whyKnot?: whyknot: full moon woes and sunny joys

The days are sliding into each other.
On Nov 26th, I arrived at the Rustic Sands RV park in Mexico Beach, FL to settle for a while.

the white sands at Mexico Beach FL

The sands are reported to be the whitest in the world here, soft and powdery. I found only small shells here and also an occasional "oil nugget"(from the oil spill a few years ago). Although the days were nice and warm, the water was too cold to swim and also dangerous due to sharks.

The campground was a very pleasant one and owned by a family who went all out to make it a good experience for the RVers. Several activities were organized during the week at their community centre, including a pot luck turkey dinner for everyone on Thanksgiving (nov 27th). Some nights they had musicians to entertain us and it felt good to get up and dance.

I drove to Panama City one day to do some shopping and found a good fold-up bicycle. I quickly straightened it up and put my chain and lock on it that I had brought with me from NS. As I got into the Rv, I stubbed my toe, then my glasses broke, and my computer was acting up. Sure enough, the moon was almost full! Starting to get tense, I remembered my book "Don't sweat the small stuff" and felt better.
The next morning I was excited at the prospect of riding my new bicycle. Unfortunately I could not find the key. I spent a long time looking everywhere but no key. I asked Richard (staff) for any suggestions and he helped by using large wire cutters to get the chain off. Riding the bike felt wonderful until I almost fell over when the handle bars collapsed! I had been in a hurry and didn't read the owner's manual carefully. There was an extra safety clip I hadn't noticed when unfolding the bike. Some lessons are hard to learn!
That afternoon, I decided to do some caulking of . seams on the RV. With all the driving and bumpy roads at times, some of those seams get little cracks. Well, I checked the directions on that caulking tube and could not figure out how to get the caulking out as squeezing the tube didn't work. Richard came to the rescue again, lending me his caulking gun with instructions on how to use it. They forgot to tell me at the store I would need a caulking gun! So to work I went and aside from getting it all over me, did not a bad job of it. I bought my own caulking gun and new bike chain (with a combination lock) at a hardware store. That will be the only gun I will ever own!
There were several Canadians at the RV park and it was fun to chat with them, sharing RV stories

There was a sign on the window of a small car being towed by a large class A motorhome that read "I'm a good little car. I go where I'm towed"

I made a few phone calls and was getting low on minutes so I phoned the service to add minutes. The woman kept me on the line so long that my minutes ran out and I couldn't phone back.
I couldn't phone anyone! This "small stuff' has been adding up too much! I later on used someone's phone to add minutes.
My friend janice came to pick me up to take me to Port St Joe for another Thanksgiving dinner. Before we left the RV park, we looked at a prickly pear cactus growing right by the office.

Prickly Pear cactus

The manager told us they were good to eat so we both picked a few. We soon noticed our hands were stinging with lots of the little prickles embedded in the skin! Someone told us that masking tape works well to remove them and about 1/2hr later we got most of them removed. I later picked some more using gloves and made some delicious pancake syrup with them.

Later on, Janice took me for a drive around the area and we saw many cypress trees as well as "cypress knees" that I thought were old tree stumps. No one knows for sure what their function is although there are many theories. They grow vertically out of the roots. I didn't have my camera but checking them on google makes an interesting read.
It was such a joy to have some precious time with a good friend.

I wanted to write my blog earlier but had more and more problems with my lap-top, finally taking it to a young man who has his own computer service. Not having a computer is like losing my life-line. He had to take it apart but it now works beautifully. It feel wonderful to be in touch with people I know and care about.

I found out a few days ago that the order for the seals I need won't be in for another week or more. Since I want to keep heading west I didn't want to wait that long and have arranged to have them sent to a Camping World store in El Paso, Texas!
I'll get there sometime and they will do the repairs there.
This has been very frustrating and I decided it was time to put my HSEP (High Stress Emergency Plan) into action:
"Listen to Vivaldi and eat chocolate",
This works very well!!

After watching the sunset on the beach and pizza offered at the RV park, I slept well and left the next morning for Mobile, Alabama.

On Dec 6, I left Mexico Beach to drive along the gulf coast past Panama City, across the state line into Alabama and into the City RV park at Mobile. It was a handy place to stay since I could ride my bicycle to "The Mobile Museum Of Art" which was a fantastic treat.