Fort Myers, FL - Enjoying Our Visit

We’ve been in this area several times and enjoy this area for birding, shelling, kayaking, and just the laid-back feel of the area.

I also enjoy the sunsets on the west coast. Here are two pictures I took Friday night while waiting for the tow truck:

Saturday was an odd day because we had no home (checked out of the hotel, and waiting for word on the RV), but didn’t want to go too far or remote (think: bike/kayak) in case we had to get to the Ford dealer quickly. So we checked out the beach at the end of John Morris Road (which is at the end of the road from the Groves RV park). We ran into a fellow-RVer from The Groves that we met Friday night. Mike’s truck says it all:
He likes biking, kayaking, RVing, he is a volunteer trash-collector on the Calusa Blueway (does he sound like anyone else we know?!), and for his 60th birthday he bought himself a wind-surfer. When I grow up, I want to be just like Mike!

We drove around Fort Myers Beach and stopped at a few beaches. Hurricane Gustav was causing quite a bit of wave action and high tides:
And the squalls were hard to predict at times. We had just gotten on this beach when this black cloud appeared. We barely got back to the car before the rains hit.But everything was beautiful between the rain bands….cool, breezy, sunny.

Highway Blues

It was a rough start to our “getaway” weekend.

We thought it would be fun to take Spirit out for the long holiday weekend. We didn’t need to go far, maybe to the west coast of Florida or north to Savannah’s area. Then Gustav threatened the west coast; and Tropical Storm Fay had drenched the north which was still experiencing flooding in the area. So, where to go? We waited til Friday morning to decide, and decided that Fort Myers looked ok as long as Gustav didn’t veer eastward. Andy went to the RV to get her prepped for our trip – and the coach batteries wouldn’t start up. He started to think it was an omen.

By 3 pm we were on the road, with the hopes that highway speeds would help recharge the batteries. As we crossed Alligator Alley we watched birds and alligators on the roadside; the expanse of sawgrass was whipping by with the nice tailwind that we had; and we were able to start up the generator at a road stop. And I said, “See, things are already improving!”.

Then about 5 miles from our destination Andy commented that Spirit was acting sluggish. If he took his foot off the gas, she slowed quickly. Then the steering wheel started to vibrate. We pulled over to check the tires thinking we had a flat. Nope. All engine lights read no warnings. We continued on our way. Then we started to notice a burning smell in the cab and back near the kitchen. I started to shut down the a/c and fridge and turned off the generator. We were 2 miles from the RV park and looking for another safe place to pull over. But we got to the RV Park first. The smell was awful. We jumped out and started to do a walk around when we saw smoke coming out from the front right wheel well. We scrambled to detach the toad (in case of a fire), grab cell phones, wallets, and other valuables out of the RV…including the fire extinguisher. And here is how our first night away ended:

Song Title: Highway Blues
(sorry, the pictures are dark, but it was nighttime when the tow truck driver arrived!)

No one ever wants to see their beloved RV towed away. I know Jim and Chris recently had this experience, too. So we spent a worry-filled night in a Hampton Inn and spent most of Saturday in contact with the Galloway Ford service department. We were pleasantly surprised that they were able to diagnose and fix her by 4pm Saturday. Otherwise we didn’t know what we’d do since everyone was closed Sun and Mon.

The cause was our brake caliper, which seized up causing the brake to apply gradually overtime – every time the brake was applied, it wouldn’t release fully. So by the time we drove the 140 miles, the brakes weren’t releasing at all. We had worn out the brake pad on the front right wheel. Thankfully we stopped before it dug into the rotors.

This problem can happen frequently in RVs that are in storage or aren’t driven often. Apparently the brake fluid likes moisture and overtime that increased moisture in the fluid causes swelling in the pistons which then causes the calipers to freeze. (Note: this is my non-professional understanding of this!) And, although Ford makes NO note of this in any maintenance schedule, it is important to monitor the color of your brake fluid and flush it every 2-3 years or so. The color of the fluid when new is clear/pale yellow. As it gathers moisture, it changes to a brown. That’s when you know it needs to be changed.

So, if your RV is in storage, or if you live in one place for a period of time without driving it, you might want to add this step to your maintenance plan to avoid our expensive lesson. Our “quick, cheap weekend” disappeared quickly after having to replace the calipers and brake pads for both front wheels (at least we didn’t have to replace the rotors!) and add a night in a hotel. At least we had CoachNet roadside service, which covered the towing cost; and Galloway gave us a break on labor costs; and The Groves RV park credited us for Friday night. We are grateful for these good things…not to mention that there was no accident because of the seized brakes, we were at our destination/civilization, there was no fire, no one was hurt and nothing in the RV was lost. We always have to remember to count our blessings!!

Skype Update

We’ve been using Skype as our home phone for about 10 months now. It definitely has its advantages, such as the low cost. But there are some quirks to it that would be hard to live with if we didn’t have cell phones as a backup.

One of the oddities is that it doesn’t always recognize entries for automated systems, such as when keying in numbers for extensions or other numeric prompts. This can be frustrating when on a call with computerized recordings. For those calls we tend to use our cell phones.

Another issue that we’ve experienced, (which we can’t determine if it’s our Panasonic VOIP phone or Skype) is that incoming calls get rejected. The caller just hears ringing and the call never goes into voicemail. Occasionally we’ve noticed that our Skype “status” has changed to ‘away’ without us making that change. Sometimes we just don’t know why people can’t leave messages. We started to tell friends and family that when that happens, just to call and leave a message on our cell phones. And we tend to look at the phone for any missed calls, not just for voicemails.

These issues are annoying, but it still has been beneficial for us to have a backup to the cell phones. The biggest advantage for us has been using Skype during online classes, which can run for an hour to three hours long. That’s been a huge savings on our cell phone bills.

Philly Fantastic

We flew to Philly for a long weekend and ended up staying just a little longer than expected. Tropical Storm Fay caused us enough worry that we decided we didn't really need to fly back home in the middle of the storm. A turbulent flight is not on my life list of things to do. So instead of flying back Monday night, we flew back this morning.

It all worked out well, though. We got to spend more time with family. Somehow time just disappears when we're home. And the weather in Philly was gorgeous. The humidity in Florida has been suffocating recently, and the weather up north was perfect with temps dropping into the 60's at night.

I also got to spend some time walking in one of my favorite parks - Alvethorpe Park. Andy's dad used to work there, so I feel close to him when I walk the wooded path. Plus, I got to see some wildlife: rabbits, chipmunks, and Canadian geese. But no deer on this visit, which surprised me.

Andy's brother, Jimmy, took us for a run in Pennypack Park. We haven't been in this park in years. They've paved part of the hilly trail that follows the creek. It's hard to believe you're actually within city limits. After having our flight delayed, we had an opportunity for a second run. It was just what I needed for the soul - big trees, birds, butterflies, the sounds of crickets and locusts, a creek with big rocks to play on - it was perfect. The trails within Pennypack offer some mountain biking and horseback riding trails in addition to the paved trail. On my next visit, maybe I'll explore those trails, too.

This was how we felt yesterday...

I Can't Wait!

We are heading to Colorado! Yippee! I just can't even tell you how excited we are. We started thinking we needed to get away: mountains, wildlife, cooler weather....We know Andy's mom loves to travel as much as we do, and it's a BIG birthday for her this September (no, Mom, I won't share it with everyone unless you want me to!) so we threw this idea out there and immediately got a positive response. Andy's sister and a niece are joining us, too. It'll be great.

Andy and I have begun the planning stages: fly into Denver, stay one night in Boulder, three nights in Estes Park, and then the last night in Denver. It's funny how Andy and I fell immediately into our usual roles: he plans the travel and housing, and I get the "fun" stuff. I usually create a (long) list of the things that I would like to do (or in this case, what the group might like to do), and then when we get there we'll see & do whatever makes us happy.

For now I get to dream about snow-capped mountains, golden aspens, bugling elks, pikas, big horns, moose....all of these things I've been missing here in Florida.

Our Latest Decision

I can't believe another month has flown by and it was time again to decide our future. Andy's decision was easier than mine...he will continue trading (for at least another month). With the new ideas and knowledge he learned from Brian Shannon's Book, he's been able to day trade with some success. The market has been so volatile this past month it has been virtually impossible to trade on any time frame longer than that.

I, on the other hand, had a harder decision. July was a difficult month for me. There's something that is very mentally straining about trying to work (take trades) but be unable to because of fear, frustration, and a total lack of trust in the market. I know I'm not alone. I know the professionals say this is not a market to be involved in, unless you're very aggressive. A bear market is not a time to be buying stocks, it's a time to sit in cash, prepare and wait. But I feel like I'm wasting time. So, I've decided that in the meantime I will focus half of my time on discovering & starting up a new business or I will find work. I am not ready or willing to give up on the trading, I'll just go "part-time". I did have a good month in June, which shows me that I can do this in better market conditions.

If Only We Knew

Do you ever have one of those times in your life when you say, "If only I knew (blank), things might be different?". Well, I have one thing that has sat in the back of my mind this whole year that is like that.

Last September, or so, it came to light that Andy and I trade very, very, very differently. It was one of the main reasons, we feel, that caused us to struggle so much in our trading. We had thought that by pulling together and sharing our trade ideas that we would be helping each other...that we would make less mistakes with two brains and four eyes looking at a chart. But he was trading short term and I was trading long term, so what happened instead was that we'd disagree over the proper entry and exit points and invariably lose money because of it! But, here was the kicker - we'd usually both be right...but in our different timeframes. So, we brought up this issue with one of the instructors at an Investools seminar in Seattle last year and to our surprise he said it was a common problem with spouses who were actively trading together. Now, you would think that Investools would've mentioned this at some point in all of the training classes or online courses, wouldn't you? Especially since they continuously encourage you to 'bring someone with you' to join. But, we took this information to heart, and separated our account so we could trade individually...and we definitely noted an improvement.

This is why I say, "If only we knew this in 2006 when we started trading, where would we be now?"

Over the years, I've had a number of readers email me to mention that they had joined Investools or were stock/option traders. Perhaps some of the lessons we've learned can help you, too....