Mid-April finally arrived and we were more than ready to get the wheels rolling!  Even though our first stop was only 45 minutes away in Eustis, FL, it was movement.  Southern Palms RV Resort was to be the next destination for the first Central FL Grand Design Owners Rally.  If you follow our travels, this was going to be our 4th GD Owners rally.  Previously being to the National rally in Elkhart, IN, Arkansas and Texas rallies.  Each rally is different and we were excited to see what this new FL rally had in store.  Well, first off, it had rain,,, and lots of it!  We arrived 2 days before the rally started to avoid the crush of RV's trying to all park on the same day.  That gave us time to get settled into our muddy site and watch it rain for another day.  Everything was still a bit muddy when most of the attendees arrived on Wednesday.  They had over seventy rigs to check in that day!

The rally itself was well done and we enjoyed helping as volunteers.  We were assigned to prize delivery so we turned on our best Vanna White impersonations and handed out alot of prize giveaways almost every night.  Well, Rick did more than I since one day I was out of commission with Covid vaccine #2 side effects.  That was a special kind of hell that I wish upon no-one!!!  I never knew ever fiber of your being, including hair, could hurt soo much!

On to better subjects...  The rally lasted 4 days and had a good mix of entertainment and activities, a little something for everyone.  One evening of entertainment was kind of like the Soggy Bottom Boys with music and comedy.  They were pretty funny. 

There was some really good food too., including a Sonny's BBQ dinner one night and Blue Bell ice cream.  Everyone got their own pint of ice cream.  We certainly did not go hungry!

It was great to have the U.S. Honor Flag RV there and to finally meet Chris and Cindy in person after following their travels on Facebook.  Their story was incredible to hear and their dedication to honor our fallen service members and first responders is inspiring!  Check them out and all the good work that they do to support America's finest. ​

​With RV park reservations made in advance for the Keys, we needed to leave Sunday, along with just about everyone else!!!  It was a bit of organized chaos but we made our way out of the park and pointed the RV south to our next destination.  We decided to break up our 6+ hour journey to the keys with an overnight stop at a Harvest Host location in Miami.  

We love using the Harvest Host and Boondockers Welcome locations as quick overnight stops when we are relocating to a new destination.  We have had great experiences at each of them and this one was no different.  When I first looked at this location, I thought, a farm in Miami???, well there are indeed numerous farms in this area, properly called Homestead, FL.  Accursio Farms is a family vegetable farm with over 2500 acres.  In addition to the farm fields, they also have a cool little farm stand where they sell some of their produce and other local delicious foods, such as jellies and numerous pickled items.  On the weekends they usually have live music and a food truck.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon, after an uneventful drive, just in time to hear some music and visit the farm stand.  We purchased some yummy red onions and zucchini.  The farm stand looked to be lightly stocked but soon found out that the growing season was coming to an end as they would be wrapping up the following week and the owner goes back to Italy to rest and recuperate for the next growing season in the fall.

​Once parked in the field behind the farm stand, we decided to let the RV cool down a bit, since it was in the upper 80"s, and go have dinner at a local establishment.  Man did we hit the authentic food jackpot when we visited La Quebradita Mexican Grill!  They claim to be the best authentic Mexican food in South Florida and I bet they are right!  You will not find the average Mexican food fare here, but more authentic homemade original's.  We knew we were in for a treat when we entered on a Sunday evening and found it busseling with local Mexican families gathering for a Sunday dinner.  Our food was absolutely delicious and we left quite stuffed!

​Our stay was a peaceful one, parked in the field behind the farm stand. We sat outside for awhile after dinner reading and visiting with one of the other travelers spending the night.  The next morning we packed up and headed out about 10am for our short 2 1/2 hour drive down to our destination in the Keys.  We really enjoy these quick little overnight stays as they take us to out of the way places that we might otherwise visit.  We have a couple more of these visits coming up in a future post, so stay tuned for more interesting adventures.  

​​Up next, visiting the Keys...

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.

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...

Really, has it been about 2 months since our last update?  Wow...time really does fly when your working!  Ok, I know most of you full time working folk are rolling your eyes about now, but man it has been a minute since we both were in the full time working world, and we didn't expect to be again, at least not now.

Rick has been helping out at a restaurant in The Villages while I work on taxes this year with the intention of strictly part time, maybe 3 days.  However, as it goes in food service, they are short staffed and the talent pool is sorely lacking, so Rick has been working full time, even a bit of OT, these last two months to help them out.

February 1st and I was easing back into it, shaking off the cobwebs, planning on working about 20 hours a week.  No problem, I got this.  Well then a week in, I was asked if I could work some more hours since one preparer was not coming back this year.  Ok, sure.  Well a couple more hours has turned into close to 40 hours ever since!!!  I was wise this year and bought an office chair to sit at the dining table rather than in the recliner and my back is much happier.  I usually work a couple hours and then take a walk and that seems to do the trick of keeping everything feeling pretty good.  Before you know it, it is 3pm and Rick is coming home.  One thing I have discovered that makes the day humm right along, pun intended, is a SIrius XM/Iheartradio station called Yacht Rock.  It is soft rock from the 60/70/80's and makes preparing taxes just flow.  Crazy I know, but whatever works, right? 

Now all work and no play is not what we set out to do and we certainly have been able to slide in some really great times visiting with family and friends...and Mickey!!

In January we explored a bit of The Villages and it's restaurants and recreation centers.  Our favorite rec center is the Eisenhower Rec Center.  They have a very nice military memorabilia display and were still decorated for the holidays.  We also had to visit the squares, enjoy the live bands and see the lines of golf carts.

We decided to take advantage of the limited capacity at Disney and bought the FL resident 3-day pass.  At the end of January we went to Epcot during the Festival of Arts and found some really cool displays where we could be part of the art.

It was surreal to see the park soo empty and we were able to walk right on to most of the rides without a wait, even Soarin!  It was a beautiful day and we made the most of it!  We decided on a wonderful German dinner and do to Covid, the buffet was brought to you, as much as you want.  Paired with some flight of beer and wine, we were uncomfortably stuffed by dinners end!  Good thing we had to walk all the way through the park, out to the parking lot!

We finished off January and began February with a visit from my Dad and Stepmom, who are selling their home in WI and moving to the Villages.  There was lots of open houses, some good food, lots of card games and oh yeah, we went to see some manatees in Crystal River.  At first we saw one here, one there and then we saw the motherload!  There were over a hundred, pushing two hundred, they just stopped counting.  It was a cool day following a colder day, which pushed the gentle giants in to the warmer spring fed waters.  We also took them to see one of the oldest live oak trees in the south.  We couldn't even get the entire tree in the picture!

Once we said good-bye to the P's, we took a day trip down to Bradenton, near Tampa, to visit with our Rv'ing friends, Mike and Terri.  It was a rainy, dreary day but that didn't stop us from going to get some delicious BBQ at Mission BBQ, catching up and taking a tour of the area.

Our next adventure was to Hollywood Studios in February.  We could see that the attendance was higher than Epcot, but still less than normal.  Star Wars has opened since we had last been to the park so we really wanted to make sure we hit those two rides.  Rise of the Resistance has such a high demand that even during Covid times there is a virtual queue that you need to get into in order to even have a CHANCE to get on board.  Your first chance at the queue is at 7am and you do not need to be in the park to get in.  The second chance is at 1pm and you must be in the park.  Both of these virtual queues are accessed through the Disney World app.  SO at 7am I was ready and was hitting the button consistently starting at 6:59am.  Unfortunately it was full in one second!  Wow!  My hopes were dashed and I was not feeling real good about our second chance either.  Dang it!

We got to the park right at opening at 9am and the there were lines to get in.  Although, not like normal operating times.  We were able to ride all the rides we wanted, including Tower or Terror and Rock n Rollercoaster, with small wait times.  35 minutes was the longest and that was for Mickey and Minnie Runaway Railway.  The wait was definitely worth it!  This is a newer ride and the technology they put into it really was fantastic!

Well 1pm rolled around and I begrudgingly got my app up and was ready to try again and by gosh we got in the queue!  Albeit way down the queue, so my hopes were not high since the park closed at 6pm.  Well about 4pm, we finally were notified our number was up and we hurried over to get in line.  There was still a 30 minute wait but we were able to sit and have some yummy Tatooine adult beverages prior with a little people watching so we were rested and ready!  Again, similar to the railway, new technology was similar in parts, included holograms and was outstanding!  It was about 20 minutes long and was not just sitting in a cart...I'll leave it at that not to give away too much.  It was another beautiful day at a Disney park!​

If you are feeling a Disney theme here, just wait!  Next up, we had the opportunity to meet up with RV'ing friends at Old Key West Resort, which is one of the Disney Vacation Club Resort, for a weekend at the end of February.  We had a fantastic 2 bedroom villa overlooking the lagoon and golf course.  It was just the kind of R&R the Dr ordered!  A fantastic dinner, drinks and cards.  Being the early riser I am, I snuck out onto the patio to watch the sunrise and all of the birds that were visiting the water.  We even had turkeys strut past!  Thank you again Mike & Terri for a wonderful weekend!

Our final Disney adventure for the spring was a stay at the Pop Century Resort for a couple days and a trip to Magic Kingdom and Disney Springs in early March.  We scrambled to get this in before spring break started and Friday the crush of spring breakers were beginning with a bang!!  We were able to get FL resident discounts on the room and decided to go for it.  It was a really nice resort and was on the new mode of transportation, The Skyliner.  We enjoyed some time at the pool, took a stroll around the resort checking out all the Pop memorabilia and riding the Skyliner. We enjoyed a delicious Italian dinner on the Boardwalk and a beautiful sunset.

Our day at Magic KIngdom started off much like Epcot, with very light crowds and at times we had areas of the park to ourselves!  Parades and character meet and greets were cancelled but they were still able to have some guest interaction from afar.

By early afternoon, wait times were 30-45 minutes, with Seven Dwarfs Mine Train pushing an hour.  The park was definitely getting busy and good thing we were able to get through most of the rides we wanted to go on and ended the day with the ever popular Space Mountain.  That ride never gets old!

We then made our way back to the hotel to relax a bit before a night out at Disney Springs.  This was by far the largest crowds we encountered in any of our Disney experiences.  It is probably because it was the start of spring break and Disney really can't limit crowds.  They do have stands for temp screenings before entering, just like they did at the parks.  We did a little bit of shopping, listened to some live bands and then had dinner at the House of Blues.  Another great dinner!  A late brunch the next morning at The Grand Floridian resort was also scrumptious!  The food at Disney really doesn't disappoint!

Our last outing was a his and hers kinda day.  We each picked something we wanted to see in Ocala and made a day of it.  We started with Rick's choice to go see the Big Daddy Don Garlits Museum.  It was amazing how big the museum was and how extensive his collection is, not only in drag racing but cars in general, especially vintage.  One building was devoted strictly to his vintage car collection that is rotated often.

The afternoon was then my choice and since it was such a beautiful day, I choose a visit to Sholom Park, which is a beautiful park with lots of paved walking trails.  It was a great way to close out the day.

Whew...well looking back I guess we have done a good bit, in between working!  No wonder we are exhausted!  :-)   

Well that wraps things up for mid-January to mid-March.  We hope you enjoyed reliving the memories with us!  We have a month left in Lady Lake and are definitely feeling "hitch itch" as we Rv'ers refer to the urge to explore new places.  

So 2020 in review, or more importantly, in the rearview!  Thank goodness...what a year!  But even as I say that, I look at our travels last year and we were pretty fortunate to do what we did!  It really is great to take a moment and relive the year.  For all the chaos, reworked travel plans and family emergencies, it really was a year filled with adventure and cherished time with family and friends.   Practicing gratitude was on the front burner all year long, and continues to be. 

The first part of the year was devoted to our continued exploration of TX.  It seems unreal that at the end of January we were on a cruise out of Galveston and as we sailed along we started to hear musings of other cruises with people getting really sick and the extra large bottles of sanitizers coming out in force and then about a month later the entire country would go into a lockdown!   

​We were fortunate to have our travel plans mapped out and reservations made thru May.  Being in TX the entire time also helped.  TX was one of the last states to really go into complete lockdown mode.  We were able to enjoy some time discovering the state, albeit alot from the windshield, and not alot of exciting new restaurants, shops or entertainment venues.  During the height of the lockdown in April and May, we were volunteering and camping in the bottom of an expansive canyon with a couple other volunteers. It was amazing and eerie at the same time as the wildlife began to  take back the park.

From WI we headed to IN in August to have some work done on our RV at the manufacturer and ended up spending a delightful week exploring the Amish countryside.  It was very interesting to understand the Amish viewpoint of the pandemic and learn that they were not subject to the mask mandates. 

From this point is where our travel plans began to go off the rails.  With the crazy travel restrictions in PA and NY, we ended up cancelling our reservations there and went on to discover WV, which was a delightful surprise.  We focused on alot of history through our fall travels and visited several Civil War battlefields throughout WV, PA, VA and MD.  It turned out to be a great Plan B! ​

​We then met up with our two sons in Washington, DC and were able to witness first hand the unrest in the country.  Unfortunately it also hindered our DC plans, but we were able to cobble together a memorable trip.

​From there we spent some downtime in a VA state park and with friends in NC before heading off to western NC where we had our next workcamping experience.  This was our first private park that we volunteered at and we were very blessed to be in a beautiful place and work with some really great people!  The bar has been set high for other private parks!  Unfortunately, our time there was cut short and the managers were so very understanding as we made plans to quickly move the RV to FL and fly back to WI to be with family to celebrate RIck's Dad's life.

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