We Have An RV Emergency Then Move to Fort Myers

We were packed up and ready to go shortly after 9:00 a.m. this morning. I had talked to my sister last night who is in Fort Myers and she had invited us for dinner at the restaurant at the condo they are renting. I just had to call them this morning to be sure they had something Gordon could eat (gluten free). I had called and confirmed that they could accommodate him when Gordon looked at the right rear tire of the fifth wheel and noted it had lost air – 36 lb to be exact. So we pulled the RV up to the garage at the campground and tried to put air in but couldn’t get enough pounds in it to continue on our trip. Off to Goodyear in Bushnell – after 1 ½ hr wait and a screw taken out of the tire, patched and put back on, we were on our way – 2 hour later than expected. I had called my sister when we reached Goodyear and told her that we wouldn’t make dinner tonight. Plans on a day that we’re moving is just too much so from now on – no plans on moving days!

Thanks to the guys at the Bushnell Tire Co. for getting us back on the road and working us in to their busy schedule.

Our fifth wheel with the tire off and under repair

We arrived at Fort Myers RV Resort around 2:30 p.m. under mostly sunny skies and a high of 81F (27C). We had some traffic backup at our exit off I-75 and some construction along the street that we traveled off I-75 to get to the park but other than that we made fairly good time.

After checking in, we were taken to our site which we were happy to see was fairly large. The park itself is a good size so I should have enough place to walk in the mornings. We were set up including changing the mount for the TV on the ladder to a higher location by 4:15 p.m.

Our site at Fort Myers RV Resort

We Meet Canadian Icons of Rving and Tour the Area

I had a nice walk through the campground this morning and on my way back signed us up for another night here. It’s a very large campground with not many park models. It’s well laid out and the seasonal sites are very large for a Florida park. Even the short term sites aren’t a bad size. I can’t give you a temperature for this morning as the sun was on the thermometer but the radio said 50F (10C) although I think the station is probably in Orlando. It didn’t feel like 50!

We got our phone call right at 9:00 a.m. saying that Fort Myers Campground has a site for us for a month. I really hate booking for so long a period without seeing the campground first but since it was so difficult to find a spot (that might be telling us something), we’re there for a month regardless.

After lunch we drove around downtown Bushnell – it’s not much, most everything is out where we are near the interstate. After that we stopped off to meet Peggi and John McDonald. They are at the RV park across the street from us called Red Barn. They have been fulltime RVers for 22 years and are fellow Canadians. Their site – rvliving.net is a wealth of information. If you want to know everything about RVing, ask them. They also have written several books. I bought the first one, Spirit of the Open Road before we started this lifestyle and it answered most of my questions. We didn’t stay long as we were headed to the Gulf Coast just for a drive but it was good to finally meet them. If I have a question, I send Peggi an email and I always get the answer to my question.

John and Peggi McDonald in front of their motorhome

Lots of Spanish moss in the trees around here

Flowering bush within the park

The drive was nice as it was a beautiful sunny day and reached 75F (24C). We didn’t see much over there, couldn’t get near the Gulf, too many houses and buildings but we had a good afternoon.

Tallahassee to Bushnell

Our site at Blueberry Hill RV Resort

A canopy of live oak trees cover the road

A view of the river that runs through Floral City

It was only 32F but sunny when I got up this morning. We got on the road by 9:05 a.m. and decided not to drive so far today so I made a reservation at Blueberry Hill RV Park in Bushnell, FL. We arrived there around 1:00 p.m. Our 212 mile drive was under sunny skies with little wind. We were set up by 2:00 p.m. even setting up the internet. We get enough local TV channels that we decided not to set up the TV dish.

The good news is that this park is right across the street from a SuperWalMart. After I had a bit of a rest I walked over there and Gordon came and picked me up when I was finished.

I spent a while on the phone trying to locate a site for us in Fort Myers. It’s amazing to me that resorts in Florida can charge $1100+/month and get away with it and be full! We’re thinking this is our last trip to Florida with the RV, too many people and too expensive! This is one park that is supposed to get back to me tomorrow so we’re planning on spending another day here in Bushnell.

Just before sunset we drove over to Floral City about 14 miles away as there were some scenic live oak trees that met in a tunnel over the road. We also drove to a little river that had some wood storks and limpkins. On our way back we picked up an Asian salad at McDonald’s and a Southwest steak bowl at Taco Bell for dinner. Yummy!

We're Back in the Eastern Time Zone in Tallahassee, FL!

This is our site at Tallahassee RV Park

There are azalea bushes all around the park

A cold front blew in last night so it was only 46F (8C) when I got up this morning – mind you it was 6:30 a.m. Central time. We started to pack up around 7:00 a.m. and were on our way by 8:30 a.m. It hadn’t warmed up any and the wind was strong. There was serious consideration given to staying another day but we wanted to get through Mobile and Pensacola on Sunday so off we went.

It was bright and sunny the whole way and we reached a high of 61F (16C). We crossed into Florida around 10:00 a.m. and arrived at Tallahassee RV Park at about 3:00 p.m. Eastern time and since we weren’t setting up either satellite (both cable and wifi are free) we were set up by 3:30 p.m. It’s the satellites that take the time.

This is a nice little campground run by a couple from New Zealand. It’s not cheap though at $32/night but I expect that’s not the most expensive campground we’ll see as we continue south.

We relaxed for the rest of the day. I took a walk around the campground and photographed some of the pretty flowers and also got a pretty good shot of a cardinal with my camera which is rare other than reading my book and watching TV, that’s about it. It’s supposed to get down to freezing here tonight!

We leave tomorrow hoping to make Venice, FL. Haven’t looked at campgrounds yet.

Short Trip to Mobile

This is the Richards DAR House Museum - note the cast iron facade which is quite popular in the older part of Mobile

Part of the Mobile skyline

Today was mostly sunny & breezy. It was 58F (14C) when I got up shortly after 7:00 a.m. I took what will probably be my last walk in the bird sanctuary at least for this trip.
We’re heading east tomorrow so will probably forego my walk as we’ll want to get on the road as early as possible.

Late this morning we left to go into Mobile. It was very crowded downtown. There was some kind of chili cook-off going on and it was wall to wall people. We took some photos of some of the antebellum mansions, one of which is the Richards DAR House Museum (Daughters of the American Revolution), drove around the downtown area, then headed for Walmart where I picked up some groceries before heading back to Dauphin Island.

Gordon went out to photograph the eclipse tonight and got a good photo To see it, click here.

Bellingrath Gardens

I was up shortly after 7:00 a.m. today. It was 55F (13C) and partly sunny with a bit of wind. I walked in the bird sanctuary and along the boardwalk to the beach. There were a few birds around this morning.

I took this photo at the beach this morning

Today was to be our day to go into Mobile and see the city. However Bellingrath Gardens was recommended to us by Gayle and Breland whom we met in Louisiana and a blogging RVer friend, Carolyn so we decided to go there on the way.

We arrived in time for the 12 noon cruise on the Fowl River. This is a 45 minute cruise that explains the importance of the river and the delta grasses that grow there with respect to the Gulf and fresh and salt water rivers. We saw a few osprey and the cruise commentary was interesting but the best was definitely the gardens, probably the prettiest was the oriental gardens. They had an oriental bridge and some buildings as well that really helped with the theme. They also had one lotus blossom tree. The rest of the gardens were very pretty as well. The azaleas were just coming into bloom and the camellias were just about finished but there were lots of flowering kale and cabbage and all sorts of spring flowers. You would need to spend a whole day there to see everything and take your time.

We left there around 2:30 p.m. and decided to come home as we were tired and hungry (Gordon couldn’t get anything at the cafeteria that he could eat) so we decided to go into Mobile tomorrow.

We reached a high of 65F (18C) and the afternoon turned sunny and beautiful, perfect for walking around the gardens.

Expenses, Housework & Touring Around

February Expenses

Campgrounds (incl Electricity) - $339.21

Groceries (includes wine) - $300.57

Laundry - $20.50

Entertainment/Parking/Restaurants - $155.97

Truck Fuel - $372.94

Propane - $0.00

Repairs/Service RV/Truck - $144.34 (includes labour for installation of microwave & truck service)

Internet/TV/Cell/Insurance - $351.52

Medical/Dental - $0.00

Gifts - $0.00

Misc - $343.78 – The largest items were my new hard drive and getting my hair done – other amounts just misc expenses

Total - $2,028.83

We did much better on groceries this month however since we started traveling at the end of the month our fuel expenses are higher. Our electric bill for Fulton Oaks was $85.50 which was rather high but we had quite a bit of cold weather so the electric heater was running 24 hr/day for several days as well as during the nights for a lot of days as well. It’s still cheaper than buying propane!

We were supposed to have rain and thunderstorms after midnight last night and continuing all day today and tonight. I woke up early as I’ve been getting up early the last few mornings because we were traveling so got up and Gordon and I went for a walk since it hadn’t started to rain yet. We found the beach which is accessible through the campground as is the Audubon bird sanctuary. The beach is not a ‘walking’ beach with mostly loose sand and the clouds were looking very heavy so we headed for the bird sanctuary and took the swamp trail when it started to rain a bit. We headed back to the RV. I made a stop to get some quarters for the laundry at the office and the rain stopped so I continued walking around the park. It was 65F (18C) and very humid.

This morning I did a couple of loads of laundry and vacuumed. Gordon went out to the bird sanctuary to take some photos but I decided to stay behind and rest my back for a while. Vacuuming and standing around always kills it and I stood for quite a while talking to a couple from Indiana when I was doing the laundry.

Around noon I checked the temperature and it was 80F( 27C). It was sunny but the skies were fairly dark. I had heard from someone this morning that the thunderstorms were passing north of us but with the humidity it feels like we might get some sort of action in that regard. We actually had the air conditioner on today. We had tornado watches for much of the day as well.

This afternoon we did some driving around and walked around another birding area but the birds haven’t arrived yet. This area is apparently a migratory stopoff for most birds and in a couple of weeks it will be teeming but unfortunately we can’t stay that long!

We also drove back to the west end of the island and saw the devastation that two hurricanes in less than ten years have caused the housing on the island. There are no trees or anything to shelter the houses. There’s a photo below of one of them.

We stopped at the local tourist office and obtained some information on the island. Behind the tourist bureau there are several camellia trees. Here’s a photo of one of the flowers. Very beautiful!

By the way for anyone watching the weather in this area, a tornado did hit Enterprise, AL but that’s about 300 miles from where we are – 13 people were killed including some kids in the local high school whose roof collapsed while the kids were inside. Devastating!