Still at Camp Blanding

Sunday 13 January, 2019

     Brad made a nice breakfast on the grill.  Then it was just a hang out day.  We took a lot of walks with Rudy and said good-bye to our new friends, Bill and Judy.  We both made called a few phone calls.   Although we were busy all day we can't remember what we did.

Monday  14 January 2019

   We were up and moving like normal a quick breakfast then off to town to do some clothes

Nicole's

shopping. First stop is lunch just as always.  We found this little place called 'Nicole's Cafe in the Country', what a find.  Looked like an old house converted into a restaurant.  Food and service was great Diane had blackened flounder and I had shrimp with fried green tomatoes.  We did a little clothes shopping Diane bought two new tops and I just had so much fun walking in and out of all the stores.  Back home chicken and waffles for dinner. 

Tuesday 15 January 2019

   What a great day for Diane, she was off to get her hair cut just before lunch.  Later that afternoon it happened, at 4:30 the much shopped for, the researched to death

Rudy heard no fire,

so he's in the sunshine!

and long awaited for vacuum arrived via fed ex.  Now she is happy.  After reading all the instruction and assembly she is ready to go except the batteries need charged over night.  Oh no, she must wait one more day to use it.  Just a little to cold for a fire so we grilled the last of our hog maw sausages for dinner.   

Wednesday 16 January 2019

     We headed into town for supplies and stopped at the drug store, grocery store and washed the truck all before lunch. I know!!   Lunch was at the Stone E Cabin great reviews and the ad on the radio made it sound great.  Well not so much, it was OK.  The best part was 5 or 6 good old boys sitting behind us just a talk'n in that mush mouth southern accent that no one can understand.   Occasionally we could make out a few words and just start laughing.  Other than that the place was unimpressive. 

    We stopped at the Camp Blanding  museum on our way back.  Very surprised what we learned.  This was a big WWII camp where 10's of thousands of men were formed into army national guard units and then sent off to the war.  Each division had a monument with the number of men, followed

POW Camp

by the number killed, wounded, and captured.  Thousand killed from each division only one division suffered less than 1,000 and that was because their troop transport was sunk on the way over, they lost 800 men and were never sent to the front.  The other little known fact is that this was a huge POW processing center most of the German prisoners were sent here, processed and sent to other camps.  Over 4,000 POW's were kept here and treated very well to the point some had to be force to return to Germany.  Enough history, if you ever get a chance stop in the check it out.

    Back home Rudy and I spent the afternoon outside as Diane vacuumed the whole house several times over, she is soooo happy.  Left overs for dinner and a nice fire.

Wrapping up first week at Camp Blanding

Thursday 10 January, 2019

     Up in the morning and I made breakfast for us all.  Threw in a load of laundry then started rearranging my cupboards....it took me all day and I'm still not happy with them. As soon as I opened a cupboard to start, Brad headed outside  and found a job of his own to do.  There was a leak in the

And now we need parts

to put it back together!!

water bin and it was time to fix it.  He gathered most of his tools and took off both plates covering the water pipes to find the leaks.  Leak one fixed...oh a second leak, that got fixed, but the third leak is up the wall in the 1/2 bath, so into the house and out comes the wall.  Now, don't think I took that well, I felt like crying because I'm not sure how or when it's all going to go back together, but the leak does need fixed.  He found the problem but now needs parts to fix it, so the wall stays off and it will be a trip to town tomorrow for parts.  OK, so I got over my feeling and got my stuff all put away, then got things started for dinner.  Brad was out walking Rudy when Bill and Judy stopped to chat, so I went out and joined them.  We sat until we were chilled, they headed home, Brad started the grill to make ham steak and Rudy and I headed inside to warm up.  A nice meal, nice evening and off to bed.

Friday 11 January, 2019

     A quick breakfast then we headed into town, a hair cut for Brad then lunch, I had 2 slices of Pizza and Brad had the Shrimp Arribiato.  After that a walk through town to the Walgreen's for my meds,

A walk by the Lake.

then to the tiny RV store to look for the parts Brad needed and they actually had the parts.  We got our things then headed back to the truck to drop off the stuff and headed back down the street to go to the museum, just our luck, they are closed Friday's....what the heck.  Back to the truck then over to Winn Dixie for the few things we need then a trip back home.  Brad put the parts in, I turned on the water, oops it leaked.  He worked on it a little more, no leak, even after 2 or 3 tests.  The wall is still off with a plan for another test.  After that we did 3 laps around the park with Rudy and 'til we got home I don't think Rudy could have walked another step.  We both showered and had fish and veggies for dinner......yum.

Saturday 12 January 2019

     We had the alarm set so we could go to the Waldo flea market before having lunch with Gabe. 

Waldo's Antique/Flea

Market???

We were awfully slow moving and didn't leave until 10.  But we did make to Waldo 1.5 hours before lunch!.. The flea market was more like a scrap market to the point we wouldn't even go in some areas.  Anyway,  off to lunch with Gabe at Randy's Rib shack.  Just a small roadside place with outdoor seating only but boy was it good food.  We all three shared the rib family meal.  Brad wanted to order a side of grilled shrimp but didn't, good thing.  We couldn't eat it all and Gabe had two or three ribs left to take home.  We had a nice chat about school, his trip the Japan and life in  general  We then headed out to find a geocache but gave up after 20 minutes.  A couple of stops on the way home, then home, a walk for Rudy, a visit with friends and a short bike ride.  After that

The Rib Shack

we just sat by the fire and ended up having hot dogs for dinner, neither of us was very hungry.  

Parked in Starke

Monday January 7 2019

    Another really nice day sunny in the low 70's.  We stayed home, continued to clean and completely re-organized the basement bins. We have ordered new jack pads and leveling blocks so I am going to burn the old ones.  New ones are made of a dense rubber that is suppose to support 50,000lbs.  Diane did several loads of laundry and even hung out the sheets.  So nice having the washer and dryer. I

Decorations

found tools I didn't know I brought including a few items I thought went missing during the auction.  Diane found site decorations we haven't had out in years. We took several walks around the park and a short bike ride.  Happy hour, chicken on grill, just a great day.

Tuesday January 8 2019

    We were up, moving and with great dispatch headed off towards Jacksonville.  We left, stopped at the office to check for packages, stopped for gas and bathroom break to arrive in town at ….lunch time just like always.  We ate at Salsa's Mexican Restaurant, the food was great.  We then hit the Bed Bath and Beyond, Lowes, At Home (Diane said it's larger and had more stuff than any Home Goods she has every seen), General RV, Michaels and of course Winn Dixie.  We did get our

shopping done, bought chairs for the RV, coffee, wire and stuff to fix a kick  plate and although we didn't purchase one we shopped and made a decision on a sweeper. We stopped at office to pick up several packages we had delivered.   After a hard day of shopping it was happy hour and just sausages for dinner and several walks for Rudy. 

Wednesday January 9 2019

    Today was supposed to be a stay home day but we ran out of grill propane so we  headed into Starke for supplies.  You won't believe it but we arrived in town at noon, go figure.  We stopped at a Thai restaurant I had a shrimp stir fry and Diane had Shrimp Pad Thai  food was great but they didn't get any of the six orders we saw served correct.  We ordered egg rolls as a appetizer and didn't get them.  When Diane told them we didn't get the egg rolls the waitress looked puzzled and said she didn't know what happened to them.  Off to the grocery store for just a few items and things were good until they didn't give Diane the bogo price for the chicken we got.  We stood in another line, then sent to the office at this point I headed to the truck while Diane and the chicken went to the office.  I loaded the groceries and pulled up to the door to get Diane( I was blocking driving lane) and it took for ever and just as she came out some little old grey hair lady just read me the riot act for being a ####### idiot for parking there.  But we got our free chicken!  After walking Rudy for awhile and despite the cool and windy weather we had free chicken for dinner.

Time to move

Friday January 4, 2018

  Had a decent breakfast then headed outside to start packing.  We aren't leaving until tomorrow, but they are calling for rain this afternoon and evening so no sense in letting everything get wet.  We got that finished and the place looked bare.  We chatted with the people across the street from us, two Moho's from PA, both couples from Lancaster County.  We then took a bike ride to the back of the park to check out the expansion, chatted with some new people and looked for some old friends, but none were out and about.  Back to the Moho and we head inside as it looks like it could rain any minute.  I got on the computer and ordered 3 things that Brad had been fussing for...….time to quiet him down a little. Not much else to do, we had left overs for dinner than sat back a watched some TV.  It was a nice evening all in all. 

Saturday January 5, 2018

  We got up and had a quick breakfast.  I started cleaning and packing the inside of the Moho while Brad headed out for a bike ride.  He got back and I still wasn't finished so I sent him off  to the Winn Dixie with a very detailed list.  He got back from there just as I was finishing, so I put the stuff away while he started packing up the last of the outside stuff.  He had misjudged his remaining outside

Lake view from

out Patio

stuff to pack, so it was 11:30 until we pulled out.  Now we are only going 100 miles north, back to Camp Blanding, we figure about a 2 hour drive.....were we ever wrong.  We got on I75 in Bushnell, looked at the computer 3 accidents up ahead, so we thought we would try our luck anyway...oops.  About 8 miles up the road we got off 75 and headed over to 301, not a bad trip up that route and about 16 miles up 301 we headed onto a side road heading back to I75.   Oh my gosh, we can see I75, but 3 red lights between us and it was 45 min later until we got to I75..  We finally stop at the rest stop after 2.5 hours on the road, just about 35 miles up I75 from where we started...oh my what a trip.  We did a pretty good walk around there for Rudy and us, it was a nice break.  Back onto I75 and the traffic was stop and go and we finally got to our exit to get back on 301 to head to Camp Blanding, but we are still 60 miles away....what a day.  We get to Camp Blanding and are set up by 4:00, that is 4 1/2 hours to go 100mile.  A long walk around the campground then we headed back to our site to make our next plans.  In the mean time Brad was doing some research on the lake here at Camp Blanding, it actually has an interesting history.

Kingsley Lake

Sunday January 6, 2018

A quick breakfast and the rest of the day was rabbit trails, but they worked.  We had nothing planned so Brad headed out and pulled a lot of containers out from under the Moho, then came inside and

Getting rid of the

ice scraper!!

interrupted my day.  I was doing laundry when he decided to pull out the sofa to see what was under there.  So we cleaned up the dust bunnies and pulled out some plastic that was left under there.  After that we hung up a clothes line, I hung out the towels and put in another load of laundry.  W  cleaned up, headed into town for lunch and a little shopping.  We needed some supplies, fire wood etc., and it got us out of the Moho.  We checked out a little more of Starke and took a drive out the back side of town.  Not much there, just a lot of swamp land owned by a logging company.  We finally turned around and headed back home.  We got home took Rudy for a nice long walk, then Brad decided to give Bev a

A nice fire

call so I showered and got stuff ready for dinner.  We were sitting by our fire when a couple walked past and we started chatting.  A long story short, it was over an hour later until we got dinner started and it was a late meal for us, but we met some nice folks and I'm sure we'll see them again.                              

Brad and Rudy watching TV

after dinner!!   Hahaha!!

Time at Paradise

Monday 31 December, 2018

We were getting ready to head to a New Year Eve lunch, but got a call from Shari, they want to come over for breakfast tomorrow and we aren't yet equipped to feed  10 of us.  So change of plans, off we go shopping, first a broom, just because we needed one, then off to find an electric fry pan.  Now you have to know Brad, we hit every hardware store and dollar general store before I finally tell him to suck it up and take me to Wal-Mart.  Well he did and it was as miserable as we both remembered.....we hate Wal-Mart.  We managed to get through that then off to the grocery store for breakfast supplies for 10.  Back home and it's 2:00, time for the luncheon and I have nothing to take, so we stayed home.  We had a light dinner and about 7:00 Kris and Kallen came down for a visit with a bottle of wine and dessert in hand.  We talked and had a nice visit until about 9:30 when they headed home.  We headed inside and even managed to stay up until 12:00, but were in bed shortly thereafter.

Tuesday 1 January 2019

 Happy New Year everybody.  It was a busy morning, up early and right away start cooking.  Potatoes are on, Brad is starting the scrapple and all I have to cook yet are the eggs.  The crew

showed up about 9:30 and were there until after 11:00,  we all ate and had a very nice visit.   After that they headed out, planning a trip to the beach, they invited us, but it's a 3 hour trip, one way and we weren't quite up to that.  So after feeling like we put in a whole days work, we get showered and headed over to the cemetery to visit Shawna.  A bit emotional, then a stop at the local VFW right outside the cemetery and little bit of a ride and then we headed home to rescue Rude.  We walked around the campground visited a few people and made a fairly early night of it.

Wednesday 2 January 2019

  Brad was outside dumping tanks when Dave walked up for a visit.  They chatted for a while then Dave headed back up to the laundromat to swap laundry around.  We were sitting out side when he came back to sit and talk until his dryer was done.  After that we headed out for a long walk around the CG.  first a short visit with TJ then off to the back part of the park to look for Mike and Cheri.  We chatted with them for about an hour, then headed out to check out the new sections before heading back.  We stopped to chat for just a minute with Glen and Vickie, then back home for dinner and a glass of wine.  

Thursday 3 January 2019

   The weather has been just great lows in the high 60's  highs in the low 80's.  the big hoop-la from Shari's crew is over.  I took Rudy for his walk this morning I guess he is still wore out from

Rudy resting of all 

the commotion

yesterdays job of barking and chasing the O'Donnell kids around.  We rested, cleaned, and even sorted some of our things (old clothes etc).  And Brad even parted with.... an old flannel actually I pulled it from his clenched hand!!  We drove up to check out the expansion of the villages and on the way back (it is only 4pm) we stopped for dinner at O'Shuck's .  We have only been in Florida 2 weeks and are already adjusted into the old fart routine.   Back home wine, a snack and off to bed.

Paradise Oaks!!

Friday 28 December 2018 

    Finally a day without traveling.  We spent the day doing some much needed organizing and reorganizing.  Diane switched out winter clothes for summer clothes and I tried to find some of my

tools. We did go into Starke for lunch and we ate at the 'Downtown Grill' and you just got to love their sign. We both had their Cesar salad mine with shrimp Diane's with blackened chicken.   A quick stop at the grocery store and back home.  We had packed up the outside things (grill, chairs etc), which was good as it was raining by early evening.  Diane made a nice rice dish for dinner and then we continued packing for the move tomorrow.

Saturday 29 December 2018

   Woke up to the pitter patter of rain on our camper.  I checked the weather and rain should end between 9 and 10 am.  So we had breakfast took our time packing and waited for the rain to stop.  At eleven we packed up and hooked up in the rain.  Shirt wet, shoes and socks wet just a miserable morning.  We finally pulled out around noon heading to Bushnell a 110 mile drive. It rained on and off until we got to Ocala then the sun came out and by the time we parked it was 85 sunny and very humid.  By the time we had set up our clothes were wet from sweat, but we won't complain.  Several friends came by to say high 'Hi' and chit chat, it was nice to see them.  We are so ready to stay parked for a week.

Sunday 30 December 2018

     Very foggy and humid this morning, it looked like it rained but it was just a heavy dew.  French toast and sausage cooked on the grill this morning, yum   I took Rudy for a walk and meet Mike and

Our Site for the Week!!

Cheri on their way to visit us. We sat and visited until almost lunch. Not long after that Shari, Matt and two kids came over for a visit and get a schedule of their week long whirl wind visit.  Having just arrived from Colorado they wanted to set outside despite the high temperature. They left around 2:30 we headed of to the grocery store, returned and went for a walk around the park.  We ran into Glen and Vicki and sat to visit with them for a hour or so.  Rudy was so happy since they are non dog owners but keep treats around for visiting dogs.  Back home steaks, mushrooms and baked potatoes for dinner.  It was good to see and visit friends and family. 

On the Road Again!!

Monday 24 December 2018

   We are on road!! Yeah.  Pulled out this morning at 9:30 but stopped at the office to pay and get both propane tanks filled.  We actually left the camp ground at 10:15.  An uneventful ride to Walnut Hills campgrounds, good news though they are no longer a KOA Campground and their rates have dropped. Miles traveled 227  Leaving temp 40 - parked temp 45.

Walnut Hills CG

Tuesday 25 December 2018

    Merry Christmas to all!!  Woke up this morning took Rudy out before coffee and thought for a second I saw Santa Claus and he is living in a camper.  The truck was all hooked up and just electric to unhook so we were able to hit the road early,  NO.. it was still 10am until we left.  No matter how hard we try it is 10am.  Another nice day for traveling almost no traffic as we headed to Statesville NC.  I foolishly let the fuel drop below a quarter tank so a big ouch when we filled up, almost 80 gallons.  Miles traveled 231  Leaving temp 35 - parked temp 53.

   Santa at Walnut Hills.                            

                                                                                Statesville KOA.

                             Wednesday 26 December 2018

    Well we were able to get on the road by 9:30.  Today was eventful for travel.  To show you want happens when we leave early the GPS had us arriving 1:15 when we first hit the road.  We pulled into the Yemassee, KOA  just before 4pm.  The traffic on I 26 and I 95 was terrible with rolling traffic jams, a few accidents and lots of rubber necking.  We were just wore out from the trip put did manage to do burgers on the grill as temperature was 66 when we parked.  Water is just everywhere here, left over from the hurricane and snow storm.   Six plus hours to go 227 miles.  Leaving temp 39 - parked temp 66.

Thursday 27 December 2018

    We made to Florida.  We rolled out at....10am.  I 95 was backed up as we were getting on the on ramp.  Another stop and go day with minor accidents.   We rolled into Camp Blanding about 3:30 but at least the traffic was not as bad as yesterday.  We stopped for fuel and had a nice lunch at Denny's (as good as Denny's gets).  We had sausages from Schmidt's cooked on the grill for dinner, YUM.  Another hard day 218 miles.  Leaving temp 50 - parked temp 75  ahhhh.

Camp Blanding,

Florida at last!!