April 27, 28

Have had two good days of travel. Up the #81 on Sunday and it was such a beautiful drive with the Appalachians on the west and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east. The leaves are out but slowly get smaller and smaller as we head north and finally lost them when we hit Maine. Just a distant fuzz is visible. There were trees covered in purple blossoms all along the roadway and the temperature was unbelievable - 35 degrees until we hit Augusta, Maine and it dropped to 28. The weather man tells us a cold front is moving in and the temp will get back to normal - have to dig the ling pants out. We spent Sunday night in Stroudsburg on the NJ / Penn border with the plan to have breakfast with Steve Lockhart on Tues morning. Didn't happen as he was on call at 9 am with a paramedic crew.Tonight it is definitely warm enough to spend the night in the motor home but we had to get a motel room as there are no campgrounds open. Did get our walk in tonight. Happy dreams

April 23, 24, 25, 26

Friday is the last day for everything. Last walk, last Bad Ass coffee, last swim in the Gulf, last lunch and cold drink at the beach side bar, last rays and topped it off with a last night out. We went to downtown St. Pete's theatre and saw the musical Chicago. Totally enjoyed every minute.

Saturday is departure day. All packed up, loaded the truck and headed south. We wanted to go north but the St. Pete's paper was warning everybody to stay away from one of the major highways on Saturday as they were converting ramp directions and more road work. They were warning of 4 hr holdups so we chose an alternate road. Head south, east and then north. Picked up the RV, transferred luggage, dropped the rental off and headed to Gainsville . We spent the night with friends of Jan Saunders, Marian and Denny Speed and had a great time meeting their son and daughter in law and catching up on news from the last year. They live on the edge of a golf course with alligators in the ponds so Marian and I went for a picture hunt on the golf cart. I wanted to get a couple of pictures for Jack and Ella but the alligators were all hiding. So she gave me this picture of when the baby alligator came to their pool. Another reason why Bernie doesn't want to live in Florida ! Saturday evening they took us to a seafood buffet at their golf club ( Same club where Neil and Sarah Saunders had their wedding reception ) and it was out of this world - shrimp, crab legs, mussels, smoked salmon, fried shrimp, grouper, scallops, rice, veggies, shrimp bisque, and a big salad bar. and an ice cream sundae bar and desserts. We waddled home and had a good sleep.

It is Sunday and we have put another 1000km or 600 miles behind us today. Left Gainsville this morning at hit the road. Traffic not too bad as we worked our way thru Georgia (Atlanta), South Carolina (Greenville), North Carolina and into Tennessee. We are camped near Bristol, Tennessee (KOA) and ready to head down the #81 tomorrow. Thru Georgia on the I75 it was one huge bill board after the other. First it was pecans, pecans, pecans. Then adult stores, adult stores, adult stores and finally fireworks, fireworks, fireworks. Just wondering if eating pecans when in adult stores causes fireworks !! Ha, the joke of the day. The drive from Greenville to Bristol was a beautiful one thru the mountains and at one point we were at 3300'. Came thru the "Cliffs" resort area where Tiger is promoting some golf courses he has designed. Beautiful homes on the Cliffs. The camp ground we are staying in has a small restaurant and they delivered supper to our site. That is a first.

April 22

Today we decided to do a little exploring and find a new spot to take a walk. Headed south on Gulf Blvd , passing thru Maderia Beach, Treasure Island, St. Pete's Beach, Tierra Verde and ending up at Fort DeSoto Park looking across at the Sunshine Skyway. It is a huge park with lots of park facilities for swimming, picnicking, school outings, biking, etc.but the beach was very steep so we couldn't walk There is even a big State camp ground on the Gulf Side and we spent an hour and walked around the campground. It was a nice drive and saw lots of accommodations ranging from very old and outdated to gated communities. Found a quaint spot on the water for lunch before heading back to our beach. Very hot day and the water felt soooooo good. We ended up back at the same spot for dinner with Robyne and Stephen Fage. Only 2 more days of relaxation.

April 21

Today Bernie took a little drive to check on the motor home and see how the warranty work was coming along. Everything fine and dandy and we spent the afternoon on the beach. One entertainment on the beach is the Great Blue Herons and the Great Egrets stalking the fishermen. The fisherman walks towards the water, the bird is stalking him every step of the way - step for step. And if the fisherman catches a fish, it takes all his wits to release back into the sea. That bird wants that fish. ! Saw a sting ray today along the water's edge on our walk. Just a little reminder to do the "sting ray shuffle" when heading out to swim. Topped the day off with Bernie watching the hockey game. He has to have his little fix every so often. :-)

Apr 17, 18, 19, 20

Four more sleeps until we head north to the "cooler" country. Sitting here looking at the blue water and white sand and hoping for us and everybody else that we will see blue water and reddish sand (not white snow) when we get home. Checking out the home page of Amherst and see some sun and warm temps in the days to come. Looking up!!! We have settled into a routine - a good routine - hour walk in the morning, breakfast, coffee, papers and news, some beach time, swim in the ocean. Have been doing a bit of shopping and we had a ball at one store shopping for the kids. I really think Bernie was having the most fun. He also found his sandals he wanted but I did not find my wedding outfit yet. Still lots of time. :-)
Saturday morning we headed to downtown St. Pete's and found the huge art show on the waterfront. There were 150 artists and what a variety of work. Some were gorgeous and others had you shaking your head wondering where they were coming from. Saturday was the day we said good bye to friends heading back to Amherst and welcoming some that arrived for the week. It is just like a revolving door on the beach. Evenings have been filled with barbecues, trying new restaurants, eating at friends home's, card games, word games and an occasional hockey game on TV and of course listening to the surf. It never lets up and is a great way to go to sleep. Only a few more days and the sound will be gone and will have to wait until we get to the cottage.
One thing we have missed this year is the pelicans. They must have moved to a different beach as they are not around to put on their diving shows each evening.

APRIL 14, 15, 16

WOW what a day on Tuesday. Woke up to the wind blowing quite nicely through the room. Made some coffee to drink on the balcony. Gray, gray day and off in the distance huge, huge awesome storm clouds over the Gulf. They kept getting bigger and closer. A knock on the door to our room and the care taker requesting we close all our windows as we were under a tornado watch. Being my usual, I proceeded to put our valuables (water wallet, camera, computer, passports, etc) into the bathroom in case we had to take shelter. I believe if you have it, you won't need it. The rain storms and lightening storms came but the tornadoes passed a bit north of us. Central Florida was very happy to get the long a waited rain but not the wind damage. After things quieted down we did venture out to do a bit of shopping and exploring.
Wednesday was hot and sunny. Hard to believe it had been such a miserable day the day before. Just like home with our snow storms! Had our usual 45 - 60 minute walk on the beach, read the news from home, coffee, Bernie doing the dishes (his job for the 2 weeks :-) ). Typical hard morning. We were invited to go on a 5 hour boat cruise of the Inter coastal waterway with Beth and Pete and their friends from Grand Shores Resort. It was a charity cruise on a 50' boat with 3 decks, 2 heads and everybody brought munchies and a couple "cold pops". We had a great time seeing all the huge and not so huge homes and boats along the waterway, driving the boat, watching the porpoises, having the drawbridge raised for our boat, watching the sunset and just having a good time.
Thursday was a walk day, Bernie had a hair cut, relaxed on the beach with our books, swam in the Gulf. Managed to haul ourselves out of the lawn chairs and collect our friends and headed to the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox ball game. A so - so game but we had fun watching the game and the people. Had a bunch of loud, very loud and obnoxious men behind us and ended up moving. They never stopped hollering and it wasn't even about the game. The Rays lost but we had ended up in the White Sox cheering section so things were cool. Cheers to all.

April 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Getting a little slack with the updates, just too busy . :-) Bernie got rained out on Friday with the big storms heading thru the southern states but he did manage to stay ahead of them and miss the tornados and hail and heavy rains. While he was driving south to his sweetie, I had a great morning on Friday with a quilt group at the RV park. It was quite interesting listening to them and seeing some of their work. I did get our photo albums done, the RV cleaned and us packed up for our 2 wks at Far Horizons.

Bernie landed safe and sound on Sat morning and it was so great to see him. We both had a great week but good to be back together. Headed down the 27 to St. Pete's area and back into the traffic. Dropped the RV off at the dealership to have some warranty work done and headed to the beach. It was so great to move into our spot, head to the water and have a swim and sit on the beach with a "cold one" and listen to the waves. This renews the body for the year to come. Wandered down the beach to Gulf Shores Resort and met up with some friends from home - Pete and Beth Estabrooks and Marlene and Joe Van Vulpen. Ended up spending the evening, renewing hellos with a bunch of their Florida friends (from all over the US and Canada) and having a delicious pork roast and steak dinner. Came back and opened all the windows and went to sleep listening to the surf. THis is a great place to spend a week or two right on the beach. Come and join us next year

Slept in and planned on spending part of the day on the beach but you know how plans get changed. Roy and Sharman Smith and Dianne and Ivan Devar showed up for a visit on the front deck which was great. Along came Steve and Denyse Dow, met everybody and moved into the room next to us for the night. Went for a swim and it was cool but we managed to tough it out. Next came the Estabrooks and the Van Vulpens for a cool one and some appetizers. I think we finally barbecued around 8:30. It was a great day on the beach.

Apr 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Happy Birthday little brother!!! Alan enjoy the last year of the 40's before you join the rest of your siblings in the great 50's. I'm sure Terry and the kids will give you a special day. What kind of cake for dessert ?
Also Happy Birthday to Rosemary !!!! ( not giving out her age but I do know she is younger than me :-) ) .

Bernie left on Saturday for Ashville, SC to play golf with the guys and arrived safe and sound after 9 hours of driving. He connected with the rest of the crew who arrived intact with all their luggage. Even though I did not ask, they promised me over the phone that "they" would look after him. !

The RV resort I'm staying at has everything but a store ( they did have one but since everyone is heading North, they close it ). Miles of roads to walk, tennis courts, family pool, adult pool, activity center, computer center, cafe, marina, ball field, volley ball courts. Have been walking the roads, swimming in the pool and taking part in an aquatic exercise class. I've been having a great time putting photos in albums and walking down memory lane in the process.Lots of reading, quilting, and relaxing. The weather has been pretty good, even had the AC on Monday night but that sure changed yesterday when the cold front with high winds blew in. Last night it was down to 7c and had the furnace on. They have their ups and downs with temp just like us.

Happy birthday again to Alan and Rosemary.

Mar 31, Apr 01, 02, 03

We are still here, just did not have internet connection at our campsites. That's when you know you are roughing it when there is no cable and no internet.
On Tues we checked out a couple campgrounds for the week I am staying put at one and we found one we liked. (Holiday Travel Resort on CR33 near Leesburg, Florida). Our luck kept with us and we contacted Marilyn and Brent Allison (Steve Dow's first cousin) in Wildwood We had not seen them since last summer at the lake. Had a great time seeing their abode (Greg, she painted their living room wall red and their hallwall and front entry green. You two must have the same great taste) on the golf course, having supper and catching up on news. And of course showing all the pictures of grandchildren and children-a job a grandmother and mom just has to do.
Wednesday - did not make it far today. 6 miles, I think that is a new record. We were just exploring and came across a campground with a 18 hole golf course. We looked, we stayed and played golf. On the course about the 7th hole the we had the first big cloud burst . Hid under some trees until it was over. But when the second one threatened on the 16th hole, we hightailed it for the RV. Right decision - rain, lightening, thunder and more rain. Did our daily walk and met some people from Collingwood by the name of Link. They winter at the park for 5-6 months. We tried to contact Wendy and Barry MacLeod at the Villages but the number they gave everyone turned out to be the lady who they are renting from. She lives in Virginia and I think the poor lady had a few conversations with some Nova Scotians. Finally tracked them down on their cell.
Thursday - another beautiful day and an other new adventure. Off to pick up a rental truck so Bernie can drive to South Carolina to play golf. The other 5 golf guys will use the truck the week they are golfing. Anyway, while we are filling out the endless paper work for the rental, the rental guy puts Bernie on the phone to his former boss. It is Jeannie Milner's nephew who moved to Florida 7 years ago. Small world. After dropping off the RV at the campground we headed to the Villages to spend the night with Barry and Wendy. What a hoot. It is just like "the perfect town"- perfect streets,perfect houses, perfect landscaping, and all these golf carts buzzing down the streets. I just started laughing in the middle of an intersection - there were dozens of carts coming from the east, from the west, from the south and from the north. And they are every colour and shape you can imagine. Went to the pool with B & W, down to the Village Square to hear the daily band, watch line dancing, bit of window shopping and back to their condo for a terrific meal. Wendy and I had to watch the final episode of ER much to the boys dismay. They had a good chat
Friday - rained thru the night and there were tornado warnings but none developed. They need the rain as it is so dry in Florida. Breakfast ( a bit more than I get for Bernie ), daily walk, bit of shopping in the stores in the Village Square, groceries, and then a relaxing visit and barbecue with B & W and Bruce and Lu Quigley who are staying on a golf holiday near by. It is not hard to fill the days - I think we are definitely in the relaxed mode.