Left Florida, After 5 Months

We left Crystal River on Tuesday, April 16, after spending time at our Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park site since November 8^th. It was definitely time to go!!!! It was getting hot and humid and we didn’t want to tolerate that weather anymore. We do not have to, after all, our home is on wheels,  on the road we are.

We stopped at Coastal Georgia  RV Resort in Brunswick, GA, on Tuesday night. This is a great park for overnight or short term stays! The sites are very long and even though it doesn’t look wide, it really is livable. There are hedges on both sides to separate the sites, which make it very pretty. All the sites are concrete with full hook ups. They even had a Bark Park for Kozmo, which she went into but didn’t really like because she “told” me, Barbie, she doesn’t like fenced in areas. J She was a great rider in the truck. She slept about 90% of the time and got some “lovin” and food when we stopped at a rest stop in Georgia. The only problem with Coastal GA RV Resort were the no see-ums. When I took Kozmo out at 8 PM, the little bugs were in my hair which I had just washed before going out with her. They must have loved my shampoo and hair gel  I put on. A great stop for overnight though.

We did have a minor annoying problem on the road. Our truck is equipped with a towing brake package and the light came on the dashboard saying our trailer brakes were disconnected, and then 5 to 10 seconds later it would say it was now connected again. The annoying thing was the ping sound associated with the message every time it came on. The message came on quite frequently. We stopped to check out the plug and found a small opening on it where the cord was slightly separated from the head. Maybe some moisture got in there causing it to short periodically. Jeff put some tape on it but the next day we still have the problem. Annoying and frustrating YES!!! Although when braking, Jeff says he’s never felt we had NO brakes to the 5^th wheel. What are we going to do about it? I don’t know yet.

We got up at 6:30 Wednesday morning and left at 7:50 to head over to the Flying J, which was at the same exit for some diesel gas. The gas was $3.98 a gallon. We knew we would have a long drive on Wednesday to get to our destination at Longs, SC. We were on the road at 8:30 and stopped at 10:40 at a rest stop to eat some great sandwiches that I made and to walk Kozmo, who was sleepy again today. We left there and after several hours of driving  got a bit panicky when we hit the Conway area (within 15 miles of our destination), and didn’t know which way to go since the two GPS systems we were using were different. We actually went to the downtown Conway area, which was very tight, but we made it through there fine. We arrived at Willow Tree RV Resort at 2:45. This place is in the middle of nowhere but absolutely gorgeous! The sites are huge!!! There is a one mile paved pathway around a beautiful lake that we haven’t explored yet. The only disadvantage of this park is the weak wifi internet system. They have one but it is virtually useless at our site. Although the meters indicate a strong connection, once connected to the internet, which is difficult, it drops the connection frequently and is slow when refreshing pages.  We are using our Verizon card which is good but eats up the megabytes pretty fast. The other disadvantage is the lack of a cable system-they do not have one. But with our antenna, we are able to get 30 local stations, which is great. We tried to get on our satellite dish, but we weren’t successful. That is OK, we don’t need to watch TV. There are other things to do around here. Here are a few pictures of Willow Tree but they have many on their website. Look HERE.

 

 

Watching over our site

 

We drove to Myrtle Beach area on Thursday to “scout” the area.  Before we headed to the beach area we desperately needed some diesel. We found some only 5 minutes away and the price was $3.81 a gallon. After we got to North Myrtle Beach area it really wasn’t crowded, which was great. We drove around just to get a feel of where things are. I definitely want to go to Broadway at the Beach, which has shops and restaurants. We saw a SAS factory outlet store which I would like to take a look at. We need some items at Camping World and WalMart so that will be another day. We drove along Ocean Boulevard and couldn’t believe how many public access areas there are to park your vehicle. Since we had Kozmo with us we were limited to not eating in a sit-down restaurant. So, we found a Chick Fil –A  that didn’t have an eat in area. They had picnic tables and chairs under umbrellas which were nice and two drive-thrus. I went up to the walk-up window and ordered our meal and then we ate it in the truck since the temperature was 74 degrees out with a nice breeze. Afterwards, we went to TCBY yogurt place, which we did not like. The flavors all  lacked flavor. My great friend Linda told me about a frozen yogurt place in which you pick your yogurt and then get toppings on it. We are going to try and find a place like that up here.

After getting back to the rig at 5pm we watched TV and got caught up on the internet. It started to rain at 5:30pm  and it wasn’t supposed to rain. It did that all night long in spurts. Today, Friday, it showered a bit but the wind is strong. We know the weather is supposed to get a bit ugly later on tonight so we won’t be doing any site seeing today. We are staying here for a week so we will have the time to see it all, hopefully with the weather cooperating. The temperatures are very pleasant, in the 70’s and when the rain leaves us on Saturday morning the highs will be in the 60’s. Did I say how nice the weather is???

Until next time….

April Fool's Day

No April Fool's Day jokes here!

 

I (Barbie) am not a good “fooler” so my April fools pranks are juvenile. I tried to pull one over on my friend Linda, but it didn’t work. She saw through me right away. I remember when I was a teacher, kids tried to fool me, but most did not succeed. I tried to fool them, and did not succeed either. So I think I will give up.haha

Easter around Rock Crusher was quiet. They had a meal up at the clubhouse but we didn’t go because it is always so crowded and loud. We heard it was an excellent one though. They served lasagna. We Boldts had country fried chicken (baked) with white gravy, garlic mashed potatoes and pea salad for our meal. It was very tasty!  I had previously washed down the utility trailer and stopped every so often to talk to our neighbors Judy and Roger, and some other people who came by. It, the utility trailer,  is very nice and clean except for the top of it. I used white vinegar and Dawn dishwashing detergent, equal amounts of it, and put it in a squirt bottle. The smell was beautiful and I will use that again on things that are white in nature. Jeff got the idea on Pinterest from a fellow RV’er, Nancy Puig. Thanks Nancy for the tip!

We went to pick up our new eyeglasses  this afternoon. Mine are fine so far. Jeff’s had to be returned because he noticed three small scratches on the right lens. They told him it would take two weeks to get it done. Well, that is unsatisfactory because we hope to be out of here by April 16^th. So, if they don’t come here in time, we will have to contact them and they will have to mail them to our Dillard address. So we are keeping our fingers crossed. Since Jeff was totally frustrated  by this, we decided to drink ourselves into a “frenzy” and went to Sonic for a root beer float. That always seems to calm us down J. Even Kozmo got into the action and had a bit of ice cream. It didn’t spoil her supper since she didn’t have that much.

As to Kozmo’s health… she is great! We think it was the cold weather and it caused her arthritis to act up. Last night we put her on the dining room table and clipped her head, neck, belly, tail area, face and some of her paws. She looks so cute! This is her “summer clip” but will have to do her again in two months when she gets a little “wild” again. She is truly a great dog when we clip her. Jeff clips and I attempt to hold her still. She gets many rests in the 35 minutes that we work on her. And of course, she gets rewarded with a piece of turkey bacon when we are finished.

Well dinner calls and we are having a simple dinner of tuna fish sandwiches with French fries. Monday night is a big night on television for us. We love Bones, The Following, Revolution, Hawaii Five -0, and Dancing with the Stars, so we will be DVRing some of the shows since they come on at the same time.

Until next time….

Doin' Just Fine

What can we say, but writing has not been a priority on our “to do” list for over a month. Shame on us. Thank you for sending e-mails asking if we are doing OK. Let us (Barbie will start) tell you of our experiences since the last time we wrote. This will be a long one....stay with us!

 

Jeff had his doctors’ appointment on Feb. 20 in Valrico and he is in great shape with all of his blood work. The usual, lose weight and exercise, are the same topics that our doctors tell us. While we were at our Valrico house we cleaned up some and got rid of more “stuff”. One of these days we will be ready to sell the “monster home” and feel free to go wherever we want to without having to worry about the home when we are away. We have only been to Valrico three times since we arrived in November for a total of 7 days. I am afraid we will have to spend more time there next season when we come back in order to accomplish the task of getting rid of all of the stuff. What joy that will be!

The biggest thing we did while in Valrico was to sell my 2010 GMC Terrain. We went to the dealership that we bought it from and then to CarMax. CarMax was more than fair, so we sold it to them. We actually got more for it than what we would have gotten on a trade in on another vehicle elsewhere. We are very happy we don’t have to worry about it or pay insurance on it anymore.

We have met some neat people while we have been in Rock Crusher this season. One couple, Debbie and Irv ( with their poodle Penny) are from NY state area and were here for a month. We went out to eat at Kim’s Café for breakfast with them and they enjoyed it even though the service was not up to par. They left for Ho Hum RV Park in Carrabelle, FL which we had told them about from our stays there, and then they went to Tybee Island in Georgia. We just heard from them two days ago and they are coming back to Rock Crusher to stay for two weeks because they say it is too cold to head back north. We can’t believe how many people have actually left for the north. We think they aren’t in their right minds since there is still snow up there and lots of cold weather, but maybe they like a taste of that weather. Easter is coming early this year and for some of them that is the excuse they are giving for leaving.

Our neighbors Roger and Judy who are from Massachusetts are really enjoying themselves. If you are ever in the Homosassa/Crystal River area you must see the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park  which has manatees and other animals to view. Roger and Judy have been volunteering over there and they always look so happy to share their days’ work with us.  It has been great meeting and talking with so many people. Someone asked me a few weeks ago how I remember people’s names. Well, I now have a notebook filled with names and cues to help me remember what they look like and if they have a pet. I tend to remember people who have pets rather than the people’s names.

We have taken some days trips to some great places. One day we went to Clermont, FL to see my great friends Linda and Bill Forrest.

Barbie and Linda

 

We met up with them at Sonny’s Barbeque and then went to Lake Louisa State Park, which is 7 miles south of highway 50 in Clermont on Highway 27. It is a huge park that has many lakes to fish or canoe on, a campground that is very nice, and a picnic area on the water that was hard to see because there was a bike race going on that weekend. The day was a great one with Linda and Bill. We only hope that Bill retires soon so that he can join us retirees and have some fun!

 

We headed for Leesburg, FL a week ago to visit Holiday Travel Resort which we had heard had great activities for a campground that is old. We couldn’t believe how big it is. They have 935 sites on 200 acres and the activities are things that we really could love to do. They have the usual shuffleboard, pool, rec houses, and lots of bathhouses. What caught our attention was the softball field, the tennis courts, and the huge dog park with a dog run on the perimeter of the park. They have a restaurant which serves daily lunches, some breakfasts, coffee and doughnuts, and some dinners for a fee. The campsites are intermingled between park models so it does seem like they are very close together. They also have a marina with boat docks and a restaurant with the canals leading into Lake Harris and Lake Denham. The park is very rustic but very clean and friendly. The older section has trees and the newer sections in the open. After touring that park we headed for Lake Griffin State Park which has the fifth largest oak tree in the US, but not much of anything else to actually want to stay and have a picnic. The 30 campsites were mostly short and tight. We then drove through Recreation Plantation which is the closest rv resort to The Villages. The Villages is quite the area...we'll save that for a future blog. Coming back to RCC we stopped a place called Chicken King, which we had heard about in the paper. It's been a favorite of the locals in Citrus County for years. We now see why. They have great fried chicken with nice sides. But we don’t eat fried chicken much at all so it was a “cholesterol filling treat” for us that we won’t need to get again until next season.

Jeff DJ’ed a dance at a place called Quail Roost RV Campground, which is in Crystal River north on Citrus Avenue. The owners/managers , Randy and Nancy, are great people who have a great campground with dedicated work campers who strive on cleanliness. Their clubhouse is a nice one for a campground that has 72 campsites. The owner Randy is a musician so he has six speakers with an organ and lots of power for us to use. We only used our computer with hookups into his speakers and it worked out great. Their clubhouse has a combination of carpet with a wooden parquet tile dance floor and the acoustics are excellent!

 

There was a couple who were celebrating their 60^th wedding anniversary and they just danced up a storm.

60th Anniversary Couple

 

There were many people who danced either in line dances, solos or with their significant others.  

Fun Group

 

 

Those folks were so friendly and hospitable to us. I wish Rock Crusher’s clubhouse was better acoustic wise. You cannot hear the person next to you talking when that place is crowded with people eating. What a shame the owners don’t put some acoustical tile in there. Oh well!

Speaking of Rock Crusher… there was an event there on March 15^th from 4pm to 8pm to benefit a food pantry in the county. There were six food trucks, a jazz group, Corvette car show, Dodge truck display, and RV’s from Alliance Coach to entertain people. They had beer and wine for a price. The place is huge!  It has three walls with the one side facing the food truck area where the amphitheater is located. It was a nice affair. This place could easily hold 500 people and be the place to be for concerts or dinners, if the park wanted to do that.

 

 

 

 

Kozmo has been in her usual “puppy” mode which means she is hunting down squirrels and “harassing” or kissing other dogs when she goes out for walks. We were concerned with her the past two days because she was whimpering when she jumped on her bed or sofa. We thought her belly was upset but we now think it is her arthritis acting up because of the cold weather. She takes a glucosamine yogurt chew in the morning but we think the cold weather has really affected her. This morning the low was 37 but very breezy which makes it worse. So we gave her a baby aspirin this morning and she is so much better this afternoon. We kept her warm during the day wrapping her in a blanket which she truly loved.

It sure must be tough getting old for a dog, too. She is 10 years old this year but still loves to walk and do all the things those puppies younger than her do. So when she gets whimpering or yelps, we panic and I start to cry. We already decided that if she didn’t get better today ( day 2 of her problems) that we were going to take her to the vet. The last time I took her to the vet was in December for what I thought was a cold. The vet said she might have allergy problems but really couldn’t find anything wrong with her. So of course I felt stupid. But the next time I will take her to another vet. The vets in the Dillard area are very good and care so much for Kozmo when we have taken her there.

We took a ride to Ocala to see our friends who belong to the Roamin’ Rigs, an FMCA group that had their rally at Ocala Sun RV Resort at the end of February. We were so happy to see some of our “old” friends who were playing Bean Bag Baseball and having so much fun. Ocala Sun is the type of campground that is crowded but has nice amenities.

We got out eyes examined last week at Opti-Mart in Crystal River. Jeff’s eyes have not changed but he is going to get tri-focals to help him see that medium range when he is  on the computer. My eyes have changed and I have to take off my progressive glasses to read, so they are changing that and getting rid of the astigmatism factor which I don’t have. If everything goes as planned, we should have them by next week. I don’t know if you wear glasses, but I love trying them on and deciding what new weird frames to get. Plus, we found out our Humana will pay for lots of the costs, which we didn’t know we had until this year. The Humana plan essentially paid for 50% of the costs. Wearing contact lenses for 22 years was nice but since we retired we don’t go that route anymore. My complaint was that I had to put reading glasses on and I really couldn’t see the computer screen that well no matter what type of contact lenses they gave me in recent years. I also was apprehensive about wearing them after I had to have laser surgery for a torn retina in my right eye back in 2009.

Living in the 5^th wheel full time puts a strain on the day/night shades that are used everyday. The strings will wear over time and eventually break. The blinds then cannot be raised. We took down one of the shades when we were in Dillard last year and repaired it using fishing line. It lasted not a year. So we decided to replace the now 4 shades that have busted with horizontal blinds. We went to various places but decided to have them custom made vinyl blinds by Bali Blinds, through Lowe’s, and they were 15% off. We got the four blinds in a wheat color to match the valances, for less than $90. Of course we have to install them, but they are very nice and so much better to use.

 

We have installed one so far and will install the other three when we get to Dillard. It only took us 3 hours to install the one…haha… The way they install the day/night shades inside the valances is crazy. We have been very lucky with things not going wrong with the rig. We are very happy that we have a fifth wheel and not the motorhome anymore. Some of our friends ask us if we bring the fifth wheel with us when we head to Dillard. We say of course, this is our home. They can’t believe we would drive it on the road and not have problems. It is very easy to drive and a lot easier to drive than a motorhome. Jeff says it tracks very well. People think it takes longer to hook up and unhook, but that is not the case. We have more living space in our rig than nearly all motorhome people do. It is very comfortable to live in. The only thing we don’t have is a generator. Since we don’t boondock, we don’t need one. Staying at a truck stop is still an option since we have access to the bathroom and bedroom without the slides out. But we are in no hurry to get where we are going, so why worry about that?

I (Jeff) am having fun managing the River Vista RV Resort FACEBOOK page. The number of persons to “LIKE” the site is increasing as is the traffic on the site. I try to add a post every other day and sometimes each day. I post pictures/events about the park as well as RV topics in general. We currently have a promotion going on. We are closing in on our 500^th “LIKE”. For the 500^th “LIKE” AND the person who referred them to the site receive a certificate to 25% off site fees for up to 7 days at River Vista. So those of you reading this “LIKE” the River Vista RV Resort Facebook page and tell your friends. I’d appreciate it. I’d encourage you folks to follow the site especially during the “season” up there which is from May through Halloween.

Our stay here in Florida will end April 16^th. We are making plans to spend a week in Longs, SC and stay at Willow Tree RV Resort & Campground, which is just north of Myrtle Beach. We talked about going to  Savannah, but we are not in the “history” mood to go there. We still have lots to do before we go if the weather cooperates, we will get out of here on time. We are headed to Valrico for three days to “summer –ize” the house and visit our friends Linda and Bill. Are we looking forward to leaving? Not yet for Barbie because of the weather. Time will tell in the next few weeks how that feeling changes….

Until next time…

Catching Up With the Boldts

We never thought we wouldn’t post for over a month and a half, but we have been busy! I (Barbie) will start with the current stuff and then go back a bit and write about past stuff in January.

We did a great thing this past Thursday. We had gone over to our Valrico house in January for the RV Supershow and brought back my bike that I don’t use anymore because the height is too tall for me to get off and on. We go to Kim’s Café to eat breakfast very often and have made some friends there.  A lady that serves the drinks and busses the tables, named Robin, is in her 60’s and doesn’t drive a car. She takes a taxi to and from work and gets a ride from someone occasionally. Anyway, she lives about a mile from the new Homosassa WalMart. We fixed up the bike and gave it to her. Our neighbors across the street, Brenda and David, contributed by giving us a basket to put on the back of the bike and a bike lock. Well, Robin was thrilled to pieces with it. She was telling everyone in the café about it even before we gave it to her. So, we really felt good on Thursday. She looked forward to biking down to WalMart and not walking. We even went back on Friday afternoon to eat at Kim's for all you can eat fish with fries and cole slaw for $5.99. We had never done that but people told us it was very good. Well, it was delicious!!!! We will go back again. The fish was pollock and the cole slaw was absolutely delicious.

 

 

Our Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park had a craft show from 10 to 12 on Saturday, Feb. 2 and it was a great one! We only bought some fudge, but jewelry was the main seller along with some great birds mounted on pilings that a guy makes here in the park. The birds are all made of pvc pipe.

 

 

We went to the Ocala RV show on Friday, Feb.1 and it was a great one for being a smaller show. They had a little of everything from big diesel Class A’s, to B’s, C’s, travel trailers of all sizes and fifth wheels. We really liked two fifth wheels that had more storage space than I think I could fill. The Palomino Columbus and Yellowstone Ridgeline topped our wish list. Of course, we won’t think about trading  and buying anything else until we sell our Valrico house. We also enjoyed looking at destination trailers, which are really park models that you can tow.  We like a Hampton model that we definitely could put on our site in Dillard and be very happy with it.

 

 

The big event for January was to get one of the maintenance guys, Chris, to build us a deck. See the pictures below for the outcome. We think it is great and we’ll be putting some pilings with solar lights and rope in some of the corners to decorate it up. Next season when we come down we will put up a screened room and put a table and chairs in it. No sense in doing it now since we will probably be heading to the mountains in early April. We are still looking for stuff that we can put outside. We have our fire pit already in place, but we will be looking for different types of chairs that we could possibly leave outside year round.

 

We did go to the RV Supershow in Tampa on Wednesday, January 16, and had a great time. We saw Sharon and Tom Mann from the Roamin’ Rigs and numerous other people that came from Rock Crusher. We also saw our great managers Karen and Bob from River Vista Mountain Village, our summer/fall home. They had a booth there and we talked to them for quite a bit. We didn’t buy anything big except a “baby stroller” for Kozmo.

 

I swore to Sandie and Pat Gregory I would never buy something like that but I felt bad for Kozmo having to be on the floor board of Jeff’s buggy and not being able to have her own space. Putting her on the leash and hauling her around would have gotten her crushed by people. We tested out the stroller with her in it before we bought it and she just loves it! We even took her to two other events with us. One was the Ocala RV Show and the other was the Manatee Arts and Crafts show which was on January 19 and 20. So now we are teaching her another word, “stroller”, and she is catching on to it just like she knows the words “golf cart” and “truck ride”. Of course she knows much more, but these words give her much excitement!

I found a new primary care doctor in Crystal River who just started his practice in August of 2012. His name is Dr. Ken Savage and he is a local “boy” who also did his internship in Tampa and graduated from USF. He is a great doctor! My blood work came out very well and nothing was in the red so he was very pleased with that. I hope more people realize he is in practice because there was no one in the waiting room on the two occasions that I had appointments.

We went to a wine tasting on January 26, here in the park. There were 26 bottles of wine that we had to taste. Each couple had to bring a bottle of wine and an appetizer to share. Probably five out of those were the kind we would buy. Lots of great appetizers were available and delicious! There were about 54 people in the clubhouse and we all had a great time. It is so neat to see people sip some wines and make the ugliest faces of dislike that we have seen in a while. You can’t please everyone all the time. J

Speaking of wines, we finally made a trip to the Copp Winery here in Crystal River this past Feb. 6. It is a house across the street from the Crystal River post office that doesn’t look like much. But once you get in there it is very nice! They have two rooms and an outside area that is tastefully decorated. We sampled 6 wines and a port that had orange and chocolate in it. The first three wine samples are free and then you can get three more wine samples for $3.00 and the port was $1.50. After sampling the wine we sampled some of their beers. We sampled four (3-4oz glasses) for $6.00. They were a nice size sampling. The beers cannot be bought yet to take home due to them not getting a liquor license yet. But the beers were very strange. One beer had cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, all spice and orange zest in it. It was different, but I don’t think I would buy it. We did buy three bottles of sweet types of wine. Copp Winery also has various cheese platters (both hot and cold), bruschetta, smoked salmon and other things to munch on for a price. Since we had dinner before we got there, we didn’t try any of their food. We would definitely go back there again.

We also took a ride to Umatilla, the Villages, Leesburg, and the Ocala area on January 27. We wanted to see the Olde Mill Stream Campground which we heard great things about. The campground is a crowded busy one and not many trees at all. They are supposed to have neat activities. We were impressed with the dog park which had obstacle courses and water stations and was quite busy with puppies having a great time. They even had a lake view but we wouldn’t stay there because there really isn’t much room between sites. Everyone we encountered was friendly so they must be having a good time. Speaking of dog parks, I wish Rock Crusher would have a better one. I sometimes bring Kozmo there but it is not attractive and not many people go up there because they say there are lots of fleas. We haven’t seen them but just the idea that they might be there is a turn off to dog owners.

Looking toward the future days ahead… we will be headed to our Valrico house in a week so that Jeff can see his doctor for his checkup. While there, we hopefully can get rid of more stuff. We are going to try and sell our 2010 GMC Terrain while there. If we can’t sell it while we are there, then we are going to bring it back to Rock Crusher and hopefully sell it by advertising it in the Auto Trader and see if any dealerships might want it for a decent price that we would accept. It is a great car but doesn’t do us any good since we now have our house on wheels.

Jeff is going to DJ a dance at Quail Roost RV Campground, which is 5 miles north of Crystal River, on March 2. The campground has its own equipment and we are going to visit them and make sure our equipment matches up to theirs. He is excited about that. Oh yea, speaking of DJing, Jeff did do the New Year’s Eve Dance Party here at Rock Crusher again this year. We had the largest crowd ever at a Rock Crusher dance and we all rang in the New Year having fun with our neighbors and friends in the park.

Big news, Jeff got a “job” as a Social Media Manager at our park, River Vista, in Dillard, Georgia. He developed a blog site for them, keeps it current and contributes to their Facebook site. He will also do flyers and whatever else is needed to promote River Vista. This is a great opportunity for him since he just loves to create things on his computer. It is a year round position and he creates his own hours and gets a salary. Sounds like some extra eating out money for us…..haha….

I have written more than I thought I would, but that capsulizes the past 6 weeks. Hopefully we can write more on a regular basis….did you read that Jeff???? Yes Barbie, and I proofed and added to this post including adding the pictures before publishing it. So there....  :-)

‘Til  next time….

Snowbird Christmas

I found this poem in a blog some time ago. It is so appropriate in this lifestyle we now live and many of our readers of this blog. FYI, it was written by an rver….obviously. So on this Christmas Eve….enjoy

 

Snowbird Christmas Poem

by Irene Taves

 

'Twas the week before Christmas and all through the park,

Not a camper was stirring as it started getting dark.

Our Montana fifth wheel was outlined with many twinkling lights,

Our little Christmas tree inside warmed our hearts this peaceful night.

As the moon shined so brightly on the palm trees below,

How can we think "Christmas" without any snow?

While watching the Weather Channel and the cold way up north,

I know now why we snowbirds travel back and forth.

When all of a sudden, on came the colored lights

All over the park. Oh, what a festive sight!

All the neighboring campers joined in the celebration,

Ringing in the season without hesitation!

Some carolers were singing as they walked through the park,

Greeting their RV family with joy in their hearts.

When what to my wondering eyes should appear,

A man dressed in red, standing by his mechanical deer.

So jolly and laughing as he walked down the street,

I knew in a moment that soon Santa I would meet!

His hair and long beard were as white as could be,

No surprise in the 55 plus community.

He greeted all the campers, bringing joy to everyone,

Now this holiday season has officially begun!

As we welcome the season with our surrogate family,

We thank God we're Americans and able to be free.

Free to travel throughout this amazingly great land,

Free to enjoy our retirement for as long as we can.

So our wish to you all as our eggnog we sip,

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL...AND HAVE A SAFE TRIP!

 

‘Til next time……

Merry Christmas

We hope ALL of our rving friends out there have a very Merry Christmas.
Be safe in your travels.

Catching Up With the Boldts

We haven‘t posted for a while and we said we were going to post regularly. Why you say? The reality is we are enjoying our daily retirement lifestyle and don’t seem to find the time to write. Yeah, yeah, I know---lame excuse right? So let me get you caught up with some of our great times we are having.

I (Barbie) have been walking regularly with about 4 ladies almost every day. We walk at 8:30 am and walk a mile and talk. It is hard to believe I can walk and talk at the same time.  I get up at 7:20 and get dressed and take Kozmo for her walk which usually lasts 25 to 35 minutes and then come back and make the coffee so it will be ready by the time I get back from my walk. So I really am getting more walking than usual in and having a great time with the ladies while walking. Plus, all the gossip and park news we share!

Our great friends Linda and Bill Forrest who live in Auburndale came over for the day last Saturday, December 8, and we had a great time! I used to work with Linda when I taught math at Mann Middle School in Brandon, FL. She finally retired this past June and loves retirement also. We exchanged our Christmas gifts and went out to eat at Dan’s Clam Stand in Crystal River rather than Dan’s in Homosassa. The service was fantastic and Jeff and I agree that the food is better at the Homosassa location though. I guess we like the intimacy of the Homosassa place as opposed to the Crystal River one. Linda is purging all of her magazines and books and I have done the same so we have been exchanging our stuff before getting rid of it all. She gave me a Taste of Home food magazine and it is a great one. We both use our portable scanner and scan it and then put it on the computer into our files. I am going to save them on CD’s at some point in time to make sure I don’t lose all of it. We both have so much stuff that we are organizing and getting rid of it so we feel better. They are headed for Ohio to visit their son and family for a week for Christmas. Bill hasn’t retired yet because he loves what he is doing so Linda volunteers at Mann every other week and enjoys her retirement while he works.

We put up Christmas decorations inside and outside the rv last week. See below what some of them look like. We put up an artificial 4 foot tree in one corner by Jeff’s man cave and a ceramic one to the left of the TV on the entertainment center area.

  

We also have some snowmen inside who look kind of neat.

 

We put up lights around our 8 x 16 foot garden and then put bulbs on the front of the fiver that change colors. We still have a huge blue wreath that we had up last year but don’t know if we will put that up. We finally got into the Christmas spirit and it makes us more content and more into the holiday season. There are lots of people around here that have decorations up. It is amazing the decorations some rvers put up. I often wonder how they find the room in their rig to keep it all stored. One in particular here in the park has too much up in our opinions, but who are we to judge? They must want to win the campground’s site decoration contest.

Since Jeff and I don’t exchange gifts anymore we decided to buy what we wanted on the internet. I have been looking for some walking shoes and have not been successful. So I went on this site called Onshoesshopping.com and found two pairs that I really thought I would like. One is an Easy Spirit walking shoe and the other is a Propet sandal. I always wore SAS shoes before but the one pair that I have been wearing for the past 4 years is one they discontinued. Both shoes that I ordered came in last Wednesday and I love them both. I usually don’t order shoes on line because I have to send them back if I don’t like them immediately because they don’t fit well. These two fit great! Jeff’s shoes came in on the same day but delivered to our site rather than the post office like my two because they came UPS. His is a Dunham brand deck shoe and they are great looking and great feeling shoes. So we both lucked out on shoes.

Speaking of Christmas gifts I am looking for an apron to wear when I cook indoors. I have been getting my shirts really dirty when I cook and the stains are aggravating to get out. I haven’t worn an apron since I was 17 years old but they do have some great ones today. I am also going to get a Kindle cover for my Kindle. Since Linda gave me a gift certificate from Amazon. com I will definitely put it to good use.

I went to a candy making class last Friday in the clubhouse. There were only 7 people who were there but we really enjoyed making peanut butter cups.

 

They are so simple to make. The ingredients were confectionary sugar, peanut butter, vanilla, and Ghiardelli dipping chocolate. I think I will use milk chocolate when I make it and try Smuckers natural brand peanut butter rather than the Skippy brand and Ghiardelli dark chocolate. Needless to say they are delicious!!! They had a class the previous week in which they made white chocolate bark with whatever ingredients you wanted to put in it like peanuts, M & M’s, pretzels, etc… They said it was very good and simple to make. Next week they are making truffles but we don’t like truffles that much so I won’t be going. The couple that teaches the class, Jillean and Tom, are from Wisconsin and are great people who just retired in October and have made Rock Crusher their winter home right now. They have a 1984 Barth motorhome and it is nice with wrap around windows with no slides.

We went to a new place in Crystal River called High Octane Saloon. We had heard that it was a biker’s bar but the night we went was very unique. They have two gigantic rooms that they use for dancing and music. On is used for live performers and the other for DJs. This particular Tuesday night was 50’s and 60’s night with a guy that looks like a cross between Wayne Newton and Elvis Presley. He was singing oldies, but the music also had background tracks singing in it. The crowd was unbelievable because there wasn’t anyone younger than 50 that we saw. The place was packed and people were dancing up a storm. They also have food which is made outside in a kitchen. On Mondays the food is $1.00 for things like chili, fries, fried pickels, and other stuff. On the outside of the big building is another building where they have the Internet Café and they were doing a nice business. We will definitely go back there.

We went to our stix-n-brix house for the first time on November 28 and stayed one night. I did 6 loads of laundry which seemed to have taken forever since two of the loads were blankets. We cleaned and brought back stuff like magazines, crafts, and Christmas ornaments to look at and possibly throw out. We don’t like going there but we have to get our mail every two weeks or so since they don’t hold it now because we had it forwarded for 6 months earlier. Eventually, we will get all the stuff out of the house by throwing it away, giving it to Goodwill or keeping it to sell later on. We still don’t feel like we are in a hurry but it is an inconvenience to have the house since we consider ourselves full-timers now.

We met Donna and Ralph (Our Adventures With Tassie blog) a few weeks ago. They are staying here until May. They have been sick or visiting their family in Pinellas County, so we haven’t gotten together yet. If you are reading this Donna and Ralph, we will get together soon!

Kozmo still loves this place, especially the squirrels and tortoises that she encounters daily. The weather has not been cooperative lately so we haven’t been able to sit outside for long periods of time due to the showers and the temperatures being on the cool side. But the weather is forecast to change and hopefully we will get some sun so it is not too dismal.

‘Til next time….