Very cold this morning, below freezing actually. I ended up crawling out of bed, turning on the space heaters and then crawling back into bed until it finally warmed up enough to wake up. It's not that it is all that hard to get up and function in the cold, it's just that I now know that there isn't any reason why I have to.

    Pretty much a usual morning otherwise. Breakfast, comics, crossword, etc. The only thing different is the two cups of hot tea. It's been a while since that was a normal part of the routine. Had to re-level the trailer a little bit after putting shoes on. The spot I'm in wasn't really very flat to start with, but it is possible to balance things out to some degree just using the 4 scissor jacks and the front post jack. It takes a bit, but you can get pretty close. However, in loose soil, like the sand on this site, the side that started out low will often sink a bit over time. So that was what happened this time, but it was still possible to re-level without having to put any leveling blocks under the low side wheels.

    Went in search of a spare battery for my camera this afternoon. So a drove into Gainsville where I checked at Target, Best Buy and The Battery Store. None had them, but the Batteries are us guys said that their store in Ocala had one. With nothing else to do for the day, and the idea that I would be half way there anyway if I just went back to the trailer, I headed south on the highway.

   Found the battery place with no real problem and they did indeed have one of my batteries. Would of preferred to buy two, but one was all they had and maybe it was better that way as it was almost $40 for the darn thing.

   Had a real craving for Chinese food for some reason so I stopped at one of the many Chinese places there in Ocala. Pretty good food over all, but nothing to write home about. Made it back to the trailer right at dusk and have spent the evening going through and getting rid of more magazines and in reading a book.

   It is suppose to be warmer starting tomorrow, so it will be time to go out and do some more outdoor stuff. In the meantime here are the last photo's from my day trip to the circus museum the other day.

 

Circus Wagons and Misc Stuff at the Circus Museum in Sarasota Florida - Jan 26, 2013

One of the many wagons they have refurbished. Not sure what this one would of contained.

This one carried the pipe organ and player during the main parade. The red striped 'curtains' on the right hand side of the photo are actually a pair of pants one of the stilt walkers would of worn. Obviously I wasn't even far enough back to pick up where the crotch of the pants would of been.

 This is the wagon that would of carried the circus band during the main parade. Weighing in at over 8 tons, 16,000lbs, it took between 32-40 horses to haul it and all of the players.

One of the many other wagons. I really like how they painted the wheels on this one.

A couple of the 'Big Heads' that the clowns would of worn. Kinda creepy!

A Close up of one of the masks. I assume that the rectangular piece right below the nose was where the wearer actually saw out. Still mighty creepy!

Last photo in this series. Here we have John and Mabel Ringling's private railroad car. Built on a standard frame and trucks by the Pullman Company, the whole interior is more like a fine piece of furniture than anything else. The car had 3 separate staterooms with their own lavatory and toilet. It is interesting to me that John had the large stateroom with a real bed, while Mabel made do with a more typical RR car pull down arrangement. Full of exotic wood, hand painted stencilled details, wall paper and carpets, I particular liked the stain glass windows above the regular windows and in the upper cupola vent windows. The car also carried it's own cook to go with it's small, but efficient galley as well as a separate dining room, parlor room and large open deck on one end of the car. It must of been a wonderful way to travel back in the early 1920's.