February 21, 2013

02/11/2013

We have been connecting to the internet through a Verizon Pantech UN175 air card, plugged into a Cradlepoint router and amplified with a Cyfre amplifier.   This system has served us well for over four years but lately we have been talking about going to something else.

Our Verizon cell plan allows us to use unlimited data on the air card which is really great, especially since I am doing a lot of genealogy research on Ancestry.com.  Some of the census files and photos can be very large and we use an average of 11.5 gigabytes which includes the air card and our smartphones.

Yesterday we decided to make an upgrade to the Verizon MiFi system.  The new router/modem is 4g capable and we hope will be faster.  The main disadvantage to this router is we can't hookup an external antenna and send it through our Cyfre amp.  However, we are rarely in an area where we can't get cell service anyway so we feel that this is a better internet solution for us.

When we made this change, we lost our unlimited data plan so we opted for getting 10 gigs for now.  We'll have to watch our usage and change our plan as necessary.

Joyce also upgrade her phone to the new Galaxy IIIS.  I won't go into details here but be advised, check your phones when making any changes to your plan before leaving the store!

02/14/2013

On Tuesday we welcomed Ron and Katie Cutler to St. Augustine for a short visit.  You might remember we went to Orlando to visit last month.  We always have a great time with Ron and Katie who we hope to visit at their home in Payson, UT in the future.

Yesterday after saying goodbye to Ron and Katie, we drove up to Jacksonville to have the latest and greatest MAC OS, Mountain Lion installed on my MAC Book Pro.  I have been contemplating making the upgrade for some time now, having waited due to software issues with out air card.  Now that we have solved that little problem it was time to get my MAC up-to-speed.

02/15/2013

I have been using our new MiFi system for a few days now and am generally pleased with it's operation.  We are getting three bars of solid 4G service here at Anastasia State Park and so far we haven't experienced any dropped calls.  With the old air card we had several drop outs that sometimes lasted for five minutes or more.  Of course, the park in right in the town of St. Augustine so the we won't know really how it works until we're out on the road or in places like Terrebonne, OR.  Then we'll see how it works on 3G service.

02/17/2013

Joyce and I are grand baby sitting while Harold and Michelle are in Orlando.  Last night Grandma made a delicious meat turnover supper and I gave Skyler a bath.  He really likes the water!  After putting him to bed we watched "The Princess and the Pop Star" with Abigail.  Weather permitting we plan to take the kids our for a few hours today.  Might even hit Micky 'D's.

We did Taco Bell instead.  Skyler loves Cinnamon Twists!

Reading his Valentine card from Grandma Steffen.  I wish I had this on video.

Several of my squadron mates from the old 7th Military Airlift Squadron are planning a reunion for May 18th at the Pippo Ranch in Vacaville.  Joyce and I will be arriving at Travis AFB on the 17th for a weeks stay before heading up to Oregon for the summer.  We hope to get a couple of days of Reno time while we are there as well.  Anyone up for a Bozo's night?

02/19/2013

The yesterday was all about computer's, phone's, printer's and Verizon MiFi.  Grrr…..!!!!  'Nuff said.

02/20/2013

Yesterday afternoon Joyce and I made a visit to Fort Matanzas National Monument.  Completed by the Spanish in 1745, this small fort guarded the south river entrance to St. Augustine.

Until next time.

Barry & Joyce

Feburary 11, 2013

01/30/2013

As most of you know, one of my hobbies is doing genealogy research.  Recently, Ancestry.com has linked up with Find A Grave which is really helps those of us who study old dead folks.  I found these stones the other day:

Myrtle was a sixth cousin of mine.

In our last posting I showed you a picture of Barry's Bird Attack Repelling Device.  It worked for a day or so but one of them just won't go away:

Courtesy of John and Carolyn Staples.

02/02/2013

Joyce and I can't believe that we have been in Florida for almost four months.  Seems like only yesterday that we were backing into our parking site here at Anastasia State Park.  Just twenty-six more days and we'll be hooking up the rig and heading up to the NAS Jacksonville RV Park for a twenty day stay there before heading west.

If you shop at Toys R Us, the next is for you.  If not, skip over the next few paragraphs.

This Christmas we bought Skyler a kiddy trampoline at Toys R Us.  The darned thing fell apart after just a couple of days so yesterday Joyce and I took it up to Jacksonville with the goal of exchanging it for a better one or to get store credit.

The young gal at the customer service desk said that she could only exchange it for the same item because we didn't have the original packaging.  What?  Who the heck saves the original boxes of stuff you get for kids at Christmas?

So, after a couple of minutes of "discussing" the situation, I asked to see a manager.  The manager came over and proceeded to give me a long drawn out dissertation about the company's policy for returning items to Toys R Us, including the reasoning behind the necessity to have the original packaging.  After a few minutes of listening to him blabber, I told him in no uncertain terms that I didn't give a darn if the store got their money back, I only cared bout my money being refunded.  I then asked to talk to his boss who of course, wasn't in the store.

After leaving with the broken toy in hand we called American Express.  The immediately took the charge off of our card and started a dispute with Toys R Us.  We may or may not win this dispute but I think it's going to cost the company more money than just refunding our's.  And, I hope it does!

Last night we invited out neighbors, John and Carolyn Staples who hale from Virginia to join us at the Elks Lodge for supper.  We had a great time visiting with them over plates of delicious B-B-Q.

02/04/2013

Last night we went to Harold and Michelle house for their Super Bowl Party.  Several friends and neighbors came over to join us.  They all brought food and beverages. Sorry that the 49'ers couldn't pull it out for a win but who really cares anyway?  I would much rather watch the college National Championship game than endure a bunch of over-paid spoiled adults acting like five year olds.  Just sayin'.

Abigail has new glasses!

02/05/2013

Joyce left this morning to visit Sue Ziher at Cody's RV Park in Weeki Wachee today.  She had planned to visit her grandmother in Fort Myers but she called this morning to let Joyce know she was sick.  So, with a rental car already paid for she decided to visit Sue.

During our travels, we have had the unfortunate experience of being behind sand and gravel trucks a few time.  Out windshield has become very pitted causing poor visibility and wiper hopping.  So, I called our insurance company and they authorized replacement.  It only cost $246 here in St. Augustine and since we have zero deductible on glass, the insurance picked up the tab.

02/07/2013

Yesterday Joyce and I volunteered to drive a shuttle tram for the Flight to Freedom event at Fort Mose Historic State Park here in St. Augustine.  Fort Mose was the first free black settlement in what is now the United States and played a significant roll as a sanctuary for run-away slaves from the Carolina's in the late 1600's and into the early 1700's.

Re-enactors in period clothing told the story of the founding of Fort Mose. In addition, Florida Living History Inc. performed Colonial Spanish military drills and provided demonstrations of musket and cannon firing throughout the day. The event also included a cooking demonstration, an exhibit on Native Indians and various exhibits, performances and food vendors.

That's enough for now!

Barry & Joyce

January 27, 2013

01/20/2013

Last week Joyce and I welcomed Bob "Snakeman" Schnake for a visit.  Bob and I served in the 604th Military Airlift Support Squadron at Clark AB, Philippines in 1974 and then again at Travis AFB, CA as flight engineers.  Bob was in the 86th Airlift Squadron and then went on to fly C-130's at Yakota AB, Japan.  Bob and I had a great time catching up on the "good ole days".

On Thursday we drove over to Weeki Wachee to visit our friends Rodney and Susan Ziehr at Cody's RV Park.  You might remember that we volunteered at Cody's during  the winter of 2008.  Rodney and Sue have been going to Cody's for several years and are back there again this year.

On Friday we went down to Tampa and took in the Tampa RV SuperShow, the granddaddy of all the RV shows in the country.  If you can name it, think it or just dream about anything to do with RVing, it's there.  The show takes up the entire Florida State Fairgrounds so if you want to see everything, you should plan for more than one day.

If any of y'all have an extra million or two laying around gathering dust, I sure would like to have one of these:  http://www.libertycoach.com/available-coaches/2014-Liberty-Coach-Elegant-Lady-759 or maybe one of these:  http://www.marathoncoach.com/gallery/index.cfm?coach=1193&contemporary
All of the major manufacturers were in Tampa and from what I saw, they seemed to be doing well.  I did hear one of the vendors who was selling furniture, that this show was the worst he has had in several years.  However, you wouldn't know that if you visited the Camping World Store.

01/26/2012

On Tuesday we drove down to Orlando to meet up with Gary and Marsha Stevensen of Oakridge, OR.  We had a beautiful room at the Armed Forces Recreation Resort, Shades of Green, located in Walt Disney World.  They are in Florida to take a cruise out of Tampa.

View from our room.

 

Shade of Green.

On Wednesday we met Gary and Marsha at Universal Studios Orlando where we toured several parts of the park including the Harry Potter village.  Now I know what the Harry Potter rage is all about.  I just might read the books.

Enjoying a little refreshment.

The next day we drove up to Orlando to visit our friends Ron and Kattie Cutler from Payson, UT.  We volunteered with them at Vail Lake Resort in Temecula, CA a few years back and they are in Florida visiting family.  We had a wonderful time "catching up".

Out for supper with Ron & Kattie.

Ron is into making knives, some of which he brought with him.  He does some fantastic work and of course, I had to get two of them.

My new knives.  Beautiful!

Have you seen the Alfred Hitchcock film, "The Birds"?  Well, they left Bodega Bay, CA and transplanted themselves to Anastasia State Park.  Well, maybe just one.  Anyway, there was one little guy who flew out of the tree directly behind our rig, landed on the ladder, saw his reflection in our rear picture window and either was mad at what he saw or, had romance on the mind.  Then, he attacked!  The window...a lot, numerous times!  In fact, this went on for a couple of hours driving Joyce to the point of murdering the poor creature.

After it got dark the "Rage of the Crazy Bird" stopped, only to begin anew at the break of dawn.  At this point I was thinking of borrowing my neighbor's 12-gauge shotgun and sending him to Bird Heaven.  But, here is what I did to stem any more attacks on us:

Barry's Bird Attack Repelling Device, 1 each, Spec No. BarryJan2013BagDucktape

Take that bird!  Ya think we might get some reactions from other drivers if we ran down the road with this on the ladder?

That's all for now folks.

Barry & Joyce

Jan 12, 2013

01/10/2013

Happy New Year everyone!  Joyce and I wish you all a very prosperous and exciting 2013.

On New Years Eve Joyce and I went to the Elks Lodge for supper and some dancing.  The dinner was good but the guy doing the singing wasn't.  We were hoping that they would be doing some boot-scoot'in music but he was doing 50's and early 60's stuff.  We left early.

On the 3rd, we drove down to Patrick AFB to spend the night on our way down to Miami for our 3-day cruise.  Patrick has some really nice quarters and also retirees can dine in their dining hall which has really good food.

The next morning we got an early start and arrived at the parking lot around 10:30.  It was just a short drive from there over to the Royal Caribbean terminal where we boarded the Majesty of the Seas.

Majesty is one of the oldest ships in Royal Caribbean's fleet and is much smaller than the other ships we have sailed on before.  You can actually walk from one end to the other in about three minutes.

Our first stop was at RC's private island, Coco Cay on the north end of the Bahamas.  We decided not to even go ashore here and we were rewarded with the ship almost to ourselves.

That evening we went to the Top Tier Reception for Platinum and above members.  The captain (who is only 30 years old) presented a talk about the history of Royal Caribbean and what is in store for the future.  Two new Oasis class ships are going to be built starting next year.  Additionally, RC has decided to build a new Sunshine class that is going to rest between the Oasis class and the Freedom class.  During the reception we heard an emergency alarm being announced which got everyone's attention.

During dinner, the captain told us that because of a medical emergency we were not going to be spending the night at Coco Cay but would leave immediately for Nassau. He also said that anyone who would like to go ashore to enjoy some evening entertainment in Nassau could do so after clearing customs.  Joyce and I elected to stay on the ship.

The next morning after breakfast we hit the town of Nassau.  The area around the cruise ships is all about shopping for jewelry, jewelry and more jewelry.  There are a few shops selling t-shirts, hats and other junk and also a few clubs.  In Nassau if you want to do some really serious sight-seeing you will need to book an excursion on your ship or do some research about how to get around in the area.

After walking around for a while, we got in a taxi and headed over to the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island.  You've probably seen the commercials about this place on TV but you really can't really see how big this place is from them.  It's huge!  And to stay here will cost you a huge dent in your checking account as well.

We had heard about the aquarium here so we decided to check it out.  We paid $40 each but it was worth that price.

After doing that, Joyce wanted to make a donation in their casino so I went back to the ship.  She stayed and actually won $120.

Nassau from the ship

The Masonic Lodge is the yellow building with white trim.  Since it was Sunday the Lodge was closed.

 In the background, there is a new hotel/casino being built.

 Atlantis

At Atlantis.  The "bridge" is actually a 5000 sq. ft. suite.  $25,000 a night!

Some thoughts about this cruise:
1.  A 3-day cruise is just too short.  By the time you figure out the lay of the land, it's time to get off.      Minimum for us is 5-days.
2.  The Majesty of the Seas is small so some of the cabins are small as well.  We like the medium size ships like the Jewell of the Seas.
3.  DO NOT use Primer Parking in Miami!  I won't go into the details here but rest assured, you will not like what will happen when you get back into port.
4.  The easiest way to do sight-seeing at ports of call is to book excursions with your cruise line.  However, they are usually expensive.  With some research you can get all the information including downloading guides and brochures.

OK, that's enough for now.

Barry & Joyce

December 29, 2012

12/21/2012

On Thursday we sent down to St. Augustine Beach to check out a restaurant.  While pulling through the parking lot, a gal in a Beamer backed into us, hitting the back left door.  We're gonna have to put the truck in the hospital.  Grrr….

Ouch!

  Very little damage to the Beamer.  Just scratches.

Last night I went to Abigail's school for their Christmas Activities Night.  The kids did a sing-along thing among other activities.  it was a lot of fun to watch the children enjoying themselves.

Abby is sitting to the left of her best buddy Zimmerman.

 Daddy and Abby made a Christmas card.

12/22/2012

Joyce and I went up to Jacksonville yesterday to get some last minute shopping done.  Made a stop at Costco which was very, very busy.  In fact, the traffic in Jacksonville was crazy.

After getting back to the park our neighbor's joined us at the Elks Lodge for dinner.  Had a good time talking about our hosting experiences and just generally relaxing.

Got really cold last night and the forecast for tonight is to be even colder.  Some parts of St. Johns County will see temperatures down to 30 degrees.  Burrrrr…

12/23/2012

Burrrr……!

12/24/2012

Since the temperature has dropped what else could happen but our furnace has quit working.  Well, not completely but it pops and makes a lot of rumbling sounds.  There is an obstruction in the burner can for sure but blowing air into the exhaust didn't correct the problem.  So, I called a mobile RV guy who just happens to be out-of-town for Christmas and won't be able to make it out here until Wednesday.  Ran out fireplace heater and a portable in the bedroom all night so we stayed fairly warm last night.

12/26/2012

On Christmas Eve the whole family went to the Le Pavillon restaurant here is St. Augustine for dinner.  Although the food was rated "just alright" the good cheer more than made up for that.

 Abby is keeping tabs on Santa with NORAD, using her Daddy's phone.

Abby ate Escargot for the first time and loved the dish.

After our dinner, we did the Old Town Trolly Tours "Holly Jolly" ride through downtown St. Augustine.  When you board the trolly you are given 3d glasses to wear which turns all the lights into beautiful Christmas ornaments.  This has become a tradition with Harold and Michelle and which we all enjoy.  It is really hard to beat Christmas-time in St. Augustine.

Yesterday morning we got over to the Skidmore's at 6:52 AM (Michelle wanted us there early) and guess what?  Yep, we had to wake everyone up!  I was reminded of my father who couldn't wait for a decent hour for everyone to get out of bed to enjoy Christmas morning.

Santa had arrived and of course left a lot of toys for Abigail and Skyler.  It was fun to watch them open their presents and just enjoying the morning with family.

Lookie what Santa brought me!

 Michelle got a new iPhone5!

12/28/2012

The mobile RV repairman came out yesterday and after some troubleshooting without finding the problem, he removed the furnace and took it to his shop.  A few hours later he called to say he found the burner tube had cracked and he would have to order one.  Total cost is $456 dollars of which we'll be responsible for $112.  Our warranty company will not pay the $12 freight for some reason.

Folks have asked us about buying a extended warranty and if it is a good value.  For us, we bought one when we purchased our 2007 Bighorn and that transferred to the Landmark when we traded in 2010.  However, in all the work we have had done on the two rigs, we still haven't paid for the coverage.  Ours is a 7-year bumper-to-bumper policy so we'll have to see what happens in the next few years but, I'm not optimistic about breaking even.

Would we buy one again?  Probably not.  I would much rather set aside two or three grand somewhere to cover inevitable breakdowns.  I would look at the most costly item on your rig and at least have that much in the bank.  For us, that would most likely be our refrigerator.

So, we're trying to stay warm with space heaters and our fireplace which are doing the job but not enough for me.  I was cold all night last night!  So, I am going to buy another small space heater today and run another 20 amp cord into the rig.

The Traveler's Insurance adjuster came out this morning and did an estimate on the truck damage.  I asked how long it will take to get this all done, thinking it would be at least a week.  Not so!  He got the estimate done, got approval from the claims adjuster, emailed a copy of it to the body shop and started the process of getting a rental car for us.  All of that took about 45 minutes tops!

After he left we called Tom Wilson Chevrolet.  The estimator said he would call us back soon.  Very shortly later, he called and said we can drop the truck off next Wednesday.  So, we'll have a rental car to drive down to Miami for our 3-day cruise, saving fuel and wear and tear on the truck.  Sweet!

That's all folks!

Barry & Joyce