Our RV Travels

Updates on our Full-Time RV'ing lifestyle. Feel free to add your comments, replies and stories of your own.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

From Arcadia, FL

Well, we have been pretty busy for a while. From Christmas Airstream Park, we moved to the County Line Moose Club for 3 nights with Escapee RV Club friends Cliff and Virginia Haycock. Had some chilly weather there with frosty mornings. Temperatures in area got down to the 20's. We took a side trip one day to visit Dick and Gladys from Bemus Point, NY. They are friends of many years and have a place at St. Cloud, FL. We had a great visit, dinner and ride around the area.

Then back to Christmas Airstream Park for the SKP Chapter 15 rally. We had a great time there. A week ago yesterday, we left the rally and took US-1 south from Titusville, FL to Ft. Pierce. Much more scenic and nicer ride than I-95 would have been, but traffic was pretty heavy most of the way. In Ft. Pierce, we had lunch at the Cracker Barrel then headed to Arcadia. A phone call revealed that Glenn and Sue were also at an RV Rally nearby, but he gave me parking instructions. We arrived at their place on the Peace River and got parked and set up before dark stopping for some groceries at Wal-Mart on the way. One of their daughters is living in a motorhome on the property and came by to welcome us.

Sunday morning we headed to Myakka City where they were rallying at the home of the Lippizian Stallions. However, they left just before we arrived, so we returned by another route for a change in scenery. One thing we did notice is that there are not many "blue tarps" on roofs left, and most trash has been picked up from the hurricanes of 2004. We have been doing some sightseeing, shopping, etc. in the area. Friday, my brother Clair and wife Jean came over from Englewood for a visit. We had a nice visit and then lunch at the Beef and Reef in Arcadia. Weather was threatening, so we went to Solomon's Castle near Ona. The tour there is mostly indoors which was good as we did have a few sprinkles. That is always an interesting stop as the owner is really a good artist using junk and wood for his works of art. And his wife is a very interesting tour guide. We had been there before, but there are many new items including a lighthouse at the "Boat in the Moat"

Yesterday was my birthday, so we joined Glenn, Sue and daughter Kristine at Chili's for birthday dinner. Today was their daughter Abigail's birthday, so we were invited to the house for dinner with the family and birthday party for Abbie and myself. She made 2 sofa pillows for my birthday gift which was very thoughtful. While getting our satellite dish set up, I had lost my computer glasses which was very inconvenient. But Sue found them yesterday for which I was very thankful. Our mail arrived then also and working on that would have been difficult with the glasses I was using. I have also assisted Glenn some on getting their converted bus for summer travels. Neighbor Jerry has also been by to visit and we visited his wife Michael.

We had planned on visiting friends in Bowling Green at Avion Palms today. However we had very heavy rain early this morning and the forecast was for that to last all day. So today has been mostly catching up on computer other than birthday party.

Bye for now
Andy and Loretta
Andy@W2UCZ.us

Saturday, February 11, 2006

In Christmas, FL

Our host, Cal delivers cars for Crystal Chevrolet/Dodge in Homosassa and Brooksville. After my last posting, he was sent to Michigan to drive a car back for them. We rode with him to the airport in Tampa and he ran into heavy traffic arriving just a few minutes before flight time. However he did make the flight and I returned his car to their home, stopping for breakfast with Marilyn and Loretta on the way. While he was gone, I did some cleanup work on his computer. Also a friend of his had been given an OLD computer. It was really loaded and messed up. I did a few sessions at his house making it usable for email and some general use but not enough memory or hard drive to do any amount with. He was talking about adding a USB card, but I suggested he save his pennies and buy a cheap modern machine. He could invest a lot more than that and still have a piece of junk.

After Cal returned, we took them out for dinner on last Sunday. We were going to try a seafood restaurant at Ozilla that we hadn't been to. We passed a spot on the way where there were several State Police and Sheriff cars, ambulance and fire truck. Couldn't see reason for the excitement, but found out later a motorcyclist had failed to negotiate one of the many curves on that road and hit a tree or pole. His helmet didn't do him any good as he was killed. Anyway when we got to the restaurant, we were told that it would be at least 1.5 hours. I suppose a lot of folks gathered there for the Superbowl, and there were many motorcycles in the lot. We went back to Chili's where we did have a good dinner and visit.

Loretta was still having a bit of trouble with the right hearing aid. We had went to the Crystal River Mall on Saturday, but Miracle Ear was closed. So we returned on Monday where he ground off a high spot. I had been having some slight back pains and had been to a Chiropractor on the way there 2 times. Thought it was in good shape, but over the weekend it really acted up. So we stopped as we were going past. He did more adjustment this time and so far it is holding even though my back still isn't as straight as it should be.

This had interfered with our planned departure for the RV Service Net of the Airstream Club rally here at Christmas. We did get on the way early Tuesday and really had a nice trip over except heavy start and stop traffic around Orlando delayed us and was a bit of strain on the rig. This week has been spent here doing the usual rally things. Visiting, seminars, eating and shopping. No tours or hired entertainment this year. As it is an Amateur Radio rally, today most of the men went to the Orlando Hamfest. In ways I would have liked to go to visit with some of the dealers that we used to do hamfests with. I had also gotten a call from a friend from Bemus Point, NY that he was going to be there today, and I am sure many others of our old friends and customers were there. However, we needed to go into Titusville for a few errands. Also I am the official photographer for the rally and wanted to prepare some CD's for those that wanted pictures. One thing I might have looked at had I gone to the fest would have been a cheap laptop computer. However there was a rather old Compaq on one of the tables at the Flea Market we had here yesterday. I purchased it and hopefully it will do all that I need a laptop for.

Tonight was our final dinner at Holly Hall here. We still have a church service tomorrow and I think there will also be a breakfast. I am also Sound Man, but think I got the sound system ready for church already. We plan on moving a few miles down the road tomorrow to the Orlando Moose Club with at one other couple. We will stay there a few nights then return here for the Escapee RV Club Chapter 15 rally next week.

Guess I have carried on long enough, so will close and get some rest.

Andy and Loretta

Andy@W2UCZ.US