NEW MOTOR HOME

Well Kevin has just brought it to my attention that it looks like I shrunk...actually this motor home is quite a bit taller and yes I am still vertically challenged. Thanks Kevin

Well we finally got the motor home and we will be here until at least Friday. We found out also that we have to take it to Georgia to get away from paying Florida taxes so we will be taking a trip to that state just for a signature and then off to Dade City. I have moved everything over from the motor home to the dolphin motor home....Rod is still at work. We had a nice sleep in this one last night after we went to the hot tub/pool. The neighbours across from us brought us a little dolphin statue which was so very nice of them. The good things about staying here is we have free breakfasts/lunches/pool/all the seminars we missed last time. Tomorrow we will be off on a day trip since they have the motor home all day to fix things.

Little Manatee River State Park

Everyday this cardinal would fight with a vehicle mirror/window

Having arrived here early Saturday morning we had everything unloaded and organized for our 4 days here; our routine to do things gets done very fast. We had a day of checking everything out, going to Wal-Mart to get my haircut (my hair is full of curls and puffiness which I really don’t like…Jenna understands) and pick up a few things for the new motor home. We arrived home after the rain and had supper then walked over to the community fire pit where they have a welcome s’more/campfire party when the sun goes down. The hosts do the cooking and we do the talking and meeting of all the neighbours, the rain moved in around 9 so the party ended and everyone headed back inside. This park is very small consisting of 30 campsites so Rod didn’t get lost at all.

Sunday morning we headed to Big Ben Power Plant not knowing really what to expect…WOW. Manatees everywhere, stingrays, sharks, and lots of fish plus everything was free. Rod and I were quite impressed we plan to go back on Tuesday to enjoy the sights again. We could really understand how and why people are so attracted to watching these gentle mammals. The afternoon Rod cleaned the jeep and I supervised him in the sunshine. We decided to have a bonfire that evening and our neighbours from Hanover came over to visit.

Rod got up early Monday morning to cook another great breakfast and we headed off on our daytrip. Anna Maria, Bradenton Beach, Longpoint Key, Sarasota, Venice, and Punta Gorda was our route….amazing places and as far south as we will be going this year. We got home at dinner time, ate and went to bed early.

Tuesday morning we just relaxed and then took a trip to see the manatees again, pick up some free books for Mom and buy some strawberries (this years….yummy). The evening we got things all packed for our departure in the morning.

FORT DE SOTO

January 15th we are home in Fort DeSoto which is a beautiful, amazing park…we walked until we couldn’t walk anymore. We met all the neighbours…one being from Welland, Ontario. Our afternoon adventure was a self guided tour of the Fort DeSoto fort which was interesting; my homework is to look up more facts on this place. That night we enjoyed a bonfire and headed for bed early so we could enjoy our morning coffee on the beach behind us.

On Wed. the tide was low and the sun was shining by 10:00 it was sunbathing weather and laundry day. Rod found 2 crabs out in the water by our beach which he just had to catch. I was actually hoping it would be an action shot with the crabs catching him. No luck…but it was interesting watching them. We decided to go traveling to the beach again and went for a seashell hunt I found my first sand dollar. We found another beach that had kite surfers…what a neat thing to watch. We headed home to find our chairs under water because the tide came in and since it was Rod that said “just leave the chairs there we will get them when we get back” he had to retrieve them. That night we visited some friends that showed us a game called “Oh Darn” (which Rod renamed) very nice people, to bad they had to go tomorrow.

Thursday, January 17th It rained all night but the morning turned out to be cloudy and okay to go to the beach and look for more treasures. Every time on the Gulf of Mexico beach I see ships (which Jenna and Brad know I love…they are snickering now). No treasures other than a live hermit crab which surprised me when I picked it up…arrived home and Rod started washing the motor home in secret since you are not allowed to clean your vehicle in the park. Our afternoon was spent venturing over to The Pier which has an aquarium there we enjoyed and shopped in many places finding Wal-Mart last...picked up supper and squirrel food for the cardinals, morning doves and of course squirrels. Tomorrow I think it is beach day again. I actually can see the top of a cruise ship going down the channel tonight all lit up.
The morning started out nice so we went for a walk and noticed site 89 was empty so we moved early since we had to dump anyway. This site is Rod’s favourite…the awning can come out and we can have everything out and covered. Lots of walking again and talking to people, we found out in the bay is a family of dolphins and a sea turtle…I haven’t seen them yet. Supper was a restaurant called the Sandlot (it was okay I still enjoy Rods’ Place much better.)
Saturday was a touring day going into the slums to get oysters for Rod (which we didn’t get since the season doesn’t start until next week) we asked directions from this gentleman with gold teeth to get back on track which I don’t think he knew where he was. The night ended up with tying-down everything, thunder was in the distance and by the time 5:45 the wind really picked up and with me watching the news a tornado alert was reported. We enjoyed our seafood supper with little worry since the storm moved away fast and only rained stayed all night.
January 20 was a cool 48 degrees out and with the wind chill factor it was 41. We decided to go to the Fort again with the sun shining…we saw a egret and some parrots (I miss ours but I know Kyle is taking good care of him). Rod has started packing things away outside and I cleaned inside. The afternoon we spent watching the neighbours play corn hole, and the amazing performance of the pelicans doing their diving dance together. The sun was actually quite hot, the neighbour had to check and see what our license plate said since they had coats on and Rod topless and me almost they thought we where nuts.

CAMP WAL-MARTS YOU GOTTA LOVE THEM

January 13 - We have had good traveling but we wish the I-75 book went into Florida… (I know another Christmas present Kyle can get us). When we got to Tampa we where looking for another Wal-Mart, thanks to the streets and tips we found one….wow Rod does know how to drive, the parking lot was incredible small which we didn’t notice until we turned in, we both thought ok we are here now what. We parked and out came a security guard loaded with guns, pepper spray, and a billy-stick…”You can park here if you want but I just want to warn you that this is the ghetto and after I leave at 10:00 you really don’t want to be here….I just couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t warn you. There is a Wal-Mart down the street about 4 miles (which wasn’t listed on the streets and trips).” I can see the “Cops” show broadcast the show from here now. Rod wanted to go in and do some shopping and I said “Let’s get out of here now,” so off we went. What an adventure…which I don’t really want to do again…(we slept with the back window shade up so that we could keep an eye on the jeep…not much sleep that night).

BRISTOL, TENNESSEE

Day 2 (Friday the 11th of January)
Well we woke up with neighbours of motor homes and trucks around us…busy Camp Wal-Mart. We got up at 7:30 had our coffee and by 8:00 we were off to Georgetown to a Ford dealership (we can’t run our headlights and have blinkers at the same time), they suggested a headlight switch was what we needed but they didn’t have one.
Arrived at Bristol, TN at 3:20 pm it’s nothing special but the price is good $12.00 plus internet, water, showers, hydro and a Wal-Mart is down the street lol…so all is good.
Rod’s friend Kitten came over that night, they caught up on news while I went to bed. The next morning we went an expensive flea market, then Kitten came over and off we went to Bristol Racetrack, I expected the place to be bigger than it was…I did a winning burn-out at the finish line on the game they had at the museum and yes Dad I did plan on buying you a t-shirt but boy they where very expensive. South Holston Dam which was our next stop, Rod took a few amazing shots here. Went to bed without supper, busy day and busy day tomorrow.

Our 1st day on the road

Well we left at 8:15 having problems with opening the shed door, then electrical problems with the motor home (no headlights, or rear tv-back-up monitor).
No problems at the border in fact they didn’t even check us at all….there was 3 motor home/fifth wheels in front being checked. Car/vans where checked inside-out even the spare tires were checked for hidden items. “Have a safe trip” was all the custom officers said. I-75 was tricky to get onto in Detroit but we made it, a little traffic but easy going.
Our gas adventure in Dayton, Ohio…first pulling up to the pumps with our rig is tricky then the attendant won’t give you gas unless you”please leave your visa card inside and then you can get gas”. We did okay…this stop was like a shopping heaven plus a Tim Hortons…WOW but we didn’t stay around long enough.
In Cincinnati we thought the motor home was on fire because all we could smell was an electrical stink…Rod panicked turned off all lights, fans, heat…made me find out where it was coming from...OUTSIDE lol Slow moving going through here…rain, lightning and busy rush hour.
At 5:50 pm we arrived at Camp Walmart in Berea, Kentucky (thank god for Kyle’s book)…that book has come in so handy much better than the streets and trips on the computer for I-75.
Well we shopped and got all our needs in Walmart (shoes, supper, Transformer DVD so we could watch it on the computer tonight). That night it poured but the good side was that everything is all clean…like going through a power-wash (now Rod doesn’t have to clean the motor home...which was his plan).

DATES AND PLACES WE ARE VISITING

Lakeview Rv Park, 4550 Highway 11E
Tennessee 37618 A couple of nights

Fort De Soto Park, Pinellas County
Florida 727-582-2267 site#145 & 89 Jan 15 - 21 6 nights

Lazy Days Rally Park, 6210 County Rd. 579
Seffner, Florida 866-703-3075 Jan 21 - 24 3 nights

Little Manatee River St. Park, site #7
215 Lightfoot Rd., Wimauma 33598 Jan 26 - 30 4 nights

Sunburst RV Park, 17031 US Hwy. 301
Dade City 33523-7058 site#133 Month of February

St. Andrews St. Park Site #120 & #116
Panama City Mar 2 - 13 11 nights

LEAVING DATE

Well we have decided to leave Thursday morning when it is a mild spring day....WOW....today it was 13 degrees out. Here's hoping it's like that when we leave, we have been packing and getting everything organized. I work all day Wednesday so busy busy. Rod says we are going through Sarnia instead of Windsor which is a little shorter trip. He is just a little excited to say the least. This is our site in Fort DeSoto County Park in Florida which we will see on Jan. 15th. Keep you posted