June 16-19, 2014

Little Manatee River SP

Wimauma, FL

Monday-
I sat outside on the new chair I bought on Saturday reading for a few hours. 

 

At lunchtime I walked across the compound to see what Monte was up and to tell him it was getting close to lunchtime.

Monte was repairing a back pack blower 

 

After dinner we too bike ride.

 

This guy was just about to go out on the road so

Monte turned him around so we could go in the woods.

Tuesday-I spent another lazy day sitting outside reading until the sun encroached on my little shady patio area forcing me inside.

One of our co-hosts, JT, departed today. The roof on his 5^{th wheel sprung a leak a couple of months ago.} 

 ^{JT had been reluctant to go up on the roof to secure a tarp so Monte did it for him. I thought he would have removed the tarp when he hitched up for transport to a storage garage but he didn’t. Too funny.}

I walked over to the garage to let Monte know it was lunchtime. He was just about to remove one of the CV joints and shaft from the GEM car. 

 

He said it should only take a few minutes so I decided to wait and watch him. 

 

Removing the joints was a little more difficult than Monte had anticipated.

 

Old joint next to the new one 

When he was finished replacing both joints Monte took the Gem car for a test drive down one of the trails that was still quite wet and muddy.
Wednesday-

While I did some morning chores Monte pressured cleaned the tractor.

By the time I was ready to leave for my shift at the ranger station, Monte was already working on the tractor. He fixed the differential lock up, a leak in the hydraulic lines, and repaired the hazard flashing lights and running lights. 

When I returned home he was still working on the tractor trying to repair the speed control for the hydraulic arms. When Monte saw me he said he hadn’t realized it was so late and called it quits. 

Thursday-

Monte was going to take the day off because he had already worked a lot of hours in three days so I was surprised when he came out of the bedroom dressed in his work clothes. He said he was just going to work for a couple of hours but ended up working four. I guess he really likes what he is doing.

After my shift at the ranger station we made a quick grocery run. 

 

And of course, I had to stop to get lottery tickets. You can’t win if you don’t play!