March 21st early in the morning we went to a local flea market to get some golf balls, since we depleted our supply that we got last fall. We came back and had breakfast, and after that we set up our DirecTV dish. The local cable at the park has to be the worst we ever encountered and we had just about enough of watching snowy television. After that we made up a shelf that can be installed over the steering wheel while we are parked, we got this idea last week from Boogity. After we ate we picked up Craig & Ginny and made our way to the local Lawn Mower races, Jon wore a hat that had a little camo on it just to fit in. It was a good show as they had about 25 mowers there, with about 5 or 6 classes. Seems that they run mostly for trophies, as we didn’t get too much information. We were in the stands and they did not sell any kind of program, we are sure that there are rules for the different classes. The one race was won by a 12 year old, in the adult classes some of the mowers reached speeds of at least 60 MPH. The fellow that won the adult race had a 2 cylinder motor and as it came down the track it really sounded good. All of the races were started with a LeMans style, where the drivers stood across the track at the start and ran across to start their mower and take off; the starts were different but sometimes a wild way to get going.
March 17th Happy St. Patrick’s Day. We did a few chores around the camper this morning and just sort of lulled in wait for the parade here at the park. Jon had an idea for a costume for the parade that he got together over the last several days. Kathleen was wondering where he came up with the items to put it together. Well lo and behold he won one of the first place prizes and it just happened to be another gift certificate to a restaurant. After that we went and played a round of golf just to help us with the waist line. It was another fine day in FL.
March 16th we usually don’t write about our weekly activities but as we went to bowl today, when we started they announced that it was going to be a No-tap style scoring. That being said Jon had a really good day as with the help of the scoring system his second game was a 300 and he only needed the help with 4 strikes, the other 8 were natural. It was quite a setting that everybody stopped bowling to watch him roll the last three strikes. That evening we had the bowling banquet at Homer’s restaurant and as it is a smorgasbord we over ate. Maybe we can start our diet when we leave, or soon before we run out of clothes that fit.
March 15th after going to church we were entered into a St. Patrick’s bowling tournament at the lanes where we bowl on Monday’s. We did just so-so as we finished up in the middle of the pack. In the evening rather than going to the Sunday night movie here at the resort we went to an area in the park to watch the space shuttle liftoff. We were quite surprised as about half of the park was there to watch. It was a great liftoff as we watched it get to Africa or wherever, but it was great to watch.
March 13th well here it is another Friday the 13th and we are planning about a 4 hour journey. We are going south to the everglades to meet up with Larry & Sharon (we will be working with them this summer in Maine.) We got to their location around one in the afternoon, and found out just how desolated an area it is, although it is near Miami and not nearly as isolated as we were last summer. It is quite nice and has a lot of wildlife in the area, we enjoyed the visit and saw the work that they accomplished over the winter. The National Park Service would like to open this area as a primitive camping area next year and they did a great job at cleaning up the sites and walkways throughout. They fixed us dinner and then we had to leave as we got a site near Miami to pitch our tent for the night. We got to Miami Everglades resort, which is a Legacy Park and for a tent site with no electric it was way over priced. It is a fenced in area and we felt very safe.
March 7th Jon went to a men’s Church breakfast early in the morning and didn’t get back till about 9:45, it was a very good time and got to know some more of the people that go to our church. Since they hold 4 services each weekend we only get to see about 1/4th of the congregation, events like this held build the fellowship in the church. We than left at 10:00 and drove about 2 ½ hours to Homosassa Springs to spend a great afternoon at the wildlife state park there. Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is a great place to get in touch with nature; first they transport you to the park entrance by either boat or tram. They have 6 manatees there and an underwater viewing station, as you watch them there are also countless thousands of other fish. From there we continued around the park and observed a lot of other animals that are native to Florida. That is except one as they have a Hippo that was grandfathered in the system from the previous owners; this Hippo is a star as it appeared in the old movie “Daktari”. After that we drove down to Sarasota as we were meeting a few of the workampers we were with last winter. We met a CiCi’s Pizza and were surprised as Ron & Pat were there, we knew the others but this surprise was really great. We had a great time as we spent nearly 2 & ½ hours together, it was one of those times when no one wants to leave. Leave we had to since we still had about an hour and a half drive. To all we got home safely and once again another great day in Florida.
March 16th we usually don’t write about our weekly activities but as we went to bowl today, when we started they announced that it was going to be a No-tap style scoring. That being said Jon had a really good day as with the help of the scoring system his second game was a 300 and he only needed the help with 4 strikes, the other 8 were natural. It was quite a setting that everybody stopped bowling to watch him roll the last three strikes. That evening we had the bowling banquet at Homer’s restaurant and as it is a smorgasbord we over ate. Maybe we can start our diet when we leave, or soon before we run out of clothes that fit.
March 15th after going to church we were entered into a St. Patrick’s bowling tournament at the lanes where we bowl on Monday’s. We did just so-so as we finished up in the middle of the pack. In the evening rather than going to the Sunday night movie here at the resort we went to an area in the park to watch the space shuttle liftoff. We were quite surprised as about half of the park was there to watch. It was a great liftoff as we watched it get to Africa or wherever, but it was great to watch.
March 14th we didn’t sleep very good as the resort is surrounded by several nursery’s and between running generator’s till 1 in the morning and then starting up watering pumps at 5 in the morning didn’t work to well with us. After getting our showers and eating breakfast we went to Key Largo and met up with Johanna & Israel. They are working at John Pennecamp State Park, they showed us around and we really enjoyed it and are thinking of coming back in the fall for a few nights just to enjoy what they have to offer. We had a nice visit and exchanged a lot of information, as we headed out we hope to meet up with them in Maine this summer. From there we headed west on the Tamiami Trail and took an air boat ride and just had a great time. Kathleen got a chance to pilot the boat and it made the day for her, the smile on her face was priceless. Our pilot was just a bit on the cowboy side as he operated the boat and made for a great ride, and we would do it again in a heartbeat. After that we had a 2 ½ hour drive home and were totally exhausted. As we unpacked and cleaned up we knew we had a tiring day.
March 13th well here it is another Friday the 13th and we are planning about a 4 hour journey. We are going south to the everglades to meet up with Larry & Sharon (we will be working with them this summer in Maine.) We got to their location around one in the afternoon, and found out just how desolated an area it is, although it is near Miami and not nearly as isolated as we were last summer. It is quite nice and has a lot of wildlife in the area, we enjoyed the visit and saw the work that they accomplished over the winter. The National Park Service would like to open this area as a primitive camping area next year and they did a great job at cleaning up the sites and walkways throughout. They fixed us dinner and then we had to leave as we got a site near Miami to pitch our tent for the night. We got to Miami Everglades resort, which is a Legacy Park and for a tent site with no electric it was way over priced. It is a fenced in area and we felt very safe.
March 7th Jon went to a men’s Church breakfast early in the morning and didn’t get back till about 9:45, it was a very good time and got to know some more of the people that go to our church. Since they hold 4 services each weekend we only get to see about 1/4th of the congregation, events like this held build the fellowship in the church. We than left at 10:00 and drove about 2 ½ hours to Homosassa Springs to spend a great afternoon at the wildlife state park there. Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is a great place to get in touch with nature; first they transport you to the park entrance by either boat or tram. They have 6 manatees there and an underwater viewing station, as you watch them there are also countless thousands of other fish. From there we continued around the park and observed a lot of other animals that are native to Florida. That is except one as they have a Hippo that was grandfathered in the system from the previous owners; this Hippo is a star as it appeared in the old movie “Daktari”. After that we drove down to Sarasota as we were meeting a few of the workampers we were with last winter. We met a CiCi’s Pizza and were surprised as Ron & Pat were there, we knew the others but this surprise was really great. We had a great time as we spent nearly 2 & ½ hours together, it was one of those times when no one wants to leave. Leave we had to since we still had about an hour and a half drive. To all we got home safely and once again another great day in Florida.
March 6th we got together with Craig & Ginny and we went to Plant City for the Strawberry Fest. The weather was great and when we were in the sun just a bit warm. Once we got parked and entered the first place we went to was the strawberry short cake area. Here you can make your own strawberry shortcake, we started with the short cake than added the strawberries and finally we put on real whipped cream, as we neared the end an attendant added a large strawberry and gave us sticker to put on. From there we got some strawberry kabobs which were large strawberry’s on a stick covered with chocolate, which you had your choice of either white or brown or a mix of chocolate. We did a little walking around and then we went to the Dennis Lee show. What a great show as it lasted for an hour and they completely entertained the audience with their songs and skits and the pure nature of it. This was for the price of admission. We continued on and caught a few other attractions and after that we got a bite to eat, and as always at a fair the prices are high, but we were enjoying the day. We went through the Exhibits building and looked at all of the crafts and items that were made by the entrants. They had a cake decorating area that was great, but all of the displays were great. After that we bought a sign to put on the MH, we then called it a day and made our way home. At one point on the way home we came across a bad accident and wonde
red about the condition of the people in the car. Just another gre
at Florida day.
red about the condition of the people in the car. Just another gre
at Florida day.
.JPG)
.JPG)
