Monday, August 27, 2012

Busy 12 Days

The past twelve days have flown by. We’ve traveled about 1200 miles down to the sticks-n-bricks home in Valrico, FL and back up to our site here in Dillard, GA. Actually the trip down and back was made from Sunday, August 19, and we pulled back in up here in our Falls View site in River Vista Mountain Village Friday, the 24th at 5:30PM. It is about a 9 hour and 15 minute drive but with a gas stop and a stop to get a bite to eat and a quick walk for Kozmo, it is a 10 and 1/2 hour journey each way. I (Jeff) drove the entire way down, but on the way back I drove the first three hours, then Barbie took the wheel for 6 hours before I drove the last hour and a half.

The main reason for the trip down was that I had my regularly scheduled 6 month check-up with my doctor.  On the last blog entry, we mentioned I had done my blood work up here in Seneca, SC, 9 days before my doctor’s appointment. The appointment went well. All of the results were good, so I’m good to go for another 6 months. HOORAY! Barbie really worked hard in the four days we had there. She pulled the wild grass and weeds from our yard areas and sprayed the area with Round-Up Extended Control. That should keep the area looking ok until we return in November. She also went through cabinets in the kitchen and did a lot of “purging”. Let’s put it this way- 5 large green garbage bags were placed out for the garbage truck Tuesday and another 4 were left for the Saturday pick-up. We also attacked my “old” clothes that were on the bed in the second bedroom. We went through them and filled 4 of the large green bags with my not needed big men’s clothing and donated them to Goodwill. So we did make a dent in some work we needed to do around the house. Barbie also managed to have lunch and spent an afternoon visiting with her BFF, Linda. We didn’t buy groceries so we ate out at some of our favorites in the area, Chipoltes, Tijuana Flats, Romanos and La Septima. So we managed to get some good Mexican food, Greek food and Cuban/Spanish food while in town. We also stocked up on Dunkin Donuts coffee by getting a deal on 4 – one pound bags of our favorite coffee for $25.99. There are NO Dunkin Donuts’ stores anywhere near Dillard so we’d have to pay somewhere around $8.00 for only 12 ounces at the local Ingles Supermarket where Barbie loves to shop.

I do know TWO things that I certainly do NOT miss about the Valrico area. One, the traffic. OMG, the traffic is crazy in that area and I think it has gotten worse since we left to fulltime in our rv in June 2010. The second thing is the humidity of Florida in the summer. Geez, it was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Plus, there were the daily afternoon thundershowers. And, if Kozmo could talk, she’d give you a piece of her mind about them. Poor thing, she shook more in 4 days than she has all summer in Dillard. Then of course, the icing on the cake, a storm named Isaac was projected to head straight for Florida and for certain impact the Tampa Bay area. Since then the storm has steered further west so the Tampa Bay area was spared of the major effects of the storm. So between Isaac and the Republican National Convention coming to Tampa, we were glad to head north early Friday morning.

We did hear some tragic news the day before we left to head back to Dillard. We got a call from one of our Falls View neighbors and he informed us that one of the members of our community took his own life. Needless to say we were shocked and saddened by the news. I plan to attend the memorial service tomorrow.

We were surprised to discover that two of our winter neighbors at Rock Crusher Canyon in Crystal River were camping here at River Vista when we returned. So, we had a great visit with Lee and Mary Saturday afternoon before they moved on Sunday. We’ll see them again when they return to Rock Crusher Canyon in January.

This weekend is Labor Day weekend and the campground has a waiting list for sites. So with a full campground Big Daddy DJ hopes to have a great crowd for our “Street Dance” Saturday evening. I’ll let you know how it went and have pictures in the next post.

So, ‘til next time……

2 comments:

where's weaver said...

Wonderful news about your blood work. CONGRATULATIONS!
Doesn't it feel good to purge every so often. New clean start.
What a very busy time you had at home, but you got a ton accomplished!
So sorry for your loss. Makes it so much more tragic when someone takes his own life.
Enjoy your "Street Dance." I am sure it will be a success!

Lee and Mary said...

It was great visiting with the three of you Saturday afternoon. We really enjoyed our stay in Dillard. Too bad we didn't get to see Big Daddy DJ in action, maybe next time. We're already talking about a return trip.

The Sunday drive to Lake Hartwell via US-76 was a "piece of cake". That's a pretty good road and traffic was light. 'Here at Oconee Point till Thursday then back to NC.

Enjoy the rest of the season at River Vista! We look forward to seeing you in Crystal River.

Lee&Mary