Crossing of "To Do's"

Judy and I left Blanton Creek Park Tuesday at 6:00 PM in a steady rain shower.  It continued to rain for about a third of the way we got home at 8:30. 

 The rental prospect for our house didn’t materialize. Judy was a little relieved. Since we are going to be working back at the park next year we will once again have it to return to it by-weekly on our off week.  Our boss Mike is happy that we are returning.

Judy and I have been completing some of our “To Do List” before we leave for our four to five months travel to Florida. We recently signed up for "Passport America", and received their catalog of 1800 campgrounds/parks that offer 50% off camping fees today.

 We also selected a mail forwarding service. Being a simple man, I suggested using  "My RV Mail", Judy agreed to go with them. The mail service is an affiliate of Passport America. Judy and I will continue using our US Post Office Box until mid Sept.

Judy also stopped by the Voting Registrar’s office to make sure our voting status will not be affected by using the mail forwarding address. The registrar explained to Judy the voting process for voters in our situation.

Once we finished up in Milledgeville we went to Macon and joined Judy’s sister Sheila and her son John Mark at the movies. We chose the movie  "2016".  It is a very informative movie. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Next Blog: Saturday evening or Sunday

Last Weekend at Blanton Creek

Time has marched on and we are at the end of our season here at Blanton Creek Park. We have worked our last weekend this season. Although we will work through Tuesday we are pretty much done. If our house is rented (we should know today) we will stay here until the last week of September.

The last week here was great. The campers and boaters seemed to have a great time. We didn’t have any situations to deal with. All of the 51 sites have been booked for the Labor Day weekend.  I am sure Ed and Char will be very busy over the holiday.

 

I am going to climb up on the Cardinal today and wash and condition the Cardinal’s rubber roof.  That is a task that I am not looking forward to.  Judy is going to stay outside to make sure I don’t do anything unsafe.  Monday is a good day to take on a task like this since we will not be busy.  If any campers call she can take their call. I am going to try to be through in a couple of hours. I am going to try to get the rest of the Cardinal washed after I finish the roof completed.  If not, I will wash it Tuesday, another slow day.

 If the house is rented we will have a little more time to get other things done.  I want to have the 5^th wheel packed and organized before we leave for Florida. If we find out today that the house is rented, Judy and I will have to get all our personal items packed and moved out of the house.  We think we can do it within a couple or three day. 

That is all for now. Thanks for stopping by.

Next Blog: Thursday

Good and Bad News

Judy and I are back at the park for our last work week.  This has been a great workamper job so we have agreed to come back next March.  Mike, our boss, who we rarely see informed us yesterday that we will be opening the park. The park usually opens Mar. 15^th but next year it is going to open Mar. 1^st.  so we will be opening a full two weeks earlier.

While we were driving to the park Tuesday we received a call from our realtor. He removed the realtor signs from our yard since our contract is up.  He also informed us that the home owner next door was negotiating with his bank to agree to a “short sell” of his house. I know he paid $300,000.00+ for it about five or six years ago. The home was used as an occasional week end place from him and his drinking buddies and girl friends. His wife didn’t like that arrangement so she moved out of their $750,000.00 home in Peachtree City near Atlanta and purchased a home in Alabama. The home in Peachtree City was “short sold” for about half price. Our realtor indicated the lake home would “short sell” for around $227,000.00 with a possible further price reduction of 12%, if it doesn’t sell within 5 mo. the house will go into foreclosure. This is an example of what homeowners who pay their mortgage are competing with. That is why we decided to keep the house because we are not going to a 40%-50% loss on the house. I will be doing my part on Nov. the 6^th to bring about economic change.

The realtor also told us he knew two young men who moving out of their lake rental because the owner had sold it and they need a new rental. Judy told him that we would rent them our house. After more information was exchanged, Judy and I realized that it was the same two men that had contacted us last Aug. to see if we would rent to them. The timing was not right at that time because we were in the process of refinancing our house.  We however check them out. They both had responsible employment and Judy’s assistant actually knew one of them. Our realtor called them and they went to look at the house again. One of the young men wants to discuss it with his girlfriend over the weekend. We should know something by Monday. If they do rent it Judy and I will be very busy getting our personal stuff out. We are going to rent if furnished.

I washed and waxed my truck Wed. and Thur. I didn’t want to overdo it in the heat. I have found I’m not as young as I once was. I plan to wash and wax the Cardinal also. I am not looking forward to doing the top though.

The campground host can always find a shady site to wax and buff the truck

One of my fellow bloggers, Sherry recently underwent a double lung transplant. She and her husband, Charlie, have shown remarkable courage throughout this very complicated process. If you would like to read about their remarkable medical journey and their travels click "here".

Thanks for stopping by.

Next Blog: Sunday evening

Nice Weekend

I went over to the court clerk’s office Friday and was able to get removed from the jury duty assignment. I was prepared to have to remain on it but was very happy things worked out. The clerk didn’t even look at my airline tickets.

SAT.

Judy went to a new spa Sat. morning for a pedicure and I hung out at the Black Bird Coffee Shoppe.  She told me she was very pleased with the service. 

We left Milledgeville for her brother Mike’s retirement party about 3:00 PM. Mike just retired, capping off 34 years as a truck driver. It was more like forty years as he started working for Overnight Trucking on the docks part time at age fourteen.  Technically he retired from UPS because they bought Overnight out a few years back.

The retirement cake

Mike and Judy

SUN.

I did my good deed for the week real early today.  Most of the time I get up way before Judy and today was no different. I got up at 6:30 and went into the kitchen to put on the coffee.  I looked out the window towards the boathouse and saw a boat just off my dock.  On a second look I realized there was nobody in it.  Even though it was raining I walked down to the dock and got control of the loose boat and secured it to my dock. I knew who ever the boat was owned by would eventually be looking for it. They showed up about an hour later to retrieve it. The owner was very grateful.

For  relaxation Judy and I went to the movie. We saw the new Bourne Legacy movie. It was ok, much like the other three. After the movie we came back home and watched a little TV.

The Bourne Legacy

Welcome to new followers Mark and Lauree

Thanks for stopping by.

Next blog: Thursday

Random Thoughts

Our time at the park is down to only one more week. We are using our week at home to get ready for our future travel to Florida. We will have about a month between our current job and the next one in Chiefland, Fl. With only about a month between jobs, Judy and I will be busy. We will be flying out to visit our son during one of those weeks.

Judy has been going through her kitchen cabinets deciding which pots and pans she will be putting on the RV. We hope we can get most of the things we will need on the RV while we are at Blanton Creek Park because once we leave we will be putting it back into storage until we go to Fl.

Wed. Judy had an emergency appointment with her hair stylist.  Judy has not been happy with her last hair style. I did my part, each time she asked me what I thought about her new doo, I said, “it looks good to me”.  When I stopped by to pick her up I ran into my realtor. He told me that one of the houses on my street had just sold for $292,000.00.  I already knew that it had sold but did not know the selling price. The house was purchased in 2009 for $425,000.00.  This reinforces Judy’s and my decision to take our house off the market as we are not ready to “give our house away”.  We will simply pay the house off.  In the event of a medical situation or some other calamity we will have a house to go to. 

When Judy and I picked up our mail at the Post Office  I had a jury duty summons. I am to report the day before we leave to Portland.  I will be checking on this matter today. I hope I can get a deferment since I have already purchased my airline tickets. I’ll let you know how that goes.

UPDATE:  went to see the court clerk Friday and explained my travel plans. I had a copy of my airline tickets, but she didn't look at them. She took my summons and told me she would remove my name from the list. I did not expect it to be that easy, but I was glad.

That’s all for now.

Thanks for stopping by.
Next Blog: Sunday

A Beautiful Day

It has been a beautiful day here at the park. The temps have moderated and the humidity is low. We love Mondays because we pretty much have the park to ourselves. Only one camper (Connie and Don) had a site reserved.  One camper “drive-in” showed up about 2:00 PM. He only registered for one day but said he may stay a couple of more days. 

 Judy got a head start on her “week-ending “routine; washed/dried some clothes at the park washer/dryers. I manned the office and even washed the outside Ice Box, it really needed it. Mostly though we just enjoyed a great day. To top it off I used the charcoal grill to cook my favorite meal – hotdogs & hamburgers. That even tops the steak dinner we had earlier in the week.  I am truly just a simple man and easily pleased.

Day Use Area



Connie and Don checked into the park around 5:00 PM. After getting settled in they launched their boat and toured parts of the lake.

Don and Connie's Motor Home 

 Connie and Don at the park boat ramp

Connie and Don stopped by the office about 8:30 after having supper at one of the nearby eateries.  Judy and I enjoyed hearing about their workamper experiences. We picked up a lot of valuable info and some ideas about some areas to visit.  I hope they enjoy their week’s stay at the park and will come back next year.

That is all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.

Next Blog: Thur. evening

Slowly Winding Down

It is Saturday evening and there is not much going on in the park. Only one site was occupied from last Sunday until Friday.  I think only about one fourth of the sites have campers. A few of the school systems have started back and that probably affects the number of campers.

On Friday a nice couple dropped by the park to check it out.  After touring the park they stopped by the office and visited with us for a little while. Don and Connie informed us that they had spent about five years full-timing. They came off the road to assist with a family health issue. Both of them said they loved full-timing and hope they would have the opportunity to get back on the road.  It was nice hearing about some of their workamper experiences. They worked at a few Jelly Stone parks; one was located just a few miles from where we lived after I retired from the Navy.  It was the park located in Natural Bridge, VA.  They also liked working in Montana. They are going to be coming to the park Monday to stay a few days so we will get to visit with them some more. If they aren’t camera shy, I’ll try to get a pic for the blog.

After we complete this week on Tue. we will only have one more week to work at the park. Time has really passed quickly.  I think the week on and week off worked well. We will start our next job in early Oct. Judy and I are looking forward to only 24 hrs a week at the state park.

I know this is a short entry but I have to go back to the office at 9:00 PM to finish the last hour in the office until I close the gate at 10:00 PM.  If I have any breaking news I’ll put in an update.

Thanks for stopping by.

Next blog: Wed evening