Back at the Lakes

Well we couldn’t stay home, just had to get away. So we’re here at Three Lakes again. Been here fer’ four days now and we’re stayin’ through the New Year to visit and celebrate with the folks out here, otherwise we’d be a sittin’ by ourselves at home.

The folks here are havin’ a get together today, New Years Eve day at 3 PM. We’re gonna’ have kinda’ a ‘Pot Luck’ dinner. Nothin’ like food and fun with friends. There’s four more rigs here since we left last time. More ‘Snowbirds’. I‘ve often tried to think of a term for us as we leave the sunshine in the summer to find a cooler climate. Reverse Snowbirds just don’t sound right even though that’s what we are. Anybody got a better term?

Yesterday Linda and I ventured into the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando to visit the RV show. The show was sponsored by La Mesa RV, must be a giant in the recreational vehicle world cause they are all over the country. Nice to see a budding RV business in these tough economic times. We didn't see anything that impressed us. All the larger fifth wheels seem to have ‘Island or Peninsula’ kitchens. Counters that stick out or stand out in the middle of the floor. Nice fer’ the counter space but you can’t access anything when the slides are pulled in. Not everybody wants to spend every minute parked in an RV park. I go just to look for new ideas that I can incorporate in our rigs, a new method of mounting a TV, a unique hamper design, anything out of the ordinary that utilizes space better or more efficiently. Yesterday I saw nothing!! We looked at all the Class A’s, Class C’s, B’s, Travel Trailers, Toy haulers and Fifth Wheels. We finally made our way outside to the loading dock where they had a few more units on display and one of the last units was a Big Country by Heartland that was unique from all the other coaches in the show. It was large, 36 feet plus, luxurious, rear kitchen like the Mrs. likes and spacious.  It has a raised kitchen with eat-in counter for two, just right. Double door RV refrigerator, stove oven, convection microwave and lot’s and lot’s of counter space. This is definitely an RV we could like. Here’s some pics from their website as I couldn’t seem to capture the right views.

The kitchen as viewed from the living area.

Part of the Living area.

Here’s a closer look at the Kitchen.

After the show we went to Boston Lobster Feast for dinner. We have always wanted to try this restaurant but up to now never had. We got in on the early bird price $36.95 Yikes!!! Regular price for dinner is $42.95. Well all you can eat Lobster, Crab, Shrimp, Prime rib and lots of other types of seafood and land-lubber fare. Was it worth the money? Not! Would we return? Nope to that too. Some of the food was good, but the lobster was way over cooked and the fish wasn’t fit fer’ cat’s, as per Linda. I took her word fer’ it, as I wasn’t gonna sample it.

Other than that we been just relaxin’ round here at camp. So that’s all I got say fer’ now. Hope y’all have a healthy and prosperous New Year.

Hope to see ya’ down the road as we’re;

Dancin’ on the Wind.

Hasta La Vista Friends

Well we headed for home leavin’ our friends, new and old behind. We needed to come home for the Christmas holiday, as our grand-daughter had already called wanting to know when grandma wanted her to come over to assist with the preparin’ of the meal. That and we had other preparations to make.

Our last day at Three Lakes was spent leisurely visitin’ all the nice folks. I think Linda made more rounds than I, the ‘Camp Ambassador’ did. There was even an impromptu jam session that the fellas put together in the afternoon.

That’s Earl on the left, Gary next, Ken in the hat, then Jay.

Linda and I listened fer’ a spell, then I snuck off to our rig to start breakin’ down camp in preparation of our leavin’ the next mornin’. I also had some computer work to get done after I put most of our stuff away.

Later on we had a nice dinner with some wine and then off to the ‘Community Campfire’ to mingle with everyone. We had a rather small turnout at the fire that evening and I decided to retire to our rig earlier than normal, I was tired.

Next mornin’ I finished the outside preparations makin’ ready to pull out while ‘someone’ flitted around visitin’ most everyone else. We finally pulled out around 11:30 and it took us about an hour to get home. We intend to come back after Christmas and visit again.

After unhitchin’ we went to Steak n’ Shake fer’ some dinner, then BP fer’ fuel and ‘Wally World’ fer’ another 7 gallon water container. With the one we have already and a 3 gallon plastic ‘gerry’ type can we are able to transfer 17 gallons to replenish the on board fresh water tank. I just used the old gravity flow method to transfer the water from the jugs to the tank.

Today as Linda and I were out doin’ some shoppin’ we spotted our next RV, maybe. I wasn’t hard to spot the pur-ty thang in that lot full of Christmas shoppers.

While we were goin’ to check out at the front o’ ‘Wally World’, what do I spot?

Quick call the WalMart Fashion Police!

I never have personally encountered one of these people of WAL before, at least his shirt matches.

The Wal Martians!!!!

Well gotta go on that note. Hope to see ya’ down the road as we’re;

Dancin’ on the Wind.

Still Boondockin’ at Three Lakes

Well we been here fer’ ‘five days, enjoyin’ the solitude, scenery and friendship.

The weather has seemed to do what ever it wants, regardless of the forecast. Before we left home I checked, rechecked, monitored and checked again, to see if we were gonna have us some good ‘solar’ weather. All said it would be clear for the next nine days. Right good campin’ with lots o’ sun fer’ them panels.

Not so! The first three days were nice temps, but solid overcast and all we did to our onboard power grid was deplete, deplete, deplete. Not till Saturday afternoon did we get some steady clear skies and start to charge the batteries. It was still a learnin’ experience, everyday we’d be down another 10% with little chargin’ goin’ on. But it taught us we can definitely go for four or five days with no sun as long as we start at 100% charge. At that point we’d have to use the generator and battery charger to replenish some juice cause we’d be at 50% of charge and don’t want to go past that point for the health o’ the battery bank. So Saturday and Sunday were clear and we now are back to 100% charge. Had to replenish some water today, not cause we we’re out, but getting’ low.

Thursday our friends Randy and Amy from Tennessee came out to visit fer’ a spell. They used to hunt here when they lived in Florida. They were here to visit their daughter and gave us a call in the morning. Amy had said that Randy mentioned comin’ out here to have a look around fer’ ole’ time sake. Co-incidentally we were here and they arrived around noon. We went fer’ a drive on all the roads in the management area and Randy saw what had changed since last here. It was Randy and Amy along with our daughter and now deceased son-in-law who introduced us to this place and we used to come out to camp with them now and then. Well we got to spend about three and a half hours with Amy and Randy before they had to head for home. It sure was nice to see them as we hadn’t seen them in almost two years. We try to stop and see them each year at the beginning or end or our annual big trip, but things just haven’t worked out for a while. Good Bye good friends, we’ll see ya’ soon I hope.

The rest of the week we’ve pretty much spent visitin’ around camp. Saturday Linda and I went to St. Cloud to the Flea Market to look fer’ some clips fer’ the solar panels. No luck, I’ll have to try the market in Melbourne. We did find one at Home Depot, but $2.90 is a little steep when I need eight.

Of course no trip to town from the ‘Boonies’ is complete without a dining experience. Linda has had a cravin’ fer’ fried clams and we stopped at the ‘Catfish Place’ in St. Cloud to see if they served ‘em. Sure enough, so we stayed and had lunch. She had the clams and I had shrimp and catfish. Both were excellent and I wouldn't hesitate to return.

Soon, Real Soon!

We then were goin’ to spend the afternoon at the flea market, but it was deserted. Both vendors and shoppers were in short supply, so we tried to lollygag around town till supper when we had planned to eat at our favorite pizza place. We did finally cave in the on the time and had supper at 4:30, just splittin’ our favorite sub there, then it was back to camp.

Today was church services at 11, then run fer’ some agua to shore up our supply. Before we new it it was 3:45 and I said, “The day is shot already!” So we just went visitin’, then I came home to write this post. Tonite is steak on the grill, then off to the ‘community fire’ fer’ some tellin’ o’ tales and swappin’ lies.

Our good friends Bud and Linda could not make it out with us this trip, so I promised Bud that I’d post some more pictures of the camp. I took these from the roof of our trailer and could not cover the entire area cause the sun was shinin’ in my face. That don’t make fer’ good picture takin’ they tell me. So here ya’ are Bud!

This here’s the left side o’ the snowbird’s camp circle.

This here’s the right side o’ the circle. As ya’ can see these folks are still a’sceerd of Indians I guess.

This here‘s in front of our rig. Can ya’ see me on the roof?

Behind our rig there are more folks but the sun was a shinin’ there, so I didn’t get a picture. Now Bud this is just our side of the camp, there’s folks parked over across the road in the ‘Non- Generator’ section. There’s plenty o’ folks and still plenty o’ room. Remember if’n ya’ click on the picture it makes it bigger!

Well I got to get my windy self out to grill those steaks if’n we’re gonna eat tonight. As always, hope to see ya’ down the road as we’re;

Dancin’ on the Wind.

Some Days ya’ just gotta Dance

Well we came home from our last adventure, to Dupuis Management area, 8 days ago and I couldn’t seem to sit still very long. I spent two o’ those days cuttin’ and haulin’ vegetation that I’ve let grow for the last 5 years. I’m tryin’ to locate a survey stake for the corner of our property so I can start clearin’ down our property line on the east boundary. The trees and bushes have grown out 30-40 feet into the property in some places and need to be cut back. I just yearn to be elsewhere! The life in a conventional home is nice, but it’s not what I want these days.

Another of those days was spent with friends Wayne and Maureen of Wayne’s RV Travel Blog. They came over from their workcampin’ stint at Lake Kissimmee State Park to visit with us. We talked fer’ a spell then we took them on a short tour of the Vero Beach area, then it was home for a spaghetti dinner Linda had prepared. They couldn’t stay as long as we’d have liked, cause Wayne had to do rounds of his camp loop before dark, but we had a great visit.

So with the itch of the road buggin’ me I said to my DW, “What would ya’ say to goin’ out to Three Lakes fer’ a spell?” “Works fer’ me”, was her reply. So Tuesday we packed and Wednesday we left and here we sit at another wonderful wildlife management area. We’re out in the ‘Florida Country’, with all it’s beauty.

Was awakened early by the highway noise, but that’s OK and decided to get this post done. Tonite we’ll run our ‘Fantastic Fan’ and drown out the noises.

We’ve been here quite a few times over the last two years and have made a lot of friends with some many ‘snowbirds’. We weren’t sure how many would be here this early but found folks from a dozen rigs we had met before. So It’s kinda like ‘Ole’ Home Week’, visitin’ with everybody and catchin’ up on what they’ve been doin’ over the last year. Last night, bein’ our first night back at the ‘community campfire’ we met some new folks. One couple is in their ‘Nineties"’ and been fulltimin’ since 1982. They have a real big motorcoach and pull a small boat to accommodate their love o’ fishin’. I don’t believe I’ve met anyone in our travels that has been fulltimin’ fer’ almost thirty years. Oh what a ride it has to have been. I hope to get there soon.

Well I hear the DW stirrin’ back in the bedroom so I’ll say “Adios’ fer’ now. As always, we hope to see ya down the road as we’re

Dancin’ on the Wind.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Note: I been meanin’ to post this fer’ a few days. We actually arrived home on Sunday.
It looks like we decided to go home today. After havin’ breakfast, checkin’ out a few blogs and our new route to home, we started our packin’.
As I was workin’ outside the camp host Larry came by to tell us there were no large vehicles allowed on the road today due to the wind conditions. Nice try Larry. As he’s givin’ me a hard time about leavin’, Luan and Tica come on down to say goodbye and check out our digs. Sorry girls but the slide outs have already been pulled in but they checked it all out anyway. Meanwhile Larry is inquiring about our solar setup and just what we can power with it. I just told him everything but the A/C.

After sayin’ our goodbyes we went back to our work. Then another neighbor, a man from Quebec, came to say goodbye and wish us well. He also was inquiring about the solar as I was up on the roof removing the tilt bars and laying the panels back down. He has been a full-timer fer’ the last twelve years.
Once everything was stowed, we dumped our tanks and we we’re off. By now it’s close to lunchtime so we only made it ten miles to Indiantown. We wanted something to eat and knew there was a Burger King in town but didn’t want to eat there. Knowing nothin’ about the few other Mexican restaurants, we opted for something else. We stopped at the local supermarket, as we’d seen many, many folks buyin’ meals there the other day when we were here and thought it must be good if that popular. Lookin’ through the vast array of choices, we decided on a smoked whole chicken seasoned with Bad Byron’s Butt Rub. We took it with us and dined in the trailer parked across the street. The chicken was delicious!
With lunch out of the way we decided to make our way home by a different route than we used to get here. Just some county roads through the Florida countryside. Ranches, ranches and more ranches were what we saw. Did you know Florida was a big beef state?  Here’s some interesting facts about Florida’s cattle industry.

• Cattle were first introduced to North America in Florida in 1521 by Spanish explorer JuanPonce de Leon.

• One Florida ranch owns the largest brood cow herd in the United States.

• Florida is home to four of the United States’10 largest cow-calf operations.

• Florida ranks 12th in the nation in number of beef cows.

• Nearly one-half of all Florida Agricultural land is involved in cattle production. Florida has 4 million acres of pastureland and 1 million acres of grazed woodland.

• Much of “Natural Florida” remains in the working landscape of Florida’s cattle industry.

Courtesy of the Florida Dept. of Agriculture

When I first lived here in 1964 Florida was ranked as the 3rd largest beef producing state.
We arrived home after a nice leisurely drive, the end of a wonderful and rewarding trip. Hope to see ya’ down the road as we’re;

Dancin’ on the Wind.

Last Day at the Ranch

Today may be our last day at the Equestrian Camp. It’s been a great week. We camped with friends, got to see some new territory, met some new folks, Life is good.

Today was not the best solar day but we did get the battery bank back to 98% of full. It’s been cloudy and windy with some rain with real brief sun patches in between.

First item of the day was to address the problem we had with our water heater last night. It was actually Linda, that pointed out that the heaters circuit board was loose and at the top was two ground wires that I could wiggle around, not good. Tightened them up and voila’ we have hot water. Yeah! Glad it was an easy fix.

Finished so early we decided to take a walk around the property here. This mornin’ a whole passel o’ horse folks pulled in with their trailers. We figured they’d be here fer’ the weekend. During our walk it started to rain so we B-lined back to the trailer. We played cards till I decided I had been thrashed soundly and quit. By then, to our surprise, all those horse folks that went out ridin’ on the property, were gone. Horses, trailers and trucks, ‘POOF’. One minute they were there, the next they were gone.

I said, “Let’s finish our walk”. “I’d rather have lunch first”, was the response I got. Guess what we did?

After lunch we started around the campground again. By this time the rain had quit. We made it as far as the Hunters Check Station and Gabby got involved in conversation with the guys that were hangin’ out there. Sometimes I wonder how I get hung with the title of ‘Campground Ambassador’. I was getting’ bored, listenin’ to all the gab, when two gals, who had come in with a gooseneck horse trailer, came over. Seems they were havin’ trouble and asked, “Anybody here know anything about trailers”? They had their radio and lights on when they fired up their generator and everything in their trailer went dead. Well I’m lookin’ at Linda and she’s lookin’ at me, but in the flash of an eye Larry, the Camphost and two other fella jumped up to rush to their assistance. OK, I escaped that one. It’s not that I’m against helping, especially ‘Damsels in Distress’. I just figured I’d let these ‘Knowledgeable Fellas’ handle it. Linda and I stayed and talked with the Check Station person. After a while one of the gals came walkin’ back by and we asked if they had gotten things straightened out, she said no. It was easy to tell they were mad and frustrated with the going on’s. So I said I’d see if I could find the problem.

As we walked back to their trailer those two ‘Knowledgeable Fellas’ who had considerable more experience than I, had not straightened things out. I told the lady that I had walked back with, who’s name was Luan, “I’ll go get my meter and be right back”, she was hesitant like I was gonna’ not return, if I walked away. “Is that your trailer over there?” She must have wanted to know so she could keep an eye on me.

Well while tryin’ to keep them other two fella’s out o’ the way, I went to work. Check generator output, 121 volts, check power comin’ into trailer, none. OK, there’s a breaker tripped in the panel. Can’t find the panel. The 12volt side is very weak, battery is about dead and the radio wont work either. I looked fer’ the breaker panel and couldn’t find it.

I was standin’ in the kitchen area and lookin’ at a GFCI outlet and I could see that it has tripped. Push the reset and….. yes, power at that outlet. Still no power to the converter though, as the lights are very dim. After an exhaustive search for the breakers or the converter, Tica, the frazzled girl who owns the trailer says “I know where it is”. She climbs up in the bunk opens a door and there low and behold is that elusive breaker panel, 12 volt fuse panel, 12 volt circuit breakers and the converter-power supply. Two seconds and one tripped 12 volt circuit breaker later we had the power I was lookin’ fer’. They were happy campers to say the least and wanted to feed me, give me drinks, come to dinner, “What can we do?” After the huggs’ and kissin’, I told them I am always happy to help fellow campers. I hung around fer’ a spell made a few suggestions and pointed out to Tica a few things she might change to improve on things. I picked up my tools and headed fer’ home. I’ll stop by later to see if everything is still OK and I told them to come and get me if they did have a problem in the mean time.

Later I went back to get a picture of Tica and Luan and after several tries they didn’t like any of the shots. So if I can’t get any more pictures of them tomorrow, I’ll have ta’ go with what I have. Sorry girls.

Later after dinner Linda and I went over to sit by the fire with them.

Luan owns a Real Estate company in Clewiston, FL. Sugar Realty. So if your in the market for some real estate in the Hendry county area don’t forget to try her, where you’ll find the ‘Sweetest Deal in Town’. We sat and BS’d with them and Larry the camp host until the wee hours of the night. Old folks like us shouldn’t stay out so late. When we got home we took showers and hit the rack, it was 12:38 am!

Until the next time, we hope to see ya’ down the road as we’re;

Dancin’ on the Wind.

Dupuis Camp III

Today is our fifth day here and our friends Bud and Linda had to leave fer’ home. We had a great time with ya’ and we’ll see ya’ soon when we return home. We have decided to stay a bit longer but we too need to get home early next week.

We spent yesterday just loafing around camp and after a nice lunch, when everyone was lookin’ like a nap was needed, I dragged out our Bean bag-Washer game.

First we played Bean bags and Linda and I were victorious. Then a couple of games of washers later the score was tied up.

Before we knew it we’d spent the entire afternoon playing and I needed to get the grill lit so I could cook our dinner before the ‘Skeeter Airforce’ came swoopin’ in around dusk. The first night here they were horrible, then they seemed to slack off except at around dusk and shortly afterward.

Well I got our steaks done and shortly after we sat down to eat they arrived and in force. Then it was grab up everything and run for Bud and Linda’s camper to finish our steak, sweet potatoes, veggies and salad, all complimented with garlic bread and a Merlot to wash it down. After dinner we went to our respective campers.

Our water heater would not light to heat water for Linda to do dishes. Last night we ran one of our LP gas bottles dry and I think that has something to do with it’s problem. I started the generator to use the electric part of the water heater, then realized it would take to long to heat it this way and before I could get outside to shut the generator off it ran out of gas.

I’m battin’ a thousand here!

I told Linda to heat some water on the stove like we did when we didn’t have a water heater so she could so her dishes. I’ll look at the heater tomorrow in the daylight when there are no skeeters. Amazing how we become accustomed to appliances and when they don’t work properly we are lost without them.

It was a great solar day and our battery bank was back up to 100% by 2 pm today.

On another note, I’d like to say a big RV-Anytimers welcome to some new blog followers, Mark and Chris from Phaeton Place, Wild Blue Yonder and Bhounds of Hounds and RV’s. Glad to have ya’ readin’ and ridin’ along.

Well gotta go fer’ now, hope to see ya’ down the road as we’re;

Dancin’ on the Wind.

Dupuis Eqestrian Camp II

Well we’ve been campin’ here fer’ four days and it’s a right nice camp. Since there are horses here on a regular basis there is some water available but it mostly fer’ those critters. I guess in a pinch ya’ could flush yer’ toilet with it. But it’s a great place fer the horse folks to stay and ride the 40 miles o’ trails. Yesterday some o’ those folks came in to ride, but they didn’t stay the night and left before dark.

Spoke to some folks leavin’ this mornin’ and she told me she saw a coyote last night from her camp. We haven’t even heard any but we’ve only spent one night by the fire cause o’ the skeeters.

Our second day here we traveled the roads out through the management area. There are almost 22,000 acres here that was part of a workin’ cattle and sheep ranch until 1986 when the state purchased it to restore and preserve.

Our first stop was the ‘Family Campground’ about two miles out into the property. As I mentioned in the previous post that camp does not allow RV’s other than Pop-Ups. Of course tents are allowed there as well. The camp is beautiful, situated around a small pond. There are brand new composting vault toilets and they are in the process of installin’ a water system, so there will be some water available. It looked to be about 25 sites maybe.

Our next stop was a small picnic area with a covered pavilion containing four or five tables. From there we drove to the end of the main road lookin’ fer’ the fishin’ pier on the lake. Bud wanted to see the fishin’ pier so we drove the 7.5 miles and was rewarded with a small loop with palm frond thatched roofs containing picnic tables and a fishin’ pier that had part of it covered extendin’ out into the lake.

It was a beautiful Florida day as ya’ can see and at home the electrons were stuffin’ juice back in battery bank.

Our first night at this camp was unbearable cause of the skeeters so we all piled in our trailer and played cards but there were so many skeeters that came in too we ran a fan fer’ hours with the lights on and used quite a bit o’ power. We woke up to a 29% deficit in our battery bank and due too cloudy morning skies only got back to 91% of full or a 9% deficit. Wednesday was a much better solar day and we got all but fully charged.

That evening we had a delicious meal of tube steak, baked beans, ho’ made macaroni salad, complimented with some Pinot Noir wine.

We’re havin’ a great time with great friends!

The following day we were just lazy around camp till after lunch then we went fer’ a ride to explore some of the surroundin’ area. We saw Port Mayaca, nothing there, Canal Point, a few stores, and Pahokee, a boomin’ metropolis compared to the other two. Later in the day we explored Indiantown, which is where we would go for provisions if we needed to.

We topped the day off with a delicious Chili that the other Linda made and then sat around the campfire till around nine.

Ok, Now I have a question fer’ all those folks that have spent any time in the south. I need someone to identify this mystery tree.

Well that’s all fer’ this post. We’re here fer’ a few more days for we head down the road. Hope to see ya’ down the road as we’re;

Dancin’ on the Wind.