Day 14 - Sanibel Island

Saturday we left Liz and John and headed about an hour west of Fort Myers to visit Sanibel Island.
Years ago when June worked for Dr. Heisse, he vacationed there coming home with stories that made June want to visit, so it was on her bucket list of places.

We randomly picked Tarpon Beach as a destination and were able to drive right to the beach where  RV parking had reserved spaces and charged the same as a car....score!.

Sanibel and Captiva are known for their shells, birds and beaches, they have plenty of all of those.

We took about an hour walk on the beach and waded in the ocean, it was surprisingly brisk..but then again we were used to Liz and John's heated pool.










After lunch at the beach, we moved on up the west coast of Florida, making our way to the Emerald Coast. 

We picked, Manatee Springs as a stopover for the night, but when we arrived it was booked up, so we went 8 miles up the road and took a spot at the Chiefland Walmart.  (Patti, I know you miss this)









It worked out just fine, I opened the Dunkin Donuts this morning at 6, which is right next door and today we plan to take the morning and go back to Manatee Springs State Park for a tour of the area.

Day 12/13 - Villages to Gateway

On Thursday we left the Pilgers in the Villages and headed for our friends John and Liz who live in Fort Myers. They live in a pretty good sized golf community called Gateway.

The Falcon is 24'6" long and their driveway is about 27'...tight but we can get everything off the street..but our shadow.










Liz has a golf tournament in the late morning/early afternoon, so we hung for a few hours with John who is recovering from knee surgery. I installed a new kitchen faucet for Liz for something to do, the new faucets are almost too easy these days, that did not take very long at all.

June and I then took about a 4 mile walk and came by an alligator just hanging in one of the ponds by the golf course. He looked at least 6ft long.










We hung out for the afternoon and then the Tobin's friends, Ron and Linda, came over for dinner.  We had a nice time and ended the evening playing a dice game called 'Left Right Center', I made $6 on the evening...oh yeah, high stakes.

We will hit the road again today (Saturday) and will probably visit Sanibel Island and then point the Falcon north and start working our way home.

Day 10/11 - Sister Jane and then the Villages

We had a nice breakfast at Cracker Barrel and headed for  Brooksville, near Tampa to drop in on June's sister Jane. When we arrived Jane took us for a nice long walk around the development where she winters. When we got back from our walk we enjoyed a nice lunch Jane had prepared for us.

Eventually, we said our good byes and headed back west towards the Villages.












We were headed to The Villages to visit our snow bird friends George and Gail. It was an easy drive from Tampa. When you arrive at The Villages, if you don't know exactly where you are going..good luck..we just call George and wait for an escort. I won't even try to describe The Villages, I will just say it is the fastest growing city in the USA, it now has over 100K homes. We were here in 2016 and it is even bigger this year.

We arrived at The Villages right around dinner time, huh..imagine that.  We decided to go out to eat and headed to the water front and had a nice dinner at the Lighthouse Point Bar and Grill.  We then walked and people watched.  At the square a guy named 'DJ Scooter' was leading a group dance. I expected some young skinny dude, but he is middle aged with a pot belly, it was quite a hoot watching people...especially George.

As we walked back to the van we spotted this guy in a tree in the parking lot.
















On Wednesday we goofed off. It was not hot but in the sun it was comfortable.

I have wanted to officially badge 'The Falcon' since I left but just did not have the opportunity and I knew if I could get George to help, it would be done professionally. I think it looks great!

We took a ride in the afternoon and stopped at the Lake Griffin State Park and took the short walk to see the second largest Oak tree in the state.

It is huge to say the least and over 300 years old.

June is holding it up.

















We returned to The Villages around sunset and cooked a nice dinner on the grill. It was a nice and relaxing day.

We will move further south today towards Fort Myers.

Day 9 - Cuzs

Today Randy and I went to Waffle House for breakfast, it is one of the things you have to do when you are in the south. We both got the All American....and wobbled out of the place.

I am sure that Randy and Sue let out a sigh of relief when we left, they have had lots of company for the last 5 days and were great hosts. We said our goodbyes and continued south. 

We drove to Gainesville, Fl and dropped in on my cousin Danny and his wife Rachel. Danny used to baby sit me when I was a kid and doesn't hesitate to remind me. While at Danny's we called cousin Brenda who was on her way home from work and we decided we would all meet for dinner at the Northwest Grill.  

It was great catching up with my cousins and the meal was excellent. 

We are now parked at the Cracker Barrel in Gainesville for the night. Tomorrow we will have breakfast at the CB and then head a bit west to visit June's sister, Jane, who winters just north of Tampa.

When we left Randy's it was in the low 40's, when we got to Gainesville it was in the high 60's, I told June tomorrow I am wearing shorts!! 

Day 8 - Lazy

Sunday, as planned, was a lazy day. We really just hung out and chatted most of the day.  Joe and I did take a trip to Camping World in Macon.  Since I have nothing else to really talk about, I needed to get a few things and make a deposit, dump my tanks.

Since I really don't have much interesting to talk about, I will do a short rant on CW. As a member of CW (~$30/yr) you can dump free at any CW and many other benefits they grossly over sell when they sign you up. As has been my experience with CW, they are really interested in one thing and one thing only...selling new RVs. So when I asked to use the dump, they first said or fence is broken and you really can't get it, but then said if you are good at backing up you can. There is nothing wrong with the fence, it is just that they have so many RVs crammed on the site, you can't get to the dump station, you can only get within about 30ft and it is an uphill dump. So if you had a gravity dump, you are screwed, but luckily I have a macerator pump, so it was doable, but a two person job. One to hold the pipe up and one to hold the macerator switch.  I will just say Joe got his indoctrination of dumping an RV with a worst case scenario.  We got it done but it was good for some laughs and Joe may be scarred for life.

When we got back, Randy, Rich and Mike P. took turns giving me spankings at darts and pool, I need to get better prepared for future visits.

We decided to get Chinese takeout for a group dinner and then watched the movie Daddy's Home 2, it was nice light hearted movie (Sue's quote).

Today, Monday, we plan to work our way south, first stop will be at cousin Danny's in High Springs, FL.  From there we are not sure of our next move.

Day 7 - Little White House

Saturday was sunny and in the low 70's, just what we came for. On the drive down June and I listen to podcasts and one of them was about out of the way places that are worth a visit. The Roosevelt's Little White House in Warm Springs, GA was mentioned and Randy had also mentioned it in one of our conversations.  It is 80 miles from Randy's and the home that Roosevelt had built for when he would visit the warm springs that were therapeutic for his paralysis. He was in the house having his portrait painted when died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1945.

The house is quite small but was very comfortable inside.  Boats are everywhere on the walls. 












While in Warm Springs, Roosevelt liked to drive himself around the countryside visiting the locals, they say it is how he became one of the people. His car was custom made with hand controls. 

The Walk of States and Stones is pretty cool, in 1948 all states were asked to contribute a stone for a walkway, but they were so irregular, they decided to put them on pedestals instead.  

I thought Michigan's was especially creative...

Of course VT sent granite, it was the most popular stone type sent. 















The visit only takes about 2 hours to tour the museum, watch the movie, and tour the grounds, but it was well worth the trip. 

We got home just in time for Randy and Sue to put on a feast of ribs on the grill.  Sue does her own dry rub and the ribs were just awesome.  


It was a beautiful evening and no visit to Randy's is complete without a bonfire. 














It was a good day, lots of sunshine, a little education, a great dinner and sitting around a bonfire....life is good.

It is supposed to rain Sunday, so we will likely just hang out and be lazy. 

Day 6, Mayhem

While we were aware of the snow storm back at home, we had a gorgeous day in the Georgia sun. I spent much of the day actually working from my very remote office, our RV, but I had left some things hanging that needed cleaning up.  You can look at it as good/bad that today's technology allows this, but June was only a little annoyed and enjoyed the sunshine without me.

This is my remote office....:-)

June enjoyed the sun walking Randy's estate. :-)



























Randy's good friends Mike and Stefanie arrived later in the afternoon and they will spend the weekend with us.  We last saw them in August when they joined us for the Solar Eclipse in Tennessee, it is good to see them again.

Randy had planned an outing for us to go see the local hockey club the Macon Mayhem.

So 9 of us loaded into the Falcon.

On board we had the Hansen brothers...for those of you who remember Slap Shot, you know what I am talking about.  When we got to the game there was another Hanson right in front of us, of course they had to get a group picture.

We had a great time, the Mayhem got spanked..but we really did not care.  The local pro teams are always fun to watch, there was some good hockey and of course some fighting.

And..we did not go away empty handed..Stef won the 'Dancing for Donuts' competition and June won the 'Screaming for Pizza' contest...so we are flush with Donuts and Pizza....all the food groups are covered...










After the game, we came back to Randy's and put on Slap Shot, the movie with Paul Newman.  Mike M. and I watched it to the end at 01:30AM.  I still enjoy that stupid movie.

Today we plan to go visit Roosevelt's Little White House State Historic Site.  Something to do and I have heard good things about it.