Arrived at Our Winter Home - Update on Mom

(Avon Park, FL)  Hi 72 Lo 44 -- Another great day for our move. We didn't have to be out until noon this morning so we took our time. But we still got on the road by 10:30, after we said our goodbye's to Chris and Jim of Geeks on Tour. Jim took it real slow winding through the tight confines of the park and out to the main road. That would have been a lot more of a challenge two years ago.

We had a great trip to Avon Park. It was smooth, but of course there was heavy traffic on I-95. When we exited the interstate and headed west toward Lake Okeechobee there was nothing but scrub brush and open cattle fields. It was so great to have my new XM Radio to listen to the whole way. No more searching for weak radio stations! Speaking of radio... We communicate by ham radio when we're traveling and we very seldom hear anyone else on the frequency we use. Today we had someone come on the radio when we got to Sebring. Jim talked with him for a short time and learned there are a couple of active radio networks in this area. We may get on our radios this winter and try to make some contacts.

We pulled into the Adelaide Shores RV Resort around 2pm.

We registered at the office and drove to our site, where we had an "uh-oh" moment. Jim went to hook up the electric cord and saw that the pedestal was locked. A neighbor came over and told us we have to call the local electric company, Progress Energy, to have service started before arrival. Jim used to work for Progress Energy (in North Carolina) and he knew it would be at least one day before they'd come out. He also knew that the meter was already on and all they would have to do is read the meter tomorrow and start our account. That's the way it works with rental units, whether apartment or RV sites - the power stays on and they just "read the meter in." It's called a landlord agreement. So Jim called the office and explained the situation and they agreed to remove the meter lock and let us hook up and use the power in the park's name tonight. They were nice to do that, because it's our fault we didn't take care of this. When we paid our deposit on our site a few months ago they sent a confirmation package that had instructions on starting electric service. We just forgot. :(

Here's our site. Notice how much space there is between the sites.















Looking to the right of our site.

Looking to the left. The tennis courts are nearby.

We read over the paperwork and rules of the park. We discovered that we have to mow our own lawn! We can check out a mower at the maintenance yard, but we're responsible for our area. That's a first for us. This park is closer to town than where we stayed last year in Wauchula. There's lots of stores and eating places in Avon Park. It's also close to Sebring where we go to the movies. We have a nice cement pad for our porch area. We only wish we had a picnic table. The RV sits on grass. There are many "double pad" sites in the park, but they cost extra. There's a railroad nearby, but I don't think it will bother us. We're backed up to a fence with nothing much to look at out our back window. We'll be here until the end of March. I have a list of things I want to get done while here. We'll be taking day trips and hopefully meeting new friends in the park. If you're around south central Florida this winter, please let us know so we can get together.

An update about mom. She's doing well at my sister's so far. She misses her stuff, which should arrive in a few days. My sister has four dogs and a cat and mom says they're all getting along fine with her. They better, my sister is a dog trainer. :) It looks like everything will work out well.