Playtime with Friends an Family

Saturday morning I whipped up some Swiss cheese dip for Girl'sClub (a meeting of my friends in Sarasota), threw it on some ice and drove on down to the Red Barn Flea Market to look for a few things.  Gary needed some stakes and we were looking for a scissors jack to put under our front steps.  If we place a board under the bottom step, and the jack beneath that, they shouldn't squeak too much when we go in and out. We had great luck finding the stakes, but not too much for the jack.  Then I wanted to find a few books, and was partly lucky.

Off to see my friends, drink wine and eat yummy stuff.  The appetizer I made is very simple and really delicious!  Mix 1 1/2 cup of good mayo, 3 c. shredded swiss cheese, two small sweet onions chopped and 1 T. grainy mustard.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until golden brown on top.  Wait to eat as it is very hot.  Best with Wheat Thins or Triscuits, but any cracker will work.  Well, we ate almost all of that, and had some chile and home made pumpkin and chocolate loaf for dessert.  Gary picked me up and we drove our hour home.

Sunday was a playday.  We were invited to go to Universal Studios with our son-in-law and six grandchildren.  Oh, boy.  He picked us up in his Explorer Van, and the kids watched a video all the way there.  Here we are getting measured to see who could go on what rides. 

Doctor Seussland entertained the small fry and the bigger kids headed to the large rollercoasters.  Even I went on Woody Woodpecker's rollercoaster three times with Graham.  But perhaps I should have quit at two, because after the third ride, my pearl earring came off and feel below the tracks through a crack on the walkway.  If Gary hadn't have given them to me as an anniversary present, I wouldn't have stopped the whole ride for a few minutes while a tech climbed under the track.  A rider could see it and pointed it out to him, and I apologized for making everyone wait.  At least it was an entertaining wait as he received applause when he found it!

Harry Potter has come to Universal, and we were anxious to see what it was like.  Here is the school, Hogwarts,  exactly like in the movies: 

My favorite intense ride was the The Forbidden Journey.  Wow.  It was described to me as similar to Soarin' at EPCOT which is a simulator (an awesome ride) but this was much more.  Dragons blew fire and smoke, spiders spit at you, Deatheaters chilled you, and you moved around A LOT.  Whew!  I shut my eyes every two seconds, and, according to the girls, screamed like a 'little girl'.  I did, I did.  Can't wait to do it again!

Graham wanted to climb the castle walls:

But it was a long way up.

The bigger kids went on this:

Finally I got a picture of all five in one place: 

Charlie was celebrating his seventh birthday, and we stayed until the park closed at 7.  It was a calm ride home, and we slept really well.

Monday we did some chores and picked up our grandson, Lance, from school then brought him home.  Brian is looking after six kids while mom Michelle is in NY, so he has to depend on all the help he can!   A neighbor cooked dinner for us, so we got to play for a while, ate dinner, then headed home.

Tuesday we had PUVA at Moffit at 9:45, and that wasn't too bad.  On the way home we stopped at Publix for some groceries.  Thursday we will be having a little guest, Graham, for a week, so we will be shopping again to pick up what he likes to eat.  Maybe we'll introduce him to some new tastes, too!

We have had a beautiful January with only one cool evening.  Today it reached 83 degrees! Ya gotta love Florida! 





Grandparents Day and a Tie

Arriving in St. Pete as MomPom and Poppy, our two young grandchildren, Graham (5) and Lauren (8) ran out to meet us.  Ahhh, I love that.  Lauren showed us the puzzle she and Graham had just finished - it was a floor puzzle, but what the heck, the island counter was big enough.



Mom was out picking up older brother, Lance and also some ribs so that Poppy could make his famous BBQ ribs for supper.  Here we are getting down and dirty:

A Sample Plate



Graham and Lance concentrating

BBQ sauce to the ears

The next day was Grandparents Day at their school, so after dinner, the kids hit the sack and the grownups watched a movie called Food Matters. What an eye opener! If you get a chance to watch this, it may change the way you look at what you put in your mouth. Of course, the cancer section made us listen up. It certainly wouldn't hurt us to eat more veggies, and eat less processed food instead.  But I don't have to give up chocolate!

It rained during the night as predicted, and 7 am came early. Everyone was up and getting ready for school. Gary and I got to Shorecrest, parked, picked up our nametags and had a fabulous continental breakfast. Then we headed over to the auditorium for a couple of class productions. We were lucky that both Lauren and Graham and their classes were chosen to perform for us. The best part was going to the classrooms where they each gave us a tour of the campus. Here we are in the Library:



On the playground 

see below

















We toured around for an hour until it was time to leave at noon.  As I mentioned before, Gary had a special thing to attend to today, and he decided to wear a tie (yes, we actually have a tie in our coach) to his interview at Busch Gardens.  Totally his idea, and he told me that it went well.  We will see if they give him a call back for his choice of positions.  Busch Gardens employs part time and seasonal help, and Gary asked for a place in the back and no registers.  I'll keep you posted on that one.

Anyhow, after that we headed back to our home and we'll sleep well in our own bed tonight  (with hung-on-the-line sheets - sniff, sniff, ahhhh!).

Time to Move

Saturday was a slow start, which I love.  We rolled into Panera around 9:45 and we had our bagels outside in the full sunshine.  What to do today?  How about Barnes and Noble?  We always loved hanging at Borders on the weekends way back during those working days, and we still love it.  It's a shame that Borders has gone under, but B and N is still a good alternative. 

We hung there a while, and I purchased a book on how to sell your crafts.  I love making things - almost anything - and would love to be able to make a little money with it.  Etsy is a possible site, but I have to do some more research before jumping into this.  I don't even know which craft to start up with!

Then we went to JoAnn's so Gary could get a new part for his belt.  Success there.  Off to Lenscrafters so I could try yet another brand of contacts.  (I'm getting my money out of this examination fee).  I called our property manager to find out if we had some mail, and the answer was affirmative.  So we went to collect all our Dr. bills.  I am expecting a couple of checks, but not lucky today. 

Since we are moving tomorrow, we headed back to Bella and started putting things away for a kinda early departure tomorrow.

Sunday was another beautiful day.  Low humidity, high seventies.  Gee.  We slowly got ready, planned our departure route and said good byes to our neighbors.  We hooked up the Jeep, and off we went.  One hour later, we were in Thonotosassa.  Jeff showed us to our site, and for once, we said we didn't need help.  Everytime we have had 'help' we have almost hit something, or come in crooked because Gary is trying to look at everyone at once.  It's good to have a spotter near the front, because I guide Gary from the rear with hand signals we learned from the Red Cross  ERV training course.  They work really well, and we got in our spot in one minute.  Within 60 minutes, we were leveled, hooked up, slides out and having lunch on our carpet-covered cement patio.  Ahh, our new home.
And if Blogspot picture download was working, I would add a photo of our new home, but it isn't at the moment, so I will add it another time.

 We have no idea how long we will be here as it depends on how fast Gary responds to his new treatment.  That begins on Tuesday, but tomorrow we need to drive back to Sarasota for his last chemo infusion.  Being closer to Moffit is a smart move, as it is only 20 minutes away from 'home'.

Monday - another beautiful day - was a trip to Sarasota day.  The drive only took an hour and we were 40 minutes early, so we shared a muffin in the Cancer Center's tiny cafe.  After Gary got his blood results, we visited with his Dr. and she was happy to tell us that Gary would not need his last infusion of Gemzar.  She asked us to remind the Docs at Moffit to keep her in the loop, and we made an appointment for two months from today.  The only downer is that Gary needs to stay on his blood thinner for three more months. 

Stopping at my salon to make an appointment, I was pleasantly surprised to slide into an open spot.  Gary went to get gas, and I was done before he returned!.  A quick lunch at Checkers and then we headed back up 75 to explore our new area. Finding out how long from home to Moffit and where the nearest Walmart topped our list.  Of course, the phone rang so we paid no attention to how long it took, but we did get our groceries at a Walmart. 

Once home, we had a visitor inquiring about our Jeep.  He has an Ford Escape (we sold ours) that he tows, and it does not tow very well.  It had a lot of problems, and even though he stopped every hour and ran the engine through all the gears, etc. it started smoking.  For the rest of the trip he had to put it into a rented UHaul trailer to make it the rest of the way down from Windsor, Ont., Canada.  So he wanted to know how our Jeep towed, and we talked about 30 minutes relating the towing process, and continued on chatting with each other.  Nice guy.

Tuesday dawned beautiful yet again and I did some computer work, Gary puttered and then it was time to leave for Moffit.  We tried a new route (quicker, less school traffic) and arrived a little bit early.  But we ended up waiting 45 minutes.  Once inside he was told how to do this trick, and he was exposed to PUVA for 36 SECONDS.  That's right, seconds.  Then we had to wait 10 minutes for the nurse to get off the phone, stand in line to check out (didn't need to) and get back down 6 floors to the parking garage (up two floors) into the Jeep.  Whew.  We were worn out.  LOL  Let's get happy - Panera was right there on the left - yay, late lunch. 

We had a very late dinner, and then Gary did something that I'll tell you about on Friday.  I downloaded Sudoku onto the iPad and played that until midnight, it's that addicting.  We left the windows open all night, as there's a little more humidity in the air, and we're expecting some rain on Friday for a change.

Thanks for visiting us!

Birthday Plans a Success

As I mentioned yesterday, today we had special plans with David and Arlene Harrison who are staying in Davenport, but agreed to meet halfway at a special town called Lake Placid.  Lake Placid is special because it is a town with 44 murals painted on buildings throughout the streets.  It is also the Caladium capital of the world.  Ninety-five percent of the world's supply of Caladiums come from Lake Placid.  There is a Caladium Festival at the end of August when the acres of caladiums are fully grown and in brilliant color. 

We met at the Chamber of Commerce where we saw a 10 minute film and picked up a catalog/map of the murals.  The murals were painted from 1993 and the most recent was in 2010.  The catalog gives you secret items to find in each mural (something our grandkids would love).  Here are some of our favorites:

David, Arlene and us at the Chamber

The mural on the local newpaper office.  All of these letters are hand painted.  We also like the name of the author.

We toured this cute three room museum. 

When I was VERY young, I worked at a switchboard like this one!  Really!

Awesome, huh?  Done on a cement wall 45 feet by 13 feet tall

There are also garbage cans in all shapes and sizes scattered around.  Here are some fun examples:

This particular "can" was by our favorite mural on the side of the Winn Dixie Food store.  It is called the Cracker Trail Cattle Drive and it is one of the few with 'sound'.  It is 175 feet long, 30 feet wide and so expensive that the funds ran out before it was finished.  To raise more money, one could pay to have their initials painted as brands on the cattle.  Within a week, they had enough for Keith Goodson to complete the mural.  The sound is a combination of moos, thunder, whistles and yips.  Close your eyes and you're in the middle of Texas (but it was really in Florida) where the Highlands County cattlemen still produce top-ranking beef cattle.

We were warned to have lunch a littler earlier than 12, which was OK as we had a really early breakfast.  The Main Street America Cafe welcomed us where we ordered burgers and fish and chips.  I was trying to save room for a hot fudge sundae (after all, it was my birthday) but boy, that burger was delicious!  I did put it down and said take it away then ordered a sundae for Gary and me to share.  Well, I forgot to take a picture of it (darn) until we got up to leave.  This is all that was left: 

YUM!

Arlene was the navigator and the boys talked all along the way.  This was in the middle of town:

There is a koi pond at the bridge:

Two other murals:  One famous man, Melville Dewey, who invented the Dewey Decimal System and helped develop Lake Placid in the 1920s:

And a view of the Caladium growing fields:

These baby caladiums will make it to full growth as long as it doesn't get too cold down here. 

We finally said our goodbyes around 3:30 and promised to get together again - maybe in ALASKA in 2013! 

Meanwhile we will continue with Doctor appointments which begin with new therapy on Tuesday, and this Sunday we move to Thonotasassa.  [say that three times fast]

Thanks for joining our day!

The Fixit Team Strikes Again

Tuesday was a beautiful morning once again.  It got up to 76 today.  We spent a little time in Lenscrafters so I could try on some different contacts.  As we left, our gas lite came on.  So we scurried over to Sam's for a little cheap gas - 3.37 a gallon.  And it's going up - oh, yay.  Sometimes I'm glad we sit as long as we do.  I did a little math and from the first fill up in our coach until now we have spent $1023.73 in diesel fuel.  When we start up on Sunday, I will do more math to figure out mpg. and let you all know.
 
Wednesday they called for rain, and around 2:20 we did get some soaking rain, but it didn't last too long.  In the morning we played the fixit team again.  Gary had done some research on how to replace the light in our microwave.  He discovered how, and we got the little cover plate off.  Then to find a store that sold it.  We could have ordered it from GE, but we found a store in Bradenton that carried them.  Fortunately we got the last one; unfortunately, that little one inch light cost $18.00.  What are ya going to do?  We replaced the light, the cover and the grill front, and voila-there was light!

Next we wanted to put the new black panels on the fridge.  The top ones went on in a jiffy, but the bottoms need to have the door removed.  We haven't figured out how to do that yet, but here is a shot of the ones we did replace.  I can't wait until they are all on.  They just slide in, but the panel edges are too long to slide up towards the ceiling without hitting it, so we will have to remove the doors.  Spiffy, huh? 

Thursday was Doctor appointment day again to see an orthopedist about his shoulder.  It's annoying to have to wait 2 hours, and then have the Doctor tell you that he does not recommend surgery (yay), but does recommend physical therapy and ibuprophen.  Since Gary did not injure his shoulder in an accident or fall, it seems to be an attritional rotator cuff tear.  It may never heal completely, and if it doesn't get any better with therapy, there's a one in two chance he might feel better with surgery.  Gary does want to swing that golf club, though, so we'll see how he does with therapy. 

Direct TV was waiting for us at home, and Jose fixed the antenna within 5 minutes by replacing the LNB on the dish.  Within 6 minutes, we had cable again.  Next time it gets windy, Gary may hustle a little faster to catch that dish.  We will need satellite TV at our new campground in Thonotosassa starting Sunday. 

Tomorrow we are really looking forward to some fun with David and Arlene Harrison.  But I'm not going to jinx it by saying any more.  This will be the third time we've tried to get together.  You'll have to find out what we do tomorrow!

Partaaay

Saturday was my early birthday party in St. Pete at my daughter, Michelle's.  It was a cool day, but pretty and I was excited to meet our son's new girlfriend.  There was a sign at the front door:  "Happy Birthday PomPom (my grandma name). 

I was pleased to meet Tracy, Tristan's new girlfriend.  What a sweetheart.  She is at Miami U in grad school for child psychology.  She even gave me a lovely scarf as a gift.  We told Tristan later that she would be on our keeper list. 

(Ignore the wierd guy)

We had a BBQ in the back yard and were so stuffed, we all went for a walk down to the water. 

We made quite a spectacle: 6 adults, 5 kids, one baby and two dogs.

Then it was time to return for CAKE!

I had to wear the birthday hat

Lauren got the honor

Chocolate - my favorite!

Henry loves chocolate, too

We all needed some exercise and headed out to the trampoline!

Soon it was time for the children to hit the hay and the grownups go out for dinner.  The babysitters came (after all, 6 kids and two dogs - I'd ask for an army) and we drove in peace and quiet up to a fabulous restaurant in Tampa called Pane Rustica.  We had great conversations and terrific food.  Thank you Brian and Michelle for a delicious dinner!  By the time we looked at the time, it was 11:30.  We finally rolled into bed around 1 am.  But it was worth every minute!

Sunday we slept in a little bit, but not much, because Tristan called and said that on their way back to Miami, they'd like to stop by and take us out for lunch.  Yay.  They arrived around 3:30 (a little late for lunch, but no complaints here), and they followed us to Panera where we had more great food and more conversation.  They wanted to make it home without too much night driving, and off they went.  We promised to try to get to Miami to visit them ASAP. 

Monday was an early day (alarm clock set at 6:30) and we were out of here at 8 am.  First the dermatologist in Tampa and when we were finished there, it was back to Sarasota for an opthamology appointment to make sure Gary's eyes were OK on the inside (they are), then off to get a dose of chemo.  We finally rolled home just after 5 pm.  Long day, but a hopeful one.  We will be starting a new treatment procedure probably next week, and therefore need to move closer to Tampa.  After his appointment, we had a few minutes to run over to Southern Aire RV Resort that we had toured last week.  We liked a particular site, and wanted to see if it was still available.  It was, so we booked it for a month.  This treatment may take more than a month, but I sure hope we can leave Florida one of these days.  This is the third year we have tried to get out west. 

Tomorrow will be an easy day - I just get to change my contacts at Lenscrafters.  Maybe I'll jazz them up a bit and get brown ones!  Nah.  Thanks for visiting! 

Me, Graham and Cake!

A Little Rain

The weather forecast was calling for rain and winds today.  Gary put the awning in last night and we put everything else in except the slides as storms were acomin'.  The wind blew things around and the rain came around 1 pm.  The sun never did come out, but it didn't rain hard.  Florida needed it badly.

Relaxing day on Thursday.  We did get a call from an orthopedist to make an appointment for Gary because his MRI revealed a rotator cuff tear.  Oh, yay.  Quick trip to Walmart and over to Lakewood Ranch to a cute boutique there to purchase some baby gifts.  My niece and her husband had a baby girl and a dear friend had twin girls.  I took a long time deciding, but ultimately chose handmade crocheted hats for all of them.

Friday was Tampa RV Super Show day, and we got a good start, parked, hopped on the trolley and entered gate 1.  We meandered all over the EXPO building and met Jim Guld of Geeks on Tour.  We met Jim and his wife, Chris, at our first RV-Dreams rally in Longs, SC.  They were the couple who encouraged me to begin a blog.  And I'm very glad they did. 

Even though Gary was wearing his RV-Dreams cap, we didn't see another Dreamer until the late afternoon on our way up to the Newmar section.  Just as we got there, Bill and Nancy we passing the other way.  We recognized eachother and gave hugs.  They were very excited having sold their house this week and just purchased a new motorhome from Winnebago.  We were glad to be the first to congratulate them!  Nancy wanted to show us exactly what their new home will look like, so we walked to the Itasca Meridian.  Since they are building one just for Bill and Nancy, they could make changes to suit their tastes.  It's beautiful, and I'm sure they'll have many happy years traveling in this wonderful lifestyle! They look happy, no??

We looked around for another hour and then planned to beat the traffic home. 

Home, sweet home, that is.



Checking Out RV Parks and Friends

Sunday was an absolutely perfect day, and we had planned to drive up to Thonotosassa to check out the RV park Spanish Main that Gary had found online.  He called to see if there was any room for the month of February.  After asking lots of questions of us (how long is your rig, how many slides, which side, satellite TV??) she said there was one she could fit us into.  Because Gary was a patient at Moffit, we got a price break - and what a break!  So we decided we needed to check this out.

I made some breakfast burritos and off we went up 75.  I wish we could stay at Hillsborough SP, but there are no sites consecutively available for a month's stay.  And it could be longer.

We found Spanish Main with no problem, and it is an older park, lots of permanents, trees and no one in the office.  We rode by the site we were assigned, and it was occupied, but it would be difficult to fit in there.  Driving around, we noted a couple of sites that might work on the map, and will call tomorrow.  There was another park that was one minute away (Southern Aire), and we decided to take a look. This one had some permanents along the outside roads, but not many on the interior sections.  Some big rigs were parked here, the roads were more open and there were less trees, and we found a couple of sites that would do nicely.  Their rates are about double the other park, but we're hesitant to make a reservation as we don't know our schedule yet.  At least we looked.

Since we were up in the Tampa area, we traveled over to St. Pete and dropped in on my daughter and family.  Their five kids each had a friend over, so it was pretty busy.  We hung out and enjoyed the kids, then headed home before dark.  Lots of drive time today.

Yesterday we fixed things.  Here's Gary and me fixing our Fantastic Fan.  It took about 20 minutes. 

Hello down there!

Then we worked on getting the printer up and running.  It needed a phone call, but about an hour later, it was working fine.  Then we wanted our satellite dish up and running.  We haven't needed our dish for almost a year, so a quick phone call reinstated our service, and we have satellite again.

All day we had been looking forward to seeing some friends we met for the first time in July at Camp Freightliner in Gaffney, SC.  It turns out Bob and Ann  live near where our house is in Sarasota, and since we knew we'd be in Florida, and they knew they'd be in Pigeon Forge we planned to get together.  We did while in Pigeon Forge and now that we're back in the 'hood, we had planned to meet at our old haunt, The Lazy Lobster.  For all the foodies out there:  Gary's tuna and my stuffed shrimp.

Fortunately, we had leftovers to enjoy later.  We spent the evening enjoying catching up and planning another get-together.

  We will be attending the Tampa RV show on Friday, and perhaps return on Sunday.  We're looking so forward to seeing all our RVing friends!  Hope we see you there!

Getting Things Fixed

Thursday was a wash day and cleaning day.  We toodled around in the cool weather, but it promises to get back up near 80 soon. 

Friday was treatment day, and we were anxious to hear what the procedure plan was after the two doctors conferred.  We heard the Moffit doctor tell us that Gary would be weaned off Gemzar, but apparently not.  I'm actually kinda glad, as he is still responding so well.  Meanwhile, we didn't get any information as to how long we would be in this area, and will just have to wait to see the other doctor at the January 30th appointment.  However, I have been calling that office to see if there are any cancellations on Mondays (new patient day).  As of Friday, none available this Monday, but I will call early on Monday to check once again.

We did have dinner with our dear friend, Debbie, from the old 'hood last night.  She suggested Bogey's Bar and Grill only 3 minutes from both of us.  We spent the first 20 minutes talking so much, the waitress was getting a little impatient, so we finally ordered.  And we had a great meal! There was plenty of food, and we all took home doggy bags. Thanks, Debbie, for dinner! 

This morning Gary needed a bagel fix, so off to Panera for breakfast and some serious conversation about our immediate future.  I sure wish we knew what was going to happen 'doctor-wise' so that we could make some kind of decisions.  All we can do is put together different scenarious which include selling Bella, selling the house, buying a condo, buying a fifth-wheel, keeping Bella (I like that one best), staying in Florida for a year or two, working until absolute, total remission, then hitting the road permanently (Gary likes that one best), moving back into the house, going crazy (which we both are doing right now) but enjoying the small stuff.  Like things that get fixed.

We are looking forward to going to the RV show in Tampa.  I know our mentors, Howard and Linda Payne (RV-Dreams.com) will be there and hope to see as many friends as possible.  Still waiting on the weather report to see which day will be best, but it won't be the Saturday as it's my birthday and I'm having a family birthday party all day!  Hoping for nice weather that day.

It's beautiful here today.  I hung out the sheets to dry and Gary did his coach maintenance: started the genset, started the engine, checked the batteries and all fluid levels and emptied the tanks.  Then he went off to pick up the part for our Fantastic Fan that was delivered so we can fix that!

Now if we can just get Gary fixed, we will be the HAPPIEST CAMPERS!

Hot and Cold

Happy New Year!

I hope you had more fun than we did.  We washed the Jeep, cleaned Bella inside and washed her windshield.  Then we made some homemade pizzas, got ready to go, started watching the New York scene on tv and ended up falling asleep around 10 pm.  It has been a stressful week, and we both are still getting over our colds.  Oh, well, the new year came anyway, and let's hope it's as much (or more) fun than last year.  I hope all your resolutions come true.

Sunday was supposed to be really nice, and on the spur of the moment, we decided to go to the beach.  We have been in Florida since Dec. 4, and haven't been to the beach yet.  It was time, and it was jammed.  There was hardly any traffic at all, but as soon as we got to the Ringling bridge we discovered all of Sarasota was on Lido Key.  We found parking and also discovered that the little hidden paths to the beach through the sea grass to the beach were now paved with shell, with tall columns adorned with silver starfish and night time lighting.  Well, now we know where some of our tax dollars have gone.  Yay. 

The beach was somewhat crowded, but the water was magnificent.  Too cold for me to get in above my knees, but fine for walking along for a mile enjoying the sun and breeze and turquoise water.  Gary was careful to stay out of the sun, and we both had lots of sunscreen on, so we thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon at the beach.

I'm glad that we had that time on Sunday, because Monday it started out warm, but got continually colder and we had to put the awnings in due to 25 mph winds.  By one o'clock, the temp had dropped to 61.  Gonna get cold tonight!  But it will only last a couple days.

Gary wanted to attend the free computer class at the clubhouse to see if the instructor might be able to help us with our computer (which I'm on right now - hooray).  Gary was the youngest in the class, and some people were there learning on their first computer.  Tom, the instructor, was curious about our problem, and offered to come see for himself.  About half an hour later, he narrowed it down to our adaptor.  We shook hands, got in the Jeep and drove to Walmart to get a new one.  (ours was a 2003 model).  TA DA!  It is working fine, so fine.  Oh, yeah.  Oh, yeah.   We're dancin'!

Here's a photo of our new spot as promised:

The winds were still picking up, so the awning and window awnings were put in.  By 7 pm we were having steady 15 mph winds with 30 mph gusts.  Bedtime was really noisy with our slide toppers flapping overhead and that woke me up at 4 am.  I thought sleeping on the couch would be quieter, but that is on a slide, too.  Tried sleeping upside down on the bed.  Too difficult to organize covers (Gary was oblivious).  Finally, I woke him up at 6 am and told him I was putting in the slide.  One minute later, I was fast asleep and slept until 10 am.  Unfortunately, that morning we had plans with Arlene and David and I felt terrible posponing our outing, but 55 degrees with high winds is not conducive to a walking tour.  We'll find a beautiful day coming up and reschedule.

Still deciding what to do, and Doctors will be a big factor in our choices.  It will come.