jean’s good friends JoAnn and Dave have a spacious property in Sarasota’s north end and had told Jean to have us come park at their place.  Kelly phoned ahead and when I made the turn into the driveway the electronic gate magically opened and in we went moving ahead up a winding cement driveway.  Beginning to look a bit like ‘Gone With The Wind’s Tara here.

ROLLING INTO JOANNE AND DAVE’S PLACE

I COULD HEAR LITTLE ELMO GIGGLING ALL THE WAY UP THE DRIVEWAY

It was JoAnne we first met as she came out of the house followed closely by Dave in his car coming up the driveway behind us.  He already had a place for us to park and I followed him as he walked around the south side of their large shed/garage/barn.  With a bit of wiggling and finigalling and excellent parking directions from Dave I was soon backed into just about as nice a completely private RV spot one could imagine.  And to think here it is right in Sarasota Florida.  Water, electric, and sewer hook-ups too. 

Well we soon knew why Aunt Jean had spoken so highly of Dave and JoAnne.  Genuinely sincere down to earth folks who recently bought this country like property for it’s peace and serenity away from the maddening crowds.  They built themselves a new house right beside a nice pond.  We’ll be seeing more of JoAnne and Dave over the coming week.

PRETTY DARN NICE SIDE YARD HERE FOR US:))

Although tired and hot I was able to get everything set up just fine.  Would have had trouble doing that just a few short days ago.  Pheebe is so happy she’s been racing around and around on the grass like a little puppy dog.  She is just so happy to be out of the Motorhome.  And she even met a new friend.  Lulu is JoAnne and Dave’s sweet little dog.

I can’t even begin to tell you all how great it is tonight sitting here in this beautiful setting without the single sound of anything even remotely resembling human noise.  And ohhhhhh how nice to know we do not have to be up in the morning battlling our way through reams of unending interstate traffic again.  I’m tired, I feel worn out and fatigued but ohhhhh how nice to be here and on the other side of my medical malaise that plagued me every mile of the way from Spencerport NY.

PHEEBS IS HAVING AN ABSOLUTE BLAST HERE:))

Talked to Aunt Jean and she has decided to come over Sunday after lunch.  Jean understood we needed a short bit of time to simply wind ourselves down from our long arduous journey.  By noon tomorrow we will be well on the way to becoming our usual old selves again.  Well maybe not Pheebe though as I expect she will still be racing around in widening circles about 300 miles an hour with just the happiest little face she’s ever had on……………. Gute Nacht und Schlaf gut.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A blonde goes to the local restaurant, buys a small drink for herself, and sits down to drink it. She notices a peel-off prize sticker on the side of her cup while she is drinking. After pulling off the tab, she begins screaming, "I won a motor home! I won a motor home!" The waitress runs over and argues, "That's impossible. The biggest prize given away was a stero system!" The blonde replies, "No. I won a motor home!" By this time, the manager makes his way over to the table, and he too argues, "You couldn't possibly have won a motor home because we didn't have that as one of our prizes." Again the blonde says, "There is no mistake! I won a motor home!"  The blonde hands the prize ticket to the manager and he reads, "WIN A BAGEL."

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Q. Why are married women heavier than single women?
A. Single women come home, see what's in the fridge and go to bed. Married women come home, see what's in bed and go to the fridge.

THOMSON GEORGIA TO ADEL GEORGIA----A NICE BACKROAD GEORGIA DRIVE AND FEELING A BIT BETTER BUT OHHHHH SO TIRED

YEP SURE LOOKS LIKE WE’RE A-GETTIN US A LITTLE FURTHER SOUTH ALRIGHT

Rough night but as morning wore on my day improved.  Took longer than usual for me to get myself together and I was feeling poorly right up to the time I finally slipped into my driver’s seat.  It was 8:50 before we were moving and I again was amazed at how I instantly felt so much better soon as I had something to focus on other than how badly I was feeling.  I do have a theory about that.

Another gorgeous morning as we made our way from Thomson Georgia the few miles back to I-20 and headed west.  Surprised again at the light traffic so relished every mile because I knew when we reached I-75 later there would be no such thing as light traffic.  Again it was long rolling hills we drove through bordered by forests on both sides of the road with many of the trees being tall pines.

Not wanting to get anywhere near Atlanta we picked up highway 129 heading on down to Macon.  A combination of 2,3, and 4 lanes this road turned out to be a nice scenic drive and I felt at home on it.  Winding it’s way through a combination of farm land and forest we got to see some cows, old barns, big round bales of hay, a silo and some old pieces of farm machinery.   The road twisted and turned as early morning shadows crossed it’s path in front of us.  How nice to be off the interstates for a awhile.

Coming to the small town of Gray we pulled into a small mall and shut things down for a leg stretch and a much needed short rest.  Only 13 miles away lay the outskirts of Macon Georgia where we would climb ourselves aboard I-75.  This would be the last stretch of peaceful road we would be seeing for a long time and I thought to myself I bet we won’t see anything like this again until we are well west of the Mississippi River in a week or two.

A VERY RARE BREAK IN TRAFFIC SOUTH OF MACON GEORGIA

I-75 was busy as expected and I couldn’t help but remember back to the first time I had ever driven this section of road.  It was over 52 years ago in the summer of 1964 that I and another fella came blasting through here in my 1961 Volkswagen Beetle.  We was headed for Florida we was.  And by golly we even made it too.

FOUND 4 RECENTLY TAKEN PHEEBS PHOTOS IN MY OLDER CANON POINT AND SHOOT………..ASLEEP ON THE COUCH

WAKING UP

A BIG DOGGY STRETCH

AND……….BACK TO SLEEP:))

By 2 o’clock I knew I needed to call it a day so Kelly began looking up some spots ahead.  We sometimes use County Parks and out of the way places but today I was too tired to go looking for a spot and after repeated Walmart overnighters I just wanted to get off the road and shut things down.  So that’s what we did.  Found us a nice rest area complete with some shade and threw out the anchor.

So nice to not have to use the furnace at night now.  With cool comfortable morning temps the only time the heat has bothered us is late afternoon and we took care of that today using our coaches living room A/C for the first time since buying the Big EEE a couple years ago.  It worked great and I don’t know why we didn’t think of that Thursday afternoon while sweltering in the coach at Thomson’s Walmart.  When one does not continuously use something on a regular basis it is so easy to forget one even has stuff at times.

OUR OVERNIGHTER SPOT

With a bit of luck we are hoping to reach Sarasota sometime Saturday.  At the moment we are near a little place called Adel which is about 40 miles north of Valdosta Georgia.  Well at least that’s where we think we are………………………….

GROANER’S CORNER:)) Eight-year-old Sally brought her report card home from school. Her marks were good...mostly A's and a couple of B's.  However, her teacher had written across the bottom: "Sally is a smart little girl, but she has one fault. She talks too much in school. I have an idea I am going to try, which I think may break her of the habit."  Sally's dad signed her report card, putting a note on the back: "Please let me know if your idea works on Sally because I would like to try it out on her mother."

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Answering machine message done to"Camptown Races":
I can't come to the telephone; doo-dah, doo-dah.
Leave your message when you hear the tone; oh, de doo-dah day.
Might be gone all night... Might be gone all day...
So leave a message when you hear the tone.
I'll call you back someday...

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"So tell me, Mrs. Smith," asked the interviewer, "have you any other skills you think might be worth mentioning?" "Actually, yes," said the applicant modestly. "Last year I had two short stories published in national magazines, and I finished my novel."  "Very impressive," he commented, "but I was thinking of skills you could apply during office hours." Mrs. Smith explained brightly, "Oh, that was during office hours."

ELKIN NC TO THOMSON GEORGIA……A GREAT DRIVING DAY BUT IT’S ALREADY TOO WARM FOR US:((

THOMSON GEORGIA
Not one of our quieter Walmart overnighters with traffic whooshing by not far away but it was what it was.  My main malaise this morning was simply a poor night’s sleep.  We were up and on the road under cloudy skies at 8:15 and with a quick fuel stop we were soon southbound on I-77
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Turned out to be a great driving day.  Traffic down to Charlotte NC was surprisingly light.  Good roads, super scenery and everything went off without a hitch.  Couldn’t believe how good I was feeling compared to Wednesdays later afternoon and early evening.  Figured I had better take advantage of that so we kept the hammer down and put some miles behind us.  If I’d had any hayseeds or back roads country dust left in my ears Charlotte’s morning traffic quickly took care of that and blew it all out this morning.  Not many photos today.  Just sat back and enjoyed the scenery.  Especially liked the long sweeping hills between Columbia SC and Augusta Georgia.  Big white puffy clouds stacked atop each other against a blue sky made it a nice day.  And then there was the heat:((
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Kelly especially likes Cracker Barrels daily $5.99 specials so when she spotted a Cracker Barrel sign ahead there was no stopping us from heading on in.  I wasn’t particularly hungry but when I saw the special was Turkey with mashed potatoes & gravy with biscuits and dressing I knew I couldn’t resist.  Ohhhh so good but I did forego the biscuits.  Kelly likes to blast around in the gift shop but just as soon as I have dribbled the last morsel of food down the front of my shirt I am always up from the table and quickly back to the rig with a little treat for Pheebs.  No gift shop browsing for this old Scrooge.

CRACKER BARREL IN AUGUSTA GEORGIA
Sorry we didn’t get into your neck of the woods Jenny J but maybe it’s just as well.  With not knowing for sure if this is a strain of the flu I have I certainly did not want to pass it on to others.  Kelly has handled all the people contacts this trip and I have kept myself mainly confined to the rig except for a walk through Walmart Wednesday night where I was careful not to make any contact with the local Walmartians.  If anyone spoke to me I just tweaked my ears and blinked by eyes twice holding three of my my little fingers upside down with a backwards sweeping motion.  Would you believe I actually made contact!!
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Sitting here typing this I have my little green fan blowing warm air on me.  So far so so good, still tolerable.  Sure beats the cold winter air back home in Bayfield.  Snowing in Cambridge today.
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Okay, better get me some corrections going here.  First, Gene S in part said “you turned south at the intersection of I-81 and I-77, not I-80”.  In Wednesday’s post I said we were north of Stateside and that should have read Statesville.  Chris the Jeep Guy in part said, “I thought the Mass Air Flow Sensor is what was causing your problems”.  I had mis-identified it as an 02 sensor.
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There is a chance we may reach Sarasota late Saturday sometime but no promises.  Boy oh boy this sure has been a bit of an ordeal since leaving Spencerport NY last Saturday.  For sure I am going to need some quiet time to de-stress for a bit when we get there.

MIGHT BE THE SAVANNAH RIVER
In the morning I think we’ll stay on 77 then pick up highway 129 and make tracks for Macon Ga. where we’ll hop aboard I-75 and smoke it down to Florida.  Thanks to a reader for that suggestion.  The highway that is not the smokin part.
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And here’s a very first ever very unofficial political poll from the Bayfield Bunch on the road.  Since crossing into the United States a week ago we have traveled through the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia and have noted the usual political candidate support signs stuck in people’s lawns.  So far the Trump support signs are outnumbering the Clinton support signs ‘about’ 100 to 5.  And about this unofficial poll of ours I have no comment!!

GROANER’S CORNER:(( After the revival had concluded, the three pastors were discussing the results with one another.  The Methodist minister said, "The revival worked out great for us! We gained 4 new families."  The Baptist preacher said, "We did better than that! We gained 6 new families."  The Presbyterian pastor said, "Well, we did even better than that! We got rid of our 10 biggest trouble makers!"
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About a month ago, a man in Amsterdam felt that he needed to confess, so he went to his priest, "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. During WWII I hid a refugee in my attic."  "Well," answered the priest, "that's not a sin."' "But I made him agree to pay me 200 Euros for every week he stayed." "I admit that wasn't good, but you did it for a good cause."  "Oh, thank you, Father; that eases my mind." He paused for a moment and then said, "I have one more question..." "What is that, my son?" "Do I have to tell him the war is over?"