Staying close

The last time we spent a day at the coach was in South Central Kansas at a lake we call Goose Poop.  It was a lovely lake, but there was a flock of Canadian Geese inhabiting it who made their presence known in the surest way a flock of geese can. But the water was reasonably clean, and very warm; 90 degrees at 10:00 in the mornin. Well, the air temp was 90 at 1:00 am too.

Today we stayed close because it was cold; 45 at noon. But also because this is a very pleasant place to enjoy the warm sun through our big windows. And I needed to finish watching Gran Torino with writer, star, director, producer and vocal musician Clint Eastwood. 

It’s a 10 year old plus, but impactful story about an aging Detroit Ford employee and his newest neighbors, the Laotian Hmong people. The movie speaks a lot to the present immigration issues some euro-peops have with those who act and look different from them today.

So Mona spent much of the day reading (her just completed book blog post will be up soon).

I took a walk to pick up lunch.  Google Maps is SO convenient!  I walked south 15 minutes on US Route 1 to the neighborhood Goodwill to drop a couple of items off we have discovered in 5 months that we do not need.  This happens periodically. No point in carrying anything un-needed around at 8-9 miles to the gallon.

“What of the 6 bins of books stowed in one of the basement slides?” you ask?  I said un-needed, not critically necessary!

And I found a couple of new DVD’s to watch sometime.  Since our internet access is paid for by the gig I dropped Netflix months ago. I rarely watch anything anyway, but it’s nice to hit a REDBOX or one of my new-old DVD’s of an evening. None of the three TV’s on board get turned on much. An average of 30 digital stations to watch anywhere in the US and darn near nothing but commercial time on any of them.  Even public TV advertises itself much of the time now.

Then I walked 5 minutes farther to Vince’s Sandwich Shop. Vince and his wife Doreen have been in the restaurant business all their lives and have owned this place, and at times two others since 22 years ago. I found them while searching that helpful Google Maps and after reading the comments from customers on URBANSPOON,com had to give them a try.  No disappointment here!

Walking back I discovered the Route One Beach. Well, a small water retention lagoon, really, but with a flock of seagulls remarkably like other such bird herds 

                                I've photoed on real beaches.  Enjoy!

 We enjoyed our lunch, and Mona beat me AGAIN at Scrabble, though presently I’m blasted ahead of her with a 7 letter word start to our current game.  Maybe my lead will even last a couple of moves!

Then we both read a while till Mona’s competitive spirit rose again and we did something else we have only done one other time in the coach, and it was another similarly cold day. Neither of us can remember where though.  Changing home addresses every couple of days does that to you.

We played Wii BOWLING.  Yes. I won the first game. She won the second. Then, thank God, Cousin Mike McDowell called Mona and we ended the third game while I was still ahead. I claim it!!

Supper, more reading, and maybe a movie for me again (I picked up another MATRIX  at Goodwill) and tomorrow…

…tomorrow we’ll head into St. Augustine. The next two weeks promise to average 70 as a high and walking the city seems like a plan. Also, there are several of you who live in central Florida we hope to get to see before we head farther south.

On the repair side we’ll be taking the coach to a nearby truck tire shop to get a rhythmic rubbing noise checked out in the left front wheel. Maybe its just a dead armadillo wrapped around the brake drum, but we have to check. And sometime soon we’ll be stopping by an RV shop to have some questions about a battery issue and a valve on the rear bedroom hydraulic slide looked at.

As Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say on Saturday Night Live in the 1970’s, “Its always something!”

-Ken