Trip to the Florida Keys, 2018\2019

      This is our third trip to the Keys , our second by RV.  We had another trip to Key West by a fast ferry out of Fort Myers in the past . Again this is another trip using our Trails Collection with Thousands Trails . We are staying at Sunshine Key RV Resort , newly opened after hurricane Irma . What a difference from the last time we stayed at this park. All the sites have been redone . There is some work still needed to be completed. About 95% of the sites are pull thru full hookup with new utility's. There is also cable TV at all sites. This is a Encore Park and consider to be a premium park so there is a $20.00 a night change. This is a super bargain for this location especially this time of the year . A non member rate is $870.00 a week. We where at the Keys with friends Lance and Andrea.
     We drove down without an overnight stop. We originally planned on stopping somewhere around Homestead but with high winds and rain predicted for the next day we pushed on. We called the RV park to see if we could come in a day early and got a ok. So instead of 14 days we had 15 days .
     The first day we spent just chilling out. It was a long ride of 331 miles. We usually try to keep around 200 miles travel a day. But, this was all interstates. So we did make good time.

     Campground etiquette is falling to the wayside . RVER'S just walking thru your site  Not only kids, but families. Maybe just call me an old grump, but come on I don't walk thru your yard.  RVing isn't quite the same. Unfortunately we are at the point in our lives were we do require some hookups, mostly electric. That is because we are traveling with our beloved four legged family member our dog. We can not always take her with us on day trips so we do often need AC . This fact means staying at a RV park. Here in Florida the state parks were camping is allowed usually all have electric and water. The problem is trying to get a reservation on short notice . Most do have a few first come first served sites , but it is not how we like to travel . Popular parks require making a reservation eleven months in advance. When we were full timers we usually always traveled without reservation, at least in the beginning. Then as time went on it became necessary to make reservations. Times have changed . I know if you keep trying on a daily basis, you can sometimes snag a site at popular state parks. But what I don't understand is why we just don't seem to have the time. Older retired folks will understand what I'm talking about. NO we are not ready to give up RVing. Sorry I'm just ranting.


Bus.   Restaurants.   

Thousand Trails Orlando 2018

     We where at Thousand Trails called Orlando but is actually in Clermont, but is about 8 miles from town. It is a very large park with over 700 sites . We where there for 13 days.
     RV,er's are the best.  We could not receive any over the air TV. Problem was a connection to our antenna and the cable connection . Our neighbor happen to notice our delemium and said I have one of those connection. Well sure enough he did, and solved our problem . My problem was he wouldn't take anything for the connector and his help, seans he had the same problem. Pass it on would be his payment. RVer's helping RVer's.
.     Today we took a drive to the small town of Center Hill Florida . The reason for the trip was to order a sun screen for our awning . There is a manufacturer there that makes sunshades, grass mats and windshield covers. We had been to their own in the past and knew the general location . The town is very small so it wasn't to difficult to locate. It is very old Florida. The dealer will bring the finished screen to the Webster flea market for us to pick up on Monday . We would have gone this past Monday except we had a problem.
     The problem was a pair of bad batteries. So we rolled up our sleeves and went to work, first taking a photo of the wiring before removing the old batteries. Unfortunately we couldn't locate any near our location . Located two at Sam's Club about eighteen miles away. So we loaded up the two old batteries in our car. If you don't have a old core, as they refer to our old batteries, there is a eighteen dollar charge for each battery . You can always bring back the old batteries at a later date for a refund of eighteen dollars. After installing the new batteries we chilled for the rest of the day . For my safety I better make sure we get to the Webster flea market on Monday or Linda will have my head . She loves flea markets almost as much as murals. Also I do have to pick up our new sunscreen we ordered. This is a super large flea market that is only opened one day. For any of you who ever attended this market know you can not cover it in one day, unless you speed walk thru and don't really look at anything. I'm sure there is something there for everyone, if you look hard enough. Well the flea market done we return to our RV.
     We have a very roomy site, as far as most commercial RV parks especially the size of this one. With over 700 sites it is huge. Not all the sites are big, but we lucked out in choosing a nice site. There is no privacy between sites. We have a fairly new picnic table and "new" electric hookup. The only problem was goat head stickers in some places in the grass. Didn't bother Hannah at all, but I always seem to wind up with them in my soaks. Many, many amenities. See older post about this campground.
     Now that I found a way to include photos, I'll be working to include some in our blog. But, and this is a big but I can't find a way to adjust the quality of them. I like to crop, lighten, straighten and the like so I can include a nicer photo . Hopefully you'll see photos soon . With Linda's lost camera and using an older camera and our phones the picture quality is not as good as I would like.








    

Christmas Florida 2018

                               Christmas Florida.
That's Christmas Florida , not Christmas in Florida. Although it is the Christmas season. Friends suggested a trip to Christmas Florida on the first weekend in December. There is a large craft and art festival held the first weekend. So we took the trip of about 25 miles. What a great day. There were tractor displays, about 100 vendors, a cracker village and Fort Christmas. The village was made up of houses brought to the area and restored . Then there is Fort Christmas. A small restored replica of the fort. It was a fun day even with  temp in the high 80's.
     I noticed a large group of Airstream trailers in the back of the craft area. I also saw a few folks with badges from a Airstream club. Turns out they are having a rally. The rally is as volunteers at the fort distributing different buildings and events from that era. I believe the club chapter is from the Jacksonville area, and I believe this was there 7 or 8 year of doing this  I ' sure I'LL be corrected if wrong.  RVer's are a great group of folks. Forgot to mention, the fort was built in 1837 for the second Seminole war.
      The meaning of the term "cracker " refers to the early cowboys of Florida. The term comes from the cracking of their cow whips, one of the primary tools they used for getting their cattle out of the thick brush. They also used dogs. Hence the term "cracker ". We did attend a festival where their where whip cracking demonstration and contest at the Osceola county fairgrounds several years ago.

Bulow RV Park, Flagler Beach Florida, Oct 2018

                                         October 2018, catching up
       Bulow RV park is part of our Thousand Trails, Trails Collection. So our cost to stay here is $0.00. Our neighbors paid $60.00 a night. We stayed for eleven nights. We were in what was a premium site  It was full hook up. We were in the section that had updated electric. 20/30/50 amp. We had a very long pull thru site. The site was on grass with the small cement patio. I know when you say premium we usually expect a cement pad, but I guess everyone's description and expectations are different. Some roads are paved.  We had a fairly new picnic table .  We had cable TV. You have to get a cable box from the office. Had about 60 channels . Our site was very large. It was a side by site, but with good separation between sites. There is no privacy between most sites. There are many large trees
     There are many amenities; a pool, Large activities center with a restaurant and bar, a dog park, laundry and a lot of room to walk a dog. I sure I missed some things.
      The whole park is divided into three large sections. A transient area, a section for permanent sites and a gated area of different manufacturer home's. This is a very large park. Forgot to mention it is very dark at night. Only lights are around the showers/restrooms.
       This park is a good location to visit the area. From here we visited St Augustine.  On another day we went to St Augustine. It was a ride of about 35-40 miles. We had spent a lot of time in St Augustine in the past and just wanted to revisit the area. On our agenda was lunch at the A1A Ale Works. We really enjoy their Cuban sandwich. We of made a good decision to split the sandwich. It was just enough, and was as good as we remembered. The pressed Cuban bread pork, mustered and pickles, cheese etc. was just wonderful. One of the best Cubans we ever enjoyed. This alone made the trip worthwhile. We then walked around a bit longer till a sudden rain shower chased us. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the $15. Parking fee. All the spots we remembered with free parking were gone, or taken. All in all it was another good day. On the way back to the RV we found a Rita's ice cream. Well I think it's against the law to not stop. So we each had a gelato. But we only had half a sandwich for lunch.
     Sunday we went to the Daytona flea market. It was a lot larger than we expected.  We walked and
walked, for several hours picking up a few odds and ends.. Nothing important, just stuff. But it was a fun time. It was very easy getting turned around. Most of the Market was indoor. The flea market is  maybe about 20 miles from the RV park. We are in a good location. We did not go to the beach which is only about 5 miles from the RV park, other than taking a few pictures when touring the town of Flagler Beach.

      Thanks for following along. Sorry, still having problems uploading photo's to blog

The wheels are turning, Bulow RV Resort, Flagler Beach FL October 2018

     Well it has been a little over five months since I last updated our blog. We have both been on the mend. Still a little work to be completed on our seawall after the damage from hurricane Irma a little over a year ago. We finally put together two weeks to get away. It has been 13 months since we used our RV.  So we traveled 88 miles to Flagler Beach, just wanted to get away. We stayed at Bulow RV resort. It is part of our Thousand Trails membership. It is part of the new Trails Collection. More on the RV park in another post. What we didn't know was this was Biketoberfest week in Daytona Beach, about fifteen miles south of Flagler Beach. I was surprised we were able to procure  a site. But no less we got a full hookup premium site. The park was full. Almost every site had at least one motorcycle parked at it. We decided to just stay put till the weekend was over. Could not believe how many cycles were here. Sorry for the lack of pictures, as my photographer forgot her camera. Can you believe. Brought all the accessories, but no camera. So we will only be taking pictures with our phones.  Well the truth be known, the camera is lost.           
     On Tuesday we took a trip to Palatka . It was a nice ride of about 35 miles. Linda heard about the mural trail. She was all in. So we loaded up Hannah along with some extra water. We looked up the location of the visitor center. Guess what, It was closed.  We spot a few murals down the street. So we checked them out. We found the Chamber Of Commerce and Linda procured a brochure of all the murals. Off we go in search of all the murals. A note here, all the murals are in great condition. We did find all the murals on the map, plus one that wasn't. We didn't go into any of the indoor location where there were a few more. Linda had a smile from ear to ear.
     She didn't realize it was passed lunch time for me. I read about the oldest dinner in Florida. We found the dinner and they had outdoor seating, where we could park next to a table to keep an eye on Hannah. Some unusual items on the menu, like a black bottom. A mix of hamburger meat, bacon and egg ( a dinner favorite). Also gizzards, made several ways. We passed on both even though I like gizzards. It was just the overall atmosphere of the place that subjected just a burger. Pictures of the murals will follow, as they were all taken with our phones and some will need editing. We did drive around town and checked out some of the old historic homes. Then it was back to the RV. It was a fun day.
     Well, no pictures as promised. Seems Google claims we don't have an account. Yet here I am writing on a Google Blog, also coming to you on a Google address. Hopefully I can get it straighten out.
      Help, is there any other way I can upload photo's to my blog? This may be the end of my blog with Google. I was told they no longer support Picasso. I am no computer genius (geek). So keep it simple if you can supply information.
       Go to www.conleemurals.org and look for the tour guide for pictures of all the murals and information on each.

     Thanks for following along.

  

Wilderrness RV Park Robertsdale AL May 2017

                                                       Wilderness RV Park, Robertsdale AL, May 2017

     We needed a place for over the Memorial Day weekend. So we found two Coast To Coast   parks  in Robertsdale AL in the direction we were headed. It was only about a mile off the interstate. We belonged to Coast TO Coast for about ten years and find them very useful for our needs. The usual cost is only $10. a night, of course there is yearly dues. There were actually two parks at the same exit in Robertsdale. The first one was having some special events and we couldn’t get a reservation  because they do not let C-T-C members in for holiday weekends. . The next one was Wilderness RV Park and we could get in over Memorial weekend. So we booked it for six days a little longer than we wanted to stay but thought we better take it due to the holiday. We did travel along I 10 to get there. It was a trip of only 60 miles. This is the second leg of the trip to this RV Park. We did check out the other C-T-C park at this same exit and it is a little better looking than this one, we would rather have stayed there. Either one is a ok.   We use C-T-C  and usually find them to be quite good.   The problem here was the un-kept long term sites.  there are few, if they cleaned them up the long term sites could be a nice park worthy of a higher rating. We spoke to another couple about two sites from us that were also C-T-C members, and they had the same option. We did check RV Park Reviews and they gave it a 6.   We won’t stay in a park with anything lower them a 5 or6 rating .We only use RV Park Reviews as a guide. So we knew it was marginalWe will never stay here again, I doubt it, or only in a pinch for a night. We did have a short pull thru, big enough for our rig. But we couldn’t pull thru because of a tree. We had to back out, then hook up the car. We had a full hook up site w/30 amp electric. There were some 50 amp sites. Lots and lots of room to walk a dog. There was an ok laundry w/2 washers and dryers. There are two ponds. There is a nice swimming pool.  Each utility post had a light on them. The road gravel,  could use some work. Our parking area was mostly dirt, with grass on the side.  Date of stay  May 2017

 

Eagles Landing RV Park,Holt FL May 2017

                      Eagles Landing RV Park ,Holt FL, May 2017
                                                                            
      We left Ho Hum for an overnight stop at Eagles Landing RV Park. We were looking for some place along our route for a overnight. Saw many great reviews for this park on RV Park Reviews and gave them a call for a reservations for the night. Good thing we did. When we arrived there was a no vacancy sign out front. The park is located about ¼ mile off I 10. We have been avoiding the interstates up until now. We did travel about 15 miles on I 10, our first interstate mileage. We like traveling the secondary roads to experiences the smaller towns along the way. The RV Park was super. It has 60 sites, with about 20 for transient travelers. We have never been in a park with 2/3s being annual sites that were so well kept. All sites are full hookup with 50 amp electric. OTA TV was ok. The trip was 138 miles from Carrabelle. Most of the trip was along route 98. Good area to walk dogs. Very little highway noise.  There is some airplane noise from the close by naval station. A great overnight stop.

Carrabelle FL, May 2017

The rest of the story a the bottom of this blog update

Downtown Carrabelle Florida

The smallest police station in the US is in Carrabelle

One of the many commercial fishing boats docked in Carrabelle

The small museum was closed and the pictures were taken from out side the fence

 Ho Hum RV Park, from the road

Hannah enjoying the water(Gulf of Mexico)

Hannah and her blanket

When we are traveling Hannah enjoys laying between us.

The blind man driving is a Venetian blind installer, a real catchy sign on a truck.

Ho Hum RV Park Carrabelle FL

                                                   Ho Hum RV Park Carrabelle FL

     Our next stop was Ho Hum RV Park in Carrabelle FL. It was a short 15 mile trip. We wanted to get on the Gulf of Mexico coast for a couple of days. Several other Rv friends suggested this park. Unfortunately we couldn’t get beach front. We were in the 4^th row back, but could sit at our site and see the water. I guess if you wanted to spend a week or so in the front row, make your reservations (a word We hate) well in advance.  Our cost was $30.60 a night with Good Sam discount. The front row was around $38. a night.  The park is very well kept. Sites are ok with no privacy between. We had full hook up with 50 amp electric. There is a very good cable hook up included with the price. Dog are welcomed anywhere in the park and the beach. But very little grass area for them. They also have Wi-Fi throughout the park. There is a picnic table.  It is one of the most reasonable RV Parks along the coast. There are several state parks but we were unable to get a site in any of them. Most were $20-26 a night, but being senior Florida residence we could stay for half price. The park is right on route 98 but road noise was not a problem. Our stay was May 2017

Looking to the beach from our site

There we are on the right

That's us in the middle of the picture

Bob and Hannah on the way out on their long private pier

At the end of the pier

The front row taken from a few feet out on the pier

Ochlockonee River State Park Slopchoppy Florida

 

                                                      Ochlockonee River State Park

        We traveled about 185 miles from Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park to Ochlockonee River State Park in Sopchoppy Florida.

     We wanted to see the white squirrels and the Piebald deer. We had to make a reservation which we hate doing. We still like to travel without restrictions, as to when and where we must be on a certain date. We like willy-nilly travel.  The park has cat face pine trees used in the turpentine industry. To us many of the pine trees looked like long needle pine trees. The park is home to the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. A number of trees with white bands painted on them house their nest. We didn’t see any. There are also black bears in the park. We didn’t see them either.

     We did have several white squirrels living in the trees around our RV. They seem to be larger then the grey squirrels with much longer tails. They had no fear of humans. They would come down a tree and just look at you, waiting for a hand out. I guess many folks break the cardinal rule of “don’t feed the wildlife”. They would run across the roof of our RV and sit on the picnic table, again looking for a hand out. It was fun watching their antics. The black birds would dive at them when they were in the tree tops and chase them to the ground. They would turn around and scurry right back up. It seemed to be a game.

       The campground has 30 sites each with water and 30 amp electric. Some of the hooks ups are on the wrong side, like our site. It is big rig slightly friendly, with caution. We had a 42 foot motor home and a 40 foot 5^th wheel there while we were there. They were on 2 pull thru sites, all the rest are back ins. Very Very dark at night. The sites are packed sand. The OTA TV was week. Many acres and miles of roads to walk a dog. The road to the ranger station is about a mile and a quarter from route 319 and is really rough. The campground in about a half mile from the ranger station. There is a nice boat ramp and swimming area. Also a large picnic area. A worker told us the park is being close in July to update the H2O and electric, and some other improvements. It is expected to be closed for 3 to 4 months according to the worker. There is not much shopping in the area, so bring what you need including bug spray. Did I mention the bugs? I was told there are 3 different type biting flies. I never saw yellow flies before.  Most times the bugs were very pesky. The park is well kept.  Date of stay May 2017, our cost with reservation fee was $26. for 2 night.

Our site

White tail deer

The pines

The Ochlockonee River

 

2017 trip to somewhere The start

                                                                                      2017 RV Trip to ??

     We are off on our 2017 trip. We are heading west and then north. The weather is dictating some of our route. We left home on the 14^th of May, about 2 months later them we wanted. But now we have the doctors ok so we are off. We hope to be on the road for about 5 to 6 months.  

     I hope to do a better job of blogging this trip. We never did finish up last year’s trip blog; we named our trip west. Part of the problem was we covered so many wonderful places, hikes, and tours etc. that when we came back to the RV we were pooped. Another problem was my side kick, shutter-bug Linda took 11,060 pictures. You are reading correctly that’s eleven thousand. We are still sorting thru all those photos. Sure am thankful for digital photos.   

     Our first stop Was Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park in Crystal River Florida. A super park more on this RV Park later. The RV Park was 125 miles from our home. We do have a new traveling companion by the name of Hannah. She is our rescued puppy from the month of October . She is about a year old now and she comes in a large size. She is wonderful traveling and no problem when she is with us. She does have a very serious problem of separation anxiety. Slowly we hope we can get her to the point where we can leave her in the RV without barking, or having any other problem. We had the same problem at our home but we got her over that. Now it’s training all over again. So far we made a little progress. Did I mention she is a wonderful loving dog?

                               Look I can fit under the table

 

 

      Consequently we didn’t check out some of the local restaurants.  We did do a little driving tour of the area. Crystal River is on the Gulf coast. We went to Fort Island beach. It is a very nice small beach. There is a long pier for fishing or just watching sunsets.  We also toured Encore Crystal River RV Resort. We then drove the Withlacoochee Bay Trail. It was little rough sand and gravel road. We turned around after a couple of miles. They do have one of the longest paved walking trials in Florida. We then toured Yankeetown. It is very small old Florida Town with a population of about 500. We drove on the “Follow That Dream Parkway”. Parts of the area were filmed in the 1960 movie of the same name featuring Elvis. We also drove many or the side streets of the town. Then it was back to the RV. We didn’t plan to much as our goal is to get Hannah use to the RV.

 

 

 

Day one, our Trip begins

Wow finally on the road. We started one day late waiting for a new prescription to arrive.  So on Tuesday we hit the road.  Our first stop was in Quincy Florida for an overnight.  It was a long day of about 305 miles.  About 200 on interstates, not our favorite routes to follow, but we are just trying to get to our destinations out west. We can always visit places we passed up on weekly trips from home.  The wild flowers were in full bloom, which looked really nice.