SPRING TRAINING

Our first weekend in the belly of The Beast. A 4 hour drive, with our first fill up of gasoline. Woo Hoo 7.6 miles per gallon - wow.. I have no problem driving, hooking up and getting set up. Ron, the Bear, has no problem watching me and making the appropriate comments. So, he and the helpful neighbor are taking bets to see if I do it right, while they watch. SHEESH!

We made a reservation online and stayed at Horseshoe Creek in Bradenton on the Braden River. I can't really recommend the river, it's actually a pretty dismal and dank looking swamp, but the campground is very easy to navigate, and spotlessly clean. Lovely lady at the gate, smiling and helpful.

We had a car take us to the first game, $22.00 plus tip for an 8 mile ridc! Holy Toledo, so we drove over early the second day, and parked at the Boys and Girls Club right next to the wall of the field. Great job backing in, the parking dude didn't realize that my camera is also a mike and i can hear him. He and his "helper" were talking about how women shouldn't drive big vehicles, then finally said, "Wow, she can rally park that thing". So we went back the third day. Only cost $20 to park, instead of $50 for a car.

BTW I really snooze on baseball, yaaawnn. Bright side, Ron hated the plastic plates, so a trip to Bealls Outlet store netted four different place settings of fiesta ware, he thought we needed a bit of color!

Most amazing thing, there were two cats on leashes! Tied to the motor homes and enjoying the outdoors. Can't imagine Cici doing that, but I might try it! LOL that will be a trip!

Ron got to drive on I-4 for about half an hour, did great, until we got off and he came within 4" of hitting a guard rail - EEEEEKKK.. Oh well, guess that's why we have insurance. Woke me up, and I took over for the city ride.
Back at College Park, ready for work.

Looking forward to the trip to Rome in May. Might have to have another outing before then, we'll see.

OVERNIGHT #1

I have now spent one night in The Beast. It was miserably cold in Orlando, Florida, and damp and a really nice day to be inside and warm. The furnace works great! It is noisy and I had to turn up the sound on the 6th season of "24" when it came on, but it kept me quite comfortable.

I am thinking of "investing" in a Campfire in a Can to give us some authenticity - ain't that a real joke - at our camparoos... Every safari needs a good campfire?

They don't come cheap, and seems like everything needs another LP tank, I am going back to find if I can just put an auxiliary hose on the big tank and run the cookers, campfires, etc, off the same huge tank that is built into The Beast.

Parked at our storage facility, it is not as quiet and lonely as I had thought. Customers come in and out until the gate locks at 9 pm, then a security company does two turns each night, and on my first night the Dumpster Dumper arrived at 3 am. Lovely! The landscapers start going to work at 6 am, and I went to bed at 2 am. Hmmmm, need some sounds to cover the sounds. Have to find my wave machine.

Just scheduled our first official trip. To Bradenton for Spring Training for the Philadelphia Pirates, YUK BASEBALL. It's Ron's request, and since I am trying to get him into the whole motorhome thing, guess it would be a good start. March 6,7,8. We're on the way!

Kitting out THE BEAST

Wow, little did I know. There is a 3 hour long course in how to operate a RV, and a hot line for when you forget how to do it. And manual books that will take up all the room I had saved for a library.

Buying new stuff is always fun, and I just ordered a few top books from Amazon.com. I skipped the RV for Dummies, just can't get past the name and have never purchased and "Dummy" book. Actually I know an author of one of them, and he is truly a dummy, so they are not kidding and I am not that dumb.

For the RV everything has to be mini sized. There are very neat collapsible bowls, and I have an old set of Correll very tightly fitting dishes, but really want new jungle theme ones. Seems like I can get lots of items but not in my jaguar or leopard print.

I'll be sending photos soon, and warming up the generator.

The Birth of a Safari

Well, it's official. We are the proud owners of a 37' long Forest River Georgetown XL triple slide Recreational Vehicle.

I have wanted one for years, but Ron adamantly refused because of a nightmare trip in a tow behind tin can that belonged to his buddy in 1906, or some time a long time ago. He went to the races and hated it, so decided he was much too good for "camping".

Took me 10 years!!! But I got it, sooner or later - and well I guess the 5 years we spent aboard the condo ship "The World" doesn't really count.

I am planning to learn how to be a RV'er, write it down for others, and start with touring the USA. Ron and I have visited over 125 countries in the world, but I havent' seen the 50 states - now we go on a land safari.

I'll keep you posted, the "BEAST" as I have named her, is being outfitted with an in motion satellite for Ron's football fetish, and a washer/dryer for my convinence. Only one problem remains, where in the heck is the dishwasher??? I forgot to ask, and I don't think I saw one! EEEEEK!

Stay tuned.