Fri .March 28 - Sun. March 30

This was our last weekend at Fort St. Lucie in Stuart,FL. We finally were able to enjoy a nice, sunny, warm day at Jensen Beach on Fri. Water was still a little too chilly for us, but it seems not for others. I think kids have a different tolerance for cold water, because they were splashing about having a good time.we stayed there most of the day. Richard had a great find with his detector... 2 pennies!

Sat. It was gloomy and rained off & on most of the day. We saw signs for a flea market (surprise ,surprise , Florida sure has a lot of them!) So we spent a few hours there... A lot of walking. Even Richard was pooped and he is like the "energizer bunny", never slows down ! We went to evening mass and played cards & watched TV the rest of the evening. 

Sunday morning Richard made us a good breakfast, bacon & sunny-side up eggs on his griddle. Then we went to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls.We spent the day at the campsite because there was a NASCAR race on TV, so of course Richard wanted to watch it! I took a bike ride around the area. The campsite is right by the St.Luci locks and there is a walkway where you can watch the boats going through.. Interesting to watch how the water level is raised or lowered. Reminded me of the time when our kids were young and we took a trip down the Illinois river on our 28 foot pontoon boat & went through 3 sets of locks. It was a fun experience for them and us. Tomorrow we leave for Orlando &back to Jack & Jans. I will be flying home for 2 days to attend our grandson, Matthew's confirmation  on Wed.April 2, so I won't be posting for a few days till I get back. Richard is staying and visiting with Jack & Jan while I am gone.

Thurs. March 27

Well the weather certainly is not co-operating with us as far as beach days. Another overcast day with showers predicted for the afternoon. We decided to take a ride to the Fort Lauderdale & Miami beach area. Being that it is spring break, it was very traffic congested. The Miami Beach area was not at all what we expected. We ended up in the middle of down town Miami. Oh my! It was just like driving in down town Chicago! It did not impress us at all. But to be fair we didn't actually get to see the more expensive side of Miami Beach that we hear about. We did stop at a park, John U. Lloyd Beach St. Park. It had access to a beach with a Getty. The waves were super strong crashing at the shore. In the Fort Lauderdale area we were on a road that ran right along the ocean, beaches (very crowded, we could certainly tell that it was spring break, a lot of young adults ) on one side and high rises on the other side.  It reminded me of Lakeshore Drive in Chicago. By the time we got back, it had started to rain. The locals say that Florida really needs the rain, but did it have to arrive while we are here ?? Oh well, at least it's not snow!! 

Wed. March 26

It was a chilly day. Definitely not a beach day! : (  But we decided it would be a good golf day. So we checked the area for a golf course near by. We found one, but it was really busy & we couldn't get a tee time till 4:00, so we took it. We came back for our tee time, got our golf bags and a cart and started for the first tee. We were right in front of the club house and when we started to go, my golf bag and  all my clubs fell off the cart... I forgot to strap my bag onto the cart! How embarrassing!! So we picked them all up and continued on. ( we didn't know anyone there anyway) . We had a good golf day, especially Richard. I did 9 holes and he did 18. It took us 3 1/2 hrs. The wind picked up and it got really chilly. By the time we got back to the clubhouse almost everyone was gone. They were waiting for us to turn in the cart, but we weren't the last. They said there was still one cart out on the course. When we got back to the RV, Richard made supper .. Pork chops on the griddle. He is getting to be quite the chef. 

Mon. March 24 - Tues. March 25

Monday it rained all day. In fact at times it really poured. So we decided to do some sight seeing. We checked out some state park campgrounds we heard about. When we got back, we played a game of 500 rummy which I almost won. I was leading in points then Richard won a few rounds and took the lead and beat me.That pretty much summed up the day. It rained all night.

Tues we did laundry in the morning. It was too chilly for the beach, so we went to see the Navy Seals Museum we heard about in Fort Pierce, FL about 45 min away. It was a lot bigger then we thought and really was very interesting. The training they go through is brutal! They had videos of the training. Out of a group of 83 guys only 19 made it through to the end and became Navy Seals. I think they said there are only 2,500 active Seals today. Although many sailors apply for and are accepted into the program, it is so demanding, some drop out and others are rejected along the way. 

Sun. March 23 -Tues. March 25

Sunday was a beautiful, sunny day. So we took advantage of it and spent the day at the beach soaking up the sun. We were at Jensen Beach and it was packed. A lot of schools are on spring break this week. The water felt good walking along the shore. I thought it was too cold to swim in, but there was a lot of people & a lot of surfers in it. When we got back to our RV, we had a delicious supper. We had bought some strip steaks to try on our griddle. Richard is becoming quite a chef with the griddle. Oh, by the way on the beach Richard found a white gold ladies Irish ring with his detector. 

Fri. March 21 - Sat. March 22

We are back on track with the rest of our vacation! We made it to our next campsite, Port St. Lucie  in Stuart, FL. We stayed here last year and really liked it. After getting all hooked up, we shopped for supplies. Then we went and checked out the surrounding beaches. One beach which was under construction last year, was opened, Jensen Beach... A really nice beach... We will be spending much time there (weather permitting)!

Sat . It was warm and sunny, sooooo, yep, off to the beach we went! Well we got a close parking place and were getting our things out of the car and lo & behold a dark cloud came over and guess what ??yep...it poured! So we put our things back in the car and decided to do some sight- seeing. Well as fast as the rain came, it ended up just being a cloud burst  and the sun came out, so back to the beach we went! The water was too cold for us, but there were a lot of people & surfers in it.But We were able to soak up some sun for a few hours. Then the gray clouds started to make an appearance,so we  packed up our things. As we were walking back to the car a fellow on a bicycle told us about a beach down the road called Bathtub Beach. It has a live reef in it which when the tide goes out you can see it and it causes what looks like a bathtub which keeps the sharks out because they can't get through it. We found it but it was high tide so we couldn't see the "bathtub". We came back to our RV and went to church. After church we went back there when it was low tide and we saw the reef and the "bathtub" it was neat. I tried to get a picture, but the picture doesn't really show it good..

Sat. March 15 - Thurs. March 20

OWell it turned out that our RV did have a major problem. Fortunately we didn't have to have it towed. We bought a new battery and Richard was able to jump it to at least get it started, but it wasn't holding a charge. We were able to drive it to a Camping World. Being that it was the weekend, they said it won't be looked at in the shop until Mon. Our next stop was to be at Jack & Jan's, thank goodness, which was about 2hrs away. We were in contact with them by phone so they were aware of our problem with the RV. It was a chore, to say the least, trying to get together everything we would need for  a few days out of the RV, plus empty our ref. because it would not be running,we were just tossing things in bags. It turned out the problem with the RV was the alternator, a relay switch and a few blown fuses. In other words "major problems"! And the RV would have to be out of commission for several days. We thank Jack & Jan for their kindness &  hospitality in offering us to stay in their home. Had we been at a campground, we would have had to go to a motel. The RV it turned out,was in the shop for 4 days, because of the weekend.  But the bright spot was that we did have a good time with Jack & Jan. We got in some golfing, went to a bluegrass festival, spent time on their lake, Richard got to try out their new kayak paddle boats, Jan & I did some shopping, had great meals, played cards and celebrated Richard's birthday. When we went to pick up the RV, which was about 2 hrs away, we got more bad news, they told us they also found a few rips in the roof, which is rubber. It must have happened at one of the park camp sites we were at (there are a lot of low hanging tree branches)  so we got the materials needed to repair it and Richard & Jack got up on the roof and patched it, the sun was very hot up there on the roof. Hopefully it will hold till we get home & check  with our insurance co for a new roof. Sooooooo we leave tomorrow to continue with our vacation, and we hope all our mechanical problems are behind us. Again we thank our good friends Jack & Jan for  all their help and hospitality .

Tues. March 11- Fri. March 14

LoiWe arrived at our next stop, Wilderness RV Park in Silver Springs, FL.. This is the park we stayed at 2 years ago for a month. It is really a nice place and it is only an hour away from our favorite beach. Ormand Beach, which is near Datona Beach. But the weather being what it has been, it does't look like we will be getting in much beach time.  After we got all checked in, we took a ride down to the beach just to check it out. It was really chilly and the waves were strong. I called it an "angry ocean". We are going to be at Wilderness for 4days, hopefully the weather will warm up.

Well Wed. We woke to a very rainy day, in fact it had rained hard all night, no beach today : ( !!  Being that it was still raining mid-morning and didn't look like it would be stopping any time soon, we decided to get in the car and go find some junk yards. Richard is still looking for a tailgate for one of his trucks.Well, we sure saw ALOT of areas in Florida we never even heard of, some really pretty small cities, some not so. If I never see another junk yard it will be just fine with me! Oh, by the way, we didn't  find a tailgate. But in our travels today, we never realized Florida was such a horse state. We saw quite a few horse ranches, some really big ones. Later we treated ourselves to Sonny's Bar-be-que ribs, they were very good.

Thurs. Guess what? No beach again today, very chilly. : (  : ( !!  So, yep, off to some more junk yards, Richard is persistent in trying to find that tailgate!  No luck again today. But the weather cleared up by afternoon, too late to drive to the beach. We saw a golf course nearby, so we went to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls. Then we treated ourselves to banana splits at this little ice-cream place called Brewsters. It is a cute little place, every few minutes they would have bubbles fly out of the roof. The little kids there really enjoyed them, they were pretty.

Friday - chilly, no beach again. Looks like this year we have to pass on Ormand Beach, darn!! We were really looking forward to it. We knew of a flea market we were to last year when we stayed here open only Fri, Sat &Sun, so we went there. Later we went to the golf course and Richard golfed 9 holes. I had a sore shoulder, so I didn't feel like golfing so I was the caddy and drove the cart. We came back to our RV and I did the laundry since they have a real nice laundry room. When I got back to the RV , Richard  gave me the bad news, we have a problem ... The RV won't start, it won't even turn over with the spare battery Richard brought with us. he tried everything he could think of with no luck. A few of the guys here at the park came over to help, but no luck and it was getting dark.We are supposed to leave here tomorrow. So as of now, we will have to check with the office in the morning to inquire who around here works on RV's. Richard is not very happy right now, he is used to finding the problem and fixing it himself. This is not good. We just hope we don't have to have the RV towed. This is the first major problem we've had since the 4 years we have been RVing.

WED. MARCH 5 - FRI. MARCH 7

We arrived at our next stop, Tomoka St. Pk in Ormand Beach, FL. We were at this park last year. We liked it because it is just about 10 min from the beach that we really lliked because you can drive the car right on the beach. But this year with the weather as chilly as it is, we were not able to use the beach. : ( . In fact Ormand Beach is just down the road from Datona Beach where the woman drove her car right into the ocean with her 3 kids in the car!  Thurs. With the weather as it was, we did some sight- seeing. Fri. We decided to go to this huge flea market in Datona which we heard about. We spent most of the day there, it really was huge! We did a lot of walking. It was very crowded because this is bike week here in Datona. In fact there are several bikers staying here at the park. There are signs  all over "welcome bikers", just like at home when there is a NASCAR race at the Chicagoland Speedway and there are signs all over "welcome race fans". A lot of the bikers here at the campsites are older (our age) and are very nice. Several of them are staying in tents, which I felt sorry for, but they say they have heaters in the tents, so it's not too bad. When we came back from the flea market, being friday and lent Richard got out our griddle outside and made fried eggs & hash brown potatoes. It was very good. Tomorrow we leave here for St. Augustine,Fl.

March 4 - Tues.

 Last night was a super windy night. We could feel a little sway in the RV. The day was cold, it was around 56 ( that's cold for FL this time of year) and still very windy. We spent the day driving around doing some sight-seeing. We drove to Jacksonville, about 45min away. We came back to the park & went back to Fort Clinch. Richard wanted to take some pictures inside it because we forgot the camera yesterday. We decided to treat ourselves to supper out. We saw several signs along the highway in South Carolina, Georgia  &Florida for "the best chicken in town" called Zaxby's so we went there. We thought it was a sit down restaurant, but it was a fast food one. It was okay, but nothing all that great. Tomorrow we leave here for our next site .. Tomaka State Park in Datona. We stayed there last year. It is about 10min from  Orman Beach, one of our favorite beaches because you can drive your car right onto the beach. But with this weather we probably won't be on the beach much :(.

March 1 - 3 -- Sat. - Mon.

We arrived at our next site .. Fort Clinch State Park in Fernandina Beach, FL. Which is right by Amelia Island, just over the state line. It is a really nice campground. Our site is a short walk to the beach. There is a boardwalk from the campground to the beach like the last site at Huntington Beach, S.C., but they are in the process of redoing the boardwalk. We inquired as to where a Catholic Church was. There was one just about 10 min away. So we went to mass Sunday morning.  It was too chilly for the beach, so we did some sight-seeing around the area. We also did some grocery shopping. We were able to pick up a few channels on television and lo and behold Richard was able to pick up the NASCAR race! I was so thrilled ... NOT!! We saw a little strip mall not far from the park, so I went in my car and did a little browsing. 

Monday we went to tour Fort Clinch which is a real still standing fort. It really was interesting. I had no idea the forts were so large. There were a lot of cannons around it. One funny note, the guide showed the so called bathrooms. The officers had a private door and a seat with a hole in it, a typical out house, like the kind I remember when I was young ...( Guess I'm showing my age) , but the enlisted men's had no door, just a cubby corner with a hole in the floor.. No seat, they just squatted over it!!! Guess that was one of the advantages of being an officer!  It still was a little to chilly for the beach though it was about 76, but super windy. So we did laundry instead.