Pulling out the impacted RV

Out of the Forest and Into the Wilderness

We got up at 7 this morning.  So, on 5 hours of sleep we got ready and headed to church.  After fighting for 2 hours to get ANY coverage at all in the National forest last night, I finally got 2 bars at "x1".  I'm not sure exactly what that means.  I wonder if the standard is the old 56k modems so 3G is 3x faster and 4G LTE is 4 times faster.  That isn't a joke, I'm serious about maybe that's what they mean.  All I know is that at x1 speed it took the iPhone 6 minutes to load the "Ocala Church of Christ" search parameters that I had put in.  The computer couldn't do it at all.  Computer browsers think they can/should load lots of bells and whistles while doing a search.  The Google "mobile app" is much more stripped down.  Once the results loaded I had to check each of the 3 different Ocala churches that have a web presence.  Check out their websites to see if they are doctrinally sound or whacky-doodle.  From what I could tell the Central church seemed like the best candidate.  The other 2 congregations no longer meet together on Sunday evenings because they have "life groups."  I've never been to a congregation that has "life groups" that isn't well down the road to being "progressive" (i.e. - getting rid of troublesome doctrines like the necessity of Baptism for forgiveness of sin and the importance of "sound doctrine")  They tend to be heading toward dropping "church of christ" from their names because it is a "pox"in the modern world.  They are the Rodney Kings of the church - "Why can't we all just get along?"  They see no problem with denominationalism because "We're all going to the same place" and don't see the uniqueness of the church established by Jesus.

Anyway,  I'd recommend the Central church of Christ in Ocala to my brethren.  It was VERY friendly (they have a team of greeters roaming the foyer).  The class was very biblical.  It was about viewing God as a Shepherd and what the bible is trying to get across using that analogy.  The sermon was on the Crucifixion and Jesus' interaction with the thief on the cross.  One of the last acts of God in Flesh, Immanuel, was to grant a man who by his own admission deserved to die by crucifixion - a full pardon and salvation as he repented and asked Jesus to save him.  It was a good lesson.  The preacher brought it all from the text.  They pushed the importance of studying the bible and the necessity of baptism for salvation. AMEN!

On the way TO the assembly we saw "The Wilderness" RV resort.  Irene mentioned it as we passed by with an upbeat "I wanna check this out" tone in her voice.  We had seen the prices there were a bit "salty" so I wasn't quite as "hubba-hubba" as she was about this.  Truth be told, I was a little despondent about this last attempt being a nightmare.  I'd put quite of bit of time and effort into laying this last egg, which wound up being a rotten one. We also saw 2 other resorts closer to Ocala.  They were close enough to the city to be "older" which (like the one we were in in the Ocala National Forest" were built in the 70s when the longest of RVs was about 32 feet.)

After church it was off for a Wal-Mart shopping spree.  Irene went in while I surfed the internet and looked for something else.  At least in Ocala we could get good wifi signal strength - 4 and 5 bars, yippee!  There didn't seem to be any other option.  I was sure the Wilderness was going to be more money then we wanted to spend since it was a new resort - even for renting lots.

We stopped and I told Irene to go on in to check it out.  She asked if they had lots for rent and that MAYBE we might be interested in possibly purchasing one if the price was right.  The guy ducked the "Do you have lots for rent question?" and only responded that if we could wait for about 1/2 hour they had a guy that could take us around to show us what was available for sale.

She came out and told me that with a "can we do the tour" lilt in her voice.  "Just ask him if they have rentals!" I responded.  She went back in again, this time coming out and saying that they did have rentable lots and the guy could take us on the tour in a couple of minutes.  Back in she went.  Now, this whole time I'm actually thinking about the "Nightmare on Elm Street" departure that awaits us when we get back to the rig and I getting testier and testier about having to deal with this whole "Wilderness" thing.  BUT, having just last night told her I'm going to try to not be so snappy and having just come from church and realizing I need to be more patient and loving with the fools of the world, er, other people I went in to take the golf cart tour.

DANG IT SHE'S RIGHT AGAIN!

The tour showed us that it's a great place to rent (We will probably winter here every year) and it might actually be wise to purchase a lot.

So, next we drive back to the rig to eat lunch and dis-impact the Trekker from its current lot and resort.

I AM THE MAN!!  No hits, no errors, no scratches, no problems.  We are OUTTA there.  We arrive at "the Wilderness" and are told that they will take us back to TRY to see if we can park in the spot they were holding for us, but they weren't hopeful and didn't want to get us off the road and buried in the mud since its been a very wet winter.  "OK, let's go give it a try," we said.  Kyle, the young man that works here wasn't hopeful.  He didn't know I'm the Jedi master of parking, I guess.  It only took 5 minutes and one up-back cut it hard to back this puppy in. No Problem!  The man across the street and down the road one lot farther DID have to move his truck so we could improve the angle by pulling up in his driveway.  But once that happened - Easy-Peasy!  Kyle and all of the neighbors were amazed.  "We've NEVER had one be able to make that turn before" Kyle said.  "You did a great job backing in there" all three neighbors agreed. "Thanks," I replied.  So I sit here tonight "de-stressed" and "de-livered" once again by God who gave me the abilities that I have and a great rig with that terrific 60 degree wheel cut that can turn on a dime and give you 9¢ change. Amen!

Now, If I can only convince Him to allow the Saints to get the #1 seed in the 2013-14 NFL Season. -)