Two week vacation with Leeton and Holden July, 1, 2017

From Nashville we get ready to head to Cookeville and Long Branch Campground on Center Hill Lake.  Independence Day with the kids and Lake Crew on the lake--who could ask for any better?  Then on the 5th we head for Maine with Leeton and Holden.

During the July 4th Parade they honored our favorite veteran--Fitz was gracious--I was proud

 


Watching the parade
 

 

Lake Crew Jr

 


Nothing like our Lake Crew

 


Our traveling buddies were really terrific

    There are stops at Cherry Hill Park RV outside Washington DC (ride the subway and tour the White House) and Liberty Park, NJ, across the Hudson River from New York City (to tour the Statue of Liberty). Between Maryland, New York and New Jersey it is hard to say which roads are the worse.  All the really bad ones seemed to be Toll Roads (George Washington Bridge cost us $84!?!)—Leeton and Holden proved to be real troopers through it all. 

 


Love our Presidents

 


We wore them out!

 


White House

 


We were impressed with the security checks at the White House

 


 


Manhattan was just a ferry ride away

 


Lady Liberty could not put a smile on Holden's face

Lindee and Leeton loved to perform and they looked like twins 

the lobsters were intriguing

   Next, Wilton, Maine, where we will meet up with Katie and visit Boothbay Harbor, Bar Harbor, Cadillac Mountain, and Biddeford Pool.  Holden met a beautiful little girlfriend named Olivia (from Providence, RI, and we met a cute little boy named Owen (who suddenly announced after a couple of days that his name was no longer Owen but Sam)—and so the peculiarities of summer camping begins.  Katie’s roommate from college, Amy Thompson lives here and we were able to spend a delightful few days with her and her family.  Her daughter, Lindee is about 6 months younger than Leeton and they immediately became best friends.  

Olivia was a cutie

 
 
 

The morning after

 

The Thompsons were delightful

 

And what a feast--Leeton was not so sure though

 

 

Lunch at Boothbay Harbor

 

Cadillac Mountain atop Acadia National Park

Winter 2017 in Florida

Raintree RV had RV's and Park Models (Stationary Tiny Homes)

Terry loved riding with the bike club

On December 27^th we traveled to Navarre Beach to pick up the RV and first traveled to the KOA at Perry, Fl; then Ellenton, Fl (not recommended) and arrived on Jan. 1, 2017 at Raintree RV in North Ft. Myers where we resided for the month of January.  Lots of activities ((bridge, euchre and bingo) for the geriatrics crowd and a bike club that went on 10 mile trips.  It is a 55+ community and full of nice people (Canadians and Michiganders mostly) but really aimed for an older crowd.  We had a perfect location in L14 and met many nice people.




We went to Sarasota and the Ringling Museum--this is a miniature model

Lakeland Rally was dry camping or "Boondocking"

Feb. was gypsy time.  First week in Lakeland with an FMCA rally where we picked up a couple of freebies to stay during the month.  We dry camped with no problems and were glad we had our bikes. Long time RV'ers like these regional rallies (even have an old timers band) and supposedly have classes for those who want to learn more about the sport.  Those we went to were not very worthwhile but there were a whole lot of venders there and we enjoyed them.




Happy Hour with our Naples friends is always a highlight
 

Then we went to Cross Creek RV in Arcadia (a freebie picked up at the Rally) for 3 nights, then 2 nights in Immokalee where we went to the Casino to see Dion Warwick for my Valentines--great.  The Palm and Pines RV Park was only $20 a night-cash?!- and while not plush was a fine park for the money.  While there we went to Everglades City to take the airboat through the Everglades and they had a seafood festival going on—fun.  Then we went up to Naples and Happy Hour'ed with Marsha and Diann and Bruce.

Everglades ride was awesome shared
with a 90 yr. old lady

  Headed to Jupiter Florida to a new (freebie) park and went to the lighthouse, toured Palm Beach (missed Trump’s Mara logo though) then on to Cape Canaveral and Jetty Park.  Biggest surprise/hit of the sport so far.  We toured Kennedy Space Center one day and on our last day we saw a SpaceX Rocket take off from launch pad 39 (where the shuttled launched) and then the fuel module landed out on a platform on the water.  Totally awesome. 

Nuclear Sub right out our front door at Jetty Park

Jupiter Lighthouse

 

View of our restaurant (Grouper) from the Jupiter Lighthouse
 

 

Loved the Daytona 500

Winners Circle
 

 

 

 

Dayton 500 for the next week—Steve Gilliam came down and had a connection with Ty Dillion’s race team so we were able to get Pit Passes.  We wore ourselves out and had a great time.  Then we took Steve to Charleston and Mt. Pleasant KOA where Sally was babysitting for Lisa.  This KOA was nice and a good location on a Lake—had a great time with Sally and the Jefferson girls. Took 3 days at Walmart and Flying Js (dirty gas trouble but Fitz took care of it and we found a Cummins dealer inTallahassee that helped him) and then we went into Pensacola Beach RV on March 5^th for the month.



On the beach in Charleston with our buds

Terry and Steve had a project-Yay!-a door for Morgan

March 11^th we met Katie in Birmingham and brought the kids to the beach for their spring break.  We had a manicure (while the boys saw a Power Rangers movie), saw Sue, Marie and Gracie in Rosemary Beach and swam in the heated pool since it was pretty chilly.  Went to Ft. Pickens where we saw a neat fort and took them to the NAS museum for a day.  It finally warmed the last couple of days and so we went to the beach but the water was too cold and we went back to our heated pool. Sunday we met Katie in B-ham and came home to a quiet RV.  March 31^st Terry and Julie O’Donnell came and spent our last weekend with us—trip to Destin, beach and great eats.  We head for home around April 5^th –in time for Leeton and Holden’s birthdays



On the pier at Pensacola Beach

Pensacola was perfect for the kids spring break --we could have used warmer weather though




Leeton and Holden found friends at Pensacola




Met up with the cousins at Rosemary Beach



The weather warmed up for the O'Donnell's visit in Pensacola

 

November/December 2016

Our first big trip was to the UT vs Va. Tech football game at the Bristol Motor Speedway with Robin and Julia, (we won).  We had a great time and learned a lot about staying in RV parks and comfortably traveling in our new tiny home.  The next couple of months we planned for spending the winter in Florida. We have a long list of places we want to visit before we check Florida off the list.

Fitz suited the RV up with Honda Accord on flat tow and then on November 9th,  Sunny Days RV headed south and we stayed warm for the next 4 months! We left the day after the Presidential Election and happy danced listening to the political pundits all the way through Alabama talk about Trump's surprising win. 

Nov. 10^th-December 10^th—Santa Rosa RV at Navarre Beach –we met up with Karen and Mark from Captain’s Choice and went to the Blue Angels Homecoming Show in Pensacola.  Then left for a week to spend the week at Seagrove with Kat and Richard (Kat in the Hatt) and Amy and AJ (Gimmetime) in Richard’s dirt home on the beach plus new friends.  It was great fun to stay in touch with our Loop boating friends. On Dec. 10th we put the RV in storage and went home to spend a great Christmas with the kids in Nashville.

First time staying at a Flying J overnight--Hope Hull, Alabama

i

Santa Rosa RV had beautiful sunsets

Mark and Karen Gaudy from Captain's Choice were in Pensacola and we went to the Blue Angels Show

Sunny Days RV enjoyed the shade of a palm tree at Santa Rosa

 

Back home for Christmas--the kids approved of using our palm tree for our Christmas tree

Leeton and Holden are celebrating our annual Christmas Eve at the Barksdale's

 

 

 

The New Adventure with Sunny Days RV

I'm going to get back on the horse and start my Sunny Days Adventure blog once again.  We are 18 months out from the last entry so I will use the first few entries to catch us up. I took some notes along the way but for the most part this will start 18 months later.  It is a lesson on how time flies—this has been an action packed time for us:

July, 2016-- bring our new baby home and then our trial run to Gatlinburg

She fit!!

Bringing the whale home—it is really big but does fit behind the house.  Fitz has turned into a great driver but we have to back up and go forward to inch her into the driveway so we won’t hit the neighbor’s trees or mailbox.  We live in fear that one of the neighbors will complain but it is convenient to have our “dock” right outside the back door.  Fitz is busy getting to know the mechanical ins and outs of the vehicle.  I have enjoyed outfitting the inside.  Mid-July we made the 5 hour trek to Gatlinburg to try out the life.  Andy, Mary and Rae, along with Elizabeth and Charley came up from Knoxville –Katie and Leeton and Holden came up from Cookeville to christen her and helped us test her limits.  We learned several things:  RV parks are very reasonable for motorhomes—cabins are outrageous and rustic.  Katie slept on the sofa and declared it comfortable, the kids slept on the floor in their sleeping bags and were fine.  There was a different crowd at the RV park—no docktails to be had over conversation with the others.  The kids had a lot of friends by the time they left though. So they are judged to be more family friendly but less for the older generation.   The parks are usually pretty far away from the city (as opposed to downtown marinas) so a towed car is going to be absolutely part of this way of life.    However the trolley from Gatlinburg was only 50 cents each so we were able to enjoy the town.

It has been such a hot July in Nashville that we remember fondly last summer when we were still wearing sweats in the morning and evenings!

Repost from July 1, 2016--Happy Canada Day!

Sure is good to be back with Leeton and Holden

One year ago we were in Bobcaygeon celebrating with all the Loopers and Canadians.  We spent the spring of 2016 babysitting the 2 greatest grandkids that God could allow, provisioning the home of 30 years and reconnecting with lifetime family and friends.  Everyone seems to be doing fine –Nick is happy at Office Depot, Katie has decided to go to work since Holden will start in pre-kindergarten and Leeton will be in first grade. Friends have welcomed us back into the fold.  Between the Barksdale's, O'Donnell's,  the Gilliam’s and the Pilkinton’s, we are getting our boating fix.  Soooo…what to do now?  Sleeping until 8am has been pleasant and sitting out on the back porch watching birds, deer,  the news (politics is really crazy right now) and having movie channels available in the evenings has been great but this is what OLD people do all the time.  We aren’t there yet. The bug has bitten us and we enjoyed our traveling ways so much that we want to keep going. 

 The idea of seeing America that is not serviced by rivers and oceans has never been discussed-- I guess we had to get the Loop behind us. We had not even looked at RV web sites or for that matter been on one.  That said, today we introduce the New Sunny Days adventure vehicle: a 2003, 38 ft. Holiday Rambler RV.  Much like Sunny Days, she has a powerful diesel 330 Cummins engine, has been lightly used by her one and only previous owner (10,000 miles) and if she fits in our driveway (we find out Tuesday when we bring her home) will take us to landlocked destinations that we have only read about. She will give Fitz continuous projects and take us to places not dreams of yet.  The plan right now is to spend winter in warmer climes (starting with Florida this year), take us to a few sporting events (Bristol for the big UT vs Va. Tech game in September for starters) and then trips to the north and west during the summer months.  I cannot see us completely abandoning our boating life but this will be a fun new adventure.  I still start my day reading the AGLCA newsletter and we have had our blog printed into a book so we reminisce.  Now we make the next step.

Canada Day was awesome there last year--eventful here this year

 

 

 

She is ready to travel!

 


Since they don't seem to name RV's, I will call her our new Sunny Days-RV