Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Florida Jan 2008
Trip to Florida
Jan 2008
Road trips are supposed to be fun. Our first stop was to pick up our canoe trailer which had been in storage most of the year. While looking for our trailer tags, we discovered that we had been driving our RV on expired tags since last April! In addition, the tail light for the trailer didn’t work, so we stopped before dark in Petersburg VA. We didn’t want to draw attention to our illegal ways. We resolved the problem with the tags that night, but couldn’t get the tail light to work.
The next day as we were driving down the interstate, the tow arm weld on the trailer failed (3/4 break) causing my new, never been in the water canoe to take a nose dive into the concrete paving at 60 mph, fortunately we discovered this damage at a rest stop. We unloaded the trailer and got it to a muffler shop in Rocky Mount NC which was able to re-weld the tow arm. We were back on the road within 2 hours. The canoe damage was minor. I was still on tract to get to the hotel in Walterboro SC in time to watch the Redskins Play Off game.
We were only 16 miles from the hotel when the right trailer wheel locked up, shredded the tire and destroyed the spoke wheel. Our attempt to change the tire in the dark failed so we called road service. A couple hours later we were back on the road, but I missed the game.
We did make it to Kissimmee as scheduled and checked into a timeshare for the week. Our priority was to get the trailer light fixed and to get a spare tire. The RV had developed an annoying squeal which we also wanted to get checked out. Hopefully these problems will be resolved next month.
In addition to doing hikes in the area, we went to EPCOT which now had more rides and entertainment than when we visited previously. When we were in NYC in 2004, we considered going to a new show called Blue Man Group. But we couldn’t see paying New York prices to see a bunch of men with blue paint on their face! Being wiser now we did see the show and it was highly entertaining; an eclectic mix of music, art and comedy.
We flew back to Baltimore, for Pat’s mother funeral. When we returned to FL a week later, we stayed at a county park that was overrun with sandhill cranes and wild turkeys. We did hiking and biking in Highland Hammock SP and then spent 4 days at Myakka River SP. Myakka is an amazing place to see wildlife. A few weeks before we arrived, a cold spell killed many of the Tilapia in the shallow lake. This brought thousands of black and turkey vultures in to feast on the fish lining the shore. When we arrived there were still hundreds of vultures awaiting their next meal and thousands of fish skeletons. Dozens of alligators headed for deeper water when we canoed along the Upper Myakka lake shoreline. In the brush, we crossed paths with many feral pigs.
No need to spend $100s of dollars for a day of entertainment in central FL. West of Tampa you can attend Pinellas Co. Heritage Village, Botanical Gardens and a Sculpture Gardens all for free!
Jan 2008
Road trips are supposed to be fun. Our first stop was to pick up our canoe trailer which had been in storage most of the year. While looking for our trailer tags, we discovered that we had been driving our RV on expired tags since last April! In addition, the tail light for the trailer didn’t work, so we stopped before dark in Petersburg VA. We didn’t want to draw attention to our illegal ways. We resolved the problem with the tags that night, but couldn’t get the tail light to work.
The next day as we were driving down the interstate, the tow arm weld on the trailer failed (3/4 break) causing my new, never been in the water canoe to take a nose dive into the concrete paving at 60 mph, fortunately we discovered this damage at a rest stop. We unloaded the trailer and got it to a muffler shop in Rocky Mount NC which was able to re-weld the tow arm. We were back on the road within 2 hours. The canoe damage was minor. I was still on tract to get to the hotel in Walterboro SC in time to watch the Redskins Play Off game.
We were only 16 miles from the hotel when the right trailer wheel locked up, shredded the tire and destroyed the spoke wheel. Our attempt to change the tire in the dark failed so we called road service. A couple hours later we were back on the road, but I missed the game.
We did make it to Kissimmee as scheduled and checked into a timeshare for the week. Our priority was to get the trailer light fixed and to get a spare tire. The RV had developed an annoying squeal which we also wanted to get checked out. Hopefully these problems will be resolved next month.
In addition to doing hikes in the area, we went to EPCOT which now had more rides and entertainment than when we visited previously. When we were in NYC in 2004, we considered going to a new show called Blue Man Group. But we couldn’t see paying New York prices to see a bunch of men with blue paint on their face! Being wiser now we did see the show and it was highly entertaining; an eclectic mix of music, art and comedy.
We flew back to Baltimore, for Pat’s mother funeral. When we returned to FL a week later, we stayed at a county park that was overrun with sandhill cranes and wild turkeys. We did hiking and biking in Highland Hammock SP and then spent 4 days at Myakka River SP. Myakka is an amazing place to see wildlife. A few weeks before we arrived, a cold spell killed many of the Tilapia in the shallow lake. This brought thousands of black and turkey vultures in to feast on the fish lining the shore. When we arrived there were still hundreds of vultures awaiting their next meal and thousands of fish skeletons. Dozens of alligators headed for deeper water when we canoed along the Upper Myakka lake shoreline. In the brush, we crossed paths with many feral pigs.
No need to spend $100s of dollars for a day of entertainment in central FL. West of Tampa you can attend Pinellas Co. Heritage Village, Botanical Gardens and a Sculpture Gardens all for free!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)