And the week rolls along.....

We had a leisurely drive from the Wauchula Thousand Trails Park (Peace River) to the Clermont Thousand Trails Park (Orlando) on Tuesday. We arrived around 3pm and got set up by 4 pm. It was the warmest day in weeks and we took showers, ate and napped the evening away.

We're in a 30 amp full hookup site, there were only 3 or 4 that would fit us and we wanted to be sure we could get satellite reception on our dish. Our site is nice and long and we easily unloaded both  motorcycles without blocking the street. Then we backed up a little and had room to park Scooby in front. We'll be here two weeks, then move about 20 miles up the road to Bee's RV Resort.

Yesterday we took a nice motorcycle ride out to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and then over the the Orlando Diver Direct store. We took a different route home just in time to see the mail being taken to the activity center. While Stu was picking up our packages he ran into Nick and Terry and they promised to drop over when done with their errands. It's always so great to see them, we chit-chatted for a couple of hours and then went to the Santa Fe Cattle Company for dinner. After eating we sat there and chit-chatted for several more hours, finally arriving back home around 8pm.

Stu has his annual firefighter reunion next Wed-Sat. We are parked seven miles away and planned to just travel over each day. It's always good to see old friends and catch up on news.

We're still looking to sell our CMA Music Fest tickets...we really need to sell before Feb 20th so they can be mailed directly to the buyer. Please tell your family & friends about it...we also have a 50 amp full hookup site reserved that can be transferred over, if interested.

Last but not least, we just booked our tickets to Ecuador! We leave Maryland on April 15th and return back on May 14th. What an adventure this will be...we can't wait. For those who wonder, Sadie will be staying with a friend who has a large fenced in yard and will spoil her crazy...even letting her sleep with her. Oh my...LOL! (73 days..but who's counting!)

Like Country Music?

We do, in fact we love it. We have attended two CMA Music Fests in Nashville and enjoyed it both times. We like it so much we bought tickets to the 2013 show while at the 2012 and reserved a campsite at the same campground where we stayed last year.

But once again Jell-O rules and our plans must change. We won't be able to attend this year. That could be a win for someone out there. If we can sell our tickets before Feb 20th, CMA World will change the name and mail the tickets directly to the new owner of them. Otherwise they will be mailed to us in mid-May (when we plan to be out of the country) and we are stuck.

What do you get? Tickets for two, four days at CMA Fest in Nashville June 6-9. Good seats for viewing, see seating chart [www.cmaworld.com/docs/cma-fest/mf13-seating-chart.pdf] and look for Section 228 Row A Seats 12 - 11. Paid $371.45, Selling for $325. We also have a week's reservation at Two Rivers Campground which we could also move into your name.

So what's up?

Our time here is winding down and we've enjoyed it here at Peace River Thousand Trails Park in Wauchula/Zolfo Springs area. Quiet park, at least where we are parked. LARGE lot, at least where we are parked. We've managed lots of down time for relaxation, getting over the colds we brought back from our cruise. We've visited friends in Sun City and bought a delicious half-flat of strawberries that just melt in your mouth.

We've gone to the movies, my pick, and saw The Hobbit (which I absolutely LOVED). We've gone bicycle riding almost every day. We've done a little shopping and we've done a little general catch-up on chores. Not bad for an eight day stay.

Tuesday we move back to the Clermont area and our first stay at the Thousand Trails park there. We've heard from our friend Nick Russell, who is there now, that it's packed. This park was too, we ended up with a 30 amp water/electric only but we opted out of the lottery for the full hookup sites since we loved where we were parked. We'll be there for two weeks before we move back to Bee's RV Park - we'll be swapping between those two every two weeks until March 20th when we move over to Vero Beach.

While I've been busy, my motivation for writing has been lacking. So, where did it go? It's been preoccupied with a new project. Tomorrow I'll redirect myself and get back to my editing my book. Oh, and catching up my various blogs.

So what has been my preoccupation? We're planning a fun vacation in South America...for a MONTH. Where? In Ecuador, home to the Galapagos Islands. Yup, Stu definitely wants to scuba there. Andes Mountains, Amazonian type rain forests and more. Oh my!

Mamma's got a brand new bag....

When we returned from our last cruise, we had to throw away a medium sized rolling duffel that I've had for years. We had also, for the umpteenth time, sworn to get rolling backpacks. Backpacks make good carry-ons but tend to get a bit cumbersome and heavy - especially for me.

After much research we settled on High Sierra AT3 rolling backpack. We found the local Sears store had them in stock so we went to look. We not only bought the backpacks, which give us the bonus of a daypack, but the High Sierra AT3 32" Rolling Duffel. Stu got the dark gray and I got the red and we're really pleased with the bags. The 32" bag is bigger than our old luggage and will allow us to use one less bag on our cruises.

Mommy and Daddy said you need to read this...

Mommy just wrote this: Our pets and their health/safety

---

Sniffing and lickingly yours,
Sadie

Colds, Pets, and More

Still recovering from my cold and slowly trying to catch up. Stu's been busy with first of the year financial stuff and I'm slowly getting the final edit done on my mystery. I hope to get our cruise photos uploaded by the end of the week and a better post written. Not sure when Stu will get his scuba videos edited.

I just wrote a blog post about Our Pets and Their Health/Safety. Please take time to read it and pass it along to your family and friends. If you have pets, it's important.

Tomorrow we move from Wildwood, FL to the Thousand Trails park in Wauchula, FL. This will be our first stay at a Thousand Trails park. This one is close to our friends Larry and Judi as well as the folks that gifted us with the TT membership. We hope to meet up with all of them before we move back up to Thousand Trails in Clermont the following week. The rest of the winter will see us moving between Bee's RV Park and TT in Clermont before our final move to Tanglewood Park in Vero Beach where we will visit my brothers and their families.

Long Legged Lady

Why does everyone say I have long legs?

SMALL TOWN AUTHORS: DONNA McNICOL , this week's featured author

SMALL TOWN AUTHORS: DONNA McNICOL , this week's featured author: MEET DONNA McNICOL from Jamestown, TN, U.S.A.   Lost and Found   Hi, I'm Donna B. McNicol and my small town is Jamestown, TN...

Write 4 Ten: PROMPT: Buzzard

Jenny Johnson posted her writing today: "Buzzards and Polecats". Read and enjoy!  Write 4 Ten: PROMPT: Buzzard: The prompt today is the word BUZZARD. Take ten minutes and write, fact or fiction, real or imagined.

Carbonite offer extended!

In the past I've posted about backing up your computer. It's a known fact, you will experience some type of data loss if you use a computer. How much you lose is up to you.

We all know, if it's not simple and automated, it won't happen. I use two backup methods. First is an automatic backup to an external hard drive. If the computer is on, any changes will be backed up.

Second is the online backup service offered by Carbonite. For Less then $60 a year, I have my laptop backed up automatically - unlimited data. The only requirement is having an Internet connection. There are other plans but this one works well for me.

I just got an email letting me know that the promotion they had last year has been extended. If you sign up using my link we BOTH get a $20 Amazon gift card. How's that for a win-win...

Cruising - the good, the bad and the ugly

Just a short post to recap our trip. More once I have time to download photos and Stu edits his Scuba videos.

The good (and fair):

• Nice ship, we sailed on the Legend out of Tampa. We liked the decor but for some reason the layout was tougher for me to learn.
• Good service in general.
• Not as much food variety as we've seen on other cruises, even compared to the Carnival cruise we took last winter.
• I got another Piranha Joe's shirt as well as a hat and a shirt for Stu (diving related).
• Stu had three great dives at three ports. So far Roatan is still his favorite.
• We both got in some good reading, relaxing naps and found a new beer we like (Thirsty Frog Red).
• Great dinner companions at our table for six. We really enjoyed our time with them.

The bad:

• As we were boarding we were handed papers letting us know that they had substituted Costa Maya for Belize - no explanation. That was okay for us, no excursions booked there.
• I forgot my good COMFORTABLE sandals. Guess who got new comfy flip-flops?
• I forgot my Kindle e-reader (thank goodness for my Kindle Fire although it ate up the battery quickly if I read all day).
• Stu brought MY sweatshirt and not his...guess who got a new Carnival sweatshirt. LOL!
• We couldn't get rid of the towel animals. Rather than taking the old one away, they kept adding. I even tore up two of them and tossed them on the bathroom floor. That night we ended up with THREE animals. Egad!
• Yes, I brought too many clothes. I am slowly learning what works best on cruises and promise to do better next time.
• Another seven day cruise, which we swore we wouldn't do, but there were far fewer kids. In fact, we doubt the ship was full.

The ugly:

• We couldn't dock at Costa Maya due to the rough seas, the sister ship 'Glory' had two aborted attempts. So we got an extra day at sea.
• The rough seas - the last four days were all rough. Not much you can do about that. At least it wasn't unbearably hot, we sat out on the Serenity Deck (21 and over only) or our balcony most days.
• Stu got a head cold and had to buy $16 Dristan Cold meds but they helped and before the cruise was done he was doing much better.
• I came home with a chest cold that is now trying to work it's way up to my head. UGH! So blogging, photos, and email catchup will be slow. Bear with us.
• One of my favorite pieces of luggage finally gave up the ghost (a sturdy rolling duffle). Will be looking for something new as well as something better than toting a heavy backpack as a carry-on.

I'm sure I'm missing something but I'll do another post before the week is out. We are back at Alliance Coach in Wildwood with our dryer misbehaving once again. We had arranged to arrive here for an appointment today...of course, now the dryer is working again. That's okay, they're letting us stay for a couple of days and I have about ten loads of laundry to do. We'll see if we can break it again before heading south of Tampa to the Wauchula Thousand Trails park.

Last day to enter the giveaway!

Did you enter my writing blog contest yet? Today is the last day...hope you'll stop by and give it a try.

Heading off into the sunset....

[Copyright Donna B. McNicol]

Cruzin' the night away...well, not quite yet, but we will be tomorrow! No online access until a week from tomorrow. We'll be enjoying...hope you will, too!

Amazing Laptop Buy!

Some of you may remember when I bought my little Samsung Ultrabook last summer, intending to use it for writing. That worked out wonderfully and I don't regret the purchase at all.

In fact, I note only use it for writing but in the evenings on my lap while 'watching' TV. It's so compact and lightweight but with a full keyboard, it works out perfectly.

I bought the 11.6" model with 2GB of memory and 126GB SSD hard drive. I still have over 30GB free and have downloaded quite a bit of software.

I use Dropbox to keep certain files synched between the two computers and that has worked well. In addition, having a network between all our computers via our router means I have instant access to all my files when I'm home.

So why am I telling you this? Because Amazon has an amazing steal on the larger laptop. If I weren't broke, I'd be snagging one. I paid. $600 for mine, refurbished.  Amazon is offering the larger model with  a 13.3" screen and 4GB memory for....are you ready....$700.

Samsung Series 9 NP900X3D-A01US 13.3-Inch Premium Ultrabook (Silver)

I have no idea how long this deal will last but wanted to pass it along. I LOVE my little Ultrabook!!