Tuesday - The Big Chill

The pace of life just dropped about 9 points. (don’t know what that means, but we have slowed down). We had a day doing very little,

We sat outside and read, chatted and looked at the wild life.

Had a cuppa, - and sat outside and read, chatted and looked at the wild life.

Had pancakes for breakfast, and sat outside and read, chatted and looked at the wild life.

We had a shower and sat outside and read, chatted and looked at the wild life.

Wephoned some of our families as we sat outside and read, chatted and looked at the wild life.

We put up the gazebo, sat inside it (just to check it out) and read, chatted and looked at the wild life.

We had a snack lunch as we sat outside and read, chatted and looked at the wild life,

Then we climbed aboard the truck and cruised for an afternoon safari to the concession stand (about 100 yards), where we bought an ice cream and firewood and came back sat outside and read, chatted and looked at the wild life.

We had burgers on the BBQ and as we ate them we sat outside, chatted and looked at the wild life .

We lit the campfire and had a great time as we sat into the night, inside the gazebo and drank a beer or a glass of wine, played the instruments, sang a few songs and put logs onto the campfire.

Footnote

Just to update everybody, after 10 days together we are all still talking to each other.
Ron has read half a book, Carol has read half a shelf (Although she has thought a lot about some films, such as Deliverance and Psycho (We bought the Trailer from Bates RV, though we haven’t stayed in a motel yet), and Sally has finished one book. Terry has read several T-shirts. We are now looking forward to relaxing in the backwoods for a week.

Sunday

Movin’ On. (After Carol Had Said A Fond Farewell To Our Little Alligator Which Had Spent The Weekend less than 50 Metres From Our Trailer)

[Please note: I am not at all concerned about Carol and the Alligator, at least no more than I am about Ron and the Frog, (who by the way Carol thinks is still ugly. {No we will not comment on which one})]

This morning we had a little jam session of our own with Sandy and Don, they were really interested to hear some of the British Folk music which Carol and Ron sang, they even recorded a bit of Carrick Fergus.

We then hitched up the wagon and set sail for West Palm Beach (not mixing my metaphors there at all). We were going to camp at John Prince Park again. I had thought that Arcadia was in the middle of nowhere, however driving across Florida on Route 70 showed me that it was actually only on the edge of nowhere. Route 70 is about 100 miles long and has about 6 bends and 4 towns. One which was of interest to me was called Brighton, unfortunately it was so small it had the towns name written on both sides of the sign. Passing through Okeechobee was like stepping back into a cowboy film. The main street had those shops with big fronts, but nothing behind them, there was an advert for a local Rodeo and you expected to see cattle being driven down the main street. Most people seemed to drive hitch posts and tie them to horses outside the saloons. Okeechobee is on the north shore of Lake Okeechobee (I think this is an old Indian name), which is big, really big, about 40 miles across, which is wider than the English Channel! (for those of you from Yorkshire, that is the bit of blue on the map that keeps us from speaking French). We wanted to see it, but unfortunately there was (sorry, is) a levee all round it which was too high for us to see over and there was nowhere we could stop with the Trailer on, so we still haven’t seen Lake Okeechobee!

Still we didn’t hang around and arrived at John Prince Park in good time. In good time to find out that the campground was closed! This meant that we had to rapidly rethink our itinery and move up to Jonathan Dickinson State Park, about 35 miles north. We arrived as the sun was setting, a beautiful orange sunset over the trees of the Park. Unfortunately the campground was 4 miles from the gates of the park, by the time we reached the campground it was nearly dark so we had to find a space very quickly, which we did, though I nearly drove the car and trailer into the forest as I tried to reverse the Trailer into a gap it wasn’t made for. Still we eventually managed it. We are safely set up, but we don’t know what awaits us at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, we haven’t even seen it in the daylight yet.

Saturday

This morning we had breakfast at the café – you could have anything you wanted, as long as it was a combination of egg, sausage (sausage patti) and biscuit (scone!) and they all cost $3.00, sadly no beans for Ron (Ron’s favourite food), though there was TommyK , so Ron was moderately happy. We moved quickly into a Slow Jam (no marmalade) where we enjoyed ourselves playing with other people new to bluegrass. Here we met up with Sandy and Don, some friends we had met when we were at Arcadia in April, who had driven over form West Palm Beach that morning. After that Ron went to mandolin workshop and I went to a guitar workshop, very nice. This meant we got a quick bite to eat before the concert started ant 1.30. Some very nice music, although it was all bluegrass, each band showed a different aspect of it. One was very good at harmony, another was just very tight, and yet another band just had excellent lead instruments. (That was the people next door), so it was a fun afternoon. Carol sat outside the Trailer, which was parked all of 20 metres from the stage and read while she listened, we took our chairs and sat under the cover of the barn. Ron went right down the front, Sally and I sat in at the back, so that we could get quick access to the ice cream which was on sale. It was a lovely afternoon. Straight after that we went to a pot luck supper, with burgers and hot dogs provided by Seth and Roxanne. Then it was into another jam session, which was very relaxing. All in all, a great day. (although there was also the bit about being kept awake, which I have already mentioned and won’t mention again, although it did keep us awake until 2.00 and when Sally went to complain they just told her “That’s bluegrass Ma’am, that’s what you signed up for, that’s what we do.”).

Friday - Bluegrass - Here We Come

Friday we broke camp and set sail for Arcadia for aour bluegrass weekend with the SWFBA. We arrived and set up safely, we were in one corner of the field looking out over a pond and the local woodland. Friday evening we had a great time jamming with a number of people, Tom on a Dobro, Seth on guitar, Roxanne on double bass, Wendy on banjo, Betty on guitar, and some others who drifted in and out of the circle.

Saturday saw us rise nice and early, mostly because the people in the trailer next door woke us up with their noise, oh and by the way they had also kept us awake until 3.00 with their jam session (not too much fun there). Oh and by the way as a piece of anachronistic literacy, they also kept us awake until 2.00 on Saturday night drinkin and laughin and playin and havin fun. The people next door were the original backwoods boys who were called Bob-Billy and just lived to play bluegrass, drove pickups, drank beer and had girl friends called Ellie-May. You might have called them Hill Billies, except there are no hills in this part of Florida, and Flat Billies just doesn’t sound right. The trouble is, though that they were absolutely brilliant bluegrass players, and they were the number one band for the Saturday concert (perhaps they were Top Billies). On Saturday night Sally stood it until about 12.00 and then wnt out and suggested they be quiet, they said ‘no’. Sally didn’t get too angry, but they didn’t shut up either. Meanwhile Ron and Carol and I were hiding under the bed clothes (respective beds), because we had seen the film ‘Deliverance’ and knew better. (actually, I had seen the trailer for Straw Dogs and was even more worried) (Carol also wore a high necked collar all the next day, because here second favourite film is Dracula). I am digressing here, slightly, because I have written this on Friday night and that didn’t happen until Saturday night. (I did say it was anachronistic literacy). Any way we had a good time.

Thursday - A State Park Not to be Missed (Although we did)

Today seemed like a good day to visit a State Park to see the local wildlife. We chose Alafia River State Park, because none of us had been there before. We called in to see some ramps on the way, which meant that we did not arrive until lunch time. We saw the picnic benches and the sign for the State Park, so parked the car and chose our picic bench. However it was a bit like Custer’s Last Stand, as there were two men cutting grass. They chose to cut the grass round our bench as we were eating, so we sat munching away while the grass cutters went round and round the picnic bench, putting up clouds of dust and grass. The park looked a bit basic, but we were determined to enjoy our visit. We walked a little way along the river side, but it was very hot and we saw very little wild life. In fact most the wild life we saw was very little. We found a number of very interesting spiders, some were an inch and a half long, and we are talking the body length, not including legs, they were ugly. We also saw some interesting hairy spiders, they looked similar to tarantulas, but smaller. No we didn’t attempt t find out if they were poisonous.
As we were about to leave, slightly disappointed by the lack of facilities and information we saw a notice board that said the Alafia River State Park Visitor Center was 1¾ miles down the road – we had come to the wrong place. However the actual park wasn’t much better. When we got home we had a BBQ, very nice.

Wednesday - Celebrating a Ruby Wedding Anniversay

Another relaxing day, as BatesRV were sending someone round to sort out one or two of the problems with the van (nothing major, just niggling warranty issues). Carol and Ron spent a lot of time by the pool, we did a bit of tidying round and chatted t the bloke who was mending things. This afternoon we had a gentle wander round Brandon Mall, though there was not a lot there that was very exciting.

This evening we all went to Carrabbas, an Italian restaurant, to celebrate Ron and Carol’s ruby wedding (Sally and I had been waiting till we got on holiday to celebrate). It was meant to be a nice quiet evening, unfortunately the waitress was a real laugh and it got a bit noisy. It was an excellent meal. Ron and I had a steak each, Sally and Carol had a very nice dish of chicken stuffed with cheese, mushroom and Italian herbs. We followed this with some very nice puds. Overall we had a very enjoyable and memorable evening.

Tuesday – A quiet day by the pool

Today we set aside time to relax by the pool, the weather has changed and we are now blessed with clear blue skies and much lower humidity. Sally and I went into Tampa to pick up Sally’s new electric chair, which was very nice (red you may remember). The only trouble is that it will not move up the ramps we bought on Monday, so we are having a rethink.

This evening we have had a BBQ. It was a lovely evening, nice and warm, lots of candles to keep the insects at bay. The food was good, a glass of wine or a beer, then we all sat round well into the night, singing and playing the guitar, mandolin, harmonica and maracas. It was a quite special evening.

Monday - Once more onto the beach dear friends.

Good news. Today we have found a guitar for me, we have rented one from a music school. (£10.00 a month) and it sounds quite nice, basic, but nice.

Since we had to go to Sarasota to pick up some ramps for Sally’s chair we thought it would be nice to go to the famous beaches there.

The beach is a huge sand spit about 20 miles long, made up entirely of white sand .

We found ourselves a nice quiet beach on Longboat Key and set up the chairs and umbrella.

Because I was not sure of the local swimming conditions (red tide, jellyfish and rip tides) I thought it would be good to ask a local, so I trudged along the beach about 150 yards to the closest sun worshiping family, unfortunately they were from Iceland.

No worry, a family was coming down the beach, I asked them, unfortunately they were from Peru.

No matter, there were a couple of beachcombers approaching from afar, dark brown and very local looking, so I waited for them to come past and asked them about swimming conditions here. They unfortunately were a German couple who were enjoying the lovely beach.

At this point I thought “*** it” and threw myself into the sea, which was lovely, clear and warm. Ron came for a swim as well, keeping a wary eye out for sharks (he is convinced that sharks lurk in every stretch of sea water).

On our way back we stopped for a meal at an Amish Style Restaurant, although the surroundings were very nice the food was a bit average. Then we drove back over the Skyway Bridge to Tampa – this is a huge bridge several miles long. We caught it just as the sun was setting, it looked fabulous

Communications Update

We have the internet until at least Friday, so you can talk to us, or webcam, through our hotmail email address (either Terry. Or Carol).

We now have Terry’s phones working – we will email the number soon, but it has not changed from earlier in the year.

Carol’s normal phone can receive texts. Though that may be an expensive option.

You can of course leave a message on the blog.

Fogger?

I hear you ask what is a ‘fogger’. After a while one gets so used to the technologies available that you use jargon without even thinking about it.

We have found that there are at least 4 different ways to get rid of bugs etc.

First what sort of bugs are there?

• Fire ants – medium sized, but very nippy (literally), live in a hole in the ground and you don’t want to step on the nest.
• Sweet Ants – almost microscopic, seem to be mostly harmless (though someone said that about The Earth once), but annoying because they are there in strange places.
• Grease Ants – don’t know (don't want to know) what they are, but I’ve now got the poison to get rid of them.
• Cockroaches – Don’t bite, but they are ……. Well, cockroaches. Yuk!
• Fruit fly type things that get in and produce loads of little fruit flies and eggs and things.
• Fleas – quite common, but we haven’t had them…. Yet.
• Chiggers (pron. Jiggers) little tiny beasties that bite and hold and then lose their head – in you.
• Moths – they just reproduce and caterpillars eat anything.
• Hornets – really nasty, huge, waspy things with dangly legs, that make you duck as they come flying by. They build paper nests anywhere.

Well that will do for the moment.

Getting rid of them.

1. Long term: Bait stations, little plastic boxes with poison bait in them, the bugs come and take the food back to their nest and it kills the bugs, including the queen.
2. Short term – Raid spray, or Go Bug spray – shoot and kill, spray and they die – they can kill a hornet at up to 30ft!
3. Drastic – The Fogger. Sometimes called a bomb. An aerosol spray tht you place in a room, seal it up, pull the pin and retire quickly. Leave it alone for 6 hours and then flush away the gas. Kills almost anything in the room, under carpets, in crannies, or cushions. Seems very effective (at least on the ants in our truck.
4. The Final solution – The Rolled Up Newspaper.

Sunday

The plan is to chill out a bit today. Carol is off to a local church this morning, she is really interested to see how it is different to the church back home.

Carol has been a bit upset as we found a creepy crawly in the trailer, but she was the only one to be bitten by it (privilege I would of thought).

On Friday night we put a ‘Fogger’ in the truck to finally eradicate the ants. It seems to have done the job. Even out here people have been surprised that we had a colony of ants in the car, as they seem to think that ants don’t drive.

Ron and Carol chilling by the pool

Bluegrass Part 2 - Saturday

We planned to return for the second part the next day. First we had a look for a guitar for me (Terry) to keep in the States, we had time to look in one hop, saw a couple of guitars, but nothing that was right. Then we travelled back to Largo to enjoy the Bluegrass and crafts. The music was good. Sally and Carol bought a couple of bits from the craft stands and we all went to Denny’s for tea. Carol and I managed a swim in the pool, nice and cool.

This picture shows Ron watching the Bluegrass band 'Bits of Grass'

Bluegrass Event. – Part 1 – Friday evening

This afternoon we travelled across to Largo where the city had put on a bluegrass event. The evening was a bit hit and miss, it was an outside event and rain constantly threatened, every few minutes it would start, then stop. We did not want to get Sally’s wheelchair wet, so we were going backwards and forwards trying to make sure we were dry. The music was provided by some local bands and were mixed in their quality. The other problem was that the sound mixing was very poor. By the time we got to the last act the audience were down to about 20. Half way through the act the accordionist decide that he was not loud enough and after complaining to the rest of the band, then the sound man, then the event manager, and probably the park keeper as well, he threw equipment off the stage and proceeded to pack up and go a away. This made for a big finish for the evening.

Power Chair Search

Sally and I continued our search for a Power Chair, while Carol and Ron relaxed by the pool. Sally and I had a look at a shop which I had found, it had several used chairs, but at silly prices. So we took a deep breath and phoned a local distributor for Pride and got an extremely good deal on a new chair, with a second year warranty and a set of ramps for about 1/3 of the price of a new one in the UK – she even had the choice of colour, as long as it was red. We collect it on Tuesday, so I have to keep pushing at the moment.

Will everything else be an ANTiclimax?

Taking the hire car back gave us our first problem – ants!

We left ourselves plenty of time for me to return the hire car to Tampa Airport and for Sally to follow with the truck to pick me up. I had even had time to get Mary back to work (the Sat Nav). We got some chairs out of the truck for Carol and Ron to relax in and found a colony of big red ants, each about a centimetre long. We ran round with a can of Raid and shoes and mallets and hammers and AK47’s, and howitzers, bashing and blowing up as many as we could, but the time for returning the car was approaching fast. Only one thing for it, Sally would have to drive the truck, with ants still in it, while Ron sat behind her riding shotgun with a can of Raid and a slipper! A journey fraught with danger, during which Sally had to just drive, trusting Ron to keep the ants off her! Added to which we now had to drive through rush hour traffic to get the car back in time. Needless to say we managed it and saved an- extra days hire car charges. Well done Sally and Ron. As we had used up so much nervous energy we were forced to go and eat at Buddy Freddy’s, for our favourite country buffet meal – the Beef Hotpot was voted dish of the day, certainly by me. We did a bit of late night shopping and all came home to bed, reflecting on our adventures today.

New Power Chair for Sally

We eventually went in search of a power chair for Sally, we revisited our friend Beau at Randy’s Mobility in Lake Wales, but nothing impressed us. Still it gave us a run out in the Florida countryside, and enabled me to use up some of the petrol that the hire car had provided (we had to take it back empty).

In which Ron does not get to win the hand of a handsome prince.

Up bright and early (matchsticks at the ready on the eyelids). Ron and Terry went out to explore what early morning Florida looked like. It was very steamy , in particular my glasses instantly fogged up. Quite pleasant though. We walked over to the pool area, noticing a number of frogs, lizards and snails all happy in the moist conditions. After using the loo we settled by the pool for a bit, as you do (see almost any episode of Last of the Summer Wine). One little tiny frog caught our eye (and something else later on), it was crawling up and then along the top of the railings. We went closer to investigate, it was quite a slim little frog, about 2cm long. Ron took an even closer look. He put out his hand to guide the frog even closer, and …….. the frog took a flying leap towards Ron and hit him on the lips. Now we don’t know whether that constitutes a kiss, but Ron certainly reacted smartly, with a bit of a jump around (don’t think it was joy). But the frog by this time had gone, never to be seen again, although there is now a very good looking pool cleaner who turns up early in the morning ………

So here we are

We have now arrived. We are in one piece (well 4 pieces actually,: Terry, Sally, Carol and Ron).

We flew in on time, picked up the car very quickly, and drove down to the trailer, stopping at Publix to pick up some essential foodstuff (like some donuts, mmm). We were here just after 6.00. We had been on the road 18 hours. We were worried about the state we would find the trailer in, as we had been told allsorts of things about what the Florida summer can do. We were very relieved to find that BatesRV had set up the trailer on our pitch and that almost everything was clean and in working order. We unpacked all the bedding from the vacuum packs and they were fresh and dry – great. We found spaces for all our clothes and bits. I had trouble remembering where we had put things. To tell the truth I had trouble remembering what we had put away, let alone where they were. Ron and I collected the truck from the storage – it started first time – Yeah!

First stop was something to eat. We tried Applebee’s for the first time, we all enjoyed it.

Back home for a well earned nights rest.

Last night at home for Terry and Sally

We are travelling to Manchester tomorrow and staying in a motel overnight before meeting Ron and Carol at the check- in desk early on Wednesday morning. The flight is at 10.30 so we have to be at the airport before 7.30.
Today has been quite busy doing last minute washing, buying forgotten items, cutting the lawns, sorting out the fallen apples (we've had a bumper crop this year - been having difficulty giving them away!), packing and leaving lists for Helen for jobs to do when we are away. Why is there so much to do when going on holiday? One needs the holiday to recover from the preparations!
Terry made a lovely 'Sunday Dinner' followed by his wonderful plum and apple crumble for our last meal with Helen. Very nice it was too. Helen has been called into Ormesby School tomorrow to work in the unit for children with special educational needs, so we will only have a few minutes with her in the morning. Lets hope this will give her some much needed money to help fund her trip to Colorado - she is returning to work in the Children's Centre in Breckenridge over the ski season.
I can't believe that we are off to Florida again - doesn't seem two minutes since we came back, even though it's been four months. Looking forward to the warmth, the food, the people and the wonderful countryside with the beautiful vegetation and the marvellous wildlife.