Last RV Post for This Year

This will be the last post on this site for a while.  I have taken my last trip in the RV until next spring.  I'll put in storage later this week.   Larry arrived last Friday and the boat is back in the water.  We will be departing Jacksonville this Friday.  There is still lots to be accomplished.  But never fear - the blogs will continue on the 3AFterwards site:  http://www.3afterwards.com.  See you there.

A Very Lazy Day (Tuesday, 22 Oct)

I just couldn't seem to get motivated to do much of anything productive today.  I lazed around the RV most of the day reading and eating.  Then about 3:00, I finally got moving and visited the boat, the grocery store and the gym.  The weather was overcast and lightly raining most of the day so I don't think I missed very much.

Back to Jacksonville

Before I departed Lake Como on Monday morning I took a few pictures.  It was a cold, overcast day the temperature was only 78 degrees.

This first picture is of a permenant residence home.  I just liked all of the plants around the trailers.

This is the swimming pool.  It was ok but nothing to get overly excited about.  They did have a separate hot tub and the cafe was nice.

Nobody was playing volleyball this weekend but the two sand courts were outstanding!! And they had poles set up for 8 grass courts.  I am going to have to try to get back when they host a volleyball tournament.

This is a shot of some of the clay tennis courts.  in the background there is a nine "hole" pitch and chip golf course.  The course has no greens and none of the holes are very long.  You pitch up the fairway then chip to within a club length of the pin to sink the ball.  It sounds like fun.

I arrived back in Jacksonville around 3:00 in the afternoon and checked into the RV park at NAS Jacksonville.  The park is not as good as at the Air Force Academy, but for $14/day it's not bad.

Sunday at Lake Como

Just one more set, please; what could it hurt; surly you have one more in you; you are a guest here play one more.  I almost couldn't finish the third set this morning.  I'd gone through both sweat bands, was on my second pair of socks and my tennis shoes felt like they were full of water.  However, there were only two other people who wanted to play a set with the local teaching pro.  So I agreed to play one more.  It was a lot of fun.  We ended playing a fourteen game set.  I played tennis from 9:00 to 2:00.  Afterwards, I made it to the pool for a long soak then to the cafe for a club salad.  I think I am finished for the day.  No wild partying tonight.  I came here to play tennis and I think I've nearly got my fill.

Saturday at Lake Como

The tennis started at 9:00 and they have a great way to ensure everyone gets to play.  Players sign up on a blackboard, four names per line and when a foursome plays one set the next group on the board gets the court.  There are five clay courts and all were filled.  I played three sets and had a great time.  I was one of the younger players and none of the players were a whole lot better than me; so I fit right in.  After lunch, I laid around the pool for awhile.  They even had live music at the pool.  Then went back for some afternoon tennis.  The Bare Buns cafe had shrimp scampi for dinner and I had a piece of pumpkin pie to finish off a wonderful day.  There is a live band (Bitter Sweet) playing at the area bar tonight, but they don't start until 8:00.  I might make it over, but that's nearly my bed time.  Us old men need to get our beauty sleep each night.

Bottom Growth & Travels

Got up early this morning and finished transferring the essentials from the boat to the RV.  The boat was pulled at 9:00.  Most of the bottom didn't look too bad but the props, rudder and trim tabs had a lot of growth.  You can see the trim tabs and props in this picture.

This is a closeup of the prop and rudder.

This last picture is the bow thruster.  Notice that there is not as much growth on the surrounding hull.

I didn't get out of Jacksonville until nearly 11:00 so I didn't arrive at Lake Como until 3:00.  The electrical power hook in the first site they put me in didn't work and it took about 45 minutes for them to pick a new site and for me to get setup.  Afterwards I took a walk around the grounds and visited awhile with some folks at the tennis courts.  Play starts at 9:00 and 3:00.  I'm looking forward to trying out their clay courts.

Off the Boat and Back into the RV

This is my last night on the boat for about a week.  On Friday morning about 8:30, the yard is hauling the boat out of the water and putting it up on supports.  The boat needs a little below the water line hull work done.  Nothing serious; a bottom cleaning to remove all the wild life that attached itself to the bottom and a little fiberglass repair near the bow thruster.  Today folks from the yard showed up to work on the anchor windlass, the 20 kw generator and to help me replace the fried coaxial TV cable.  I also finalized details of the canvas work I contracted out (covers for the teak wood rails and windlass cover. I also had to move clothing, food and toiletries back off the boat and into the RV.  I got up and was working by 6:30 and didn't sit down to dinner until nearly 8:00 tonight.  Gonna head down to the Tampa to area to a place that has some clay tennis courts.  I haven't played in almost two months so I hope I haven't lost all of the skills I worked on last summer.  One last note for those of you in colder climates; it was nearly 85 degrees with 85% RH today on the boat.

On the Boat (11-14 Oct)

I've been very busy cleaning and getting ready for the final indoor cleaning, steam cleaning the carpet tomorrow morning.  I also found out what happens when you don't empty the black water tank often enough.  It's especially not pleasant when the discovery is made on a Saturday evening and you have to put up with the results until Monday morning.  The folks here at Lamb's Yacht Center were very understanding and the problem was solved before noon.  Life is very good once more.  I also remembered why I dislike GFCI outlets.  It took me several hours of work to figure out why the fluorescent lights in the engine rooms went dark unexpectedly.  I checked out the switch and the GFCI outlet in my stateroom.  I looked all over then found the culprit, a second GFCI outlet in the port engine room.  Larry, I'm sure glad that Downing Jr. was available to drive the boat.  We had to back boat into the fuel dock and he took two tries before he got it right.  The wind almost blew us into another boat.  Carrie, I took your advice and am watching the fall TV shows on various web sites.  The Black List is my favorite.

Back on the Boat (8 - 10 Oct)

It has been a week of work at the boat.  I've almost finished cleaning up the mold and finally started the two main engines.  A typical day starts around 6:30 with breakfast and cup of coffee.  Then it has been cleaning until lunch at 12:30.  I attempt to finish working on the boat by 4:00 when I go over to the Jax NAS health center for a workout.  I've been getting back to the boat around 6:30 and then it's dinner, a bit of reading and bed.  Not a very exciting week, but I have gotten a lot of needed work accomplished.

Cove Pictures

I finally had a few minutes to walk around a take a few pictures of the park.

There are two swimming pools.  This is a long distance photo of the shallow one.  It's only 4 feet deep.

The deep pool (7 feet) is a bit smaller.  There are also several hot tubs.

Her are the four grass courts where the tournament was held

Next to the volleyball courts was a small white sand beach on the lake.

This is just another grass area that I thought was very interesting.  You can see the lake in the background.  On Sunday afternoon, there were a dozen remote control sail boats (about 18 inches long) racing around a course in the lake.

There is a sand volleyball court but according to the locals, it hasn't been used in the past several years.

My one regret for the weekend was that I didn't get a chance to play any tennis.  They have five courts and they were filled with players on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

And finally a picture of my parking spot.

Volleyball Finals

We finished in last place in the pool play yesterday and immediately went into the losers bracket when we played the first place team.  We then proceeded to win the next two and ended up in third place overall.  Considering that for one of our players, it was his second time ever playing any volleyball, I think we did remarkably well.  I also can say that my legs haven't been this sore in a very, very long time.  I had a lot of fun.  Tonight I went back for a second try a ping pong, but I didn't do as well.  I just didn't have the legs or reflexes.

Volleyball at the Cove

One should always spend at least a month getting ready to play in a tournament.  I came down to watch , but ended up playing.  It is a mixed triples with round-robin pool play, points scored only on the serve on Saturday and double elimination on Sunday.  There were 5 teams in my pool so we had to play 4 matches.  I am exhausted and have lots of sore muscles.  We started the pool play around 10:00 and  finished about 4:30.  After a shower, a rum & coke and soaking in the pool for an hour, I went to dinner at Scuttlebutts again and had the broiled trout.  I may go over to the bar and watch some of the Miami football game, but I know I'll be in bed before 9:00.

Cypress Cove - 4 Oct

I decided to take the weekend off. After picking up the RV from the maintenance folks, headed south to Cypress Cove.  Their Fall Volleyball Bash is this weekend and I wanted to see what it is all about.  I got a late start and didn't arrive until after 5:00.  I got setup and went to dinner at Scuttlebutts Lounge which is located on the site.  I found out that they play ping pong in the game room on Friday and Sunday nights and got invited to play.  I haven't played in a while, but I was able to hold my own.  After an hour of play, I took a dip in the pool next to the game room and Cheeks Bar & Grill.  The day may have started slow, but it had a very good ending.

Week One on the Boat

Most of the week was spent moving from the RV to the boat; cleaning the boat, getting RV in for it's 5,000 mile maintenance work and other odd chores.  I did manage to workout at the Jacksonville NAS gym each day.  Not anything interesting to write home about, but it was a very busy week.