Florida Bound 2012--Day 15

A reunion with an old shipmate, some time on the beach and some time in the studio.

Been a busy couple of days here in Daytona Beach. Yesterday I drove up to St. Augustine to have lunch with an old friend. Dan Weisenburger and I served together on the USS Newport News back in the 1960's. We both worked in the ship's Engineering Log Room during my second deployment to Vietnam. I was the office supervisor and he was one of the two young men who worked with me. Dan now works as a Realtor in the Jacksonville area and we have reconnected via the ship's web site. We met up at The Conch House restaurant where we had a great lunch and spent a couple of hours catching up on each other's lives since we last saw each other 42 years ago.

Today was a day to spend on the beach. The weather was beautiful, in the 70's, without a cloud in the sky. Ron Rivoli decided this would be a perfect time to go down to the beach, which is only a block from his house. We decided to drive down since he keeps all chairs and other beach stuff in the back of his VW Bus. Daytona is the only beach I've been to where you can drive your car right down on the beach itself. After we got down there and set up it was time to just relax in the sun. After a little while we were joined by Kay and the two of them played "Paddle Ball" out on the beach. Later in the afternoon Kay's brother-in-law arrived from Louisville. (Kay's sister and brother-in-law own a house just a few doors down and spent their spare time down here.) In the evening we headed to the Our Deck Down Under for a great seafood dinner. This place is located almost directly under the bridge that goes over the inland waterway and back to the mainland.

Tonight was a completely new experience. I joined Ron & Kay, along with their producer, in the recording studio as they did the editing of a video they had recorded previously to be uploaded to You Tube. This editing process is a very precise and tedious job. The music is recorded on a track in the studio and the video portion is recorded separately. In the editing the music has to be synchronized with the video. We spent a couple of hours in the studio without completing the process. Kay and Matt, their producer, will get back together on Sunday evening to complete the process.

Florida Bound 2012--Day 13

A day at the track,

Went to the Daytona International Speedway today to take their tour. They offer two tours. One takes about 30 minutes and pretty much just take people around the track in a tram. The other, and the one I took, is supposed to last 90 minutes and is a very through tour of the entire facility. (Our tour guide took extra time to explain things and the tour lasted over two hours.) I'm not a big fan of NASCAR but my niece, Carrie, loves it. She asked me to take a bunch of pictures, especially one of the statue of Dale Earnhardt Sr. that stands in front of the stadium.

Here are a few of the pictures I took during the tour:

The main grandstand.

The Flagman's Tower.

Standing in the Winner's Circle.

This evening, after returning back to Ron & Kay's, the three of went to a place called Hidden Treasure for a good seafood dinner.

Florida Bound 2012--Day 12

After a trim was able to move into position in the yard.

Was able to sleep in a little this morning and then got the coach ready to move out of the driveway and over into the yard, more out of the way. Ron has his coach parked in the back yard, leaving me a space next to the house. There was a large bougainvillea plant next to the house that was a bit overgrown. Kay had been planning to cut it way back so she got out this morning and gave it a good trim so I could get the door to the coach open. After Kay did the trimming Ron got the job of cleaning up all the cuttings. This bush has a huge amount of thorns on it and is very hard to handle. Anyway, the bush is trimmed back and the coach is parked with all the slides out.

After all the trimming the three of us were off for lunch at a little place down the way by the intercoastal waterway called Boondocks. They raved about the "Fish Reuben" sandwich that is served there. Now I love a good Reuben sandwich but with corned beef. Never had one made with fish. Turned out it was really good. Two planks of what appeared to be grilled white fish instead of corned beef but otherwise pretty much the same stuff a person would normally get with a Reuben. Spent the evening relaxing in the coach with the dogs while Ron & Kay went to the recording studio to put some finishing touches on a new song that will be playing on YouTube by tomorrow. Thoroughly enjoying spending time with these two very special people.

Florida Bound 2012--Day 11

Another moving day.

My week in Navarre, visiting with my cousins, has come to a close. Had a good time with Bob & Yvonne and hated to leave but it was time to move on. Bob and I made several excursions out during the week but Yvonne was pretty much house bound. She cares for her neighbors infant son while both of these neighbors work on weekdays. (Both are in the US Air Force and stationed at the nearby base.) Also, during the week their dog, Toby, experienced some medical problems and had to be taken back and forth to the Vet three separate days. Yvonne was able to join us on Friday afternoon when we drove to Foley, Alabama, for lunch/dinner. On Saturday morning the three of us went up Highway 98 to a local Flea Market. We spent about three hours browsing the booths and did wind up picking up a few items at bargain prices.

Since I knew I'd be going from the Central Time Zone to the Eastern Time Zone this morning I had set the clocks ahead an hour last night before going to bed. So when I pulled out at 8:00 AM on the clock it was actually 7:00 AM local time. As I was pulling the coach around to hook up the car I noticed the sun was rising over the bay. I take a lot of sunset pictures but am seldom up when the sun comes up. So here is a very rare, and probably the only, sunrise picture anyone will see that I have taken. This is from the back of the campground over the bay in Navarre.

The drive to Daytona Beach, according to my computer mapping program, was to be about 445 miles. That is more than I normally like to do in one sitting. Usually around 300 miles in a day is about right. Also, I knew Ron & Kay Rivioli, the folks I came to visit, would not be home until late in the day. They have worked all week at the Tampa RV Supershow this week and could not leave over there until they had completed their performance this morning and then loaded all their equipment into the van they tow behind their motor home. After driving across the top of Florida to Jacksonville we dropped south on Interstate 95 to Daytona Beach. We arrived around 5:00 PM, about two hours before Ron & Kay made it in. While waiting I walked down to the end of their street to take a sunset picture out over the intercoastal waterway. (Their house is located on an island between the intercoastal waterway and the Atlantic Ocean.) Also while waiting I snapped a picture of their winter house here in Daytona Beach. It's a neat house with many outdoor beach type decorations. They are currently in the process of completely remodeling the interior to make it more livable for them. (They just completed another house at the other end of the block that they now have ready to rent, fully furnished, to anyone who would like to spend time at Daytona Beach.) And, speaking of remodeling, Ron is also redoing that vintage VW Bus that is sitting in the driveway. Anyway, I am now parked in their driveway, next to the VW, for the night. Tomorrow, in the daylight, we'll move the coach over to the side of their house so it is not so conspicuous to the local authorities that someone is actually living in their yard. After working all week doing the lighting and sound for the entertainment acts at the RV Show, plus performing the last two days themselves, they were really tired. We went to a nearby Italian restaurant for a wonderful dinner and then all adjourned to our respective "houses" for the night.

Florida Bound 2012--Day 9

Had dinner rolls thrown at you lately?

Been a quite couple of days here in the Florida Panhandle. Drove over to Destin yesterday to shop at another of the Beall's Outlet stores. Picked up a couple more pairs of walking short and some more shirts. I'm not a person who enjoys shopping for clothes but these outlet stores do carry some things I like. I've hit their stores every time I get down south and most of the shirts in my closet came from there. (In some states they are called Burke's Outlet stores. Same company, same advertising and same promotions.) The drive to Destin from Navarre is really beautiful. There is one long stretch with no buildings that has large dunes on both sides of the roads of the great white sand that is down here. (I kept thinking about how much Joanne would have enjoyed that drive.) Later in the evening my cousins, Bob & Yvonne, and I picked up a couple of there friends and we drove into Pensacola for dinner at a sports grill, Sidelines. Their friend, Matt, and his wife are originally from the south side of Oklahoma City. Matt was an Oklahoma City Police officer and first responder the day of the Federal Building explosion. His mother was working in that building and perished that day. He wound up taking early retirement and moving down here and has not been back to Oklahoma City since. We had a good visit and learned we knew many of the same people.

This afternoon I picked up my cousins and we headed west over to Foley, Alabama, to eat at Lambert's Cafe for a late lunch/early dinner. This is the home of "the throwed rolls". Yes, they actually throw the dinner rolls to you. We first visited this place in January 2007 when we came down to Florida as a part of a seven coach caravan. We have eaten there several times since then when we find ourselves down this way. (There are two more Lambert's Cafes in Missouri.) The food is wonderful and plentiful. Each entre' comes with two sides but those really are not needed. They have what they call "pass arounds". The wait staff come around with pans full of fried okra, pan fried potatoes, black-eyed peas and several other items of southern cooking. All this and the best and biggest dinner rolls you could ever want. The guy who "serves" the rolls actually walks around and throws them to you. You just have to hold up your hand and he'll throw them across the room. It's really surprising how few are not caught and wind up on the floor. It was about a two hour drive over to Foley but most of it was along the beach and the Gulf of Mexico. After returning to Navarre and dropping of Bob & Yvonne I came back to the coach to relax and spend the evening with the dogs.

Florida Bound 2012--Day 7

Just relaxing in the sun.

Have mostly just relaxed and not done much of anything since we arrived in Florida. Spent some time with cousins Yvonne and Bob. Have done some shopping and gone to lunch with Bob each day. The dogs and I have done some exploring around the Magnolia Beach Campground. This first picture is of the beach immediately behind the RV park. On Monday Bob and I headed over to Gulf Breeze to find a Beall's Outlet store. These outlet's are all around in Florida and in previous trips I've found it is one of the very few stores I don't mind shopping for clothes. Picked up some shirts and new walking shorts. Tuesday we drove over to Pensacola to the Naval Air Stations Navy Exchange. Needed a couple of new "Retired CPO caps". We wound up stopping for lunch each day, including a stop at Taco Bell. (Yvonne babysits for her next door neighbors infant so she has been pretty much not be able to join us in our excursions.)

Today Bob and I drove over to the Navarre Pier for lunch. There is a little grill/bar at the head of the pier that serves pretty good sandwiches. This is a great beach with incredibly beautiful white sand. (The "sand" is not actually sand in the normal form. This is granular quartz that washes down the rivers from the Adirondack Mountains up north.) Due to the emerald green water along here this is call the Emerald Coast. After spending a little time this afternoon with the dogs I went back down to the beach here at the RV park to take some sunset pictures before going back over to the cousins for dinner. This shot was taken about 5:00 PM this evening.

Florida Bound 2012--Day 4

We have arrived.

After three days we are now in Florida. Crossed over from Alabama around noon and none too soon. Bridgit had been trying to tell me she needed to go out before we got to Mobile. The Florida Welcome Center and rest stop was the first place I found to pull off. We stopped for a few minutes to let the pups get out and stretch and do their business and then back on the road for the few more miles to the town of Navarre. We are now set up for the next week in a small RV park, Magnolia Beach Campground, right along the beach. This area is called the Emerald Coast and has some of the most beautiful white sandy beaches a person could find.

After getting the car unhooked, the coach set up for living instead of driving and the dogs out for a short walk I called my cousin Yvonne and her husband Bob to let them know we were here. The RV park is about three blocks south of their house. Next it was off to their house for a nice visit. The dogs enjoyed being able to roam around their backyard while we sat on the patio and caught up on things. Their house is on a small lake and there is no fence across the back so the dogs could walk right down to the water. With Bridgit's penchant for water I had to keep a close eye on her to keep her from wading in. After a while it was time to come back to the coach so the pups could have supper. Yvonne and Bob came by soon after and the three of us went to a local seafood restaurant for "all you can eat" shrimp. While I was waiting for them I strolled down to the beach here at the park to snap a sunset picture. The food was great and we've had a good time visiting and catching up on old times.

Florida Bound 2012--Day 3

Another day, another road trip.

Was time to move farther east so we pulled out of Baton Rouge around 10:00 this morning. Was not in any hurry since we were only going 160 miles down Interstate 10 to Gulfport, Mississippi. Joanne and I have been to Gulfport several times, both before and after Hurricane Katrina devastated the place. U.S. Highway 90 runs along the beach for several miles going through Gulfport and Biloxi. Prior to Katrina the land side was lined with many large homes overlooking the Gulf. Katrina took most of these away along with most of the commercial buildings and casinos in an area up to four and five blocks inland. Each time we have come we have found it interesting to see what has been done to rebuild. The casinos and most of the commercial properties have been rebuilt. Only a few of the homes have been built back. Last time we were here, a couple of years ago, many of the lots had "FEMA" trailers parked on them for the owners to live in while they decided what to do. Now the trailers are gone and most of the lost are still empty. The big difference this time is most of them now have For Sale signs on them.

While here I hooked up with a fellow RVer and retired military friend. Les Crawshaw has been a full timer, meaning he has lived in his motor home, for several years. He just recently moved into the Armed Forces Retirement Home here in Gulfport. (For many years this was known as the Sailors Retirement Home but some time back it was merged in with the Army & Airman's Retirement Home in Washington, DC, and was opened up to persons from all services.) Les picked me up at the RV park and took me over to the place for a grand tour. Katrina had destroyed the old building so the military leveled it and started brand new. It is a beautiful facility now. I had always thought this would be a good place to retire but after today have pretty much changed my mind. The security procedures and numerous rules make it way to restrictive for my taste. Guess I'll just remain an Oklahoman for the time being.

After checking out the home we decided to grab something to eat before returning to the RV. We stopped at the Back Bay Seafood Restaurant for some great seafood. Really had a good afternoon visiting with an old friend and discussing RVing and the military, even if Les was not Navy but was a member of our sister service, the Marine Corps.

After returning to the coach and feeding the dogs I decided to head back down to the main drag (U.S Highway 90) and check out the casinos. Drove all the way over to the Biloxi side to the Hard Rock Casino. I'm not a big gambler and really don't normally like playing slot machines. If I'm going to "donate" my money I prefer playing Blackjack but only if I can find a table with a very low, like $1.00, minimum bet. This being Saturday night there were no cheap tables to be found. All that was available was $10.00 minimum bet. I did sit down at a .25 cent Wheel Of Fortune slot machine and played a few bucks. Wound up winning just over $36.00 so I took my winnings and headed back to the coach.

Florida Bound 2012-Day 2

Nice leisurely drive but still in Louisiana.

Up and around early this morning but not so quick to get going. After taking care of the dogs and then getting myself ready it was after 8:00 before we were ready to roll. Then we backtracked a couple of miles to the Flying J to fill the fuel tank with diesel and fill the propane tank. Finally around 9:30 we were out on the road. We drove a little under 300 miles to the Baton Rouge area.

We are currently in the Cajun Country RV Park in Port Allen, Louisiana. It was an easy drive down Interstate 49. I've learned over the past year that when Bridgit Jeane starts to whine it means she needs to get out to do her business NOW. At home, when the back door was closed, I've ignored her at my own peril. She will tell me when she needs to go out and if I don't listen then she will find a place in the house to go, usually in the middle of the living room floor. So, she has gotten me to stopping about every two hours or so. This is really a good thing since we all need to take a few minutes to get out and walk around.

After getting into Port Allen and getting the coach set up I decided to go see a ship. Over the years I have dragged Joanne thought a very large number of museum ships around the country. Pretty much anytime we were close to a former Navy ship that has been turned into a museum we would go, from the USS Pampinito (a submarine) in San Francisco to the USS Yorktown (an aircraft carrier) in Charleston, South Carolina. We even spent a week on a "work party" helping to preserve the USS Salem in Quincy, Massachusetts. (The Salem is a sister ship to my old ship the USS Newport News.) Anyway, in the past couple of years I've pretty much done the ship museum thing by myself so today was not any different. The USS Kidd, a World War II destroyer, is tied up next to the Interstate 10 bridge over the Mississippi River. So off I went this afternoon to take the tour. They have done a very good job of refurbishing this ship and it has a really good naval/military museum next door.

After leaving the Kidd I returned to the coach to take care of the dogs. They were ready for a walk and then supper. The three of us are settling into a pretty good routine. They enjoy the walks and are good company to travel with.

Florida Bound 2012--Day 1

On the road again.

Finally got the motor home's wheels rolling. Been doing this RV thing since 1997 and this is the first time I've done this by myself. Well, not totally alone. I do have Buddy Joe and Bridgit Jeane with me. We left home about 8:30 this morning and after 409 miles we arrived in Greenwood, Louisiana.

It is kind of good having the dogs with me. Joanne was always after me to stop every couple of hours to take the dogs out for a few minutes to "let them do their business". Now little Bridgit tells me every so often that she needs to go out. After several stops we found ourselves in McKinney, Texas, a little after noon so we stopped for lunch. We have RV friends based there where they work for a company that manufactures and sells power window shades for RV's. Gave them a call to say hi only to learn they had left around 11:00 AM, heading to Tampa, Florida, for the big Tampa RV Show that will be held next week. Hopefully I can catch up with Jim and Peggy once we all get down to Florida.

We are now in the TA RV Park in Greenville, Louisiana. When we came down to Louisiana this past October we found this to be an ideal stopping place for an overnight stay. We are directly behind a TA Truck Stop. Nice park with 50amp service and cable TV for a very reasonable price. After we got set up the dogs took me out for a walk and then back to the coach for supper. Now we've all settled in for the night and will leave out early tomorrow morning and head south. Taking it slow and easy. Not due in Navarre, Florida, until Sunday. Still thinking about where I want to stop along the way.

(No pictures in today's post since most was spent driving and we got into the RV park after dusk.)