RV Maintenance - Visiting Friends

(Wauchula, FL -- Hi 77 Lo 48) - It was another great morning.  After our morning routine of coffee and computers, Jim went outside to "piddle," which is what he calls routine maintenance and checking things on the rig.  He topped up the water in the battery.  He had to use a small mirror to see down into the cells, and a small squeeze thing that looks like a turkey baster to put the water in.  He also replaced the anode rod in the water heater.  The anode rod is a part that deteriorates over time and needs replacing about once a year.  It required turning off the water, and the electric and propane to the w/h.  The old rod screwed out and the new one went in easily.  Routine maintenance is something we're going to try to be very diligent about.  This is our home, and it has to last many years.

One of the many blogs we read and enjoy is Nick's Blog.  It turns out that Nick and his wife Terry are just down the road at the Peace River Thousand Trails RV Park, so after lunch we thought we'd drive over to see them.









Nick and Terry publish the Gypsy Journal.  We met them at the Gypsy Journal Rally in Goshen, Indiana in September.  We talked about everything from life on the road, their work on the Gypsy Journal, and sharing our Droid apps.  They're a great couple, with very outgoing personalities, which I love.  Thanks Nick and Terry for
a great visit.


Some of the orange groves have been harvested, but there are still a lot of trees with fruit.  This tree is just full of them.










It's a large tree that was off on its own, which I thought was unusual.  It's a $250 fine if you're caught picking them from private groves, but it's so tempting!  

Nick and Terry gave us some suggestions for nice, reasonable campgrounds in Florida.  We plan to check out a lot of them over the coming weeks.  We're still open as far as where we'll be next winter.  The only thing we're sure of is, we will be somewhere where it's warm!

Jim grilled our dinner.  The weather is so nice and we're taking advantage of it.  While he was out at the grill I enjoyed a video conversation with our son and grandson on Yahoo Messenger.  That was such a treat!

It's supposed to turn cooler again on Christmas day, but at the moment we have 77 degrees, windows open, the fan is on, and we're loving our life in paradise.

PS: Later tonight, I learned that the founder Joe Peterson of Escapees, a well known RV group, died this afternoon from an aneurysm.   Please keep the Peterson and Carr families in your prayers. It's a great loss to the RV'ing community.