So here I am, sitting in a rocking chair on the porch outside the laundry room writing this. I’ve got country music running on the computer and enjoying a petty sunset and a warm breeze. My laptop is in fact, in my lap and life seems to be not too bad.
I’m doing the laundry simply because tomorrow is moving day. I spent much of the trip to date learning about RVs and trailers. I decided to upgrade to a new one from my 11-year-old Mallard that I purchased a few months ago to a new Summerland. Basically, I bought the Mallard cheap up north and here at Lazydays, just outside of Tampa and the world’s largest RV dealer, I moved up to a new model. I actually got almost what I spent on the Mallard in trade-in. I’m bringing the Mallard into the prep area here at Lazydays where they will set it up side-by-side with my brand new Summerland and I can take my time moving in. They are about the same size but the new one has much, much more storage area. The floor plan is much more roomy and three windows on the back and rear of each size makes it even more open and inviting. I have a separate freezer and an oven and extra burner on the stovetop. Lots of improvements are obvious, the best being far, far more storage room, especially in the outside compartments. The brand new décor is nicer too.
In the meantime, they’ll be giving me driving lessons so I can back the thing up, which has been a chaotic (and funny) situation a times. My first attempt to back in took nearly two hours. My latest attempt was unsuccessful and I put the truck in 4-wheel drive and drove through another site to get where I am.
In the meantime, I’m multi-tasking. Since I’m going to be here at least six more days, maybe more, I’m taking the truck into a body shop to have the scar on the side fixed on Saturday morning and will have a rental car at least five days. The scar was the result of an unfortunate incident with a light pole at a shopping center. After the RV is shaken down, Lazydays will tow it back to the campground for me. When the truck is ready, I’ll just hitch it up and move on.
Taking care of some other business too. Talked to my real estate lawyer to ensure that the proceeds from the escrow go to me, and not my darling bride. Talked to Metropolitan Insurance Co. about the homeowners insurance refund today. They are insisting that they credited my card for the refund. I read them off the check number my wife has and they then insisted that they can’t cancel it until April 1 because their records show that my account was credited! I said the date seemed appropriate since they were being complete fools.
RV people continue to amaze me with their friendly ways. Was talking to another spring training person from Tennessee and we talked baseball, RVs and laundry. He was about 30 minutes ahead of me on the cycle and he gave me about a half hour on his dryer, which was enough to take care of my clothes. It’s the small things about these people. They’re always willing to lend you a hand and I could swear they are, as a group, just about the most honest people I have ever met. When I was checking in here, an older man had a $100 bill in his hands that the wind blew away and a kid ran after it for more than 100 yards and returned it. He adamantly refused a reward.
At the pool today, I talked with people from Canada and Washington State. I am really getting a handle on the “snowbird” mentality. I think it is a lifestyle I like. I saw a tee shirt with a trailer on it. It said “home is where you park it” and my mindset seems to be there. At the senior citizen housing where I live in New York State, people are waiting to die. The big event of the day is waiting for the mail. Here, people are living in the here and now, enjoying their lives. For them, the “golden” years are gold. And because they follow the sun, winter is something you only hear about. This week – the first full week of spring – it was snowing, sleeting and icing. March is going out like a lion. I’m sitting here in mid-80 degree weather swimming and using the air conditioner.
I kind of expected a “class” system here but you have half-million-dollar bus people, getting along just fine with $15,000 trailer people. It’s fairly cheap to camp here, especially since they give you a free breakfast and lunch. It’s not anything great, but it’s adequate. It is southern, however and biscuits and sausage gravy wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for breakfast yesterday. They had a sort of sausage McMuffin today. There's always cold cereal and sometimes grits. I hate grits dating back to my Army days.
After I get my laundry done, I’m heading back to the pool. Thought I could get there earlier today, but the cool of the evening sometimes works better than the heat of the day. The pool is screened off so insects can’t get in and by-and-large, there are very few bugs. That wasn’t the case in Georgia where gnats started buzzing around. The first few days were fine but the last few they were really intense.
Saw a spring training game last night as the Yankees beat the Blue Jays. It was really good to be in a ballpark again. I hadn’t been to a game since chaperoning my NYC kids back in Spring 2001. All the players I’ve been watching played last night and there was a great rally in the 7th inning where they scored four runs and just about every one of the stars got a hit. Saw Phil Hughes start and Mariano Rivera pitched an inning. On Monday, the last game of the Spring, they’re giving away replica championship rings, this one of the 2000 champs who beat the Mets in the only subway World Series. Someone who got one last year tells me that they’re very nice. The games start for real in six days and so these last training games feature the best players as they get their final tune-ups. And while the intensity isn’t like in the regular season, they’re playing hard.
Baseball is something that is very much a part of me. As a kid, I played sandlot ball after school every day and some high school ball before wrecking my knee. Both my parents took me to the games. My favorite memory is one summer day in 1961 at the height of the Maris – Mantle home run race. I was sitting in the 75¢ per seat right field bleachers and I saw my favorite player, Roger Maris, knock two into my area. Then, after being deliberately walked twice, Mickey Mantle rocketed one against the wall of the back of the third deck in right field. It was still going up when it hit the wall. If it had been about 10 feet to the left, it would have gone out of the stadium, and no one ever hit a ball out of Yankee Stadium. Early in my courtship with Rosemary, I took her to a ball game. She hated sports and we frequently fought over it when I wanted to see a game. So I took my mother a couple of times, but over the 30 plus years, I only went a few times with my church groups. But now, I’m seeing three games in a week. It feels really good.
