A fire full of Irons.

Busy, Busy, Busy.. is the only way I can describe the past few days. Between refilling propane tanks, heavily discussing future RVing issues (insurance, $$$$$, education, Post-Disney World plans), wrapping up once a year records and money movements, medical transition to medicare issues and cocka-poo coddling, a couple of days have just slipped away somewhere.

I am very glad that I bought 2 extra 40lb propane tanks a couple of months ago for about $75@. Taking 3 empty tanks in at one time got me a per gallon price of $61.20 for the 27.2 gallons it took to fill them. That's about $2.26/gal. The price would have been $22 per tank at the same place for less than 3 tanks. I periodically check LP prices around town and the next cheapest place was $2.99/gal so I figure I saved more than enough ($20 appx) to cover the cost of the gasoline to get there and back here. With that kind of savings I will have the 2 new tanks reimbursed in less than a year and I don't have to make the trip nearly as often, either.

BTW, a 40lb tank's capacity is 10 gallons (appx) but the OPD (Overfill Protection Device) only lets it fill to about 9.1 gallons when empty. In 2007 I had the 2 original (1999 vintage) tanks refurbished and recertified by having the complete OPD valve assembly replaced. The original valve stems were leaking and that was a lot worse than just a nuisance. It only cost me $18 per tank so it was cheap insurance against a more lethal nusiance.

Katie is back to her old self and doing well. We go back for a blood check next wednesday to see if she is ready for the surgery to fix her liver shunt. It sure is a relief to see her feeling better.

We are definitely heading down to SW florida after we leave Disney World in November. In searching for some satisfactory spots to stay it is turning out to be a lot more difficult than we originally expected. There are a lot more RV areas down there but a very large percentage of them are mobile home parks that accept RVs, too. This makes the pricing really skewed in most of them for the winter months (not that I expected anything different) and the RV sites are very often small with overgrown trees, low clearances and tight turns. Finding the right needle in that sewing box is going to take a lot more deep research than I was planning to spend right now to be sure we can get in during the "high season".

I was hoping to find a lot of personal references from fellow Escapees and the like but that is going to just take a lot of time reading individual posts in the appropriate forums.