February 25, 2023 - Entertainment and "Our Move"

Last night we went with our Canadian neighbors and friends, Scott and Beth, to the Wildstein Center to see "The DooWop Project" out of New York. The group was quite talented and entertaining with several of the members having been in "The Jersey Boys" on Broadway. We had great seats and a great time. The place was full of us old duffers, and everyone was into the music. Here are a couple of pictures.

After the show Scott and Beth invited us over for a nightcap at their motorhome. They are such a lovely couple from Montreal, Quebec. We have exchanged contact information and plan on staying in touch with them. Next winter they will be staying on the Atlantic coast so visiting from our place will be a four-hour drive across the state. We have other friends on the Atlantic side so we may make a trip to visit everyone one day and just spend the night over there. 

Our other Canadian neighbor, Ralph, has a son in Lakeland, Florida. He wants to visit us at the new place before we leave. He can then head to his son's home for a visit. He is a great guy. He was originally from Quebec but now lives in Ontario. We have really been blessed this season with great neighbors. We have met a lot of nice people throughout the park. 

This will be my last blog for several days because we will not have internet at the new place. I hope to be able to go to the clubhouse, or a friend's house, and get the internet so I can do a blog with pictures of our new winter home.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Marge. We have had her for fifteen years and I have been hauling fifth wheels for about forty years. Unhooking Marge for the last time Monday morning will be one of those "moments" before passage into another winter lifestyle. 

February 10, 2023 - February 18, 2023 - "The Lovettes" and our Big News

We went to see "The Lovettes" on Valentine's Day at the Wildstein Performance Center at the university. This is a group of three women out of Chicago who do a show of various famous "girls" groups from the 1940s through the 1960s. They are really talented and put on a great show/.

Well, we have had a busy, busy time the last few weeks. The big news is we bought a mobile home in a 55+ co-op park in Pinellas Park and sold our fifth wheel. The fifth wheel is in Avon Park, which is eighty miles away from Pinellas Park. The purchasers of the fifth wheel want me to deliver it to their lot on February 27th, which is just ten miles away. We will get possession of our new place on February 26th. Before we could turn over possession of the fifth wheel, we had to clean it out and get everything over to Pinellas Park. We have had this fifth wheel for fifteen years and I was shocked at how much stuff we have in it. Last week we filled our friend Celina's car and our truck and took it all to Celina's shed for storage. We will take another carload over to Celina’s shed on the 23rd when we have the closing. What little clothes and food is left we can bring to Pinellas Park in the vehicles on the 27th after I deliver the fifth wheel.

We pay for premium mail forwarding until March 31st. We had to change that from Avon Park since after February 27th we will not be here. I was online with USPS for three hours one day and an hour the next day attempting to figure out how to edit the dates. It wouldn’t work and the USPS was of no help. I couldn’t believe that they couldn’t just change it for me, but it had to be done online and it wouldn’t work. It would let me cancel the service effective immediately, so I did that. I then called my friend, John, and asked him if he would get the mail out of the box at home once per week and put it in the house. He was happy to help. 

This move to a 55+ mobile home community is a major passage in our lives. We have been traveling by RV all over the US and Canada for over thirty years - well over 90,000 miles. Spending winters in a 55+mobile home park will be an adjustment we hope goes smoothly. We are not totally out of RV travel, however, because we still have Homer for campouts with our RV club and staying out on our lot at Lake Perry.

Once we take possession of our new place, I will attach pictures.

January 31 - February 9, 2023

On the 31st for dinner we went for Fish and Chips with neighbor, Ralph, to the Sun n Lake Restaurant in Sebring. He had been there before and said the food was quite good. Plus, they had Margaritas for $4.00. The Sun n Lake development consists of hundreds of homes and two 18-hole golf courses surrounding a lake. It is an "upscale" community. I'm glad Ralph made reservations because the restaurant was packed. Ralph didn't steer us wrong. The food was quite good. 

On February 1st we took a two-hour ride to St. Petersburg where we had been wintering the last seven years. While there we made a Costco run for supplies and looked around.  We ended up going back to the area the next day to take care of some business. While there we visited our Michigan friends - Chris and Marj, David and Jean, and Terry and Julie, in Roberts RV Park. We had a great visit but received bad news. Chris and Marj are selling their trailer and are not coming back to Florida for the winter. Marj and Jean are sisters. David and Jean leave their trailer at the RV park and fly down for the season. When in the RV park they use Chris and Marj's car. With Chris and Marj not coming back David and Jean may not be able to come back since they won't have a vehicle to use to grocery shop, etc. We really hope they can find a reasonable car rental for next season so they can come back. We have a selfish interest in their situation because it is our intent to get back to the St. Petersburg area next year and hang out with them and others. 

Friday evening our neighbor to the rear, Ralph, invited us and his next-door neighbors, Scott and Beth, over for drinks. The original plan was to sit outside but a rain forced us inside. We had a great time and ended up staying for three and a half hours. Since Kelly has her Canadian citizenship, I was the only "solely American" in the group.

Saturday morning there was an "Artisan Show" in the clubhouse. Kelly and I walked around but not much interested us. Kelly did buy two hand-knitted potholders at a bargain price. Overnight it cooled down and Saturday afternoon the wind really picked up. Everyone pulled in their awnings to avoid damage. Several gusts throughout the morning rocked the RV.  

Sunday and Monday were lazy days at the RV. My hair had gotten quite long and unruly so on Monday the 6th I went to the barber and got a major haircut. Tuesday was laundry day and I got it done early.

Wednesday was the "D Street Block Party", which is on the second Wednesday of the month. The weather was fantastic and we had a lot of good conversation, laughs, and food. 

Thursday was the Valentine Day Dance here in the park. We sat with friends we met here this year, David and Linda, from Taylorville, Illinois.

They are RVers like us and are members of an Illinois RV club which is dwindling in numbers like our Carri-Yals RV club. We are going to explore combining the two clubs to keep numbers up for future campouts throughout Missouri and Illinois.

The music group for the dance was outstanding and people were up dancing all night long. Here is a picture.

David took a picture of us enjoying the evening.

The dance was over at 10:00 p.m. Just as we arrived back at the RV, neighbor Paul, came by on his golf cart and said there was a gathering at his place and invited us to attend. We made a fresh drink and grabbed our chairs. In addition to Paul and his wife, Marietta, there were three Canadian couples. We didn't know any of these folks but within minutes we were laughing and having great conversations with all of them. 

It was a great evening.