Bill and Cathy McArthur on the Road 2008: 13  

  Monday, November 10, was our last day in the Atlanta area for this visit. We dropped off the kids at daycare and hit Krogers as usual. Later, we went out to lunch with Stacey at Ted's Montana Grill, where Bill had a veggie burger. Afterward, we went for a walk in the neighborhood. Stacey and Bill picked up the kids while Cathy prepared dinner. We viewed "Kung Fu Panda" with the kids - not bad, if you're with toddlers.

  Tuesday morning, we said our goodbyes and drove to Publix. Cathy's prescription still hadn't come in, so we decided to get it filled in Naples. We did some shopping and then hit the road at about 9:30 AM. We encountered some delay on the south side of Atlanta, but most of the day's driving was pretty easy. We ate a fruit lunch in the RV at a rest area after we sang happy birthday to our granddaughter Bridget. We stopped for the day at an RV park in Ocala, FL. Our campsite had a palm tree - the first we'd seen on this trip. We set up the new T.V. and were very pleased with the way it looked. We walked about 1.5 miles to an Olive Garden and had a good dinner. It was a very pleasant evening which was much warmer than those cold Atlanta nights. After we walked back, we watched "House", which Bill thought seemed just like a soap opera.

  Wednesday started as a typical road day with an oatmeal breakfast at a Cracker Barrel less than a mile from our campground in Ocala. We got on the road in good time and had good traffic conditions except for a short stretch on I75 near the St. Petersburg area. We arrived at the Rock Creek RV Resort in Naples at around 11:30 AM. We took a look at the available campsites and chose site #135, between two presently unoccupied "park models". We were almost completely set up when we realized that the RV needed to be leveled. Bill got out his plastic leveling blocks and set some up for the left rear tires to sit on. Unfortunately, Bill forgot that the T.V. was set up in the over-cab loft area, and when he backed up, the T.V. fell out of the loft onto the floor. The cable connector in the back of the T.V. was pulled out in the fall. We ate lunch in the RV and got setup as needed for our first night. We also called Comcast to arrange for high speed Internet for 6 months and Florida Power for an electricity account since we are seasonal renters at the campground. Then we hitched a ride on a campground golf cart to the airport terminal across the street so we could rent a car. We asked the Thrifty kiosk if they had a car and they said they had none. The Enterprise kiosk was empty, but had a courtesy phone to their office on Airport Pulling Road, where we had rented a car two years previous. We gave them a call and got picked up by Willie, a recent FSU grad. We arranged to rent a car for a month - a Chevy to match our Chevy van chassis for the RV. We drove to the campsite and loaded the broken T.V. in the car. We got the GPS to lead us to a Best Buy, since we had purchased the T.V. at a Best Buy in NJ. We talked to three people in Best Buy and found that we were on our own for getting the T.V. repaired. Bill headed to the computer department, got on a laptop, and Googled for a T.V. repair shop in Naples. He found one, Express Video, which was about 5 minutes away from the Best Buy. We headed over there and dropped off the T.V. We went from there to our usual Publix and a trip to Starbucks for Bill. After getting squared away back at camp, we headed out to dinner at Carrabbas, where we enjoyed great meals. When we got back, we found an available wireless connection to poach from and checked email and wrestled over who gets to use the computer. Obviously, we need a second laptop. Showers were the end of the day activity.

  Thursday was warm and humid again. Bill decided to scrub and wash our concrete slab before setting up the awning and outside furniture. At one point, he hit a nest of big black and red ants that poured out. Bill kept spraying the ants with the high pressure nozzle and asked Cathy to help him get out the Clorox. Bill poured a cup of Clorox. on the nest which slowed the ants a bit. Then he poured some Simple Green on the nest, which slowed them some more. Bill finished scrubbing the slab and then set up the awning and furniture. We drove to Home Depot to get some ant spray. When we got back, Bill used all of it on the nest and areas surrounding the RV. We took a short bike ride on the path around the back of the airport before lunch, which we enjoyed outside under the awning. The T.V. repair guy from Express Video called and said that the tuner was shattered, but the rest of it worked. We drove to pick it up. We walked into downtown Naples and stopped at Starbucks. Bill called our Comcast man and ordered a HD box with DVR and HBO. We will have the same service that we had back home in NJ. We discovered that the Bonefish Grill in the new Naples Bay Resort is now open. We will have to try it soon. We stopped at Oakes Farm market and bought some items on the walk back to the RV. We attended Happy Hour on the gazebo and reintroduced ourselves to the campground crowd. We grilled chicken and burgers for dinner.

  Friday was hot and humid with a high temperature of 88 degrees. After breakfast, we drove to Home Depot for some more ant poison. Then we drove to 10th Avenue South and the beach to park just south of the fishing pier at 12th Avenue South. It was quite a lovely beach day. The water temperature was 76 degrees. We walked for 1:45 at water's edge. After we returned, we ate lunch outside. Then, Cathy did the laundry. We waited all afternoon for the Comcast cable guys to come to install high speed Internet and a HD box with DVR. Bill took the opportunity to get our "basement" storage organized. We had pasta for dinner and started to watch "The Wire" 5th season on DVD. The cable guys showed up at 8:30 PM and claimed to have the wrong phone number. Also, they didn't have our whole order and installed the cable modem and a digital cable box which gave us T.V., but no HD and no DVR.

  Saturday was hot and humid again. We lifted weights while we waited to call Son Bill and Stacey for their anniversary. Bill decided to try a jog, so we headed out on the path by the airport. We walked for a mile together, then Bill jogged for 3 miles, and we finished up walking a bit less then a mile together to finish. Bill ran slowly and sweated a lot, but he felt OK while running. After lunch, we drove to a RV supply store on Route 41 for a support for the sewer hose. Then, we went to Publix (via Starbucks for Bill) for food shopping. We chilled out during the rest of the afternoon and went to the gazebo for Happy Hour. We grilled a pork chop and vegetables for dinner. After dinner, as the winds from a cold front picked up, we stowed the awning. We viewed the chick flicks "27 Dresses" and "Stealing Beauty" - not Bill's greatest hits.

  Sunday morning was a chilly 58 degrees with a strong wind. It was sunny and clear with very dry air. The cable guy was supposed to arrive between 7 AM and noon. Bill called Comcast customer service at 12:15 and was told that the cable guy tried to call during the morning. Since Bill had basically been holding the phone in his hand all morning and the phone showed no calls, that was par for the course. Meanwhile, Cathy did some laundry and worked in a walk. Bill worked on assembling our "RV Theater" with our home receiver and dvd player as he waited for the new cable box. Finally, the cable guy called around 3:30 PM. Bill walked out to the road to help guide the guy to our site. When we got the cable guy inside, Bill climbed into the loft and attached the necessary wires to complete our system. We had a great dinner at the new Bonefish Grill at the Naples Bay Resort. We sat at the bar next to a couple of crackers griping about the election and watched the ends of two pro football games as we enjoyed dinner. When we returned, we enjoyed our home electronics and caught our two HBO shows, "True Blood" and "Entourage." Cathy worked on the computer during "True Blood." We had DVRed both shows and watched them on a bit of a delay.

        Bill and Cathy