Welcome to our Road Trip
Ships Log
LY (land yacht) Treasure Seeker
2005
Written by Gayla Kilbride
It all started because of the 2004 hurricane season sending 4 hurricanes way too close to our house in St. Petersburg. Thank goodness we did not get hit but they came way too close for comfort. I had enough to do with hurricanes on Saba Rock in the British Virgin Islands during the mid 1990's. It was time to get out of Dodge.
On January 1st, 2005 I put a "For Sale by Owner" sign in our front yard. within 10 days we had a contract with a 6 week closing. We all hated to leave our home but I just kept the hurricanes in mind. That made it much easier. I went into high gear to get out of the house by the closing date. I finished cleaning at 9pm. The closing was at 9am the next morning! I sent the moving truck along with Tim to Idaho. Tim will have the condo all set up by the time we get there.
So now a new life begins . . . . .
Jan. 22, 2005 - We drove to Nokomis to check out the RV's at Wandalan and ended up putting a down payment on a 1999, 36ft. Alpine Coach. It was the first one we looked at. The minute we sat down on that plush leather couch I new it was going to be our new home. It even has a recliner that fits Bert just right. It was the same layout as one I had picked out at the Tampa Bay RV Show just two weeks before.
Feb.. 11, 2005 - Parked in front of the house in the driveway. Bert moved into it the next day. The Land Yacht is soon to be our home. Started moving our things in. It has lots of storage space but still I’m finding I can’t take much. The plan is to write Bert’s book while traveling around the country. Bert will possibly be doing some Motivational Speaking.
February 23, 2005 - Chip Nary took the Land Yacht back to Wanda’s for us. We are having the closing on the house in 2 days then we fly to L. A. for the 205 IBI Global Forum. We’ll be in L. A. through Bert's Birthday on March 8th.
March 16, 2005 - I found Belle Haven Trailer & RV Park with Suzen, a friend of mine, on March 11th. I paid $275 for one months rent to start on March 14th but didn't’t get there until the 16th. Bert and I took the van to Nokomis to pick up the Land Yacht. Chip gave me a ½ hour practice run driving and a 1 hour walk through before I got behind the wheel to drive to our new home site, Belle Haven in Dunedin, Florida. Bert followed behind in the van. OH MY GOODNESS! It's a ship not a yacht. What have I gotten myself into this time ? ? ?
On the first try I backed into our spot and up to the fence at Belle Haven RV park. Hwy 19 is pretty noisy. The wooden fence is the only thing separating the bedroom from the Hwy. Hook-ups are good: 30amps, good water and sewer. Pets are OK, no pool. Our neighbor, Ron, helped me hook up to the sewer for the first time. What a mess! Better him than me. All the neighbors are nice. We stayed for 6 weeks while Kaye Lynn moved out of her apartment and finished up her time at her job. She is coming along with us to help write Bert's book and keep me from killing him. :-)
April 26, 2005 - We moved to the service bay at Harberson Swanston on hwy 19 in Clearwater, FL. Kaye Lynn has moved in with her two cats. She has the bedroom. I'll take the couch, which makes into a very comfortable bed and is big enough for me and both the dogs. Bert has his recliner. We each have our own TV and DirecTV receiver. On Tuesday evening “Fast Signs” came over and put the graphics on the back of the Land Yacht. A Big picture of Bert and Feather with “Legends or Lies” and “Last Pirate of the Caribbean” in big letters.
Harberson Swanston did the 50,000-mile service, installed a TracStar In Motion Satellite dish, and hooked up the electric brakes for the Car Dolly. We are living in the Yacht while they work on it. Tim, my nephew, is staying in Kaye Lynn's empty apartment until we can get on the road. We have electrical hook-up but no water or sewer. We were hoping to only be here over night but it turned into 4 nights! Had a few setbacks. They broke our step and they didn't’t fix the electric plug in the bathroom. They said they could work on them on Monday. It's Saturday and there's no way I want to spend one more night here. I'll get the things they broke fixed later. We finally got out of the service area and on the road on April 30th Saturday afternoon.
April 30,
2005 - My first day of driving for any distance was a real trial
and a good break-in with the weather being so crappy. It rained hard
all day! We’re having fun NOW!
Stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner. Nice place and good food.
That night we stopped
at a really nice rest stop on HWY 10 near Tallahassee. The guard watched
us for a while then asked us to move up and pull in the room slide.
Tim talked to him and
he allowed us to put the slide back out as long as Tim’s truck
and Kaye Lynn’s car were on the slide side of the Yacht. (Kaye
Lynn is sleeping in the Yacht at night but driving her car during the
day. While she follows us her cats are in the bedroom. She will only
be doing this as far a New Mexico where she will leave her car with
her niece.) I ran the generator all night. We all slept in the Yacht:
Tim in the floor, me & the dogs on the couch/bed, Bert in his recliner,
and Kaye Lynn in the Bedroom with her cats.
A Slumber Party!
We made all of 297 miles today (we got a late start).
This is Puzzles. He came to us from Tim Sweickowski. He enjoys being the co-pilot. As soon as the engine is turned on he jumps up onto the dash.
May 1, 2005 - We traveled 340 miles today. Just before Mobile, Alabama I called Charlie, Tyrel’s Friend from Idaho, and asked if he could meet us for dinner. He called his mom, Robin, and they met us at a truck stop in Loxley, Alabama. We ate at Arbys. It was nice seeing them again. We continued on our trip and made it to a rest stop just across the Mississippi Border.
Radar and Puzzles have become pretty good friends and enjoy their walks
May 2, 2005 - Drove all
day. Made 586 miles. Stopped at a rest stop just before Dallas where
Kaye Lynn split off to go to her nephew Tim’s house. We continued
into the Arlington area to Trader’s Village RV Park, Grand Prairie,
TX (near Ft. Worth ). Got there late in the night. Tired. A long day!
Told Shelly, my friend, I would see her and her family tomorrow. Parked
the Yacht in an empty space. We’We'll check in tomorrow.
May 2, 2005 - Checked into Trader’s RV Park. Paid for 3 nights (last night plus two more nights). Tim left around noon, headed for Idaho. It will be strange not having him to follow. I'll miss him. I did Laundry and cleaned for two days. Six loads of laundry! How did we do that? The Yacht was a mess. Shelly Visited with 2 of the girls. She left Heather here with me until we go out to dinner tonight. Heather helped do laundry. A great little helper! Out to dinner for Mexican food with Shelly, Nick and the girls: Rachel, Heather, & Delaney. The next night (our last) Bert and I went to Shelly’s house for dinner. Pork roast. Very nice. Great visit.
May 5, 2005 - Drove 610 miles. Hard days drive. Bad weather most of the way. Made it to about 50 miles before Albuquerque and stopped in a crappy Rest Stop. Too tired to go any further. Kaye Lynn drove on to Luanna’s in Albuquerque. Bert and I slept on a slant. I slept on the couch. Too tired to put the Yacht on level ground or make out my bed. Not a good night.
May 6, 2005 - Met
Kaye Lynn and Luanna at the TA Truck Stop in Albuquerque at noon. Kaye
Lynn has now joined us in the Yacht. Luanna is storing her car for her.
Really Windy. Tired by 7:00 pm. Found a funky RV Park called Dream Catcher.
Very nice owners, John and Marilyn. For $10.50 per night you even get
an Indian Dream Catcher! Only drove 257 miles today.
May 7, 2005
- Drove 365 miles . Very windy drive. Tiring. Lots of hills and DESERT!
I hate the Desert! I’I'll be glad when we start heading up the
Pacific West Coast. Made it to my dad's house in Mohave Valley, AZ.
. Nice to see the family. Randy, my brother, was there. Dolores, my
dad and I had a nice visit. I slept in the house. Kaye Lynn and Bert
stayed in the Yacht.
Kaye Lynn and I went to Oatman three times during our stay!
May 10, 2005 - Me, Bert, Kaye Lynn, and Dolores went to dinner at the AVI casino, across the Colorado river and then again to a Mexican Restaurant in Mohave Valley for mine and Bert's 18th wedding anniversary.
Another day Kaye Lynn and I went to Havasu City to visit Lori, my sister, and to play tourist. Out to dinner at a restaurant near the London Bridge. Very nice visit.
Kaye Lynn and Gayla at the London Bridge in Havasu City, Arizona
Ended up spending 8 days and nights in my Dad’s driveway. No hook-ups. Ran the generator full time. I changed the generator oil just before we drove out.
May 14, 2005 - To Moon River Resort, 1325 E. Boundary Cone Rd., Mohave Valley, Arizona to dump holding tanks and fill with water. Filled Fuel and Propane tanks at Ft. Mohave.Kaye Lynn drove around the neighborhood for her first practice run. She did good. Back to my dad’s house to get ready to leave tomorrow morning.
May 15, 2005 - Kaye Lynn and I drove 258 miles from my dad's house to my mom's house. Parked the Yacht across the street from my Mom and Earl’s house. Visited my mom in the hospital. (Hip Replacement) She got out the next evening on the 16th. Kaye Lynn left in the morning of the 16th to go to her nephew Lonny’s house in San Diego. She drove the Cruiser, the “PT Draggin’”. I visited my mom at her house 2 or 3 times a day. She’s doing good. Ran generator for the whole time we were there. I hate the desert! Dusty and stickers. The dogs keep getting stickers in their feet on their walks.
Nice sunsets though.
May 20, 2005 - Got Fuel at Buttermilk Acres, 3565 Inyokern Road, Ridgecrest, California. Don’t remember the RV Parks name where I dumped the holding tanks. Stretched the water hoses across the street to fill Yacht with fresh water from the parent's house. The flat hose couldn’t take the traffic. It sprung a leak. Oh, well. I gave it to Earl.
May 23, 2005 - Gayla visited the dentist and had a molar pulled. Slept the rest of the day. Kaye Lynn got back from her visit with Lonny in San Diego. We're leaving tomorrow.
HOT, HOT, HOT! 101 outside and 90 inside
---
May 25, 2005 - Drove 179 miles. Our goal was to make it as close to Santa Barbara as possible and find a camp site. We made it to Carpenteria. We got stuck in a Carpenteria neighborhood. Didn’t mean to . . . We ended up on a dead end street while trying to find our way to the beach. We had to take the car and trailer off the back of the Yacht. Quiet a few of the neighbors came out to see what was going on. Very embarrassing. But a very nice (and good looking) guy came out to help us. His name is Paul and we would like to thank him!
We finally made it to the State Park Camp Grounds on the beach. Bert says he thinks it's the dirtiest beach he's ever seen. I guess he doesn't know what drift wood looks like. It's not a caribbean beach but Kaye Lynn and I think it's wonderful! It's not the desert.
A fellow camper named Jerry came over to help us park, hook up to power, water, and sewer plus help in any other way he could. Very helpful. More than helpful!
May 26,2005 - We un-hooked the car and drove into Santa Barbara to see Jean-Michel Cousteau. Dick Murphy was also there and Don Santee was able to join us for dinner in a cute little Thai restaurant around the corner from Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society office on Chapala Street. It was great to see old friends.
Bert, Gayla, Kaye Lynn, and Jean Michel Cousteau in his office at Ocean Futures Society
May 27, 2005 - Drove 55 miles to Buellton, California. Parked on the side of a road in Buellton for the night. Unhooked the car and ate lunch at Split Pea Anderson’s. Bert stayed in the Yacht while Kaye Lynn and I explored Solvang. These are my old stomping grounds from 1973-74. Then we all took a drive out into the Santa Ynez valley. Didn't run the Generator or put out the room slide. I slept on the couch.
May 28, 2005 - Drove 17 miles from Buellton to Lompoc, Calif. to the River Park RV Camp Ground. Bill and Vivian were the camp hosts but we never saw Bill. Hmmm. Where’s Bill? Vivian was very nice. We got there late so the first night we just slept. The next day Kaye Lynn and I drove into Lompoc and went to Wal-Mart, did the laundry in a local Laundromat, and bought some food for a barbeque at Smith’s food store. We bought some wood from Vivian and I made a fire to cook the steaks on. Roasted Marshmallows YEA!
Dinner is served at the River Park RV Camp Ground
May 30, 2005 - Left Lompoc and drove 74 miles to the Morro Bay Dunes Resort. On the way it smelled like something was burning. We stopped on an off ramp. I checked the Generator, the engine and the air-conditioner. Nothing. Started up again and I noticed that the ABS light was on. Of course it could have been on since Florida when they hooked-up the trailer brakes. But our brakes are going to the floor. I Pulled over again to look at the manuals and a cop came by to check on us. He pointed out a camp ground near by but we opted for Morro Bay. It was just 11 miles away. We’ll see about getting it checked tomorrow. We finally made it to Morro Bay Dunes Resort just across from the beach. Nice beach. Small campsites. We went to dinner at the Great American Fish Company. An OK place to eat.
As I said . . . Small campsites. The whole camp grounds were full and they packed them in.
May 31, 2005 - Today we put 65 miles on the Yacht running around trying to get the brakes fixed with no good results. Joel at MB Tire & Auto in Los Osos couldn't find anything wrong so he sent us to Chris at San Luis Truck . . . . He checked everything out for us but he couldn’t find anything obvious so he sent us to Matt’s Brake & Alignment in Paso Robles . . . who sent us to Jerry at Dieselro Inc. who filled it and sent us on our way. The brakes seem to be working fine now. The consensus seems to be that they over heated and lost some brake fluid. (I later figured out that I needed to use the exhaust brake switch more often instead of just the brake pedal. After this it never happened again.)
After a hard and frustrating day we made it back to Morro Bay Dunes Resort. Plan on staying through the weekend. With this being Memorial Day week end we lucked out and was able to stay until Monday. Kaye Lynn and I enjoyed our time walking the beach and collecting sea shells. Got some good pictures too.
June 6, 2005 - We finally left Morro Bay. It has been a nice rest period but I want to get to Big Sur. We couldn't go until now because Big Sur camp grounds were all booked up until today. We took out time driving since we can't check in until this evening
Stopped along the way to take pictures.
It was a nice drive until we got into the Big Sur cliff road. Very narrow and very nerve wracking. But I did it! We finally go to the Fern Wood Camp Grounds. They said they had pull through's and could handle a 36 footer, no problem. Yeah. right! The dirt road to get down into the camp sites was way narrow with trees over hanging it. I ended up catching an over hanging branch and screwed up the main awning. Oh well. It's a good thing I love Big Sur. These were my old stomping grounds from my hippy days for 1968 - 1973. There were good times here back then. Anyway, we finally got settled into our camp site and all set up with the hook-ups and the room slide out. The first breath in smelled like fresh pine trees. It was great until Bert says, "I feel like I'm in a cave :-(" Bert is just not a happy camper and it's getting on my nerves big time.
It's a good thing Kaye Lynn is with us. :-)
___________________
June 8, 2005 - We can only stay in Big Sur until Friday morning so we tried to get some site seeing in. I really wanted Bert to like the place. We went to Nepenthe's for lunch. great food with a fantastic ocean view.
After lunch we drove back down south to visit an art gallery I saw on the way in. What a great place with really nice art.
June 9, 2005
- We have to leave Big Sur tomorrow so we spent today exploring the
area to the north of Fern Wood. We went to Point Lobos State Reserve.
A really beautiful Park with high cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean
and the California sea lions. They also have deer in residence. Bert
walked all the way to the end of the path with his walker and rested
there while Kaye Lynn and I walked down the path to the beach.
June 10, 2005 - We packed up the Yacht and pulled out of the camp site. I hated to leave so we took our time. Site seeing as we went.
One last Picture in Big Sur. . .
We headed north on Hwy 1. We wound our way through San Francisco area and across the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove about 34 miles north of Frisco and made it to Petaluma, Calif. and stayed in a KOA Camp Ground. While we were setting up we were having a problem with the room slide. Kaye Lynn was trying to help and some how got her fingers smashed under it when I started putting it out. She screamed, I pulled the room slide back in as fast as I could and jumped up to see what happened. Her two middle fingers were squashed big time. One even had a hole in the end where it popped. OUCH!!! I got out some ice so she could numb them and try to keep the swelling down. I felt so bad for her. I had just squashed two of my fingers in the garage door last Jan. so I could relate to the pain but hers were a lot worse than mine had been. I decided our trip was pretty much over. We needed to just get on to Idaho. Bert didn't seem happy and now Kaye Lynn was going to be in pain for a few days. I know I wouldn't want to be traveling in her place. And me, I was pretty much worn out myself.
June 11, 2005 - I turned back southward on Hwy 1 and made our way over to Hwy 80 going west. Drove through the Sierra Mountains past Donner Pass, Truckee, Tahoe, and down into Reno, Nevada. Then we hit the desert. That's right MORE desert! Drove as far as I could until I got tired and found a good rest stop. I didn't put out the room slide seeing what happened to Kaye Lynn's fingers and all. I figured I better wait until I get to Idaho where I have tool to work on it. Maybe I can get Tim to help me.
June 12, 2005 - We have made it to Ketchum, Idaho in early evening. We pull into a an RV park called The Meadows. $26.00 per night or $780.00 per month. Hook-ups are good but small spaces. Not a bad place though and it's convenient to my condo. Tim and Tyrel are living in the condo. It looks pretty go. we all go out to dinner.
June 13, 2005 - We moved into the condo with the guys. I figure Bert will be happier there than in the Yacht. At least he won't be camping. He has his recliner in the living room with the TV right in front of him. Kaye Lynn will stay in the Yacht. Cleaned the yacht and did laundry at the condo.
June 15, 2005 - It's my birthday so we all go out to dinner at Warm Springs Restaurant. It's my favorite place to eat.
October 2005
Bert and I left Idaho in the LY and headed for Nokomis, Florida. I took my dog, Radar with us. My plan is to put the Motor Home back on the lot where we bought it and see if they can sell it while we are in the BVI for the winter. It's time for us to cut our ties with the BVI. I can't keep up with things in two countries. I've got too much to do in the U.S. as it is. And my time in the BVI has come to an end.
We made it to Nokomis and then on the Dunedin with no problems. My friend, Suzen, had made reservations for Bert and I to stay at a Days Inn right across Hwy 19 from here home. She took us to the airport the morning we flew out to go to the BVI. I've got my buddy, Radar, with me. He travels in the cabin with us. A few Valiums and he's good to go.
November 11, 2005
We are in North Sound, Virgin Gorda on Saba Rock. We are taking some cruise ship guests out snorkeling to see some cannons. Then we will get aboard the cruise ship and Bert will do his "Treasure Talk" tonight just before dinner. We will stay on the ship and sail with them to St. Thomas. I have arranged a dog sitter in Tortola for Radar.
November 14, 2005
We're back in the condo on Tortola. The Treasure Talk and cruise went great. I had a lot of fun and met some very interesting people. I'm glad to get back to Radar and home.
December 13, 2005
We left the BVI today, Tuesday. We fly to Tampa, FL. Suzen picked us up at the airport.
December 16, 2005
Bert and I are at the Days Inn in Clearwater, Florida on Hwy 19.
We have given some thought to staying here in Florida but have decided to head on to Idaho by way of my dad's house for Christmas in Arizona.
We are scheduled to head out on Monday. That should get us there in time for Christmas day. We will be driving my PT Cruiser. We are leaving the RV for sale on the lot in Nokomis, Florida. I don't think there's much of a market in Idaho in the winter.
December 25, 2005
Christmas at my Dad's house in Mohave Valley, Arizona. It's a good day.
We'll be in Bellevue, Idaho for New Years Eve.__See You Next Year!
To Be Continued . . . . 2006