We are still alive and kicking

It has been a while since I’ve done a post, so I thought it would be a good idea to bring you up to date.

Last week I was in Chicago visiting my daughter and son-in-law and their first born son, Luke.

Baby Luke, Brad and Jennifer make a nice family.

And, while I was in the Windy City, Sandy had a close friend spend 4 days with her in Salt Springs.  Kate Stratman (on left)  and Sandy are kayaking in Blue Springs, where there are lots of manatees and other wildlife.

And below is a photo of our son, Jamison, holding Oscar.  Jamison, Jane and Oscar live in New York.  We plan to visit them this summer.

The weather is definitely getting warmer here in central Florida with afternoon highs reaching the 80s on occasion.  Warm temperatures have brought out the Red Bud and other flowering trees and shrubs.

While we were out walking yesterday we bumped into new friends Greg and Holly, who live in Wisconsin and are camp hosts and volunteers here at the park. 

In addition to being a great couple these two are dedicated to their job.  They go way above and beyond the few hours they are required to put in.

They have personally taken it upon themselves to clean up an overgrown and neglected area of the campground into a pleasant place to be.

This is the “after” photo of an area at least two acres in size that fronts along a canal.  It has been transformed into a beautiful and inviting part of the campground. Greg and Holly have done this all on their own time.  Sandy has been rewarding them with cookies and scones. 

The other night while watching TV in the living room the picture suddenly disappeared.  No warning.  After several attempts to revive it, we determined that it was dead.

Replacing a TV in a motorhome is not a slam dunk. The old TV fit nicely inside of a custom cabinet.  I could have found a small TV to fit inside, but it would have required more woodworking skills and tools than I have.  So we decided the best approach is to hang a flat panel TV over the opening.  The TV and the wall mount are on order and should both arrive on Monday.  I hope to have it installed by Tuesday.

During today’s walk we came across this white egret who is a good buddy to local fisherman who toss him some of the fish that are too small to keep.  We, sadly, did not have anything for him.

Originally, we had planned to leave from here on April 1, but Sandy is getting some dental work done that is going to take longer than anticipated.

Stay tuned.

Glad to be in Florida

When we were living in northern, Illinois for so many years, the ability to be in Florida in winter was something that other people got to do.  And those other people were usually "older."  Life has swung full circle and now we are the "older people" staying in Florida while family and friends in Illinois endure a genuine blizzard with winds nearing 50mph, temperatures plummeting to near zero and snow accumulating to as much as 19 inches.  Yikes!
For the past two weeks or so I've twice been replacing the one last part on our slide room mechanism that will get everything back in perfect working order.  Yesterday I ordered what I hope is the real final part to solve the issues that keep cropping up.  Here are a couple of photos of some of the stuff I've been working on.  I get good advice from my Foretravel friends and I am not paying $110/hour to a tech who, frankly, can't do what I am doing any better than I am doing it.  But his body doesn't hurt as much as mine does at the end of the day. I have to crawl into a storage bay and work on my back and reach overhead to do the work.  Whine, whine.
Here are a couple of photos of the parts I am dealing with.  I won’t get into details as I don’t want to put you to sleep.



Here is a photo of where we are parked in the Salt Springs Recreation Area.
From time to time while walking around the campground we can hear sounds coming from the many amateur musicians  that play guitar, dulcimer, harmonica and banjo – and possibly other instruments.
  Last night I went to The Barn, the activities building, to hear the “Salt Springs Pickers.”  I really did not know what to expect.  Some of it was really good and some was pretty bad.  I liked the picking much more than the singing.  Some of the tunes played are probably from the late 18th and early 19th centuries and included: The Bed By The Window;  Too Old To Die, and a 20th Century song called Double Wide Trailer.

I have always loved banjo music and to hear a banjo/guitar combination with the complex blending of notes was really a treat.


I took the above picture with my little point and shoot pocket-size Canon camera. My favorite camera has developed a problem with the zoom feature so I sent it off to Canon today. Amazingly, the repair facility is in Elk Grove Village, IL where Mother Nature is busy creating all sorts of photo ops as I type.
Tomorrow I am going into Ocala to get tested for hearing aids.  I think it is important to add some of the trappings of a senior citizen. Huh?
Stay tuned.

The Tale of Three Tails from Two Tails Ranch

About 50 miles from Salt Creek Recreation Area is the Two Tails Ranch  founded in 1984 to provide a safe place for elephants in need of either a permanent or temporary home.

Founder, chief cook and bottle washer Patricia Zerbini established Two Tails Ranch as both an elephant sanctuary and educational facility located near Williston, FL.  Patricia’s family has been training, showing and caring for exotic animals for nine generations.  Patricia herself has performed under the big top but much prefers her life as a mother of four sons and caretaker of as many as 40 elephants at one time.  Her charges come from Ringling Bros. Circus as well as from zoos that need a place to send elephants while undergoing repairs or restorations.

While we were there we met the three resident Indian Elephants.  First we were introduced to Bunny.


Bunny has a sweet tooth and loves peppermint candy.  Here she is waiting for Patricia to give her a piece of Christmas candy cane.
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Patricia told us a funny story about Bunny.  Seems as though Bunny took a liking to a small Matchbox car which Bunny hid in her barn and from time to time would put it into her mouth,  then take it outside, retrieve it from her mouth and push it around on a flat surface.
Next we met Roxie.

 
Sandy opted to buy some carrots and feed Roxie and said it was really a neat experience. The money helps provide for food for the elephants who can consume up to 300 pounds of hay per day along with 30 to 40 pounds of fresh produce.
Last -- me met Luke, who  is a superstar of the elephant world, because he has raised over $175,000 for Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Luke is nearly 12 feet tall and weighs close to 12,000 pounds.  He has been at Two Tails for 23 of his 25 years.   Luke’s fame comes from the fact that he is an accomplished painter.  Proceeds from his paintings go to charity.

Here Luke is deciding on his next brush stroke as Patricia adds more paint to his brush.

A close up of this gentle giant. 

Admission by appointment.  Cost is $10.00.
twotailsranch.com



Stay tuned

Oldest city in the United States

We drove to St. Augustine on Thursday with our friends Deb and Dale Wiegand, who spend winters in their Florida home near Punta Gorda.
There is a lot of history in St. Augustine and we barely scratched the surface.  A history buff could spend a week here and not run out of things to see.

Photo from southerntravelnews.com by Barry Drawn
The National Park Service has conferred National Monument status to the ancient Castillo de San Marcos which is the oldest masonry fort in the United States.  Construction on the fort was started in 1672. However, the city itself was established in 1565 and since that time has been continuously inhabited – making it the oldest city in the United States.

A working replica of the original gate.

One of the many mortars used to defend the fort.   This one could lob a iron ball slightly over one mile. 

These cannon (on right) could send a canon ball up to 2 miles, providing plenty of protection against ships in Matanzas Bay.

This is the Shot Furnace in which canon balls were heated until red hot and then carried inside the fort and up the stairs to be propelled at wooden ships where the damage they wrought was enhanced by starting fires.

Officer quarters.  Others were even more Spartan.
The old fort is one of the main attractions in St. Augustine, but we may go back to see what me missed in the city.

For centuries St. Augustine was surrounded by a wall with gates that were locked from sunset to sunrise.

The oldest wood school house in the U.S.

Flagler College started as the ultra-modern Ponce de Leon Hotel built by Henry Flagler in 1882.  {Flagler was an early railroad baron.} Today the building is a four-year liberal arts college.  I took this photo from a trolley ride which I cannot recommend as a good way to take pictures.

Many of the older homes are on narrow streets and are behind brick or stone walls, giving the area a charming and unique feel.
Tomorrow we plan to do something really different. Stay tuned.

Laid back in Florida

We are really into the laid back lifestyle of Florida.  We get to sleep in, we get to take nice long walks and we have met some new and some old friends.
We even had an unwelcome guest.

This little lizard was sitting on a bathroom towel bar so I quickly escorted him outside.  He probably liked the idea of living in a unique-to-him motorhome, but I carried him outside before he tried to sell me an insurance policy. 
Speaking of unique, this unusual home-made RV is located in our campground.   The owner did a nice job on the outside.

We had a first-time event in that we met one of my blog followers John and Ellie from New York.  John does a fine job on his blog http://relaxedrush.blogspot.com/
We really wanted to spend some time with John and Ellie, but their short time in the camp overlapped with a visit from former Illinois neighbors.  We hope our paths crossed again soon so that we can do more than have a couple of brief conversations in front of our motorhome.  Safe travels on your trip home to see your daughter, Kelly,  sworn into the the U.S. Navy, following in her father's footsteps.
Yesterday we drove into Ocala to meet Dale and Deb Wiegand, dear friends and former neighbors from the Shady Hill subdivision in Barrington, IL.  We caught up with them at the Hampton Inn.  After lunch, we spent the afternoon playing Michigan Rummy and Mexican Train and laughing a lot about old times in Illinois.  For dinner we found a unique restaurant with excellent food and wine and a quirky waiter and an interesting owner/chef. 

Dale and Debbie, spent the day with us in St. Augustine and then we had dinner at a little local restaurant near the Corp campground that was excellent.
My next blog will be about our visit to the oldest city in the United States: nearby St. Augustine.
Stay tuned.

Home in sunny Florida

So far, so good here at Salt Springs Recreation Area 35 miles east of Ocala. We have been here just over one week and the weather feels good:  not too hot and not too cold.  It certainly is a beautiful campground built by the Army Corp of Engineers.

^{The sidewalk leads to the salt springs that flow at a rate of about 50 millions gallons of salt water daily at a constant 72 degrees.  I love the moss draped live oaks.}
Like so many other federal campgrounds, Salt Springs is managed by a private contractor.  American Land and Leisure does a fine job.  The first day we were here we had an electrical problem and they came and fixed it within 10 minutes of our reporting it. Sandy and I might do a camp hosting stint with them sometime this year at one of they many camps in other states.  We’ll look into that later.

Morning mists can’t hide the three grebes looking for food.

These three guys were also hoping for some food to come their way.

On the property is this mysterious-looking and neglected two-story residence. It seems to fit the image of old Florida.

Ferns are everywhere.

This artesian spring has supplied fresh water to residents for a couple hundred years.  The Schedule 40 PVC pipe is a 20th Century improvement.  The water is cool, clear and delicious.  We re-filled all 8 of our gallon water jugs.  We use this water for cooking and for making coffee and tea.  We usually buy water from the machines in supermarket parking lots.
 
This section of walkway is part of the 45 minute walking trail around the camp.
Yesterday we drove into Ocala to have lunch with one of Sandy’s sister and her husband, Sharon and Chuck Dewey.  They have a Montana fifth wheel and are at an RV park in town.
 
On the way back we saw a sign that advertising Eggs and Citrus.  We drove down the longest, narrowest driveway ever and emerged into a genteel and lightly neglected farm yard with two big labs and orange, grapefruit and cumquat trees around.  We bought about 10 pounds of juice oranges, two grapefruits and two Temple oranges, plus a dozen freshly laid eggs for $3.50.  Wow!

This emu curiously followed us down the farmer’s driveway.













I’ll end with this early morning shot of the salt springs.
Stay tuned.

Back to life in the motorhome

From the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers campground at Salt Springs Recreation Area in the heart of the Ocala National Forest, Florida

Sandy and I are glad to be back in our motorhome and back on the road. 

As some of you know, Sandy is also known as Cookie Queen.  When we stayed with family in Illinois, she made close to 600 cookies.  Here is a photo of my favorite cookie, called Chocolate Crowns.  On top of the chocolate cookie she places a large dab of cherry fruit filling, puts a marshmallow on that, pops the cookie back into the oven to soften the marshmallow and then covers most of the cookie with her own custom-blend semi-sweet chocolate coating.  They are to die for.

While we were in Illinois we got to see our new grandson: Oscar William Levenson-Stoltz.  At this point in time he has no idea what wonderful baked goodies are in store for him from his Grandma Sandy.

We arrived here just after lunch on New year’s Eve. We have a campsite that is somewhat difficult to back into, and a number of campers stopped what they were doing to watch us squeeze our 40 foot beast into the diagonal site.  But we did so with aplomb.

This Corp campground is quite different from any other we have been in in that it has quite a variety of activities. Last night we attended a New Year’s Eve party that included

some really great music from a small band that is in between cruise ship bookings.  We didn’t stay long, but it was a pleasant start to our 3-month stay here.

The park is managed by a private contractor, and we have been very impressed by the pleasant/helpful attitude of all the camp hosts we have met so far.  Today, New Year’s Day, I walked up to the office to report that we were having a problem with the power pedestal.  It is about a 7-minute walk back from the office and when I returned to the motorhome the electrician had already started on the repair. That’s pretty incredible service anywhere.  I’ll tell you more about the campground in the weeks to come.

Stay tuned.