So I'll get into the "flat tire" story in a little bit.
We left Mike Roess state park on Friday morning 2/20 and headed to Green Cove Springs which is somewhere in Florida I think. I am only the driver we could be in Georgia or in the Bermuda triangle for all I know. We found the golf course but drove around the city to kill some time. We found St. Augustine where the fountain of youth is but couldn't find it. I think the social security system tore it down we are all  living to long.
So we crawl into the half grass half asphalt parking lot and tuck our Minnie into the back and out of the way hoping we are not intruding to much on the golfers that may arrive early on Saturday morning to golf.
We used our generator that night. Turned it off to sleep and used the propane for heat.
Wake up Saturday with a 12:00 noon T-Time and set out to check the course. Now with all respect to cow pastures one could say that even the cows would starve on the buffet that was our fairways. Did we care..hell no we golfed liked we were cows. Here comes the best part. When we got done whaling away at the little white balls to the tune of about 120's, John the cart cleaner slash maintenance man told us to pull Minnie over to the side where we could hook up to the water and electric free. So yes there is a free lunch out there if you look hard enough.
We stayed Saturday and Sunday. We even took Santa out after the help went home. Did a little putting and road a few tractors and grass cutters.     

One of the nicer holes it actually had a tree on it and yes that is where my ball decided to play hide and seek with me. Still no alligator sightings!

  He thinks holding the flag earns him dinner or free beverage.
I should tell him to learn how to change a flat tire!

   So here is where the fun starts. We leave the fine people at River Bend Golf Links and start out on our next adventure. We are headed for Ocala National Forest. I assume we are still in Florida even though I have not seen one frigging alligator.
I gas up the Minnie and head down the highway whistling " on the road again" by Willie Nelson and BAM...no not the Emmeril cooking Bam but my rear tire shreds. It looked like the top of my head all shiny and little bits of silver showing. Thank God Karen jumped out and changed it...just making sure your still reading. I still had air in it sort of like my head so I drove about 3 miles and found a sign that read Cooper Tires. The problem was this place only did trucks like big trucks like Paul and Ed Trucks. The nice man inside gave us the phone number to Bud's Grocery inc and said they change tires too. So now I am really feeling quite relaxed knowing that Bud the "Grocery guy" is going to put me back on the road and if I need some potatoes he could bring them out in the mobile mechanic truck also.
Kevin "the Bud Guy" was very nice and changed that tire right there on the road rim and all. I asked him if he started out as a grocery bagger in the store or as a cart guy. He said no he was just the mechanic. So I told him I was just the cook but we both need Bud's Grocery to do our jobs. He just kept on working and didn't say to much.   

This is Kevin's Grocery/tire changer truck. If you look closely on the back it said IN HOME delivery and road service. What a nice guy though even gave me a free calender.
Funny part to this story is when I got out to check the "flat tire" I actually went over to Karen's window and did my best imitation of the Geico flat tire commercial. She laughed and it seemed to take the severity of the moment away and we solved our dilemma thanks to Bud and Kevin "the mechanic".    

So now we finished our journey to Ocala National Forest and found a great spot at Fore lake campground. Clean showers nice large bathrooms. The spots are huge and full of trees and palms. We are staying here for the next 6 days and just unwinding from all the breakdowns. Only 12 bucks a night and if I was 62 it would be 6 bucks but let's not push that one. I will leave you with some pics of the site. So until you read again have a laugh on me I'm buying  

      I felt compelled to start writing. I had mixed emotions about sharing all the fun stuff and nice weather we are experiencing. But I know David Cundy and Gabe are probably getting worried. Are they safe? Did a bear eat Joe? Did they run out of beer? These are very ordinary concerns. First off let me say we feel terrible about the negative temps you are experiencing. So I will not dwell on the 36 holes of golf we played or the sunburn that Karen(princess) got.
We got off to a very scary start. I came home from work Sunday and we decided to pack and try to out run storm Octavia. We packed it all up went outside and Minnie did not want to start. I jumped old Minnie with the van but decided to leave on Monday instead.
Monday morning we woke up to -4 degrees but I guess I don't have to remind most of my readers about that. I jumped the Minnie again and went up to Firestone and and bought a new battery. Well we jumped on the road and tried to get ahead of the storm. That plan went okay till we drove right into the eye of the storm. Trucks and cars all over the road and ditches. We did good but realized after several slow downs we needed to stop get a room and drink some of the beer. I convinced Karen we had to much weight and needed to consume some of the cargo.
 

  We stopped in Princeton WV, and that is probably the closest we will ever be able to say we went to Princeton. We had some food compliments of Mama Primozz and a nice comfortable bed at the Hampton Inn.  
Glad to be safe we got a good night sleep and got ready to take on Octavia(little bitch) the next morning.
Bad news fans... went out to warm up the Minnie and it wouldn't start. I was parked in a foot of snow and the plow trucks kinda buried me. So a very nice gentleman out for morning walk and cigarette(oxymoron) suggested I beat on the starter and I told him we haven't even golfed yet. Then the maintenence guy for the hotel came out and helped us beat on the starter. What does someone who cooks for a living use to beat on the starter...of course a meat tenderizer. After 1 hr of tenderizing the starter I decided to pray instead... and the son of bitch started. I grabbed the princess and took off down I-77. We drove for 400 miles never shutting Minnie off. Stayed at a Camping World in the parking lot just in case it wouldn't start in the morning.
Good news kids it started and we took off and drove to a campground so I could get the Minnie ready for camping. In the RV world we call it " summerizing the cabin". I am really trying to stay away from that summer word in fear that you might stop reading and destroy your computers.
So this takes us to Wednesday 2/18 and we are at Mike Roess Gold head State Park. So far all the plumbing is working and that is a good thing for reasons I won't get into! Building a fire tonight because we are cold ....oh sorry about that.
On our way now to River Bend Golf Links to use our membership in the golf-RV club. We'll see how this works? Maybe there is a free lunch out there. Well probably enough updates for now. I 'll let you know how the free camping in the parking lot turns out. So until we read again keeps the heaters on the beer cold and the laughter flowing!

See Barb Cats love me!!! I am so pet friendly!