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Published: January 1st 2017
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Happy New Year to each one of you. We wish you all good health, happiness and peace for this new year. Cory and I AND Lulu are all warmed up for the big celebration tonight. We are so ready. We are back in the RV, under warm blankets, watching CNN with Anderson Cooper & Kathy Griffin as they moderate the ball drop in Times Square. They are so funny. Probably won't make it to midnite but I leave the TV on in case we wake up around the time when 2016 becomes 2017. Yippee. Happy New Year! ???? What are you doing? Hope it is as exciting as our festivities.
Toto....are we really in Florida? It seems so cold here. Brrrr. Took a long time for our 2 furnaces to warm up our RV this morning. I could hear the rest of you whining, too. Geeze! I didn't move from our warm, cozy bed until 9:00 AM! Once the place was heated, then we were too warm and shut everything down. No pleasing us but actually, it was Miss Lulu who was doing most of the complaining. She can be a real fusspot sometimes.
Remember how I told you
Narrow path inside RV
Lulu is claustrophobic that we haven't opened out the 2 big, front slides cause we are here for such a short time and are just trying to keep things simple. It's cozy. Going up and down the RV is single file only. It's kind of like the size of the gutter ball lane in a bowling alley. Lulu cannot call her NYC Rockette friends to dance with her (best she can: no legs) in the aisle. Of course, she's disappointed. When we do open the slides, the space in the living area and dining/kitchen area seems like the Rockefeller skating rink. Maybe a slight exaggeration here but it is nice and roomy. But we aren't there yet. Tomorrow.
Our plan of the day is to take you to the big Ocala Flea Market on I-75. GPS says it 25 miles north of us. After Cory makes his neighborly visitations to those around us, it time to board the transport vehicle and head north. Buckle up. Whoa.....not looking good. This mega flea market (inside and out) looks uninhabited. Whaaaat? We go to the main entrance...only about 15 cars parked in the colossal parking lot????? What does it mean? We go inside.....whaaaat! We can
see only a few sparse booths that are set up. Most are closed behind blue tarps. Only 2 dealers set up outside. Hundreds of tables stand vacant. Lulu decided to open her carry bag and try and sell a few possessions....nothing...no one shopping. How can this be? Don't cry. It will be okay. Lulu tried out a few items for sale in the few (15) inside booths that were open. She had fun. Doesn't take much to please this little sweetheart. I did spot a couple pretty string dresses. Oooooo. Nice. I couldn't decide which color I wanted. Thought it would look snazzy on the cruise we are taking in this New Year. They looked as airy as my no-see-um suit. I asked the watchful Indian owner who wore these outfits....he looked me in the eye and said "young people!" Well, this old hag was out of there. Cory asked a washing machine dealer at this flea market where everyone was. He said its early in the season and Sunday is a better day to come here. We won't be back.
We checked our GPS and saw we were only 16 miles from Citra, Florida. This is where friends,
Lani & Roger Bentley, from home, live during the fall and winter. I called them and they said "Sure, come on over." Lani & Roger are our son-in-law, Jay Knapp's, Aunt & Uncle.....so they are kind of like family. They are super nice people. You are going to really like them, Lani gives us directions .....the last part we heard was that they lived at the end of a sandy road. I programmed the address into our Waze GPS. We quickly found out they were not even close to living in a metropolis. It looked like "old Florida" as we traveled the narrow paved road....Spanish Moss drooping from the trees, palm trees & bushes along the roadway, various small, weatherbeaten trailers with a pit bull in every yard. We took a wrong turn down a sandy, pothole-laden path ending up at a desolate looking place with CuJo waiting for us. Cory did a quick "U-ee". Lani said they lived on 164th place. Okay..... only problem: EVERY sandy path was marked 164th place. They were all over...every beach-like avenue was the same. What to do. Eennie, Meenie, Miney, Mo.....take this one, Cory. Hold on folks, this is a real roller coaster
sandy path. Bump. Burp. Past another growling pit bull, we keep going....deeper and deeper into a wooded area. Cory insisted he should turn around. But wait, at the end of this blind vegetative hideaway, he spots Rog's van and their car. Made it!!
Want privacy? Come live with Lani and Roger. No one will ever find you. But actually, they did have neighbors in amongst their bordering forest. Years ago, they bought this small camp. They now own a lovely, cozy cottage. They have worked very hard in remodeling the original camp. Their dedicated efforts have really paid off. They have done a great job. It is sunny bright and so nicely decorated. Rog built a big garage next to the house to hold their vehicles and provide him was a fantastic man cave. They are both so talented. I can say it was like following the yellow brick road (holely sand path) and arriving at OZ. Unbelievable.....a majestic abode deep within the innards of Florida. We had a nice visit. Thank you for your kind hospitality, Lani & Roger. Now, it's your turn to see what trailer park life is like.
We headed down the pike to
our campground. Stopped at a Steak n' Shake for supper. I had an Egg Nog milkshake. Aahhh. To die for. It was scrumptious. New Year's resolution: stop eating!!
You can pack up some of your things tonight. We have plenty of time in the morning to get to Tropical Palms as they said we can't check in until after noon. Last year, someone was in our site....'member that? Not fun but finally we got in and settled. Just don't want any hassles this year. We want it to be a Happy New Year! Rolling in the morning....see you then.
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Bob Andersen
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More Memories
Cory... the picture of you and Sandy with baby Loren 2 or 3 blogs ago reminded me of the (I think) 2 times I visited you when you were at U B and I was at GCC. The first time as we were going out on the town you said we need to stop by the pool hall so you could make some spending money hustling pool. We were there about an hour and sure enough you walked out with a nice wad of dough. Shades of "fast Eddie" from the Hustler movie with Paul Newman. The second visit was soon after you and Sandy were married. I slept on the couch in the small apartment you mentioned in your blog. I remember we had lunch outside the nest day in a place that was like a MacDonald's. It may have been called Carrol's. It was the first time I had been to a fast food place. I also remember you were working full time on the night shift at the steel mill and carrying a full load at U B. You were the first of us guys to get married. That was cool. Also is it just me when I saw the blog picture of Loren grown up she reminded me a lot of your sister Gwen. Glad you are safe in Florida. Happy New Year!