Sparky's Been Hacked!

Things were going along pretty normally today...we packed up and headed over to Camping World to get our new bed put in....Since we were going to be there for a few hours, Sparky pulled out her beach chair and sat outside under the shade of a big ole tree, and knitted for awhile...

Until the phone call came.....An automated call from Wells Fargo Fraud department..they wanted me to verify the last five transactions on my debit card. I've had to do this before when we move around more than normal. After the first time my card was declined because of traveling patterns, I made an effort to notify Wells every few weeks about where we were, and had done it recently, so I was a little surprised to get this call. The first transaction was made in California...my mind started reeling. Did I buy anything on line where the company was based in California? I didn't think so...The next two transactions were also from California....Now, I started to panic. The transactions were for more than several hundred dollars each. After punching a few more buttons affirming these transactions were not made by me, I was put in touch with a live representative from the fraud department. We started digging, and apparently, someone got my debit card number and started a charging spree. Luckily, for me, I don't keep a whole lot in the checking account at one time, and so after three tries of buying stuff, the card got declined due to insufficient funds. My checking account had been emptied. By this time, I was pretty upset.  I filed a fraud claim with the bank, and then the hassles started with how to proceed from there. Wells offers several options for protecting your numbers and accounts. Without going into those details, it took me an hour and a half of talking to bank representatives. To complicate things, when you are in a different state than where your accounts originate from, that affects what you can do if someone starts using your bank card or hacks into your account.

Wells Fargo explained that your debit card number is not the same number as your checking account so only the debit card number was compromised. But heck, they might as well have compromised my checking account as well, as it got emptied faster than a speeding bullet even though Wells called me the very next day when the charges went through.  Wells had no idea how they got my debit card number. It could have been an online purchase (highly possible), a gas station, a restaurant employee. I just saw a TV show the other night where they showed a waitress with a little device that many home party dealers use to record credit card sales. I had one myself when I sold Tastefully Simple but never used it. It seemed to risky to me and not very secure to be carrying this little card reader/swiper around in my pocket in order to record credit card numbers to be entered for sales credit later. The show showed the waitress running the card thru the little reader as she walked back to her service station and stowing the card reader in her pocket. What's to prevent anybody from purchasing these little readers for about a hundred bucks and scamming people on a regular basis? I try to watch my card wherever it goes, and stand there and wait when running the card inside a gas station if I don't run it at the pump, I try to look at the card readers at the pumps to make sure they haven't been tampered with, but I'm still clueless how they got my number and for now, so is the bank. I'm supposed to get my money back in a couple of weeks, I sure hope so! Debit cards are not handled the same as credit cards, that I know. We shall see......

There are apparently "rings" of scammers working in the Tampa area who obtain numbers one way or another, and then sell the numbers to people who make fake debit cards. That was just one scenario the banker explained to me. Seems like I had just heard about central and south Florida being one of the top areas of the country for credit/debit card fraud in the country. And now, I'm a victim.....

Back to the Camping World Store....Our bed was done....The great thing was, it was an easy install. Tiffin already has the outlet in place for sleep number beds AND a compartment for the motor. We didn't lose any storage space under the bed! The tubes are at the head of the bed, and everything worked out great and very neatly, and the Camping World tech guy did a great job. One good thing that happened today.....Yay!

We're at Lake Magic, an Encore park that honors the Florida Max Pass, so, our stay is FREE! We'll preview the park for you tomorrow....See you then!

Bye Bye Sarasota and Ocean Blues

We're kind of sad to be leaving Sun 'n' Fun...It WAS really, really fun! We heard more great entertainment poolside in two and a half weeks than we have heard all year. The singing, guitar and vocals that were provided were, for the most part, top notch entertainment. Sparky exercised almost daily swimming laps at the fabulous indoor pool....

Eldo  was on bikini patrol at the outdoor pool--lucky for him it was spring break spread out for about three weeks this month! We rode our bikes all over the park daily.....You can ride miles inside the park and not have to worry about going outside and getting into traffic or riding those scary bike lanes that are right smack in the middle of vehicular traffic. We played a little pickleball, whetting our appetite for more games in the future and more involvement in the sport. We each have tricky things we have to watch--Eldo has knees that complain now and then, Sparky has an Achilles heel that acts up without proper stretching and care. Sparky is starting to have to admit that you can injure yourself VERY easily without hardly doing anything as she gets older. She is currently nursing a very painful shoulder after tugging and pulling on a very heavy kayak bag in the car out of her reach. Must have pulled a muscle or something...it really hurts.

We found a great little farmstand right down the road, less than half a mile where they have fresh squeezed orange juice, grapefruit juice and grapefruits and loads of other fruits and veggies for very reasonable prices. We stocked up and froze some fresh squeezed o.j. for later down the road.....

Sparky found a great place to get a haircut, very reasonably priced...at the Supercuts studio, on Lockridge Road in Sarasota. Then, for a special treat, she got a deluxe facial at the spa inside the park from Melanie Russin, grew up in South Bend, IN, Sparky's old hometown!...They offer massages and all kinds of facials and skin care there. What a small world it is, even though we travel all over the country!

The park has cleared out, and we're clearing out, too, first thing in the morning...But first, one more trip to Ocean Blues, where we got our mojo on, our last night in town. David Smash, a terrific young guitarist, has got a regular gig on Monday nights there. The kid is a whiz guitarist, he is something else! We were hoping to see Steve Arvey play with David, Steve has kind of taken David under his wing and is mentoring him, we understand. Steve was off recording a new song he wrote to be played at the Tampa Bay Rays ball game on the Jumbotron the next night. Steve helped David get some backup players for a band tonight. The guys had never played with David, so it was interesting to see them all interact and communicate with each other, having never practiced before tonight. They did a fantastic job and once again, David rocked Ocean Blues. We ate pizza there tonight at the Club, and it was terrific! What a great place....If you are in Sarasota, check out the entertainment at Ocean Blues and have some great food while you are at it!

It's time to say goodbye to everything here that we love so much--the terrific beaches, Woody's River Roo bar and grill, the great music and activities at Sun 'n' Fun and the great blues bar Ocean Blues in downtown Sarasota. We're coming back next December to spend more time here....It's a whole lotta fun!

Gee Whiz! Sarasota's Cool Museum!

GWhiz--This is a great museum to take kids or grandkids. Eldo didn't want to go see it today, and can't say I didn't blame him, it's mostly for young children. Besides, it's 15.00 for a senior citizen to get in, but today, Sparky got in FREE! Some special garden show going on with discount admissions paid for by someone else, so that was a great deal!

This museum is mostly hands on stuff for kids...But you know, Sparky is a kid at heart, so she had a LOT of fun today! First on the exploration of the museum was the medical wing--here Sparky got to see a training mannequin that was made to resemble a breathing human, right down to the pulsing beat of the arteries that you could feel with your fingertips, to feeling of the exhalation of breath at the mouth.

Sparky got to practice chest compressions with the aide of a nurse/museum guide in the medical wing. The nurse guide told me that "Stan, the man" mannequin was about a two million dollar investment for medical colleges and EMT training academies and other such facilities. The mannequin can be programmed to have a cardiac arrest, a seizure, or have other health issues, enabling medical emergency training to be as realistic as possible before medics and doctors practice medicine on REAL people.  "Stan" even has openings for tracheotomy insertions, and tube insertions practice. He looked really real, with his chest moving up and down while he was "resting" on the table. Sparky learned some abbreviated C.P.R. moves today, like where to place the fingers so you don't break a rib, and how hard to press for compressions while watching the heart beat on the monitor. AND, to use the Beegees' song, "Staying Alive" to get the beat down for compressions. That's one of Sparky's favorite songs! Cool!

There were a lot of hands on exhibits in the medical wing, which was great. A great exhibit on cigarette smoking and all the nasty chemicals in a cigarette presented in a way that would make anybody think twice about what they were putting into their body, unless that person was already addicted to smoking. There were things to assemble like x-rays of the human body......then find the injuries in the x-rays....

There was another exhibit for kids big and little, where you put on a headband, and with your brainwaves, no hands, make a little ball move away from you, a sort of biofeedback. I watched two kids do that, brother and sister concentrating like crazy. It was really neat! There were lots of other things to touch and move around for kids and grownups alike.

There was an interesting exhibit that Sparky wished Eldo had been with her. You sit with a partner, and you try to explain how to build a tangram puzzle but your partner can't see your blocks, there's a wall between you. It was an exercise in listening. (What did you say? Were you calling me? Were you talking to me? asks E.) Uh, no, dear, just thought this would have been an interesting exercise for us.

Then Sparky had fun with learning to program a robot....She was the only adult programming, the rest were kids with parents standing by, but that was great, because you KNOW how fast kids pick this stuff up! Sparky knew that if she ran into trouble, one of the kiddos would be glad to help. Sure enough, a little seven year old boy sitting in the seat right next to Sparky, had to get up, come over and show Sparky what to do a couple of times. Sparky was just a little slow to hear what the directions were and was a step or two behind. But she got it! Got that little robot to move right up to the red ball, stop, and swing with an arm to hit it!

A fun stop at the museum today.....highly recommended for little kids and big kids, too.....Even if you do have to pay a bit to see it.

Passes and Discounts for RVers

Thought it would be nice to revisit this topic as more and more people are starting to full time and we've got more readers following......When a lot of campgrounds close around Oct. 31st, the search for where to stay  gets a little more challenging. The answer for a lot of RVers is--head SOUTH and that's what we've been doing. But let's say you don't want to automatically head for Texas, Arizona, Florida or California right away when temperatures start heading towards winter. There are some other ways to find places that may have not yet closed or stay open all year.  Eldy checks out the US Army Corps of Engineers sites as one option. These sites are found on recreation.gov. The sites are federally government owned all over the country where there's usually a dam, reservoir or some sort of service/engineering project that the U.S. army corps of engineers has completed..He has a discount card that entitles him to half off. Since the corps of engineer parks campground rates are around 18.00, this means we can stay for 9.00 a night! Wowee! One thing about Eldy, he is a GREAT researcher! He is very methodical and thorough about checking things out. I love that about him! I get in a hurry, I make impulsive decisions--which is not always a bad thing, you can analyze till you're paralyzed, but he doesn't do that.  He has a Senior Pass or Golden Age Pass that we will use for these types of properties. The cost was 10.00 and you have to be 62 to get it, it's a LIFETIME pass. What a deal!

What other kinds of discounts and passes are there out there for RVers? Well, there's Good Sam's camping discount card. For 19.00 a year, you get a magazine, RV tech advice, RV trip planning and 10% off campgrounds who belong to Good Sam's...there are over 1600 Good Sam's parks/campgrounds in the U.S. We have used this membership a LOT. Another membership we have used a lot is the Escapees membership card. It's a little more pricey, it's 70.00 a year for new members. There are only 19 parks across the nation, so the jury is still out on that one whether we will use it enough another this year to renew for next. They do have a tremendous number of services that comes with your membership such as RV travel planning, a pharmacy drug program, a mail forwarding service, free I.D. theft insurance, and some other things...they also have the CARE facility, a rehabilitation center in Texas for RVer members recovering from surgeries and injuries....and of course there's Passport America. This membership card (44.00 a year) entitles you to half off campground rates in participating campgrounds. Often the half off rates apply only to Sundays thru Thursdays, but not always. Sometimes, a campground will honor the Passport America rate on different days, or the full week, or as in the case of Emmaus Park in the Gulf Shores area in Alabama, they honor it for your entire stay, even if it's for more than a month! You get a magazine with this membership, free email address, trip routing, an iphone/ipad app, discount mail forwarding if you want it, and there are roughly 1600 campgrounds participating in this discount rate program.

There are other memberships out there--Thousand Trails is another one. You pay a membership fee, and depending on what part of the country you want to take advantage of the Thousand Trails parks, you purchase the membership by travel zone. Last year we purchased one camping zone for the northwest zone for 199.00. We got 30 days of camping for that price, and once we used up the thirty days of camping, it was 3.00 a day after that. This year, we bought the entire country, all four zones plus the Florida Max Pass which gives you six extra parks in Florida. The cost of the entire US zone was 499.00, the Florida Max Pass was 199.00. We get 60 days of "free" camping and after we use up those 60 days, we will be paying 3.00 a day for parks IN THE THOUSAND TRAILS SYSTEM, roughly 83 parks. In addition, if the park is an Encore park, we get a decent discount which varies from Encore to Encore park, as Encore parks are owned by Thousand Trails. So now we have quite a system of available parks to stay in.  We purchased this combo at the Tampa Super RV Show. This is what enabled us to stay in the Florida Keys for approximately 11.00 a night for two weeks, depending on how you juggle the numbers. You can stay two weeks in a TT park, then you have to move out of the system for a week, then you can come back into the Thousand Trails system. With the entire U.S. zone, we are allowed to book a campground 90 days out, which helps for long term planning if we need it. The Florida Max Pass adds six additional parks to the zone membership, and Sunshine Key down in Big Pine Key, FL, was the KEY to our purchasing the  Max Pass. Sunshine Key was charging 120.00 a night for an inside lot, we stayed for 11.00 a night down in the Florida Keys. Can't beat that!


There's also FMCA--Family Motor Coach Association....Here's what you get:

First-Year FMCA Membership is only $50 ... Renewal $40. The value of FMCA's member benefits far exceeds the cost of the annual dues. Benefit highlights:

• Family Motor Coaching magazine -- free subscription
• Discounts at FMCA commercial member campgrounds
• Group rate on roadside assisstance
• Michelin Advantage tire program
• Preferred pricing on motorhome insurance
• Pilot Flying J fuel discounts
• Approximately 500 special-interest chapters to join
• Chapter rallies, area rallies and conventions
• Exciting RV caravan tours at discounted rates

We have not joined this membership, as we are primarily interested in camping discounts. In two years, seldom have we seen a campground that offers an FMCA discount, and those are usually at more costly parks. We've got lots of benefits through the Good Sam's program as far as roadside assistance and other discounts, and Flying J offers a rewards club for people who sign up for their card. So, we don't belong to FMCA, but plenty of people do and like the program.

And I think that about covers it....

Sun 'n' Fun Yard Sale!

Darn blogger! Somehow, two posts got published in one day...Sparky is confused on how that happened! Can't always see the dates at certain points in editing, so oops!

The yard sale wasn't much...it wasn't publicized other than a tiny line in the calendar for the month. Sparky suggested that the office put up a sign at the check in gate for all people entering the park as a reminder that the yard sale was this morning. They said, "That's a great idea! We'll do that." They didn't.

We were trying to sell our RV ladder that we thought would be the ONLY ladder we would need...right height for the old coach, wrong height for the Tiffin. This thing collapses into a very tight structure for storing in the RV. It's been a good ladder for us, but it's not tall enough. We got it at Camping World. Now Eldo wishes he had a ladder like the Little Giant.

Here's what it looks like when it's totally collapsed and shut down...It's really compact.

The sale was from 9-12:00. After awhile, Sparky left Eldo in charge of sales and off she went to a nice neighborhood garage sale just down the street. She found some great brand name boy baby clothes for the expected grandbaby coming in June....She REALLY enjoys garage sales and used to sell on Ebay. Maybe she'll get back into that more and try to make a little money on the side....(Uh-boy....and WHERE are we going to put this stuff, woman?! The bays are FULL! fusses Eldo.) Maybe I'll sell some yarn, heh-heh.....or NOT!  These three girls in sunglasses on the left in front of their parents' house were doing their best to sell lemonade as a sideline. They were cheering their hearts out chanting and yelling, "BUY SOME LEMONADE! BUY SOME LEMONADE!" and doing several cheer routines. It was tempting to get some, but Sparky was on a mission for baby boy clothes!

When Sparky got back to the site, the ladder was still there, but we sold some tire covers from our old rig. Yay! (Too bad Sparky didn't put out yarn for sale, we could really use some freed up storage space, grumbles E.) He's not really grumbling, he's just teasing...uh, right, hon?

Today is Eldy's birthday, so this evening, we are going OUT...to dinner. It's yet to be decided where we'll go, but we're looking forward to it. Happy Birthday to the sweetest, most understanding, flexible traveling partner and love of my life, Eldy......

The "M" Word

"M" as in maintenance, necessary tasks to keep things looking GOOD and running smoothly....Today it was fix the rusty stair steps leading into the rig...After two years, the paint is not lookin' too good and the steps are rusty....Sparky to the rescue!

She fancies herself a painter and a remodeler, and having repaired a couple of spots on her car awhile back by sanding and priming and painting some touch up spots, she thinks she can tackle the rusty steps! What do you think? (Not bad, not bad, nice job, Sparky! compliments E. Just one problem, you got some black spray paint on the coach!) Egad! Oh, no!

No photos of the paint splotch by the front door, but Eldo got out his trusty spray cleaner that Sparky bought for him at the RV show, and SPOT BE GONE!  Whew! That was a CLOSE one! Sparky was so busy congratulating herself on making the steps look good, she missed the paint splotch. This cleaner cleans black streaks like you wouldn't believe, and it cleaned off Rust Oleum black spray paint that just about had dried off the Tiffin fiberglass without damaging the paint! It's really great stuff!

The rest of the day we spent relaxin' and doing NOTHIN'! Then we headed over the pool in the evening to hear Danno....the karaoke guy with the awesome voice and who usually has the Willi Nelson look-alike/sound alike singing several songs. And by gollie, "Willie"  was there! If you want to hear a guy who REALLY sounds like Willi, click the video button. Wow! This guy could make some money singing like Willie, you would think!

Change is NOT Always Good!

(Warning: Sparky is ranting and raving today, well, sort of. You might want to skip reading today's blog, or feel free to join the rant and rave! says E.)

Ever find a product that you absolutely love, and then, it either does a SLO-O-W-L-Y disappearing act from the stores, or POOF! It's GONE! I hate it when that happens! We could start from Sparky's childhood....(Spare us, PLEASE, Sparky! pleads E.) Well, ok, just a couple little things....My mom used to buy Betty Crocker Noodles Romanoff..that was one of our absolutely FAVORITE side dishes when growing up in the sixties and seventies. It had a wonderful strong distinctive different kind of cheese flavor to it. I think that product disappeared when I was a young mother...LOVED that stuff. It's probably a good thing it disappeared, or I'd be eating whole boxes of it myself! Found a few recipes online that claim to recreate the taste. I'm gonna have to try them!

One of my favorite desserts as a kid growing up was pink JUNKET...a rennet custard dessert, raspberry flavored. Poof! Gone....Of course, LOTS of things that you had as a kid are gone. I think Junket is still sold in grocery stores, but not the raspberry flavor, just vanilla. And I think just the tablets are sold for making the custard now. My brothers contributed Hydrox cookies (better than Oreo's, they say), my daughter said S'mores Crunch Cereal.....there is website after website lists of discontinued products people want back---fascinating! Does the Polaroid camera make your list? How about Shark Bites? And the quest is on.....

Had a favorite lotion...Jergens Skin Smoothing Moisturizer...with beta and alpha hydroxy...used it for YEARS....stocked up on it when I realized it was disappearing from the shelves and being reformulated. (Sparky is convinced that this stuff is what is helping her look younger than 62, explains E.) Well, I can wish, can't I? Now I find out that it has two different kinds of parabens in it, which have been found in breast cancer tumors. It's also in sunscreen lotions and recommendations are starting to come out against using products that contain this stuff. Great! I only have about three bottles left of the stuff! While we are on the subject, Shop Smart Magazine, put out by Consumer Reports, has warned about using sunscreen lotions with palmitate as an ingredient....apparently, THAT ingredient is linked to skin cancer! Go figure...I've seen that warning in more than one place lately....

Found a terrific pair of Columbia women's shorts that were flattering and fit PERFECTLY! (And they looked GO-O--D! affirms E.) They are closing out that particular model of shorts. Looked all over online and in our travels and they are POOF! Gone!

And should I even mention BLOGGER? I HATE the new format...it's harder to find your way around all that white space along with lots of other complaints...what was the matter with the old one, anyway? And why can't you keep the old format if it works better for you? Why not let the people decide which one they like better and let them use it?

OK, Sparky is done with her rant and raves about faves....What are some of your favorite products that you can't find any more? It can be old stuff or relatively recent products, we would just love to find out what everybody misses....Gone but not forgotten?......