Day 12, Our Last Day In Naples/Marco Island

Today is our last day here.  We will leave very early tomorrow as we will be driving for about 11 hours or so.  We will not even get out of Florida tomorrow. We will spend the night in Pensacola.  We will reach Houston Saturday night after another long day of driving.

Yesterday, Mama took Dad to his conference, so she had the car all day.  She did laundry, but then she left for a while and did some shopping. After she came back from that, she stayed with us for a few hours and headed to the beach.  Yep, she broke down and spent the $8 to pay for parking. She realized that she had been in Florida for over a week and still had not seen the ocean.  Dad heard that the shells on Marco Island were unreal if you arrive between 6 a.m.and 7 a.m.  Well, the public beaches do not open until 8 a.m. and she didn't want to wait around for an hour and half after dropping him off, so she went in the afternoon.  She was surprised that she found a lot of shells yesterday and that was at 3 p.m.   Here are some beach photos from yesterday.

Mama decided to go to another beach this morning, so she had to wait around for 1.5 hours for the parking area to open up.  She thought it was going to be really nice because they have a cafe on the beach, however, when she reached the beach near the parking lot, this is what she saw.

There shouldn't be trees in the ocean.  She ended up walking about a mile to the ocean.  She found out later, that if she had made a right turn instead of a left, she would have ended up on a barge that is supposed to have a lot of birds and is a hidden gem.  She finally ended up at the ocean and was rewarded with shells.

There were several shells that still had animals in them, so she couldn't take them.  Mama has never found such large shells as she did there.  This is her favorite.

 Here are other shells from yesterday and today and also other photos from today.

We are all resting up this afternoon for our travels tomorrow.  Mama bought food yesterday for the trip.  She bought breakfast sandwiches for breakfast, lunch meat and chips for lunch and for dinner they will have a pork roast and mashed potatoes.  Dinner will be heated quickly in the microwave.  We know from past experience that it's important to have easy foods on travel days. Travel days are not bad, but we only stop for rest areas and gas stations.  There will be no sightseeing until we get to Houston.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Wishes He Could Play On The Beach

Day 11, Next Location Annoucement

Okay, so it appears giving the miles was a give away to a few of you of our next location.  We will give you the three other clues we came up with just because we hate for them to go to waste.

Clue 3: Two Presidents were BORN in this state
Clue 4: Tom Hanks mentions the city in one of Mama's favorite movies
Clue 5: Gatlin Brothers sang about this city.______ means that I'm one day closer to you.

The answer is Houston, TX.   Deccy and Sistertex were correct!

We heard that Miami needs someone, but we already have a commitment with the Houston hotel.  Miami is only 93 miles away, so that would have been an easy drive.  We hope we don't see any more rattlers, but it's possible in Texas.  We have our reservations at a Mom and Pop campground.  There were two campgrounds to choose from and this one has trees which is nice for shade and it appears to have a little bit bigger sites than the other one.  They have a dog park, but we will have to see if Mama thinks it is safe for us.  It will be nice to be able to get off leash for a little while.

Mama is doing laundry this morning.  She is going to do some sightseeing later today.  We will just stay in the motor home.  It's a hot morning.  The dew point is 72.  Mama came back dripping with sweat after our 8 a.m. walk.  Scout wanted to head back to the motor home before we even left our site. Walking here is really nice at 5 a.m. and 10 p.m.  LOL

Mama says that Scout is Eeyore and I'm Tigger.  I'm always bouncing around and Scout has that look of doom on her face.  Daddy says that Florida is Scout's state because she loves elderly women with white hair. You should see how excited she gets when she sees a white haired lady.  Mama has to hold her back so that she doesn't knock them down. 

No menu at this time.  Stayed tuned.  LOL

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Needs A Bandana For Texas

Day 10 - A Tour Of Our Home

Today, we want to take you on a tour of our motor home.  WARNING:  It's messy.  It's really hard to keep things tidy when you live in a small area.  Well, it is for us.  We leave our computers, printers, phones, power cords out because we use them all the time.  Our beds are a mess, but we like them that way.  Mama is going to try and clean the carpet today with the Spot Bot.  It really needs it.  We have a small vacuum that does okay.  We would like to get a better one.

Okay, so let's begin the tour.  This is our kitchen. We have a microwave, a cook top with three burners and a small oven.  The oven runs on propane. We have a double sink.  The refrigerator is a nice size.  It's above our food bowl. It has a freezer. That's important for our Frosty Treats.  Mama uses an electric skillet when possible to save on the use of propane.

This little table flips up.  It's nice when you are preparing food.

We have a cutting board that covers one sink.  It is very useful when preparing foods.  It's like an extended counter and as you can see, we need that.

Mama brought her favorite cookware with her.  She brought a skillet, medium sauce pan and a pan large enough for spaghetti. We have decided not to use as many paper plates as we do when we are weekend camping.  Mama bought some plates that she likes as well as a bowl with a handle for the microwave.  It can be used as a steamer.  Dad is using this type of coffee cup instead of paper cups.  It's less trash and probably less money this way.

We have a pantry that pulls out.  It has a latch that you close so that it doesn't roll out while on the road.  It's important to secure everything before take off.  You don't want doors and drawers flying open.  They are made to stay close. You just need to double check that they are closed.  Mama is like a flight attendant before we take off.

Storage is a big deal in a motor home.  You need to maximum it as much as possible.  We probably have a long way to go on that, but we are learning as we go.  This is a the cabinet above the refrigerator.  It has our flour, sugars and other foods that don't fit in the pantry.  We also use a few of the cabinets above my bed for food storage.  Our dog bowl container stores our dog food.  Mama says it's a pain taking the top off of it each time she feeds us, but having a big bag of food takes up space.

Our living room has a slide and the kitchen has a slide.  This makes for a nice size room.

We have two TVs. The one in the living room is above the two chairs at the far end of this picture.

This is above Mama's seat when we are traveling.  It has our DVD player, satellite receiver, TV converter box and the main thing that controls the TV.  I'm not sure what that is called.

This is where Daddy sits to drive this thing. See the little TV?  That's the camera.  He can see what is behind us while he is driving.  We have a printer sitting on the dash since we are parked.  It's a printer, scanner and copier.  Mama bought it for our travels.  She thought it would be safe on the desk in the bedroom, but it fell to the floor about 30 minutes into our adventure. She thought it would slide onto the bed, but it didn't. It works, but it lost some pieces.  It now rides on the bed when we are traveling.

This is a nice cabinet that stores a lot in the bottom.  However, it will be removed when we install our fireplace.  We left the fireplace at home since we won't be needing it for a while. The window cabinet has some of our camping collectibles. It's a nice way to display them, but it's not a good use of space, in our opinion.

The shower is on the left hand side as you approach the bedroom. The door you see is the bathroom door. It can be closed like it is here now to give you privacy in the shower.

The bathroom.

This is the storage for our stuff.  It has our medications, tooth brushes, wipes, furminator and doggy bags.  How many doggy bags did we bring?  812! Mama stocked up at the dollar store.

The bedroom.  It's hard to get a full picture of it.  There is a slide in there otherwise the bed would be against the drawers.  The TV is above the desk area.  There is the big closet with the mirrors and then another closet near the shower.  There is storage over the bed.  Also, the bed lifts up and we store things under it.

There is also storage that you reach from the outside of the motor home.  We have our BBQ grill, satellite dish, outside chairs, gas powered fire pit and other outdoor things stored there.

I think that completes our tour.  Our home is small, but we like it.  It has all we need.

The menu for the folks is pretty boring today.  Dad is at the conference and has the car, so Mama will have to eat food she has bought.

Breakfast: Breakfast Burrito - fried egg, bacon and cheese wrapped in tortilla
Lunch: Either chili dogs or corned beef hash
Dinner: Hamburger with chips

Clue #2
Our new location is 1,139 miles from our current location.  It will take us two long days to get there. 

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Your Tour Guide Today

Day 9, Naples, FL, Clue #1

Today was pretty much a boring day except that Scout and I were attached by a mockingbird.  Yep, that is right, we were attacked.  We were walking around sniffing a bush when suddenly Scout jumped straight up into the air.  She obtained pretty good height for a big-boned girl.  The next thing I knew, a bird rolled into me ATTACKED ME.  We got out there because they were screaming at us from the trees.  I think they were telling the whole neighborhood about us.  Later in the day, we were walking and Scout did her new thing which is lay down when she is tired of walking.  As soon as she laid down, the ground shook and Scoutie once again was off the ground.  The shaking of the ground was just the fountain in the lake coming on.  It was really loud and we were right next to us.  Daddy laughed really hard at Scout.

Three motor homes left today and three more moved in.  Would you believe that as empty as this place is that they moved a motor home in right next to us?  We think that is very rude.

We mainly just stayed inside today and I held up the chair for a while.  It's pretty easy to do.  I did it in my sleep.

The folks meals have gone downhill today.  We plan to tell you more about meal preparation in our motor home as well as provide photos later this week.  Mama said we need to clean up the place before we take photos.

The Menu Today For The Folks

Breakfast:  Daddy- Pop-Tarts, Mama- granola bar
Lunch:  Tuna Salad Sandwiches made by Mama and potato chips
Dinner: Mama had China Buffet - Chicken and Cashews, egg roll, pork fried rice and fried won tons.  She wanted Cashew Chicken.  She has not been able to find it.  The chef told her it was the same thing, but it's not.  Cashew Chicken does not have celery and water chestnuts.  It was good, but not what she wanted.  There is not a menu online.  Daddy is at his conference, so not sure what he is eating.

Are you ready for the first clue as to where Daddy will be working next?

The state we are going to is NOT on our collar.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Wishes There Were Squirrels Here

Day 8, Still In Naples

This place is pretty, but it's boring.  It's a gated community and it seems that the squirrels are even not allowed here.  Mama and I walked three times around the whole place today and all we saw were some birds and not even interesting birds.  We keep hearing a strange sound when we walk in one area. We are wondering if it's a peacock. We don't know what they sound like, so we are just guessing. 

When we drove here yesterday, we saw signs for panther crossings.  Mama thought it was for a school crossing at first, but no, it's actual signs for panther crossings.  We have seen several signs for them. We are definitely learning a lot on this trip.

Mama and Dad left us for a while today.  They drove to Marco Island. They couldn't get to the beach without paying to park and Mama said she didn't want to pay $8 to park just to look at the water for ten minutes.  The beach is on the side with all the hotels and the buildings are so tall that they block any view of water.  They then drove back to Naples and visited a place called Tin City.  They did some shopping and ate lunch.  They came back home and rested for a while.  We then all loaded in the car to visit a state park that is nearby by. It is the Collier-Seminole State Park.   Florida State Parks charge an entrance fee except if you are camping and then you have to pay the camping fee.  We stopped at the gate and we paid our $5.  The gate attendant gave us dog treats. Daddy laughed at the mosquito meter that was at the gate.  It said "Moderate, Bad and Run".  The arrow was pointed on RUN.  We didn't think they were serious.  We drove around the park and through the campground.  It was not nearly as nice as the other campgrounds that we have stayed at in Florida. We stopped the car and got out to take a walk.  Our walk lasted about two minutes because we were attacked by mosquitoes.  We RAN back to the car and then spent 10 minutes killing them.  They were all over Mama and Daddy.  Mama ended up crawling in the back of the Jeep with us to kill them. She hit me once and I didn't know why, but it was because I had one on my back.  Mama said that $5 was definitely a waste of money. 

We don't have many photos from today. They were supposed to be taken at the state park, but since we were only outside for two minutes, there are no photos. Here are two photos of Scout and I after the mosquito attack.

We've noticed the signs for businesses here are not high off the ground like they are back home.  I guess it looks nicer, but it's really hard to find places because many of the signs seem to be hidden by plants.

McDonald's doesn't have the golden arches high in the sky here.

Walmart is even hard to see.

Menu today for the folks

Breakfast: Bacon and fried eggs

Lunch: Pinchers Crab Shack 

Mama had an Angus burger with fries and coleslaw.  Dad a blackened grouper sandwich with fries and coleslaw.  He said you can't visit Florida and not have it.  They had a coupon for a free slice of key lime pie. They both said the food was good, but did not bring us any leftovers.

Dinner:  Mama made pork burgers, salad and baked beans.  The pork burgers came from the pig farm near our house.  It's a place where you buy on the honor system. 

 

We had frosty treats.  Yes, the frosty treats have come with us.  Making is making them in the blender instead of using the Kitchen Aid mixer.  It works well.

 

I guess tomorrow we should start giving you clues about where our next location is going to be.  We are a little sad that our vacation is now over and Dad goes back to work tomorrow.  He has to attend a conference.  Mama is going to take him there and back each day so that she still has a car.  

 

Joey,

The Greyhound Who Doesn't Like Mosquitoes