Winter 2008 Week 4

It was a quiet, lazy day. We picked up the LCD projector at admin this morning and made sure it worked with our computer. After lunch we did some laundry and drove the wildlife drive then walked the boardwalk. It was pretty quiet on the boardwalk but we did see alligators and sand hill cranes. We went to bed early to be fresh and alert for Wyatt’s 9AM basketball game in Jacksonville.

What a great day with the boys! We were up at 6 to leave at 7:30 to get to Wyatt’s basketball game at 9 AM. It was fun to watch (see photos). The kindergarten kid’s game is six, six minute “quarters” and they are moving every second. We then went to Cracker barrel for lunch. After a quick stop at the house, we were off to the Pinewood derby races. Garrett’s car finished first in the Wolf Den (“Daddy knows all of the secrets to make the car go fast!!”). Wyatt’s car, designed like a black widow spider, competed in the Open division with cars built by siblings and parents. He didn’t finish in the top three but he got the award for the Scariest car. Grandpa and Scott planned to build cars but never got them finished on time. Scott was in charge of the race track this year and he worked tirelessly keeping the track, finish line sensors and scoring computer operating properly (yes, pinewood derby racing has come a long way!). After the race we went back to the house to pack the boys bag for their sleep over in the motorhome. Back at the coach we played Memory, a game where you put out a deck of cards face down then each player turns over two. If it’s a pair you keep them, if not you turn them back over and everyone tries to remember what was where. Grandma and grandpa were humbled by the boys who were very good at keeping track of the cards.

Superbowl Sunday began at 6:30 AM with little voices from the front of the motorhome followed by the meowing of a cat. Then more voices and more meowing. Ginger figured if anyone was awake, it was time for her to be fed! After breakfast Grandma gave the boys their Junior Ranger vests with nice new binoculars, bird books, flashlights, magnifying glasses and neat stuff like that. Unfortunately, Garrett was feeling lousy with a runny nose and cough. We gave him a baby aspirin and he went back to sleep. Sandy took Wyatt for a hike while Grandpa stayed with Garrett. After lunch Sandy and Wyatt went on a boat ride while Carl stayed with poor Garrett who was going through Klenex at an incredible rate. When the boat people returned we all drove to Jacksonville to watch the heartbreaking Superbowl.

Today we packed up and drove to Brooksville, FL for the FMCA SE Area Rally. There are 1600 motorhomes registered so there will be at least 3,000 people. We will staff our booth from Wednesday through Saturday and give our presentation on Wednesday afternoon.

We set up the booth today and checked the venue for our presentation tomorrow. We will present in the entertainment tent, set up for 3,200 people. Our presentation may be many things but “Standing Room Only” will not be a problem ;-). In the late afternoon we joined the Chai group of Jewish motorhomers for a social hour. A few were familiar faces from previous rallies, most were new people. As the sun set, a very special thing happened. It was announced that three members, including a man we met last year whose wife passed away six months ago, needed to say Kaddish, the Jewish memorial prayer. We had a short prayer service and as we stood outside on this fairgrounds, facing east towards Jerusalem, we all said Kaddish. It felt really good to be part of this Jewish community on the road.

We staffed the booth from 8:30 to 4:00 today. It was very busy in the morning and several people stopped by to say they were coming to our seminar at 11:45. In the morning we took turns staffing the booth while the other shopped or attended a seminar. At 11:30 we set up for the seminar in the corner of a huge tent. We were pleasantly surprised when 50 people attended! The presentation went very well and several attendees expressed interest in volunteering. At 5:00 we went back to where the Chai group was parked for a pot-luck supper, another brief prayer service and a slide show about Fantasy tours trips (One of the Chai members is a rep for Fantasy). We then went to see the evening entertainment. It was a fun show with a couple singing songs about RVing like, “I hate those barrels on the highway” and “I left my Toad in Pensicola” sung to the tune of I left my heart in San Francisco. Back at the coach, we got an email and photograph from the Sanctuary Stitches group in New York, showing the presentation of the afghan Sandy knitted to a family leaving the shelter. All those hours of knitting were rewarded by the smile on the face of the mother receiving the blanket.

Another long day at the booth but it was cooler today. It was not so crowded today but several people came by to say they had enjoyed our presentation. Many of the people we speak to are snow birds who drive past the refuge twice a year. We tried to convince them that Okefenokee was worth a stop along the way. We also had several inquiries about volunteering at refuges. We took turns staffing the booth and attending seminars. When the exhibit area closed, we just returned to the coach to relax. The entertainment for the evening was about to be introduced when they announced that there was a problem with the electrical system. First we were advised to calmly leave the building if the main lights went out. A few minutes later they decided to evacuate the building and we all walked out into the night. After milling around for a few minutes they announced that the evening program had been cancelled.