I can't believe we haven't posted since December 23rd. It's not like we haven't been busy, we just haven't been traveling too much. We didn't exactly sit but we did take short trips to see Mickey (Fort Wilderness) with our friends Bert and Virginia from Maryland and to Stephen Foster State Park to visit with Roger's old college roommate Craig and his wife Mary.
So here's a crash update in 14 pictures of the past 3 1/2 months:
Yes, it did get cold in Williston this winter. One day we found the North Entrance fountain pretty much frozen. The date was January 7, 2014. We found out pretty quick that all of the major storms that plagued the East Coast this winter came right through our part of Florida. Still better than being buried up to our as**s in snow.
Birthday boys Roger and Bill had their party on January 22nd. This was the first time in memory that I met someone who shared the same birthday as I did. No, the bike was not my present, it was just a way to get around a rather large campground and haul those balloons with me.
Disney
As I mentioned earlier, we spent a couple of days at Fort Wilderness visiting with our friends Bert and Virginia from Maryland. We did one theme park - Animal Kingdom (that's the Tree of Life above) which was enough for these old bones. Getting anywhere near a Disney property starts the giant vacuum cleaner that sucks all of the money out of your wallet. Remember Scrooge McDuck? He's alive and well within the Disney corporation.
Homosassa Springs State Park
When you are camping along the Nature Coast of Florida, you have to see the manatees. The area of Florida we were in has a number of large freshwater springs that are a constant 72 degrees F. While manatees look like they have a load of blubber like a seal to protect them from the cold, they in fact, cannot tolerate cold water much below 72 degrees. Homosassa Springs was a former commercial wildlife park that they state has rehabilitated into a zoo for native animals. They also operate a manatee rescue operation for injured manatees.
Stephan Foster State Park
About a month later, we made a short run North to Stephen Foster State Park. The Suwannee river runs through the park and that is the only tie to Foster we could find. He never visited Florida and was only in the South one time in his life. Oh well.
Bell Tower in the park. This plays melodies all day long and also serves as the chimes for the clock. Unusual in that it uses tubular bells instead of the cast kind with a clapper. It also uses a paper roll much like a player piano to operate the bells.
College roomie Craig and his wife Mary. They were on their way back from Gulf Shores State Park where they like to winter - and this year they had winter. They live north of Chicago and were headed back. Craig is retired but still coaches tennis. Maybe some day they will see the light and hit the road like us.
Goodbye To Williston
We said goodbye to Williston on Friday, March 14th but not without some goodbyes to our new friends from Ontario (as in Canada, eeh). The top picture is one of John and Alice who own the only two dogs (other than Gabi) to be allowed in the coach. John and Alice told us the dogs were having withdrawal symptoms after we left. Well we missed the dogs and John and Alice as well. It's tough to stay in one spot so long.
Mike and Judy, bottom picture, are from even further north in Ontario. We heard from them the other day - still lots of snow at home. We may have to return to Williston just to catch up with everyone's adventures next year.
Off to Red Bay
Our reason for leaving Williston was to get a new mattress. Our new pillow top mattress that came with the coach had developed two craters. Mary cornered one of the Tiffin execs at the Tampa Super Show and let him know that she wanted a new mattress. He invited her to come to Red Bay, lay down on every mattress they sold, and pick one. We would only have to pay the cost difference (not retail difference) between the two. Red Bay offers camping at the Service Center but it is often very hard to come by due to demand. We tried to time our visit so that we were there during the Perry, GA FMCA rally and before the mass of snowbirds headed North. We arrived on a Saturday and got a parking spot without a problem. Five days later, people had to dry camp.We got our mattress replaced with a SleepNumber which seems to be working out very well. We had a few minor issues repaired and were out of the service bay in two days. Then it was off to Bay Diesel to get our 6 month chassis service completed.
We had planned to meet up with our fellow fulltimers Steve and Karen at the Sevierville Tiffin Rally but family matters caused them to have to cancel. We decided to stick around Red Bay but we moved out of the Service Center Campground and into the Self-service Campground for the next week. They got their service completed and we both had our coaches washed and waxed.
Chattanooga
Our reservation for the Tiffin rally had us arriving on Friday, March 28th but being Spring and weather being a bit iffy, we decided to head to Chattanooga with Steve and Karen and Bill and Kathy (new friends who claim Arizona as their home). Bill and Kathy knew of a campground (Camping World) that was central to a lot of stuff in Chattanooga and had spent a couple of days there previously. So, Steve and Karen stopped for the night before heading home to Virginia and we stayed 2 nights with Bill and Kathy. |
| Caravaning to Chattanooga |
So what is there to do in Chattanooga? The aquarium, of course. Featuring both fresh and salt water aquariums the Chattanooga aquarium is worth the trip. Our favorite displays were the jelly fish.
And no, the picture is not upside down, the jelly fish was.
Sevierville, TN River Plantation Camping Resort
Sevierville sits at the foot of the Smokeys and is getting almost as built up and Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Normally these aren't our favorite areas to visit but it was a rally and it was good to get together with 80+ Tiffin owners. We did take some time to visit Great Smokeys National Park - specifically the Cade's Cove area which we had never visited.
There was still snow in the higher elevations when I took this picture. Most of it had melted by the time we visited Cade's Cove but the area around Clingman's Dome (highest point on the East Coast) remained closed a few more days. Cade's Cove was lovely the day we visited.
Much more peaceful and relaxing than the hoards of people in Gatlinburg.
Next stop - Franklin, NC
So glad we were able to spend time with you and Mary since we could not go to the TRVN rally. Looking forward to seeing you in Goshen in a few weeks! :-)
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