Florida, Friends and Family

It’s been almost a month since I have posted anything.  Why is that?  Well, we haven’t been to that many places…only four in fact.  And during those stops, we managed to find family and friends in every corner!

After seeing the Falcon Heavy launch, we headed up to the Dayton Beach area.  There, our friend Mike (from Rochester…Corinne’s FIRST co-worker at Kodak way back in 1981) was going to park his RV at Volusia Speedway Park, dry camp, and watch the 2018 DIRT Car Nationals.  Hey, we’ve never had our RV at a race track before and we are more than capable of dry camping (no hookups).  So we decided “Let’s do this!”  For once, the Blue Flame fit in! 

For once, our blue flame graphics fit. Here was our “campsite” for two nights parked along side Mike.

Corinne and Mike, friends since 1981 (that 37 years for those who are counting).

The Dirt Car Nationals are run on a short (1/2 mile) dirt track.  There are various size vehicles from little to big and all are LOUD (ear plugs are highly suggested!). As the cars zip around the track, dirt is tossed up into the stands.  Protective eye wear is also highly suggested.

It was difficult taking pictures, the cars zoomed by so fast.

You now know as much as I know about dirt racing (I can just see Mike shaking his head as he reads this).  We were there for two nights of racing.  I attended the first night and decided that was enough for me.  Jim attended both nights with Mike and his buddies.  I was happy to stay behind the second night and watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.

Below is a video of what the races look like.  If you need a link, click here…  https://youtu.be/Xf-XlJq46ls

After the races, we had five days to enjoy ourselves somewhere. Let me just say finding campsites in Florida in February is not easy.  We DID find a last minute opening at a KOA in Deland, Florida, right on the St John’s River (the river that empties into the Atlantic at Jacksonville).  We enjoyed some quiet time, took advantage of a rooftop grill at the neighboring marina, and took a boat tour on the river.  There were critters galore in and along the river.  Unfortunately, all the manatees had already moved out to sea and cooler waters.

Enjoying an adult beverage at the rooftop grill.

The view from the grill. You can see the Blue Flame in the distance at our campground.

We took a tour of the St. John’s River on a very large pontoon boat.

Egret

A bird…whose name escapes me.

Turtles sunning.

Unfortunately, we didn’t see any manatees.

One of MANY Alligators!

Look at the tree trunks in the background. The darker portion on the trunks shows how high the water got when Hurricane Irma came through back in September. That wet area was 4 to 5 feet high.  It took a long time for the water level to even start dropping.

Fishing in a gator infested river. No thanks!

Our time in Deland was up.  It was time for the reason we came to Florida.  We had pre-arranged to spend two weeks at the Cross Creek RV Resort in Arcadia.  This is where the aforementioned Mike and his wife Eloise (also a friend for 37 years!) spend the winter. 

Cross Creek Club House

Pool and hot tub

Our home for two weeks.

Steak dinner with Eloise and Mike on our patio.

Sunset from Mike & Eloise’s deck.

Staying at this RV Resort was like attending summer camp for the 55+ crowd!   We were immediately included in all the resort activities…pool parties, breakfasts, sewing in the craft room, invading their library, etc.  There was so much more we could have done, but didn’t. 

The Resort’s Crafting Room.  I got a couple of quilt tops done here!  Yay!

One of Mike & Eloise’s neighbors arranged for a friend to come in and give a free concert.  Note that everyone sought out shade.

Some people enjoyed the concert from their golf carts.  Yup, almost every snowbird had a golf cart!

Our two weeks in Arcadia flew by.  It turned out we had many many relatives and friends close by!

Corinne, Aunt Ruth (Corinne’s Mom’s sister) and Uncle Tom.  They met us for lunch when we first arrived.

Denise (Corinne’s cousin), Corinne, and Aunt Huguette (Corinne’s Dad’s sister-in-law).

I totally missed getting a picture of the fun day we spent with Paul and Kay, our friends from Maine.  But we’ll be with them again next week, so I’ll see if I can get a picture then.

We visited Punta Gorda and saw the harbor and the Ponce De Leon Memorial.

This is the only Manatee I saw the entire time.

Sunset over the Peace River in Port Charlotte.

We drove out to Boca Grande and had lunch at the beach.

Ah yes, the beach and a margarita.

My toes are in the Gulf of Mexico!  I waved Hi to Janelle over on the other side of the Gulf, but I don’t think she saw me.

Our final stop in was at the Florida Grande RV Resort in Webster, Florida.  A neighbor from Churchville, Jerry, stays there in the winter.  He talked the place up, so it seemed a good place to stop for a few days.  Jerry was a great tour guide.  We have been hearing about “The Villages” for the longest time, so Jerry took the time to show these 55+ communities to us.  After seeing the place, we are now calling The Villages “Disney World for Adults”.  Seriously, some of their town squares look like Main Street in Disney World.  I won’t bore you with what The Villages include, but if you want more, click on this link.  https://www.thevillages.com/.  For us, there were way too many people!

A street in the Florida Grande Motor Coach Resort

The pool and the moon!

Corinne & our host, Jerry

There was time to see one more relative.  Corinne and Uncle Walt (Corinne’s Mom’s brother).

There is nothing like an RV problem to facilitate meeting your RVing neighbors.  While trying to figure out why our electrical connection between the RV and the Jeep wasn’t working (needed when towing the Jeep), we discovered the RV wouldn’t start!!!  A very nice gentleman who has been around trucks all his life wandered over.  Thank Goodness!!! He discovered that we had a loose wire on our starter solenoid.  Fact 1) If you own an RV, you have to be mechanically handy or rich.  Fact 2) RVers are the best when you need help!

We have now left Florida and are wandering our way up to an RV Rally in Perry, Georgia.  Right now we are at a Georgia State Park enjoying the relative solitude.  It’s a sunny day, I am sitting outside in my lawn chair with an adult beverage next to me.  It’s time to rest up…especially since we are volunteering for the RV Rally parking crew (again…see http://rv.cjsquare.com/2017/03/phoenix-rv-rally/ for last year’s Rally parking fun).

Solitude in Georgia

Florida certainly was different than our previous winters in the Southwest (Arizona, etc.).  There are more people, that’s a downside for us.  But more people means there was never any problem getting services like a cell signal, plentiful grocery stores, and over-the-air television (unlike the southwest).  We owed it to ourselves to check Florida out and we did.  On to the next adventure!

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