Saint Augustine, FL

We made it to Saint Augustine just before noon today where we are staying at St. John's RV Park. After having lunch and setting up, we took a trip around the area stopping at a beach.

http://staugustinefleamarket.com/index.php/rv-park

Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park™ Camp-Resort in Madison, Florida

We left Fort Rucler, Alabama this morning and have check into the Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park™ Camp-Resort in Madison, Florida. We'll be here overnight and then continue our trip to Saint Augustine, Florida tomorrow.  Nancy​ told me she wanted her picture taken with Yogi.

http://www.jellystonefla.com/

Fort Rucker, AL

We are at the Engineer Beach Campground at Fort Rucker, Alabama for a couple of days. I was stationed here at Fort Rucker back in 1970-1971 before going to Vietnam. Fort Rucker is the home of Army Aviation. Anyone in the US Army that has anything to do with flying will at some point in their military career come to Fort Rucker. To most of us it is known as Mother Rucker. This place brings back a lot of memories for me, some good, some bad. I was stationed here when I first met my late wife Barb. No she didn't live around here. She lived in California, I was at home on leave in California when I met her. I went to Helicopter Maintenance School here and to Flight Operations School here back in 1970-1971. After I finished my schooling I was assigned here and worked at one of the many airfields here. I left here in July 1971 for Vietnam. I came back here in 1990 to attend Non-Commissioned Officers Academy. While I was here in 1990, the US Army National Guard and Reserves were activated to active duty for Desert Shield. That's when I decided to find a different career. Twenty years in the military with a tour in Vietnam I felt was enough time that I gave to my country. I wasn't going to war again. It was time for someone much younger than me to have Fun, Travel & Adventure with the Army. I went back to collage to earn a degree to get a real job. I earned a degree in Avionics Engineering from Oklahoma State University and in 1995 I was hired by the Federal Aviation Administration as an Air Transportation Systems Specialists.

Arnett's Gulfside Stables

Nothing like going out riding after breakfast. We even found a Grady size horse. We will be leaving here tomorrow with a change in our itinerary. Instead of going to Keaton Beach from here we're going up to Fort Rucker, Alabama for a couple of days, then an overnight stop at Yogi Bears Jellystone Park in Madison, FL before getting to St. Augustine. I was stationed at Ft. Rucker back in 1970/1971 before going to Vietnam.

 

  

  

Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

We made it to Florida this morning. Nancy went into the Welcome Center and got her free cup of Florida Orange Juice. We are staying at Arnett's Gulfside Stables in Santa Rosa Beach, FL for a couple of days before heading next to Keaton Beach, FL for a couple of days.

 

Biloxi, MS

We left De Funiak Springs, FL this morning around 9:00 and headed west 177 miles to Biloxi, MS where we are staying at the Martin Lake Resort. As we were coming into Biloxi, Barb spotted a sign advertising crawfish so she asked as we checked in where we could get some. They told us of a place close by where all the local's get them so after we got setup we headed over there. Unfortunately they were already closed for the day so we headed back down the Interstate to find the sign we seen as we were coming in. We found the sign again and it directed us to one of the local casinos. Once we got to the casino, they told us it was only on Friday nights but the told us of another place in Gulfport so we headed to Gulfport via US 90 going through the hurricane ravished areas to Gulfport. We were unfortunate there too because they are closed on Mondays. Well will be leaving Mississippi in a couple of days heading to Morgan City, LA. Hopefully we will find crawfish there.

De Funiak Springs, FL

We left Keaton Beach around 8:30 this morning and made it to the Sunset King Lake Resort in De Funiak Spring, FL just before noon. We'll be here for a couple of days then continue on to Biloxi, MS on Monday.

Keaton Beach, FL

We left our daughter's place in Brandon, FL this morning after spending almost 5 months with her. 202 miles later we arrived at The Old Pavilion RV Park in Keaton Beach, FL where we will spend 2 nights before heading on to DeFuniak Springs, FL. Boy have we got a view here. We have a water front site where we pulled straight into the space and the front on our motorhome is about 10 feet from the Gulf of Mexico. If we had a rocking motion, you would think that we were on the boat.

Summer Plans Change Again

Our summer workamping plans have changed again. We will not be spending the summer in Wisconsin this year. Instead, we will be spending this next summer in Yooperland, Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Yah were're goin'a be Yoopers (derived from "U.P.-ers") for the summer. Between now and then Barb will be working the Florida State Fair in Tampa from February 7th through the 18th this year as a ticket taker. From here, date yet TBD, we will be heading to Norman, Oklahoma to be with family. Around the first of May, we will be going up to Two Rivers, Wisconsin to move the Shangri-La to the Mystery Ship Marina in Menominee, Michigan, her new home for next summer. We have a RV site reserved in a city-owned RV park right next to the marina. From there I have been eyeing future marinas to call home as we cruise the Great Lakes.
"Say yah to da UP, eh?"

Tampa was Invaded by Pirates AGAIN!

For the 93rd time since 1905! The City of Tampa Florida was invaded by pirates yesterday as the 2008 Gasparilla Pirate Fest got underway.

On Saturday, January 26, at 11:30 a.m., the world’s only fully-rigged pirate ship, the Jose Gasparilla, magically appeared at the south end of Hillsborough Bay. A multitude of pleasure crafts, all intent on defending the city, boldly sailed forth to meet the ship. But quickly seeing the error of their ways, they turn to join forces with the Captain and his Krewe’s flotilla. The colorful Gasparilla Flotilla then made its way north across Hillsborough Bay and into Seddon Channel (channel between Davis Island & Harbour Island). The Gasparilla Invasion had begun!

In this annual re-enactment of Tampa’s historic pirate invasion, the Gasparilla Flotilla – led by the Jose Gasparilla teeming from bow to stern and capstan to crow’s nest with swashbuckling YMKG pirates – creates a spectacular sight as she heads up Seddon Channel towards downtown Tampa. When the Jose Gasparilla docked at the Tampa Convention Center, the Mayor surrended the Key to the City of Tampa into the hands of the Captain of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla.

Gasparilla...the pirate. The name and foundation of Tampa's traditional Gasparilla Carnival come from legendary pirate Jose Gaspar, "last of the Buccaneers," who terrorized the coastal waters of West Florida during the late 18th and early 19th century. Gaspar, given to calling himself "Gasparilla," served as a lieutenant in the Royal Spanish Navy for five years until 1783 when, upon seizing command of a Spanish sloop-of-war, he with his fellow mutineers set sail for the Florida straits. And so the young Spanish aristocrat-turned-pirate began an adventurous life as outlaw of the sea.

Although few facts are known of the life and death of the famed Gasparilla, accounts from his own personal diary boast the capture and burning of 36 ships during his first 12 years as a pirate. Crews of captured ships were given the option of joining Gaspar's ranks or walking the plank; fates of captive ladies were determined largely by his moment's fancy.

In 1954 the Krewe commissioned the building of the world's only fully rigged pirate ship to be built in modern times. Named the Jose Gasparilla, the ship is a replica of a West Indiaman used in the 18th century. She is constructed of steel at 165' long by 35' across the beam, with 3 steel masts standing 100' tall. During the year she is usually docked at the Tarpon Weigh Station on Bayshore Blvd. for the public's viewing pleasure.

Florida Gators

No trip to Florida is complete without a visit to the Florida gators. No not the football team, the creatures that have been here for longer than any of us can remember.

Today we took a trip to Gatorama in Palmdale, FL. Gatorama has been a Florida attraction since 1957. Barb stayed home and I took Angel, Emily, Michelle, and Zachery to see these Florida swamp creatures.

Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show

Yesterday we drove 250 miles down to Fort Lauderdale, FL to attend the 48th Annual International Boat Show. The weather and traffic was great until we got into West Palm Beach where we encountered a lot of road construction and heavy traffic. We arrived at the Motel 6 in Fort Lauderdale and luckily got a room on the first floor. I was excited, the a/c and TV worked great. Today you would have thought Florida had never received a rain. It rained so hard, you could almost swim in the motel parking lot. After about 15 minutes, the rain died down, and off we went to the boat show. The convention center had two floors with lots and lots of vendors. We looked at a few boats, and did so much walking, Kenny may have to carry me home ha ha. We took the water taxi up the inter-coastal waterway, and saw so many yachts and beautiful homes, it made the rain tolerable. Again many buildings with lots of vendors, but the rain was coming down hard, and it was impossible to enjoy the show, wet and tired with not too many places to sit down, we decided to come back to the hotel around 6pm and ordered Chinese food. Kenny and I enjoyed a couple of drinks, and watched some TV. Saturday we will return to Brandon, where it is supposed to rain again. Oh well, we will live to go another day I suppose. Our spirits are doing better and we are over the Windjammer cruise drama. It is a shame that we can't take the cruise, but we will do something else, life is a bit strange at times, and I suppose we wern't meant to take this cruise. Sucks, but could be worse I guess.

Brandon, Florida

We finely made it to our daughter's house in Brandon, FL today. It's been a long trip and we are both wore out. We plan on staying here until the end of the year with the exception of a couple of excursions planned. Today we travelled 162 miles giving us a total of 2382 miles since we left Cascade, WI a month ago. We burned approximately 300 gallons of diesel giving us an average of 7.9 miles per gallon costing us a total of $901.41 in fuel and $270.64 in camping fees.

Next Thursday we plan on heading down to Fort Lauderdale for 4 days and 3 nights to attend the Ft Lauderdale International Boat Show. This boat show is the world's largest boat show featuring over 2 billion dollars ($2,000,000,000.00) worth of boats, yachts, super yachts and boating accessories from just about every manufacture in the world.

Worthington Springs, Florida

Well today started off with rain... lots of rain. We started off with breakfast at the resort restaurant then getting on the road around 9 am after getting wet while hooking up. The first couple of hours we drove in the rain then it started to clear up around Tallahassee. We fueled up at the Midway Flying J at $3.059 a gallon. Tonight's stay is at the Palm RV Park in Worthington Springs, FL. This is a small RV park that I found in the PassportAmerica Directory. There are only 10 sites on grass but they have full 50 amp hookups. If the highway was a little narrower or our rig a little longer we wouldn't have been able to turn into the RV park driveway because it was so narrow. It's a clean little park though where pets and young kids are not welcome which was ok with us. The owner told us that she found that most of the people that came in with pets did not clean up after them and those with young children didn't watch them. There is a small pond with steep banks full of catfish big enough to eat a small child in front of the RVs where people can gather and a busy narrow highway where unwatched children could get hurt. Most of the sites are filled by long term tenants. We travelled 258 miles today with 163 miles to travel tomorrow.

DeFuniak Springs, Florida

We got an early start today leaving Hattiesburg around 8:00 this morning on our way to Florida. We stopped at the Oasis Travel Center in Robertsdale, AL for fuel and breakfast. I only put in 25 gallons of diesel at $3.099 a gallon thinking it would be cheaper in Florida. I should have went ahead and filled up because diesel in Florida was $3.169 a gallon. We checked into the Sunset King Resort in DeFuniak Springs, FL just after 2 this afternoon. We travelled 226 miles today with 421 miles to go until we get to Brandon, FL.

Winter Workamper Position

Well it looks like we will be heading back to Florida this winter. We accepted a workamper position at the Ocala RV & Camp Resort in Ocala, Florida starting sometime the middle of October through April of next year. This is a volunteer position working 25 hours a week between the two of us in exchange for full hookups including electricity and cable TV. Barbie will be working indoors checking people in and taking reservations and I will be working mainly outside doing maintenance like lawn care, cleaning restrooms, keeping up the heated swimming pool and spa. The Ocala RV & Camp Resort is the old Ocala/Silver Springs KOA Kampground that went independent about 2 years ago.

Rainbow Springs State Park

We finely left Brandon, FL today after long goodbyes to the family and headed 106 miles north to Rainbow Springs State Park outside of Dunnellon, FL to visit our friends Scott and Lori Baker. We first meet the Baker's 3 winters ago as they were work camping at Loma Paloma RV Park in Presidio, TX. The following winter they had to leave early and we took their place for the rest of that season.

Archaeological evidence indicates that people have been using this spring for nearly 10,000 years. Rainbow Springs is Florida's fourth largest spring pumping 600 million gallons of water daily and severs as the headwater to the pristing Rainbow River. Operated for four decades as an attraction, the property was acquired by the State Park Service in 1990 and is slowly being allowed to revert to its natural state. Beautiful floral gardens surround the spring, and the area is immensely popular in the spring when the azaleas are in bloom. The state also acquired Rainbow Springs State Campground, located nearby, which was formerly privately owned. From the campground, you can tube or canoe the crystalline waters of Rainbow River, or fish for largemouth bass and other freshwater species.

Classic Car Show

Florida is probably second only to California when it come to classic auto shows. Here in Brandon, FL is no different as the First Baptist Church of Brandon sponsored their annual Classic Car Show and Family Fun Fest this weekend. I went wild with my camera with these classic and antique beauties. Here's some of the pictures that I took that should bring back memories to many.

This front end belongs to a 1937 Ford Fordor.

These two pictures are of a 1965 Ford Mustang owned by Marshall and Pam Harrington.

1964 Chevrolet Corvair Convertible owned by Arjay and Elayne Morgan.

A classic 1967 Pontiac GTO owned by David and Debra Ware of Plant City, FL.

A British classic 1979 MG Midget owned by Hair By Angelo.

Here's a 1955 Ford Crown Victoria owned by Roland and Jean Ahearn.

How about this 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner Hardtop Convertible owned by Tom and Diana Boyer.

A 1955 Chevrolet BelAir Convertible owned by Paul Sholar.

A 1971 Chevelle Malibu owned by the Pucciarelli family that they bought new for $3728.24.

1963 Chevrolet Impala Convertible.

Here's a classic 1959 Studebaker Lark Regal owned by Jan Coppi.

1960 Chevrolet Impala 2 Door Hardtop owned by Ted Freman.

3 deuces on a 283 cid. Is that the sound of money I hear at the gas pump?

MOPAR was represented here with this beautiful 1966 Plymouth Barracuda owned by Bill Witt.

Here's a fine example of a Hotrod built from a 1930 Ford 5 Window Coupe owned by Bill Johnson.

Another 1930 Ford 5 Window Coupe owned by Bill and Linda Goodrich.

What's a car show without all the classic 1955, 1956 and 1957 Chevys.

Here's a roadster built from a 1928 Ford Pickup owned by Gary and Moni Turley.

There's that sound of gas being sucked up again.

Another MOPAR beauty is this 1952 Chrysler New Yorker Convertible owned by Norman Coe.

This brings back memories of the hotrods built back in the 1950's.

A beautiful antique 1927 Essex Bobtail owned by Rose Taylor. Her family bought it in 1929.

For you pickup buffs here's a beautiful rare one for you.

A 1946 Hudson Pickup owned by Roy Marks.
Only 1500 of these were made that year.