FMCA Rally & Puppy Fix

The past couple of days we’ve spent getting settled in the new Alpine 5er. All of the boxes we (Barbie predominantly) had packed in the motorhome and transferred to the 5er, are emptied, contents put in their places and the boxes disposed of. We’ve got a few more items out in our storage “utility trailer” to bring in but for the most part we are settled in. We went to Walmart to pick up a couple of items for the 5er. Interestingly, the bathroom in the new 5er had no toilet paper holder hung anywhere. So we picked that up along with a couple of hand towel holders. Again, there were NO towel holders anywhere. Of course, we noticed that up front and it actually allowed us to buy the style we wanted and mount them where we wanted them. Barbie also got some new king size sheets at Belks yesterday for the new bed. Over the course of the last few days we’ve also had the chance to test out the heat pump to take the chill off the other morning when in dipped into the upper 40’s. Then yesterday afternoon it was in the upper 70’s and muggy so we turned on the A/C briefly. Yeah, I know, eat your heart out our northern friends and those in Texas that have had the cold, ice and snow! As I write this, it is a cool, damp 60 degrees outside here at RCC so the windows are open and it is comfortable inside.

Thursday we drove down to Brooksville to spend a few hours down at the FMCA’s Southeast Area Rally being held at the Hernando County Airport until Sunday. As I said in the previous post, we have been regulars at the rally for the past 6 years and have worked the rally as volunteers in the past. We paid the $7 per person fee for the day pass. We primarily wanted to visit the vendors tent and check in with some friends that still volunteer during the rally. We didn’t need to walk through the coach display obviously, having just made our “jump” to the new Alpine 5er. We also passed on attending any of the seminars and it’s probably was a good thing because we surely would have gone thru the same hassle that Karen and Al went through. For an organization concerned about declining memberships they certainly need to change some policies I’d say. I do know that the philosophy changed for an upcoming rally as they have announced that the FMCA will welcome not only motorhome owners but also owners of other types of self-contained RVs when the group meets in Perry, Georgia, in March 2011 for FMCA's 85th Family Reunion & Motorhome Showcase, which will be held at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter in Perry, Ga., from March 14 to 17, 2011. We made it through the vendors tent without dropping too many $$$. We did buy an RV Power Protection device like we had in our motorhome that will protect the rv from power surges, improper grounded systems and low power. It will not allow the problems into your rv where it could cause major damages. In the 6 years we had it in the motorhome it saved us on several occasions and more than paid for itself. We also picked up a couple of small canvas fabric “pouches” that can be velcroed to any type of surface. We also stopped at their booth and chatted briefly with folks from River Vista Mountain Village in Dillard, GA, where we own an rv site. It was good seeing Richard, Jim & Mary, and Steve & Judy. They seemed pleased they weren’t up there dealing with the snow, ice and cold temps. We also saw Roamin’ Rigs chapter members, Sandie, Pat, Jim, Wilma, and Ted, as well as former members Gary and Arlene. We then drove down the two runways where the vast majority of motorhomes are parked. It is always interesting to us to look at the rigs and some of the folks set-ups. These two folks cause you to do a double take as there are NO hook-ups at all on the runways. Maybe they just want to believe….?

     

I also marvel at some of the custom paint jobs… Click on them for a larger view.

   

   

   

We still managed to get out before the annual “parade” was to begin. My favorite part of these large rallies was to walk or ride around with my camera and check out the people-there are all kinds of folks for sure.

   

 

 

 

Ah, we have had fun at rallies. If you’ve never attended one you need to for sure.

Good friends, Pat and Sandie, who are working the rally drove up to RCC yesterday to see our new Alpine. They stayed and chatted for a couple of hours. We may not see them until spring as they will go work the Perry rally and then they work for a couple of months at Dollywood. They own an rv site in Franklin, NC, just about 20 miles north of us in Dillard. So we will see them up “north” in the spring at Dollywood, or Franklin, or Dillard.

Finally, as some of you know, we had dogs for many years but after our corgi, Korkey,  died in 1996 we have resisted getting any more pets. With both of us working we didn’t think we could put the time in to train a new pet etc. Well, since we are both retired, we always take note of dogs pictures in the papers and announcements of animal adoptions everywhere we go and visit shelters, humane societies and the like. Barbie calls it “getting a puppy fix.’ Well, we got another puppy fix this morning at the Pet Supermarket store in Inverness. Each Saturday for a few hours an adoption organization brings some dogs there to be adopted. A few weeks ago “Matti” stole Barbie’s heart and today it was “Scooter’s” turn. Don’t know how many more “fixes” there will be before we rescue one of the dogs. Oh well, that’s what we’ve been up to.

‘Til next time……

RVers Luncheon in Lakeland

Monday was one of those special days we are lucky to enjoy as rvers gathering together, sharing stories and good food. You see a group of nearly 30 rvers, some full-timers, some wannabee full-timers, some part-timers, many bloggers, and ALL rv enthusiasts gathered  for a  planned lunch. We came from Wauchula, Zephryhills, Crystal River, Davenport, Clermont, Sebring, Largo, Inverness and a couple of other central Florida locales. I again want to recognize and thank the planner of this event- Donna (AKA Froggi) McNicol. Many of us in attendance were familiar with one another’s  blogs but had not met in person. This blog entry is missing pictures to capture the event only because the camera we DID remember to bring had NOT been charged. Yeah, I know –pretty lame huh? Soooo.. with that being said I’ve waited for most of those in attendance to make their posts, with pictures, so I can provide the links to see the various pictures taken by the persons with cameras (with charged batteries) by clicking their names: Froggi Donna, Margie W, Dee W, Donna H, and Sherry D.  The Smokey Bones in Lakeland was a central location and certainly provided a menu where we all found something tasty to our liking. The conversation was non-stop, only stopping to insert food in our mouths. The two and a half hour gathering hardly seemed like enough time to chat with everyone – which we couldn’t. All the more reason to do it again-and we Boldts hope that will happen.

The 100 minute drive from Crystal River to Lakeland and back, and the lunch was a great “break” in our unpacking of boxes as we move in to our new Alpine 5er. Barbie had done a super job labeling the boxes as we packed up the Kountry Star motorhome so when we transferred them to the Alpine we knew what room to put them in. But, deciding which cabinets, drawers etc to put the items in took some careful deliberations. As of today we have most, not all, things in a place. We have a few items out in the “Prince”, our 12 foot utility trailer, we use for storage, to bring in the 5er. The new “Castle” is coming together. We’ll take another break tomorrow or Thursday to travel to Brooksville to the FMCA Southeast Area Rally as day guests to check out the vendors and see if we can run into a few of our motorhoming friends. It will be strange as we have attended, as registered rally-goers for the past 6 or so years, and enjoyed all the seminars, entertainment, coach displays and vendors with friends. We have even worked the rally in past years as the rally photographer and daily newsletter writer, making many new friends along the way.

   

‘Til next time……..

We Did It !

It has been a busy last week since I last posted I know, but we HAVE been, and still are for that matter, really been quite busy. YES, we did it!  We traded in our 2001 Kountry Star diesel pusher Class A motorhome and bought a 2010 Keystone Alpine fifth wheel. YES, Boldts RV Castle has changed its look. We had been giving this a lot of thought since we both retired going back to last summer. We finally decided that was the direction we wanted to go. A fifth wheel offers RVers a number of lifestyle alternatives. From touring, to long-term stays and spot-camping, fifth wheels, AKA 5ers, offer a great deal of versatility. In addition, because they are available in such a wide variety of sizes, fifth wheels are great for the weekend camper, or full time RVers looking for all of the comforts of home. The later of course is the stage of life we are at now. More on the new 5er and our thinking later.

We had visited the RV Supershow in Tampa  a couple of weeks ago looking, and we visited a small show in Bushnell a few days later. Then we both spent hours on the computer researching companies, models, floorplans, owners forums and the like. We have learned so much about fifth wheels, the various floorplans , amenities, options  etc. The major manufacturers of 5ers all seem to have online forums where owners and those interested discuss every and all issues pertaining to 5ers. I spent many hours reading those forums. They seem to bring out both extremes from owners –those that are happy with their purchases and those that are not. Technical questions are shared regularly and a wealth of knowledge is shared. I have been familiar with the various rvers forums that are online as I read them regularly but only from the motorhome owners perspective---‘til recently.

We finally narrowed our search and research down to a couple of companies and specific models. We looked at them both online and in person and after much thought and discussion settled on the Keystone Alpine 3500RE model. We found the model and ultimately deal we were seeking at Suncoast RV in Ocala, FL. There was the traditional, how should I say it, “negotiating” , that took place both in person and on the telephone over the course of a few days to lock the deal down. Long story short, we took delivery this past Friday morning, January 28, of the new Alpine “home”. Part of the deal was that they had to “deliver” it to our site here in Rock Crusher Canyon. And the reason for this was my Chevrolet 1500 (half ton) pick up truck that I’ve had for a couple of years is not nearly stout enough to tow this 40 foot “castle”. So now we’ll need to begin researching to find the appropriate new truck to tow the new “Castle” to our future stops in the weeks, months and years ahead. And now, introducing to you below, the new, and improved, “Boldts RV Castle”.

   

As you can see, there are 4 slide out rooms that really open the living space up. That is one reason, but probably THE major plus, for the move to the 5er. The “RE” in the 3500RE model stands for rear entertainment. If you look at the floor plan above the entire rear end is an entertainment area, complete with a 40 inch flat screen tv that “rises” from the cabinetry. This area also holds the radio tuner and dvd player in the cabinets that surround the tv area.

   

The kitchen area is Barbie’s favorite of all the models we looked at.

The bedroom has a king size bed, dresser at the foot of the bed and a cedar closet across the back, er front of the unit as you can see.

    

There is so much more to talk about and show in upcoming posts.

With all the excitement of the new “castle” comes with some mixed feelings. We won’t see nearly as much of our motorhome friends we’ve made over the years attending “Roamin’ Rigs” monthly rallies. We joined the FMCA club shortly after purchasing our first motorhome in 1997.  FMCA is a club for motorhome owners only, so our membership is now void. We made so many friends through the Roamin’ Rigs-and lost some along the way. We so looked forward to the monthly rallies and the Southeast Area rallies and other rallies we attended. Even though the motorhome is history the friends we made during that time are friends forever and we hope to see them regularly down the road.

‘Til next time…..

Manatee Festival in Crystal River

A busy week culminated with us attending the 24th Annual Manatee Festival here in chilly Crystal River yesterday. The festival was located in the heart of downtown Crystal River. This  location is right off of US Hwy 19, about an hour and a half north of Tampa and two hours west of Orlando.The Florida Manatee Festival was a two-day event, held yesterday and today, was hosted by the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce, the City of Crystal River, and the Rotary Club of Crystal River. The festival included fine arts displays, craft displays, food, music, children’s activities and of course, manatee education. To enter the festival grounds cost $3 per person. The Fine Art show hosted exhibitors from around the United States, featuring items from watercolor artwork to breathtaking photography as well as sculptures, stained glass and unique one of a kind handmade jewelry. These are just a few samples of the variety provided by the Fine Artists. Cash prizes and ribbons were awarded to outstanding artists. Craft displays sponsored and hosted by the Rotary Club of Crystal River, included over 150 craft vendors displaying a tremendous variety of woodwork, jewelry, clothing, collectibles, country craft, crochet, children's toys, knitted work and much more!

Over 25 food booths included seafood vendors offering a variety of delectable seafood plates, kettle corn, cotton candy, elephant ears, hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, tasty bakery treats and much much more kept festival attendees from going home hungry! A Beer and Wine Garden was there for we patrons 21 and over! Live entertainment was featured at the Garden throughout the day, both days, as well as large screen televisions for the sports lovers. There was alot of fun activities in the special children's area!  Sack races, games, crafts and lots more were available for the kids.  There was also a rock climbing wall, pony rides, bounce house, face painting and much more! I overheard a senior citizen say “I wonder if they thought about having an area for we old folks to play horseshoes, bocci ball, holey board or bean bag baseball.” He must have been an rver huh? Posters of the endangered manatee made by local students were on display throughout the festival grounds. Continuous movies were on display to provide Manatee Education information to all visitors as well as Manatee Education booths designated to enhance the awareness on the endangered manatees.

   

Boat tours were available and gave festival visitors the perfect opportunity to view manatees in their natural environment.  A boat ride on the beautiful waters of Kings Bay, the place hundreds of manatees call home during the winter months was available at an additional cost. With parking at a premium a shuttle service from the Crystal River Mall dropped folks off right at the entrance to the festival for $1. It was a great way to spend a bright chilly day. If you enjoy arts and crafts shows and you are in the area next winter at this time, come check it out.

The other noteworthy activity we were involved with this week was a trip to Ocala to visit two rv dealers to look specifically at fifth wheels. We are seriously considering making the move from our diesel pusher motorhome to a more “homelike” fifth. Between the Tampa Supershow and our trip to Ocala we are fond of the following manufacturers and their products: Keystone Alpine, Heartland Bighorn, Forest River Cardinal and Jayco Eagle. If you have one of the above or have opinions, please make a comment at the end of this post. We would appreciate all input. We have been doing a lot of research and looking online. Since we plan on fulltiming or at least 95%-timing as Barbie says, we would like more living space and Barbie wants more kitchen space. Below are some pictures of some of the things we like in the Keystone Alpine.

Rear entertainment area

Large kitchen

Large shower

Lots of bedroom closet space

Well, it’s time to get back to the Steelers vs. Jets game.

‘Til next time…………………….

RV Shows & Football Games

Yes, both of the key words in the title of this blog entry are plural. Since my last post we have been to two RV shows, the Tampa Supershow and a small winter show in Bushnell. And, of course, like many Americans we watched all four football playoff games over the weekend. So it has been a busy last few days…at least that is my best excuse for the 5 day break since my last enrty. So let’s get caught up……

Last Wednesday afternoon we left our “Castle” here in Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park (RCC) for our stix-n-brix home in Valrico which is just 10 miles from the Florida State Fairgrounds outside of Tampa and home of the Florida RV Supershow. The 100 minute drive was uneventful except for the number of rvers headed south on I-75 like us. A quick stop at Zaxbys was in order in Valrico since there was no food in the house. We really enjoy the “zalads” and chicken at Zaxbys Restaurants and unfortunately we do not have one in the Homosassa, Inverness or Crystal River areas …yet. We retired early so we could get up early Thursday morn and head to the RV Supershow.

Our plan was to get up early, stop at Dunkin’ Donuts for some coffee (their coffee is a favorite of ours) and a bagel and get to the fairgrounds shortly after opening at 9:00am. The beauty of retirement is timelines are extremely flexible—there is no hurrying and NO set schedules to follow. Good thing, because we arrived at the Supershow a little after 10:00. Our plan was to visit the vendors areas first before the crowds arrived and it became bumper-to-bumper up and down the aisles. When that happens I feel obligated to keep moving instead of stopping and “window shopping” or asking about products and services. On our first pass through the Expo Hall vendor area we stopped and chatted with Steve and Judy in the River Vista Mountain Village booth. River Vista in Dillard, Georgia, is where we own our 2nd rv site and was our “home” from last June until just before Thanksgiving. Steve showed me some photos of the eight inches or so of snow that had just fallen there last week. Again, the beauty of rving…can’t imagine sitting there and adding 8 inches of snow to this picture.

Now, we’ve been there and seen some flurries, like below in December of 2004, but not 8+ inches!

      

After chatting with Steve and Judy and getting caught up on River Vista happenings since we left, we went through the remainder of the hall and only purchased a book, 2011 The RVer’s Friend, the North American Diesel/Parking Directory. It lists all rv accessible diesel fuel and service locations including places with overnight parking available and dump sites. For $10 I couldn’t pass on it.

We no more moved outside to head to the other vendor building and we ran into fellow Roamin’ Rigs (FMCA Tampa Bay area chapter) members Jim and Wilma, who we hadn’t seen since last spring. They were working with an outside vendor. Needless to say that was a lengthy conversation but most enjoyable. We then moved towards the other vendor building which really contained many displays for rv campgrounds and resorts. Before we entered the building we met Tom and Sharon, our current President of the Roamin’ Rigs and his wife. Once we entered the building, we saw Keith from ELITE  Resorts (the former owners of Rock Crusher) whom we met last year when he worked at RCC. It wasn’t soon after that we met friends Bruce, Carol and Florie from RCC who made the day trip down to the Supershow. They are our park “chefs” responsible for doing the cooking for all dinners, soup and salad nights and dessert evenings at Rock Crusher. And what a fabulous job they do. After moving thru that vendor building we met up with great friends Pat and Sandie, also Roamin’ Rigs members and neighbors in both the Valrico/Brandon area of Florida and the Dillard, GA/Franklin NC areas. Their Brandon home is about 6 miles from us in Valrico and their Franklin rv site is about 20 miles from our Dillard site. We also all were employees of the Hillsborough County (FL) School System during our careers. Wouldn’t you know as we were sitting chatting, another of our Roamin’ Rigs members, Doug, walks up. I’m telling ya it’s a small world.

We were to have met up with a group of fellow rv bloggers at the Floating Restaurant area in the Supershow around noon but we never made it unfortunately. After our visit with Pat, Sandie and Doug I looked at my watch and it was already 1:30pm. Time flies when you’re having fun huh? Well, we’ll certainly keep in touch with our blogger co-horts and meet them in person down the road somewhere.

By this time my back and legs were getting pretty tired as I continue to build up my strength and endurance following my summer back issues. Barbie went in several fifth wheels to check them out as we have been toying with moving in that direction as we spend more and more time on the road and tend to stay in places for more than just a few days at a time. Barbie found more than one 5’er she could call home. By the time she was through looking at rigs we decided it was time to head out. Well, wouldn’t you know we met up with more Roamin’ Rigs members. We chatted with friends Steve and Linda, also both fellow educators, and now fulltimers for the past few years. I actually taught math at the same school with Linda, and later I taught and coached football with Steve at the high school level. It was great talking with them in person and not just thru emails. As the four of us were chatting, Paula and Barry, also Roamin’ Rigs members walked up and we got caught up on their world travels over the past year or so. What a great full day it was at the Supershow. And, we made it thru without spending the “BIG” bucks!

Friday morn we traveled back north to Crystal River and spent the rest of the day relaxing except for a trip out for a pizza for dinner.

Saturday we went out to breakfast early then drove the 40 miles over to Bushnell where there was a small winter rv show across from Blueberry Hill RV Resort. We explored about a half a dozen fifth wheels before enjoying a leisurely drive back to RCC around Lake Panasoffkee and thru Inverness. I don’t know what was happening southbound on I-75 from Bushnell but traffic was not moving and it was backed up for miles. I’m glad we headed northbound. We made it back to the “Castle” just in time for the first of the two football games. Our “winter neighbors” here at RCC, Jim and Russ, from Michigan, arrived Saturday and after setting up their 5’er came over and visited for awhile. Sunday was much of the same, i.e. football games on tv,  except we did break during the games to drive the golf cart down to the clubhouse for strawberry shortcake. As I said earlier, Bruce, Carol and Florie do a great job. They gave us a choice of cake or biscuit for the base and then ice cream, whipped cream or BOTH to go on the strawberries. It was great I’m tellin’ ya! After a little chatting with others it was back to the football. Being a longtime Steeler fan I am quite pleased they are still in it after a scare from the Ravens.

So I think that has me caught up. I apologize for the length of this post. That’s what I get for waiting 5 days. Thanks for hanging in there with me and following our blog.

‘Til next time……

On Our Way to the RV Supershow

This afternoon we will leave Rock Crusher and the “Castle” to head down to our Stix-n-Bricks home in Valrico. We’ll stay there tonight so we can attend the Tampa RV Supershow tomorrow. The tickets are good for two days so if we don’t see all we want tomorrow, we can go back Friday morning before returning to Rock Crusher. We have been to the Tampa RV Supershow each year since 1985-that would be 25 times. We’ve exercised good restraint for the most part. This will be our 26th show, and although tempted every year by some rv, we only succumbed to buy twice-thank goodness! We purchased a 32 foot Mallard Sport travel trailer (our 2nd travel trailer) at the ‘90 show and then we bought our first motorhome, a 34 foot Thor Infinity in 1997 at the show.

   

The beauty about the Tampa Show is the size and variety of the rvs available to view…and purchase. It is definitely the most comprehensive show around. I honestly believe if it is made, it is on display at Tampa. Even though we’ve made it 23 other times without dropping the “big bucks”, there has always been some item(s) we couldn’t do without from the vendors booths.

There certainly will be many rv bloggers and their followers at the show as well. Tomorrow, there is to be an “unofficial” gathering of those who want to meet and chat at the “Floating Restaurant” just outside the main Expo Hall at noon. We look forward to putting the faces with the names of some of those bloggers we’ve followed on their adventures.

We’ll report back on our Supershow escapade over the weekend.

So……’til next time………..

It’s a WINNER !

For those of you who have followed our blog at least from November, may remember reading my “Thanksgiving Eve 2010” blog entry and viewing the 16 pictures I posted from driving through the “Fantasy in Lights” holiday display at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia. We stayed at Pine Mountain RV Resort during our 3-day stay in the area. The resort ran a photography contest and awarded two winners from photo entries submitted taken at the Fantasy in Lights display. Well, I was notified by telephone yesterday that I WAS one of the winners! It was announced on their Facebook site HERE today. Below was my “winner.”

I was pleased with most of the pictures I took that evening because 1) they were taken with a relatively new camera, Canon PowerShot SX30 IS, I had purchased just a month earlier, 2) it was drizzling most of the evening so some shots were taken thru the windshield, and 3) they were all taken from the front passenger’s seat of he car as Barbie drove through the display. What did I win you ask? 

Here’s what the other winner, Ruth Copeland, and I will receive:

• Two night stay at Pine Mountain, an RVC Outdoor Destination on a concrete RV site or in a Yurt (heating, wood floors, beds…really neat!)
• Free winter pack including a firewood bundle, bag of ice, Wii rental, and coffee/hot chocolate in the morning for the whole family

So we’ll be headed back up to that area again in the not so distant future. We’re thinking about driving up in the car and staying in one of the Yurts. That would be a new experience for us.

That’s our excitement for the day….well, except for the fact that Barbie finally found (after a telephone and computer search) and purchased her “Wonder File” today. We had to drive up to Dunnellon to get it and it only cost $14.99. It’s been a great day for the Boldts---hope your day was great also.

‘Til next time…..