Author Archives: Sparky
Sparky and Son, movers
I helped my son empty out his storage unit in Ocala last week and move it all to his new rented house in North Fort Myers – a 3-hour trip each way. Add in about 3 hours of loading and unloading the U-Haul truck and what you have is a very long, exhausting day. His … Continue reading
“Sundays at Tiffany’s” by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
Book copyright 2008 by James Patterson. Audiobook copyright 2008 by Hachette Audio and published by Books on Tape, Westminster MD. Narrated by Ellen Archer. I don’t normally review audiobooks because I feel that listening to a book while I drive both avoids the effort of actually reading the book and allows my mind to wander, … Continue reading
“Licosa” by Nick Goulding
Copyright 2021 by Nick Goulding. Published by Libel Press. Full disclosure: the author is my nephew. Nick Goulding is one of the finest young men that I have ever known – a charming husband, dedicated father and a talented and successful chef and entrepreneur. Now I have to add “skilled author.” The man is going … Continue reading
The blog about nothing
With apologies to Seinfeld – the “show about nothing.” Well, a lot of people seemed to like the nothingness of that show, so I will list a few of the “nothing” things that I have done in my first month at my home base in Ft Myers: I got Rusty professionally groomed. He no longer … Continue reading
One year gone
Yesterday was the first anniversary of Jett’s death. I knew it was going to be a difficult day so I didn’t make any plans (except for the 6-month cataract surgery checkup – all good – which happened to fall on the same day). But I wanted to keep busy and, coincidentally, the task next on … Continue reading
My $553 faucet
I think I have mentioned that both of my bathroom faucets were useless for the entire 51 days of the TS7. The upper bathroom faucet was useless even longer – it was reduced to a dribble mid-summer. So my first RV maintenance priority when I got to Ft Myers was to fix the faucet problem. … Continue reading
TS7 wrapup
First, the numbers: 4,188 tow miles (the 4th-longest trip I have taken, after the GTW, STE and STW). 5,911 truck miles 51 nights 20 hops (shortest: 64 miles, longest: 367 miles) $2,453 in campground fees ($48.10 per night) 644.7 gallons of diesel fuel consumed for a total fuel expenditure of $1,989 ($3.09 per gallon average … Continue reading
TS7 Hop 20 – Ocala FL to Fort Myers FL
210 miles via US 27, FL-64, US 17, FL-70, FL-31 and FL-80. Cumulative tow miles: 4188, Truck miles: 381. Cumulative truck miles: 5911. The extra truck miles were due to refueling and chores in the Ocala area. I opted to take some back roads rather than the longer-but-faster (usually) I-75 route. I don’t like I-75 … Continue reading
TS7 Hop 19 – Dade City FL to Ocala FL
64 miles, almost all on US 301. Cumulative tow miles: 3978. Truck miles: 127. Cumulative truck miles: 5530. The extra truck miles were due to refueling and a bit of touring of central Florida. This was a short hop. So short, in fact, that I had to kill some time in the parking lot of … Continue reading
TS7 Hop 18 – Tallahassee FL to Dade City FL
226 miles via I-10, US 19, US 98, US 27, I-10 and US 98 (again). Cumulative tow miles: 3914. Truck miles: 235. Cumulative truck miles: 5403. The extra truck miles were to refuel. The RV GPS was pretty annoyed with me on this hop. Rather than taking the longer-but-faster route (I-10 to I-75) I opted … Continue reading