Patricia leftovers.....wind & rain

The tail end of hurricane Patricia is passing through Gulf Shores today with winds up to 35 mph and lots of rain, last time we checked it was 4 inches.  Judy did her water aerobics class this morning then we went to the Shrimp Basket for lunch.  The road to the beach was closed due to the wind blowing sand all over but we went through a restaurant parking lot and zig zagged to the beach to watch the waves, the biggest we have seen in 9 winters we have been here.

Gulf Shores!!

Here's Judy trucking to Gulf Shores.  The weather forecast is for rain and wind (leftover from hurricane Patricia in Mexico) the next few days in Gulf Shores and we aren't very excited about this rally so we decided to leave a day early and beat the bad weather.  We were planning a 2 day drive but for an unknown reason we were both up early, 6:30, and on the road at 8:45, very early for us.  It's expressway all the way and we were in travel mode making good time so decided to make the 560 mile trip in one day.  This is a new one day mileage record for us!  We arrived at 4:30 local (Central) time and were set up and visiting with our winter friends before sunset. 

Site 60 at sundown.

As a reward Sunday morning we went to Krystal's for our favorite breakfast above.
Below is the beach on a cloudy and windy day,  It's Sunday so there were more people there than we expected; although you don't see them in the pictures.  One dad was in the water with his boy.

Living the RV Dream rally start

Judy likes pipe organs and happened to see there was a Halloween concert at a local Methodist church.  We both enjoyed it but the best part was a radio play mystery called Murder by Pipe Organ when a young girl played her part......when the announcer said there was a terrible blood chilling noise she walked to center stage and screamed as loud as she could.

                                       Can you tell she also likes palm trees?

November is right around the corner but the flowers down here are still very happy.  Christmas must be getting near too.........

Here's the opening of the Living the RV Dream rally.

Above Greg Gerber who publishes The RV Daily Report concerning the RV industry.

Above is the Geeks on Tour who provide lectures and videos on technical stuff.....smart phones, cameras and photos, applications and software programs.

Here's TechnoRV's presentation on how to optimize WiFi and internet access.  Of course they also sell hardware to accomplish this.

HELLO everyone!

Finished new roof!

Like that hat?  It's his own creation to help keep him cool and out of the sun.  Above he's blow drying the overnight humidity off the roof before he works on it below.

Below is after the second (grey) coat has been applied and the RV Roof Armor thick caulking is on all the roof penetrations. 

Below is the final white coat, the previous grey coat allows Dave to be sure he's covered everything in the finishing white coat.  All the covers and dish have been installed.

The first brown coat took a day longer to dry that expected so the total installation took four days.  The second and third days were 
cut short due the the rain and long dry times.  The first and last days were 9 hours each.  I'm sure this will fix the rear leak but not as sure about the front leak, that could be coming from somewhere other than the roof.  Time and weather will tell!

Start of our new roof

This summer we noticed a water leak on the inside rear wall and the outside Big Foot control compartment at the front of our HitchHiker.  Judy climbed onto the roof and saw the Eternabond tape between the front and back caps to the rubber roof had deteriorated.  We decided that rather than a quick and economical fix (replace the tape and caulk) we'd get a new lifetime roof so we don't have to get up there to check it or caulk it anymore.  In addition we don't have to be concerned about future rubber roof problems or new leaks.  It's much more expensive but has a lifetime warranty and needs no maintenance. 

 Here's Dave & Barb's setup at our site, they are the contractors doing the work.  He removed the vent covers, A/C covers and dish then cleaned the roof really good while Barb rinsed the dirt off the sides.

Below he's taping the edges to keep the coatings off the places it doesn't belong.

He uses a brush to do the cut in then rollers the large open areas.

Here's the roof at the end of the second day, this first coat preps the original rubber roof for the next two coats.  It rained in the afternoon so they only got half a day's work done.

He is tuff, it's in the mid to high 80s and very humid.  No way I can work outside in the sun in this weather!!  Wait until you see his next hat!

Horseshoe Cove; Bradenton, FL

Today we made the 108 mile trip to Bradenton to get our roof coated and waterproofed this week and attend the Living the RV Dream rally next week.  Neither of us like the area as its very busy with tons of people, traffic, retail business, condos & apartments & homes plus a large & tight 55+ retirement community and RV park. But.....we can tolerate it for 2 weeks.  We did go out for ludin at Sweet Tomato.....a soup & salad joint.  It wasn't as good as we remembered.  Hopefully we'll both sleep well tonight.

Bushnell, Escapee Sumter Oaks Park

This is our first time at this Escapee park, although our site was a very large pull through FHU it was only 30a and at $31 pricey.  It was only a 35 mile tow but we wanted to check the park out.  It's a 10+ minute ride to civilization.  Bev came down from Ocala (40 miles) on Friday after we did the laundry in Bushnell.  We went out to a German restaurant for ludin (lunch/dinner), Judy and I split veal schnitzel which was pretty good.

We were very close to the Florida National Cemetery so we drove through it.  There were several funerals in progress with Veterans performing the ceremony including 21 gun salutes.  It opened in 1988 and encompasses 513 acres.    

It has been hot, high 80s and very humid.  We waited until the Saturday evening cool down and washed the truck.  Neither of us slept very well Saturday night.