Uncategorized – Page 9 – The Ready Rovers

Space Center Houston

By: Kevin

Yesterday we made the trip from Little Rock, AR to Houston, TX. For the next few days we will be parked in our friends’ driveway for a visit, but today we visited Space Center Houston (NASA). Houston is well known for being mission control for the multiple Apollo missions as well as multiple shuttle missions before the shuttle program was retired in the early 2000s.

We stayed at a campground within a few miles of NASA, and made the drive over, arriving about 20 minutes before the doors officially opened for the day. We realized once we were parked that there were an abnormally high number of school-aged children for being a Monday morning. A banner near the entrance showed us that it was Homeschool Day at Space Center Houston. How cool! We were among other homschoolers for the day, and the best part was that it was completely by accident.

Once inside there was plenty to see and do. There were hands-on displays for the kids such as lifting a weight barbell with the different gravity levels of the planets in the solar system. They could drive rovers around a surface via remote control, and there were tablets with interactive games on them. There were many educational static displays as well. They had mock-up as well as real space memorabilia and equipment. There were also additional hands-on activities such as building a “lander” with craft supplies and driving robots around a marker track that I am not sure if they are there all the time, or they were there for Homeschool day.

We took a tram tour of the actual Johnson Space Center facility including stops at the historic Apollo mission control center, the Building 9 Vehicle Mock-up facility, as well as Rocket Park, home of a real Saturn 5 rocket.

Of all these I think I enjoyed building 9 the best as we could see where astronauts trained to perform tasks on the International Space Station (ISS) as well as the new Orion space platforms. They had rovers, robots, and walking artificial intelligence robots that the tour guide claimed could help perform maintenance on the ISS to alleviate humans from doing it. After 9/11/01 access to the Johnson Space Center was closed for a period of time, but has since reopened, albeit movement of the public is closely monitored and directed while on the facility. When I was in Houston in high school (Pre-9/11) I was able to walk around the facility with very minimal oversight. That is no longer the case due to security restrictions, but I appreciate that the space center was able to come up with a solution to allow access for the public to see specific areas of the facility.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We were able to walk through a replica of the space shuttle Independence as well as a real Boeing-747 shuttle carrier aircraft. The kids enjoyed the shuttle, but I enjoyed the carrier aircraft more since we got to see the real inner-workings of such a massive plane.

Among the cutting-edge technological projects NASA is working on, I found it interesting that they were trying to figure out how to grow plants in space. Currently there is a research program on the ISS that focuses on growing plants under specially-colored LED lights. A special box, similar to the one pictured here is used to grow the plants in soil ‘pillows’. The pleated sides of the box get taller as the plants grow.

Little Rock, Arkansas

By: Kevin

Today we explored the Little Rock, AR area and downtown. Our first stop was Little Rock Central High School (LRCH), the first integrated public school in the United States. I knew about the Little Rock 9 (originally 10), but we learned additional details about the court cases leading up to the crisis, as well as the events surrounding the riots and necessity for the 101st Airborne to be deployed to protect the school and children from the hatred of their peers. It was neat to see in person a location that one has only read about in history class until now. We also learned about the significance of the Magnolia/Mobil gas station across the street from the school. These are places where history has been made. I also found it interesting that the school, while being a National Parks site, is also a fully functional high school. We were not allowed to go inside the school today because classes were in session and I had not submitted a request early enough to pass the security requirements to be inside the school while in session. I wonder if the kids attending school at LRCH ever stop and think about those who walked the halls before them.

Bug also discovered this old telephone with a rotary dial. He exclaimed that it would “take forever” to call someone using the rotary dial phone! I remember making calls on such a phone growing up.

After LRCH we explored the Little Rock River Market District. There is a riverfront amphitheater, Arkansas River Trail, Junction bridge, and the market itself. The market is similar to the North Market in Columbus, OH or the Quincey Market in Boston, Mass. There were food vendors with cuisine from around the globe. Heather, the kids, and I all had different nationalities of food for lunch. Bug even got a free T-shirt from one of the vendors, which was pretty neat for him. The kids enjoyed the pig statue on the river bank side of the market.

Junction bridge is an old drawbridge converted into a pedestrian bridge that spans the river. It was a bit windy up on top, but a nice vantage point from which to view the area.

This afternoon we went to Burns Park, a 1,700 acre park in North Little Rock. The kids loved playing on an old military tank and a rocket ship themed playground. Pie made a new friend, who she will most likely never see again, and enjoyed playing tag until she and her friend had to part company. The park offered many hiking trails, rec facilities, a RV park, and even a small amusement park (which appeared to be still closed for the season).

Now it is time for a late afternoon nap to catch up on lost sleep and hopefully improve the attention span of Bug. Tomorrow is another day of exploration.

Goodbye Florida

By: Kevin

We are on the road again! We have enjoyed our time in Florida, but the time has come to explore elsewhere. The final destination of this trip is somewhere we have already explored, but the journey can be as fun as the destination. On our way to San Angelo, Texas we are making stops in Little Rock, Arkansas and Houston, Texas. You can read about those adventures in posts over the next week and a half.

We pulled out of Largo yesterday morning and headed North. It was a gray rainy day, so we were very thankful that we prepared for the trip by buying new windshield wipers and reapplying Rain-X to both vehicles. It rained most of the day with some glimmers of sunshine in the evening.

One advantage of towing your home behind you is that you have access to everything in it while travelling. The whole family made use of the toilet, which we preferred over using (sometimes questionable) gas station restrooms. We pulled food from the fridge for lunch, and when dinner came around we “ate in” while relaxing on the couch as the RV sat in a semi-truck parking lot beside a gas station somewhere in Alabama. Heather baked a tuna noodle casserole in the RV oven which was quite good. We all had second helpings. Since the range/oven/refrigerator all run off of propane and the lights run on 12 volts, we were right at home, even without firing up the generator or plugging into shore power.

Last night we slept in a Cracker Barrel parking lot (which are notorious for being RV-friendly) after pulling off the road a mere 566 miles from where we started yesterday morning. Our sleeping location also gave us a pretty easy decision on what to eat for breakfast this morning.

We were back on the road after breakfast and stopped to prepare bagged lunches in a Lowe’s parking lot in New Albany, MS. We tried to go to the Wal-Mart just up the street, but I could not even pull into their parking lot. There were large metal barricades across all the entrances prohibiting vehicles taller than 10 feet tall from entering. Since the RV is 12’ 9” tall, I guess this Wal-Mart does not want our business. I have seen Wal-Marts that prohibit overnight parking, but none to date that prohibit large vehicles from coming to shop.

Shortly before dark we arrived at our home for the next few days, a KOA Kampground in Little Rock, Arkansas. We even squeezed the RV, truck, van, and the Annex (box trailer) on one site, much to the surprise of the office staff. We have travelled just under 1,000 miles since we pulled out of Largo yesterday, and we are ready to go exploring for a few days instead of sitting in our vehicles all day. Tomorrow we explore Little Rock!

Mother-approved flooring

By: Kevin

When we purchased our RV back in the fall of 2014 it had a leak. The leak was a challenge to track down, but I found it and fixed it. However, there was some rot and damage done to the wood in the wall and floor of the RV. I have, over a few work sessions, completed the repairs needed including replacing some sub-flooring in the kitchen/common area. This area had cheap sheet vinyl flooring and at the time of the repairs I simply cut it back to complete the repairs and used staples and duct tape to keep the edges from becoming trip hazards, leaving the newly repaired plywood sub-flooring exposed. It has been in this state of repair since …Spring 2016.

Well, Heather has been reminding me that the project needed completing, but I really dreaded dealing with sheet vinyl in an area with SO many edges and corners to trim around. However, with Miss Kicky Feet learning to army crawl and increasing her mobility swiftly, we needed to have a floor that was safe for her to crawl across.

We were looking at laminate flooring, but with the vast differences in climate and humidity across the U.S. as we travel, as well as its susceptibility to swelling when moist, this was not a good option for us. Instead we found interlocking vinyl planks with a color scheme and variability that we loved. Once assembled the interlocking planks would form a waterproof floor just like sheet vinyl, but since it comes as 6×48″ planks, it would be vastly easier to work with than sheet vinyl. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner!

The removal of the sheet vinyl went quickly with a sharp utility knife and I was soon ready to start laying down the underlayment. Underlayment is a thin layer between the sub-floor and the vinyl that acts as a cushion for the floor, gives it some acoustic dampening, provides a moisture barrier, as well as providing a bit of insulation. This is taped together with aluminum tape to create a seamless layer. The new floor is a floating floor, meaning there are no screws, nails, or glue to hold each plank in place, so the underlayment integrity is maintained, instead of many nail holes punched through it. This is an added benefit in an RV setting because as the RV shifts and adjusts rolling down the road, the floor is able to float across the underlayment instead of binding.

The planks went down quickly as I snapped them together and tapped them tight with a rubber mallet. The only real problem with installation was that I started it after dinner and at 11:00pm the neighbor knocked on our door and kindly reminded us that he could hear my rubber mallet thumping from his RV. Therefore, work was halted for the evening and resumed this morning. The rest of the install went smoothly and with a little bit of trim around the edges the new floor was complete. We love the color, durability, and the slight cushion in the floor as one walks across it. Heather loves that the floor is complete and safe for Miss Kicky Feet.

Where the trail ends

By: Kevin

Today we rode our last leg of the Fred Marquis Pinellas [bike] Trail. We have been riding sections of the trail over a number of days varying from 8-18 miles at a time. Today we made it to the northern end of the trail at John Chesnut Park along the southeastern border of Lake Tarpon. For those who are not familiar with this trail it is a retired railroad bed that has been paved for bicycle and pedestrian use. The southern trail head is at Pioneer Park in St. Petersburg.

The trail is 44.3 miles long, and because we all ride together, any distance we ride in one direction we have had to backtrack to return to our vehicle. So, we as a family have ridden 88.6 miles on the Pinellas trail since our arrival in the Clearwater area in mid October. Not bad for a family with 3 children under 8 years old.

The older two kids ride their own bikes without training wheels and Miss Kicky feet rides in her infant car seat nestled within the bicycle trailer behind my bike. The trailer also provides a convenient place to put a packed lunch, extra water, and the diaper bag. Heather has an attachment point for the trailer on her bike as well, but she has not been daring enough to tow the trailer on any of our trail outings.

Florida Keys

By: Kevin

In our last post I talked about our day on Key West. With my work schedule we were able to spend another two days in the keys exploring before needing to head back north. Both days we slept in and had a lazy morning before heading out on our adventures.

One of the first places we explored was the 7-Mile bridge. Yes, to the South/West of Marathon key there is a bridge that spans 7 miles between US-1 milemarkers 40-47. The original bridge was built by Mr. Flagler’s men as a railroad bridge, which carried the first train into Key West in 1912. The bridge deck has been revised a number of times since then, but the original structural arches remain. It is currently being used as part of a walking/bicycle trail that, once completed in a few years, will span the length of the keys.

The Beaches

We explored Marathon Key and went to Veterans Memorial Park & beach. Vets Memorial park has a dog-friendly beach so our four-legged family member was able to come along. Dixie really enjoyed being on a long tie-out and went bounding through the waves along the beach. After a bit we decided to walk the length of the beach and started seeing…Man-of-war jelly fish. With a dog and two small children running around, this was a buzz-kill for us. We explored farther north/east along US-1 to another public beach, and were again greeted by Man-of-War jellyfish. Since both of these beaches were on the windward side of the keys we decided to return to the campground, which had a leeward beach, out of the path that the jellyfish would be blown up onto the beach. I took a good look up and down the beach and did not find one. Hurray, we were safe to play! The kids dug in the sand, waded in the shallow water, and explored as close as we allowed to the historic train bridge along the side of the beach. They also climbed the trees that shaded part of the beach. I was amused when they decided to “heal” the trees by putting sand over where there was sap coming from the trees. The sand stuck to the sap and created a “band-aid” according to the kids. Heather and I enjoyed our time at the beach both in the water and swinging in a hammock strung between the trees.

The Pool

The campground had a very nice pool, complete with tiki hut shades over the poolside tables. There were plenty of lounge chairs to relax and catch some sun as well. We also took an interest in the local iguana that scampered from one end of the pool deck to the other and then back again.

Key Deer

The Keys are home to many animals, including a special breed of deer called Key Deer. They are found ONLY in the Florida Keys, and more-so in the middle and lower keys. These deer are small, only slightly bigger than our dog Dixie. Since they are endangered, and therefore protected, they are not afraid of humans like other deer. They will walk right up to you. We visited the National Key Deer Refuge a few minutes west of our campground to see these little creatures. We took a walk around a nature trail and saw not only deer, but also alligators, iguanas, fish, snapping turtles, and one very pretty crab.

Island Time

If there is one piece of advice that I would give to someone coming to the Keys, it would be to slow down and enjoy yourself. Once you leave the mainland the speed limit on US-1 is 45mph, with a few sections of 55. The road is typically one lane each way, with few opportunities to pass. Therefore, don’t be in a huge hurry to get somewhere. Just go with the flow and you are on island time now. We also followed this principle by not over-booking our visit. Instead of rushing from one place to the next, we had a list of things we wanted to do (mainly on Key West) and we had completed the list by the middle of the second day. That left half our visit to just explore and relax.

The Trip North & New Neighbors

As we headed north we had a pretty good tail wind, which then transitioned to a side wind and finally a headwind as we crossed back across the Everglades enroute to Largo. The RV and truck handled it well, although driving a large truck and trailer straight into a 30mph headwind burned some extra fuel as compared to the way down. In any case, we made it back to Largo and got backed in to our spot before nightfall. We even got new neighbors on the site right next to us. The really crazy thing is that they recognized us from the Keys! That’s right. Our new neighbors, another Fulltime RV family, had stayed at the same campground in the Keys and they recognized our RV from our mutual stay down there. Imagine the odds of that happening.

Key West!

By: Kevin

We have been in Largo for 13 weeks now, and I was starting to get “hitch itch” and wanted to make some sort of side trip with the RV. With the help of a coworker that traded some shifts around I got a 5-day block of days off and we quickly booked a campground reservation in the Keys. We had to do some quick preparations because we pulled out on this trip just 4 days after Heather’s family headed back to Ohio [and he worked 3 of those days!!! says Heather], so there was plenty to do in a short time period.

On Thursday morning we hitched up and pulled out of the campground. Everything was going pretty well until a fellow motorist pulled up beside us and frantically pointed back toward our RV and began mouthing something to us. I could not understand what he was saying to us, but the pointing warranted a quick stop to check things out. I pulled off on the shoulder and as I came to a stop I saw a puff of smoke come from the passenger side tires. Since I lost an entire wheel between FL and TX last spring and never felt it, I was not sure what I would find when I rounded the front of the truck. What I found was that the rear wheel had apparently broken some cords along the middle of the tread line which gave the center of the tire a significant bulge all the way around the tire. Since the two axles sit very close together anyways, the bulging tire closed the small gap and had been rubbing on the front tire, creating heat and friction. Luckily the fellow motorist had noticed it fairly early and no major damage had been inflicted on the front tire. I pulled out my tools and in fairly quick time I had the spare on and the bulging tire secured under the trailer.Part way through the wheel swap a State Farm/FDOT Road Ranger truck arrived and set out cones and had lights flashing, which helped to move traffic over a lane, which reduced the trailer rocking every time a large truck went by us. The rest of the trip south went uneventfully, which we were thankful for as we no longer had a viable spare tire.

We arrived at our campground shortly before the office closed and were pulled in and set up before nightfall. The grounds are nice and the people are friendly. There is a definite island theme around the campground. The low for the night was 72 degrees, so we enjoyed smelling the ocean through our open windows.

Key West

The first full day in the Keys we headed for Key West. I had done some prior research and had a list of places I wanted to see and potential parking locations. If you have not been to Key West before, parking can be very challenging downtown, and a decent part of the street parking is reserved for residents with permits. There are a few paid lots close to the cruise ship terminal, but we opted to park a little farther from downtown in a free parking spot along Smathers Beach. We took our bicycles with us, as well as our bicycle trailer for Miss Kicky Feet, and we were ready to explore. The kids have been riding without training wheels for a few years now, and since we have been doing up to 16 mile rides in Largo, the kids were more than prepared to traverse the 4 mile by 2 mile island without tiring out.

Our first stop was at the west end of Smathers beach when we realized we had forgotten the island map and our list of places we wanted to hit. While Heather circled back to the truck the kids and I looked around at the end of the beach. The kids found a very pretty jelly fish stuck among the rocks and seaweed. I nudged it with my shoe to roll it on its side, exposing the blue tentacles coming from its underside. As Heather returned she was alarmed to find the three of us huddled around a Portuguese Man of War…a jellyfish that could be lethal to our little explorers if they were stung on the right part of their body by the tentacles that still retained venom even if the jelly appeared dead. So, away from the jelly fish and back to the sidewalk, where Heather felt much more secure. [Heather says: Seriously! I leave them for 2 minutes and come back to find them playing with a deadly jelly fish! Can’t leave these people for a minute!] On to exploring…

We took pictures at the Southernmost point as well as US-1 Mile Mark Zero. We explored the Key West Lighthouse and Keeper’s house and climbed the tower to grab some awesome panorama shots of the island. We ate lunch on the courthouse lawn, which we had packed in the back of the bike trailer.

Side note: The bike trailer, which we purchased a number of years ago, has proved invaluable both in Largo as well as Key West, and we are glad it did not end up in the sell pile when we started traveling. It has become our base of operations for diaper duty, our packed lunches, and water.In Key West it also became the place to stash souvenirs. We love our bike trailer!

We learned about the role of the US Navy in Key West and Mr. Flagler’s railroad ventures at the Custom House. We walked around Mallory Square and the dockside shops. We listened to the sounds of steel drums as we walked around Mallory Square. There were 3 cruise ships docked in Key West for the day, but even with the added influx of visitors, the city was not terribly crowded as I thought it may have been. We strolled down Duval street, and enjoyed some Key Lime pie as an afternoon snack.We stopped in at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville and took the tour at the Harry S. Truman Little White House. The tour of the little white house was very interesting, and we can say that we have been in the house once occupied by the President of the United States and various global leaders.

We finished the day on Key West with a stroll along Smathers beach with our toes in the white soft sand. We watched the sunset over the water from the beach, which was beautiful!

I did find it slightly funny that we came across a Border Patrol Semi truck on Key West…on the day Trump was being sworn in as our new President. Not sure which direction the border patrol was watching for, people coming or people going. Afterall, we were only 90 miles from Cuba .

Once we left the island and headed back east we decided to stop for dinner instead of making it ourselves, so we stopped at a barbecue joint along US-1, which satisfied our ravenous appetites.

Since this post is quite long as is, we will talk about the restof our Florida Keys trip in our next post. Happy Traveling!

Family Visit (Round two)

FYI: Long post

By: Kevin

We are now through our second week of family visitation. While we have thoroughly enjoyed everyone coming to visit, it is nice to have fewer people in our small space and be back to our normal routine.

Heather’s mom [Karla] and sister [Hailey] (and Hailey’s little one) arrived from Ohio via car (later in the week Heather’s other sister [Holly] arrived by plane for a shorter visit) with lots of Christmas presents for the kids onboard. We celebrated Christmas (round three) outside on the picnic table where we could all spread out and show off our new gifts. Luckily for us our extended family has become more attuned to our living situation and the gifts were not quite as physically large as in past years. (This in contrast to the much loved powerwheels vehicles our kids recieved two Christmases ago that we struggled to find a place to transport every time we moved until the kids outgrew them and we gave them back to grandma to store for the next grandchild.) We are very thankful for our Christmas gifts. 🙂 It was an enjoyable morning!

On Friday we took Heather’s family to IKEA, and then on to Orlando, where Karla had rented a condo for a week. As soon as we pulled up to the gate the rent-a-guard started harassing me, and when I returned later a different guard harassed me further. While the rest of the family seemed to enjoy our stay at the Villas on Seven Dwarfs Lane, I had less than an enjoyable visit mostly because I felt like an outcast instead of a guest. I was discriminated against due to having a lightbar on my truck, and was required to park off-property and walk in. I was not allowed to drive my truck on the property under threat of having the police called and my truck towed. I asked the manager of the rental office, Francisco Rosado, for their terms and conditions of rental so I could see the basis of their discrimination against me, but he refused to produce the requested documents. Part way through the week I was getting pretty tired of dealing with the rent-a-guards and I just started jumping the 6-foot chain-link fence between the condo and my truck instead of having to deal with the harassment from the guards at the gate. For what it is worth, the actual condo unit was nice and we made the most of our time with Heather’s family while we were there.

On a lighter note, the condo had a very large jetted tub in the master bathroom in which Heather and I both fit with room to spare. She decided to add ” just a little” Bubble Bath to the tub. However, after turning on the jets we soon had a LOT of bubbles. The bubbles rose higher and higher, raising over the top of the tub. By the time the bubbly peaks stopped rising we had literally a foot of bubbles on top of the bath water. Yes, a full 12″ tall blanket of bubbles from one end of the tub to the other. If you don’t believe us, we called Hailey, Holly, and Karla in to witness the mass of bubbles…and there were pictures taken.

Sea World

While in Orlando Heather’s mom took the whole crew to Sea World. Heather and I had been there about 3 years ago with the kids, but with the kids a little older I found it more enjoyable. I especially liked watching the kids’ reactions to things. Pie and Bug wanted to sit down nice and close to the front at the whale show, which we allowed, even though we knew it was deep within the “Soak Zone”. The first good jump of the whales got both of them soaking wet. As soon as the water hit them Bug leapt to his feet and ran up the stairs past where Heather and I were sitting. He stood there dripping and stunned for a minute as we started to laugh at him. He elected to come sit with us for the rest of the show.

Other highlights of the trip included petting sharks in a ‘touch tank’ and seeing real penguins. I was entertained that the kids were thrilled to see “real snow” in the penguin exhibit. I guess the last time they saw real snow was prior to starting our travels. That would have been the winter of 2014-2015.

We also enjoyed climbing through a huge playhouse of nets and webbing tunnels. The whole thing was about 40 feet high and a few hundred feet long. I think the adults had as much fun climbing through the nets as the kids did. It was also a good way to run off some excess energy between shows.

We finished the day by going to Chuy’s Tex-Mex Restaurant on the recommendation of my sister who lives in Orlando. We were not disappointed! The food was great, portions were nice, and the service was fast, even with a party of 9 people. There was even a balloon lady that came around to our table and made some awesome balloon creations for the kids. I would definitely return to Chuy’s. I was also happy to see that the restaurant has its headquarters in Texas, so we may be able to eat at one of their other locations in Texas this spring once we leave Florida.

Putt-Putt Golf

We also decided to go putt-putt golfing in Orlando, which was very enjoyable. We decided to actually count the kids’ strokes this time, as they are getting a little older, and that made them try a little harder to get a decent score. The course was a Congo jungle theme, and the props along the course were neat. To keep with the tradition of basically any putt-putt course I have been to in the past, there was a waterfall to putt around and underneath. Heather, to avoid pushing a second stroller through the putt-putt course, decided to put Miss Kicky Feet in a Tula carrier for the outing. Of course, this meant she got to putt with a small child strapped to her chest. Even with this added degree of difficulty, she did pretty well. At the conclusion, Hailey was even able to hold a baby alligator, which she was thrilled about.

As I still had work commitments in Tampa, I had to return a few days early, leaving the rest of the family to finish out the week at the condo. They enjoyed swimming at the pool and playing on the splash pad within the condo community as well as shopping at various stores and shops around the Orlando area.

The Beach

Upon returning to Largo from the condo we decided to head to the beach before our Ohio family needed to head north to their frozen tundra. We elected to go to Clearwater beach this time for a change of venue (We went to Indian Rocks beach with my parents the week prior). We spent a few hours at the beach playing in the sand and water. Heather and I got the large inflatable tube out that we still had after selling our boat in 2014 and used the kids’ play shovels as oars to “raft” ourselves out and around a large pylon on the bay. We had a bunch of fun with it, even as Karla was shaking her head at our silliness.

After the beach we roamed the shops along Clearwater Beach and enjoyed dinner at Frenchy’s Seafood Restaurant. If you are in the area it is worth the stop to try their variety of seafood and their unusual dishes, such as alligator bites.

Once Heather’s family pulled out and headed back toward Ohio we started preparing for our next adventure to the Florida Keys in a few days.

Family visit (round one)

By: Kevin

[Post contains an external commercial link, we do not receive any financial compensation for it, just sharing our personal experience]

Over the past few days my parents were in town from Ohio. It just so happened that I was off work for the duration of their stay, which was nice. We enjoyed having them around, and the kids really loved seeing their grandparents. The weather was nice and warm for their visit and they enjoyed the change from the frigid temperatures to which they are now returning.

We had a combined Christmas and New Years Eve dinner at my sister’s house, watched the Ohio State football bowl game (which they sadly lost), and watched the ball drop in New York City on TV. It was fun reminding the kids that we were standing in Times Square less than 6 months ago, although there were considerably less people there when we visited. It took the kids a few minutes to recognize it, but once it clicked they were excited to see somewhere they had been on the TV.

We also made a trip to the beach, because I mean, doesn’t everyone go to the beach on January 2nd? It was 80 degrees with a decent breeze making it feel like a very comfortable 75. The water was a cool 68 degrees, but once we were in the water a few minutes it wasn’t terrible. The kids enjoyed digging in the sand, something that has been specifically prohibited at our campsite after we tired of tripping over all their half-dug holes around our past campsites.

We also took the opportunity to take a helicopter tour of the area. We don’t typically spend high dollar amounts for entertainment, but we figured this would be a special event that will not be repeated for quite a while. There are a few different companies around the area, but we decided on Vertical Flight. We met the pilot at a local airport and enjoyed a beautiful ride around the area and enjoyed his very knowledgeable commentary about the area and terrain. The pilot also banked the helicopter side to side to ensure Bug, our 6-year old had a good view of points of interest below. The helicopter had 4 seats so my mom, Bug, and I took the tour together. We were planning to have Heather, Pie, and Miss Kicky Feet go up for a second run but the pilot told us that he would do it if we wanted, but suggested that due to the fog coming in off the Gulf of Mexico, if we had another day to take the flight it would be better and they would be able to see more. It was nice to have a pilot that was concerned about our view and not simply his income.

Clearwater Airpark, where we lifted off

Tarpon Springs

Clearwater Beach

Tampa Bay & Downtown Clearwater

My parents headed out yesterday, just in time for Heather’s family to arrive today. They too will be coming down from Ohio. So, we have a quick turn-around period to prepare for family visit round two which starts today!

The sinking slide-out

By: Kevin

This project occurred a few weeks ago, but with the holidays I am just now getting around to posting about it.

We recently removed our factory-installed RV dinette and replaced it with a new sleeper sofa and table. More about that project can be read here. As we were installing the sofa we noticed that the slide-out floor was even, if not a little lower than the main flooring on the aft end of the slide-out while the floor was raised above the main floor by about 3/4″ on the forward edge of the slide-out. To us that meant that there was a structural problem on the aft end of the slide-out. This really didn’t surprise us too much as we already had done some floor and wall repair in that general area due to a leak that took us a few months to track down and stop. A quick look under the slide revealed some soft wood and upon further examination revealed pretty much a complete lack of structure under the aft slide-out. With the assistance of Oliver, a recently-made friend and fellow RVer in the campground, we started tearing into the framing/structure under this section of the RV. We pulled out wet/rotten wood with our bare hands, further showing us the lack of structure the wood was providing. Once we realized the extent of the damage, I made a trip to Lowe’s for supplies. We placed a support structure under the slide so it would not end up on top of us while we were working, and used the supports to raise the slide an inch or so to be able to work on the floor transition that the slide was supposed to ride across while moving the slide-out room inward or outward. We were then free to remove all the rotten wood, place new wood supports under the slide and reattach the transition to the new wood. We used long carriage bolts and lag screws to hold everything together and give it more strength than it probably had when it rolled out of the factory. We used pressure treated wood and galvanized carriage bolts so weather/wetness should be less of an issue moving forward. I was happy that, with the help of Oliver, the project was pretty much completed within one day. I still have a rubber wiper seal to attach and some finishing touches with a special repair tape (since we had to cut back the underbelly wrap to re-structure), but I can do that fairly quickly and on my own. The slide-out now sits at the proper height on both the fore and aft ends, and rides across the floor transition as it is supposed to do. I am very happy with the project and know it will be solid for quite some time to come.