Old Front Wheel

New Front Wheel

Old Rear Wheel

New Rear Wheel

The temperature in Michigan was going to be unusually warm for a few days so we left the Honda CR-V in Louisville and drove the motorhome to Michigan. It was a balmy 62 degrees when we arrived and by the time we left dark clouds and cold weather was moving in. Oh, the routine service, new wheels and tires, cost $5,627. (Ouch)

Back in Louisville we hitched up the CR-V and headed to Florida. We spent the first night at Wal*Mart in Kimball, Tennessee and it was not exactly free. Between Wal*Mart, Cracker Barrel, Radio Shack and a Dollar Store we spent about $225. Our second night was at Wal*Mart in Tiffin, Georgia and we got by cheap spending about $45 at Wal*Mart and Sonny's Bar-B-Q.

We had a rattle in the front of the motorhome that had bothered us for over a year and it drove us crazy on the trip to Florida. I heard the rattle in the cabinet over the driver's seat that contains the entertainment center and I told (asked) Linda to find that darn rattle. Linda heard the same rattle, but she said it was in the cabinet over the passenger's seat that contains the electronic for the onboard systems. After a few minutes of listening and touching Linda found the rattle was coming from a piece of molding that extended all the way across the dash along the bottom of the windshield. Who would have thought it - the dash molding was rattling, but the sound was heard in cabinets five feet overhead. At the next rest stop I tightened the screws and we traveled in total silence the rest of the way.

After a night in a campground in Lake City, Florida we rolled down the road to Theme World RV Resort in Davenport, Florida. We were assigned a pull-thru site, but it was uphill, had trees rubbing the motorhome on both sides and a medal post sticking out in the site making it difficult to park. Linda walked to the office and asked them to trim the trees so we could get the slides out, but no one showed up - they had our money and were not interested in our problems. Not a good way to treat a customer especially a customer who rates RV parks.

But we were there for just one night and our terrible campsite did not diminish our fun. My sister Gloria and Don Martin arrived and then Dirk Harrington pull in. Gustav Bernhard, a single guy from Germany who is fulltiming in the U.S. was waiting for us and friends Rich and Diane Emond drove over to visit. We all toured Gustav's new Newmar Ventana motorhome and then went out to eat as a group. The next morning we all met at a rest area and drove to the Tampa RV Super Show. We selected Rich as our wagonmaster and when we arrived at the fairgrounds to park with the Newmar group Rich talked the parking crew into parking us together in the open so our satellite dishes would work.

This was our fourth trip to the Tampa RV Show and we do not go to look at new motorhomes or to buy anything - we go to have a reunion with friends. Every day was spent with friends and we did an annual ritual in going to Parksdale Farm in Plant City to eat strawberry shortcake. If a man has not been there before he is selected King and must sit on the throne with his Queens around him. This year Gustav was King and it is interesting that last year Peter Ermke was selected King and he was from Germany also.

During our stay Newmar sent two technicians to our Dutch Star and they replaced the dash radio, the roof radio antenna, an exterior acrylic door handle and repaired a loose fender. All the repairs were free. (Thanks Newmar) The weather turned cool and rain muddied our camping area and the fairground never got our electric working correctly, but we still had a great old time. Some RVs got bogged down in mud trying to leave, but we had no problem driving out.
 

Parked At RV Show	Parksdale Farm	Strawberry Shortcakes	Diane and Rich Emond
Gustav Bernhard	Linda	Gloria and Don Martin	Dirk Harrington
King Gustav	Gustav with Queens

Our three day trip to Summerdale, Alabama was very relaxing. We stayed off interstates and hugged the roads around the Gulf of Mexico the entire trip. I lived in the Florida panhandle three years (1964-1967) times sure have changed. Where there used to be lightly traveled two lane roads there are now four lane super highways and Mom and Pop stores have been replaced with shopping centers.

In Carraballe, Florida we stopped at the World's Smallest Police Station which is actually a telephone booth. Before the small community had a police station the police would park their patrol car beside the pay phone and if a citizen needed police service they would call the phone booth and an office would answer. Today the town has an official police station, but the pay phone booth still stands in a parking lot and it still has a phone inside. The dialer has been removed so no one can make outgoing calls, but it still receives calls.