JUPITER ....FINALLY!!

We finally made it to Jupiter after spending 6 days at Lazydays for a 45 minute fix. But we now have satellite and Ron is a happy camper again. I wanted to get to Jupiter to decorate for Christmas. My family always put the tree up and decorated the house right after Thanksgiving. When Ron was growing up they did not get their tree until Christmas eve...so he wasn't as anxious about the delay.


Our exterior decorations.





Our interior decorations. Same tree as last year. Every year
since we have been married, we buy a dated ornament. This year
is the shell cross int he middle front


These stockings were from John, Kandy, Ali and Jack last year, thus the Texas Cowboy Boot/stocking. We found the perfect spot to hang them.

The campground is okay...not as nice as the ones in Naples and Marathon but we are on a concrete pad, the people are nice and I won at bingo last night. What more could you ask for?

We will be here until February 1 and plan on spending some time in Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

If I don't blog again before Christmas, we wish all a very Merry Christmas!!

Hope all is well.

Naples to Marathon to Naples...we're heading the wrong direction!

From Naples we drove to Marathon, FL alittle over 200 miles. Marathon is located in the Keys, between Key Largo and Key West. Took one day and drove into Key West. A place I have always wanted to see...thanks to Jimmy Buffet. I was somewhat disappointed. The majority of the shops along famous Duval Street were too touristy, selling T-shirts and souvenirs. But if you wanted to eat and drink you did not have to walk far. We walked Duval Street and Mallory Square and ate lunch at Louies Backyard. Also visited the site of the southernmost point of the Continental USA only 90 miles from Cuba. It is such a popular site that you have to wait in line for your turn to take a picture.




Pretty Pelican. It's fun to view different birds than what
we are use to seeing. We've seen blue herons, egrets,
ospreys, seagulls and others we can't identify.





Around Marathon the Christmas decorations are dolphins and lighthouse. Still can't believe its only 2 weeks away.






We also spent a day in Key Largo and another day in Florida City. Everyone we told in Florida that we were coming to the Keys would ask....

so you fish...NO....
so you boat....NO.....
so you like to eat and drink YES.

And they were right. There aren't very many beaches & they are very shallow. There are only a few golf courses and most are private.

The prices in Florida are high but extremely high in the Keys. Gas is $3.12, restaurant are outlandish. Ron got a small bowl of lobster chowder that cost $17.50 not to mention the cost of the campgrounds. It's alittle better as you move
further north.

Our campground (RV resort which they call them, I guess so they can charge more) was great. It was small with only 36 sites but from our spot you could see the ocean. They had a nice area along the water with lounge chairs and a tiki hut. The drive through the keys is beautiful. There is only one highway in and out bordered on one side by the ocean and the other side the gulf.

We also met a vary nice couple - Tom & Barb from Michigan who introduced us to a new game - Sequence. We had a couple of "game" nights then went to dinner together our last night in Marathon. We really enjoyed their company.


Tom, Barb, Ron and me at Castaways.



Our original plans when we left Marathon was to drive to Jupiter and spend the next
7 weeks there. Instead we are heading back to Seffner to the dealer to have the satellite worked on again. Hopefully, we'll be out of there by the end of next week. I want to put some holiday decorations up but don't want to until we are settled.

Had a 2 night stop over in Naples and will hit the road again tomorrow.

Hope all is well!

Joan & Ron

BEACHES...BEACHES...BEACHES...LOVE IT!

We are still in Naples Florida enjoying the warm weather, blue skies & beaches. We celebrated Thanksgiving with a dinner organized by the campground. They furnished the turkey & ham and everyone brought a side dish. Plenty of food and we met some nice people. We've frequented a couple of beaches and played one round of golf. We also drove to Sanibel Island and Captiva. Sanibel has been noted as having the best beaches for shelling. Did some shopping and ate lunch at the Mucky Ducky on Captiva Island. Foods ok, but the best part is sitting outside with the ocean breezes.



Shells on Sanibel Islands Bowmans Beach
A little hard to walk on, but a great
spot if your a collector


Darn!!! They ruined our plans.

The real estate agents here hold 3-4 open houses a week during prime time, so we had to go to one. Beautiful 5 bedroom, 4.5 bath home with the entire back wall of floor to ceiling windows for a view of the ocean and a price tag of $5,750,000. Just a little out of our price range! We thought the condo's we viewed in Naples were expensive at $850,000. I guess the housing recession in Florida we hear about didn't hit this area.

After spending the day worshiping the sun at Naples Municipal Beach and Pier, we went back to enjoy a glass of wine while watching the sunset. An awesome sight.


Naples Pier during the day. Lots of fisherman
trying to catch sting rays and snook.



Sunset at Naples Pier.....Going



Going


Going





Gone...as the ocean swallows the sun.
Another day in Naples




Enjoying a glass of wine on the pier watching
the sunset....until the Naples police came by
to tell us they did not allow alcohol on the
pier....oh well.

Hope all is well!

AN UNIVITED GUEST...

We finally made it to Naples. We got everything done on the coach and by Saturday around 11 am we hit the road. We lost 2 days of our stay here, so we are going to have to squeeze everything we want to do in 12 days.

Woke up this morning to find our electricity running off of our batteries instead of the shore pole. The office sent someone to open the camp electric box only to find a frog had gotten into it and shorted the wiring. After removing the crispy critter, rewiring the box and changing out the 50 amp outlet, we were back in business. This lifestyle is a lot of fun but has it's challenges.


Frog legs anyone? Poor little thing.

We then went on a search for an urgent care facility to have Ron’s elbow examined. For the last couple of months he has experience some pain and swelling in his left elbow. After some home remedies that didn't seem to help we thought it was time to seek professional help. Found a clinic and 1.5 hours later Ron's elbow was lanced & injected with cortisone. Hopefully it will feel better, because they have some beautiful golf courses down here.

It is hard to get into the mood for Christmas when the temperature is in the 80's and your running around in shorts and flip flops. So to try to get into the holiday spirit we went to the Festival of Lights on historic 3rd street. It was a nice event but very crowded. The event featured several choirs, bands and performers along with a small parade and the lighting of the tree. After the tree was lit "snow" was floating from every lamp post. The crowd went crazy, pretending it was real snow. The residents love it because this is the only snow they ever see. The visitors from the northern states were so glad this wasn't the real stuff.


Some of these people take this event seriously
and dress in their holiday digs. Have no idea
who this lady is, but she doesn't look too happy.
Lots of snobs down here.


Streets lined with lit palm trees. The ceremonial tree
they lit was a regular tree but I couldn't get a clear picture


"Snow"


"Snow" and snow machine. You can see the
jug of soapy bubbles in the lamp pots.



Ron had to stand under the snow, like all of the other kids.

Hope all is well!

STILL IN SEFFNER....

Well....we are still in Seffner Florida at the dealership. Our appointment for service was last Friday at noon and we got in Monday. This place is really busy and it's not even their busiest time of the year. We have reservations for Naples Florida starting yesterday...so I guess we will be a couple of days late. We are members of their Crown Club so I can't complain about the accommodations here. We have full hook-ups and three meals a day, plus a newspaper delivered to your front door every day.


Entrance to Crown Club


Dining Room


Lounge area


One of many "waiting rooms"



Crown Club pool


LazyDays service area. This is just one section
of coaches waiting for delivery or service.


Our little coach in the bay getting service. Ours is one
of the smallest coaches.


On Sunday we drove to Ocala (about 90 miles north) to visit with friends Tom and Sue, who we met last year RVing. We had lunch then spent a few hours at Silver Springs. Silver Springs is a nature theme park surrounding a natural spring that pumps out 550 million gallons of sparkling, clear water a day. We rode the glass bottom boats which offer a view of the underwater life in the 99.8% pure waters, at a constant 72 degrees of the Silver River. At times you can view alligators, turtles, heron etc. The riverbanks are lined with towering bald cypress trees some more than 500 years old. In one section it carries you through an area reproduction from its 10,000 year history, with displays of a working archaeological dig site, Indian village, army stockade and train depot. We enjoyed the attraction and visiting with Tom & Sue again.


Silver Springs


Glass Bottom Boat


A view down the river from the boat


Macaws


Heron


Flamingos


Anhinga drying its wings. These birds can dive 7 times
and then they have to dry their wings or the accumulation
of water will cause them to drown.


Just taking a nap!



Up close of alligator...not a pretty species.


Albino alligators.


Albino snakes. Yuk!!
I didn't stick around long enough
to get the name of the species.


Always nice to be with friends who like to
stop for an ice cream cone on a warm day!


We spent a day at Ybor Centre which is the original historic district of Tampa. It use to be the largest cigar manufacturing area and still has a few family owned businesses. There are a few stores and mostly restaurant and bars, which start hopping in the evening. We also spent a few hours soaking up the sun on Davis Island located in downtown Tampa.


Davis Island on the Port of Tampa


Marina at Davis Island


Other than that, we have stayed close to the coach to be sure the work gets done the way we want and timely. You know the "squeeky wheel" theory! But we are anxious to continue our tour of Florida and to be settled for Thanksgiving.

Hope all is well!

We finally made it to Florida. The weather for our trip here and now is just perfect. Eighties during the day and mid 50's at night. We are currently at Lazy Days RV in Seffner. This is where we bought the coach and decided to bring it in for some routine maintenance and some minor repairs that the dealer in St. Louis couldn't do. Although Ron doesn't consider not have his satellite TV working to be minor!

Our trip between Atlanta and Macon was a nightmare. It took us over 2.5 hours to travel 25miles due to road construction. I will never understand why they have to shut down 2 lanes for 25 miles when you only see a hand-ful of workers in less than a 3 mile stretch. We tried calling the Georgia Highway Patrol but they didn't know what was causing the backup. We then tried the Georgia Department of Transportation, only to get a recording. We left a message, but have yet to get a call back. Also, their 511 system was not working....probably over loaded from all the angry drivers. It had to happen sometime during our travels, but still we were not happy when it did occur. Although, we were in a better position then those in cars....we have our bathroom and full kitchen with us.

So that days trip took us 6 hours to travel a mere 180 miles. We will be in Seffner for a week then on to Naples. Ron is not a big fan of the gulf side of Florida, but I'm hoping he changes his mind when we get to Naples and the Keys. Will see.

Hope all is well.

Joan & Ron

WE HAVE A NEW MEMBER OF OUR FAMILY!

We are great uncle and aunt again. But it is the first on Ron's side of the family. Our niece Beckie gave birth Saturday to Layla, a 6 lb, 12 oz beautiful baby.

We are bummed that we will not be able to see or hold her for several months but are happy for Beckie & Chris.






Hope all is well!

GEORGIA...on our mind

Arrived in Georgia last Friday. We had reservations at Holiday Harbor Marina & Campground, but when we got there the sites were too tight for our size coach and the roads were narrow, uneven and hilly. After spending a week at the less than desirable site in Tennessee, Ron was on the phone in minutes and got us into another campground very close. We are staying at the Allatoona Landing Marine & Campground.


This is where we are now staying. Sunrise over Lake Allatoona.


Mornings are so cool creating a mist till mid morning.



We are 1/2 hour from Atlanta, but really have no desire at this time to visit. So we stayed near the camp and visited the Etowah Indian Mounds on Saturday, attended Mass today, drove through Red Mountain Top State Park and got ready to hit the road tomorrow.

The Etowah Indian Mounds was home to several thousand Native Americans between 1000 A.D. to 1550 A.D. It is on a 54-acre site and contains six earthen mounds, a plaza, village area, borrow pits and defensive ditch. This is the most intact Mississippian Culture site in the Southeast.

Only nine percent of this site has been excavated, however, many artifacts have been revealed and displayed. The Etowah Indian Mounds symbolize a society rich in ritual.

The largest mound is a 63-foot flat-topped earthen knoll covering 3 acres and was likely used as a platform for the home of the priest-chief. This is supposedly the second largest mound with the Monk Mound at Cahokia Mounds being the largest at over 100 feet.


Temple Mound. We had to walk up 123 steps to reach the top. But it presented a great view of the entire grounds and the Etowah River.



Wattle and Daub construction was typically used for housing. A very complex method in which vertical wooden stakes, (wattles) are woven with horizontal twigs and branches and then daubed with clay or mud. This method is one of the oldest known for making a weatherproof structure. They only used the house to sleep in, spending the majority of their day in the outdoors.

We had to drive to historic downtown Cartersville to see the first Coca Cola sign ever painted on a building. It was first painted in 1894 on the side of the Young Brothers Pharmacy and remains to this day. Whatever it takes to get your name on the map!!



We have a one night layover in Cordele Georgia then will be in Florida. We will be spending the winter travelling around Florida with our longest stay in Jupiter. Can't wait to get to warmer weather. The nights here have been in the high 20's and low 30's ....brrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Hope all is well!