Plastic Surgery Part 2

I got moved to Fort Myers today, so I was able to stop and see the progress of the van -- and also give Mike more work to do. Every day I call him with something else I want done. One of these days he's going to dread seeing my number on the phone or see me walk in the door. I figure I might as well get everything done now because I may never have the chance again.

Here are pictures of the work so far:

This is the window and fridge vent opening. Mike had to pull the fridge and he said he was surprised at how easy it was to pull and get to the window.

This is the back of the van. The picture on the left is a section Billy replaced for me a couple of years ago. He did a great job, but the seams started rotting through. The picture on the right is two dents that have been there since I purchased the van.

This is the side door and step. I forgot to get a better picture of the panel to the left of the door, but that whole section was replaced. As you can see in these pictures, the running board is removed.

And this is Mike. He moved, so he's blurry. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a better picture of him and Tim when I pick up the van:

Part 3 of this series should be the finished van. It won't be perfect. There is still a dent made by One-Legged Mike and his crutch. And I'm losing a lot of the pin-striping. Still, the van will be in better condition than when I first got it. I can't wait to see it finished.

Plastic Surgery

The Van of Discovery is going in for major, massive body work. It's needed it for two, three, four, and even five years. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. So why didn't I get it done before now? Many reasons. First, when I had the time, I didn't have the money; and when I had the money, I didn't have the time. I chose to use the van for what it was intended for -- to travel and see the U.S. -- and boy, did I.

Second, I tried. I brought the van to many, many body shops. I was told they only do insurance work, I was given the run-around, I was ignored completely, and I was ripped off by the one place that actually did some work. Once I found a local guy who would do the work, but he only worked outside and we lost our window of opportunity; it got too cold for him to work on it.

Then, by the grace of God, I got my answer. A fellow Roadtrek owner by the name of David Crook had major frame work done on his Roadtrek at The Cobra Shop in North Fort Myers, FL. I knew if I ever had a chance to get down to Florida, I was going to have The Cobra Shop do the work if I had to beg, scream, and cry for them to do it. Then my prayers were answered again. I got a job IN FLORIDA; not only in Florida, but in the Fort Myers area -- well sort of, but that's another story.

After working in nearly every corner of Florida and waiting three months, I am finally here and the Van of Discovery is at The Cobra Shop, lovingly being taken care of by Mike and Tim.

For your amusement, here are some pics of the work that needs doin'. These are the three worse:

Here are more pictures that aren't as bad. This is some fiberglass repair that needs doin' on the running boards:

The rip-off work. I paid $2K for this to be fixed two or three years ago. OK, maybe it wasn't all for body work. I had new shocks and a battery installed, too:

Mike called at 4:30 this afternoon to give me an estimate and also told me the work might be done by Friday. I can't believe all that work will be done in less than a week. If it wasn't for the fact that Mike and The Cobra Shop were highly recommended, I would worry about getting ripped off again. Mike assured me I should get a good five years or more out of the van, as long as the engine is in good shape. My mechanic says it is.

The next edition of this blog should be the finished work, unless I can get down to The Cobra Shop and take some pictures while the van is being worked on. It is a bit far and I have no transportation.

SC

Not much to write about; just some really cool pictures I took today driving through South Carolina.

This is a mural painted on the outside of a Laundromat

Every home should have their own herd of fake horses on their front lawn:

And right next door, there were tons of metal sculptures. This was the most elaborate

Two Christmas decorations that were across the street from each other

This picture requires no description:

And the last one for today. Can you believe this price? It is a "cash only" price, but still ...

Testing

This is a test using the mobile Blogger app. What kind of speakers are these?

The other use for the blue sewer hose:

Christmas, Florida

I left home on October 12th. Nearly two months later, I managed to get one day's worth of pictures on my blog. Jump forward to today ... so much happened that I'm going to suck up all the bandwidth I have and post these pictures. The day started with the hawk, which I found out later this evening is always here. Now I know what pooped all over my van:

I have been in Florida for about three weeks now. I have NO Christmas spirit. Palm trees and sand and 80-degree, short-sleeved/shorts-wearing weather just doesn't do it for me. So to try to get into the Christmas spirit, I drove over to Christmas, Florida today. This is what greets everyone at the edge of town:

I went over to Fort Christmas to bring Hope for a walk. The first thing I see when I pull into the parking lot is a sign that says, "No Pets." Oh, well. I parked in the shade and left the animals to go through the buildings. They had a school house, lunch room, fort, and about five houses that ranged from the mid-1800s era to 1950s. This is how they decorated for Christmas in the 1800s. The garland is made from scraps of fabric:

And this is one of the homes:

A small pond on the property was the home of a blue heron. I don't know if it was a Great Blue or not; it was quite small. He was very good to stay so still and let me get such great close-up pictures of him:

After leaving Fort Christmas, I went over to the Orlando Wetlands Area. Again, no pets were allowed, but that's OK because it was closed for the season, anyway. So I left and decided to drive through the town of Christmas to see what it was like. I never got there. On the way, I discovered the Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area. FINALLY, somewhere I could walk my dog, whose been cooped up in a van for weeks with two ornery cats.

We first took a walk on the loop trail. It was small, but not small enough. Walking the rutted, rooted, barely cleared path was no fun. I decided to follow the road and found the Bobwhite Trail, which was rightfully named because not 100 feet in, I came across a flock of Bobwhites. They're tiny and they're quick so I had no time to take a picture. I tried, but they ran into the underbrush too quickly.

Halfway down the trail, I saw a horse trotting off in the distance. At first I thought maybe we were next to a ranch. Then I thought maybe there was a herd of wild horses in the Wildlife Management Area. A few seconds later, I saw the horse was being followed by a golf cart (WTF?) and a red car. Came to find out, the horse was being chased down by the golf cart and car. Apparently it was a runaway horse, which finally got caught. This is him being led back to wherever he escaped from:

After our walk, I decided to drive through the Tosohatchee to see where the road went. I came upon the Powerline Road, which is the road I saw the horse and golf cart on. A sign pointed to the St. Johns River, so I decided to check it out. What a road! It was at 2.5 miles in and as straight as an arrow. These are views out my windshield and what I saw behind me:

Then I came to the 30-ton bridge. At first I panicked. I didn't think I could drive over this thing. It certainly didn't look sturdy and it didn't sound all that great hearing all the splintering and creaking as I drove over it. I then calmed myself by thinking, "30 Tons, Girl. As in the construction trucks that had to drive over these things (there were two of them) to install those high power poles and lines."

The St. Johns River at the end of the road:

On the way back, all the wildlife was out. I saw turtles -- HUGE ones:

A kormoran, egrets, and a tower of vultures:

At least a dozen armadillos:

Across the street from the entrance to the Tosohatchee Wildlife Management area are these mailboxes. If you can't read them, the bottom one is the home-owners name, the second one up says "Pony Express;" the third: "e-mail"; and I am assuming the top one says "Air Mail." I couldn't read it and I can't see it in the pictures, either.

And a perfect ending to a perfect day -- The Van of Discovery hits a milestone:

Skyline Drive

We traveled the Skyline Drive for two days. I think we missed peak for the fall colors, but still it was beautiful. In fact, I found the trees to be awesome all through Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Even parts of Illinois were pretty.
Our first night out leaving Connecticut was only 3 hours from home; barely over the Hudson River. We stayed at a Pilot/Flying J truck stop in Drums, Pa. The temperature on Ssturday morning was 29 degrees. We will experience severe fluctuations in temperature (from 29 degrees to 86 degrees) over the next two weeks.
Us Connecticut SoloTrekkers have a problem with helicopters. They seem to be everywhere we go. Peggy and I came across this one on our morning walk. She only walked halfway with me and told me later she stopped and talked to the pilot. This particular helicopter was delivering large construction beams.

This is a picure I took from one of the high peaks of my walk:

Our first destination with all five of us together was the Skyline Drive. We stayed at the Big Meadow Campground, which is just about the halfway point of the park.

The main room of the lodge at Big Meadow:

Luray Caverns

More pictures along the Skyline Drive

Trip Synopsis

Well, here I am, finally. Seven months since my last post. I've been away for so long Blogger completely changed their format. I am dating this post for the day I left, which is 10/12/12, although I've been on the road for 11 days. I finally have time to load some pictures -- I hope. The Wi-Fi here is terrible and it has been the first place I've even had Wi-Fi since I left home. Our schedule is/was as follows: The Skyline Drive with two days at the Big Meadow Campground. One side trip to see Lurey Caverns. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail, seeing 1.5 distilleries. Most of us decided that one distillery was enough. One side trip to a monestery and if I remember the name of it by the time I post the pictures, I'll let you know. The Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum. Two-point-five days in St. Louis, MO, which included the Anheuser-Busch brewery; Forest Park, which included the History Museum; the Arch; and the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. Our destination is a SoloTrekker Rendesvous in Branson, Mo. in two more days. Well, I guess there's no more time to load pictures. It stopped raining and I have to go dump my tanks before we head out for Sweetie Pie's.