December 2002 |
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Encore RV Park Port Charlotte, Post Visitors - Our visitors have gone back to Bonnie Scotland and we are missing them. Maybe not as much as in previous years since we have only just returned from 6 months at home. Spend a day re-arranging the RV/laundry etc. Finally we avail ourselves of the Tennis Court but we have obviously been away from it too long as we have to cut our game short as Linda aggravated a shoulder problem.
During casual conversation we discover the people 2 pitches away, George & Hilary Jardine, have some uncanny similarities to ourselves! He is a Scot (Motherwell), she is English (Lancashire) and they have been touring in a motorhome since January 2000. They spend the summers in Canada and travel south for 6 months in Autumn/Winter/Spring. Over dinner we exchange useful information & experiences. Having a common sense of humour results in a most enjoyable evening in good company. Three weeks have passed since we played curling and now they need us again to help out in their league. Since the Curling rink is quite a few miles away we decide to make a day of it by slowly driving north up the coast to Casey key one of the beaches of Venice. The weather was not as nice as forecast but we enjoyed a stroll on the beach, which is pretty much the same as all the others on this coast, although parking was free. Crossed the road from the car park for lunch in a restaurant on the Intracoastal waterway. A Yellow Crowned Night Heron (at lunchtime?) perched on the rail by our table was a constant presence. Each time he tried to join us for lunch we called him a cannibal (we were having chicken) and shooed him off. Apparently he had been there for years, our waiter informed us longer than himself. Now there was an interesting fellow, our waiter that is. It seemed he had adopted the repartee of some waiter in a Hollywood movie and honed it to fit himself. Unfortunately none of his customers fully appreciated his style judging by the bemused looks - there again the Heron had been there years and he spoke to that!
When we arrived at the ice rink only one of us was required to play curling and not both as we were led to believe. Wullie was the lucky one to do battle with the run back on the second sheet, we had to abandon the first - so heavy nobody could reach the house. Visited the Sports bar for a beer and a blether but didn't stop for a meal. If we had known only one of us would play we probably would have refused the kind invitation.
Spent the rest of our stay beachcombing on Englewood & Boca Grande beaches, where we saw our first Florida Dolphins swimming a few yards off the beach. Had George & Hilary over for a genuine Rogan Josh (Curry) which was enjoyed by one and all, as was the rest of a most pleasant evening.
Port Charlotte to Key Largo- This 237 mile move was going smoothly until we had a tyre blow out in the middle of Alligator Alley
(I-75). Our CellPhone only just had enough signal to reach the breakdown service. It took over two hours for them to find someone to come out to us, the first guy from Naples wouldn't come that far. They eventually got some guys from Fort Lauderdale who don't normally do work for them. When they arrived they had problems jacking up the RV, but they discovered the blow out had pulled some electrical wiring from underneath the RV. These wires were arcing and Wullie had to disconnect the battery, but they had obviously been arcing for over 2 hours and the propane was on for the refrigerator - were we lucky? The wiring was for the living room slide and one light. This delay meant we arrived after 6 p.m. so we abandoned the RV in a temporary site until the morning and went out to eat. A long day but maybe we are lucky to be here?.
Moved into our spacious site amongst trees and adjacent to the laundry & public telephone. Have to wind the living room slide out by hand after calling Sunnybrook to find out where the manual wind point is located (I did know once). The manual wind was really quite easy other than lying on ones back under the RV. Will make use of the swimming pool and hot tub while here as there are no beaches nearby to wander along.
Wullie was not looking forward to Florida as there's not much to do around here, but after seeing the weather in Texas, we sure are pleased to be here in the dry and warmth.
Visited Harry Harris County Park situated 13 miles from our RV park. This county park has a very small beach area which is a pay area at weekends and holidays but free during the week. We had our lunch in a very peaceful spot overlooking the Atlantic. Since we are here for a month we put up the Christmas lights inside & out and erected the bird feeder - there are some Collared Doves and some Woodpeckers around?
Two days before Christmas Linda decides we want to go to Costco in Kendal on the outskirts of Miami. What a mistake the traffic is horrific so we make a detour to a quiet road for the return journey. Christmas Day we open our presents and make a few phone calls home which leave Linda a bit down as she is missing the folks back home especially at this time of year. We enjoy a lovely Xmas dinner of lamb and roast potatoes washed down with a bottle of wine.
Since we are so close to Miami, Wullie is able to read all the news about his American Football team the Miami Dolphins. The attention given by the press (10 page Dolphins section of the newspaper) is very intense and whereas they were superbowl bound after seeing off the Raiders at home, an away loss to Minnesota has them the worst team ever out of Miami.
The following Sunday (last game of regular season) Green Bay (Linda's team) and Miami both lose. Miami are out but Green Bay make the playoff's, Linda is not slow to remind Wullie about this accident.
A nice day with temperatures in the mid 70's is forecast so we decide on a trip to Bahia Honda State Park, 50 miles away. This is the best beach, in fact the only real beach on the Keys. We take the portable Gas BBQ, some burgers and the coolbox. Unfortunately it seems everyone and his granny has the same idea. We arrive at 11 a.m. and there is a queue in both directions to get into the park. We queued for about half an hour and when we got to the gate they put out the "park full" sign. Oh well we have seen it and when you're retired you know there will be another day, not like many of the others who are on a short winter break and may not get another chance to feel the Bahia Honda sand between their toes.
We called into Veterans county park - a very small beach with no good swimming. We relaxed for a couple of hours. Our intentions were to BBQ a beefburger but the wind was too strong for our small BBQ, so we stopped off at the nearest KFC. On our return journey stopped at a marina in Islamorada where the deep sea fishing boats were showing off their catch, mainly Red Snapper and Amberjack.
Although none of our plans were fulfilled we still had a good day out. We'll try the beach another day - when everyone's holidays are over.
We had an extremely quiet New Year's eve, welcomed in the Scottish New Year at 7 p.m. with a whisky as is our habit. As we retired to bed the fireworks were going off all over Key Largo.
Miles travelled this trip: 822
Total miles travelled since May 1999: 80,840
Interesting Hyperlinks:
Continuing to enjoy the Florida sunshine.