Dec 19/2011 Merry Christmas to all

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Dec 6 Home for the Holidays

Weather 78 and sunny last two days before we came home.

Billy snapped a great shot of an early morning sunrise in our park, this does not happen very often ~ being up in time to see a sunrise... we set the alarm to do one last motorcycle ride.

We met Don and Annie for lunch at a halfway point between the two of our places.  It was about 142 miles and we took our time and stopped for a coffee getting to Old Town just in time for lunch.  After we cruised about a mile down the road to see the famous Swanee River.  Only bikers would be crazy enough to spend all day riding to go for lunch!

Almost forgot to post a pick of the awesome bunkies at the RV park.  Les & Barb - these might be too fancy to qualify as a bunkie ha ha.

Happy Holidays to family, friends and fellow rv'ers.  We will be back in Tallahassee to put our motorhome back on the road early Jan, 2012.  Looking forward to seeing everyone.

December 2 Mr. Fix-it & Mrs. I Broke It

Mr. Fix-it and Mrs. I Broke It

Looking back on the last few weeks it appears in a motor home there is always one person who tends to break things or have the bad things happen.....   yes it is Mom/Rosey.   'I know' it is not a surprise.  Billy is very patient and easy on things where I tend to be a little rammy *!  If you are reading this blog, you know us well enough to know what I mean, ha ha.   And believe it or not even when I did not even touch something it will fall off or happen when I am in the coach by myself.  By the way it is easier to reach/turn switches on when you are 6 feet tall - the most common words spoken in our home now are "Billy can you get this for me?" along with "I'm sorry I broke it"!
So far:
1. broke a cupboard door clip - you can buy one for $13 - yes you pay special for an RV piece of plastic
2. sliding door came off the rail, my fault - it was on the break camp checklist and I did not lock it
3. light fixture cover will fall out if it gets cold, seems to expand in the heat - just needed to clip it back in but it only falls out when Billy is not in the coach..... it is the rv demons at work.
4. hallway fan handle came apart - I swear I only turned it a few times this way and a few times the other way on my tippy toes.... either way it did not go up.  another job fixed by the handy man.
5. bathroom facet
6. power went out; oh yes I had 4 electrical appliances surging at once - my bad - and I made an amperage chart so that would not happen
7. wing nut came off the toilet seat
8.  broken clip on the sliding mirror doors
Oh yes almost every other day there is a little fix it thing; you get the idea. Remember if you want to own an RV someone has to be the Mr. Fix It.  I met a lady the other day told me she is the one with the tool box and her husband supervises, ha ha.

p.s. Bonnie that is the picture you took of us - thank you it is awesome!

December 1 - Apalachicola

Weather - Sunny, high of 65, nights very cool 40.  But we are from Canada so we got our leathers on and went for a ride and had a great day :)
We went out to Apalachicola and really spent the afternoon walking around the unique little stores and shops and bars and restaurants.  I fell in love with a little old bookstore that had knitting supplies in the back and a great friendly old cat walking around!

Most RV'ers have a sign they hang outside when they are parked, some have their names others a saying or even just a plastic flamingo.  Today there were so many shops with that kind of stuff so I was looking around for something - this is the novelty stuff I was looking at.  

 But Billy didn't like any of that stuff -even if we put our name on it and a saying......  he said he found the perfect thing to set outside our coach,,,, oh really!!! ha ha and what shall we call her? Yes well I can see that she is perfect.... what a guy. ha ha.

I had to have seafood for lunch and Billy still just wants his red meat....  so we ate at the Seafood Grill.

 Today was my day to tackle raw oysters, this place is known for the best; so when I tried to order them, you really could only get them by the dozen and I just didn't know if I could do it.   Our waitress was laughing at me by the time she took our order, I settled for grilled shrimp and scallops.  To my surprise she came back with a plate of 3 raw oysters, sat down and said "OK this is how we are going to eat them", she had the first one and then I had the next two - on crackers with hot sauce.  They were delicious, light, salty, fresh.  I did it!  Seafood is so fresh it just comes off the boats in the morning.

Nov 24 - 29 Carrabelle Beach RVC Park

Weather - Sunny and mid 70's till last night, had a thunderstorm and big cool down to 61 and 43 at night, furnace ran thru the night!  The weather is supposed to warm up by Thursday, we have a couple more runs we want to make on the motorcycle before we call it quits here :)
The RV park put on a big Thanksgiving dinner with 3 different types of turkey - roasted, deep fried and smoked.  Everyone participated with potluck dishes and they had about 44 people.  We sat with a couple from Jackson, Michigan and Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Both retired and snowbirds, but not full timers.   There are a couple of coaches here where the couples are full timers, one for 7 years and the other 6 years; and both are in their mid 70's.  In the parks that we have stayed so far we are finding a  sub-culture in the RV'ers who get this crazy notion to sell everything and live in their motorhomes!

The fellow that works around the campground has a nice garden planted for everyone to use, isn't that a great idea?  Today I picked fresh leaf lettuce for our sandwiches, just like in the spring at home, then I called Nanny and told her about the garden, reminds me of her. 

Beach is right across from our park so we get a morning walk in and there is never anyone there but us and the dolpins!

Next week we pack up and warehouse the motor home and fly back home for the Christmas holidays.  I can't believe how fast the time flies by.  We came to the Panhandle of Florida to ride our motorcycle  since there was a great chapter on scenic roads here in our Reader's Digest : The Most Scenic Drives in America, love that book.  Looks like we have pretty much covered their suggested trek so when we come back in January we will be ready to head out west.  This is a very beautiful untouched part of Florida and the riding is laid back, lower speed roads and nice scenery.
The other day we took a peak at the nearby St. James Golf Course(not a player on any of the holes that we could see, I know they are all in the clubhouse ha ha) and it was absolutely gorgeous, with a planned community. This house looked lived in but most had for sale signs, seems the area has been hurt just like the rest of the U.S.

Well today I had a few things on my "to do" list and I am so glad I brought my sewing machine!  Yes I did!  I keep it under the bed, you would be surprised at everything under there.  Look at that seems like it is right at home. 

Doing a bit reading and planning for the places to stay on I10 heading into Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico and then Arizona.  The days we travel 400 to 500 miles are a bit of a heavy day and most people we talk to say they go 250 to 300 miles - leave late and stop early.  They have a point - "what's your hurry?"   At that rate we would should get to Arizona by the time we are planning to coming home in the Spring, ha ha. 

Nov 17 - 23 St. George Island State Park, Wakulla Springs State Park

Weather - mid 70's to 80, humidity builds till once a week there is a thunderstorm, both times at night - nighttime lows are low 60's
The motorcycle riding is always great because there is little traffic and the roads are mostly about 45 miles per hour.  We went over to St. George Island and State Park via the causeway.

This area has more causeways and bridges joining the mainland to little barrier islands.    The sand is still white as snow, quite beautiful. 

This is a sleepy little island with an old lighthouse and lots of cottages on stilts and maybe three or four restaurants and stores, just enough to get by. 

One end is a state park that was all sand dunes and a camping area.  The cool thing is that apparently the Wood Storks use this as their last stopover in the fall before heading across the Gulf of Mexico when migrating in October, can't say that I have ever seen a stork!
Wakulla Springs State Park
Remember the movies when we were kids  "Creature from the Black Lagoon" and the original "Tarzan" with Johnny Weissmuller.  Well Billy remembers better than me, ha ha!   This is the setting of those movies and it did have a river boat cruise that we took which had some eerie spots that would have been just like the films back in the 50's.

There were quite a few manatee (sea cows) which love this river since it stays at a constant temperature of 72F, it is fed by one of the deepest freshwater springs in the world at 185 feet.

And who is that movie star on the Road King?

 

Nov 10 - 16 The Forgotten Coast - Florida

Weather  - close to 80 - sunny - very humid, humid, humid!
We have been riding our motorcycle up and down this coast and its such a quiet part of Florida.  In the little villages there are few stores or restaurants and all family run establishments.

Carrabelle has the smallest police station in the world - made the Guiness World Book of Records.

Main livelihood is off the Fishing - Shrimp, Oysters, Blue Crab and Scallops.  You can stop at any of the tiny fisheries and buy the catch of the day.

Our cell phone has no signal here and the Internet is usually one or two bar at best so using Skype to call is next to impossible.  In fact its hard to get your hands on a daily newspaper.  We have inherited the park cat name "RV"; yes that is him climbed into our basement storage.  Billy says "he better watch it or he will be getting a ride he won't forget, ha ha".

Tourism has not caught on here which seems bizarre since you are in Florida.  Apalachicola has some historical inn's which are in the old Floridian style - very nostalgic.

So the motorcycle riding is unhurried and enjoyable with lots of coastline, state parks and little villages with some quaint places to stop. 

Mexico Beach

Don and Annie came into our RV park with their bike gang this week and we joined them riding for a few days along the Forgotten Coast.  Good times.

Soepy's Gang

Nov 7 -9 Carrabelle Beach Florida

Weather 79F/25C  Sunny and warm at night 65

There are some bad storms in Texas and New Mexico so we are thinking we will stay in the top of Florida for the next month; so last Monday we moved east to Carrabelle Beach RV Resort.  We have a great spot and you can walk on the beach here for miles, still that white snowy sand.
Before we left home we bought a GPS that was special for RVers, and we gave her a name "Lola".  In theory Lola is supposed to keep us out of trouble, you have to load in your height, width, length and weight and voila she will give you the 'safe' route.  I know, I know its just like a computer which means it is usually the operator.  So on the way here Lola said we need to take County Road 67 and I'm thinking we should take the State Road 65.   Turns out CR67 is a narrow, no shoulder scenic route!  Lola what the he** are you doing???  We met a few transports on corners where all Billy could say was "hang on".  I had to close my eyes a few times... it was too tight for comfort and we only had 60 miles of it.  Good grief.  Moral of the story is that as the operator I have now loaded in an extra foot on all our dimensions and guess what Lola says then, she wants us to take a U Turn on CR67 do not proceed...and go to State Road 65.   Darn it Lola now you tell us.... so the larger than us size is staying in her all the time!
RV'er Tips to share:
1. Outsmart Lola with your bigger size.  That will definitely keep you safe!
2. Camper's Daily Diary - date, weather, mileage, expenses, notes, where you stayed - I am a constant note taker and this keeps my thoughts organized.  You can get it at camping world.
3. My pantry - brought all my baking stuff with me, just in smaller quantities.  Today I'm making cookies ! yeah !

 4. Single electric burner - Get the electric one since you can plug in at your site and the $'s are included in your nightly hookup.  If you use a propane one you are using up your supply which you will have to replenish.  This outside burner is so handy - you can fry outside without getting your kitchen all messy. Kids remember when we were on the boat having breakfast outside?  It is so good.

When we moved in the motor home Billy did not bring his big gas powered leaf blower - and you are wondering "why would he want to have it with him?".  It also doubles as his blow dryer for the Harley.  Hilarious but true.  So the day before we left I got him a Motorcycle Blow Dryer - No kidding!!!  You can buy anything these days.   Yesterday he washed the bike and out came his new toy,,, you could hear him chuckling all over the park.  Priceless :)

The night we got here there was a Trike Rally and BBQ so we felt at home and a couple of the RVers here loaded their trikes on the back of their pickups to pull behind their motor homes, Billy was quite intrigue with this setup.  The weight would be a big drawback though as they total out at about 9000 lbs.  phew that's a lot to pull.

Nov 6 Pensacola Naval Air Station

Weather 73F/23C Windy and Sunny

Sunday  Where we are camped in Navarre we are surrounded by US Military Bases.   You know your not in Canada when.......  the second night we were here after dark we could hear boom, boom,boom, ratatat, ratatat, ratatat, over and over.  We both went outside about 3 times to look for fireworks but could not see any.  A fellow camper the next day asked us if we knew what we had heard.  Nope not a clue.   Just heavy artillery practise and bombing practise !!!  As it turns out they do it almost every night.  And we are in the midst of 4 military bases nearby.  Eglin Air Force Base is the largest air force base in the world 463,000 acres, employs 11,000 civilians and 11,000 military personnel.  Then there is Hurlburt Air Force Field, Tyndall Air Force Base and Pensacola Naval Air Station.  This is the home of the Blue Angels, the Navy's flight demonstration squadron (like our Canadian Forces Snowbirds).  The base also has a Aviation Museum with IMAX theatre that is free to the public.  We went on the base today and they stopped us to have us put our helmets on.  When riding a motorcycle on the base you must have full gear - helmets, gloves, full sleeve coat, pants, and riding boots.  The museum is huge, you could spend the whole day and has over 150 aircraft and numerous exhibits and simulators and it is "FREE" - even to Canadians : )

She doesn't have a clue what she is doing in that cockpit!

Nov 4 & 5 Destin & Seaside, Fla

Weather 70F/22C Breezy Sunny, cool at night 52F

Friday  Our friends Bonnie and Jim from Wheatley are in Panama City Beach to watch their nephew run an Iron Man (which he finishes in 11 hours and 28 minutes).  So we had our first company to visit for a couple of beers, sitting on the beach at our campground.   Even though it is only 70F the sand is so bright and reflective that within an hour we took quite a bit of sun.
We have been talking to some people from California who have been traveling since August and she was telling me she was sewing a baby quilt for her granddaughter  - Billy thought I was silly bring my sewing machine.  Turns out I am not the only one!

Saturday   We took a ride on the Harley east to Destin through more of the Gulf Islands National Seashore Park.
When the winds come up strong the drifting is just like our snow, the road is closed and they use payloaders to clear it.   Apparently a few weeks ago it was shutdown for that reason for about a week.  I guess wherever you live, sometimes you have to shovel !
Driving into Destin you have a beautiful view of the Marina from the causeway.

Staying on the shore road we continued on to the village of Seaside which has a building code to be kept in the old Floridian architecture and colours, it is lovely and pictures do not do it justice.

The ride was about 73 miles one way, so after a bite to eat we headed back to our campground.  Found that as the sun was dropping it was almost blinding.  Billy had on his super duper dark glasses :)

Oct 31 - Nov 2 PanHandle of Florida, Navarre, Florida

Weather  Sunny  + 70F/22C Breezy
Monday we drove from Nashville, TN through Alabama and into the top of Florida - called The Panhandle Area.  We arrived at Emerald Beach RV Park after hours, about 6 pm.

When you RV they leave a package expecting your arrival in an outside box, it gives you a map to your site and your welcome package.  I looked in the box and nothing was there, being a Newbie I figured well they were busy and didn't leave it so we went to our site.  Guess what??? There was another camper setup in our site, all hooked up and moved right in.  Hmmm, now what.  I got out and the fellow came over and said "Oh are we in your site?"   "Ah yes!" I said.  "No problem we will move", he says.  Me being the naive one says "Do you know what site you should have?"   Apparently they did and pulled out, so we settled in.   Next morning we check in and the ladies had a good laugh telling us that they were 'squatters' ....   Of course this happens to the Rookies!  This a pretty park right on the water, beautiful setting.

Wednesday  Today we rode through miles of snow white beaches in the state park called  Gulf Shores National Seashore .   Serene, no wonder it was a disaster when the oil spill happened.

Stopped for a little lunch at a cool seafood restaurant called Flounders; I hope your hungry when you order the Key Lime Pie.  We couldn't resist.

We spotted their t-shirts when we were leaving and found the perfect one for our fishing enthusiast Jason - this ones for you buddy!

It seems there is always that low bridge, this one is only 10' 4" we never noticed them before we had the motorhome once again we were glad to be on the motorcycle.  This one is on the Pensacola Scenic Bluffs Highway.