As you recall from yesterday's post, Al and I did not push down to Lady Lake yesterday but stopped in Lake City, a short way south on Route 75. It was a nice little place and we pulled into a spot between two big Class A motor homes (the big ones that look like fancy buses - and ARE). We were also under some lovely, tall shade trees which helped cool us down as the afternoon wore on.
As night descended it began to grow foggy and suddenly we started to hear sounds as though a slow rain was falling on the RV, though on looking outside, I couldn't see any precipitation. It turns out that the fog was so dense it was condensing in the trees and falling in droplets on the RV (all night long!). Having never encountered this phenomenon before, we were quite surprised by it.
As to our New Year's Eve celebration, we had stopped at the local gas station convenience store for a thing or two and I searched for some Martinelli's but they had nothing so, as I mentioned before, we were determined to toast with water or diet soda. Actually Al and I have been retiring quite early since this journey began and we were hard-pressed to find ways to stay awake until midnight. We played computer games, we chatted and joked, we wrote emails etc. and finally we went online and started to stream the Times Square live feed. Frankly, it was seriously awful - their microphones echoed, the entertainment stank, and the interviews with the spectators were about as interesting as you'd imagine a short chat with a semi-drunk stranger would be. We turned off the sound and I started proof-reading PAWNS while Al started to watch Transylvania 6-5000. Aha - but not the neighbors! I don't mean our camping neighbors - they were quiet on both sides. Our sites were right next to the fenced-in property of some people who happened to live next door to the RV park. THEY had a party! They had a bunch of friends in, and they laughed and joked (and drank) and cursed one another out for a while as they let their kids run rampant from about 8pm onward. The little ankle crunchers took full advantage. Now, Al and I are always concerned that our 3 birds might make too much noise and be a bother to our camping neighbors. HAH. My cockatoo's loudest trumpet would've been drowned out by these kids' shouting and running and dashing about. Plus, at about 9pm their dad started setting off the fireworks. Lucky campers, we were exactly positioned to be able to hear the double blasts and see...nothing. The fireworks took a hiatus after about 15 minutes and we figured he was saving the big stuff for midnight. Sure enough, we watched on our computer as the big globe in Times Square marked the New Year, and Timothy McVeigh next door went to town. He kept it up for about another fifteen minutes then let his kids parade around the yard for another half hour blowing horns and generally making a ruckus. It was about 1:30am when things finally quieted down enough for us to get to sleep. Hey, we cut 'em some slack - holiday, after all. <Yawn> Happy New Year.
Okay, so after having slept well despite the celebrations and the dripping from the surrounding trees we woke to a very foggy morning which became a beautiful day for our final drive. Once off the highway we were surrounded by beautiful farms and ranches. Here - take a look:
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| Beautiful area with lovely farms |
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| Fascinating fields |
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| Lovely puffy clouds |
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| paddocks and meadows |
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| and picket fences! |
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| Green like you never see in California! |
But wait - as Robbie Burns so famously said, "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley" **
** 30 cents to the first person who can tell me what poem that quote comes from.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, something I always ask about at RV Parks is whether they provide high speed internet access so Al can work. Well, we had made reservations at the Blue Parrot RV Park based on a recommendation by one of my sister Heather's friends. When we arrived there it turns out they only offer a Hot Spot inside their office, on their own computers. They tried to see if they could fix it so Al could come into their office and use his own business laptop however being that Al has to be on an online business meeting at 6am tomorrow morning they admitted that nobody was going to be opening the office that early, so they couldn't accommodate us after all. They helped us find another RV Park though - this one actually in Summerfield, the town where the new house is located, and here we sit, happily connected to the high speed internet and describing it all to you.
SO...
Our Great RV Trek is over. We'll continue to live in Great A'Tuin for another week or two as we inspect the new house in person and probably hire people to paint and re-do floors and those sorts of things one does before moving into a new house. I'll certainly continue to keep you posted as to our daily adventures, though I doubt I'll be taking many pictures of our new life - but then again, you never know - especially with Al and me!
WOO! Congratulations!!! :D
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