First Winter in Florida

So we left Louisiana and met up with our friends the Weible’s in the Florida panhandle for a couple of nights.  It was New Years Eve, but I got a touch of the flu and stayed pretty close to CC if you no what I mean.  We broke camp & headed to our winter spot in Clermont Florida.

We would be staying in Clerbrook Golf & RV Park until March.  It’s a Encore Park & has about 1200 sites.  A nice golf course, small but challenging. Three pools a bunch of shuffle board courts & a lot of Canadians.

Our site was directly across from the Weible’s so we went back & forth a lot.  We played golf in the resort & took trips to the many courses around us.

We attended the Tampa Super Show, then the Country Coach International Rally in Lakeland.  On the way back to Clerbrook we got a front end alignment for CC.  Wow, I thought she drove good before.  Now she’s a dream to drive.....

Jackie & the boys came down for a whirlwind vacation, it was Hunter’s last vacation before leaving for the Marines.  We did a number of Theme parks.  Too many in a row for me & Rita so they did some on their own.

We met a walrus at Sea World.

Even found the perfect diner for Jackie, “KeKe”

They headed home, we rested to recover and March 15 we headed to Texas for some rallies.  But that’s a whole different story..... 

Now Louisiana

So we finished Texas and needed to do some stops for SkyMed in Louisiana so early December we rolled into LA.  We wound up just north of New Orleans in Livingston, LA for Christmas.

Brandi & the kids came down on the next day and we had a nice vacation together. We rented them a cottage in the campground.  It was too cool for the pool, but the playground was covered & fun.

We did an airboat tour of the Atchafalaya Swamp.

Afterwards we headed to Henderson, LA for dinner at Crawfish Town USA. That way we could sample the "swamp food".  Saxton fell in love with crawfish.  He sucked out the heads and everything!

We toured Oak Alley Plantation.

We also visited the French Quarter in Norleans...

We also spent some time in Baton Rouge.  Mostly to see the USS Kidd a WWII destroyer.

The kids headed home New Years Eve and we moved on to sunny Florida for the winter.....

Let's do Texas!

So this will be the first year we "snowbird." We will eventually spend the winter in Florida near Orlando, but we plan on spending some time in the Texas Hill Country, then hang out in Louisiana for a while then meet up with some friends in Florida.

We left Belleville after all our doctor visits and drove to West Memphis.  We stayed at Tom Sawyer RV Park.  It's really cool.  It's right on the Mississippi River.  It floods every Spring.  We had a site that was 15 feet from the water.  I just sat there and watched all the enormous barges go by.

After a couple of days we headed to Texas.  We we're going to meet up with two other couples, The Susan & Forrest Attaway & Paul & Sue Weible in Point, Texas. That's where Paul's brother lives.  WE spent a couple of days there.  We went to Canton Days in Canton Texas.  Visited an awesom winery in Sulphur Springs.

Next stop Canyon Lake, Texas.  One of Dan's Air Force buddies, Brent & Sue Lyon, live here.  We "mooch docked" here.  That's when you camp in someone's driveway instead of a campground. They even had 50 amp, sweet!

 The main reason for coming here is for the Wurstfest in New Braunfels.  But we did a lot of socializing and drove around the hill country visiting wineries, distilleries & micro-breweries.  Are you sensing a trend here????  Played cards at night and ate really well.  And enjoyed the view of the patio.

We made it to the Wurstfest and enjoyed the beer tent. All kinds of music, rounded out the night with accordionists. I liked more than I thought I would.

We left Canyon Lake & headed over to Kerrville.  The "Hill Country".  The weather turned on us a little and we woke up to freezing rain.  WTH???

We came south to get away from this.  Rita was pretty mad at me, she said we came to Texas because it was warmer.  I pointed out that technically it is warmer.  Here it was 28 degrees and in Belleville it was 15?

Fortunately the weather warmed up pretty quickly and the next day we were rewarded with this sunset!

We did have a little problem here.  We discovered that there was an oily film on the back of CC & on our car.  After opening the engine bay we discovered that the diesel fuel filter gasket wasn't seated properly.  I contacted our service point & they recommended not moving the coach & getting a roadside service technician to come to us for evaluation & repair.  Luckily our roadside assistance program covered the initial expenses & the service center covered all the other expenses. WHEW!  The repair crew even threw in an engine bay cleaning.  So we ran by their shop on the way out.  I liked the sign on the door.

We were able to relax for the rest of the stay.  Meeting up with some friends in town, making some SkyMed calls at area campgrounds.  Even squeeze in some dining, sightseeing & bike rides.

Let's Head toward home!

We had a great Rally in the Boston area, now we are going to start meandering home.  First stop will be a one nighter at a Harvest Host spot, the Natural Garden in Meredith. NY.  It's a beautiful garden with walking trails & a wedding destination.  We parked in a grassy field and couldn't find a spot level enough to open so we stayed closed.  There was a nice restaurant & brewery onsite so we enjoyed a relaxed evening and view. 

The drive out was nice too.


Next stop was near Corning, New York for a three night stay.  Some friends mentioned the Corning Museum had some interesting hands on exhibits and interesting history with glass.  We had a minor electrical issue in CC an solenoid malfunctioned, but with the help of a nearby camper we were able to bypass it for now.

We went to the Corning Museum, both Hunter & Rita were able to make something.  Hunter got to make a blown glass pumpkin.  Rita made some glass jewelry.



Next we headed to Watkins Glen so we could see the gorge.  Within two miles, the glen's stream descends 400 feet past 200-foot cliffs, generating 19 waterfalls along its course. The gorge path winds over and under waterfalls and through the spray of Cavern Cascade. Rim trails overlook the gorge.  We started on the bottom and hiked up the trail among all the falls.  It was awesome.  Walking up the trail we took plenty of breaks but we made it & enjoyed the day immensely.

 



After we made it down the trail a dinner on the lake sounded about right.



Back on the road for our final stop.  We are meeting some Army buddies from Fort Leonard Wood, Mike Watson & John Hammer (plus their spouses).  We are hooking up in Richmond Indiana.  It's sort of half way for Watson & Hammer.

When Rita & I came home from West Germany in 1978 we met Mike & John who were in the same MP company.  They were roommates in what we recall as a "dump" off base.  We took them in as often as we could for friendship and eating.  Hammer's have a new Class A & Watson's rented a cabin.

Unfortunately Rita's brother was having a serious health issue & was in ICU in St. Louis so she left me & Hunter in Indiana and went to be with her sisters.  She was taking quite a risk leaving me with these two guys.  But what the hell, two retired cops & plenty of bail money what could have gone wrong.  We had a blast.

We ventured into town & found a nice nature trail.  Hunter was able to talk to John about being a lineman & answer some questions about looking into the "trades."



We found a great brewery / BBQ in town...



The next day we drove into Dayton & visited the Air Museum at Wright/Patterson.



We spent the evenings at the campgrounds reminiscing about the good old days, having plenty of alcohol.  We tried corrupting Hunter the best we could.  John & Mike did a great job at this, urging him to "straighten" his mom out!  They then spent way too much time trying to find dirty songs to listen to.  It was a riot.

Unfortunately we had to pack it up and head the rest of the way home. with plenty of promises to meet up again!

Hunter & I drove home, actually we went to The Truck Center in Troy to get an oil change.  Jackie brought AJ to meet us & pick up Hunter.  Finally Hunter had somebody to wrestle with.  I played some much catch with Hunter over this 60 day trip I'm surprised my arm didn't fall off.  I hiked with him, golfed with him & rode bikes with him, but there was no way I would wrestle!!



This was a great trip & we loved the chance to take Hunter for the Summer.  When we got home he decided to Join the Marines and was planning on a Spring 2020 start.

Love ya Hunter!

Shot heard around the world!

One of the cool things about our CCI rally’s is the tours.  Today we boarded a couple of chartered buses & headed to Lexington & Concord.  Where the Revolution started.

Boston in a day!

We went as a group into Boston with the rally on trolleys.  Enjoyed a planned tour of the highlights with limited stops.  So we went back the next day with some friends.  We signed up with the same trolley, but being on our own we could do what we wanted.

We started at the USS Constitution.

Since this ship is an active commissioned ship in the US Navy, it is manned by active duty Navy.  Talked to a couple of sailors.  What a cool duty assignment.  Mentioned to Hunter maybe he should join the Navy, he looked pretty good at the helm.

We then hopped on the trolley and acted like tourists.

Walked to Fenway Park & got a “beverage” from the right field bar.

Eventually we made the requisite stop at Cheers. Might have had a “beverage” here too.

Ended the day where we started.

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