March 19

On Saturday 3/11 we were thinking about going to some stockcar races a guy had told us that he used to go to but since there had been no signs of life or advertisements for it we determined that they didnt do that anymore.

On Sunday we had a potluck with our other three couples and the guys won a round of ladder jacks.
Then we sat abound our little propane campfire and visited until the wee hours (10:30pm). Trish & Gloria told us that when they went in to church that there was a stockcar up on a pole with a banner that said 'Racing Tonight'. Cheryl went by there about an hour after them and said she didn't see it. So there was a lot of joking about the 'stockcar on a stick' Trish said that she had written down a phone number from the banner but didnt produce it.

Monday the 2 of us headed for Fort Lauderdale for a beach day. We got there around 10 o'clock and had no problem getting a parking place at our favorite spot. The weather was perfect and the beach started filling up with spring break kids. Around 12:30 we walked dow to beach place planning to hit LULUs Bait Shack for lunch but decided to try Da Big Kahuna instead. I had a 1/2 lb bacon cheeseburger and Cheryl has a grilled chicken with a gold pinapple ring, both were very good. We then went back to the beach and lounged around until about 3:30. We walked the beach a couple time and got our feet wet but didnt get in the water. We left the beach and went to Lauderdale by the Sea for a little shopping to kill some time before supper. All we bought was a palm tree for the wall.
Then we hit Catfish Deweys for supper. We forgot that they have 'early bird' specials before 6pm and got there about 5:45. We each had 1/2 pound of fried shrimp w/2 sides & drink for $11.25 ea and forgot that dessert was included. We passed on the dessert because we were too full. That night I realised that I had not done a good job of applying my sunscreen as my neck was really sore and my chest was red & white.

Tuesday, The mobile RV guy showed up about 1:15 to give me an estimate for the awning replacement and to find out why the water heater wasnt working. The awning is going to be really expensive. But the water heater was just a loose wire but it took him about a 1/2 hour and several jolts of electricity to find it. Now I'm waiting to see how much of the awning the insurance will pay. The awning was supposed to be shipped on the 18th and hopefully installed next week.
Then Tim, Dave & I headed for the golf course We dont do very well but we do have fun. After golf the 4 wives and Ken met up with us at the Tiki Bar for supper. I had a taco salad(poor choice) but everybody elses food was good. During the meal Gloria declared that there was a Winn-Dixie in the town. Nobody believed her so when we left the bar we had her lead us to it. We were unsuccessful. When we got back to the CG we told everybody that the W-D was right by the 'Stockcar on a Stick'

Wednesday, We all went to Ft Myers Longhorn Steakhouse to celebrate my 62 birthday.
I had 2 Banana Daquiris and a filet. Both were very good and every one said theirs was too. I got a Marguerita in a bag and a golf ball with a lifejacket from my friends. Oh and the crew came out and sang something but I couldnt understand them and we all shared my somewhat melted hot fudge sundae. Oh and Kenny made off with 2 spoons! Tim finally got the phone number for the race track and it was still in operation.

Thursday, Since the swelling on Tims bite had gone down, 3 of us couples headed out to visit Solomons Castle in Ona(google it) It was fun & interesting, the artist looked like an old Pat O'Neal and had his sense of humor. We had lunch at their 'boat on the moat' and it was very good. We bought a 2 piece magnet bird that 1/2 goes on the outside of a window and the other 1/2 goes inside.

Then we went to see Hermanns Lippizan Stallions.
They perform all over but when they are here the put on practice shows on Thu & Fri at 3pm and Sat at 10. Dave & Gloria were supposed to meet us there at 3 and they didnt miss much of the show by the time they got there. It was ok, not as exciting as a rodeo, but entertaining.

Friday, Tim, Dave, Berman & I played golf this morning and performed as usual but I only fed 1 ball to the alligators this time. Then we got back to the CG just in time for our ususl Texas Holdem game. Didnt take me long to lose my $9 this time.

Sat, went in to Clewiston to look at a new Dodge 3500. I thought it was a quad cab but it was a crew cab. It was pretty sharp but the $47,000 price tag kept me out of a test drive. On the way back to the CG we saw the 'Stockcar on a stick', it was actually on 4 posts on a trailer, and us guys are going to the races tonight & the women have already left for a movie in Ft Myers.

Toto, I don't think we're in KS anymore!

That's how I felt this past TH morning (Mar.10) when a big thunderstorm snuck up on us. I had just looked out the dining room window and told Tom there was a dark nasty-looking cloud moving this way and BAM! Very strong winds and lots of rain hit so quickly that we didn't have time to roll the awning up. Sure enough, the wind ripped it off the hinges and pulled it down to the ground along w/the sunscreen.


I went and sat on the steps going up to the bedroom (I know...no real safe place in a camper but at least I had 2 walls on either side of me) and Mr. B continued to watch the storm through our bay window. While he was doing that, the dining room slide actually moved in at least 3 times and deposited some leaves there. Scared me a bit so I started saying lots of prayers. Anyway, by the time the winds moved on, we lost our big awning and the small over-the-slide awning on the same side. Our flag pole went flying over to the empty lot next to us, the bucket flew across the street and ended up near the back fence, the bicycles and rocking chairs were blown over, a piece of plexigas that Tom had under the rear of the camper apparently slammed up against something underneath and split in 2 and our garbage can caught up again something underneath so it didn't land anywhere.

We're OK and a mobile RV repair guy is supposed to come out next TU to give us an estimate on the 2 awnings.

Our friend, Trish, saw her little hot-air balloon outdoor decoration start to fly away so she ran outside to retrieve it. As she turned around to go back in hers and Tim's camper, 1 of their lawn chairs flew at her. Luckily she put her arm up in front of her head but you should see the big ol' bruise and couple cuts she received.

So, all that being said, I sure hope we never experience anything like that again anywhere we're camped out. It is comforting to know that our home survived and stayed, for the most part, in one piece.

Now then, where did we leave off on our adventure?

Oh yeah, as is tradition, I was able to convince the other 3 gal pals here at the cg that we needed a "Girls Day Out", which just so happened to be on President's Day...yep, we went shopping! All 4 guys stayed here at the cg and did their own thing...tinkering around their campers.

On the 23rd Tom and I met up w/5 other Suite Owners in Lake Placid. Bob & Cherri Strohofer had us all meet at their cg and, after a few glasses of wine, we piled into our vehicles and went to the Henscratch Winery. Lots of fun w/many free-range chickens meandering around. Some of our group did some wine tasting while the rest of us had fun listening to a band that was played outdoors. Groups down here say they aren't "hill" billies because there aren't any hills in FL. Therefore, they call themselves "swamp" billies!

That evening back here at our cg, we enjoyed some more swampbillies called "The Sweeney Family Band". They were really good and quite funny. Reminded me of an act you'd see in Branson. The "goofy one" in the group, "Skeeter", sang "Hey Good Lookin'" to me after he came over and sat on my lap and found out my nickname (a long time ago) was Skeeter (given to me by my maternal grandfather).

Headed to Ft. Lauderdale on Feb. 25 but too many things on our agenda while there. By the time we headed to the beach, we came to a creeping, crawling pace along A1A dodging other cars and LOTS of people. Discovered that was the beginning of the Spring Break crowd. Once we got to the pkg lot we usually go to, it was completely full and, by the time we got down to the larger, more expensive lot the street to get to it was closed, Mr. B said it was too late to get any beach time so we came back to Moore Haven. We tried to go back last TH but Ft. L had wind and rip current advisories so we postponed it until tomorrow. However, we just saw the weather and there's a big possibility of thunderstorms all day tomorrow down there...so I guess we'll try 1 day next week.

On Feb. 28, 3 of us couples went to El Tarasco for a good Mexican dinner. Everyone had a drink except our DD. He had a Coke while the rest of us had Margaritas. Not sure if it was the strawberries in mine 1 drink or the limes in Gloria's 1 drink but the 2 of us got the giggles and kept everyone entertained. Carol and Brent...sorry you have to see this...but that drink really was a good one.

Last FR and SA 3/4&5, we went to the Chalo Nitka (Seminole words meaning "Big Bass") Rodeo and Festival. The FR night rodeo was great fun so we went back for the finals on SA. But first we went to the carnival area for supper. We went to a little stand and got an italian sausage sandwich from a young couple that had a restaurant here in FL and while we ate we visited with them. Turns out she was from Pana, small world. When we got to the rodeo sadly, the very 1st event caused a cowboy to get kicked in the head by a bull and he had to be escorted off the field. Then, a relay later in the evening turned very sad as 2 horses slammed into each other. It was sickening to watch. The 2 riders, we were told, were OK but one of the horses never got back up off the ground and the other one was limping very badly into the trailer that came to get both horses off the field. We heard SU that the 1 horse had to be put down.

This past MO 3/7 three of us couples went to the Edison-Ford Winter Estates in Ft. Myers.
Thomas and Henry were friends and neighbors and their homes were lovely w/beautiful yards and gardens. There was also an Edison museum and workshop where he conducted experiments. We didnt know that originally Ford worked for Edison and Edison actually became a mentor for him.

Yesterday 3/8, Mr. B and I went to Lake Placid "The Town of Murals" and checked out all 44 murals scattered throughout the town. Very interesting, especially the ones where you were to try and find certain things (ie snakes, hunters, angels, stethoscopes, etc.) in them. Some were obvious and some were very hard or impossible for us to see. They also built their trashcans as works of art.
Some of the murals & trashcans had sound also.

Got a little behind!

on the 16th we got to Sarasota for the luncheon with 38 other Suite owners.

It was fun. We went there early to make sure we knew where it was and Cheryl went in to see where we would be and of course used the restroom. Then we ran a couple of errands and when we got back she led us in the side door where the restrooms were. We went to the desk and they took us to our large table. Seems we were the first ones there. As it got after the 1pm time to meet we started wondering where everyone else was. I decided to go out to the main lobby to see if anybody was out there. Just then my phone rang and it was Randy wanting to know where we were. I said 'I am in the lobby of the restaurant' and he said 'theres 36 of us on the front porch', pretty funny. The food was good but not as good as the Amish in Indiana. It was billed as Amish/Mennonite cooking. It was funny seeing all the OLD women on bicycles & tricycles riding around the area. They seemed to be concentrated in a few block area of the restaurant.


After the luncheon we met up with Cheryls cousin Dan formerly from Michigan but now living in Sarasota. He & Diane took us to sit out on their favorite beach at Siesta Key and we visited for a while then they gave us a tour of the area. It was great getting together with them again. It is a white sugar sand beach like the ones in the panhandle which is rare down here. We finally got back to the campground that night.

On the 17th we headed to the Seminole Museum & the Billie Swamp Safari with our MI friends.
They were driving so I figured they knew where they were going. I was wrong. After we drove 40 miles southeast on RT 27 we stopped at a gas station for some refreshments and I got on the gps and found the route we needed about 12 miles or so back up RT 27. Turns out the place we were going was where we had checked out a Seminole campground a few years ago but from Tim & Kens directions I didnt think it was the same place. Anyhow as we drove to the place we saw MANY large gators sunning themselves along a waterway along the side of the road. The museum was very interesting and we learned a lot about the Seminoles. Then we grabbed a bite at a little snack shack called 'the sweet tooth' and headed to the swamp safari. By the time we got there it was getting late. We got our tickets and they said that we would have to tell the airboat operator that we had to hurry to make the last swamp buggy ride. So, we took a very quick ride in the airboat, saw a few gators, a racoon and a water buffalo soaking in the water. We then proceeded to the swamp buggy for a very informative and entertaining tour.


On the 19th we went to Ft Myers to meet up with the Murgatroyd's at the Harbourside Grill for lunch.
We had a good visit and some good food.

On the 20th we went to the Tiki bar in Clewiston with our MI friends. It is part of the Roland Martin Marina and they were having a bass tournament on Lake Okeechobee that weekend so we watched the weigh some of the big fish that had been caught. That evening we went to the county fair in Clewiston. Security was pretty tight, there were police at the entrance and a sign that said 'No alcohol, No weapons, No colors' It was a pretty nice fair, kind of like our Sangamon county fair. We had some good food AND a Glazed funnel cake. The guy knew the Krispy Kreme owner and had their glaze to put on the cake. It was VERY GOOD and not messy like powdered sugar.

Thats it for now, we will try to catch up with the rest of the goings on soon.