Going On The Road with Monte & Rose

July 5-11, 2014

Little Manatee River SP

Wimauma, FL

Saturday-

Monte began working on our bedroom slide.

A few weeks ago we discovered we had a leak-

it appears that the slide was never properly sealed.

We believe the problem has existed the entire time we owned the rig but since we are out of the warrantee period we will have to fix it.

The first step has been allowing the wood to dry out the last few weeks.

Today Monte brushed on wood hardener.

We had to spend a couple of hours outside because of the fumes.

We had fun-filled night beginning at 3AM when our cat Annie woke us up just as she was about to yak up a hairball on our bed. Monte pushed her off the bed causing her to leave a trail of yuk.

Then she missed her box when urinating. It rolled down into the area under the stairs. After Monte got everything cleaned up and we went back to sleep Annie woke us up again when she began to lick a plastic bag.

Sunday-

After the miserable night we had I wasn’t surprised to see we had slept in until almost 10AM.

Monte planned on continuing his work on our bedroom slide but a thunderstorm had us changing our plans. We took a ride to Home Depot to pick up a few supplies for the slide repair and went to Sam’s Club and Walmart because the cupboards were bare.

Monday-

I received a call from the dentist office telling me that they had a cancellation and wanting to know if I would be available at 2PM to see the hygienist. I had an appointment scheduled for later in the month but wanting to get it over with I agreed to the change.

I walked over to the garage to let Monte know about the appointment so he could stop working early enough to take a shower before it was time for us to leave.

He had to make some adjustments to the mule and asked if I wanted to come along for a ride to test it out.

I didn’t have to wait long when we got to the dentist office. Because I was getting a deep cleaning my lower gums had to be numbed. For the three hours it took to wear off I couldn’t feel my bottom lip. I think the worst part was being so thirsty and not being able to drink.

After dinner Monte suggested we go for a trail ride to look for deer.

We were out for almost an hour and had just about given up seeing any deer when one ran across the trail in front of us.

We quickly powered off the mule and watched the deer for a few minutes. No matter how many times we have this kind of experience it never gets old-it is still amazing.

Tuesday-
I spent a couple of hours in the morning researching possible stops on our way to Indiana when we leave Little Manatee State Park at the end of the month.

Before starting maintenance work for the park, Monte spent time on his next stage of repair by applying wood hardener to the outside wood on the bedroom slide.

Wednesday-

Monte was tasked with cultivating a large area in the picnic area parking lot.

Due to the lightning and thunder we did not have any visitors at the ranger station during my shift. And in the five hours I spent there I only had two phone calls.

Thursday-
I had my usual slow day at the ranger station and ended up going through a half a book of crossword puzzles.

Monte, on the other hand, was quite busy all day.

First he went back to the picnic area and smoothed down the area he had cultivated the previous day.

Then he helped two of the rangers who working on opening up the old boat ramp. Over the years the area filled in and became unusable.

For dessert I created a delicious concoction of waffles covered with bananas soaked in a sugary cinnamon butter sauce, topped with powdered sugar, whipped cream and finished off with a chocolate drizzle.

Friday-

My parents were expected for a visit so I got beef stroganoff started in the crock pot while Monte walked over to the laundry room with a load of towels.