Northern Florida

We are on the move!

It has been a while since we posted as we have been busy in Port St. Lucie as I have previously mentioned. We have completed the things we wanted to do there for Pop and Bud and Megan has had a wonderful opportunity to be with her granddad and they had a truly heart touching moment together just as we were ready to pull away from the house. It made the trip worth while and the parting moment sweeter than any writer or director could have possibly suggested. I will explain in a few moments just what occurred.

Please make sure you check out the picassa picture web site - listed to the right under our info for all of the pictures that I do not get to post along with the stories.

I will just spend a few lines explaining what we were able to get done there and then on to the closing moment. It feels so completely great that we were able to help out. We are satisfied that what we did made a big difference for all of them living in that house. So...

We picked out and assembled a shower chair and a raised toilet seat with arms on both sides to allow Pop the ability to get up and down without getting stuck any more. A little dignity is nice. We also repaired the toilet that had been leaking for who knows how long.

We painted all of the gables on the exterior of the house. All of the areas where we painted have not been touched in about 30 years. We also painted the storage sheds out side that contain all of the tools and supplies that we normally put in basements or garages. (They have neither). We also painted five large exterior rolling racks/bookshelves that house plants and other decorations within the screened in pool area. We cleaned up outside by removing old electrical panel boxes and conduits that had been abandoned since the hurricanes several years ago. I patched the concrete block areas that became exposed as a result, as well. We also got rid of some things that were being stored outside of the sheds for various reasons but of no use.

Inside, we stripped the wall paper off of the main hall bathroom walls, patched and prepped the walls and ceiling, primed and finished painted them. We also hung new towel bars. In bedroom three we cleaned and finished painted the walls and trim a nice light sage green. In bedroom two, we cleaned and finish painted the walls a real light yellow. Then Bud cleaned the carpets. This gave us the opportunity to clear out the rooms of unwanted belongings and clear space for the move of some of Nancy's furniture over to the house that they will be living in after she and Bud are married in October. We went to her place and brought back her dining room set, framed pictures and paintings, dressers and a real nice futon frame and mattress. We relocated Buds older furniture over to fill the gaps in Nancy's place so it can still be used or rented or whatever.

Back at Pops we set up all the furniture in three rooms and reorganized it to work and hung all of the paintings. We then took on the task of hanging crown moulding in the Kitchen, Dining room and Living room. It is clear to me that we could go around America visiting all of the people we know in many states and do the same thing for them wherever we stayed. How nice is it to have someone come to your house and get the projects that have been waiting on the list for a while organized and completed while you are at work. What seems to happen is that then on the weekends the recipients are so fired up and motivated that we go right thru the weekend getting even more done. It is good for everyone involved. Those of us who like to help and those who enjoy getting the help.

Upon completion of those things we made ready to leave by collecting all of the various items that we had used and spread out throughout the many rooms of the house.

I will complete the story tomorrow. We are heading to St Georges Island on the Gulf tomorrow.

In the mean time here are some of the pictures from today. One of the coolest things we have done to date was to swim in the spring fed swimming holes that are a constant 72 degrees, as the 240+ million gallons a day , of perfectly clear, pristine water that stays underground in the aquifers for up to 40 years before it pushes up to the multitudes of the springs openings throughout Florida and turn into above ground rivers. It is no wonder that Ponce DeLeon thought these were the "Fountains Of Youth".

Jasper, eventually, became very brave and got off of his tube and swam with us in the crystal clear, constantly 72 degree water from the aquifer. We had a very special time here knowing that these springs have been here for a long, long time and that they were still here for us to experience.







The final piece I wanted to add to this story was the last minutes just before leaving Port St Lucie. Megan went in to Pops room to say good bye to him even though he seemed to still be sleeping. She stood by the side of the bed just gazing at him as if saying her goodbye in silence. Soon Jasper joined by her side as they bid him so long. As if noticing them there as he slept he gently awoke. He looked up and asked her what was going on. Megan told him that we were leaving and that she wanted to say good bye to him before we left. He asked "Where are you going?" She explained that we were heading off on the rest of our trip to travel across the US and into Alaska. He looked up at her and exclaimed, "really, wow! When are you coming back?"
I don't know exactly when we will return. We expect to be out on the road for the rest of the year," Megan told him. He looked at her in a gentle way and sweetly said, " Well, I'm sure gonna miss you and I love you a lot." With that Megan became teary and they hugged and kissed and Pop gave Jasper a hug and kiss too. They left the room and Pop drifted off back to rest. A very touching moment for Megan and a perfect closure to our visit.
From there we headed up to Lake City, Fl. This is just outside of High Springs where we experienced the cool spring water shown above. We stayed in this area for three nights and had a perfect viewing spot and miraculously clear skys from our campsite for the Lunar Eclispe on Wednesday night. We sure hope to got to watch this spectacular astronomical event. It was awesome and beautiful. We left lake City on Saturday morning and began our trek West to the panhandle of Florida.