The Saga Continues–Disney, Africa, Dogs, Beach

Monday was the last day on our 4-day Park Hopper ticket at Disney World.  This time we were visiting the Animal Kingdom.  The most surprising part of it is that the crowds were so much less than they had been at any of the other parks.  We also had good times on the three allowed FastPass Selections.  So, while at the Animal Kingdom we took a trip to Asia, visited DinoLand and then headed off to Africa.

All in all it was a rather short day for us with no lines and knowing that the next day would be a moving day.

	We did have a great time but we had been there, done that and were getting ready to move on to another adventure. ----  Tree of Life

We caught these “animal” taking a selfie at the Animal Kingdom. ----

We found out that the Florida toll booths aren’t always working like they should.  If you don’t have a SunPass, you’re required to pay at the booth to exit the toll roads.  Not all exits have an attendant.  If not, you’re required to pay with the exact change and wait for the light to turn green. If you leave before that light changes, numerous cameras come alive and start flashing pictures of you.  We know this for a fact because it happened to us.  The little change counter took our coins but the light never changed.  We had no more change.  Thus, we took the little envelope and sent a check in for another 75 cents.  We paid twice. We noticed the vehicle behind us had the same problem.  The penalty for not paying that extra 75 cents is a $100 fine. 

 

On Tuesday we were out of the Thousand Trails park on our way south.  We had enjoyed the park and even tried a few of the onsite fun things to do.

We arrived at our new location in Bonita Springs just about noon. and 

shortly were all set up including our screen room.  A screen room in Florida isn’t just a nice feature, it's a necessity because it's about the only way to enjoy being outside in the mornings or evenings without getting eaten up by bugs. 

It was only after we put our screen room up did that we read the park rules and discovered that screen rooms aren't allowed!  So, down it came. 

Happy Hour seems to be a ritual with RV’ers and we couldn’t’ let our first night (or the second night)  in the new park pass without one.  The Hintons and the Hyders joined us as we shared recent RV adventures.  We also shared a delicious key lime pie from Publix as a reader on a previous blog suggested.   Publix does put out a great key lime pie.

Other than getting set up one of the first things we needed to check out was the inverter we assumed had bit the dust.  Well, it wasn't the inverter.  It was the batteries that needed to be replaced. Instead of replacing all six house batteries we opted to replace only four.   We found it was cheaper for us to buy six than four but figured we really only needed four house batteries instead of the six we had previously had.   Now we have two extra brand new 6 volt batteries to sell.  We also have an electric bike to sell.

Christmas has come early to our place.  We received a package full of packages from our daughter and SIL.  On each package was a date and we’re supposed to open one package a day until Christmas.  It’s their version of an Advent calendar but instead of opening flaps on a calendar, we open packages.  Each morning we get to open a new Christmas package and each morning we get a “Glide” video reminding us to open our next package.  Now I wonder if anyone can beat this???  

Friday was Dollar Daze at the dog races.  I’d never been to dog races.  What fun for sure.  The dollar deal comes in with hot dogs and drinks.  The bets are $2.00 each but the food and drinks only a buck.  None of us were big betters or winners but Terry and Jerry did each win a quinella.

On Saturday we took a drive to visit Eric and Karla.   The last time we visited with them was in January so we had catching up to do.  Now we have plans for a couple more future get togethers including a kayak adventures ..... weather permitting. 

We also stopped to check out one of their favorite restaurants – Maria’s at Fort Meyers Beach.  What a great lunch we had there.

On our way back we couldn’t resist a stop at the beach.

Update:  I discovered that the Geek Squad at Best Buy doesn’t  try to recover hard drive data. I did have options though.  I could send it in and have one of their specialists check it out or I could “bite the bullet” and try to recover it myself.  I wasn’t fond of sending it out so I pulled the drive from the laptop and put it in a drive enclosure.  I tested three software recovery programs and settled on one of them.   It’s a very time consuming project but little by little some of the files have been recovered.  This project will probably continue for days (weeks?) but at least I’m hopeful.  

Less than two weeks and we'll be flying back "home" for the holidays.  What about you?

‘Tis life on the road.