Heading South for the winter

Mon, Jan 5

Well, we're on a new journey for the new year!  Heading South to familiar territory from last year. We stayed in a nice RV Resort, Upriver RV Resort, for a few days and liked it, so signed up for a few weeks there this winter.  Sure hope it works out.  We've never stayed in one place for more than a few days, and this time we're planning for a month to a month and a half - or more.  It kinda depends on whether it stays warm enough.  If it doesn't, we'll head down to Key West.   All we really want it to be warm.

This afternoon we left Beaufort for a pleasant drive down to Wilmington.  We have some work scheduled on the motor home tomorrow.  Then if things work right, we'll start meandering down to Hilton Head for a couple days where we'll meet Bill and Jan.

All packed up and ready to leave Belle Air Street.  The car is loaded down with kayaks, bikes and chairs for us to enjoy in Florida.

Tues, Jan 6

Last night we stayed in a Wal Mart parking lot in Wilmington.  It's always interesting staying in a parking lot, but it was a bit noisy and neither of us slept very well.  It takes a couple of nights to transition to sleeping in the motor home.

This morning we had some routine maintenance done on the chassis of the motor home and this afternoon we drove an hour or so on down to Myrtle Beach State Park.  We stayed here last year and find it to be one of the nicest parks we've stayed in.

Wed, Jan 7

After an enjoyable morning in the motor home, we went for a nice long walk on the beach and then took the car and drove around for a while.  Myrtle Beach is certainly quiet (and nice) this time of year.  We've been here in the summer and it is extremely crowded - just the kind of place we don't like.

It was cool on the beach.  Tonight the temperature is supposed to drop into the upper 20's as a arctic blast hits the South. 

The pelican seems to be giving me the once over.

All of the birds seemed to have bundled up for the cold weather.

Thurs, Jan 8

A big drive day - over 4 hours.

We are at Hilton Head Island Motorcoach Resort on Hilton Head Island, SC.  This is indeed an upper end RV resort.  Bill and Jan had been here earlier and highly recommended it.  It certainly meets their description - and some.

Our motor homes are getting together for the first time since Why, Arizona when we parked in the desert.

The Big House and the Little House get together again.

The last time the "Big House" and the "Little House" were together was in Why, Arizona

Clara's working on supper 

Fri, Jan 9

We went out for lunch at a marina, and dinner tonight in our motor home with Bill and Jan.

A cold front caught up with us last night and the temperature dropped below freezing.  I would assume that's rather unusual for this area.  The rest of the East is supposedly really cold.  Kinda reminds me of last year when we kept going South until it got warm.  That's when we got to Fort Myers - where we are headed now.

Sat, Jan 10

We packed up and again headed South this morning,  However, not before a little scare from Clara. She woke up this morning and thought she had Pink Eye.  After reading a little about it online, we quickly got her to an urgent care facility in Hilton Head.  Turn out that all she has is an allergy.  So we could continue our journey without concern.

We had a quiet pleasant drive to a place we fondly remember from an earlier trip.

The day after we purchased this motor home (which was in St. Augustine, Fl), we spent our second night here at Pelican Roost RV Park at Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville.

This is one of the more beautiful RV parks we've stayed in.  It is right on the river where it meets the ocean.  We often see Navy and civilian ships transiting the river to the ocean.

The cold is holding on, and here just off the beach, the wind is howling tonight.  The forecast is for rain and a little warmer this week as we make our way further South.

Sun, Jan 11

We had hoped that a site would open up at Pelican Roost this morning, but it didn't.  We would liked to have stayed another day.

We got the washing done (free laundramat - a most unusual perk), then headed Southwest toward Tampa.  We had picked out a State Campground about 3 hours away, but about an hour down the road, we saw a sign for Gold Head Branch State Park and decided to see if they had something available - and they did.

This turns out to be a pretty neat place.  The primary feature is a deep (maybe 75 feet) ravine that is fed by natural springs.  There are some lakes around and lots of hiking trails.   The campground has large sites with electric and water - and boy, is it quiet and dark.

We can finally break out the swing and chairs because it is WARM!

I took off this afternoon on the bike and did some biking and hiking.  It's an interesting place with lots of wildlife - I saw 4 deer and numerous other small critters.

Moss Man

We would like to stay another day or so, but we are now on a schedule.  We want to go to a big RV show in Tampa on Wednesday, and are supposed to be at Upriver Resort on Thursday.

Mon, Jan 12

Now that we're warm, we're happy!

We head further South with a general idea of going to Hillsborough River State Park.  Jan had suggested this when we were discussing getting together again.  I called and they were full, but I was told that they would likely have some first-come first-served.  I checked on-line and found that there was one spot available, so I went ahead and reserved it.  On the way down here, we ended up traveling with Bill and Jan and we both arrived at the same time.  When we arrived at the park, they didn't have any first-come first-serve sites.  We insisted that Bill and Jan take that site and we moved on down the road to a private park, which is nice enough and mainly they have a good swimming pool.

This afternoon after I got in a good swim and then it started raining.  So we're settled in for the evening.

Tonight there was a show here at Camp Lemora RV Park where we are staying (in the rain).  Steve Jeffris, Guitarist, Vocalist, Entertainer (www.stevejeffris.com) played a great 2 hour show.

We've also connected with Brian and Joey Gurl, great friends in the mountains, and a fantastic entertainer whom we have heard play piano many times at their former home in Burnsville and at The Orchard.  We plan to go to one of his shows this coming Sunday.

Tues, Jan 14

This morning, Bill and Jan came over from their campsite, picked us up and we drove to downtown Tampa.  We had no idea what to expect or what we might find, we just thought there might be something enjoyable for a couple of hours.

This first thing we saw across the river from the high rise building part of town were several spires sticking up across the river, so we used those as a navigation point and headed toward them.

We end up at the Henry B Plant Museum.

The Henry B. Plant Museum is housed in the 1892 Tampa Bay Hotel, now a National Historic Landmark.  During the 1880s, Henry Plant was building an empire of railroads, steamships and hotels.

He wanted that empire to have a palace and that grand palace was the grand, Moorish Revival style Tampa Bay Hotel.  Plant invested $2.5 million to build the impressive luxury resort and an additional $500,000 to furnish it.

It took three years to build, covered 6 acres, was a 1/4 mile long and boasted all the modern technologies.  All 511 room were completely electrified connected by a telephone system, and had access to private bathrooms.

It is a very impressive building and many of the original furnishings were displayed in the museum portion of the building.  However, most of the building now houses the University of Tampa.

This evening, the B's had dinner with us and we were able to sit outside in the evening in shorts.

Wed, Jan 14

Bill and Jan drove their motor home over to where we are this morning and set up beside us. Then we all went to the RV show in Tampa.

Today was a full day at the biggest RV show in Florida at the Florida State Fairgrounds.  There were several hundred RVs of all shapes and sizes, and many suppliers and vendors.  We must have walked 10 miles - or at least my feet felt like that after 6 hours.

After looking at all types of motor homes, we are both very satisfied with what we have.  I think the most impressive RV in the show of the type we'd like was a 28 foot Tiffin.  We had gotten real serious about a 32 foot Tiffin a couple months ago, but again, when returning to our 33 foot, we found that we have all we want for now.

Tonight we had burgers with the B's in their motor home.

The "Big House" and "Little House" team up again.

Tomorrow we're off to our new home (for at least a month) in Fort Myers.