Our Wander Years

STN Hop 1: North Ft Myers FL to Citra FL

Posted on April 15, 2016 by Sparky

STN Hop 1

230 miles, mostly on I-75.

Last dog park walk

I gave the dogs one last walk to the dog park, then, after waiting for our neighbor to pull out first, we were on our way. It was 11am – about an hour later than we planned – and we paid for our tardiness in Citra by getting caught in a downpour while setting up.

About 210 of the 230 miles were on I-75 and about half of those were construction zone. The scenery consisted of orange barrels. Lanes were dropped or narrowed over long stretches. If it had been the weekend – or even Friday, I think – it would have been very unpleasant. But midday Thursday wasn’t too bad. Even Tampa, which is seemingly always backed up, flowed pretty well.

We stopped once. We didn’t really need a break after just 2 hours, but we had some difficulty in entering our destination into the GPS. I guess the “NW 45th Ave St” (sic) made as much sense to the GPS as it did to us. Entering the name of the campground (Grand Lake) made the GPS happy and got us underway again.

The hop, with GPS stop, took just a few minutes under 4 hours.

Ready to leave Seminole

Our home for the evening, as previously mentioned, was the Grand Lake Golf and RV Resort in Citra, FL. This is a very large (estimate: 500 sites) RV park with many park models and long-term residents. But no trashy long-term residents. All the RV units were newer and in good repair. But many sites had landscape improvements and quite a few had permanent steps and/or wooden decks. I think sites could be owned as the reception desk was labeled “Sales Office”.

The weather was terrible – a downpour while setting up and brisk winds that prevented us from deploying the awning. We also had a tree in close proximity that brushed against the RV, which affected the quality of our sleep. But despite these negatives, I thought the place was very nice. Having a golf course on site was a plus, but there was also a very nice rec hall, a laundry with new machines, a very large dog park and a restaurant, right on the shores of Orange Lake with a lakeside patio (which would have been great had the weather been better), that served surprisingly good food. Their fried green tomatoes were tangy and crisp – just the way we like them. I had a shrimp basket that was very tasty and filling. I didn’t really need dessert but had to try the “peanut pie.” It was like a slice of peanut butter cheesecake. A bit disappointing in that it didn’t have chunks of peanuts, but good enough to finish.

The park also has cable TV – 44 channels. Most of them were either news or sports, so the number of entertainment choices wasn’t a big improvement over our 8 over-the-air channels at Seminole. But it was a relief to not have to deal with a weak signal.

After the downpour

Grand Lake street

Grand Lake patio

Grand Lake restaurant and tree

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The best laid schemes…

Posted on April 13, 2016 by Sparky

… o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley (Robert Burns, “To a Mouse”).

After carefully working out all of the details of the STN (second trip north), as previously reported, Jett was notified today that her brother has decided to forgo further chemotherapy and is now in hospice with a projected lifespan of no more than two weeks. Rather than taking a leisurely trip north we are going to strap on the afterburners and hastily head to Massachusetts tomorrow morning. The trip will still be 7 hops, but they will all be one-night stops, with the exception of the Maryland (formerly Virginia) stop which will be two nights, to give Jett an opportunity to get a few much-needed hugs from her sons and grandson.

The three days we squeeze out of the trip north will be added onto our MA stay, giving us a full week there. Obviously we will be visiting with her brother immediately upon arrival. And hopefully a few more times after that.

Categories: STN | 2 Comments

Ft Myers dog parks

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Sparky

Seminole dog park

Dogs love parks, especially parks that cater to canines. What is not to love? Lots of smells to sniff, lots of pups to play with, complete off-the-leash freedom. The campground has a very nice dog park, with two enclosures, fresh water and an occasional tortoise to break the monotony if no other dogs are around. It is their favorite destination within the park.

And it is a good destination for me, as well. With the morning sun hitting the trees, it is a great wake-up spot.

For all these reasons – and the fact that it is a short walk from our campsite – we hit this dog park nearly every day.

But there are other dog parks in the Ft Myers area and we checked out two of them this season.

Seminole dog buddies

Morning dog park sun

First, we found the Judd Community Park dog park in North Fort Myers. This is a fairly small dog park which wasn’t much better than the Seminole dog park. But it did have a large contingent of other pooches, which Grace loved and which made Rusty nervous. We didn’t stay long and we didn’t go back.

Judd Community Park

Then, just a week ago, we drove 10 miles to the Barkingham Dog Park, in the Buckingham Park. This park was more interesting but was still somewhat less that I expected. I had heard that dogs could swim there, so I thought it might be similar to the incredible dog park at James Island in Charleston. But it turns out that the only swimming was in a pond adjacent to the enclosure which was posted with “Caution – Alligators” signs. Letting the dogs swim there struck me as being unacceptably risky. I did let Grace wade in – on the leash – and, of course, she immediately flopped down in the mud. That dog loves the water.

We haven’t returned to Barkingham, either, but we may. It is a very nice dog park.

We will keep our eyes open for more dog parks, but these are the only two public ones that I know of within 10 miles of the RV park.

Barkingham

The pond near the dog park

Grace taking a dip

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A season of puzzles

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Sparky

Tootsie Roll toughie

You can’t say that I wasn’t productive this winter. Softball, golf, dog walking… and jigsaw puzzles. My good buddy Dale and I completed a bunch of them. There were a few 300- and 500-piece puzzles, but most were big, difficult 1000-piecers. The toughest one was the one headlining this post – a jumble of Tootsie Rolls, Tootsie Pops, Dots and Junior Mints. Not only was it difficult but it also made me very hungry.

Another toughie was the one just completed – a painting of what seems to be a Venice canal. This one was tough because it was, when broken into 1,000 pieces, just splotches of color. Dale said he would burn it.

Venice menace

The 300- and 500-piece puzzles:

Winter scene

Village

Dogs

Cottage

Bears

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The Plan for the Second Trip North (STN)

Posted on April 2, 2016 by Sparky

STN plan – FL to MA

Our winter season in Florida is drawing to a close and we are beginning the preparations for hauling the fifth wheel, the dogs and ourselves north for what we hope will be an interesting and productive summer in Vermont. We have already done the “wellness checks” on the vehicles, have tested the hydraulics on the RV and the umbilical linkage between the truck and the RV and have adjusted tire pressures. I have planned a route, have booked campsites along the way and have checked the route for low bridges. We are pretty much ready to go.

This is going to be a relatively quick trip – 14 days. We need to be in Vermont by April 30 and are planning on an April 28 arrival, just to give us a day to settle in. Total distance traveled: 1,748 miles in 8 hops (it would be shorter if we wanted to skirt NYC, but we have learned to give it a wide berth). Highlights will include a full weekend in Savannah, GA, an overnight at South of the Border (a guilty pleasure), 4 nights with family in VA and 3 nights at a campground in MA that we remember fondly from a tenting trip many years ago. The hop from MA to VT will also be interesting as much of it will be on local New England roads (always an adventure) and goes through areas that we have not visited before. And when we get there we can add a 32nd state to our map.

The weather could also be interesting. It will probably be near 90 degrees when we leave FL and there will likely still be snow in the mountains when we reach VT. I hope that there won’t be many freezing nights as dealing with frozen water lines is never fun.

STN plan – MA to VT

As this map shows, we have several choices of routes to VT. We will probably take the one shown in blue, but I need to thoroughly review all the routes for low bridges (which I have done once, but checking twice is necessary) and possible fuel stops, should the tank run dry earlier than expected.

Now that the park is emptying (and softball season is over), I am getting anxious to get on the road. And on to our new careers as “workampers”.

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Banana Derby

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Sparky

One-man band

We spent a few hours at the Lee County Fair recently. We like county fairs. Yes, we gorged on unhealthy food (funnel cakes, sno-cones and a really tasty gyro dripping with dill sauce), checked out the farm animals (I liked the exotic chickens). We watched the one-man band. I even – at Jett’s urging – paid 50 cents to see the “headless woman”, ostensibly a real human being who was decapitated in an auto accident and was kept alive through a “medical miracle” (which, if true, makes one wonder who paid for that). She looked like a headless refugee from a wax museum. And she was fully clothed. Recommendation to carnival brass: pose her naked and charge a dollar.

Jett and Gilligan (Jett on right)

But the real highlight was the Banana Derby. You have heard of dog-and-pony shows? Well, this was a dog-and-monkey show. Yes, monkey jockeys riding dogs in a race around a short oval. It really wasn’t a fair race as one dog was clearly younger and faster than the other. And the faster dog had the more experienced monkey jockey. But both dogs and both monkeys got treats, so I guess they didn’t much care about the blatant unfairness of it all. There wasn’t much wagering, either.

The race was preceded by a dog doing some high-wire tricks – walking a high beam and jumping off an elevated platform.

As Jett is a big fan of both monkeys and dogs (ok, so am I), it was a pleasant way to spend 20 minutes. Totally free, too – except for the $10 that Jett paid to have her photo taken with her favorite monkey (twice).

Good food, good weather and a dog-and-monkey race. Does it get any better?

Platform leap

High-wire act

The big race

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Jett, American Princess

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Sparky

I haven’t blogged much lately because I have been busy doing some genealogical research. I have learned a lot more about my forebearers than I ever knew before. I may be related to old Scottish royalty. Pretty cool.

But Jett’s family has been even more interesting.

I have gotten almost nowhere on her mother’s Irish side. And her paternal grandmother – an English war bride from WW II – is also a blank slate. But the rest of her paternal lineage is fascinating. I have traced most of her paternal great-grandfather’s line back to the founding of America and every single immigrant that I could document arrived before 1700. And 95% arrived before 1650. I would characterize that lineage as “purebred Pilgrim” and the founding fathers of most of New England. I had documented members of her family who were original settlers of the Massachusetts towns of Salem, Watertown, Concord, Lexington and Bridgewater and the Maine town of Kittery. And, yes, Plymouth and Boston, too.

She is descended from not one but at least 5 of the 45 passengers of the Mayflower who survived the trip and the horrific first winter. She is a direct descendant of John Alden, arguably one of the most famous of the 45. He was, technically, not a Pilgrim as he made the voyage as a crewman rather than a passenger, but was immortalized in Longfellow’s poem, The Courtship of Miles Standish. And, yes, she is also a direct descendant of Priscilla Mullins, the women made famous by the poem and the one who uttered the famous line, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?”

I told Jett that, with this lineage, she is as close to royalty as we get in America.

I am sure she will remind me of that frequently.

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Moving the Yaris

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Sparky

One of the reasons we chose a (towable) fifth wheel RV over a (drivable) motorhome was that we wouldn’t need to tow a car to get around once we reached our destination. The plan was to park the RV, unhitch the pickup truck and then use the truck to get anywhere we needed to go locally. However… that plan didn’t take into account Jett’s fear of driving a diesel dually. You see, while was very comfortable driving her own pickup before we went on the road, it was a tiny Ranger – barely larger than our Mazda 3. Now, over 3 years later, she has still never been behind the wheel of the GMC 3500. Too long, too wide, she says. I keep thinking we need to do some training – like taking her out into an empty parking lot like I did with my sons before they got their licenses – but it hasn’t happened yet.

We made it through our first long stay – in San Jose and Temecula, California – by renting cars. We did the same our first summer in Littleton, MA. That met the need, but was expensive. So one of the very first things we did when we arrived in Fort Myers in November, 2013, was to purchase a Toyota Yaris for Jett’s use. We planned to sell it in April, 2014, when we headed back to Massachusetts, but Jett liked the car so much that we decided to transport it. We checked into commercial transport and found that prices hovered around $700. Instead, we hired Jett’s brother to fly to Florida and drive it back, for $600. Yes, it was 1,500 miles of additional wear-and-tear but we trusted her brother more than we trusted the union guys in the car carrier.

We did the same thing, in reverse, to get the car back to Florida this fall. Now we need to get it north again. This time we have opted to drive it ourselves. No, Jett is not going to follow the RV north – that would be too simple. And too much driving for her sore back. So I am going to drive it north, to her brother’s place, then fly back a day before we have to begin the long haul north in the RV. That will be *2* 1,500-mile trips for me, back-to-back, but I don’t have a sore back (yet) and I actually enjoy driving. Plus I don’t have to pay myself.

The Yaris goes in today for an oil change and a “wellness check” to make sure it is ready for the trip, which begins 4 weeks from tomorrow.

Maybe I can get Jett to that empty parking lot and have her drive the truck before I go. She would then have the confidence to use the truck in my absence. And maybe we could sell the Yaris someday.

Hey, a guy can dream, right?

Categories: RV Living | 2 Comments

A good day

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Sparky

Tuesday was a good day. Beautiful weather, lots of errands accomplished (including washing the Yaris which was *covered* with pollen), winning at Hand, Knee and Foot. But the highlight was hitting a grand slam home run in softball. If that has ever happened before it was so long ago that I can’t recall it. And this was no cheap shot, either – it sailed a good 30 feet over the outfielder’s head. Rolled all the way to the 300′ sign on the fence. And it was a close game at that point, so it mattered. Ripped their hearts out. Ahhhhhhhh… felt good!

Categories: Commentary, RV Living | 1 Comment

Snowbird stress

Posted on March 5, 2016 by Sparky

The trip to Costco yesterday was unusually stressful. First there was a backup on I-75 caused by what appeared to be the end of a police chase: two black cars surrounded by 8 state patrol vehicles and troopers with guns drawn. Then, less than a mile later, another backup caused by a single-car accident. It appeared that a car spun out and landed in the median strip (how does that happen in the absence of ice?). Finally, two ambulances blew by me as I was turning into the Costco parking lot.

Which was completely filled. Cars were cruising, looking for people leaving. I was at Costco before Christmas and this was *much* worse.

I had to return some items so I got into the long returns line. Directly behind a guy who was loudly telling anyone who would listen that he was “feeling the stress” caused by the “northerners”. I couldn’t disagree, because I just experienced some of what he was talking about, but, being Florida, I was a bit concerned that he would pull out a .45 and start plugging anyone who didn’t have a deep tan. And he would probably get away with it under Florida’s horrible “stand your ground” law which appears to give anyone with a weapon the right to use it anytime you feel a bit threatened. This guy was apparently feeling a lot of stress, which a jury could construe as being life-threatening. Then it would be open season on snowbirds.

This rather uncomfortable experience gave me cause to reflect on the tension – real and figurative – that snowbirds bring to southwest Florida. The economy here is totally dependent on the snowbirds. But the infrastructure needed to support their 3-month residency – highways, police and fire, to name a few – is huge and is largely unused the other 9 months of the year. Schools aren’t affected much, but everything else has to be built to a scale that is larger than would be needed if there were no winter visitors. Even shopping centers and recreational facilities (e.g., casinos) need to hire for the “season”, then lay off workers when it is over.

It must be very hard to balance all of this, which makes me glad I don’t have to deal with it year-round. But I hope they continue to manage it tolerably well so that guys like the one I ran into at Costco don’t start shooting.

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