TRAVELERS REST First Stay Wrap-up

Our first stay at Travelers Rest near Dade City ended on Wednesday, February 8.  We enjoyed two more entertainment nights - a country singer, and a blind pianist whose amazing program consisted of taking requests from the audience, two more ice cream socials, involvement in ham activities and general socializing. We were treated to a nice surprise as our friends, Sally & Ken from NC, arrived on July 6 for a week's stay and parked right across the street from us.  Enjoyed good times with good friends until we left TR on Wednesday. We'll return there on Monday, February 13 for another two-week stay.

DADE CITY: Travelers Rest Showcase Day

Since our arrival at Travelers REst, several people have told us not to miss the day-long activities of Showcase Day.  The information from The TR Times describes the day.


"Showcase Day has earned the reputation as a great way to spend a day. In fact, many residents invite friends and guests to join them. You can enjoy well in excess of $30,000 of free entertainment by attending. For the fourteenth consecutive year, Travelers Rest Resort has been privileged to be the site of an Entertainment Designers Network
Showcase where professional acts demonstrate their talents to entertainment buyers from parks and resorts throughout Florida. The talent is always terrific and this year’s lineup once again promises to be outstanding!
TR residents and talent buyers from all over Florida will have an opportunity to see 25 different acts including comedians, vocalists and musical groups of all kinds who will perform continuously in nonstop fifteen minute segments from 10 a.m. until approximately 4:30 p.m. The Showcase is produced by talent agent Dudley Burchill of
Entertainment Designers Network who selects the entertainers and manages the event for her adult community clients. She will be assisted by TR volunteers who will staff the registration tables and help presenters with equipment setup, sound and lighting. Our own Snack Shack volunteers will be on site to supply donuts, coffee, cold drinks, sandwiches and other treats throughout the day.

Tables and chairs at the very front of the hall nearest the stage are reserved for entertainment buyers. Chairs further back in the hall without tables are for TR residents and other guests who are encouraged to attend the Showcase and lend a hand. Buyers from the various other communities rely upon the audience to register their enthusiasm for the different acts in order to judge how well audiences will enjoy a particular show."


We arrived at the hall in time to get seats right behind the tables set up for the talent buyers from various RV communities.  The entertainment samples included vocalists, comedians, bands, a mentalist, a magician/comedian, a vocal impressionist, and instrumentalists. It was a long day of sitting still, but definitely worth the price of  admission which was zero. The seating area was full most of the day as the audience enjoyed the entertainment.


This afternoon, we were invited to the weekly Happy Hour for the residents of the street our site is on.  This was another chance to meet more people and learn more about TR. We continue to be very impressed and look forward to more enjoyable times during our stay.

DADE CITY: Travelers Rest RV Resort

Sunday, we had an easy travel day with a 1 hour drive to Travelers Rest RV Resort, about 10 miles west of Dade City, FL.  Travelers Rest (TR) is a 55+ community with over 600 lots for mobile homes, park models and RVs. There is also a 70 unit RV park with full hookups, 9 hole golf course, TR's own fire and rescue service (staffed by trained residents),  and too many amenities to mention.  Unused leased sites can be sublet.  We were put on such a site with a concrete pad with a storage shed available for rent.  TR is know for its friendly residents and the very large number of group activities make it easy to find friends with common interests.  We first learned about TR in 2009 from our ham radio friends, many who live or stay here.  There is a very active amateur radio club and fully-equipped ham station on the property. Our plan to stay a week quickly changed to staying 17 nights. Several of our ham friends are here now.

 TR has a very large multi-purpose building (Busch Hall) with a capacity of over 400 people, as well as  professional sound and lighting equipment. Sunday night in Busch hall,  there was an ice cream social followed by the Sunday night entertainment by Christopher Dallo, a Canadian tenor,  whose repertoire and experience includes many types of music. Before the concert began, announcements were made concerning the possibility of severe weather during the evening as well as a well-laid out plan if conditions worsened.  The emergency personnel were on hand to help with any actions needed.  Christopher's concert was brought to a halt about 45 minutes later when the power failed during a severe thunderstorm with high winds.  Emergency personnel took their places, lighting the stage with their powerful flashlights, and with the aid of a battery-operated amp and microphone, Chris sang one song a cappela, then answered audience questions.  The emergency lighting was getting close to the end its operational time, so an orderly evacuation of the building was started, but the power came back on in short order, and the concert was able to finish as planned.

The heavy winds continued throughout the night and all day Monday and Little House rocked a few times with the heavier gusts.  Other than some fallen tree debris, there was no damage in the community from the high winds.

We will be taking part in several activities during our stay. There is a lot of information on the resort's website -http://www.travelersrestresort.com/home.html  - including the resort's newspaper, published weekly. The next blog post will describe Showcase Day which took place yesterday (Wednesday).

SEFFNER, FL: Fun, Friends and Food

The American Coach Association rally ended last Sunday, and we're  almost to the end of the Fleetwood Motorhome Association rally here at Lazydays.  The last 11 days have gone by quickly as we talked with lots of people including old friends,, and took part in meetings and seminars.  There has been plenty of food to keep us going -  5 catered dinners, 1 catered breakfast, 10 days of free cafe breakfast and lunch.  Musical groups provided entertainment on 5 nights with plenty of people filling the dance floor. Tonight, there was a showing of the movie "Sully" and free popcorn. Tomorrow will be another full day with breakfast, lunch, a rally flea market, ice cream social, another catered dinner, more door prizes,  and evening entertainment. Sunday there's a continental breakfast before the final hugs and handshakes are given.  

During the FMA rally,  Fleetwood also provides service techs and discounted parts with no labor charge to help with on site repairs and problems that don't involve getting on the roof or under the RVs.  We took advantage of their expertise for a couple of small repairs, and got answers to several questions about systems in our coach.


Next stop on Sunday - Dade City, FL.





 

SEFFNER, FL: Rally Time!!

Sunday, we drove to Brandon, FL and parked overnight in a Home Depot parking lot with the manager's permission.  This was our first time to use Home Depot's hospitality.  We had the extra bonus of live music - a tavern right across the street from us had a Spanish band playing outside with very loud speakers, so we had free entertainment for about 4 hours until  8 P.M. The rest of the night was quiet.

Monday, we were up early to go to General RV, about 9 miles away, for some service work.  We've had two leaks worked on a couple of times before at other shops - one over the cab area and one behind the passenger seat - and after some time, the leaks would return.  General RV feels sure they found the sources of both, and fixed both by removing old sealant and installing new sealant  as well as sealing up some other potential problem areas.  We also had an oil change (which uses 27 quarts of oil!), lube job, Aqua-Hot system check, replacement hub cap installed, and tire pressures checked.

As the sun set, we drove 15 minutes to the Lazydays RV Resort and Dealership, where we'll be until Jan. 22 attending the Southeastern American Coach Rally followed by the Fleetwood Motor Home Rally.  We've been to Lazydays many times, and we always enjoy our stay although backing into a campsite can be a little tricky with a big rig.  The campground rates here are a little higher than we like to pay, but this large facility gives you free breakfast and lunch in their cafe six days a week so it's not a bad deal.  The rally center is one of the best in the country, and there are other amenities such as a large heated pool, free cable tv, daily newspaper, and wi-fi. There's also a Flying J truck stop, Cracker Barrel restaurant,  Exit 10 restaurant, and a hotel on the property.

The next 10 days will be full as we greet old friends and make new ones, attend meetings, go to happy hours and dinners, take part in prize drawings, and enjoy evening entertainment.

INGLIS, FL: Visiting with Friends

Friday, we had a nice trip from Quincy, FL to Inglis via I-10, US 19 and US 98.  This route south is much more relaxing than the I-75 speedway, with good  4-lane roads, little traffic, and just a few towns to slow you down.  We are at the Gulf Coast RV Resort, a large, well-kept campground with many amenities but economical rates....even giving a Good Sam discount  While many of our southern family members were going through a snowstorm on Friday,  that system gave us a very stormy night with torrential rain, high winds and lots of thunder to keep us awake until after 4 A.M.

 Our friends, Dave and Charlotte have a winter home nearby, and our Alabama friends, John and Peggy, own an RV lot just down the road.  Last night, we all met up at a local restaurant - Shrimp Landing - for an enjoyable dinner.

The low temperatures today were around 30 - very low for this part of the country - but the sun is out and that's warming things up. Today, we're driving to Brandon, FL - east of Tampa - to have some service work done tomorrow.

QUINCY, FL: Hello 2017!

The last two weeks have been full of visiting, eating, laughter and Christmas spirit as we spent the holidays in the midst of our large family.  Our stay at Minooka Park in Jemison, AL provided us with a quiet environment in a nice campground so we could regroup each day for the next activity. It's always sad to see the Christmas holidays come to an end, but 2017 is here and new adventures are waiting for us.

Today, we left central Alabama as the winter weather warnings began to appear.  It was definitely time to head south as Alabama will be dealing with frozen precipitation and cold temperatures over the next few days.  Our 4 1/2 hour trip to near Quincy, FL,  with a fuel stop and lunch break, was uneventful under sunny skies.  Tonight, we're at the Beaver Lake Campground just north of I-10, where we've stayed twice before.  It's a simple campground behind a gas station in a field with full hookups, and a 1/2 prize Passport America rate.

Tomorrow, we'll drive south to Inglis, Fl to meet up with friends, and to get farther away from the cold weather!