Bernadette

Well, just when I thought that Gary was not going to buy any more trailers, he brought home a rare Serro Scotty that we have lovingly named Bernadette. One of our favorite TV shows is "The Big Bang Theory", and Bernadette is one of our favorite characters on that show. Unfortunately, our Bernadette is not nearly as cute as the one on the TV show. She's rough to say the least, but she's got potential. After some research, it appears that "Bernie" was built in 1961. She's a rare front kitchen/side dinette model. Her skin, underneath all that mildew and mold, is surprisingly nice. Her original Irwin Pennsylvania Serro Scotty emblems are still intact, as is her complete and unbroken Bargman L-66 door lock. Her wheel wells have been modified from the original "swoosh" that Scottys are known for, to a nicely rounded radius. This modification actually looks pretty good, and Gary tells me that changing tires on her was SO much easier because of it. Speaking of tires and wheels, do you recognize those beautiful red wheels that Bernadette is sporting? You should. They belong to ME!!! One is my spare, and the other is my left side tire. I was wondering why my tire was being removed, but I was thinking I was going to get my brakes adjusted. That's what I get for thinking! I should have known that Gary was up to something. Poor old Bernadette has a really shabby interior, what is left of it that is. The kitchen area is mostly there, but everything else has been removed. A few pieces are laying on the floor, but there's not enough left to use as patterns. Gary will have to "wing it" whenever he gets around to rebuilding her, but he shouldn't have any trouble with that. After all, he "winged it" with me, and look how I turned out. Bernadette will probably get a bath so she will look better. I need to get my wheels and tires back too, so Gary will have to come up with some replacements for her. Other than that, I don't think anything else will get done to her for a long time, but at least she's here with her Scotty relatives instead of being all alone. She's adapting to her new surroundings very well. Our garage was once an all-boys residence, but the girls are beginning to take over. We now have the trailer girls, Bernadette, Poppy, Jackie, and Caroline, and the riding lawn mower, Helen the Husqvarna. As far as the boys, we have Gary and me, Scotty, Chip, and Henry. It's five and five at the moment. The balance of power will never change though, since everybody knows (including Gary) that I rule the roost. You can't argue with the truth! On that note, I'll leave you today with some pictures of our sweet little Bernadette. She's a diamond in the rough, but she's our diamond and we're VERY happy about that.

Happy Birthday, Buddy (Better Late Than Never!)

I don't think I've ever mentioned it, but Gary gives me a weekly allowance. It fluctuates in value, but it's always a decent amount. Heck, since I just sit here and don't do much, I really don't deserve anything. But Gary is a generous guy, and he knows I like to shop on eBay or amazon, or occasionally book a campsite for us. It's great to have the money to do those things. I had a couple of hundred bucks saved up, so I thought I would get Gary a late 60th birthday present. We were camping back in February when his birthday (and actually my birthday too) happened. There wasn't time to do anything special. Since summer is here and I've got plenty of spare time, I've been thinking about what I could get for Gary that he would really like. Recently, he's been looking at bicycles online. His old bike is a JC Penney model that he bought in 1980. He likes to ride on the beach, and those skinny little tires on his old bike were NOT sand friendly. He was looking at bikes that had nice fat tires, something that could basically float over soft or hard packed sand without digging in. A few days ago, he was drooling over a Mongoose bike called "The Beast". Wal-Mart sells them. They have 4" wide tires that are PERFECT for the beach. He bookmarked the page, so it was easy for me to find it when he was not around. I thought I would have to order the bike, but the local Wal-Mart just happened to have a couple of them in stock. So, I called the store, paid for the bike with Gary's credit card, and told them that he would pick it up. This morning, I told Gary that I had ordered something pre-paid under his name, and asked him to get it for me. He didn't ask what it was, but assumed that it was a DVD set that I had conveniently mentioned a couple of times. I can just imagine how surprised he must have been, when he got to the store with the order number, and the sales associate rolled that cool bike out of the back room. Gary is pretty hard to fool, but I got him GOOD this time! I couldn't wait for him to get home with the bike so I could see it in person. It's more awesome than it looks online. The bike comes in several colors, all of them in "flat" hues. I thought the black one was kind of neat. It looks like the "rat rod" custom cars that Gary likes so much. He REALLY likes it, and was TOTALLY surprised that I did this for him. I told him I used his credit card, but have already paid him back for the bike with my allowance money. We both agree that the name stickers on the bike look kind of cheesy. Gary plans to remove them. It would be really cool to get it pinstriped. He also said that the seat isn't comfortable, so I'm sure he will change that to one that's more "cushy". Other than that, the bike will be just perfect for his purposes. You can see in the pictures how different the old and new bikes are. The old one has served it's purpose, but after 35 years, it was time for something different. The new bike is about as different as it gets. My dog Serra likes the smell of the new tires. She's had her nose up against them ever since the bike got here. Gary does SO much for me. I'm very glad that I could do something for him. It really is better to give than to receive. This was FUN!!!

Summer's Here, And We're Not Happy

Hey, remember me? It's been six whole weeks since I last created a blog post. It isn't that I've been busy or lazy, it's just that there hasn't been anything going on around here that involves me. I've just been sitting here watching TV, or sitting here watching Gary work. I'm a GREAT watcher, but not too handy in the help department. My main job, (as it always is), is to provide a comfortable place for Gary to hang out when he wants to, and I think I do a pretty good job of that. I'm cool inside in the summer, and warm inside in the winter. Who could ask for more, right? Luckily, Gary seems to be pretty darn happy with me. It seems like years since our camping season ended. It will feel like years until our new camping season begins in the fall. Summers are extremely long in Florida. The other seasons flash by in a heartbeat. As the days have gone by, it has continued to get hotter and hotter. As you can see by the photo of the thermometer that is hanging on my stone shield, it was 101 degrees this afternoon inside the garage. It's been 98 and 99 degrees every day for a week or so, but today is the first day that's it's reached triple digits. Sadly, this is just the beginning of triple digit days. July and August are especially brutal, and those dreaded months are just around the corner. We HATE the summer months. On the opposite end of the spectrum, it's a cool 64 degrees inside of me. My air conditioner has been on 24/7 since the second week of March. Yes, it was hot even then, but nothing like we are experiencing now. Gary's been taking more and more breaks to cool off. My air conditioner is much more efficient and cheaper to run than the one in the house, so he's been doing the planning for his projects in me. Some of those projects are upcoming ones that involve some work on me, so I seriously doubt if it will be six weeks before you hear from me again. When something exciting happens, I'll be telling you all about it right here on my blog. Until next time, stay cool!

Green Acres Shuffle 2015

At least once a year (and sometimes more), Gary spends a considerable amount of time cleaning and rearranging my home here in the Green Acres Garage. That has been his primary project since we got home from our trip to St.Petersburg a couple of weeks ago. He threw out a bunch of stuff this time, and that's very surprising because Gary doesn't throw out much of anything. He still has a long way to go to get the garage the way he wants it, but this was a step in the right direction. The main purpose in doing all this was to make enough room in the garage so Casper (the white cargo van) could live inside with me and the other vehicles. Unfortunately, somebody had to leave the garage to make room for Casper, and that somebody was my brother Scotty. He is now outside in the back yard with a tarp over him. He should be fine out there, but I really do miss him. I guess it does make more sense to keep the much more valuable Casper in the garage instead of a 44 year old trailer frame. It's just sad there isn't enough room for everybody. As far as who went where, here's the scoop. The old Dodge Dart and the A100 van remained where they were in the back of the garage. The space underneath the loft where Scotty used to be is now filled with clutter from other parts of the garage. Poppy is still where she was too, but got moved just a little bit closer to the roll-up garage door on the side of the garage. Dodge (who probably won't get used much this summer because his A/C doesn't work) is now alarmingly close to Poppy, and I got moved between Dodge and the workbench. There is a path on both sides of me big enough for Gary to walk through. Casper is closest to the front roll-up garage door so that he can go in and out easily. He will be Gary's primary transportation for the summer. Helen the Husqvarna got moved too. She was on the opposite side of the garage in a cramped little spot. Now she's in a wide open space near the rest of the lawn and garden equipment. Although tight, there's enough space to move her in and out of the garage without having to move Casper. Even though the garage is still a mess (obviously not MY fault!), it is definitely more organized and space efficient than it was. Gary should be happy with it, at least for awhile, and if he's happy, then I'm happy.

Our 2014/2015 Camping Season In Review, Vol. 5 of 5

This is the last volume of the review of our recent camping season. I promised Gary that I'd get this done ASAP, and I think I've done a pretty good job. I don't think I will have to worry about getting my TV privileges revoked anytime soon, and I am VERY happy about that. Here's where we went to on our last two rounds of camping. Round #10 (March 22nd thru March 29th, 2015) As I mentioned previously, our air conditioner was a "must have" accessory to take along with us as we headed to central Florida. The temperatures were climbing quickly, and we knew we would need it. Our first stop (of two) was Wekiwa Springs State Park in Apopka, FL. That's in the Orlando area. We spent four nights there. At most of the places we went to during our camping season, Gary went antique shopping a lot while I hung out at the campground. Wekiwa was no different. There are several antique stores in the Orlando area that Gary really likes, so he was gone every day. I had a nice shady campsite to enjoy, lots of squirrels to watch, and great TV reception, so I was fine with him being gone. Our next stop was Tomoka State Park in Ormond Beach. This was our second visit to Tomoka this season, both visits taking place while car shows were going on at the Daytona International Speedway. It rained heavily right after we arrived, and Tomoka turns into a mud pit when it rains. We are sick of the muddy conditions there, and we won't be going back. We spent four nights there. A total of 629 miles was traveled, and I was along for 222 of those miles. Gary and Dodge logged 407 miles without me. This was our last leisurely camping trip of the season. We had one more trip to go on, but it was a working trip for Gary. For me, camping is ALWAYS leisurely. For Round #11 (April 12th thru April 22nd, 2015), we headed back to where our camping season actually began back in October. The destination was St. Petersburg, FL. Just like our previous trip to St. Petersburg, the purpose of going there was for Gary to work on his rental house. We were supposed to head over there at the beginning of April, but there were several delays. We arrived on April 12th, and camped on the driveway of our friends Bill and Sandy, just like we did in October. Gary had no idea how long it was going to take to complete the repairs on the house. As usual, it took longer than he thought. We were there for eleven nights, all of them spent with Bill and Sandy. We headed back to St. Augustine on April 23rd. Our lengthy (and fun for the most part) camping season was over. Gary had no time to antique shop in St. Petersburg, so there wasn't much additional mileage racked up by him and Dodge by themselves. A total of 527 miles was traveled. During 403 of them, I was along for the ride. Only 124 miles was traveled without me. So here are the grand totals after our eleven rounds of camping: We traveled a total of 11,018 miles in 3 states. I tagged along for 5676 of those miles, and Gary and Dodge traveled 5342 miles without me. We spent 4 nights with family in Georgia, and 17 nights with friends in Florida. A whopping 104 nights were spent at state parks, including 71 in Florida, 31 in Georgia, and 2 in Alabama. Gary knows exactly how much money he spent, but I won't get into that because I don't want to depress my best buddy. But he agrees with me that it was worth every penny. Looking over our camping reservations for next season, I can tell already that we are going to have a TON of fun. Going to all new places that we haven't been to before will be REALLY exciting. I can't wait to get started. But first things first, and we have a hot Florida summer to get through. I'm sure there will be some interesting things going on around here, and I will keep you in the loop when they do. Until next time, this is Toaster. Over and OUT!!!

Our 2014/2015 Camping Season In Review, Vol. 4 of 5

Round #8 (February 16th thru February 20th, 2015) was our shortest trip during our camping season. We didn't even make the reservation until the last minute. Gary and I decided that we didn't want to stay home for our birthdays. Well actually, I decided that I didn't want to stay home for my birthday, and I surprised Gary with the announcement that I had made the reservation. I'm sneaky like that. That's what he gets for letting me know his Reserve America password and credit card numbers. It was bad enough that I made a reservation at all, but I knew that Gary would be REALLY mad if I made a reservation for a park that was far away. So I looked for a vacancy at a park that was fairly close to home, and made the five night reservation at O'Leno State Park near High Springs, FL. That is just a little further away from home than Paynes Prairie, and a bit closer to Gainesville. Our friends Jim and Melodie live close to the park, and invited Gary over for dinner on the Wednesday of the week we were there. Gary hadn't originally booked anything for our birthday week because he had planned to stay home and get some work done around the house. But after it was all over, I think he was happy that I forced him to go. We had a nice relaxing birthday week. A total of 327 miles was traveled. I was along for 199, and the remaining 128 were done without me. Round #9 (March 2nd thru March 10th, 2015). This was another all-Georgia trip, and to three parks that we hadn't been to before. We spent three nights at each of the three parks. Our first stop was Fort McAllister State Park near Savannah. On the day we were leaving, we were visited by Tim and Susan Viall from California. They were travelling through the south at the time with their Scotty teardrop replica, and hadn't met Gary yet, even though they've been Facebook friends for a long time. Next, we headed to Little Ocmulgee State Park near McRae. Heading back towards home, we camped at Crooked River State Park near St. Marys. The warm temperatures there were bringing out the bugs in force, and it was obvious that on our next rounds of camping, we would need to carry the air conditioner along with us. Gary and Dodge traveled 1079 total miles. I was along for 538 of those miles, and the remaining 541 was driven without me. Two more rounds yet to document, but I'm done for now. It's hard to type with your tongue! I'm going to rest up. Later!

Our 2014/2015 Camping Season In Review, Vol. 3 of 5

After spending a good part of the last eight weeks camping in Florida, we decided to head back up into Georgia for Round #6 (January 11th thru January 21st, 2015) of our camping season. Our first stop was at Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park near Cordele for a three night stay. Gary's sister and brother-in-law joined us for our first night. They had a really nice room in the resort within the park. We had a beautiful waterfront campsite. From there, we headed further north to High Falls State Park near the town of Jackson. We spent five nights there. Like we so often do when we're in Georgia, we camped at General Coffee State Park near Nichols for three nights on our way back home. We LOVE General Coffee. It's still our favorite Georgia State Park. Gary and Dodge traveled a total of 1223 miles. I tagged along for 693 of those miles, and the remaining 530 miles was traveled without me. Round #7, January 29th thru February 8th, 2015. This was another all-Florida (panhandle of the state) round. Our first stop was Three River State Park near Sneads for a four night stay. Following that was a three night stay at Rocky Bayou State Park near Niceville. That was as far west as we went to during our camping season. I had to have emergency surgery while we were there for a crack in my frame. It was a beautiful little park, but I'll always remember it for my medical issue. After that, we headed back east, stopping for four nights at Florida Caverns State Park near Marianna. Florida Caverns and Three Rivers are actually very close to each other. A total of 1370 miles was traveled during Round #7. I joined in for 729 of those miles, while Gary and Dodge traveled 641 miles without me. Stay tuned. More to come!

Our 2014/2015 Camping Season In Review, Vol. 2 of 5

Here is Volume #2 (of 5), reviewing our recently completed camping season. Gary has finished making all the little maps of the places we visited. I guess it's up to me now to find the time to write the reviews. It isn't difficult, and it's actually kind of fun. I just have to get off my lazy butt and do it, and you KNOW how lazy I am. Anyway, there's nothing on TV right now, so I have no excuse not to get this done. So here we go! Round #4, December 11th thru December 18th, 2014. Our first stop on this round was a place we hadn't been to before. Lake Kissimmee State Park is located near Lake Wales, FL. It's roughly 200 miles south of St. Augustine, which as you know, is our home base. We spent three nights there. We only went to one place this entire season that we didn't like at all, and that was Hillsborough River State Park in Round #1. Lake Kissimmee was nice, and we will probably go back there at some point. Due to Dodge's relatively poor gas mileage, we generally always go to more than one park in whatever direction we are heading towards. Gary likes to get the biggest bang for his buck when we travel, and sees no reason to go one place and then come right back home, only to turn around and go back to a park near where we just were. I wholeheartedly agree. Besides, I LOVE to camp, so the more places we go, the better I like it. This trip was no exception to Gary's rule, so after we finished our stay at Lake Kissimmee, we headed over to Melbourne Beach, and spent five nights at one of our favorite places, Sebastian Inlet State Park. I like to call it "Sebby". We've been there three times before, and it's ALWAYS fun. By the time we returned back to St. Augustine, Gary and Dodge had traveled a total of 817 miles together. I was along for 454 miles, and they traveled 363 miles without me. Round #5, December 23rd, 2014 thru January 6th, 2015. This was our Holiday trip, and we spent both Christmas and New Year's at our FAVORITE Florida State Park, Paynes Prairie near Micanopy, FL. We actually spent a full ten nights there, and it was as wonderful as it always is. On January 2nd, we headed down to Silver Springs State Park for a five night stay. We were joined for part of our visit by our friends Jim and Melodie. A total of 924 miles were logged by Gary and Dodge. I was only along for 244 of those, and the remaining 680 were made without me. That's it for today. I'll post another volume or two soon, I promise!

Our 2014/2015 Camping Season In Review, Vol. 1 of 5

Now that our camping season is officially over, I've been looking back through all the pictures that Gary took, and thinking about all the fun we had in our travels. It was a GREAT season for sure. We logged a lot of miles and re-visited some of our favorite places, as well as making a few stops at places we had never been to before. Along the way, we visited with friends and family, and made some new friends as well. Gary and I are looking forward to the start of our camping season next fall. We are heavily booked from late September until New Year's, and not one of our stops will be in Florida. A lot of the time, we will still be camping in the deep south as we did during our past season, but every place we are going to will be new to us. Even though Dodge is 23 years old and has 242,000 miles on him, he is ready, willing, and able to haul Gary and I anywhere we want to go. None of our camping adventures would be possible without him, and we are grateful that he is part of our lives. He's an AWESOME van! I've gotten off the point of this posting, so let me get back to the matter at hand. I won't post any pictures of the places we went to. I've already done that in the posts I made from everywhere we went. But something new that I will show you are these little maps that Gary made. They show the general locations of our camping stops in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. Gary hasn't had time to make all the maps yet, but this first batch shows the places we went to on our first three rounds of camping. I'll post more later. We actually went on eleven rounds total, not ten as I might have mentioned previously. We didn't plan on counting our final trip to St. Petersburg as a "round" since it was a working trip for Gary. But since we counted the first trip, and it was also a working trip, then we decided to count the last one as well. Here are the stats from our first three rounds. Gary is a stickler for statistics, so he wanted me to post them. He's much more detailed than I am. I'm lazy and I just like to camp. Still, I can appreciate the fact that he goes to all the trouble to keep track of everything. It is kind of fun to look back on. Round #1 - October 4th thru 19th, 2014. Our first stop was in St. Petersburg, FL. We camped on the driveway of our friends Bill and Sandy, and Gary worked on his rental house. We spent six nights there. Gary wasn't even close to finishing the work on the house. Not wanting to wear out our welcome with Bill and Sandy, we headed over to Hillsborough River State Park (near Tampa) for seven nights. Gary almost finished the work on the house while we were there, but not quite. So, we moved back across Tampa Bay to Clearwater, and spent three nights at the Yankee Traveler RV Park. The work on the house got finished up, and we headed back home to St. Augustine. Gary and Dodge traveled 1298 total miles. During 502 of those of those miles, I was along for the ride. 796 miles was traveled without me. Round #2 - November 1st thru 18th, 2014. This was our longest trip of the season. Stop #1 was Falling Waters State Park in the Florida panhandle. We spent two nights there. Stop #2 was Florala State Park in Alabama. It's right on the Florida/Alabama border. We spent two nights there as well. Our next two night stop was at Chattahoochee Bend State Park near Newnan, Georgia, then we headed up to Cloudland Canyon State Park in extreme NW Georgia. It's very near Chattanooga, TN. We spent five nights there, and was joined during part of our stay by our friends Jim, Melodie, Lou Ann, and Dan. From there, we headed to Morgan Farms (Gary's sister's house) for a four night stay. Our final stop was at General Coffee State Park near Nichols, Georgia. We spent three nights there. Gary and Dodge traveled 2009 total miles. During 1278 of those miles, I was along for the ride. 731 miles was traveled without me. Round #3 - November 26th thru December 7th, 2014. This was an all-Florida trip. We spent four nights at Tomoka State Park near Ormond Beach. After that, we headed to Stephen Foster State Park near White Springs for four nights. Our next stop was Fort Clinch State Park near Fernandina Beach. We stayed there for four nights also. Gary and Dodge traveled 815 total miles. During 414 of those miles, I was along for the ride. 401 miles was traveled without me. Well, that's it for now. As soon as Gary gets around to making more of the maps from our trips, I'll post two rounds at a time until all eleven rounds have been detailed. It's almost time for People's Court, so I gotta go. I'll catch you later!

Missing In Action Blogger

This is the first time I've blogged in over three weeks. Sorry I haven't filled you in sooner on the latest happenings in my life, but things have been a little hectic. Gary told me that I couldn't watch TV today until I created at least ONE blog post, so here goes. After Dodge and I had our baths at the end of March, we sat in the garage and did nothing for the first eleven days of April. As usual, Gary was busy with all of his unfinished projects, getting his taxes done, and doing a BUNCH of yard work. On the 12th of April, we headed over to St. Petersburg for what was supposed to be no more than a four day stay. The purpose for going there was for Gary to do a few small projects on his rental house. We camped on the driveway of our friends Bill and Sandy. We LOVE staying there. Gary gets to hang out with his BFF's when he's not working on his house, and I get to relax and watch the abundance of squirrels, take frequent naps, and check out some of my favorite TV shows. It's a SWEET place to camp, and we REALLY appreciate being able to stay there. Bill and Sandy always make us feel like we're part of their family. We were visited by their son Corey and his fiance Lydia at one point, and they posed along with Bill and Sandy for a picture with me. That was fun. One project at the rental house was MUCH more complicated and time consuming than Gary anticipated. Our estimated four day stay soon became a week, and ended up being a full eleven days before everything was done. After the first week, Gary moved me from the driveway to the middle of the front yard. Bill and Sandy bought a portable carport to be installed over the driveway where I was sitting, so I needed to be moved out of the way. It was much more shady under the oak trees in the front yard, and I really liked being closer to the constantly playing squirrels. Gary helped Bill assemble the frame for the carport. They also took apart an old animal cage, so Gary managed to earn his keep (and mine) while we were visiting. I was hitched up to Dodge yesterday (April 23rd), and we headed back towards home. We never go through Ocala without stopping at the Wildwood Antique Mall. It's one of Gary's favorite antique stores. Gary pulled us into a semi-shady area in the parking lot, and we rested up for the two and a half hours that Gary was in the store. We arrived back in St. Augustine around 3PM. Gary quickly got me back inside the Green Acres Garage, plugged in my power, re-installed my air conditioner, and hooked up my antenna. A little while later, I was watching my favorite show, The People's Court, starring Judge Marilyn Milian. No disrespect with her being a judge and all, but she's a HOTTIE!!! If you're reading this Judge Milian, I would LOVE an autographed photo (hint hint). We are officially done with our camping season, and not looking forward to the brutal Florida summer which lies ahead. As we wait for fall to arrive, I will review our past camping season, and will keep you posted on anything exciting that happens around here. And I will try to do so in a timely manner. After all, I DON'T want to lose my TV privileges! Until next time, have FUN, whatever you do.