Site #98, John Prince Memorial Park

Mike took a couple of photos this morning of our site here in John Prince Park.

From John Prince Park & Lake Worth

From John Prince Park & Lake Worth

This morning I went to the Publix on Lake Worth Road to get some groceries. Before leaving the park, I drove over to the laundromat to check it out. There are 8 washers and 8 dryers and the building is air conditioned and there were no "out of order" signs on any of the machines. The machines take "tokens" which can be bought at the campground office. For $5 you get a roll of tokens that is good for 2 loads of wash ($1.50 a load) and 2 dryer loads ($1.00 a load).

I stopped at the campground office on the way out to let them know that we were having mail sent here. They hold the mail at the office and it can be picked up after 2 p.m.

Tomorrow we are going sightseeing in West Palm Beach to see the 1916 Palm Beach County Courthouse Museum and visit Ragtops which is an antique auto museum.

Kissimmee to Lake Worth

We got up this morning at 7:00 - earlier than usual - and were ready to leave Mill Creek RV Park by 9:30. Mike said he would hook up the car while I went to say goodbye to Chris who manages the office at Mill Creek. We have always enjoyed our stays at Mill Creek and Chris and Gordon the manager have always been helpful.

Since we aren't traveling on the Florida Turnpike, we headed south on Michigan Avenue to US-192 and then east to Melbourne where we got on I-95 south.

Somewhere around Holopaw which is east of St. Cloud on US-192 we found a place to pull over, so Mike & I could switch places and I took over the driving. We had encountered some love bugs up to that point, but the farther east we went the love bugs got thicker and thicker.

The swarms of love bugs eventually were so thick it sounded like rain hitting the windshield. Once we got on I-95 the love bugs weren't as thick and Mike checked The Next Exit and there was a rest area just 12 miles away.

I pulled into the rest area which was near Palm Bay about 11:00. I COULD say there were a LOT of love bugs on the front of the RV, but I think a photo or two would say it better.

From May 2011

From May 2011

Mike got out his cleaning supplies and cleaned the windshield the best he could.

From May 2011

We decided to go ahead and fix a quick lunch while we were at the rest area. We were back on the road a little after 11:30. We stopped at a Flying J near Ft. Pierce to get gas in the RV ($3.839 a gal) and fill the propane tank ($2.99 a gal). At Lake Worth we exited I-95 at 6th Avenue South and went west to South Congress Avenue and south to the entrance of John Prince Memorial Park.

We arrived at John Prince at 2:15 and checked in. We are in site #98 which backs up to Lake Osborne. We have full hookups (50 amp) and the campground has free Wi-fi with a good signal.

Our son Fletcher drove up from Fort Lauderdale and got here about 4 p.m. and spent a few hours visiting with us. There was a good breeze blowing off of Lake Osborne and it was real pleasant sitting outside.

We didn't take any photos of our campsite today, we'll do that tomorrow.

Last Day in Kissimmee

We’ve had a great time visiting with my brother and his family this past week.

On Mother’s Day Mike & I went out to eat with my brother Cyril and sister-in-law Elaine and my nephew David. That afternoon my niece Kathy, her husband Doug and their boys Joshua, Benjamin and Matthew came over for a visit. We showed them photos of our 2009 trip through western Canada and the West Coast. Tinker enjoyed having visitors and getting some extra attention.

This afternoon Cyril & Elaine came over and we showed them photos of our trip last year around Florida and our trip to Texas.

We’ve been here 8 days and it has gone by really fast. Tomorrow we are leaving and heading south to Lake Worth for Mike’s high school reunion.

Photo of Mill Creek RV Park campsite

This morning after breakfast Mike hooked up our sewer hose. Yesterday he only hooked us up to the electric and water hookups.

This morning I went grocery shopping with Elaine, my sister-in-law and my niece Kathy at Wal-Mart Supercenter.

On our way down here from Lake City yesterday we encountered swarms of love bugs and by the time we reached Kissimmee we had quite a few stuck to the front of the RV. This afternoon after lunch Mike washed the car and then the RV. Mike also washed the awning and applied 303 fabric guard to the top side of the awning.

After washing the car and RV, Mike took a photo of our site here at Mill Creek RV Park.

From May 2011

One of our projects before we left Dothan, Alabama was to come up with an inexpensive cover for the windshield and front of the Vue.  Ever since we had a rock crack the Vue windshield a few years ago, we have secured a beach towel across the windshield to protect it and it has worked real well.

We had two other beach towels and I sewed them together lengthwise to cover the hood and front of the Vue. I then sewed the beach towel that we used to cover the windshield to one end of the other towels. We secure the top edges in the car doors and use bungee cords to secure the towels to the front of the car.

Our home-made cover worked pretty well on the trip down from Dothan and it is very colorful.

From May 2011

Lake City to Kissimmee

Last night there were 8 other RVs parked in the same row we were in and appeared to be staying just 1 night like us. This morning when I walked Tinker a little after 8:00 one RV had already left.

After breakfast we prepared to leave to head down to Kissimmee. Mike had only connected the cable, electric and water hookups last night, so we didn't dump our tanks this morning. By the time we were ready to get on the road, there were only 2 other RVs left on our row.

We left Oaks 'N Pines at 9:45 and headed back west on I-10 to connect with I-75 south. Last year when we were here we drove south on US-441 and took US-90 through Lake City to I-75. We decided to drive the few extra miles by taking I-10 back over to I-75 and avoid the traffic lights and traffic in Lake City.

We stopped to get gas in the RV at a Pilot station at Wildwood and paid $3.859 a gallon. We had already decided to avoid taking the Florida Turnpike and the approximate $30 or so toll and took SR-44 east to US-27. After leaving the Pilot we found a Winn Dixie in a strip mall about 4 miles east of the Pilot on US-44 and stopped there to fix lunch at 12:45.

After lunch we continued east on US-44 to Leesburg.

From May 2011

At Leesburg we turned south onto US-27 which is a very nice four-lane highway.

From May 2011

When we reached Clermont we saw the Florida Citrus Tower

From May 2011

and a little later the entrance to Lake Louisa State Park.

From May 2011

We spent a week last June at the state park and visited the Citrus Tower.

We exited US-27 at US-192 and drove east to Kissimmee. We decided to try the Osceola Parkway instead of driving through Kissimme on US-192 to save time and to avoid all the traffice lights. We knew Osceola Parkway was a toll road, but since we were only going to be on it for about 3 miles how much can the toll be? We paid $5.25 for 4 axles - that's about $1.75 a mile - not sure it was worth it.

We turned off Osceola Parkway at Michigan Avenue and drove south to Mill Creek RV Resort and arrived here at 2:45 and checked in with Chris at the office. We are using a Passport America discount at Mill Creek RV Resort and we're paying $128.00 for 8 days. We are site #210 (our favorite), a back-in site, and we have full hookups (50 amp electric) and wifi.

This evening after we had finished setting up camp and taking a little break, we drove over to a Zaxby's for dinner where we both had their House salad. Afterwards we drove over to my brother's house for a visit for a couple of hours. It was good to see Cyril and Elaine and catch up on their news.

Mike and I then came back to the RV. We forgot to take photos of our campsite today here at Mill Creek and will have to get some tomorrow.

2011 Trip Started

We got up this morning at our usual 8 a.m. After having our morning coffee and breakfast, I started preparing the inside so we could leave this morning. Mike worked outside dumping the tanks, disconnecting the electric, water and sewer hookups and stowing some last minute items in the bays.

After saying goodbye to our friends, Glenda & W. T. and Jimmy, we left The Willows about 10:30.

We headed east on US-84 to the Ross Clark Circle and then south to the Flying J in Dothan. Since we want to weigh the RV on the truck scales at Flying J after filling the onboard propane tank, Mike drove the RV and I drove the Vue to Flying J.

When we got to Flying J we found out that they wouldn’t have anyone who could fill the propane tank until 2:30! Mike drove over to the truck scales and weighed the RV. After paying for weighing the RV, we hooked up the Vue and headed south on US-231.

We stopped at Wal-Mart Supercenter just south of Dothan for some last minute shopping. By then it was 11:30 and we decided to fix lunch and then do our shopping. Mike called Oaks ‘N Pines RV Campground in Lake City to make a reservation for tonight. We left Wal-Mart at 12:15 and headed south to I-10.

All the excitement of breaking camp and getting on the road is really exhausting for a puppy (Tinker is 4 years old, but still a “puppy”). Tinker managed to get in several naps today.

From May 2011

This motorcycle and trailer passed us on I-10.

From May 2011

We saw the motorcycle and trailer at one of our Rest Area stops and got a better photo.

From May 2011

From May 2011

We arrived at Oaks ‘N Pines RV Campground about 5:30. After checking in, we were escorted to our campsite. We are in site #48 and have full hookups including cable. Our discount through Passport America makes the camping fee $19.80 for the night.

From May 2011

There is free Wi-Fi here, but the signal is weak at our site so I’m using our Verizon broadband tonight.

Our trip from Dothan to the campground was 215 miles.

Preparing for our 2011 Trip

We have spent the last few days getting ready to leave Dothan tomorrow. We've put most of our winter clothes in our storage unit and gotten our summer clothing out; stored our Big Buddy heater and some other items we won't need.

We also went to the Mexican Connection yesterday for a late lunch and said goodbye to our long-time friends - Sharon, Debbie, Sandy & Caroline.

Today we had a late lunch at the Five Guys Burgers. Tonight we had coffee and cake with W.T. and Glenda at their house. Jimmy stopped by their house while we were there to give us a card with a very nice personal note.

We're excited to be starting our trip, but it is always a little sad to say goodbye to friends even though we'll be seeing them in the fall.