Vero Beach to Lake City, FL

,We left Sunshine Travel RV Resort this morning about 10:45. We stopped at the office and I dropped the card for the entrance gate in a box by the office door (the office is closed on weekends).

We got on I-95 north and stopped at a rest area near Mims at 12:15 to have lunch. The farther north we drove, the darker the clouds ahead got.

From Vero Beach to Lake City

When we were near St. Augustine we ran into some rain and a lot of wind. Somewhere south of St. Augustine I noticed that the trim on the windshield

Photos of RV park & lunch at Christine's

We've  reminded each other everyday to take photos here at Sunshine Travel RV Resort and didn't do it until this morning. Better late than never, I guess.

From Vero Beach

We left later this morning to go down to Christine & Matt's house in Vero Beach for lunch. Carol was already there when we arrived and Mary and John got there a little later. Matt was working at his restaurant J P Matty's in Sebastian, so he wouldn't be home until later this afternoon.

Before sitting down to eat lunch

Cindi & Ron come to dinner

We didn't do much today. I did go up to Publix for a couple of things I needed for dinner tonight.

Cindi called us when they were leaving their house to come over to the campground and Mike walked up to the entrance gate to meet them. In order to enter the campground we have to use a card that opens the gate, so Mike took our card with him so he could open the gate for Ron and Cindi.

Mike grilled chicken and we had macaroni salad and potato salad for dinner. We sat outside at the picnic table for dinner. When Cindi and Ron sat down on one side of the table, the table

Errands & Lunch at J P Matty's

This morning we went shopping at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Sebastian for a couple things we forgot the other day and then stopped at J P Matty's for lunch. We had to wait a few minutes for a table, but it wasn't as long a wait as we had Sunday morning for breakfast.

After lunch we drove around through some of the housing areas in Sebastian. We stopped at the Raceway across from the rv park and got gas in the Vue ($3.839 a gal) before going back to the rv.

Then I gathered up our laundry and drove over to the laundromat here in the campground. The laundry machines don't take coins, you have to use a pre-paid card. I put $5 in the card

Visit with Carol

We ran errands this morning. We stopped at Indian River RV to buy fluorescent light bulbs for one of our cabinet lights and then we went grocery shopping at Wal-Mart Supercenter in Sebastian.

We decided to have lunch at Wendy's in Sebastian before going back to the rv park. We hadn't had a Wendy's hamburger in a long time and it sounded good. Just as we were taking our seats, we saw Mary (high school friend) and John there having lunch. We'll be seeing them Friday when we go to Christine's house for lunch.

After lunch we went back to the rv and then later this afternoon drove down to visit with Carol at her condo in Vero Beach. Carol had sold her home in New Hampshire last year and bought a condo in Vero Beach.

Carol showed us around her condo and then we had a nice visit. Carol is happy to be in Florida and away from the New Hampshire winters and close to her high school friends.

After leaving Carol's we stopped at the Five Guys Burgers in Vero Beach to have an early supper before going back to the rv park. I KNOW - we had hamburgers twice today. We find it hard to pass up a Five Guys.

Dinner at Ron & Cindi's

We spent the day here at the rv catching up on a few things. A little before 4:00 we left here and drove over to Ron & Cindi's house here in Sebastian for dinner (Tinker was invited, too).

We first met Cindi and Ron last year at Glacier National Park and then saw them again after we left Denali National Park and camped together at Denali State Park.

We had a great time catching up on each other's news over dinner. Cindi had baked chicken, potatoes & sweet potatoes with asparagus and tossed salad.

Cindi told us that they had almost stopped at J P Matty's yesterday for breakfast when they were out shopping - how great that would have been to see them there.

Ron and Cindi had invited their friends Debbie and Ken over and they came over later in the evening. Ron and Cindi go camping with Debbie and Ken and have been to a lot of the Florida State Parks. We had spent the summer of 2010 in some of the Florida State Parks and they filled us in on some of the state parks they have camped in.

Tinker had a great time exploring Cindi and Ron's house tonight (they said it was OK and he couldn't hurt anything). Whenever we go to some one's house, Tinker enjoys checking out all the space.

We left Ron and Cindi''s around 9:30 to go back to the rv. We really enjoyed our visit tonight and will see Cindi and Ron again on Friday when they come over for dinner.

Breakfast at J P Matty's

This morning we met Mike's high school classmates (Christine, Carol, and Mary) for breakfast at 9:00 at J P Matty's restaurant here in Sebastian. J P Matty's is a popular place for breakfast and there were a lot of people waiting for a table. We put our names on the list and waited for our friends to join us. While we were waiting for our friends to arrive, we visited for a while with Matt (Matty of J P Matty's) who is married to Christine, Mike's high school friend.

Our friends arrived just a couple of minutes before our name was called that our table for 6 was ready. We were having such a good time visiting with Christine (Matty's wife), Carol, Mary and John, that we hadn't spent much time looking at the menu. Mike ordered the pancakes with sausage and I had a Western omelet.

We had a great time catching up on each other's news and had a great breakfast, too. We were surprised to find out that Matt had picked up the bill for all of our breakfasts - thanks again, Matt.

Before we left J P Matty's, Mike took a photo of Mary, Carol and Christine.

From Vero Beach

We will be getting together again this Friday at Christine's house in Vero Beach for lunch.

After leaving the restaurant, Mike and I drove around Sebastian before heading back to the rv park. We stopped at Publix to get some groceries and the Sunday newspaper.

Kissimmee to Vero Beach

The electrician came out yesterday and took down the electric box we had him install at my brother's property. Mike watched him disconnect the box, so when we come back to Kissimmee Mike can connect the box himself.

This morning we saw the sandhill crane family (we hadn't seen them for several days) and they only have 1 chick now (1 chick seemed to be weaker) and it has really grown!

From Kissimmee - March 2012

My brother Cyril and nephew David came by while we were breaking camp and hitching up the car. So we go to say goodbye again. I'm going to miss visiting with them - our time here went so fast.

We left Kissimmee around 10:30 and headed east on US-192 to connect with I-95. We stopped at the Sam's Club in Melbourne near the junction of US-192 and I-95 for lunch about noon.

Then we headed south on I-95 to Exit 156 and stopped at the Raceway to get gas in the RV ($3.879 a gal) before checking in at Sunset Travel RV Resort just across the street from the Raceway.

We arrived at the RV park at 1:30 after driving the 85 miles from Kissimmee. The office is closed on the weekend, but there was an envelope for us on a board with the campground map, our site # and information sheets about the park.

We are in site #20 with full hookups (50 amp). We are parked on a concrete slab and there are several patio pavers that extend the patio area a little. There is cable here (basic) and wi-fi (pay), so we're just using our satellite TV and Verizon hotspot.

Thousand Trails had a special price for a week's stay here at Sunset Travel - $99. So with tax and the $3 a day resort fee our total for the week is $120 ($17.14 a day).

The address for Sunset Travel RV Resort is listed as Vero Beach, but we are closer to Sebastian than Vero.

Tomorrow morning we are meeting friends for breakfast in Sebastian.

Back to Kissimmee

We all slept in the morning and then had coffee outside on the patio.

From Visit with Fletcher

Mike went out front and took a photo of Doug's house this morning.

From Visit with Fletcher

Fletcher made each of us an omelet for brunch. He added asparagus, feta cheese, and Monterrey jack cheese to the eggs and cooked bacon. We had orange juice with our omelet, bacon and potatoes Fletcher cooked - a very delicious meal. Fletcher had developed into quite a very good cook!!

After brunch we packed up the car and then said our goodbyes to Fletcher and Doug. We took I-95 north up to Ft. Pierce and stopped to get gas at a Love's station ($3.859 a gal) before continuing north on I-95 to Melbourne and then west on US-192 back to Kissimmee.
We stopped at a Publix and I got some chicken fingers to have for dinner tonight. We got back to the RV about 5:00.

We decided to eat dinner before unloading the car. We both agreed that the chicken fingers we got today weren't as good as the ones we ate at Fletcher's house. I think the ones we got had been sitting a while and weren't as fresh as the ones Fletcher bought.

This is going to be our last week here in Kissimmee. We will be leaving here on Saturday to go to Vero Beach to visit with friends there.

Visit with Fletcher

We left the house this morning about 10:30 with Fletcher and Doug to go to Sunday Brunch. Fletcher and Doug wouldn't tell us where we would be having brunch and it was quite a surprise when we got there.

Fletcher and Doug had brought us to Lips for the Sunday Gospel Brunch.

From Visit with Fletcher

Lips is a combination dinner theater and drag queen revue! Our first stop inside was to find out what table we were seated at and then we stopped at the bar to get either a mimosa or glass of champagne which are included in the brunch.

The performers are also the servers and it wasn't too long before our server came by to get our food orders. Doug opted to have the Eggs Benedict and the rest of us had the cheeseburger and fries.

The food was good and the entertainment was hilarious and as you would expect a little on  the 'risque' side. The majority of the customers were women and with unlimited mimosas and champagne, everyone was having a good time including us.

After brunch and the show, we went back to the house and just spent the rest of the day lazing around out on the patio.

From Visit with Fletcher

For dinner we went out to George's Alibi here in Wilton Manors. We sat out on the patio and Mike had the French Dip and I had a reuben. After listening to a couple of local people sing a few songs, we went back to the house and spent the rest of the evening watching TV out on the patio. I really enjoyed sitting out on the patio with the cool breezes - a good place to take an afternoon nap and I did both afternoons.

Tomorrow we are going back to Kissimmee, but not before Fletcher fixes breakfast in the morning.

Trip to Wilton Manors & Visit with Fletcher

We left the RV this morning around 9:30 to drive down to Wilton Manors to visit our son Fletcher for the weekend. We stopped at RaceTrac to get gas in the Vue ($3.749 a gal) before heading east to get on the Florida Turnpike in Kissimmee.

We exited the turnpike at Ft. Pierce after paying the $8.00 toll and then drove south on I-95 to Exit 31 and then east to Fletcher's (208 miles).

We arrived at Doug & Fletcher's a little before 1:30. We settled Tinker in his crate in our bedroom and then we all went out for lunch.

Fletcher and Doug took us to J Mark's for lunch.  Mike ordered the Prime Rib Sliders with sweet potato fries and Fletcher, Doug and I had the Cajun Chicken Sandwich with Cajun french fries Fletcher assured us the Cajun fries weren't too spicy, but the ones we got were very spicy - thank goodness for frequent ice tea refills!!

After lunch we returned to Doug and Fletcher's and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing out on the patio.

From Visit with Fletcher

We decided to have chicken fingers for supper, so Fletcher, Doug and I drove to Publix to get  chicken fingers and some groceries that Fletcher and Doug needed.

After our supper of chicken fingers, macaroni salad and potato salad, we watched the movie The Immortals.

Tomorrow Fletcher and Doug are taking us out for Sunday Brunch, but haven't told us where we're going.

Wildlife Visitors

It's been pretty quiet out here where we're staying, but we have had a few visitors.

On March 6 this mottled duck flew in near the RV and stayed for a little while before flying off.

From Kissimmee - March 2012

The next morning on March 7 we had this family of sandhill cranes show up. We think this is probably the same pair of sandhill cranes we saw here back in January. They must have a nest nearby and the chicks aren't very old - they have to stop every so often and rest.

From Kissimmee - March 2012

The sandhill crane family comes by nearly everyday to look for food and the chicks are getting larger, but one seems to be the weaker of the the two.

From Kissimmee - March 2012

Then this morning this wild turkey flew in to look for food, but was more timid than the sandhill cranes. When I started walking away from the RV to get a closer shot of the turkey, it took off running and then flew away.

From Kissimmee - March 2012

Tomorrow we're driving down to Wilton Manors to spend a couple of days with our son Fletcher.