Glassworks in St. Pete

Glass-making never fails to amaze me. And when it is done by a master, the results are just awesome.

A few years ago, when Jim and I were in Tampa, we visited the St. Petersburg Morean Art Center, where we saw the glassworks of Dale Chihuly. We had seen a roving Chihuly exhibit in Orlando a number of years earlier. (I purchased three posters at that exhibit. I believe they cost me $35 each. Getting them framed cost $400! But they are worth it. I love those posters.)

We learned that a new Chihuly museum opened in St. Pete, so we decided to go see it.

Although the exhibit is in a new building, I don’t think there were new pieces on display. We enjoyed seeing the exhibit again, but we were disappointed that there were no additional pieces exhibited.

St. Pete seems like a nice community. When I was growing up, I only knew of St. Pete as a retiree community; it was where Midwesterners emigrated. Jim said it was known as the place where northerners went to die;]. Today I would say, not so much. The area surrounding the museum is known as the Art District, and it seems to attract a younger crowd, with many galleries, eateries, trendy shops, and bars.

I liked St. Pete; Tampa, maybe not so much—at least during rush hour. It took us about 90 minutes to get “home,” when it should have taken half that time. I think I would like Tampa (better than Jacksonville), but I would not want to work and commute in Tampa. (I wouldn’t want to commute in Jacksonville either, but Tampa is worse.)

Until later,

Your Reluctant RoVer,

Linda

Until

Finally...

Last year at this time, Jim and I planned to go to Tampa, attend the Super RV Show, and do touristy things.

It didn't happen. First, Jim found a fuel leak and a rusted-out manifold. Those malfunctions made us cancel our trip. Then, he came down with an ear infection that required powerful antibiotics. Once he had conquered that infection, he had some other issues that needed attention. Before we knew it, a year had gone by.

But, I am happy to report that we are here in Tampa, and we have not had any (mis)adventures with the RV!

On our way here, though, we were one care behind an accident. Somehow, a pickup truck shot out through an intersection. It hit another car and went across a ditch. Jim called 911. The driver, I think, was injured. The accident may have been caused by a medical condition. Fortunately, we were not involved and we arrived safely at our destination.

Today we went to the RV show. It really is a super show. We walked until I thought my legs would fall off. Mostly, we went through the supplier areas, where we signed up for drawings for free RV stays. (We actually won a week's stay at a resort on Florida's west coast.) We did look at a number of Class B and B+ RVs.

We have been talking about downsizing. We love the size of our RV, but in reality, it is more than we need, especially since we seem to be taking shorter trips and Jim accepts that I do not want to go full-time. A Class B is like a converted van. Its advantage is that it can be used as a second car (actually gets good mileage). Its disadvantage is that it is small--less than half the space that we have now. Although Class Bs have shower baths, they are tiny and are usually wet baths, meaning that the whole bathroom becomes a shower. B+s are larger and usually have a slide. We like them, but...we don't love them. And, their cost is high.

We were on our way out of the RV show, when we saw a lineup of small Class As. This class is actually something relatively new; they are called RUVs--Recreational Utility Vehicles. They are to big Class As the same as crossover SUVs are to full-size SUVs.

We actually found one model, the Axis by Thor, we really like, and in the future we might consider buying it. It would be perfect for us. (See https://thormotorcoach.com/axis/.) Thor has another model, essentially the same, called the Vegas--sort of like the same type of care made for both Chevy and GMC. We liked the model enough to get a quote from the dealer, but his offer on our trade was insufficient for us to buy.

We have a lot left to see in this great country, and RVing is a great way to see it. We also have a lot of other things we want to do, including throwing out a fishing line from our little bass boat. The nice thing is, we don't have to do anything if we don't want to.

And right now, that is exactly what I want to do--do nothing except digest the wonderful dinner we had from a little local Haitian restaurant. The curried and fried goat (no, not vegetarian!), rice with spinach, brown rice, plantains, ox tails...of every bite was so good!

I am going to savor it now.

Until next time,

Your Reluctant RoVer,

Linda

Don't Back Into has newspaper mention!

Don't Back Into the Palm Tree! Real Life Lessons for New and Wannabe RVers has received mention in Jacksonville's Sunday Time-Union!

Based on posts to this blog, Don't Back Into the Palm Tree! is a personal "confession" of the mistakes my husband, Jim, and I have made during our first five years of RVing. But, it doesn't stop there. Rather, we provide recommendations to new and wannabe RVers on how to avoid those commonly made mistakes. The aim of the book is to make RVing an enjoyable experience--not one new owners will regret.

The book is available on Amazon.com, in both Kindle and paperback editions.

A lesson in cooling down

We live in Northeast Florida, where temperatures hover in the low 90's from the end of May through the first or second week of September. That wouldn't be so bad, except that the humidity usually matches the temperature. Fortunately (for our electric bill) Jim and I are comfortable keeping the indoor temperature at about 80 degrees. The AC takes out the humidity, and overhead fans circulate the air.

When we are in our motorhome, keeping cool is more of a challenge. The air conditioner runs almost all of the time when the outdoor temperatures escalate. Despite the laboring AC, we manage to keep cool, even when our cantankerous back AC decides to quit on us.

Not so, our engine. Last year, when we were traveling toward the midwest, we began to experience overheating. Jim would keep maintain a lower speed, to keep engine RPMs down, but when we were climbing  mountains, the engine worked hard--very hard. Once or twice we had to pull over and let the motor cool down.

I believe it was in Macon, Ga.,  that Jim did some detective work and found out that a dirty radiator might cause overheating. As best he could, he hosed down the radiator. The engine seemed to work better, but we still would occasionally experience the temperature gauge creeping up to an unsafe level.

Jim had hoped that the overheating problem would improve once he had repaired the rusted-out exhaust pipe, which was attached to the manifold. With the work on the exhaust system done, last week we took Junior out for a test drive up I95, to see if it would run cool. It did not. The overheating problem persisted whenever he went over 60 mph--and that was without towing the car.

Mr. Fixit decided to clean the radiator more thoroughly. As he was working on that, I did some research on engine overheating. Among my findings were two significant recommendations:

• Replace the thermostat every couple of years. According to the experts, their efficiency can be affected by age.
• Maintain antifreeze levels at a 50-50 (antifreeze to water) mixture--even in Florida. Too much antifreeze reduces the coolant's ability to keep the engine cool.

Well, when I read Jim this finding, he started thinking: He had been topping off coolant levels with pure antifreeze. When he checked the specific gravity of the antifreeze, it was too high (too much antifreeze)! So, he diluted the antifreeze with water. He also replaced the thermostat.

Once he had diluted the antifreeze and replaced the thermostat, it was time for another test drive. This time...success! Jim pushed the speedometer up to 75 mph. The engine never overheated. Yea!

Now as we keep our cool, so will Junior's engine.

Until next time,

Your Reluctant RoVer,

Linda

P.S. You can learn more about our (mis)adventures in Don't Back into the Palm Tree! Real Life Lessons for New and Wannabe RVers, available now as an e-book or in paperback on Amazon.

For Your Reading Pleasure...

If you look to the right of this post, you'll see what looks like a book cover...and it is!

After much procrastination and a lot of hard work, I have finally compiled the Reluctant RoVer's (mis)adventures into an e-book form. (Print book to be available soon.)

Don't Back into the Palm Tree! Real Life Lessons for New and Wannabe RVers is available in e-book (Kindle) format on Amazon.com. (You don't have to have a Kindle to read the book. You can get a Kindle app for your cell phone or any type of tablet--Android, PC, or Mac/iPad.)

We've learned a lot during the 5+ years we have been RVing. My main purpose in writing this book was to share our experiences and mistakes so that others--new and wannabe RVers--don't have to make the same mistakes. I am sure we will continue to learn as we travel throughout the country, and I will continue to blog. I hope, though that my blogs will finally be able to focus on more adventures instead of the (mis)adventures of the motorhome failing to run properly.

One of the links below the book-cover image will give you a sample of the book. The other will take you to the Amazon page, where you can purchase the book. I would appreciate your honest review of the book.

I'll keep you posted when the print edition is ready. It would make a fine gift to any of your friends you might be thinking about hitting the RV road.

Until later,

Your Reluctant RoVer,
Linda

Putting Junior Back Together

We are finally getting ready to travel!

We had planned to take a two- or three-week trip to the west coast of Florida in January, but our plans were sidelined by health issues. Jim developed an outer-ear infection, which became very severe--into a form of osteomyelitis (bacterial bone infection) of an ear bone. It was so bad that the ENT immediately sent him to an infectious disease MD, who put him on 24/7 IV injection drugs. After almost six weeks of antibiotics, the infection was cured. He is now back to normal.

At the time when the infection took hold, Jim had discovered (and fixed) a fuel-line problem in Junior. Replacing the leaking coupling was challenging because of the confining space in the engine compartment, but he got it done. However (isn't there always a "however"?), when he was fixing the fuel line, he found that the exhaust pipe attached to the manifold had rusted out. We could not travel with that known issue. He managed to get the exhaust pipe and its fittings removed and our RV-park neighbor (a welder) welded the new flange for him. But before he could put everything back together, the ear infection sidelined him.

Yesterday, he put the exhaust system back together. Yea!

We learned an important lesson from this fuel leak/exhaust-system problem: When buying an RV (new or used) examine how to get into the engine compartment.

Routine maintenance, such as checking and changing oil and transmission fluids and checking belts, is done through the engine door on the backside of a diesel-pusher RV. However, to work on the engine requires opening a  trap door to the engine compartment, usually found under the bed.

We knew where the trap door was in Junior, our 2005 Country Coach. What we did not know (until Jim had to actually work on the engine) was that to open that trap door, he had to remove the mirrored sliding closet doors, unscrew and remove the closet-door track, and prop up the bed before he could unscrew and pry up the trap door.  It is apparent that the interior designers did not collaborate with the chassis designers when this model was built.

The engine compartment is a tight fit. Jim had to crawl out onto the engine to finish putting the exhaust system together.

Crawling out of the engine compartment was in itself a challenge! Visible on the left is the propped-up bed.

If we ever buy another RV (I hope not), ease of access to the engine compartment would be on our checklist.

With the RV now put back together, where will we go? Our first trip will probably be to Florida's panhandle, where we would like to fish in the gulf, paddle our kayaks down some creeks, and do some fishing.

Soon!

Until later,

Your Reluctant RoVer,

Linda

An excellent vacation, despite the rain

November 8, 2015--This has been an excellent vacation, despite the weather (rain, rain, and more rain).

When we received the invitation to attend Webster's 90th birthday party, we decided to make a vacation out of the event. Originally, we intended to arrive at Webster's on Friday and leave on Monday morning. From there, we weren't sure where we would go...perhaps to the barrier islands, perhaps to the mountains.

We tried to find camping on the barrier islands (outer banks). All of the state parks are closed for the winter. We found some private RV parks, but their cost was prohibitive. So we canned the idea of camping on the islands.

It was then that Jim remarked that Colerain (the town of 200 in which Webster resides) is close to the Virginia border as well as the outer banks. Also, he said, that whole area was "full of history."

I'm sure I knew it at one time, but I had forgotten that North Carolina was one of the original 13 colonies. The coastal areas of North Carolina are rich in history, dating long before the Revolutionary War.

We decided to make Webster's backyard our home base and explore the coastal area and fish through day trips.

Our first stop was Edenton, a small community of less than 8,000. Sitting on the Albemarle Sound, its quaint colonial downtown stands sentry over the waterfront, complete with a number of cannons from the Revolutionary War era.

Outside of the town is the Edenton National Fish Hatchery, where shad, bass, sturgeon and other species are hatched, raised, and released in area streams and lakes. The biologists had just finished loading some fish into tanks to be transported to other locations, but one of the biologists took time to show us how the fish are hatched and raised. He also showed us some baby sturgeon. I did not realize how prehistoric they look! No scales!

We took a short hike on the 25-acre property. As we were returning to the car, the biologist started to feed the baby fish in the several ponds. Even before the food pellets hit the water, the surface teemed with thousands of fish, waiting for their meal. He said they hear the tractor and the food machine approach and wait to be fed.

From the hatchery, we drove into Edenton and found the visitors' center, which is in the Penelope Barker house, located on the waterfront. The visitors' center also serves as a small, free museum that shows off a number of items, mostly maritime-related.

A half block away from the visitors' center was the Roanoke River Lighthouse, which opened on the Roanoke River, about eight miles away from its current location, in 1866.

Roanoke River Lighthouse, Edenton, N.C.

This lighthouse is believed to be the last remaining square screw-pile lighthouse, which helped guide mariners along the North Carolina shore. The lighthouse was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1941. Finally in 1955 a private citizen purchased the lighthouse and had it moved to Edenton, to serve as a private residence. In 2007 the structure was moved to a location on the Edenton Waterfront in Colonial Park. In 2012, it was again moved to its current (permanent) location over the bay, in Edenton Bay. The interior restoration was completed in 2014.

We also drove around Edenton and looked at the historic buildings. During the summer, the town has trolley tours available for tourists.

The next day, we drove up to the coast to see Kitty Hawk and to fish. The biologist we spoke with at the hatchery had told us fishing was really good right now.

The Wright brothers had their historic first flights at Kill Devil Hills, a few miles south of the town of Kitty Hawk. A small museum houses reproductions of their first manned airplane, as well as the glider they used to learn about flying like the birds. A monument stands atop Kill Devil Hill. 

Likewise, monuments identify where the first flight took and where it landed (quite a short distance!), as well as the spots where the next three flights landed. Each flight grew progressively longer.

The first flight on December 17, 1903, lasted just a few seconds and covered 120 feet. How awesome is it that we are able to go beyond the moon in manned aircraft, just 112 years after that first humble flight.

Monument commemorating the site of the first flight of the Wright Brothers.

History and museums are interesting, but we wanted fun, too. We headed to the beach, where we lugged our fishing tackle to the shore, determined we would pull in all types of fish.

It was not to be. But we really had fun. Jim changed into shorts and waded into the surf. I tried to stay dry on the beach. The water was chilly; the sun did not come out; the mist threatened to turn into showers. But we had a great time. We also tried our hand fishing off a bridge. People were pulling them in...until we arrived. Then the wind changed, and the fish stopped biting.

Jim got soaked but had a ball surf-casting. He caught one little fish, which he threw back.

Oh, well.

We had a great time.

We finally left Webster's on Friday morning and drove down to south of Wilmington, where we hoped to do go to a kite festival and do some fishing. After calculating the time it would take to get to the kite festival, we decided to stay home. Jim wanted to be back in time to watch the FSU game; I wanted to watch IU. Alas, both teams lost heart-breakers.

After the game, we drove into Wilmington. Jim had perused a visitor's guide, which said the city of 89,000 had a river walk. We found the river walk (under construction and not appealing at night). We also discovered that Wilmington has a very vibrant after-dark downtown area on Front Street (near the river walk). Dozens of restaurants attract hundreds of patrons. We ate at a Vietnamese restaurant. We shared a Vietnamese pancake as well as a fried flounder covered with a fruity and vegetable salsa and a tasty sauce (all gluten-free). We've never had such good Vietnamese food.

Today, our plans to fish have been squelched by the weather. The temperature dropped to a high of only 58 today, with rain. I doubt we will wet a hook.

Such is life.

So what that we can't fish here? We can always fish at home. After all, Jacksonville is laced with creeks and rivers and bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, so we can take a "vacation" any time we want.

This vacation, however, has been great.

Until later,

Your Reluctant RoVer,

Linda