A Medina Christmas

Once again we find ourselves at Medina Lake in the hill country of Texas at Christmas time. We will be here until the 6th of January when we head for Quartzsite Arizona to reunite with friends we have met along the way over the past 3 years.
But first let me tell you about our journey here. Our plans were to spend 5 nights on the road at various Wal Marts between Texas and Florida. We left Wachula (South Central Florida) and made it to Perry ( North West Florida) before John was ready to stop driving. The second day we got as far as Crestview Fl, when John needed to stop. He said that there was a vibration in the coach that he felt when accelerating up hill. I felt a slight vibration and thought it was a wheel out of balance or low tire. John believed it was a problem with the motor....so.....we made some phone calls and found a place in Gulfport Mississippi that was willing to see us as soon as we arrived the next day. They ran a complete diagnostic test on the motor (things are all done via computer these days) and it showed no problems with the motor, so they checked the tie rods (what ever they are) and also found nothing. John asked them to change the air cleaner and gas filter as he still believed the problem to be with the motor. They had to order the air cleaner and had it over-nighted so they could install it the next day. There was a WalMart less than a mile away.... lucky us. 2 parts, 4 hours of climbing all over the coach and $501.00 later, we were back on the road by 2PM. John declared things were better, so we hoped to get back on schedule. The fourth day and about 200 miles later the vibration reappeared, but not as bad, so we made it to Hammond Louisiana. We over- nighted at a rest area in Texas our last night and arrived at Medina safe and sound. Since we have been here John has presented his problem to several RV "experts" staying in the park. We have put an additive in the gas tank in hopes that it is "bad gas" (Tums for the RV). John still wants to find a Cummins Repair shop on our way to Arizona and have it checked again.
Meanwhile.... here at Medina.... not much has changed. See. ...

It is much colder here than in Florida. We had to break out the sweatshirts and sweaters. The highs are in the 50's during the day and low 40's at night.
One of the first things we did was go 100 miles south to see our friends Millie and Ray, who are working at an oil field outside Kennedy Texas. They guard the gate, keeping track of who comes and who goes. We spent the afternoon with them and had a delicious corn beef dinner before returning to the park. They look good....

While we were visiting with Millie, John asked if she would cut his hair... but he still wants a pony tail. She is willing to work with it when we get to Quartzsite. My hope is that the scissors slip and it goes away. Here is a picture John took of himself in the bathroom mirror with his long hair.

I have decorated the house for Christmas. We had to buy a Christmas tree as my pine cone tree got squished when we repacked items from the old coach to the new. Here is one that will stay with us for a few years...

While in Orlando, Sue taught me to make these neat snow flakes.... so I hung 3 in the front window and 2 outside on the mirrors. I put sparkly things on them, but you can't see them in the photo.

The stockings are hung by the fireplace and Sydney is waiting for Santa to come.

John and I, as well as Sydney wish all our family and friends a very Merry Christmas and a safe and healthy New Year.

Peace River...Wauchula

Before I forget again, I must tell you about John's recent purchase. While in Orlando, I told you about the Monday Flea Market journeys we made to Webster. Well, I forgot to tell you about John's purchase..... a carrier. Yes, a carrier for a scooter, motorbike or cycle. The fact that we don't have one with us did not deter his determination to acquire it. "What if we find exactly what I want.... I wouldn't have a way to get it home!" So from here on in we are sporting a carrier on the back of the jeep. Here it is off the jeep because he had to paint it while we were here. I had to help him lift it to put it back on the Jeep and it weighs a ton.

Okay, now that I have that off  my chest.....  on to the Peaceful River. This is the first time in this area for us, and we both really like it. I should have booked more time here.... if I had only known. Here is a picture of the peaceful Peace River that flows right through the resort.

There are a few signs however that could give you pause before heading down the nature trail..... but they didn't deter me and Syd on our morning walks.

We saw turtles, cranes, herons, turkey buzzards but no alligators or snakes. We met such nice people here.... Irma, Bill, Patty, Dennis who stay here all winter. We saw Steve and Betty Ball again, they followed us from Orlando. Not really.... they stopped here on their way to spend the winter in the keys.
John and I visited Solomon's Castle a short distance toward the coast. Harold Solomon is an artist that bought a piece of property and built a "castle" from things thrown out by others. He recycles junk into art and part of his castle is a studio showing his pieces. He also built a "Noah's Ark" type boat in the moat around his castle. The boat is a restaurant. Mr Solomon was in his studio when we visited and we had a nice talk. Here are some castle and boat pictures.

Florida is the winter home of more than just snow/ sun birds. The Lippizon Stallions train nearby and the public is asked to come to the trainings to provide "real life" conditions for the horses. So today we sat and clapped and hollered for 2 hours watching these big beautiful horses perform. We were able to go into the barns and pet them. We also roamed the farm and saw the females used for breeding. What a neat thing.

They are born brown or black and don't turn completely white until they are 7 years old. The more dark colors... the younger they are. They are so powerfully built and they are all stallions. There were a few times when 2 of them were ready to go at each other. The handlers.... all females, by the way..... work very hard at maintaining decorum between the horses during the performances.

As powerful and head strong as they are, they are well trained. Here are the next generation of Herrmanns.... owners/operators of the stallion business. They are 2 and 3 years old.

I hope we plan another visit here as there is much more to see.... but we are due in Texas in a few days, so tomorrow we hit the road again.

Orlando...again

For some reason, John is taking us to many of the places that we have already visited. We were here at the Orlando Thousand Trails last year and here we are again. John says that he doesn't like the "big city" atmosphere since we are so close to Orlando, but technically we are closer to Kissimme and Clermont than we are to Orlando. There are orange groves less than a mile away, but we hear the Disney fireworks every night being only a few miles from Magic Kingdom. The sand hill cranes are still here but not as abundant and noisy as last year. We had a gopher turtle home near us so I fed it lettuce every day. My neighbor Sue and I called him Tommy.

We traveled 40 to 50 miles every Monday, so John could peruse the Webster Flea and Farm market. This place is huge and you could buy just about anything. Look at the colors of these birds one of the vendors was selling. They were beautiful.

There is even entertainment. This guy played the blues very well. We listened while munching on hot dogs.

Last year my sister Patty and her husband Pete bought a double wide trailer in a park in DeBary, which is north of Orlando. We traveled the 60 miles from where we were to see them. We got a guided tour of their winter digs and area. We ran across an art festival in DeLand (a near by town) and enjoyed looking at the wares of the juried artist. On Thanksgiving day we traveled back to have our meal with them and some other friends. John got to do his delayed picture taking again.

Here is Pete, Patty, me, John, Pam, Donna and Sam. The food was great and the company exceptional.

We had some good neighbors while in the park. On one side was Sue and Mel Thomason from Washington State. Sue is a retired nurse, like me, and we spent several days crafting together. They are traveling with 2 dogs and 2 cats.  On the other side was Steve and Betty Ball from Virginia. Steve and John found several small projects to do together. Betty is a quilter.

John and I went to Downtown Disney with Patty and Pete to see some of the Christmas decor. Here is the lobby of the Grand Floridian. The tree was almost 3 stories high.

This is a ginger bread house made out of real ginger bread. They used over 800 pounds of flour.... Patty and I ate some of it.... not very tasty. I think they were going for stability instead of taste.

We saw some awesome things in Downtown Disney. One of them was this statue made completely from Lego's. There were many great ones but this one caught my eye. It stood well over 12 feet high and 12 feet wide. Every inch is Lego's... how they got the fire to stay like that I'll never know.

We leave Pa in the winter to get away from the snow and cold , right? What do we do? Go to Florida and participate in the City of Celebration's Christmas Tree lighting and First Snowfall of the season. Yes, I said snowfall. It snows at 6, 7, 8, and 9PM every night in Celebration until January.

See.....

They had ice skating, and roaming carolers also.

Even though we had been in this area before , we found lots to do and enjoyed ourselves. Next we are going further south to another Thousand Trails situated next to the Peace River in Wauchula.

Huguenot Memorial Park....truely memorial

WHAT A GEM !!!!!  I would encourage everyone to put this one on their "RV Bucket List".
The St John River flows north from Jacksonville to the Atlantic Ocean. Right where the river and ocean meet is a small city park called Huguenot Memorial. There are NO hookups, so it is virtually dry camping but with water and dump stations available. There are 21 beach sites where you are literally feet from the beach. We choose one where we had a small dune separating us from the beach since Sydney was not permitted directly on the beach. This is a preserve and sea turtles and birds are abundant. Here is where we were. My feet were in the water when I took this picture.

Even John, who is not much of a beach person sat in his chair and watched the porpoises swimming and fishing yards from the shore.

While we were sitting a marine research boat came by and they were dragging a net to catch some of the marine specimens to track the type and size. They were very friendly and gave us a sneak peek of some of the creatures up close. There were crabs, flounder, puffer fish and something called a bat fish. Here are some of the pics I took.

John was able to drive directly on the beach, so of course he did. Here he is........

We took a day trip about 50 miles south to St Augustine....  the oldest city in Florida. It was founded in the 1500's and was occupied by the Spanish and the British prior to becoming a part of the US. I was actually disappointed because most of the old city is recreated or altered and not original. Here are some pics showing the Spanish flavor of the town..

In this next picture check the spot above the 4th shutter from the gate. That area at the top is a cannonball from a pirate ship embedded in the wall.

This is what is left of the actual fort. A small portion of the outer wall....

The best part of the day was the ferry ride at sunset that took us back to the park... These are Pelicans...

While here, we ran into another couple that John had spoken to in Georgia.... Tom and Cheryl Drotning from Minissota. They are just starting out in their 5th wheel. We shared websites and experiences before parting ways. Maybe we will run into them again.... hopefully not litteraly.

We only stayed for 4 days.... I wanted to stay longer, but we had reservations in Orlando.... so off we go. Thanks Millie and Ray for letting us in on this secret place. WE WILL BE BACK !!

Southeast Georgia Time..

John and I both enjoy going to the southeast corner of Georgia. We have done this each year since we started traveling. So..... here we are again. As usual we stayed at a Coast to Coast resort in Woodbine. The ownership has changed hands since last year and we found the campgrounds cleaner and neater than in prior years. The new owners, from Australia, are a young couple with 4 children. They are slowly making positive changes that will definitely keep us coming back.
Each year we choose a different "Golden island" to visit. Last year was Jekyll island..... this year we went to St Simon's Island. What a pretty little place. In most ways it was very typical of most seashore vacation towns but  this one has a huge beautiful city park right in the center next to the shore. Here are some pics...

We also made a trip down to St Mary's, where the boat takes you to Cumberland Island. It has no beaches but is mainly a port for boaters. It is so scenic and pretty. More pics...

We enjoyed our week and will be sure to come back again as there is so much to experience. We are headed just a short 50 miles down the road to the Jacksonville area to a small city park that our friends Millie and Ray told us about. I need some beach time !!

Family and Lowcountry..

Wait a minute.... that doesn't sound right. Visiting family is a high for us....but we were in the Lowcountry of South Carolina too. Maybe I better start at the beginning. We left Sycamore Lodge just before Halloween and traveled southeast to Wilmington NC to see John's daughter Corinne. We stayed at Camp Walmart for 2 nights and had a lovely visit. See looks good, as usual.... see...

We went out for pizza... and it wasn't Friday.

Next stop was Charleston SC to visit with John's brother, Jim, and his wife Terri. We get sooooo spoiled rotten there. I feel like I gained 15 pounds from Terri's good cooking. Here we are posing on their couch so John can learn to do a delayed shot with his camera. It took several tries. Can you tell John is out of breath from running to the couch before the picture snapped?

We went for a ride to Foley Beach at high tide. There were only a few surfers as the waves weren't very high that day.

On the way back from the beach we stopped at the "Graffiti Boat". This is an old boat that was washed up on shore during hurricane Hugo many years ago and was never removed. It sits alongside of Foley Road. Locals started painting messages, wedding proposals and ads on the boat.... and so goes the tradition. I'm told it gets repainted frequently, some times within hours. So if you paint a message, you take a picture of it. Jim's daughter Amy painted it pink when she came to visit for Jim's retirement party and within hours someone had redone it. There must be thousands of coats of paint on this thing. Jim says he thinks someone maintains a web site with all the messages but he's not sure. I'll have to look and see.

PS.... Here is an address to a website with pics of the boat's various paintings. http://www.pbase.com/laplageauxfolles/graffiti_boat&page=all

Another stop was the market. I was there many years ago when I went to Charleston for a conference while working at Williamsport Hospital. They have since done some renovations, and what an improvement. They modernized the conveniences while retaining the charm and history of the place. Terri and I stopped and talked with one of the sweetgrass vendors, Elouise Frazier. What an interesting and beautiful person. She told us the history of the basket making and stories of her grandmother. I could of stayed there all day talking with her. If you ever get to the market look for Elouise and buy one of her baskets.... they are magnificent and she is one remarkable "lady"

As we left the market Terri found me some delicious she-crap soup. A trip to Charleston is not complete without some she-crab soup.

John and I both love the "Live Oak" trees here in South Carolina, so Jim and Terri took us to see the Angel Tree. It is the largest Live Oak east of the Mississippi standing 65 feet tall. It is believed to be between 300 and 400 years old. The trunk is 25.5 feet in circumference and has an area of shade of 17,000 square feet. It's longest branch is 83 feet long. The branches are so long and large that they touch the ground and have to be supported. It is amazing. Here are some pics.

We picked up some acorns from under the tree...... going to see if we can grow one.

Fun times and good people but time to move on..... Georgia coast next.

And so it begins.....

We left Monday Oct 17th from John and Wendy's driveway around noon. We were delayed about an hour and a half because of a light issue. It seems our Jeep rear turn signal was not working when we hooked the "towed" up. Thank goodness for "MaGyver" John Dreese. He had it fixed in a short  time and we were off. Our first destination was Jackson Springs North Carolina. We planned on taking our time getting there since we had been stationary for 3 months. We stopped at "Camp Walmart" in Harrisonburg Va and Statesville NC, arriving at Sycamore Lodge on day 3. We always like coming here, especially in the fall. The weather has been in the high 60's during the day with plenty of sunshine and low 50's at night.... just perfect.
This resort is mostly inhabited by North Carolinian's... very few long distance travelers.  Everyone is super friendly.
Each year the membership puts on an event to raise money for Multiple Myeloma research. They have a "Haunted Forest". This event brought in over $10,000.00 last year. This year they are staging the event for 2 weekends instead of 1. It is a major undertaking. There are over 50 volunteers involved as actors, ticket takers, security, and so on. We caught some of the actors preparing their costumes and makeup before the Saturday night performance. Here are the pics...

These people are really dedicated to this fundraiser and do a wonderful job.

I was sitting having my morning coffee the other day and what did my wondering eyes find....

This camper reminded me of a series of e-mail jokes I periodically receive. An older women in her nightgown, slippers, bathrobe, sunglasses and coffee cup in hand. She always has something to say about everything. For the life of me I can't remember her name...can anyone help?

Our next stop......  Willmington, NC to visit with John's daughter Corinne.