Well Steve happy you guys made the trip without serious incident and are enjoying the warmth and sunshine of Florida for the winter!

Thanks Duane. Life is good, living in the Barth in Florida in the winter!

I always thought ut was that big ol' Barth that dragged the cold weather down from Michigan, but you did it with the Prius too! These low 50 mornings might feel good to you but we're freezing. See you soon.

I'm thinking it may not be the vehicles. The common denominator may be me... Like that character in the Charlie Brown comics, Pigpen, with the dirt cloud that always follows him?

After leaving the endless winters as a child in the UP of Michigan, I guess I have a cold front still with me? Last summer while the whole country was record heat, we had a cool summer in Michigan. Never ran th AC all summer. I should have gone south and given you guys a break!

Sometimes karma is a strange bedfellow for me. (Like driving on I75?)

We had the coolest, most cloudy and rainy December of all the years we've been to Florida. Highs in the 60's most days. Still beats Michigan by a lot! We had lunch with Tom and Nancy in North Ft Myers a week back. We went to Venice to see Danny and Suzy on Tuesday. Always good to see them. Have not been in the pool yet!

Finally this week we have some sun and 80's on the way. We are headed to Georgia (with the car) this weekend for Nick Cagle's funeral.

It looks like this will be our last winter here in the Barth. Having driven to Florida and living in the coach for the last 8 winters, we have decided to buy a new park model for our Florida base. We will park it here on our same site. We will keep the coach for use on trips and GTGs, just not live in it as much. Driving here and back in the coach has become more tedious each year. Between fuel prices and I75 truck traffic we are tired of the trips back and forth. Travel in the car is much easier and way cheaper. (The Prius gets 45+ mpg).

We plan to use the coach in the summer and hope to meet more Barth friends when we can!

Have Barth, will travel

This winter was consistently cooler and more cloudy than normal. In fact it ranks as the coolest, cloudiest winter on record. Still not bad but we have had fewer pool days.

Our park model will be delivered the first week of April. We plan to stay unti April 17 or so. Meanwhile, on March 31 we will move the Barth to another site. Richard and Nancy are heading north late March so we will borrow their site a few weeks.

Winter in Michigan has been very mild. Our small lake, for the last 33 years, has always frozen over by Dec 10. It froze Jan 3 this year. It usually thaws around April 10. This year it thawed March 5 !

We should be home around April 24. With my luck it will snow and then be 40's and rain.

We will be in Minnesnowta in June.

Yes Steve we have had an extremely mild winter after one cold snap in January.

Agree probably come the end of April and May it will be freezing your behind off cold!!

We'd like to see the park model before you leave, or at least have a beer with you guys.

Sounds like a good idea! We haven't even been to the beach yet. Now that it has warmed up a bit it would be good. Waiting till spring break winds down. See you soon.

Richard and Nancy left for home on Friday. We moved our coach today and are squatting on their site. Nice shady 50 amp pull through site. Here for two more weeks.

Now that our site is vacant, our new park model should be delivered next week, starting the new non-Barth chapters of the annual Florida story.

Have Barth, will travel, soon

Park model running a bit late, due tomorrow (Tuesday). Hoping for smooth delivery.

We had about 50% eclipse here. A nice clear day. Only a slight dimming but clearly seen with the dark glasses.

Aired up the tires. Ready to go. Heading north in a week.

Have Barth, will travel, soon.

Park model finally arrived. Elevation park model from Elkhart, Indiana. 37ft long
Electrical all ok. Still need to connect water and sewer. So far very happy.

Still needs AC, tiedowns and skirting but very pleased.

Very stylish, but no engine !!!!

This is what you get when you tell your wife to get one with everything that she likes.

No holding tanks, no 12v either. 2x4 walls, 2x6 floors, trussed standing seam metal roof. Stainless appliances, (including washer/dryer) solid countertops, double pane windows and good insulation. It has a 100 amp breaker box with cord and plug for 50amp service.

The extra height makes for nice living area and a storage loft above the bedroom.

So far everything is 100% good. No shipping damage, all electrical and appliances are working perfectly. All lights are LED with dimmers.

I have a crew lined up to set pillars and level it right. Then a bunch of hurricane tiedowns to install.

So far we are hooked up to water and sewer with hoses like an RV. I will hard pipe them in, remove the hitch tongue (store underneath) and get skirting soon. This is not camping...