#334 Hawthorne

Ever since I bounced into Hawthorne 3 years ago whenever I'm going north or south on the Florida Excursion I like to drop in and say hello to a guy named Dick Curtis. He spoke to me originally about the Nomads. They are a construction group run by the United Methodist Church. They help low-income people with repairs and sometimes disaster relief. When I go through there they give me a free place to stay and I do a few things for the church or the food pantry next door. I’ve spoken about Hawthorne on several posts but I didn't meet with Dick this time as his health has been really bad for about two years. I guess he’s just not as active as he once was. He's a nice guy but was in the hospital this time around. The only thing that they wanted me to look at it is one of the outlets in the kitchen area of the food pantry next door wasn't working. I spent a couple of hours fixing that. That was about it for Hawthorne. In Wilmington KOA I had swapped out tubs. Later I realized in the process I had broken a jacuzzi jet and when I filled the tub water poured out all over the bathroom floor flooding the area. I was able to plug the hole temporarily but soon I would need the new part.

several pool and hot tub companies I called were unable to help. I spoke to the manufacturer, the American standard tub company trying to locate the part number for my broken jet. As a courtesy said he would just send it to me at no charge. I thought that's a nice thing so I picked Hawthorne as a receiving point for them to ship the part. Sadly, it wasn't there the day I arrived. On the very last day we were there he had arrived and Wally who operated the food pantry put it on our front step.

We went into Gainesville about 20 minutes away for some recovery-type meetings for India and me. That was about it for Hawthorne