Biking

We biked the Venetian Waterway Park which is a paved, fairly flat, trial along the Venice Intracoastal waterway. This trial runs to Caspersen Beach on the Gulf of Mexico and along the Venice Airport, where vintage airplanes were on display and airshow was taking place. The planes were a B17 and B24 bombers from WWII and a P51 Mustang. The trail continued by the Venice Golf Course, where Andy had played 18 holes the day before. Apparently, a golfer from Tennessee was unaware of how gators react when you take golf balls from "their" ponds. As the golfer reached in to grab his ball, the gator grabbed his arm. Luckily, his golf partner was there to beat the gator with his club until he released his grip!! Our ride continued to downtown and a short visit with a local realtor about homes for sale on Venice Island. Out of our budget. But we are still looking at homes about 10 miles south of Venice. All in all, it was a good 10 mile bike ride!

And, it was a beautiful Florida day: 75 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, slight breeze. With all the snow and freezing rain in the midwest and along the mid-Atlantic, Andy and I had a silent smile on our face yesterday. This is why we are here!

Edward Medard Park and Reservoir

This great county park has the coolest trees and trails. As you can see, Kailey had a good time. Actually, so did Andy!
We went to the Cirquesa (Dream Quest) where there were high level aerial acts, acrobatics and of course, comedy. We sat in the third row from the ring, and NO camera, NO pictures. It was breath taking, no, breath holding since these acts were down without safety nets above our heads.
Today we head to Michigan for Amanda's bridal shower and a very short visit with family. Not looking forward to the cold and snow. Today it is 80 degrees in Florida.

Let's Check out Florida Healthcare!

Yes, this is Andy content reading on Casperson Beach in south Venice. Beautiful sunny day, but when this picture was taken, it was still cold. Finally, the temperatures are back up in the normal range: 74-75 degrees. Yeah!! We can't remember the last time we had windows opened in the RV.

Andy had surgery yesterday to remove a 4mm kidney stone from his right ureter and exploration of his bladder. He has been having blood in his urine since about July. We have been getting routine urinalysis while on the road and it was not improving. So, we saw a specialist in Tampa, he under went many tests and then the surgery was boarded. Everything went great! Bladder was fine, stone had been passed a week or so prior to the surgery, but it was still necessary to check everything else out. Although they still had to put in a stent, meaning he is in pain with spasms for the next 4-6 days until it is removed. But all this sort of explains why he was having back pain in August out in Washington state and again at Thanksgiving time in Baltimore. He thought it was all muscular. Well the muscle relaxers and pain pills did help. We are just glad it wasn't any worse then this. It was a real positive experience with the Florida health care system. Good to know since we are looking at buying a house down here.

We have been RVing for six months! Time is just flying by so fast. We still have so much more we want to do and see.

Michigan or really Florida????

That is the question.

The temperature was a high of 37 degrees yesterday. The low tonight is predicted to be 27. And we chose to stay in Florida this winter to avoid this. I am wearing gloves and Andy wishes he had brought a jacket! He left his Columbia fleece at home and I just happened to stick in his down vest at the last minute. He is thankful....now.
Even though the weather has not been the greatest, the time is flying by down here. The bright spot still is having the time to be with family during January which has help brighten our lives. We spent the entire Christmas vacation break with our grand daughter. She stayed at our camper with us. Since school has started back up, we travel up there on the weekends and stay. She is a diabetic, so it has been a real challenge for us to "nag" about eating the good carbs and sugars (she graves sugar, sugar, sugar) and watch her activity (all that swimming and biking riding we had been doing) then regulate it all with her injections of insulin! I truly admire my daughter and son-in-law on how hard this is. And they have been doing it day-in and day-out for over 9 years. When we are not together, Kailey calls about 3-4 times an the afternoon, and definitely at bed time to say "good night" and exchange I love you. Gosh, we will really miss her when we leave in February :( We do have some events that we are looking forward to, the Camper Show and the Cirquesa (human circus acts) and a trip down to Key West. Of course, weather depending. Most of these events are outside! The Cirquesa we passed on opening weekend with these 30 degree temperature. I am sure they were hunting around for portable heaters.

Sunny Skies of Florida

Pictures look nice, huh?

Blue sky, sun shine. BUT ....very cold. We had to scrap frost (ICE) off our window this morning. Temperature said 32 degrees. If it is that cold in Florida, it may as well just snow!

We spent the day on Anna Maria Island checking out rental homes for the family to stay in April. Amanda's wedding is only 4 months away so we had alot of people to talk with. Also contacted the bakery for a cake and then got side tracked with the beauty of the beach! Took a walk, looked for more sea shells (can never have enough) and watched two dolphins swim just off shore. Walked the pier, but almost got blown off. Even the sea gulls were shivering and hanging on tight to the rail. Many people were braving the cold with their fishing poles or sitting out on the deck at Sharkey's restaurant. Andy and I lasted about 10 minutes. Except for the white sand, I could have sworn I was back in Michigan.
Today we have cable TV. Yeah! The park is feeling bad for our inconvenience and have compensated us with a $50.00 gift card to Outback Steakhouse and a reduced electrical bill at the end of the month. They did care about us being satisfied. Even the neighbors waved to us!! I guess we will stay and maybe make friends.

Venice, Florida

We are "set up" in Venice, for the moment. This area was named by early settlers in 1888 in recognition of the many waterways around here. The city became a reality when the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers came in 1925 and began to build a planned retirement community for its members. The RV park we are in is called Florida Pines, not sure why, no pines are planted in here. Many citrus and palm trees, tho. Since we arrived on New Years Day, we have moved our site location twice, and we see a new move coming today. The first site had no working 30 amp electricity. We all know I like to have electric. No one was in the office to assist us, being a holiday weekend. The sign on the office door listed sites open so we moved to one of those. On Monday the manager informed us we needed to move back to our original site, the electricity was fixed. So we did. Hooked up. Settled in for some TV viewing. No working cable. Not happy. We don't like the site, situated in between an entire block of permanent mobile homes, at the other end of the park, away from the seasonal RVers. Stay tune for what happens next. Andy checked out a few other parks in the area on-line last night and will call today and see if they have openings. If we can get our money back (we paid in advance for the month!)

The surrounding area is nice, close to great shopping and Venice Beach. We do think we may be spoiled from our last place, getting served a morning paper, breakfast and lunch! Although, we have fresh oranges growing outside our window.

Its been VERY cold here. I know the whole country is in a cold spell, but yesterday we had on down vests, scarfs and gloves. They have frost and freeze warnings out, plants are being covered. Actually, this morning I think I saw a snow cloud.

Partying On New Years Eve

Quiet night on New Years Eve. We ate alot. Laughed alot. Stayed up real late. Welcomed in the New Year with noise makers and the Times Square ball dropping. And spent it with family!!

Notice, no pictures of me? It is nice when you are the photographer. That tiara gave me bad hair! But Andy was a great sport and kept it on all night long, even though Kailey said he looked like a fairy.

News Year Day we packed up and moved down to Venice, Florida. Its only about one-and-a-half-hour south of Tampa, on the Gulf coast. Very nice park and only about 2 miles from the beach. Can't wait to explore the surrounding area. Already found the flea market! And of course, the Walmart. Chris, Alyson and Kailey came down and spent the night with us. Tight quarters! Chris described it as being "cozy".

It is all about making memories!