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Published: April 23rd 2018
We tried to put as much time & journeying into our last few days at Tropical Palms as possible. We did pretty good but would have liked to have done more. BUT there’s late October of this year when we shall return and begin our bucket list all over again. Hope you are planning on joining us. Wouldn’t be the same without you. I’ll give you plenty of notice as to when to start packing. Just keep watching for my faithful blogs.
Friday, April 20th, we waved good-bye to our sturdy little golf cart. It took us on many fun rides around our park. The storage place we use comes to our site and picks it up on a big trailer. They take it to their large building where it sits and waits for our return. They bring it back when we contact them. This season they raised their monthly fee a good amount but it’s worth it....especially since we have no way to bring it home....unless we can figure out how Lulu could drive it behind our RV & Tow Car. She’s game but I would be too scared for her. What a great gal she is! Fearless, too!
We racked our brains as to where to go and what to do for the rest of the day. Sam suggested St.Cloud....good for the rest of us. We ended up eating at Crabby Bill’s Seafood House. We have been there before....it’s nice. Lulu was thrilled to be there. She loves all the places we take her. Cory tried one of their craft beers on tap: Reef Monkey! It was bad! It was yucky. Even he didn’t like it. Now that’s saying something. Afterwards, we meandered the property on the water’s edge. Then, Cory took a few unknown roads that were foreign to us. We eventually ended up in an old RV Park with “Wild Willy’s Swamp Tour” Place situated at the end of it. We passed it up. Another time. Of course, Lulu insisted she wanted to go on the air boat ride NOW.....that took some time to settle her down. She can get mouthy when she doesn’t get her own way. It took us awhile to make our way back home but that’s part of the fun of it.....especially cause we are together.
Saturday, April 21st....we went to the daily coffee clatch in the lobby. The group
has dwindled to just a few folks.....it used to be the seating ran out once everyone showed up. Now we can all lie down on the couches with room to spare. We mapped out our plan for the day. Guess where we went?!?! HINT.....my favorite store!! Yep! Walmart! I have no idea how I will be without a Walmart on every corner once we get home. It’s not going to be pretty. This Walmart is located on Turkey Lake Road. It is big and beautiful. We went here because it said they had kiosk where you can return your old flip phones and smartphones, etc. for money. We had looked for one of these machine the other day at the Florida Mall....they used to have one but not anymore...rats! Anyway, we lucked out here at this gorgeous Walmart. This special machine is a miracle machine. It does everything: appraises your phone and tells you how much it will pay you for it. It walks you through all the steps....I wish you could have been with us to watch it in action! Because the charging cord they (the machine....and the little robot guy inside it) provided didn’t fit our phones....they appraised
our smartphones as non-working and worth nothing! Rats! Our flip phones also were not worth anything! Rats! We kept them and will take them to our local Verizon store and see what they say....probably the same but who knows.
A restaurant we had not tried, but talked about, was in this area. It’s called Tom & Cheese. Specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches of all sorts.....even grilled cheese do-nuts (yuck). I got a pizza grilled cheese (yum), Cory got a BLT grilled cheese (yum), Sandy got a regular grilled cheese (not yum), Sam got a cheese and tomato grilled cheese-could have been okay except the tomato was extra and they charged him $2.00 for 5 little diced up pieces of tomato.....absurd! Won’t go back there. We went inside a nearby grocery store (Goodings) just to see the outrageous mark-ups cause they are located in the Disney area. You have to be kidding.....Sam’s precious bottle of water that he bought for $1.00 at the Dollar Store at Old Town, is sold here for $2.49! Same thing! Ripoff. I did find a great bug spray (to ward off the rotten no-see-ums)that Linda Gibson was so kind as to give me. First time
I have found it anywhere! I took a picture of it for her and you. We also found that junky beer that Cory bought at Crabby Bill’s: Reef Monkey. Now you know where to buy it locally....if you like crappy, crafty beer.
From here we went to BJ’s and tried walking off all of the cheese we had ingested. Found a few items to buy....good prices. Now you would think we were full of food and needed no more to devour but we had to make the most of our time together. So we went to Cheddars (food made from scratch)at The Loop ( big shopping area). Instead of main entrees, we just ordered appetizers. Cory and I ordered their fabulous crescents and their mouth watering onion rings (a super tall mound of them!). Sandy ordered nachos chips that came with a delicious ground hamburger & cheese dip. She also got some soup. Sam ordered loaded potato soup & a crescent. We shared the chips and rings....leaving some behind for the waiter.
We headed home because Cory & I still had more packing up to do and a wash. As we sat in the evening, watching TV, we
Along the waters edge
Lulu resting on cement bags that look like big buttsheard a horrendous crash outside our window. OMG! What was it? We ran out to see. Our next door neighbor, Melba, (who recently moved in for a lifetime with a brand new travel trailer) was out there with her family all terrified and shook up. They had tried to readjust their stabilizers (in the dark) when something slipped and the trailer can down off the wooden blocks they were standing on. The trailer shifted forward some. Crash!! Oh, my! Fortunately, her other neighbor, Tim, used his truck to raise her trailer up in order to get the rest of the wood out from under and realign everything. Ultimately, the job got done and she was good to go again. Scary!
4/22/2018 - Sunday- today is the day! The day we say farewell to Tropical Palms and our good friends. It’s better just to say “So Long - See You in Awhile” cause we’ll all be back together again in not that many months. It’s still sad and I always tear up with good-byes....just my nature. Lulu stayed strong. I took the final, farewell picture at the lobby coffee time.....4 people!! Where have all the friendly faces gone? Our RV
behaved well as we closed her up. Slides went in fine. Levelers came up good. But wait....what’s this snag-a-roo?? The entrance steps aren’t going up. Rats! Not a new happening. Cory gets out his trusty lubricating spray and drowns the hinges. With some extra shoving by he and Bill.....viola....the stairs are up and working like they should. Whew! And now our big mobile house is rolling down the narrow pathway, leaving our winter spot behind. It’s 10:45 A.M. Look, Cory!.....there’s Sam & Sandy standing guard at the end of our row as we pass by. We wave our final waves goodbye. Boy, are we going to miss them! We had so many good times and laughs together....you just want them to continue forever. They will with — just a few months hiatus. And you’ll be right along with us! Don’t forget you are all part of this on going journey. Lulu had to excuse herself and go find her box of Kleenex. She will really miss them, too. They were always so kind and patient with her. She loves them both. And a big thank you to all of our friends for making our time together so enjoyable and entertaining.
We shall miss all of you!
As we watched Tropical Palms fade in the distance, Cory pulls our RV off the road next to Old Town....no, not to ride the Vomitron. He just had to adjust the mirrors on our RV. And now we are on our way. We are going to Lazydays (where we bought our RV in 2008) to have some work done on it. We are on I-4. As soon as we leave our familiar area, the traffic becomes bumper to bumper.....a rolling parking lot! It stays this way until we get to Rt.27.....there was a four car accident that caused this massive slow down. Not sure how serious but no accident is ever good. After our side of highway gets moving along at a good clip, we see the traffic going east now in a rolling parking lot mode. Geeze! That’s one thing we don’t contend with back home. If there’s a bad MVA, they close the road and detour you around it....you keep moving - it may take you longer and out of your way but you are stopped in gridlock.
12:30 PM and we pull into the parking lot of Lazydays. We
are in the front row....our appointment is at 8:00 AM in the morning. Cory unhooks our car. Lulu jumped on the RV mirror for a snapshot...oh, noooooo. She fell off and rolled under our RV. “You’re okay, honey”. I checked her over for any head injury (only part she has). She’s good....no throwing up or crazy talk. Next, we strolled through their large shopping store. So many interesting items to see. Cory and Lulu took a ride on a very special style vehicle. They were having a “sale” on the various recreational vehicles. Lulu liked a tiny trailer...just her size...it had everything you needed. She fell asleep on one of the bunk beds and found herself hiding behind a storage net. Such a show-off! We went inside a 45’ Entegra RV. Boy, that was nice. Cory wasted no time falling asleep in their comfy reclining lounger. When he woke up....we talked. We couldn’t resist it!! We traded ours and bought it! Now we are looking for someone to drive it.....it’s way too long for Cory’s comfort level.
April Fools! We are still in April! We didn’t buy it but it is a beauty! We are staying loyal to our
broken-in Phaeton that we love.
We went inside the Sales building just to reflect back on our purchase day in 2008. It hasn’t changed much except less salesmen cubicles and the eating area was a little updated ....plus they charge for the food now unless you are buying a big rig...then it’s free. It wasn’t serving time but we helped ourselves to the coke machine.
Now what? We got in our car and headed to the Hard Rock Casino for some gambling time. It’s just down the road from Lazydays. First we had a tasty cocktail at “our” bar.....we have been here before and actually stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel. Loosened up and relaxed we shot off to the slot machines. I worked on the 2 cent and 5 cent machines. Even then, they took my money fast! Not lucky at all......until my last machine. Yes, yes....it paid off to compensate for my lost funds. I won $174.82 minus my $40 investment = $134.82. Not bad for someone who normally looses everything. And where is Mr.Lucky? No crap tables here.....what will we do? No matter, he’s lucky no matter what he plays and fortunately, rounded up a
tidy little sum for us to take home. He even found a $7.00 ticket in his pocket when we got back to the RV. Not enough to turn around to cash in....maybe if we are here awhile, we’ll go back on another day. While at the casino, we decided to eat a chicken pot pie at one of their eatery’s. We had them before....huge and delicious. We should have split one....couldn’t finish them. Sam, they are soooooo good but no bottom crust. And their napkins (remember Sam loves napkins) are thick and plus size....you would love them. I saved two for you.
We came back to the RV.....aka: the hot, sizzling, sweltering box! First we were just going to open the windows but a horrific thunderstorm came by at 6:00 PM. As usual, the rain came down in torrents. I’m surprised we weren’t washed away! Cory started the generator cause then we needed the air conditioner on. It didn’t bring the power on until he turned the inverter on. We decided against putting on the air conditioner and left our HOT house for some rocking chairs outside of the Lazydays building under an awning. Aaah, cool and refreshing plus
the rain had stopped. Whew! We came back in the RV so I could write this blog. With the windows now open, we have a nice breeze blowing through...comfy.
So, everyone, here we are. Tomorrow we see about our service needs and what they can do. I’ll let you know all about that once we find out. Even though our journey is drawing closer to an end, we haven’t parted ways yet.....we are still together on this travel blog. So stay put....we’ll check back with you real soon.
Okay, folks....lot and lots of photos this time (32). Remember the ritual. Scroll as far down as you can go than click on the “next page” line. Happy Scrolling!
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DeAnne
non-member comment
final lap
Safe travels!!! Stop if you can! Sent an email [long!] DeAnne