Dispatch from the Road 2026

  Phipps Campground is under the red arrow January 2026 in Stuart Florida Over the years Millie and I have spent a lot of time in Florida. We used to spend three months each winter in the sunshine state. I wouldn’t go so far as to say we’ve seen it all, but we’ve seen enough that we don’t act like tourists. We spent most of the month hear going to Planet Fitness or exploring for thrift stores. Some of the Thrift stores we went to in West Palm Beach were huge. Neither one of us bought much during our thrifting, it’s just fun looking for that big bargain. It happens sometimes, I once bought a brand new, still in the box, RV cover for our Travel Trailer for $20. It would cost $300 at any RV dealer. Planet Fitness is the same wherever you go, they are clean and mostly patronized by the same mix of people. There are never more than a few teens, and they are always there with a parent. The kid is usually out of shape, and the parent is hovering to make sure he/she is doing something othe...

  Still smiling after several expensive repairs This is the continuation of our 2025/2026 Florida trip. The earlier part is at the end of the 2025 Dispatch from the Road. January 1st, 2026 We departed Lake Saunders RV Park this morning, driving route 19 down to the Florida turnpike. For some odd reason we got on the Florida turnpike. We usually prefer country roads, and I guess I wasn’t feeling adventurous that morning. The turnpike was a no thinking route; we would not have to make any route decisions and would get off about a mile from our next campground. It was smooth sailing with light New Years Day traffic, and the 150 miles went by quickly and without incident. Little did we know the 9.5 ZF rear axle was planning an incident of it's own and soon we would be searching for a repair shop.  In 2024 with about 130000 miles on the truck, we experienced differential carrier bearing failure in New Mexico. We had it repaired in a local shop and thought we wouldn’t have to worry ...