November 29th - December 3rd - Florida Bound and Florida Received

For the first time we took three days to drive the RV to Florida. In the past we drove it in two days but Kelly wanted us to take our time and get to our campground resort at an earlier time in the day. I didn't disagree. I had made reservations at two campgrounds on the way down. Here are a couple of pictures of our first campsite in Ringgold, Georgia. As you can tell the site wasn't much. The neighbor's electric box and sewer hookup was right at the bottom of our steps plus I couldn't get Marge leveled from front to back without unhooking, which is the reason we paid $50.00 for this site.

Our second stop at Valdosta, Georgia was better but still unlevel. I had to use the front jacks of the RV to lift the weight of Marge off the truck to get close to level front to back. At least it was paved. Here is a picture.

At each campground we paid $50.00 per night. With 28 degrees at night we froze our fannies off because you can’t warm up RVs in a short period of time and even then they are hard to keep warm because they are so poorly insulated.  A friend shadowed us on the trip down in her car. She stayed in a motel near us for $69.00 per night. I got to thinking that the extra $19 per night would mean a warm bed, a hot shower, TV, and a free breakfast. I know what we are going to do next year on the trip down.

December 1st:

We arrived at Roberts RV Park in St. Petersburg at 1:30 p.m. to find four units checking in before us. We finally got all checked in and we were led to our lot by two young guys in a golf cart. When we arrived at our lot it was clear that someone else was on the lot that we reserved and that they planned on staying there for the winter based on all the plants sitting around, etc. Our escorts went up to check at the office about the situation. Thirty minutes passed and they did not return so we decided to drive up to the office ourselves. On the way to the office we flagged those two guys down as they were leading another unit to a site. They had no response to our problem and told us to go to the office. When we got to the office and told the lady the problem, she had little to say other than she would check on it. The owner then came in. His name is Allen and he is really hard to deal with. I heard he is manic-depressive and I believe it. When I voiced my frustration that our lot was occupied he said it is in the rental agreement that if you are renting for less than six months, and someone wants to stay over on the lot, they can, you are out. I asked what is the point of paying $300 to make a reservation and why would the office staff call me just a week ago to confirm our reservation if the lot wasn’t available? He told me he was tired of my “negativity” and he would give me my money back so I could go somewhere else. I told him I didn’t want to go somewhere else. I came to this park year after year to be with my friends. Additionally, there are few other parks in the area and at this late date the chances of finding a site for the winter would be slim to none. 

After some time looking at the resort map he said we could stay on a lot on the street behind Audrey Street where we have been staying for five years. The lot had previously been "closed". I didn't know why at that time. I agreed to that lot, really having no other options. His crew then led me back to that lot to get parked. They are young kids and have no idea what it takes to back a 5th wheel 90 degrees into a tight spot. With a tree on the front edge of the lot it took about 45 minutes to get Marge parked.  Here is a picture of our lot with the tree in the front and a couple of pictures of the resort equipment storage area behind us. Lovely.

The next problem to address was that we had paid for Premium Mail Forwarding to the old lot number. I got online to see about changing it. I couldn't find an option to change it. A friend stopped by and said that the mail carrier was up at the mail room now. I went up to ask him what to do. He said all we had to do was to contact our home post office to change the lot number. A piece of cake, right? NOT! I got online to look up the phone number for the Perryville Post Office. I quickly learned that now, if you go online to get the phone number for any post office, you get into a long, automated voice menu with no option to connect you to a post office. Of course, I don’t know the Perryville Post Office phone number and had no Perryville phone book with me. I called a friend in Perryville and she was surprised that the number for the Post Office is no longer in the phone book there as well. Somehow, luckily, she did find the number for me. (Thanks a bunch Carlene!)

I then called the Perryville Post Office and was told that they can’t change the lot number. They get stickers from wherever in the US they come from to put on the mail. She suggested I get back online and figure out how to change the lot number. This didn't make sense to me because what they do is gather my mail for a week then forward it in a Priority Mail envelope. But there was no sense arguing the point. The Post Office isn't like it was in the good old days.

An hour online and I found the place in the website where it said I could edit the address but to do so I had to have my confirmation number. Of course, I didn't bring that. I was sure it was on my desk at home. I called a neighbor and asked him to go the house and look. He did and found nothing. In frustration I searched around in old emails and found that they had sent the confirmation number to me in an email a month ago. Great. I now had the confirmation number to put it in the form. I tried to put it in several times and it wouldn’t accept it. My confirmation number started with three letters and it wouldn't accept any letters. So it appeared I couldn't get in to edit the Premium Mail Forwarding address. The website had a spot to "cancel" the service. Believe it or not, it let me cancel the service without a confirmation number. How crazy is that! I cancelled the service. Then I did a temporary change of address until April 1st. We did this in the past and it didn’t work well so we will see how it works this time.

Next Issue:

Upon arriving at the lot I plugged in my surge protector for electric power and it only showed power on one leg, meaning we were getting 30 amp service rather than 50 amp service. I went to the office to report the problem. I will say that in a short time they had an electrician here who put in a new breaker. My surge protector still only lit up one side, meaning 30 amp. He checked and I had 50 amp at the box and 50 amp coming out of the surge protector. Apparently one set of status lights on the surge protector have gone bad. I thought the surge protector had a lifetime warranty so I looked it up online. It does but to make a claim I have to have the original receipt and the warranty only covers parts, not labor. What a crock. I can’t do anything with it until I get home and hopefully find the receipt. A $350.00 piece of junk. Can you tell I'm a little frustrated?

Our current lot is covered in trees. It was pretty obvious to me immediately upon arrival that we may not be able to get a clear shot to the Dish satellite for TV. If that was the case Kelly wanted to leave. The issue is: To go where? Home?

As you can tell it is not going well so far.

December 2nd:

The first thing Thursday morning we went to Spectrum to get internet at our site because I had a Zoom meeting scheduled on Friday at noon. We got all the equipment and after hooking everything up at the RV we had no cable signal. I called Spectrum and they verified no signal and stated they would send out a tech on Friday at noon to fix the problem. Quick enough service I thought. Nothing was mentioned about this service call costing me money. Usually right off the bat they tell you this is going to cost.

Since the internet issue was in limbo the afternoon project was getting the Dish TV set up. This is a process I absolutely despise every year. No matter what I do this always becomes an ordeal. Despite the trees across the road, I was able to get the satellite finder to scream, indicating that the dish was aligned with the satellites. Great. I got online with Dish because the receiver had to be updated after not using it for six months, I had to agree to pay an additional $7.00 per month, and they had to determine why there was no signal on the receiver. After three hours on and off the phone with Dish we were able to get the receiver and the satellite dish in sync. Mama was happy so I moved on to the next issue. 

Each year I set up the tabletop ice maker and mini refrigerator outside under the fifth wheel on a table.

This saves a lot of running in and out of the RV for drinks. Here is a picture of the setup. 

The refrigerator came right on but the ice maker did not. The unit was getting power, but the ice maker dump tray was making all kinds of gyrations. The compressor wasn’t kicking on to make ice. I got on YouTube and a guy talked about taking it apart and adjusting two micro switches. I thought about it and that didn’t seem to be my problem. I unplugged the unit and plugged it back in. As the dump tray and water fill tray we’re moving around I held the fill tray in the fill position with my hand until everything quit moving.

December 3rd:

Friday morning I came out and I had ice from top to bottom. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to put the ice bin back in. Here is a picture of the entire area filled with ice and no water left. 

The Spectrum tech arrive right on time Friday at noon and got to work. He soon found that the underground line to our site cable box was bad. He went to the cable box for the site next to ours. There was a good signal at it so he just laid a new line across the lot. Here is a picture of the orange cable laying on the ground. It will never be buried. Luckily it is in the back of our lot so it shouldn't be a trip hazard since I don't go back there much.

Before leaving he said he could charge us for a service call because the problem wasn't their fault but the park's poor maintenance. Luckily, he didn't charge us. That would have been rubbing salt in the wound. I will say that we have a very fast internet connection now so my Zoom meeting on Saturday should go fine.

After the cable guy left, I rode my bike up to the office and asked for a new picnic table because one bench on ours had rotted away. Within an hour two guys came by and put on a new board. Nice. I sat out there and worked on this blog in my shorts on a 75-degree, sunny day. This is why we are here.

I scheduled Kelly’s car for its 5000-mile oil change next week at the Acura dealer and then turned the car computer on for a needed software upgrade. It took 30 minutes to download and install the software.

I think all of the issues with the lot change have been addressed, although I haven't hooked up the sewer yet. We can start just “hanging out” with those here and wait for more friends to arrive. Saturday there is a park-wide garage sale so I'll ride my bike around and look for bargains. If I buy something I have to get rid of something - a new rule. I have gotten some good tool bargains down here in the past. I'll keep you posted.

November 21, 2021 - Preparing for the Trip South

Last week I winterized Homer and put him in the storage unit. At the same time, we brought Marge home to prepare her for a winter in Florida. It is always a worry that everything will work as it should after an RV sits for months (we last used it in June). 

Marge has an island in the kitchen wherein all the pots and pans are stored. The island has two doors but even with them open it is totally dark inside making it difficult to find what you are looking for in there without a flashlight. Kelly has been wanting a light installed. Two years ago I stuck up a battery-powered LED light but it did not work well because it only lit up one shelf. Last year it wouldn't even work at all. If I had 12-volt electric in the cabinet I could install a nice LED light for each shelf which would come on when a door is opened. To make this upgrade I will have to empty the front storage compartment, take down the back wall, and shimmy my way in through a very tight crawl space in order to fish a wire from the island to a 12-volt power source. This is a job I do not look forward to. 

Recently I came across an advertisement for ten cheap plastic LED lights that mount on the cabinet door hinges so they light up when the door is opened. They were cheap so I bought them. I received the lights several weeks ago and Saturday was a good day to install them. They are designed to screw on to the cabinet door hinges. Unfortunately, the hinges on Marge's cabinet doors are different from how these were designed to operate. I improvised by attaching a block of wood to the cabinet frame for each light to screw into. Since there are two doors and two shelves, I needed four blocks. I cut them and screwed them to the inside cabinet frame. I then mounted each light. The lights have a plunger switch. When the door is closed, it pushes in the plunger and turns off the light. Here is a picture of the plunger for one light. Being plastic it will be interesting to see how well they hold up. 

Here is a picture of each door with a light installed for each shelf. 

The lights are cheap and not very bright only being powered by a small battery in each light.  The cabinet isn't accessed much so the batteries should last a while. If the lights prove not to be bright enough, or the batteries don't last very long, I'll get ambitious and go the permanent light route.

Yesterday I started checking the operation of the appliances. I opened the LP valve and turned on the furnace. It fired right up and heated just as it is supposed to. I then put the refrigerator on LP and it lit right up as well. I let it run for several hours to make sure it was cooling. It was operating as it should so I turned it back off until the day before we leave. I can't check out the operation of the hot water heater because there is no water in Marge. It is just too cold here to put water in the system. I've never had any problem with the hot water heater so I'm not expecting any issues when we get to Florida.

Marge has two 30-gallon LP tanks. I draw LP off one tank at a time. It is always hard to remember if the other tank is empty or full without disconnecting it and pulling it out to see how heavy it is. There is a fancy unit you can buy that attaches to the bottom of each tank. You can then look at an App on your phone to see how much gas is in each tank. I'm too tight to spend the money for this gadget so I came up with my own system. I took two magnetic business cards and cut each into the shape of an arrow. I then painted them red.  I attach one arrow to each tank with the arrow pointing up when it is full. When a tank is empty, upon switching over to the other tank, I just turn the arrow on the empty tank facing down so I know it is empty.  Here is a picture.

Upon turning the LP gas on yesterday I noticed that the one tank was empty. I went to Rozier's this morning and had the empty tank filled and changed the arrow to point up. Good to go. A simple solution that cost me nothing but a little time.

Today I also added DEF (diesel emission fluid) to the truck. Other than fuel, no other truck maintenance is needed. Later this week I will begin loading the back seat of the truck with all the stuff we take to Florida such as a small refrigerator for outdoor use, an ice maker, a folding table, golf clubs, and a Pusch-Pull golf cart. I used to put my bike inside Marge but with stopping overnight we found it is easier to just tie it down in the bed of the truck. If someone wants to steal my 35-year-old bike while we are parked, they can have it.

Over the years we have driven to St. Petersburg in two long days. You can't travel as fast towing an RV and pit stops take longer. Last year we didn't arrive at the RV park until dark. This made it very hard to back in the RV. In fact, the next day I had to hook the truck back up and reposition the trailer a little to be level enough for four months of sitting. This year we will take three days to get down there. (We are retired after all.) We will stop overnight at a campground South of Chattanooga and then at another in Valdosta, Georgia. This will allow us to get to the RV park in early afternoon. This will make it easier on everybody.

October 28, 2021 - November 9, 2021 - Trip to California to See Kids and Grandkids

We flew out to California on October 28th. The primary purpose of this trip was to help take care of grandson, Free, while daughter, Erin, recuperated from thyroid surgery. 

Before heading to Erin's we spent a couple of days in Mountain View with Annie, Adam, Violet, and Wren. On Sunday Erin, Kellen, and Free came to Mountain View for a pre-Halloween visit and pumpkin carving. Here is a picture of Kellen and Free watching the pumpkin carving in the back yard. Kellen is crazy about his little brother.

Of course, mama got Baby Free into the act. At four months old he was dressed up as Lennie Kravitz. Here are a couple of pictures.

We dressed up for Halloween and for the "Monster Bash" at the city park. I was a pickle, Kelly was a butterfly.

Here are the girls in their outfits. Wren was "Stay Puff" from "Ghost Busters". Violet was a mermaid.

We also attended a Halloween Parade at Violet's pre-school. It was crazy watching the teachers trying to organize all the kids. It was like herding cats.

Adam and Annie dressed up as well. Here is a family picture from two different days.

Kelly and I passed out candy at the house while Adam, Annie, Violet and Wren went "Trick or Treating". We hadn't passed out candy for years because no kids ever come to our house. Because of Covid what people were doing was putting the candy in a bowl out on a table near the sidewalk. We then sat back by the porch and greeted all the little ones as they came by for a treat. It was fun to see the kids enjoy the evening. There were lots of great comments about the carved pumpkins, apparently that is not a big thing in this area.

After Halloween we headed to Tracy, California, to help take care of Free while Erin had surgery and recuperated. She and Larry had a two-hour drive to San Francisco for the surgery. The surgery was delayed by over an hour, and then it took 3.5 hours rather than the 1.5 hours estimated. The operation went well but they ended up keeping her overnight. Larry had to drive back home, then back again the next day to get Erin. We learned yesterday that the biopsy of the growth showed no sign of cancer. Great news! 

Erin couldn't drive for a week and she can't lift Free for two weeks. While there we took Kellen to and from school each day and hung out at her place enjoying our visit with them while taking care of Free. Free is the cutest little guy. He is always happy and never cries unless he is wet or hungry. We so enjoyed the time with him. Here are a couple of pictures. He may start cutting teeth early because he drools non-stop and wants to chew on everything!

Our flight home was uneventful, which is nice. The worst part was the three-hour layover in Denver. We arrived at the airport in San Jose at 10:30 a.m. and got home at 12:30 a.m. A long day. 

Upon getting home I winterized Homer for storage. Next is putting Homer in the shed and bringing Marge home to pack for a winter in Florida. This year, for the first time, we are going to take three days to get down there. I hope the trip down isn't freezing cold. It is no fun sitting in a cold trailer for hours waiting to go to bed each night.

October 16, 2021 - October 23, 2021 - A Trip to Iceland

Kelly and I have had a trip to Iceland with John and Carlene planned for many months despite Covid. Iceland opened up for visitors before other countries. They have been very proactive with Covid. 88% of the population is vaccinated. 

To fly overseas now you have to have current Covid vaccinations plus a negative Covid PCR test within 72 hours of boarding your first flight. We spent a week searching to find a place that would do the Covid test and promise us results within 24 hours so we could take them along to the airport. We ended up having to drive to Farmington, Missouri, about 40 miles from Perryville, to the hospital there for our tests. We did that on Thursday the 14th. The next day we got the results that all four of us were negative. Unfortunately they cannot email the results because of HIPPA so we had to drive back to that hospital to pick up the results. We were all set for the trip.

On the 16th we headed to Iceland for a seven day tour. Our itinerary was to fly into Newark, New Jersey, and from there on to Keflavik Airport in Keflavik, Iceland. Our flight took off on time and everything was great until about half way through the flight when the Captain announced that all flights in and out of Newark had been cancelled due to severe weather. We were redirected to Pittsburgh. A little later the pilot came back on and said that we would be landing in Columbus, Ohio, to get fuel and hopefully by then the bad weather would pass and we could proceed on to Newark. We landed in Columbus for fuel.

The fuel stop was only to be for an hour. For whatever reason the Captain let people get off the plane. As you can imagine it then became a problem to get everyone back on board so we could take off. Finally everyone was accounted for and we did take off. We had been scheduled to have a two and a half hour layover in Newark but with the fuel stop we were cutting it close to make our connection to Iceland. Upon arriving at the gate for the flight to Iceland they were already boarding. Too close for my comfort but we made it. That was the important thing. We were settled in our seats when the pilot announced that another plane from San Francisco, that had been diverted to Washington, D.C., was just landing and there were about fifteen passengers on board who needed to catch this flight. He asked our indulgence as we waited for them to land and get to this plane. It was only about a half hour delay, no big deal considering a six hour flight. 

Iceland is five hours ahead of Missouri so we arrived at 7:00 a.m. their time. We got through customs, retrieved our luggage, and headed for the bus to take us to the hotel in Reykjavik, the Capitol. When we walked outside it was thirty degrees and the wind was blowing snow and rain sideways as we headed for the bus about five hundred feet away. Here is a picture of Kelly as we left the terminal with a rain hat and visor on she bought for the trip. It was freezing cold because of the strong wind blasting us with rain and snow. 

My first thought was "Oh, geez. With this weather it is going to be a long week". We quickly learned that strong wind is a constant in Iceland. We made the twenty-five mile bus trip to Rekjavik. Here is a picture of the snow along the way.

We arrived at the hotel about 8:00 a.m. but no rooms would be ready until 3:00 p.m. What a bummer. We checked our luggage and went into their restaurant and ate some breakfast. After that we just hung out in the lobby the rest of the time. We were exhausted and it was just too windy and cold to do any exploring of the area. We were quite happy when we were able to get into our rooms and take a little nap until meeting our tour guide that evening.

I took dozens of pictures throughout the week of the city and the countryside. I can only highlight a few here. 

This is a typical picture of the countryside. Their main farming is raising sheep, horses, and hay to feed them. Sheep can be seen way up on the sides of the mountains foraging. The sheep and horses are outside all of their lives. Both are long-haired and tough!

Iceland has no wild animals other than the Artic Fox. The Vikings brought sheep, horses and cattle to the island from Norway about 900 A.D. The sheep are raised for meat. The horses are raised for meat for the Japanese market, for breeding, and for trail riding. Their horses are pure Nordic horses and they jealously guard their genetic pool. If a horse leaves Iceland it can never come back into the country because of possible cross-breeding and disease. Their horses are short, stocky, and have a long coat to combat the weather. Here is a picture of a couple of breeding stock we were able to get up close to.

Sheep are everywhere and lamb is the main meat throughout the country. We saw thousands and thousands of sheep and horses grazing everywhere and only a handful of cattle. All cattle is raised for dairy only. They import their beef.

Iceland is the land of fire and ice. The "Fire" is from multiple volcanoes and molten rock under much of the country. We wanted to visit the volcano that recently erupted but it is now dormant so that didn't happen. The "Ice" part comes from the fact that 10% of the entire country is covered by glaciers. Here is a picture of one of many we saw.

Glaciers mean lots of amazing waterfalls. Here are pictures of a few. Pictures really don't do them justice. They are amazing.

There are volcanoes throughout the country and one or more erupts from time to time. Here are a couple of pictures of ones we drove by. Note the sheep and horses in the pastures.

Throughout the countryside, due to the underground geothermal activity, there are hundreds of steam vents. Here are a couple of pictures.

This is a picture of an area where the steam was bubbling up and is being harnessed by a pipeline underground to heat the nearby town. 100 degrees Celsius is 212 degrees Fahrenheit. That's bubbling hot water between our heads.

I will try a video, I don't know if it will work. I never tried it before.

The steam is used to heat all the homes and commercial buildings. Many farmers even have hot tubs from the hot water bubbling up on their property.

One of the places we visited they baked rye bread in the ground as it was done two hundred years ago using the hot water that bubbles up. Here is a picture of a hole that is dug with a metal pot of dough placed in and covered up. It bakes for 24 hours.

Here is a picture of the baked rye bread. We were given samples and it was delicious with butter and smoked salmon on it.

One of the reasons for going to Iceland in the fall or winter is to see the Northern Lights. They are caused by solar flares and the magnetic field of the earth in the North. You need three things to see the lights - be far enough North, have darkness, and have clear skies. We were able to see the lights from our hotel one night. Standing out in the cold and wind to observe them is quite uncomfortable but it is well worth it. I found it interesting that the lights appear like gray clouds to our eyes but in pictures taken of them they are green. Here are a few pictures from the first night that we saw them from our hotel patio in the middle of town. The ambient light lessons the intensity and shivering in the cold makes it hard to get good pictures with the camera in "night mode", which requires you to hold the camera still several seconds. The lights start out as an arch like a rainbow then constantly change configurations often separating into spheres, wavy lines, etc.

A second night we had good weather and took a night cruise on a Whale Watching Boat out into the bay where it was darker for viewing. Here are a couple of pictures. These pictures are much better despite fighting the wind and the rocking of the boat.

Pictures simply do not do the phenomenon justice. They are in constant motion so a tripod with a camera on video would have been nice. 

One day went to the black sand beach where there are columns of fractured rock that line the shore. There were several warnings to stay away from the water because at any time the wind could knock you off your feet and into the water where you would swiftly be washed away. It was brutally cold and windy. I have my sock hat on under my hood and at least three layers of clothes.

The wind was so fierce that two times in walking back to the bus it literally stopped me in my tracks and blew me backwards. There are crazy winds there all the time.

The tectonic plates whose turbulent interactions formed Iceland are the Eurasian plate and the North American plate. These plates are moving apart as opposed to the ones in the U.S. which are colliding. We visited the area where the two plates meet. It is in this area that the Vikings started having "The Gathering" in 930 A.D. The gathering was a great way for the many groups spread throughout the country to share information about what was going on and there they established the first parliamentary government in the world. Every year at the gathering a Viking would stand out on an outcropping of rock and proclaim from memory all the laws of the land. In these pictures we are on the North American plate and the mountains in the background are on the Eurasian plate. 

I will finish with some interesting Icelandic facts. Iceland has virtually no crime. Police officers do not carry guns and I only saw one police car in a week. Iceland does not have an army which is why Reagan and Gorbachev met there to end the cold war. This is a picture of the house on the bay where they met. 

Afterwards a piece of the Berlin Wall was sent by Gorbachev to Iceland and it is displayed on these grounds. Of course the Icelanders have spruced it up a bit.

Iceland is 3,700 miles from Missouri and a little over half the size of our state. It currently has a population of about 380,000. Reykjavik is the Capitol and about half the population lives there. Reykjavik is a very modern city with much building going on all over the city. I was astounded that there was absolutely no litter anywhere in the city or in the countryside. NONE! Icelanders are very green and respectful of others. They all start learning English in second grade and all speak it very well. The Icelandic language is the pure Norwegian language spoken by the Vikings and they guard its purity fiercely. They are so adamant about it that they have a "Naming Council" which has to approve the name of every newborn child. This is partly tradition and partly to maintain the purity of the language. 

It was fascinating that in the 800s they had a land grab where a person would light a fire at daybreak then walk until sundown and light another fire. That was the boundary of their land. These farms have remained in the same families for generations although often divided up among children.

A major industry in Iceland is the making of aluminum. Two things are needed in great abundance to make aluminum - water and cheap electricity. Iceland has plenty of both thanks to the glaciers and the heated ground from which they extract steam to make cheap electricity. The average cost of electric for a home is $20.00 per month. 

There are no wild animals in Iceland other than the Artic Fox. No bears, no coyotes, no deer, no snakes, and no mosquitoes. Due to the lack of bugs there are no screens on any windows.

The primary religion is Lutheran but today few young people attend church although there are small churches throughout the land. Tourism has just become the largest industry and help for the tourist industry comes from Poland and the Philippines.

A volcanic eruption in 1700 killed one quarter of the population and eighty million sheep. There was thereafter a large migration to the United States. In 1940 Canada and England invaded Iceland to protect shipping lanes during the war. 50,000 American troops were stationed there for the duration of the war, a number equal to the entire Icelandic male population at that time. The troops built roads and airports which were of great benefit to the country. Iceland declared independence from Denmark after WWII and set up their own Republic which now is made up of five parties and only sixty Members of Parliament. In 2008 they were the only country who let their banks fail and sent their bankers to prison for three to nine years. 

Iceland does not have lightning but lots and lots of clouds, rain, and strong winds. It is an absolutely wonderful place to visit but I don't think I would like to live there.