Blog Index

Technical Issues and Projects

Back to Home Page

Where Are We Now? 

Click here, we're #888

We enjoy getting email

Email Mac

Email Chris

Thursday, March 01:

I hate to repeat myself but it was another beautiful day in paradise. The temperature was in the low to mid-80’s and the water temperature is now over 75 degrees. I worked just a tiny bit this morning; of course Mac worked a full day. We had to stop work this morning for a short time though, we needed to go dump the tanks and get more fresh water. So I quickly cleaned the interior of the RV mopping floors and washing dishes. I wanted to get everything done that would need water before we went to dump.

After we got back onto our site we went in and snorkeled. I was so warm from all the working that I did; so it felt really good to get into the water. Yesterday Mac had bought another disposable underwater camera, so we snorkeled around taking pictures of various things. Hopefully when the film is developed the pictures are good enough to put on the blog.

We got out of the water and had some lunch. After I rested I went back into the water and snorkeled about two hours. After resting a short period Mac and I both went out and snorkeled about another hour. Today we saw a large ray about 2 1/2 feet across that swam around us looking us over, another butterfly ray, a really beautiful horned cow fish, and some kind of a sea urchin. It was really cool to see, kind of purple colored and when you turned it over you could see how it gets around and where its mouth is. We get to see so many beautiful fish every time that we go out. It just makes it so much fun to go out because we never know what we’ll see.

After finally finishing snorkeling we went to the showers. Mac got the Coleman stove out and cooked dinner outdoors. He made us Zatarain’s Jambalaya www.zatarain.com adding sausage and shrimp to it. We ate outside sitting and admiring the water again. The moon is almost full so it was really cool to see it rising into the sky.

Friday, March 2:

After finishing my business work this morning I decided to run off-base and do a bunch of laundry. I have several loads and want to just go ahead and get them done. It hasn’t worked too well to carry a bag over to the laundry here since we moved down to the water view spot we’re on now. Every time I’ve gone to look at the laundry it seems all the washers are being used. I needed to do some so off I went. I did everything that needed washing including blankets that haven’t been needed since we’ve been here. The laundry was straight off the base, less than a block. It has very large washers that cost $3.75, I used three of them. The dryers cost a quarter for 5 minutes.

When I came back from laundry it was lunch time. After eating a sandwich it was time for Chris to jump into the water. I was so sweaty and hot, it felt wonderful to jump in the water. The water temp is great now, in the mid 70’s. I don’t need my wetsuit anymore but I wear it anyway. I don’t want to get sunburned and since I’m already tanned around the suit I just wear it. I paid good money for it and I’m going to get the full use of that suit. Mac’s been in with just his bathing suit but I continue to wear my wetsuit.

Cris came over and we went snorkeling for a while. She’s a great swimmer. She knows how to snorkel and how to scuba dive. She’s been on a lot of dives so she’s very proficient at it. While she and I were out we saw lots of beautiful fish. While we were swimming in the shallow grassy area we saw two horseshoe crabs, a larger one with a smaller one clinging to the back, don’t know if they were mating or if it was a momma and baby. It was a cool sight to see though.

After visiting with Cris and Terry for a while and making a date for dinner Sunday evening it was time to hit the showers. I could probably go snorkeling again, the water is so beautiful, but I’m tired and one shouldn’t swim if one is tired.

Mac ran off base to Walgreen’s and dropped off the film for developing. We can pick it up tomorrow. Hopefully, the pictures he took underwater came out great.

We had hamburgers that Mac grilled out on our grill. While we were sitting eating our dinner out front of the RV I was looking around. I saw a man down the road about 3 sites, he looked familiar. I ran it through my head and realized that he was the same man that we’d seen at Pacific Beach Resort, WA back in July 2005! Talk about a small world. I’d recognized him from Key West back in 2005 and now I recognized him from Pacific Beach. We had a good talk catching up on what they’ve done since that time. We’ll get to talk with him and his wife more since they just arrived here this week.

We took a walk around the park and dropped off the garbage at the same time. It’s about the only way I can get Mac to take a walk is to deceive him into thinking we’re just going to the garbage cans. We women can be so sneaky. After our walk we sat outside and enjoyed the evening, the moon is so full, not sure if it’s a full moon but it is big. Our neighbors Don and Linda, are having the greatest time snorkeling too. So we sat around and talked about all the cool stuff that we’ve all seen in the water. They say that next year they’re coming earlier so they can enjoy the season longer. We agree, we’ll be here earlier next year too. This has been the most fun season for us in Key West.


Saturday, March 3:

Another beautiful day in paradise! Today we had another great day. I looked up the water temperature this morning and it’s reported to be 77.2 degrees, how great is that! We had another great snorkeling day again today.

This morning Mac and I went out and snorkeled. We try and judge which way the current is going by the boats parked out on the water. We’ll get in and let the current carry us along. This morning we were floating along and seeing many fish that we hadn’t seen before, one was a small hogfish. This one changes color from dark red to a paler color, it was cool to see. While we were floating along admiring these fish I happened to look forward and there was the HUGE barracuda, less than 2 feet from me. I screamed through my snorkel and came up to holler at Mac. We got back from it and then floated there admiring it. It is a huge fish that just hangs out along the edge. I’d hate to make him mad at me; he could really bite a hunk out of me.

This afternoon Mac and I snorkeled again but now we’re heading the opposite direction. The current has changed directions again. We got to see lots of beautiful fish again, beautiful blue angel fish and lots of mangrove snappers, jacks and other variety of fish. There is another large barracuda down at this end of the edge too. But this one is not quite as large as the other one. It’s funny that they look different too, spots in different places.

When we headed back into shore Mac was already standing up and I was still underwater when I spotted a ray again. I followed it and by the time Mac reached me it was gone from view. It was so cool to see it. I’ve been trying to figure out what kind of ray it is. I’m so busy admiring the ray that I don’t take notice of the details that are used to distinguish one from another. I’m thinking it’s a southern stingray but I’m still not positive yet. I’m still researching it. While researching this ray I found that the other ray we saw that I thought was a butterfly ray is actually a yellow stingray www.flmnh.ufl.edu
This website has some pretty great pictures of various rays and other sea life: www.elasmodiver.com

While I showered later this afternoon Mac ran out to Walgreen’s to pick up our underwater pictures. Several of them turned out very well. So he picked up another underwater camera. We’re going to try and get more pictures of cool stuff we see underwater.

Later afternoon we’re sitting out talking with the neighbors Don and Linda, when we see a couple with a plastic pink flamingo heading over to the water. They tell us that they’re kidnapping the flamingo and sending a ransom note. They’d blindfolded the poor flamingo, held a butcher knife to its throat and took a picture. They wrote a ransom note asking for two non-sequential dollar bills. To show they meant business they sent the poor flamingo’s wire leg attached to the ransom note. In the note they said don’t contact the police. I don’t think the police have been contacted, I’ve been watching and I haven’t seen any yellow crime scene tape. Hopefully they can come up with the money that the ransom note demanded. That poor flaming looked scared stiff.  Click photo at right to see larger version.

Mac cooked pork, yellow rice and black beans for supper tonight. We sat out front and admired the water turning colors from the sunset while eating our dinner. After dinner we cleaned up the mess and then took a walk up to the dumpster to dispose of our garbage.

While we were walking around the park we noticed that the moon was “funny-looking”, turns out there’s a lunar eclipse this evening. We hurried home to get out the binoculars. We sat and watched the moon slowly come back into view. It was a good viewing evening for this, nice and clear. I really enjoyed watching it. I haven’t really paid much attention to the moon before, it’s just been up in the sky and sometimes it’s big and orange and other times it’s tiny. But tonight I enjoyed looking at the moon through the binoculars, seeing all the craters in its face. It was so interesting to see.

Sunday, March 4:

Today it’s been a little windier than it has been. So this morning we decided to run down to Diver’s Direct and check out some fins. We bought a pair of fins that will go on right over our booties. We’ll get to check them out when the wind dies down.

We FINALLY brought the camera with us while going downtown. We ran over and got the obligatory pictures to prove we’ve been to Key West. One of Mile Marker zero for US 1 and the other is the southernmost point in the US. We’ve been coming here 3 seasons and now we’re able to prove it because we have pictures!

We don’t get to go snorkeling today, bummer. It’s just too windy, churns up the water and can’t see anything. So we spent the afternoon goofing off reading a book.

Cris and Terry picked us up around 5:15 and we headed over to Abbodanza Italian Restaurant. We were a little disappointed with the food. I had Chicken Parmigianino, same as I’d had at The Twisted Noodle. Here at Abbodanza’s I thought the chicken was very dry, there wasn’t enough sauce and that the sauce wasn’t that flavorful. I was disappointed in the restaurant. Mac had Chicken Marsala and he said the sauce wasn’t as rich tasting as it should be.

After dinner we decided to do the Duval Stroll. So we all walked down and then back up Duval Street. We stopped into a few shops that were open and admired some works of art. While walking on Duval we stopped in a shop that sells hammocks. Mac and I have wanted to get a hammock and we finally bought one. We bought a single hammock that was less than $40. We wanted to go ahead and get one to experiment on where to set it up, if I’d like it, etc. We soon had enough of Duval Street and headed on home.

Monday, March 5 – Tuesday, March 6:

It’s still been windy with a little more chill in the air. We’ve mostly hung out inside the RV catching up on work, reading books and just goofing off in general. Cris and Terry stopped by to say good-bye. They’re heading on up into FL going to a rally. It was very nice meeting them both and going out to dinner. It was especially nice to go snorkeling with Cris, I wish we could have gone out more.

Mac installed the hammock today and we both experimented with it. He put it up between the awning supports. He had to go to Home Depot to get stronger S hooks but it works. We want to either buy or build some kind of frame to hang a hammock with though. This is okay for now though.

Wednesday, March 7:

The wind has died down, but it’s still a little cool. Temperatures are in the mid-70’s with water temps about the same. I though am determined to go snorkeling. So Mac and I got the gear on and headed out this afternoon after work. Mac kept complaining that the water was cold but I could care less. I just enjoy getting in and snorkeling. We snorkeled together for a while and while we were snorkeling Mac tried out our new fins. He wasn’t too crazy about them. After we got out and rested a short time I got back in by myself to snorkel. I tried out the fins and didn’t care for them either. I’m going to need a lot of practice to learn how to use fins. I’ve never used them and they take a lot of getting used to. Soon I took them off and just snorkeled around looking at the fish.

We took turns hanging out in the hammock today. I stayed in it for over an hour reading a book. It’s really nice to swing around in one. This evening while Mac was cooking dinner outside he was in the hammock reading a book too. We are definitely keeping a hammock with us. Now we just need to build a stand.

Thursday, March 8 – Friday March 9:

Thursday was a work and otherwise goof off inside day. The winds were up and no fun going outside on Thursday.

Friday the winds have died down enough to go snorkeling, yea! Mac and I snorkeled late morning and were very glad for the wet suits. It was a slight bit chilly with a brrrr to the water, very brisk and refreshing. We took our time and mainly floated with the current admiring all the different fish.

After lunch Mac left for a few hours and I read a book. Later in the afternoon I went in snorkeling by myself; Mac didn’t want to go again. He’s a wuss, says the water’s too cold. It was quite refreshing again but I had fun for our last day in Key West this season.

We visited with our neighbors, Don and Linda, exchanged email addresses to keep in touch. It will be fun to see them again next year. They’ve enjoyed snorkeling as much as we have. It’s fun to have someone to share with, all the exciting things that we’ve seen underwater.

This evening we went to the Hogfish Bar & Grill for dinner. www.hogfishbar.com   It’s a great place if you can find it. Mac had one of the specials a hogfish salad. I had fish and chips which was yellowtail snapper. Yellowtail snapper is a good light white meat fish but I still like grouper better. Here’s a link to more about a hogfish: Hogfish Info

After dinner we went to the bookstore and I traded books getting me some more books to read while on the road again. We then went to Albertson’s grocery and picked up a few breakfast items that the commissary didn’t have.

We’ve so enjoyed this season in Key West. The weather was wonderful 99.9% of the time and we got to snorkel a lot. We’re very pleased that we went ahead and bought the wetsuits so that we could enjoy the water without teeth chattering. We’re thinking of buying a kayak or small boat so that next year we can extend the range of where we snorkel. We’re also looking forward to going on a few snorkel trips by boat to some of the reefs, from Loo Key and to Western Sambo are two that are very popular here. Mac is also thinking of getting scuba certified next year. I think I’ll stick with snorkeling for now.

Saturday, March 10 - Monday, March12

Saturday, we left Key West on Saturday March 10 and drove to Monument Lake campground in the Big Cypress National Preserve www.nps.gov/bicy/planyourvisit/campgrounds.htm

On our way out of the Keys we stopped once to stretch our legs and to admire the water one last time. We really love the water color in the Keys. Mac took some pictures to try and capture the color’s beauty, what do you think?

On Sunday we drove on up to Tampa and stopped at Wal-Mart Store # 5300. It’s very close to our daughter’s house. This store is extremely busy, especially on the weekends. We couldn’t find a parking place out front and parked around on the side way in the back with some trucks. We only had to move once to find an area where the trucks weren’t constantly running their engine. My understanding is that this is the largest Wal-Mart store, it is a really big store and you’d think they’d have a larger parking lot for the largest store but it seems smaller than several Wal-Mart stores we’ve been too.

We had a good visit with family and being amazed yet again how fast children grow. Grandson Austin is just the cutest thing, he loves balls, any kind of ball. He chases them and will attempt to play catch with you.

Monday evening we drove over to The Engine Lab of Tampa. www.enginelaboftampa.com.  Mac wanted them to look over the engine and document a noise we’ve heard from the engine. If we have trouble with it in the future it’s documented now so hopefully it would be covered under warranty. We parked for the night in their parking lot so we’re here and ready in the morning.

In case you missed the story of our engine rebuild in late 2005 here's a link to read about it.  I shopped around for a while before I found the Engine Lab.  They specialize in engine rebuilding and do a good amount of high performance work.  I have a minor little noise from one lifter.  It's not affecting performance and there's no reason to do anything but monitor it.  We also had the cooling system flushed while here, and the rear differential housing lube changed.  If you need a gas engine in Tampa this is the place to go.

Tuesday, March 13 – Friday March 16:

While the RV was in the shop being looked over I went shopping. I found a few bargains and enjoyed being at bigger thrift stores again. After shopping I went over to Nikki’s house and visited some.

After The Engine Lab was finished with the RV Mac drove to MacDill AFB FamCamp. I met him there. We’re in the overflow parking area with partial hookups. These spots don’t have sewer which is okay, how often do we need to dump?

Wednesday through Friday nothing much has gone on. We’ve just been working and then enjoying sitting around reading our books. Mac has a cold again so he’s been recuperating from that. He’s really enjoyed lying around in the hammock, reading a book. We did enjoy walking on the beach one evening. We got to see some dolphins swimming around in the water. We met a couple who’ve been here quite a while and they said these dolphins come in every day and get very close to shore. This day they didn’t come in very close but it was still fun to see them. We only walked one evening on the beach because the weather has been a little chilly and windy. So since Mac has the cold we’ve been hanging around the RV.

Saturday, March 17:

We finally got our act together and moved our storage!  We now have a smaller unit much closer to MacDill AFB. It’s more convenient than where it was previously up in northern Tampa. Most of Saturday was spent emptying out the old unit, taking items to Goodwill and then putting the reminder into our new unit. We’d rented a small U-Haul truck to do it all in one load. It really was nice to finally have that done. We’ve wanted to get that done and now it’s done. Next year we hope to sort and downsize even more. Hopefully someday we won’t even need a storage unit. We’re doing pretty good downsizing, we went from a 10 x 10 down to a 5 x 5; I’m confident that we’ll eventually be able to downsize to no unit.

After emptying out the big unit we stopped for lunch at Sonny’s BBQ www.sonnysbbq.com.  We enjoy stopping in there occasionally for lunch. They have reasonable prices and I love having the sweet potato as a choice for one of my side dishes.

Saturday evening we finally used our new rice cooker for the first time. We bought it in Key West after having such great rice at Neal and Jo’s for dinner and we hadn’t used it until now. We were both impressed with the rice cooked in the rice cooker. It’s just as good as the rice in any oriental restaurant. I’m pretty sure we’ll be using this rice cooker frequently while on hook-ups. It doesn’t take long to cook the rice, about 20 minutes, so we could use it while dry camping by running the generator.

We also made the fruit salad that we’d had at Neal and Jo’s; very simple ingredients of drained mandarin orange slices and pineapple tidbits then add coconut to taste. We also had some chicken marinated in Mojo marinade. We also had some green beans with garlic. Mac loves that garlic.

Sunday, March 18 - Saturday, March 31:

Hi everyone.  Here's a month-end summary to catch up.  We stopped at MacDill AFB on March 13th, planning to stay a week or two.  We ended up staying three weeks.  A few reasons for staying over; we've been visiting with family, doing little maintenance projects on the RV, working pretty hard on the business side of life, and enjoying the great weather!  It's been in the high 70's to mid 80's in the daytime, and 60's at night.  We've had a cool breeze blowing every day, low humidity by Tampa standards, and not a drop of rain that we can recall in the last 3 weeks.  There was also an air show this weekend, so I wanted to hang around for that too.

Now the Mac and Chris Western Tour, 2007 is getting ready to hit the road.  Our next report will be from Jacksonville FL. 

Two of the reasons for our delay here in Tampa

 Click the photos to see more -- Family Photos -- Air Show Photos  They link to our photo album.

Camping cost summary

Our monthly camping costs are higher than either of the last 2 years, so we'll have to work hard now to beat last year's overall average of $9.42 a night.

What did we do in March before?  Take a look at:

 March 2006

March 2005

Continue reading to April 2007