February 1, 2001--- Lazy Days SuperCenter in Seffner, Florida. 
We attended our first Discovery Owner's Association rally here at Lazy Days this month.  We moved over to the Rally Park on the first after getting our defective jack replaced by their service department.  I also had them change our air dryer filters after looking at a Freightliner chassis at the dealership.  I decided that I did not want to crawl under the coach to replace these filters.  The normal interval for this task is one year for the inner filter and two years for the outer filter.  These are the desiccant and coalescing filters that keep moisture out of the air supply for the brakes and air bags.  The outer filter is a spin on and the inner is a cartridge.  It's a strange arrangement since the outer filter has to be removed to replace the inside one, yet the inner is a annual and the outer is a semi annual deal.  I just decided to go ahead and replace both of them since we were at a year and a half.

Anyway, we rolled into the RV Park in mid afternoon.  There were a total of 209 Discoveries registered for this event. It was pretty cool seeing all those coaches that were similar to ours.  Many were exactly like ours.  We met some of the folks we correspond with on the DOA e-list and also found our old friend Ken Roberts and his wife.  We first met them in Goshen, Indiana last fall.  Then we toured the Cummins plant in Columbus, Indiana later that month.

Of course, it rained almost the entire time we were at Lazy Days and it got rather cool.  So much for sunny Florida!  Actually, having lived in Florida for over 30 years, we expect a few down days and know that everyday cannot be sunny and warm.

We won $50 in gift certificates as a door prize.  I guess the next time we get service here, we will use them.  I was also selected by the magician who did one of our nightly entertainment gigs to be on stage with three other guys.  He put a black hood over my head, slipped a noose around my neck and yanked it.  Luckily, the rope trick worked and the noose just came off!  He also did a little trick with some balls.  He put them in each of our mouths.  Then he did a bunch of stuff and had each of us spit out the balls one at a time.  I was last and had to draw the whole process out.  When I sat down, Libby wanted to know how he did the trick.  I was sure that the audience saw him put these balls in our mouths, but she said they didn't have a clue.  It was fun and Libby enjoyed it entirely too much.

husband and the grandtwins.  We also spent some time with Libby's brother and our sister in law who just built a new house only about 10 minutes from Lazy Days. 

Of course, our favorite activity while in this area was spoiling our twin grandsons.

After the DOA rally, we moved the Rolling Home to Brooksville and the Hernando County Airport for the FMCA South Eastern Region Rally.  We came in two days early, but were allowed to boondock on the runway anyway.  The worst part of these big rallies is everyone running their gensets all the time.  Since we have all of this solar power, its like being in a room full of smokers.  We just don't like the smell and fumes.  We only run our genset in an area like this when we are using the nuke.  We don't really have to do it then, but it sucks a lot of current and rather than run the battery bank down, we turn on the genset for how ever long it takes to do the cooking.  The Escapees. have a limited genset area at their rallies and we sure would like to see everyone else do the same.  FMCA did have a no genset area, but not a limited genset area.

The rally had a little over 2300 coaches I think.  Here is a pic of some of them as they rolled in on Tuesday. 

Saturday morning was quite interesting.  At 6:25 the fellow behind us fired up his generator, even though it was quiet hour for them.  I guess he figured if he was up, all the rest of us should be too.  Then some idiot pulled out of the rally playing On the Road Again on his horns at top volume.  It was 6:35 a.m.  I suppose some of us were awake anyway, but he probably woke up a couple of thousand folks.  I just don't understand the lack of consideration some folks show.  If Libby and I are going to move early which is extremely rare and lately non existent, we close our slides the night before so we won't awaken folks with the beeping that occurs when they move.  It just seems like the right thing to do.  Had I been close to the fellow with the musical horns this morning, he might have learned some new vocabulary.

One of the neat things we saw at the Rally was the launch of the space shuttle carrying the lab section of space station Alpha.  The launch occurred just at dusk and the view was spectacular.  Night launches are really cool and we were pleased to be back in Florida to see one. 
 

We were at the airport from Monday through the following Sunday.  Then we moved on to Ocala to get our engine looked at by Cummins.  We have had a lot of oil collecting on the lower part of the engine lately and I thought we might have a leak.  I had the technicians at Lazy Days look at it and they told me it was a leak from the front engine cover.  Since I could see no oil leaking there, I decided to have Cummins take a look at it.

We drove up U.S. 41 from Brooksville to Ocala.  It was a nice drive through the rural central Florida countryside.  At Ocala, we rolled into the Cummins Service center in mid afternoon on Sunday.  There was one other rig there and we pulled into one of the vacant RV spots they have on the east side of the building.  They provide water and electric for four RVs at this site, so we hooked up and filled out water tank since we had been boondocking at the rally for the past 6 days.  The next morning all the sites were full.  A fellow in an American Eagle had driven up from Okeechobee and another fellow in gas Bounder was in the last slot.  There was also an old Monaco pusher that was towed in late Sunday evening, but he was just left in the parking lot.  I couldn't figure out why the gasser was there until I talked to the guy the next morning.  Since Cummins owns Onan, this fellow was there for a generator repair.  They came out to his site and fixed it first thing in the morning and he was on his way.  We had a 9 a.m. appointment, but the bay was taken up by the American Eagle until 9:30.  Then they put us in the bay and started checking out the rig.  When I saw two of them under there I got a little concerned, but it turned out that we really had no leak, it was just a year and a half of junk from the blow by tube that comes from the top of the engine.  For some reason in the ISB engine, this tube ends about halfway down the block and any oil that does come out gets slathered all over the engine and charge air cooler.  I had extended this tube a month earlier by putting a heater hose on it and allowing it to hang out at the bottom of the engine, but the junk in there was from before I did this modification.  Cummins had the rig on a lift, so they pressure cleaned the bottom of the engine and ran it for about a half hour just to make sure everything was ok.  About noon, we left, no charge and headed for the Suwanee River Campground.

   Mark Nemeth of Mark's Great Adventure,  was work kamping at the Suwanee River Resort near White Springs, FL.  Since we have been corresponding with Mark for several years, we thought it would be fun to swing by and say hello to him in person.  As we pulled into the campground, Mark came over and waved and gave us SKP hugs.  He recognized the D from our website.  We spent the evening chatting with Mark and had just a wonderful time.  Mark started out on a two year journey about four years ago.  He says this will probably be his last summer of travel since he needs to replenish his bank account!  We think he will find a way to earn enough money on the road to continue his fulltime lifestyle.

After Suwanee Valley, we headed west on I-10 toward Summerdale, Alabama and the Plantation.  The Plantation is one of our favorite SKP parks.  We got a voice mail from our friends Sandy and Willie Horeis who had recalled that we might be at the Plantation in February.  They arrived there the day before us and we parked right next to them.  We had another joyous SKP reunion and spent the evening at dinner and talking to them about our mutual travels.

Other SKPs that we have met from time to time arrived at the park during our week there. Dave and Carol Stonecipher showed up.  We met them at the Plantation in 1999 and then ran across them at Rainbow's End in Texas, Hondo, Texas, Deming, New Mexico, Benson, Arizona, Lancaster, CA, and Goshen, IN during 2000.  It was fun to catch up with them again.

Dick and  Phyllis Davis  who have been fulltime for almost two years, but are still working (Ughh) came down from Montgomery, AL to spend the weekend.  We have tried to get together for over two years, but this is the first time we have actually met.  We had a great weekend with them.

Rich and Diane Emond rolled in from Atlanta on Saturday and we all did the typical Rv stuff.  We went out to eat a lot.  The Emonds had some warranty work scheduled in Pensacola on Monday, so we delayed our departure for the west until Tuesday.  Tuesday morning early (about 10 am) we headed for Livingston, Tx.  It was a pretty nice trip and we made it to Crowley, LA just west of Lafayette.  We boondocked in a WalMart Parking lot along with 9 other rigs that night.  The next morning, we headed on to Livingston.  I-10 through Louisiana gets a bad rap from lots of folks.  The road is in pretty good condition all across the state.  Most of it has been repaved over the last two years and except for a few miles of bumps around Lake Charles, it is not a bad road at all. Of course, we didn't do the stretch around Nawlins.  We take I-12 across the top of Ponchartrain and bypass the Big Easy.

When you cross into Texas, however, the road goes to hell pretty quickly.  It is being worked on between the LA line and Beaumont, Texas, but it is still pretty rough.  In Beaumont, we turned north and head off into the Big Thicket country to Livingston.

When we arrived at Rainbow's End, the office was closed for lunch, so we unhooked the Tracker and headed on into town to get our vehicles inspected.  We ate lunch at Shrimpboat Manny's and then hit the Quick Lube for our inspection.  By mid afternoon, we were back at RE and parked in the boondock section.  We were planning to leave on Friday morning, but we got an e-mail from Don and Liane Holder saying they were planning to arrive on Friday and could we wait for them.  Of course, we had so many important things to do that we said "sure" and just delayed our departure until Saturday.

The Holder's arrived mid morning on Friday, announced by Tommy knocking on our door.  We went to lunch with them and visited in the afternoon.  Saturday's planned departure got KO'd by the weather.  Severe storms and high winds were in the area and since we really have no plans set in concrete, we just waited another day to leave.  That, of course, meant we had to go out to dinner with the Emonds and  Holders again!  Also, Bob and Donna Eberly were at the office using the modem line when Rich Emond was doing the same.   They came down to visit and we stood outside in the cold for an hour or so renewing our friendship with them.

We finally left Rainbow's End on Sunday and traveled to San Antonio.  As we arrived at the Stone Creek RV park on I 35, Gene Dwiggins, also from the Y2K party last year rode up on his motorcycle.  He and his lovely wife Ann, live across the Interstate from the RV park.  They come to Stone Creek to square dance on Sunday.  After their square dance ended we all went to dinner.  They graciously picked up the tab, which we didn't expect.  We had a great time talking about fulltiming.  Gene will be retiring from the Air Force this year and Ann retired a few years ago.  If they didn't have kids at home,  I think they would be out on the road with the rest of us.

On Monday,  Rich drove us downtown and we toured the Alamo, River Walk and took in the Alamo IMax theater.   Libby and I have been to the Alamo several times.  Rich and Diane had not been there and it was neat to watch their reaction to the place.

On Tuesday, we left San Antonio and headed for Del Rio.   Rich and Diane wanted to see the Alamo movie set at Bracketville and we wanted to check out Del Rio for a possible nesting place next winter. When we arrived at Del Rio, it was nice and warm with a gentle breeze blowing.  On Wednesday, it was cold and rainy.  The Emonds headed for Bracketville and we visited every RV park in town.  We ate out a couple of times and saw a the movie "3000 miles to Graceland".  Don't waste your money, it was awful!    We left Del Rio on March 1, but that is next month's travelogue!

Camping fees for February     $190
Diesel Fuel for February          $182