Lake Wales, FL – Feb 2024

Between my four brothers and I, we made up 25% of the squares in my niece Rachel’s football pool. The odds were heavily in our favor that at least one of us would win some portion of the prize money. While there were nail biters in each and every quarter, with many of us having the winning combination at some point during play, it would end up that I would be the only quarterly winner for the game – taking the first quarter prize with my 0-0 square.  So that was certainly one of the month’s highlights. But, there were lots of other exciting happenings here in FL during the month of Feb, so let’s get right to it.

Friends & Family

Early Feb saw my brothers and I getting together at brother Don’s place for a Super Bowl weekend.  Brother Gerry and I arrived on Sat afternoon, while brothers Dick and wife Kathi and David and wife Deb arrived on Sun afternoon.  So Don, Gerry, and I headed into Ft Pierce on Sat evening for dinner and a comedy show.  It was kinda funny that all of us ordered chicken wings of various flavors, only to be told soon after that they were out of wings.  Geez – who runs out of wings on Super Bowl weekend?  The following day we huddled around the big screen watching the game, enjoying the variety of snacks and food prepared by our host.  It was a good close game to watch, and an enjoyable weekend spent with family.  Thanks Don for hosting the event!

Later in the month, I was fortunate to reconnect with my Canadian friends Corey & Krista.  You may recall from a few years ago, I had seen them stopped by the side of the road where their truck had broken down while they were pulling their 5th wheel RV.  Their truck ended up being towed away, and I brought my truck and took them and their RV to the campground where they were scheduled to be.  We’ve become great friends since, and I always look forward to seeing them while they are down in the area enjoying a couple months away from the cold Canadian weather.  We had a terrific meal at Melanie’s Seafood in downtown Lake Wales. So wonderful to see you guys, and I look forward to spending more time with you next winter.

As you might imagine, I have for years followed several RV-centric folks on various social media outlets.  One such person is Liz Wilcox.  Back in the day, she had a very successful and extremely resourceful RV YouTube channel that I regularly followed.  In fact, I had the pleasure of meeting Liz (pictured at right, top) at the Hershey RV show several years ago, and she couldn’t have been more pleasant.  Though she has since changed her focus from RV travel to social marketing these days, I still follow her on her various venues.  Boy was I surprise to see she posted a teaser video announcing her participation in the upcoming season of Survivor.  I thought at first it was some sort of spoof, but in fact she will be a contestant on and featured in the upcoming show.  Regardless of what she is pursuing, she has always been a go-getter and a force to be reconned with in the business world.  I guess it should not come as a total surprise that this is just another opportunity for Liz to challenge herself and go all in.  I’m looking forward to seeing her on the show, and I certainly do wish her the very best in this adventure.  Go get ‘em Liz!

Other Happenings

Besides being very busy on various projects here at the home base, I did manage to get out a bit and see a few things.  As mentioned, I went to a comedy show in Ft Pierce at the Sunrise Comedy Corner hosted by Casey & Spaz (at left, top left).  We saw headliner Dean Napolitano who put on an excellent show.  I also ventured up to the Florida State Fairground in Orlando to attend this years HamCation event.  This is mostly a giant ham radio vendor fest and flea market.  I’m not specifically engaged in ham radio, but I have found in the past that this event also has lots of computer and techie type stuff for sale too.  I came home empty handed , but it was a fun day anyway.  Locallly, I ventured out to a campfire concert featuring Sadlebag’s own residents Dorothy and Randy Logan (The Logan’s).  It was a fun evening sitting by the campfire of this venue, and listening to their engaging music.  Nice job folks.  Lastly, I also still get out occassionally to check out flea markets and yard sales, and during one recent outing, I picked up this giant blow-up movie projector screen for $5.  I’m not exactly sure yet how or where I’ll use it, but it was such a good deal, I couldn’t pass it up.

Well, I finally gave in!  Despite my having said I was not going to be one of “those” that buzzed around the community in a golf cart, I somehow managed to suppress those feelings and went out and purchased one.  Part of the rationale to not get a golf cart was that I had the Scoot and my e-bike to get around this place.  Well, I’m in the process of selling the scoot, and the rear tire of my e-bike spontaneously exploded while parked outside a friends house with whom I was visiting.  And since it was the rear wheel that broke, where the motor and other vital components reside, I’m not equipped nor comfortable attempting the repair myself.  That means I’ll be without the e-bike for likely several weeks.  So, I got myself  a gently used 4-seater Club Car with batteries that are only a couple years old.  The rear passenger seat actually folds over to make a platform to haul stuff around too.  So, I am now one with the community when it comes to buzzing around on one of these mini vehicles.  Oh what have I done?

Well, now a bit of news on the health side.  Actually back in Oct of last year, I injured my shoulder by simply grabbing a pole to assist in getting up from a seat on a bus.  It did hurt a bit, but there was no swelling or bruising.  I thought I had simply pulled a muscle.  And, given that I was still on the road traveling, I really didn’t have time to visit a doc to get it looked at.  Truth is, though it never fully healed, it did get better over time.  So, I figured it just needed more time, and that is what I was giving it.  Well, a week ago while doing laundry, I reached out into my closet to slide down some hangers to make room to hang some shirts coming out of the dryer.  Just doing that simple task, my shoulder exploded, almost immediately swelled up like Popeye, and the upper arm became totally bruised.  Over the next several days, the bruising continued to work its way down the bottom of my arm, until it fully traversed it all the way to my wrist. It looks like my arm has been severely beaten!  Fortunately, it doesn’t feel any where near as bad as it looks.  I’ve got pretty good range of motion with my arm, and can even side sleep on it provided I get it in the right position.  It’s plainly clear that I tore something in my arm – a muscle or tendon perhaps.  I’ve since had an x-ray and that did not show any bone damage.  I’ve got an MRI scheduled in the coming weeks, and that should shed a bit more light into what is going on.  In the meantime, I’m taking it kinda easy and not doing anything strenuous.  Geez – when you injure yourself doing simple every-day activities, its a definite sign that your getting old!

Last up to report on in this month’s edition of the blog  was my participation in the CAP luncheon.  Since purchasing a site here in the community, I have gotten myself involved in several activities.  For the past two years, I’ve been a member of the Technology Committee (which as of this month I now lead as its Chair), as well as taking a role in the Citizens Assisted Patrol – or CAP.  CAP is an all volunteer offshoot of the Polk County Sheriff’s office (PCSO), whereby participants receive a full-day of Sheriff Office training, then share 2-hour shifts patrolling the community in a sheriff-like marked golf cart.  We are not armed and not allowed to engage directly in any event, but rather serve as an observe and report organization.  The PCSO  has over 3,500 volunteer members who save taxpayers an average of $3 Million dollars annually in manpower and resources through this program.  Many communities like mine in Polk county have their own CAP programs patrolling their areas.  There are over 100 of us here in Saddlebag that share the duties of community patrol.  This luncheon was just a thank you to all the volunteers that participate in the program.  It was a nice afternoon enjoying a terrific luncheon meal.

Final Thoughts

Well, my time here in FL is passing by quicker than I can manage.  I’ve got this shoulder issue to deal with in Mar, get cracking on this year’s travel schedule and itinerary planning,  finish up the long list of maintenance and other project tasks, all the while keeping active in my various community events and its associated special projects.  It’s clear to me now that I have no hopes of getting launched by mid Apr which has been the normal timeframe for me to start my summer adventures.  Mid May is a much more likely departure target for me at this point.  But that’s ok as it still give me a full 5 months on the road assuming I want to get back by mid Oct.  That should be plenty of time to explore Montana, Idaho, and Nevada – which are on my list for this year.  So, off I go making headway on my seemingly ever growing list of To Dos, while also nursing this damn shoulder to recovery.  Stay tuned to next month’s blog to see what I break next!  Till then, be well and safe travels.

I only show a sampling of my adventure pictures here in the blog, and do so mostly in collage format for brevity and ease of reading. If you want to view an album containing individual full fidelity and hi-res images of all my travel pictures related to this specific blog, click the image below. Enjoy!