That Day I've Been Waiting For

That day I've been waiting for finally arrived on Thursday, October 17, at approximately 10:30 AM.  Following a community breakfast event that I had promised my boss I would oversee, I was able to leave work for the last time.  The camper was hooked up and loaded.  All we had to do was change clothes and head out.  We had originally planned to meet Joe and Judy at the East Bank COE Campground but the government shut down caused us to change our plans and we met at Seminole State Park which is one of our favorites anyway.

About a week ago Bubba surprised me with a bicycle as a retirement gift.  I've been wanting one for a while.  Any one who says that not forgetting how to do something is like "riding a bicycle" is not exactly accurate.  I'm wobbly and if I look at something, I head towards it.  I'm getting a little better.  It is great exercise for me after years of sitting at a desk all day and I'm looking forward to riding around the various campgrounds we stay at on my shiny new orange bicycle.

The weather was pleasant and we spent time around the campfire catching up on all the news.

There were some s'mores and roasted marshmallows and boiled peanuts.
Guess who had marshmallows all over their face.

Our best meal, of course, was the fish that Bubba fried with the aid of his laser thermometer.  We had a platter full of flounder and mullet.

It just doesn't get any better than this.  Good food, good conversation, good times.  What a wonderful way to begin my retirement!

On the way home, we pulled into our favorite truck stop for lunch and discovered that we had another flat tire on the trailer.  Luckily we were in a good place for this to happen and it didn't take Bubba long to change it.  The trucker parked next to us offered to help although Bubba had the situation under control.  He gave me a pint of strawberries that he said were fresh from California.  We enjoyed them on our oatmeal later in the week.

This second flat helped us make the decision to replace all the tires on the trailer.  They don't have many miles on them, but they are old so that will be a priority next week.