Technology is Great...When its Working

Written March 14, 2015

The Death of a Laptop!!

My trusty HP laptop is not so trusty these days. You know when it takes nearly a half hour to boot up. The top of the screen has a 1-1/4 inch black strip across the entire screen making it very difficult to X out of programs. I’m switching over to Apple…Mac Air Laptop. Yup, I’ve had it with the PC World! I nearly bought a Mac Air 13.3” (2014 model) at the Base Exchange here in Key West, but after doing research, I’m going to wait till April and get the updated (2015 Mac Air 13.3). More bells and whistles! It’s not even available yet. All of these technical problems have slowed my creative writing skills and I haven’t been blogging as much as I wanted to. I’ve been cheating and using my Facebook page as my outlet for “What We Did and Saw” blogging desires.

Let me refresh you on what we’ve been up to this month.

First, I must say, one should never try to duplicate a past years’ adventure. This as it turned out was very true of this years’ journeys. Nothing is or was like last year. It was different and actually better in many ways. The many, many friends that we have made here at Trumbo Point will bond us to, not only this place, but to all of their home loca

Key West, Florida..Population 34,000 locals...
4 million visitors to the Keys!

tions across the entire country. As we plan to expand our travels overseas by using Space A travel, we will meet more fellow travelers and share travel stories and adventures! Even the weather was completely different this season. We did have a couple of cooler temperature weeks, when it dropped to 59 degrees at night. Don’t laugh you northern friends who were below zero for a month and a half! The weather was most different in the wind department. A continuous 15 to 20 knot wind kept us cool on hot humid days. This was noticeable on or around the Island bike rides. We made the best of this by circling into the wind as we left Trumbo Point with a full body of energy. By the time we rounded the Northern end of the Island, we had the wind to our backs for a fast ride back to the campground. The wind is still moderate, but I’m told that it will soon die down and the humidity will be more noticeable along with bugs that are now none existent.

We are leaving Key West at the end of next week (March 19th). We will meander slowly northward toward New Hampshire by early April. We had planned to stay here in Key West until May 1st, but because of unforeseen problems up north we will be moving north about a month early. Remember, I always say the Truck Camper has a mind of its own. It is like a canoe going down a river without a paddle. Lets see where it takes us! Be flexible is the name of the game…and so the adventure continues.

The volunteering

Helen preparing for a giant salad!

Ready for the crowd!

This season was rewarding for us in our volunteer work at St. Mary, Star of the Sea, Soup Kitchen. We really enjoyed preparing, cooking and even serving the one daily four o’clock meal. to young and old. Both male and female, some with drug and alcohol problems. Some just ran out of money. They all were very grateful and said so has they picked up their four o’clock meal.

Some people are out of luck. It wasn’t what I was expecting. We only volunteered for Sunday because that is when they were short on personnel. We served an average of one hundred meals a day both

Next Year

Next year we plan, God willing, to return and volunteer again. We also plan on trying to volunteer at the "Dry Tortugas National Park”. This NP is only accessible by boat or air as it is 70 miles west of Key West. Kevin, a Trumbo Point camper does this every other week. He goes out on the supply ship and stays there for 3 days. He has to bring his own food, tent and water. What he does is help tourist who go out there and stay over night. He helps them set-up tents and gives them whatever assistance he can. The NP Ranger handles the tours. I’m told the sea life is spectacular…We’ll see! It is just one of several options.

Another consideration is going to Cuba. Yes, there are now scheduled flights from Key West to Havana, Cuba. No, we wouldn’t go on our own, but guided tours are already going…We’ll keep our eyes open for this trip.

And still another possible change for us, if we continue to come here for the season, will be to get a fifth wheel RV. We still love the truck camper, but we’re looking for some sleeping accommodations for the kids and grand kids. Again, our eyes and ears are open in this area of adventure.

That is what we saw and did!