Bill and Helen's Fulltime Travels Here we go again and again

Good-bye 2008 Dec 31, 2008

It looks like I am going to have to go back to telling our story more often. We have been doing so many things that I have a hard time remembering if I wait a whole week to fill you in. I’ll do my best to give you recap of our last week.

We spent a quite Christmas Eve. I wasn’t feeling well so Bill drove the golf cart in the parade around the park without me. Our friend Eula didn’t have a cart so she rode with him. We had a nice dinner that I had prepared and later on we took a drive around the park to look at all the lights and decorations.

Christmas Day was cloudy but the temperatures were in the 70’s so we packed a picnic and headed for the beach. This time we went to the West Coast to one of our favorite beaches in Crystal River. Just as we arrived, the clouds really rolled in and it started to drizzle. There were people there anyway and we watched them anyway as well as a couple of dolphins that were playing just off shore.

One of the nicest things about Florida is if the weather doesn’t suit you, drive a few miles and it will change. That is just what we did. We drove about 25 miles further south to Weeki Wachee and just as we arrived, the sun came out in all it’s glory. We turned right and went to a wonderful beach on Pine Island. Oh my, was it ever wonderful. There was a picnic table just waiting for us and we were starved. After we finished eating, we walked the beach and watched all the fun going on. There was a neat little concession building that had hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream and low and behold they had Caribou Coffee. It came in a can and we had it over ice. It was wonderful. I think I told you before that Caribou Coffee started in Minneapolis and we watched it grow bigger and bigger until finally, they sold out to the big boys. The can we had was bottled by Coca Cola. I just had to take a picture of the can to show you.

After leaving the beach we continued driving south along the Gulf to see more of this great area. We made several stops along the way and then we returned home via I-75. What a great way to spend Christmas. We drove over 200 miles and when we got home the truck had 99,997 miles on it.

The next morning after we did a few things around the house, we went out with camera in hand and drove the next 3 miles slowly so we could watch the mileage change to 100,000. The darn digital odometers don’t turn anymore. They just blink. Well 100,000 miles in less than four years is a lot of traveling but what a ride. The truck is still looking good and we haven’t had any trouble with it at all but now our extended warrantee has run out so wish us luck. We really don’t want to think about another truck with all the problems the auto industry is having.

On Saturday, we went toward the East Coast but before we reached it we went South along Hwy 17 to the De Leon Springs State Park (as in Ponce De Leon). Here we found a beautiful park that had more springs running through it. It used to be a thriving sugar mill and what was left of it has been restored and now houses a restaurant where you can get a pancake breakfast that you make yourself right in the middle of the tables. We arrived around 11:00 am and the wait for breakfast was 2 ½ hours. By the time we got to the building the wait had increased to 3 hours. We decided to go on a boat tour instead so we went to sign up for the noon boat ride. The boat was already full so we got on a waiting list for the 1:00 boat. We walked around the park for quite awhile and when the 12:00 boat hadn’t left by 12:20 we cancelled our 1:00 knowing it would be quite late. We left that park and went further South, thru the town of De Land and found a nice little seafood restaurant to eat lunch at before looking for the next park on our agenda.

We had heard about Blue Springs State Park and all of the Manatees that come to the warm waters there. At this time of the year there are up to 100 of these so ugly they’re cute mammals. We slowly inched our way up a long line of cars to the entrance, only to find the park closed to any more people because of the crowds. Oh what a shame but this park is only about 35 miles from Orlando and this weekend is the busiest time of the year for tourists. We will go back but next time we will go on a week day after the kids go back to school. By the time we returned home, we had added another 200 miles to the truck.

Sunday we went to the Market Marion to stalk up on more fruits and veggies and then instead of taking the back roads home like we usually do, we went to I-75 where there is a Cracker Barrel Restaurant. Our friends Judy and Glen were on their way from Alabama a little further south of us with their precious grandson, Daniel. They were in their new Allegro Motor Home and towing their handicap assisted van on the back so we were thankful that Cracker Barrel has made room for these large vehicles. One of our very pet peeves is the amount of people that park their cars in the areas that are clearly marked for RV’s or cars with trailers on back. I don’t think that they are even aware of what they are doing but so often when we pull off the road to eat, we can’t find a place big enough to fit or make the necessary turns that our type of transportation needs. Keep that in mind the next time you see a spot that says “Parking for RV’s Only”. Cracker Barrel is well known in the industry as being RV friendly. Our lunch hour wound up being a lot longer than an hour but they only had about 45 more miles to go when they left us so they arrived while it was still daylite. We will be seeing them again before they leave next Sunday. Can’t wait. Our dear friends Smokey and Pam are on their way to the Escapee Park in Bushnell and should be arriving today. When I talked to them this morning, they were in Jacksonville. We will be seeing them also in the near future.

Tonight is our annual New Years Eve party put on by the Wilderness Park Owner. It promises to be a lot of fun again and this time I will be sure to get pictures of Bill line dancing.

Happy New Year All.