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Thursday, January 7, 2010

Freezing Temps, Optometrist Appointment and Plans to Move On

January 6th, 2010.  We awoke to 31 degrees and it had been at that temp since about 2:00 a.m. I know because I didn’t sleep well knowing that I had not disconnected the water to the rig. I have a wireless thermometer near my side of the bed for outside temps.  The high was predicted to be 47. The outside spicket is a dual spicket and I had left one side dripping.  However, this morning it wasn’t dripping and it was frozen also our hose was frozen solid.  I later disconnected the hose from the spicket so they could both thaw. Maggie and Rico’s water bowl outside was frozen solid. It was reported on the radio that Tallahassee was colder last night than Anchorage Alaska!   Although we are closer to Gainesville and perhaps even Jacksonville, our local Dish T.V. programing is out of Tallahassee.

Later in the morning, Joyce finished taking down the Christmas decorations around Big Shoals State Park.  I cleaned up fallen tree branches etc. I also checked the exposed pipes in the bath house.  A spot light is used to provide heat at a critical junction of the PVC pipes in the utility room.  I’ll need to make sure that it doesn’t burn out!  The bathhouse is designed for maximum ventilation so you can imagine just how drafty and cold it can be inside.

I had noticed over the past year that my vision at night and when I’m tired isn’t very good at a distance.  Joyce had done a search for Optometrists in our UHC plan.  Surprisingly, the only Optometrists listed locally were located at the Walmart Stores in Live Oak and Lake City.  After our chores, we traveled to Live Oak for our appointments. 

It turns out I’ll need glasses and bifocals to boot!  It seems once you pass 40 years of age, your vision and the muscles that control it tend to weaken. I ordered glasses with progressive lenses for $140 through our insurance.  We’ll see just how much I’ll wear them!

After our appointment we traveled to a local deli in Live Oak recommended by the eye glass technician for a late lunch.  Joyce ordered a Gyro, but after having lived near Tarpon Springs a city known for it’s Greek heritage, she should have known better after the deli employee pronounced it incorrectly.  Needless to say she didn’t enjoy it.  But I enjoyed my roast beef sandwich.

We then traveled to Stephen Foster State Park and Joyce did our laundry while I chatted with some of the volunteer workampers.  Of the 45 RV camping spots, there were perhaps only 15 that were occupied.  The older more experienced volunteer was  speculating that the economy was affecting the number of RV'ers.   I thought it was the cold temperatures!

In the evening, Ranger Dylan Shoemaker stopped by and we invited him back for spaghetti and meatballs.  Dylan had seen some of the photos we took around the park and Big Shoals Public Lands and he wanted to copy them for the state park web site.  When he came back he transferred them to his flash/ thumb drive.  

We also told Dylan that we would be making plans to leave in February.  We’ve enjoyed our stay, but we, (Joyce in particular) are ready to move on. We’ve been here now for two months and it will be 3 months by the time we leave.  We’ve got a lot of country to see and I guess we need to get going!  Dylan’s going to try to find our replacement volunteers for the 1st of March thus giving us plenty of time to finalize our plans and have contingencies for poor weather.  

I was sure to disconnect the water this time before going to bed!

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