A New Floor

Monroe, NC

No, not it the RV, but in the house.  Our house is 65 years old so there are always surprises whenever you try to do any type of repair or remodeling.  Even putting new blinds on the windows is an adventure.  The wide 4 inch window frames that were soft pine 65 years ago when my Grandfather and one of his brothers-in-law built this house are now the consistency of granite.

And nothing is standard, according to today's standards that is.  The kitchen cabinets for example were simply built in to fit the spaces after the kitchen was completed.  So something like a simple cabinet or counter top replacement using the "standard" sized stuff from Lowe's or Home Depot would require a major overhaul.

So we decided to replace the old carpet that we put in our bedroom when we remodeled years ago with a wood like laminate.  We choose the Quick Step brand and had it installed by a local flooring company.  I know, a lot of people including my brother have a handyman streak in them.  And this type of job is labeled as a "weekend job" by folks that have that talent, but for me I'm not so sure.  And since it is in our bedroom we didn't want to be displaced any longer than a day.

The installer showed up right on time and before long he had ripped out all the existing carpet and had the sub-floor cleaned and ready to install the new pad and laminate planks.

 Speaking of the surprises of an older house, notice that the flooring is not the standard plywood subflooring used these days, but they are actually 3 inch pine planks.  After this discovery (I should have remembered that from when we remodeled 17 years ago,) there was a brief discussion about refinishing that floor instead of using the laminate.

 But see the white plank in the upper center of the picture?  Thats were we placed a spare plank after removing a wall that once existed there when we remodeled.  So realizing that, we kept with the original plan.

By mid-afternoon the job was done.  New laminate flooring that looks remarkably like real oak flooring in the adjoining room.  New quarter round molding the same color as the floor.  All in all, a pretty good job by the installer.

Now to the not so pleasant task of getting all the stuff that we have accumulated placed where it belongs.  Or more importantly, getting rid of some of it!

Back to the Barn

Monroe, NC

Our trip back north on I-95 continued to be uneventful and we are back home.  We arrived to some nice fall-like weather with a little cooler temperatures and even cooler predicted over the next week or two.

During August we had a barn built that will be the new home for our Bounder.  This is the first time we were actually able to get home, unpack the items we needed to unpack, and move the Bounder into it's new "stable".

We had decided back in the spring that we really needed to have a larger storage building, since the old one was full of junk and falling down.  After all, it was nearly 70 years old.  And believe it or not, our Bounder had been sitting outside in the sun, rain, and wind all these years.  It needed to have a home under roof.

I had looked at all these pre-fab metal buildings; I even had one guy come out and measure with the promise to get back to me with a final quote, which he never did. (I guess business is not so bad after all.)   Then after a severe thunderstorm outbreak in the area back in May, I saw one of those buildings sitting in the top of a big Oak tree not too far from here.

It was then that I got serious about having a pole type barn built. Thats when I also discovered that I could have a substantial barn built, with support poles 3 feet in the ground in concrete instead of metal railings sitting on top of the ground.  All for not much more than the metal barn would have cost.

The construction began around the first week of August with the layout and deciding exactly what I wanted and how it would be positioned on our property.  Once the poles were set, the trusses were ordered.  A week or so later they arrived and a crane was brought in to set the trusses in place:

Once the work of setting the trusses in place began, it didn't take long for them to complete that part of the job.  With a couple of workers on each side and a couple in the middle on the scaffold, it went like clockwork.
 

 Before long, that part of the job was done.  Then it was time to start the longer job of framing.

 With the framing pretty much completed, it was time to start adding the metal, with the trim going on first.

To be big enough to get the RV in and out as painlessly as possible, I needed a door with at least 14 feet vertical height and at least 12 feet wide.  So we decided to put the main door in the center with a personnel entry door on the side.  The main door will be a roll up garage door and the personnel door will be a steel double dead bolt lock.

Metal on the roof will be galvanized aluminum and the sides will be gray to match the siding on our house with white trim.

Notice the smile on it's face?

The Sting of Leaving Florida

St. Augustine, Florida
Stagecoach RV Park

After a nice dinner last night at The Reef on the beach, we prepared for our final leg home this morning.  We were in no big hurry as it is only about 7 or 8 hours north to Monroe.

Our two cats are just really into the travel routine and I think would be up to staying on the road as long as we want to.

While we were packing up to go, we saw two of our camp neighbors out walking their cats, each cat with a leash.  I didn't get to the camera in time to make a picture.  We talked about how our cats may respond to a leash!  Nikki may do ok, but princess Bobbi would never stand for it.

With the utilities unhooked, Pam turned the a/c off so I could unplug from the shore power connection.  I flipped open the power pedestal lid to turn the switch off before unplugging.  As I put my hand in to turn the breaker off I touched the bottom edge of the pedestal lid and was immediately shocked!  My initial thought was there was a short in the pedestal wiring and I would need to report that to the office.  But then I saw two wasps flying out of the box.  I had been stung by a wasp and it did sting!

In 2005 I had an incident with a yellow jacket nest near our home.  I stepped on the nest without knowing it was there and was stung approximately 65 times.  Yellow Jackets are aggressive little buggers.  I passed out in the ambulance on the way to the emergency room and had to be given adrenalin to keep me going.  Since then Pam the nurse, has insisted that I need to keep an Epipen and Benadryl  handy just in case.  She says that I may be much more sensitive to wasp stings since that incident.

I kind of played that down and thought she was over reacting, but after about 15 minutes, my hand began to swell and my arm ached.  And this from just ONE sting.  We went ahead and got on the road, and by the time we stopped for fuel in Brunswick GA - about an hour and a half - my right hand and lower arm were swollen to the point i couldn't make a fist.  And, I had hives all over my arms and part of my torso.  Wow... I know now she is right about the super sensitivity.

After a couple more hours the swelling stopped and the itching subsided and we continued north bound on I-95.

I-95 Northbound

 We arrived back at home around 7:00 PM, just in time to unload the essentials before dark and get the cats situated. 

PS.  My hand remained itchy all night but the swelling began to go away Friday afternoon.  I will certainly keep the Epipen and Benadryl with me every where I go from now on.


 

Going North

It's time to pack up from Bluewater Key and head back to North Carolina.  We had a beautiful sunrise this morning.  Then after getting everything picked up, packed up, and getting the cats ready for a day of travel, we are off and headed up US-1 back to the mainland.  It's time to put the Conch Republic behind us for this year.

We encountered very little rain as we made our way north on the Florida's Turnpike, then after Ft. Pierce, I-95. 

I do have a question for any Floridian's living in the Keys:  Are tourist the only ones expected to obey the traffic laws on US-1 in the Keys?   We had several rude and nearly dangerous experiences with drivers on the Overseas Highway, both while driving the RV and while driving the Chevy Tracker during our stay.  Most of the incidences were relating to dangerous passing while I was driving the posted speed limit or even 5 MPH or so above the limit.  Do people think if they intimidate you, you will will break the law so they can get someplace a few seconds quicker?  I really don't get it.  Furthermore, in most of the cases, we pulled up next to them or right behind them again at the next stop light.

We stopped for the night in St.  Augustine Florida, at the Stagecoach RV park.  It is very near the interstate and is relatively easy to get in and out.  We unhooked the Chevy and decided to eat a meal out at a St. Augustine restaurant.  We drove over to the beach just as the sun was going down and made a couple of pictures.   All the surf and sand is quite a bit different from the calm, clear waters to which we became accustomed in the Keys.

 With the clear skys, the moon was perfectly visible in the early evening sky.

There was another couple on the beach that was able to take our picture for us.

So tomorrow we head home after a full two weeks. 

Upgrade

Saddle  Bunch Keys, Florida

We did a little swimming, snorkeling, and kayaking today.  We had a brief shower and accompanying thunderstorm in the morning, but the afternoon was beautiful.

We drove over to the seafood market on Summerland Key and while we were there we looked at a few houses for sale.  Wow is all I can say.  The prices of even very modest houses here anywhere close to the water are very high!

My last picture was of the fresh shrimp we grilled.  Tonight we upgraded to fresh Keys Lobster.  I had not grilled lobster before so I was asking a couple of people including the lady at the seafood market for some tips.  Its really pretty simple...cut the shell of the tail down the middle and grill using the shell as the holder.

We seasoned them with just a small amount of melted butter and lime juice, and a little pepper. As you can see, the results were very tasty, and didn't last long!

The evening was mild with a little breeze from the south.  The Moon has been rising very early in the day and we could not see it, but last night it was visible and I tried (with not so good results) to get a picture or two.

One more day in Paradise then we have to head back to North Carolina!