Family Time in St. Augustine

April 7- 14/14 weather very warm beautiful week

Venturing up the Atlantic coast we are camped on Anastasia Island at the St. Augustine Beach KOA. It's not the nicest park but it has a great location for us to see our family. Calea, Kevin and Iyla rented a house for the week with Bruce and Verconica coming in from Scotland.  

On April 13 Calea and Kevin are participating in the IronMan 70.3 in Haines City.  Phew; we get enough exercise just trying to imagine it!

Time flys by when you are visiting everyday and playing tourist too!!!

Stray hound !!!

Every so often you see things that make you laugh... Rvers have a sense of humour with their campers.  

We were having coffee outside this morning as we watched this big old bus leave.  Check out the sign above the windshield!!!

Kennedy Space Center, NASA, Atlantis Space Shuttle, Apollo/Saturn V

Weather  this weekend April 4, 5, 6 - hot hot hot! 

Apollo 13 Space Capsule

Finally the snowbirds in Florida are heading north, and there are some campsites opening up.   We rode the other day with some new bike friends and she said due to the average age of the feathered flyers the nickname should be snowbuzzards not snowbirds.   Ha Ha.   Thought that was kind of funny.  So we found a site for the weekend in Mims at Seasons in the Sun RV Resort which is about a half hour away from the Visitors Complex for Kennedy Space Center.

Rocket Garden

Do you have any interest in space flights to the Moon?  Remember Lost in Space on TV when we were kids? Space Station? Space Shuttle? Hubble Telescope?  Space Capsules?  You can see it all at KSC in Titusville, Florida.

Atlantis Space Shuttle with the Canada Arm

Then this is a day for you.   We came early in the morning and spent all day, walking out at 5:30 and still not able to see it all.   Well worth the time and money if you get a chance. 

Tip:   take the extra tour bus to an up close look at the entire NASA grounds which include the Vehicle Assembly Building, the Vehicle Movers, the Launch Pads, and Headquarters.

Lunar rover

The United States has spent Billions of $'s in exploring Outer Space and they continue to as well.  

Apollo/Saturn V

Seeing the Apollo/Saturn V display and Atlantis Space Shuttle and the enormity of the complex it starts to sink in.   The first launches to the moon in 1969 and all through the 1970's  ....... Those astronauts were a "brave beyond belief" when you stand beside the rockets and space capsules.  They look so archaic.   Then came flying to the moon and returning in the same space ship!!!!  However; even the Space Shuttles have had 2 disasters, the Challenger in 1986 during launch and Discover in 2003 during reentry of earths atmosphere.  So the bravery continues.  Remember when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon?   We were glued to the TV, amazed.  Now it seems that these enormous space ships launch and astronauts stay up in the space station and we kind of pass it by and don't even stop and think about how incredible it is?????    AMAZING

shuttle rockets + fuel tank to send it to space

Triple Crown at Grand Oaks

Weather - gorgeous clear sunny day about mid 70's

March 30/2014  - Triple Crown at Grand Oaks RV & Carriage Museum Resort
Every Sunday there is a brunch buffet, a carriage ride and museum visit special at Grand Oaks.   We have been at this RV park on an off through the winter months.  We stayed 3 days, then went on our way, then came back for 3 weeks, then went on our way and then came back for 1 month.   In all that time we kept saying we must do the Horse Carriage Ride and a visit to the Florida Carriage Museum.   Everyone coming and going told us how excellent it was.   I guess we take Retirement very seriously, we don't move to fast and always think we can get to that tomorrow.   Time does move on!!!    So with only a few days to go before we move on finally we took the Triple Crown.   And yes everyone was so right, it is a wonderful day.   The carriage ride is on a large carriage pulled by the two Clydesdale's - Bud and Weiser.   Beautiful.   

The museum goes on and on.  There is a European section, an American section it is the world’s largest private collections of carriages and equine artifacts.  Every carriage is restored to perfection.  There are many life size horses drawing the carriages.  It will give you that dreamy past feeling.   Easy to imagine now those 1800's times in London, England that you read in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.  There are several carriages from the era that bring those stories to life.   As well as the pioneers crossing the USA in their wagon trains.  There is a stage coach, a chuck wagon, a pioneer wagon - preserved impeccably.   Such an enjoyable day.

Air Boat Ride

March 30/2014  Weather ~ Beautiful clear day after the storm, 75.

We are boating people but have never taken an Air Boat ride in Florida.  Many rides are in the Everglades which we hear are quite good.  It's a bit too far to get there so we found a one hour trip in Central Florida's Green Swamp down the Withlacoochee River (Crooked River)  near Inverness on Wild Bills Airboat Rides.  The boat held 21 people it was much larger than we thought it would be, but it was fast and the seating was tiered so everyone had a great view.  Oh yes and loud.  You get ear muff noise protectors which you want to wear.  Our captain was born and raised on the banks of the river, he was proud to tell us he was a Cracker.   (just to understand the slang, a Cracker is a descendant from families who have lived in the state for many generations. It is considered a source of pride to be descended from "frontier people who did not just live but flourished in a time before air conditioning, mosquito repellent, and screens")

The ride is excellent.   Scenery is eerie and since it is spring the colors are so intensely green.  Yes we saw a bit of wildlife; an Osprey in her nest, a gator laying in the banks of the river, a rattlesnake slithering across the top of the river and yet another snake called a water bandit also making its way across the water.   Highly recommend you put this exhilarating ride on your bucket list.

Internation Harvester Museum - Stew Paquette's

March 29/14  Weather Hot 83 with Severe Storm warnings all day.   3 inches of rain and blustering wind.

My brother and girlfriend are visiting for the weekend and it happened that today is a nasty day.  However that does not stop us from keeping busy.   We started with lunch, then shopped at the cowboy store Boot Barn, then loaded up at the Russell Stove Candy Factory, while passing by a sign for a IH Farmall Tractor Museum ,,,,,we thought why not?  It is one of those Roadside America Offbeat Tourist Attractions.

Since my brother and I grew up on our family farm we remembered some of the tractors our Dad had.  As well my brother worked a few years at the International Harvester plant in Chatham.    So we went exploring and were impressed with the amount of fully restored red Farmall tractors in the collection and International Harvester trucks and farm equipment.   Who would have thought we would have been doing this on an afternoon in Florida!!!!

Hunger Games Horse Movie Stars

Weather  mid 70's , nights end up cool just above 50
Little did we know that there were movie stars here on site at the Grand Oaks RV Resort.........   Two of the most handsome you will ever meet !   And they will eat right out of your hands.  My new friends love a nibble of carrot every night at sunset, they are so gentle.

Dieuwe and Tristan  both Friesians were the director's choice to pull Katniss and Peeta's Chariot in the Hunger Game 2.  Ocala Daily News Star Banner reported last November these two were chosen out of 17 horses kept on set.  

Waterless Cleaner

This is the best cleaner we have used without doing a full wash/wax of the coach.

16 oz Liquid Turtle Wax
7 cups distilled water
1 teaspoon Dawn Detergent
1/4 teaspoon Lemon Juice
Spray container
Mix in a gallon container and fill spray bottle with solution. Spray on coach and wipe with soft clean cloth.  Let dry and then buff with dry soft cloth.  Micro fiber will work too.

Vintage gas pumps

We happen to stop at a used motorcycle shop called Wheeler's Cycles in Fruitland Park and found some impressive restored fuel pumps...... You just never know.   The front of the store and sign are plain looking so it was quite the surprise when you enter into the shop.

Guess the price tags............. Some $7000, some $10000!!  We talked to the owner and he sold 10 at a car show on the weekend.   I was asking him if Jay Leno bought any, apparently not but a Nascar driver and a Country Singer were a couple of his high profile clients.  Very cool.

Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

March 15/14  Weather beautiful clear warm day 77, low at night 61

Do you know what the Florida State Bird is?   Flamingo, right?  Wrong.....   it is the Northern Mockingbird.  Funny as a kid I always associated the Flamingos with Florida.  Even when I see one of those tacky plastic lawn ornaments.   So where are all the pretty pink birds hiding?   It felt like there were lots of them in Florida when I was a kid but maybe that's because when we visited the sunny south we hit all the theme parks in a two week span and those are your memories.  The Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park features many different native Florida wildlife.    It is situated on the Homosassa River and without a doubt the main attraction is the West Indian Manatee but for us it was the Flamingos!

Take the walking tour and see black bear, alligators, otters, hippo, birds of prey, whooping crane, shore birds, waterfowl, reptiles, key deer and the beloved manatee.    Spoiler alert~ Flamingos are found on the island in the shore birds section!

Gators

Wounded Bald Eagle

 

 

Owls

Bike Week in Daytona Beach

Weather  Sunny, warm about 80, 60's at night
March 9, 2014
Bike week is on at Daytona Beach which is a nice ride of under 2 hours from our RV park at Grand Oaks in Lady Lake.   We met up with friends; 4 other bikers for morning breakfast in Eustis then headed over.  There are many events in the Daytona area.   Vendors are setup at the Speedway where thousands of bikers stopped in to see new motorcycles, choppers, trikes, gear...... you name it everything for the enthusiast. 

Daytona speedway

Arlen Ness Chopper

BMW Trike

Indian Motorcycle

On a Monday afternoon most of the crazies are still recovering from the weekend so it was pretty tame.  We cruised down Main Street which was not as bad as we thought it would be.  Stop and go for a mile.  

cruising main street

cruising main street

Snowbirds have Taken Over Florida

March 3 - April 3/ 2014 

Sad to say but this is the first time not reserving ahead has hindered us in the last 2 years of traveling along as the urge takes us.   While in Arcadia we tried to book campsites along the Atlantic Ocean and the Big Rig ones were all booked solid till March 23.   Hmmmm 3 weeks from now.   So we could have stayed in Arcadia but it did not really intrigue us since we did get to ride out almost everyday and see the local sites.   The weather is definitely warmer in the southern area but we decided to move back to central Florida where the motorcycle riding is much better.

Darn Snowbirds isn't anyone left back in the North????  

 Well our motto has always been to just go with the flow so that's ok.  We are back in the Grand Oaks RV and Carriage Resort in Lady Lake.  It's such a beautiful place, fate must have meant for us to come back.
There is a beautiful 1968 Cadillac Convertible for sale on the grounds.   Billy thinks it would be a sweet tow vehicle.  Ha Ha.  It's almost as big as our motorhome!!!

Solomon's Castle - The Rembrant of Recycling

Weather  March 1/14 Sunny and warm 80's plus, 60 at night
Beautiful day for a ride and see what Solomon's Castle is all about.   We had a few campers tell us we needed to see this place;  so why not?  The ride from Riverside RV Resort was about 45 minutes through cattle ranches and orange groves.  That by far is one of the best smells on the motorcycle we have come across.  The orange blossoms!!!  

  
Howard Solomon is an artist on a different level......  definitely one of those "off beat" tourist attractions. 

 Solomon's Castle  (which he lives in and shows to the public on tour) is 12,000 square feet and the outside of the the house is covered in aluminum off-set printing plates.  All of his artwork inside is completely made from recycled things - what others throw out he creates with.   Imagine making a sculpture from oil drums, broken appliances, car parts to name a few. 

Howard is the king of pun's in naming all his artwork...  quite a tongue in cheek sense of humor for each of his masterpieces.  He is also named the  DaVinci of Debris.

As well on the property he has built a spanish galleon, a moat, a dungeon, a drawbridge, stained glass windows and gardens.... and a restaurant.   Howard can be found in his workshop most days, hammering away.    He will gladly engage you in a conversation which is quite entertaining too..... remember to lighten up when conversing as Howard does not take any conversation too seriously.

Wow what a ride ..... Life

That pretty much says it all:)