Author: livingthedreamwithsallyandvic

Forecasters got it wrong again yay! It was a gorgeous morning so we drove through again and saw some great stuff. Then we explored the surrounding area and saw manatees. We went over to Gator Creek and saw Black Necked Stilts so it was a wonderful birding day.

We thought about going through the drive again this afternoon but the promised thunderstorm did roll in. Oh well. We had time to get the truck washed and gassed up before the rain came. Tomorrow we go to Mayport AFB (Pelican’s Roost is the campground name) in Jacksonville.

Hope you all enjoyed this post! XO

We left Clerbrook yesterday. Allen, Andrew, John and Jim came over to see us off. Allen and Andrew are both RV experts and have become our friends. Allen got the camper out onto the road and checked the height again. He had put new suspension systems on both the truck and the camper which could raise the height. We are 13’3” and are a perfect height to safely go under bridges in any highway in the country. We still need to be careful off the highways but we got the Rand MacNally GPS and Atlas the truckers use so we feel we are very safe this time. We’ve spent weeks/months going over every little thing and upgrading anything we could. We are looking forward to going across the country and coming back in September or October.

We wanted to do some local birding before we start our coast to coast trip so we are in Titusville, FL, staying at an Elks Lodge very close to Black Point Drive. Went there yesterday and didn’t see many birds. The water levels are very low, it was sad.

Today is overcast so we went to Kars Park, our first campground. It’s only for military and NASA employees. We found a woman Vic knew from before he met me, only as a fellow camper in case you’re wondering. She’s young, married with 2 toddlers now. Vic tells the story how he and two of his friends, also campers, were talking about how beautiful she is. Vic says yeah but did you see her feet? One of the other guys says I didn’t even know she had feet! Haha. (Her feet looked fine to me) We had a good time catching up with her. Here she is with her 7 month old daughter Savannah. She’s a precious happy little thing, almost walking.

Then we went to the Space Force Base (they re-named Patrick AFB). Vic got a Bose speaker at the Exchange and we’ve been listening to music all afternoon, very enjoyable. He’s making a new playlist.

We got some sushi (they have great sushi) and other incidentals at the Commissary. Back to the camper and enjoying being off grid with all the amenities every one else has. Living the dream!

Next stop will be Mayport AFB in Jacksonville for a few days. We have a reservation for Friday.

To my new followers Apopka is nearby, open Fri-Sun and holidays. It’s a free 10 mile drive in Apopka.

Google it if you are interested in more information.

These photos are from last Friday morning. We had beautiful weather and almost had the place to ourselves.

I must have been on the right side of the road since I took all these photos except for the Purple Gallinule. Vic took the Gallinule.

We will leave on Thursday, tomorrow. We love it here, it’s relaxed and people are mostly chill. We met our next door neighbors Diane and Ron and their dog Marlee a mini doodle. Zoe and Marlee are best friends playing whenever they can. Marlee looks at the window watching for Zoe.

Vic went fishing on a gang boat yesterday and caught a lot of red snapper. Tonight we are taking it to a local restaurant (outside seating) and having them cook it. Yay! We are inviting Marlee’s parents to go with.

The restaurant cooked some fried and some blackened. Unbelievably delicious. Each pound of fish came with 2 sides / coleslaw (great), yellow rice, Cuban garlic bread (yum), steamed veg, etc.

There was a lot of omg-ing going on, the food was amazing. We got to know Diane and Ron better and very much enjoyed their company.

Now we know 4 people we want to see again next year when we come back.

We met John and Dawn a few days ago and started watching the sunset together and lingering a while after enjoying our conversation. He’s retired from the navy, then became a traveling ER nurse. She’s still working a civilian job while going to law school. We all hit it off and we hope to meet up with them at next winters trip. Or we’ll surprise them and go to Michigan. They had to leave this morning. ☹️

Today my knee was sore I guess all that walking yesterday. We didn’t do much, a little shopping. Our neighbors recommended Sister Noodle so we take out and it was delicious!

Our neighbors have a miniature Doodle, Mallory. Zoe and she play and really go at it rolling around play biting each other.

We found parking in a lot and walked around downtown. Duval St., Mallory Square, Greene St. Vic bought me 3 shirts (also got me one yesterday), a green NM style hat, and a cameo!!! Then we had lunch at Greene Thai, the best Panang curry yum it was super. Also got shrimp pad Thai and that was very delicious too. The curry was my favorite though. Lots of people watching and walking around just taking it all in.

Yesterday we stopped at Crane Point Hammock, a nature preserve with a gift shop. Look at the size of this turtle.

These are all phone photos (sigh).

Campsite fee $35/night Sigsbee NAS

Comparable civilian campsite with full hookup $315/night

Hyatt, nice enough but not lavish certainly $600/night

We went to Zachary Taylor state park and enjoyed a couple of hours sitting on the beach in the shade watching many varieties of water craft. The water was Caribbean blue/green, beautiful. Put my water shoes on and walked in the water. Had to walk over a stretch of crushed coral to get there. The water was very clear.

Beautiful boats and people fishing

First stop, Stay at Port St Lucie Elks Lodge for one night. (March 4)

Vic found a waterfront restaurant with outdoor seating in a marina and Zoe was welcome. Amazing meal – best crab cake (appetizer) I have ever had. So fresh, perfectly prepared and scrumptious. I had clams linguini, he had Mahi Mahi and we shared key lime pie. Did I say amazing?!!! Yum. Zoe was a perfect guest, ate her dry food and had a couple of strands of my linguini. She loved it.

The whole thing was wonderful, the view, the food, and the ambiance.

Second stop, Miami. We stayed in a church parking lot overnight. The fenced in property next door had peacocks!

Sigsbee Naval Air Base

We got to Key West on Monday around 1 pm. This is a Navy base with a commissary and an exchange. First thing we did was go to the exchange and get water shoes.

Set up has been easy with the hydraulics fixed. Whew. We are 20 feet from the water. There is no sand beach. People are kayaking, some jet skis. Super nice campground, mostly retired people, roomy lots with a bathhouse for showers.

For dinner we got Cheeseburgers from the Hideaway Grill. Sat and ate them next to the water while Vic played Jimmy Buffet Cheeseburger in Paradise LOL. People say the sunsets are spectacular here. All of todays photos are from my iPhone. We will all have to wait for Vic to process the camera shots to see if I got a decent one of the peacocks.

While we waited for our hydraulics to get worked on, we spent a morning at Lake Morton, since we were already in Lakeland. Vic was saying I’ll take Zoe and you take pictures. What a great offer! While he’s saying that I spotted an eagle coming in and captured him swooping down and grabbing a duck off the lake! The eagle was really really far out but Vic was able to “bring it in” with his editing skills. Also saw wood ducks, white swans black swans and white pelicans There is one black necked white swan who lost its mate a couple of years ago that has now mated with a white swan.

After the hydraulics work got done we moved to an Elks Lodge in North Ft Myer. We were a short drive from Geri’s house in LeHigh Acres. We had 2 very fun days visiting with Geri and Charlotte (visiting Geri). Eating, talking, laughing, playing cards. We even got to meet Geri’s brother Joe and sister in law Nancy. I made dinner both nights. First chicken enchiladas then chicken Parmesan with spaghetti. Yum. Charlotte made her world class brownies so that was a major treat. We learned 2 new card games, Five Crowns and Skyjo.

We became good friends while working at a law firm together and remained friends after retiring. We took several trips together and had terrific times on all of them. I don’t get to see them very often so this visit was a big deal for me. Love you ladies!

We began with a stop at BigFoot Leveling Systems in Lakeland. Bigfoot is our hydraulics/leveling system. We’ve been having trouble with one of the “legs “. Also we wanted to install an upgrade on the control panel. They had ordered the control panel in advance. They worked all day and still it wasn’t done (defective panel, among other issues) so we stayed in their garage overnight. Our internet wouldn’t work inside the building so we used their wifi. We were very comfortable.

This morning they finished up while we went to Lake Morton and shot photos of swans, ducks, white pelicans, wood ducks and other birds. As my Chums friend Dale says, we made lemonade out of lemons.

Vic had Zoe on the leash while I had the camera and we walked around Lake Morton. The first thing I saw was an Eagle dipping down and grabbing a fish! Sure hope that comes out!!!

We had coffee and muffins for breakfast at Black and Brew in Lakeland.

We will visit my dear friends Geri and Charlotte in LeHigh Acres tomorrow at Geri’s FL house. Can’t wait to see them!

Last photo and this isn’t much quality wise since it is on my phone but these swans are so cool. The black necked swan lost its mate a couple of years ago and now it’s mates with the white one. I got much better ones with my camera… next post.