More to-do's that get put on our list

It seems that a number of things have been vying for our attention...

I posted about the battery in the Jeep dying. That caused the need to replace the battery go to the top of the to-do list - https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2023/02/to-dos-that-get-put-onto-our-list.html

Checking the new battery to make sure it has a good charge under load.

I had mentioned that we read that a faulty relay could be the cause of the intermittent starter-continuation problem that we've seen -- we looked up which relay is for the starter and have its number. We're thinking that we want to have a replacement on hand just in case. We've looked online and have not found them available from other sources, so we stopped at a Jeep dealership - they sell the relay, but had none in stock... oh well!

Carl has had a to-do on the list for a while to check the tow vehicle wiring - we seem to have a problem when the lights are turned on for Gracie that the turn signals do not blink on the Jeep. We don't usually have the lights turned on in Gracie, so it hasn't been a top priority, but Carl took at look at it while we were at the Escapees park because we were in a pullthru site and could test it while parked (hard to do when we're in a back-in site).

We thought it was a short in the connector for the electric at the front of the Jeep (picture above) - but Carl replaced that and it did not seem to help.

In the process, he noticed that one of the marker lights on the side of Gracie was not working, in fact, it was half full of water. It seems the seal at the top of the light was not sealing, but the one at the bottom was sealing well!

The socket was really corroded.

Carl got that cleaned up, and, amazingly, the turn signals on the Jeep seemed to work correctly even when the lights were turned on in Gracie. But... they did not seem to continue to work... so that task is still on the to-do list.

On Thursday evening, the toilet in Gracie stopped flushing. We figured that a spring had broken, but we didn't want to pull into it at night. However, it quickly went to the top of the to-do list!

On Friday morning, before we left the Escapees campground, Carl pulled the toilet off its base to try to determine what the problem might be. He jiggled a couple of things, and, it started working again... We cleaned a lot of the parts - a lot of it is either impossible to get to, or very difficult, when the toilet is in place.

One of the things we found during the cleaning was the model information for the toilet well hidden behind the unit. The tag was curled up, so Carl held it open while I took a picture. Now we should have easier access to get information about parts if we need them!

Some items get put onto our to-do list and may languish there for weeks before we get around to them. Other items push right to the top of the list! 

I remember several months ago, I was reading entries on a Facebook group for Newmar Dutch Star owners (Gracie is a Newmar Dutch Star), and one of the posters asked how we could stand it - that she and her husband had owned their Dutch Star only a few months, but that the RV had been in the shop for most of that time and they still had not gone on their first trip in it. She was concerned that everything would *never* be working. I responded to her that you learn to live with some things not working, you need to decide what things are non-negotiables - what things *must* be working or you can't travel. I wrote that, for me, the only things that are non-negotiables are the engine and the toilet - everything else can be done without, at least for a little while! Well, within this last year, we had a problem with the engine (or, a component of the engine: https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2022/05/well.html, https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2022/05/our-tale-from-thursday.html, https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2022/05/gracie-is-fixed.html), and now the toilet... Thankfully the engine was able to be fixed within a few days, and the toilet was able to be fixed in just a couple of messy hours (and we were at a campground where we could use their restroom overnight!). But... these two items are still on the top of my list of things that need to be working!!!

Tuesday visiting

On Tuesday, we had arranged to visit Patti's former manager and co-worker, Barbara, in Hudson, Florida.

On the way, we drove by the house in Holiday where Sue's parents had lived when they first moved to Florida.

When Sue and Carl had driven by back in 2016, the lot next door was vacant. It now has a new house built on it.

Three houses down from Sue's parent's house was the house where Sue's aunt, her mom's sister lived - it is currently for sale.

Strange coincidence: the realtor's last name is Wozniak, which was also Sue's aunt's last name!

We drove on up to Hudson, stopping at Hudson Beach - it doesn't really have much sand.

A picture of me along the wall next to the water - behind my right shoulder is the building where Barbara and David live.

Barbara and David's building from the visitor parking area - they are on the corner on the 6th floor on the far left side (actually outside of this picture).

A view of the Gulf from one of their two balconies.

David and Barbara

We went for a walk on a nature trail that goes on the barrier island that protects the lagoon in front of their condo.

On the path

A large seabird with wings extended seemingly drying its feathers.

Barbara and David's building from across the lagoon.

Sunset over the Gulf from their condo

It was nice getting to visit with Barbara and David and getting caught up, at least a little, with what is going on with them!

Happy 3rd Anniversary to Us!

Thursday, February 2, was our third anniversary.

We celebrated by going to Pine Island Beach on the west coast of Florida. A couple of kayakers off the southwest facing beach.

Lots of birds on the beach.

The birds are being "herded" by us walking beside them on the beach side and another group of walkers on the water side.

We did not really remember seeing a sea bird like this before -- Carl used Google Lens (using the camera on his phone) to identify it as a Black Skimmer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_skimmer)

There must have been cooler air out over the Gulf as there were bands of fog that came and went while we were there.

On the beach - looking west across the Gulf. We wondered how far Galveston would be if we took a boat from this beach to there -- Google Maps showed us that it was about 735 miles, and that Galveston is a tiny bit further north and Pine Island.

A look down the part of the beach that faces more northwest.

Obligatory selfie. While we were there, one of the birds gifted Carl with poop on his hat... someone told us that was good luck?

We decided to go for late lunch at LongHorn Steakhouse.

The waitress took a picture for us.

After delicious steaks and baked potatoes, we had a "Chocolate Stampede" for dessert!

A nice day celebrating our 3rd anniversary!

To-do's that get put onto our list!

We had plans to get up and going early on Monday to go to the Webster Flea Market... but the Jeep had other plans...

... it would not start...

We have had an "issue" with the starter (the starter sometimes continues to try to activate (start the Jeep) even after the engine is running), so we weren't positive whether the issue might be the starter or the battery. It sounded like the starter would try but just not get enough juice. Carl got his jump box to see if it would provide enough charge, but that did not seem to be working. He got his battery load tester out and definitively identified that the battery did not have good charge. Thankfully, the Jeep was parked at the back of Gracie, near the engine batteries, close enough to hook up the jumper cables. That wasn't working either until we started Gracie, and then the Jeep got enough charge to start. We ran it for about 20 minutes, and then turned it off and re-started to make sure that we felt comfortable going to the flea market before going to get a battery. We also took the jumper cables with us to the flea market, just in case.

After the flea market, we decided to go to Advance Auto as we had a gift card with money on it from turning in cores from the replacement of our house batteries back in November 2021. I ordered the battery we needed online as we drove there (got a 5% discount for ordering online)...

Carl went in to get the battery, and the fellow behind the counter brought it out and changed out the battery.

Interestingly, when I started it after the battery was replaced, the Jeep did its "starter continuing to try to start the car after engine is running" malfunction. We have, so far, been successful in just cutting it off and back on, and I did that. This is the first time it has ever malfunctioned when someone else (and who might know something more than we do about cars!) would hear it (it never malfunctions around my brother or at the shop!). The Advance Auto guy said that usually the problem is a starter relay on which the contacts were getting sticky. We did a little internet searching and it sounds as if that might be the case and a replacement relay is not very expensive... so we might just replace the relay. Unfortunately since the problem occurs randomly, I guess we won't know for sure it is fixed... but if it happens again, I guess we'd know that it is *not* fixed!

We also stopped at the Bushnell Post Office to pick up a box containing our mail (since mid-December) that we had requested to be sent to General Delivery by our mail forwarding service.

We wrapped up our day out with a late lunch / early dinner at Beef O'Brady's.

Carl told me (and our waitress) a story about eating at Beef O'Brady's near their townhome in St Charles, Illinois. They have boneless wings and will serve them with one of several different sauces. At that time, he really liked very hot and spicy food and asked for them to be prepared with the "Atomic" hot sauce - their hottest choice. The cook came out of the kitchen and specifically asked him for confirmation that he would want that, indicating that it was VERY HOT. Carl concurred that he did. He ate it, and he enjoyed eating it, but he said that he could pinpoint the location within his digestion tract of those wings throughout whole digestion process. From that point on, he has not enjoyed really hot foods - he still likes things spicy (spicier than I like), but no longer flaming hot.

Webster Flea Market

We weren't originally planning to stop at the SKP (Escapee) park in Bushnell during this trip to Florida, but one of the Thousand Trails parks at which we had reservations for this time was hard hit by Hurricane Ian, and, back in December, we weren't sure that it would be open to accommodate us. So, instead of waiting until later to find out, we decided to see what other options were available, and booked a 6-night stay at the SKP park instead. Carl and Sue had been here back in 2016 and he remembered visiting the Webster Flea Market while here, so we decided to visit it on Monday.

This is said to be the largest flea market in Florida. If there is a larger one, I have no interest in visiting it!

All sorts of things to see and buy!

It is called the Webster West Side Swap-O-Rama (https://websterwestsidefleamarket.com/). This is near the middle of the 40 acres, a roofed structure with little sheds for the vendors to leave items for the week between the Monday sessions.

I saw this set of aqua bowls that I remember our family having when I was growing up...

I did not notice the price on them until I was reviewing the pictures for the blog... It appears that they were $225 for the 4 piece set! Oh. My. Goodness. I am afraid that possibly Dwayne and I got rid of the set from my growing up when we were downsizing to go fulltime in the RV. Who knows? - this might be the set from my childhood!

Carl took a picture of this and said, "Here's our next RV!"

There was an area where fruits and vegetables were available.

Lots and lots and lots of *stuff*!

It was a warm day and quite humid - the shade was appreciated!

There were a couple of eating places on the grounds. This one had a fellow singing to entertain the customers as they were in line (or passing by).

More stuff...

... and more stuff...

One vendor was selling French Bulldog puppies (this was a statue on top of the kennel with puppies).

And more stuff!

This was out toward the county road near where we had come in - a lot of vendors out in the open or with "EZ-up"-type canopies.

It appeared that some of the vendors were primarily selling items wholesale to other folks who then may take items "home" to re-sell in other states or communities. We talked to one guy who specifically recommended some flashlights that he had purchased in a previous year from a particular vendor - he was purchasing another 50 to take back to Arkansas (I think) with him. 

At another vendor, I was looking at a top and asked a worker how much it was - he asked me if I just wanted one or a multiple. I asked how many made up a "multiple" (I thought maybe I would be interested in two if I could get them in different colors) and he said 12 or more... uh... no...

We purchased one top for me (although not from the vendor selling multiples) and we got a number of different fresh vegetables and some navel oranges. 

We heard that the market is over 40 acres. We think we walked 1/2-2/3 of it... and we were TIRED! Walking slowly around seems to be a lot more tiring (and painful!) than a brisk walk!