March 3 - Sun.

First thing this morning we found a church in Ôrmand Beach. After mass it was too cold for the beach so we went to another huge flea market in Datona, ( Fł has a lot of flea markets!) This one was extremely large, it was a lot of walking, we were both tired and we didn't even walk half of it. And of course Richard wanted to get back to the RV to watch the NASCAR race!! We were leaving in the morning for Orlando, so we also had a lot of organizing for travel to do. (At least I had a lot organizing to do - my motto - "a place for everything & everything in it's place") all Richard has to do is drive the RV pulling our car &making sure we are on the right road to our next destination -not so hard (ha-ha).

March 1 - Fri

We got to our next site at Tomaka St Park in Datona. After we got hooked up we went to our favorite beach Ôrmand Beach, which is only about 15min from the park.It was a little chilly, but we thought we would at least watch the waves. Richard did his metal detector & found 12 cents (1dime & 2 pennies)! I sat & watched the waves roll in, it is very relaxing. But it really got cold by the water. I put on a sweatshirt and had two beach towels on my legs and was still cold, so we went back to the RV. It was already getting dusk. The weather said The Datona area was getting hit with a cold front (of course we must have brought it with us) We couldn't believe how many people were in the park in tents. I can't even imagine how they kept warm. Our heater kicked on last night.

March 2 - Sat

We decided it was too cold for the beach, it was also very windy. We went to this huge flea market about1-1/2 hrs away. We had been there last year. On our way back, we saw huge billows of smoke and was backed up in traffic. There were police directing the traffic. I checked my iPad which I had with us and found out that there was a large forest fire in the Datona area. Thank God it was not in our camp park. When we finally got back to the park, we saw that there was live music at the park store 6-8 , so we went. It was a husband & wife team. She sang and they both played several instruments, guitar, mandolins, banjo. They were very good. Pie & hot choc/coffee/tea was served.(pics to follow)

Feb. 27 - Wed.

Today was a sunny, but chilly morning. We went to the office to pay for the extra night and was told that they could give us the other extra night we needed, but that we would have to move to a different site across from where we were because the site we were on was reserved for that night. So we took it (I'm not all that keen about staying on a Walmart parking lot,although a lot of RV'ers told us that they have) While we were in the office we noticed a sign up for a 3hr river cruise on a pontoon boat for that morning and as luck would have it, they had 2 cancellations while.we were in there. The boat only holds 7 passengers & the driver. It was a very relaxing ride & we saw alligators, turtles, blue heron birds, a lot of big fish and a group of monkeys! Yes monkeys! They were brown & white and there were also babies. The driver said we were lucky because the monkeys were not always visible. He said the monkeys were brought here years ago when the movie Tarzan was being made here and somehow they escaped from the movie crew and have populated and lived here since. It is estimated that there are several hundred here now. A couple on the cruise told us about Rainbow park in Donnellon (about 45min away) where they have river tubing We decided to go check it out. When we got there there was a sign posted at the entrance that it was not opened for the season yet. But it was a nice ride there & back.

Feb. 25,26 & 27, 2013

Mon.25 -Well we woke to a very dark,rainy day, so no beach. We decided to take a ride & check out our next campsite since it was not that far away at a state park. We did not have reservations because they are on a first come basis, it was a good thing we went to check it out. When we checked with the park ranger, she said that there were no openings. At a lot of the state parks you can only stay a maximum of two weeks and she said that was the case there, campers were staying two weeks.

We had planned on two nights there. So we called Wilderness where we were & asked if we would be able to extend for two more nights - they said all they could give us was one extra night be caused they were all booked up (we did notice when we came it was pretty full). So we thought we would have to stay one night at a. Walmart, where you can stay overnight for free in their parking Lot.

Tues. 26 - it rained hard all night and was still raining in the morning ( at least we know our RV does not have any leaks, thank goodness!) We decided to take a ride to a museum we saw signs along the expressway for in Gainsville. It was natural history museum across from a Florida Ûniversity and it also had a butterfly rainforest in it! That was AWSOME! There were so many beautiful butterfly's flying around, I just loved it!! ( pics to follow)

Feb.24, 2013 - Śun.

Well today is a much better day than yesterday! Richard got a good nights sleep &woke feeling better. He is still a little sore, but knowing it is not his heart, makes all the difference. We got an early start and made it to our next campsite,which was only 120 miles before noon. We are at the Wilderness Çampground Resort in Silver Springs (near Ocala).this is the place we stayed a mt at last year. It's a really nice place & it is 62 miles from Daytona Beach. Today is the first day we were able to put shorts on, it was warm out. After we got all hooked up, our TV reception was really good & Richard was so glad that he was able to watch the Datona 500 and actually had to put the air conditioner on in the RV. Since I know the area around here, I went & did some shopping. Later we went to do laundry -- even on vacation clothes have to be washed, what fun!! But they do have a nice laundry room here. We will be here till Wed., so tomorrow if it doesn't rain we will hit the beach!

Feb. 23 - Sat

Well today started out not so good. Richard was experiencing some pain on the left side of his chest when he took a deep breath, of course he didn't tell me until we were on the road to our next site. He said it wasn't constant, but was a little uncomfortable. We decided when we got to our next campsite about 3hours away in Lake city,Fl., we would find a quick care. & have it checked out. At the urgent care not far from the campsite, the Dr. Sent us across the road to the hospital emergency room for a cardiac work-up. They did an EKG , chest X-ray, drew blood for labs, & hooked him up to a heart monitor. The good news was that all the tests came back normal. His BP was elevated some, but we were told that was to be expected, due to nerves. The Dr. Said that because the tests were all within range that it was not his heart. (Thank God) he said it probably was a strained chest ligament or muscle due to all the lifting & etc. he was doing with the RV. & he prescribed a anti-inflamatory, & said it could take a few weeks to completely heal, and that it was okay to continue our travels, but to take it a little easy. (We all know Richard is like the"energizer bunny", he just keeps going), but I am going to make sure he slows down a little! We were there for about 4 hrs & we were impressed with the prompt caring service. We got back to our RV & found a church with an evening mass, had supper and relaxed watching TV. Tomorrow we head for Silver Springs,Fł just about 2hrs away. We will be there for 3days so it will give Richard relaxation time.

Feb. 20,21 & 22 - Wed.,Thurs.& Fri., 2013

For the last three days we have been at Eastbank campground in Georgia. We had to back-track a little in our travels because we wanted to go to St.George Island, so this is the route we had to take. It is actually just across the Fl/GA state line. It is a really nice campsite along lake Seminole.(pics to follow) We had a little incident on our way here. When we left our last site at St.George, we stopped at the "dump station" to empty our sewer waste. While we were driving down the road, we experiencing a foul odor, so we opened the windows but it was worse. It seemed to be following us. Well we stopped for gas & Richard discovered the odor cause. After we "sewer-dumped", Richard forgot to close the sewer valve, which meant that sewer waste leaked into the sewer compartment. We had to wait until we got to our next site to clean it out. Poor Richard had a mess to clean up, but he hosed out the entire compartment. As he was doing that he accidentally stepped into the mess with his new shoes on! I didn't mean to laugh (because he wasn't in a very good mood) but it was funny. After he finished hosing down his shoes &jeans &changing clothes, we relaxed by the lake. Thurs. was a nice weather day, in the 60's. We did a little supply shopping in town & had a cookout by the lake. Fri. We woke to rain &it continued ALL DAY! We decided to take a ride into the nearby town of Marianna. We found FL Caverns state park, we saw that they have tours of the caverns, so we went on it. The caverns are amazing, but also a little scary knowing you are in a cave under the ground. The tour was only half of the caverns because the other half was flooded. As I am writing this it is evening and it is still raining. Hopefully it stops by morning, because tomorrow is a travel day to our next stop.