psheew

Home with fingers uncrossed and breathing normally.  Now it's time for a new set of tires, complete the laundry, and restock the pantry because in ten days we are off again, leaving Friday, June 5.

Stay tuned!

As with all of our outings we have really enjoyed our time on this trip but it is good to be home for at least a little while.

Last week our lawn service set out seven holly plants along our north foundation wall and three hydrangea plants in the northeast area replacing the ones that were removed for our foundation stabilization work a year and half ago.  Our yard has been a mess ever since that work but now it is coming back to a better shape and looking good.  It is so nice to come home from a trip and find our yard had recently been mowed and trimmed.

Happy Memorial Day

Jo and I visited Wilma this morning and then took her with us to the Green Lawn cemetery in Springfield and then up to the Humansville cemetery.  It was a very nice day with the rains supposedly holding off until later this afternoon.

We then found some lunch at Bob Evans before taking Wilma home and then back to our trailer.  Tomorrow morning we will hitch up and make the short drive to the Martin Manor.

about there and still good

Just a trip to Humansville tomorrow and then the short drive home, still have my fingers crossed.

Also watching the skies as most of Missouri is in a storm watch.  We drove through some hard rain just east of Springfield and it was raining enough when we arrived here in Ozark that I needed my yellow rain outfit to get set up.  At least our GWF had slowed it down from the hard driving rain we had driven through.

still good

Now it's 759 miles down and 414 to go at least in Springfield there should be a tire that fits my size if needed.  Once back at the Manor we'll be good to go for the next trip with new treads and new brakes, almost like a new truck.

Tonight we are in Arkansas just a few miles north of Memphis.  After listening to the news the past couple of days we're just glad that we visited Texas last month instead of now with all the flooding.

so far so good

About halfway home, 500 miles down and 675 miles to go but still have my fingers crossed.  We did have a snag this afternoon when we pulled into the campground for tonight's stay.  We had stayed in that campground a couple other times and there were many open spaces so I didn't make a reservation, oops, wrong.  This being a Friday night on a holiday weekend made a big difference and there were no sites available.  We always carry a campground guide book/directory so we opened it up and looked for any campground in the area.  We found one on the north side of Baltimore which is fine for our trip tomorrow.  I called them and they had a site for us.  The campground wasn't in Ms Navi's knowledge base so we had to follow the directions given us by the lady we called.  Her directions were spot on and we are now set for the night.

fingers crossed

We have begun our homeward bound trek without a spare tire for the truck.  Last Tuesday the right front tire on the truck started to tear apart.  I made it to a tire store but they didn't have a replacement tire in the correct size.  Apparently the size of the tires on our truck are not commonly available so I had them move our spare to replace the bad tire and just hope to make it back home to get a replacement.  The crossed fingers are hoping that one of the remaining three don't decide to repeat what this one did.  Three days to Springfield and then one more to the Manor.

slight change of plans

Our original plan was to stay here in Chassahowitzka campground until Friday which was a full two weeks.  Now we plan to pull out tomorrow and head for d'house.  With the original plan it was going to be two days between here and Memphis which was going to be two, longer than we like, days of driving.  By leaving a day early (we've accomplished all that we want in this area) we will make that three of our usual shorter driving days.  Then it is an easy day from Memphis to Springfield where we will visit cemeteries before heading back to the Manor on Tuesday.

Weeki Wachee State Park

Many years ago we visited this park with our friends the Robinetts on our way to Key West.  Jo and I spent some time here today and watched the mermaid show plus other items of interest.  The river is very shallow but it is spring fed from the place where the mermaid show takes place.  They said that the depth of the spring is unknown as divers went down over 400' and still couldn't see bottom.

These mermaids spend a lot of time under water with only an air hose to suck on when needed.  The story for this show was "the little mermaid" where she meets her sailor man and wishes for legs.

Alligator soup

Or what might better be called "leftover soup" that included the leftover gator from Jo's dinner last night.  With some fresh veggies added it sure was tasty for lunch today.

Then it was a brief shopping trip to Dollar General and Publix.

another good seafood dinner

This evening we found another very good seafood restaurant.  Jo's gator and my grouper were very good.  The oyster shuck-er fortunately didn't know how to count as when I ordered six on the half shell I received eight.  Some were small so I guess that made up for his miscount, yum.  Between here and the restaurant we drove through a very strong rain storm needing the wipers on double speed but when we arrived all was dry.  the rains here have been extremely spotty.

Pioneer Florida Museum & Village

Today we made a trip to the city of Dade, Florida and visited the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village.  It was a very nice day and while a bit hot outside seeing the buildings two of them did have air-conditioned and were a welcome relief.  We have toured other such pioneer villages around the country and always enjoy them, this one was very nice.

  school house

 church

 traveling preacher

 animal treadmill powered butter churn

 Jo likes bottle trees

 cane mill

 baler

 hexigon five string banjo

 four string