January 21, 2008 Disney Eve

Tomorrow starts my new adventure, working at Disney World. Tonight we went grocery shopping and are now set for the next few days. We canceled our reservations to return to Apopka, FL, the Sun Resort where we were last week, and extended a couple of more days here before we move to Mouse Mountain, much nearer to Disney. We will be there for the duration of our stay in Central Florida. I am to report to Disney University, in Lake Buena Vista, FL for orientation and will be introduced to my new job (whatever it is) from there. Half of the adventure is discovering what I am going to be doing for them. Carol will be in the Monty by herself until I return. It will be just like staying home, though, because this is our home while on the road. Sure beats motels. The temperature got down to 39 last night but today was sunny and 70. When we compare this to the single digits and snow back home we just are grateful that we don't have to shovel sunshine here. I'll try to report on tomorrow's adventure tomorrow evening. (Oops, I see I added the wrong photo to this message. Don't know how to delete it so forgive my repeating one from an earlier post)

We went to Davenport, FL today and reserved a spot at Mouse Mountain RV Resort for the duration of our Florida stay. We will go there February 1. This is located near I-4 and US 27, southwest of Orlando. It is located 20 minutes from Disney World so it will save a jillion miles of travel to and from the park which also means that it will save a couple of hours a day that was to be used for travel, if we stayed where we originally planned right here or in Apopka. We know two other couples from the Montana Owners Club that are staying here. They are the folks that originally gave us the idea of working at Disney and giving us a good recommendation. This is a medium size park that is full. It is clean and nice and we met some very nice residents today. We then tried the trip to Disney - piece of cake. Coming home from Disney to Clermont was about an hour. There was an area near Disney that was full of tourist traps - freak shows and t-shirts. Some of the facades were very clever. Here are a couple of them. We are now in the Montana having eaten supper and watched TV to see if the tornado watches and warnings were ours. The watches were and the warnings were just north and just south of us. Tonight, if the rain slows down, we are going to a Sock Hop here at the park. That sounds like a lot of fun. Reminds us of high school days of yore.

January 18, 2008 Tampa, FL

Today we went to the biggest RV show that we have ever seen. It was held at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa. This show was huge. We have never seen so many RVs in one place before. The entire fairgrounds and probably all of their buildings were full of RVs. The parking lot was very large and it took us forever to walk to the show after we found parking. The distances covered and the up and down steps into and out of the RVs were very hard on Carol's knees. As large as this show was, it did not seem real well organized. It was difficult locating specific sites and models. We could locate no one that was assigned to giving information about the show. They provided a book with a map of the show but it left much to be desired for us in our quest to locate the Montana exhibit. We did see some great new models and additions and alterations. We also met with some friends at a MOC "Mini Rally" at the Montana exhibit. This was not an official rally so we did not stay there long but it was nice seeing some of the people that we have met in the past and also met some great new (to us) people. One of our daughters is looking for a "toy hauler" fifth wheel so that they can camp and take their dirt bikes with them. We saw a beautiful Mountineer toy hauler by Montana that would probably really fit their needs (or wants). It was cloudy all day. It was either raining lightly or trying to. The temps did get into the mid 70s, though. Tomorrow we are going to try to find a campground that is located closer to Disney. Locating the campground is not the real challenge. The challenge is finding one that is not filled up for the winter by now. This duck was in one of the ponds on the fairgrounds. Looks like no duck we have ever seen in Michigan.

January 17, 2008 Clermont to Disney to Apopka , FL

Started the day by driving to Disney University this morning in rush hour to see how long it would take. I was advised that, if I were one minute late, I would not be admitted to the class and would need to reschedule. That would set me back a couple of weeks and the visitors to Disney would also lose my presence. We then went to breakfast and then on to Apopka for some Chrysler work. We then came back home and I discovered that I still am not a very good satellite setter upper. Tomorrow we are heading to an RV show in Tampa so I will try the set up again probably Saturday. We also should probably try to set up where we will stay for the rest of the time we are down here. We are good until February 12 and probably OK after then but most places have been reserved for quite a while, now. Oh, well. Another part of the adventure.

January 16, 2008 Clermont, FL

We stayed close to the park today, with the exception of a trip to Best Buy, which is like Toys-R-Us for me. These birds live around The Bees, probably on the property because we see them all over. The Sand Hill Cranes and the, I think they are called "Long Orange Billed White Birds", hang in this wetland pictured and on campers' yards in the park. Tomorrow, because we are staying a distance from Disney, we will make a test drive to there to time the trip during the morning rush hour. I was advised that, if I arrive late at all for the class Tuesday, I will not be admitted and must make another appointment. Then, on the way back, we will do some work for our Chrysler account. As you can see, life on the road is tough.

January 15, 2008 Apopka, FL to Clermont, FL

This was a very short travel day. We went from Sun Resort in Apopka to The Bee's Resort in Clermont. It was about a 60 minute trip in heavy traffic at the start. When we get into the heavy traffic and get behind a snail-like Buick and can not see the driver's head - only a blue puff from the hairdo - I may say "Come on, you old f***." Carol will then remind me that I, too, am an old f*** now and I then relax and enjoy the trip. A very good friend, Dave, stopped by the Monty at The Bees and visited for a while. It was a very enjoyable time. Dave worked with Carol in Michigan when I first met her. I was a local police chief and Dave had a degree in Criminal Justice. He told her that he wanted to meet me. We met and soon I had hired him and he became like one of our sons. Anyway, it was fortunate for us that he happened to be on an assignment in the Orlando area while we were here.

January 14, 2008 Disney World

Today I interviewed with and was hired by Disney to be a "Member of the Cast" at Disney World. All employees are called Cast Members and even the Human Resources department is called Casting. The clothing that we will wear is called Costumes and now I feel that I have made it to the movies, finally. I will be working at a restaurant at the Hollywood Studios, formerly called MGM Studios. It all begins next Tuesday. Since I will be a seasonal employee and not full time, I will not be able to be Goofy. (I knew that you would like that) I could have worked full time and been placed into the Wide World of Sports area and been kept busy because the Braves play their Spring Training games here. I was not looking for a full time job so I was told that I will work two or three days a week. Tomorrow we move from Apopka to Clermont, a distance of only about 25 miles, to The Bees RV Resort. We will be there for two weeks and then back here for two weeks. Tomorrow we will meet with a friend who does work for Chrysler and pick up an assignment from him to work while down here. Carol can come with me on that assignment. We both got so used to her traveling with me for work that this seemed like just the right thing to do so that we can work together again, just like the old days.