After a lovely week staying with Judy and Mike Shear, we have moved on.
I took the RV to Parliament Motor Coach http://parliamentmotorcoach.com/service/ (by the way click on that link and look at their inventory of immense 40ft diesel pushers, talk about luxury spec!!) to get a Safe-T-Plus steering control fitted as I had noticed on the highways the Winnebago was subject to large lorries moving it around quite a bit in their slipstream. They fitted it in a day (Monday) and on Tuesday (the day we left St Petersburg) I got to try it out and it has made a big difference!!
So on the Monday before we left we visited the Florida Botanical Gardens with Barbara and Judy. Lovely place with a huge variety of plants and wildlife.
Bananas
Pineapples (not sure why it is locked up)
Looks like the trees in the Lord of the Rings
As if we would, we would be running the other way!! Loads of signs and a nest, but we didn’t see any.
And then on Tuesday we left, having said our goodbyes to Mike and Judy, not forgetting Milo and Maggie (their dogs). Destination Cedar Keys RV, which is 10 miles north of Cedar Keys itself, an island Key further up the coast near Gainesville (http://www.visitflorida.com/en-us/cities/cedar-key.html).
Went up I75 for about 50 miles and then took to Highways to get there. Lovely straight roads through forests with not a car in sight.
Very interesting drive and then we turned off onto State Rd 24 to go the camp site.
Arrived at the camp site and realised our luck had held out and we had made a great choice of a place to stay.
Got a very nice pull through site (no manoeuvring just drive onto the pad).
Since we got here in plenty of time we went for a look at Cedar Key and quickly realised there was a lot to see and it is a beautiful part of Florida, so decided as we had to plan the next few weeks carefully on our way to Houston (STOP PRESS Tim is flying down to see us in Houston and staying with us on a long weekend from the 25th August – 28th August and he says he is going to rough it in the Winnebago, although he has a hotel in mind!!), we would extend our stay until Monday 14th.
We had also realised our site was a bit exposed to the Florida heat and the air con was struggling (although it helps if you have both of the units on COOL not one on COOL and the other on HEAT Ooooppps!!), and as our pull through site was pre-booked for the weekend we swapped to a lovely shady site.
Camping suits someone, looking tanned.
Early morning sunshine.
I will put up pictures of the sights around Cedar Key later, although Anne has already spotted a Quilt shop!!
That’s lovely that Tim is visiting say hi from us. Bobby and Lin.
It surprised us as well. We asked him if he really meant it as we were heading to Houston and next thing we know he has booked the plane.
Cedar Keys looks and sounds lovely-I can understand why you decided to stay longer. Going back a few blogs, when you were parked in Sue’s driveway I thought Paul had been joking when he said your RV was bigger but as you said the RV was taller than the house!
Sounds as though you are also getting into the relaxed lifestyle with leisurely starts to the days!
I think you meant Judy’s driveway, but yes it was taller than the house. It is great when you are driving it as you see lots of things other people cannot see!!
Cedar Keys is a place we will be back to absolutely fabulous!!
Certainly getting used to the relaxed style when we are on a camp ground for a few days but overnight stops are a bit of a killer as we have to be up by 7am to get going by 10am as it takes a while to “dump” the tanks disconnect everything, pull the slides in and then get off the hydraulic jacks and attach car to the A frame on the back. Then you have to check all the lights (we have been told US cops are not very forgiving on dud bubs), make sure it is in neutral, handbrake off and key in the ACC position so the steering lock doesn’t kick in!! And AWAY you go!!
Having a great time and looking forward to next year when we go up the West coast.
Hi 3rd time grandpappy and grandmammy,great news ,Zara looks gorgeous and the rest of the family look great. Glad you are still safe we think you were very fortunate to escape the carnage of Harvey. We heard on the news today [sat 9th] that 6million people are evacuating Florida, and the roads are gridlocked ! Dallas looked very interesting and that giant RV was extraordinary. We just had a week in a cottage in west Wales near the coast, between Fishguard and St Davids.Nice time but weather wet and very windy,Shared the cottage with Rob and Den,OK but they like 10 mile walks which we can’t do,Lin still suffering with her back and I have a dodgy knees we did do separate things on some days. Back to normal now ,childcare and mother duties.Give us a call when you are home it would be nice to see you if possible and catch up properly. Love and best wishes Bob and Lin x