Merry Christmas & Happy New Year !!
Finally recovered from Christmas dinner and now in training for New Years Eve fun. We had a tasty Christmas dinner and were joined by several people in the RV park. Nice background music and everyone had a great gab session. We were all together last week out on the dock to watch the Boat Parade. Definitely something we wouldn't do back in Michigan. It's nice to see all the decorated boats with festive lighting slowly cruise by and everyone was singing Christmas carols. It was fun watching us all trying to remember all the words of "12 days of Christmas".
The plan for New Years Eve is to hang out at the Olde Fish House and enjoy the entertainment. Those folks always have musical entertainment and great food.
Our weather on Matlacha Island has been about the best in the USA. Most days have been in the 70's and sunny. Reading and hearing the weather reports around the country make us glad about our decision to return here. We've even had some 80's bless us.
Holy Mackeral did we get a bunch of Mackeral!
Our friend Bruce gave us a big bucket full after his successful fishing day! Took about an hour to fillet them and ended up with 3 gallon freezer bags full of 'em. We froze them and are stocking up for a fish fry. If we get 1 more batch like that we'll pick a date. I like the fact that they fillet as easy as a walleye and have a lot of meat on them.
We hope ya'll have a HAPPY NEW YEAR.
REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!
Charlie & Heather
I originally got the idea to blog about our travels by reading some blogs that I found out from a site called http://hitchitch.com . After seeing how this would make an easy way to log something about our travels and adventures and a way for some friends & family to keep abreast of our whereabouts I decided a few years ago to try it. I used to keep a logbook at our hunting trailer and on my boat and I still lug them around with us and enjoy taking a peek at them once in awhile.Lots of great memories. Some of the kids that wrote tidbits in them are parents and a few are becoming grandparents. I'm able to keep up with them via facebook and e-mail. Amazing how fast time flies. That's one of the reasons I end our blog as I do each and every time.
I follow OFM (Old Fat Man) & Billy Bob's Travels and other blogs as I enjoy their travel stories. Of course the bloggers that are sponsored via"hitchitch" are many and sometimes I just use the "auto" feature to introduce a new and different blogger to my collection.
I think all of us in SW Florida are the only travelers not being bothered with cold/cooler weather. Some travelers are putting up with some damn serious cold weather. Enough to keep them holed up inside their rigs for days on end. Doesn't sound like any fun to me! Of course it's expensive to be running a furnace all the time and electric heaters are only effective to take a chill out of the air in our RV's.
I hope you and yours are as comfortable as a "bug in a rug" and that mother nature is kind to your area.
REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY!!
Charlie & Heather
Special day here on the Island ! Our ship came in !! Captain Mike's trawler docked tonight after 5 days of fishing. We saw him coming up the channel about 5PM so we wandered over to his dock to see how the shrimping had gone. Loaded up with some prongs and chit chatted a bit with him. By the time we all walked back to our park it was dark. Our friend, Paul, decided we needed to sample some shrimp so we sat on his deck and drank some beers while he cooked some up. It was well worth the wait...fresh shrimp--YUMMY !!
As I follow the weather around the country, on the news and via blogs, I am really glad to be here in SW Florida ! Seems everyone is putting up with chilly temperatures while we are turning our AC on by 11 AM. It was near 80F today by noon.
Is it only me that reads the news and am flabbergasted by the stories about all the rude shoppers? Makes me glad we stopped that madness years ago. I'd rather cook meals for my friends instead of giving them useless junk!
I hope none of you experience any of the bad luck or insanity I've been reading about.
REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !
Charlie &Heather
11-19-13..Decided this morning to move over to our winter "home". So by 1200 were recamped on Matlacha Island. The sight of the drawbridge and our RV Park put a smile on our faces .
No sooner than us backing into our site we had hugs and handshakes and smilin' faces all around. The wonderful smell of salty air and a warm breeze was a sure sign of peacefulness.
We spent a good part of the afternoon gabbing with everyone and getting caught up on "Island Times". After 8000+ mls over the last several months it feels good to be parked for awhile. There are still a few more families to arrive, probably after the Holidays. Of course we all had to go down the street to The Olde Fish House as they had some good music going on and we had to see if the beer was cold. I'm glad to report that it was !!
First order of business was to get our live bait box up and running. Our pump was all gummed up and wasn't running so used the warranty and replaced it. It's doing its thing now and the shrimp bait is happy. Fishing gear is all set up and a new Florida Fishing License has been procured. Thanx to our friend Paul
, we are again able to have a bait source.
I think I'm gonna figure out some kinda fire pit so we can have bonfires.
Thanksgiving Day we all got together and had a feast. As usual it was delicious. A special thanx to Carl for his culinary skills and all that donated food. "Hooter Brown" even got in the holiday mood.
I setup my sound system and had traditional holiday music going all day. Glad to know it survived months in storage. We were going to do a karaoke show in the evening but it cooled off about 6PM and the wind picked up so we decided to call it a night. There's always next week.
I needed a new drill but didn't want to experience the shopping madness over the Holiday weekend. On Monday we ventured out and did some shopping and made a stop at Lowes. Found a nice cordless drill set on sale. I'll be glad to retire the old set as I've had it for years and the batteries are done.
Heather and I are getting our winter routine tuned up, she's been able to sit out in the sun and work on her crafts. Watching the weather up North and saying we're glad we're not putting up with the cold. Seems that winter has arrived early up there. A couple of the cold fronts have even gotten into upper Florida. We've had a few cooler nights but nothing below 47F.
Seems that December has arrived rather quickly. It feels like we were just in Montana few weeks ago!
Hope everyone had a good turkey day.
REMEMBER, LIVEYOUR DREAMS AS TME GOES BY QUICKLY !!
Charlie&Heather
11-18 Camp#74..Arrived at, our friend, Daniel's house about 1400 in Fort Meyers, Fl... I-75 traffic was not too bad but as we approached our exit it definitely got heavier. I hate city drivers. Since we stopped and did all our shopping and gas fill up enrt we didn't have to fight traffic for that in the city. After handshakes and hugs we ordered pizzas and gabbed til about 2200 and even set up karaoke and had a good time singing. Daniel had a nice level yard to park in. Only stayed 1 night as we needed to get planted on Matlacha Island and get some FHU's.
11-19 Camp#75..Yahooo!! Finally at our winter camp!! On Matlacha Island about 1200. Nice to see the new drawbridge work is completed and the island approach is an easy drive without all the construction barrels to dodge like last year.
Greated with hugs and handshakes, so very nice to return to our "winter home". Carl, our friend and park manager, was all grins and helped us get backed into our spot. Only took a short amount of time to get all hooked up and start enjoying "Island Time". Had a lot of park residents stop over and welcome us back. Went to our favorite watering hole, The Old Fish House and had happy hour and musical entertainment for a couple hours.
The nice thing about setting up for winter is the decompression we go thru knowing we can settle in and relax completely for a few months. As most bloggers do, I'll probably only blog on a limited basis. It's easier when we travel, to blog, because of new adventures.
Got the live bait box going the next morning and loaded it with shrimp. Got some fishing to do, ya know!
Oh-Oh !! The bait box pump quit the next morning!! BUT....Had a warranty :) !! Off to Northern tools for a no questions asked warranty exchange..Had the new pump working quickly and reloaded some shrimp bait by noon!
11-22 Been puttering with setting up a BBQ grill and making plans for Thanksgiving. Me thinks a smoked turkey and ham are in order. Gonna print out invites and start telling everyone the party is on!! Went out tonight to see Mulletville, our old stomping ground. The original owner just got it back. Great munchies and cold beer, again, as it used to be! Then we all went across the street to the Olde Fish House and enjoyed some great music!
REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY!
Charlie & Heather
Why is it that I'm always surprised with how fast time flies when we're mobile? Last blog was the 11th and look at the date now!
Most of our check out times are around 1000 and arrivals by 1400. Don't want to overdue it ! Of course ya gotta celebrate every "landing", if'n ya know what I mean !! :)
11-12 Camp#70 Chiefland, Fl. @ Chiefland RV for 2 days. $35 for 2 days.
11-14 Camp#71 Homosassa, Fl. at Homosassa RV for 1 day $22. Couldn't get into our favorite RV Park but ended up across the street and so we walked over to enjoy the pub.
When we left Homosassa we made a stop in Spring Hill, Fl. at our favorite repair depot, Harolds . Got oil & lube done and had a new carburator installed that I ordered from National Carburator a month ago. WOW, what a difference in performance and gas mileage!
11-15 Camp#72 Suncoast RV in Port Richie, Fl. 2 nites $48. nice park, we'd go back again. Pool was 85F but the rain dissuaded us. They had a recreation center with a pool table so I let Heather beat me up!!
That brings us to today. 11-17 Camp#73 @ Sun Lake RV in Ruskin, Fl. for 1 day. Nice smaller park with a pool. $23..cbl is lousy.
The plan is to head to Fort Meyers and moochcamp at our friend, Daniel's, place for a few days. Then we will head to "ISLAND TIME" for most of the winter.
Sure do enjoy having our own Wi-Fi with us. This Verizon Mi-Fi has really been so consistently reliable that we hardly ever use any RV park's Wi-Fi. It's faster even when we're parked next to a park antenna. For $50 per month for 5 Gigs it's a great deal!
Still lovin' the full time lifestyle and meeting so many nice folks and seeing so many interesting areas of our good old USA!
Hope everyone is having as good a life as we are.
REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!
Charlie & Heather.
Pulled out of Magic River CG in Long Beach, Ms. about 1030 and drove 150mls to Fort Pickens in Florida. Oh-Oh, all filled up! Found an RV park in Gulf Shores. Since it was dusk we bit the bullet and did a one nighter for $65. (ouch, highest price this year) Nice park but wayyyy overpriced. Outa there next morning and headed South to Mexico City, Fl., Rustic Sands RV Resort (PA park $20). Re camped by 1500hrs. They have entertainment tonite with $1 beers!! Hmmm..better stay 2 days!! LOL . Fun park.Heated pool too.
Short post today. Got get in a geezer nap before the fun begins.
