March 22, 2011-Navarre, FL>

We got home from the Keys on Saturday evening. When we left the motel on Saturday morning we drove through The Villages and were amazed how the area has grown in the last few years. The shopping in the area is number one with every store you can think of and a large area devoted to medical needs of the area seniors. There are doctor offices for every ailment and a large hospital.
After leaving we went to Ocala and I was able to visit a quilt shop. Walt did a few of the stores in the general walking vicinity.
After leaving Ocala we drove northwest and reached Haines City. We then found route 33 and drove out into the country.. We saw a lot of horse farms between Ocala and Haines City. Suddenly out in the country we came upon an antique shop. We saw a lot of cars so we stopped in for a visit. Well, it turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. They had fantastic antique furniture which I have never seen. They were very well cleaned and restored. They also had a furniture accessory shop, and knick knack shop , a garden shop and a lovely dining area. We ate our lunch under some trees next to a pond. It was very nice and Walt was one of only a few men. It seems it was very popular with  women. One lady summed up the shops "I could buy everything in the stores for my home, it is so good".
When we reached Perry we decided to continue back to Navarre rather than have another night in a motel. So we continued to Navarre and got home at about 7:45 pm. Then came the time to bring everything into the house and unpack. We both decided that it is much easier to have our RV with us because we then do not have to sleep in a different bed each night and we have everything in our house available to us. I then would not have to remember were I have put everything. HA HA.

Driving under Oak trees with low hanging moss

A quilt hanging in the quilt shop

Serene farmland in northwestern Florida

March 16, 2012-The Villages, FL.

We left Okeechobee, FL. this morning after a nice breakfast at a local restaurant. We found a road north out of town that would go through some country and small towns. When we were trying to not travel on divided highways we found it could be hard in this area.
As we were traveling Walt was in "seventh heaven" because we passed numerous dairy farms. They were large dairies and had a large number of calves and heifers pasturing in the fields. The cattle were gathered under palm trees to chew their cuds. The palms limited the amount of shade by their small size of canopy.
We did notice that the barns had water flushing to control the manure. On the side roads you would see ten to twelve small cement homes in a row for the workers.
Then for a few miles we saw real trees in a wetter area. It was nice to see trees were are accustomed
to having in our area. We also met a few semi trucks hauling hay. This is the dry season in this area of Florida so they must supplement the dairy cows with hay which was bought somewhere else.
When we got on 441 we started to see orange groves, farmers baling hay and lots of steers in the fields. We also saw flood irrigation, bales in plastic tubes and lemon groves.
When we reaches Lake Wales we passed an orange processing plant--the town even smelled like oranges.
Oh, I forgot to tell you that this noon we passed an Antique Mall out in the country, so we decided to stop for a stretch. Well, we left at 2:30--long lunch!!!! It was definitely an area for women. They had a very unique antique store. They had things I would have used in a home if I had room for furniture. The items were very priced so that the amateur could by something without feeling like you were paying to much. Then they had a shop with accessaries for your home and then another shop for "nick nacks". They even had an area with all kinds of garden supplies. It can be summarized by a statement I heard a lady say, "This is so great -- I could put all of this in my home."  A lot of people were really trying to buy out the stores. They also had a very nice lunch area were you could sit indoors or outside under the trees next to a pond. Great Stop!!!
Here are a few pics===

Walt found himself a spot to rest while I shopped.

See you soon.

March 15, 2012-Okeechobee, FL

We drove all day from Marathon to Okeechobee. Walt wanted to see some farm land and we certainly did after we left the Ft. Lauderdale area on 27. We saw lots of Sugar Cane be harvested and younger fields of sugar cane. The trucks we got close to had sugar cane or sweet corn on them. After we got to our hotel in Okeechobee we took a drive south east of Okeechobee and saw some huge dairies. One dairy had 8 barns. We got back to our room and Walt is busy watching CSI on TV.

Tomorrow will be another day of driving:
Here is a picture of the place we had dinner last evening in Marathon. It was an outdoor dining area at a marina. The food was great but the wind was blowing to make it a bit chilly.

Hope to be back with you soon.

May 14, 2012-Marathon, FL

Today we stayed around Marathon. The weather was warm when in the sun. It was mid 80's. We first went to the Turtle Hospital just across the street from the Sandpiper Hotel that we are staying. It had 4 shows a day and we were to late for the one about to start so we came back at noon and had a very nice tour done by a young volunteer. The worked on turtles hurt by the environment such as boat motors and fishing gear. They had nineteen turtles of which 11 were permanent residents. They were all sea turtles.

Operating room at Turtle Hospital

One of the turtles

Another visitor

Another visitor under the tree

Beach found in Marathon

Tomorrow we leave the Keys and plan to drive about 300 miles.

Hope to talk to you tomorrow

March 13, 2012-Key West, FL

We spent another day in Key West--Walt says tomorrow we will stay in Marathon and see their sites. The Duval Streeet, the party street in Key West was very crowded again. People walk out in front of the trolleys thinking they have nothing to fear. It is the busy season plus spring break so you have a lot of party people.
We did the Glass bottom boat this noon. It was very rough seas and a lot of sea sickness on the boat. It seemed the younger people had more problems than the older folks. I guess if you have had it once you try all kinds of things to not get sick again. Walt was a little quizzy but it was do to the other people vomiting around us. We spent most of the 2 hour trip up on the top deck where we had fresh air. It was difficult to see much of the coral and fish because the sea was so rough which churned up some milky water thus changing our ability to see the fish.
It was a good trip anyway because it was warm but not hot and the water was great to experience because of the color.
After the boat trip we ate lunch on the pier under the color full umbrellas. It was a good meal.
We walked into a few shops but nothing caught our eye so we caught the trolley back to our car at the welcome center. By the time we got back to Marathon and some fast food it was 7:30 pm. A 11 hour day in the Keys is a badge of honor because of the crowds.
Here are a few pics.

Good Morning America

One of small beaches

One of the many roosters in Key West

A fine and even prison is for people who mess with them.

Leaving the dock in the Glass Bottom Boat

The Sails are always beautiful

Any building is appreciated in Key West

Million Dollar Home

See you tomorrow!!!

March 12, 2012 Key West, FL

Just noticed that last year this time we were in Tulare, CA, and meeting with some friends from NFO.
Today we spent the day in Key West. What a party town. There were people everywhere. Duval Street was very crowded with cars and people and they were all intermixed without paying any attention to each other.
We drove to Key West from Marathon (48 miles) and bought a Trolley ticket for today and tomorrow.
We could park our truck at the Welcome center for "free" and we did not have to battle the crowd on the narrow streets. By taking the trolley we had to do more walking which would have been good on a good day for me, but we made it. The weather was 80 degrees with warm ocean breezes but got very hot after walking numerous blocks to the attraction we wanted to see.
The homes and public buildings are different than what we have seen anywhere else in the US, even different than New Orleans. The people "party" just as much as New Orleans people do.
Tomorrow we plan on traveling on the glass bottom boat.
Here are a few pics.

Southernmost Point in US.

St Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church-oldest Catholic Church in Florida

One of the docks in Key West

Jet Skis for rent

Florida's President Whitehouse

Luxury Boats

Party people have high view of Duval Street

See you soon!!!!

March 11, 2012-Key West, FL

Church at 8 am in Marathon was first on the agenda. Then we went to the Wooden Spoon for breakfast.
It was a very small little frame building with great food. We then went back to the Sandpiper for a rest. I worked on the Blog and Walt took a walk to the Seafood festival that was in town. I had the door open and it was nice and warm as I worked on the computer.
Walt returned at 1:30 very parched and hot. It was 88 degrees and the sun was very warm. He filled up on some fluids and rested a bit and then we started a drive to the Keys. We did not know we would go the 47.5 miles to the Key's but we eventually ended up right in the middle of things on Duval street. We could not find a parking area so we slowly worked our way back north. We did tour one of the small towns on the way to the keys and Walt was disappointed that he could not find any industry.
On our way back from the Key's we stopped at a restaurant along the road and had a great snapper dinner.
Tomorrow we plan to start very early---a tour of Key West is on the table. Hope it goes well.

Seafood festival

Opening ceremonies

First view of aquamarine waters

Goodnight everyone.

March 10, 2011---Marco Island to Marathon, FL

Good Morning--we survived our night at the palace, HA! HA!  We got up very early and were on the road by 7:15 am.  When we were getting ready we found out we had only very hot water in the bathroom after leaving the water run about 5 minutes and then found we did not have electric in the bathroom.
That mad us move very fast for fear something more would be wrong with the room. When we left our room it was to early for any of the other occupants of the rooms to be awake so we left with just a few pictures of the place. The lobby looks grand--BUT--it did not show the rest of the story.

Lobby with old furniture

Outside view of front door-shown on internet

Note the shedding pink paint and bad landscaping

As we left the villa-bad- we found a neat breakfast place recommended to us. It was located on highway 41, which is the way we were going through the everglades. It was another quaint place along a river in the everglades. They had a neat little breakfast place filled with locals from the area along with a few of us tourists. Next to the restaurant there was a air boat place which gave tours through the glades. We found they had openings at 9 am so we did the tour. It was great except my camera battery went dead, so I only have pictures of the river to the glades proper. Here are a few-----------------------

Breakfast place

view from air boat on river



The narrow channel we traveled to the glades

The Mango trees need to have roots and branches cut frequently

We left the everglades and started our trek to Key Largo. When we reached Key Large the weather was 85 degrees and blue sky's with aqua marine waters .  As we left Key Largo we had a 2 hour trip to Marathon. Well, suddenly we got into stop and go traffic which continued all afternoon. Apparently 2 of the towns on the way had festivals and traffic was very heavy. A 2 hour trip ended up to be a 4 hour trip. It was great to get to our destination. The Sandpiper Hotel is quaint but nice. We plan to be here until Thursday morning.

March 9, 2012--Perry to Marco Island, FL

As we left Perry we to 98 to the inland which turned out to be a boring drive. The traffic was light and that added to the boredom. The road was sheltered by trees on both sides except an occasional glimpse of a ranch carved out of the timber-swamp land. The ranches had cattle grazing in the Florida sun.
At about 11 am we stopped at Crystal Springs and we saw many snowbirds in 80 degree weather with a few occasional sprinkles.

After passing through Homossasa Springs we did the 98 toll road south on 98. This made our trip faster than we expected so we decided to go on to Marco Island south of Naples  and not stay at Bartow for the night. We stopped for lunch at Riverview, Florida, and filled up with diesel fuel at $4.05 per gallon. This was the cheapest since we started looking for the price. It seems Walt notices all of the diesel prices.

During the late afternoon we dropped off the main drag and did a tour of the historic area of Ponta G????, Florida. It had the typical colorful homes of all sorts of architecture. It was a nice brake from the road.

At about 5:30 we found our reserved room for the night in an area just off of Marco Island. This turned out to be a 3 star room which should have been a minus three star rating. We should have known it was not what the booking site said when we saw a very run down complex with pink paint and spots of black mold and deteriation. On the web it showed a yellow facade but that was only enough to take a picture of the front entrance. It had been a big resort at one point but it went in foreclosure and all the fixtures and furniture was gone. I believe they even sold all the drapes because what we had in our room was very cheap commercial type of drape. You know how Walt tries to be optimistic about everything but after a while he admitted he could not think of any more positive points about the room. We had to stay because we had a reservation which could not be cancelled because we were past the 48 grace period.
The patrons of the hotel were hippy type squatters who made their own happy hour and entertainment during the evening. So is the life on the road--first times we have been "snookered", but we survived.

That evening we went to Marco Island and saw how the "upper crust" likes to live. Such excess--I could only think about how much they could have done for others who have very little. After the rich man tour we came upon a little fishing shack along the bay which was recommended to us in the town of Goodland. It was just fantastic. Good end to a long and trying day.

An addition to my collection of U.S. trees

Pink Lady

Graceful southern home

Marco Island Homes below:

March 8, 2012--Navarre Beach Campground to Perry, Florida

Today we put on our traveling shoes for a new destination on Walt's Bucket List. The new goal is the Keys in Florida. After dropping Bart (our dog) at the Dog Sitter we got on Route 98 at the doorsite of Navarre Beach Campground. We have been at Navarre since January 10, so after a few very busy weeks, we are heading to warmer areas. Although it has been a very warm winter in Florida we are going south for even more warmth and adventures.
As we got on 98 we hit a stop and go traffic until we got to St. Peter's for morning mass. This is a 6 mile trek which took us a good half hour. After Mass Walt and I visited his Rooster Club for a cup of coffee and some chatter. We got back on the road at about 9 am. We pointed our truck east on 98 and by 10:30 we passed thru Destin. The speed went to normal as we passed Walmart and the Donut Hole. It was a trip of stop and go traffic for 1 and 1/2 hours. They say if you travel 98 for 10 years you will have a 40% chance of having an accident on that highway. This morning we saw 6 accidents from Navarre to east of Destin.

Now at about noon it is 75 degrees outdoors and the sun is shining over the water. We stopped for lunch at Apalachicola, Fl. at about 1 pm.  This is a beautiful little town along the Gulf. We ate at a restaurant called the Owl Cafe. It was an old hotel that had been made into a restaurant and gift shop (this was a recomendation of a friend from St. Peter). The food was great when Walt could have fried oysters. The historic part of town along the docks was very nice. We spent a little time poking through a few shops and then continued down the coast.
At about 6 oclock EST we entered Perry and got a room for the nite at a nice clean motel. Our dinner was mexican food at a great local Mexican restaurant.

Here are a few pictures.