Four Corners, FL - TT

Tuesday - The calendar says that it’s St Patrick’s Day. I had made the traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner a couple of weeks ago. Not in the sous vide but in the Instant Pot. It didn’t turn out anywhere near as tasty. 

The low temperature this morning was 47°F. Quite a change from the past week. The forecast is calling for 44°F tonight. Things should start warming up again after this cold front passes through. 

I took advantage of the cooler temperatures to take a walk. I had an Amazon package come in to a locker about 1¼ mile away. I ordered a gadget that disables the auto start/stop function on the Jeep. There is a button that disables it but you have to press it every time you start the engine. This gadget just automates that. For the last couple of years, I had it disabled by unplugging the hood switch. Now, the hood switch is in place again so the alarm function is working again.

Wednesday - Today’s field trip was to Bok Tower. It is around 40 miles south on Hwy 27. That’s over an hour of Florida driving time without toll roads. Bok Tower is a nature preserve with a bell tower with 60 bells. A keyboard is mechanically linked to the clappers allowing someone to play the bells. 

Today was the opening day of the International Carillon Festival. Carillonist is the term for the musicians playing the bells. 

At 1pm, they started to play but it wasn’t a recognizable tune (to me). There is a very short YouTube video of it playing at the end of this post. I must admit that I was disappointed in the sound. Maybe the performer was playing a complex piece and it was lost on me. 

We also went on a house tour but the house was built by a someone named Bach and not the Bok that built the tower and surrounding garden. This tree was “behind” the house but actually in front of the main entrance. We entered through the pantry and kitchen. 

Repairs - TT

Saturday - Not much went on today. A mid-day test session followed by restringing one of the blinds. The restringing part was simple but reattaching the blind to the hangers buried behind a cabinet was a pain. I have a couple more minor repairs and one semi-major one to do. Maybe I’ll knock out the minor one today or tomorrow. 

Sunday - Fixed a drawer slide. The minor repair of the day. There was heavy rain with lightning in the late afternoon and evening.

Monday - Today’s minor maintenance is regenerating the water softener. It is a manual process that takes two cartons of salt (52oz) and about 35 minutes. A slow stream of water is run through the salt and resin for about 25minutes followed by a 6 minute flush. It needs to be done about once per month. There is another method that I’m still researching 

It’s around 80°F right now (noon) with more rain and lightning in the forecast for this evening. 

Disney Springs

Wednesday - We went to Disney Springs, the retail area for WDW, to meet up with Tim and Sue from Fairbanks. It was in the 80s (°F) for most of the afternoon and, apparently, not very windy as the helium balloon was flying.

We walked through most of Disney Springs, had lunch at Chicken Guy (good Korean chicken sandwich!), and wandered through the shops. 

We then went to the Pop Century resort and took the Disney Skyliner to the Boardwalk. The Skyliner is free as it is just another transportation option around Disney World, like the monorail and buses. Here, we are crossing a small lake heading towards other resorts, where we will switch to another Skyliner towards Epcot.

We had dinner at Blue Ribbon Corndogs, where they had something that I had to try. A dill pickle corndog. The large pickle is hollowed out, and a hot dog is inserted. Then the whole thing is covered with the corn dog batter and deep-fried. It is served with peanut butter, but I don't think it adds much more. The combination works, though I did end up using a knife and fork. The addition of the pickle made it quite heavy.

We hadn't visited the Boardwalk on prior visits, so this was new. We ended up walking over 18k steps. Definitely got in some exercise. It was wonderful to visit with Tim and Sue.

Orlando, FL - TT

Sunday - Today was a very short travel day to TTO. Like usual, it was a long wait at the front gate, but they are pre-assigning sites now, like many other TT parks. It’s not as nice as their old system, but better than driving around hunting for something. 

It took quite a while to set things up, but since we are here for a couple of weeks, it made sense to me to make myself at home. It’s an older part of the park, but it has 50-amp power and is reasonably level. And the refrigerator is not facing south. StarLink isn’t as fast as other locations, probably because we are in a populated area. But we are still getting 114 down and 15 up. Fast enough. 

Monday - It's 79°F at noon. But since I have the awning and the sunscreen set up, it is pretty nice sitting outside at least for the mid-day test session. 

Tonight, grilled vegetables on the Blackstone. Finished off with a balsamic glaze. One of our favorites sides. And I’m trying to make garlic butter shrimp also on the Blackstone. 

We still haven’t decided whether or not to venture into any of the theme parks. Since this is the beginning of Spring Break season, it’ll be crowded. 

Tuesday - First thing this morning, I washed the Jeep. This is the first time I’ve been “allowed” to wash a vehicle in a long time. Everywhere has had water restrictions due to drought. Even northern Florida. We have run it through a couple of touch less car washes but they aren’t as common as the ones with brushes. Since the Jeep is a soft top, car washes are strongly discouraged according to the manufacturer. 

It’s pretty warm today and it feels humid though the Rh is only 50%. The pool was crowded earlier but once evening arrived, it slowed down a lot. There are two pools. This used to be the adult pool but they were sued by a full time family RV group. Now, no more age restrictions at any TT park.