NOTE: There are four (4) videos included in this post (towards the end) so if they take a little time to show it is due to the size of the file and perhaps the speed of your connection. Please give them time to display. However, if youu don't want to wait, they are not that important... just shows the bratty little girls running around everyone else's campsites and their obnoxious dog digging a hole to China, where new sod had just been planted and the campground had asked everyone to protect the sod. The sad part is that though we complained about it neither the parents did anything about it (while sitting right there observing it, nor did the campground say anything to them about it.
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We have spent most of 2021 between Thousand Trails Orlando (in a gorgeous new section of 167 new sites with concrete slabs and good lighting). The bath house and bathrooms for this section have not been finished yet, but the campsites were already open. We stayed at Babylon (street) #18 between November 25 through December16 (3 weeks). While there we met some great couples and made some really good new friends. Paul and Kathy Newton (2021 Tiffin RED), Richard and Margo Page, and Joe and Michele Pearson of PA, now full-timers.
On December 12, to celebrate both Mary's Birthday (Dec 7) with her BFF Merry Sanchez birthday (December 21), Merry and her husband came over to visit and we had brats, baked beans and potato salad.
Then we went to Clerbrook Golf & RV Resort (20005 US 27 North, Clermont FL 34715) for 2 weeks (December 16 to 30, 2020). There we had asked for a Premium site due to the size of our motorhome, but we couldn't level at the site we were given (#1092, next to the softball diamond), but found that site #1103 almost across the street, even though it was not a "Premium" site, it was ample enough and level. There we met some nice people, but they did not last long there. During this time we went to lay wreaths at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, withh the Wreaths Across America program as logged in the previous post, and that was such a rewarding endeavor, able to lay wreaths on past Army buddies of Bill.
Mary had bought an extra wreath from Wreaths Across America to take on December 27, 2020, on the 22nd anniversary of Howard's (Mary's dad) passing, a wreath to lay in the current of the outgoing tide at Sebastian Inlet, that being the place where his ashes were spread in the waters, according to his wishes. Being Norwegiean, he wanted his ashes to be taken back with the current to the Old Country. And so, we hope the wreath will follow his journey to honor his memory.
Sebastian Inlet State Park in FLORIDA
The Highway overpass at Sebastian Inlet
A Sandpiper on the pier.
The northern pier at Sebastian Inlet.
The not-so-wild-life at the inlet... Fishermen and Photographers.
Some are really well equipped with multiple fishing rods, so if one is not catching fish. they figure they can try another one, because of course it could never be the fisherman's fault, so it must be the equipment.... just like bad golfers keep buying better (more expensive) clubs (instead of taking lessons).
Don't you just love how they put up SIGNS and then hide them with the LANDSCAPING.
Pelican in flight
Seagull waiting to see what the fishemen will leave them.
Mary thinking "How am I going to get this into the water, 20+ feet away and with the wind against me. Just my luck and it will land on the fenders and I'll have to talk Bill into climbing over to go get it."
Last minute thoughts of Dad... and the wind, and the fenders...
Ding, Ding, Ding....(BRIGHT IDEA)
"I'll ask Bill to throw it, so if it hangs up, it'll be HIS FAULT and he'll have to go after it.
See... women ARE smarter than men, she thinks smuggly.
BILL GIVES IT A MIGHTY LAUNCH and....
Whew!... It just made it over the fenders (dodged that bullet).
It is on its way (and floating) out to sea with the current of the outgoing tide.
Mission Accomplished!
Roxy stayed in her hammock in the truck being a good girl.
Then we drove about 15 miles down to the Riverside Cafe, on the eastern coast of the Indian River (western coast of the barrier island), under the Merril P. Barber Bridge, in Vero Beach to meet our RV friends Mike and Magda Miley,who we had originally met at the Southern Hills RV Park & Campground on Hwy 79 in Hermosa, SD. We had lunch and then went to the park to catch up on old times, until the next time our travels cross paths or are close by, like this.
The parking lot is under
Entrance to the Riverside Cafe. Restaurant is to the right.
Fishing Charters are on the left side of the building.
The restaurant was pretty packed, both inside and outside and there was a waiting time. We arrived first so we got a "Your Table is Ready" buzzer, while we waited for Mike and Magda. Some people wore no masks, BUT MARY and I DID.
MARY: Really?? We are just waiting for our friends and you just have to take photos.
BILL: If I don't, how else are we going to have photos for our viewers to see where we have been... and been up to?
Our friends Magda and Mike Miley at the Riverside Cafe, 12/27/2020.
Despite their matching BLUE shirts... like us they are really RED-oriented.
The restaurant has access from the boat docks, so convenient.
After lunch, sitting on a park bench catching up and including Roxy, who had been staying quietly in her hammock in the back seat of the truck. She is such a delight to take ANYWHERE.
Mike was looking over the house plans for the house we're building
in the Town of Star Valley Ranch in Wyoming.
Then (December 30 - January 13 we moved back to Thousand Trails Orlando, hoping that we could get the same site again, as Joe and Michelle were still there for a few more days. Joe texted Bill in the morning to say that our old site had just been vacated, so we made a point to be at the campground early (in second position into the park)... AND GOT OUR OLD SITE BACK (WOOHOO!!) Sadly though Joe and Michelle moved on in a few days, on to Southern Palms where Richard and Margo, and Paul and Kathy also are. We missed them but look forward to seeing them again in a not to distant future.
The trash conditions at the campground has gone to the dogs. there was just ONE (of 3) dumpsters working (which had just been brought in) but even that one was LOCKED with a big padlock so it could not be used. Therefore people left all their trash on the ground, where it congested the area. We went to the office to let them know about the trash situation and the padlocked empty dumpster... BUT ALL the offices were CLOSED, so there was no one to take care of the issue. VERY SAD that such a nice epark that they were putting so miuch into to restore and expand it, was being left to such disrepair.
After Joe and Michele left all hell broke loose with the level of neighbors we had. A 5th wheel with two obnoxious little girls and a horrible dog moved where Paul and Kathy had been (Cabana 45), but worse were the parents who were oblivious to campground etiquette and good manners. The little girls were allowed to run rampantly all over everyone's sites (including ours) and even crawl under other people's motorhomes, and the dog would bark incessantly as well as digging a deep hole in the new grass that the resort had told everyone not to even put patio furniture on so as to let it grow. We took pictures and a video of the dog's digging and the girls running all over the place, and reported the incidents in several complaints to the office (by phone since they did not allow anyone visiting management in person). They kept saying that someone would come to see the videos and go talk to them, but no one said anything to them, so they just kept doing it. Later the father would even cut through our porch space with his dog to go through to his site from the other street. OMG! Do these people have no manners? We hate to think what these little girls will grow up to be like with upbringing like this.
Then on January 8th we drove up to The Villages Outpatient Clinic to get Bill's VA RXs, but they would not even allow him access to the Pharmacy. He had to stand out in the parking lot and call the pharmacy to get his Rx filled, and then wait 45 minutes for them. He figured while there he could go ahead and get his regular (yearly) Flu Shot, but they would not give that to him either, requiring him to make an appointment and drive the 50 miles (x2 going and returning) to get it, when a nurse could have just as easily given it to him right then. The VA services is rapidly going downhill in The Villages, with the excuse of "Covid-19".
The funny thing is that there were only 3 spaces assigned for Pharmacy Issues, so they would know where you were at to bring it to you, and one was supposed to call them from there. BUT as we were parked there waiting to have Bill's Rx brought out, several other cars would just park their cars there and walk in to the Clinic for an appointment with their doctor, thereby taking the space/opportunity for other veterans to get their RXs. No one seems to care about anyone else anymore... not even veterans.
After The Villages VAOPC Pharmacy we went to the Fresh Market to get some of their Kona Blend coffee that Mary likes (in 5lb. bags) and had a chance meeting with an old (long-time) past friend. While Bill was a long time (many years) friend of Larry and Becky Ermer in The Villages, when he announced that he had registered to vote (Republican), these folks (deeply liberal Democrats) elected to UNFRIEND him both in FB as well as even in contact and conversation. Funny thing though,while shopping at the Fresh Market in The Villages a familiar voice said "Bill and Mary... what are you doing here?" It was Becky Ermer, who we guess was not as pissed off as her husband, and can still agree to disagree... and be civil. It was nice to see her, after so long.
On January 13 we moved back to Clerbrook Golf & RV Resort (20005 US 27 North, Clermont FL 34715) for our last time during this winter's visit. There, we got a very nice golf frontage site on the white tee box, so chance of getting hit by a golf balll was pretty slim, while having a great view of the course, a large pond with many birds and even some smallish (4-5 ft.) gators.
On Saturday, January 23rd we met Richard and Margo Page (met originally at TT Orlando) for brunch at the Plantations Diner in Leesburg, and then they took us to see their new house in Legacy of Leesburg (having just sold their Vero Beach house), though they still have their motorhome. It was a lovely house.
After all these 'southern' stays, we will move to Southern Oaks (14140 US 441, Summerfield FL 34491), next to the Camping World in Summerfield just a stone's throw north of The Villages and a stone's throw south of Mercado Pueblo (1250 SE Hwy 484, Ocala FL 34480), our favorite Hispanic bulk cooked food market (also the main source for Bill's Dominican Longaniza... frozen). From here we are also closer to Eric and AJ Haugg, who are in Titusville, so we will plan on going to see them there, as we also brought them some parts from Tiffin, during our last visit there. We will also be visiting with Mary's previous co-workers and friends, like Linda Schou and Karen Burk and friends George and Anita.
