On with the rest of our lives!

We had all the yard sales and the house finally sold in August of 2004. I had gave my notice at my employment for October of 2004. We had everything packed into our coach home (Class A Motor home, that we call our coach home or CH for short), that we were going to take with us, by August 7th. We still had a couple of months to work before we could go, so we moved to Summerplace Campground outside of

 Rondeau Park in Ontario.

The final day rolled around and we were on the road. Our first stop was at one of our membership parks Lakeshore in Davison, MI. It is a beautiful park with very large, grassed sites. It is our favorite park.
Isn't she pretty in all her fall colors?

 

 

 

 

 

When we tried to start the coach,  we found out the starter had decided it had done enough starting and told us that we needed a new one-brrrrr,bbrrrr, this would have gone on all day, but Doug knew that sound all to well.  We asked the campground office if we could stay another day and told them what the problem was, they said no problem.  We called an in-park repair guy and waited for him to call back.  He didn't call until two days later and by then we were in Kentucky.  Told him we would keep his number.  Didn't tell him it was in the do not call again page.  Anyway, we also called our son.  Doug could have changed it, but we didn't have all the tools required.  Jody said he wanted a day away and he said he was on his way.  About 5 hours later he was pulling into our site.  Bonus! we got to see him again before we headed south.  It is now Sunday evening, so I cooked dinner and we had a nice visit with our son.

Jody took the old starter off first thing Monday morning and found out it had been damaged for some time, by the look of the old crack in the (housing?).  Doug and Jody took it to the parts store and they had one in-stock.  Back they came with the new starter and we were on our way after Jody made quick work of putting it on.  It sure helps to have a couple of back-yard mechanics in the family.  Jody is a licensed Millwright to boot.  We were lucky to have the starter quit so close to home, where we could call Jody to rescue us.    

We headed west on 69 then south on 23 and 75.  We wanted to stay in Renfro Valley, Kentucky for the night.  The Moran Brothers entertain in the Old Red Barn every Monday night and this was Monday, Nov. 1, 2004.  Because of the late start, we arrived at the park after dark.  There was some construction on 75 as usual and it had slowed us down.  We decided we both wanted sleep more then a show, so we didn't go to see The Moran Brothers.  They are so funny, and such good Blue Grass entertainers, I am sure we missed a good show.  If you ever have a chance to see them, don't hesitate if you like Blue Grass.  

We left Renfro Valley the next morning and stopped south of Perry, Georgia that  night.  It was a nice passport park right off of 75 with free cable and wifi.   We left the next morning as numerous Wander Lodges were pulling in for a rally.  Looked like it was going to be a lot of fun.

Our next stop was Ecofina River, a ROD park.  We were booked there for a week.  We were also booked at Spirit of the Suwannee, Live Oaks, Florida, the following week.  I had booked them in reverse.  I should have booked into Spirit of the Suwannee first, because we drove right past that park to go to  Ecofina.  Anyway, we got checked in and unhooked the car, because we had drove a bit past the entrance to the park.  I drove in first, with the car, then walked back across an area with ponds on each side of the road.  All of a sudden I heard a plop/splash.  It is the first time in my life I took a 6 foot step straight sideways away from the sound.  I might have been born on a farm in central Ontario, but I knew what an alligator sounded like hitting the water.  Doug was laughing so hard, he said he didn't know I could jump sideways that fast.  He wouldn't believe that it was a gator.  Once we got backed into our site he got the lawn chair out and decided to find out for himself.  Here he is on gator watch:   He looks quite skeptical doesn't he.  The black strip through the photo is the window awning bar.  I took the photo through the window.  After taking the photo, I went outside and did a bit of watching myself.  Soon I was able to point out a snout floating across the pond.  It was attached to about a 4 foot gator.  He of so little faith.  I don't jump 6 feet sideways for no reason 8-}

After checking out the area for 7 days, we were on our way back north to Spirit of the Suwannee.  We got settled into a site facing east.  The sites in this park are laid out in all directions through the campground loops.   Keeps everything interesting trying to find site numbers and how to get through to the site.  It was much easier the next time we went there in the spring.  We like this park.  It has nice easy roads to ride our bikes and there is lots of entertainment, natural and man made.

I had a very interesting experience while at a park in Northern Florida.  I am a very restless sleeper, with many aches and pains (got them from breaking and training horses as a teenager) which keeps me awake quite often  at night, if a storm is coming.  This was one of those nights.  When I can't sleep I often come out to the front of our coach home and go through a series of stretches to relieve the pain.  I very seldom turn on lights because there is usually enough light coming in from the street lights or moon.  We very seldom close the front drapes at night because we enjoy looking out and it makes everything seem larger inside.  If the drapes had been pulled that night, I would have missed something real interesting.  There was a large Patriot motor home parked crosswise  (north-south) about 75 feet in front of us.   There was something moving outside.  It looked, at first, like a very large Great Dane dog, but no, it couldn't be that.  He was huge!  I could see him so clear that I could see his stomach swaying from side to side as he walked the length of the Patriot.  He was walking very slow, looking from side to side.  He was quite casual and comfortable in his movements and environment.  Each step was about 2 1/2 feet long, so even though he wasn't walking fast he was covering some distance with each step.  Very slowly, his head swung from side to side as he walked and looked around.  He turned and walked across the front of the Patriot and went off down the little side loop of the park.  Do you know what it was that I saw?  Do you want to know?  I didn't get a picture of him, but I have found one on the web that I can share with you.   This is a female Cougar and her cub.  The one I saw was a male I believe and he stood about 3 feet tall at the shoulder.  I was impressed.  Now I know why we shouldn't leave any food or coolers outside at night.  He was beautiful to see.  I could have watched him for hours.  I completely forgot my aches and pains while I was watching him.  The next morning I told Doug and of course he gives me the old ha! ha! you were dreaming.  It took a couple of weeks, but his mind was changed again.  He should know by now that I don't pull his leg-not often anyway ;}

Soon it was time to move on to our next stop.  We jumped back on 75 south and arrived at Club Naples in Naples, Florida for 11 nights.  We had planned on staying for 2 weeks, but we had to go back to Ontario for laser treatments on Doug's eyes.  We left our coach home at Rick's RV in Fort Myers.  We headed north on 75.  We had to be back in Ontario for the first treatment on Nov. 30, 2004.  

We had just crossed the state line between Florida and Georgia when we saw a cougar on the shoulder of the road, that had been hit.  His paws were stretched out towards the pavement.  He looked like he was sleeping in front of a fire, enjoying the warmth, like a large house cat would.  Doug then realized that I had seen a cougar that night. 

We arrived back in Ontario Nov. 29th.  We didn't like the cold.  It had been beautiful in Naples.  We were hoping that we could be back on our way south within a week.  It wasn't going to happen.  Doug's last treatment was Dec. 14th.  We crossed the border, heading south, before 2 p.m. the same day.  We were back in Fort Myers before noon on Dec. 16 to pick-up our coach home. We will never leave the coach for repair like this again.  A few hundred dollar repair cost us $1200 plus.   At least it was in a secure area and everything was still intact when we came back.   We headed back to Naples for another 11 days.  We had reservations for 2 weeks, but had to cancel the first three days of them because of the extra treatments.   

We settled into our site and put up the Christmas decorations.  We really had fun decorating our coach home.  We also had a small fiber optic Christmas tree to set-up inside.  Took a lot of effort-pull it out of the box, fold down the branches and plug it in.  Just the way I like to put up a Christmas tree.  I enjoy the decorations once they are up, but don't like all the fuss of putting them up.

We enjoyed a nice Christmas dinner at the clubhouse on Christmas day with all the other park guest.  We always have a good time at Club Naples.  They decorate the park and clubhouse and go the limit to make everyone feel happy at Christmas.  This photo is taken at Club Naples.  They really go all out decorating the park.

On Boxing day we traveled from Naples to Marine RV at Moor Haven.  It is right on the shores of Lake Okeechobee.  The campground is on Corp of Engineers property, but is leased to the owner of Marine RV and Robins Nest.  The park has a very active social calendar, with awesome breakfast every weekend (make sure to try the blueberry pancakes) and other dinners through-out the week.  The ladies also enjoy their crafts.  The park has a very nice, large laundry.  If you like fishing or boating this is the place to be.  Some sites back  right on the canal to the lake.

We finished the year at this park and moved back to Okeechobee Landing on Jan. 1, 2005.  

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