Sur La Table

This morning Laurie drove us south to Palm Beach Gardens to do some shopping at Sur La Table. What a great store that is!

 I had a really good time looking at all of the gadgets and gizmos. Everybody bought something, so it was a successful trip.

 Appointment this afternoon with Stephanie Devaney, Physician's Assistant to establish connection with a Dr. in Florida. She was nice, everybody was nice, but the outcome was not satisfactory. The whole point was to have somebody here in Florida who could order blood tests weekly. We talked about it several times, she knew about it for sure, and yet when I got to the lab that person said that the order was just for today, and was not a standing order. She did the blood test, and said she would call the Dr.'s office to get the standing order, and let me know. I never heard more.

Burgers at Cricket Court

Chip is at work - flying to Montreal.

Dylan has tennis on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m.

So Monday is a good time to have L & D over for dinner at Cricket Court, if Dylan doesn't have a lot of homework.

He didn't have much homework - yay!  He requested burgers, and so Dick grilled burgers and shrimp.  It was really good, and Dylan ate two burgers - he was happy.  Ice cream for dessert - what could be better?

We had a nice evening visiting, talking to Auntie Jana on the phone, and just grooving.

Navy Seal Museum

 Laurie and Dylan drove us up to Ft. Pierce to see the Navy Seal Museum on a gorgeous, hot Florida day.

 On the museum grounds you can explore rescue vehicles, underwater personnel delivery vessels, a helicopter, WWII landing craft, space capsules, and much more. The sidewalk is lined with bricks engraved with the names of donors - I was amazed at how many were from the WWII era. One that made an impression on me was donated by a member of the Army Nurse Corps who was on Utah Beach on D Day. Wow.

 Inside is a complete history of the frogman/seal tradition, with many, many original items and uniforms on display. It was quite fascinating. There were two videos showing what the Seals go through while they're training. It's almost incomprehensible - they have to be super human. I couldn't get over how uncomfortable some of those underwater vehicles looked. And the huge Humvee has only 4 seats- that was a surprise.

UDT - Underwater Demolition Team

SEAL - Sea Air Land

S & R - Search and Rescue

Back in Palm City we had dinner at Hurricane.  What a contrast!

Round Robin

We met Laurie over at Martin Downs Sports Resort.  Dylan was already playing when we got there.  We were really impressed with the improvement he is showing, especially in his serve.  It used to be a problem for him, but now he has overcome that, and he's really quite good!  In this Round Robin he won every match except the doubles.  Hooray!

The tennis pro is Cyrus - really interesting person.  And he went to college in Big Rapids!

  Cyrus Krefting, Head Tennis Professional

Cyrus Krefting is a Tennis Registry (PTR) certified Tennis Professional originally from Cincinnati, OH. Cyrus attended Ferris State University, majoring in Professional Tennis Management. He arrived at our club with a passion for the sport of tennis and a dedication to its players. Cyrus has a history of training sectional ranked players in the Florida, Mid-Atlantic and Southern sections of the United States Tennis Association (USTA). He has been involved in several USTA programs including RalleyBall and Quickstart Tennis. While at Ferris State, Cyrus competed in the NIRSA Midwest Championships, advancing to the National Championships. He has also played In the USTA Florida State Championships at the 5.5 level. He enjoys introducing tennis as a lifetime sport to all ages.
Cyrus’ goal is to provide positive and memorable experiences for the patrons of Martin Downs Sports Resort. Previous places of employment include: Camargo Country Club, Van der Meer Tennis, the Florida Tennis Center, Georgetown Prep Tennis Club and the Lexington Tennis Club. He is excited to be a part of the team at Martin Downs Sports Resort.

Comcast

The Comcast Saga

We moved into our unit on Monday about 3 PM. Lois, the mother of the

landlord, came over to greet us and while she was here she

demonstrated the use of the TV's. We asked about WiFi and she told us

to contact his daughter Kathy, the owner. On Tuesday, Nancy called

California and explained what we wanted. Kathy said she would contact

Comcast and tell them to add our name to the account. She said that we

should then go to the local Comcast store to pay for the Internet and

pick up a modem and router so we could hook it up and be in business.

Wednesday morning when Nancy got up she discovered that the TV in her

bedroom did not work. It displayed a message saying that there was a

problem with the connection. The other two TV's still functioned. We

drove north to the store and talked to the clerk, Yaritza. We

explained the situation, that we were renting a house for a month and

wanted to add WiFi to the account. She took our information and

charged us $25 for six months of Internet and $6 for rental of the

hardware. She filled large red bag with equipment and sent us on our

way.

Back home, we checked the contents of the bag. There was a Netgear

router just like ours and a modem. In addition there were three

packages with remotes and other stuff. Why? We wondered why because we

already had them with the TV's. I got to work hooking the router and

modem up, it took a while but I was successful. That was the good

news, the bad news was that now we only had one TV working.

I called Comcast and spoke to a technician. He spoke with a heavy

accent and I had a hard time understanding him. He was asking for the

numbers on the cable boxes for the TV's which were not working. I read

them off to him including the whole "A as in Able" thing. He told me

that they would be activated but there was no immediate change.

Chip and Laurie came over with the Christmas decorations and Chip took

a look at the situation. The two TV's were still not working. He

checked all the connections. In the bag in each package with the

remote was a cable box. Chip swapped out one of the "new" boxes for

one that didn't work, no luck. The puzzling thing was that the small

TV in Jana's room was still functioning. We switched that box with the

one in Nan's room and  - - It worked! I decided to switch it to the

main TV in the living room in the morning, I'd had enough Comcast for

one day.

Thursday morning, we still had Internet but now the last TV was

defunct. Another call to Comcast. This time the respondent spoke clear

English. I went over the entire story with her and she decided we

needed a home visit from a technician. The earliest she had one

available would be Sunday morning so we set up an appointment.

On Sunday morning, the tech came and we went over the situation one

more time explaining the situation, showing him what we had done and

what we had in the red bag. He got on the phone and repeated most of

what we had told him. He then gor into the bag and removed the cable

boxes from the packages. He read the numbers off to the person on the

other end of the phone and then replaced the connected boxes with the

"new" ones. TA! DA! Success! The end of our problem except - -

The cable account is now in our name. Apparently when Kathy called

them they did not add our name to the account, they transferred the

entire account to us. The cable boxes, router and modem are our

responsibility. When we move out at the end of the month we must

remove the boxes, modem and router and return them to the Comcast

store thus leaving the home once again cable free. Further more, we

are responsible for the monthly bill. Oh well, we needed a project for

the post Christmas time. I'm sure it will go well since all of our

contacts with Comcast have been gratifying.

Dennis and Chris

This morning Laurie and Chip came over and brought us all kinds of good things.  Chip had been storing our little grill for two years, and it's now on the patio.  Laurie keeps our rental Christmas decorations - greenery, a small tree, a couple of Santas, etc.,  so now we are decorated for Christmas.  They carried in box after box of things we have ordered for gifts and shipped to their house - isn't Christmas fun?

At 1 p.m. we met Chris and Dennis for lunch at Duffy's in downtown Stuart.   We had a great two hour visit, good food, and good conversation.  We always have fun with them - it's not easy to find people who are aligned with us religiously, politically, and most other ways in this day and age.  We are really comfortable with them.

We led them back to I-95, and then headed to Laurie's house, which was very nearby.   We got a chance to see the photo book online, that she's been working on for weeks.  It's filled with beautiful pictures of Laurie and Dylan's trip to Japan last May.  It will be a real keepsake.

We hung around until Dylan got home from school - he was a little late because of after school meetings.  Then we stayed for pizza, and came home to do laundry.  We were on the road for five days before we got here, so laundry was calling me loudly.

Settling In

Our house rental is owned by Kathy and Matt, who live in San Francisco.  Matt's Mom, Lois,  is our local contact.   She stopped by this morning to pick up a Christmas present she had been storing here.  She brought information about Cacheapalooza, and events at Jonathan Dickinson State Park.  She has some connection there - on the Board of Directors maybe?  Something like that.  Anyway, she's very nice, very interesting, and very helpful.

Errands today...First, lunch at Mulligan's.  Over to Comcast to resolve our internet issues (more later).   Grocery shopping at the Summerfield Publix - a really nice store.  We were tired, Dylan had tennis from 6 to 8, so we just had a light supper here and plan on seeing them tomorrow.

Cricket Court

From Valdosta to Gainesville, there was very dense fog on the freeway.  By the time we reached Gainesville, it had lifted, and we saw the blue skies and palm trees of Florida.

We got on the Florida turnpike, and stopped at the Canoe Creek Plaza for lunch.  The turnpike seems to be remodeling their plazas, and there was construction everywhere.  At Canoe Creek, when you enter the building, there's a huge sign which says "RESTROOMS OUTSIDE".  Huh?  Turns out to be restrooms in a trailer - not as bad as you might think, but still a little weird.  There seemed to be a big fire raging right across the road from the plaza.  Tons of smoke and flames billowing up above the trees - what's up with that?  No one seemed at all alarmed, and there were no fire trucks or anything there.

The food court turned out to be four sets of tables and chairs out by the parking lot.  We each bought a muffin and ate on the road.  The most unsatisfactory lunch stop ever.

But after all, the sky is blue, the fog is gone, the temp. is 80, and we're almost to Palm City!

Laurie wanted to surprise Dylan with dinner at Flanagan's, and we were the surprise.  We sat at Flanagans's and waited for them to arrive - our server was excited, too.  It really was a surprise for Dylan :)  He couldn't believe it!

Valdosta

Richard planned our trip so that we would drive through Atlanta on Sunday morning, hoping that traffic would be much lighter in our nemesis town.  Yay!  It was still stressful, but a great improvement over previous expeditions.

We were listening to the local NPR station on our way through.  The laugh of the day was that the station is partially funded by the Legal Seafood Restaurant, located across from the Atlanta Aquarium!
That's like having the Chinese Buffet next to the Humane Society!

We had the Sunday Buffet at Shoney's - it was the best ever!  Everything tasted like real home made food - it was really delicious.  Dinner in Valdosta at Olive Garden.

Geocaching

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12/02/2012	You found Ivy League Hotel		Visit Log
We are passing through on our way to spend Christmas with family in Florida. After a long day on the road, we checked in to our room and realized that there was a cache right across the street. We quickly found the beautifully camoed container Took nothing, left our flashlight. There were two bugs in the cache but we didn't think we could help either of them. A great start to our evening, unfortunately, it all went downhill from here.
12/02/2012	You found Rain Water		Visit Log
Not bad once we figured out what to look for. Cords were right on. Signed log and replaced as found.
12/02/2012	You posted a note for sam's other place		Visit Log
When we saw that this one hasn't been claimed in 9 months, we figured "Why bother?" the owner has ignored numerous calls for maintenance.
12/02/2012	You found It's Academic		Visit Log
Almost DNFed this one too. Signed log and replaced as found.
12/02/2012	You couldn't find Not Eggzackly		Visit Log
A frustrating evening after a long drive.
12/02/2012	You found Trash to Cache in a Flash		Visit Log
A find in Valdosta! After DNFing 4, it felt good to grab a smilie. Took 0, left our flashlight. TFTC
12/02/2012	You couldn't find Kimberly's Park		Visit Log
Don't know, cords put us in the middle of the road. Didn't feel comfortable searching someones front yard.
12/02/2012	You couldn't find Dinosaur Park		Visit Log
Should have known better than to search for a cache that the locals can't find. Cords took us to the middle of the path, no luck.
12/02/2012	You found Is anyone selling cold drinks out here tonight?		Visit Log
A challenge, almost gave up. Signed log and replaced as found
12/02/2012	You couldn't find Tall is Small		Visit Log
Very busy drive through. It wasn't in the obvious spot, we didn't search further

Dalton

After we crossed the Tennessee State line, and before we got to Nashville, we went past a horrible crash on the southbound side.  We were in stop-and-go traffic bumper to bumper traffic for 3.2 miles.
There were signs alongside saying "Emergency Scene Ahead".  That's a first for us (thank goodness).

Two semi-trucks had crashed through the guardrail - just sheared that guardrail completely off - and rolled down an embankment.  There were four huge wreckers waiting to do their thing.  There were two heavy equipment vehicles with cranes to do the preliminary lifting.  Many police cars and ambulances - and all of these emergency vehicles had their lights flashig and blinking - it was quite a sight.

Fortunately, thinks were very quiet and smooth after that.  We had good weather, moderate traffic, and a short travel day.  That was enough stress for one day, anyway!

Lunch at Shoney's, dinner at O'Charley's.

		12/01/2012	The 13th "Bush"?	Georgia	Visit Log
		12/01/2012	Heritage off the Track	Georgia	Visit Log
		12/01/2012	April Rain on Loveman Island	Georgia	Visit Log
		12/01/2012	Sonic, Mommy, Sonic!!	Georgia	Visit Log
		12/01/2012	Kid's Car Cache	Georgia	Visit Log
		12/01/2012	Red Headed Step Child	Georgia	Visit Log
		12/01/2012	The Five Zero Wally World Cache	Georgia	Visit Log
		12/01/2012	STOP!! THERE IT IS

Elizabethtown

Last year going south we saw many dead deer by the side of the road.  This trip we didn't see one at all until we were almost to Indianapolis.  Indiana also has the honor of providing the first yucky bathrooms - messy, beat up, with no warm water!

We found Indianapolos traffic to be really heavy.  The exits were confusing.  Thank goodness for Nuvi.

We ate lunch at Roadhouse USA - fish and chips.  Great chips!  Later we had the same kind of great chips at Mulligan's in Stuart.  Unique chips.

		11/30/2012	G.W.A.T	Kentucky	Visit Log
		11/30/2012	Stop By and Say Hi	Kentucky	Visit Log
		11/30/2012	Food and Fun for Kids	Kentucky	Visit Log
		11/30/2012	Wilmoth Walkway	Kentucky	Visit Log
		11/30/2012	Row of Trees 2	Kentucky	Visit Log
		11/30/2012	Bluephoria	Kentucky	Visit Log
		11/30/2012	Skyscrapers	Kentucky	Visit Log
		11/30/2012	Elizabethtown