We are relaxing and enjoying sunny, cool weather at Lake Manatee. The highs are around 68-75 and the lows at night are 42-58 this week. It is a nice time to be outside taking a walk or a bike ride and enjoying nature.
Tomorrow we head south about 15 miles as the crowd flies to Myakka River State Park where we will be for a week before coming back here again. Hopefully the weather will continue to be pleasant.
Today has been a,great day, even though a cold front has moved in. Many thanks to Don Brown for getting us a site at Curry Hammock SP Dec 28- Jan 11, 2018. Such a great friend! We will try for sites for others for the next many days until it is time for us to get another for ourselves.
The day has been a mix of sun and clouds, warming to 61 degrees today. The rains are expected tomorrow morning, but may be gone by noon.
The cooler temps did not deter us from a long walk and a bike ride to the lake front, which is depicted in the photos attached. We will try our hand at fishing in the coming days.
We are all settled in at Lake Manatee State Park near Sarasota, FL. We arrived Wednesday afternoon after the RV became operational again that morning. The price tag was high, but it likely would have been higher at Cummins or Camping World, including a much longer wait to get it fixed at either. The mechanics at RV Doctor were thorough and hard working, and the receptionists inside were very gracious. They even called this morning to see if everything was ok...can't ask for better service than that!
Since arriving here, we have spent most of our time just enjoying being at a lovely park, with a shopping trip thrown in for supplies. We also drove down to Myakka River SP to check on cell service there...it is still BAD! We will spend a week there starting Wednesday, with daily early morning drives into town to try for sites in the Keys for next year. Then we will be back at this campground for 2 more weeks before moving on.
I am not posting daily unless there is something special to post. Daily long walks, bike rides, etc...do not make for interesting discussion although we are enjoying all those things.
Two days after breaking down just off I75 in Fort Myers, we are under repair by RV Doctor mechanics. Camping World told us they could not work on the RV for 2 weeks, the Cummins Shop said much the same. After making many calls in the area, we finally found one that could work on it today, so yesterday we had it towed there, camped in the lot overnight, and they started work on it promptly at 8 am. Now they are reinstalling the drive shafts that was removed for towing, and as soon as the replacement fuel pump arrives from another shop they will install that and send us on our way, barring any other surprises.
We left the Keys Today, traveling north, then west across Alligator Alley and the panther preserve on I75. The winds were from the south, so they hit us broadside, making it difficult to stay in one lane and on the road, but Jim managed both. Once I75 turned northward near Naples, the wind was mostly at our back which was better. We stopped at a Pilot Truck stop for fuel, then headed off to reconnect with I75. That's when things went from bad to worse. Halfway up the on ramp to I75, the RV decided it didn't want to go any further. Jim managed to get it mostly off the road before it died completely. We have been paying for Roadside service from Good Sam Club, so we called them right away, about 3 pm. They took our information and location and promised to get back with us directly. 2 hours later they called to say they couldn't find a tow truck, so we should call 911. Meanwhile Jim was on the phone with Paul Smith and Don Brown to try and figure out the problem. 3 oil filters later and no luck in getting the engine start meant calling 911, something I never had to do before. They forwarded our information to the state police who got back with us almost immediately, first to ask some questions about our RV, and then to let us know that a state trooper had been dispatched to our location and that a tow truck was also on its way. The state trooper arrived about 5:45, and the tow truck about 6:30. Because the RV was partly off the road it was not level at all so the man had to get her level before he could hook it up to tow. That took some time, but when finally done, he towed the RV upper one exit, then back down one exit and into the Camping World lot, where we are parked for the night. Hopefully the mechanics here can fix the engine and we can be on our way before the day is over.
Last night we had one last dinner celebration with friends Don & RuthAnne, Neil & Kat, and Rick & Diane. Dinner included king mackerel and white fish, potatoes, salad, cole slaw, homemade bread, wine & beer, pecan pie and cheesecake. Great meal and great conversation. Rick and Jim made a bet over the Steelers Patriots game today....Rick being a New England resident and Jim being from Pittsburgh. Whoever wins gets a case of Yuengling.
Today we are driving toward Sarasota, to Lake Manatee State Park. It is about a 5 hrs drive if all goes well so we should be there in plenty of time to get set up before the game.
Rick Roda took us out on his boat for a sunset cruise. We passed through a canal of beautiful homes on our way to a bar for drinks and a gorgeous sunset. On the way back to the campground we saw lots of shrimpers trying their luck at catching shrimp in the canal using spotlights and nets.
Once the winds died down we were able to launch our kayaks for a two hour paddle....lots of sun, a few fish sightings, one sting ray sighting, and lots of other kayakers.
We had company...Don & RuthAnne, Neil and Kat are camping with us at Pennekamp.
We are back in the 70's with partly cloudy skies....my kind of weather, except we could do with a little less wind. This was an easy day- not much happening other than talking with other campers, taking a long walk, and taking a bike ride. There is no need to go somewhere every day....it is good to chill! We did get some rain this evening, but it didn't interfere with any activities.
Tomorrow we are moving to a different site, site 42, for the rest of our stay here.
Friday, Don & Ruth Ann joined us at Pennekamp, then Neil and Kat joined in on Saturday. We love spending time with them, playing corn hole, sharing dinner, and visiting sites in the area. We went with Don & Ruth Ann to an Arts Festival at a church in Islamorada, and today the girls all went shopping at some island shops, and visited a farmers market. Dinner tonight was at Skippers in Key Largo. Happy Hour food and drinks are a good deal and we had a great waitress. ....time now for more corn hole in the dark....with spotlights.
This is what happens when a boat captain starts cleaning the catch of the day....quickly went from 2 gulls to many gulls in less than a minute.
After a busy evening of doing laundry, and a restful night, we spent our first full day in Key Largo , John Pennekamp State Park, relaxing, riding our bikes around the park, and doing a little grocery shopping. It was a very windy day, so not good for kayaking. Right now the forecast is for more of the same over the next several days. We'll just have to relax and enjoy the sunny and 70's temps....tough to take???
Today we left Curry Hammock SP and drove north to Key Large and John Pennekamp SP, under very windy conditions. The wind was gusting to at least 30 mph. making it hard to keep the RV on the road. The water looked more white than blue from the churning seas.
We quickly set up the basics when we got here so Jim could watch the Steelers game against the Dolphins. We will be in this site, site 34, for 4 days then moving to another site for 10 more days.
Friday we had a relaxing day, enjoying the warm temps again and lots of sunshine. Then we had a delightful evening with the Browns and the Lamberts, enjoying shrimp and grits, salad, bread, and topping it off with key lime pie. Yum yum!
Yesterday we had to be out of our site by 1 pm, but they allowed us to dry camp in the day lot, as seen in the pictures. We got moved to our overnight spot just before the rains came, and the wind picked up, dropping the temperature by 10 degrees in a very short time. The rain stopped by about 6 pm, but the wind continued through the night. We went over to Neil & Kat's RV to play Mexican Train and enjoy good conversation for the evening before heading back to our parking lot site for the night.
