Author: Mary-Ann Knight

Our attempt to raise our windshield nightshade was a flop!  No up, just a whining noise.  Pretty dark in here.  We have extended coverage so Allan calls.  The dude says, if it’s a motor it is likely covered.  They will send a technician; once he diagnoses the issue he is to call with his findings then they will determine if it’s covered.  We understand the initial call is covered no matter the issue.

Bring him on!

Turns out his a mobile truck repair dude, not RVs but he says he can figure it out.  We aren’t filled with confidence but with little choice – enter after using the supplied sanitizer.  Out come the tools 

                               Down comes the trim                             

Speakers down   

                Exposing Bailey’s upper innards, she will not be pleased                        

AND whoops he doesn’t have a wire tester is broken, he gives us 2 options

1. He can go to Home Depot and buy one, likely charging us for the trip
2. He can splice the shade motor wire and use it to test the night shade motor

Hummmm, no to both.

Allan gives him his to use.  We are attempting to social distance and aren’t fans of him touching stuff but we need that blind repaired.  Depending on what the world is doing we may have to leave at any moment.

He determine the motor is shot.  Allan calls the MCD folks, replacement motor $155.00 and will take 5 business days to get here.

Call the coverage folks, “No sorry” that’s not covered.  Not only that, now that it’s not covered we have to pay the diagnosis fee.  Are you friggin kidding me?  It’s not the guy’s fault, we pay him.  $165US you know real money, for nothing.  I guess not nothing, but…

Allan calls MCD and orders the motor.

Dude wants to leave all the panels down, he’ll do YouTube to determine how  to replace.  Allan says no, please (we are Canadians and super polite) put it back.  Unbeknownst to me, Allan knows he will attempt to install the replacement himself.  Delivery is days out, hope we are not required to leave before then.

Park is getting quieter, when we arrived most of these sites were filled 

First stop, Target.  It opens at 8a, when we arrived shortly before 8 there was a line up.  Seems we picked a good day to come as the store was stocked over night.  We scored toilet paper, Kleenex and Purell!!

🤣🤣For now we will not have to find an alternative 🤣🤣

These bad boys now greet us at our entrance   

Off to St. Petersburg.  We do not expect to see any track stuff, we’ll just attempt to find roads that are part of the track. Toronto, our home race track, is torn apart and back to having traffic midnight on the Sunday it runs. 

Toronto, our home race track, is torn apart and back to having traffic at midnight on the Sunday it runs.  St. Pete’s cancelled race gave them extra days to tear the track down so were surprised when we saw

Permanent monument featuring race winners & tribute to Dan Wheldon

It is a pretty city, hope to come back and really be able to explore.

Back home to our Amazon delivery.  We ordered the sweatshirt before the world was so unbelievable.  Still we all need positive messages.

Had to take it off quickly as at 602p it’s still

Next Amazon order should include…

They have speed tables, finally took the photo   

Allan has a friend, he comes by so frequently Allan should name him.

We walk to Hertz to pick up the rental.  We had it scheduled for 10a pick up.  Not a good start, only one guy working and our car isn’t ready.  He goes outside to wash it.  What’s the point of reserving?  Finally on our way with a Kia Forte                     

We get to Costco a bit before they open, huge lineup.  We follow what everyone is doing, grab a cart and wait in line.

It’s not till you get to the front of the line that they offer to wipe your cart.  Wouldn’t the damage already been done by then?  At the entrance, they have a sign, Out of Stock: toilet paper, hand sanitizer, wipes.

Inside we attempt to find aisles that aren’t too busy, it is so stressful people just don’t get it.  We get our items, pay – no protection for the check out people.  Now the lineup is at least twice as long.  Social distancing – not much in effect.

Back home, unpack the groceries and decide we’ll go to Dunedin, home of Blue Jay’s Spring Training Camp, training is cancelled, another casualty of COVID-19. We are not Blue Jay or even baseballs fans but Dunedin looks like a cute town.

Not this year 🙁                 

We are not Blue Jay or baseballs fans but Dunedin looks like a cute town.

It’s St. Patrick’s day and although Dunedin cancelled the events, these people obviously didn’t get the memo.  We did not walk on that side of Main St.

Tomorrow, St. Pete’s.

Allan calls our insurance who confirmed we are covered!  Best news 🙂  We are all relieved.

We are running out of supplies so we book a car rental for tomorrow.  We also hope to tour around, avoiding people.  Really want to go to St. Pete’s to see what should have been.

Today’s news:  “The White House on Monday issued new guidelines designed to slow the rapid spread of coronavirus, asking nearly every American to stay home from work or school for the next fifteen days. In almost every aspect of daily life, America is closed for business.

Wall Street took a beating on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling about 3,000 points — its largest one-day point loss in history.

In many major cities, bars and restaurants have been told to close or only offer take out and delivery services.

President Trump on Monday admitted that the country “may be” headed into recession as businesses are forced to lay off millions of workers. Mr. Trump said the outbreak could last into the summer, perhaps as long as August.

More than 4,500 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the U.S. and at least 88 have died. Globally, the death toll was just over 7,100 on Monday, with the weekend seeing an alarming spike in fatalities in three European nations grappling with aggressive outbreaks. While more than 181,000 people have caught the virus around the world, almost half have already recovered, and the vast majority of cases remain mild.”

New rule:  Don’t go anywhere without hand sanitizer (we only have 2 of the little ones, and they aren’t full) – hope to get some tomorrow and we now always wash our hands when we enter Bailey.

Trying to keep positive and keep laughing. 

Hopefully we’ll find more on the shelves tomorrow  Never did like pineapple on my pizza.

Certainly not what we had wished for but …

We dress in our race gear 🙂 Allan getting us set up     

We select the 2003 St. Petersburg race and away we go. Pace laps

Green flag! 

How ironic the Corona car spins out!

Even the skinny squirrel came to watch

And the win goes to my favourite driver of all time, Paul Tracy!!

Paul after win

All in all a fun lemonade day!

Covid-19 is beginning to be real.  Kyle, our son, called today and urged us to come home.  Our concern is that we are safe here; if we were to leave what could we encounter?  Closed state borders?  Snow storms?   We agree to check our extended health coverage – if it doesn’t cover Covid-19 we will begin our journey home.  Email our rep, Dan, who likely isn’t working till Monday. He does email but says as everything is changing so quickly it is best to call the insurance company directly on Monday.

Loving the weather! 

We decide to entertain ourselves with a walk around the park, first park we’ve been in that has a No Pet area;

and then walk around the neighbourhood and see this sign for a car wash.  🙂

Allan gets a photo of a gecko. 

Fast little guys and who knew some have them as pets “geckos are long-lived compared to some reptiles. On average you can expect your gecko to live six to 10 years, but many males live 10 to 20 years. At least one male is still breeding at 27½ years of age.”

Have to keep washing hands, not touch face, keep hydrated and LAUGH!

Although many people do not like Friday the 13th my Mom loved them and said they are lucky days.  Not his one 🙁

Just a weeks ago, we were “living the dream” and anxious for today as it was the beginning of our much awaited first IndyCar weekend of the season.

So much has changed and incredibly fast!  The coronavirus is no longer just in Wuhan China but spreading world wide. The stock market is dropping, toilet paper and  hand sanitizer are hot commodity. People panic buying and hording.

The memes are beginning

It would appear, had China reported this earlier we would not be in this situation.  

We find out today the practice, qualifying and race are cancelled.  It is the right thing to do but disappointing, none-the-less.  Public events or more than 250 people are all cancelled.

Announcements today, Trump declares national emergency

We decided, Sunday, race day, we will sit outside and use our outdoor TV to watch a YouTube of a previous year’s IndyCar race.

Today is get familiar with the park and area.  Living in a virtual bubble, rarely listening to the news we were not prepared for the magnitude of what we would encounter and learn.

We had to chuckle at this sign.  How popular is Rick that they now required a “Rick doesn’t live here anymore” sign.

We see our first Walmart Marketplace store, that sells only groceriesEnter the store to what will become the reality for, anyone’s guess to how long this will last.

On this day…

Today, is travel day to St. Petersburg  and the first IndyCar Race of the season, we leave at 945a, 63,577 km

Long bridge!

Made it!!

Arrive at our home for the next month     

Drive to Site

Oh no! No way we’ll fit in this site 

They find us a new spot, Lot 325, like it much better here. 

We spent the last few days doing not much of anything.  We did get mani/pedis at “Beautiful Nails” in Seffner.

This is the view from inside,  a little cramped.  Neighbours, Jerry, Lynn and Spud the puppy are from Brampton.  Across the street is Saskatchewan.

Because this park is also a dealer; there are many RVs on display – just open the door and walk in.  We saw some  super, nice RVs of all classes.

We came across a bare Freighliner chassis.  Bailey sits on one so Allan was happy to check it out.

Today is another Bailey bath day.  The last bath didn’t last long.  Bailey is filthy.

These are the pretty trees, not sure what they are but the drop the red pedals everywhere

End of day jiggle