APRIL 27 - FRI. & APRIL 28 - SAT., 2012

FRI.- After about a 4 hr. drive, we came to our last campsite of this trip - Lithia Springs in Shelbyville, IL. Our campsite is right by Lake Shelbyville, a really pretty lake, but no WiFi & only 2 TV stations. After we got the RV all hooked up, it was about 3:00, so we decided to drive to Arcola, IL. to Rockhome Gardens, which I heard about which is in an Amish Village, about 30 miles away. We called first to make sure they would be open, and it was good that we did, because we found out that they open for the season May 1. So we took a drive to the next little town - called Arthur,also an Amish town. But most of the shops were closing at 5:oo and it was already after 4 when we got there. We found a little Amish deli & was able to get some cheese & bakery (which was very good)There were several Amish horse driven buggies along the road. There was a storm during the night, with lightening & thunder and lots of wind, it was even slightly swaying the RV! That was a little scary, of course Richard slept through it all! This is our last night "on the road". Tomorrow we will be home.

SAT. - Well we arrived home at about 3:00. It was a wonderful vacation. We had a great time and we saw & did so much! We thank God for a safe, healthy trip. After being gone for 2 mts., it did feel good to see home. We had a nice surprise when we opened our door, our grandsons, Matthew & Zachary had made a colorful welcome home banner for us! It brought tears to my eyes. That's what home is - family. Thanks for being with us through our blog. We hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures. So until the next time Paupers Pride goes on the road - hopefully this fall, we say so long. (still having problems getting pictures to post, but when we figure it out, we will post them.)

APRIL 26 - THURS., 2012

Well we made it up that hilly road without any problems. Because I was so nervous about going up that road, Richard took the RV up it without pulling the car - I followed him up it in our car. Our old "Pauper's Pride" went right up it, Richard said he did not have a problem. When we got to the top, we had to pull into a parking area so he could put the car back on the tow dolly. The rest of the drive was just fine, some big hills, but at least they were not winding. We crossed over the Tenn./Kentucky state line & then crossed over the Kentucky/Illinois state line. Two state lines in one day! Our campsite is at the southern tip of IL. Ferne Clyffe St. Park in Goreville, IL., we actually have WiFi & several channels on TV! We got here early afternoon and we checked the park out & saw a hiking trail. So we got our walking sticks & backpack & started down it. We went about 1/4 mile & Richard said we should start back. He didn't tell me till we got back to our RV that the reason we turned back was that he saw some very big animal poop -not from a dog or small animal - maybe bear! I'm glad he waited till we got back to tell me, otherwise I probably would have tried to run back & could have fallen! We stayed at our campsite the rest of the day, cooked out on the grill & played a game of "spades" (which Richard won of course). There are several other campers here with small children, so there is plenty of noise to keep animals away. We are told that as long as there is no food or trash left out, animals keep their distance. Tomorrow we head north toward our last campsite this trip, in Shelbyville, IL.(Pictures to follow when we get the camera to correctly post them).

APRIL 25 - WED., 2012

We spent the night at Cheatham Lake State Park in Tenn.(no WiFi) We started the day with a good breakfast which I made at our campsite in Alabama. It was a little windy on the road to Tenn. We were about 1/2 way there & all of a sudden we saw black smoke ahead on the road, and traffic came to a complete stop.Police cars, fire trucks, ambulances went blaring past us on the grass on the left side of the road. We were stopped there on the expressway for over 2 hrs.! We also saw medi-vac & news helicopters circling above. When we were finally able to move, we saw that it was a horrible accident. A truck cab was completely incinerated & what was a car, was a ball of steel. Had we been 5 min earlier --- all I can say is thank God! After seeing that, we had to go down a very hilly, winding road to get to our campsite. It was a "white knuckler" I really don't like roads like this in the RV, but it is the Tenn. hills. The park was very pretty. Our site was right along the lake. I didn't get much sleep because I kept thinking that we have to go back up that hilly, windy road. Richard doesn't get nervous, but I do!

APRIL 23 - MON. & APRIL 24 - TUES., 2012

MON. - Well we have started our journey home. It was a good day to leave FL. because we woke to a chilly windy morning, (not a beach day). It was very windy on the road. We made it to our first stop after 230 miles of driving, Lake Seminole St. Park in Bainbridge, GA. It is right on the GA/FL state line, in fact the ranger said that the front of the ranger station is in FL and the back of it is in GA! We were given a sheet warning about Argentine ants that live in the area. They told us to put boric acid or comet (both of which we had with us) around our tires and to be sure our water & electric lines are not touching the ground. They are not dangerous to humans, but they can get into vehicles by the droves and are very hard to get rid of. They told us that we probably would not have a problem due to the wind (thank goodness we didn't) Our campsite was right by the lake, but the wind was so strong that the waves were crashing onto the rocks on the shore. It is a very well maintained park and there are several other campers here. We have no internet service (that's why I am posting this a day late), but surprisingly we got 4 channels on TV.

TUES. - We got an early start on the road to Alabama, where our next camsite is. We drove 240 miles. We are spending the night in Brierfield, AL at Brierfield IronWorkers St. Park. We got here around 4:00 because we went through a time change & gained an hour. When we got to the registration office, there were two roads, Richard was going to take one but I told him to take the other one -- I was wrong! The ranger said we should have taken the other road because there is no place to turn the RV around and we can't back it up with the tow dolly attached with the car. So Richard had to unhook the car to turn the RV around -- as my grandsons would say "my bad". Anyway it was early enough, after we go the RV set up, we went for a bike ride around the park. We are able to pick up the internet. We are staying at State Parks on our way home, so we won't always have WiFi. I will post when I can. (we are still having a problem posting pictures)Just realized that if you click on the picture, it goes to its original size.

Mon April 23rdat Lake Seminole GA

APRIL 22- SUN., 2012

Well today is our last day here in Fl. Tomorrow morning we start our trip home. We are allowing six days travel time and plan on being home Sat. 28th. In the RV & pulling my car, we try to only go about 300 miles a day, that's about 6 hrs. of driving. Being that I can't drive the RV, all the driving is on Richard. We treated ourselves to breakfast, being our last day here, at the little family owned restaurant here at the campsite. The food was very good. The rest of the day we spent getting things stowed away for travel. After a month's stay here, we had a lot to do. We had to sadly pack away all our beach gear. The time we spent here went by fast. We saw & did a lot, and really enjoyed ourselves, but after 2 mts, it will be good to see our family again. We pray for a safe trip home .

P.S. - Having trouble again posting pictures - the pictures posted are of the horses that were on display at the farmers market yesterday. They really were very colorful, but only half each picture would post. (Chicago had cows, Alabama had peanuts, & Florida has horses)

$-21-12 AT FARMERS MARKET

APRIL 20 - FRIDAY & APRIL 21 - SAT., 2012

FRI.- Today we drove to Clearwater. We heard that the beach there was really nice. It was about a 140 mile drive. We had to drive across a very long bridge over part of the Gulf of Mexico. There was a sign posted to check your gas gauge before starting across the bridge. We would go through a very high class neighborhood, then a few miles down the road, it would be a rather run down neighborhood. The city district of Clearwater is like Chicago - large buildings.The beach has fine white sand, as most of the beaches on the Gulf side, so you can not drive your car on them. We were very lucky to see a car pulling out & got a fairly close parking place, but it still was a walk down to the beach. It is very hard to walk on the fine sand.(don't know why the type changed, but I can't change it. Sometimes my computer has a mind of it's own!) Anyway the beach was really crowded, but it was huge, so there was no problem to set our chairs up. The water was wonderful, not cold at all. We were near where they were renting wave riders & para sailing, so there was a lot to watch. Richard did great with his detecting, he found $1.48, an earring,a hot wheel car (for Zachary) . He said it was very easy to dig in the fine sand. It was well worth the drive there. It is amazing how clean the beaches are kept.

SAT. - Today we went to a farmer/french market here in Ocala. Got some fresh fruit & good pastry. It was predicted for rain, so the beach was not an option. In fact it rained last night. Florida has not had much rain & signs are posted all over that because of the dry conditions,, forest fires are a threat. By afternoon it poured. We found another catholic church in Ocala. We went to 6:00 mass. It is a huge,beautiful church, Blessed Trinity. The music was great, a piano, organ, guitar & a really good choir. They have a huge monitor screen up by the altar, & the words to the songs & the readings were scrolled on it. It stopped raining when we got out of church, but storms are predicted for tonight.

April 19th at Honey moon island

APRIL 18 - WED. & APRIL 19 - THURS., 2012

WED - Today we went to "our beach" at Daytona - Ormond Beach, this is our favorite beach, where you can drive right on the beach. It was a super windy day, hot but windy. The waves were fast & strong. This is the the first time the beach was so sparse, not a lot of people. The water was cold. But we enjoyed the day anyway. Richard did his detecting - 83 cents. I sat on the beach, reading and watching the waves. Afterward we went out for ice-cream. Richard ordered a banana split, it was the huge! It was the largest one we ever saw. He had to ask for a lid, because he couldn't finish the whole thing.

THURS. - Today we went to another beach in New Port Richey called Honeymoon Island, inside Honeymoon Island Park. It started to rain as we were driving there, which is about a 2 hr. drive. When we got there, we saw puddles in the parking lot & people were packing their cars and leaving. It was just sprinkling then and Richard said we should stay because he thought the sun would come out & be warm. Sure enough that is what happened. Soon the beach was filling up again. They had a sign posted to warn against "beach insects". I asked the park ranger what they were. She said they were "no-seeems" those micro-mini bugs. But she said there should not be a problem today because it was windy. There also was a sign to watch for rattlesnakes which live in the area! They also had a purple flag flying which means to watch for dangerous marine life (sting-rays) and what to do if you are stung by one. The ranger said these are common warnings for this area, & only warnings. It was a pretty beach and it turned out to be a beautiful day. A lot of people were going in the water, but we only walked into water ankle deep. We didn't want to take a chance & meet a sting-ray & spoil our vacation. Richard did his detecting - found 43 cents, a fish sinker, a hot wheel, & some junk. I again sat & people watched & the waves.They were setting up an arch for a wedding which is to be held there Fri. All of the beaches we have been to are very well maintained. Florida does keep it's beaches clean. Richard was tired when we got back & he is sleeping already. Since I don't know how to post pictures, he will post them tomorrow.

APRIL 15, SUN. - APRIL 17, TUES, 2012

SUN. - Today we went to another new beach - St. Augustine Beach. It is near one of the light houses that we were at a few weeks ago. We heard that you can drive your car on the beach like at Daytona Beach. It was a about a 2 hr. ride, and when we got there, we were told that they were not letting cars drive on the beach because the sand was to soft today. We were told that we could park on the road up from the beach, but then it would be quite a walk down to the beach carrying all our "beach stuff". So we decided to drive to the Daytona beach that we always go to. We took a different route which was a road right along the ocean. A nice scenic drive & the other side of the road had big beautiful homes. The beach access to the ocean side were all private. We were able to drive on "our beach", but it was very windy & the waves were fast & strong. There were a lot of people on the beach, but not many in the water. But we enjoyed the day anyway.

MON. - Today we decided to try another beach, (after all Florida has a lot of beaches) this one was in DeSoto, which is on the Gulf side where the water is warmer. It was about another 2 hour ride (we sure are putting a lot of miles on my car!) We got to what we thought was the beach area, parked in the parking lot & carried all our stuff to the water, which was a distance away. When we got there we realized it was more of a fishing area. There was a 1,000 ft pier where people were fishing from. The shore area was more of a shell/sand beach not soft sand. But there were people in the water . There were dolphins, about 6 of them splashing in the water not far from the shore. I didn't realize that they would come so close. Well, first Richard went to do his detecting & I sat up the beach chair & went to sit in it & it collapsed! I guess I didn't have it securely open, anyway luckily Richard saw what happened & came to help me get up (it is not easy to get up from the sand) I don't know what it is with me & beach chairs!! Then we decided to have lunch & opened our cooler and realized that we forgot to stop at Subway for our sandwiches, so all that was in the cooler were the ice packs! We saw that there was a little snack shop on the pier, so we walked up there. They had good hamburgers & fries, but expensive - for 2 baskets (burger & fries) and one large drink it was $21.00! I realized that we didn't have enough money with us because we left our wallets locked up in my car down in the parking area. The man was very nice when I explained that we would have to walk back to our car for the rest of the money. I just had $18.00 in my little coin purse & he said that would be enough. There are nice people in the world. When we went back down to the beach area we found out that a girl was stung by a sting-ray right there in the shallow water. They had her soaking her foot in some soapy bucket of water. Well that was the end of me going in that water!! We packed up our gear & carried everything back to the car & went farther down the road where a women on the pier told us that there was a nice beach. And she was right it was a nice sandy beach, but again we had to park in the lot & carry everything again, but it was worth it. The water was really nice & the waves were gentle & you could walk a distance out in it and it was only up to my waist. We stayed there almost till sunset & then had the 2 hr. ride back. We didn't get back to the RV till almost 10:00.

TUES. - Today we had plans to meet with Jack & Jan to go on a guided ATV ride.. It was about an hour ride there for us & about a 2 hr. ride there for them from Orlando. We had reservations for 8:45 A.M. It was an 18-1/2 mile ride which took 2-1/2 hours. There was a guide in front to lead us and one guide behind us. Besides the 4 of us there was one other couple also about our age. I tried to drive one myself (they had us practice) but I realized I could not handle it, it was hard for me to steer, the one I have at home is smaller, so we used a double with me on the back of Richard's. Jan could drive her own because she is used to driving them. The other couple also used a double, because the women said she could not drive one either, so I felt better. We had to sign insurance waivers & were instructed to make sure to stay on the trail as there are bear in this area (Ocala National Forest)! It was a winding, bumpy ride & the guide was going a little too fast for me. The trail was soft sand and we had to make sure to keep our face shield down on our helmets because it was very dusty. The only animals we saw were a deer, and a wild turkey & bear poop, but thank goodness no bear! We did stop about half way at a rest area. They gave us water & cheese crackers. I have to say that I was glad to see our car, which meant we were back (that sure was not my "cup of tea"!!) But it was something Richard wanted to do, but even he said the guide was going too fast , it was not a slow sight seeing ride like he thought it would be, but he said the ATV handled good on the soft sand. Afterward we went for lunch at this little restaurant the guide told us about called Square Meal. They had fried pickles which Jan & I thought were delicious, Richard & Jack did not, but the food was really good. After lunch we went to the largest Harley Davidson store east of the Mississippi in Daytona which Richard & Jack wanted to see. It actually is a shopping center in itself. We were tired when we got back to our RV because we got up early for the ATV ride. But I have to say, it was an interesting day.

April 17th on ATV's in Ocala national forest

April 16th

April 15th

APRIL 13 - FRI. & APRIL 14 - SAT, 2012

FRI.- We were told that on the western side of Fl., the gulf side, that the water is warmer than on the ocean side. A lady that was on the boat cruise we took yesterday in Tampa Bay told us that Lido beach in Sarasota, Fl was really nice. So today we decided to see for ourselves. Sarasota is about 160 miles away. It was a nice ride & when we got to Sarasota, we could tell that it was a very high class city. We had to park our car a distance from the beach & walk through the sand (which is very hard to walk in) carrying all our gear to get to the beach. But when we got there we were surprised. The beach is very fine white sand and the water is a beautiful aqua color, and the best part was that the water was warm. The waves were not as large & strong as the beaches we were to on the ocean side, so I was able to take my chair right down by the shore line (without the possibility of a wave knocking me over again!!) We also were able to walk quite a ways out into the water & it was only up to my waist. The water is crystal clear. Richard did his detecting and had a great find - 43 cents, 2 pocket knives, a nice men's pewter bracelet, 2 tent pins & a pocket full of "junk"! We stayed there until about 6:00 p.m. & didn't get back to our RV until almost 10:00, but it was a great day & well worth the 300 mile round trip. The only down side was that you couldn't take your car on the beach & had to walk from the parking area. If someone was moving to Florida, I would tell them that Sarasota is the place to go, but I would imagine it is very expensive to live there, judging by the area we saw around the beach. We asked a lady jogger to take our picture which is posted here.

SAT. - Today we went to the flea/farmers market. We needed some fruit & veggies, and a post to hang our new Pauper's Pride sign, we will post a picture soon.Then we stopped at a camping world for some supplies. We went to church at St.Joseph of the forest (it is actually set in the forest) & after mass they had a ham dinner. It was a delicious meal for only $6.00. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is a very small church. The meal was made by the ladies of the parish. We were sitting at a table with a couple from PA. & a lady who lives here in Silver Springs. She told us that last night her dog was barking & seemed upset & she looked out in her back yard, which has motion sensored lights, & there was a huge black bear going through her trash! She said she has lived here for 8 years & has on occasion seen bears, because her home is right by the forest, but this is the first time one was actually in her yard. We have seen a lot of signs warning about the bears, but we thought it was just for safety purposes. we didn't actually realize that they were that close. I would like to see one, but only if it is from a distance!

More of 4/13/12 on Lido beach Sarasota Fl

A 13th pics of Lido beach in Sarasota

more pics from the 12th

Apr 12th pics