Sarasota, FL

Welcome to Texas at Louisana state line

Last weekend was a busy one with activities at the church we attend in Homosassa. Loretta was feeling up to participating. Then on Monday we caught up on visiting that we had been forced to postpone.

Tuesday forenoon after farewells to Cal and Marilyn, we headed for Sarasota in beautiful weather. There were weather warnings north of us and we wanted to get away before they came that far south. However after dumping tanks and filling out stomachs at the Flying J near San Antonio, the weather started to change. We had some rain south of Tampa, and soon stopped at a rest area. I was very tired, so napped a while, and while there, very heavy rain and winds hit. No damage other than lots of leaves down, and it cleared up soon after we got on road again. We arrived at the Moose Club in late afternoon where we parked and got set up.

Wednesday we went shopping and to get Valentine's Day dinner. When we came out of the restaurant, I discovered a puddle of water under the front of the truck. I realized that it wasn't the small leak that I had treated earlier, and investigation made me suspect the water pump. We were only a few miles from Sun State International. I planned on returning Loretta to the trailer, but the water loss was excessive. So we went to the International dealership where they verified my suspicions. Preliminary estimate was over $900, but the work had to be done. They returned us to our trailer and took the truck back to the shop.

I expected them to get to the work that evening, however it was mid afternoon yesterday when they called. We had called longtime friend Jean Strauss and she was here when they called and provided transportation back to the shop. As I am coming down with a cold we didn't go into the club in the evening. Today (Friday) Jean came by and gave us a tour of downtown Sarasota especially the old part, then took us to a very interesting restaurant south of Venice named Snook Haven where we had lunch. After touring a couple of mobile home parks and visiting her home, we came back home to rest. We plan more visiting tomorrow before leaving this area.

GOD Bless
Andy and Loretta

Slow start to the year

Really don't have much exciting to report. Loretta still having some problems, BUT did get GOOD news last week. After viewing the latest test reports, her doctor cut the Prednisone dosage in half. It is now 10mg every other day and hopefully she will start to lose some of that excess weight. She is starting to feel better and hopefully we can visit some friends in the area soon. We have made plans to visit friends in Spring Hill on Tuesday.

We also had a spell of very good weather, so Cal and myself pulled the trailer wheels, inspected the brakes and packed the bearings. I was surprised to find that the brakes didn't show a lot of wear as we have pulled it about 30,000 miles and I don't know how far the previous owner pulled in the year they had it. I should give it a good cleaning both inside and out weather permitting too.

We sure were protected by our guardian angel this week. The tornadoes that did so much damage and resulted in many deaths were less than 5o miles away. In fact there had been tornado warnings a few miles from here earlier in the evening. We did have heavy winds and rain, but no building damage in the area. A few shingles off and dead trees and limbs down. Thank the LORD.

Other than that, not much to report.

Hope to hear from some of you!!!

Andy and Loretta
Andy@W2UCZ.com