Breakfast with Friends & Other Stuff

After we got back from our camping trip to Ortona South Locks, we met our friends Chris, Matt, Nancy, Bill and Steve for breakfast on Mondays at the IHOP in Vero Beach. 

Mike and I attended the MOAA (Military Officers of America Association) luncheon on the 19th at the Vero Beach Yacht Club. Mike and I had the sliced London Broil, with broccoli, roasted potatoes and chocolate cake. Our speaker was Lt. Col. Terrence O'Connor from Florida Tech in Melbourne, FL where he is the Military Science Department Head. He gave a very interesting and informative talk on the ROTC program there.

Our neighbor Barb called us last week and said she thought she had put the wrong kind of gas in her car. She apparently had backed up and bumped into something and it got her nervous and she thought she had grabbed the wrong nozzle to fill her gas tank. Long story short, Barb had put diesel in her car by mistake so Mike drove her to a garage in Sebastian for them to drain the diesel out and refill the tank with some gas. Fortunately it wasn't as expensive as we thought it was going to be.

Part of my duties as Treasurer for the Indian River Genealogical Society is to arrange for the Audit Committee to meet at the Main Library in Vero and I handed over the financial records for the previous year. While they were meeting, I went upstairs to the Genealogy Dept. and did some research. It took the committee about 2 hours to do the audit and then they were going to write up a report to give to the Board and the Society members. Their report said that the financial records were in order - which was thanks to Gail who was the Treasurer for last year.

Back Home from Ortona South Campground

By the time we packed everything up, broke camp and then dumped the black and gray tanks at the dump station, it was almost 11:00 (check-out time) when we left the campground. We retraced our route east to Whiddon Corner, then north to Moore Haven, through Lockport and to Okeechobee. 

We stopped for lunch at the Burger King in Okeechobee a little after 12:00 and after lunch we got gas at RaceTrac ($2.899 a gallon) before heading east to I-95 at Ft. Pierce and then home. We arrived home just before 2:00. 

We really enjoyed our time at the Ortona South Campground and will go back sometime. It's just nice and peaceful there. Maybe next time we'll see some manatees that are supposed to hang around the Locks. Plus the campground is only 124 miles from home and an easy getaway.

Ortona South Locks Campground

This was our 5th day here at Ortona South Campground. Monday we drove over to LaBelle and went shopping at WalMart Supercenter. Tuesday was the General Meeting for the Indian River Genealogical Society and they had a live Webinar with Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective. I was able to login and watch the Webinar as if I was attending the meeting - yeah, technology!

We've just been relaxing and watching the boats traveling on the Caloosahatchee River and Canal and going through the Locks. 

Mike even made a couple of movies of boats going through the Locks.

The canal is a part of the 152 mile Okeechobee waterway that goes between the Gulf of Mexico and the

New Year's Day Breakfast & a Camping Trip

On January 1 we joined our friends at Mulligan's Beach House in Vero for a New Year's Day breakfast. This is an annual event that Nancy and Bill have and they pay for everyone's meal. There were 8 of us that day - Nancy and Bill, their son Steven, Chris and Matt, Carol and Mike and I. Then we had a group photo taken. It was a great, fun time.

We've spent the last few days getting ready for our trip down to the Ortona South Lock Campground. We left the house this morning about 10:15 and stopped for gas at Raceway ($2.899 a gallon) before getting on to I-95 South. We exited I-95 at Exit 129 at Ft. Pierce and drove west on FL-70 to Okeechobee. We stopped for lunch at noon at Burger King in Okeechobee and had a couple of bacon cheeseburgers for lunch. 

Then south on FL-78 to US-27 South down to FL-80 at Whiddon Corner and then west on FL-80 to Dalton Lane and then north to the campground. We arrived at the campground a little before 1:30 and checked in.

We are on site 23 with a good view of the Caloosahatchee Canal.

We have electric and water hookups and a nice level concrete pad. There is also a nice tall tree next to