Definition of potpourri – 1: a mixture of flowers, herbs, and spices that is usually kept in a jar and used for scent. 2: a miscellaneous collection. The second definition above pretty much describes today’s blog. This is the third in a collection of miscellaneous thoughts and info that I’m sharing because I really don’t have anything else to talk about today.
How to start an argument on the internet – say anything and wait five minutes, as the comments on yesterday’s blog prove. Some people insist that the car in the photo is a 1957 Mercury, the owner of the car says it’s a 1959 and says the title confirms that, and even sent me a picture of the title. I don’t know, and I don’t really care, because it would not work out for us as a trade on the equity in our motorhome anyway.
A blog reader wrote to ask if I knew anything about RV caravans where the RVs are put on barges and floated down the Mississippi River. Years ago when we started fulltiming, I remember at least one company that did that, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen any reference to it. As I recall, insurance and meeting the requirements of the different regulatory agencies got to be too much, so they stopped it. I’m sorry we never got around to doing it, because it sounded like fun.
From the time we started looking at buying a house somewhere on the Florida coast, people warned us we should keep our motorhome for traveling a few months a year, because we would never be able to tolerate the summers here. Well, today is August 1, and so far I don’t really see all that much difference between here and the many summers we spent in Michigan and northern Indiana. Last year, when we were seriously considering buying this house we spent most of the summer at Elkhart Campground in Elkhart, Indiana. Like it often is, it was really hot up there, and we spent a lot of days inside because it was just too hot and humid to go out and do anything. I watched the weather very carefully all summer and compared temperatures and humidity levels between Elkhart and New Smyrna Beach just about every day. Usually the difference wasn’t much more than 5 degrees, and the humidity level was 5 to 10% higher. To us, if it was 90° and 80% humidity, versus 95° and 90% humidity, it really doesn’t make much difference. Both are too hot to go out and play for this fat little boy.
If you have read this blog or the Gypsy Journal for very long, you know that Terry and I are history nuts and we are always looking for interesting places to visit. Recently blog readers Jim and Kellie Shepard shared a link to a website called US Forts, and I’m impressed with it. It has stories with photos about a lot of different historic forts in the United States and Canada, some I’ve never heard of. I’m definitely going to enjoy perusing it!
If you find places like this interesting, an excellent book is World War II Sites in the United States: A Directory and Tour Guide, by Richard Osborne. It has information on hundreds of military facilities that were built and operated in the United States during World War II. Everything from Army camps and airfields, to naval bases, prisoner of war camps, military hospitals, and a lot more.
And finally, somebody asked if I have had a chance to try out my new Garrett AT Pro metal detector yet. No, unfortunately not. I haven’t even opened the box yet. Between running back and forth to Arizona and Alabama because of my daughter and daughter-in-law’s health issues, I just haven’t had the time. And then there is that summer heat I mentioned above.
The good news is that Tiffany has been making an amazing recovery from her heart attack and being in a medically induced coma for a week following it. And yesterday we got a call from my son Travis telling us that his wife Geli got the report back from the biopsy that was done while we were there, and the news is good. No cancer, which was our big fear. She will need to have a surgical procedure done as a preventative measure, but that’s okay. She can handle that, and we will be right there with her and Travis all the way.
Thought For The Day – Friendships and relationships will fail if only one person is trying to keep them together.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Glad to hear about your daughter’s good news. Praying the surgical procedure well go well, and that she’ll heal quickly.
Just want to thank you for your daily blog and tell you how much I enjoy reading them every day. I especially like the “potpourri” blogs, almost as much as I enjoy your Big Lake books! Wish you could write as fast as I read! Anxiously awaiting the next one! Here’s another prayer for your daughter and d-I-l, too.
Great news about your daughter and D-I-L.
I hear you about the heat. We leave Florida every summer to escape it, but this year we took I-10 to California, then I-5 to Oregon and now we’re in Idaho. We’ve been gone 2 months, and so far we have had 3 days below 90. It has been hotter wherever we were than it was in Tampa all the other days. Yuk! This isn’t working out like we hoped!
I agree about the temperature differences. We live right on the beach in Cape Canaveral and the biggest difference we notice between here and North Georgia is the lack of shade. If you go out for a walk here you had better get set to be in the sun. On the beach… that goes without saying, but neighborhood walks can be heat stroke inducing with few trees to give comfort. Georgia walks in the summer time were under a canopy of trees.
But here we have the wonderful ocean breezes and endless views of rolling waves. Our takeaway… we live where other people save to vacation and it is well worth the tradeoff. We will miss the change of seasons but there is nothing to stop a quick trip to the mountains. I love our Central Florida coast and you choose well. We miss our RV but it will not get enough use here to make it practical to keep.
Great news about daughter and daughter in law, such a relief. We spend most of our time west of Arkansas. In 2011 we traveled all the way across I 10 to FL, went down the panhandle then up the east coast. We visited every fort that was built during the Civil War and is was really interesting. I don’t remember all that from school history books. The beaches were mostly beautiful and loved visiting places I had never been to. I agree that the summer weather in the midwest can be just as bad as Florida. We are park hosts in AR for the 3rd season and it will be our last, the heat and humidity are really bad.
Glad to hear the great news on both you daughter and daughter-in-law! Prayers are a great force, and will continue praying for the surgical procedure.
I don’t think I’ve seen you mention an app I recently was made aware of–it’s CLIO and it gives a list of points of interest around the area you’re in based on your GPS location. It gives historical sites, military sites, information on people instrumental to the history of the area and where you can learn more about them, museums, and just points of interest, etc. I’m loving this app!
I understand the issue with heat and humidity and I tolerate both poorly, which is why I’m camp hosting on the CA coast about 60 miles north of San Francisco. The temperature is seldom over 75 but drops to the low 60s or high 50s at night. I’m using a little electric heater almost every morning because it’s about 62 in my rig but gets up to 70 by noon setting in direct sunlight!