Thats all folks!

This will be the last posting to the 2016 Dispatch. We won't be traveling until Millie comes back from New Mexico and my life is pretty boring without her, so I don't have much to write about. For example, today I changed the sheets on the bed and did laundry, nuff said.

This is the first time the blog has run right up to years end so I guess some reminiscing is in order.

There have been births and deaths in the extended family. We're sad for the departed and joyous for the new family members, time and life goes on. In our immediate family, my 93 year old father passed on earlier this month. In the end he died peacefully at home with my mother and my brothers family at his side. It was very appropriate for him to be home, he lived there for 60 years and never wanted to be anywhere else.

Travels in the motorhome

Millie and I traveled extensively in 2016 and got to see and do a lot. From the tip of Florida to the coast of Canada we took in tourist attractions and spectacular scenery. We enjoyed live theater and lively concerts. We flew in a vintage Dehavilland Beaver and a space shuttle simulator. As we do in all our trips we visited with family and friends as much as possible.

Airline travels

So I'm writing this last post on Christmas day while sitting in the laundromat. Millie is 2000 some miles away in New Mexico. It may sound strange that we are apart during the holidays, but it works for us. Nothing brings more joy to Millie than being with her daughter at Christmas and I am comfortable being alone. I'll keep the motorhome secure and take care of Maggie while she's gone. Besides, these occasional weeks apart make me realize how much she means to me.

The 2017 Dispatch from the Road will start next week. As soon as Millie and I are together once again, we will depart Orlando and head south to Florida City.

Stay safe, stay warm and

we'll see you down the road!

Sick puppy

Friday December 23^rd.

We've had a busy couple days, some fun and some not so much. Our Maggie ingested some bad bacteria from some unknown source, the poor thing had serious diarrhea for two days. On the third day we took her to a local Animal Hospital. Royal Oaks Veterinary Hospital in Clermont did a very thorough workup on her and determined it was not one of the serious dog maladies. They sent us home with meds and gentle on the stomach food. She's getting better every day and I no longer have to clean carpets. Thumbs up to Royal Oaks Vet Hospital!

On Thursday evening Millie and I attended a tribute show here at the Thousand Trails Resort. Two professional impersonators performed as Fats Domino and Elvis. Ted Torres as Elvis and Kenny Wayne doing Fats Domino have both performed with the Legends theaters and really put on a good show. We didn't win any of the door prices, but our VIP seating put us front and center for the show and we had a great time.

Ted Torres as The King

Kenny Wayne as Fats Domino

Today Millie flew out of Orlando International to spend Christmas with her grandchildren in New Mexico. This area has an excellent toll road system that serves the airport. After a short drive from the campground I took three consecutive expressways that took me right to the passenger drop off without getting on any local roads. They really did this airport the right way, there is the expressway that feeds it from the south and the Florida Turnpike does likewise from the north. It is very easy to get in or out of.

Maggie and I will stay here in Orlando until Millie returns next week. She hates us not being together, but I want her to go see her family. I'd go with her but I don't think Maggie would take to flying in a commercial airline and I wouldn't think of boarding her somewhere. Besides, Millie will be in the mountains of northern New Mexico where it will probably dip down into the twenties at night. Mags and I will be here in Florida where the temps for the next several days will be in the low 80's!

Who knew, I'm a movie critic!

I was a little worried about tonight's post, as you will read it is negatively themed and that would be two in a row in which I sound like the village curmudgeon. Lucky for me we just returned from a really good music performance. You still have to read my grumbling today, but tomorrow's post will be cheerful!

Tuesday December 20 2016.

We went to the movies today. We chose the film “Manchester by the sea” starring Casey Affleck. The advertisements hinted at some mysterious tragedy that the lead character would have to confront when he returns to his hometown of Manchester. Rotten tomatoes critic's gave it a 97% positive rating so it looked like it might be a good movie.

Boy was I wrong, it was remarkable only because it was the first time I have ever left a theater before the movie ended. We stuck it out for an hour and a half and couldn't stand it any longer. Millie gave it a 1-10 rating of ½ and that was for the scenery. I gave it a ½, I don't know why, it had no redeeming values.

The 2 hours and 17 minute movie is a awkward glimpse into to the life of a dysfunctional apartment maintenance man (Casey Affleck) and his equally dysfunctional family, made worse by constantly flash-backing to their dysfunctional past. It is terribly slow, filled with profanity and underage teen sex. It is one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

Even if you try to justify the struggling drama as one of the artsy genre's, it would still be a disaster. Call it a Character Study, but it fails to deliver. They never expand the main character beyond brooding loner for the entire film. As a Family Saga It would have been better if they told the story (what little plot there was) in chronological order instead of jumping back and forth via flashbacks.

Save your money, stay home, turn on the TV and watch.....anything!

I should have known better

I should have known better. We drove to a Verizon store in Winter Garden yesterday, to pick up a new Jetpack Mifi for internet access in the motorhome. Our old had died, it was the same one the Verizon store employee told me worked perfectly before we left for Canada and of course it didn't.

I had purchased this new MIFI online with in store pickup, when we arrived at the store they just handed me a small bag with a box inside. It reminded me of a Happy meal. I held up the bag and asked the clerk if it was ready to go, absolutely she assured me.

Three hours after we got home, after several long holds, the third service tech I spoke with was able to activate it. Apparently someone at Verizon tried to activate a refurbished Jetpack I purchased about a year ago. I told the tech person I had thrown that one away after it caught fire. Finally after deleting the inoperative broadband receiver/router and the burnt up MIFI from my account they were able to activate the new WIFI.

If the other nationwide 4G providers get the same area coverage as Verizon, I think I may have to give one of them a try.

Getting here

I jumped ahead in the last post and didn't detail our getting to Florida. It was an uneventful two day, 550 mile trip. The first day was 340 miles, half of it on highway 17 through the South Carolina low country. Just above the Georgia border, we joined the 70 mph mass migration on I-95.

We spent the night at the KOA in Starke Florida. There are many low or no cost alternatives for overnighting here in Starke but we opted for the pull thru site, cable TV, WiFi and full hookups at the well known Campground franchise. ($44)

The next day was an easy drive down rt. 301/27 to our destination campground near Orlando. The campground is part of a large corporation and they change managers here yearly it seems. As you might imagine, each new manager brings new ideas and implements changes to the operation of the campground.

Getting into the park was the first change we encountered this year. In previous years we they've picked a site from a large magnetic board in the shape of the campground. That idea was trashed, along with a manager, and was replaced by a free for all system where you entered the campground and drove around until you found an open site.

This year you drive your rig into the campground but are directed to the activity center where you must unhook your towed vehicle and you are then escorted by an employee on a golf cart. You tell him what area of the 867 site campground and he leads you to that section where you look for an open site.

I can't say I'm crazy about the new system, I felt pressured to pick a site quickly, but heck at least we still get a choice. We are camped in a nice site on the perimeter of the park.

It will be interesting to see how this new system works when the campground is really busy in January, February and March. On a brighter note, based on the December calendar of events, the campground entertainment is going to be a lot better than previous years. We got tickets today to an Elvis and Fats Domino Tribute show this Thursday!

Here we go again!

In past years we didn't leave for Florida until January and we started writing the new year Dispatch from the Road. By this time the current year Dispatch has been printed and shipped. It's always a best seller with the entire edition sold out before it leaves the printer. How many are printed? Well....just one, but it's still a best seller!

This year we left home on December 17 and I decided to keep the blog true to the calendar. The 2017 blog will begin with the Florida trip underway. We live on the sixth floor and our elevator is being shut down for 12 weeks for renovation. We could handle the occasional stair climb, but not carrying Maggie up and down four times a day!

So the adventure has begun, we are presently camped at the Thousand Trails Resort near Orlando.