We did some decorating around the motorhome today. Between the cold temperatures (24 degrees last night here in Crystal River) and putting up the decorations, we are feelin’ the Christmas spirit. As a matter of fact, we’re believin’ that “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”. Hope you enjoy our video dream-just click on the link in the previous sentence. Below is a picture taken directly from it.
‘Til next time……………………..
This certainly has been a busy week! We drove to the stix & brix home in Valrico Tuesday and returned here to Rock Crusher Canyon (RCC) yesterday afternoon. I had a doctors appointment Wednesday for my six month check-up, then a dental appointment to have my teeth cleaned Thursday. Friday morning, that would be early Friday morning at 7:00am, Barbie and I met some of her former colleagues from Mann Middle School for breakfast. In addition, Barbie did some yard work while I was at the dentist and we did a few things around the house. All in all it was a productive visit as we got some things done and I had good reports from the doctor and dental hygienist. I do know one thing, we are certainly not used to all the traffic we encountered in Valrico and Brandon. Having spent the past 6 months in the northeast Georgia mountains and the last week in Crystal River, we certainly have not faced the traffic we did the past few days. I can say we were both glad to be back here in Crystal River.
When we arrived back here at Rock Crusher Canyon we found many more sites filled. It’s not that all the fulltimers arrived the past few days but country music fans began arriving for the “Country Rocks the Canyon” Concert which I spoke of in the last post. The concert is going on tonight. Barbie and I are going to take a golf cart ride in a few minutes to check out the campground. Well, we just returned from a drive around the campground. There are alot of folks sitting around campfires as it is 40 degrees at this time. I suspect a good number are at the concert, which we could hear quite easily from nearly every corner of RCC. We actually went in the clubhouse and went out and sat in the screened pool area and we could hear the music extremely well. You can’t see anything but the sound was clear. We caught the introduction of Luke Bryan and listened to his first 4 numbers. I was surprised at how loud and clear it was. We then talked briefly with friends Tom and Wendy, who are workcampers here at RCC working security, at least for a couple of more weeks before Tom retires officially and they head to their “new home”, a cabin outside Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We have known Tom and Wendy for the past couple of years or so and are happy for them but we’ll miss them at RCC for sure.
Tomorrow’s weather calls for rain leading in a cold front that is to bring the coldest air of the season. Projected lows for Monday and Tuesday mornings are to be in the low 20’s. Brrrrrrrr. I’m not complaining though because temps are much lower elsewhere as we all know. We’ll be getting some use out of our fire pit the next few days I’m sure.
So tomorrow will be an inside day, the Bucs vs. Redskins football game is in my plans. Next week we’ll do some cleaning and reorganizing in the motorhome and do some work on and in the “Prince”, our new utility trailer. We also want to get some holiday lights and decorations set up both inside and outside the motorhome. They’ll definitely be trips this week to Dan’s Clam Stand for the BEST New England clam chowder ever and a trip to “The Freezer” for steamed shrimp. We also need to visit “The Shed” sometime soon. Believe me-it doesn’t get any better!
I’ll leave you with a view out the front of our motorhome here at Rock Crusher Canyon. Stop in at Site 157 and say hello!
After we got back “home” here in Rock Crusher Canyon, one of the first things we wanted to get accomplished was to add some sort of storage shed to our site. We also needed to go get our golf cart which was down in Valrico, two hours down the road. I know you have probably heard of the expressions “two for one” and/or “killing two birds with one stone” right? Well, they both can be applied to the picture below.
7:00am came early this morning but there was a breakfast gathering in the clubhouse to attend. You see we have some folks who prepare breakfasts every two weeks for those interested. For $5, Bruce, Carol and Florrie do a great job and all of us who partake are most appreciative. Today we had scrambled eggs, home fries, hash brown taters, grits, sausage patties, pancakes, fruit salad, oj and coffee. Awesome food and great company! We got back to the coach and the crew we hired to wash and wax the coach were already at it. Ted did the coach last year here at Rock Crusher so Barbie contacted him early in the week. They did a super job again. He used a new oil based wax that he said would look better and hold up longer. He was correct on the first count-it looks great-not like a 9 year old coach. We’ll see if it lasts longer. Ted and his assistant spent about five hours working on it. I’ll have to take a picture and post it.
We’ll head back to Valrico Tuesday and stay ‘til Friday as I have dental and doctor appointments scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. We’ll have Friday breakfast with some of Barbie’s former co-workers from Mann Middle School in Brandon. But, after breakfast they’ll go to work and we’ll head back here to Rock Crusher. I tell ya, retirement is great!
The snowbirds are slowly arriving in the park but this time next week this place will be jumping with campers that will attend the “Country Rocks the Canyon” concert held right next door to the campground in a large outdoor amphitheater. Rock Crusher Canyon is Florida’s largest natural amphitheater. The Amphitheater features a ninety-foot craggy canyon wall as a backdrop to the largest covered outdoor stage in the state and has excellent acoustics. They held outdoor concerts there regularly until the last few years when they only seem to have one big country show with about five or so country acts playing in December. I believe this will be the Sixth Annual “Country Rocks the Canyon” Concert.
You see originally, Rock Crusher Canyon was three venues in one: the Garden Pavilion, a 20,000-square-foot building that hosted weekend music and buffet dinner dances; the Rock Crusher Canyon Amphitheater for concerts; and the Rock Crusher Canyon RV park. Rock Crusher Canyon opened in 1995 and went after big name stars right away. The annual Crystal River Jam country music festivals drew the top names in country music. Because of the amphitheater's limited seating capacity of about 5,500, the festivals failed to make a lot of money. Then management started scaling back. No more three-day festivals filled with A-list entertainers. Instead, Rock Crusher booked classic acts such as Lee Greenwood, Three Dog Night, Roy Clark and The Oak Ridge Boys for the major shows at the amphitheater. The entertainment roster at Rock Crusher Canyon also included in the past name acts such as Willie Nelson, Mickey Rooney, Travis Tritt, Alabama and Hootie and the Blowfish.
So there you go, a 2 for 1 post---you read about our “new toy” and get a Rock Crusher Canyon history lesson!
“Til next time……………..
Since last we posted, we left Pine Mountain, GA, on Thanksgiving morning and traveled 4 hours to reach Ho Hum RV Park in Carrabelle, FL. The guests at Ho Hum were finishing up their Thanksgiving meal outside the main building when we pulled up. We got our site assignment and they encouraged us to hurry back as they still had plenty to eat. Barbie had already planned our meal and had already prepared some of the meal and just had to heat it up. We set up the rig and then enjoyed our view and our meal which consisted of: turkey, stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, broccoli au gratin, biscuits and sweet potato pie. Barbie did a great job, everything tasted superb.
Ho Hum is right on the gulf and is is an older park. They have about 15 choice sites that in a motorhome you pull straight in and you are essentially just feet from the water.
The remainder of the sites are all within 300 feet or so from the water and the 200 foot pier.
The home page of the website shows a great overhead picture of the campground. They advertise on their website their slogan: “ We Cater To Seniors and Adults In A Quiet Relaxed Country Atmosphere.” There is no pool or amenities that kids would enjoy. The cable tv was great, about 70 channels and the wifi was free albeit a tad slow. Not a whole lot happening in that area of the panhandle nor are there many restaurants or grocery stores. We did have a good meal at a local spot in Carrabelle by the name of 2 Al’s Cafe. My shrimp basket was good and Barbie enjoyed her oyster basket. Carrabelle is best known for having the world’s smallest police station.
We took a ride to Apalachicola, which is about 30 miles from the campground. For a couple of days to unwind and enjoy the scenery, you can’t beat this area of the panhandle. We’ll go back. While there we got a visit from Barbie’s great friend from Mann Middle School, Linda, and her husband Bill, on Saturday morning.
They stayed and chatted for an hour and a half before continuing their drive home to Auburndale after spending the week at Panama City Beach. I’ll leave you with one last shot from Ho-Hum with St. Georges Island in the background.
Sunday morn we packed up the rig, hitched up the Terrain, and left Ho Hum RV Park at 10:15am for Crystal River. We arrived here at Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park at 2:00pm. It was great backing into our site again. We pulled out of here on June 21 on our trip to Dillard, GA. We got all settled in here for the next 5 months or so.
But, as has been said before, as retirees, those plans are extremely flexible and subject to change at any time. We certainly understand that concept as we hadn’t planned to spend ALL the time since June in Dillard. Of course we’ll take periodic trips to Valrico for a couple days at a time.
‘Til next time………
We sit here on Thanksgiving Eve at Pine Mountain RV Resort in Pine Mountain, Georgia where we have been since arriving Monday at 1:35pm. We will leave here tomorrow morning to travel to Ho Hum RV Park in Carrabelle, FL. Yes, we’ll be traveling on Thanksgiving Day, but we are thankful for being able to do just that this year. We hope you find time to give thanks to all the blessings that have been bestowed upon you and yours.
So what have we been up to in Pine Mountain you ask? Monday after arriving we just “chilled.” Tuesday we drove around the area and explored a little before going to “Fantasy in Lights” at 7:00pm-an hour before our time to report. When you register you have a choice of riding their trolley or driving your own vehicle. We chose to drive ourselves. And, that was a good thing because a trolley started in front of us and they lost us quickly. Barbie drove slowly so we could take bunches of pictures. We were a bit concerned initially as it began raining when we were leaving the motorhome to get there. But, by the time we got the go to begin our drive (it is all coordinated by staff) the rain had stopped and we were able to put the windows down to hear the music and take pictures. I’ve never seen anything quite like this-except maybe Disney World. There were themed areas and of course the lights, figurines and music were all appropriately coordinated. It was about a 45 minute drive from beginning to end. I took 90 pictures myself and Barbie took a bunch with her camera. Below are some of my favorites:
Good stuff huh? If you click on the picture, you should see a larger version. So that was last night’s excitement. Today we were able to use our ticket from last night and get entrance to the park. We drove around and checked it out-the place is huge. We also took a ride over to F. D. Roosevelt State Park. It was only about 8 miles away. We drove thru the campground area and they were full. Everything from tenters, to pop-ups, to travel trailers, to fifth wheels to class B vans, to class C’s to the 40 foot diesel pushers were occupying sites. Before coming back to the motorhome we ate dinner at the Country Store Restaurant at Callaway Gardens. We had a great country style meal believe me.
Well, I’ll leave ya with one last photo from last eve.
“Til next time…….. , with the good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise, - from Carrabelle, Florida………….
This is Barbie writing to you today!!Have you ever been so “pumped up” about doing something that might not be the greatest thing in the world to do, but you know that once you do it you will feel good? Well, that is how I have felt the last two days. I knew I had to wash the windshield and put Rain-X on it but the hassle of getting out the “hidden” ladder in the basement and facing the possibility that I wouldn’t be able to reach the very top of the windshield made me feel stressful. I don’t like to feel stressed and retired at the same time. So, I took on the challenge and made it a two day event. After getting under the basement and finding carpet after carpet plus all the other “stuff” that I put in there before leaving Dillard, I felt a huge accomplishment to be had. I cleaned the windshield first and it looked so good that I cleaned the side windows, too. I cleaned out the last basement where all the cleaning supplies were located and got rid of stuff that we didn’t need, like Jeff’s underwear that we used as cleaning rags. Yeah, I know, underwear isn’t a pretty thing to have in your hand while cleaning but it beats paying for rags at the store, right? Back to the ladder…..a very sturdy one at that but very hard to lengthen without the use of a hammer and silicone spray. I managed to open up the ladder and stand on it applying the Rain-X without any difficulty. Rain-X must be applied with a clean rag in a circular motion and then cleaned off with another cloth. It looked great and Jeff was waving at me inside the rig while I was doing it, which only encouraged me more to get that brilliant glow! Project done, the ladder had to be put in its compact mode and put away. That was a problem. I put my left arm in the wrong place and pinched a little area …. oh that smarted! Now I have a black and blue mark to remind me of my greatest accomplishment. But, the ladder is now away and the windshield is ready for rain that hopefully won’t appear while travelling to Pine Mountain tomorrow.
Being “pumped up” to do the job was invigorating because the task was boring but the outcome was “priceless”. It is the little things in life that mean so much to me now that I am retired. I felt so “pumped up” on Thursday before we left Dillard because I had accomplished major tasks by myself. I cleaned the sewer hose, put away the water hose and filter, and with Jeff’s help learned how to connect the Brakemaster system to my car. Sure it was work, but just being outdoors and so ready to get on the road made it all worthwhile!
As Jeff mentioned to you in yesterday’s blog, I went to Characters Barbecue in Adairsville and got us our dinner. I got Jeff some pulled pork with baked beans, potato salad, bread, iced lemon cake, and a drink all for $10. I got the same thing except my meat of choice was chicken. Superb meal! It is just a hole in the wall with mainly take-out and a few picnic tables outside but a place that we would go back to if we get in this area again. Today we went out to the Cracker Barrel for “lupper” and it was a great meal. The place wasn’t crowded at all.
We really like Harvest Moon RV Park. I did one load of laundry today and was so pleased with it. You see, it is free! The washing machines and dryers are beautiful and so easy to use and FREE!!! I went into the office after I did the laundry and complimented them of the nice perks that they offer their customers, like the free laundry and the free popcorn upon arrival. This is the type of rv park that we will visit again even if there isn’t anything to do around here.
I leave you with some pictures that I took with my camera. Remember…enjoy the moment!
We left River Vista Mountain Village in Dillard at noon on Thursday. Our plans were to head west across northern Georgia to get to Adairsville and not follow most mapping programs which say to head south to I-85, take I-285 to I-75 and turn back north to get to Adairsville. I had no desire to get in the Atlanta traffic. I prefer the scenic route even if it takes a little longer. We were in no hurry. We fueled up in Rabun Gap, just 5 minutes from River Vista. It was a great travel day and in three and a half hours we pulled in at Harvest Moon. I had designed our trip using Microsoft Streets and Maps 2010 but also programmed the trip in our GPS to compare the two.
Both worked well. The only incident that occurred on the trip was when I tried to wash the windshield off. I turned the wipers on and tried to squirt fluid on the windshield. No fluid, and the wipers moved about 6 inches(right to the middle in my view) and stopped. I drove a few miles but the wiper was splitting my view and aggravated me. I pulled in to a Home Depot parking lot in Ellijay so Barbie could get out and give them a gentle boost. My thinking was that not being used in 5 months maybe they needed help. Well, that didn’t work but Barbie was able to move them so now they are extended to the far side so they do not split my view. We’ll address that issue later.
When we arrived at Harvest Moon Barbie went into the office to check in. A few minutes later she walks out grinning with 2 bags of popcorn in her hands. You see this place besides the full hook-up sites with free wifi, free cable, free laundry (first time I’ve seen this too) and all the other amenities, they give you free popcorn at check-in. Nice touch I’d say! And the popcorn was good too. As I waited for Barbie to check-in, I saw the pool was closed for the winter but adjacent to the pool was a great fire pit area with chairs. I’m sure some tall tales have been told around that fire pit.
‘Til next time………….
