Happy Halloween

We have been seeing this grass along the roadways and I finally got a picture of it.

This morning we visited the Florida Showcase of  Citrus.  We saw this cat as we were walking through the different displays.  He was so intent on sleeping that he never knew we were taking a picture of him.  At first I thought he was stuffed because he was so quiet.  This is a picture of total relaxation.

This was a neat place to visit, a must for every visitor to Florida.  Besides selling oranges and other locally made food items, you could take an airboat ride or a 4x4 ride through the marshes of the area.  We opted out of either because it is just too hot!

On the way back to the camp, we took a drive to the picnic area of the park.  We came across this beautiful grove of moss-draped live oak.  This one was huge.

One of the many orange groves in this area.

This morning we received pictures from Kara, Jason, and Hunter of the snow Central Illinois received overnight.  I think it was about an inch.  I had to take a picture of Carol and our campsite to show the kind of  day we were having.  The temperature got up to 93.

We saw this park sign and around another corner or two we came across the turtle below.  It was very big and walking across the road in front of us.

This is a gopher tortoise.  Adults are a foot long and may live up to 60 years.  They have flattened front legs that are used for digging burrows  The burrows can be up to 40 feet long and 10 feet deep.  

After lunch we drove on US 27 South to check out some RV parks for our next trip down to John's.  We found one that is less than 30 minutes from them and will probably stay there the next time we are visiting them.  We love camping at Lake Louise but it is an hour away from John and we need to be closer to save us and them so much travel time.  We arrived at John's for supper and some Halloween fun.  This is the pumpkin that John was carving when we left last night.

A church close to John was having a Trunk or Treat so we walked over for the kids to do some trick or treating.  Linda's niece Jessica and two of her three kids went with us.

It was a nice night for being in Halloween costumes.

A final family picture before we all say our goodbyes.

We are all in the Halloween Spirit.

A couple of final thoughts before we leave this area.  For the last eight days we have been driving up and down US 27 through what we thought was a large city.  There are housing developments, gas stations, too many restaurants to name, Walmarts, Publix, Lowes, and almost any other type of store you could name.  The traffic is horrific.  If you look on the map at US27 from the Florida Turnpike south to I-4, you will not find one city shown. It looks like a road through the country. This whole area is unincorporated.   It is not a city.  It is not a suburb of a city.  It is known as the Four Corners area because it encompasses the corners of four counties but it is not a city.  I wonder who is collecting and using all the tax revenue that is being generated in this area.  It borders Disney World so millions of people come to this area.  This is a very unique situation.

The other final thought concerns the power outage we experienced.  We found out when we were filling the car with gas that the whole area south of that station was involved in the outage.  The clerk thought there must have been a couple of transformers involved because he saw a huge semi with two transformers headed that way.  Not only we in our campers were without power but lots of people in huge houses had joined us.  I am so thankful that it was a power outage and not something wrong with the motorhome!

One final comment.  Sandy has been having a rough time physically this trip.  She fell as she was climbing the steps into the camper and has been struggling ever since.  We found something for her joints and hips and it seems to be helping and we bought a ramp to help her get into the RV.  As you can see from the picture, she looks happy and content.  We are so glad.  She is so much perkier and alert.

Tomorrow we pack up and leave this area.  It has been a busy eight days.  We are hoping for cooler temperatures at some point!

Here and There

This morning we drove to Highway 192 that goes into Disney to shop some of the tourist shops.  All of them have Disney and Orlando merchandise.  I think the Disney stuff must be last year's stuff.  I brought a sweatshirt with a tag showing it was for Mickey's 80 anniversary which would have been 2018.  The good thing was that it was half priced and I don't care when it was produced.  

We discovered with the second shop that they all carry basically the same merchandise.

We ate lunch at Cici's Pizza.  We had one in Decatur at which we liked to eat but it closed. After shopping and lunch, we returned to camp to relax (nap) and be with Sandy. At 4:00 p.m. we left for John's.  More good conversation and supper.

John said he loved Halloween so he and the kids carved their pumpkin.

I don't think Aidan and Katie enjoyed cleaning out the pumpkin.

Linda's part was to draw the face on the pumpkin.  We left before John finished carving the face.  They are hosting a dual-family Halloween party so we will see the finished product then.

Family pictures before we left.   We sure do love these two!!

Disney Springs

We took our time getting ready to leave for Disney Springs.  I did a load of laundry and had to do yesterdays blog.    We found out that most stores at Disney Springs do not open until 10:30 am. so we had plenty of time.

John and Linda told us about a new means of  transportation between some of the parks and resorts.  This is it.  It looks like a relaxing way to travel.  We will have to try it out when we come back next year.

This is a Disney car that is used to transport handicapped visitors

A Disney water park.  On a hot day like today, I am sure it is busy.  We saw one thermometer that read 93.  I can't believe it is 93 in late October.  Most Floridians can't believe it either.  They are ready for cooler weather.

There is a big Lego store at Disney Springs.  I am always amazed at the life-size chaaracters that are built from Legos.

We ate lunch at the Chicken Guy.   It is a restaurant owned by Guy Fieri the Food Network guy.  It was very good  They only serve chicken.  It was the first time I have ever seen Carol purchase a chicken sandwich  He said it was very good;

Luke Skywalker and R2D2.

The Springs was decorated for the fall season.

Four years ago when we were here, this place was so busy that you cold hardly walk.  Today was a much different story.  Not only could we walk but we could find places to sit (which we did frequently).  It was so hot that several times we had to find a shady place to rest.

We left Disney Springs and drove by Fort Wilderness  We have reservations there for September, 2020.  We wanted to see the parking situation for extra cars and car dollies.  There was a big parking lot that will easily accommodate our needs. We didn't realize that Walt Disney World has a complete road system that you can drive on without entering any of the parks and resorts.  This trip we have been on several of those roads.  Next year we should be able to get to Fort Wilderness very easily.

We were out of the park by 3:30 and on our way to John and Family.  Enjoyed another evening of conversation and supper.  I also did a load of laundry. 

Back to camp at 8:15.  Sandy was happy to see us.  We walked her and fed her and as soon as I get this blog done, off to bed we go.  Hopefully, we don't have a repeat of last night and we all get a good night's rest.

A Visit with Friends: Jim and Karen Peyton

This morning we drove to Inverness, Florida to visit our friends, Jim and Karen Peyton.   Jim and Karen went to FBC MTZ and we have been friends for at least 35 years.   They moved from Mt. Zion to Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, and finally retired to Florida.  We spent the day enjoying good conversation, catching up about our kids/gtandkids/great grandkids, eating lunch, and taking the grand tour of Inverness.  They are good ambassadors for Florida and Inverness.  They love it here and I would agree that this part of Florida is very pretty....but it is hot and humid!

I took this on the drive to Inverness.  It is a town named "Floral City."  This moss-covered, tree-lined highway goes on for nearly one mile.  It was very beautiful and fortunately for us, we got to drive back through it on the way back to camp.

This is the old courthouse of Inverness.  It is now a museum.  Jim told us that scenes from the Elvis movie "Follow that Dream" were filmed in Inverness and this courthouse.  They have an old movie theater that only shows older movies and "Follow that Dream" is occasionally played there.  They were showing "Bridge on the River Kwai" on this day.

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This is Jim and Karen's home.  It is very beautiful and a typical Florida-style house.  It did rain there while we were inside but no rain on the drive back to camp.  Sadly, we had to say goodbye but since John and Family now lives in Florida, we look forward to more visits with Jim and Karen.

We got back to camp around 7:30, walked and fed Sandy, and I began to work on my blog.  Another MTZ FBC friend, Sheila Burrell, called me so I left the blog and Sheila and I talked.  While I was talking to her, I could see that Carol was messing with the radio and a small fan that we use to circulate air.  Once off the phone, I realized that the radio and fan were not working along with all the outlets in the RV.  First we checked all the fuses.  They were all okay.  Then we noticed that the air was not running and the box that shows what amp service we are using was off.   We had lights but they must be running on the house batteries.  We went outside to check the electric pole and saw the surge protector wasn't lit up.  Was there something wrong with our connection or the pole itself? 

Carol took the small fan and plugged it into the electric pole and the campsite pole next to us.  Neither worked.  We walked down the the bathroom and discovered no power there.  It must be the whole camp.  It was dark and we could hear a few generator working,  We had never used our generator and really weren't sure how to use it or if  it would work.  He got the generator running but when he switched it to run the RV, it was sputter and stop.  So much for that.  About that time, John texted me to see how the day went and we told him about our problems.  He said that "random power outages" occur.  I guess we were experiencing "random" outages.  We opened all the windows and began a restless night.  We left the small fan on hoping the power would return.  At 4:00 the fan began to blow so we knew we had power.  We were so glad.

It was a not so fun end to what had been a very nice day.  Needless to say, I am completing my blog from yesterday this morning.  We are going to Disney Springs today and then to John's for a while this afternoon/evening.  We found out that Disney Springs does not open until 10:30 so we are just relaxing this morning.

Rest for the Weary

This was the sunrise that greeted us this morning. 

We had planned to stop at Walmart last night for some groceries but were too tired so we went this morning.  This was the sunrise.  I think this was saying to us:  "Get up.  I have another hot and humid day for you.:"  That was true.  John and Family came to the RV today for lunch.  We sat outside until noon and lunchtime.  It wasn't too bad in the shade.   After they left, we both took a much needed nap.  When we took Sandy for her walk, it was hot and humid.  John says that is the forecast for the rest of the week.

Tomorrow we won't see the kids.  We are going to visit Jim and Karen Peyton. They live about an hour and a half from here.  We are looking forward to seeing them again.