Wednesday March 17, through Monday, March 29, 2010: In Wauchula, Florida:
The trip from Wildwood was short (135 miles) and uneventful, The RV park (Peace River) is large and nice. It’s a Thousand Trails preserve. Wauchula is not located near anything, which is usually a good thing. We got the last site with a sewer hookup that we were able to back into without hitting anything. Whew! The main attraction here (for Becky) is an active bunch of pickle ball players. Becky has been playing almost every day. She is trying to get me to play, and bought me a paddle. We’ll see. Bill told me on the phone that one of our friends tried the sport the other day---and fell flat on his face the first time he tried to hit the ball, I’m not encouraged by that news. Through Saturday, we otherwise mostly hung out, played with Daisy, and watched movies from the local Red Box. We've had great weather here---so far.

On Sunday, we decided to go on a field trip to Tampa and St. Petersburg (175 miles, roundtrip). The minute we left, it started raining---and never stopped. Sometimes it was verrrrry heavy. As a result, we toured the two cities, and a bunch of hamlets along the way, sitting in the front seat of our truck. (There was no way we were ever going to go outside in that weather.) So much for museums, war memorials, gardens, etc. From what little we saw, Tampa is a nice place and St. Petersburg is kind of a dump. We may go back and update this very thorough analysis someday soon.

Surprise! They have alligators and oranges here in Florida.



Monday night around 8:30 we had a power blackout. It turned out that one of the fittings in the wiring that connects us to the "city" power pedestal melted. I think it was from getting wet in the rain on Sunday. (We had a similar problem involving a different fitting while in very wet Harlingen, Texas in January.) Fortunately I had a replacement fitting in inventory and I was able to fix it within the hour. On Tuesday, I made the trek to a "nearby" town (40 miles, roundtrip) to buy a handful of what I hope to be waterproof fittings, and retrofitted all of my outside connecting devices. We'll see if that prevents the problem from returning in the future.

When I got to the store to get replacement fittings I realized I had forgotten to bring my wallet. On a longshot, I asked the clerk if I could save a return trip by taking the merchandise now and giving her the credit card number later---over the phone. She said yes. Amazing! I guess RVers are both trustworthy and trusting. It's a nice feelng.

On Friday we went on a field trip to Sarasota (125 miles roundtrip). Very nice place. I wonder who can afford to live there. We visited the St. Armand's Circle, an interesting shopping area on St. Armand's Key (part of Sarasota). There are 120 or more stores, restaurants, etc., located around a center circle. The key, and the circle, were started by John Ringling (the circus guy) many years ago, as the beginning of a high-end real estate development. It didn't work initially because of the Great Depression, but it works now. Very impressive, and very popular. There are some great homes in and around St. Armand's and Sarasota generally. Daisy went with us and had fun dazzling the patrons at the circle.


We had a picnic lunch at a little park on Longboat Key, just outside the Sarasota city limits.



Becky finally got me to try pickle ball. The first day, I was so-so. The second day, it was so windy I couldn't judge the flight of the ball, and was somewhat less than so-so. But I won't be daunted. When we get to another park with pickle ball courts, I shall return.

We travelled to Sebring (the home of the Sebring International Raceway) one day and saw Crazy Heart in an actual theater. The story was a bit of a downer, but the movie was very well made and definitely worthwhile. Jeff Bridges definitely deserved his Oscar. Colin Farell was also in it, which I had not known, and showed how impressively versatile he is. The next day, we returned to Sebring (60 miles roundtrip) to visit Highlands Hammock State Park, a vey interesting nature preserve. It consists of 9,000 acres of trees, swamps, and other wild nature things, including orange trees growing in the middle of a stand of mangroves.


There was also a boardwalk through a large swamp. What started out as being four feet wide with handrails on both sides turned into being two feet wide with a handrail on only one side. Since I am a chicken whenever I get over water, I was not happy with the change.



In Florida, incidentally, and apparently only in Florida, the word "hammock" refers to a stand of broad-leaf trees creating a dense cover. As was true in the park we visited, there are often other trees mixed in. Hammocks are all over the state.

Friday, March 12, through Tuesday, March 16, 2010: At Wildwood, Florida
The trip here from Fountain was almost 300 miles, and we were to lose an hour when we hit the Eastern Time Zone, so we got an early start. There were storm warnings all over Florida, but, fortunately, it only drizzled for a short time until we were almost here, then it rained a little harder. But the rain stopped before we got here, and we had no trouble getting into one of the few almost-dry sites left in this very large RV park. Wildwood is 20 miles south of Ocala. The first night we had dinner at Beef O'Brady's, a chain of Irish pubs. The food was very good and the atmosphere fun.

Friday night we watched Up In The Air and enjoyed it a lot---more than we thought we would.

On Saturday, we took a field trip to Rainbow Springs State Park, 40 miles north and west of here. It's a very large nature park that was created nearly a century ago as an amusement park. Not one in the Disneyland mode, but with waterfalls, a zoo, canoe rides, etc. It fell on hard times and was closed for many years until the state acquired it. It's really a very pleasant place.


I never imagined Florida as horse country, but around Ocala there are some beautiful ranches, and a sign at the city enrance proclaims it to be The Horse Capital Of The World. Ocala itself is not impressive---it looks a little depressed.

On Sunday we visited Inverness---about 20 miles from Wildwood. They were having an antique car show and the town center was blocked off. The event was very well-attended. Inverness is a very nice town; quite upscale. On the way back from Inverness, we passed through The Villages. You must have seen the ads on TV. It’s a huge retirement community between Ocala and Wildwood. Besides being huge, it’s also very nice---with all levels of residential properties, massive shopping centers, many golf courses, etc. We learned that there are 104 pickle ball courts (with six more under construction) and at least 4,500 serious players there. Wow!


On Monday, we returned to Inverness to meet Linda Beaudoin, a former co-worker at the North Rim, and her current beau, Rod Carlson, and had a great dinner at a seafood restaurant ("Crackers") in nearby Crystal Lake.


The rest of the time in Wildwood was spent relaxing.

Wednesday, March 10, and Thursday, March 11, 2010: At Fountain, Florida:
Our two-day stay at the Pine Lake RV Resort in this tiny town was quite uneventful, as we had hoped. After all, we have been extremely busy lately. Our short trip here from Alabama was uneventful. This place is about 40 miles from Panama City, Florida. The highlight here was stopping at the local gas station/store/pizza parlor for a pizza last night and reading the posted newspaper article about the recent conviction of the person who murdered the clerk at this store in 2008. The pizza was very good.

The park is small, rural, and very comfortable. The people are very friendly and accommodating. Our site is huge.

Saturday, March 6, through Tuesday, March 9, 2010: In Alabama:
Our one stop in Alabama is for four days at the Styx River RV Park, between Mobile and Pensacola (closer to Pensacola). According to a sign at the entrance, it was voted the best RV park on the gulf coast. Out of curiosity, we asked the lady at the entrance when that vote was taken. She said she didn't know for sure, but she had worked at the park for 21 years and the sign was there when she arrived. The park is nice, but was obviously built when RVs were much smaller. If the vote were taken now, I would be surprised if the "best on the gulf" sign would not have to come down. The interior roads are very narrow and winding. In negotiating one passage, I knocked down the adjacent fence (and, of course, did some minor damage to our rig). That's one of the hazards of dragging around such a behemoth.

One thing we've noticed in our travels is that in some places fireworks are a very big business. Becky was excited to see one store here as a sort of personal tribute.
Daisy discovered that the ground here is quite sandy. It must have reminded her of the sandstone at Zion National Park, since she proceeded to dig a large hole next to our rig---which she did daily when we were at Zion. She is in Heaven.

On Sunday we watched the Academy Awards, as usual. We actually saw two of the nominated movies this year---Up and The Hurt Locker. Both of them won Oscars. Good. They were both worthy.

On Monday, Becky decided to ride her bike to the nearest Red Box to rent Inglourious Basterds. It turned out to be farther away than the 11 miles she expected. At 20 miles she called me to pick her up. The Red Box turned out to be 30 miles away. When we got there, it was broken. Fortunately, we found another one a mile farther away. I thought the movie was very engrossing. Becky did not agree entirely. It's worth seeing if for no other reason than watching Christoph Waltz. He's marvelous. The movie is very violent and bloody, and more than two hours long.

On Tuesday, we took a quick field trip to Pensacola, just to get the flavor of it. We entered the city from the west, on a local highway, and saw what must be its seediest side. We ended up at the historic downtown area, which was beautiful. There are numerous old buildings that are in magnificent condition, and a number of new buildings that have been designed to replicate the look of the older ones.
Very near the downtown area is the port. They take appropriate civic pride in the history of the city. It was settled by the Spanish in 1559---well before St. Augustine, which is the oldest city in the country. At the port, there is a statue of an unnamed (i.e., generic) Spanish explorer. It's really a pretty area.
Pensacola is the location of significant Navy air installations--including the home of the Blue Angels. They decorate the freeway overpasses with representations of the Blue Angels, and there are several "statues" of the planes around the city.

Tuesday, March 2, through Friday, March 5, 2010: In Mississippi:
Tuesday morning we headed for Pass Christian, Mississippi, which is on the gulf, near Gulfport and Biloxi. It's a nice little town just emerging from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Across the street from the gulf (which has a beautiful, wide beach) there are fabulous homes.
When we were here six years ago, they were almost recovered from another hurricane (whose name I have forgotten). Virtually all of the buildings appear to be brand new or very recently refurbished. That makes the place very attractive. There are, however, numerous old foundation slabs and driveways (accompanied by For Sale signs) all around the place. They give you a feeling of just how badly damaged this place was. At one site we saw just a chimney still standing. The owner of our RV park told me the water in the park had been a constant eight feet deep, touching the ceiling of his home there. That home has not been repaired yet, by the way. The interior walls have all been stripped down to the studs, which we understand is necessary, and all the windows and doors are gone.

Our RV park is very pretty, situated along a creek.


The 310-mile drive from Beaumont to Pass Christian was uneventful, except for being reminded of just how awful the concrete roads in Louisiana are. The thumping every two seconds makes you wonder how long your suspension will last. The asphalt roads are just fine.

Of course, we had to go to the post office to pick up our mail---which we have forwarded to us every week.


On Thursday we went to New Orleans (70 miles away). We had been there six years ago, so this trip was mostly to see what Katrina had done to it. We stopped at the visitor center and asked the docent where the notorious 9th Ward was located. That started an interesting conversation, highlighted by her telling us: (i) The press accounts of the devastation of the 9th Ward were quite overblown, (ii) the downtown area suffered the most damage, and (iii) the Mississippi coast was more heavily damaged than the entire New Orleans area. From what we had seen in Pass Christian, we couldn't argue with her.

We had a nice lunch at Pere Antoine's on Royal Street in The Quarter (apparently, only tourists call it The French Quarter).


And we walked along the Missisippi River waterfront for a while (with Daisy).


Our waiter told us The Quarter had very little damage from Katrina because it is on a slight rise from the surrounding area. He also told us he believes the people who claim that the levee was deliberately blown up, so as to channel the inevitable floodwater away from The Quarter---which contributes a whole lot to the local economy. Hmmmmm.

Sunday. February 28, and Monday, March 1, 2010: In Beaumont, Texas:
We thought the 306-mile trip to Beaumont was uneventful until we discovered that the hanging mechanism in our bedroom closet had collapsed---probably due to the undulating highway, and that part of the slideout mechanism on the Wheelers' motor home had broken. I spent much of Monday repairing our closet (and, of course, visiting Lowe's for parts). After consulting with repairmen and the manufacturer, Bill and Pat decided they had to return to the factory in California to get the slideout fixed. They headed out on Tuesday morning. We won't see them again for several weeks. They expect to catch up with us somewhere in Florida.

While we were in Beaumont it rained incessantly, and it was very windy. Needless to say, we didn't have much opportunity to be impressed, although the RV park was nice---except for the moat around our rig. I kept looking for alligators, but didn't find any.