Home Is Where We Park It:  Dade Battlefield Historical State Park

Date:  March 14, 2019

Housekeeping

This folks is the kind of day we awoke to this morning.  The big, bright orb in the picture

is the sun coming up over the park.  An absolutely beautiful start to another great day.

We were on the work schedule again so it was up and out the door by 8 am.  Today, and tomorrow it is our turn to clean the bathrooms.  Now, before you go getting all grossed out remember these bathrooms during the week get used maybe twice a day.  So it is no big thing to clean them.

Other items on the work agenda were cleaning the leaves off the parking lots with the leaf blower and I had to replace a broken hand towel holder in the one men’s room.  A really easy morning.  Then again most of them are the same way.  Usually we are left looking for things to do to fill in our required 3 hours each day we are scheduled.

Work over it was back home to have lunch.  Barbara made me a favorite of mine, tuna melt on an English muffin.  She puts chopped up hot peppers and onions and olives as well as red pepper in the tuna fish, tops it off with spicy cheese, heats it a few minutes to get the cheese to melt and then serves it on an English muffin. Positively yummy!

Tummy full it was time for, of course our afternoon naps.  Just a short one today since there were housekeeping duties waiting.  Well rested I tackled the chores for the day.  I started by vacuuming our home from bow to stern, or should that be from front bumper to back bumper.  I cleaned all the mirrors.  Rearranged the bathroom vanity closet.

Then it was time to amble on over to the wishy washy.  Here is goofy me getting ready to

take load one over to be done.  I had three loads today and as always it went quickly.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  As always we traveled down the road the way we love to, side by side, hand in hand, singing our song.  Soon now it will be jacks up and we’ll really be traveling down the road.  Oh, I am getting so excited and anxious.  Turn me loose and set me free!  Thanks again for joining us today.  Hope your day was as great as ours.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road

Home Is Where We Park It:  Dade Battlefield Historical State Park

Date:  March 13, 2019

Volunteer Recognition Luncheon 

Yup, this post is a day late.  Reason?  No internet last night.  The first time that this has happened since we’ve been here.  I surely hope this is not the beginning of a trend come the evening.  Tonight will tell.

Yesterday was a work day for both of us.  We both had what’s called breakfast bowls that we picked up earlier when shopping.  They’re in the frozen food section and only take 3 minutes to prepare.  Important when we’re both trying to get out the door within 30 minutes.  Yea, we sleep to the last-minute and then go like crazy getting out to work.  What else is new.

Today was The Volunteer Recognition Luncheon.  Translated, we get to set up and clean up for the luncheon in our honor.   Yes, we do get about an hour to sit and eat so it’s not all that bad.  This is the group of volunteers that was on hand yesterday.  The group is made up of residents like ourselves as well as those who come in for special occasions.

This is the spread that was put out.  Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, salads, baked beans,  fresh fruit, and on and on as well as several different types of desserts.

This is our friend Steve on the grill.  He makes a mean hamburger for sure!

And here is our boss, Bill, the chief honcho of the park making the opening remarks.

We were finished and all cleaned up by 1 pm at which time we headed back home.

The day wasn’t over, however, since we were going out that evening to our good friends Dennis and Pam for supper.  Once home we both took showers and then grabbed a quick afternoon nap.  Afternoon delight has come to mean something entirely new at our age.

Off to Dennis and Pam’s we went with eager anticipation.  Pam always has something special for supper and dessert.  She didn’t disappoint this time that’s for sure.  We had a special Indian dish with rice and chicken and a special sauce.  Dessert was just as special.  Both Barbara and I agree for oh so many reasons we are surely going to miss them when we leave in April.  After an absolutely wonderful afternoon/evening with them it was time to head home.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It was another great day spent with so many wonderful friends.  I would have to say that this is the one downside of full-time RV living, leaving behind friends that are dear to you.  Hopefully, we’ll all keep in touch and be able to see one another again somewhere down the road.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road

 

Home Is Where We Park It:  Dade Battlefield Historical State Park

Date:  March 12, 2019

Top Gun Air boat Ride and The Crab Plant

Today was a day we had been looking forward to for some time.  Today we were going on an air boat ride – yipee!  The weather, though, did not look too promising when we got up.  It was overcast, drizzling, and cool.  What gives?  The past few days have been picture perfect.  Ah well nothing we could do about it.

First order of business was to drop Marti off at day care and then go catch a quick breakfast at McDonald’s.  We had no idea how late we would be or if it would get as hot as it had been the last few days so we felt it would be better to leave Marti where he would be comfortable and taken care of.

Back home we waited for Steve and Patti to come down since they were going with us today.  Our turn to drive.  Once they arrived it was in the car and off we went.  We had about a 45 minute ride to the our first stop which would be the Air Boat ride.

Barbara had done her usual research and decided we would go with an Air Boat tour

boat company called Top Gun.  This is the boat that would take us on our magic carpet

ride.  Being a gear head I of course had questions about the engine.  I discovered it was a big block Chevy engine with a few go fast goodies that enabled it to make about 500 HP.

The Air Boat leaves from the Chassahowitzka River Boat Ramp in Homosassa, FL.  Our

 

ride today would take us through the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Refuge.  The Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1941, is comprised of over 31,000 acres of saltwater bays, estuaries and brackish marshes at the mouth of the Chassahowitzka River. The refuge was established primarily to protect waterfowl habitat and is home to over 250 species of birds, over 50 species of reptiles and amphibians, and at least 25 different species of mammals, including the endangered West Indian Manatee.

This was the view looking down the river in the direction in which we would be going.

Once underway the first thing we spotted was a bald eagle high in a tree.

We also saw several West Indian Manatees – difficult to see in the picture, it’s the big brown blob just below the water – look real close.

Moving further out into the bay we encountered several dolphins.

We also found Texas – sort of it’s about 100 miles in front of us in this picture!

We spent about an hour on the Air Boat tour and despite the bleak, wet weather we had an absolutely wonderful time.  We would go again in a heartbeat.  It’s just that much fun ripping across the water, wind in your hair!

Next stop on our morning sight-seeing trip was the Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park.  This site was once part of a thriving sugar plantation owned by David Levy Yulee.  Yulee was a member of the Territorial Legislative Council, and served in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate after Florida statehood.

The park contains the remnants of the once-thriving 5,100-acre sugar plantation: a forty-foot limestone masonry chimney, iron gears and a cane press. The steam-driven mill operated from 1851 to 1864 and served as a supplier of sugar products for southern troops during the Civil War.

Our visit to the park finished the four of us decided to have lunch at a restaurant in the area that had been recommended by a friend.

We all decided the food was good but not good enough that we would return in the future.  Ah well, we gave it a shot.  It was worth the time to find out.  The best thing though was as always the time spent with good friends.  That in itself is priceless!

The view out the window, however, was great.  Take a look, this is what we saw.

Lunch finished it was time to head for home.  It had been a wonderful day of sight-seeing with great friends.  That in my book made this day a real winner in all ways.

That was our day from beginning to end on The Road of Retirement.   We had a wonderful time traveling along, hand in hand, singing our song.  Today along with us we had the company of some really great friends who we will miss when we leave here at the end of March.  They’ve already invited us to visit them at their farm in Wisconsin anytime we are in the area.  It will definitely be a stop for us in the future.  Time to go, supper is waiting.  Have a great night.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road

 

 

 

Home Is Where We Park It:  Dade Battlefield Historical State Park

Date:  March 11, 2019

Kings Highway & Hula Hoops

I woke this morning with the words of an old worship song running through my mind.  The words go something like this:  rise and shine and give God the glory children of the Lord.  We do indeed have a lot to give Him the glory for.  Our lives are full to overflowing, exciting in so many ways, wonderful beyond words and we’re doing it together, hand in hand, side by side.

I’m still trying to adjust to sunrise coming so late, right now it’s around 7:45 am.  OK, I’m up a lot earlier but still in all I’m used to seeing sunshine by 7 am.  This morning to make matters worse the park was enveloped in pea soup fog.  Not a whisper of a wind.

Temperatures in the low 70’s.  It would take until almost 10 am before it began to burn off and the sun came shining through.  Then the temperature began to go through the roof again.  Ah, but they tell us we’re in for a cold spell – if you can call temp’s in the 70’s cold,

Today was a work day and part of my chores was to police the King’s Highway.  This is the original highway that once stretched between Tampa and Ocala.  It was about 100 miles long and 20 feet wide.  It’s the highway on which Dade and his men met their end.

They were two days from the safety of the fort at Ocala when the Seminoles attacked from the left, the front and the back.  Since there was a swamp to the right they had Dade’s men penned in with no where for the soldiers to go.

 

Finished with my duties on the highway I next went to check out the class in the park today.

Only three in attendance but they did seem to be having a good time.

As for me and the Hula Hoop?  Suffice to say it wasn’t happening!  Just can’t swing those hips anymore.

The work day ended as usual at 11 am and so it was back to Graybeard to do some odds and ends.  First things first, it was time for brunch.  Scrambled eggs, english muffin, a glass of juice and some ice coffee.  Perfect!  Now I was ready to go.  Go I did right to the bedroom to take my usual daily nap.

Then it was time for a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  With that out-of-the-way we went to Wally World to pick up a few necessities that we had missed the day before.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  We had another great day and are so thankful for the way God has and continues to bless us day by day.  We hope you had a great day as well.  Till tomorrow, oh how about this –

Singing in the Shower is so much fun

Until you get shampoo in your mouth

Then it becomes a soap opera!

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road