Under 100 Hours and Counting Down -- 2026 Trip

 

It is that time again, and I am not talking about March Madness (Go HOGS!), I am talking about our departure from Florida all the way to California for the 15th year in a row.  We leave this coming week, probably Wednesday, no later than Thursday morning.

Sandy took this picture of Mama last Thursday (19th)...

That dog is named "Tank", one of the few dogs that Indy does not get along with...Tank loves people, but is a Dog hater...especially in his territory.  Tank was owned by Matt, a fellow resident there at the Independent Living Home.  Unfortunately and surprisingly, Matt passed away about 6 weeks ago.  Tank is still there, and may have a forever home there...not sure yet.  Anyway, Mama turns 96 in April, and we always try to be there for it.  We missed a few, like when we lost our motorhome (Jayco Melbourne) in a storage area fire back in 2014, and Ryan's Graduation in 2019, and Ryan and Kaelyn's wedding celebration (Covid restrictions did not allow their wedding day celebration in 2020) in 2021.  We still made it out to California each year, but missed Mom's birthday.  

The map above only shows the first leg of our trip.  After Atlanta, we head up to Cincinnati to visit Ryan, Kaelyn and family.  I think the last time we have seen Ryan and Kaelyn was in July 2022 when they came out to California where we were already at.  There family is now a family of five...they are fostering three girls, sisters, and only time will tell where this will lead.  They just (like last weekend) moved into a home they bought which will now house the five of them very comfortably.  Looking forward to seeing them and meeting the girls.

It is Spring here in Central Florida along the Gulf Coast.  The Eagle's finally got together and there are baby Eagle eggs in the nest...perhaps baby Eagles.  It takes 35-40 days from laying eggs to hatching.  I have seen them in the nest for about a month to six weeks now. 

The picture above and below show an Eagle tending to something in the nest

 

Here, the other Eagle is on constant guard, or hunting for food.

 

I also got a LOT of pictures of Osprey, and they definitely have young ones in their nests...I can hear the little chirping sounds very clearly...over the next month they will get louder and louder.

As always, we will try and do a daily or every-other day blog as we travel.  It is nearly time for us to Fly Away...errr...Drive Away

 

Good Bye to our HHR

 

HHR pulled by our American Eagle

HHR pulled by our Jayco Melborne

HHR pulled by our Dynamax Isata 

Marcia and I married in 2011, nearly 15 years ago.  Knowing that we wanted something that could be pulled behind a motorhome, we bought a 2009 Chevy HHR.  (HHR had a six year production run from 2006–2011). 

The most common questions we got were, 

a) How hard is it to pull an HHR with a motorhome?   ans:  It is VERY easy to pull an HHR behind a motorhome...so much so that you can forget that it is there.

b) What does HHR stand for??  ans:  This is one I did not know until writing this blog.  It stands for Heritage High Roof.

When we traded the HHR in for our new vehicle, it had around 174,000 driving miles, and around 130,000 towing miles.  We purchased it used with about 29,000 miles on it.  It was a rental car through a car rental agency, but I do now know which one.  We put about $500 each year into repairs, tires, oil changes, etc.  Bought it for $10,000, and add registration and sales taxes...it cost us around $19,000, including repairs, but plus the cost of gas.  I can only guess how much gas cost were since the price fluctuated so much over the years.  We got $1,100 as a trade in on the HHR to put towards our new car.

 

Introducing, our NEVER TO BE TOWED, 2024 Kia Soul.  The KIA Soul is considered a SUV, but some call it a station wagon.  (A sixteen year production run from 2009–2025, with three-generation runs.)  Yes, they are not making the Soul anymore.  The reason for stopping?  "Move to EV vehicles."  Under current administration rules toward EV's, you gotta wonder if they stopped production a bit too early...   Total cost, including taxes (7% on first $5,000 and 6% on the rest), license, dealer fees, preparation fees, etc, we paid $19,200.

No one hates dealing with Car Salesmen more than I do.  Overall, I left home at 2 pm on Monday, arrived back with the Kia around 5.  I get home, I don't see a Key FOB (to lock and unlock vehicle without a key...some will even start a vehicle) but I lock the car from the inside as I shut the door, thinking the key will let me in.  Guess what?  No key hole.  THANK GOODNESS the salesman needed to follow me home so Marcia could sign papers.  He showed me the "secret key hole", he unlocked it, the alarm goes off, it takes him about 15-30 seconds to get the alarm off, and the "hunt for the FOB" begins.  As I write this, a key locksmith came by today, brought a FOB, programed the FOB, the key which came with the FOB, and the key I got when I bought it (he said it probably lost its programing).  All is good.

PS:  The color is Mars Orange, AKA: Burnt Orange.  Yes, looks red, but in full sun you can really see the Orange color.  I doubt it will ever leave Florida.