Departing Hot Hot Florida!!

   

     It's the last day of April, and even though we had intended to remain another week, the weather is going to push us north.  Not bad weather!  Hot weather!  It's been 94 +- for the past few days, and even though the weather is questionable to the west and north of us, we just aren't capable of surviving in this heat.  Debbie was able to sum it up quite simply.  It's revese winter.....we stayed indoors from the cold up north in the winter, and Floridians stay indoors from the heat in the summer.

     We won't be heading straight home though.  We've got a stop planned in Gaffney, SC at the Freightliner Service Center.  We've heard that Freightliner does a great job servicing the motorhome's chassis, so we're gonna give it a shot.  We'll be on a waitlist, but perhaps we'll get lucky and someone will cancel.  We've got time to spare, and as Debbie says, "This isn't a vacation we're on.  It's a lifestyle."

     Our visit to Florida passed pretty quickly, and even though we repeated ourselves by returning to Sun-N-Fun, our exploits on the inter-coastal waterway made possible with our membership in Freedom Boat Club, has made this portion of our journey very enjoyable.  We especially enjoyed being able to use boats in numerous locations along the Gulf Coast including Sarasota, Bradenton, Venice, Pine Island, Punta Gorda, and Fort Myers.  Hard to say which one was the most enjoyable.  Each one presented separate and unique challenges to our boating skills.

     Debbie did a great job navigating the ICW, while I worked at keeping myself hydrated.  It's an awfully bright sun down here!  

The beaches along the ICW can be a little trickey to locate and navigate, but we managed to find a few nice spots to stop and enjoy.  We did discover that the big boats don't give a damn that you're a little boat, as they maneuver past us, kicking up some huge wakes.  Once we learned to get out of their way, it was a much nicer afternoon.  We didn't take the time to get our "open water" certification, which would open up the blue water to us.  But so far, we're quite content in cruising the ICW.  Babysteps first!  

     We both celebrated birthdays this month, and Debbie was successful in catching up with me, if only for a few days!  She does seem to get awfully excited when I break out into the lead again.   It's also a good thing neither of us had a birthday cake as I'm not sure the smoke detector could handle it!                                                                                 

   

      On the 17th, we fired up the GMG and we threw a rack of lamb on.  Debbie does her magic with the seasonings, and let them sit all day getting ready.  I set the grill for 500 degrees, and this is what we ended up with after 12 minutes each side!  They were so delicious!  

     As you can see, our activities the past month or so have been for the most part, focused on boating.   We found Turtles Restaurant down by ICW marker #48, in Little Sarasota Bay, by following a well marked channel into the boat dock.  Alongside us was a very lucky pontoon boat, who chose not to follow the channel and just cut across the bay.  He made it in just fine, but venturing outside of a marked channel is not the wisest thing to do.  The hamburger and salad we had was delicious, and the beer was cold.  There was also plenty of shade under the red umbrella, and we enjoyed watching the boats pull into the marina next door.
     We're anticipating a 2 week journey home, so you'll have to wait and see how we do.  Our friend Jeannie Harwell just posted some photos from Mooers which show the trees are just starting to bud up in Mooers.  The weather at Chateaugay Lake is about 2 weeks behind Mooers, therefore, according to our precise calculations, Spring should be arrive in about 2 weeks.  So, we're right on schedule.  I'm sure MAE will be excited to hear that we're on our way north.
      Liam will be coming to visit us in June, so we're pretty excited about that.  I haven't published a photo of Liam in a while, so I'll throw a few in.  He's becoming quite a handsome young man.

      Ben has taught him to throw kisses when they Facetime with Grammie, so he's becoming quite a suck up too!  Grammies always fall for that.
   

Visit to Tarpon Springs

     On Friday 4/7/17, we returned to Sarasota from the Okeechobee KOA near Lake Okeechobee,  where we attended our first Tiffin Rally.  We've attended a Good Sam and an FMCA Rally, and we had heard numerous good things about Tiffin Rallies.  Best of all, the 2018's would be there, and we would get our first glance at the new rigs.  The KOA was filled with about 300 Tiffin RV's featuring all years, makes, and models, and Bob Tiffin and the rally organizers did a great job at making us feel welcome.  Even Elvis showed up the last evening and put on a great show after dinner.  We survived a week of high 80's, high humidity, and an afternoon of tornado warnings, but it was nice to move back to Sarasota by weeks end.
     On Saturday, we packed up and headed over to Tarpon Springs.  I had been receiving some notices of a new RV park being built along the Gulf, and I wanted to check it out.

Tarpon Springs also has a historical downtown, which reflected the Greek culture that became so prominent in early Florida with the discovery of the sea sponges growing in the gulf.  
     The first settlers arrived in Tarpon Springs in 1876, and by 1890, the sponge industry was going strong.

 Immigrants from Greece brought their diving expertise to this country, and soon over 500 divers using rubberized suits and helmets were operating out of a fleet of 50 boats.   With the divers came their families, and Greek restaurants and bakeries now line Historic Downtown.  For 30 years, the sponge industry flourished, and was the largest industry in Florida, greater than tourism and citrus.  A blight in the 1940's decimated the sponge industry, and the area turned to the tourists.  In the 1980's, the industry revived after the discovery of new sponge beds, and the weekly auctions are again happening along the sponge docks.

     Downtown buildings are decorated with festive murals, all dedicated to the sponge diving industry, and a bronze statue on the waterfront commemorates the Tarpon Springs Sponge Exchange, incorporated in 1908, and still active today.  
   
     We had a delicious lunch of chicken and pork at Yiannis Greek Restaurant, and it included a wonderfully sweet dessert called baklava.  If you like sweet, you have to try it!  Debbie and I walked the shops and gazed into the bakery windows we found along the way.  Debbie laughed when a t-shirt clearly explained all she had experienced that day.  It said - I'm not hollering...I'm Greek!

                                                                                                       

                                                                       

     We even found one of our Freedom Boat Club franchises down at the waterfront, so it looks like we'll be returning up here to do a little boating.  Our next adventure is boating down at Pine Island on Tuesday, which will give us a look at some bigger water, and a chance for Debbie to experience her first "cheeseburger in paradise" out at Cabbage Key! 

Sarasota Adventures

     We've been in Sarasota (Florida) now for just over a month,and I've been totally negligent in my postings.  So today I'll try and catch up a bit.  We have settled in at Sun-N-Fun Resort in Sarasota which is conveniently located a short distance off of I-75.  Now if you've never driven I-75 during the snowbird season, you should buckle your seat belt nice and tight, and give it a try.  Debbie and I have decided that Florida has the most aggressive drivers in the country, which doesn't work well when you factor in road construction and traffic congestion.  Just because the speed limit is 70, doesn't mean that you get to go 70.....unless you're on I-75!  ZERO traffic enforcement means rodeo time on the interstates, mixed in with lots of down time as the authorities clear the wrecks from the highway.

     But I digress.... Roughing it Smoothly definitely describes our chosen lifestyle!  Debbie sets up a pretty comfortable campsite wherever we settle.  Our Vermont friends, Dean, Joanne, and Mrs B, joined us for some smoked corned beef as Debbie's latest gadget, the Instapot, turned out the the vegetables in about 20 minutes.

 The Green Mountain Grill came through with a tender corned beef which I smoked for about 6 hours.  I took this "before" picture when we started, but we moved right into the eating part when it came out.  Dean and Joanne stayed a few more weeks camped out here at Sun-N-Fun, but headed north to Vermont in early April.  Dean called recently and advised it was 34 degrees and snowing in Burlington, and there was no need to come north.  Debbie and I comfortably sat back, knowing we weren't headed north till early May.
      As Dean and Joanne continued with their healthy activities including pickle ball and bike riding, Debbie and I moved to our next adventure which features our favorite pastime....boating! Last year at the Sarasota Boat Show, Debbie and I joined the Freedom Boat Club, which has given us access to boating all along the coast of Florida, up eastern seaboard into Virginia, over into Michigan, and even Lake George.  

 It's just a quick drive from the Resort over to Marina Jack's at Sarasota Harbor, and we're soon out enjoying the Inter-Coastal in one of the variety of boats provided with our Freedom Boat Club membership.  We have to take a driver's test and get certified to venture out in the "blue water" and Debbie's not quite sure she want to do that yet.

 Tomorrow, we're going down to Pine Island and using a boat out of there, which will put us out in the inter-coastal with lots of water all around us.  We'll see how Debbie likes it.  We'll be in a 21' Key West, so I think we'll do just fine.  Debbie is the navigator, and these are some of the charts we use to navigate.  Not too confusing is it??  But once you've tried it, it really is quite easy.  When we return to the dock, we pay for the gas we used, and walk away.  Freedom Boat Club cleans and stores the boats, and makes them ready for the next member.
   

 As you can see, I get to drive when it's a go slow pontoon boat, while Debbie like to "see what she can do" on the open water!  And she's looking pretty radical keeping the hair our of her face!!  Now you might think that there's plenty of water all around, but with the tide comes varying water depths, so it's best to stay between the buoys.  Debbie's job is to work the charts and keep us there.  There are lots of restaurants, and beaches to pull into, and there's quite a party atmosphere out here on the weekends.  My next goal is to figure out this salt-water fishing.

  Of course, we also need to include a visit up to Gainesville for a visit with Aunt Anita.  She's pushing 92, and still managed to bake a cake for her "favorite nephew"!  We love visiting with her and hearing the stories of growing up in Corinth.

Her mind is as sharp as a whip, but the knees aren't as strong as they used to be.  She still manages to amaze us, and we can only hope to be as active as she is when we get that age.  How she managed to raise 9 kids and bake a cake every day is beyond me!
      We did a day trip up to Tarpon Springs yesterday, with a visit to Historic Tarpon Springs and the Sponge Exchange.  I'll pick that up in the next blog.  Right now, lunch and the pool is calling.  Stay safe everyone!