Final Posting for Trip to the Keys

OK, don't get me wrong-Glenn is awesome at driving the motor home. I have never had any concerns about being safe, etc. with him at the wheel This said, I must add that each and every time I move out of my navigator's seat he somehow ends up in a precarious situation. Such an incident will be described as follows:
We departed Todd's at about 11am. It was a fairly decent temperature- like sweatshirt weather. I'm not sure exactly where it happened, bt at some point the temperature began to drop. I might even venture to use the word "plummetted". The white stuff began to fall. Glenn starts looking frequently at the digital thermometer, checking the outside temperature. He is getting nervous about our pipes freezing since he decided against doing the winterizing at Todd's as I thought had been previously decided upon. Eventually he pulled into a roadside rest and emptied the water tanks. He used all the RV antifreeze he had brought along which apparently was not enough. He decides to pull off at a Walmart to purchase more. While we had been stopped, I had moved to sit in the back and work on editing some photos. I was in the middle of something so I continued working as he drove. I heard him mutter something about Walmart and he pulled off the interstate. Soon I heard curse words, something about "losing Walmart". By the time I closed up the computer and returned to the navigator's seat, we were on a dark road that had turned into one lane or less, heading up a steep hill that soon turned into a dead end! When towing a vehicle, meeting with a dead end means only one thing-get out, unhook, and Deb drives the jeep while Glenn finds a way to turn the RV around in a very small space. So he exits the RV, the step breaks as he goes down, nearly sending him to the ground. (more curse words) He unhooks the jeep, turns it around, and I get in, ready to head out of the narrow spot that we are in. Oh, did I mention that it's freaking freezing????? So Glenn drives the RV forward to see if the drive we are in has a spot to turn around. I no longer have sight of him in the rear view mirror. I wait and wait, getting a little nervous about what he met with as he proceeded. At this point, I don't even know what STATE we are in! Finally, I see the headlights behind me and we got the heck out of there, a bit muddier than we were a few minutes before. We drove and drove, finally finding a parking lot that we could use to hook the keep back up to the RV. As Glenn opens the door to the RV to come back to the jeep, Sparkle ran out and took off across the parking lot with Glenn in hot pursuit. It becomes evident at this point that she needs more practice on her "come" command. As I got out to assist in the chase, my glass case fell out of my pocket and rolled under the jeep- no easy feat to recover that. Glenn finally snatched Sparkle, returned her to the RV, and got things all hooked up. Sparkle received a lecture about running from us and wouldn't even look at us for several hours. We proceeded down the road, found another Walmart, and got everything taken care of. We located a truck stop that had an RV dump and were able to empty the holding tanks and all was well. During the entire drama, I was pretty much chuckling to myself. We weren't on a time schedule and no harm was done- well other than the broken step. However, I will say this- if there was any possible way that I could have been remotely to blame for any of it, the whole story would have gone altogether differently and I know for sure that it would have included tears by me! In conclusion, I can only say- THANK GOD I DIDN'T DO THAT!!!
This concludes another summary of a trip with Glenn and Deb.

DC Stopover

After leaving St.Augustine, we traveled north on I95. We decided to stop in DC and see Todd. We ended up arriving at his place about 4 pm, after some near death experiences in traffic getting there. It was nice to see his current residence and spend some time with him. Glenn pursuaded him to go to Murphy's for dinner in spite of Todd's reluctance. Glenn insisted on having the Jamison Steak for dinner and Todd finally relented. So we had dinner at Murphy's and coffee at one of Todd's favorite coffee houses, Misha's. We spent the night at Todd's house and departed at 11 am Monday, heading for home. At this point, we have been gone for three weeks, longer than any previous trip in the RV. It was in the 60s in DC.

Photos from KOA and St. Augustine Beach

Sparkle was scared of all the birds but she wanted just a bit closer

Don't know what kind of bird this is, but it looked like a snake in the water

These almost looked fake!

Just chillin'

Glenn and his new friend, Eddie Paolucci

Our home on the beach

Sandy Sparkle

A Little Bit of Paradise

We spent a little time at the KOA campground before we checked out. The small lake just outside of our site was full of splashing fish....big fish. Glenn tossed a line in for a few minutes but no luck. Sparkle and I walked around most of the lake checking out the huge variety of birds there. Pretty impressive. We left before 11 a.m. and headed straight to the beach. As planned, we pulled the RV and jeep right out on the beach. The wind was blowing so we set the RV up as a nice wind break and positioned our chairs. The rest of the day was spent on the sunny beach of St. Augustine. It was truly amazing. We ate our lunch, had a little beer and wine, chatted with a few people, fed seagulls, and laughed at Sparkle running all over the place, chasing the birds...and a few people. It was like having a home right smack on the ocean.

An interesting man in his caar approached us, wondering where in Ohio we were from. He was from Akron and couldn't believe that we were from Lima as he is a part of a three piece "band" that just accepted a booking in Lima. After some conversation, we have figured out that his group will most likely be playing at the Italian dinner at the Civic Center on Palm Sunday. He is 77 years old and quite a character. After he left, Glenn called him on his cell and invited him back to "our place" for a sandwich. So we spent som time getting to know Eddie Paolucci, an interesting little Italian man from Akron, Ohio. We have planned to meet again at the Italian dinner.

After Eddie left, we spent some time on the beach watching the fog approach. It never actually fell to surface but it was really cool to see it coming in. There is no doubt we will return to St. Augustine Beach. If I could, I'd camp right there on that beach and skip the campground and the hookups. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, and we had everything we needed within three feet of where we sat. Life was good. Before we took off, we showered the sand off, bathed the pup, then reluctantly took off to places north of us...where it is rainy and cold. We stopped at a Flying J for the night....all three of us were completely exhausted from our day at the beach.

Today we drove through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and we are currently stopped at a Flying J again, watching the Vikings play the Saints. Tomorrow we are heading to Virgina to spend an evening with Todd before we move on toward home. We are anxious to see his current home and spend a little time with him.

Well the Vikings just lost to the Saints so Glenn is going to bed muttering some pretty ugly words. We will head to Virginia in the morning. This will likely be the final posting until we get home, probably Tuesday. Well, it seems I am unable to upload any more pics at this time...once again, more pics to follow.

Camera Cords Found! Pictures as promised...

Just a few of the gators seen on Rt. 41

Some of the gargantuan tarpon at Robbie's

Robbie's, home of the infamous tarpon

Tarpon going after the dead fish Glenn was tossing them

January 22nd

After a great breakfast, we said goodbye to Kathy and Tim, packed up stuff to take back to the RV and said goodbye to Sharon. It was really hot when we left there, even more so because Sharon's AC is temporarily down. It stayed hot and sunny as we left Mulberry, headed through Orlando, around Daytona, and neared St. Augustine. As we neared St. Augustine, it appeared that something was on fire in the distance. There seemed to be a heavy cloud of smoke in the distance over the whole city of St. Augustine. As we actually entered the area, we realized that it wasn't smoke, but fog! We opened the window to discover that the temperature had dropped considerably. We checked into the KOA at St. Augustine Beach, relaxed a minute, then took off to explore the beaches. The fog was heavy over the ocean and the beaches looked ominous, but beautiful. We found a couple places where you can drive out on the beach so we took off in the jeep and rode down the nearly empty beach. We rode into St. Augustine and looked around a little. It's a really cool looking city, still lit up with lots of white lights, I guess maybe left from Christmas. I'm not sure if we'll spend any time in the city this trip, but our plan for tomorrow is to check out of the campground, drive to the beach in the RV and pull it right out onto the beach and just hang out for the day. It will be like having a condo on the beach, just for a day! We are really hoping for a pretty, sunny, warm day. When we leave the beach tomorrow, we'll start moving north, toward home. We've never been gone this long in the RV. The weather at home sounds miserable and we don't have any immediate responsibilites, but the grandkids are there and we are missing seeing them at this point. Too bad we can't just fly them down for a few days! And then there's Lucky Dog...can't have him thinking that we deserted him. I'm sure he is liking having Sparkle off his back for a while, but he's probably missing his "dad".
Photos of St. Augustine will be posted when I find the darn camera cords!!!!!!

Just Hanging Out (Jan. 21st)

Our plan for today was to go to the pool at Sharon's park after we did a little shopping and errand running. Well we got carried away looking at stuff for Sharon's new place and we no sooner got back to her place and the raindrops started trickling down. Glenn hung out with Tim part of the day and spent some time hanging blinds in Sharon's place and doing a variety of other odd jobs that he could take care of pretty easily. He had one mishap trying to shorten a blind that lead us to another trip to Lowes after another great dinner by Sharon. So Tim's wife, Kathy, Sharon, and I took off for Lowes while Glenn and Tim rode around in the golf cart and drank beer. By the time we returned, we were all in need of a nice, cold margarita. We stayed up chatting and planning stuff for the new winter home, spending Sharon's money with every new idea that came up. Spending other people's money is so much fun! Sharon and I took Sparkle for a nighttime walk around her park, looking in windows for ideas as we went!

Gators Gators Everywhere!!!! Jan. 20th

This morning we pulled out of Key Largo and headed toward my sister's place in Mulberry, Fla. We traveled Rt. 41 which borders the Everglades. I LOVE that road because it is jammed full of gators and really cool birds. I saw at LEAST 100 gators and 5 TIMES that many beautiful birds. It's really hard to get good photos of the birds because Glenn can't pull over very well in the RV since it's a two lane road. So I just take a lot of shots and hope some of them have birds and gators in them! I would LOVE to post some of them if only I knew where my camera cords were.
We got to Sharon's by dinner fortunately because she had beef and noodles cooking. YUMMY. We had a great meal topped off with dessert and spent the rest of the night chatting with Sharon and Glenn's buddy, Tim, who lives in the park next to Sharon. Oh, and did I mention that we drank margaritas all evening??? mmmmmm.....
(gator photos to come later)

The Day of the Tarpon

Today was another awesome weather day. We headed over to the beach again. Today I opted for sunscreen.
As we sat on the beach soaking up the rays, we repeatedly saw little fins surfacing. They looked too small for dolphins and weren't the right color. We heard people around us guessing what it was...that was humorous in itself. After a while, we struck up a conversation with a couple teenage girls who informed us that what we saw were tarpon. The girls were "locals" and very friendly and informed. I was attempting to wade out closer in that ice water to get a better look. Again, I gave up but the girls told us of a place down the road where you can see them up close as well as feed them. They even made a phone call to find out the exact mile marker for us to find this place.
So after dinner we headed down to Islamorada to a place called Robbie's at mile marker 77. Sure enough, there were tarpon to be seen as well as fed for a small fee. These fish were the biggest fish I've ever seen that close. They were swarming all around the docs. We purchase a bucket of dead fish and Glenn tossed a couple in. Wow, they were all over those things!!!! These things were FEET long. I tightened my hold on Sparkle's leash just a bit. She would have been a great dessert for those monstrous things! I have some great photos of them, but unfortunately I can't find my camera cords to upload the pics into the blog. I know they are here somewhere!!!! When they resurface, I'll post pics of the gargantuan tarpon we saw.

Over Anxious? (jan. 18th)

Because I was without easy access to internet for a few days, I prepared posts and will enter them all now that I am connected, at least for a day.
Today, the 18th, we are at the state park...John Pennykamp...in Key Largo. It's a nice park, beach is very mediocre but it is, nonetheless, a beach, and the weather is great We got up this morning and drove down the street to The Blue Cow coffee shop for coffee and a little breakfast. It is a gorgeous day, sunny, warm...perfect. We poked around a while in the area and then headed back to the campground and over to the beach. Glenn immediately began lathering up with #30 sunscreen. I'm thinking hmmm....I need to get a little color so I'll hold off. Well THAT was DUMB. I never felt the sun burning right into my skin. When does one learn??? It never hurt and turned tan soon, but honestly, what am I thinking??? Way too anxious to get a bit of color I guess.

The snorkeling here is supposed to be awesome...there is a huge coral reef off shore. I had my equipment, (stop laughing!) and I really wanted to take a look, but the water was too fricking cold!!!! I really tried, but just couldn't do it.

The Cutest Dog in the Keys

Moving On up the Road

Glenn and I at No Name Pub

Dollar bills hanging from walls and ceiling at No Name Pub

Our whole group waiting for a table inside

The group enjoys dinner at the Pub-Glenn, Lou, June, Gwen, Larry, Kris, Craig, and Deb

Today was our last day here at Sugarloaf. Tomorrow we are leaving for a state park in the northern keys....John Pennykamp Park. I can't believe our time here is up already. I hate leaving our friends already. They all have time left. We have the time, but this place is really expensive and the state parks are about 1/3 the cost so it's time to go.

We went to the flea market today. It was really nice but I was SO hot. We bought a few little items and then went with the group to the No Name Pub for lunch. Lou, the singer that Glenn "performed" with, and his wife June, joined us. Then we spent the afternoon in the pool drinking umbrella drinks. Today's drink was provided by Craig- peach daquiris. YUM. Tonight we went to the Seafood Festival in Key West, then came back here for the entertainment in the pub. The guy was good, but there was a lot of activity going on besides him with the patrons there. It was hard to know where to look. In ring one, we had the lovebirds, who should definitely gone back to their RV and continued their activities because we were all sick of watching them make out and then some. In ring two was the old man who was yelling at his woman for kissing a young stud, presumably gay, and very VERY drunk. They were imitating the couple in ring one I think. Ring three had Glenn and Craig's new friend, the Viet Nam vet who had lost several body parts in the war including a leg. He hobbled in extremely drunk and proceeded to fall off two stools. Ring four was a young man-maybe 35- and his girlfriend-probably 55-60. They were slow dancing and she was giving him lessons on how to do it sexy I guess. In the meantime, the guy sang on, and the couple in ring one just became more and more obnoxious but it was so hard NOT to watch them. Oh, and ring five...that was Glenn and the bartender. Glenn got busted for bringing his own beer into the pub even though all five of us at the table with him also had carried in our own stuff as well as several people around us.
It was a very busy time. A good time was had by all, especially the folks in ring one. wow.

It is likely that after today, I won't have internet for a few days. Thus, my exact whereabouts may be in question for a while. Ta ta til then.

Hurrah Florida!!!

Well the state of Florida finally turned up the heat. Today was a pool day and it felt really great. I know I'm not going to be bronze by the time I get home, but that's ok.
Yesterday Craig called us bright and early to go out to breakfast. So the six of us went to a cool lilttle place on Summerland Key. We spent the rest of the day just hanging with friends. We decided to have a group meal so I took the meatballs and pasta fagioli, Kris made some awesome steak bites and chicken/jalapeno bites....so yummy. We had a ton of food by the time we drug it all out and all ten of us ate well. After that we went to the pub where an entertainer was singing. We really enjoyed this guy. His last song he got some help from Glenn who had had more than enough to drink. He actually went UP on the stage and sang Ring of Fire or something like that with the guy. OMG. I'll say no more.
Today we took a jeep ride. We went to No Name Key and saw a couple Key Deer. They are so darn cute with their little selves! By the time we got back, it was nice and sunny and we all hit the pool. It was a great afternoon. This evening, we went with Kris and Craig into town. It is such a hopping place, especially at night! We didn't make it to the sunset party on Mallory Square because we didn't want to get out of the pool in time. So hopefully tomorrow we will go to it if it is nice. Tomorrow is our last day here at Sugarloaf. Then we move on up the road to John Pennykamp State Park. I hate to leave here and leave our friends. It's time to move on though. I have no doubt that the tide will always pull us back.

Party at Our Place

Our RV friends came to our place after dinner for some drinks and fun. What great people!!

Schooner's Wharf

New friends- Bill and Linda

New Friends- Jan and Harvey

Old friends- Larry and Gwen

Old Friends- Kris and Craig

Entertainer: Michael McCloud

We went into Key West today for lunch. We went to Schooner's Wharf where an entertainer sang while we enjoyed lunch. The temperature was in the 60s, which was really very comfortable. It's not suntan weather, but I suspect it's better than what is happening in Ohio.

Sparkle at Kamp K9

The above photos show Sparkle involved at Kamp K9, an interactive doggy park withing the RV park. She was in there by herself so there wasn't a lot of interacting, but she had the park activites to herself to play to her heart's content. Notice in one pic she is wearing her tropical lei. Shortly after that, she ate it. The top two pics show Sparkle after she decided to leave me in the park alone and went through the slats in the fence. Didn't I feel dumb...

The last photo is a repeat that I don't know how to delete. My girlfriend got me involved in blogging but didn't give me complete directions on how to do all the little things that pop up.

More Friends Arrive

Today Kris and Craig arrived. It was great to see them. It's almost like no time passed. We all ate at the pub tonight here at the park. They have good pizza, even though it's pretty much like a box pizza I guess. We all came to our RV then and sat around drinking wine and beer....and more wine and more beer. A good time was had by all. We had a lot of catching up to do.
Glenn and I went into Key West this morning briefly. We just rode through town a bit. The place is just interesting. We are all going back tomorrow for lunch at Schooners. Kris says there is a guy there who sings during the day that sounds like Elton John so we are going to go see him and eat. Tomorrow night there is a BBQ here at the park and then some sort of entertainment in the pub later. Us old folks really know how to have a good time, don't we?
Even though the weather is still pretty chilly, I have to say that the beauty of the Keys doesn't change. The water is the prettiest I have seen anywhere I think. Coming down Route 1 is just one pretty scene after another, with the color of the water just shouting out at you all the way.
I'm hoping to get to the sunset party on Mallory Square while we are here as well. That's always such a fun time.

Days 6-8

Because of the weird weather down here right now, we changed our plans a bit and decided to go visit my cousin Pam before we head to the Keys. The plan was to go to the casino in Hollywood, Fl. and park there, then go see Pam for a while. We would then go back to the casino and spend the night in their parking lot and visit Pam some the next day. So we left Lazy Days in Tampa Saturday and headed south. We went across Alligator Alley but didn't see one gator. When we got to the casino, there were signs EVERYWHERE that said NO RVs. What the heck? That messed up everything. So off we went in search of a Walmart. With the help of Pam on the phone and good old Tom Tom, we finally found one fairly close to Pam's. She was so freezing cold in her house, she decided to come visit us in the RV to get warm! The Floridians aren't holding up so well in this unusually cold weather. They don't have proper heat in their homes and for the most part don't have warm coats, etc. because they simply don't need them. This last week has been very hard on the native Florida folks.
We had a nice visit with Pam. Since she has had some recent health issues, it was really good to see her in person and know that she is doing well in spite of her situation. I was quite relieved to be able to spend some time with her. We stayed in Walmart's parking lot that night and went over to Pam's Sunday and parked in the field next to her place. We hung out at her gorgeous home for a while and then went to IKEA. From there, Glenn and I left for the Keys. We drove to the service plaza on the turnpike and slept there. This morning we got up and headed down to Sugarloaf, where we are currently staying. It is still cold, but we did sit in the sun for a while today and it felt really good. Tonight we played Bingo in the Pub here at the RV park. I won 25 bucks and it was really fun. Our friends Gwen and Larry are here and Kris and Craig will be here tomorrow. It feels like no time passed since we saw them last year.
Interesting tidbit: My sister told me to watch out, the iguanas are falling out of trees. I laughed and dismissed it. When we were at Pam's, I took Sparkle for a little walk out to the intercoastal in Pam's backyard. As we passed a row of palm trees, I noticed several iguanas laying on the ground, some on their backs. Apparently, when the temperatures dip like they have this week, iguanas fall from the trees and are immobile. If the temps go up, they will come alive and be ok. When I mentioned the fallen iguanas to Pam, she assured me that those iguanas aren't ever gonna get up and walk away. I guess when the temps stay low for as long as they have, the iguanas are permanently just plain dead. I didn't get a photo of them or I would display them for you. I will be watching for falling iguanas down here in the Keys. The ones I saw here last year were big enough to cause some damage if they fell on your head!

Day 5

Got up this morning and went for our free breakfast. I feel really poor every time I post that we went for free food or drink. But hey, it's part of the package! Glenn didn't want Sparkle to be mad at him again so he left her out of the cage. She did fine. We then took a ride looking for a place that my sister had told us about but to no avail. It was a fairly decent temp earlier and sunny. When we got back from looking, Sharon rode over here and went to free lunch with us...there it is again...another freebie. We are just chillin' now. It is supposed be decent today, but tomorrow a front is coming in and I guess it's gonna freeze up the state real good. People are freaking out. There is a big run on coats, heaters, etc in the stores. Next week, after this big ugly front wipes out the orange groves, it is supposed to warm up. It has to improve sooner or later so I guess we'll just wait it out!!! I'm not leaving til I can sit my fat self on the beach in a bathing suit!!!

From Winter Storm to Sunny and Warm...NOT

Destination: Florida Keys, Tampa area, Mulberry,and wherever else we end up!
Day 1: Glenn, Sparkle, and I left mid morning with threats of heavy ice on I 75. It was snowing heavily when we left and the temp was 7 degrees. BRRRRR.... Lucky stayed at Jodi and John's. We didn't think it would be nice to leave "the puppy" with them since she still gets up in the middle of the night to go out. Lucky likes a break from her anyways.
We traveled with no problems all day and also with no temp increase to speak of. We stopped somewhere in Tennessee for the night. It got into the teens but no worry, we have a furnace and we used it. We also had my trusty down comforter that kept up toasty warm.

Day 2: More of the same basically. It was still cold for the part of the country we were in. I convinced Glenn that he needed a nap just as we neared an outlet mall so he stopped to rest and I hopped out to shop. It was a great stop for me because the last stop was Kirkland's and they had a huge sale with tons of bargains. I found some really cool things for my sister's new double-wide in Mulberry. Glenn was less excited when I got back to the RV and told him he had to drive over by the store to pick up the goods. We drove to 2 miles from the Fla. state line and stopped for the night. Again, a frigid night but not to worry, we were warm.

Day 3: We stopped at the Florida welcome center for our free juice because we can't afford our 1 oz. glass of orange juice. ha. It's just tradition...we HAVE to do it! It was colder at that welcome center than it's ever been when we were there. We drove on to our favorite stopover...Micanopy...and had a little lunch. The folks in the cafe said that much worse temps are expected still. YIKES. Oh well, we are still enjoying ourselves and it's still a LITTLE warmer than it is at home. We drove on down to Mulberry where Glenn's friend lives and Sharon's new place is. We parked the RV in a field at Tim's park and went to Sharon's for the evening. Glenn and I both love her place. The park is really beautiful and her place is so, so nice. Tim and his wife came over and we had dinner and margaritas and Sharon and I discussed lots of ideas for decorating her place. I think I know what I'm talking about because I have a friend that is a decorator. HA. In any case, we love her new place and I think she does too. the thing she loves most about it is that there isn't any snow there. That might be a temporary thing though. It's pretty darn cold still!

Day 4: We left the field this morning and drove to Lazy Days RV Park near Tampa, a little ways away from Sharon's. We had reservations starting today. We got here in time for our free lunch...woo hooo....and spent the afternoon walking through lots of RVs here. It sounds dumb, I know, but it's really fun. It finally warmed up and we sat out in the sun for a while. Then we went back to Sharon's for dinner and some more margaritas! Unfortunately, the temps are heading down again and are expected to be in the 20s tonight. We are warm, but there is much concern down here for the citrus crops. Everywhere you see blankets covering trees, bushes, etc. We saw one entire field that was covered. But you can't cover entire orange groves and the growers are very worried. The temps aren't supposed to warm up until Sunday I think. We are here at Lazy Days until Saturday. Then we leave for the Keys. We are hoping that it warms up some, but we may not get to hit a pool at all! We'll find plenty to do if not, I'm sure. We have friends that will be there when we get there.
Sparkle was very upset with Glenn tonight. When we left for lunch today, he put her in the cage. She hasn't had to go in the cage for a very long time. She usually stays on the breezeway with Lucky and they do just fine. For some reason, Glenn doesn't trust the little angel, so he caged her up. She wouldnt' go anywhere near him all night. It was pretty funny. That's what he gets. This afternoon, he left the door open for a minute and she bolted out to say hi to some people. Don't you know, she chose to chase after people who were carrying a BIRD on their finger. I don't know if it was a parrot...probably a macaw or something...but all I could think of was that that bird was going to take off in fear of the crazed puppy that was chasing them. Surprisingly it didn't. It just kept sitting on that guy's finger talking away.
It's time to go bundle up in my down comforter! More to come....and I HOPE it has something to do with "sunny and warm"!