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Published: December 31st 2016
First things first. Our first photo on this blog was taken at the Florida Welcome Center the other day. They had a huge, touch screen machine that you posed in front of and it took your picture for free. We just got it in our email today. Cory said probably now they have sold our email to half the world! Lulu loved the family photo. Okay. Moving on.
Ahhhh.....let me tell you, it was so wonderful to get back in our own sweet bed. Lulu grabbed her spot in it first. Sometimes she tends to be a bit selfish....kind of thinks of herself first. That's okay....we love her, anyway. Motel/hotels are okay. After watching 60 Minutes and all those other Investigative TV shows, I'm always a bit leery as to what's been in the room before us. It sends shivers up my spine. It makes me tense. You know what I'm saying. Cory copes better than me....but he's a guy. Not so fussy. I may use my No-See-Um defense suit while in these rooms. It will protect me somewhat.
Anyway....back in our RV, it's like heaven. At least I know the dirt, marks and smells are ours. Amen.
Cold
this morning when we got up. Not Florida weather yet! It was warmer in Shongo early last week. I put on a t- shirt, sweatshirt and winter jacket to venture out. Cory had his shorts on but did switch to a long sleeve shirt. He's braver than me. Poor Lulu, she has only her gold bow tie to keep her neck warm. She copes though. Tough as nails she is. Grab your scarf and mittens to just be on the safe side.
Before we left, a holler through our door. "Hey, I'm your nosey neighbor" he said. Well, "Hi....come on in" I said. We haven't opened out our big slides so we sat knees intertwined on our couches. Nice old guy. Been living in his motor home with his wife these past four years full time. His name is Roy. He's 88 years old....no way! He doesn't come close to looking his age. He's another person I'm loading up and taking to a carnival so they can try and guess their age. We shall win every single prize! No doubt! Our friend Sandy from Tropical Palms and our friend, Colleen, from Wellsville are also going to the carnival. Their
age is just a number. They look half their years. Oh, goody, goody. The prizes we will win! Not sure if Lulu can be a participant or not....she never ages! Just gets dirty. After Roy shared his entire life with us, we bid him adieux. Did you like him? We sure did.
Can you guess where our first destination was today? You don't have to think hard if you know me. My favorite store: Walmart! I love it! Sorry, John Dolan. John doesn't! But, I know the rest of you do....just like me. This one was located in The Villages. Bigger and better than some. Oooooo. I was in my glory. Especially when we got to the 1/2 price Christmas stuff. Cory groaned. Of course, we need none of this stuff since I divided all our Christmas items we had amongst our kids during this downsizing project we have going. Did buy a couple funny things. You have to have funny, you know. Big check out lines so I perched on a bench while Cory endured the long wait. He's so good. Met a nice, old fellow sitting next to me. He has lived in The Villages for 16
Lulu lounges
Information & Logo Storeyears. Came from Connecticut. We chatted on and on so the wait time passed quickly. I think he has cancer....very, very thin and the bad waxen color. Hope he has a Good New Year, anyway.
Next stop: Camping World. Cory discovered some connector to our sewer hose has a broken attachment so we bought a new one. Don't want any bad occurrences happening in that compartment. I hope you saw the movie "RV". It showed when bad things can get much worse when living the good life in a RV. Sometimes, it not all cherries and roses as you might think. Things happen. Like when our transmission caught on fire on our very first RV...on the NY Thruway...hauling our black trailer. That was not fun nor pretty. But we are still here to tell the story and on our 3rd RV. We love it! If you haven't lived in an RV before, your time with us will give you a good idea what it's like. Those of you who have traveled with us over the years already know the "in's and out's" of life in a trailer park.
Our friend, Nancy, from TP, told us how they had
Where's Lulu?
Hit on photo to enlarge it on another screen stayed at this same campground we are at and they went into the Center Square of the Villages. Entertainment, shops and restaurants here. So this was our next destination. Years, years and years ago we had driven into this area when we were just driving our car back and forth to Florida. We recognized a little bit of it but it has grown and changed so much. We ambled along the sidewalks. Lulu taking every opportunity she could to have her photo taken. Went into the Information Building which included a logo store. Picked up a couple shirts. Lulu lounged. They had a gorgeous monster-sized Christmas tree in their square. Can you find Lulu posing in it?(that's a hint). Look very hard. Also, if you didn't know before: if you tap on one of the photos, it will enlarge on another screen....you'll find Lady Lulu easier that way.
Decisions, decisions.....eat here or go to the Italian restaurant we saw last night in another section of The Villages. What do you feel like tonight? This place is huge! I mean HUGE! We were told there are 120,000 people living here. They all have golf carts and some have 2-3! This
Too cold to,take a dip
Plus she had no bathing suit to wear place is divided up into many separate "villages" of their own. We found out they all have these Central Squares with entertainment, shops and restaurants. It is very nice here. Decision made: consensus said to go to the Italian restaurant: Red Sauce. Good! My choice, too. Cory said it was his also. Fortunately, the Information man gave us a map and a better way to get there than last night. That's when we had to go thru almost 28 "round-abouts"- crazy......we were getting dizzy. We did say we were glad we didn't have the RV!
Got seated right away at Red Sauce. They had a big table for all of us. We wanted a booth but we would have been too crowded. Sat kind of close to a foursome in a booth....felt like we were dining with them. As they left, I wished the birthday lady a Happy Birthday. She studied our table cause they couldn't figure out all what we had ordered. I talked her through each item. She liked that. Lulu ordered her big cocktail along with Cory......going have to watch her. Don't want her letting herself go. She scared our waitress near to death sitting up
on the table....imbibing. The waitress recovered and they got to be good friends. Of course, our eyes are always bigger than our stomachs. Ordered garlic knots not knowing they served a big plateful of various breads. Ordered full orders of spaghetti so Cory could get his meatballs. He loves meatballs. Each meatball was the size of an orange so we had a full dinner and more to take back to the RV. Normally, at home, it would all go up to the critters in our back field. Sorry, critters. Instead, we gave it all to our neighbor, Roy. He was happy. I praised the busboy on his strength of carrying the heavy trays with one hand. He was thrilled and grateful when I took his picture. "Feliz Navidad" I said to him, thinking it meant Happy New Year....."gracias, gracias" he said over and over. He didn't mind I didn't know what holiday I was blabbering about.
Outside, we heard music playing in the distance. The restaurant didn't have the singer like last night or maybe we were too early. No matter, we followed the drums. In their Central Square, they had a Country band playing so we plopped ourselves
Giddy-Up!
Lulu joins the Wagon Team down to enjoy the entertainment. We were freezing cold, though. I still had all my warm clothes on and I was still cold. Cory, are you sure you didn't take a wrong turn and we aren't really in Florida. Brrrrr. Sat next to an older guy. Of course, everyone down here is "older" except for the work staff. He watched as Lulu got up on the dancing area to swing her little self around the "dance floor" (best she could with no legs). I introduced them. He said "okay". After a bit, he learned over to me and asked if I would take a picture of him holding Lulu using his phone. Absolutely! She's such a flirt ---- she jumped into his arms with glee. I hope she's not becoming a tart! I took a dozen pictures until we got the right one. He said he was sending it to a friend saying he was on a blind date. Lulu liked that. Of course, this opened the chatter box. His name was Roy.....everyone we met today said their name was Roy! What gives? He was from Kansas and has lived in The Villages for 1 year. His wife divorced him.
Which golf car should I choose?
They went for miles and miles all over The Villages He was a cardiologist. He had been living in Concordia, KS. Cory knows that place very well because he traveled there frequently for the company he worked for: Air Preheater. Concordia had an Air Preheater Manufacturing Plant there. They had much to talk about now. Even though we had formed icicles inside our noses, we stayed and chatted. Cory and I grabbed one dance before departing this fun evening. Lulu stayed back with Roy as we shared this special moment. Finally, at the car, the temperature there read 47 degrees.....Brrrrrrr --- double Brrrrr for down here! Hope we didn't get dewinterized too soon!
Back at the RV, Cory turned on our furnaces and delivered the doggy bag to RV neighbor Roy. Can hardly wait to get into our cozy, snuggly bed but first I have to finish this blog.
Oh, by the way, I see most of you read yesterday's blog but not as many checked in on the day before's (Travel Day # 3). Hope it was sent to everyone okay. Maybe you are bored to tears already and deciding to read every other one. That's okay. I understand completely. I get weary reading all this gibberish
Red Sauce restaurant
Where's Cory? Enlarge..
also. Just checking to make sure you didn't fall off the bus and we failed to realize you weren't there. Let's stick together. We don't want to send out any Silver Alerts! Catch you next time around. Toot-a-looloo.....says LuLu.
17 photos to peruse ....you know the routine.
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MIke and MJ
non-member comment
Glad you found the Villages!
So happy you were able to get out and about and you WERE at the Villages. And I told you we were cold, burrrr.. warming up a bit today tho... so tell Lulu, if the Ponds Rejuvenating Cream isn't working for her, to try Chlorox Wet Wipes!!!!! They work wonders on my skin and leave it with that fresh Lemony smell (tee hee). That should get the dirt off her w/no problem.. So what's up for tonight's festivities? Golf cart racing, chess, bed by 9:00 like us? Love ya Mike and MJ