Stuart, Florida…Trucker Camper Buddies

January 29, 2014
Foggy start to the travel day. Temperature was around 67 degrees, but did go down to 61 degrees later in the day. Forecast was for showers off and on all day. We were headed across the state to the Atlantic side to meet up with friends that we sort of helped decide to buy a truck camper back in New Hampshire.
The ride over through the rural part of Florida at first was uneventful (mostly due to the fog). Later, around ten am, it lifted and vast farm fields were in view. The produce was sugar cane. We saw large machines harvesting, loading and moving the cane to the factories for processing. Lake Okeechobee was to our left, but you would never know it because of a huge earthen dike some 25 feet high. This berm was the length of the southern portion of the lake. I am estimating it is about thirty miles long. It is always neat to see “America’s Heartland”.
Helen called Cathy and Bob Fournier in Stuart. They were home and soon we were reunited at their winter get-away. Cathy just happened to be cooking a turkey and invited us. We said that we would eat before going to their house, but she insisted we join them and we gave in. Her mother and aunt were there visiting from the north, which made for a group of six. Bob and Cathy are planning to go to Alaska next summer in their truck camper. We gave them a few tips that we learned from our trip. Soon it was time to hit the road again on our southern destination. We have one more visit tomorrow before bee lining it to the Keys. Cliff and JoBeth Carr live  in Miami. We met them last fall at the Gettysburg Truck Camping Jamboree. They were in New Hampshire a couple of weeks later and stopped in Berlin to see us. We took them up to the auto road to the summit of Mt Washington. We just called them tonight and will meet them tomorrow after they bring their son and daughter-in-law to the airport. They were scheduled to leave today, but everybody knows how bad the weather has been north of Florida. Here, in West Palm Beach ,tonight it is 65 degrees and raining steady. Tomorrow 75’ and sunny.
Tonight, we are again at another Cracker Barrel Campground Restaurant at Exit 74 on I-95. It is now 7 pm and since 4:45 pm, I’ve been watching the stopped traffic on the interstate. When we pulled into the parking lot, the fire trucks and rescue equipment responded to an accident just south of us on I-95. We were planning on staying here anyway for the night.

That is what we did and saw

Venice…Or is it Berlin, NH of the South?

January 27, 2014


Norma, Fred ~Pam, Rod ~ Helen, Lucien

We called Jeanette a little after 8:30 am and drove over to her park in no time. I had done a drive-by last night just to make sure I knew how to get there. We talked all morning long about all of the people that were living here in this park from Berlin. It was in the neighborhood of eight couples, not mention a few more couples down the road. I knew they were all down in this area, but didn’t realize that most were in this very park! We took Jen out to lunch and said our goodbyes.  (A note at this point. Helen has misplaced her camera and that's why Jeanette's picture is not in this blog episode) Rod and Pam Legendre were thirteen miles to the south near North Port. Rod and Pam have had a new house built in a new housing development that, I believe will have six thousand new homes. The development is first class! Every detail has been planned out both inside the new homes and outside streets, ponds landscaping. I was especially impressed with construction details. (Being a general contractor, I know the quality). Rod and Pam have done a remarkable job of furnishing and decorating their new home in such a short time.
Rod and Pam took us on a walk around some of the property. The club house is also top notch with everything from the large weight room to the pool and all of the different courts to play tennis and other ball sports.
After we arrived, another couple from Berlin dropped by to say hello. Fred and Norma Fournier. Fred and I had gone to grammar school together. It brought back many memories of our very early youth. In the early eighties, I had taught school with Norma’s dad.
Later in the afternoon, Pam hosted us to crackers and cheese. A toast was given to “Berlin, NH in the South”. Now, I know that everybody back home is saying it is going to snow in northern Florida. Well, I can attest that at the time of this toast it was eighty degrees and as I write this blog twenty-four hours later it is still 68 degrees at 8:30 at night.
January 28, 2014
Another night at our favorite “Cracker Barrel Campground Restaurant. It was very quiet again last night. This morning a decision was made to go a little further south than we had to. Jeanette and Henry Turgeon live in Fort Meyers Beach. It is always a pleasure to visit with them. Jeanette is a very savvy lady when it comes to computers and such. Henry, a very talented musician didn’t play the piano for us this time, but did show us a very fine violin that he had restored back in Berlin by Norbert Lessard.
Henry also gave us a tour of the house we could have rented a couple of doors down. It also was a thumbs up! Another Berlin couple will be renting it for a couple of months. (Wally Anctil) Boy it’s getting to be a small world!
We left Henry and Jeanette around five this evening. We are staying at another Cracker Barrel tonight. This even has a live jamb session on the front porch with all those rocking chairs.

That is what we did and saw!

 

Apollo Beach… More Visits

January 26, 2014


Busy morning at MacDill AFB starting with breakfast, shower, shave, packing the camper, signing out, filling up with fresh water and emptying the holding tanks. A trip across the base for church, followed by a trip to the commissary for food. One final trip to the class six for a case of beer and off base we went by 12 pm. Destination was Apollo Beach to visit Helen’s classmate Betty and her husband Bob Russell. Last year we had visited the Manatees at the power plant that is just two miles from their house. I had no problems finding their home. We had a good visit with them. They live in a nice community. Bob and Betty are both retired school teachers from the North Conway area of New Hampshire. Bob is a great sports guy with many stories to recount. He is a tall fellow and naturally coached basketball for many years. Betty, I think was a math teacher. In any case, it is always a pleasure to sit and talk to the both of them.



Betty, Bob and Helen

Next on the list of visits was Jeanette Lozier who lives a short distance down in Venice. We called and Jeanette had plans, but we will contact her tomorrow morning and meet.

The weather today was cloudy, but considerably warmer, even now at 8:30 pm it is still 64 degrees. Every inch that we move south improves the temperature by a few degrees. Whoopee!

I called Rod Legendre tonight and we will be seeing him and Pam tomorrow afternoon. He also lives here on the outskirts Venice bordering North Port. We are looking forward to tomorrow’s visits

That is what we did and saw!



From Visits to Adventure! The Gasparilla Parade

January 25, 2014
From my last blog you know that we were parked in MacDill Air Force Base at the Famcamp RV Campground. Our plan for today was to try and get to the Gasparilla Pirate Parade. When registering for the campsite, we overheard someone asking if there was any room on the bus for the parade. “No,” said the attendant. I asked, "What time does the bus leave for the parade"? She said, “9 am, you can show up and see if someone cancels”. We did just that and someone canceled. Off we went to the parade. Now ,let me give a brief description of this parade. It is the country’s third largest parade. There are an estimated 300,000 people in attendance. It is a pirate theme parade. One hundred eight floats parading 5-1/2 miles long down Bay Boulevard... two and a half hours. Hundreds of marchers throwing bead necklaces at the crowds. Everybody winds up with a large handful (neck full). It seems that drinking is allowed and the marchers are somewhat inebriated not to mention the crowd. It was hard not to photograph the girls in their pirate costumes. I’m sure by tonight the whole regalia won’t  be feeling any pain, but they will tomorrow morning. The weather turned out to be just right and we both got a little color on our skin. The shuttle bus drivers were with us and we were back home around five thirty. Today was a change of pace and tonight will be a short one as the day’s activity was fun, but tiring. The pillow will feel good tonight!
That is what we did saw!

Central Florida…Visits! Family and Friends

January 22, 2014



Bill, Helen, Bob, Georgette and Rita

Me, Helen and Larry Pellerin

Another night at Cracker Barrel Campground restaurant parking lot. It was a little too late to make it over to my cousin Larry Pellerin, hence the parking lot. That was last night, but this morning, it was only a short hop to Winter Springs. We arrived around 7:30 am and backed into Larry’s driveway. We could see a light in the kitchen, but Larry wasn’t in sight. We didn’t want to ring the door bell and retreated to the camper. A few minutes later, I spotted Larry looking out of the blinds. We soon were talking and having a good family reunion. The list of people that we wanted to check-in with was lengthy in this vicinity. We left Larry in Winter Springs and drove a short distance to Leesburg. Bob and Georgette, from Gorham, NH, (Georgette is Helen’s cousin) were next on the list. Luckily, we were able to visit with them and also with Rita (another cousin) and Bill. They all live in the five lakes region in Leesburg and  Umatilla. It is always good to meet up with them and get caught up on family news. We spent the night in the truck camper down next to the club house. Not to say that Georgette didn’t offer for us to stay in their home. We make it a point to stay in our home away from home.

January 23, 2014

The weather this morning was cold by Florida standards. I had 39 degrees outside and 69 degrees inside at wakeup time. I cranked up the thermostat a bit and in less than two minutes it was a toasty 73 degrees. Helen had hot oatmeal, brown sugar, bananas and hot coffee going in no time. The cold weather was making our planned visit go quicker than we wanted to.  Staying inside, that is, instead of heading for Homosassa and  a visit with Roland and Cindy Viens. We headed south for Brooksville and a visit with Henry Coulombe (a former neighbor back in Berlin, NH). Roland and Cindy were expecting us on Saturday. Henry on the other hand was free and told us to come on down. Henry always has plenty to talk about and can make you feel comfortable and at home. His three cats have different characters and kept us amused with there antics. Helen prepared lunch for the three of us. We had brought down some “Blanchette  Sausage” a specialty sausage from back home. Henry was happy with the treat.

It warmed up a bit in the afternoon and a walk around the pond helped stretch those legs. No alligators were spotted, but we did see several species of birds. I’ll have to get my bird book out to identify them. I took an afternoon siesta that made my day. In the evening, Henry drove us to restaurant for an evening meal.
January 24, 2014
This morning, I had 41 degrees outside of the truck camper. The wind was blowing a bit and again it felt raw. Ah, but not as raw as Berlin, NH with a minus 15 below. Helen and I decided to travel up to Homosassa and check-in with Roland and Cindy. (Roland is the Superintendent of the Berlin Water Works which I am Chairperson of the BWW Commissioners). We drove into their compound just as they were getting ready to leave for the day on a boating trip. Roland offered me to tag along on the trip up some river, but I declined as it was too cold for my liking. He also invited us to stay at their rented house, but again we declined. It was time head further south and possibly warmer temperatures.
MacDill Air Force Base on the edge of Tampa Bay was our final destination for the day. A note here about distances…Brooksville to Homosassa is about 30 miles, Homosassa to MacDill is about 78 miles. All in all we weren’t traveling long distances. At MacDill, check-in was quick. Of course, this place is always full when it comes to the full hookup sites. It was no problem for us to dry camp and use our new Honda  2000 generator. We parked close to the restrooms. The Marina just 300 feet was next on our walk around the park. We were surprised that the camper recreation room was now filled with all of kinds rental equipment. The attendant told us that the Fam Camp registration building was going to be torn down and a new facility would be built. It was going to take three years to finish the new site. It is going to be a wonderful place when done.
It was now 63 degrees and warm enough for a walk on the beach. We spotted this guy with a Mine Lab metal detector and had an interesting conversation about his finds on the beach. On course, the birds were also fun to watch and see how close we could walk up to them before they would scatter.
This evening we are resting and recharging our batteries along with our bodies. Oh, Helen must have a fully charged body because she is reconfiguring a good portion of all of the cabinets. I’m amazed on how much stuff she can put away in different places.

That’s what we did and saw!

Saying Good-bye to an old “Buddy”L

January 21, 2014

During the night, we heard a loud speaker a couple times. We couldn’t figure out exactly what was said. We both got up early as usual and showered at the club house. It was around 6:45 am, when I heard the loud speaker again. It was coming from one of the Navy ships. 

Cruiser or Destroyer?

They were getting ready for a voyage out to sea. I quickly grabbed my Nikon and was able to catch the cruiser, at least I think it was a Navy cruiser heading out. Maybe some of you Navy guys can tell me the difference. I know the cruiser is bigger, but this ship was definitely bigger than those WWII tin can destroyers.

St Augustine

Our departure from Navy Station Mayport was around 9:30. A stop at the Post Office, the propane refilling station and our first re-supply of food at the commissary actually made our departure around 11:30 am. Instead of heading down I-95, we drove one of America’s Scenic Byways along route A1A towards St Augustine. This route brought us to secluded high end residential homes with manicured lawns, live oak trees that have survived years of weather from the Atlantic. Further down, the road was straight as an arrow with tall grass on one side with, I believe, man made barrier on the other. We pulled into St Augustine around 1 pm. We had been here before and knew exactly where the free RV/Bus parking was located. It sure is nice to be able to park and take a fifteen minute nap in the camper.


Lucien, Elsie, Helen and
Peanut on the table

St Augustine is geared to the tourists, but it’s still fun to walk St George Street (closed to vehicles) and checkout the artists and their clever ideas on crafts. We also took a minute to go into the Minor Catholic Basilica. For a building that was originally built in 1575, it is in remarkable condition. We lost track of  time and it was getting late for one last destination. 
One of my former National Guard buddies, whom I had gone to Alaska with, passed away last November here in Florida. I wanted to touch  basses with his wife. Elsie lives in Deltona. We made it to her house in early evening and she graciously talked to us about Roland (Peanut) Dresser’s life as it drew to an end. Peanut was a small guy in size, but a giant of a man. He always was there for the National Guard Ammo section, of which he was a part of. We thanked Elsie for meeting with us and soon we were rolling down the road. We hoped to make it to my cousin’s home in Winter Springs, but we figured it would be too late and decided to camp for the night at our favorite Crackle Barrel Campground Restaurant.

That is what we did and saw.

Florida…The Promise Land! Sun, Sun, Sun!

January 20, 2014
This morning we packed up the camper and headed for a quick trip over to Savanna for a quick look at those charming 22 squares (gardens) in the old section of town.

The word between our
heads says it all! "Sunshine"

To get there, we had to drive five miles on base to the main gate only to find it locked shut with no one around. Martin Luther holiday was the occasion. We couldn’t get off base from the main gate. A five mile U-turn took us back to the gate next to the RV campground. Remember the old adage. “The truck camper is like a canoe going down a river without paddles”. It didn’t want us to go there, so we headed south to Jacksonville and the Navy base at Mayport, Florida. When we crossed into the “Promised Land” meaning the sunshine state, we weren’t disappointed. We stopped at the first visitor center and couldn’t resist taking a ‘'selfy” picture.

I relied on my navigation software to guide us to the Navy base. Oddly enough, I could see that we were headed towards the wrong side of the St Johns River. I knew that no bridge existed over the river, as super sized ships navigate into port. I nearly turned around, but the GPS said only three miles to the base.

Navy Sunset!

I figured, if anything else, I could get a picture of the base from a different vantage. Ah, soon there was a sign indicating “St Johns River Ferry”. I was trying to figure how much it would cost. The digital readout sign was scrolling too fast. Trucks under 20 feet were $10 plus $1 for passenger. Trucks over 20 feet were $20 bucks. You pay on board, so it was kind of hard to figure. The truck camper was inline and what ever it cost we were committed. The attendant came over and swiped my credit card on his reader. I said, “how much?” he said “$6 bucks” thank you. It was well worth $6 or even $21 dollars to avoid the dense city traffic in and around Jacksonville.

The ferry ride was only a five or so minutes across. We were parked second vehicle towards the front. Approaching the docking area, I noticed that the ferry was not inline and the captain revved the engines to correct. Over the loud speakers, he announced that we might have

 

to go around again. He then announced, “Prepare for a bump and motorcycles secure your bikes!” He somehow managed to guide the ferry into the docking area. It was our first time ever to be in a broadside approach to docking and we’ve been on a lot of ferries including crossing the mighty swift running Yukon river. Adventure always seems to find us. I guess I call it adventure verses disaster.

Mayport Naval Base is about three miles from the ferry. We drove into the RV campground and there were sites available. This campground is located right on the waterfront in the Navy yard. We were fortunate enough to watch several ships go in and out of port…from a cruise ship… a ship that had railroad cars on it… to a Navy destroyer, were all in our view from our truck camper. We took and evening walk around the park and captured several orange to red sunset photos. We stopped into the clubhouse for a cup of decaf coffee and chat with fellow campers. One of them also writes a blog and had just come back from touring Europe with there camper. That’s right they had there camper shipped there and toured the continent for eight months! We are supposed to exchange blog addresses later.

 

That’s what we did and saw!