They’re Gone And I’m Back!

I appreciate everybody indulging me for the last week while I re-posted old blogs so I could spend time with my kids while they were here visiting from out of state. Now they’re gone and I’m back, and I’ve got a lot to share with you. In fact, it will take me a few days just to get caught up with everything we did while they were here.

My daughter Tiffany flew in from her home in Show Low, Arizona, which was our hometown before we became fulltime RVers, back in 1999. She arrived at the Daytona Beach airport at 7 PM on Friday, the 11th. There were a bunch of hugs and some tears shed by all three of us. This was Tiffany’s first time to fly and she was very nervous but a nice lady who was going to be on the same flight took her under her wing at the Phoenix airport and promised that when they got to Charlotte, North Carolina, where Tiffany had a layover and changed planes, she would make sure she got to the right gate. And sure enough, she did! By the time Tiffany arrived in Daytona Beach all the nervousness was gone and she told us she loves flying!

She hadn’t eaten all day so the first order of business was to stop and get food. We went to Giuseppe’s Steel City Pizza in Port Orange, where Tiffany immediately found Mr. Right. Or at least Mr. Right Now. What can I say? She’s my kid.

My son Travis and his wife Geli were driving down from their home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and didn’t arrive until sometime around midnight. Geli is a nurse and had to work the night before so by the time they arrived we were all worn out. But we still sat up and talked for an hour or two before none of us could keep our eyes open any longer.

This was Tiffany’s first visit to Florida and Travis and Geli’s second, and there was a lot we wanted to show them while they were here as well as just catching up on family time. This was the first time in over 25 years that all three of us were in the same place at the same time and it was very special.

Something everybody wanted to do was get my pontoon boat into the water, so we did! Regular readers will probably be aware that it has been 18 months since I last used it, due to my ongoing medical issues. I was a little concerned that it wouldn’t start, even though I had put Sta-Bil fuel stabilizer in the gas tank, but it fired right up and ran great. We got it into the water with no difficulty, and off we went for about three hours of fun.

My boat is a 20-foot Bennington fishing model and this was the first time we had five adults in it. There was plenty of room for everybody and the 90 horsepower Yamaha four-stroke outboard motor moved it right along.

It was a hot, sunny day, but with the breeze off the water and having the boat’s canopy up, it was comfortable. Here I am with a whole bunch of pretty ladies. From left to right, that’s Tiffany, Geli, and Miss Terry.

Even though they don’t get to spend a lot of time together, Travis and Tiffany have a close bond and it was wonderful to see them enjoying each other’s company.

Everybody took a turn at driving the boat, and though it was the first time to do anything like that for Tiffany, she took to it like a pro. I think the smile on her face tells you how much she enjoyed it.

We weren’t the only ones having fun on the water that day. We saw several manatees, and dolphins seemed to be everywhere. It’s not uncommon to see two, and even three dolphins at a time around here, but this time we saw one pod of five of them, and they seemed to be putting on a show for us. We stopped the boat for a while just to watch them rolling and playing in the water.

As I’ve said before, Travis is an excellent photographer and he took a lot of great pictures that you’ll be seeing in upcoming blog posts, including this one of one of the manatee, too.

When you use a boat in saltwater, you need to flush the engine with freshwater when you get home, and then hose down both the boat and trailer before putting them away. After I flushed the engine, Tiffany insisted on rinsing the boat and trailer down. I raised my kids to pitch in when help is needed and neither one of them ever hesitates to do so.

That’s about it for today’s blog, but I’ll be back tomorrow with more adventures to share with you from the kids’ visit.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an RV camping journal donated by Barbara House. Barbara makes several variations of these, and they all have pages where you can list the date, weather, where you traveled to and from that day, beginning and ending mileage, campground information including amenities at RV sites, a place for a campground rating, room to record activities, people met along the way, reminders of places to see and things to do the next time you’re in the area, and a page for notes for each day. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.

Thought For The Day – If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.