RV Storage Surprise!

 

In my last post I mentioned that our Motorhome would be stored in a storage facility next to our Condos at the old Moose Lodge.  On the south side of the old lodge property is a grassy area where some RVs have been stored off and on since before we lived in the Condos...storing RVs is part of the property zoning rights.  Monday night / Tuesday morning (around 3 am I think) I woke up suddenly and thought, "Why can't I park the motorhome along the fence between the lodge property and the condo property?  Well, I think I will ask them if we can."

So Tuesday morning I went and got the motorhome and made the short drive to the new (to us) storage area.  I dropped off the HHR at the condos, along with Indy who wanted to come with daddy.  I made sure I had a key to the locked gate between the Condos and the old Moose Lodge...you see, when it was a Moose Lodge they allowed people at the Condos to walk to the Lodge through this locked gate.  I then proceeded to drive over to the storage area.  I looked over the grassy area, and it looked a bit 'SCARY'.  Grass is a bit high, and as she said, there was loose sand areas in there.  Despite the grass I could see a few deep ruts.  I really did not want to try and put the motorhome back in there.

I looked over the area where I wanted to park, and saw that there was plenty of room.  I would not be blocking any traffic going around the old lodge, which is now used for storage for lots of miscellaneous appliances pulled out of rental homes and businesses.  The Lodge was bought by this real estate company which owns and manages small commercial properties like strip malls, and rental homes.  They own some of them, they manage others.  So I called the office to talk to Pam, who I saw on Monday when I signed our month-to-month contract.  I explained the situation, and she gave me the OK to park where I wanted to park.  I was so happy!

Now this is "The Surprise!".  That white arrow pointing through the trees is pointing to the back of our condo.  Now, when I take Indy out to do her stuff, I can look over to the left and see the motorhome.  When I need to go to the motorhome, I walk out our front door, and 100 steps later I am at the motorhome!!!  It is safely behind a looked gate with a large cyclone fence surrounding the property.  There are people who work for the real estate group coming and going most days, M-F.  There are some 5th wheels on the other side of the building outside of the grassy area, and other RVs, including a Class A, in the grassy area.  (The Class A is right next to the entrance/exit to the grassy area.)

I am going to look into putting some wireless cameras on the motorhome to be able to monitor the area, using our aircard for Internet.  Having it this close also means that we can take weeks, instead of days, in getting it ready for travel, and won't need to park at the RV Park near us in order to get ready.

Indy REALLY needed to get over to the Doggie Park.  Sometimes she NEEDS certain smells to get her system to work.  Now she can do Pee Pee almost on command when she hits grass, but Poop is a whole another thing.

With the HHR acting up so much I just could not use it to take her to the Doggie Park.  "💡" goes off in my head.  The motorhome is only 100 steps away!  Got Indy on her leash, walked over to the motorhome, and off we went to the Doggie Park.  It was 11:30, it was in the mid-80s with humidity in the mid-70's, so I did not expect any other dogs there.  Surprising there were three large dogs in the large dog section, but she was the only small dog.  I sat in the shade and watched her.  As I walked to the bench, she went over by the large dog area and I could not see her for about a minute.  The rest of the time (1/2 hour or more) she Peed at least nine times...never did see her poop.  She was not even interested in it.  I got up to leave and decided to walk over to the area where I could not see her for the minute.  SCORE!  There it was.  Picked it up and tossed it in the garbage as we left.  Marcia asked later how I knew it was hers.  "A Dad just knows things like that..." 

Home 'Sweat' Home

No Pictures of the final leg of our trip...we have both driven US-19 SO MANY TIMES that we just forgot to take any pictures.  We left Marianna around 7:30, and got to Holiday Florida (280 miles) around 2:30.  We stopped at a rest area near Perry to pack up our clothes and bathroom stuff into plastic bags so that we can get them into the Condo as quickly as possible.  There is a grocery store parking lot near us where I packed up the freezer and some of the fridge.  I came inside to turn the AC down, turn on the water, and the hot water heater.  Just our luck, the AC was not working...the compressor was going, but no air flow.  I put out a ASAP call to our AC guy.  We parked on our street, unloaded a bunch of stuff, and by 4:00 I was ready to move to the RV Park near us.  Our AC guy called and was out on a call just a few miles away from us, and he was headed to our place.  He said we needed a new fan motor, and he had one in his van.  I drove us over to the RV Park, hooked up electricity, and I headed back to the Condo.  He already had the new motor in, and the AC was running!  Went back to the RV where Marcia and Indy were staying cool, and we waited about 90 minutes as the condo started to cool.  Got dinner at the store on our way back to the condo.  We were so tired, yet there was so much to do we had to force ourselves to say ENOUGH is ENOUGH!

Saturday I only made two trips to the RV, which is a 1/2 mile away with only 1/5th of that way being on public roads, to get more stuff. The rest of the day we continued to put stuff away.    Sunday was getting our hang-up clothes, our pantry, and clean the inside of the motorhome.  The rest of the time was finishing putting away all of the stuff we brought in, and Marcia also worked hard on washing laundry.  Did I mention that it was near 90 degrees, with humidity that made it feel more like 100.  The lows at night are only in the upper 70's, so it was hot all day long.  I could ring out the sweat from my shirt.

The HHR worked ok during all of that.  Today was suppose to be moving the motorhome into storage...but that did not happen.  The storage lot we normally use has been sold.  I would normally send a text to Jim, the previous owner, and he would answer back, assign me a spot, and I would pay when I put the RV into the lot.  After 24 hours with no text back from Jim, I called...the answering machine was different, and I could not make out the name of the RV Storage Facility that was mentioned on the machine.  I looked it up, and indeed Jim had sold it.  Looks like he was asking over $7 million, I hope he got it.  (The new owner did call me today 5:30, but by then I had made other arrangements.)   Next was a storage lot near our pharmacy, which was started about 2 years ago.  At 1:15 I drove over there to find that although there is RV Storage, the main building, which is used for job training and life training, was being totally remodeled, and I could not find a 'worker' outside of construction people on the premises.  Last time I picked up our meds from the Pharmacy, I saw at least eight people who work there on the premises.  Never did get a response to the message I left yet.  Once the remodel is finished, I am sure they will be more responsive. 

Today the HHR acted up all day...I was able to restart it, but it was running very rough.  On the way back to the condo from the pharmacy area, I drove by the old Moose Lodge, where they also have some RVs in storage.  Found a person who provided me a phone number, and BINGO, we have secured a place to put it tomorrow...and it is right next door to where we live!  Bad thing, it will be stored on grass and not gravel or concrete like I would prefer.  Our neighbor Mary drove me over to Palm Harbor so that I could sign and pay for the storage.  I hope it works out for us...there is a locked gate, which I have a key to, between the Condos and the old Moose Lodge...it is that close.

And then there is Indy.  When she first got into the condo, she ran all over.  Very quickly she wanted to go out back.  I thought she needed to do her business...but she just ran back and forth on her leash, and wanted back inside.  She was an ecstatic little girl...I think she was just happy to NOT be traveling anymore.  She LOVES when we stop and she gets to get out and smell other dog scents.  Once the motorhome starts moving, she gets in her bed and will stay there for the majority of the day.  After awhile she will get on one of the reclining chairs, but she rarely gets up on Marcia's lap, and only for very short time spans, like a minute or two.  Indy sees all the work we are doing, and she would rather have a bit more time with us than us doing work...that will happen soon, and then all will be back to normal.