Lake Manatee

   

We arrived at Lake Manatee on Wednesday January 23rd. The move went smooth and the weather was good as well.  We liked the park almost as soon as we drove in. We found our site and backed the rig in without to much trouble.  The site was private and had trees all around too.  We kinda like that kind of campsite. Our site wasn't a full hookup so we went to check out the shower house and we thought they were nice too. Very clean.

 

 

         We weren't here very long when a knock came at our door it was a ranger inviting us to a thing.(carry in and a movie) We didn't go cause we had already made dinner plans. One thing I can say about this campground is its FRIENDLY!!! The park is close to town for necessities but far enough away to feel very private.  The park has lots of walking or hiking. There is lots of geocaching too.

 

We had a couple visitors that kept coming to visit...they would tap tap tap on the back window. It took us awhile to figure out what that noise was...It was a female cardinal that would sit on the ladder then fly into the window and tap. We noticed the male was up in the tree watching her. It happened everyday. I kinda liked it, others complained about the redbirds

 

 

 

They have a Saturday morning coffee at the campground hosts...we went to that and met lots of friendly folk. We met some fellow kayakers and took a day trip to Robinson Preserve which wasn't to far away.  It was a really pretty area but we didn't do very well with our fishing. We also made a trip to a flea market that had really good produce...yummy strawberries. Also we stopped at a family farm were you can pick your strawberries standing up.  They had sweet corn that was really yummy. 

 

      The weather while we were here was great..sunny and warm most days.  We really liked the feel of this park, and again the place was so friendly. It was so comfortable and welcoming. We found a church that was just down the road and we both loved it. It was big but that didn't matter because  we loved the music and the message. We felt very good there. We have had some great experiences here and we didn't really want to leave but we know there will be more great places and parks to come.

 

 

Myakka River State Park

Pulled into our Pull-thru site at Myakka River State Park on Weds. January 9th after an uneventful  105 mile drive from Ortona South. We like those short drive days and those easy pull-thru campsites. The only problem is they don't help me with my backing skills. Oh well there will be plenty of back-in sites in the near future.


One of the oldest and largest Myakka River State Park is a beautiful place with lots of hiking, biking and wildlife. We hiked one trail that has a canopy walk and 75 ft. lookout tower. We saw deer, wild hogs, birds and lots and lots of alligators. We also hiked into a place called Deep Hole. It is a preserve and you have to get a permit from the ranger to go back there. Its about a 5 mile round trip that is well worth the effort. When we arrived we saw over a hundred alligators in this one area.

Our stay in Myakka was really layed back and we put lots of miles on our bikes and shoes. With the full hookups and nice spacing between sites Im sure this will be on our return list.

Ortona South

We pulled in to Ortona South Campground on December 28th after a 200 mile drive from the Keys. We landed in Site 19 which was reserved about six months earlier. This is a Corp of Engineers Park that is very clean with concrete pads and a covered picnic table. This is in a pretty remote area on the Okeechobee waterway with a lock and dam  to control water flow and boat traffic. Our spot was across the road from the water and out are back was a few palms and a grass field.

At first I wasn't sure I was going to like it here after just leaving our most wonderful site on the Atlantic at the Curry Hammock State Park, I decide not to draw any quick conclusions and give it some time.

We decided this would be a good time to do some cleaning and maintenance and so we washed everything down to get that salt residue off and I took the hitch apart and cleaned and lubed it.

As time went on here we really started to appreciate the simplicity and laid back feeling of this place. Also this was probably the friendliest  campground that we had ever been to. We met a lot of really nice people and listened and learned from some seasoned fulltimers with 15 yrs on the road!

And wildlife, we saw a family of otters, turtles, an armadillo and I caught 3 really beautiful snook.

After 12 days of camping here I would say I would most definitely return here.

FLORIDA KEYS

We landed in the Florida Keys on December 14th.  Our drive down went well no major problems, actually we were a bit concerned because we were ahead of schedule. There is no place really to park and wait but we didn't have to because our site was open and ready when we arrived.  This park was small and very clean. Our site was 15 and we backed into it without much problem.  We are located right next to the walkway to the beach.  Our view from our rig was priceless.... we could watch the sun come up out the window over the kitchen table and watch the sun set out the windows in the back. Our backyard was the ocean. Now that's awesome. The paved bike path was located just across the street from the park and you could ride it into town.. We could launch our kayaks from the beach but you just wanted to make sure you didn't launch or return during low tide. That could make it a bit difficult.  The campground was very friendly and the weather was sunny and warm with a nice breeze.

We did some fishing and they had lots of places to kayak. We even went through the mangroves. We also saw lots of critters. There were big iguanas that pranced through the campground and you would see them hanging in the mangroves while kayaking.

 We had a visitor, our youngest son Justin came down to spend Christmas week with us, well he actually left to go home on Christmas day. We all hung out and fished quite a bit from the shore,bridges,kayaks and we did a party boat trip on the Marathon Lady. The fishing was good and we put a lot of fish in the freezer.

We took some trips out to check on the other state parks and rv parks for next year.  We really liked the Bahia Honda state park, the Long Key park was a bit small we thought. We also looked at a RV park but it was kind of expensive.  We are thinking we might want to come back next year.  We went to a few restaurants but we liked the The Sunset Grill. Justin took us out to eat for our birthdays and that was a really nice night. Our food was good and the service was better.

 Our time here in the Keys went really fast...we weren't really ready to pull out on the 28th but our 2 week limit was up. We will be returning next winter!

Monkeys, Mouse, & Lions

MONKEYS
We arrived at Silver River State Park November 28th, are stay was only 4 nights here.  The park was wonderful, the sites were huge and it was a very quiet place. The weather even cooperated.   We did get one day to kayak up the river.  We had heard about how nice this river was  and as a bonus there are monkeys that live along the river. We hoped that we could see them. we started our voyage up the river enjoying the weather, wildlife and the sunshine. A boat came around a bend and told us that the monkeys were around the corner. We kicked up our pace and was very excited when we spotted them. It was really fun to watch them play in the wild. A lot different then seeing them in a zoo. This is a place we would definitely come back and visit. It close to town with shopping, restaurants, and entertainment but you wouldn't know it by the looks and sounds at the campground.

MOUSE
We moved on down the road and landed at Fort Wilderness Campground located in Walt Disney World. It was nothing like the place we just left. The campground was nice, clean but it was a tight fit for us.  The first spot we went to was to small for us to get into so we called and the changed it right away.  We had never visited the campground before and was overwhelmed by all the Christmas decorating.  It offered lots to do and was very clean. It was a busy campground with lots of stuff going on all the time.  The good part about this week was we were gonna meet up with our son, his wife and the grandkids. That was the best part of the  trip. We took the kids to Animal Kingdom just Jeff and I. It was fun for sure. Then we all went to Walt Disney World and Hailey got to meet the princess's.....priceless. Ashton had a great time riding the rides. It was a good time. By staying at the campground we got to get in 1 hour early so that really helped. We took a break came back had lunch and rested then went back to finish up our day.  The kids took a day and went to Seaworld and Jeff and I went to Epcot. We had been there before but there was new stuff to do.  We spent a day together at the campground swimming and hanging out.  Then we went to The Hollywood Studios we had never been there before again we got in an hour early and that was so helpful.  We were able to hit all the big attractions before it got to busy.  It was a fun week but we need to rest up after that for sure.




















LIONS

We need to rest up....We had reservations at the KOA at the Lion Country Safari. It was only a short stay 3 nights. When we woke up we heard this moaning, roaring and we found out it was the lions next door.  The park was right next to us. You drive your car through this park. I couldn't believe it.  It was really awesome. you have to keep your windows rolled up and they give you a cd to listen to as you drive through.  Its  good  to go first thing in the morning cause the animal are more active. Its really nice to see these animals in the wild (well Kinda) instead of cages. It was a 4 mile safari and it took about 11/2 hours to drive through. Then they also have some walk through stuff you can do.  I loved the part were I got to feed the giraffes.  We had so much fun the first time driving through we did it again the next day. Definitely worth the time and it wasn't very expensive either.

HEADING SOUTH

After leaving St. Louis, we made a quick stop in Nashville, TN. We stayed at Two Rivers RV park, it was really easy to get to. It is located by the Opryland Hotel. We had a couple people living in this area we wanted to visit. First we met up with KT Roseen,Sutherland at Boscos were her brother Guy just happened to be working and our waiter...we had excellent service and food. The company was great too. The restaurant was located downtown Nashville...the draw back there was a home college football game going on and nobody knew about it. That made parking a nightmare but we found a spot and the evening was so nice. On Sunday morning we went to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, they had there decorations up and they were everywhere. That place is massive and so neat to see. Parking is available there for $20.00 or you can chose to park at a local shopping center and walk across the street to see it.  Then Sunday afternoon we made a trip to visit Dick & Thelma Spees, friends from home. It was nice to see them and their place in Tennessee.

The next day we headed a little further south and landed in Huntsville, AL. We stayed at Monte Sano State Park. It was really hilly to get to it but we double checked the route we wanted to take and we just had to go slow and be careful. It was very quiet there. We did some hiking and geocaching but wasn't there that long to really take advantage of all the hiking that they offer.

We left fairly early cause we had to drive thru Atlanta. We did our homework, we were up for the challenge. It was the day before Thanksgiving and all. No problems really getting thru Atlanta but after we had made it thru we were high fiving and then it happened.... a bottle neck, the traffic had come to a stand still. Not in Atlanta but in the suburbs. So it was slow going for about an hour. When the traffic started moving it was a good thing.

Next stop High Falls State Park in Jackson Georgia. FYI you need to go to the visitors center to check in before heading to the campground. There are 2 different campgrounds the lake, and the river. If you have a big rig you need to go to the river campground. Again kinda hilly and narrow roads but he campground is really nice. Lots of trees and it to was really quiet.We spent our first Thanksgiving on the road here. It was really good and the weather was great, the food we prepared was yummy. The only thing missing was our kids and grand kids. We did some walking, bike riding and geocaching here as well. Kinda excited about our next stop we will finally make it to Florida.

Florida at last! We are staying at Stephen Foster State Park in White Springs, FL. Pretty easy to drive to and this place is NICE! Its very clean and very quiet. Lots of trees and there is Spanish moss in them....love those trees!They are decorating the place up for Christmas. They also have a bell tower here that plays songs. Since its Christmas time its Christmas songs. They are really friendly.

Our last full day her we took the bike trail through the forest and along the river. VERY NICE. Put about eight miles on the bikes on our back country adventure. Tomorrow is travel day to Silver River State Park.

PAUL McCARTNEY CONCERT

 

Well Sunday evening was enjoyed with a retirement gift to ourselves with a trip to Downtown St Louis and the Paul McCartney show at the Scott Trade Center

Wow, what a great night and truly incredible performance by a musical legend. This man can still perform and play with the best of them even though he is 70 years old! The show opened with Paul and the band playing Magical Mystery Tour and concluded with THE END. There was no opening act because Paul does a three hour show!
Here is the set list:

1) “Magical Mystery Tour”
2) “Junior's Farm”
3) “All My Loving”
4) “Jet”
5) “Drive My Car”
6) “Sing the Changes”
7) “The Night Before”
8) “Let Me Roll It/Foxy Lady”
9) “Paperback Writer”
10) “The Long and Winding Road”
11) “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five”
12) “Maybe I'm Amazed”
13) “I've Just Seen a Face”
14) “And I Love Her”
15) “My Valentine” (was before “Maybe I'm Amazed”)
16) “Blackbird”
17) “Here Today”
18) “Dance Tonight”
19) “Mrs. Vandebilt”
20) “Eleanor Rigby”
21) “Something”
22) “Band on the Run”
23) “Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da”
24) “Back in the USSR”
25) “I've Got a Feeling”
26) “A Day in the Life”/“Give Peace a Chance”
27) “Let It Be”
28) “Live and Let Die”
29) “Hey Jude”
30) Encore: “Lady Madonna”
31) "Birthday"
32) “Day Tripper”
33) “Get Back”
34) Encore 2: “Yesterday”
35) “Helter Skelter”
36) “Golden Slumbers”/”Carry That Weight”/”The End.”

Did I mention that this was one of my all time favorite shows. What a fun evening with my wife.