Week Ending December 18, 20"

Ocala Square

Christmas Tree in Square

Finally some nice warm weather.  Florida has returned.  It has been two weeks of below normal temperatures, but it did allow us to do a lot of "road trips" and exploring.  Checked out a number of kayak rivers nearby, and at our age of course, the best being a float downstream and a ride back.  Found one on the Rainbow Springs State Park River where we could drop in, float down, and having dropped one bike (Bob's) in Dunnellon, Fl, bike back to the car, 5 miles prox. so not to bad.  The park had a very beautiful Christmas Light display, with Santa arriving on a pontoon boat, fully decorated with lights.  Fun for the kids!

Tribute to Horse Country

Turtles on River

We purchased an annual pass to the Silver Springs Park just five miles away.  The park is primarily an animal park, but has regular entertainment all free with our pass.   Saw my first Kodiak bear here.  He was huge.  Entertainment is outside, so you bring lawn chairs.  Entertainers are under a stage.  Missed Crystal Gayle, but many more coming, mostly country.  They also have a "Festival of Lights" for Christmas, decorating the park throughout with lights and Christmas music.  Nice!

Sliver Spring River

Found a nice walking park nearby, Marshall Swamp Trail head, with a five mile paved trail.  Lot's of loops so can lengthen or shorten at your wish.  Took our first dinghy trip, launching right here at the park on the Ocklawaha River, pronounced (Oak-la-wa-ha).  Then taking a fork on the Silver Spring River through the state park.  No wake river, so lots of kayaks and canoes, we exploring in our dinghy at idle speed.  Tropical river, very clear water with lots of turtles, birds, and gators.  Saw lots of  all.  They say there are monkeys as well, but today we did not see any.  Round trip was four hours with no docking spots, very remote, but we did find one small inlet for a "potty stop", a must!

Gator

Purchased a campfire ring, allowed in the park, and found a local guy selling wood.  Nice sitting around the fire in the evening.  Being so cold we have not met a lot of people in the park. The warmer weather has brought people out, and Saturday night is a park potluck dinner, so we will meet some folks there.  Downtown Ocala has a very active square in the center of town, with lots of dinning nearby and entertainment in the square.  Last night a nice Jazz group. Featured a sax player and great base player.

Dinghy Capt Bob

Saturday morning rain, clearing by mid day.  Went to the Silver Springs concert featuring Mel Tillus in the park starting at 3pm. Bring your lawn chairs and free entrance with our pass.  Our older friends know who he is, but younger followers won't have a clue.  But he put on a great concert, good band, great comic sense of humor.  Fun!  Followed by a pot luck dinner in the park.  Really good food. Ended evening around the campfire at the coach.

Week One, begin Dec 1, 2010

Left Oshkosh for our winter south with temps dropping quickly, night in the teens, highs in the day in the 20's.  First overnight in Effingham, Il, Wal-Mart.  Cranked up the generator and all the heat we could, both furnaces, electric heaters, and the fireplace.  Well, too much!!  Blew a breaker, all out.  Couldn't find where.  Called RV expert friend Gary Galow, gave me some ideas, finally found breaker on the Generator.  Thank God!

On the Road

Wednesday, headed towards Nashville, Tn.  Wanted to visit our favorite Nashville stop, the Gaylord Opryland Hotel / Convention Center, particularly after the Cumberland River spring flood, said it had 10' of water in the facility, and those of you that have been there know how beautiful it is.  Well, unbelievable, after only six months the facility is totally repaired and more beautiful than ever.  A must see!!

Back to the coach, no water.  Water leaking outside. After a through check found water filter frozen and broke off mounting.  Oh, this is getting fun!  Left home without winterizing thinking with heater on would prevent freezing.  Wrong!  Get out of  " Dodge" earlier or winterize!  Well, anyway, was able to jump hoses around the filter and now have water.  Temps getting a little better, highs in the 40's here in Nashville.  Overnight at the Two Rivers RV bark, again a favorite of ours here in Nashville.

Thursday AM, weather good , nice driving day.  Headed for Montgomery, Al, finding a nice transient RV park just south of the city.  Park owner directed us to a rural route through Alabama country side en route to our destination, Ocala, Fl.  So took route Friday AM, beautiful day and pretty countryside, but very narrow road so travel slow between 45-50 mph.  As the result we would have arrived in our park in the dark, so decided to overnight in Lake City, Fl  Wal-Mart.  Lot was very busy and full, but we finally found a spot and by bed time was very comfortable and quiet, even with our gen set running all night.

Our Park

Our Site

Saturday AM early start for our park, stopping for breakfast and filling our propane tank.  Checked in around 11:00Am.  Nice welcome and our site looked great.  Settled in and walked park and the Dingy / Kayak launch area.  Looks nice.  Mid afternoon got a call from friends Skip & Marlene Zacher, coming through Ocala in route to their place in the Keys.  Joined them for happy hour and dinner.

Sunday nice and sunny, temps 70 degrs.  Relaxed and took in the Packer game, no local broadcast so listened to on Sirius satellite radio.  Great Game!

Monday, toured downtown Ocala stopping at the visitors center gathering info on kayaking, biking, parks, entertainment, etc.  Lots to do here.  Really nice area, just need warmer weather.  Warmer by weekend in 70's, then another cold front highs in the 50's.  Oh well, no sympathy from Wisconsinites.

End of week One 12/6/10

Transatlantic Crossing 2010

October 27, 2010

Log of travel to London, catching Celebrity cruise ship for a transatlantic crossing with ports of call in France, Spain, and the Azores Islands, arriving in Miami, Fl.  (October 31-Nov 13)

Left home around 8:00am, Wed 10/27, to meet friends Bill & Judy Hesser at their home, leaving our PT Cruiser there and then taking their van to Chicago, meeting the rest of our group at a Quality Inn park and Fly arrangement. All there on time for our shuttle to O’Hare International, flying to Philadelphia with connections to Heathrow international in London England.  Other couples Foxes, Rasmussen, and Kellermans, and sisters LeAnn & Gay.

Arriving at O’Hare all together, well ahead of our two hour departure, some difficulty finding the right check in terminal, but finally got boarding pass with US Air.  Arriving at counter, advised an earlier flight available To Philly, so opted for at their insistence, soon learning wind delays causing serious back up on arrivals and departures. Suddenly our new flight is four hours delayed; original flight had come and gone, with our luggage checked through to England.  Well, new flight now arrived but told the crew had exhausted their flight time and could not continue for another eight hours of rest.  This would mean we would miss our connecting flight to Heathrow.  Immediately went to US Air costumer service. No flight available.  Now what!!  Well, finally found a flight with American Air for all twelve of us, but not leaving till tomorrow am.  After some challenging discussions, US air agreed to put us up for the night and booked the flight for the am. Good thing we had some "cushion" in catching our Cruise ship, but we will lose a tour day in London.

Caught our new American Air flight direct to Heathrow with no Problem.  Long flight, leaving Chicago at 9:am and arriving in Heathrow at 12am as they are 6 hours ahead of us.  Tired, but got our shuttle to a Comfort Inn in London.  Not without problem, Foxes and Kellermans had room problems, and had to move to a hotel across the street.  Turning out to be the trip from Hell for them.

After a brief nights rest with serious "Jet lag", all decided to tour London by using the "Hop on/off" tour bus system with our London Pass.  Weather in our favor, spirits are looking up. Riding the tour bus most of the day, got a pretty awesome tour of London sights, ending the day with a beautiful boat ride on the "Thames River" .  Continued sightseeing London on Sat., October 30, using a Travel Card for local bus service. Saw all of the major highlights in London including the Tower of London, the Eye, Big Ben, St. Pauls Cathedral, Churchill War Room, Westminster Abby and more.  What a great experience. London is Awesome!!  Tomorrow, early departure for our cruise ship departing from South Hampton.

Sunday, October 31, shuttle prompt to our cruise ship with a flawless welcoming on board.  Some delay in getting our luggage to our assigned cabin, but that was expected, so a welcoming lunch passed our time.  Cruise ship "incredible".  Brand new, first commissioned if May, this being the "maiden transatlantic voyage". Evening settled in after a lovely dinner, departing port for night sail to Le Havre, France.

November 1rst, arrived in Le Havre with a day trip booked to Paris.  Bus tour coach trip to Paris with three hours of free time.  Tour guide highlighted most of Paris for us, dropping us at the "Eiffel Tower" for our free time. Was a great snap shot of Paris.

November 2nd, departed Le Havre for next port in Cherbourg, France.  Another tour planned, this more the country side of Normandy.  Beautiful landscape country, lots of history.

November 3rd, departed Cherbourg for a full day/ night at sea, arriving Thurs, Nov 4 in Vigo, Spain.  Booked a tour to a Winery and purchased a couple of bottles.  Weather is great and scenery incredible.

November 5th, a full day night at sea, arriving in the Azores Islands on sat the 6th.  Once again we booked a full day tour.  Volcanic formed islands with "rain forest" beauty.  Weather and temps have been great.  Tomorrow we begin our "Transatlantic Crossing.  Six days at sea, so lots of reading and relaxing.  Entertainment on board is endless, with evening including singers, comics, and even Circus Extraordinaire.

The transatlantic crossing was nice but long.  Choppy seas all the way, 12-15 foot waves with winds 25 knots.  Weather nice partly sunny in the 70’s.

Saturday, November 13, arrived in Miami around 3:30am, ahead of our scheduled 7:00am.  Got up to view the landscape, beautiful city lights and tall buildings.  The city was alive being a Saturday night, people still going at that time of morning.

 Disembark the ship around 9:30am with a prearranged tour of Miami and South Beach area, all twelve of us together.  Problem was the tour guide vehicle was a bit small, comfortable for 10 but not twelve.  We were very “tight”.  Toured the intercostal area, then dropped us at South Beach area for a couple of hours.  Had a late lunch.  Caught the tour bus at 1:30pm for our trip to the airport.  Flight scheduled for United Airlines 5:50pm to O’Hare.  Smooth on time flight to O’Hare, all staying overnight for a fresh start drive home in the am.  Arrived home Sunday by Noon.  Great trip, but always nice to be home!

Home 4/30/2010

Week 21 and 22 – 4/11 thru 5/1


                                                We are Home!! 
                                 


Gone five months to the day!



What a wonderful week we had in the Villages! Our last week in Florida. Thanks to friends Casey’s, Meier’s, Murphy’s, creating a really memorable week, along with their good friends the Jorgenson’s. Three days of golf, some shopping for the girls, pool side talks, and lots of food and “happy hours”. A great time!

We stayed in an RV park just 7 miles from the Villages. Not the greatest park, but OK to be near friends. The Villages is very much like a “Senior Playground”, Disney Land for Seniors! So much to do and see. We had a great time! I’m not sure we could keep up with the social schedules of our friends.

Our trip back was pretty straight forward, Villages to Birmingham, Al, then onto Nashville, TN, Bloomington, Il, then home. Weather was good, but hit heavy winds in Il.
Really bad, gusts of 45 mph. Most of the time a “tail wind” so helped gas mileage, but then hit broad side so pulled over for the night.

Good to be home!!!

See ya soon!! Bob & Shari

Week end 20 April17, 2010

Week 19 and 20 – 4/4 thru 4/17

Many snowbirds have begun their trek back north.  Our friends the Lionbergers already home and emailed the start of their farm chores.  Took in a club house dinner and a group of 11 entertained us with an acoustic jam session.  Fun!  Invited Smedleys to join us for dinner over to Little Harbor and friend Louise joined us while her husband went to a hockey game.  Beach side patio dinner beautiful sunset evening supported by live entertainment.  Very nice, and priced right at a special of $13.95 for a prime rib meal.  Good!

Pulled out of Hidden River after a full day of washing the rig.  The pollen from trees was nasty.   Arrange to golf with friend Donna at Imperial Lakes, Mulberry, Fl.  She made arrangements for us to overnight in the club house parking area.  Not bad, golf course view and very quiet.  Beautiful day for golf, Donnas friend Paul joined us for the first nine holes, 96 years old and can still break an occasional 100.  Awesome!   Night before, Donna, Shari and Bob went to Texas Cattle Company steakhouse for dinner.  Steaks cooked on wood fire and incredibly good.

Departed Mulberry en-route for Auburndale.  Arrived at Fish Haven Lodge RV park, found on the internet.  Will stay here for 1 week, visiting Mike and Ceil for golf and dinner.  Traffic through Lakeland heavy, rush hour.  Also hit some nasty construction.  Arrived at park around 5:30pm, greeted by a very friendly host situating us in a nice shady site.

Got acquainted with RV site neighbors Marty & Ann.  Shared happy hour with them and their dog Tyler, a cute Jack Russell.  Ann gave Shari a very “artistic” seashell arrangement as a gift.  Nice! 

We explored Auburndale, a very nice neat community.  Also drove to Winter Haven looking for a major amusement / garden park called Cypress Gardens.  Closed!  Economic issues.  This area is loaded with lots of little lakes.  Nice waterfront homes and recreation areas.  On way back, stopped at a very nice hiking / biking trail called “Van Fleet State Trail”, paved for some 30 miles.  Walked for an hour, observing a long snake crossing the trail, non poisonous we think?

Invited to Mike and Ceil's for golf and dinner.  They are not far from our RV park in a mobile home community called the Hamptons, a very neat community. They have company from Green Bay, Ceils brother and wife.  Girls went shopping, Mike and I golfed, Don (Ceils brother) doesn’t golf so he did his own thing.  After dinner nice pork chop dinner on the grille.  Great day!

Shari got me to the Saturday Flea Market.  It was a very large one.  Picked up a few things.  Sunday rain, so in the early PM we went to the movie in Winter Haven seeing “Date Night”.  Evening dinner in Lakeland, Texas Cattle Company.  Tomorrow we head out to the Villages for our final weeks stay in Florida.

End of Week 20, April 18, 2010

Week end 18, April 3, 2010

Week 17 and 18 – 3/21 thru 4/3

Uneventful trip back from cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale to our coach in Riverview, thanks to good driving of Bill Hesser arriving around 2pm. Settled in thinking how “BIG” our coach is after spending a week in close quarters on the cruise ship cabin.

Wednesday, a large group of us from the park, went over to the “Beer Shed”, a local joint on the Alafia River offering “free” hot wings starting at 4pm. They were HOT! Encourages drinking a lot of beer. Fun!

Thursday we had a great day kayaking the Hillsbourgh State Park River A group of 11 from the park went, most renting canoes, we in our kayaks. First time for us kayaking with gators. Saw many, but all very docile. One called “Big Moe” said to have been in the area for over 30 years. Fun Day!

Friday off to our timeshare in Weston. Arrived around 4pm with a very efficient check in. The Mizner Place, part of Vacation Village Resorts, truly a AAA five star resort. Lots and lots to do in the area. Checked out the resort materials and relaxed for the evening. Saturday we took a road trip into Fort Lauderdale having lunch on the inter-costal waterway at a very nice place called “15th Street Fisheries”. Shari ordered stone crab claws and we shared their famous skillet seafood dish. Our table was water side with a “flurry” of boating activity being a weekend. Huge, huge, yachts and pleasure crafts. Fun “rubber necking”. After lunch decided to head to the beach. Weekend traffic a mess and we forgot the opening weekend of spring break. Tons of people and kids.
Not bad on the “eyes”, but glad to finally get out of there. Did get a look at the old “Elbow Room” bar, one Bob attended back in the 60’s, the “Where the Boys Are” famous spring break. Back to the condo for a light dinner in.

Sunday we took in the welcome orientation for the resort in the AM. Well done and pointed out lots of things to see and do. Clearly this area is a well kept secret, first class resorts, golf, amenities, light traffic, and beautifully landscaped blvds. In the PM, being somewhat overcast, decided to take in the Sawgrass Mill Outlet Mall, noted as the “worlds largest outlet mall”. After walking all afternoon, I can attest to the same. Shari did pick up some gift items.

Had a lovely lunch at the resort country club along with a “timeshare tour”. We know the routine, listen to the pitch, get a wonderful meal and $55 cash. Did the lunch, as it was raining anyway, sat by the pool in the PM. Great day!

Tuesday took a road trip down to the Keys to visit Skip & Marlene Zacher (Islamorada). Met for lunch and got caught up on “lost time”. Their house remodeling looks awesome!
What a beautiful place. They toured us to some RV parks for future consideration. Be prepared, to park your RV in the keys, figure on a minimum of $1,200 to $2,000 per month to park. Oh well, location, location, location! Was a great day, beautiful weather, fun to see Skip & Marlene. ps: his new “electric bike is awesome”.

Weather has turned awesome, clear skies and mid seventies. Bob & Shari walked 3 miles, Shari did laundry and Bob walked another 3 miles, then spent the late afternoon pool side. Beautiful day! Weston area is gorgeous!

Thursday, drove into Fort Lauderdale to spend the day on the “Water Taxi”. A really neat way to see Fort Lauderdale waterside with some 14 scheduled stops. $11.00 all day pass allows you to get on and off as much as you want. Runs 10:00am to midnight. To ride up and back is about 3 hrs. Great, no traffic to deal with. Lots of beautiful yachts and homes of the “rich & famous”. One boat priced at $40 million. Shari and I took a beach stop, ordered a Bahama Mama and Margarita, all while enjoying the spring breakers. Fun day!

Back to our timeshare condo to begin packing for our check out tomorrow. It was a great week and we would return here in a heartbeat. Florida weather has finally turned to normal. Friday AM checked out by 10:00am. Headed north to Palm Beach gardens to bid our goodbyes to daughter Lisa and friend Bill. Tried to connect with granddaughter Mc Kenzie in Port St. Lucie at a golf camp, but our schedules didn’t work. Took the back roads back to Riverview, pretty drive. Settled into RV by 5:30pm.

Saturday started planning for departure from Hidden River. Going north to the Villages and Lakeland area and connecting with friends there.

End of week 18, April 3, 2010

Week 16 end March 20, 2010

Week 15 and 16 – 3/8 thru 3/21

Bill and Judy Hesser visited us from their stay in New Port Richey arriving around 10:30am Wednesday.  Great to see them and got a nice update from their recent trip to Aruba.  Treated them to lunch at one of our favorite places, “Smokin Joes”.  Not fancy, but great outdoor BBQ’ing and an awesome Cuban sandwich.  The Cuban, a new experience for Bill & Judy.  After lunch we did a little mini tour of the area catching the Little Harbor development in Ruskin.  Closed the day with a little happy hour and grilled chicken breast supper, heading them back on their hour ride home.

Thursday, a group of 11 from the park, headed to Plant City for the “Strawberry Festival”.  Caravanned in three vehicles.  Weather was pretty iffy with numerous storm warnings.  Dodged showers in some indoor exhibits and were lucky to catch most of the “Oakridge Boys” concert.  They were good!  Back to park as steady rain began.

Cruise Week 3/14-3/21

Friends Bill and Judy Hesser picked us up at 9:15am for ride share to Fort Lauderdale for our cruise departure with Holland America – Westerdam.  Seven day cruise in Bahamas and Gulf, circling Cuba with stops in Grand Turks, Caymans, and Cozumel, missing a stop at private island Haf Moon Bay due to high seas and wind.  Sunny and clear for all seven days, temps in 70’s.  Met two other couples from our Oshkosh golf group, Rasmussen’s and Runke’s, so great company for the week and a regular “happy hour” gathering daily on their “Veranda” balcony.

Ship was very nice, food great!  Nightly entertainment and of course gambling.  Shari and I mostly did self guided walking on shore, but our group did do one taxi guided tour on Grand Turk.  Spent a lot of time on a lounge deck relaxing and reading.  Tried to walk daily and avoid ships elevator to help burn calories from the “fabulous food”.   Good time!

ps:  We did find this really nice "unregulated / un-taxed bank in the Caymans noted for world money parking, no questions, no tracking, etc..  Please send your check made payable to "Robert Kime" and I will insure "proper account handling" in your behalf!

Back to RV park Sunday 3/21/10

End of week 16