Florida bound

Brown line=Day one, orange line=day two

We left home at our usual 9am on the morning of December 17^th. It was a little faster getting out of town now that we live on the south end. We took our preferred leisurely route down rt 17, used the bypass around Charleston and continued on rt 17 to 1-95 just a ways up from the Georgia line.

We took I-95 thru Georgia, stopping once at flying J for fuel. It was a Sunday so traffic was light as we took the beltway west away from Jacksonville. Exiting onto I-10 west for a few miles and then 301 south to Starke Florida. We like to stay at the KOA there because it is right on our route and has long pull thru sites. We can park leaving the truck hooked up behind the motorhome, do a minimal setup and we’re in for the night. In the morning we can be on the road in minutes, but it’s always 9am when we get going, don’t ask me why, it’s just always 9am?

We driven the center of the state on local roads many times to get to our timeshare campground near Orlando and always enjoyed the more relaxed pace. The last few years it seems there are an ever increasing number of traffic signals and congestion. I’ve started bypassing Ocala, the villages and all the smaller towns further down in favor of I-75 and the Florida Turnpike. We rejoin highway 27 a little ways north of Clermont and it’s a short drive to the Thousand Trails RV Resort, Maggie and I will stay here till New Years Day. 

Our campsite for two weeks at Thousand Trails CG.

The family was together the first week, Millie and I just taking it easy while Maggie rejoiced in being able to swim in her pool again in warm sunny Florida! On Friday I delivered Millie to the Orlando airport. As many times as we’ve done this we still don’t like being apart, but her daughter and grandkids are in New Mexico and it’s Christmas, so fly she must. 

On her way to New Mexico

I usually have a project or two to keep me busy for the week but after the busy summer and fall, I didn’t do much of anything all week. That is other than my main job of entertaining one very spoiled Dachshund, she’s nine years old and still acts like a puppy, chasing tennis balls, destroying stuffed toys and of course swimming in her pool.

The campground survived hurricane Irma pretty well, the big issue was water intrusion at the Recreation center. It was closed and not expected to open until some time in January. Maggie and I rode the bike around the sprawling 800 site campground every afternoon and only saw one person we knew. Ed Bibey is a retired electrician from Chrysler, he and his wife spend their winters at the Thousand Trails Resort. Funny, at this point in our lives, we mostly talk about people we know who have died or are sick.

Maggies new basket on my bike

The week went by fairly quickly and soon I was at the airport retrieving my wife. We got back to the motorhome about eleven at night and you’ve never seen such an excited little dog. Maggie went through her “happy to see you” dance for several minutes after seeing her mom!

We spent the next couple days doing routine stuff and getting ready for the next leg of our winter journey.

Oh, one last thing, here’s one of those “you gotta love it “moments. While Millie was gone, I was strolling thru the aisles in Lowes and found a good deal on a compression tool for PEC fittings. (PEX is the flexible plastic pipe used in all home construction nowadays, it is also used in Recreational Vehicles except they use threaded fittings. Of course I bought the tool, it was on sale and I may need one some day. Several days later a plastic fitting for the shower broke in the wall of our motorhome. Not able to find the threaded part at any of the local RV stores and not willing to wait for an ordered part, we went looking at a hardware store. I found the fitting made of brass, the angle was right and the mounting boss could be made to work. One end of the part had the needed ½ inch pipe thread and the other in PEX. But it was the residential crimp PEX fitting. Well Gee, who do you suppose just happens to have a tool for that behind the seat of his truck. Like I said, “You just gotta love when a plan comes together!”