Visiting Carolyn's Mother

Ocala, Florida

Weather: low 68 degrees, high 89 degrees, mostly cloudy skies, scattered showers

As we were out and about today, it was obvious that traffic is as bad as ever here in Ocala. Another thing that stood out was the number of businesses that have closed and the number of houses for sale. This area depends on tourism and construction for the majority of the jobs. The construction jobs come from new residents moving in. The new folks are not moving here like they did before this downturn. So, there are a lot less construction jobs. The tourism jobs come from the tourists visiting to see a multitude of attractions. With the recession ongoing, people are not coming to Florida in the numbers they were before. No one knows when the economy will pick up, but these folks are ready for things to get better.

We spent a good part of the day visiting with Carolyn's mother. While we there, we also saw two of her sisters and two of her brothers. There was a lot of catching up on what has been going on with everyone. I'm trying to set up a get together for early next week with three of my cousins. One of them lives here, one lives in Jacksonville, and the other lives in the Tampa area. I hope it comes together.

Remember in last night's post that I had problems setting up the satellite dish? I mentioned that I was tired and that probably contributed to the problem. After a night's rest, I tackled the problem again. Guess what? Success!!!! We now have a functional satellite TV system.

Late in the afternoon, I wiped part of the RV down to get some of the road grime off of it. I'll try to finish that tomorrow. I've found that doing a little from time to time keeps me from having to spend a lot of time cleaning it up.

Tomorrow will be another busy day, spending time with family.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Charleston, South Carolina: Carolopolis

Not all who wander are lost.