June 1-7, 2014

Little Manatee River State Park

Wimauma, FL

Sunday-It was very overcast all day so we didn’t venture very far from home.

I spent the morning sitting outside working on my Sunday crossword puzzles while Monte puttered around.

Monday-

It was overcast again. 

  Monte cut the grass in the compound and then drove the tractor to the north section of the park. The river cuts through the sections so he had to leave the park and drive along US 301N in order to access the north section through a gravel road with a locked gate. It is going to take an entire week to cut all the trails so Chris, one of the rangers, followed with a park truck to drive Monte back home so he could leave the tractor.

After lunch, Monte weed whacked the compound while I went for a bike ride. 

 Tuesday- Monte spent a few hours on the north section of the park cutting the trails while I worked in the ranger station in the afternoon. I normally don’t work on Tuesday but was able to switch my shift because both Monte and I have dental appointments on Wednesday.

I took advantage that no one else was using the club car and used it to drive to the ranger station.

Monte stopped by to say hi on his way back from cutting the trails.






One of the problems I have found about being a nomad is trying to keep up on preventative maintenance on our teeth. When it is time for a routine cleaning and I call a local dentist to set up an appointment we have to have a new patient exam and x-rays before they will set an appointment for a cleaning. I have been able to find dentists that offer "free" x-rays and an exam to new patients. That is great except because the x-rays were "free" we can’t get a copy to use for the next time unless we pay a "copy" fee that is almost as expensive as the x-rays would have cost. Catch-22!

Wednesday-BUMMED OUT.

  I have been coping with gum disease for many years and have been very vigilant about getting cleanings often. But when we went out on the road I went an entire year without a cleaning and am paying for it now-literally. The price tag=$8,000!  

 

Monte, in an effort to get me out of my funk, coaxed me into going for a long ride on the trails just before sunset. 

 

Dude Lake 

 

We came across a deer on the trail near Dude Lake. 

It watched us for a while -I guess estimating the treat level. 

We inched up a little closer. 

When the deer finally took off it made a huffing sound.  It took me by surprise--I've seen many deer over the years but had never heard any make that type of sound.

Part of the prescribed burn 

Sun setting 

The park chickens-They exist only for weekly testing for the Nile Virus.

Thursday-Still being a little bummed out from the news I received at the dentist office yesterday I emailed my daughter Renee that I was upset. I explained it wasn’t just the money I was upset about it but also the thought of all the discomfort that I was in store for. I ended the email by saying that I was trying to find the rainbow to lift my spirits.
Not five minutes later, I received a call from my eight year old granddaughter who said, "MeMa, Mommy told me to tell you I am your rainbow." AAAHHH!
Monte put in another few hours over on the north side of the park cutting trails while I did my shift at the ranger station.
It was the usual mix of nothing happening for periods of time and having the phone ring, visitors inside renting canoes and cars pulling up to pay the entrance fee all at the same time.

I tried sitting outside after dinner for a little while but gave up when the horse flies began feasting on me. Those little suckers are relentless.

Friday-We had a wonderful time with my parents who came to visit. 

  While my dad took a nap, I took Mom around the park and on some trails.







Saturday-Lazy couch potato day for me.

 

  Monte worked for a few hours on the Parks Gem Motor Car.

The Batteries were in extremely bad condition due to lack of proper maintenance 

All the battery cables had to be removed, terminals cleaned. 

All the batteries had to be charged one at a time and cooked back into operating condition.

Cooking is a term to putting a high current output into the battery until the battery is warm.

This sometime will cause a battery to be able to start working again and receive a charge. 

 In the upper right hand corner is the onboard battery charger.

All the connections under the dash were cleaned and retightened. 

All the cables were reattached and retightened 

 

The Temperature Sensor was cleaned and reinstalled.  This sensor is like a thermostat, it senses battery temperature and causes the battery charger to turn on until the battery gets warm then causes the charger to shut off or go into a trickle state of charge.

This is a picture of all the onboard fuses and master power shutoff breaker.