Wanda Booboo
Ty Booboo
NoodleFix
Trail Ends
Hog ruts
Hog Cage
Luna Owl
Our Set Up
March 10-March 23
1 Boo-Boo 2 Boo Boo
Driving down the road, Ty is looking in the side view mirror and exclaims: “Ohh fudggggge” just like right out of Christmas Story – which we all know isn’t “fudge”. “What?” says I. “There is a big piece of stripping falling off Wanda,” says Ty. So, we pull off the major interstate 75 on an exit to assess the situation and make the repair with duct tape – good ole duct tape. Making too sharp of a turn results in Wanda riding up the truck cover and ripping off a bit of edging which we did when we were parking in Venice and had forgotten all about it until the freeway incident. Boo Boo number one.
“Ohh fudggeee, shi^&%%, %$&^%. Jane I need a rag”
“What? I am in the bathroom”
“I need a rag! A rag! Now”
Pull up my pants, rush out the door with a towel and what do I see? Ty bleeding profusely from the top of his head. Ouch – take a quick look and tell him he needs stitches, let’s go. I don’t need stitches. Yes you do, no I don’t (you know the routine). So at least go and get a tetanus shot! Ok off we go. Now I hate to sit in those Walk-In Clinics and it’s not that I don’t have any sympathy towards Ty, but I have to admit I did drop him off and went shopping. Call me when you are ready, hon! He got 3 STAPLES then off to Walgreen for the tetanus shot – again I drop him off.
Boo Boo number two came about because the front of Wanda is the hitch with a big pin attachment hanging down. The front is a perfect spot to store the chairs and such in case of rain. Which was the case, it was starting to rain and Ty was storing all the stuff when he turned around and stood up too soon. Wham…..To add insult to the injury, the night before Ty made the midnight trip to the bathroom and dinged his head on an open cupboard and had a nasty gauge. The latest gash wasn’t too far away. The ER doc asks Ty
“Looks like you are running into things with your head…need me to send you home with some extra staples?”
Swim Noodles not just for Swimming
Dollar Tree to the rescue! Bought 2 noodles and Ty has made a “cushion” of sorts to go around the pin of Wanda and also around the sharp edges that are just grabbing for his head. The other one will use on the chair edge that we can’t seem to get secure enough when traveling and it is rubbing against the kitchen island. What an invention these noodles are – almost as good as duct tape!
Brother Will and bride Pam Make a Visit
Just a quick visit to see Wanda and spend the night. They brought with them a much-welcomed Rig Gift of a bottle of Schnapps – which had none. History of Schnapps. When we bought our first RV (a class C named Ruby) we started the tradition of setting up then taking a swig of Schnapps to bless the event. We have had many a good Schnapps with our camping friends; Hal and Lois, Bill and Sharon, John and Maureen and brother Will and Pam. With our many trips with Will and Pam, with the many setups we’ve had as we traveled from spot to spot we have gone thru a lot of Schnapps. So a welcomed gift!!!
It was a rainy day, so we all trooped down to Arcadia to wander around (and Ty I promise this whole trip I will not ask you to go into an Antique Shop again) and all this town has is at least 15 antique stores, one coffee shop and 2 banks. It is depressing to see stuff I have in storage is now considered an Antique. Of course, brother Willy has a passion for the Dead Man stores so we managed 1 of those. Evening finds us at the Moose Lodge (never heard of these places till we arrived in FL – cheap booze, cheap dinners and cheap entertainment – we might join!) and guess what! SMOKERS abound. Seems FL still allows private clubs to allow smoking if it is separated from the dining area and/or if the bar food sales is 3% or less. Maybe we won’t join after all.
Life in Arcadia
Once again, we are in an RV Resort that is 80% French speaking. This is a big place with over 300 sites so that’s a lot of French.
Arcadia is in more central Florida in the middle of nowhere. We have been exploring the area doing some hiking, biking and canoeing. And for my Michigan canoeing friends I was sad when we rented our canoes that they did not provide a lounge chair, which you know is my canoeing style. Instead, I got a seat back AND a paddle of which I was totally unaware how to use. But I braved up and took up the paddle position and dipped in a time or two. The river lived up to its name Peace River as it was a slow meandering body of water. So down we floated spying at least 10 gators along the way. I am getting use to them sitting on the banks, but don’t like it so much when they swim across the bow of the boat then disappear. Just where did he go and how many more are there down there?
Biking is scarce here but we did manage to make a 14-mile trip out of nothing – as we were riding along, we came to sign that said “Trail Ends” and they meant it.
Will spend the rest of this rainy and cold (64 degrees – yikes I am not use to this) week doing our taxes, trying to get license plates for the car, getting the staples out of Ty’s head, and exercising by bike riding and hiking. Would like to explore the orange groves around here, as every morning (when not raining) the fragrance is sweet. There are a few orange processing plants, but haven’t found any tours – think we will just show up and see if they will take us through.
Animal Life
OK – is a snake an animal? We were not 10 feet into a hike at Myaaka River State Park when this big black slithering thing on MY side of the trail slithers away. Took me about a ½ hour for my adrenaline to come down. NO PICTURE OF THIS CRITTER. They do have wild hogs (Sus scrofa) in FL and they are very destructive. They dig up a trail looking for roots to feed on leaving the area look like it was plowed. Conservation efforts are trying to capture them in big pens which there were a number of them along our 4-mile journey.
We also made a visit to a Bird Sanctuary in Punta Gorda. Very nicely done. With most birds, they try to rehabilitate and return to the wild; those that can’t find a home here. Most interesting was Luna the Eastern Screech Owl. This owl was born with Leucism (/ˈluːsɪzəm, -kɪz-/) is a condition in which there is partial loss of pigmentation in an animal resulting in white, pale, or patchy coloration of the skin, hair, feathers, scales or cuticle, but not the eyes. This owl was pushed out of the nest so has found a home in Punta Gorda. Luna should have brown feathers.
Our Casa
For those of you wondering what our Casa digs look like here it is. Wanda of course, then we have our Lanai (screen tent if not in FL) that we have our chairs and a table set up in. Usually there is a picnic table at the sites. Home life is sweet and simple. See pic
GKids
Looking forward to having Ty and Tessa with us next week. Will be in Homestead and will be snorkeling, air boat tours, beaching, riding bikes in Shark Valley and hitting the tourist traps.