Hardee County Museum

I spent most of my afternoon at the museum. I am only able to attach 5 pictures to a story, so this is the 1st installment. Straight ahead as you walk in the door is this scene with a wall Murial, depicting the past history. Seminole Indians here & 3 Indian wars. This county is agricultural with citrus & beef mostly now. No manufacturing in the county.
On the sign-in desk is a moonshine still, with complete instructions on how to make moonshine.
Stepping into the room on the right is this story. Goes back 65 million years. The 1st horses were small as the one in the circle. They were forest animals. The tan one is like Zebras now & present horses as the biggest gray one. Someone did a lot of work on this. Besides being painted, some of it was sculptured.
This is an alligator skin, 11+ feet long. They had some artist drawings of how Indians wrestled them. I know I wouldn't do that!!! I sure enjoyed rubbing my hand over this one's skin though.
This is just inside the door. Must be over 100 antique cameras. If any of you have interest in antique cameras, let me know. They plan to sell some of them to have money to work on other projects. They already have plans to expand the museum.

I am back into the campgrounds & gonna be here for 2 weeks. It is hot here, but I spent most of my time in air conditioning today.

In another blog, I will send a picture of me holding something BIG!!! Also I have a picture I will let you guess what it is. I sure do enjoy going to museums. Also the museum attendant was great. She is Sandy, the photographer I put in the blog that was multi-tasking, (eating ice cream as she photographed). I met her husband today also.

Have a great weekend..............................................................Ron

Wedding Chapel?

I got off the interstate & this was what I saw. May not have been in the best section of St. Petersburg, but I got out of the bus to take the picture. Besides the house being pink, the fence & sidewalk is red. I thought I'd introduce myself to Helen, but the gate was locked.

When I got back to the campgrounds today, I went swimming to cool off, but the water in the swimming pool was almost body temperature. Tomorrow, I check into the campground for 2 weeks.

Hope you are able to stay cool,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Ron

Convertible car ride

And the Thunder Rolls & the Lightning Strikes. Garth Brooks did a song, "Thunder Rolls", which I didn't like, but I went & downloaded it. Unfortunately it doesn't say the lightning strikes or I would have made a video slide presentation. After Greg & I got done putting the new front tires on the bus after 12:30 AM in the Wal-Mart parking lot, I was just about ready to head out on the road, but then I got a phone call. Wanna go to Steak & Shake? You buying? Yes they said, so I went.
This is the same couple I did their wedding pictures. So they picked me up & we headed for Steak & Shake, which must have been over 20 miles away. We went with the top down. As bad as these look, there were also stars in the sky, one not very far from this set of clouds. We never felt a drop of rain. I was looking through the camera & kept thinking there was an overpass coming up, but I was sitting in the back seat & it was the windshield. Pictures here don't do the situation really justice as it was unbelievably how the cloud lit up.
So it was 3:30 AM this morning before I got back to the bus & slept in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Going south on SR 41 I saw this sign. I got pulled off the road & had to walk back to take the picture. Little did I know it was gonna play a part today. Remember when I had a blowout on I-275 & a minister picked me up when I was hitchhiking? Today I picked up a guy walk whose car had ran out of gas. I told him about a minister who picked me up. Then he told me he is a minister from California here for a conference. I took him to a gas station & dropped him off there. Gave him one of my cards. Wish I had taken a picture of him to put in my blog, so his friends could have see this back home. Well, at least he can tell them.
This is a new front tire I got put on last night. New rims also. Tubeless 10.00 X 22.5 tubeless. All my other tires are tube type with split rim. These tires only had 1,000 miles put on them. They still have the tits on the side, which you can see against the grey rims. I'll have to buy a can of black spray paint to paint them black.
So after dropping him off & ended up with time to spare waiting on another friend who wasn't home, I came to Panera Bread to do my Internet. 1st time here & it is nice inside with relaxed atmosphere & LOOK AT THIS ROLL!!! Strawberry cream!!! Wow!!!

Besides that, it is hot outside, so I am soaking up their air conditioning, & several glasses of their delicious lemonade.

Hope you are all having a good week. Today is HUMP DAY. Ron

Why did the chicken fly into the tree?

I am at the junkyard on my week out from the campground. Yesterday I saw this chicken flying around in these small trees. Then it also stood on the ground & just like jumped up in the air a small amount. It looked like it was eating leaves off of the tree, but that wasn't the story.

There are only 3 chickens left at the junkyard. Gregg tried to catch them all & sell them, but these 3 escaped capture, so Gregg decided they could fend for themselves.

They survive very well here in Florida. Berries is what this one was eating. I can remember as a kid that a few chickens that we had, had to fend for themselves also. I don't know what they ate, but I remember them scratching the ground. We would also occasionally get a few eggs. Had to look for them in different places as those chickens wandered even though we had a chicken house.

Weather is hot here & supposed to be getting even hotter with more humidity. Got 4 tires for the rear of the bus, so now Tuesday, I'm supposed to get 2 almost new ones for the front.

Have a good week,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Ron

Fireworks

They were pretty to look at even though they weren't as spectacular as I've seen, since this is just a small community & did only what they were able to afford.

As to the pictures, I didn't take my tripod, which could have improved them. Also the smoke sort of took away from them in some pictures. So I picked the ones I liked best in RED,WHITE, BLUE, & GREEN.

We actually were sitting in the Thousand Trails campground, across the road from the county park. So you see trees in the foreground.
Not too many blue ones & this was the prettiest one I got a picture of. There was another one about to burst inside of this one as you can see the white rocket streak going toward the center. We did get 1/2" of rain yesterday & it was a question if the fireworks would happen last night. 2 communities on the Atlantic Ocean had theirs cancelled. Flagler Beach, where I took my friend's Greg & Brenda's wedding pictures were delayed because of rain. Daytona Beach where the fireworks happens from a barge in the water had waves as high as 6' high & some of the fireworks fell into the ocean.
If you watch the Nascar race on TV Saturday night, which is at Daytona Beach, they might show some of the fireworks.
This picture isn't spectacular because of the fireworks, but because I can see the backside of a couple who works here at the campgrounds & recognize them. Must have just been some good timing as different people had some small fireworks & it lit their backsides up as the camera snapped the picture

Now this morning, I've been UNHAPPY TWICE!!! I went to put bread in the toaster & there was a frog on my sink beside the faucet. So I got a piece of paper toweling to get him OUT OF THE BUS!!! He hopped & it took several times to catch him, but I finally caught him, (partially squeezing him with his slimy skin against mine), & got him to the steps by the door. Opened the door & used my foot to chase him away of which he hopped the wrong direction 1st before he went outside.

So I went to the kitchen sink to wash my hands immediately. While doing that, it hit me, "IDIOT ME", I should have taken the picture before I got him out of the bus. He was by the faucet. Maybe he wanted a drink? LOL A picture of a frog beside the faucet with water running could have made the news, LOL. Oh well, not gonna get pictures of everything. Until next time, have a good week, Ron

MULTI-TASKING

I really enjoy seeing women who know what they are doing behind a camera as Sandy is. She was taking pictures of all the July 4th Karaoke singers. I really liked it when I saw her smile as she was taking my picture when I was singing, "I'M MY OWN GRANDPA". So she was following people around getting crowd pictures etc., so I decided to follow her around to take pictures of her taking pictures. As you can see, she is "MULTI-TASKING", with some home-made ice cream in a waffle cone. I also took her out to take pictures of her with a Palm tree as a background. I liked her blouse right away when I saw her & just now noticed her ear rings.

She told me she'd send me the pictures she took of me after I sent hers, so I'm looking forward to them.

I might be off the computer for awhile as I am out of the campground for at least a week. Also might go to Brooksville to get front tires put on.

All for now. Have a nice week,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Ron

Tired & Retired

Monday was the day to get tires put on the back of my bus!!! FOR SURE!!! I had had 2 tires blow in 9 days, both on the left side rear duals. No problem stopping, just a BIG BANG & the inconvenience of having to wait on road service. I had talked to a tire dealer & told him what I needed & he recommended Florida Tire Terminal at Avon Park. This is where this picture is taken, THOUSANDS OF TIRES, the ones for my bus were inside. They came off of school buses from NC. Probably 1/2 tread or more, but not weather cracked like mine.
Here is a picture of one of mine. They called it a "MAY POP", lol, but knowing the history I have been having with tires lately & the heat, the tire is a "WILL POP", just a matter of time. Oh, this was on the inside of the outside dual of which I couldn't see it or I would have changed tires sooner. They had been making noise for a long time. I had to drive 25 miles or so with that noise & pray I made it back to where I was buying tires.
This is the other right side dual & you can see the crack was ALMOST all the way around. Now that is a "WILL POP". Actually I had dropped off 1 tire that had blown Sunday to have a replacement, but then decided to get all four on the back replaced & they did have a set. $50 apiece compared to $290 apiece for new tires was a bargain to me. They had Mexicans working there & they were hard workers, but we had some language barriers. I wanted new inner tubes, but didn't get them. One guy "NO ENGLISH", me "NO SPANISH". We almost had another problem also. He wanted me to release the brake so he could turn the wheel, but in his motions, I started the bus & put it in gear turning the wheels, WHICH ABOUT GOOFED UP A VALVE STEM. Unfortunately every wheel they put on that I had painted black when I painted the bus is now on the inside, so I have rims to paint again. But I am happy I found the place & would recommend them to anyone who needs tires. They have smaller sizes of tires at great prices also.

I took this when I was up at Orlando TT this last week. I think it is the same turtle who came over past my bus several weeks ago. I was able to get my tape measure out for him. His shell is 12" long & 10" wide. He moved away from me fairly quick after I measured him. MAYBE HE THOUGHT I WAS SIZING HIM UP FOR TURTLE SOUP, LOL.

There was thunderstorm go through the campground here yesterday & got one of the telephone lines that carries the DSL. But fortunately, I am on the wireless. We are in a pattern of thunderstorms daily possible now & I think up to 94 on Friday.

Have a nice day,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Ron