Quick Stop in Lochloosa

One of the things Andre & I had often talked about doing on the road was visiting places mentioned in the songs of some of the bands and artists we love and appreciate. One of those Artists is J.J. Grey (with Mofro) and many of the blues songs he sings are about the part of Florida he grew up in. He describes it as the area of land between Gainesville and Ocala and he sings a soulful, beautiful song about Lochloosa.  On our way from Ocala to Gainesville on Friday, we drove the perimeter of Lake Lochloosa and stopped in the Town of Lochloosa to play the song and appreciate the meaning while surrounded by the essence of the place so lovingly described in the lyrics.  If anyone wants to hear a great song, listen to the title song of the J.J. Grey and Mofro album entitled "Lochloosa". It is truly a love song to Florida.

Looking out over the Lake

 

Gainesville Entry #1 - Swamphead Brewery

Hi all! I have some catching up to do for the past few days, so I will break this up into a few entries. We spent the last 2 days in beautiful Gainesville, Florida having a great time.  The initial plan was to stay one night (camping in the Wal-Mart parking lot with a bunch of other RV's), but there was so much to do, and the weather was so gorgeous that we stayed a second night and didn't head out of Gainesville until after lunch today (Easter Sunday). Last night, after returning from our all day bike excursion - which I will detail later in a separate post - we walked over to Swamp Head Brewery which, it turned out, was just a quick 1.2 mile walk from where we'd parked the van.  Had a great time from 6-7:30 in their tap room sampling a variety of great beers and talking to one the brewers about the brewing operation. Turns out he has a connection to Rhode Island (Smithfield), so we also talked some RI Brewery news and about the Providence beer scene as well.  Had a great time and didn't have to be concerned about driving as we were on foot. A quick mile and we were back at the van for the night! Here are some photos.

Memories from Home (Andre)

Just a quickie today! Presents come in all shapes and sizes. We received a great and unexpected present yesterday and I would like to share it with you.

A bit of RI lore – in the 1980s there was a great Providence band – the Schemers. I suspect many of you are well aware of them. They were part of my youth and a part I remember fondly. Fast forward to 2004 and Laura and I were so fortunate to be at the Schemers reunion show and CD release party! Mark (Mark Cutler lead singer and heart and soul of the band) and friends continue to play in various formats and venues around RI and southern New England. Catch them as often as you can.

Well, the present was a link to Mark’s latest video. We really enjoyed seeing the sights and lights of downtown Providence as the backdrop for the video is PPAC!

Enjoy!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_hK-KZH1mQ&feature=youtu.be

Horse Capital of the World

The drive from Crystal Springs to Ocala yesterday took us through some beautiful farm country and we passed one horse farm after another, some quite large and elaborate. Eventually we saw a sign advertising Ocala as the horse capital of the world and it made sense.

We later read that there are more than 200 farms and training centers located in Ocala that are devoted to breeding, training and showing breeds such as Thoroughbred, Paso Fino, Missouri Foxtrotter, Arabian, Morgan, miniature horse, quarter horse, hunter/jumper, and draft horses among others.

When we stopped in downtown Ocala and walked around, we noted these painted horse statues all over the place.  We'd seen this in the form of painted Cows in Vermont, and painted Mr. Potato Heads in Rhode Island (in honor of Hasbro Toy Co. in Pawtucket), but this was the first time we'd seen the horse version. Not sure why most of them were fenced in. Perhaps the statues around these parts are more wily than the Mr. Potato Heads back in Rhode Island...

Some Firsts and Some Seconds (Andre)

The Florida Trail

One of the goals or motivations driving this adventure was the desire to do new things, experience different places, to boldly go where …. as someone once said. And, we have been doing that, and much more, and much less, depending on the day, our feelings, and the circumstances.

So, some notable (at least to us) new things, and new things we’ve done more than once, along this journey:

Picking oranges, grapefruits, and tangerines from trees and eating them fresh (maybe not a big adventure from those who live near such trees!)

Swimming in natural springs – Rainbow Falls and Salt Springs (even though we have learned that the springs are connected in a way to the limestone and sinkhole issue down here)

Visiting Ocala National Forest – the southernmost national forest in the continental US. So nice, we got a campground for the night

Trail running on the Florida Trail (while listening to JJ Grey and Mofro’s Brighter Days, no less– this is a backpacking trail that runs the length of Florida, and the trail cut through a campground we stayed at

Visiting Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia – the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail – a trail we intend to thru-hike next year

Following the Conquistador Trail – back in the northeast, there is the Washington Rochambeau Revolutionary War Route that traces the route traveled by George Washington, Rochambeau, and the French Army from Newport to Yorktown during the Revolutionary War. We always seemed to bump into signs and historical markers for that trail. Well, the Conquistador Trail is like that down here and traces de Soto’s route through Florida, in pursuit of “Gold, Glory, and God’

Visiting friends and relatives along the way – thanks Rose and Terry, Jimmy and Belinda, Nick and CMU Ultimate, and Marsha, Kathy, and Bo!

Seeing lots of the lands, flora and fauna of Florida even if we still are trying to figure out what is what!

Experiencing this crazy weather, 35 in the morning and upper 70s in the afternoon!

Oh yeah, living in a van!

Rainbow Found - Kind Of

Rainbow Springs State Park

Too cold to do much this morning, so we spent a few hours just parked in a plaza parking lot catching up on email and doing some work using the "hotspot" feature on our Samsung Galaxy III phone for Internet. This feature has turned out to be extremely useful when we need Internet but our wireless options are limited. Often we go to a McDonalds or a Panera to sit and use the Internet for a while, but today we went to two different McDonalds that had no plugs (outlets) in the lobby. Usually this wouldn't be a major problem for us, but both of our batteries were low so we really needed to plug in. Instead we just stayed out in the van and used our phone as a hotspot, with our computers drawing power from our battery.

While Andre did some real work, I spent a little while getting our stuff re-organized (that's for you, Deb) as we'd dragged a bunch of stuff into my Mother's over the days we were there and had just tossed it back in the van when we left without putting it back where it belonged. Finally, by afternoon we were ready to make a decision about what general direction we heading next. Decided to get some more use out of our State Parks Pass and headed North (and East) to Rainbow Springs State Park.

Had a fantastic afternoon at the Park, enjoying a hike and then a swim in the natural springs. The sign said the water stays a consistent 72 degrees, and we did find it to be plenty warm. It wasn't too crowded because it was a fairly cold day (mid to upper 50's at the time we were swimming I think), but there were a few families and some teenagers there as it is school vacation week here in Florida. Check out the color of the water!

Enjoying the beautiful Springs

Our ready-made drying rack

Spent some time exploring the park, which was a privately owned tourist attraction in the 50's and 60's until it was purchased by the state. Took a great hike on one of the longer trails and were thrilled to see an Armadillo along the way. We'd never seen one before (at least not one that wasn't dead in the road..) so it was pretty cool.  After the hike and the swim, we enjoyed some leftover pizza in the parking lot for dinner, while our clothes and towels dried off then headed out. It's good to be moving again.

Catching Up

 On the road again after a great few days in New Port Richey seeing Mom and also my sister Kat and her family. We ended up staying a day longer than intended as we waited for the second replacement part for the Van to come in and be installed, but finally got the call and headed back to Brooksville to finish the repair on Tuesday afternoon. On the road again, we decided to head toward Crystal Springs late in the afternoon. Stopped at a great biker bar on the way for a few $1 drafts to help wash away the Scrabble memories (just kidding, Mom). Although it was slow at 5pm on a Tuesday, it looked like the kind of place that really rocked when it got going. We enjoyed kicking back with the cheap beers and put the High Octane Saloon on our to do list to come back and check out another time.

We spent a little time checking out a park at Crystal Springs but didn't stay long, as the wind was starting to really kick up. The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful - except that it was freakin' cold! We'd thought we were done with using the heat in the van but once again we jumped the gun. Good thing we still had plenty of propane, because the temperature dipped close to freezing overnight. Yes, I said freezing. At the end of March. In Florida. The van heat works great, though, so at least we were toasty warm overnight.  Here are a few photos of the bar and also a few photos from the weekend that I never got to post - a few from our visit to Kathy's and one of a road sign that amused me.

We skipped the tattoos this time.....

Checking out Kat's beautiful yard on Sunday Morning

"Devil's Walking Stick" (Tree in Kathy's Yard)

Gorgeous Cactus (Also in Kat's Yard)

Who knew they had their own police force? (Take that FOX news!!)

Rainbow Denied

I just don't get the South! Or at least I don't get the Southern Sky. You see, I'm somewhat of a self-described expert when it comes to rainbows. I have excellent rainbow radar - that is, I can always seem to tell when a rainbow is about to occur, or should occur.  Ask anybody who has ever been in a car or on a walk with me when rainbow conditions begin to develop. I always get it right. Always. Until today!  My Mom and I had just run to Publix for some groceries and as we exited the store I felt that 'ol rainbow excitement' begin to bubble up. The conditions were perfect. Dark sky, raining, and then sudden sunshine along with the rain drops. I immediately recognized that unusual lighting condition that is usually present and expectantly waited. And waited. And waited.

With a frown, I got in the car and we started back to the house only to have the same conditions repeat themselves twice more.  Each time I was positive we were at "ground rainbow", only to be denied the satisfaction of seeing the rainbow (and being right). Arrghghh. It was especially annoying because a year or so ago, my son Nick gave me a beautiful leather journal with my name inscribed on it that I had been saving until we hit the road with the intention of using it as a rainbow journal. The plan was to record each rainbow I saw along the way and perhaps write a few paragraphs about where we were, etc. Well this journal remains EMPTY. Like I said, I just don't get it. I think Florida must have some kind of rainbow deficiency.  I'm sure it's not me.  Oh well, there's always Texas....

Plot Discovered (Andre)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xb20uWYpx8

A few days ago, we visited a flea market in Webster, FL. Not just a flea market – but a giant, temporary, land of hawking, yelling, buying, selling, dust, ‘antiques,’ produce (what we really went for, honest), contraband, carnival food, trailers, stalls (more than 900 we were told), strollers, scooters, “people and more people” (John Cougar Mellencamp lyric from Pink Houses, thanks Don Neill for teaching me early on about social stratification) and everything else you could imagine and then still much, much, much more.

They set up at 3:00 AM we are told. Gates at 5:30 AM. And the whole thing is gone by 3:00 PM – kind of like Brigadoon (mythical land, appears every 100 years)!

As we were walking amongst the scene, I could barely take it all in, and it was then when I realized what was really going on. The last few weeks have been a near-sensory overload of questions, ponderings, wonderings, constant analysis, more questions, attempts at answers, and so on. Not in a bad way – I tend to be a thoughtful person, but as XTC wrote, ‘senses working overtime’ (yes the song’s from 1982).

It was at this moment when I discovered the plot. Laura was trying to kill me. She was hoping, like a scene from Total Recall (a classic Arnold Schwarzenegger movie), that my head would literally explode from excessive stimulation!

Wasn’t it her who suggested the van and the plan. Wasn’t it her who suggested we sell everything and live on the road. Wasn’t it her who suggested we go to the flea market?

Well, I’m not dead yet – but at least I am aware of what is really going on!

Mom, Yuengling & Gators

Arrived at Mom's in New Port Richey last night to a big hug and some big smiles! Took a long walk around the neighborhood to stretch our legs, then Mom & I had the requisite "cup of tea" followed by a few hours of laughter and conversation long into the night.

 In the morning we decided to head to Tampa to take the Yuengling Brewery tour at noon. Thought we had plenty of time to get there so we stopped for a short visit to Green Key Beach before heading south toward Tampa. As it turned out, we did not actually have any extra time - the entire 35 or so miles were on stop and go roads with red light after red light so we just made it by the skin of our teeth! I believe we walked in to the brewery at 11:59.  We had just enough time to sign up (and for the girl at the desk to razz Andre about wearing a Samuel Adams Brewery shirt) before they herded us outside to start the tour. Here are some photos from the brewery tour.

All the beer brewed at the Tampa location is currently brewed in these two massive kettles

Yuengling is the oldest brewery in the United States

Mom & I enjoying our free samples

After we were done at the brewery we stopped for lunch at a Panda Express for some Chinese food, then got out the map to see if we could locate a park that my Mother and sister Kat had been to many years ago. It turned out we we were actually pretty close to it, so we headed to Lettuce Lake Park which is very near to the University of South Florida campus. The park was amazing to say the least. In fact, it was so awesome that I forgot to take very many pictures. We walked on the beautiful raised boardwalk structures through what seemed like a jungle to us with lush plants and wildlife surrounding us. At a number of points it opened up to the lake and although it was a hot day, we remained cool in the shade of the gorgeous trees and greenery.

After enjoying seeing a variety of birds including assorted Heron's, Ibis', Wood Storks and more, we got on to the real adventure of seeing a variety of snakes, turtles and yes, Alligators!  It was very cool and we hung out for quit a while, eyes carefully glued to the trees and swampy water close to us for snakes and also the shore across the lake where numerous alligators could be seen sunning and slowly moving in the water. If you look at the photo below (one of the few I took), you can make out the black snake who was cradled among the tree roots sunning himself.

After all the excitement of the gators & snakes, we went back to Mom's for a light dinner and a rousing evening of SCRABBLE. Clearly, we'd had all the excitement we could take for one day. Andre lost all three games then went to bed. Mom & I stayed up and gloated awhile.  Can't imagine a better day....

Hubris and Adjustment

Sometimes new ideas make a big impression. Such was when I first learned of the term ‘hubris’ many years ago as a Classical Studies major at RI College in the early 1980s. As I learned it back then, hubris was a common theme in Ancient Greek tragedies wherein basically humans would get a little too full of themselves and their capacities until the gods would notice and politely stomp humans back into place. The idea resonated with me, seemed to help explain a bit of life, and has stuck with me to this day.

So, a few days ago, Laura and I proudly proclaimed to each other that we were beyond the cold, we would not really need to fill our propane (the source of our heat), and sunny, warm days were all that was ahead of us. While not being near the levels of Odysseus or Agamemnon, it’s been rather cold here the last few nights. Not quite 20s and snow as we hear is going on up north, but back into the 40s and yes the heat has been on of late. We apologize to the gods.

Which leads to the topic of adjustment – which has been our prime sport, in a good way, since we have been on the road. When we last shared our itinerary, we anticipated leaving the week-long campground stay to spend some time along the coast and beaches before heading to New Port Richey, FL to visit Laura’s Mom. One of our last conversations at the campground with the gurus of all things RV was, ‘so what are these air-helper springs in our RV anyways?’

Air Helper Spring Gauge – the Guilty Suspect

After being admonished by our fellow and more knowledgeable campers that they were simple airbag-like devices that were inserted in the van springs to help carry the heavier load of an RV, we realized that we better check out the status of these critical devices. They were flat. We filed them with air. One held air, one would not. So, off to the RV service center. Long story short – leaking switch, overnight the part, stay around town till next day, switch installed, new leak in brass fixture, it’s Friday afternoon, we’re sorry, we broke the part and we won’t charge you for it, phones are down, new part should be here by Tuesday, how far were you planning on going……

Well, we are here in New Port Richey with Laura’s Mom. All is well. We will get back to Register RV in Brooksville, FL early next week and keep reminding ourselves about hubris and adjustment!

Pulling out of Bushnell

Well, after an interesting and educational week at Sumpter Oaks " RV Park, we are finally back on the road heading to new adventures.  We had a great week at the park and met many friendly RVers from all over the country who were happy to share their stories and their knowledge with two "newbies".  Even found Rvers willing to share their fruit with us! These baskets were put out every day in front of one of the RV sites. The fruit was picked from their own grapefruit and orange trees.  We had fresh citrus every morning and really enjoyed it.

Only a few left at the end of the day - these baskets were full each morning

The week long stop at the "Escapees" park served many purposes. We wanted to slow down and experience sitting still for a week. We had a long list of van maintenance and van improvement ideas we wanted to explore and implement. We wanted to finally get on our bikes and Andre get back to running every day (I ended up running as well on many days). And we wanted to explore some of the social aspects of being at an RV park with other RVers living full time in their motor homes. Finally we wanted to check out what it was like to stay at one of the "Rainbow" parks owned and run by the Escapees RV Club that we belong to.

We accomplished all of those things and more over the seven days we spent at the park, so this morning we cleaned and swept out the RV, re-assembled the bikes, rug and truck box on the back of the van and were ready to head out by mid-afternoon. Spent part of the afternoon in Inverness, FL at a beautiful little park and took this photo of an awesome tree!



This elevated wooden walkway provided a great view of birds and water life



The Withlacoochie State BikeTrail (which we rode on a few days ago in Floral City) also runs through Inverness

 Tonight we are settled in for then night near and RV repair shop in Brooksville, Florida where we have an appointment tomorrow morning to have the van looked at for a problem with a leak in one of the air springs - not anticipating anything major, but we thought it best to have it looked at before we got too much further into the trip. After that, we will likely try to visit one more Florida State Park with our annual pass before we head to visit Mom in New Port Richie for the weekend.

Sending Some Gravel Love & Happy Birthday Robin!

Sitting here in the van tonight, 3 1/2 weeks into this new life, I've been thinking about my family (the Gravel side) and thinking how this new life will impact my relationships with my five siblings who are spread across the country.  Up until now, I've had the opportunity to share much more closely in the lives of the siblings who lived nearby; my "baby" sister Robin in Rhode Island just a few towns away and my brother Scott, the sibling closest to me in age, who was just a few hours drive away in  New Hampshire.

Now, as we've hit the road full time, this new mobile life will provide the opportunity to visit and build stronger bonds with the "out of towners", those siblings with whom I share family memories and childhood adventures, but who have not been a daily fixture in my "grown up" life. Sitting back for a few weeks with time to reflect on my prior existence has really driven home the reality of how busy every single day was - how every single moment was filled with obligations, responsibilities, places to be, and things that "had" to get done. Of course a great many of these things were legitimate - truly necessary- but many others were self-generated, whether by an inability to say no or sometimes just an unwillingness to make honest assessments about the value of our own time.

Well no more excuses for me. I have plenty of time and I commit to making better use of it now - and that includes working harder at maintaining relationships with siblings (both Andre's and mine), parents, friends and all those who have meaning in my life.  So Kathy, Mike & Jim, that's fair warning to you that I'm coming your way! And Scott and Robin, I won't forget about you either. I love you all and look forward to seeing you all in our travels again soon.

And by the way - HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE SIS!

Happy Birthday to my Best Little Sister - I miss you!!!!

Campground Wildlife & a Beautiful Bike Ride

Well it has finally fully warmed up here in Bushnell. It was close to 80 degrees yesterday and an absolutely gorgeous day. The campground is teeming with bird life and is quite loud in the morning with chirps, calls and a host of other aviary conversation. We took a quiet walk around the campground in the morning and ran into this bird just hanging around the grounds.

At one end of the campground, some type of working farm abuts the property. An enclosure for mules (or donkeys, not sure what the difference is, or if there is one) serves as the dividing fence between the two properties. Yesterday morning all the mules were up against the fence, hoping for a second breakfast from the campground folks.

Looking for an extra morning treat

This one is for Jesse Gravel who wanted pictures of cute animals we see!

Lazy mule morning

Later in the afternoon, we took a long bike ride to Floral City, Fl, back to Bushnell, and then back to the campground. 8 miles of the trip was on the beautiful Withlacoochee State Trail, a 46 mile paved bike trail that winds its way through Citris, Hernando and Pasco Counties. The bike route we took started at the campground. We rode 9 miles on back roads to get to the Withlacoochee trail and then 8 miles on the trail to reach Floral City, FL. We stopped for a snack and a drink and walk around a bit then decided to take a different route back.

We rode approximately 12  miles back toward Route 75 in Bushnell and stopped at a Subway for a sandwich before riding the last 8.1 mile leg of the trip back to the campground through a series of small country roads at dusk.  As we had only left for the outing at 2:30 in the afternoon, we arrived back at the campground just as night was falling at 8PM. All told it was a 38 mile ride. We saw a wide variety of animals over the course of the day, including pigs, goats, llamas, horses, mules, cows, dogs and of course, plenty of bird species throughout the day.

Panniers of Adventures (Andre)

Panniers, for those who do not know, are the green bags on the back of my bicycle pictured above. But, those are not just any panniers. Those are the only panniers I have ever owned. I purchased them 34 years ago when I was 15! (Yes, I am 49)

I hung around with a large group of guys at a place called Potters Playground in Pawtucket in my youth. Among this group was a subset of us into outdoors stuff. Someone, Jack McConnell I suspect, got the bug that we should get into long-distance bicycle tours. Talk led to action and seven of us planed and took a 6 day bike trip from Pawtucket to the Kancamagus Pass in NH. It was an amazing and formative experience to say the least.

After a few other trips, the panniers got hung up (not thrown out) and life proceeded on. Fast forward about 25 years and our family of 4 was looking for some new adventures. I remembered the bike trips of my youth and out came the panniers. (Fortunately, Ed’s Mobil in Pawtucket, which supplied most of my biking equipment 25 years earlier, was still around and had one more set of ‘old school’ matching panniers and front bag for Laura. Dylan and Nick got new ‘modern’ ones which they still have, to the best of my knowledge, but, that is their adventure.)

During April vacation in 2002 we did the 184 mile C&O Canal (Chesapeake and Ohio) bike trail from central Maryland to Downtown Washington, DC. The following year we made up our own loop trip leaving from Kitty Hawk, NC south to Ocracoke Island, took a ferry to the mainland, and road back north along the coast to Kitty Hawk and our car, about a distance of 200 miles. Both trips hold wonderful memories and are willed with adventurous tales of turtles, tunnels, windstorms, and much, much more!

After some sporadic use, life proceeded on again, and back the panniers went into storage. Then along came this plan. I spent many hours preparing for this adventure sorting through our equipment to replace or take. Among many tough decision, the panniers was one of the most difficult. The panniers were classic, old school style. Lots of pockets, still mostly waterproof, in pretty good shape, and all those adventures and memories.

Clearly they made the cut and we anticipate many new adventures along the way. The question using these panniers raises in my mind these last few days is this: how or could one envision the many chapters that could evolve from something as simple as saving up some hard-earned, teenage money to buy a set of Coleman panniers and matching front bag in forest green from Ed’s Mobil on Broadway in Pawtucket, RI all those years ago!

Utility Hookups

I forgot in my last post that I had promised a few photos showing how we hookup the van to the utilities at the campsite.  You can see that we just plug into the electric, hookup a water hose to the water and attach the sewer hose from the van into a "dump" hole in the ground. Some campgrounds have these sewer stations at each campsite and some just have one common dump station on the property somewhere where RV';s dump their waste on their way out.

This particular RV park is connected to the Town sewer and your fee for camping ($17 night or $100/week) includes a direct sewer connection.  Grey water (from the sink) also gets dumped through this hose into the sewer. While parked and hooked up to the campground water, it is basically flowing through your pipes and by-passing your fresh water tank, which is where water is usually drawn from when you are not hooked up to a water system. This makes it nice because while here, you don't have to conserve water.

Sorry if I've made you sleepy with this dull lesson, but here are the photos anyway!

Electric and water are hooked up here. This is also where we turn on the propane

At this park, we pay for electric separately based on our usage (13.5 cents per KWH)

The wide black hose is the sewer connection, tanks are emptied by an open/close lever on the side of the van

Dade Battlefield Historic State Park

Got on our bikes for the first time since we got on the road and took an 8 mile bike ride into town (Bushnell) to see what was there.

On our way we saw signs for Dade Battlefield, 1 mile off our planned route so we rode down to see it on our return trip.  The park was the historic location of where General Dade and his men numbering about 100, fell to the Seminole Indians during the "Indian Wars" in the 1830's.

There were markers scattered through the park indicating where some of the more prominent officers fell, although Dade, himself, was later moved and is buried in St. Augustine. We've been reading quite a bit about the Indian Wars while in this part of Florida and also in Tallahassee where we saw some exhibits depicting the conflicts in the Florida State Museum.  Below is an interesting photo. It indicates the distance as it would have been recorded back in the 1830's between Ocala and Tampa.  At the time, Tampa was called Fort Brooke and Ocala was known as Fort King.  Although you can't see it well in the photo, the sign posts read, Ft Brooke 65 Miles, Ft King 41 miles.

During the round trip bike ride (about 18 miles) we also took care of some other necessities, including a trip to the Sumter County Detention Center for me to get fingerprinted!  In order to volunteer for the National Park Service fingerprints are needed so that a background check can be completed. We had already done this back in Rhode Island but we heard earlier this week that my prints had come back "unclassifiable", which basically means that the prints weren't good enough to use. This is apparently not uncommon as some people wear down their "prints" as they age. I was also told that it is not uncommon for women to wear down their prints or not "print well" because their skin is so dry/worn as they do most of the household cleaning and use heavy cleaning agents, etc. 

Well that's obviously NOT the problem with me - so it must be the old age.  Either way, I had to be printed again (or opt for a life of crime, to which I would now be better suited) and this printing went better so I sent them off to Big Bend again to run them through. I should say that the folks at the Sumter County Detention Center were extremely nice and helpful and didn't charge me anything to take the prints. If this full-timing thing doesn't work out, I could always consider checking in there for a while....