Christmas in Florida and Happy New Year

Our decorations, also thinking we should call our motor home the Moose and I'll change his attire after Christmas, Deck hasn't concurred yet, will see.

Top notch resort in Williston, FL.

We had a beautiful corner lot.

Can you believe this spot?

We paid way more then we usually do but this resort had everything.  After video chatting Christmas eve with the kids/grand kids on google Duo we headed out to play bingo, ha ha we have never played, we lost a quick $20, you have to pay attention they fly through those calls, serious stuff.

Christmas Day we were invited to a free dinner at 2pm.  This alone was worth the extra bucks we paid, it was wonderful, turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls and deserts beyond our wildest dreams.  Well worth the extra bucks to hang out in this beautiful resort and have dinner without cooking or cleaning up, priceless.

We moved onto Panacea RV resort which is hardly worth mentioning, thankfully we only had 2 days reserved there, they had water/electric/sewer so not a total flop.

Ho Hum RV Park in Carabelle, FL now were talking, our site is right on the Gulf Coast, just a little foggy, it's 1pm in the afternoon, were just pretending there is something to look at.

This is our New Year's place were here until the 2nd.

Looking better already.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Chiefland, Florida and Cedar Key

Great camping spot and kayaking area.

Our site.

A manatee swimming in the spring waters, the area was 6 feet above flood level from rains earlier in the week this made the waters murky usually they are crystal clear.  The bump in the water is a manatee.

Between 35 and 150 million gallons of crystal clear water flow from this first magnitude spring every day.  The water percolates through limerock to underground caves that feed the spring.  There were many divers going into the caves when we were there.  

Florida has more than 1,000 springs, the largest collection of springs in the world.

There are 27 springs parks in Florida.  90 % of drinking water for Floridians comes from the springs.

We spent the afternoon in Cedar Key enjoying some food and drink watching the fisherman on the boardwalk and waiting for sunset.  We drove about 35 miles from our campsite to get here.

Cedar Key

Cedar Key

Cedar Key

As the sunset the moon rose, this was on  December 22, 2018, one day after the winter solace, how cool was that!

Travel stats as of December 21, 2018

71 Days on the road

7 States

2,617 Miles

12 Campgrounds

Our Camping cost are averaging $20 a day, we have used Passport America, Coast to Coast, Good Sam Club, State Parks, National Parks & Forest and occasionally Walmarts.

Here is a list of the campgrounds we have stayed at, how many days, what type of park or discount we used.

Walmart , 3 nights
                                                                        
Hellcreek Ranch, Hell, MI., 5 days, private.
                                           
Mammoth Cave, Cave City, KY., 3 days, National Park
                                  
Lazy Llama, Chuckney, TN., 7 days, Passport America
                                         
Pride Resort, Waynesville, NC., 7 days, Coast to Coast
                                      
Shadrock,  Bristol, TN .,  3 days, Passport America
                            
Shadyfork, Wytheville, VA., 4 days, National Forest Campground

Shenandoah, Gordonsville, VA., 14 days, Coast to Coast

Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort, SC., 6 days, State Park

Faver Dykes , St. Augustine, FL.,  2 days, State Park

Jonathon Dickson's , Hobe Sound, FL., 3 days, State Park

Bee's RV Resort, Clermont, FL., 4 days, Coast to Coast

Homosassa River RV Park, Homosassa, FL., 3 days, Passport America

We spent 7 days visiting in Marathon Key without our motothome.

December 2018 Welcome to Florida

Somewhere along the way I was able to finish the quilt for our bed, it was long arm quilted before we left Michigan in October.

I have my sewing machine with me.

Not sure what day we rolled into Florida.  If I wasn't doing laundry the date would be available to look up in my records, didn't bring them with me to the campsite laundry.

Our first stop was Faver Dykes State Park in St. Augustine.  We were here for 2 days and stopping to visit family.  Didn't sight-see but had lunch on the water with family, next time around will spend at least 5 days exploring the city.

We spent 3 days in Jonathon Dickson State Park near Stuart, FL visiting family before heading down to Marathon Key to visit family.  This is my brothers boat and he took us out into some pretty wild waves on the ocean.  Wish there were some pictures of our two boating trips, the memories will have to do.  We left our motorhome parked and drove our jeep down to the Keys. and stayed with my brother, Dana and Ryan.

We left Stuart FLon  December 14 and landed in Clermont at Bee's Resort.  Just as we pulled off the Florida Turnpike in the rain our wipers quit working and so did my phone that was running GPS to get us there.  Luckily at our last turn there was the resort right in front of us, oh it was also dark.

Wipers got fixed .  We stayed here 4 days  so we could visit the Regal Boat Factory in Orlando.  Their boats are built on location by hand involving 700 employees.

We loved the colors of this one, our dream boat is their 33 express cruiser to run around on the Great Lakes in the future.

Homosassa RV Resort in Homosassa FL,  we took an air boat ride it was 70 rather chilly for the ride.  This picture  is the view as were coming out into the Gulf of Mexico after 6 miles in the grasses.   This area from Clermont to Homosassa is very much like Michigan, with hills and lakes, except for the palm trees it feels like home only warmer right now.

These pictures are near the start of our ride, 6 miles inland from the Gulf of  Mexico.  The top picture had a tiki bar and we hit happy hour $1.25 bud light on tap all day, whoo hooo.  We did a walking tour from our campground and found the boat tour and this bar, oh also a really cool glass/pottery shop where they had a fish pendant to ad to my jewlery collection about the only thing small enough for me to purchase anymore.

Hunting Island State Park South Carolina camping with an ocean

November 26th through December 2nd, Hunting Island South Carolina. We left Shenandoah Crossings on the 25th and stayed in a Wallmart parking lot for the night, got an early start and drove down to Hunting Island South Carolina. Our site has a beautiful view of the beach with the morning sunrise out the front of the motor home. The area has some remnants of the hurricanes but is on the mend. Lots of beautiful beach walks and bike trail riding, climbed the lighthouse and sat on the shore one day.

Sunrise view from our campsite.

The beach is beautiful and sandy for about 3 miles then it gets littered with hurricane debris.  From May to October no light is allowed on the beach while the sea turtles are busy laying eggs.  

The lighthouse from 100 yards back, outside is cast iron panels with a brick liner. 

On the steps of the lighthouse before hiking up to the top.

This is one of the views from the top of the Hunting Island Lighthouse, it dates back to pre-civil war. Lots of history about the lighthouses and there keepers

A little technical information on the lighthouse.

This is some of the hurricane mess left on the beach, little creepy at times.

Gordonsville History and surrounding area

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello (3rd President) Charlottesville, Va



James Madison's Montpelier (4th President) Orange, VA

We visited this home and took the tour, when you stand on the porch you view the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance.  There are 2,650 acres of protected land around the home with walking trails.  The decor inside reflects the estate as it was in the 1820's, very cool stuff.



James Monro'es Highland (5th President) Charlottesville, VA




The Exchange Hotel became the Gordonsville Receiving Hospital during the Civil War.  Some say the hotel is a hot spot for paranormal activity, every year for a few weekends approaching Halloween they hold a ScareFest, how fun.

Holdiay and weekend spent in Virginia

 Darren and Lilly making a lamb stuffed animal named

 Lamblamb.

 

Lilly with her electrifying hair.  

 Our campsite with a cabana and a hot tub inside, 

oh yeah.

  Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park.  

Yikes snow on the ground. 

November 11 until the 25th Thanksgiving in Shenandoah Crossings a Bluegreen Resort in Virginia

This campsite has water, electic and sewer as you can see we don't have any neighbors.  On Wednesday November 21st our sons and their families will check into the resort, one family in a yurt and the other in a 3 bedroom cabin.  This is a bluegreen resort with a variety of lodging including the camping sites.  We are moving over to a presidential camp site on Wednesday with our own hot tub, that's cool.

Deck and I have been enjoying our stay using the outdoor/indoor pools, hot tubs, exercise and game  rooms,  just hanging out waiting to spend the holiday with our kids and grandkids, 2 more days and they will all be here!

This is a view of the lake that is on part of the property.  

November 7 thru 11 from Bristol Tennessee to Wytheville Virginia

Stony Fork Campground in the Jefferson National Forest which is part of the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, near Wytheville, VA, a lot of names for one area just like their roads have 3-4 names you can be driving north on 81 south and east on 77 west at the same time, your map, gps, and google all reporting different names, everytime we went somewhere we got screwed up, good thing we have some much time on our hands.

We stayed 4 days in the forest elevation 2260 and the last night was 16 degrees we were colder here than in Michigan .... what the heck is going on.  

We rode the New River Trail which follows the  railroad bed for 76 miles through Virginia.  Were in rain gear it was cold and rain was expected at any time.

There is a lot of history along the trail this furnace was about 50 feet tall.

This was just a really old structure that must have shook when a train went by, it looked like an old inn. 

This tree was beautiful every color on display, you know me and tree's can't pass them up.