Another Move - Naples, Florida - Dec 27, 2013

Our last place was the longest we have stayed in any one spot.
A whole two weeks! Time to move on!

This may not make sense but we headed back down south to Naples which is about a 30-45 minute drive. Its starting to get a little bit harder to find RV places that are not booked up. The Snowbirds are all going to be here soon as the Christmas Holidays end.

We have a nice little spot here and once again we even have cable TV!
A couple people doubted that I could get the motor home to turn the angles required to get her into this place but I did it! Once in there is lots of room in our stall.

There are a lot of Canadians down here!
Lots of Canucks are here from Ontario and Quebec and we even met one couple from Kamloops, BC!

Accomplished Cyclists!
You may recall that a while back we got Barb a new Trek Bicycle.
Well after the last bike trip it became quite clear I needed a new bike too. My old Jeep mountain bike wasn't keeping up! Add to that I was a lot younger when I bought that bike! I test drove Barb's bike for a couple of miles and what a difference!

So, after a ton of online research and a couple of test drives I went with the same model (mine is the male version tho). My new bike is a flat black Trek Pure.

I told Barb we have to be careful about buying the same things or soon we will need matching jackets, socks, shirts and runners! :)

Today was the first day (Saturday, Dec 28) for us to Trek out on our new bikes together. On what we thought would be a 6 mile trip it turned out to be closer to 14 miles return after we went to the beaches and Pier here in Naples. We also stopped for a nice lunch.

After a ride of that length I expected I would be exhausted but that new bike made a lot of difference! I was only comatose!

Actually it wasn't all that bad and a quality bike certainly makes all the difference. Accomplished cyclist we aren't, but a good time was had and many more trips will be planned as part of our get fit plan!

Barb at our nice Lunch Stop.

Much water is required with this heat & humidity!

All I can say is... This is the life!

Naples beach at the Pier 

The Pier looking back at the beach.

The place was packed!
A lot of European Tourists too!

Taking in the sights....

Nice soft sand.

The Pelicans enjoy the view too!

Catching Bait.

This Pelican was so tame he allowed all the children to pet him!

This was a "Test Run for our New Years Eve Trek to the beach.
We will head down to the same area of the Pier on our bikes on New Years Eve for the fireworks! We are told it is a great show and a great way to celebrate New Years Eve!

Happy New Year!
We wish each and every one of you all the best for a safe New Years Eve and a wonderful 2014!

Christmas 2013 in Fort Myers, Florida.

For the first time in 30 years Barb and I spent Christmas alone!
Camped out at Gulf Air RV resort it was a very quiet time. As expected it was nothing like Christmas of past years.

Celebrating Christmas Eve at the beach

First of all it was very quiet and we had no family to look forward to visiting. Add to that the weather (warm) and lack of mall shopping and Christmas Carols didn't help either.

But we did enjoy ourselves, quietly.
On Christmas Eve we drove to Sanibel and Captiva Islands for a tour of this beautiful area. We found a nice little Beach Restaurant and Bar. Stopping in there for a while we got to watch the sun set into the Gulf of Mexico and its never the same twice. Beautiful!

Its amazing how fast the sun really does move and watching it lower on top of the water and then sink really puts it into perspective. Sitting in our beach chairs and having a refreshment was a wonderful way to relax and enjoy the evening. What really capped it all off was the nicely decorated Christmas tree in the sand beside us.

After that we were tipped off to a restaurant down the street that had superb deserts to go. Stopping there we ordered and devoured a piece of Key Lime Pie and a piece of Red Velvet Cake the best icing I had in ages!

View from the beach of where we spent Christmas Eve

As close as we got to a real Christmas Tree this year!

Getting ready for sunset on the Gulf!

Here it is, The sunsets are never the same but always beautiful!

CHRISTMAS DAY.

As I mentioned earlier this was a very quiet time for us. So we decided to go down to Naples which is about a 30 minute drive. We found a nice Italian Restaurant called Cafe Luna right on 5th Avenue which is one of two streets you have to see while in Naples (The other is 3rd Street in the Historic District).

I felt like I was right back in Italy. Looking out from inside to the street and sidewalk for some reason really brought that all back.

There were a lot of people downtown, in fact I couldn't believe how many. I left to assume they were all tourists like us looking for a place to eat?

This is a very nice town. It doesn't seem like the recession did much damage here. A lot of high end cars (Bentley, Rolls Royce etc) and high end homes. A great meal and evening! Naples we will be back!

Merry Christmas to one and all!

Barb decorating our new Christmas Tree!

We don't have a lot of room inside so here it is on the dashboard.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It is a time to think about family and friends at this special time of year.

For us and perhaps you, it's often the ones that you can not be with at Christmas.

We want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!
We also want to wish you all the best for a great abundant 2014!

Remember, it is time to remember "the real reason for the season," and that is the birth of Jesus.

After Christmas is all over it is time for us to think about new beginnings as well.

Know that we are thankful for you and thinking about you.

All the best to all of you in this special time.
Travel safe and be good!

Jim & Barb.

South West Florida

It's been a while since we posted so thought we better get at it to make sure we are covered before Christmas arrives.

Since leaving the Keys we have stayed at Fort Desoto County Park next to St.Petersburg and then on to Fort Myers Beach for 2 weeks, the longest we have stayed in one place!

The weather has been gorgeous. Although a cold front that came through for a couple of days. The temperatures were dreadful during this time dropping into the high 40'sF at night and low 70's during the day! Normally we have been in the low to mid 80'sF and can not complain either way. The worst part about the cold front was that at night I sometimes had to put a Hoodie on while sitting on the patio.

We are staying at Gulf Air RV Resort. Nothing fancy but comfortable and we like it that way. It even has a pool although we haven't been over there to swim yet.

We have been here a week now and I still can not get into the Christmas mood. It just seems so weird to see Christmas decorations and hear the music in stores when it is so warm out. They had a Christmas dinner here at the resort the other night but we elected to not even go. We are both missing our family at this time of year as we are normally so close and get together. So, I am already thinking about Christmas next year as we will gladly fly home for that one.

HOUSE BATTERIES:
Most large RV's have some sort of battery system to run this with especially when not plugged into shore power. After replacing the alternator we decided that we should replace the old House Batteries too. After a ton of research on the net I decided to go with the same brand we had in there and I found a good deal at a Golf Cart shop. You are likely wondering why there? Our motor home uses two 6 Volt Golf Cart style batteries hooked up in series to make for a better 12 volt system.

If you have an RV do NOT buy Marine /RV style deep charge batteries for your House Batteries. These are made for two purposes, one is starting the engine and the other is to power the accessories when parked.
These are not really meant for the job of sitting with the engine off and running things off them even though they sound like they are for just running accessories. A true deep cycle battery is one that is made for that such as the specialized batteries in 6 Volt electric golf carts or aftermarket 12 Volt batteries made especially for being House Batteries alone.

The hole where the House Batteries live is under the steps in our rig.

The old 6 Volt batteries hooked up in series to make 12 volts.

Our new Trojan T105 batteries on the charger for a top up before installation.

If you have an RV there is a lot to learn about the proper care of batteries. Most of this can be found on the internet. Overcharging and a lack of liquid is usually the most common killer of these expensive batteries!


CLEAN UP!
Knowing the motor home needed a wash, it hadn't been washed since North Dakota and that was just a quicky for bugs on the front. I decided this was the time. The resort even allows washing here which is a rarity at RV Resorts.

Having brought my Power Washer along it was time to get to it and I started with the roof. How little did I know what I was getting into!

Get Ready!

Start!

Go!

The dirt, crud and bugs were unbelievable!

You might be wondering what is with the headband?
Well, since becoming less hair on my roof (head) one has to wear something to keep the sweat out of the eyes. When it is so hot a hat just makes it hotter so I have taken to a headband. Its not because I'm still living in the 70's (which is partly true, especially with my music) its more like Duck Dynasty and/or what really works well.

So after getting the roof finished it was time to come down and start the sides of the rig. One problem. I quickly noticed there was a black slimy substance on the sides (the roof had it too which I expected). I couldn't figure out if I had been following a truck leaking oil or what it was. After some research via Google it became clear.

It seems some trees down in the south get infested with the "white fly." Add some "Honey Dew" and the mold that is attracted to it and you get what we had! Yikes! This stuff is like a film of sticky black grease!

Three (yes 3) days later I had finally finished washing the motor home. I am sure I have used up our two weeks rent here in water alone. It was a huge job! But now Bounder looks nice and clean again so we are happy.

ROOF MAINTENANCE
While washing the roof an inspection of same is always a good idea. I noticed that the plastic bathroom vent was paper thin and was about to fall into pieces. I already knew the vent for the fridge needed replacing. So after some research I bought two new vents for them and that will be my next project.

Fridge vent is cracking and breaking up!

Bathroom vent is paper thin, has a piece missing in the corner and about ready to fall off!
UV Rays are responsible for all this damage.

There are lots of other things to do when maintaining a RV roof as well. Inspecting the caulking, looking for damage and leaks are just some of them. If you own a RV don't neglect this area it can cause costly damage.

PROJECTS
I don't mind these projects as long as I don't get myself into trouble. In fact I enjoy having something to do!  We have a list of other little things that need repairs, tweaking, maintenance and so on so I will have lots to do for a while. The joys of owning a home on wheels!

Here are some quick photos of the area we are in:

Birds & Beaches

Fort Myers is a beautiful area!

The Christmas Golf Cart Parade at our Resort!
(The things we adults do to amuse ourselves).

Birds on the Pier!

Hi.... I am Pete the Pelican. Can I join you?

I see your friends here have caught a Shark, can I have some?

Hmmm.

Shark Fins are pretty chewy aren't they!

Hard to swallow too!

Whoa... almost lost my balance on here..

Hey... Who's the Chick?    Oh... Mrs. Messner...

Well....This is my wife!

I have a big ugly toe-nail on my beak!

Come back and see us ok, oh... Can you bring some sea food too!

One last pose for the Messner's

Ok... Its getting a little crowded here... People!

Life has been pretty quiet for us lately and we quite like it that way.

We have one week left here (Dec. 27) at this resort and then we have a 12 day break before the next one so we will find something in between. The next one we have booked for early January is farther up the coast at Cedar Key.

We are buying time here in SW Florida as we do not want to travel too far north into cold weather. The recent storms back home have been widespread across much of the USA too. Even the Panhandle at the top of Florida is quite cool.

It's hard to believe... It's been almost 4 months now since we left home!
Ciao!