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August 1 - 27, 2011
Well we got off to a somewhat rocky start with a few mechanical problems with the motor home. One of our heat pumps and a slide motor went out and try as they may the great staff a Bill Plemmons were unable to get replacements for three weeks.
Oh well we made the best of the situation and stayed at their campground in Raleigh. While there we made some great friends. The folks at Bill Plemmons RV are great people and they treat you like you are family. I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful these people are. From Tony the service manager to Lisa in sales and everyone in between they made us feel right at home and did everything they could to make us feel at home. I highly recommend if you are in the market for any size camper or motor home, please go by and see them.
August 4 - 7, 2011
Even though we only had one heat pump working we went to Morehead City to see my mom. We stayed a Water’s Edge RV Park and had a great time. Besides missing Miranda, I miss my momma. I have never been this far away from her and really do miss her. We had a great visit and Toni was able to see her sisters and brother while we were there. Was a great visit.
August 28, 2011 - September 7, 2011
After weathering an earthquake and a hurricane, we are finally on our way. The first long trip in the motor home was a little nerve racking, but it was fun. The traffic was not too bad and we have decided that traveling is gonna be fun. We stopped at every state line to let the dogs get out, take pictures and it was a good time to smoke a cigarette.
We got to the Flamingo Lake RV Resort in Jacksonville, Florida at about 8:00 PM and were met by the security guard. Well I guess he was a security guard. Actually looked like some dude they found to man the gate after hours, but he was nice. We got in our spot and got set up and man were we tired.
We stayed in Jacksonville for the next 11 days and were able to visit with Toni’s family. We had a great time and it was really nice to see Uncle Lonnie and Aunt Brenda. Uncle Lonnie is like my older brother who has the answers for all the questions I have about the RV life. We also saw Aunt Ginny and her boys Jay and Josh, and Josh’s wife Sheila and son Landon. It was real nice to see them. Can’t forget Robin, Tony, Rachel, and Ryan. Was great to see everyone.
Oh forgot to mention. We a now officially Florida Residents. We got our Florida Driver’s Licenses and are in the process of switching our vehicles.
September 8 - 10, 2011
We were invited to join Uncle Lonnie and Aunt Brenda’s camping club on one of their weekend camping trips at the Starke KOA in Starke, Florida. Even though we are a little younger than most of the people camping, they treated us like we have been camping with them for years. I am learning that camping people are a close group of people who are extremely friendly, kind, and generous people.
September 11 - 12, 2011
We are on our own again. We left Starke heading towards St. Augustine and Aunt Brenda and Uncle Lonnie headed home to Jacksonville. We stayed at a nice campground in St. Augustine Beach called Ocean Grove RV Resort. This was a nice campground near the beach and we took the motorcycle out to find a Krystal’s and to see the beach area. Is a real nice place, but things are slow here. I was told this is the off-season for the area.
September 13, 2011
Heading south towards the Florida Keys. We decided to spend the night at Paradise Island RV Resort in Ft. Lauderdale so we could visit with Toni’s sister Wendy. We don’t get to see Wendy very often but she is one of my favorite sister-in-laws and she is a sweet person. The campground was right in Ft. Lauderdale (didn’t believe they had campgrounds right in the city, but I was wrong as usual). Was a nice campground with very nice people in the office and was right off I95.
We met Wendy and her girls at the Cracker Barrel and eat dinner. Was nice to catch up and see everyone. One thing I noticed is that the kids are getting bigger and we are getting older.
September 14 - 27, 2011
We left Ft. Lauderdale heading to the Keys. I didn’t have a clue as to where I was driving and put my faith in Lola, the name we gave to our Garmin GPS Unit. Lola took us all through the city of Miami, but we emerged in Homestead Florida.
We kept driving south and eventually made it to the Overseas Highway (US 1). What can I say.......is one of the prettiest drives I have ever made. Reminded me of the Outer Banks of NC but with lots of bridges.
Everything was great until we took a right turn onto a side road that was supposed to be to the campground. Note to self.......make sure to check the address you program in the GPS to make sure it is correct. We ended up down a one lane dirt road with no place to turn around. As luck would have it, we found a vacant house at the very end of this road and with Toni’s help I was able to get turned around (good thing God looks out for idiots).
We arrived at the Sugarloaf Key KOA at around 4:00 PM. Is a very nice campground and the people were very nice and let us pick a nice shady spot to park. Saw my first iguana and chicken waking around the campground. I have been told this is a normal occurrence in the keys.
Dan flew in on Thursday and we went to the airport to get him. Was GREAT to see Dan and have him come down to visit. We were hoping he would have Miranda in his suitcase, but she wouldn’t fit.
We had a great time and visited Key West with our tour guide Dan. Went to dinner and visited the famous “Duval Street” area. Didn’t know when we decided on the dates for our Keys visit, but this weekend is a “Bike Week.” The are expecting over 10,000 bikers to come to Key West and I believe they all came.
I have to include an event in my diary that is of paramount importance. The event I speak of is Dan riding my Honda motorcycle. This is a guy that has Harley Davidson underwear and socks (no haven’t seen them but have it on good authority they exist). Toni took pictures of this event as proof and they are posted in the picture section of the web page.
Sunday was a sad day for me. My buddy Dan went home. I hated to see him go, but some people have jobs (not me). When we left the airport I cried but had a thought.........Dan knows we are going to be in warm places all the time........hell he will want to come back all the time.......damn I was crying more.
We went back to the KOA and started pondering.........wouldn’t it be nice to stay another week. Well it just so happened that there is another campground called Lazy Lakes RV Resort. This place is a little more rustic, but the people were so nice and the daily rate was $20.00, much less than the $70.00 rate at KOA. I road the motorcycle over and booked a space and we stayed another week.
September 28 - October 4, 2011
We left they keys and traveled to Fort Myers Beach. The drive there took us through the Everglades and I was amazed at the beauty of this place. I saw so many beautiful sites it was truly amazing. I have already decided that we are definitely going to spend some time in this area in the future.
When we traveled to Fort Myers Beach the intention was to stay 3 days. Well just after seeing this place we decided that 3 days were not enough. We ended up staying 7 days and will definitely go back there for another visit.
The first place we stayed was Indian Creek RV Resort. This was a nice resort that has 1 of the cleanest places I have ever been. The staff were so nice and the rates were great. The second place we stayed was San Carlos RV Park and this resort was right on the water. We had a site that allow us a waterfront view and the people were nice there also.
While in Fort Myers Beach we got an unexpected surprise. Val and Keith Rothchild from Raleigh called us and said they were in Naples just down the road. They invited us to dinner on Saturday and we drove over and had a wonderful time meeting their friends and having dinner. We watched the sunset right on the terrace behind their resort and were introduced to the “green flash” of sunset. I’m not exactly sure what this means, but I was introduced.
It was so nice to see familiar faces and the food was GREAT. We invited them over to the RV on Tuesday for lunch and they liked the RV. I don’t think we were convincing enough to have them abandon their current mode of travel, but we worked on them.
October 5 - 11, 2011
We left Fort Myers Beach and drove to Daytona Beach. Lola took us through the country side and it was a beautiful ride. Orange Groves, small towns, and just good easy driving (that is until we got to Orlando). I really love driving through the country areas as opposed to the interstate. There is so much beauty in the US that most people will never see.
We got to the International RV Park Campground. The guy in the office, Shawn, was so nice and quickly made us feel right at home. The park is extremely nice and is close to the racetrack and beach areas.
We road on the beach in the jeep and this was nice. Coming from the North Carolina Coast Area it is weird to see cars on the beach. Even the senior citizens drove their cars on the beach. We also took the motorcycle our for a ride and walked down the boardwalk area. Daytona is a nice place and we will go back. Wanted to go to the Kennedy Space Center, but the weather was bad for a few days and we didn’t have time.
October 12 - 17, 2011
Arrived back in Jacksonville. This time we booked camping at Pecan Park RV Resort. This is a nice rv park, but is close to the airport and there are lots of jets coming and going from Jacksonville. We are planning to move back to Flamingo Lake RV Resort on Tuesday.
October 18 - December 10, 2011
Moved over to Flamingo Lake RV Resort. We have decided to stay here for a month to give us time to get our vehicles registered in Florida and to look into finding Toni a doctor in the area. The Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida is where we are looking, but have to work out insurance issues. Anyway, we will be here for a little while.
Well looks like we will be here longer than we anticipated. It seems getting into the Mayo Clinic is not as easy and their web site would lead you to believe. Not only do they not take walk-in patients, they don’t offer in-clinic care. They make a diagnosis and then farm you out to an area doctor for follow-up care.
You would think with the state of Florida having approximately 70% retirees, Medicare would be a primary insurance. WRONG.......out of 47 pain doctors in the Jacksonville area, only 3 will accept Medicare and when you mention the State Health Plan they don’t even recognize such a thing.
The good news is we have found a primary doctor in the Jacksonville Beach Area who will accept our insurance. This doctor has found a pain clinic that is willing to care for Toni. The bad news.....Florida law requires patients on narcotic medications to be seen by their doctor every 30 days with no exceptions. So what does this mean for our travel plans? Can’t answer that right this minute. I am still trying to digest all the changes.
Well anyhow, we are going to travel as much as we can until all the kinks are worked out. There are plenty of beautiful places in our home state of Florida to discover and visit and we plan to start moving.
The biggest highlight of this period is a visit from Miranda. She drove down to see us for Thanksgiving and we were so glad to see her. Miranda was able to get here without getting lost and we had a great time. We were invited to Thanksgiving Dinner at Aunt Brenda and Uncle Lonnie’s house and we went over to Aunt Ginny’s for dessert.
December 11 - 28, 2011
We have about 10 days before Toni has to be back to the doctor so we decided to go somewhere. Toni found a small tourist town called Cedar Key, Florida and it is sorta like the Florida Keys, but is located about midway of the state on the west coast.
The ride to Cedar Key was nice. Most of the places we have traveled to have been on routes that have kept us off the interstate and we have been able to enjoy the country areas. We drove through Gainesville and drove past the University of Florida and we were in “Gator Country.” It is a typical college town and reminded me a lot of Hillsborough Street in Raleigh only bigger.
The campground where we are staying is the Sunset RV Park & Motel. It is a moderate size campground and is right on the water. The people in the park are so nice and are fast to stop by our site and introduce themselves. This is probably the friendliest campground we have been to thus far.
The town of Cedar Key is less than a mile from the campground. It is a quaint little town that has a grocery store, convenience store, a bank, and a bunch of restaurants and shops geared towards tourists. It is very slow here and I was told December is the slowest month of the year in Cedar Key.
As luck would have it, Toni’s doctor has been unable to get an answer from the insurance company (BCBS) as to whether they will cover the procedure the doctor wants to do. I know that is a shock to everyone, but hey it is what it is.
With that being said, her appointment has been continued for 2 weeks so we decided to stay at Sunset RV Park in Cedar Key for Christmas.
The people are so nice and we really feel at home here. As you can see from the pictures I have posted, we had a great Christmas with all our new friends at the campground complete with a gift exchange and Christmas Dinner. The only thing that would have made it better is if Miranda was here.
December 28 - present
We are back in Jacksonville at Flamingo Lake RV Resort. It was hard leaving Cedar Key, but the doctors won out and we have to go to the appointments.
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