February 9–March 19, 2022 Our Time in Wauchula Florida

Wow, Can’t believe it has been over a month since I posted.  So this post will be an overall of what we have been doing in Wauchula at our lot.  (I am also doing this for me so I can remember a few years from now – LOL)

Florida SKP Resort – We spent a lot of our time getting to know the park, the rules (which we broke daily, then weekly).  LOL.  Like any other CO-OP, there are rules, regulations, cultural ways, unspoken rules, and politics.  We tried to stay out of most of the politics.  All the people we met were wonderful and friendly and answered all our questions.  The interesting thing was that after we broke yet another rule, we asked for a list of what we can and cannot do.  There are pages and pages, however, it does not address everything.  I think that if we were coming here a lot before we got the lot, we would probably know the ins and outs like we did at Casa Grande.  I also think that if we ever do spend a winter here, I will volunteer to do a welcome packet.

We were blessed to have Andy’s brother, Bill, and my sister-in-law, Marcia, here with us for three weeks.  We usually spent some time with them every day – happy hours or dinner or visiting the local American Legion, Moose, and Elks Lodges.  As you know, Andy got an E-Bike and he and Bill took almost daily rides – some short and some long (30+ miles).  I think they both had a blast.  It was great having that time with them.  (And great having some girl time with Marcia). They are on the list to get a lot here so we will see them more in the future.

Marcia and I took a day and went to the Peter Powell Roberts Museum of Art and Cultural Center in Avondale.  A very interesting story about Peter Powell Roberts:

“Florida Master Artist Peter Powell Roberts was an instructor, and department head at the Ringling College of Art in Sarasota Florida for 23 years. He also founded the Design and Computer Graphics Departments at the college.

After retirement Mr. Roberts moved to a homestead adjacent to Highlands Hammock State Park.  He dedicated himself to painting the hammock as a storyline to the cycle of life.

He worked continually for 20 years producing oil on wood paintings until his wife of 46 years died. She was his anchor.

Peter Powell Roberts and his work went missing in 2010.  He was found two years later in a nursing home in Sebring, FL. 

A body of 136 oil on wood paintings, most of which have never been seen before, and eight sculptures were later found in a storage shed.”

Isn’t that amazing?  He started painting again and when he died he willed his collection to Heartland Cultural Alliance.

We took in the museum – the paintings are beautiful and we chatted with the volunteers.  The Alliance had a little store and they are also going to offer classes (taking note for me if I am here for a season).   It was a really nice day.  Thanks Marcia.

In 2008 when we were in Livingston, Texas, we met Audrey and John.  We saw them a few years later in Pahrump, NV and have stayed in touch.  When they found out we were here in Florida, they contacted us.  They are living in Port Charlotte in the winter and Michigan in the summer.  So we spent a day together getting caught up and having lunch.  Thank you Audrey and John.  If all goes well we hope to see them in Michigan in late summer.  I am so grateful for the friends that keep in touch.  I need to work on that more.

Pioneer Park had their Pioneer Days in early March so one of the days, we  (Andy, Bill, Marcia and me) headed over there.  It is one of the largest, and the oldest antique tractor, engines, and farm equipment shows in the southeast. There is also a large area that has arts and crafts and a flea market.  So while the guys headed to the equipment, Marcia and I did the many rows of crafts and flea market items.  As some of you know, I just LOVE craft markets and flea markets.  (Really missed them during Covid.)

Pioneer Days also has music, demonstrations and so much more but by mid day, Andy and I could not take the heat anymore.  Too uncomfortable for me. Next time I am going to buy a three day ticket – LOL!

Speaking of the weather, well, they had above normal temperatures.  The first few weeks were not bad but then the humidity set in – Yikees.

We did go back to Pioneer Park another day and did the Wildlife Refuge and part of the Peace River Trail.  That is in the next blog.

Another day, Anne and I went to the Red Barn Flea Market in Bradenton – over 600 vendors, both inside and out.  Since the inside was air conditioned, we did outside first and then came inside.  WOW! What a place.  They had everything and then some.  It was a great time as well as nice getting to know Anne. Thanks Anne for coming along.

We also continued to get to know the systems in our RV.  No instructions, sheesh.  Thank God for internet forums and groups.

So now for our cat story…

When we arrived at our lot, this little lass showed up.

She was extremely affection and was always with us outside. Yes, I did start to feed her and gave her a little box in the shed. (I know you can probably hear my Andy saying “NO MORE CATS!”).  Anyway, I called the local shelters to find out what to do which was put up flyers in the park and surrounding streets. Then call them if no one comes forward. Well I put up flyers in the park and Andy and Bill went to each of the homes with the other flyers.

So a side note:  I signed up for the ladies luncheon and said I needed a ride because Andy was going to the men’s luncheon.  We decided he would take the car one month and I would do it the next time.  Anyway, this wonderful woman, Anne, called and offered me a ride.  I got to meet her that day along with some other great ladies.  Anne was talking about a little dog that she was going to pick up the next day.

So over the next few days, we would see Anne and invited her to sit with us.  The first time she did, the cat jumped up on her lap and just purred away.  And that is when we found out that getting the little dog fell thru. (Shelter found the owner.)  So we asked Anne if she would be interested in taking the cat and to think about it.  I volunteered to get it vetted and fixed.  By that time, all the flyers were out and in a few days, the rescue was going to take the kitty.

SOOOO, Anne did take the kitty.  She got vetted and mostly all was good.  And here she is in her new home and with Anne.  The kitty’s new name is Dinah and she just follows Anne around.  Sometimes things are meant to be.

  

Look at the look on the cat’s face and the smile on Anne:

There was also another cat that we found that would come around but disappeared after the new little kitty came inside.  The rescues that I dealt with were wonderful!

Anne lives in NY and hopefully we will see her on her way home.

As some of you know, I truly dislike making reservations.  I want the freedom to find a place, stay for a short or long time and then move on.  HOWEVER, times have changed and this is snowbird and spring break season in the south..  Oh my.  So I have to tell you that I spent HOURS trying to find places for the way home.

My companion trying to help:

I wanted to spend some time in Saint Augustine but it was totally booked unless I wanted to pay a lot of money for a site.  So we decided to pass until next time.  I am not sure how I am going to like this new way to travel.  We will see what happens when we go out west later this summer.

My sleepy kitties:

 

He loves this window:

  

So that is our update.  There will be a blog after this about the Wildlife Refuge. 

We start heading north on March 20, 2022 so stay tuned and enjoy today.

GOD BLESS US ALL!

 

January 8-22, 2022 Moving, Sickness, and Good Friends

Yikees!  It has been a while since I updated.  We have been crazy busy and sick again… 

As I last wrote on 1/7, we signed the papers for a new to us RV (pictures below).  That Saturday and Sunday, we spent boxing up as much as we could because we only had 7 hours on Monday to move everything.   All I can say is WOW..we have too much stuff.

That Monday, 10th, we showed up at the dealership and worked our butts off (it didn’t help that we woke up sick that day – more on that later.)  We left there and went back to the campground around five.  Then we moved boxes and other “stuff” outside and covered with tarps; picked up the cats from kitty daycare, picked up supper, and came back and crashed.  We were hurting..

So over the next week and a half, we slowly got everything moved in.  If it didn’t fit, it went to the Salvation Army or Goodwill or folks in the campground or the dumpster.

Also over the next week and a half, we started to learn all the systems.  We are still not there yet but we will be.  At this time, I do not have a gas oven but I do have an convection/microwave.  Since I never used a convection oven before, it has been a learning experience.

Another funny thing is that things are high – like the cabinets and the bed.  We have purchased stools to get to the top shelves in the cabinets and also to get into bed.  Too funny!

So since you are waiting, here are some pictures.  Some were taken while the RV was empty, some while it was being filled.

Looking forward:

We expect to take this chair out at home and replace it with a cabinet, similar to what we did in the Bounder.

Above the cab.  We are going to have cabinets built in here and will be looking for someone to do so.  (So if you know anyone, let us know.)

Looking back towards the bedroom:

Seating and dinette:

Sink, Fridge area:

And the outside:

The smaller RV has been an adjustment but we do like it.  It does fit better in places – LOL.  We will be driving next week so we will let you know how it goes on the road.

Now I am going to touch a little on our being sick.  We woke up moving day and felt like a ton of bricks hit us.  So to say we were hurting that week is putting it mildly.  Did we have C?  Who knows?!!  Tried calling around to get tested and the earliest was that Friday and it would take 2-4 days for results.  UNLESS we had a local doctor or wanted to wait hours in line or go to the ER.  So we decided to ride it out.  Andy battled a fever and extreme tiredness.  I had the tiredness but no fever.  We both lost our sense of taste.  We thought we lost our sense of smell until one of the cats used the littler box and the smell permeated the RV – LOL – Smell was still there.   I started to feel better on Sunday, 16th – finally got a good sleep without coughing badly.  Andy’s fever broke that Monday and he started feeling better.  I will say this..whatever we had zapped our strength and it has taken a while to build back our stamina.   So how are we now (25th)?  I am much better, mostly back to normal, but still have the cough. But on another note, I also had a sinus infection with this so the cough could be from that.  Andy is lots better and almost back to normal.  So hopefully we will stay well.  (It was an adventure – NOT!).

So how are the kitties doing with all this excitement?  Dusty, my older cat, stayed with us during the move and did pretty good the first day.  Gray and Bella were not happy with kitty daycare and were even less happy when they came back to their new home.  The first couple days, Gray howled and hid usually with Dusty.  Bella is my adaptable kitty.  By the second day she was checking out everything and just loving it.  Once we had a lot of the boxes gone, the other two came out of hiding and did their exploring.

As you can see, Gray is happy.

Bella above the cab with all the stuff:

Dusty deciding whether he wants to go there or not.  He finally did.

During this time, I also discovered delivery to Amazon lockers.  Since we needed a few things and I do a lot of Amazon shopping, it was nice to know I could get it quickly nearby. 

We did get out a few times too.  We went to the local Legion for steak night with Ann and Norlynn a few days before our move.  And we got together the day before we left.  It was great spending time with them and we will miss them as we head east.  But hopefully we will see them again.

We also got out to steak night at the local VFW two nights before we left – it was great to get out again.

We have been here since 12/2/21.  We did not expect to be but we have been blessed to be near good friends, have a nice place/park to stay and we met some great folks in the campground and at the Legion and VFW.  When we were sick, we realized that there were a few folks we could call on to help and let me tell you..that is a good feeling.  Yes, we are blessed.

So tomorrow we are off, heading east.  Stay tuned and enjoy today.

 

December 7, 2015 to December 31, 2015 Our Time in Yuma

We left our lot in Casa Grande on December 7th and headed west on I-8:

Trains – Long Trains:

Yuma in the distance:

We arrived at our lot in the KOFA SKP Park and started cleaning the shed and the lot – this is an older picture:

The palm tree is a beautiful tree, however, we lose a lot of space.  So we had the tree removed:

That has given about 8 extra feet on the side.  Plus we were able to position the RV differently so that we have a huge area in the back:

We are still not sure exactly what we want to do yet.  Some ideas we are kicking around is a new shed with extensions – sort of like an extra patio/Arizona room.  We are also looking at different types of pavers versus concrete.   And, of course, finding out all the permits we will need – yikees!   We do not expect to do any of the work this season, just have all our plans in place to do it early next season.

In the past few weeks, we have been reconnecting with folks we have not seen since last season and getting caught up with each other.  We are so blessed to have such good people in our lives.  Also Andy has been doing coffee with the boys in the morning and I have been with the beaders both here and in Yuma.  It has been wonderful!

One evening we did do a Yuma Ghost Tour sponsored by the Yuma Historical Society.  It was very interesting – lots of spirits reside here (nope, did not see any – ).  The thing that I liked the most was stops at some of the more historic places.

Here we are near the Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge:

Some information from the internet:

http://www.yumaheritage.com/

“The Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge was the first and only vehicular traffic bridge over the lower Colorado River for 1,200 miles. It became the earliest and longest truss in Arizona and was one of the most important early spans in the Southwest.

On March 3, 1915, the 336-foot span was swung into place during a carefully choreographed maneuver. On May 22 the bridge was opened to traffic with great ceremony and celebration in Yuma.

In the 1930s, the bridge became a natural choke point that was exploited by California police during the Great Depression.

“Imagine people heading west from Oklahoma and they get to Yuma and there are California state patrolmen on the north side of the bridge,” Flynn said. “Do you have a job? Do you have money? They look you over. And they turn you back. In fact there is an area to this day called ‘Okie Town,’ and that is because they were turned back and had to find a place to stay.””

 

This area of the Colorado River was used for centuries as a crossing.  Before all the dams, the River was wild, uncontrollable, and inconsistent.  The granite outcroppings here narrowed the river, making it a safer place to cross.

For centuries, the Quechan Indian Tribe helped transport people across the river, and were known as excellent swimmers. In 1849, the California Gold Rush saw 60,000 people cross at Yuma by rope ferry. Fort Yuma, the Yuma Quartermaster Depot, and the Yuma Territorial Prison were built on the high grounds overlooking the river.

 

Yuma is also the end of the El Camino del Diablo – the Highway of the Devil:

“El Camino del Diablo – the Highway of the Devil – once a 250-mile link between the northwestern frontier of Mexico and the colonies of California, began at Caborca, in Mexico’s state of Sonora. It extended north-northwest across the desert to what is today the United States/Mexican border. It turned west-northwest and followed the border through a phantasmagoric landscape of organ pipe cactus, desert flats, drifting sand dunes, ancient lava flows and searing summer heat, passing through the southern edges of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, and the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range. Marked by graves and headstones, it reached a merciful end at Yuma, Arizona.”

“El Camino Del Diablo (Spanish for The Devil's Highway) is an historic 250-mile (400 km) road which currently extends through some of the most remote and arid terrain of the Sonoran Desert in Pima County and Yuma County, Arizona. In use for at least 1,000 years, El Camino Del Diablo is believed to have started as a series of footpaths used by desert-dwelling Native Americans. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, the road was used extensively by conquistadores, explorers, missionaries, settlers, miners, and cartographers. Use of the trail declined sharply after the railroad reached Yuma in 1870.”

There is some real interesting information here:

http://www.desertusa.com/desert-trails/diablo.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Camino_Del_Diablo

I did not get many pictures during the tour since it was at night.  A few of the places, we hope to explore more.

Coming home from town one day, I see this:

I called him the “Guardian of South 4th Avenue.”  He was only there for a few days and now he is gone – .

Christmas was spent here at the park – we had a nice dinner/potluck.  The park supplied turkey, ham, potatoes and stuffing and everyone else brought side dishes and desserts.

Yes, we did decorate too:

 

On New Year’s Eve we were with Larry, Peg, and friends in the desert – What a great time.  (Thank you – .)

I did get a really nice Christmas present from my little kitty Bella.  Those of you who have rescues will understand that sometimes you have to be patient.  With Bella, we got to the point where she would sit beside us and let us pet her but did not like being held nor did she sit on our laps.  After four years, I figured that is about as far as we will get – some cats are just not lap cats.  Well, two days before Christmas, she came up and sat on my lap and just wanted to be the center of attention.  It has happened almost every night since then whether I am sitting in the easy chair or the dinette.  She stays for about 45 minutes, then she is off.  (Because this was so unlike her, I thought she might be sick but so far so good.)  It was such a joy for me – .)!!!!

One of the evenings I just couldn’t resist taking this picture:

My Dusty who is my lap cat is not happy about this – so I make sure I have the time for him.

As we end the year I wish all of you good health and happiness in 2016.

 

I am still using Open Live Writer.  For those who get the blog by email, the last blog was on the email as well as two other blogs that were posted the month before.  I am not sure why or if there still is some bugs between OLW and FeedBurner.

There is one more thing I would like to blog about and that is the impact of people in our lives.  I do not elaborate on the times with friends but I want you all to know that you are very important to us.  We are blessed to have such good folks in our lives. 

I feel okay broadcasting where we travel (because this is a travel blog after all) but I don’t feel okay with broadcasting all we do with friends (because some folks do not like their lives broadcasted and sometimes I don’t like everything I do with friends broadcasted.)  Just my two cents –