Travels with Snowbirds 2020, February 20 to March 1 Bushnell FL

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The one about the wonderful people I have enjoyed for the past 2 weeks

My loyal readers know how much I love writing about the funny things people do. This portion of the trip had me doing a lot of people watching. I will try to protect them as much as possible. Some who read will know who I am writing about, but many of you will not. I do not intend to embarrass anyone or hurt feelings. My hope is we will all get to laugh at ourselves.

The Casino. I asked at the weekly social coffee if anyone wanted to go to the casino in Tampa, I was buying lunch, and “N” and I made plans. She is from Iowa, and a new owner at Florilow. She drives a bad ass red pickup truck. I wish I could say I won at gamblig, but I didn’t. We spent a few hours at Hard Rock casino in Tampa had a lot of fun but both neither of us came home winners. The only game I won anything at was video poker, and that was sporadic. Fun day though.

The Rodeo. There was a sign-up sheet on the wall outside the rec hall to attend the Rodeo on Saturday night being held in conjunction with the annual Pasco County Fair. I was ready! Those attending met at 4:15 and we split up into cars. I was with M and P in M’s really cute (orange) Element. What a great car for RVing. Nice big front seat for me, thanks, M and P, but an equally large back seat for P. The back seat is a step up and quite large. She was like sitting on a throne back there. I had my handicap hang tag and when I tell you we got parking space #2, I kid you not. Right in front of the MAIN ENTRANCE gate. $10 to enter the fair which included the rodeo. It was a very cold and windy night, by Florida standards. Many of us dressed up in our cowboy best……I wore my straw cowboy shaped hat……..over a scarf to keep my ears warm. First chore was walk up the hill from this parking lot, landing in the food truck area of what I can only call an old fashioned county fair. Lots of dangerous looking turny upside down rides, games of chance, and greasy sloppy food. All this was up hill. My car mates were sensitive to my slowness and encouraged me along. We met up with the others and decided to eat at a pavilion with a varied menu. I had a burger and coke, but many had strawberry shortcake. ((Strawberries are just coming into season in central Florida; Floral City strawberries are world known, and they have their own very large festival that some attended and saw a concert.)) The arena was at the total opposite end of the fairgrounds from The Main Entrance. Figures. This Rodeo was a recognized, sanctioned event – the participants earned points towards regional recognition. Another attendee, M2, took the ‘interesting’ picture of the best side of one cowboy. There was barrel racing – the only event with all female riders. There was also bull roping, team roping, calf roping, and bronco riding. A very funny clown kept us laughing all night. He told some very funny stories. Of course, there was the patriotic section with all the riders carrying flags and honoring our military and we all sang every patriotic song you ever heard of. When we got back to our wonderful parking space, everyone else was trying to leave at the same time. Driver M was able to queue into line directly behind an ambulance. When the rent a cop security team saw the ambulance trying to get out, they stopped all other traffic and let our lane go. They must have thought we were following the ambulance, because they waved us thru and stopped the line right behind us. Two lucky events that night!

A group went to the movies in Leesburg, after lunch at Cracker Barrel, and saw “Call of the Wild.” I did not realize that all the animals were ‘computer graphic’ until viewing. It was very well done and Harrison Ford is always pleasant to look at.

Happy hour happens every day at 4 at the fire pit which is surrounded by benches. On cold days “D” starts a fire. Now you know, no matter where I sit, the smoke blows in my direction. So, my policy was to go stand behind someone where the smoke was not blowing, and move when it did. I met a lot of new people that way!! , On rainy days we meet in the rec hall. Thursday is crazy hat day. Happy hours are always full of laughs, and where plans for that night and the next day are made. Someone always is going out to eat, so finding a ride is usually easy. If I needed to go to Walmart, I just asked and someone would always be going in the next day or so. My SELow camping group had happy hour at their rigs, and some days I sat with both. One of their members fell while walking his dog late at night, had to crawl back to his rig, his deaf dog running amok in the campground until someone found them both. Bobbi ended up taking him to the same group of doctors our other SELow member, Joyce, went to but at a different location. He broke a bone in his foot and tore ligaments and muscles in his knee area. He is pretty much confined to his RV and hired another camper to walk his dogs for him. Another SELow friend, Joyce, who stays at another campground nearby, was over visiting, and walking another campers dog. She tripped and fell and rebroke the wrist she broke 27 years ago and had repaired with plates and screws. She is a retired L & D nurse, and, like me, is a horrible patient. Bobbi and I worked hard to find her a competent hand surgeon, and she had the repair surgery this week and seems well on the way to repair. Fortunately, she is staying for the full month of March and has lots of friends in her campground who can take her to the doctor and physical therapy.

I got to play a lot of Mexican Train with A and her daughter R, and H and J. I never won the evening, or as J says when I came in last, “Kat had the least amount of fun.” Most nights we laughed at the mistakes the others made. It keeps the mind sharp.

I went to the VFW in Lake Panasoffkee one Saturday night with the group attending the Fish Fry. Glass of Chardonnay $2.50. Fried fish and 2 sides, $7. Served in the VFW bar area, with one waitress. Service was very slow for the 15 of us there, but we really didn’t care, and the fried fish was awesome. I sat with T, a former educator, started as industrial arts teacher and growing into administration. D worked her way up thru the ranks at Chrysler her entire long working life. M from the rodeo was the first female UPS driver in NY State. H was also an industrial arts teacher doing administration at the end of his career as well. He also drove a stagecoach at Yellowstone! Such interesting lives these people have led. I love listening. K worked at every job in a print shop until computerization ended the need for print shops. She started a business selling antique maps and could be seen at craft shows and flea markets around New England. I give her credit for spreading the word about Florilow around the internet and getting new campers to try it out. It is a unique place, and they work very hard to keep it a place that only as ‘singles.’

I spent most of the last week getting ready for the yard sale. I organized, cleaned, spiffed up, threw out, and priced items. I went thru all storage compartments and picked them clean and put everything into big bags. I was up early on Saturday and put the contents of those bags on 2 tables in front of Moya. I was selling by 7. It was a long cold morning with times of extreme business and times of boredom. Many Florilow residents came and sat with my items while I made coffee, took bio breaks, and they also bought a lot of my good stuff. Very little did not sell….my Garmin (not an RV Garmin, and pretty old technology, I guess) and my vintage Farberware electric grill. Remember those from the 70s? They also had a rotisserie. When I was pricing items, I looked ilt up and they were going for $500 on Ebay! Can you imagine!!!! I couldn’t sell it for $20. All together I grossed about $250 and I was a happy camper. The campground had a great sale also; I haven’t heard what the profit was for their recreation fund, but I bet it was decent. At the end, a local junk hauler came I and took all the leftovers ‘away.’ And Saturday night Joanne and I were taken out to eat at the local Mexican/American restaurant with David, Kay, Marie and Arlene. Another good time spent laughing and trading war stories and eating really good shrimp fajitas and taco salads. Thanks all.

I broke camp early Sunday morning, went to the local Tractor Supply Co and waited until they opened and would sell me propane and was on my way north and east to Ormond Beach to meet with some nursing school classmates tomorrow. One of my favorite things about my winter trip is the time I spend driving on the back roads of Florida. They are like old friends, now. The Ocala National Forest is a long stretch of tall and scrub pine and various species of palm. Sitting up high gives me a prime view I never get tired of. I checked into Sunshine Holiday RV where I have been before. Lots of seasonal and annuals here in this campground, with big rigs and patios and gazebos and big loud diesel trucks. The transient sites are tucked into the most awful sites in the place. Looks like they are getting ready for Bike Week which starts next weekend. There are lots of temporary tent sites being set up and porta potties cropping up all over the place. Many Harley’s being drive around the interior roads. I did nothing but be a slug all afternoon and played computer solitaire. I air fried my last remaining piece of fish from Jacksonville along with awesome frozen cauliflower broccoli bites. Life is good. Heading north tomorrow after lunch with 2 nursing school classmates.

Kat out

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Photos

no caption necessary
Photo credit to Marsha miller