February in Florida: Part II

Our days by the lake continue to be punctuated by fun activities. We had a great block party last Saturday evening: good food, good friends, and much fun. Our coach faces the cul-du-sac. This is good: we can watch the comings and goings of our neighbors and join impromptu meetings as they occur. Other sites in the park are drive-in rather than back-in. Views of the lake from the coach are great, but you cannot easily see what is going on behind you. Our neighbors are clearly the most enjoyable part of Crystal Lake.

We, with Don and Diane, saw Englebert Humperdinck in concert last week. He is still in excellent voice, and his music brought back many memories. He's an excellent showman, and we thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Fort Myers.

Wednesday night we attended a dinner-dance at the clubhouse. The food was super: prime rib. The music was Mo-town from the Sixties. There sure was a lot of "shakin' goin' on". These dinners have been sold out all season. At $15 per ticket, it is a bargain!

Saturday is officially "Fun Day". This is an annual event that begins at 8:00 AM with coffee and donuts followed by a craft-fair and bake sale, followed by lunch. At 1:00 PM assorted resident teams gather to compete for prizes. The games include shuffle board, water balloon toss, ring toss, wheel spin, golf putting, and ladder golf, among the challenges. The competition ends late in the afternoon with a mystery ride - scavenger hunt. Each team rides around the park to locate the lot on which an object is hidden using a list of objects. This is done using any transportation mode, but it is a timed exercise and the park is 3-miles in circumference. The day ends with a dinner and awards at the clubhouse.

We have a new team this year: Chuck and Donna; Don and Diane; Bob and Inga; and ourselves. We don't expect to win anything, but we plan to have fun competing.

The traveling group that went to Orlando earlier has decided to go Wesley Chapel, FL in March. Where is that, you may wonder. It is north of Tampa, about 175-miles from Naples. That is the only area campground we could find for the three coaches on short notice. We leave March 12 and return March 18. The activity agenda is being developed. At least one baseball game has been scheduled. It should be an interesting trip. Larry has modified his Chinook and wants to test it before heading to Washington state in May.

Our daughter Karen arrives in Tampa March 18 and will be with us for Easter. We look forward to seeing her and have planned several activities. She will enjoy the sun and get some rest while here. March is still cold in Virginia.

Yesterday was the coldest day we have had in February: 45-degree morning temperature. Today is much warmer. Tomorrow's morning temperature will be back in the 60 - 70 degree range. The space heater felt good at get up, and staying in bed was easy.

This is it for February! We'll be back next month.

February in Florida

We have been negligent in keeping this blog updated, and we are not sure why. Perhaps it is the daily sunshine, warm temperatures, blue skies, or the lake behind our coach that combine to make us think that a perfect day is spent in a lounge chair under the awning by the lake with a cool drink and a good book. Such pleasure is not conducive to writing a blog.

Lest anyone think everyday is spent by the lake, we will summarize some of our other activities. Water aerobics have been good exercise for Janice; she tries to be there everyday during the week. Ralph walks the park most mornings just to keep the parts moving and lubricated.

The park has an active social recreation outdoor program centered around the clubhouse with tennis, shuffleboard, golf putting, bocce ball, and the pool. Indoors there are games, seminars, Bible studies, dance groups, a library, dinners, breakfasts, and entertainment. We also have neighbors who enjoy getting together as a group every two weeks for a party and individually for a meal or a trip to the beach.

We had a treat February 3 when we traveled to Orlando for three days. Larry and Dean organized the trip for us to see a theme park called The Holy Land Experience and to attend the Circque Du Soliel. The plan was to drive to Orlando Sunday and return Wednesday.

Late Saturday night, as we were preparing for a morning departure, we discovered that we had no power to the awnings. Since the awnings were extended, this was a problem. Early Sunday it appeared that we would not be able to leave as scheduled. Don and Ralph tried to diagnose the problem without success. Finally a call to Monaco helped isolate the problem to depleted engine batteries. Once these batteries we charged, we were under way, about 30-minutes later than planned.

Don was our leader in his 45-foot Prevost. Larry was next in his 20-foot Chinook, and we followed. Our only stop along the way was in Sebring for brunch. We parked the larger coaches in a shopping center and all piled into the Chinook to travel to the restaurant.

The trip was smooth until we arrived at the campground, Tropical Palms. Don had stayed there several years ago, however, the park had new owners and it wasn't the same. Don had reserved three sites together; they were not available. Available sites were in a section better suited for tent camping or Class C coaches. Roads are extremely narrow, turns are sharp, and trees and road signs are hazardous to rigs over 20-feet in length. Green scum covered the pond adjacent to Larry and Dean's site and Don and Diane's site was so tight they could not extend awnings.

The Holy Land Experience is a theme park focusing on Old Testament Jewish history and concluding with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We planned to see part of the exhibits and dramatizations on Monday and the rest on Tuesday. Our tickets were good for seven days. We thoroughly enjoyed both days and learned a lot of history.

Tuesday night we had tickets to Circque Du Soliel that Dean had acquired. We were in Row C, not quite on the stage, but close. What a show! It was non-stop action. We had a blast!

When checking into the campground, Don asked, "What if we decide to extend our stay?" The park manager replied, "No problem. Just let us know the day before you are due to leave." On Tuesday, Don asked if we wanted to stay another day and see more of Orlando; we said, "yes". When he told the campground office personnel to extend us, they responded, "That is impossible. We are booked solid. You must leave". We were not sad to leave on Wednesday; we will not be returning.

Our trip home was easy. We stopped in Sebring for lunch, at a different restaurant than the one on Sunday. Our last stop was at Pilot to re-fuel. This is a messy, poorly operated facility, but it is en route to Naples. It was strange that Larry was getting gasoline and we and Don were getting diesel. We parked the coach and got set up just in time to go across the street for wings. It was good to be home.

We have attended several church activities this month. Our small group of seven couples met for dinner February 2 at one of the couples' home in Naples. About half of our Bible & Life Group met at the church for dinner last Friday night. There were about 100 folks attending. And, this past Sunday, five couples gathered after church for lunch at a local restaurant. This is an eating group.

As you see, February in Florida is "good". We are planning several more outings before this short month ends. We will tell you about them in our next post.