June 8-12, 2014

Little Manatee River State Park

Wimauma, FL

Sunday-
Monte’s daughter, Melissa, began a new job recently waitressing at a Greek restaurant in Tampa. We decided to pay her a surprise visit but first stopped at Harbor Freight to shop at their sidewalk sale. 
I took a quick walk through, got bored, and told Monte I would wait in the car for him. I had come prepared with my Sunday crossword puzzles.

The restaurant Melissa is working at is located on a busy street in downtown Tampa. We had to circle the block a few times before finding a parking spot.

Melissa was surprised when she saw us. She said she was finishing her shift in a half hour and would be able to have lunch with us. We went for a walk to kill time.

We had only gone a couple of blocks when Melissa called to say we should come back because by the time we placed our order and it served, she would be ready to join us.

We had a delicious lunch and a great visit with Melissa.
Monte took these pictures just at sunset.

 

Monday-
Whenever I find peppers at a good price I buy several. After slicing and drying them they are stored in the freezer. Then when a recipe calls for peppers, I just take out the desired amount.

Monte continued working on the Gem car. 

Trouble Shooting Internal Wiring to find out why the trip meter would not reset 

More Wiring Sections 

Sitting Back to take a break from the Heat 

Found the Problem by removing the trip meter reset switch

took the switch apart, cleaned the contacts and reinstalled and it worked.

We took it out for test spin.

 

 

 

 

I went for a long walk beginning with the trail just behind our rig leading to Dude Lake.

 

IT IS HOT! 

DUDE LAKE 

Too buggy to stay

Deciding to take a different trail back I got lost even though I had a trail map with me. I read it wrong and ended up going further away from our compound. 

 The sun was really intense and I didn’t have a hat with me! There was no shade to be found so I took off my long sleeve shirt, wet it a little and draped it over my head. 

I think I drank a gallon of water upon my return. Lessons learned: wear a hat, bring along two water bottles, learn how to read a trail map and don’t hike between noon and three-the hottest part of the day.
Wednesday-Monte’s chores today included snaking out the toilet in the ranger station. He had to remove the toilet in order to use the electric snake that has cutting blades to chop through roots. It was a nasty job but someone had to do it.

Monte also replaced tubes on a couple of the park bikes.

In the late afternoon the wind picked up. We brought in the awning before leaving for Monte’s dental appointment. 

By the time we left the dentist’s office the sky was dark and cloudy. We made a quick stop at Winn Dixie and made it home just in time before the rains came. 

This was the first time it rained since we discovered the leak in our bedroom slide so we were relieved when we pulled the mattress away from the wall to see the water was not coming in. 
A week ago we had pulled the mattress away from the wall in preparation of making the bed when I noticed the carpet in the corner next to the bed frame looked "weird". When I reached down to touch it I felt moisture on my fingers. We ended up having to remove a section of the carpet that revealed mildew (luckily no mold) and when Monte removed the screws from the underside of the slide water poured out. 

Temporarily we are leaving the liner under the slide open a little so the wood can dry out before Monte tackles a fix for the leak. We have some plastic sheeting covering the opening to protect it from water getting in when it rains.

Thursday-While I was still sleeping Monte glanced out the window just in time to see a visitor.

This was the first time we spotted deer so close to the compound 

I woke up when I heard several vehicles entering our compound-apparently there is a meeting scheduled.

Whenever I make Monte an English muffin, I put a little smear of cream cheese on the side of the dish for our cat Annie. Just like her "daddy" she has a sweet tooth. 

I got caught up on reading the blogs I follow including my nephew Adam’s and his wife Danielle who are currently doing a back pack tour of Europe. 




Monte tackled one of the things on his list-installing a light bar on one of the park’s trucks. 

First I had to remove the visors, mirror's,

handles. 

I then had to remove the flashings from around

the windshield, back window and both upper side moldings. 

Next the headliner had to come down to

allow access to the metal roof. 

Now I had to gather the drill, nuts & Bolts and mounting

hardware to mount the lights.

The upper inside of the roof is now ready to be drilled

to allow the lightbar mounting brackets to be attached. 

The Lightbar is in position and ready to be attached.

 The Completed Light On and Flashing to warn all.

Another View of the Truck with Lights working.

Parts ordered for upcoming projects, Blades for the

Brush Hog, CV-Joints for the GEM Motorcar, and

a new ignition switch for the Dixie Chopper Mower.

Switch for the Dixie Chopper Mower.

 

Before I left for my shift at the ranger station, Monte and I checked to make sure the tape we are using to protect the opening on the bedroom slide is holding up. We had been using plastic sheeting but switched to tape because the sheeting was not allowing enough air through to dry out the wood.

Thursday-Monte put in many hours in three days so he announced he was done working for the week.

  But that didn’t mean he was done "working" as he did have to go up on the ladder to brush off all the water on the slideout topper pooling on the topper from the storm we had during the night.

 

Monte dropped me off at the ranger station for my shift and hung out for a while. 

Today I worked with Joey, the Volunteer Host Coordinator.

After dinner we took the GEM car out.

One of the stops we made was at the fishing area near the Youth Camp 

 

 

Be careful where you put those legs-there are alligators in the water