LOVE

Today was a good day.  Mike did some work outside.  I did some organizing on the inside.  We drove to Walmart to pick up some speaker wire and since I had a headache, Mike took me to Dairy Queen for a blizzard.  That's how much he loves me.   

I even cooked dinner for my honey.  We had veggies.
Today was just a great day for love. 

P.S.  The blizzard worked.  My headache went away.  Try it next time.

 

 

 

 

 



 

Checking out the neighborhood

We have run around all day touring rv parks.  We finally settled on one for next winter.  We absolutely love this area of Zepher Hills.  We found a great walking park last winter where we would pack a lunch and walk for a couple hours or more then have lunch.  Some times we would absolutely walk the entire town then back to the park and another round.  We found an rv park behind the walking park where we can walk and/or ride a bicycle to the park and some of our favorite restaurants here.  We can even go to the kumquat festival again next winter.  We enjoyed that.  We found that we even love kumquats.  Have you ever eaten kumquat pie?  It's delicious.   

One other thing we did today before we move farther south for the winter: 

 

 

This is how we spent our evening. 

 

This is Ethan Alexander Marcus out youngest grandson.

 

So now for the next couple days, we will be preparing for our trip south to Punta Gorda where we will spend the next few months.  We are tired from our day of driving all day so for now we are just chillin'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

to all our family and friends. 

     Today, we did a little work (laundry) and went on a date.  We found a little theater down the road and went to a matinee.  We saw the new movie "The Intern" with Robert Deniro and Anne Hathaway.  It really was a great movie.  It was a good clean movie with no bad language.  We both gave it a thumbs up.
     After the movie, we stopped at Sergios Italian Restaurant for a pizza.  It was really good.  We would return.  They also have pasta dishes and calzones.  It's not a pizza place.  We just wanted pizza. 
     It has rained here all day so now we are inside with our jammies on just kicking back.  Tomorrow, it's supposed to rain all day, too, I think. 
     I didn't sleep well at all last night.  I believe it was because at 11:00 I ate some cookies.  NO MORE!  I will not make that mistake again.  I was wide awake all night.  I heard the train near here go by every hour.  I finished one book and began another.  I may have gotten two hours sleep but it was very intermittent.  So I feel very sleepy right now.  I've seen a movie, my belly is full and it's raining.  I won't last long tonight.
     Yesterday, we met the people who are staying next door.  Very nice people.  Misty and Decker.  We also had several stop by who we had met last winter while staying here.  Also, very nice people.  Our friend Jackie did come home from the hospital.  We aren't bothering her because she needs her rest.  We will see her most likely before we leave this weekend.  She'd be upset if we didn't!
     It's nice to be remembered from one winter to the next by people you met once or twice. 
 Anyway, for the rest of the night we'll be just

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

These are a few of our favorite things

First, kids, thanks for praying for Grandmother.  And to all our friends, thanks for praying for my mom.  She is doing way better.  Thanks to you all.





and Now . . .

 

We haven't eaten here yet, but it's such a cute place. 

Our favorite Mexican restaurant here.

Our favorite walking park here. 

I realize this may not be much of a blog tonight, but just wanted to share some of our favorite places here.  Now here I am saying, See You Tomorrow.  Night night.

Back to Many Mansions

Last winter we stayed here at Many Mansions in Zephyr Hills, FL for three weeks.  We loved it here.  On our way to Punta Gorda, we decided to return for a week.  So we will be here until next Sunday when we will complete our journey to Sun and Shade half way between Punta Gorda and Ft. Myers for the rest of the winter. 

As we pulled into Many Mansions, we found that a friend we had made here last year, Jackie Pitts, was in the hospital.  So we got our camper set up and drove over to visit Jackie.  She looked good and said she would be coming home today.  We pray you do, Jackie.  Then we ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Zephyr Hills "Los Chicos".  Their sauce is unbelievably good.  No restaurant at home has sauce like this.  Mike and I believe they put chocolate in their sauce.  That's what I do when I cook chili.  I put a small bar or two of bakers chocolate in my chili when I make it.  It just helps with the taste of the tomato sauce.

We took a walk around the park one time before coming in for the night.  By then I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad headache so I took my shower and climbed into bed before 8:00.  However, I awoke feeling great.  Thank you Lord. 

Hey, you guys, I'm asking you to pray for my mom.  Her name is Daffodine Pearson.  She is having some terrible pain in her feet that's making it hard for her to walk.  She has been on some major antibiotics  for a while which may be causing this problem.  Please pray for relief and healing.  She knows and loves the Lord. 

Look at this gate.  It says "Hidden Springs".  Why is that special, you ask?  It's also the name of our farm.  We live on a Century Farm.  We have had 11 generations of our family live on this farm.  We had to name it when we signed up as a Century Farm so we named it "Hidden Springs" because we have lots of hidden springs on it. 

Hooked up and ready to pull out of Old Town Florida.  Great stay.  We would return here. 

Well, guess what, we're just chillin' and wishing you all well.

Old Town, Florida

Today, we drove down Hwy 98 along the west coast until we came to Old Town, Florida.  We are staying at Old Town Campground off Hwy 349.  It's a little off the beaten path but a very nice place.  It's a small campground.

 

It's very level here.  We had a pull-through site and it was easy to level and we were set up and ready to go b 1:20.  We were told about this place by a good friend of ours.  He used to enjoy staying here on his way down to Okeechobee each year.  He was right--the owner is very nice. 

 

Suwannee is just 20 plus miles down the road from here.  We drove over to Chiefland, FL for dinner tonight at a Mexican restaurant recommended by the campground owner.  The food was delicious and the prices weren't bad.  This park honors Passport America so we got in here for $15.00 a night.  Pretty great, huh!  We will be here for three nights.  Tomorrow, of course, we will explore and do some walking.  There are a few shops I want to walk through. 

 

I think I forgot to mention, we have had free wi-fi and free cable hook ups at these parks.  Nice.

Well, that's all I have for tonight because we're 

 

 



Apalachicola an St. George Island - Page 2

St George Island Lighthouse.

These fishing boats were pretty cool.

Hole In the Wall Seafood Restaurant where we ate oysters right out of the shell. 

Thanks, Mike, for showing me how to do it.

 

                                              Our lunch.  Pretty appetizing don't you think?

 

Apalachicola and St. George Island - Page 1

Today, we explored.  We drove over to Apalachicola and Eastpoint where we got out and walked all over the town.  It's a very nice town with lots and lots of shops, art galleries, and restaurants.  We ate lunch at a place called "Hole In The Wall Oyster Bar".  I tried raw oysters for the first time and loved them.  They had the best flavor (the horse radish and hot sauce may have had a little to do with the flavor).  Anyway, I had wanted to try them and saw my opportunity.  We also tried a smoked tuna dip which was very good and then we split a grilled grouper sandwich which was AWESOME! 

We walked around some more and went through several art galleries and shops then drove over the bridge to St. George Island.  Very nice place with lots of pretty homes.  We drove through a state park here and found an RV park we might want to stay in sometime.  This park was directly across from the beach but there were huge sand dunes in between.  Great place for riding bicycles or walking and even going to the beach.  Each RV site was separated by trees which made each site private.  It was very nice.  There were water and electrical hookups at each site and a dump station on the way out. We were very impressed and plan to stay here in the future for a few days if possible.

 
 






Took this picture on the way out of our RV Park.  Couldn't resist.  This is the street we are on and of course, it's Mike's favorite team.

 

Will have to make 2 pages of this day because it won't let me save pictures here.

 

 

 

 

 

Ho Hum RV Park

     This morning around 9:00 we were at Chappell Tire Service having new tires put on the camper.  By 10:30, they had us on the road to our next destination.  These people were wonderful.  The owner told us most of his guys had been with him for 15 years.  That says a lot for him.  He had about 8 to 10 bays and the last two were big enough for campers and semi trucks.  We would definitely go back to him, if possible. 
     We are now in Carrabelle, Florida right on the beach.  We are in an RV park called Ho Hum which is located just off Highway 98.  The Gulf Coast is on one side of us and Highway 98 on the other.  It's a very nice park.  Unfortunately, since we got a late start, we had to finish setting up by flashlight.  It is pretty level here though so it didn't take much to get set up. Tomorrow, we can explore the area.  Tonight, we were tired from driving all day and just took our showers and had popcorn for dinner. 

This is where we are staying.  This isn't our camper in the picture.  We will be here for at least two nights.  So we will get to do a little exploring.  We will probably drive Highway 98 on down the coast for the rest of the week and stay in parks here and there.  It is so nice to see the water at last.  We will let you know how it is staying in this park.  So far, for the three hours we have been here, we like it.  We have free Wi-Fi and free cable tv.  So far, since leaving home, we haven't had to use our personal data.  I realize we are safer using our personal data, though.  These are senior campers so I'm going to trust we'll be okay.  Most campers are pretty nice people. 
     Well, it's 10:30 here and I'm getting tired so you know what that means . . . .

  Night Night

Woods RV Park

  By 5:20 we are in for the night and all set up.  I've even got coffee made for in the morning.  The water is heating up for showers and the heat is turned on.  We are comfy and ready to settle in for the night.  So Goodnight! 
   Just kidding. 
   We really are all set up for the night but we are getting settled inside.  We decided to have soup and sandwich for dinner.  Nice and cozy.  We are showered, our bellies are full and we are settling down with our laptops. 
    We really had a pretty eventful day.  We were on the road by 8:00.  By 10:30 we were off the road with a flat tire.  Yep.  Our first flat tire with the camper.  We were blessed to be near an exit and then doubly blessed to quickly find a large graveled parking lot with nothing on it. 
     We began praying as soon as the tire starting falling apart on the interstate.  So as soon as we pulled off and started to work on it, a man came by and fell in to help.  Another blessing.  All went well and the tire was changed without a problem.  While we were there, another man stopped to help.  Thompson, the first man, actually managed an RV park directly across the road from where we were changing the tire.  It's called Texas T.  So if you're ever in the vicinity of Cornersville, TN needing a place to park your camper overnight, go see Thompson.  Nice guy.  Ray, the second guy who stopped lived a couple miles up the road.  Also, a nice guy.  God really looked after us. 
     Tomorrow morning, we will be getting a tire.  But tonight, we rest.  We are so tired.
     Now we are at Woods RV Park in Montgomery, Alabama--Exit 168 off I-65.  Very nice place and with our Passport America discount, it only cost us $17.50 a night.  Try finding a hotel room for that.  We have full hookups and a pull through site.  It was so level, we didn't even have to do anything extra.  We don't yet know if we will be leaving in the morning or staying another night.  It all depends on the tire people.  For now, we're content to be here as long as needed. 

This is us tonight.  Chillin'.  Goodnight. 

On the Road Again!

     Thank you Willie Nelson.  How many times do we use that phrase!  I do a lot, even if it's just going to the store sometimes.  We are loading the last items today because we will be leaving out first thing in the morning.  Yippee!  We are so excited!! 
     Of course, we will miss all of you but will be keeping in touch as usual.  It's getting cold here which means time to leave.  Now I have to stop here and thank the Lord.
     Thank you, Lord, for blessing us far more than we deserve.  Thank you for this opportunity to spend our entire winter in a warmer climate.  Thank you for our toys and our home on wheels.  Thank you that we are able to be retired and live the life we've dreamed of.  Thank you for our good health and thank you in advance for the pounds you will help us shed this winter while walking and golfing and riding our bicycles.  Keep us safe on the Harley down there around all the drunk drivers who are texting with one hand while shooting at cars with the other.  Keep all our children and grandchildren close to you.  We love you, Lord.  In the Holy Name of Jesus.  Amen.
     We owe everything to our Father in Heaven.
     We are taking way more than we did last winter.  This time we're taking the Harley and our bicycles and the golf bags.  Of course, more clothes, more food, more everything.  Last winter, we were only gone two and a half months.  This year we will miss Thanksgiving and Christmas with our families.  Thank you, kids, for being okay with that.  Now for the funnies.
    
   


Well, see you on the road.

Testing, Testing, 1 - 2 - 3

    Okay.  We have a new laptop and, of course, it comes with the newest software which means I have to get acquainted with it.  So, in saying that, here I am getting acquainted with it. 
     We are about to hit the road again.  We have spent the entire summer preparing for our winter road trip.  We actually remodeled the entire inside of the camper.  It has a more up-to-date look now.  No more of that old faded flowered stuff--Yuck!  We also worked on the outside and made it more water proof.  From the factory, we found there were parts that were not put together correctly causing water to get in between the layers.  Not anymore! 
     We are ready to hit the road.  By the first of next week (around the 19th) we should be hooked up and on the road.  YAY! 
     This winter, we are trying something new.  We are going to be spending most of the winter in one spot--half way between Punta Gorda and Fort Myers Florida.  We found a campground there we loved last winter.  Of course, we will travel a little on the way down and a little on the way back in different towns and different parks.  That will be fun. 
     So here is me telling you that this time next week, we'll be gone.  We hope you all have a great winter.  We hope it won't be too cold or too much snow and ice.  We hope you will check out our blog now and then to see what we are doing.