Cleaning the Camper and Visiting Gatorland

Monday I got ambitious and decided to clean the camper or at least start cleaning it. Being retired I don't want to work to hard so it will take a few days to complete the task. We can't use water to clean the camper because of the water shortage in the area so I have a dry wash/wax system to clean the camper. I wipe it on with a damp cloth and wipe it off with a dry cloth which leaves the surface clean and shiny.

I started out by washing all the windows with Windex then I decided to work on the front of the camper only. Wipe on wipe off, it sounds easy, YEA SURE! The windows were easy but the front of a class C motor home is a pain in the #**. I would rather clean a 45 foot class A motor home because it is shaped like a shoe box with flat surfaces. The front of a class C has more nooks, crannies, and overhangs to deal with not counting the dried on bugs. The front of the camper looks great but I got crippled from the effort. It took a couple of days to start walking normal again.

While I was working on the camper a MetLife blimp flew overhead.

According to their website it was one of three they fly, this was Snoopy 1.

Yesterday we decided to play tourist again so we went to Gatorland which is only a half hour away. Our Garmin got us there without a problem but it took us on a toll road. We were only on the toll road for about two miles and they charged us $1.75. I guess they are trying to pay for all their roads with this one toll booth.

Along the way we passed this massive mall which had every department store in existence including a Bealls (Pronounced Bells). As we passed Bev informed me that we must stop there on the way back. Just Great!

Just down the road from the mall we arrived at Gatorland. We looked at the sign with the prices and it was about $25.00 a head but when we check with the admissions person we were surprised. I am a veteran so I got in for free and because Bev is old it only cost her $10.64 including tax. That was great and left us with enough money to by ice cream in the park.

They had Alligators everywhere.

The Egrets were brave and we saw one grab food from an alligator's mouth. They also like to ride on the gator's back.

They also had White Alligators. As you can see from the sign these are not Albino and are very rare.

They almost look fake but believe me they were real. If you have good eyes you can read the Legend of the White Alligator sign.

They had tortoises.

The place was overrun by Black Vultures. They were on the ground, on the buildings, and in the trees.

And more birds

They had snakes. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Southern Copper Head

Cotton Mouth

Eastern Diamond Back Rattlesnake

I'm glad they were behind glass although in one of their shows they had a couple of rattlesnakes crawling around the stage rattling their rattles.

Their shows were kind of hokey and were really for the kids. On one of the shows they were going to get the gators to jump for food but it was cold the night before so the gators didn't care about food they just wanted to lay in the sun. A couple of gators grabbed the meat offered but most just laid there. The egrets were brave though and took the food from the gators. The Black Vultures really wanted to get the food but were afraid. They would approach them but fly or run off even though the gators did not move. Like I said it was hokey but the kids got a kick out of it.

One show was Up Close Encounters. They had spiders and rattle snakes on the stage and here is a Burmese Python being held by people from the audience. (Not me, I don't like snakes.)

Gatorland is really for kids and there were a lot of them there. Some of them had a great time playing in this water feature.

It was fun walking around the place even if I was still stiff from working on the camper.

Time to head home to Thousand Trails Orlando, but no Bev is making me go to that large mall to shop at Bealls. Oh how I hate to shop and I really don't need anything! Oh No I thought I could wait in the car but no Bev wants me to buy pants and a shirt. I have one pair of black jeans and one pair of tan jeans. I also have a couple of shirts I don't need anymore. I lost, Bev made me buy pants, shirt, and a jacket. Bev also got some things and I have to admit it was a great deal. They were having a 50% off sale and because we were old we got another 15% senior discount. Great savings but I still say I didn't need any more.

Finally, we got to head home and yes we hit the $1.75 toll road again.

It was such a traumatic experience shopping that on the way home we had to stop at our favorite steak place the Santa Fe Cattle Company. Did I mention we like to eat out.