January 13, 2008 Apopka, FL

Today was a half cloudy and half rainy day. Florida surely needs the rain. The thunder was so loud that it sounded like it was striking right next door at times. I called Disney again today and was given an appointment for an interview tomorrow. I don't know what happened to change their minds or if it was just the first person didn't want to talk with me any more and this one did. It will be interesting and I am looking forward to the experience. It has been forever since I interviewed for a job. I have interviewed many prospective employees since I last interviewed myself for a position. I am also meeting Tuesday with someone about a little investigative work here in the Orlando area. We are so blessed. When one door closes, another always opens. Carol had another day where the pain was less than it has been in the recent past. We are praying that this is a trend. Warm temperatures may really work.

January 12, 2008 Lake City, FL to Apopka, FL

Today we traveled a short hop from Lake City to Apopka. This is a suburb on the northwest side of Orlando. We are in the Sun Resort. We are here for only three nights before we go to Clermont for two weeks. Since we made the reservation for here late, we do not have a sewer hookup. That means that we have to watch our water use a little more and then dump the tanks when we leave Tuesday morning. We are camped next to a lady that is a full time RVer, originally from Alto, MI. She travels alone in her big bus motorhome. She just attended a Job Fair at Disney and starts work there Monday. The job fair is probably why I was advised that their seasonal jobs were filled. Oh well, I wonder what is next. Do we stay around here longer and talk to Disney again or do we move west or to Carolina? The heat is apparently working better for Carol's knee. It did not give here the misery today that it has for so long now. Hopefully this is a good sign, we pray.

January 11, 2008 Undailla, GA to Lake City, FL

Today was a much shorter travel day - a pleasant dash down I-75 from South-Central Georgia to North Florida. There were many signs of the drought that has been plaguing this area for a long time. Dry and very low rivers and beds, brown grass, cattle standing alongside the roadway holding canteens out with signs stating "Will work for water." We are at the Casey Jones Campground in Lake City. This is small but a nice, clean park. We have full hookups and they also provide cable TV. Tomorrow we travel to Apopka, FL, a northwest suburb of Orlando. We will be at the Sun Resort there for three nights before going a few miles west to The Bees Resort in Clermont, FL. We should be there for two weeks. Tomorrow we will meet with a grade school friend, Dale, and then we will kick around Central Florida for a few weeks seeing what trouble we can get into. We are really hoping that the warm weather will take away some of Carol's pain in her knees. It was in the lower 70s today and really seemed nice to us Michigan Eskimos.

January 10, 2008 Berea, KY to Unadilla, GA

Today was a 450 mile trek. Tomorrow will be a saner trip - 165 miles. The day went from threatened tornado watches to beautiful sunshine. There are tornado warnings and severe storms and flooding west and north of us but hopefully it will miss us. We arrived at the Southern Trails RV Resort. We have stayed here it seems like at least six times, when traveling either north or south on I-75 past here. Traffic noise is a little loud because it is just off of 75 but it is clean and has very friendly people both working and camping here. There are many well spaced, old, large trees. Cable TV is provided. Bingo is tonight but we are both too tired to try it. Tomorrow morning is a free breakfast but, since we will be traveling such a short time, we will probably sleep in some and be too late for that. We missed the shot of the Georgia State Sign when we entered the state. So much to see that it is distracting sometimes.

January 9, 2008 Berea, KY

We had a difficult time sleeping last night. Heavy rains and extremely high winds made for an uncomfortable night. About 1:30AM, we brought in the slides. The wind and rain were really rockin' and rollin' and the slide covers (awnings) were flapping loudly and sounding like they would tear soon. When we awoke, the sky was almost clear and the sun soon came up and beamed at us all the way to Berea, KY. We saw some beautiful horse farms near Lexington and remarked again that we are going to spend some time there sometime, hopefully soon. We are at a nice campground here that we stop at regularly on our way north or south through here. Dale, an old friend from grade and high school called from Orlando. We thought that we were going to be seeing him next week but I discovered (again) that sometimes I really confuse things. He is leaving Sunday so we will try to put in some long driving days and see him Saturday night before they leave for South Carolina. This trip is only just beginning and already we have had heavy rains, high winds and a new reminder that Jim Boylan really does get confused.

January 8, 2008 Wapakoneta, OH STRONG WIND ADVISORIES

Change of plans. When we woke up this morning the wind was blowing at 15-20 mph with gusts up to 25 mph. A Strong Wind Advisory has been issued starting at 1:00PM today and running to 7:00AM tomorrow. They report sustained winds of 30-40
mph and gusts up to 57 mph. This is all the way through Berea, where we had planned on stopping next. We do not want to fight strong winds and trucks so we will stay here and try again tomorrow. At least it is warm here and the cooling tomorrow will not be too drastic. No snow in the forecast.