Visit With Friends In Beautiful Tampa

Seffner, FL (62 degrees, blue skies, windy)

 

I love palm trees!  It just made my heart sing as we started seeing more and more of them.  The weather has been windy & chilly due to the hurricane weather changes, but the sky is blue.  Life is good and we are far away from Sandy’s destruction.

 

We stayed at Lazy Days Campground in Seffner for three nights.  It’s expensive but the location worked well for us.  We wanted to see Karen and Al.  They are blogging friends (be sure to check out their blog especially if you like to kayak) that we met up with two years ago just after they sold their “sticks and bricks” in Georgia.  We got together  twice and it was fun to catch up with each others adventures.  Our friendship quickly took off again.  It was just like we’d seen them yesterday.  Al had just had sinus surgery and we were grateful he still felt like getting together. 

 

We did some shopping at the Camping World at Lazy Days and found a few cool items on sale.  I especially liked the light weight micro flannel blankets.  It will replace our down comforter.  We tried it last night and it works perfectly. 

 

We also met up with our friends Jean and Dick.  Jean and I used to work together at a hospital in Indianapolis.  She recently retired and has moved to Tampa to be with Dick.  Jean cooked us  a delicious brunch at their lovely home.  We had not met Dick before but instantly liked him.  We are so happy for them and glad they are so happy together.

 

 

 

We checked out the MacDill Air Force base.  It’s one of our favorite military campgrounds.  It looked great and is starting to fill up for the winter.  The beach side restaurant had a live band and it was fun to sit out and enjoy the sunset. 

 

We are now on our way to Port Charlotte for two months.  We’ll be working as my brother calls as  “one of those annoying kiosk people”.

 

It’s with the company Slippermania and we’ll be selling sport memorabilia at the shopping mall.  The items are great for stocking stuffer  This is a new type of “gig” for us.  Check back soon for more details. 

Getting Out Of Harms Way–Sandy Is One Wacky Hurricane

Lake City, FL (86 degrees, humid, grey skies)

 

 

We stayed in Charleston, S.C. for just a short time.  The hurricane Sandy quickly changed our plans. Having a home on wheels sure comes in handy and driving along the east coast did not seem like a very good idea.  John always says our plans are in jello – there is lots of wiggle room. 

 

 

Foster Creek RV Park (near Charleston, SC)

 

A couple of days ago we stayed at a military navy campground near Charleston called Foster Creek RV Park.  It is well maintained and quiet.  However, there are only ten  sites and reservations are highly recommended.  There are other sites but these are used for folks staying for extended stays. 

 

This has caused a lot of controversy  with  the military campground community since the original intent was for the campgrounds to used for recreation not for what is called homesteading.  It is up to the commander of each base to make this decision. 

 

We also checked out the Air Force FAM camp.  Two years ago it was under construction and we were amazed at how nice it looks now. 

 

Charleston Air Force FAM camp

The sites were all very level and nicely paved.  It is very shady and satellite would most likely be impossible.  We will probably stay there next time.  This campground is located on the base. 

We have satellite TV again.  :) During our stay at Watkins Glen the trees blocked our ability to get a signal.  We really missed being able to watch programs at our leisure and especially liked being able to zip through all the commercials.  Right now avoiding all the political commercials is a real plus. 

 

As soon as we left New York we called Dish to set it up again. Shortly later we found out our DVR had a hard drive failure.  Sheesh.  They sent a new one  to a UPS Store in Charleston for pick up. After we arrived John spent a few hours getting it set up again. We are happy TV watchers again. 

We had a nice reunion with someone we met at Buckhall National Forest two years ago.  This is a lovely campground near Charleston that we highly recommend.  During our last visit Cheryl and her sister and brother in law (Bliss and Eddie) took us on a wonderful tour of the island (Isle of Palms) where they grew up, Sullivan Island,  and Mt. Pleasant.  We laugh and say they kidnapped us for the day  but it was a really memorable day.  We've kept in touch and met today for breakfast with Cheryl.  Unfortunately, Bliss and Eddie were out of town.  These special moments are priceless.  Here is a link to our original visit. 

 

We listened to the news this morning and decided to change our plans and route to Port Charlotte, Florida.  Moving inland seemed to be a good idea.  It was a long travel day for us but we are now safe and sound in Lake City, Florida at a Passport America campground called Oaks and Pines RV Park.  It’s a convenient campground and very crowded tonight.  I guess a few other folks had the same idea. 

 

Oaks & Pines RV Park (Lake City, FL)

 

Tomorrow we will watch the hurricanes progress and decide whether to hunker down another day or go towards Tampa.  Stay safe.  Our prayers and thoughts go out to all that may be affected by this hurricane.