Roadrunner Financials - November 2012

Roadrunner Recap
In November, we visited the following locations along the Florida Gulf Coast and into Central Florida:

• Macon Habitat for Humanity, Macon GA
• Grassy Pond Recreation Area, Lake Park GA
• Sumter Oaks Escapees Campground, Bushnell FL
• Bowling Green Habitat for Humanity, Bowling Green FL
• Big Cypress National Preserve Campground, Everglades National Park FL
• Flamingo Campground, Everglades National Park FL
• Sigsbee NAS Campground, Key West FL

Here's an interactive map of where we camped during the month. Click on the letters (waypoints) to see locations:  

And if you prefer - here is a static map:

Good News Areas We Are Under Budget
Here's a snapshot of our spending for the month:

We had a very good month budget-wise.  We drove a lot and therefore paid for a lot of gasoline.  

Biggest Expenses
We had a series of expenses which put us over in a lot of categories.

Large One Time Cost Item
Our six-month car insurance bill was due so we paid it in lump sum.  This accounted for the largest overage in a category.

Monthly Average

Another good month and below budget which accounts for the black figures.  We are pleased with how our money is being spent.

As always, if you think this spreadsheet might be useful I'd be glad to pass it along at no cost.  Just let me know.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

More Roadrunner Friends

As I indicated in my last post, we are currently in Key West.  But I have yet to write a post about our time in Flamingo Campground in the Everglades National Park.  So that will be coming soon…

Meanwhile, I realized I forgot to mention while we were at Midway Campground at Cypress National Park we met Al and Karen of "RV Travels with Karen and Al" fame.  Be sure to check out her blog.  She does a great job of keeping up with things and regularly updates it.

So there I was reading a book outside the Roadrunner on a nice day.  (The book was Centennial by James Michener.  I vowed months ago that I was going to finish it.  The tome of 1000+ pages was disappointing to me.  The first half was good, then it really slowed down for me.  But I finished it.)

I saw Al and Karen walking over to the Camphost site and said hello.  We talked for a while and found out that we knew each other through our blogs.  So we met some more blogging friends.  That was exciting!  Be sure to stop by their blog!

A few days later we stopped at the Everglades National Park Visitor Center on our way to the Flamingo Campground.  The Visitor Center was a very good one and worth the stop.  The 11 minute video was well do and gave historical and environmental perspectives on the Everglades.  By that time, it was time for lunch and we ate in the Roadrunner in the parking lot.

As we were finishing up a man was taking a good look at the Roadrunner.  He was walking around the front when I poked out my head and spoke to him.  He was surprised we were inside but we talked and went outside and got to meet Felix and his wife Marie-Claude.  They were visiting from France.

They live near Normandy and are in the States for a few days on holiday.  It was a great time meeting them and hitting it off so well in a short amount of time.  We exchanged email addresses and I recently got a nice note from him.  Next time we are in the Normandy area, we will have to look them up.

So it was fun to meet some old and new friends.  Another reason I love this lifestyle!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...

Big Cypress National Preserve

We've been out of internet range for about a week and its good to have it again.  After our time at Bowling Green, we drove south to Big Cypress National Preserve which is adjacent to the Everglades National Park.  We are now at Key West but since we will be here for a few weeks, there will be plenty of time to blog about that.

One of the goals of the Roadrunner Chronicles is to keep a travelogue of sorts.  We have trouble remembering where we were and when we were there… so a short post on some of the highlights helps.  This and the next blog will be about our time last week in the Everglades.  In a word -- it was Great!

We arbitrarily decided to spend about three days in Big Cypress National Preserve and did that.  The Midway campground was very good.  The price was $16/night  which included 30 amp electricity.

The site was level and we had no neighbors on either side for the most part, so we had plenty of space.  And we had a front window view of the pond in the middle of the campground.

With a dump station and water near by, it was fine and completely adequate.  From there we launched out and explored the area.  About a mile down the road, we went to the Visitor Center.

The main attraction there was the abundance of alligators.  Lots and lots of those boys...

We also went over to Shark Valley which has a great walking/biking path through the Everglades. 

Near the Visitor Center, we signed up for the narrated Tram tour.  It was excellent!  The wetlands turn into drylands part of the year as the Everglades drains and empties into the Gulf.

The water looks deeper but is only a few feet deep throughout the Everglades.

Along the way we say lots of birds.  There are over 150 varieties in the Everglades

Our driver was good and the docent was very knowledgeable about the Everglades, birds, animals and the whole history.

So if you get the chance to camp in Big Cypress, we recommend Midway campground.  And down the road less than 10 miles away is Shark Valley Visitor's Center with the Tram Tour you will want to take.

It was a great time in Big Cypress.  Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles.  Until next time...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you and yours have a wonderful day …

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bowling Green, FL Habitat Build

We're in Bowling Green, FL -- site of another first-ever Habitat for Humanity (HFH) Care-A-Vanner (CAV) build.  We are here with two other couples to spend time building a house.  The Bowling Green Habitat for Humanity affiliate put in full hookups with water, sewer and 30 amp electricity.  It is great!

Right up front, I want to show you some of the folks who are responsible for this -  The Hardee County HFH Board of Directors.  We met them last night at their board meeting.

These folks are 100% volunteers and the affiliate has no paid positions on their staff.  

Pretty impressive to be building homes because of people who work really hard after hours, on holidays and on weekends to make it happen!  There web site is at:  Hardee County Habitat for Humanity.  It was great to meet the board and attend their meeting.

We have had most interaction with Kathleen, the Volunteer Coordinator (third from right, below) and (far left at top picture).  Our CAV leaders Mary Kay and Ray pictured second from left and second from right on bottom picture) will be here five months and see the house finished.

The CAV team RVs are parked next to the Habitat office (the white house behind the RVs) and it is very convenient.  It even has a washer and dryer here.  And the house we are building is about 100 feet out our front door.

It is fun seeing this house take shape.  We arrived before the foundation was even poured.

 Ray and Ralph keeping a watchful eye

 The concrete workers doing their thing

 After the foundation and driveway got poured, we focused on the shed that Ray and Mary Kay, Ralph and Darlene had started.

 After the concrete dried for a couple of days, the framers showed up (like 6:15 AM!) and went at it.

 They are a bunch of hardworking guys.  And fast!

The walls were up and secured at the end of the first day along with some of the rafters.

 At the end of the second day on site, they finished with the rafters and sheeting.

 While we worked on odd jobs and the shed.

Mary Kay and Darlene are using a nailer to put up hurricane straps.

Another Habitat house is going up and we are glad to be here!

That is all for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles ~ thanks for joining us!  Hope you all have a terrific Thanksgiving and a safe, enjoyable holiday!

The Villages

We have heard about the Villages and have seen them advertised on TV.   We passed signs along I-75 as we headed south and decided to take a day trip to visit.

We saw a Produce Market outside of a town square and walked around.  This was on Saturday morning.

 After the outdoor market we went over to the Vistors/Sales Center.  It was nice and pretty upscale.

We met Gail Evans who was a great sales lady.  She wasn't pushy, provided a lot of information and took us on an hour tour of the properties.   This is a big place.  It has 90,000 residents.  There are five separate communities, each with a town square and a lot of shopping.

But first we stopped at a golf course to check things out.  They have over 20 executive (par 3) courses and over 10 18-hole championship courses.  We could enjoy this...

There are over 40 regional, neighborhood and village recreation centers.  They have a lot of social possibilities and activities.

The local paper has hundreds of interest groups.

The facilities are first rate and top notch.  The Villages have been around 40 years but you'd never know it.  The place is first class.  One thing I liked about it was although the Villages and the facilities are new or in very good shape, we didn't get the idea it was out of reach.  Regular people live here.  (Regular people with a retirement of some sort.)

Here is a photo of Gail.
From the Recreation Center, we took a look at an entry level home in the $155K range.  We are not planning on settling down or leaving the RV lifestyle, but I was curious at what the 'modest' homes looked like.

So we viewed on that was about 1500 square feet and a two bedroom.  It had a good size kitchen, two car garage, small yard and a fairly large living room/great room.  I really liked the layout.

After the PITI and 'association fees' - one could get into place like this for about $2000/month.  Interesting.

We told Gail we could take about an hour and we saw a lot in that time.  At the conclusion, she said we  had to see the cows near the Brownsville Square entrance.  Each square has a theme and this one recognizes the influence of the cattle industry in Florida.

 After our tour, we went back to the golf course to get some lunch.  It was about 1:15 and the place was  mobbed.  It was so crowded we didn't even stay.

So while we enjoyed the tour, had our curiosity satisfied, got answers to all our questions -- we both felt as if this lifestyle is not for us.  We continue to love what we are doing and can't think of anything else we'd rather be doing.  If if weren't for this lifestyle, we'd never see the Villages!

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...

Thank You Veterans!

Over the last few years, thanking veterans or those in the military has become popular.  I grew up respecting the military and those that served because my dad was a career military man.  He was seven years old at the beginning of the Depression.  In the 1930's he, like millions of other young men, joined the Civilian Conservation Corps.  Next, he joined the Army National Guard, then the Army Air Corps and retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1961.

I watched how we treated veterans during an unpopular Viet Nam War in the 1960's and 1970's.  After Operation Desert Shield/Gulf War I,  George H.W. Bush insisted that we honor the military and support our homecoming troops with parades.  That is when I remember things changing and veteran's being honored again.

My blogging friend Rick, has an excellent post on the History of the Red Poppy commemorating Veterans's Day.

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I highly recommend you visit his blog!  He has one of the premier blogs out there.

Here is another take on the History of Veteran's Day

Are you a veteran?  Or a family member of a veteran?  Today is your day and we thank you!


Check in with us again at the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...

Roadrunner Reads

I read from time to time and this is one of those times.  Seems as if I have about 5 or 6 books going at once.  How about you?  Do you read a lot?  What are you reading now?

Here are 5 that I have read recently or are reading now:

Centennial, by James Michener:

Every time I read one of his books, I feel like I am taking a semester long course.  I started this (again) about a year ago.  I get going, read 100 or 200 pages and put it down.  I love his works and am determined to finish this one too.  Reminds me somewhat of Lonesome Dove.

The Excitement is Building, by Millard and Linda Fuller

Interesting account of how Habitat for Humanity started and progressed in the early days.  Millard and his wife left their business and life in Alabama and went to Georgia where they participated in Koininia  Farm in 1969.  They launched Habitat for Humanity International in 1976.  Inspiring read.

The Divine Mentor, by Wayne Corderio

My brother recommended this book and as usual he was on the money.  This book is primarily about being a self-starter when it comes to spiritual growth.  When we left our 'old life' and familiar surroundings of family, friends, church and work -- one of the things I was concerned about was our spiritual well being.  This book tells one how to take responsibility for one's own growth and to have a daily devotional life that is fulfilling.  Great read.


Life in Hawaii, by Titus Coan

Pam and I had the good fortune of living in Hawaii 1983-1986.  We loved the islands and its history.  Missionaries to the island began in the early 1800's.  I recall reading Michener's Hawaii when we lived there and learning more about the missionaries who became land barons.  I was motivated to read this book (available for free online) because it was mentioned by Cordiero in his book, the Divine Mentor.

Killing Lincoln, by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

Reading historical accounts from different perspectives helps me understand some of what was going on.  Any book I read, I do so with a tinge of skepticism.  I wonder if the author is playing straight with the facts or is trying to build an argument.  Do you do that?  I found this book interesting and worth the time.

One last note --
Have you joined Goodreads?

If you haven't I recommend it.  If you have, let me know so we can see what each other is reading.

Thats it for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Drop me a comment, let me hear what you are reading!

Until next time...