Home Again

Our mondo GPS getting us home.

We arrived at 10:20PM on March 22 after a good, but long drive.  Trying to get home to avoid a snowstorm on it's way to Indy.

 I love traveling in our motorhome.  Having the ability to nap, get drinks, snacks and meals without leaving the vehicle is great.  Having a restroom "on site" is helpful.  We stop at highway rest areas or scenic pull off areas for lunch and to take the doggies for a walk, along with many truckers and other RV'ers.  Almost every trucker we have parked near, travels with a dog so there are lots of neat smells for Smudge.  Willow is above smelling odors.  Doesn't look dignified to her.

Walking into the house, there was a "Welcome Home" sign and note, along with a bouquet of my favorite flowers, Astromerias, on the kitchen counter.  We have been lucky enough to have our dear friends, Leisa and Kevin living at our house, for several months, while they remodeled a home they purchased.  I can't tell you the peace of mind it gave us to have the house lived in, rather than vacant.  Leisa and Kevin handled our mail and other things that needed to be dealt with which took a burden off us.  Thank you Leisa and Kevin, we love you lots!

The dogs fell right back into their routine at home.  Sleeping on their beds until we are asleep, then Smudge sneaking into bed with us.  When we let them outside, they followed the paths that they always follow, going to each corner of the yard, in a specific order, to make sure we haven't been invaded by some life threatening creature.

The next day, after our drive home, we unloaded the majority of the coach.  It was a lovely day, temp wise, so the coach door was open.  Willow preferred to nap in the coach, while Smudge followed us around.  I felt myself preferring to be in the coach, my home for the last 4 months.  Although we are fortunate to have a "sticks and bricks" home, I think I prefer the coach.  Maybe I will feel differently when the yard is in bloom, the lake fun in swing, and when I have been home for awhile  I could really see myself selling the house and being a full time, mobile motorhome resident for a few years.  There is so much to see and experience in this country, and Canada.  I just don't want to miss seeing the national parks, Nova Scotia, Alaska, Northern New England, and the list goes on and on.

What fun the last four months have been!  Seeing new places. meeting wonderful people, each day being a new adventure.  We are so blessed to have the ability to experience the RV lifestyle.

Until our next adventure, this blog will end for awhile.  Thank you if you have followed us.  Experiences are always best if shared, even if only by blog.  I'll let you know if I post more later.  Who knows where we will be then!

Rest stop with the big boys!

Willow not wanting to leave our "little" home.

Welcome Home!  

Driving and Dreher Island, South Carolina

I drove several hundred miles yesterday to relieve Paul.  As soon as I took the wheel, we were in bumper to bumper traffic due to not one but two accidents.  Then came the mountains, then a branch must have fallen from a tree and hit our side mirror.  Luckily no damage or fatalities.  

Driving the RV is different from a car, not just because of the size but because of things like tail swing, hip turns, draft from other vehicles, side and rear cameras and unusual blind spots.  Driving it is fun but tiring for me.  Paul is a pro.  It's not natural to me yet and I was whooped when we finally turned into Dreyer Island State Park on 50,000 acre Lake Murray. 

Little did I know that we had been given a beautiful site right on the lake.  I'm thinking God thought I might need some encouragement and reprieve.

We decided to stay at Dreher Island until tomorrow, then head closer to home.  I am dreading going back to cold and snow.  Even the 58 degree temp here at Dreher seems too cold.  Oh well, campfire time.....

Ducks on the lake, trying to keep warm, tightly packed.

Beautiful Lake Murray

Out my screen door.

Our camp site

Punch it, Martha!

Our evening view.

Saying Goodbye

Leaving Merritt Island area, we headed to Jacksonville to see the kids before heading home.
I love where Ginny, Joe and the grandkids live, Eagle Harbor on Fleming Island.  Everything is so close by and it is a beautiful suburb of Jacksonville.  The kids are close to their schools and their is a real sense of community.

As usual, Ginny fixed wonderful food for us.  She is a terrific cook, and she certainly did not get that talent from me!  We slept in the RV, parked across from her house, on a grassy area.  In the middle of the night, we thought we were being hit by artillery's fire.  It was the sprinkler system hitting the RV and it was loud!  Scared the heck out of me.

Ginny and I went shopping for Easter stuff for the grand kids, clothes shopping at our favorite store, The Chocolate Shoe, and stocked up groceries for our trip home.

When Alex came home from school, he was dressed up in dress shirt, tie etc.  He looked so handsome! He had to do a presentation of a video and interview done of zoo keepers at the Jacksonville zoo.  I hope to get a copy of the video.  Since he was little, he's been interested in art and all types of media.  He is very talented and an all around great young man, with his head on straight.

Ginny and I went up to the school to pick up Ana and Sophie.  Ana is part of the safety patrol and came walking out with a friend, Lindsay.  They were giggling and cute....memories flooded back of Ginny and Michele at that age.  Ana is into tumbling, and her cheer team won second place in the National Cheer Contest at Disney last fall.  What a sweetie she is!

Sophie, who is 6, and I went on a walk through the neighborhood nature boardwalk which leads to Blackwater Creek.   It is a stunningly beautiful walk that Sophie has made hundreds of times in her short life.  In spite of her familiarity with the surroundings, she still notices small changes and pieces of beauty along the way. The last few walks we have had on the boardwalk, she has asked me "Grandma, do you know who made this garden?".  I'ts God.  He made all of this forest, all the flowers, all the bugs and the trees.  Everything!"  Sophie was concerned by the cans that some people had thrown off the boardwalk into the forest and we tried to think of a way to reach them, to no avail.  I love that she appreciates nature and respects it too.

We enjoyed a goodbye dinner at Hurricane's and there was a face painting clown that Sophie loved.  It was a great meal with superb company....our family.  We are sad to leave them for awhile.  I am so proud of them!

Ana and Alex

Sophie, with painted face and crazy look, with Ana and Alex

The Great Outdoors

We decided to not leave the Merritt Island area...still too much to see.  Traveling just 20 miles north, and closer to Merritt, we pulled into a beautiful resort called The Great Outdoors (TGO).

TGO covers over a thousand acres and is comprised of hundreds of RV lots,  homes with RV garages as well as lakes, pools, restaurants, RV service, parks, trails and two churches.  It is beautiful!  Our RV pad, the least desirable, but still fine,  of all the RV options at TGO, sat on a lake at the end of a quiet street.  We enjoyed the restaurants, pool, nature trails, doggie park but most of all, the people.

All of the people at TGO enjoy the RV lifestyle.  Although the RVs vary from modest to over a million dollars, the common ground of most everyone is to enjoy the outdoors and experience adventure in this wonderful world we live in.  I also think that most everyone we have met has had a desire to never stop learning, whether it be about history, nature, geography, RV mechanics, we all seem to like to learn.

Another wonderful attribute of RVing is that a person must downsize and simplify.  To be unburdened by stuff is very freeing.  I have never been much of a shopper, thus not much stuff.  Once in awhile I'll get a knot in my nightie and shop til I drop, but that's not often.  This lifestyle fits me well.

We met some wonderful new friends that I know we'll keep in touch with.  We laughed allot and felt so lucky to have met such fun people.  We're thinking of going back to TGO for a month next year so we can meet up again.

Beautiful Merritt Island

Wood Storks,  I think.

Island beauties 

Skimmers, eating lunch

Suspicious character at pier

Gator across pond from RV

Gator bait

Our Street

TGO Entrance

New friends, Sandy and Jerry

Great new friends at River Rocks Restaurant - YUM!

Merritt Island and NASA, Cape Canaveral

The Space Coast of Florida has hundreds of miles of protected wildlife refuge.  NASA itself is 220 square miles, all of it wildlife protected.  Part of Cape Canaveral is Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and National Seashore.
I've got to stop here for a moment.  We hear a lot of negatives about our country but if you need some encouragement to feel proud, go to Cape Canaveral.  First of all,  the national park/refuge area is free to us senior citizens or is available to all at a nominal fee.  To see how the pristine areas of refuge are kept clean, natural yet kept in a fashion that viewing and learning can take place is something we should all feel good about.  We have yet to meet a ranger that was not super friendly and informative.  We have yet to be at a national park that is not clean and beautiful.  We have yet to be disappointed in how the wildlife is being managed.
When you add the phenomenal accomplishments of NASA and the wonders that man has created for space, a person cannot help but be proud.  Rather than dwell on the negative (promoted by the media) why don't we change to the NASA mindset, one of pride and protection.  Pride for what they have accomplished and are still accomplishing, and protection and pride for the land around Cape Canaveral.
OK, off my soapbox.
Merritt Island Refuge cannot be seen in one day.  Plan a week or two.  We have gone three times and just seen a tenth of it.  Below are photos of some of the wildlife, but I did not do justice to all the birds/reptiles etc. we actually saw.  And the quiet.....how do I tell you about the lack of human noise, out in the wilderness.  It is better for the soul than anything I know.
The landscape of Merritt Island is varied from seashore, to savannas of grass, salt marshes and brackish waterways, swamps and lake shores.  Beautiful and serenely mysterious.

Roseate Spoonbills

Pygmy rattlesnake - small but mighty!

One of over 5000 alligators on NASA/Cape Canaveral property.  I guess you could call them part of the NASA Security system.

One of the many rockets in the "garden".

NASA Rocket garden - Titan 2

Entrance to NASA.  If you go, it takes more than a day to see it all.

This building is soooo big.  The flag on it is 27 stories high!

This NASA engineer was so informative and fun.  He worked on the shuttle and other launches.

Just a small part of the Saturn 5 rocket.

More Saturn 5 - so intricate yet enormous!

More Saturn 5.  I only captured a few parts of it.  

And NASA.  I cannot say that I have ever been a fan of space.  My fondest memory of a space exploration was watching the TV in 1969, very pregnant with Michele, and thinking " Will she ever visit the moon?".  Well, I am now a BIG fan of NASA and space exploration.  Visiting the rocket garden at NASA, seeing a FANTASTIC 3 -D movie about the launch and use of the Hubble telescope, visiting the huge launch pads and seeing the NASA building is something everyone should see.  What man has done/created is spectacular!

The Jetty, Port Canaveral

Green Sea Turtle

Never did I expect to be so enthralled by this area of Florida.  First of all, I thought I didn't like the Atlantic coast.  Too dull and lacking the aqua and emeralds of the Gulf water.  Second of all, I was ignorant of all this area has to offer, both historical and natural.
Our first stop was at Port Canaveral on Cape Canaveral, The Space Coast of Florida.  The campground, The Jetty, is right on the Canaveral port jetty where the cruise ships take off and return on their travels.  There is a mile long jetty, just past the cruise terminals and a submarine pen to one side of the jetty canal.  Let me tell you, there is a lot going on there.
I am amazed at the size of the cruise ships.  We would sit for hours watching them, waving at the tiny specks of people on board the ships, excited for their vacation.  On the way out to the Atlantic, they would be yelling and screaming, waving....you just had to smile at their happiness!  (For the Carnival ships, Paul and I wanted to hold up signs like "Don't flush the toilets"  but we restrained.  Actually, Paul wanted to hold up a sign that said "Show me your _ _ _ s".)
And the Disney ships, they are stunning.  So much cleaner, more stately and beautiful than any of the others we saw.  And when they blew their horn, the first few notes of a Disney song would play, like "When You Wish Upon a Star".  You just had to smile and feel the warm place in your heart full of Disney memories.
As a kid, I remember Sundays in Chicago, sitting in front of the black and white TV, eating Swanson TV dinners on tray tables, set up just in time to watch Disney.  We thought that was the cat's pajamas!
The natural life at the jetty was amazing!  We saw dolphins daily, close to shore as well as many Loggerhead and Green sea turtles.  The birds were plentiful and would take your breath away, watching them soar inches above the water, or diving from far above.  There were Pelican, Eagles, Osprey, Sandpipers, Egret, Ibis, and of course gulls.
One afternoon, a small boat with three persons on board, hit a big channel marker buoy.  There were sirens all over the place, boats rushing to the aid of the boaters, coast guard and port police boats.  Luckily, no one was hurt but we wondered, how do you hit a 15x20 foot buoy on a bright sunlit afternoon?
We did not get to see the submarine arrive as it must have come in at night.  It was cool to see it from afar, in its pen, guarded and secure.  It was a privilege just to see the subs flags, periscope and the small portion of the ship that was above the water.
Since we were near Cocoa Beach, we went to Ron Jon's Surf Shop.  I needed a new micro bikini.  It was a fun place to hang ten (dollars that is), and wipe out in the gnarly bikini department, dude.
We visited Merritt Island and NASA while at the jetty...that is on the next blog.
If you ever get a chance to visit the Jetty at Port Canaveral, don't pass it up.  Fabulous!

Holy smokes those are big!

Chillin

Ron Jon Surfer Representative

My new hobby. (Not)

A character on the stern of each ship.

You just have to smile for the people off to their vacation!

Mickey working his magic.

The Disney ships are beautiful.

Going to the grocery and 2 peacocks ran across the road.  

Look at all the red snapper the fishing boat caught!

How I spend my days at the jetty.

Goodbye and have a wonderful time!

Birthdays, Oscars and Art

We could not leave Florida without saying goodbye to our family and new friends in Sun City Center, Florida.  We stayed at a less than desirable park...we were 10 inches from the next RV, but it was quiet and the people were very nice.  And heck, we were hardly at the RV because we were having so much fun elsewhere!
     The first night there, Kathy B and Bob (my sister-in-law and brother-in-law) had a birthday party for Paul.  Kathy B made scrumptious food and the drinks flowed like the Rainbow River!  We laughed and laughed and some of the newly made friends from our previous visit were at the party.  Can I tell you again that these are the most interesting, fun and accepting people I have met in awhile?  We feel like we have known them for years!
    At Sun City Center (SSC), they have oodles of clubs for residents to join.  One of our loved ones, Susan, teaches at the stained glass club.  We were lucky enough to be at SSC when a juried glass art show was taking place.  Susan won several ribbons and I was so impressed by the artwork I saw there. Susan gave us a tour of the club classroom and work area.  I bought a beautiful pair of dichroic glass earrings for ten bucks!  I took many photos but can only post a few on the blog.  Beautiful!
     One afternoon, we drove past Judy and Andrea's house.They waved us in so we turned around and headed back.   Sitting on the porch and laughing with those wonderful people is the "sweet stuff" of life.
     One night I went to a friend of Kathy B's for an Oscar party.  Most people dressed up, after all , the Oscar's only come around once a year!  Being that I live in a trailer right now, I was limited on my formal wear so I went as Paparazzi, cameras etc. slung around my neck.  We had a great time critiquing the stars and their gowns.
     The hostess of the party, C.P., gave me a copy of a book she wrote "Travels with Savannah".  C.P., her husband and their dog, Savannah, lived on a boat for several years, traveling the inter coastal waterway, Bahamas and other places.   The book is written from the perspective of Savannah and it is a fun read.  Thank you C.P. for a fun evening and the great book!
     At the party, there was a couple that are living on a 41 foot trawler, traveling all over the east coast.  My dream has been to live on a boat for a year but since Paul's illness, he gets seasick rather easily.  So we bought a land yatch instead!

An Oscar Beauty - Fashion by Deb

Kathy B in Oscar finery

One of Susan's pieces

Stars galore!  Suzanne and her mystery man.

Pauls Birthday

One of my favorites from the show.

Linger Lodge with Deb and Kathy B.

     If you are ever in Bradenton Fl, stop by the Linger Lodge.  Sitting on the Braden river, it is, as Al Roker named it, one of he top 5 weirdest restaurants.  The large, old Florida style building is filled with all sorts of stuffed creatures. many placed in funny still life settings.  The menu has a section for road kill of the day with such mouth watering selections as "Chunk O Skunk", "Swirl of Squirrel" and "Bag n Gag".  In spite of those menu options, the food is really good.  I had the best gumbo since leaving Indy!  What a fun, fun place.