January 29 - February 10.  Myakka River Motorcoach Resort - Port Charlotte, FL

It's amazing how fast the time goes when you're having fun!   We've now been at the Myakka River location for 3 weeks.  

Entrance to the resort

The resort clubhouse

Our coach looks right at home here amongst the palms

It's Florida ... of course there are gators!

Two ponds within the property and both have gators!

Beautiful sunset at the resort from the dock thatextends 100 yards into the Myakka River

 After our last posting, we had several days of rain.  In fact, rain that was heavy enough we wondered if it was time to buy a boat instead of a motorhome.  We took advantage of those days to get some shopping done and Jan got her first "on the road haircut".   Haircuts will be interesting since each one will be at a different salon and with a different stylist and with short hair, it will need trimming every few weeks.   When we mentioned heavy rain to friends and family in other parts of the country, they were less than sympathetic.  Most of them were suffering through the worst winter weather in many years including snow, ice, and power outages.  Our "stick house"  also lost power for several days.  A huge "Thank You" to our neighbors, Lois and Gene,  for helping us out during the power outage.  They drained water from the plumbing lines and emptied our freezer since the food had thawed during the outage.

We had a day when we met friends from our Wellness Center, Sue and Nick for lunch.  They had been to Naples, FL and were working their way back up to the Tampa area before heading home.   Good lunch, great friends and we had such a nice visit with them and then had a chance to give them a tour of our coach while they were in our area.

Any of you who know Bob, know that he likes to keep his cars clean.  Neighbors have seen him in the driveway washing and waxing the cars on a regular basis.  Guess what?  The coach is like a very BIG car and he feels the same way about it, but it's a much bigger job.  At one point, he washed the sides of the coach in the driveway at home and it took him nearly a full day.   Luckily, here in the resort, there's a mobile coach washing group that will wash your coach for you.  They have a team (3-5) of people who don't seem to mind climbing up to the roof and washing the whole vehicle.   Actually pretty fascinating to watch!  They also offer a polishing service, which we thought was a good idea since we hadn't polished it since it was built.  So now our coach is now bright and shiny.  Looks better than brand new!

Almost done ... just applying the final touches...

 In honor of the SuperBowl, we celebrated with a Chili Cookoff and party at the Resort's clubhouse.  We sampled twelve different chilies each yummy in it's own way.  Some were spicy and some very mild and all very different from the others but all good.  With our tummies full of chili and other snacks, we settled in at the clubhouse to watch the first quarter of the game and watch the Seahawks take a solid lead in the game.  We watched the second quarter on the TV outside our coach and at half-time moved indoors to watch the second half since it was getting dark.  We'd been rooting for the Broncos, but can't deny that Seattle deserved to win this year.

We've joined the water aerobics classes that are held on Monday and Wednesday mornings.  We were missing our workouts at the Wellness Center back home and wanted something more than walks through the resort.  The classes are about an hour long with a great instructor.  It's a nice workout with exercises suitable for everyone and a wonderful way to get the day started.  Jan has taken time to sit in on craft classes at the clubhouse.  One craft was card embroidery (also called Prick and Stitch) where she created a cute Valentine.   It's a fun craft to do and nothing she'd ever seen or attempted before.  Bob got to attend a Photography class conducted by one of the other people here in the resort who's done a lot of photography while traveling (including a trip to Alaska).   Each Friday afternoon, there's a Meet & Greet at the clubhouse for people to get together and get to know each other.  We have people in the resort from lots of different states and a few from Canada.  Some travel full-time in their coaches and others are part-timers ranging from days to weeks or months on the road.  We get to hear about where they're from, what they've seen on their travels, and their experiences with their coaches.  We swap campground recommendations.  Thursday evenings we play Card Bingo with varying amounts of success.  The fun part is just getting together with neighbors and visiting.

Fisherman casting his net at Port Charlotte Beach

Sea gulls flying in formation.....really clear water !

 











 We've done several beach excursions.  We spent one day visiting Sanibel and Captiva and had really neat dinner at Doc Ford's Rum Bar & Grill in Sanibel.  The seafood has been spectacular.   We've been to the beach in Port Charlotte a couple of times since it's only a 15 minute ride in the car.  On one day we caught the boats coming back in from the Charlotte Harbor Regatta.  On another day, we drove to Stump Pass Beach State Park  which is about 40 minutes from the coach.  Each beach has slightly different shells so we've had a pick up few along the way.  Can't put into words how nice it is to be walking in the surf, enjoying the sun and sand and trying to comprehend that it's February.  

Jan with a few of the boats

What a colorful event!

We also had two more trips to Sarasota.  One for a visit to LensCrafters.  Yup....Jan's glasses didn't need adjustment this time... they broke and will be replaced thanks to the protection plan we'd bought at purchase time. 

Stump Pass Beach

Lunch in Sarasota with Roy and Kathie

The second trip was to meet great friends and former neighbors from home, Kathie and Roy, for lunch.  They have a condo in Bradenton and were checking on it before they headed on to San Francisco for Roy's business.  With everyone's busy schedules, we hadn't visited with them since early last fall.  Couldn't pass up the opportunity to have lunch with them.  They have two children that are similar in age to our two so we always have a lot to catch up on when we get together.  We found a wonderful restaurant where we could eat outdoors and the food was great, too!  The hours just melted away.

 

Bob and his Aunt Martha Kate

 Our coach at Coastal RV Resort, Brunswick, GA

We're putting a few pictures in our blog this time.The picture of Bob and his aunt just turned out so good that we had to include it.  She's a wonderful woman!  The picture after that is  of our site while we were in Brunswick, GA.  

This past week and a half has really flown!   We pulled into Myakka River Motorcoach Resort in Port Charlotte, FL on Monday 1/20 and have fallen in love with this place.  Could it be the heated swimming pool, or the workout center, or the water aerobics classes, or the friendly neighbors, or the meet-n-greet last Friday night??   Maybe all of the above.  We've been so busy that we haven't had a chance to do some of the above, but we are enjoying the fact that there are activities available.   We did attend the meet-n-greet with about 60 of our neighbors and a live 2-piece musical group.  The resort has 100 slots for RV's and it's about 60% full.  There's a Super Bowl party scheduled for 2/3 and a big Valentine's party coming up.

During last week, we also made a trip to Sarasota (the closest Lens Crafters) to get Jan's glasses fixed.  Mission accomplished.

Later in the week, we spent a day at the Fort Myers RV Show.  I know..... most of you are wondering why we would go to an RV show when we have an RV, but it's a great place to check out other RV's (i.e. how they're decorated, their floor plans, and some of the latest technology) and get ideas for our own coach.  There are also vendors at the RV shows with gizmos and gadgets that can be useful and interesting.

Here we are at the RV Show in Fort Myers, FL

It's a lot like having a beautiful home, but still going to Open Houses to take a look.

Jan is getting plenty of use out of her washer & dryer and there are always household chores that need attention.  It doesn't take long to vacuum or wash the floor or clean the bathroom, but those things need to be done once in a while.  Bob has tackled a  few projects that are helping make our home more liveable.  The paper towels now have a rack to hang on rather than being moved all over the kitchen counter.  He also built a valance for the kitchen window which looks really nice and he's hooked up a gizmo in the Honda that means we don't have to pull fuses to shut off the navigation every time we tow it.

After some discussion, we have decided to shuffle our schedule a bit and stay longer here at Myakka River.  We'll cancel the week at the Orlando KOA, postpone the week at Fort Wilderness (Walt Disney World) and haven't quite determined yet how to deal with Top Sail State Park (in the Florida panhandle) in late February.  We're still on target to visit Jan's cousin and his wife in Pensacola in early March.  After that, we'll start heading west for a visit with our  "full timing" RV friends in Alabama and a visit with Bob's niece in Houston, Texas.   

On Monday, 1/27, our weather was so beautiful that we decided to drive down to Boca Grande (about 30 minutes from Myakka River).  We've included several pictures of the lighthouse and the neat birds that we saw along the beach.  It was a positively glorious day!  We stopped for lunch at a little place called South Beach Bar & Grill.  The food was absolutely wonderful!!  We were hungry for seafood and weren't the least bit disappointed.  Bob had grouper (which he remembers fondly from when he was growing up in Florida) and Jan had red snapper.   Mmmmm Good!  We actually enjoyed having our big meal of the day at 3 pm, eating next to the sand and the Gulf of Mexico.  We also happened to be seated next to a couple of guys from New York City.   These two guys looked like they were straight out of the Soprano's.   Even though Jan tried really hard not to listen to their conversation, she kept picking up all their talk about bookies and Staten Island and how they were lucky enough to be spending January in Florida while other friends were freezing in NYC. 

 

Map showing Boca Grande

 

 The Boca Grande Lighthouse

 A great white egret and a brown pelican







                                                                                                  A snowy egret

                                                         Two brown pelicans

                                                           A brown pelican in flight

A great blue heron






Bob's feet in the surf... water's great ! 

 

                                                         

An enormous Banyan tree

 

                                            View from our table at the South Beach Bar & Grille
Since leaving home we've been having problems with our city water inlet when we're not connected to a water supply in the campground.  Basically, when we have the inlet set to "City Water", water is coming out of the inlet from the fresh water tank on-board.  When we switch the valve into the "Fill Tank" position, this stops the escape of water from the valve but it also introduces a lot of air into the water system which means we could not use the on-board water since the water heater needs to be filled without air pockets.  After some exploration we discovered that the city water inlet check valve was busted!  It worked fine when we connected to a local water source but otherwise, water was escaping from the on-board fresh water tank when in the City Water position.  

After some Google research we attempted to remove the city water valve by removing the three external screws and disconnecting the hose on the back-side that connects to the on-board water system.  However, when Tiffin built this model motor coach, they did not provide enough clearance for the valve to be pulled out of the water bay housing.  Bob called Tiffin and they indicated the entire panel would have to be removed to disconnect this valve.  This was more work than we felt comfortable doing on our own so we made an appointment for Tuesday (1/28) to take the coach into North Trail RV in Ft. Myers.  They are a Tiffin dealer and would be able to easily handle the fix.

On Tuesday (1/28) we got up early, had a quick breakfast, broke camp here at Myakka River and traveled down to North Trail RV in Ft. Myers.  When we arrived it looked like we would have to wait all day to get the coach serviced.  However, after we turned the coach over to their service and as we were pulling out of their parking lot with the Honda, the RV tech was looking at the problem.  Bob went over and discussed the problem and shortly thereafter they pulled it into a service bay to be worked on.  We left with instructions that they would update us by 1PM. 

We went to AAA and picked up some local FL maps and then onto Camping World to pick up a few supplies that we needed.  Around 11:30AM, we got a call from North Trail RV that the repair was completed and we could pick-up the coach after 12:30PM.  Hooray!  We had a quick lunch in Ft. Myers, picked up the coach and headed back to Myakka River and setup camp again with a city water check valve now working correctly!

On Tuesday, 1/14/2014, we got to Wilmington, NC for a wonderful visit with Bob's aunt, Martha Kate. Bob's dad had 9 siblings and Martha Kate is the youngest of the group and the only one still with us. She's a spry, active 84 year old with a quick mind and some fantastic memories of family members. She stays very active in her community doing volunteer work at the hospital and teaching Sunday school at her church. We visited with her & then treated her to dinner so we could have even more time to visit. On Wednesday (1/15), she prepared a lunch for us and invited 6 other family members as well - 5 cousins that we'd never met before and Aunt Margaret that we met in the midwest about 35 years ago.

The KOA in Wilmington was not so great. Our least favorite of all campgrounds we've visited so far. It was very wet, the sites were soggy and the staff was not helpful when we reported a problem with the sewer hookup. We also lost electric power for a while in the campground. They finally had Duke Power come out and fix the problem, but when the problem occurred or when it was restored, it tripped a breaker on our inverter which kept us from having any AC power in the coach. It took Bob a while to figure out the tripped breaker as it was on the actual inverter (in the big storage bay) rather than on any of the breaker panels in the coach.

Our trip from Wilmington to Gaffney, SC on 1/16 was uneventful but a somewhat a long day. The campground in Gaffney was great! We had a terrific level site with a great view. We did a tour of the Freightliner plant on 1/17 in the morning and then took the coach in during the afternoon to be weighed on each wheel. The people at Freightliner also adjusted the tire pressures on the tires based on each tire weight. We had great weather in Gaffney for both days -- lots of sunshine and in the low 60s. The night of 1/16 was cold but only got down to about 29. 1/17 got down to about 21! Brrrrr! We kept the propane furnace in the back of the coach running enough of the time to keep the water bay from freezing. We also put a 60-watt light bulb in the water bay to help with the heating of this area.

On Saturday, 1/18, we pushed out early (it's a long drive) for Brunswick GA. As we travel south, we keep hoping for warmer weather. Shortly after we hit the road, we got a phone call from the campground owners in Gaffney who'd found one of the locks for the system we use to tow the Honda. Someone is really looking out for us 'cause without that lock, the tow vehicle could have serious problems. We stopped immediately and secured the towbar with a cotterpin. Since we'd only gone about 5 miles, we turned around, went back to the campground and reconnected the lock. Whew!! There are just so many ways this could have turned out differently -- thank goodness it worked out the way it did. We got to Brunswick about 4:30 pm & had just enough daylight to get set up at our site.
Sunday 1/19 was terrific!! Our first day without driving or any other commitments. We got a chance to meet some our neighbors, take a walk, do a few odd and ends along with a few loads of laundry. Very relaxing.

Monday 1/20, we were facing our longest driving day so far. 340 miles to Port Charlotte and the Myakka River Motorcoach Resort. We are learning so much as we travel. This morning, we accidentally ran over our bag of garbage as we were leaving. Most of the campgrounds ask people to leave bagged garbage at the curb. 10 minutes later, we'd cleaned up the mess and could move along. Note to us: don't leave the garbage where we can run over it. We're including a picture of the Myakka River Resort combined with our vehicle and a sign we saw as we approached Port Charlotte.

Many people reading this blog know that we spent some time in Toledo, OH in the 70's. Notice the name of the road is "Toledo Blade Blvd". The Toledo Blade is Toledo's newspaper and also used to be the name of the hockey team from Toledo. We're looking forward to the next two weeks here in Port Charlotte. It'll be nice to give the coach a rest along with the coach driver (Bob). We want to explore the area and get the coach set up a little better.

Our adventure begins…

After postponing our departure, we finally pulled out of the driveway on Thursday 1/9/2014.  However, as we were preparing to leave we discovered that our LP furnaces (one in the front of the coach and one in the bedroom) would only work for about an hour before cutting out and then never restarting.  It was tough to think about traveling with an intermittent heating system so we worked for a while with our coach dealer over the phone attempting to trouble-shoot our problem and eventually concluded that the LP regulator was faulty even though it seemingly supported the stove with no difficulties.  We also concluded that the LP flow requirements for the furnaces was more than the stove.  After spending the rest of the day at the coach dealer having the LP regulator replaced and the new one tested, it was then too late to depart for our 1^st day target of Fredericksburg, VA.  So we stayed overnight in the coach dealer’s parking lot while running both of the LP furnaces overnight to ensure they were working correctly with the new regulator.  Success on the heating front!

On Friday, 1/10/2014, we awoke to freezing rain and snow!  Thankfully both cleared shortly after 11:00AM and we pulled out of the coach dealer’s parking lot.  While we had rain all day, we quickly made it around Baltimore on I-695 and sailed easily thru Washington DC on 295/I-295/I-495.  However, shortly after rejoining I-95, the traffic came to a near standstill and crawl until about 5-miles from the Fredericksburg exit.  This entailed nearly 2.5 hours of a crawling stop-and-go.  While it rained all of this time, the rain let up substantially when we got off I-95 for the Fredericksburg KOA.  We managed to set-up for our overnight stop with only a very light mist.  We had a great site at this very well run KOA.  The host who greeted us said the locals never travel that stretch of I-95 on Fridays.   Lesson learned.

Saturday, 1/11/2014. As we had not de-winterized the coach due to the severe cold weather we had before and since our departure, we used the showers at the Fredericksburg KOA, broke camp and got back on I-95.  We hesitated some with our departure as the weather forecast was calling for severe weather (rain and very high winds) in southern VA and all along I-95 in NC.  Since we had already lost 3-days in our plans, we decided we couldn’t loose any more time without changing all plans/reservations leading up until 1/20/2014 and chose to pull-out.  While the rain was constant all day, early in the day thru southern VA, the winds were probably gusting to about 20 MPH.  Not good but we could still safely handle the coach.  After lunch when we passed into NC, the winds picked up substantially which drove the rain even harder.  We ended up pulling off the road into rest areas a couple of times to let the severe winds pass. 

Our dear friends, Bob and Jean (from our days together in the USAF in England & who we were going to visit in Clayton, NC), kept us up-to-date with the severe weather warnings along our travels in NC.  Only later did we learn that there were tornado warnings along I-95 with 80 MPH winds!  By 3:30PM, the winds had subsided somewhat and the rain had eased up.  We pulled into the Fayetteville RV Resort, in Wade NC around 4:00PM. 

On Sunday, 1/12/2014, we were able to de-winterize and have running water in the coach.  This was a major accomplishment!!  We spent 3-nights in Wade and thoroughly enjoyed our visits with Bob and Jean.  We also had a chance to meet with their daughter, who we had not seen in over 20 years, and to meet her son.  During our visit we managed to get in a couple of games of Aggravation at Bob and Jean’s home in Clayton and then we played some 5 Crowns on Monday, 1/13/2014, when Bob and Jean came down to Wade to spend some time with us in our coach.  The weather in Clayton and Wade was terrific on Sunday, 1/12/2014, and Monday, 1/13/2014, with sunny skies and temperatures in the low 60s.

On Tuesday, 1/14/2014, we awoke to more rain!  If it’s a driving day, we’re now starting to expect rain.  We broke camp at Wade and departed for Wilmington where we are now setup while visiting Bob’s Aunt Martha Kate in Jacksonville.  We’re here for 2 nights.

After 6-8 inches of snow last Thursday, we woke up to freezing rain this morning.  We had hoped to pull out on Tues 1/7 but don't want to mess with this weather.  We're looking at pulling out later in the week.  Hey, Mother Nature......give us a break.

Watch here for more information about our trip starting in January 2014.

Our 1st trip in the new coach (aka "OakRunner") to Hershey, PA.