There, Here and Now......

There......
So we stayed at the campground in Okeechobee for two nights, It wasn't bad but the campground was located between the canal surrounding the lake and the hwy, a distance of about 75 yards. Most of the 'residents' where in pull behind campers or 5th wheels, and some where full time there with permanent porches etc. We were put in two sites that where perpendicular to the road, right on the road. Not to bad but we heard traffic until late and then early in the morning. The plus was that the lake had a bike path all the way around it along the levee. It was great for running and biking.
Here's a few pics, I'll try and give a brief descrip of each.......

Here is a pic of the "Gracious RV Resort" from the levee, across the canal. If you look close, that's the back of our MH, left of center and that's the hwy in front of us.

This is the rest of the campground, the bldg at the right edge is the 'Rec Center' where we went to a pot luck the first night that was a PIG OUT! The people were real nice, most from up north and winter residents.

Here's Mo on the levee, we went and found 5 caches on bikes. Lots of fun. To the her right is Lake Okeechobee, the largest inland body of water in the SE USA. Although it's the biggest, the depth is only about 14'  Lots of history here, Google it if you want to know more. To Mo's left is the canal, dug to releave the lake if it floods.

We waited for the sun to set. here's just before sinking below the horizon.

Here is almost.............

 I have a few more pics but that really sums it up, we enjoyed the two days there, the people were nice, it was a great place to bike, run and shop but we were ready to move on.

Our next stop would be " Fishermans Cove RV Resort" in Tavaris, FL. About 175 miles north. We had gotten a two night free stay there from the Tampa RV show.

The roads were good gettin there, we stay off the Interstates if we can, right now we're not in a hurry.

Here.....

We arrived about 12:30pm, maybe 1 o'clock. Not looking to bad, Mo went in and got us registered and when she came back out she said they didn't have any concrete pads but they would put us in one up on the hill but be carefull some sites where soft, she thought this one was ok. We unhooked the jeep and Mo lead the way. She circled around to give me a good back up route into the site. I pulled thr rig forward onto the vacant lot across from ours and like an idiot I dropped the back wheels off the pavement. The rig went straight down and the wheels just spun! I got out and looked, thought , maybe if I pulled forward just a bit more I could ramp dirt up to the pavement and pull out.....not, just went deeper, now to the axel. Got my shovel out, never thought I'd need it when I packed it, and dug forward of the wheels thinking next maybe I could move forward and then ramp back better......not. Now I have the transmission sitting on the pavement and the axel, leveling jacks and tires below the pavement level and buried.......s--t! At this point people came over and said ' you aren't the first ones to have this happen'.  Ha Ha that's a lot of concilation. They were all nice about it but there wasn't anything they could do. One fellow said when his neighbor got home maybe he could pull us out with his semi rig. Well that wasn't gonna happen, we were way deeper then a pull out, the transmission bolts would have been sheared off at best, the rear axel, the leveling jacks and who knows what else would be ripped off at the pavement edge!

OK, I gotta post a few pics here because it just isn't describable......

Here is the rig after the second attempt to move it forward....... or backward.

 I took the bikes and hitch off after I had tried all I could. You can see the pile of dirt where I tried ..ha, ha digging it out. At this point we went inside and called 'Coach-Net' our roadside assistance insurance company. This would be the second time we used it, both times for towing. Luckily, the only company with rigs large enough was on thier call list, so they called them and called us right back. It would be about an hour before the truck would get there.

 I shutter when I look at these, It just doen't show the desperate situation well enough.

 The rigs Transmission pan was supporting the whole weight of the coach. I tried shoveling out dirt under the leveling jacks but they're pretty far under the coach, so I tried just extending the rear jacks hoping I could slide boards under the wheels. The jacks just sunk in the sand.

 Now by this time lots of people had gathered to enjoy the party, this picture only shows a good neighbor (Chuck) who was a big help all the way through and the Wrecker driver. (Jack, in the plaid shirt). Mo was standing off the road with the crowd, all having a good time.........woe is me......

 This was a big wrecker truck, unfortunetly, he couldn't just lift me up and pull me out. RV rigs just aren't designed to do that.. He couldn't pull me out either, he said it would tear the whole underside loose. I believed him, too. We decided to dig and, with the leveling jacks, lift,, chock it up; dig and lift again, chock it up; repeat until we could get the jacks to lift the wheels up with enough wood under them to pull the rig without dragging the underside on the pavement.  This guy knew what needed to be done but it was going to be a slow, tedious process.

 

 Here's his dog, he stole the show with the crowd. (can't figure out how to rotate it)










Here we are working away

 Here is ONE section of the crowd. there were more down the road from these.  The guy waving had a good time talking to Mo, he was from her area growing up and they went to alot of the same party spots. He also had a 12 pack he was passing around, believe me, this was a party of sorts...... for some anyway.

After about 2 hours of digging and lifting we got it to a point where we both agreed it was time to give it a pull. Jack, The driver, pulled his rig around and set the outriggers and stretched out his cable. He put a ring in the tow hitch reciever and hooked on. I had Chuck in the MH keeping the front wheels straight and watching for us to signal for him to lock the brakes down if we saw it wasn't going right. Jack had a remote for the winch and we both laid down on the pavement and watched as he vveerryyy slowly pulled the RV. It worked perfectly! The rig rose up as it pulled back just enough for the jacks and axel to clear the edge of the pavement. We signaled for Chuck to brake the MH once the rear wheels got solidly on the pavement, about 5 - 8 ft.

Here's a victory video !!

We filled thw holes and then backed the MH up straddling the holes we had just filled. We had done IT! We all stood around a while a high fived and shot the bull, the crowd soon broke up and we went down to the new site. About 5:30pm  .... whew!

Now .......

We're set up on a big concrete site, someone said it is the owners site. So far we haven't talked to anyone with the management, we're trying to decide just how many days we want to stay, I say a week. Mo fixed a good supper and after a couple of beers, things don't seem so bad. We came out ok, no damage was done, the insurance picked up the tab and I learned not to EVER pull off the pavement where there is even a hint of sand!
God is Great,
Beer is Good,
and people are crazy....

A Bad, Good, Bad, Night

We left Miccosukee Casino heading for the Isle Casino in Pompano Beach. The Casino website said RV overnight parking was ok but when we got there and went in to check in with secuirity they informed us it was no longer permitted. There was a WalMart not to far away so we figured we would play some penny slots and watch a horse race then move.  When we went back outside to leave we realized a bad storm was brewing with tornado warnings posted for our area.  As we walked back to the MH a scurity gaurd stopped us and told us of the storm. We got to talking and he explained why the policy had changed. He was very concerned about us moving to the WalMart and said we could stay the night there as long as we left in the morning. We battened down the MH and rode out the storm safe and sound. We left in the morning heading for our present location, Gracious RV Park in  Okeechobee, FL.

Mov'n along

Seems I can't get caught up on sharing this adventure. All of a sudden, it seems, it's late at night and another day is behind us.

Where was I last??...

So we packed it up at Jolly Roger Campground heading north towards Miami. We only got about 20 miles and we just had to have a bit more of the Keys, so we pulled into Long Key State Park.We asked if they had any sites that would accommodate our rig, they didn't and we pretty much knew it, but hoped there had been a cancellation. We decided to stay for the day and paid the entrance fee. The park was right on the water, it wasn't hard to understand they were booked solid a year in advance. We parked right beside the Atlantic and got out the chairs.

 This is looking from the side of the MH, literally 10-15 ft from the water.

We decided we would make ourselves comfortable......

We sat around a while and then decided we'd get the bikes off and explore. We logged a couple of geocaches and took off. The Park was pristine, no trash anywhere. The caches were on a trail named the 'Yellow Orb Trail'; named for a spider that lives there.The trail was hard packed sand and about 4' wide. We rode our bikes the whole way, about 1/2 way there was a long boardwalk section that had tent sites built onto it. We found the caches and explored some other areas of the park.

Pics of the trail

Beautiful, eh? The park was too !
We rode back towards the MH and on past to see what the sites looked like. Every one was on the water, they all were pretty private with trees and scrub brush between them. There were only a few that were actually deep enough for a rig our size. We rode to the end of the road and left our bikes. The tide had gone out so there were shallows way out. We waded out, way out, and it only got about 12 inches deep.
 You can see how the tide is receding.......

 Here's Mo about 75 yards out. Ankle deep!

We didn't find much in the way of shells or trinkets from the sea, but it was really just beautiful !!

We went back to the MH just before the sun was to set. The park sign said 'open at sunrise; close at sunset'. We had a great spot and really wanted to watch the sun set. We called the ranger station but they said we must be out before sunset. We packed up and headed north on Hwy 1.

We decided to go back to Miccosukee Casino for the next two nights and visit Miami and South Beach. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't so good, it was cold and windy on South Beach but we still made the best of it. We parked the Jeep and walked probably 6-7 miles on the beach boardwalk and shop sidewalks. One of the coolest things were the kite surfers. The wind was good and they were having a blast! I would really like to try it someday, but it was way to cold that day! One of the oddest things were very few people spoke English! Mostly it was Spanish but there were also other languages too.

Our next stop would be a Casino in Pompano Beach.

Been there.........

We finally got to the Keys. It had been about 20 years since I'd been here and the old memory fades a little. I had forgotten how incredible clear and blue, or turquoise, the water is. How far you can see and ......the traffic. Mo was amazed at thr water color too, she thought it was only in the Carribbean that water could be that clear and that color.

This taken out the MH window and really, you just can't do justice with a snapshot.

We had reservations at an RV campground, 'Jolly Rogers", on Marathon Key which is about 1/2 way to Key West. We pulled in about 2pm and got set up. We were on the gulf side and the campground was right on the water, not our site, but we were close. If you looked out the bedroom window you could see the water between 2 other rigs. O well it was only about 75' away.

Here's Mo after we got set up. you can't see our rig but we were to the left of the tiki hut.  That's my beer on the table!

This guy just came in from fishing and the pelicans were waiting patiently for scraps. The lady would talk to them and they would act like they actually listened and understood.  ???

Our site was very close to rigs on both sides but we didn't really care since we weren't planning on being there much. So we jumped in the Jeep and checked out the area a bit, there was a State Park just down the road and a multi-million dollar neighborhood just up the road. The homes there were stunning?, breath-taking?, gorgeous?, whatever, it was cool to see. Each had it's own dock on a canal behind the house and most had yachts either moored or raised up on winches.

We headed back and watched the sunset from the same picnic table where we were earlier. It was a bit hazy but still beautiful.

The next day we headed to Key West. (Friday) We wanted to celebrate Mo's B-day on Key West but Saturday, which was her b-day, was supposed to be bad weather wise. We took the bikes and parked at Smathers Beach. We biked down Key West towards town where we locked up the bikes at the end of Duval St and started walking. We hadn't walked more then 50' when we noticed this establishment.A house of 'ill repute'! I had to get Mo's picture on the porch, the lady said sinxe it was Mo's B-day we could have a two for one !!

We walked on down the street and since it was just a little after noon we took a few side streets too. this market area was really nice, You can't see it but this guy is trying to get a BIG white parrot to get on the stick so he can get back to his cage/perch. The dumb bird got up yhe tree and couln't get back down!

Here's a picture of the other parrot, he was very colorful.

There was a huge sailing regatta going on that week and all the bars and retaurants were competing for the business. This was in "Sloppy Joes" where we ate lunch.

We walked in and out of shops of every kind imaginable. From big name brand to grubby, cheap t-shirt shops. We checked them all out! When it got close to sunset we high tailed it back to get the bikes and rode them back down to the area known as 'Mallory Sq'. That's where the street performers are and everybody watches the sunset and claps when it finally drops below the horizon.

Here was a huge bronze sculpture named 'The Ship Wreckers'. History tells that the first commerce on the island was salvaging anything of value off of the ships that wrecked on the coral off the coast. It was sold and also insurance companies paid to have the salvage to offset costs.

This is one of the street perfomers at the square.He;s on an 8' high unicycle juggleing a knife, a hatchet and a fire wand. As if thats not enough, about 2' behind him is the sea wall!

There were other performers too, a crazy black guy that did a whole gymnastic routine a banjo player that had a dog that collected money fromthe crowd, fortune tellers, bands and artists and craftsmen of all sorts.

Finally the sun set..................

We had some friends, Ed and Lyn, who met us down there. They also were staying at Jolly Roger, we had met them at a rally last Sept and had kept in touch. We all went and had coffe and Key Lime pie after sunset. Then we rode our bikes back to Smathers Beach and started the long, 50 mile, trip back to the MH.

Full Moon tonight......

Yep, it sure is and we're in the Miccosukee Indian Tribe Casino parking lot.

O yeah, the 'M RV Resort' in Moore Haven  was just fine. It was a bit tight getting into the site but very comfortable while we were there. I got some good runs in, Mo had a safe place to walk and we got the laundry caught up, filled the fresh water tank, cleaned inside and out and even cached a bit. We left this morning just before noon.

We had gotten in contact with some folks we met last fall on the road and they're also heading to the Keys so we met here  for a night. They got here first but we pulled in shortly after. There are probably a dozen or more RVs here and that many truck rigs. We went in and registered with security and got our Player Club card...and... 2, 2 for 1 buffet tickets, $15.00 in slot money each, Mo got an additional $10.00 because it's her birthday this week, and we got 2 chances to win $500.00 every hour from 5-9pm . So we got busy at the slots right away. Mo lost all of hers right away but I was a bit luckier and when I got $54.00 up, I cashed out. Hummmmm..... that's like honest to goodness free money!  So we went out and set up the motorhome, they allow you to put down levelers and put out slides, plus security cruises all night. Then we went back in for the first drawing, we didn't win but people watching was great fun! Next we went to the dinner buffet. both dinners together cost us $11.00. We are stuffed....for free! Tomorrow morning we meet our friends for the breakfast buffet, then we finally head for the Keys...YEA!!!

BoonDocking

When we left Sumpter Oaks we needed to boondock for a couple of nights. We're working with a budget that allows 'X' amount for park fees.
So.........

Here we are in a WalMart lot in Palmetto, FL.
It was actually pretty quiet and peaceful.

Here we are at a Camping World in Ft Myers, Fl. We stayed there all day and then thru Friday night. We just hung around, didn't do mch at all.

We moved to this WalMart in Ft Myers Saturday morning. There were other rigs there and when we went in and asked permission they were very accepting. We did our grocery shopping for the next week and went back out, we were parked way out by the street. We locked up yhe rig and went to find a few caches on Cape Coral and go to Mass at 4pm.  That night it was like the NASCAR of rice rockets! I think every two stroke motorcycle and suped up japanese car was racing up and down the road outside. Not much sleep.......






Here is a picture from where we ate lunch on Pine Island
This little park was just tucked back from the road, the
water was crystal clear.
Wish you were here!

Tonight, Sunday,  we are in Moore Haven, FL at a campground. We'll stay here for a couple of days and then head for the Keys.

The Tampa RV Show

Well it's Thursday night and we're parked in a WalMart lot in Palmetto,Fl. The manager says she can't 'give' us permission to overnight but we can maybe stay there....unless the police ask us to move on.
Anyway, we had a great stay in Bushnell. It rained all day Monday so we just hunkered down until the Auburn game. It was a great game with a match that could have gone either way. Of course you know Auburn won it with a field goal in the last 2 seconds. We're in EST so the game wasn't over until a bit past midnight so we finally rolled out of bed Tues. about 9:30 am. We down loaded a bunch of cache sites and loaded up the bikes and went back to Floral City, FL. The town is really pretty with the old Oak trees with moss hanging down.

Driving into Floral City, FL










There is a rails to trail there 46 miles long w Floral being right at the mid point. The trail is about 12' wide and paved with mile markers painted on.

< The Trail

    

 

< Mike on The Trail

 

The first 2 caches were along the paved trail and the description said 'easy'. Well....I guess we're just new at this cause we had to search pretty hard. The others were in Ft Cooper State park down the trail about 3-4 miles. We entered the park and followed the GPS to the first one. The park was beautiful, pine and 'turkey oaks' with lots of palms and palmetto plants. The trail in the park was packed sand and rideable without to much effort. Lots of deer, turkey and raccoon tracks in the sand but we didn't see any. We didn't see ANY other people either! It was as though the park was closed just for us.

Here I am coming out of the woods after finding the next to the last one. We had one more and it was getting late and my Mo's legs were tired but she's tough and we went for the last one. It was along a lake and after that we headed for the Jeep We hadn't had any food or water for about 4 hours so we were bee lining it back!
It was a fun day and we both slept like babies.
Weds we went to the Tampa RV Show from Bushnell. It was 50 miles so we left about 10am. Now depending on who you're talking to, this is supposed to be the largest show in the USA. I'll admit, it is big, it's held at the Fl State Fairgrounds and it is packed with all brands, sizes and shapes of motorhomes, 5th wheels and trailers. There must have been 350 venders there also. We talked with a vender that repaired and replaced windshields in MotorHomes. We had a rock star fixed a couple of years ago and it started running up the winshield on this trip. To replace the windshield would be $2500.00, ouch, it hurts to even write that!. This vender said he could stop the crack where it is now for 50-60.00. Alright! We spent about 4-5 hrs there and had enough, it was ccoollddd. So today we brought the MH to the fairgrounds and let him do it. He said, of course, that the person that fixed it the first time did a lousey job and that's why it cracked. He fixed the crack and refixed the original star all for 60 bucks. I hope it holds. We went into the show and finished seeing the areas we didn't see Weds and left full of RV show for a long time to come.
So tonight we hope to get some sleep, uninterupted, and tomorrow we'll head south a little further. It's still cold !

Bushnell,FL

We're in an Escapees park in Bushnell, Fl, Sunday thru Thrursday.

 We left Tallahassee and went to the Ochlockonee State Park. We traveled down to it on state hwys that were well paved with little traffic. The trip was great, very senic, very Florida, lots of forrested land  with pines, palmetto and palms. We got to the park and the gate was about 14' wide, the MH is about 12, plus the mirrors, so it was a squeeze through the gate. Then it was a long drive down a narrow road to the ranger check-in. We could tell this was going to be a nice place. There were only 30 sites and it was an old park but they said they could fit ours into a back in site. Now, we're talking about a shoehorn fit but we got it parked and set up.

We went and looked around and it was just beautiful! There were trails every where and we were right along side of the river. We decded to look for a cache and explore around some. Here is a shot of the river and of me holding the GPS while on trail.

 We arrived on Friday about noon and as the day went on other folks came in, by nightfall the sites were all full. We found the caches that were in the park by 2pm and then decided to take a drive down to St George Island, it was about a 35 mile trip. Again the drive was fantastic, it traveled right along side of the gulf, I mean right beside, 10' or so from the edge! All along the way we were seeing signs cautioning for BEARS! the real kind. This was rural FL, no high rise condos, strip shopping cntrs or even gas stations. A town we went thru was Carrabelle, FL.It was a fishing/tourist town but really quaint and not over-done.

 

Carrabelle out the Jeep window, it doesn't do it justice.

We got back about dark and it seemed everybody had campfires going but we were tired and it was sooo quiet and dark. We had listened to traffic at night for the last ?? nights and we both had good books, so we just went to bed to read. We were asleep before we knew it.

The next morning was bright and clear, and warmer. We went for a walk...... we had found out that our friend, John Couch, had been diagnosed with advanced cancer Friday. We found a quiet bench overlooking the river and reflected and said some prayers. It was so peaceful that surely God was listening.

We continued our walk and found a childrens playground, canoe rentals and more trails. We had to check out at noon so we went back and broke camp and got on the road. We had been told that Hwy 98 was slow with many stop and goes, but we didn't find that to be the case, at least the section from Appalachiacola to Invervess.  It was actually a beautiful drive.

 We stopped in Perry, FL for lunch in a WalMart pkng lot. There were about 4-5 other RV's doing the same thing so we met a few, One couple was from New Zealand. They flew to the states and bought a motorhome and were traveling all around the country. They were haveing a blast and doing it dirt cheap, going from pking lot to pking lot. We had lots of time so we went and searched out 3 caches, We stayed overnight Saturday in a Lowes pkng lot in Inverness, FL. We went to Mass there Sunday morning and then traveled down Hwy 41. then got back on the road heading for Bushnell, FL. We passed thru a town named Floral and it was incredibly beautiful. The streets were like a tunnel through big oaks draped with moss. It wasn't to far from Bushnell so we decided right then we would go back and explore later.
We got here at Sumpter Oaks RV Park in Bushnell and set up. It's a real nice place with full hook ups, a heated pool and a great give and take library. Lots of activities to do but we were mostly concerned if they could get the Auburn/Oregon game. They assured it would be on in the Clubhouse and probably many people watching the game. GOOD !! We're set. We plan on going to the big RV show in Tampa Weds & Thursday. Today is Monday and it's raining but supposed to clear out in the late afternoon and be a high temp of 72. Think We'll read for a while..........