The week that followed Disney

Sunday January 13 through Friday January 18, 2013
Site 40, Lithia Springs Park (sort of)
Lithia, Florida

 

 *If you haven’t read the 5 Disney posts, they are a lot more fun than this one.  Start HERE and read forward.

 

I’m going from extreme daily detail last week to a 6 day summary to cover this entire week - quickly.

 

Sunday January 13

I wake up with a scratchy throat.  This is a sign I recognize as prelude to a cold.  No doubt a gift from all the happy people with whom I have shared the last 5 days.

We leave Disney World at 11 am and drive I-4 straight West to Tampa.  Then on to I-75 straight south to Lithia Springs Campground.  We spent a lot of time here during David’s induction therapy so we are very familiar with the park.  We are able to get our favorite spot, Site 40 but they only take cash for their $18 a night w/e site and we only have enough cash to pay for 5 of the 8 nights we hope to be here.

 

 

 

I love the river view out the dining room windows. I don’t think we’ve ever had another site that was right on the water like this one.  This is the Alafia River right at our doorstep.

 

 

I’m going from tons of fun last week to not so much this week.

 

Monday January 14

David has appointments at Moffitt.  We drive over for his 11:00 blood draw.  At 12:15 he talks to his doctor about how he’s been doing.  Dr. Shain asks him how he feels.  He says he feels nearly as well as he did before they told him he was sick and then gave him the therapy that made him feel terrible.

They order FIVE more immunizations in addition to his Zometa infusion.  He feels like a pin cushion.  They draw the blood from inside his left elbow.  The infusion is inside his right elbow.  Two of the vaccinations are in his right shoulder and three in his left shoulder. 

When he leaves there, he is all bandaged up.   His left shoulder is very sore tonight and tomorrow.  We are not surprised.   His comment is  “Good thing the body is self sealing against punctures unlike tires.”

We won’t know the real results of the blood tests for a week or ten days.

I start coughing. 

We stop at Whole Foods for $150 in groceries and proceed  on to my Father’s house for a number of things I have to do for him tomorrow.  

Winnona waits at Lithia Springs. 

I take advantage of free laundry to do two loads.  Do you remember those days?  Child comes to visit parents to do laundry?  Only neither of my parents are here.

 

 

Tuesday  January 15

I meet with the realtor in the morning and lower the price of my father’s house to try to get it sold. It’s been on the market since early November.  We have to do some cleaning since the folks who show it have been less than thoughtful in some cases.

I meet with one of his bankers to sign yet more papers in order to take over as trustee of his trust.

I meet with the clock specialist who packs my mother’s grandmother clock mechanism for shipping.

David gives Ruby a wash.

I meet with another banker at a different bank about getting better interest rates on my dad’s CDs

I meet with the clock shipping company and they take it away to send it to Colorado which is costing as much as the clock is worth.  But it was one of my mother’s prized possessions and the only thing other than his clothing that my father wanted to take with him when he moved into assisted living near my brother.

Finally the things I need to do here are finished.  We close up his house, turn off the water, the refrigerator, the hot water heater, close all the blinds, put the lights on the timer and fight the 5:00 traffic back to Tampa and then out of Tampa to Lithia Springs.  Forty Five Miles in total that takes nearly 2 hours.

BUT, we do stop on the way at Campbell’s Dairyland in Brandon for their Tuesday special.  A Banana Split for $3.01.  This one had 2 scoops of vanilla, one of chocolate and instead of chocolate, strawberry and pineapple sauces we had hot fudge, peanut butter and caramel.  With whipped cream, nuts and a cherry of course.  I did split this one with David. It’s the best bargain going in Brandon for sure.

 

I’m still coughing.  No fever, no chills, just tired and using hand sanitizer and wipes constantly.  David has gone back to doing the cooking in self defense.

 

I’m going from picture over kill last week to a word heavy post this week.

Wednesday  January 16

Slow morning.  I didn’t sleep well.  I don’t have much energy.  I feel better after I eat.  We get to the Tampa RV Show about noon. It’s a beautiful day.  The show is PACKED.  Why aren’t these people working??

We look at all the Winnebagos and then I have to go refuel.  We’ve brought our own lunch and find a picnic table in the shade. It’s 80 degrees. 

We look through the vendor buildings.  We talk to Thousand Trails.  Still can’t decide about that.  If we can become Florida Residents we really don’t need it since those aren’t the sorts of parks we normally stay in and the deal won’t be any better than the resident state park prices.  Florida State Parks are the kinds of places we like.  I say that because there is little to no good Boondocking in Florida.  Boondocking is my favorite way to camp. 

But Thousand Trails might help in New England if we can figure out how to manage his infusions and go there this summer.  New England was our destination after Florida last year only we never got to leave Florida.  So I’m still working on it.  If you have recommendations for great places to stay between Florida and Labrador let me know.

So we take the TT info to look at later. Right now my mind is too foggy to think clearly.   We look at alternative bike racks, we talk to the folks in Hudson about having the two bedroom windows defogged.  We look at new outdoor mats and decide we’ll just use the one we have until next year if it will  last that long. We’ll ignore the holes.  If you stop by, try to ignore them too.  I do find one I really like.  I just can’t throw something away that isn’t really trashed yet.  Hmmmm what does that say about me??

I am still coughing, still feeling fatigue unless I eat all the time.

 

Thursday January 17

We have a 10:20 appointment at Lazy Days to have those spots on the roof looked at to see if they are potential trouble.  David has a couple of other things for them to look at and advise.

We pack up Winnona and leave Lithia Springs AGAIN for the day.  We think.   Are we ever going to get to spend a day here in my favorite site??

David goes the wrong way on I-4 and is late for the appointment.  They have us down as a stay over not a wait.  This later seems prescient on their part.   They change it to wait.  We go over to Bob Evan’s because I’m hungry again and starting to fade.

After they have looked at everything, Lazy Days gives us their opinion.  Good grief!!  We agree to do half of it.  So now we are a stay over and are paying for the second night we haven’t used our site at Lithia Springs.  We have just spent the 4th day away from the lovely site.

I’m still coughing.  Still low on energy.   Luckily David hasn’t gotten it yet.

 

 

I think we’re getting a reality check for having so much easy fun last week.

 

Friday January 18

I have my worst night of not sleeping ever.  All I’m doing is coughing whether I’m lying down or sitting up.  The fact that it is as light as a sunny summer day inside the coach all night long in spite of our shades doesn’t help.  We sleep in the Lazy Days Bay where they keep every light blazing bright all night long.  If you go outside it could just as well be daytime.

 

Quite a difference in the view here and in site 40 at Lithia Springs

We leave the rig at 8:00 am.  Unfortunately we aren’t Crown Club members so there is no super lounge or pool or great food.  We have to go back to Lithia Springs and either pick up the kayaks and the bikes and the herbs left there under the assumption that we would be back last night or pay for another night that we won’t actually be there.

Once we get there we see the park is filling up rapidly.  I had no idea Dr. King’s birthday was that much of a holiday but the park staff says it is.  I never had it off when I worked at the University.

So do we pick everything up and then look for a site for Saturday and Sunday nights?  Sounds iffy.   Or do we pay again for another night just to hold the site? The folks at Lazy Days have told us we’ll be out on Saturday but we have a lot of friends who have had service done here and have stayed for days and sometimes weeks.  What to do what to do!  This will make 3 nights we’ve paid for but haven’t used.

We compromise and pay for tonight and Saturday hoping we won’t have to come back on Sunday and collect the stuff.  Joe and his lovely wife are one of two camp host couples.  He says not to worry, he’ll watch our stuff.  So we pay to stay for a site here while we stay at Lazy Days.  But have a guaranteed spot if Lazy Days is true to their word.  Think positively right??

I’m coughing and still feeling tired.  David has errands to run so I ride along and wait in the car.  My alternative is to sit in the Lazy Days lounge.  I can nap better in the car.  It’s quieter.

I snack on the lunch we’ve packed and that helps push up my energy some.  We are back at Lazy Days waiting room by 2:30pm.  David goes in to listen to one of the seminars.  It’s on software for RVers.  He says we are woefully behind for former ITers.

There are several of the programs they offer that I would like to have seen.  They don’t do them on Saturdays unfortunately.  While he’s in the seminar, I work on this blog.

At 5:00, we go back to the coach and Barry LLoyd who’s in charge of our work tells us that they will have it out tomorrow “late afternoon”.  This is beginning to sound suspicious to me.   We are now going into our 3rd day for something they first said would be a one day deal.

Next we go into the coach or try to and the steps aren’t working.  We have never had any trouble with our steps.  Never, ever.

Thankfully Barry hasn’t left for the night.  He looks under the coach, he tries this and that and…….who knows.  I go up to the driver’s seat and find the key in the auxiliary position.  They have completely drained our battery.  Am I the only one who thinks this extremely careless and at the least shortens the life of your battery?  David says “ oh it’s no worse than leaving your lights on in a parking lot”.  Who is right here?   

Barry brings out a heavy duty charger and gets the engine started.  The steps still don’t work.  He tells us to leave it run for 10 minutes in this semi enclosed area. 

Idling for 10 minutes.  Talk about putting the crap in the atmosphere.   I am not a happy camper.  Give me a heads up here on why I should not be upset.   Ultimately the steps start working again.  He’s gone by then.

Later we notice that a few things I leave on surfaces that normally never fall off when either of us is driving are on the floor.  Nothing that could break so there is no damage that we have yet discovered.  But I wonder who was driving Winnona where to cause that?  

Beginning to wonder about Lazy Days.  The last work we had done was at the factory in Forest City where they treated our coach with the same respect we give it.   Buyer Beware I guess.   Wish we were part of the Crown Club but sadly we don’t have the coach or the bucks for that.  So far, there appears to be some difference in the service between “us” and “them”.  Guess you’d expect that.  Like a 5 Star hotel and the Red Roof Inn???  :-))

 

We settle in for another sleep attempt in the All Light All Night Inn. 

 

Hopefully once we get beyond this week of chores it will be smooth sailing for a while at least.

Since we’ve returned, we sure don’t like this “real world” nearly as well as that “Magic Kingdom”.