We were able to spend the holiday and the last few days of 2017 enjoying the warm sun in Florida. It was amazing weather with the sun out every day and the temps ranged from 75-82 when we were there. I'm telling you took all the muster I had to come back to the -25 wind chills we are having here in WI for the last WEEK. It's brutally cold and a bonus is that Dan and I got sick with a nasty cold since we've been home.....I WANT TO GO BACK TO FLORIDA!!
Of course the article we were patiently waiting for was published right after we left for Florida. Here is the article if you missed it.
Well the picture was definitely BIG enough ~ WOW
Thankfully Danny hasn't gotten this cold that we all have had (Av started it as she was snotty when we left for Fl). We are planning on having him trial a new vent in a couple weeks so I hope and pray he stays healthy and its a positive trail. This new vent is called an Astral vent and the new features and technology this thing has is just amazing....light weight, virtually no noise, remote access so Dr/Rt can see what's going on from their locations, and it has an crazy long internal battery (like 20 hours). Can you tell I'm giddy about this?! Now to see if it will be a good fit for Danny....despite me LOVING this vent, if Danny doesn't like it, then we don't switch. Please pray the transition goes smoothly and that he stays healthy for us to switch him over. The end of the month Danny will see his new GI doctor here at the FV CHOW clinic building...I've heard good things about him and I'm really looking forward to that I don't have to drive 1.5 hours one way for the doctor to say "Looks good, see you in 6 months", now it will only be a 10 min drive. YAY!! I am also going to hit up this new GI doctor with some ideas of bring back some real food into Danny's diet. I'm not sure how it will fly as many are very hesitant as Danny has so many limitation to his nutrition (he only has a 480 calorie a day intake, he is fluid restricted, and he has sensitivities to soy, wheat, dairy....yes a hot mess. lol). We shall see and it doesn't hurt to ask. We are in the market for getting a new bed for Danny ~ we would like one that the actual bed moves up in down to accommodate the different caregivers heights and I want to get him a full/queen vs his twin as cuddling with him isn't the easiest. We'll have to look at all the options that are out there and decide which one will fit his needs the best.
Here is a recap to our Christmas Winter Break Vacation ~ wonder if I click my heals 3 times and say there's no place like FL I can go back? For now the fireplace, blankets, and coffee will have to keep me warm.
We left for our trip on Thursday the 21st around 10pm as we had to wait till Dan finished his Firemen's state testing for a class he was taking. We drove to an Oasis in the Chicago area to rest for the night. The next day we drove to ALL day and into the night to get us about 4 hours from our campgrounds. I have to say in all the traveling we've done we have NEVER seen SO MUCH TRAFFIC wherever we were.
Our Campsite was wonderful. It was clean, small and the views were beautiful. It was 1 mile from the Fort Myers beach which made it somewhat easier to walk there instead of waiting in the line of traffic FOREVER to just go 1 mile. I thought we were the odd balls/black sheep for going somewhere for the holidays but being in the crazy Traffic the whole way down to FL and seeing the massive amount of people IN Florida I'm understanding that MANY people are gone for the holidays. I found it interesting that the neighbors right to the right of us were from Madison, WI and the neighbors 2 doors down to our left were from Wisconsin Dells, WI....great minds think alike! Get out of the COLD temps!!
Map of the campground ~ our spot is the 4th place going in on the far left.
Our home for 10 days!!
One man band and he was really good!
The kids went parasailing too :)
Christmas eve we went out to dinner to Pincher's crab shack (my favorite place) and Santa came early so we opened gifts after dinner.
Someone decided to turn his thermostat on while down in FL and the first time in years he was in shorts. We had to go out and get some more (which by the way wasn't an easy find even in FL as it's their winter too even though the temps said other wise to us)
Merry Christmas from our family to yours
Food, music.........
Wednesday Dan and Danny stayed back at the campgrounds while I took the kids to the amusement park Universal. The trip was definitely EVENTFUL!! We left later then we had planned, our 3 hours drive to get there ended up turning into a 5 HOUR drive, and when we got there OMG the people. The average wait time for a ride was 2.5-3 hours A RIDE!! Av was disappointed, near tears, and somewhat overwhelmed (I on the other hand was extremely overwhelmed). We really had gone there just to do the Harry Potter stuff, but so was everyone else and it pretty obvious with us being there only a part of the day we were not going to be able to do what we had intended on. What a bust but we made the best out of it and at least the weather was great!
We got Danny a Dobby shirt ~ Cutest Dobby around!!
I was pleasantly surprised how quickly we got out of the parking garage. With amount of people that were walking out with us I really had thought we'd be there forever! Good thing we made some time up with the parking garage as once I got on the interstate we were in the stop n start and then STOPPED on the highway for hours, due to an accident. Prayers to all involved as it didn't look good once we were finally able to get to the site. It was there through tears, stress, anxiety, pain and severe exhaustion that I made a decision that we will NOT be going anywhere that is out of a 30-45 minute radius (with the amount of traffic its usually about 15 miles) from our campgrounds. I didn't pull into the campgrounds that night until 2:15 am (another 5 hours drive home). I wasn't sure I was going to get us there as I had been up for 21 hours, drove a total of 10 hours, and throw in an amusement park in there.....I was a HOT MESS!
Thankfully we didn't have anything planned the rest of the trip, just some rest and relaxation. We did go visit our former neighborhood and neighbors at the Breckenridge in Estero Florida where we used to have our condo and live part time. I have people asking all the time if I had a good time....well that one is a hard one answer. The weather was fabulous and for that it was great, but it's a lot work for me when on vacation with getting Danny and myself ready doing just daily stuff. Then the reality of us (Dan, Danny and myself) not being able to do a lot of stuff and the kids doing everything they can (we can live through the older ones, but then it also makes you somewhat jealous...is that bad?). Don't get me wrong we do A LOT with Danny and I am grateful for the opportunities and things we are able to do, but some times life/reality is hard and you wonder what a normal life would be like.
We were able to get a mobile RV repair company to come look at the broken generator. We found out the generator wasn't going to be able to be repaired before we had to go back to WI which then brought on a whole new set of stressers as we were heading back to WI in the sub zero temps with no electricity or water and the hopes that the coach battery was going to keep the heater running was unknown. I decided This is was going to be our last voyage in this RV!! With all the issues we've had our irritations and inconveniences with this RV has just metastasized into a life n death situation....and I'm SO DONE with this RV. We left Saturday mid morning and headed into Tampa to ironically look at a used RV that was for sale. We got some great ideas from the RV and met a wonderful couple and headed back on our way to WI. We decided to stop at the border of Georgia and Florida to sleep for one more good nite of sleep in the warmer weather (it was still chilly as it got into the low 40's over nite) as the next day we were driving until we got home. At one of the pit stops we took, Dan noticed one of the rims on the car dolly didn't look right. After further investigation he found that the nuts had come loose on the bolts and it had broken off some of the bolts from the tire wobbling, so at the rest area Dan was able to repair the dolly and replace the tire. Boy am I glad he found that when we were stopped and not when/if the tire fell off while driving on the interstate.
THANKFULLY we were able to have the heater on in the RV so the kids were not Popsicles and we didn't have to resort to plan B which was unloading the kids and I into the mini van so we'd have heat and I would follow the RV home. We drove through the Chicago area just as the Midnight bell rang out on New Years Eve/Day and it was cool to see all of the firework displays going on. I was amazed at how many fireworks were fired off and that we were actually UP for the first time in years on New Years Eve.
The sides of Monteagle had these amazing blue icicles hanging of it
On the way home I was was doing a search and was able to find a new '17 RV at a dealership in Indiana, that was just like the one we had looked at in Tampa. First thing on Tuesday after the New Year holiday I called them and we are now owners of a newer (god I hope better) RV. Thankfully I called when I did as couple had drove down over to Indiana from Minnesota to look at it and had the intent on purchasing it the next day. I guess I didn't make them too happy when they found out it sold the night before to me. I know this one we will still have issues too as every RVer out there knows these things are notorious for "issues". We had to have some things changed and added to the new one so once that is done we can pick it up, which it's looking like a 2 month turn around time for the stuff to get there and be installed. I can't wait to show you all the newer/better options this RV has for us.
Now that we are home we are starting to get back into our routines. I still have a few things to do to the old RV to get it ready to be picked up and sold. I have to deChristmas this house. And tis the season for me to go into PURGE mode. With me being under the weather the last few days all of that has been put on hold, but I know it will all be waiting for me when I'm ready. GAME ON!!
Thanks for following our journey! Stay tuned to see what 2018 had in store for us
No comments:
Post a Comment