Hitch Itch

Oh yeah, if your a full time, traveling RV'er, you know what I'm talking about.  For everyone else, this is a term used when you stay in one place for awhile and are yearning to get back out on the road and explore.  We are beyond ready!  We will have been in the same RV park for 5 months, which is the longest we have ever stayed anywhere!  This was with good reason though.  It was to allow me to do my tax work with good internet and for Rick to pick up some temp work so we can sock away some money for big future travel plans, that have now gone international!  More on that later.  Well we have certainly worked while we have been here.  Both of us putting in close to 35-40 hours consistently, sometimes a little OT thrown in.

My Work Space

But that's not to say we haven't spent a bit of that as well.  We did acquire a couple new toys, which we are putting to good use.

First we got a smoker.  Several friends and family have smokers and to sample the fruits of their labor has inspired us to jump on the bandwagon too!  We bought a small Davy Crockett Smoker by Green Mountain. We know friends who have it and it comes well recommended and has great reviews. There is even a Facebook group for that particular model.  Rick has started researching pellets, rubs, techniques and has dabbled in perfecting his smoking craft.

The first night we got it, we threw two whole chickens on, split open.  Soo delicious!

We both love brisket and will default to it whenever we hit up a BBQ joint, so it was only right to try and smoke a brisket next.  Briskets are probably one of the more tedious items to smoke and we love a good bark so we will continue to perfect the art of the delicious bark brisket but this one turned out really good! Had a good smoke flavor but probably could have gone a bit longer.  We took the leftovers, put them in a pan with a small amount of beef stock and put it back on the smoker for another meal and that was really nice and tender.  Again, we will happily try more to get the perfect brisket technique!  We even put a couple jalapeno poppers on!

We even threw a ham steak on for Easter Sunday!

Up next is some ribs.  Yummm!!!  We'll let you know how those go.

Our other big purchase was ebikes.  We again, have friends who have some and travel with them.  There are soo many places we go that we would love to explore and to be able to do that without the big dually truck sometimes is certainly appealing.  We rented some and took a 22 mile ride on a wonderful paved trail that winds through some beautiful forests in Central Florida near Ocala.  To say that 22 miles was a bit aggressive for our first ride was an understatement!!  But honestly, as we pedaled along with the electric assist, taking in the beautiful surroundings, it didn't seem soo bad, until we were 11 miles out and my battery gauge was at half.  Panic set in and we turned around to make sure we had enough juice to get back.  Did I mention that the winds were whipping at over a sustained 20 mph and we would be facing them head on?!?!?!  Of course I tried to conserve my battery and put more energy into pedaling.  Well with about 4 miles to go, our arses were soo sore and the legs were feeling like spaghetti, so we kicked up the electric assist and made it back.  We were a bit sore the next day but had a great time!

The Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway is a beautiful trail that only crosses 2 small roads and the rest is either over or through tunnels.  The natural bridge over I-75 was really cool and we watched the heavy spring break traffic for awhile.  We even packed a lunch and enjoyed it at one of the picnic tables along the trail.  We look forward to riding the trail again when we return next winter.

sIn looking at our storage space, we would prefer to get foldable ebikes, but Rick had a concern of how they would ride.  He certainly didn't wanna look like he was riding some kids bike.  I found a bicycle shop in Daytona Beach that rented and sold foldable ebikes, so off we went!  We picked a beautiful day to go riding, 76 and sunny with a light breeze.  We took the rented ebikes down to ride on the beach and had a great time!  Even though it was spring break, it was not super crowded and we had plenty of room to ride.  This time we kept it to a reasonable 10 miles since we only rented them for an hour.  Once back to the shop we went in the back parking lot to try the Magnum foldable bikes they had for sale.  Those had regular bike tires, an upgraded seat and heavy duty suspensions seat stem as well as a bike rack on the back.  Those just felt like we were riding regular bikes and had a great electric pickup right from the start.  Sold!  They had a white and black one in stock.  Perfect for a his and hers package!  We loved that we were able to support a local shop and the owners could not have been more patient and helpful!  If your ever in Daytona Beach and are looking to rent or buy bikes, Daytona Adventures is the place!  We love our new bikes and since they are foldable we got large, heavy duty plastic tubs to put them in when we travel.  If we drive somewhere to ride them, we fold them up and put them in the back seat area of the truck, with the seat folded up.

I bet your wondering where in the wide world of sports we put our new toys, being that we are in a RV.  Well remember we have a wonderful Grand Design 375res with the back storage tray.  So Rick did some configuring with our storage and both the bikes and the smoker sit on the tray comfortably with our grill, tiki torches and grill/smoker accessories.  We will see how everything travels to our next destination.   

We wrapped up our time in Lady Lake, FL by catching up with family.  We had a great Friday night fish fry at Mallory Hills Country Club in The Villages and then a cookout the next night.  We will see them all again in about a month, but back in WI.

The weather here the last few days and the next several look to be some of the wettest that Central FL has seen in April and we tried to pack up the outside stuff in between rain drops over the last couple days.  We are headed out tomorrow, most likely in the rain, to our next stop which is only about an hour east.  We are attending the first Central FL Grand Design rally and are really looking forward to it.  We will spend the week there and then we are off to our first visit to the FL Keys!!  Stay tuned...