SUMMERDALE, AL: Final Evening

Yesterday (Tuesday) dawned bright if not clear and we were glad the rain was over for a few days.  Mid morning we headed south on Hwy. 59 to Gulf Shores, AL and the surrounding area.  Our mission was to find a reasonably-priced waterfront seafood restaurant with indoor seating since the wind was fierce.  After exploring the beach in both directions, we ended up at Sea-N-Suds. We were lucky enough to get the rear window table pictured in the link and had a great view of the very angry Gulf and the activities being pursued despite the wind and cool temps.

 There is no longer a pier associated with the restaurant, thanks to a hurricane several years ago.  A new, concrete structure has been built a short ways down the beach. There was someone putting sign posts along the sand with a machine.  The main entertainment turned out to be 3 kitesurfers (Kitesurfing or kiteboarding is a surface water sport combining aspects of wakeboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding, and gymnastics into one extreme sport.),  With the high winds and high surf, their air time was often spectacular.  Our meal was very good, although it took a back seat to the action outside. 

We drove to the western end of the island, next to Fort Morgan, where you can take a ferry to Dauphin Island.  Mobile bay was also quite stirred up by the wind.  We hadn'tt realizde how close the gas and oil wells are to the shorelines in this area.

We returned to the campground in time for the 5:45 P.M. lasagna dinner which included salad, lasagna, garlic bread and a cupcke for $5.  After dinner, Hank joined the pool players, and I passed on the "Elvis" performance to spend a quiet evening in the RV.

Today (Wednesday) started out bright and calm, so it was another good day to explore some more.  This time we headed west, meandering around neighborhoods in Daphne and Fair Hope bordering the eastern side of Mobile Bay.  We continued on into Mobile via I-10, and road around the shipping port roads to see how close we could get to the cruise ship which had experienced the breakdown in the Gulf recently.  The view from a few blocks away gave us a good idea of how big the ship was.  After a little more meandering, we ended up at the Original Oyster House on the northeastern side of Mobile Bay for another good seafood dinner.  Tonight, Hank is playing pool once again, and Selene is doing some laundry and getting things ready to travel tomorrow.

SUMMERDALE, AL: Catching Up

Sunday we went to lunch at Lambert's with Gene and Dottie.  Lambert's has 3 locations - two in Missouri and one in Foley, AL about 10 miles south of Summerdale.  They are famous for their thrown rolls and the amount of food per person.  With our entrees, which already had large portions, we could also have unlimited rolls, black-eyed peas, cooked cabbage, macaroni & tomatoes, fried potatoes and onions, molasses and apple butter.  Selene brought home enough of her dinner for two lunches on Monday.

Sunday evening, there was ice cream available at the club house for $1, followed by a musical performance by two musicians/singers.  I sat with Dottie and Gene and Hank played pool.  By the time we left the club house, storms were moving in and the rest of the night was very wet and noisy.

Monday dawned stormy as well, and by the end of the day, this area had received several inches of rain, with Gulf Shore (about 20 miles south) totaling over 7 inches. Luckily, severe weather never materialized.  Monday afternoon, we went to Robertsdale to get some black tank chemicals, and to the club house for soical hour.

SUMMERDALE,AL: Third Night

Today (Saturday) dawned wet and stormy, with several heavy showers during the day.  We went to the Club House for breakfast -sausage and gravy biscuits for Hank, biscuit and bacon for Selene- both including juice and coffee.  Talked with some of the residents while waiting for a seminar on RV-related issues presented by a local RV dealership, which also included a Q&A session and lots of giveaways.  We won a NASCAR flag and a back support. Selene returned to the RV for more laundry chores, and Hank played pool.

After lunch, we went to Gene & Dottie's house (ham radio friends who have lived here for 21 years) so Hank could help Gene with some computer-related problems.  After dinner back in our RV, we returned to Gene and Dottie's, met Ron and Ruth (other residents) and played Sequence.  After enjoying brownies and ice cream, we returned to Little House and settled in for the rest of the evening.

Tomorrow should bring some sunshine and warmer temperatures before more rain moves in by Monday.

SUMMERDALE, AL: Second Night

Our days usually start quietly, even if we wake up early.  Most of the time, there's nothing we have to rush to accomplish and that's one of the great benefits of our lifestyle.

Hank played a lot of pool today and Selene entered sweeps while she caught up on laundry chores, so both were doing things they enjoyed.  We went to the Club House for Social hour and announcements at 4 P.M.  and met some more friendly people.  Hank played some more pool and Selene returned to the RV and started dinner.  A relaxing evening followed.

Today it rained several times, but not as much as had been predicted.  More is in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow.  At least it's in the 60's so it doesn't seem like winter!

SUMMERDALE, AL: First Night

Our day started off slowly, included a shade repair and finally Little House departed Navarre, FL for the 70 mile drive to the Escapees Rainbow Plantation near Summerdale, AL.  We took a route basically following US 98 west into Alabama via Pensacola.  The Escapees parks are known for their friendly residents and visitors, and the many activities that occur throughout the day and evening, and this park is no exception. This park has deeded and leased lots and homes, and the transient section contains grass sites with full hookups..

After getting set up, and making a grocery run to the Winn Dixie in Robertsdale, we went to the club house for social hour, where we met up with one of our ham radio friends who has lived here since the park was first built.  Dinner followed at 5:45 P.M. for a $6.00 charge - homemade chicken noodle soup,  baked chicken and gravy with sticky rice, mixed vegetables, roll, coconut pie, and tea or lemonade.  After supper, Hank joined the pool players and I played Bingo.

Tomorrow should be another great day, although the weather is forecast to be very wet.

NAVARRE, FL; Second Night

Overnight, Selene came down with some sort of stomach upset, so today wasn't as good a day for her as she had expected.  However, by mid-afternoon, she was feeling better.  Hank joined Mary and Jan for a hamburger supper. Afterwards, Mary and Jan toured Little House and we enjoyed their company for a couple of hours.  We hope to camp with them again somewhere down the road.  Tomorrow, we'll all be leaving Navarre for other destinations.......in our case...........LA (lower Alabama).

NAVARRE, FLORIDA: First NIght

We left Lamont, FL at 10:10 A.M. EST and arrived in Navarre, FL at the St. Rosa Sound RV Resort  about 1:30 P.M. CST.  This is a pristine campground on the St. Rosa Sound, with Navarre Beach in sight across the sound.  We're here to meet up with Mary and Jan Abrams (Aunt Esther's daughter) who bought a fifth wheel last year and we've been trying to get together ever since.  They fixed a pork loin and baked potato dinner for us tonight.  After dinner we played Shanghai Rum and enjoyed cheese cake, while we caught up on events and RV stories.

Tonight, with the cold, clear skies full of stars as well as the moonlight, and the view of the lights across the sound on Navarre Beach, it's quite a beautiful place. The campground has concrete pads, soft lighting, free wi-fi and will be our location until Thursday morning.

LAMONT, FL: Overnight Stop

We had an early start this morning as we went to the Suncoast Designs office at 6:30 A.M. in order to fill out paperwork regarding our window defogging.  In short order, the first worker arrived to remove inside screws, followed shortly by another to help with removing the driver's window.  Cardboard was taped in place of the window to protect against the elements,  which this morning was temperatures in the 30's.  By 12:30 P.M., the now clear window was back in place.  We took in a short tour which described the defogging process, finished our departure procedures and headed away from Hudson at 2 P.M.  We pulled into A Stone's Throw RV Park just east of Tallahassee about 5:45 P.M.  Once again, we took the non-interstate route on US Hwy. 19.....a mostly 4 lane highway with little traffic once we left west central Florida.

The campground is just a place to park, pretty close to I-10, but does offer decent hookups and free wi-fi and suits our overnight needs just fine.

Tomorrow will be another travel day as we head across I-10 to Navarre, FL on the Gulf coast.  

HUDSON, FL: Second Night

On Sunday, our morning was mostly spent doing computer stuff.  After lunch, we headed out to explore the area south of us including Tarpon Springs, Palm Harbor, and Dunedin.  Tarpon Springs has a touristy shopping area along the waterfront which includes many shoppes and restaurants with a heavy emphasis on Greek-related businesses. which isn't surprising considering it was Greek immigrants in the 1880's who were hired  in the area as sponge divers.  We drove through the surrounding areas enjoying the many beautiful homes near the gulf and along the many canals in the area.  Our southern journey ended at the entrance to Honeymoon Island State Park

 and we headed back to the mainland for supper at Bob Evans and our north-bound journey back to Hudson.  The weather today was still cool and quite breezy, although not as windy as yesterday.  All in all, it was another beautiful day in Florida.

HUDSON, FL: First Night

We had a leisurely start to our Saturday morning, but then it was time to get down to the business of preparing Little House for travel once again.  After a final "See you down the road!" to our friends, Dee and Jim Walter, we left Adelaide Shores RV Resort around 11:30 A.M. for the 120 mile journey to Hudson, FL,  north of Tampa.  The trip included hi-speed highways and slow in-town traffic as we avoided the interstates for a more interesting drive.  And once again, Hank had to stay alert to the very high winds on our route.  

After one stop for lunch, we arrived at Suncoast Designers around 3:30 P.M..  On Monday we will have the foggy driver's window on Little House repaired.  They provide free hookups on their property which includes 50 amp electricity, water, free fast wi-fi, and a dump station.There are several other motor homes here, but only one seems to be occupied.   We're hoping they will be able to complete the work on Monday.

After we got set up, we went exploring to search out a view of the Gulf of Mexico.  We had a nice excursion enjoying the scenery and beautiful homes, many built on canals with pools and docks at the rear of the house, We stopped at a waterfront park next to the Gulf and watched the waves breaking over the seawall due to the very high winds. We had dinner at La Bella Napoli, an Italian restaurant in Weekee Wachee, Fl.  It wasn't the type of restaurant you'd expect to find in the marshes of west central Florida, but the service and food was great and prices were reasonable.  

The rest of the evening will be spent relaxing, and enjoying computer time.

AVON PARK, FL: Third Night

It's catch-up time.  Yesterday (Thursday), was another enjoyable day, which seems to be the norm for this lifestyle. The  Adelaide Shores RV Resort is a snowbird RVer's type of campground with lots of activities, groups, and social gatherings for its residents during the winter months, and we were warmly welcomed by everyone we met..

At mid-morning Dee Walter met Selene joined a group for Shuffleboard, which Selene had never played before.  The game is easy to learn, but accuracy and strategies come with practice.  The group was full of friendly advice for the newbie and the three games went by quickly Rain began midday and continued through the overnight hours.  In the afternoon, Jim and Dee visited with us for a couple of hours before their Valentine dinner outing with another couple.  After dinner, Selene went to the Walter's fifth-wheel to watch the Carolina Hurricanes game on their wide-screen, hi-def tv - which was a nice treat.  Hank completed some website work during that time.

 
Jim and Dee

As a side note, the new washer-dryer combo that was installed during our extended Christmas stay in Alabama is getting lots of use, and is definitely a big improvement over the machine it replaced!

Today (Friday) dawned cloudy but dry, and the morning was spent with a few chores. We joined Dee and Jim for lunch at The Depot, an American diner which serves breakfast and lunch with generous servings and fair prices..  After returning to the campground, Hank, Selene and Dee joined a group for 2games of Mexican Train Dominoes.  Then Jim joined us for a foursome at Shuffleboard.  We all went to the  historic  Hotel Jacaranda for a buffet dinner. Tonight was a seafood special, with delicious clam chowder, fresh salad bar, several seafood entrees, fried chicken, and fresh vegetable dishes followed by many types of desserts including fresh strawberry shortcake (it's strawberry season in central Florida). "Through a partnership with South Florida State College, culinary students perfect their talents by training in the Jac’s modern kitchen." (information from the hotel's website).

After dinner, we returned to the campground to Jon and Kathleen's (more new friends) park model to play "Three to Thirteen" and "Pass the Ace" card games.  This was a great way to end a busy, but another enjoyable, day.

Tomorrow, Little House will once again return to the highway as it takes us to Hudson, Florida.  

AVON PARK, FL: First NIght

This morning, we packed up Little House and left Bee's Resort in Clermont, Fl about 10:30 A.M., heading south on US 27 toward our destination of Adelaide Shores RV Resort in Avon Park, Fl.....a distance of 77 miles.  After a lengthy fuel stop due to poor access for the RV pumps, we arrived at the campground at 1 P.M.   We're here to visit with Dee and Jim Walter, friends who formally lived in Cary, NC and became full-time RVers about 4 years ago, and now spend winters here.

Adelaide Shores is a large well-kept campground with lots of activities every day, and with many amenities including a heated pool.  The sites are all back-in, and are concrete pads with full hookups.  We're in site 22 and our friends are in site 2.  We enjoyed a lasagna and salad dinner in their fifth wheel, and spent several hours catching up on each other's activities.

It was very windy today and tonight we had a brief rain shower.

CLERMONT, FL: Second Night

We had a leisurely start to the day since there weren't any planned activities for today.  We eventually found our way to Walmart for a few supplies and gasoline, then went back to the campground for more relaxation and laundry chores. Late this afternoon, Little House got a much needed bath from a resident park employee at a very reasonable price which also included washing the car.  Both units look much better now.

Every Tuesday, the campground offers a chicken dinner including drinks for $10 per person.. The all-you-can-eat meal included fried or baked chicken, mashed or baked potatoes, gravy, biscuits, peas, slaw, and dessert chunky applesauce.  Drinks included soft drinks and coffee.   We dined with our friends from Raleigh who are also staying here and none of us had room for seconds after devouring the delicious food on our first tray.  This meal is open to campground residents as well as the public from 4-7 P.M. every Tuesday, and on Friday there is a similar dinner featuring fish. After dinner, we waddled back to our respective campsites.

Tomorrow, Little House will head south on Hwy. 27 to Avon Park, FL to visit with some other friends.

CLERMONT, FL: Fist NIght

Today,  Little House took us from the Central Florida Fairgrounds to Bee's RV Resort, only 27 miles away.  This park is a membership park where we can stay for only $10 per night.  This campground has hundreds of sites, but they're very close to each other.  However, we have full hookups and it's a good spot for two nights before we head to our next stop.  One of the Good Sam chapter couples is here and they visited us for awhile as we caught up with each other's activities over the last two months.  No big plans while we're here, other than a Walmart trip and dinner tomorrow night with our friends.  Today's high temperature was in the low 80's so it was time to crank up the A/C.

Orlando: Headed Toward the Finale

We've had a great time over the last few days as we enjoyed time with many people we only see once or twice a year.  The hamfest that brought us here is secondary in importance as we're content to just walk leisurely around the large facility. We bought a digital converter for the bedroom tv, and sold the fifth wheel surge protector system and a small ladder we no longer needed. The weather has been very pleasant, although quite breezy, and with very cool nights, but bright sunny days., There are over 80 people here with our group and we've enjoyed daily happy hours as well as a huge pot luck lunch on Thursday.

On Friday, we won a door prize from the group - a portable flag holder with a large American flag - something we had talked about possibly buying someday.  So now we can proudly fly our flag wherever we're parked with very little effort.  Today is the last day of the hamfest, usually with light attendance, and there'll be final prize drawings by early afternoon.  At 4 P.M., we are heading further south on I-4 with two of our Raleigh friends to meet up with 2 former Raleigh-area friends for dinner at Cracker Barrel. After dinner, we'll head back to the fairgrounds for one final night here before we put Little House on the road again tomorrow for a short drive to Clermont, FL, about 30 miles away.

ORLANDO, FL: First Night

Our time in Neptune Beach came to an end this morning as we pointed Little House on a southern trek to Orlando for the 2013 Hamcation - a very large hamfest.  The trek down I-95 and across I-4 was uneventful and we arrived at the Central Florida Fairgrounds around 1 P.M.  We are here for the hamfest as well as getting together with many members of the The Amateur Radio Club of the Wally Byam Caravan Club International - a national RV/ham radio club.  Our group is parked at the rear of the property near the lake.  We have a waterfront site, and will enjoy watching the many waterfowl who frequent the area.

The hamfest will be on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but many of the group are already here, and hugs and handshakes are plentiful as we get reacquainted with old friends and meet new ones.  There will be happy hour gatherings every day at 4 P.M., a pot luck lunch tomorrow, and an informal meeting on Friday where members will have a chance to win some nice prizes.  Add all of the hamfest activities to the group's events, and you have 5 days of non-stop action, and an event that we look forward to each year. This year, the weather promises to be pleasantly warm, with not much chance of rain.

Neptune Beach, FL; First NIght

After a leisurely start to our day, we left the campground in Walterboro, SC about 10:30 to head further south and the anticipated warmer temperatures. After one rest stop and fuel/lunch stop, we arrived at Kathryn Hanna Park, near Mayport, FL about 3:30 P.M.  We've stayed here several times in the past, but this is the first time since the Discovery became our home.  We were assigned to site 278 in the very large, tropical forest campground.  After scouting the access to the campsite in the car, we settled in our spot for a 5 night stay.  We're only about 15 minutes from Karen's house, where we went for hugs and a delicious dinner, while we caught up on family news.

It's strange to suddenly not be so concerned about overnight low temperatures, or the possiblity of frozen precipitation, affecting our plans and routines, and I'm sure we'll become accustomed to the changes very quickly.