A GREAT DAY

We moved today. When we came into Peace River Thousand Trail Preserve we had to take a site that is 30 amps and has no sewer. We had a nice big open spot and Larry set up his man cave tent and said we would stay there. After five days I thought it would be a lot easier having sewer so we could take showers and do our wash. When you come in your name is put on a list for three days and each day at 11 o'clock the open sites with sewage are posted.Then at one o'clock each name is called off the list till all the sites are filled. We put our name back on the list, looked at the available sites and when our name was called we chose this site. When we moved to it I was surprised to find it had 50 amps. So we are nice and comfy here.

After moving we played golf with Jim and Terri at Little Cyprus golf course. We found the 7th hole this time. Then we went in town to Paul's Kitchen for dinner. I had broiled grouper that was delicious. Their food is always good thus a very popular place to eat.

We had heard about this unique ice cream palor, so we stopped in for our dessert.

So many choices, and these were only the popular ones you could also make your own combination.

First the toss ins go in the bowl.

Then they put the cream in the bowl.

Stir it together.

Then the bowl was exposed to liquid Nitrogen to freeze the cream.

So cold it is smoking!

It is stirred until it is not so hard and stuck to the bowl and looks like ice cream.

We had butter pecan and it sure was good.
Wish you could taste it.

Jim and Terri also had butter pecan. I'm sure we will be back and try some more of the toss ins flavors.

SHARING TALENTS

Just a few miles down the road is the Little Cyprus Golf Course. It is for sale if anyone is interested. We drove by it the first time because it really doesn't look like a golf course from the road. We went here to play on Friday afternoon.

That is the club house ?! Only $9 to walk 9 holes.

It was a fun little course. Somehow we lost the 7th hole. I think we played 3 twice. They were calling for rain and the sky got rather dark, but there was only a sprinkled while we were looking for the 8th hole.

On Saturday afternoon Rich gave pickle ball lessons to a large group of us. Our friends Jim and Tery are sitting on the end of the bench. We met them in Orlando and is great being here at Peace River together. Terry is really trying to master the game.

Rich giving us pointers on how to stand and hit the ball.

We practiced how to hold the racket properly at the front line and then to punch the ball. Now if only I can do it when I'm playing the game.

When I was talking to Buddy and Diane at the birthday happy hour they mentioned they sang on Sunday morning at the Zolfo Spring Methodist Church. We decided to attend the church on Sunday morning and enjoyed a half hour of country gospel music. There were over 12 people playing instruments and singing. They perform throughout the area. Many talented people sharing their gifts.

PEACE RIVER

We arrived at Peace River on Wednesday afternoon. We stopped by the pickleball court after getting set up and Keith invited us to their birthday celebration at their site Thursday afternoon.

Marie and Keith looking good.

There were five birthdays being celebrated.

All are a year older, from left to right Diane, Rick, Joy, Marie and Jim . There birthdays were either yesterday, today, or tomorrow.

A large group of pickleball players came out to celebrate.

Keith and Marie had sloppy joes and everyone else brought lots of good food.

Larry, Renee, Nathan, and ( oops forgot who Nathan's partner was) played pickleball under the lights. They needed to work off some of that good food.

HAPPY VALENTINES

Happy Valentine's Day! Larry and I went to the Villages to visit Peggy and Jim. Peggy was a teacher in Downingtown and we met line dancing many years ago. Jim and Peggy now live all year long in the Villages. It is a little world of its own, what a place!

Peggy's sister, Carol, and her husband Marshall came over to have dinner with us. We had a delicious roast beef meal. After dinner Peggy and Carol showed me how to play Mahjong. It was nice spending the evening with friends.

Hope everyone had a nice Valentine Day with friends and loved ones.

THROUGH ATLANTA

On Thursday they did all the other work we wanted done in the RV, so we were ready to leave Red Bay on Friday morning. We were glad to get out of town before it turned real cold.(20's)

I wasn't looking at the map and we just followed our GPS. When we got to Montgomery it told us to stay on the left lane to stay on I-20. I was a little confused when I realized I-65 was a right exit. When I finally got the map out I realized we were on the way to Atlanta! We would get there at 3:30. I thought we would go around Atlanta on 285 but no it had us go straight into Atlanta to get on I-75. There was no traffic backup so that is how we went. At the I-85 split we saw a car spin out and hit the guard wall, all the other cars were able to stop without hitting him. I'm sure it was going to cause a traffic jam in the next few minutes, but we were lucky to get through with no problem. We were on 475 around Macon at 5:00 and still didn't hit any terrible traffic. We stopped at Southern Trails RV Resort for the evening. It was a ROD park right off I-75 at exit 121. We still have our ROD membership till March. By the way anyone that used ROD may have a $25 deposit they should get refunded when their membership expires.

It was a nice campground and not very crowded. That's us way at the end.

We were up early Saturday morning. The sun was just rising.

When we checked in they told us they had free pancakes Saturday morning. We stopped in and had our breakfast before leaving. It was a very friendly camp ground. The biggest problem was the train crossing 1/4 mile up the road, so the train whistle blew each time a train went by.

We were blown down I-75 with pretty strong winds and wind gust. We were glad to get into Florida and back to Orlando TT. Since we were getting back faster then we thought possible I made reservations for the next three days here before we head to Wachula. We need to restock the refrigerator and get our mail. Glad to be back in sunny Florida.

GOING NORTH?

On Sunday we left at 9:30 to go to Red Bay, Alabama. We stopped Sunday evening at a Walmart a little west of Tallahassee. We were on the road early Monday morning. Opps I didn't quite get that picture as we entered Alabama. Red Bay is in the north west corner of Alabama.

Alabama is the peanut state. A peanut festival would be fun to attend. I wonder when it is?

We made great time and arrived in Red Bay on Monday afternoon. From all the RV's here you wouldn't know February is their slow month.

Is that eastern or central time? This time change is very confusing. It makes being at the work bays by 7 pretty easy ( for us it is 8 EST).

Tuesday we spent emptying out all the cabinets on this side of RV.

This is the slide out they have to take out and repair.

The bottom of the slide was warping.

Our RV without its slide. The refrigerator is on this slide so it also had to be moved.

Godiva and I were homeless so we sat outside for awhile and then in the costumer's lounge. She sat on my lap the whole time. It was "warm" outside (46) but there was a cool breeze and then it got cloudy and too cold to sit out.

Roger preparing the new floor section. This piece is the 2012 all aluminum and insulation floor structure, no wood. Roger worked on our RV in June when we were here. He is a very focused and highly skilled craftsman. It was nice seeing him in the bay when we drove in.

Taking the slide out.

Putting on the brand new rubber sealer. It is newly designed. Our molding had completely rusted and disconnected from the framing and would have caused major leaking and drafts. We didn't even know this was happening and are glad we got the updated changes.

The slide being put back in after only 4 hours! They are doing a lot of this work and have it down to quite a system!

For dinner we went to Swamp John's and had their catfish dinners

We have about 10 other things we want them to repair on the RV - the burner on the stove that won't light, the keyless entry doesn't lock or unlock the door, a new speaker put on the outside TV, and a few other things. We have a 7a.m. appointment tomorrow at bay 33. I hope the work gets done quickly so we can head back to Florida. This weekend is to be very cold, below freezing.

HAVING FUN

Mary did a great job of teaching line dancing at Orlando TT. Suzanne and she had taken a workshop with Ira Weisburd this past summer and had a lot of his dances to teach us.
I taught the Tennessee Waltz Supreme that he choreographed before we left the park.

We danced Brazil to a Happy Birthday song to celebrate Mary Lou's (yellow) and Alice's (blue) birthdays. Karen (pink) had just come back to the park after being on some cruises and is ready to start teaching again also.

Sunday after church we met Terri and Jim at Legends for a brunch. The food was very good and the deal was buffet and 18 holes of golf with cart for any afternoon for $50 for two people. We were a little mad with them when we got our bill. They added a $10 gratuity plus tax so we ended up paying $68

On Monday afternoon we got togeether again to play golf. A pretty course to play on!

Terri and Jim. By the tenth hole we were getting tired so played a fun game of best ball.

Don't we all look professional?

To celebrate our 9th anniversary we went to Mount Dora to the Windsor Rose Tea Room for a dinner and magic show.

I had seen this event advertised in the paper. You had to make reservations and you had three
entrees to choice from. We had salmon, it was very good with great service.

For desert we had a raspberry chocolate cake.

The magician was funny and we had an enjoyable evening.

We left TT on Wednesday and drove 10 miles to Tropical Palms at Old Town for the February campout with the Blue Herons.

Wednesday night 6 of us went to Celebrations and ate at Columbia.

The Columbia is an old Cuban/Spanish cuisine restaurant. There are a few of them in Florida. There main one is in Ybor City by Tampa. The food was delicious and we had a very nice meal.

We enjoyed a happy hour each afternoon. A time to gather and talk.

One evening we had a big pot of chili. The meals are always good.We did some line dancing, Ann taught us how to crochet pet blankets for the human society, and we put together a puzzle.

Crazy 7's were played in the evening. Mike and Barb Turner were able to camp with us for the first time. It was nice getting to know them.

We leave on Sunday to go to Red Bay, Alabama to get our slide repaired. Hope the weather isn't too cold. I like this warm Florida weather!