Still Having Fun

Since last time I wrote (Barbie) we have been enjoying ourselves and doing chores around our site here at Rock Crusher Canyon. We have weeded most of the lot and cleaned off the pavers. We have a bit more to weed and Jeff wants to trim some of the trees a little, but it is looking so much better. In between weeding and organizing things, we just had to stop and eat at some of our favorite places in the area. We have eaten at Dan’s Clam Stand two times and went to our favorite Chinese place called Mr. Wang’s. The fried shrimp at Dan’s is a favorite but their clam chowder is THE best, I’m telling ya. Jeff had the garlic house chicken at Mr. Wang’s and I had the honey chicken. They both come with fried rice, egg roll and your choice of soup. We love their hot and sour soup so we pay extra for that. We still can walk out of there at $20.00 or less and still manage to bring home containers of food.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was held at the clubhouse in the park. I brought some pea salad and it was a hit. There were about 85 people in attendance. Some people even sat outside in the enclosed pool area and loved it out there. We sat inside near the TV to watch a football game while we ate. We mainly talked to two other couples who sat at the table with us instead of watching the game. Bruce, Carol, and Florrie are three people in the park who cook for the massive crowds that appear. They did a fantastic job of preparing the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and rolls. Everyone was asked to bring a side dish and we were selective about choosing which side dish to eat since this past Halloween we both got an intestinal disorder for 24 hours following that pot luck in Georgia. I also had bought a turkey breast for us to eat on since we like some leftovers from Thanksgiving. I also made stuffing, cranberry salad, sautéed brussel sprouts and we ate that on Saturday. Sunday Jeff made his mac and cheese to go along with the leftovers. This week we plan on making corn pudding, sweet potato succotash and leftover brussel sprouts to go along with any turkey or other meat that we have around. I was planning on making a turkey vegetable pie if I have any turkey leftover. If not, I will make the vegetable pie without the meat.

There were many “weekenders” in the park the week of Thanksgiving. Most of the people were very nice but some of the kids were inconsiderate by riding their bicycles around the park at night with no lights on and recklessly during the days. We even had one of our residents get hit from behind by a six year old on a bicycle that lost control of his bike. She got both of her arms scraped and needed to be helped up off the ground. We heard loud voices and some music after midnight on Saturday morning. It sounded like some people had a bit too much to drink. Needless to say, some of us were happy to see that crowd leave on Sunday. Jeff DJ’ed the “Welcome Back” dance on Saturday night and it was a success. About 50 to 65 people showed up from 7 – 10 PM in the clubhouse. Many kids came by early and wanted to hear some of “their” songs which we didn’t have. So Jeff played some of the line dances that some of the people like. The Cha-Cha Slide, Electric Slide, and other types of songs were enjoyed by the kids and adults as well. After 8:30 most of the kids had left and the “older” crowd was there to enjoy the music and dance.

We enjoyed a strawberry shortcake “gathering” at the clubhouse on Sunday evening. It was VERY good!!! About 25 people showed up for that. They (Bruce, Carol, and Florrie) are very generous with their portions. They offer either biscuit or the sponge cake along with three scoops of ice cream, strawberries, and whipped cream. It costs $4 and was very much worth it. This coming Saturday there is a breakfast in the clubhouse that is always very good. The Rock Crusher folks like to eat!

We went to Kim’s Café for breakfast this morning and enjoyed Mike and Sandy’s, the managers of Rock Crusher Canyon, company. Afterwards we got back to the rig to get ready to head to Valrico for Jeff’s dental appointment. We won’t be there long as we really don’t consider it our home anymore since we got the fifth wheel. We enjoy seeing our neighbors Dewane and Bev while there but don’t look forward to starting on getting rid of “junk” and organizing the things that we want to keep. We figure it will take us three years to get it all done if we go to the house once a month for two or three days while we are wintering down here. We are in no rush as you probably can tell…..hahaha

‘Til next time….. enjoy the moment!

Love Being Back at Rock Crusher Canyon

Barbie writing this at the moment.

We arrived back to Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park in Crystal River at 2:00pm on Monday following a nice 4 hour drive from Ho Hum RV Park in Carrabelle, FL. We noticed right away the warmth and humidity compared to where we were for most of the summer and fall. But, we are NOT complaining. It feels good to be back “home” for the next almost six months or so. Jeff backed the fifth wheel into the site with ease. We had to get it “perfect” so I got out the measuring stick making sure we weren’t crooked on our paver covered site. I never trust my eyes on this because I don’t see things as straight as well as I used to many years ago.

BACK HOME !

We noticed our lot needs some clean up due to weeds and leaves that have accumulated the last six months. We left here early last May. But, those projects will come in time. We got the important things done today, which is the cable hooked up and the DirecTV working in case something happens to the cable. Plus,obviously the water, electric and sewer hook-ups and all jacks down and all four slide out rooms extended. We were so tired that we went out to Arby’s for take-out. Before we did that we needed diesel fuel desperately for the truck. We kept looking for places along HWY 19 to stop during today’s drive  south. We never seemed to find the right place. Diesel was $3.95 at the Race Trac station in Homosassa. We noticed later on that it was $0.14 cheaper at the Race Trac in Crystal River. We didn’t fill up the first time because it stopped us at $85.00, so we feel better that we can go somewhere else next time and save a few cents.

Tuesday was the kind of day that I wanted to get out and tackle the weeds and get the golf cart that was stored in our utility trailer out and charged up. But, first we went to breakfast at our favorite little spot in the area, Kim’s Cafe. They do a great two egg, home fries, bacon (or sausage patties) and toast breakfast for $3.00. Barbie got a breakfast BLT (with egg). After arriving back at the site, it was back to the chores. The golf cart was an easy chore but I didn’t spend too much time weeding due to my head cold. I was hacking and congested and just plain miserable. Jeff did some weeding and that helped out a lot. I am usually a “witch” when I get sick so I am not nice to be around. Jeff went to the clubhouse at 6:30 pm to check out a karaoke fella that is new to the park this winter and also to mingle with some people who had just finished a grilled chicken dinner.  I decided to stay in the rig and put a breathe right strip on my nose and load up on Vicks and Afrin Nasal Spray and make sure I had a full tissue box handy. Apparently it helped because I slept pretty good. Now today, Wednesday, I feel much better. I got out and weeded and used the leaf blower to get rid of lots of acorns that have accumulated from the oak trees around here and covered the pavers. Jeff went to another meeting at 10:30 this morning dealing with activities that the park is planning this season. Jeff is booked to do four DJ dances this season. They’ve scheduled a “Welcome Back” Dance, Saturday, November 26, the big New Years Eve Dance, a Valentines Day Dance and an End of Season Dance on Friday, April 13. He found out that bingo will be starting back up again on Wednesdays beginning at the end of November. That is something I want to do this year.

We went to Dan’s Clam Stand for lupper (lunch/supper) at 2:00 this afternoon. Very good meal! Jeff had fried shrimp and fries and I had a burger and fries. His shrimp was excellent and mine was very good too! We both had a cup of clam chowder as well. Dan’s has the BEST New England clam chowder. If you are reading this Sherry, we thought about you and Charley today while eating our chowder!!! January is not too far off. :-) We then went to Publix, where “shopping is a pleasure”, for some items. It was then that I realized that I really miss the Ingles Supermarket that we use in Clayton, Georgia. Don’t get me wrong… I love Publix too but Ingles has more of a variety, plus it has a Starbucks inside. :-)

We are going to start making a list of things that we will do soon. One of the things we need to get finished is the weeding first. Jeff wants to build wooden steps that lead into the rig. The ones we had made in Dillard are structurally sound and built to last a long time. So Jeff will tackle it using the same measurements and wood that was used on our Dillard steps.

Kozmo tells us that she loves being back in Crystal River. She “told” me yesterday that her paws love the grass and pavers on this site compared to the gravel on our site she had to endure in Dillard.

One Happy Girl !

Plus, she is back with her “friends”, namely the squirrels. No rabbit hunts here, but squirrels galore.She sat outside today just looking at the squirrels in the trees while I was weeding. She said that she wishes the weather were less humid though. Our high temperature today was 83 degrees with humidity near 85% this morning.

‘Til next time…..from the beautiful Nature Coast of Florida….

  

Ho Hum in Carrabelle, FL

We finally decided where we’d stop overnight on our way from Foley, AL to Crystal River, FL. We decided to stop at Ho Hum RV Park in Carrabelle, FL. right on the Gulf of Mexico. We spent a couple of days here about a year ago and enjoyed the peace and quiet around here. The drive yesterday from Foley here took six hours of driving. The park is only about half full. The snowbirds haven’t all arrived yet. Once we pulled in we decided to stay two nights not just one. This is one of those campgrounds in an area where you better want to kick back and relax as there is not much around here. The park is small and except for it’s location right on the water, full hook-ups, good wifi and cable tv, there is not much else to do. But, as I said, it is peaceful. There is no pool and certainly not a park to bring kids-as a matter of fact, on the info/rules sheet they give you at check in,  rule #1 is “NO children.” After we set up and ate some dinner last evening, I watched some college football and Barbie played on the computer and read before retiring early. Today, we’re gonna take a drive and get a bite to eat. Maybe I’ll watch an NFL game-who knows? I’ll include some pix from Ho Hum RV Park below.

 

 

 

Nice views huh-and with some Jimmy Buffett music playing, and me sitting here in shorts and t-shirt in 70 degree weather-it doesn’t get much better my friends!

Tomorrow we head for “home” at Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park in Crystal River, FL.

‘Til next time……..

Enjoying Our Stay in Foley, Alabama

Barbie starting this blog today. :-)

We love it here in Foley! We left River Vista last Thursday at 9:55 am and the cool temperature of 36 degrees. As we put the slides in , ice fell from them. The ice had formed on the slideout awnings. We were happy to have put the sewer away the day before. The water hose was a bit frosty and stiff, but we didn’t have any problems with running the water through it. We arrived at Bremen, Georgia at the Yogi Bear Jellystone Campground at 3:30pm. It was drizzling when we got there so we set up as quick as possible. The ride was about 5 ½ hours. This campground has rabbits running around, a parrot and snakes inside the clubhouse, and a pot bellied pig in a huge pond area.  Kozmo  sniffed at the pig briefly and then just moved on as though she wasn’t interested in him/her. She was VERY interested in all the rabbits around. The weather was very windy and cold when I was walking her at 11:00 pm.  I thought perhaps she was just interested in looking for rabbits and not wanting to do her “business”.

Yogi Jellystone

 

We left the next morning at 9:45 for Greenville, Alabama. This was a better day to travel with lots of sunshine. We arrived at Sherling Lake Campground at 3:30. What a very nice place! We had full hookups and the campground was very nicely laid out. Kozmo and I took a walk down to the lake but since we were pressed for time , we didn’t actually go on the docks. This will definitely be a stopover again in the future. The only thing we need to remember is that they only accept cash or check, which was fine for us but some people freak out if they don’t know about that ahead of time. Since the evening was a bit cool at 48 degrees, there were many campfires around us which made for a great smelling atmosphere.

 

We left the next morning at 10:35 for Foley. We arrived at Foley at 1:45 CST. The campground , called Anchors Aweigh RV Resort is a very nice one! We got a back in site that Jeff did a great job in backing into. We had a bit of trouble with undoing the hitch pin. This place has concrete sites and lots of grass for Kozmo to enjoy. They even have an enclosed dog area for running around and playing with other puppies. We’ll post some pictures of this place in the next post. It took us a bit of time to adjust to the one hour time change and then followed by the daylight savings time one hour change on Sunday. It certainly made the days longer! What is nice though is that when we wake up at 6 am,  it is nice and bright outside. It makes you want to get up earlier. I have been fighting a cold for the last 4 days; right after we both got sick a week ago Sunday with some intestinal distress problems. So, I went to bed to “read” at 8:00, which it was really 7:00 due to the set back of the clocks Saturday night before we went to bed. I got up at 11:00 pm to take Kozmo out and  Jeff finally came to bed after watching the Alabama/LSU game at about that time. I think I have had my share of sleeping for awhile… I am tired of sleeping…haha

We went to explore Sunday. We decided to eat at the Shrimp Basket , which was excellent, at 12:30pm. Jeff got all you can eat shrimp with fries and shrimp slaw and hush puppies and I got the shrimp and oysters combo with new potatoes and shrimp slaw. We will go back there again for sure! Excellent food-very reasonable prices.  Kozmo patiently waited in the truck for 40 minutes while we ate. We then proceeded to the Gulf Shore Beaches and visited Gulf State Park. This is a place where we will stay if we are in the area again. They have pull-thrus and back ins and are spaced very nicely.

Gulf State Park

 

We took the Foley Expressway back to town, which costs $3.50. It does save the stop and go traffic  the other way. They even gave us a biscuit treat for Kozmo at the toll booth which was a nice touch! We had decided earlier to enjoy a milk shake at a place called Shakes, which is right around the corner from the campground. Jeff had fudge brownie “concrete” , which is extra thick frozen ice cream custard, and I had a reeses’ pieces concrete, which was too sweet for me. If we go back, I will get banana instead. They even have a key lime milk shake. I am glad we are only staying here a week because we could go to this place quite often.

The weather was  beautiful  Monday morning. I wore shorts with a sweater when walking Kozmo at 7:45 this morning and had to take off the sweater because it was a bit warm. We are headed out today for Camping World and drive thru other campgrounds in the area. But, we are definitely going to eat at Lamberts Café III, home of  throwed rolls, today.

Later…with Jeff at the keyboard.

 LAMBERTS was all we heard it would be! Wow, the food was great and they entertain you as well. Let me explain. First, on the web site, click on the fun facts under the “ABOUT US” tab (or click on fun facts). Those are some amazing numbers! Back to the food….you order an entree: beef, chicken, fish etc. With that you get your choice of a couple sides. But, you ALSO get “pass arounds.” They provide "pass arounds" at no charge to those ordering from the menu. These "extras" are brought to you by servers carrying pots or other containers of fried okra, fried potatoes with onions, macaroni and tomatoes, steamed cabbage, black eyed peas, and sorghum, apple butter and honey. LAMBERTS is, of course, known for their Throwed Rolls, and everyone enjoys catching a roll or two. Made from scratch and baked fresh all day, every day--hot rolls from LAMBERT'S are not only fun to catch, but delicious to eat. Did I say-they are huge! Spread some real butter on them or get adventurous and try some country sorghum molasses on them. We put apple butter on ours….YUMMY. But,  the real fun is catching a roll. Even more fun is watching other people catch them, or at least try to. Dozens of hot rolls are flying through the air every few minutes at LAMBERT'S, so be alert and have a roll.

 

Oh yeah, I had round steak as they call it, AKA, country fried steak. Barbie had meat loaf. Needless to say, we brought home two styrofoam boxes of food! Oh yes, I did mention entertainment as well. Besides the throwed rolls, our waitress offered us after dinner mints if you open a box.

Mint anyone?

And, of course, one last stop as you leave.

‘Til next time…….

Halloween – Headed South

It has been a great summer and fall up here in Dillard, Georgia, at River Vista RV Resort. We have thoroughly enjoyed our friends, the countryside, relaxing and the dances we’ve DJed here at the park. But, the leaves have turned, Halloween is behind us and the past 5 mornings the temperatures have been in the upper 20’s. Sooooo it is time to head south! We’re getting the last few things done today and we’re hitching up the “Castle” and pulling out tomorrow morning. Tomorrow’s journey will take us across northern Georgia to the western side of the state to the Yogi Jellystone Park in Bremen, Georgia. This park is just off of I-20, just east of the Alabama state line. Microsoft Streets and Trips software says it should take about four and one-half hours. We’ll see about that. Friday, our plans are to travel a little over three hours and then stop at Sherling Lake Campground in Greenville, Alabama, which is just off of I-65 and south of Montgomery. Then on Saturday we’ll drive the final three hours to Foley, Alabama, for our one week stay at Anchors Aweigh RV Resort. We’ve never camped in this area but have always wanted to do so. We hope to explore the area and see if we can catch some “throwed rolls” at Lambert’s Cafe. In addition, to the beef, chicken, fish, pork, etc, or other main entrees with veggies, we hear they provide "pass arounds" at no charge to those ordering from the menu. These "extras" are brought to you by servers carrying pots or other containers of fried okra, fried potatoes, macaroni and tomatoes, black eyed peas, and sorghum and honey. Makes me hungry thinking about it. I’ll be sure to report back on the place. After our week in the Foley area, we’ll head “home” to Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park in Crystal River, Florida. We’re looking forward to seeing our friends and getting back to Rock Crusher for the winter. It seems like a lot longer than last May that we left RCC.

Let me backtrack to this past weekend. River Vista hosted their last activity filled weekend of the season, celebrating Halloween. Between the weekenders here for the events, and a 40 rig American Coach Owners Association Georgia Rally held here, the campground was full. There was popcorn ball making, pumpkin carving and movies for the kids. Friday night at 9pm, a cocktail party was held for the adults. The originally booked piano player canceled, so they managed to get a local musician that plays guitar and fiddle and regularly performs at a couple of local venues, to entertain. It was a shame that only about 18 folks attended and some of those were the work campers and managers of the park. Of course, the rain all day and into the evening probably caused a low turnout. Saturday was a beautiful, yet cool, day. There was a covered dish dinner for the weekend campers at 4:30pm on one side of the Mountain Village Center in the park, and the rally group had a catered dinner for themselves on the other side. The dance, with Big Daddy DJ as host, was to start at 7:00pm BUT, there was a large crowd in the Center watching the final minutes of the Florida vs. Georgia football game (and many in their rvs, I’m sure), we decided to wait until the game ended. It was a wise decision as once the game was over the Mountain Village Center filled with costumed kids, costumed adults, rally goers and the rest. We had a GREAT time watching the dancers, as well as announcing the kids and adults costume winners as well as the best decorated rv sites. Included below are some pictures from the evenings activities. Everyone seemed to have a great time as we had folks, both kids and adults, on the dance floor all night. That was the last of the five dances we’ve DJed since May at the campground. I’ve had a blast-plus the cash has paid for a few meals out along the way! :-) Big Daddy DJ is already booked for a New Years Eve Dance and Valentines Dance at Rock Crusher Canyon with hopefully a couple of other events there or at other rv parks in the area this winter.

  

  

 

 

 

It’s time to finish up some odds and ends before going to bed.

‘Til next time……