Orlando, FL: That's My Story & I'm Sticking To It!

Passed our driving lessons with flying colors. Well, maybe not flying colors however our instructor did not take away our keys and/or licenses. Our Driving instructor, George, was first rate. Lots of experience driving trucks throughout various stages of his life plus a certified driving instructor for the state of Minnesota. At 68, he and his wife are traveling full time.

I’ve told you about how some people work while traveling full time, sometimes for the money, sometimes to stay busy (sometimes for both). George and his wife Valerie are currently working at Disney World for two months . Disney hires a lot of temporary workers for their peak season and loves husband & wife teams. Puts them through 3 days of instruction on how to treat Disney’s guests before letting them work directly with the public. George and Valerie work together in the same part of the park, have the same work hours, the same days off, etc. Disney makes it easy. In addition, they get free access to all of the parks -- a very nice perk!

George also told us he and Valerie have just taken a new job as the advance team for a traveling circus. They will verify everything is ready for when the circus arrives, mostly logistics and advertising. And get this, the circus pays them a salary plus pays all of their traveling expenses. They will get paid to travel around the US for, I think, 10 months without paying for fuel or campground fee’s. Told you there are lots of ways to ‘see the USA’, some more interesting and unique than others. Not to mention seeing all the circus acts 'up close & personal'.

In any case, George spent about 12 hours with us over two days, having us practice parking the rig, guiding each other into various parking situations using hand signals, how to execute square corner turns in tight places, proper use of the mirrors, lane changes, etc.

MLA did great although she was pretty nervous before hand. At one point George put us on a toll road and MLA had to drive between the concrete barriers and pay the toll. This RV is so big you initially struggle to put it exactly in the middle of the lane. George told MLA she was hugging the right hand side of the lane. She told me later she wanted to tell him "Dale did the same thing when he started" however she kept that little peice of news to herself.

Anyways, she did a great job and did most of the driving on day 2. She did such a good job I told her she gets to do most of the driving from now on and I get to sleep in the navigator’s seat. She replied with that special hand signal she has been working on….

Tomorrow we will either go to Universal Studios or to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom is the only Disney park we have not been to yet.

I told you about the scrape I put on the coach in downtown Memphis. Well I had the bright idea of covering the scrape with one of those maps of states you have visited until I can get it re-painted. Brilliant eh? Only problem is, turn out the map is transparent, only the state outlines are visible until you put on the sticker for the state you have visited.

MLA offered the solution of putting on the sticker for any state where the scrape shows but I said no, you are not allowed to do that. I'm pretty sure it's illegal and there are severe penalties if you place a sticker over a state you have not visited in your RV. Everybody knows that. So now I have map of the US in an unusual place on the RV, a scrape that is still visible, and a wife whose mad at me and thinks I’m nuts. Actually she knows I’m nuts -- now she just has visible proof she can share with all the other RV’ers who stop by and ask why we put the "Visited States Map" so high up on the RV.

Actually, George, our driving instructor probably thinks I’m a little nuts too. When we were passing Disney World I saw the entrance to Disney’s NASCAR race course and suggested we cut a few high speed laps in the RV. George declined however I still think it would have been fun. Then I would have a much better story to go along with the scrape on my RV - trading paint with the wall on a NASCAR track in an RV. That would get people’s attention. For now, I'll have to stick with the truth: "Alien's Attacked Our RV In Memphis -- They Were Looking For Elvis".

Love to all.
See Ya!