Wednesday, August 25, 2010
2010 Trip Continuing to be Updated
I'm working on updating the 2010 trip and photos, please be patient.
Monday, August 23, 2010
More Rain!
Well, no sightseeing again today! It has been raining since last night and most of today.
It occurred to us today that we hadn't taken any photos of our campsite since we got here, so Mike took some photos this afternoon after it had quit raining. The photos are NOT representative of what our campsite looked like our first few days here.
According to the local news we had almost 2" of rain yesterday and about 1½" today. The rain came so hard and fast, the ground couldn't absorb it fast enough. The ladies in the office said that the last time it was like this was in 2004 & 2005 when they had hurricanes come through the area.
Tinker has was NOT been very happy the last couple of days. The water is so deep, about 4"-5", and cold, Tinker doesn't like walking through it. So Mike has been carrying him from the RV up to the grass by the park office where the ground is higher and not under water.
We are leaving Fort Myers on Wednesday, so tomorrow will be our only day to go to the Edison & Ford estates. So we will be trying to get all of our sightseeing done in one day.
Just so that today wasn't a total waste, I went to the laundromat here today and did get our clothes washed.
It occurred to us today that we hadn't taken any photos of our campsite since we got here, so Mike took some photos this afternoon after it had quit raining. The photos are NOT representative of what our campsite looked like our first few days here.
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| From Fort Myers |
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| From Fort Myers |
According to the local news we had almost 2" of rain yesterday and about 1½" today. The rain came so hard and fast, the ground couldn't absorb it fast enough. The ladies in the office said that the last time it was like this was in 2004 & 2005 when they had hurricanes come through the area.
Tinker has was NOT been very happy the last couple of days. The water is so deep, about 4"-5", and cold, Tinker doesn't like walking through it. So Mike has been carrying him from the RV up to the grass by the park office where the ground is higher and not under water.
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| From Fort Myers |
We are leaving Fort Myers on Wednesday, so tomorrow will be our only day to go to the Edison & Ford estates. So we will be trying to get all of our sightseeing done in one day.
Just so that today wasn't a total waste, I went to the laundromat here today and did get our clothes washed.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Five Guys Burgers & more rain
We're still having rain showers today, so we decided to not tour the Edison & Ford winter homes today.
We did go shopping at Petsmart for Tinker's dog food and then to Harbor Freight for a couple of things.
So that our day wasn't a total loss (no sightseeing), we decided to go to Five Guys Burgers & Fries for dinner.
We both had the regular Bacon & Cheese burger and a regular soda and we split a regular order of fries - which came to a little less than $20. It is definitely a "no frills" restaurant - your order comes in a paper sack. The number of condiments you can add to your burger is huge and no extra charge for any of them - how great is that! We got our soft drinks and found a table and waited for our order number to be called.
When we got our meal we were pleased to see how large the burgers were and surprised to see how large an order of regular fries was. We both dug in and all we could say was "yum". We were very pleased with our first experience at a Five Guys and will definitely go again.
We've had more rain tonight since we got back to the RV and we hope it will stop tomorrow so we can go sightseeing.
We did go shopping at Petsmart for Tinker's dog food and then to Harbor Freight for a couple of things.
So that our day wasn't a total loss (no sightseeing), we decided to go to Five Guys Burgers & Fries for dinner.
We both had the regular Bacon & Cheese burger and a regular soda and we split a regular order of fries - which came to a little less than $20. It is definitely a "no frills" restaurant - your order comes in a paper sack. The number of condiments you can add to your burger is huge and no extra charge for any of them - how great is that! We got our soft drinks and found a table and waited for our order number to be called.
When we got our meal we were pleased to see how large the burgers were and surprised to see how large an order of regular fries was. We both dug in and all we could say was "yum". We were very pleased with our first experience at a Five Guys and will definitely go again.
We've had more rain tonight since we got back to the RV and we hope it will stop tomorrow so we can go sightseeing.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
RV steps repaired & another trip to Camping World
This morning the guys from Blackfin Welding came to repair the crack in our RV steps. They removed the steps from the RV in order to repair the crack. They did a good job and it cost us $50.
This afternoon we drove back up to Camping World to buy new step covers and a sewer fitting. We got gas in the Vue at a Pilot station and paid $2.599 a gallon.
After leaving Camping World we drove over to the Tice area to try and find the area where Mike's grandparents lived in 1930. They lived in an area called Alabama Grove on Alabama Terrace. We found a brick and concrete marker for Alabama Grove, but we didn't find Alabama Terrace. According to the 1930 census they lived near New York Drive (which we found) in the Alabama Grove section.
We did see some nice houses in that area that dated back to the 1920's & 1930's.
Before going back to the RV, we drove through the historic downtown of Fort Myers. The streets in the historic are were paved with gray and red bricks. The street lights were reproductions of gas-lit street lights from the early 1900's.
Some of the buildings we saw dated back to the 1910's and were quite impressive.
One of the main roads that we have been traveling on has been McGregor Boulevard. It is a beautiful street that is line with very tall and stately royal palm trees. I took a photo of McGregor Blvd near the Thomas Edison & Henry Ford winter estates. It's been raining nearly every afternoon since we got here and hope to be able to tour the Edison & Ford estates tomorrow.
This afternoon we drove back up to Camping World to buy new step covers and a sewer fitting. We got gas in the Vue at a Pilot station and paid $2.599 a gallon.
After leaving Camping World we drove over to the Tice area to try and find the area where Mike's grandparents lived in 1930. They lived in an area called Alabama Grove on Alabama Terrace. We found a brick and concrete marker for Alabama Grove, but we didn't find Alabama Terrace. According to the 1930 census they lived near New York Drive (which we found) in the Alabama Grove section.
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| From Fort Myers |
We did see some nice houses in that area that dated back to the 1920's & 1930's.
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| From Fort Myers |
Before going back to the RV, we drove through the historic downtown of Fort Myers. The streets in the historic are were paved with gray and red bricks. The street lights were reproductions of gas-lit street lights from the early 1900's.
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| From Fort Myers |
Some of the buildings we saw dated back to the 1910's and were quite impressive.
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| From Fort Myers |
One of the main roads that we have been traveling on has been McGregor Boulevard. It is a beautiful street that is line with very tall and stately royal palm trees. I took a photo of McGregor Blvd near the Thomas Edison & Henry Ford winter estates. It's been raining nearly every afternoon since we got here and hope to be able to tour the Edison & Ford estates tomorrow.
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| From Fort Myers |
Friday, August 20, 2010
Found welder to repair RV steps
Our RV steps have developed a crack in the supports and Mike checked with the park office to get the name and phone number of a welder to come out and repair them. Apparently there is only one welder that the office will allow to come into the park to do work and that is Blackfin Welding. Mike called Blackfin Welding and they will be out tomorrow to repair our steps.
Last month we went over our 5GB allotment on our Verizon Broadband service and had a huge bill. We are getting close to our 5GB allotment this month and since Ft. Myers Beach RV Resort has Tengo Internet service, we have subscribed to it while we are here. We paid $14.95 for a week's access even though we won't get the full week's use of it. That still works out cheaper than paying for the extra data usage with Verizon.
This afternoon we went shopping at Sam's Club, Wal-Mart Supercenter and Publix. We keep passing by a Five Guys Burgers and Fries and plan on stopping there one day for a meal. We saw a TV show on the Travel Channel some time ago about the best hamburger restaurants and Five Guys was one of the restaurants featured. Since then we have wanted to try one out and now is our chance.
Last month we went over our 5GB allotment on our Verizon Broadband service and had a huge bill. We are getting close to our 5GB allotment this month and since Ft. Myers Beach RV Resort has Tengo Internet service, we have subscribed to it while we are here. We paid $14.95 for a week's access even though we won't get the full week's use of it. That still works out cheaper than paying for the extra data usage with Verizon.
This afternoon we went shopping at Sam's Club, Wal-Mart Supercenter and Publix. We keep passing by a Five Guys Burgers and Fries and plan on stopping there one day for a meal. We saw a TV show on the Travel Channel some time ago about the best hamburger restaurants and Five Guys was one of the restaurants featured. Since then we have wanted to try one out and now is our chance.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Laundry & shopping at Camping World
This morning I went over to the laundromat here in the campground. They have 10 washers ($1.00) and 12 dryers ($.50 for 30 minutes) and a couple of large tables for folding clothes. I was pleased to see that all the machines were working (I didn't need that many, thank goodness!) and the laundry room was clean.
This afternoon after lunch we drove the 18 miles up to Camping World of Fort Myers to do a little shopping. Afterwards we crossed I-75 to go to the Camping World RV Sales lot and looked at some of their RVs. We're not looking to get another one, but one day we will probably buy a house and only go RVing part time. If we do, then we may have a Class C motorhome to travel in and so we were looking at the Class C's at Camping World. We just wanted to look at them in order to get an idea what we would want to have in a Class C in case we ever "downsize".
We had a short rain storm this afternoon after we got back from Camping World and had a gorgeous sky at sunset. The photo doesn't really do it justice.
This afternoon after lunch we drove the 18 miles up to Camping World of Fort Myers to do a little shopping. Afterwards we crossed I-75 to go to the Camping World RV Sales lot and looked at some of their RVs. We're not looking to get another one, but one day we will probably buy a house and only go RVing part time. If we do, then we may have a Class C motorhome to travel in and so we were looking at the Class C's at Camping World. We just wanted to look at them in order to get an idea what we would want to have in a Class C in case we ever "downsize".
We had a short rain storm this afternoon after we got back from Camping World and had a gorgeous sky at sunset. The photo doesn't really do it justice.
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| From Ft Myers |
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Sebring to Ft. Myers, FL
We had an early lunch and left Highlands Hammock State Park a little before noon after stopping at the dump station to dump our tanks and check out at the Ranger Station.
We went out the west entrance of Highlands Hammock and a good portion of the road was gravel and we crossed over a 1-lane bridge before connecting with S. Hammock Road.
We took S. Hammock Road south to SR-66 and then west back to Zolfo Springs where we took US-17 south. We stopped at a Shell station at Arcadia to get gas in the RV ($2.679 a gallon). We passed by the 1911 train depot in Arcadia on our way through town.
We continued south on US-17 to I-75 south (we crossed over the Caloosahatchee River)
to CR-876 (Daniels Parkway) and went south to CR-869 (Summerlin Rd) then north on SR-865 to Ft. Myers Beach RV Resort. Our trip was a total of 114 miles.
Ft. Myers RV Resort is an Encore park and we are staying here with our Coast to Coast membership. There is a $3 a day resort fee, so we paid $21 for the week that we will be here. After a quick check-in at the office, we disconnected the car and drove around the park to pick a site. We settled on site F-4 and returned to the office to let them know our choice.
F-4 is a pull-through site and we have full hook ups with 50 amp electric service. It is a grassy site and we have a concrete patio. We didn't take any photos of our campsite today, we'll have to do that tomorrow.
Because it is August the campground isn't even half occupied. I'm sure that isn't the case in the winter months.
We went out the west entrance of Highlands Hammock and a good portion of the road was gravel and we crossed over a 1-lane bridge before connecting with S. Hammock Road.
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
We took S. Hammock Road south to SR-66 and then west back to Zolfo Springs where we took US-17 south. We stopped at a Shell station at Arcadia to get gas in the RV ($2.679 a gallon). We passed by the 1911 train depot in Arcadia on our way through town.
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| From Ft Myers |
We continued south on US-17 to I-75 south (we crossed over the Caloosahatchee River)
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| From Ft Myers |
to CR-876 (Daniels Parkway) and went south to CR-869 (Summerlin Rd) then north on SR-865 to Ft. Myers Beach RV Resort. Our trip was a total of 114 miles.
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| From Ft Myers |
Ft. Myers RV Resort is an Encore park and we are staying here with our Coast to Coast membership. There is a $3 a day resort fee, so we paid $21 for the week that we will be here. After a quick check-in at the office, we disconnected the car and drove around the park to pick a site. We settled on site F-4 and returned to the office to let them know our choice.
F-4 is a pull-through site and we have full hook ups with 50 amp electric service. It is a grassy site and we have a concrete patio. We didn't take any photos of our campsite today, we'll have to do that tomorrow.
Because it is August the campground isn't even half occupied. I'm sure that isn't the case in the winter months.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Tinker Grooming & visit Doberman Rescue
We took Tinker over to Dog Designs Pet Resort this morning for his grooming appointment and stopped at a Raceway to get gas in the Vue ($2.669 a gallon) before returning to the RV.
After lunch I did a little shopping at Wal-Mart Supercenter before going by Dog Designs Pet Resort to pick up Tinker after he was bathed and groomed.
Mike and I went down to Lake Placid this afternoon to visit Gary and see his Doberman Rescue facilities. Lake Placid is about 15 miles south of Sebring. We left Tinker at home to catch up on his naps he missed while he was being groomed.
We were impressed to see how many Dobermans Gary had in his facility. I think we counted about a dozen. He had a few outside and then he let a bunch out of his house and they were all happy to see us. Gary told us the history of some of the dogs and told us of some of the dogs that were placed in their forever homes.
After visiting with Gary and his charges, we headed back up to Highlands Hammock. Tomorrow we are leaving and going to Ft. Myers Beach RV Resort.
After lunch I did a little shopping at Wal-Mart Supercenter before going by Dog Designs Pet Resort to pick up Tinker after he was bathed and groomed.
Mike and I went down to Lake Placid this afternoon to visit Gary and see his Doberman Rescue facilities. Lake Placid is about 15 miles south of Sebring. We left Tinker at home to catch up on his naps he missed while he was being groomed.
We were impressed to see how many Dobermans Gary had in his facility. I think we counted about a dozen. He had a few outside and then he let a bunch out of his house and they were all happy to see us. Gary told us the history of some of the dogs and told us of some of the dogs that were placed in their forever homes.
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
After visiting with Gary and his charges, we headed back up to Highlands Hammock. Tomorrow we are leaving and going to Ft. Myers Beach RV Resort.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Highlands Hammock State Park Trails
It was another hot day here - in the upper 90's, so we stayed in most of today. We did go over this morning to Dog Designs Pet Resort here in Sebring to see about having Tinker groomed tomorrow. We were able to get him an appointment for tomorrow morning.
This afternoon after it had cooled down a bit, we drove over to Park Loop Drive to go on a couple of the hiking trails here.
The first trail we went on was the Alexander Blair Big Oak Trail. The main feature of this trail is the 1,000 year old Live Oak tree. The tree trunk has a circumference of 36 feet! A storm came through the park on April 25 of this year and damaged the tree, so we didn't get to see the upper tree branches. But you have to admit, it is still very impressive.
The Big Oak Trail
connects with the Hickory Trail
and we followed it to the Orange Grove. The Orange Grove is a clearing where a Florida pioneer had cleared the land and built a cabin and planted orange trees. Tinker met his first armadillo in the Orange Grove.
We stopped at the CCC Museum on the way back to the campground. Unfortunately we arrived after 5 p.m. and the museum was closed. Between the years of 1933 and 1942 the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) planted thousands of plants and constructed roads, buildings, dams, & bridges in Florida to include Highlands Hammock.
There is also the Hammock Inn Restaurant here, but it is closed for the summer right now.
Tomorrow we are planning on visiting with Gary, a high school classmate of Mike's, who has a Doberman Rescue in Lake Placid.
This afternoon after it had cooled down a bit, we drove over to Park Loop Drive to go on a couple of the hiking trails here.
The first trail we went on was the Alexander Blair Big Oak Trail. The main feature of this trail is the 1,000 year old Live Oak tree. The tree trunk has a circumference of 36 feet! A storm came through the park on April 25 of this year and damaged the tree, so we didn't get to see the upper tree branches. But you have to admit, it is still very impressive.
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
The Big Oak Trail
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
connects with the Hickory Trail
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
and we followed it to the Orange Grove. The Orange Grove is a clearing where a Florida pioneer had cleared the land and built a cabin and planted orange trees. Tinker met his first armadillo in the Orange Grove.
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
We stopped at the CCC Museum on the way back to the campground. Unfortunately we arrived after 5 p.m. and the museum was closed. Between the years of 1933 and 1942 the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) planted thousands of plants and constructed roads, buildings, dams, & bridges in Florida to include Highlands Hammock.
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
There is also the Hammock Inn Restaurant here, but it is closed for the summer right now.
Tomorrow we are planning on visiting with Gary, a high school classmate of Mike's, who has a Doberman Rescue in Lake Placid.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Sebring
This morning we drove into Sebring to do some shopping. On our way out of the state park, we encountered these sandhill cranes walking alongside the state park road.
We took CR-634 east out of the park to US-27 where we had a great view of Lake Jackson. We drove north on US-27 to go to Home Depot and Wal-Mart Supercenter. After getting our shopping over with, we drove over to Lakeview Drive and drove around the west side of Lake Jackson.
On our drive we discovered the Don Jose Mexican Restaurant on Lakeview Drive. All of a sudden we had a craving for Mexican food and decided to come back for dinner tonight.
After driving around for awhile, we drove back to the campground. We spent the afternoon inside the RV enjoying the air conditioning - our temp this afternoon was around 95° - hot!
This afternoon we drove back over to the Don Jose Mexican Restaurant for dinner. We both had the beef burrito dinner with rice and beans - very good. We especially loved their salsa!
After dinner we went to Dairy Queen for dessert. Mike had his usual, a chocolate shake, and I had my usual, a Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard - Yum!
By then we were totally stuffed and headed back to the campground for the night.
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
We took CR-634 east out of the park to US-27 where we had a great view of Lake Jackson. We drove north on US-27 to go to Home Depot and Wal-Mart Supercenter. After getting our shopping over with, we drove over to Lakeview Drive and drove around the west side of Lake Jackson.
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
On our drive we discovered the Don Jose Mexican Restaurant on Lakeview Drive. All of a sudden we had a craving for Mexican food and decided to come back for dinner tonight.
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
After driving around for awhile, we drove back to the campground. We spent the afternoon inside the RV enjoying the air conditioning - our temp this afternoon was around 95° - hot!
This afternoon we drove back over to the Don Jose Mexican Restaurant for dinner. We both had the beef burrito dinner with rice and beans - very good. We especially loved their salsa!
After dinner we went to Dairy Queen for dessert. Mike had his usual, a chocolate shake, and I had my usual, a Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard - Yum!
By then we were totally stuffed and headed back to the campground for the night.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Red Shouldered Hawk
We spent the day here at the RV and stayed inside working since it was pretty hot today.
Last night I kept seeing a hawk land on a post a couple of campsites over from us and this evening I was able to get a photo of him.
Tomorrow we're going into Sebring to the Home Depot to get a couple of things and just to drive around the town.
Last night I kept seeing a hawk land on a post a couple of campsites over from us and this evening I was able to get a photo of him.
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
Tomorrow we're going into Sebring to the Home Depot to get a couple of things and just to drive around the town.
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
Moved to another campsite & Gary V. visited
This morning Mike drove up to the Ranger Station to see if we could move from site #52 to site #42 which has a lot of shade. Since there are only a few people here in the campground and site #42 isn't reserved, we were able to move.
We quickly broke camp at #52 and moved over to #42. The sites were close enough that it was easier just to carry some of our stuff from one site to another.
Mike didn't take any photos of site #52, but here are a couple of site #42.
A high school classmate of Mike's, Gary, drove up from Lake Placid to join us for dinner tonight. Gary runs a doberman rescue in Lake Placid and we were interested to hear about it. Mike and Gary had a good time remembering their days in high school.
We're going to go down to visit Gary's doberman rescue facility in a few days.
We quickly broke camp at #52 and moved over to #42. The sites were close enough that it was easier just to carry some of our stuff from one site to another.
Mike didn't take any photos of site #52, but here are a couple of site #42.
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
A high school classmate of Mike's, Gary, drove up from Lake Placid to join us for dinner tonight. Gary runs a doberman rescue in Lake Placid and we were interested to hear about it. Mike and Gary had a good time remembering their days in high school.
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
We're going to go down to visit Gary's doberman rescue facility in a few days.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Wauchula to Sebring
We left Peace River Preserve this morning about 11:15. We would have gotten on the road sooner, but we are continuing to have problems with our left front jack - it won't retract. Mike has to release the pressure on the solenoid valve and he is then able to pry or push the jack up. He then restores the pressure on the solenoid valve and we are good to go.
We traveled south on US-17 to Zolfo Springs and then east on SR-66 (part of The Florida Cracker Trail) to Sebring.
We headed north on CR-635 to the entrance to Highlands Hammock State Park and arrived here at 11:45. We traveled all of 24 miles today.
After checking in at the Ranger Station and getting a map of the state park, we drove to our campsite. We are in site # 52. We have water and 50 amp electric and a little shade. We are paying $71.94 (FL Senior Discount) for the week we will be here.
We are going to check into moving to another campsite tomorrow. It was really hot this afternoon and there are some campsites near us with a lot more shade than we have at #52.
We traveled south on US-17 to Zolfo Springs and then east on SR-66 (part of The Florida Cracker Trail) to Sebring.
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
We headed north on CR-635 to the entrance to Highlands Hammock State Park and arrived here at 11:45. We traveled all of 24 miles today.
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
After checking in at the Ranger Station and getting a map of the state park, we drove to our campsite. We are in site # 52. We have water and 50 amp electric and a little shade. We are paying $71.94 (FL Senior Discount) for the week we will be here.
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| From Highlands Hammock State Park |
We are going to check into moving to another campsite tomorrow. It was really hot this afternoon and there are some campsites near us with a lot more shade than we have at #52.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Pioneer Park, Zolfo Springs & Wauchula
We had a busy day today. This afternoon we drove down to Zolfo Springs to go to Pioneer Park. Pioneer Park is operated by Hardee County. There is a museum and a campground with about 60 campsites there. After driving through the campground, we drove over to view the buildings that are part of the museum.
After leaving Pioneer Park we drove around Zolfo Springs and took photos of a few houses there. While we were driving around, it started raining so we have photos of rain and houses.
We then drove up to Wauchula to drive around the town. When the Florida Southern Railway came through the area, they build a train depot in 1886 and named the town Wauchula which comes from the Miccosoukee Indian word "wa-tu-la-ha-kee", meaning "call of the sand hill crane".
Fortunately by this time the rain had quit, so we were able to get better photos of the town.
After driving around Wauchula for a while, we headed back to the RV for dinner. After dinner we took a walk on the nature hiking trail here at Peace River Preserve. The trail followed alongside the Peace River and was a nice relaxing walk.
We are leaving Peace River Preserve tomorrow and going to Highlands Hammock State Park near Sebring.
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| From Zolfo Springs & Wauchula, FL |
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| From Zolfo Springs & Wauchula, FL |
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| From Zolfo Springs & Wauchula, FL |
We then drove up to Wauchula to drive around the town. When the Florida Southern Railway came through the area, they build a train depot in 1886 and named the town Wauchula which comes from the Miccosoukee Indian word "wa-tu-la-ha-kee", meaning "call of the sand hill crane".
Fortunately by this time the rain had quit, so we were able to get better photos of the town.
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| From Zolfo Springs & Wauchula, FL |
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| From Zolfo Springs & Wauchula, FL |
After driving around Wauchula for a while, we headed back to the RV for dinner. After dinner we took a walk on the nature hiking trail here at Peace River Preserve. The trail followed alongside the Peace River and was a nice relaxing walk.
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| From Peace River Preserve |
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| From Peace River Preserve |
We are leaving Peace River Preserve tomorrow and going to Highlands Hammock State Park near Sebring.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Shopping at Sweetbay supermarket & doing laundry
This morning I drove up to Wauchula and went shopping at the Sweetbay supermarket there. We had seen a number of these stores in Florida, but had never shopped at one. It is similar to Publix or Winn Dixie, but no "rewards card". I will definitely shop at another Sweetbay if I am near one.
This afternoon I went up to the laundromat here at Peace River which is located behind the Trading Post and next to the swimming pool. There are 6 washers and 8 dryers which cost $1.50 each. There were fairly comfortable chairs to sit in while I waited for my clothes to get done and tables for folding them.
We have been going up to the adult lounge every afternoon to use their wifi service. They are in the process of refurbishing the adult lounge and today it being painted. It should look nice once they finish.
Tomorrow we are going to down to Pioneer Park in Zolfo Springs. It is operated by Hardee County and has a campground and museum.
This afternoon I went up to the laundromat here at Peace River which is located behind the Trading Post and next to the swimming pool. There are 6 washers and 8 dryers which cost $1.50 each. There were fairly comfortable chairs to sit in while I waited for my clothes to get done and tables for folding them.
We have been going up to the adult lounge every afternoon to use their wifi service. They are in the process of refurbishing the adult lounge and today it being painted. It should look nice once they finish.
Tomorrow we are going to down to Pioneer Park in Zolfo Springs. It is operated by Hardee County and has a campground and museum.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Weak Verizon signal
We have a weak signal here at Peace River for our Verizon MiFi broadband. We went up to the lounge at the Trading Post today to use their wifi service. Our cell phone signal is OK enough for calls.
Besides checking our email, we also needed to make a reservation for Highlands Hammock State Park near Sebring for a week starting August 12.
We drove up to Wauchula (about 4 miles) to do some shopping at Winn Dixie and Wal-Mart Supercenter. We located a car wash and washed the Vue while we were in Wauchula.
We took these photos when we came back from Wauchula this morning. The alligator and bears are located by the gate entrance to Peace River Preserve.
Besides checking our email, we also needed to make a reservation for Highlands Hammock State Park near Sebring for a week starting August 12.
We drove up to Wauchula (about 4 miles) to do some shopping at Winn Dixie and Wal-Mart Supercenter. We located a car wash and washed the Vue while we were in Wauchula.
We took these photos when we came back from Wauchula this morning. The alligator and bears are located by the gate entrance to Peace River Preserve.
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| From Peace River Preserve |
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| From Peace River Preserve |
Little Manatee River State Park to Peace River Preserve
We had another short driving day - only about 50 miles. After stopping at the dump station to empty our tanks, we left Little Manatee River State Park around 11:00 this morning.
We traveled south on US-301 to SR-62 and then east to US-17. After driving about 5 miles south on US-17 we reached Peace River Preserve a little after noon. Peace River Preserve is a Thousand Trails campground. This will be our first stay at a Thousand Trails campground since purchasing our membership earlier this summer.
We stopped at the Peace River Trading Post to check-in. We will be here for a week. Our camping fee for the week covered by our dues, but there is a $3 a day resort fee here. We were given a map of the campground and we disconnected the car from the RV, so we could drive around and pick out a campsite. After driving around and looking at a number of the empty sites, we decided on site #F2. We returned to the office to let them know which site we had chosen.
After we finished checking in and receiving the security code for the gate, we headed over to our campsite. We have full hook-ups with 50 amp electric. One reason we chose site F2 is because of the trees on the west side of the site - they will help shade us in the afternoon. We don't have a paved patio, but the site is grass covered and fairly level.
We traveled south on US-301 to SR-62 and then east to US-17. After driving about 5 miles south on US-17 we reached Peace River Preserve a little after noon. Peace River Preserve is a Thousand Trails campground. This will be our first stay at a Thousand Trails campground since purchasing our membership earlier this summer.
We stopped at the Peace River Trading Post to check-in. We will be here for a week. Our camping fee for the week covered by our dues, but there is a $3 a day resort fee here. We were given a map of the campground and we disconnected the car from the RV, so we could drive around and pick out a campsite. After driving around and looking at a number of the empty sites, we decided on site #F2. We returned to the office to let them know which site we had chosen.
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| From Peace River Preserve |
After we finished checking in and receiving the security code for the gate, we headed over to our campsite. We have full hook-ups with 50 amp electric. One reason we chose site F2 is because of the trees on the west side of the site - they will help shade us in the afternoon. We don't have a paved patio, but the site is grass covered and fairly level.
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| From Peace River Preserve |
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| From Peace River Preserve |
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Last day at Little Manatee River State Park
Today is our last day here and we spent it catching up on some chores. First I did laundry this morning and noticed this spider & web in the rear wheel well. Neither Mike or I was looking forward to moving him from there.
After I finished the laundry, we went to Publix for some groceries and got gas in the Vue - $2.659 a gallon.
We were relieved to see when we got back to the RV from shopping, that the spider had left - at least we hope he's gone.
This afternoon we drove up to Brandon to visit with Mike's cousin, Carolyn and her husband John. They live in a gated apartment complex and there were some sandhill cranes wandering around the complex.
We always have a great time whenever we get together with Carolyn and John. Tinker was too thrilled to visit with their cat and I'm sure the feeling was mutual.
We stopped for dinner at the Bob Evans in Sun City Center before returning to the RV.
I've also been working on reinstalling software on our Dell laptop that we got back from the computer shop yesterday. I'll be working on that for a few days before I get everything back to the way it was. The only thing the computer tech could figure out was, something was stopping Windows from booting up all the way. I remembered that the night before it wouldn't boot up, the computer had "hung" when it was shutting down. But we're both very pleased with the service we got at Tampa Computer Doctor.
I did some research tonight and found out that our "visitor" was a black-and-yellow garden spider. I was glad to find out that they are not poisonous and that they eat small insects. All that said, we really didn't want it taking up residence with us.
Tomorrow we're going to Peace River Preserve in Wauchula, FL. It is a Thousand Trails campground.
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| From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa |
After I finished the laundry, we went to Publix for some groceries and got gas in the Vue - $2.659 a gallon.
We were relieved to see when we got back to the RV from shopping, that the spider had left - at least we hope he's gone.
This afternoon we drove up to Brandon to visit with Mike's cousin, Carolyn and her husband John. They live in a gated apartment complex and there were some sandhill cranes wandering around the complex.
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| From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa |
We always have a great time whenever we get together with Carolyn and John. Tinker was too thrilled to visit with their cat and I'm sure the feeling was mutual.
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| From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa |
We stopped for dinner at the Bob Evans in Sun City Center before returning to the RV.
I've also been working on reinstalling software on our Dell laptop that we got back from the computer shop yesterday. I'll be working on that for a few days before I get everything back to the way it was. The only thing the computer tech could figure out was, something was stopping Windows from booting up all the way. I remembered that the night before it wouldn't boot up, the computer had "hung" when it was shutting down. But we're both very pleased with the service we got at Tampa Computer Doctor.
I did some research tonight and found out that our "visitor" was a black-and-yellow garden spider. I was glad to find out that they are not poisonous and that they eat small insects. All that said, we really didn't want it taking up residence with us.
Tomorrow we're going to Peace River Preserve in Wauchula, FL. It is a Thousand Trails campground.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Dinner with Christa
This morning we drove up to the Bob Evans in Sun City Center for breakfast. Afterwards we drove around through some of the housing areas in Sun City Center.
Back at the campground we stopped by the Little Manatee River to take a few photos.
This afternoon we met Christa, Sue's niece, at the Chili's in Brandon for dinner. It was really good to see Christa and catch up on her news. I just wish we had more time to visit, but she's a busy teenager and working.
We also got a call from the Tampa Computer Doctor that our laptop was fixed and ready to be picked up. So after dinner we headed over to Tampa and arrived there a little before 6:00.
The tech was able to retrieve all of my data and load it back on to the laptop, but he did have to reinstall Windows 7. So I'm going to be busy reinstalling all of my software. The tech had tried to backup my data to my external hard drive, but had a problem with it. He backed up my data to his server and reinstalled it from that. Even with having to reinstall my programs, at least we didn't loose any of our data or photos!!
The tech recommended using Carbonite as a back-up and I had already been researching Carbonite on the Internet. Once I get everything back on the laptop, I'll be using Carbonite as a back-up in addition to the external hard drive.
Back at the campground we stopped by the Little Manatee River to take a few photos.
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| From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa |
This afternoon we met Christa, Sue's niece, at the Chili's in Brandon for dinner. It was really good to see Christa and catch up on her news. I just wish we had more time to visit, but she's a busy teenager and working.
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| From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa |
We also got a call from the Tampa Computer Doctor that our laptop was fixed and ready to be picked up. So after dinner we headed over to Tampa and arrived there a little before 6:00.
The tech was able to retrieve all of my data and load it back on to the laptop, but he did have to reinstall Windows 7. So I'm going to be busy reinstalling all of my software. The tech had tried to backup my data to my external hard drive, but had a problem with it. He backed up my data to his server and reinstalled it from that. Even with having to reinstall my programs, at least we didn't loose any of our data or photos!!
The tech recommended using Carbonite as a back-up and I had already been researching Carbonite on the Internet. Once I get everything back on the laptop, I'll be using Carbonite as a back-up in addition to the external hard drive.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Salvador Dali Museum
We left the campground this morning around 11:30 to go the the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg. We drove south on US-301 to CR-6 (Moccasin Wallow Rd) and then west to I-75. We changed to I-275 to cross Tampa Bay on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. It is a cable stayed bridge with a vertical clearance of 191 feet above the Tampa Bay. This is quite an impressive sight approaching it and just as impressive driving on the bridge.
This is the new Sunshine Skyway Bridge that opened in 1987. It replaced the original bridge that collapsed when it was struck by a freighter in May 1980. After paying the $1.00 toll we crossed the bridge to St. Petersburg.
From I-275 we changed to I-175 east which took us to the Dali Museum. We arrived at the museum about 12:45 after driving 50 miles from the state park. After parking our car in the lot next to the museum, we stopped to look at the marina near there.
The first thing we saw at the front of the museum was this wonderful bench.
Then we entered The Dali and paid the entrance fee of $29.00 for both of us (the senior discount price). We just missed getting in on the docent guided tour by a few minutes. We decided to just tour the museum on our own instead of trying to catch up with the tour.
I would love to be able to show photos of some of the amazing art we saw today, but no photos can be taken inside the museum. The best I can do is put the link to the museum here - The Dali. The detail in Dali's paintings, the variety of subjects and in some cases, the sheer size of the paintings such as The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus - a painting that is almost 14 feet tall and 9 feet wide.
We were able to hear some of the latter part of the guided tour near the end of our visit. The docent was well-versed in Dali's art and pointed out details in each painting that could easily be missed.
Before we left the museum we did some shopping in the gift store and bought some souvenirs. We also asked for direction to the new Dali museum that is being built in St. Petersburg.
We drove the few blocks over to the location of the new museum and it is very impressive. Someday we'll come back to visit the new Dali Museum and we'll definitely be sure to time it so we can go on a guided tour.
We drove through downtown St. Petersburg before heading back over to Little Manatee River State Park. Once again we crossed over Tampa Bay on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge (another $1.00 toll).
When we got back to the RV, I took Tinker for a walk. That's when Tinker met his first gopher tortoise. I don't know who was more nervous - Tinker or the tortoise.
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| From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa |
This is the new Sunshine Skyway Bridge that opened in 1987. It replaced the original bridge that collapsed when it was struck by a freighter in May 1980. After paying the $1.00 toll we crossed the bridge to St. Petersburg.
From I-275 we changed to I-175 east which took us to the Dali Museum. We arrived at the museum about 12:45 after driving 50 miles from the state park. After parking our car in the lot next to the museum, we stopped to look at the marina near there.
The first thing we saw at the front of the museum was this wonderful bench.
 |
| From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa |
 |
| From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa |
Then we entered The Dali and paid the entrance fee of $29.00 for both of us (the senior discount price). We just missed getting in on the docent guided tour by a few minutes. We decided to just tour the museum on our own instead of trying to catch up with the tour.
I would love to be able to show photos of some of the amazing art we saw today, but no photos can be taken inside the museum. The best I can do is put the link to the museum here - The Dali. The detail in Dali's paintings, the variety of subjects and in some cases, the sheer size of the paintings such as The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus - a painting that is almost 14 feet tall and 9 feet wide.
We were able to hear some of the latter part of the guided tour near the end of our visit. The docent was well-versed in Dali's art and pointed out details in each painting that could easily be missed.
Before we left the museum we did some shopping in the gift store and bought some souvenirs. We also asked for direction to the new Dali museum that is being built in St. Petersburg.
We drove the few blocks over to the location of the new museum and it is very impressive. Someday we'll come back to visit the new Dali Museum and we'll definitely be sure to time it so we can go on a guided tour.
 |
| From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa |
We drove through downtown St. Petersburg before heading back over to Little Manatee River State Park. Once again we crossed over Tampa Bay on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge (another $1.00 toll).
 |
| From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa |
When we got back to the RV, I took Tinker for a walk. That's when Tinker met his first gopher tortoise. I don't know who was more nervous - Tinker or the tortoise.
 |
| From Little Manatee River State Park & Tampa |
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