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We stayed in Beaumont TX last night. It was billed as a ranch but really it was a house on acreage. They have cattle in the back section. People on either side have horses. The couple (Jed and Catarina) was delightful and let us tour their outbuildings and then their house. After the tour she made tea and served Hello Panda cookies. She is Vietnamese and so the tea and cookies were too. He built the house about 40 years ago and it’s custom everything. He’s got cancer that has metastasized unfortunately. He bought her a red corvette. She says it was for Christmas. He says it was for taking such good care of him during the treatments. The car was unbelievably gorgeous.

We almost beat the rainstorm but it wasn’t too bad. We didn’t unhook the truck from the camper, just got back on the road in the morning.

This afternoon we got to San Antonio Ft. Sam Houston RV camp. we’ll stay here for 3 days. After 4 days of hard travel we need to relax.

Stay safe everyone 🤗

We saw a weather alert last night that a huge storm with thunderstorms, tornados and winds hitting Thursday in LA and going towards Fl. Instead of meandering across the south we decided to drive lickety split and see how far we could get, trying to get past it before it gets started. We bypassed Pensacola completely which would have been a 2-day stop. We landed at an Elks Lodge in Slidell. It’s a beautiful property, 12 acres with playground equipment and a boat launch/fishing spot. They host the Boy Scouts camping trip every year. What keeps them afloat is bingo on Wednesday and Friday nights. We paid $10 to dry camp one night.

Being on the road for 8 hours (400 miles) we stopped at several rest areas. I saw this at one of them.

It’s another 500 miles to San Antonio, where we will be out of harm’s way.

We are staying at theTallahassee Antique Car Museum for one night. We like to stay here on our way out and when we return. It’s easy in, easy out and Harvest Host, just a great big field. The Azaeleas, Redbud and Wisteria are all blooming and gorgeous.

There are 5 other campers in this field, everybody is about 300 feet from the next camper. Breathing room.

We will head to an Elks Lodge in Pensacola FL tomorrow. Then another Lodge in Slidell then an Elks in Pensacola FL.

Stay Safe everyone.

Vic has been doing a deep dive into everything to know about this vehicle. Our old truck was a 2011 and things have changed a lot in the last 14 years. The safety technology is amazing and boy we are glad to have it. My favorite thing is while we are hooked up if the change lane blinker goes on, the corresponding mirror shows the lane clearly without having to crane your neck. The way people speed up and try to drive around us no matter the left or right side, it’s a very helpful safety feature. We know we’ll be safe on the road and very glad we got it.

We’ve been at the Elks lodge in Titusville FL all this time and have rescheduled our next stop twice now. While we’ve been here we had a chance to meet up with Dawn and John, a couple from Wisconsin that we met in Key West 2 years ago. We visited with them at the campground at Patrick Space Force Base near Cocoa Beach. John is retired Navy and Dawn is more than half way through a law degree while holding down a full time job. (!) We love them and had such a good time chatting that I forgot to take a photo! Dawn sent this one.

We’ve become friendly with Suzanne and Terry, both nurses and new owners of a Brinkley camper. We watched a launch together. This launch is supposed to bring back Suni and Butch, who’ve been up there for almost 10 months!

Then we spent two days at Roy’s Big Foot getting our hydraulics fixed. One we knew needed rebuilding, then another one needed repair. Roy Trevino was a well known race car driver back in the day. There are pictures of him with various cars all over the office. The first morning we were there Roy called his assistant Laurie and took breakfast orders! Then he showed up with breakfast for everybody – us, another couple waiting for service on their camper (they got bumped a day on account of us), and the guys in the shop. That’s how he is, treat you like family. Great guy. He sure doesn’t act like he’s 84!

Then we moved over to an RV place near our friends Donna and Kim and spent Thursday with them. They made us an awesome meal of salmon, yellow rice, broccoli and red beets. Very colorful and tasty! Afterwards we watched Green Room, great cast and great movie.

Next stop the Elks Lodge in Zephyr Hills.

It’s quiet and the other campers are friendly. Also, you can’t beat $10 a night.

We met my sister Holly and her husband Andy for lunch at the Outback in Brandon FL, halfway between our location and their house in Bradenton. I had a medium rare filet mignon with a loaded baked potato. omg it was delicious. We had a great time catching up. They have decided the hurricanes are too much plus they miss their grandchild so they are moving back to NY.

We’ve visited all the friends and family we could and now we are making plans to head west. With our new truck we expect trouble free travels. Let’s see how that goes 😁.

Stay safe everyone! XO

You may remember me talking about this wildlife drive in Titusville, FL. It’s about 12 miles long, it’s best in a vehicle but occasionally we see bicycles in it. We’ve been looking forward to going there especially after being at the Junkyard for a month.

Last year during our trip to the west coast we had multiple issues with our truck. Each breakdown was an ordeal. It wasn’t like we had a trusted mechanic we could call. The serpentine belt broke/shredded so many times we started carrying a spare one. The last time Vic was on his way to pick up a part needed for the solar upgrade when the serpentine belt broke. He pulled into a convenience store parking lot and called a mobile mechanic. It got dark and cold hours before the mechanic showed up. He did whatever he did, Vic started the truck up and paid the guy. Vic started to drive home but the truck was not fixed and quit working again. The mobile mechanic said he didn’t know anything else to do and called someone else. That guy took more hours to get there. He finally showed up about 2 am. He fixed it in about five minutes. Vic was out there from about 4 pm. It was terrible!

While we were on the wildlife drive a few days ago the truck hiccuped and it felt like it was about to die. It was alright (this time) but it scared us. We started thinking and talking about all the problems we had on our last trip out west. We needed a more reliable truck!

Vic did a lot of research and found a dealer in Daytona with the exact thing we need and almost $10K less than everywhere else. They are working on volume trying to get their sales numbers up. The sales people are not working on commission. Strange, huh? They get bonuses based on the number of vehicles sold.

This is our new ride.

Chevy Silverado 3500 Cypress Green

The toolbox fit into the new truck but we had to get a new hitch. We are at the dealer getting the hitch installed as I write.

Stay safe everyone!

We’ve been parked at the solar guy’s warehouse in Alachua (near Gainesville) since Feb 2. There have been some delays and some corrections/fixes to a few problems that cropped up. Our water tank had to be replaced, along with our water pump.

We’ve tried to make the best of it by taking Zoe to Possum Creek Park every day. The park has a great dog park and Zoe has benefited from the socialization.

We’ve gotten Cuban sandwiches from Mi Apa, pizza a few times and Subway once or twice.

The original plan was to add a couple of solar panels. There is no such thing as ordering just two so we ended up replacing all the panels with more efficient ones. The size differential was just enough to require a new rack.

We are both ready to go have some fun! We’ve been in work mode this whole winter – selling our stuff and giving up our site in Clerbrook, and now all this upgrade/maintenance. We still need to get a hydraulic fluid leak fixed but we are taking a break from work mode and going to either Titusville (birding at Black Point Drive) or Joe Overstreet (where the Owls are) after this.

Everything is about done. We are leaving in the morning. it’s been a solid month and we are so ready to get out of here.

Our departure from Clerbrook yesterday was an emotional one. Several friends came by to wish us well and get one last hug. All that love sure made us feel good. Allen was there to help us get on the road. He’s been indispensable these last few months. He did so much for us. Every time I thought oh that job will take a couple of days, no, he had it done and perfectly in a few hours. The guy is amazing.

There was one hiccup – the couple that was supposed to get our golf cart reneged on Friday night. Our friend Ellie heard about it, spread the news, and sent a couple up the next day who were looking to buy one. Thankfully that all worked out. Thank you Ellie!! ❤️

Here we are at Matt’s RV Solar in Alachua, FL (close to Gainesville). There’s a bit of a “junkyard” vibe as he lives and works out of a warehouse type building with various projects and equipment all around. The surrounding area is all industrial.

We’ll be here at least 3 days. There’s the solar upgrade, software updates and a couple of enhancements to the system to be done.

Yesterday we went to Possum Creek Park for Zoe to visit the dog park. Met some nice people and Zoe had a blast with the other dogs. Then we got take out Cuban food that was delicious from Mi Apa.

That’s all for now. Stay safe!

We go on the road tomorrow. From here on out we are Gypsies with WiFi. We are using a mail service designed for people without a fixed address (people living on boats and people like us). It’s only a Mail Drop address, we won’t ever stay there. Here is our new address:

Sally Mann / Vic Turnage

411 Walnut Street

#22782

Green Cove Springs, FL 32043

We’ve spent the last 3 months at Clerbrook finding buyers for our site and getting the camper ready for life in the road.

First stop will be Gainesville FL to have two more solar panels put on. Then to Lakeland FL to have one weeping hydraulic fixed. After that we will roam around Florida until mid-March.

We had a lovely farewell dinner with Ellie & Jimmy and Anne-Marie & Neal. We will miss our Canadian friends.

We will miss other friends too like Walt and Darla.

Stay safe everyone and keep in touch.

Love to all,

Sally, Vic and Zoe

Dawn came to FL while I was in VA and NH and stayed on after I got back. Zoe has bonded with Dawn, they are so cute together.

We took Dawn to Apopka Wildlife Drive and saw loads of alligators and other wildlife.

Finally, some bird pictures!!

We had a great visit with Dawn, but she had to go back home to Colorado Springs today.

Happy Holidays everyone 🧑‍🎄

I flew to VA and stayed overnight with my dear friends Charlotte and Kathi. Charlotte pulled out all the stops with a gourmet meal of lamb chops. It was so wonderful seeing them as it’s been quite a while.

After a very restful night in her guest room Charlotte dropped me off at daughter Kelly’s house.

On purpose it was Kelly’s birthday 😊. Kelly treated us to pedicures.

The next day Kelly and I flew to New Hampshire where we stayed with daughter Holly and her family.

It snowed twice while we were there! We were busy all day every day, it was awesome. Holly made gourmet meals. The first night was coq au vin in the instapot.

There were games, puzzles, story time, lunches out, crafts, walks up Farm Rd and Castle in the Clouds. We taught Finn how to play parcheesi. He got the concept right away and he’s obviously got some mad math skills because he won!

Three days flew by.

We had a blast and I was treated like royalty. Thank you wonderful family and friends. ❤️ I love you all so much.