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Published: September 16th 2021
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What’s new with all of you? Hope everything is going along the way you want it to. Summer has faded and we are well into the Autumn season…..we’ll, some of you are anyway. Here at Tropical Palms, it seems like we are still at the height of the summer season. The weather is HOT, HOT and HOTTER. Cory tries working outside getting our RV all set up. The brief moments that I go out, I start to sweat. Nice!! We both end up as sweat balls. We feel like human baked potatoes. Lulu won’t even consider trying it. She doesn’t have sweat glands and would die from heat stroke if she ventured out. God forbid. Our air conditioners on the RV are our Godsend. I never liked air conditioning but welcome it eagerly and gratefully now.
We have spent the past couple days shopping. I’m liking this lifestyle a lot! Of course, Walmart was top on the list. Remember I love Walmart. Steve, their long time greeter, was there. We were as happy to see him as he acted seeing us. Fist bump time. The brief outdoor interlude between the air conditioned car and air conditioned stores seems like someone
is blowing a fire torch on us. Jeepers! It’s hot down here. Hopefully, we’ll adjust and acclimate to this sizzling weather. We aren’t complaining, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Suck it up, Buttercup.
Just a couple notes about our adventures before arriving here at Tropical Palms. Our last night on the road was at a campground in Bulow, Florida: Bulow RV Encore Campground….near Flagler Beach. It had a lovely entrance and we were glad we had made another good choice. It was after hours so an envelope had been left for us with the site # and guidelines. We had an end spot in their Elite section. First thing our neighbor said was to be aware that our site flooded when it rained. We were only here for one night and no rain predicted so Cory pulled us in. Elite site?! No way. Here we were on a dirt/mud site with only some grass far away from our RV. Where’s the paved pad? Suck it up, Buttercup…..we aren’t living here….thank God! We walked around a small part of the grounds. Turkey buzzards were enjoying the leftovers in the trash bins. They did have a bar inside their activity building but
it wasn’t open yet. What’s new! They had cottages amongst the RV’s or visa versa. For being an Encore resort, it didn’t even come close to our amenities at Tropical Palms (also an Encore resort).
What a special treat awaited us the following morning! Driver Cory continued on I-95, heading to I-4. Not far from the Bulow CG was a Buc-ee’s! Be still my heart! A dream come true. We had stopped at a Buc-ee’s years and years ago when traveling out West but now here was another one right in front of us. Hallelujah! I dropped to my new knees once inside this magnificent shopping Mecca. Where to begin? So much to see. My eyes were spinning. I started to hyperventilate. Cory held me up. This place is huge and loaded with everything and anything you can imagine. After making our way through the gifty section, we were in the scrumptious food area. We bought two of their famous brisket sandwiches. Way too many items to choose. We exited this superstore with just our sandwich bag and a drink in hand. Sometimes it’s too hard to make a decision if there are too many choices……know what I mean?
But what a wonderful experience we had in this magnificent establishment. Buc-ee’s is the Best!
Chauffeur Cory took us down the pike and onto the dreaded I-4 expressway. Actually, we were very surprised. Even though there still is much construction going on, the roadway was smooth and no major obstacles to contend with. Much better than last year. Hooray. I didn’t even have to white knuckle it. Whew! Cory did a great job driving our RV and getting us to our destination. Lulu and I are so grateful and proud of him. Thank you, thank you, dear Bucky.
And here we are! Just where we want to be: on site #317 at Tropical Palms. It’s so good to be back. We are an early snowbird. The early bird gets the worm but not sure what our worm is. I’m sure we’ll find it, though. We have to wait patiently for all friends to gradually show up. We do maintain contact with them, however……like with Art! Our WiFi and cable didn’t want to work so Cory sent Art some photos of the wiring. Instantaneously, Art talked Cory through it and Violá: we have WiFi and cable. God, we love
this guy! We are still waiting for our broken water system parts to arrive from Tiffin. Still using a bucket of water for flushing our toilet and taking showers in the bathhouse. Cory took our dirty clothes to the laundry on the grounds and did the wash. Bless his heart. Drying it in our RV dryer but now that is acting up. Takes two cycles to get a load dried. Rats! So what’s new!
We are waiting for our golf cart to be delivered….should be soon I hope. So does Lulu….hard for her to walk, you know why…..no legs! Chauffeur Cory drove us around the campground. Lots of empty sites! We’re early, remember. The 200’s and 700’s look quite full but we think many of the units are by folks who have left them here on an annual basis….waiting for their return. The sandcastle area looks kind of sad with many more cottages removed from their spots. Not sure what’s going to happen to bring it back to the cute, little community it once was. Maybe when the owners return, it will become more lively. The area where the poop pond was is being worked on to make new,
premium RV sites. There is a brand new little building where Art will do his magic when the internet goes down. It should have his name on the door…..with CEO after his name! The gator pond looks okay….no green stuff on it. The area around it is still fenced off. Hopefully, that can be remedied sometime. The tree trimmers were just here giving the palms new haircuts. They look good. What will really look good is when everyone returns to their various abodes here at TP. The lights are all on for each one of them. Lulu is watching daily from her crow’s nest for their arrival. Bells will be rung and songs will be sung when that happens.
Before we had the cable and internet TV, Cory made another plan to watch the Buffalo Bills football game. We went up to Frogger’s for lunch and to watch the game on their many TV’s. Whaaaaat! Everyone in the place was wearing some sort of Steeler’s garb. They looked like a bunch of bumble bees! We were the only Bill’s fans in the place! Every time the Steelers scored, it was obnoxious. Parading big flags around while hooting and hollering
and waving yellow towels. Give us a break. Cory and I did our best in rooting the Bills on but sadly they lost. Our food was good, though.
Part of the reason we are here this early in the season is so Cory can have his total knee replacement done. He goes to the orthopedic doctor this next Tuesday and gets everything all set up. He is scheduled to have his surgery on October 4th. We don’t know yet if he can be admitted overnight or will have it as an outpatient…..all depends on the Covid status at the Celebration hospital. We both have another doctors appointment next Wednesday to get us established with a GP when down here. We had an excellent one last year but he left that practice. All this and we aren’t even sick…..fingers crossed we stay this way!
Okay….I’m done. Whew! What new! Catch you next time around. You can start unpacking now if you haven’t already. We’re here to stay for awhile. 22 photos to check out.
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