Everybody else was
sleeping. Works for me. Took a trip over to St.
Petersburg Beach. Beautiful white sand!Mar'02-Apr'02
We
left Leesburg and headed over to Tampa area. We stayed on McDill AFB. It is a
very nice campground, right on the bay. Bob & Donna (B&D) had left a day
earlier heading to Il by way of Gulf Shores, Al. We came to Tampa to visit with
Ron & Judy Benton. Ron was my Plt Sgt in Nam. Visited with them a few times
and Kay found an indian casino that she just had to visit a couple of times
while we were there. The campground had 2 phone hookups for the internet in
their activities building. Since I do my surfing at night I was able to have
lots of time to surf. Everybody else was
sleeping. Works for me. Took a trip over to St.
Petersburg Beach. Beautiful white sand!
Next
we went to Tallahassee to visit with Mary (Kay's sister) & her hubby, Lee.
We usually stay at the Elks lodge when we visit this area but since it was to be
for a couple of days we found a campground close to their house. Nice place but
pricey, charged per minute for checking email. That's kinda chickens**t.
Especially considering the site prices.
Next
to Savannah, Ga to help Mike & Clara (Kay's other sister) fix up their house
to sell. 
Clara's workplace is moving to
Memphis and she really did not want to go. They offered her a nice early
retirement, she took it and they are planning to move to Fl. within the next
year hopefully. We spent six weeks fixing, painting etc. We parked in their
driveway which was very convenient for what we were doing. Mike had us set up
with 50 amp elec, cable tv, phone line, & cable internet line. We used the
house for showers. We had to leave only one time to dump our tanks. One evening
our friends Rich & Diane Emond
came by for a shrimp
boil. It was good to see them again. We first met them at the RVAMERICA rally in
Harlingen, Tx 2 years ago. Again at the rally in Apache junction, Az the
following year. We also saw them in Pasco, Wa near the end of May '01. Small
world.
One
sunday Mike let us take a break :>) and he took us out on his boat. It is a
26 footer with twin 150 outboards. I had told him I wouldn't go if he went out
on the ocean. I had enough of the ocean (30 days) when I went to Nam. We hit a
typhoon outside of Japan and that cured me of any desire to hit the high seas.
Anyway we stayed on the inland waterways and it was beautiful. One place we
stayed for 2 hours. Not because it was beautiful but because Mike hit a sandbar.
Tide was going out so we were stuck until it came back in. It was amazing to
watch the tides work. Never happened back in Illinois. :>) At one point Mike
was wading in ankle deep water next to the boat. Didn't bring the camera for
"a 3 hour tour". Didn't have all the luggage that they had on
Gilligan's Island either.
B&D
called and their summer plans fell thru so they decided to join us on the trip
to Nova Scotia. They came to Savannah and we immediately put them to work. Bob
'engineered' the area between the sidewalk and house. Kay had started to put
down 'decorator bricks' in front of the house and when
Bob arrived he took one look and said "I will do it". He had shovels,
levels, tape measures etc scattered all over but when it was done it looked
great!
We
finished the house and on a saturday (which was Mike & Clara's anniversary)
we took a boat ride to Ossabaw Island. We spent the
day there and it was great! Jared (Mike
& Clara's son) brought his boat and another friend had his there also. Good
company, weather was great, water was warm, food was good, beer was cold! 
What more could you want?
Walked
down the beach and took pics of an oyster bed that
was exposed while the tide was out. Lots of jellyfish
laying on the 
beach, stranded when the tide went out. Interesting. Kay ended up
with a bad sunburn on her upper back. Still, overall it was a good day.
On monday B&D headed to Ebenezer Park in Rock Hill, SC where we would meet them the following monday. We spent the week doing maintenance and cleaning the MH. On friday we called B&D to see if any spaces were available at the campground. There was a lot of work going on at a nearby powerplant and quite a few of the workers were staying at the park. There was a 2 week limit so after the 2 weeks they had to pack up and move to another spot. Anyway Donna said that their dog, Poochie, died 2 days before. They had her for 10 years. How sad. She was a good dog and a lot of fun. We'll miss her.
Mike
spent 2 solid days working on my 'puter' trying to straighten out the things I
'took care of' this last year. I think he was cussing me but not while I was
around. 
On
monday, Apr. 29 we headed to Ebenezer. Bob had parked his truck in a 50 AMP site
to save it for us. Only one left in the park. B&D had bought another dog—Beezer—a
Shih-Tzu. 
Be careful how you say that. He is a
cutie. B&D are 'critter people' and couldn't stand not having an animal
around. My daughter drove up while we we setting up the MH. Good to see her
again. We will be in this area for a week so I will have time to visit with her
& Rob. We will also visit PJ & her family in Easley, SC.
