2004 - Fulltime - the road back
IN THE WIND

2004 Was an eventful year. Business was good and we were real busy in the first quarter. Our first chance to get away was once again the Louisville Truck Show, and we traveled to it in style - I didn't get any shots of the parking lot this year, but we were again camped out in the parking lot just outside the show.

Louisville Truck ShowLouisville 2004We were less than
thrilled with the
post and talked
them into giving
us credit as the
post kind of
killed the effect
of a "corner"
booth.

But we made the
best of it and it
was a good show.



After the end of our busy season - April 15th is the official end of it - we were lucky enough to snag a space at Long Key State Park in the Keys.

Camping Florida 04 At Long Key you essentially
get to park right on the On the beach Long Key
beach -

We parked face in and
you can see the result.

Another advantage of being on the beach is the sun rises - we're facing east and the sun coming up over the Atlantic can be quite a site.


sunrise


sinrise












This was the last camping trip in Wannabe - as we head into May in Florida the weather starts to turn hot and muggy and Sheila can't really go out and ride anymore. The weather is too hard on her breathing.

We had our doubts about trying a trip to Vegas in Wannabe so we flew to Vegas for the Vegas Truck Show. We did drive Wannabe up for the Dallas show, but wouldn't you know I didn't bring the camera and so we don't have a single shot of that trip.

So the rest of the summer passed uneventfully, but then as Thanksgiving again approached big changes began to take shape -

Almost
Say Hello to Almost
Like Wannabe, Almost also had aspirations to be a bus, and he almost made it. Look at the front of him - do you see the grin? We were grinning also. Wannabe was a great coach, but he was old and he smoked a bit and had a few other issues that were bothering Sheila, so we took the plunge  --
Amost  With 2 slide outs Almost 2
Amost had met the
requirement for -
Almost Heaven
and we were really
anxious to get
him out on to the
road.
We again returned to the keys for Christmas and these pictures are from that trip - first one I took of his interior, but I'm getting ahead    of myself.

We took delivery on 11/17/04 and rushed him up to get the lift put on the back so we'd be ready for  Thanksgiving which was rapidly approaching.  The rack, as you can see was a perfect fit and Love Boat was thrilled with his new escort.
LoveBoatThanksgiving 04
We were now ready
for our maiden voyage
to our traditional
Thanksgiving camp
ground near Tampa

There's a great old
theatre in St. Pete
that features those
hard to find pictures
and we enjoy a ride
over there to catch
the show.

We were living in paradise and certainly had a lot to be thankful for this year.

Christmas was our next big trip and we headed over to the Gulf Coast and stayed at the Koreshan State Park -
KoreshanKoreshan

This was a really
interesting place
and we had a great
time exploring it as
well as taking in
some of the other
attractions the
Gulf Coast has
to offer.





After the festivities of the season we headed up to see the final present I had gotten for Sheila. I has figured it would be really great to have a place of our own up in the Carolina's. So next stop -
ncnc lotA KOA along the way
and a call  to  Sportscoach
as our propane quit working.
Seems if you fill your
propane in Florida, then
to up to snow country your
valve will freeze. We
thawed it out and topped
the tank there which
solved the problem.
Then on to our lot >>

The lot wasn't a big hit :(( but her reasoning was flawless - the $6000 we spent on the lot would certainly buy a lot of nights in campgrounds wherever we wanted to be - and the whole goal was to not be tied to a particular place. So we headed home and the lot went up for sale.

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