iPhone and iPad

Well, Charley and I have sort of become familiar with our two new toys and we love them both! Never thought I would be a fan of Apple products but now I see why my daughter likes them so much.

We have been playing with both of our new toys since we got them. We have downloaded a number of free apps along with a couple that cost $0.99 each. I am having a ball finding the games that I want (I am addicted to computer games). And Charley likes the GPS, Passport America, iExit and other apps like that. Needless to say, we are not finished yet!!

Stay tuned!!

Boy, Am I ever Lazy!!

I did not realize that it had been so long since my last update!! It has been very quiet with little to really tell until yesterday.

We visited Verizon to check on getting a phone upgrade. We came away with a new phone for me, an iPad for Charley and the new MyFi that Verizon now has. Now we have to figure out how to use it all. The MyFi we do not have yet, it is having to be shipped to us.

We did get started on setting up everything yesterday. My phone is now functioning as a phone but I still have to sit down and see what all it can do and download the apps that we will need. I did log on to the internet and it works, I do know that.

We will be working on the iPad more today to get it all set up. We will let you know what we think after we know what we think!!

Last night we went out for more seafood at Peck’s Old Port Cove. It was delicious!! We may have to go back again before we leave the middle of March.

Going to breakfast this morning with the Boldt’s. Looking forward to that!

More later!!

Our Road Trip Today

We decided this morning to go for a drive and see if we could find a gulf beach (finally!!). Well, we did see salt water but it wasn’t exactly as we had pictured it. It was more like a bay or harbor, with a sandy beach but no real waves. It was called Fort Island Trail Park and was very pretty. The only bad thing that we noticed was that they did not allow pets on their grounds!!

We will try again later, go in a slightly different direction and see what we can find. We are very anxious to see how Cheyenne will react to the waves!

On our return trip we stopped at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park and checked it out. Very nice park with lots of animals, including the manatee. We saw a panther, a hippopotamus, a fox, a black bear, wolves, alligators, etc. and many, many different types of birds. They have a very nice setup there with well positioned walkways for viewing the animals.

All in all a fun day and not a long one. We were only gone about three hours.

Below are a few pictures you may find interesting.

Fort Island Trail Park

Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park

The hippopotamus – he was swimming and would not stay up for a good picture!

Very large gator!!

Flamingos

Beautiful bald eagle – they had a US flag on display in this section.

The manatee – unable to get a good picture!!

A Relaxing, Cooking Free Day!!

We had a very nice breakfast at the campground activity center this morning! Bacon, eggs, hash browns, country fried potatoes, grits, fruit, and sausage gravy with biscuits, orange juice and coffee. Quite a spread, huh?? And it was delicious!!

While we were talking with Jeff and Barbie Boldt during breakfast we all decided that we would go out to dinner tonight. Jeff and Barbie are going to choose where since they are familiar with the area and the restaurants that are best. They will be taking us out in the new truck they just got on Thursday of this week.

So, see, we managed to not have to cook today!! And we are looking forward to trying another good eating establishment!!

This afternoon Charley watched the Daytona race and I just played on the computer and read a book. A nice, relaxing day!!

We will be going to check out the nearby beaches in the next couple of days. Cannot wait to see the Gulf again.

A Fun Outing Yesterday

We met the Rowes for lunch in Leesburg, Florida yesterday. The Boldts rode over with us (very convenient since we are staying in the same park). What a fun time!! It was so nice to continue to get to know more about some of our full-timing friends and share experiences, some funny and some not so funny….

The Olive Garden was very nice and let us occupy their dining room for about three hours so that we could visit as long as we wanted. Very nice of them not to kick us out!!

We love meeting new people and establishing new friendships!

Duane and Debbie Rowe

Jeff and Barbie Boldt

We will be seeing more of Jeff and Barbie while we are here at Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park. We already have plans to have breakfast together at the park this Saturday.

Cheyenne had her longest stay in the 5er, alone, yesterday and she was perfect. It has been amazing how easy she has been to train. She had to kiss us for about 15-20 minutes before she calmed back down into her normal routine!!

Busy Day

We have had a busy day so far today. Jeff & Barbie Boldt stopped by for a visit. So nice to finally get to talk to them for a bit. Cheyenne made two new friends as well.

Called Charley’s Dad to wish him a Happy 94th Birthday!! We are sorry that we could not be there to celebrate with him but I think he understands. Our kids and grandkids will be joining the rest of the family for a dinner out in his honor this weekend and that will be nice.


We rented a golf cart for our stay here (one month) and that will be a big help getting around the park. We also reserved a site for three months for next January through March. Hopefully the one we picked will not be given away to a longer renter!!

Planning to try out one of the Crystal River seafood restaurants tonight. And we have our lunch with the Boldts and Rowes tomorrow.

Attached is a much shorter video of the dulcimer than the one I have been trying to show you. Hopefully you will see enough in this one.

Dulcimer from Jam Session at Sumter Oaks

Here is another sample from the jam session.

Success finally – I believe the problem with the others I tried to upload was their size.

Rock Crusher Canyon

We successfully moved to Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park today. Arrived about 11:30 and after being escorted in a golf cart to pick out our site we got all set up and ready to stay for a month. And, boy, are we loving that automatic satellite dish!! It is wonderful!

Although we have only been here a few hours, we already know that we like this park. The sites are large, level and quite private. We have some sun and some shade, always a nice combination.

Since I was unsuccessful in attaching the video to my last update I am going to try to attach the one where the lady is playing the dulcimer so that you can at least see that. If I can I will attach another one. For those of you who are Escapees members, if you have never stayed at Sumter Oaks, you should give it a try.

We got our Grand Fix Today!!

We finally talked to our grandchildren via Skype today. It was so good to see them and get caught up on what they are doing while we are away. Found out that our two youngest had been sick with a virus this week but they are all better now, thank goodness.

We had a fun day yesterday. Sumter Oaks had what they call a jam last night where musicians from different RV parks get together and play their various instruments and sing for the crowd for two hours. This was really something to see - I have attached a couple of videos. The really interesting instrument was the dulcimer (I think I spelled that right). We ate loaded baked potatoes that were provided for the crowd and this was good too (not enough food for Charley but good for me!!). We also got a piece of cake which I gobbled up before Charley could get more than one bite (he will never let me forget this.) He did fix himself something else to eat when we got back home…..

Today we have been lazy, just playing on our computers, reading and relaxing. Cooking a pot of pinto beans for dinner – these will be good since it has been cool here for a couple of days. Supposed to begin warming back up tomorrow  though – hurray!!

Tomorrow we will get started packing up for our move on Monday to the Rock Crusher RV Park. We are only about an hour away so will not be pressed for time on Monday morning. Cannot wait to try this park out to see if we want to reserve a three month stay for next winter.
Pictures and videos below are from the Jam last night. These folks are from all over the US and Canada. I will have to upload the videos tomorrow. Everything is kicking out with errors tonight.

It Has Been Quiet

We have not been up to much since our last update. Checked out a couple more RV parks and will be moving to Rock Crusher RV Park in Crystal River on 2/14. We are planning to stay at least two weeks, maybe longer. We were very impressed with this park. Thanks to the Boldt’s for their recommendation!!

Charley got his Tonneau truck cover and has installed it. It looks really good on Silver!!   This will help us keep the wheelchair dry when we are out sightseeing and it rains.

We had a dog party at our campsite yesterday afternoon. 8-9 pups of various shapes and sizes met in our front yard and had a grand time visiting. Cheyenne was the smallest but you would never know it – she stays right in there with the big’uns.

We went on a short road trip yesterday to Clermont and checked out Bee’s RV Park. This park is pretty nice but the campsites are quite small.

We had hoped to talk to our grandchildren last night but it didn’t work out. We will try again today. We are both needing a grand fix!!

Charley and I are starting to think about several trips we want to make and how we want to schedule them. We want to take our family to Disney World and this one will have to be well planned. We also want to tour the northeast all the way to Maine and Nova Scotia. And then one day we definitely want to do Alaska. Again, this one will take some planning!! Charley will be doing the research on Alaska to determine what, when and how we want to do this one!!

No Luck

We visited three RV parks yesterday on our day trip, one in Punta Gorda, one in Bradenton and one in Largo. Neither of these will work out. They are pretty much mobile home parks with a few campsites dispersed throughout their parks. We have tried one of these (Spanish Main in Tampa) and were not impressed. So we are back to square one on finding a park for next winter. Charley is back into researching this for us but if anyone out there has a recommendation we are all ears!!

Today was just another lazy day. Just took care of a couple of cleaning chores and one grocery shopping trip. And fixed an early dinner so we could watch the Super Bowl. I am mostly interested in the new commercials but Charley enjoys the game too.

It has been quiet

We have had a quiet past few days. Taking care of some chores like bathing the 5er outside and some cleaning inside as well. Ran a few errands including visiting one of the local RV dealers in Brooksville. We needed a new regulator for our propane tanks and the mobile RV repairman recommended this place. They had what we needed so Charley will be putting that on today. We had breakfast yesterday at a local restaurant in Brooksville that was recommended by the RV dealer and it was very good. They had car tags on the wall that dated back to 1923!!

We are planning a day trip for tomorrow to go over to the beaches and look around. We have not mapped it out yet but will probably spend most of the day seeing what we can see. I am very interested in seeing what the beaches look like on the gulf coast since the oil spill.

Cheyenne is having a ball here. Our neighbor’s cocker spaniel (Sassy) is her latest best friend and they have a grand time chasing each other. They are about the same age and full of energy.

We went to dinner here at the campground last night and it was good. The company was even better. You meet such nice people in this environment!!

And I have to extend my apologies once again for forgetting to update our blog more often. I will get back in the swing eventually (sigh). What can I say, we are retired after all!!