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Published: December 30th 2016
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Noooooooooooo
Are you kidding us!? Easy as she goes. That's us.....not pushing it, ???Just rolling along, singing a song, side by side???. Louder! I can't hear yooou. Lulu is the loudest of us all....ugh. She's no songstress. But she tries....it's difficult for her cause she can't open her mouth. A lot of humming resounds from her throaty yodeling. You have to love her for trying.
Five minutes late to the motel's breakfast. Got nothing but coffee and juice but that's ok. We keep loosening our seat belts more and more each day. Not a lot to do when just driving (Cory does it all...bless him!) except to eat and snack. It wasn't any of your fault that we didn't get food. You were all on time. Good job! We stopped to visit with a nice couple outside the hotel elevator door. He noticed Cory's Celebration shirt and asked if we lived there. It would be great to live in this perfect, wonderful, little town that Disney originally built but we aren't perfect enough to set up residence there. You have to be perfect people to live in this perfect town. We visit the town a lot and Cory plays golf there. We used walk Chip
on their marvelous trails. It is a beautiful place. Our RV campground runs parallel to it so we are close by. They asked us a million questions in 5 minutes as we did them. I don't know who talks more: Cory or me.....close tie. I do surpass him when it comes to documentation....that the nurse in me. The guy was wearing scrubs. Said he left their home to come south after seeing patients. Not sure if he was a doctor or PA or NP. They are from Wilmington, NC. They are staying a week at the Gaylord Palms (very ritzy hotel convention center in our area) which would cost them $2480 for the week. Probably a doctor. His brother lives in Celebration and they are going to see him. The wife was extra nice and said she wanted to have a motor home like us. Many questions. She looked into renting a good sized RV for the week but it would cost them $2500 plus campsite, plus gas, plus whatever. Cheaper to stay at the Gaylord. Geeze. We told them to look us up so they could see what RV living was all about. Maybe they will. Maybe they won't.
New couple we met
Outside hotel elevator I hope they do. You'll like them. You just get a good feeling about some people even with a brief encounter. They are why you didn't get breakfast this morning....blame them. The Gabbers.
Across from our hotel/motel, we spotted a lovely Bed & Breakfast home. Will definitely stay there next trip down. It advertised and had great air-conditioning and easy access to get inside.....from the back. Very open. The front entrance is more challenging. It might be one of those mystery, hidden doorways. Perhaps you put your head through the open window (but do it carefully so you don't decapitate yourself) and call for someone to flip a hidden switch. We'll find out. No one was staying there right now so we would have the place to ourselves. Just, please, don't fight over the sleeping accommodations. There's room for us all. I don't think we get a served breakfast, though. The kitchen looked like they were trying to redo it or something. Just the fabulous opportunity to stay there makes up for any lack of amenities. You'll love it! If only we had seen this place first. Win a few, lose a few.
11:35 AM we entered the
state of Florida!! Hooray - Hallelujah! WHaaat?.... You have to be kidding. We were told the state is CLOSED!.....no more room! "Houston, we have a problem". Because we aren't perfect people and we have such a large group traveling with us, we forged ahead anyway. Strength in numbers, guys. Made it to the big Florida Welcome Center. By mingling discreetly throughout the crowd, we seemed to fit in fine. No one knows we are new arrivals. Except for our warm clothing and milky white complexions....not Lulu, though: her's is a dirty brown, filthy face! And, also, that I am carrying 89 travel brochures in my arms. A few of you over-reacted to our accomplishment of getting this far (Thank you, driver Cory). Next time, just play it cool. No hooting and hollering. Tube tops, short shorts, sunglasses, sandals will do the trick....that goes for both the guys and gals. Lulu, will wear her sunglasses. That's all she has room for. Cheap and easy to keep her in a nice wardrobe. Plus, Lulu insisted on having her picture taken just as we have done on every other trip down. She just can't get enough of herself. Diva! The welcome sign did
say "Open For Business" so I don't know who was right with this terrible rumor. Fake News! That's what it was!
Next action: make reservations for the RV at some campground. Now we find out the rumor was true. From Citra down through Ocala (Rt.75) there was no room in the inn...no sites available. Walmart was becoming a definite possibility. Jeepers! Maybe we will have to go back North! That's one thing I can't figure out. We watch sooo many RV's traveling North this entire time coming down here. We say they missed their turn. Where are they going? We think they should be heading south like us. Who knows. Enough rambling.
Pawing through the 89 brochures, plus my Next Exit book, plus the Internet, plus a KOA book, we finally found a KOA campground in Wildwood, Florida that had a site. Only 30 amp available....we'll take it and sit in the dark if we have to. I have lots of candles. A pull-in site. We took it for 3 nights. So we'll all hang out here and travel around this area for something new to do. Not sure what our plans for New Year's Eve will be.
Let me know what you want to do. We don't always have to run this show.....we're always open for suggestions.
On Sunday, we'll pick up and head to our winter home destination: Tropical Palms. So excited to see all our friends again. What a New Year this will be!
4:20 PM -- we arrived at the Wildwood KOA campground. Kind of back in a big field. Seems okay for the short time we will be here. No paved pad: grass and sand. Reasonable rate - you pay for what you get. It's crowded here...few empty spots. Cory got us all hooked up. We didn't open the big slides, just the bedroom ones. It works for us. Lulu was getting restless....I took her for a couple photo ops. The cow almost ate her....she fainted from fear. She liked the sing along at the campfire even though there was no fire or people. She sang with joy and enthusiasm....loudly.
Time to eat again.....seems like that's all we have been doing for excitement and entertainment. Cory turned left...I would have turned right. We drove and drove down a long dark highway. Finally got on the apps: Around Me and WAZE.
Still not knowing where we were, we followed the directions from Waze who took us deep into The Villages. We ended up at a very nice restaurant called R.J. Gators. Happy Hour so Lulu and Cory had lots to slug down. Food was very good. Across the small roadway was an Italian restaurant with a singer and a band. We will return to eat here. Atmosphere was great.
Thank heavens for our Waze GPS or we would still be in The Villages. Many back roads and twisty turns, Waze eventually got us back safely to our RV. Hope you enjoyed yourself. We had fun being with you. Let's call it a day. We are whipped. I'm sure you are, too. Next couple days we can just relax and wander around the area.....to see what we can see; to do whatever. Time to get your summer clothes out. Temps are warm and comfortable. Winter clothes are tucked away until next year...hard to believe that but being down here in Florida is like being in a completely different world than what we were getting used to at home. From Brrrrr to sweat: awesome. Life is good. Good night everyone.
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photos so remember to keep scrolling way, way down. ???
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Nancy Reidy
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Wildwood. KOA
We stayed there several years ago, loved the cows waking you in the am. Went to the Villages for the Town center events, live music and dancing on certain days.