Panther Top Fire Station

scenic overlook at Carters Lake,  Ellijay, Georgia

Rivers Edge  Rv Park, Blairsville, Georgia (high 59, low 35)

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day with temps only in the upper 50’s. 

We decided to head up to Murphy, North Carolina, which is only about 30 minutes north of us.  There is a place called Panther Top Fire Station, and yesterday was the last day to go up there this year.

The 30 ft. former live-in Panther Top fire lookout tower was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1940.  Standing atop a 2,293 ft. summit it is the westernmost tower in the state.  They open it to visitors one week-end a month during the summer and early fall.

It’s certainly not the highest point around, but the vista was amazing.  You could see for miles and miles in all directions.

The road to the fire station was a little narrow and two cars would have a tough time passing each other.  Someone might have to back up, (down a steep and curvy mountain road)

The last part of the drive put us on a very narrow gravel road, with steep sides and no shoulders.

We didn’t meet any oncoming cars when we went up.  Unfortunately, we weren’t as lucky going back down.

Once we got to the top, this beautiful cleared area opened up and the fire tower came into view.

There was a volunteer manning the tower and he was very helpful.  They had an Osbourne Fire Finder that was used for triangulating where the fires were.  He showed us how it worked.  We pointed it towards Blairsville, but unfortunately, in that direction we had the hazy skies that is common to these mountains.  The haze is caused by rotting vegetation which gives the mountains the smoky look.  Hence, the Smoky Mountains.

The visibility was clear the other directions though.

This is the view of the parking lot from the tower.

The view was amazing.  Unfortunately the camera didn’t quite capture how amazing.

See the lake in the background?

I’m not sure which lake this is, and I didn’t think to ask the volunteer.  There are a lot of man made lakes around here due to the dams made by the TVA.

Here is a picture of Al going down the stairs.  My fear of heights made me a little nervous. Thank goodness for the handrails. 

The pictures from below the stand weren’t quite as nice.

 

We didn’t stay too long, because we decided the later it got in the day, the more people would be heading up the mountain and we were a bit concerned what would happen if we met another car on certain parts of the road.  One of the hazards of driving a larger vehicle.

We knew if we could get past the first part of the road down, we would be okay.

We didn’t.  Almost as soon as we started heading down, we met another big truck.  He was a ranger driving a government truck, so he didn’t care about scratching his truck, and he pulled into the ditch up against the brush so that we could pass. Until he finished snuggling into the side of the mountain, Al wasn’t sure he could make it past without falling off the mountain.  : (

We managed to get past the worst part of the road with no other vehicles, then down the rest of the way in one piece.

After we left, we went to the big Murphy flea market.  It turned out to mostly be a junk market, so we left with our money still in our pockets.

We did a little more sightseeing, then made a stop at Home Depot for some pvc pipe.  We are trying to extend the sewer connection at the rental rv lot.  The connection is a little too far back and Al thought if he got some pvc pipe, he could extend it up a little further to make it easier for anyone renting the site.

The drive home was beautiful, as always.

The RV park road is lined with Bradford Pear trees.  They are ornamental trees and do not bear fruit, but they are sure pretty in the fall, aren’t they?

Here is our main site.  The tree on the right is the prettiest in the rv park right now.

Both trees are Bradfords.  I think the one on the left will change colors more.  Most of the others look like the one on the left.  Can’t wait until they all get orange.

 

This is a different tree. I think it is an elm.  It’s pretty nice too.

 

I decided to give the crazy ice cream a try last night. 

I used vanilla ice cream. The topping was made with two parts of blood orange olive oil, mixed with one part of pomegranate vinegar.  It sounds really strange, but I heard it was delicious.  My opinion?  It tasted like sherbet!  

Did you know the correct spelling for sherbet is not sherbert?   I didn’t until my spell checker didn’t recognize sherbert and I looked it up.

per Wikipedia:

• "Sherbert," Is an alternative (incorrect) spelling of sherbet, an iced dessert containing both fruit juice and between 1% and 2% milkfat

Learn something new every day!

 

Speaking of learning something new. I got a comment from Ruth, on my previous post, reminding me that I could edit power lines (and whatever else I want) out of photos by using Picasa editing tools.  She kindly edited the ugly power pole out of my picture for me.  It looks much better. Thanks Ruth.  I know about the feature, but just didn’t have the patience to do it.  Your version looks much better.

 

So, while we’re on the subject of learning new things. I think there is some misconception about Picasa.  I probably won’t explain it as well as Rick would, but you can use Picasa to edit your photos without having them be “on” Picasa.  Your photos are still stored on your computer in “my pictures” or where ever you want them.  Rick can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe if you store your photos on another drive to keep from filling up your hard drive, you can still edit them in Picasa.   I often see photos that I think could benefit by a little editing.  Straightening, cropping, etc.  

 

And…one more thing.

I have seen comments lately where people don’t see the header pictures on other blogs because they “read their blog on their phone.”  I often do the same thing, but you can tell your phone to use the web version, or the desk top version.  The web version won’t show header pictures or what their blog really looks like. Just go to settings and select “use desktop version.”  At least I can do it on my Android phone.  Can’t guarantee it on i-Phones.

Daytrip to Fort Clinch State Park

Jacksonville, Florida (high 88, low 72)

We only have two days to explore the area, so we got an early start yesterday. We went a lot of places, but for now I’ll stick to our favorite place, which was Fort Clinch State Park.

We had been there several years ago, but didn’t really remember the campground very well.  They have a beach campground and a “river” campground.  I guess there is a river in the area but we never really saw it.

As we drove into the state park, we were immediately impressed.  The roads were wide and paved and there was plenty of clearance for rv’s.

There is camping directly on the beach, but the sand dunes are pretty high in this area, so from your rv, all you really see is sand dunes.

Right over this dune is the water.  You still got the nice ocean breezes.

We really liked this campsite.  #8   Al thought we would pull in forward, and maybe we’d be high enough to see the ocean.

I think we could fit into most all the sites and they were all easy to get into.

There was a nice new bath area with nice private showers.

A short walk over the boardwalk brought you to the Atlantic Ocean.

The beach wasn’t the prettiest I’ve ever seen.  The sand was tan, and not soft like some I’ve been to.  It was firm enough so that walking was not a chore and it was a great place to take a long walk.  I’d love to be there for sunrise.

There were some shells along the high water line.

A nice fishing pier.

The sites were $26 (plus tax) a night for  30 amp electric and water. 

This is the view coming back to the campground.

The other campground area was in a very wooded area.  It was very pretty, but you would have a difficult time with cell or satellite service.  The roads getting in were pretty good, but you’d have to be careful and watch any tail swing.

Several of the sites were huge.

I took these for Sherry and Davis because I know they’d love these sights.

We really liked Fort Clinch State Park and we hope we can stay there some day soon.  There were actually a few available sites in the beach side…made me re-think going back to Tampa. 

I saw this interesting cloud formation on the way home.

We got back to Pecan Park last night to new neighbors.   Jim and Dee from Tumbleweed had parked right next door.   You can see our coach in some of their pictures.

We had sat outside and visited with Dee for a couple hours.  Jim had an important ball game so we’ll see him today.

Al pointed out one of our neighbors.  Apparently, he wasn’t happy with his new 2012 motor home.

Feel free to share these pictures.  Maybe it will all spread these pictures it will help him to get the attention he needs from Monaco.

Notice the slide topper?  Notice the lean to the left?  I don’ t know what his problems are, but evidently they haven’t been addressed.

 

and now…..for my cute kitty  pictures of the day.

Little Baxter is getting big and has outgrown his kitty bed don’t you think?

Here he is taking a nap in his bed on the dash.  He is the furriest thing.  Notice all that fluff on his belly?  

A Sudden Move

Florida Keys (high 81, low 72)

Yesterday sure didn’t turn out like we had planned.

We know that Sunshine Key Rv Resort changes significantly during the summer months.  In the winter, it is snowbird city.  The residents are for the most part an older crowd.  (like us)   The vast majority speak English as their first language.

The summer residents are mostly Cuban families that I’m guessing are probably from the Miami area.  The problem is that they build large
“compounds” and it appears that 4-5 families share these compounds.    We were in an area fairly close to the water and we were pretty much by ourselves…until all of a sudden lots of small trailers started being hauled to various sites all around us.

Yesterday, we started seeing large groups of people arriving with large cargo trailers.  Right behind us we saw about 10 adults setting up their compound.  We saw a regular size stove, side by side refrigerator, and huge tv, along with lots of “building” materials.  They appeared to be making their compound on two sites.

This was going on all over the place and we started to get nervous.  Our first concern was that we’d be boxed in and not be able to get out of our site when it was time to move.

Our second concern was that we didn’t want to be surrounded by noisy multi-family compounds.  Most of them have 3-4 golf carts,  multiple cars and frequently a boat.  They party hard all week-end and  you’d better like their music, because it’s loud and constant.  The golf carts (gas engines and fast) all seem to have loud stereos blaring as they race around the park.   No thank you. 

For some reason, the Cuban people do notseem to like non Cuban people.  Many of them are rude, they don’t speak to you and pretty much treat you like you don’t exist.  Sorry,  I don’t mean to come off as prejudice, but this is my observation.  When we lived in Tampa we also found this to be true.  I’d sure like to know why they don’t like us.  They appear to like this country, since they fled Cuba to come here.

So we went to the office to see if we could move to another site.  The last thing we wanted to do yesterday was move the motorhome and all of our stuff.  By this time it was getting pretty hot….not a good time to have to pack up and move.

The park still has lots of areas where there are snowbirds and we decided to move back to the spot where we were in December/January.  We are in the middle of a group of very nice, friendly snowbirds.  We know our “stuff” will be safe and people will look out for it while we are gone.  We know our neighbors, and they will be here until at least after we leave.  Then all bets are off.

Sunshine Key is a great winter destination, but during the summer they offer special deals and in our opinion, that’s where the problems begin.   I understand they need revenue all year and these specials certainly bring in the revenue.  The problem is that it gives the park a bad (deservedly) reputation and people reading about the problems, don’t realize it is a summer problem, not a winter problem.

They offer seasonal sites for a reduced amount.  The rv can be left on the site all summer, but you can only be there Friday through Sunday.  There doesn’t appear to be any rules about the number of people, vehicles, or golf carts per site.   The trailers are small for the number of people, so they build these fortresses that have outdoor living areas.  They make outdoor kitchens, and apparently laundry rooms as well.  They do a good job of covering them up with bamboo screening, outdoor rooms and the like, but you still have a massive compound with too many people per site, in my opinion.

We had heard there is a new manager here and he was going to address some of these issues.  I don’t think he’s having much success. 

The summer season is supposed to start April 15, but there were quite a few already setting up yesterday, so that appears to be another rule out the window.   We knew up front what was coming this summer, but we didn’t realize it started quite this early.  We had already decided against coming back until next fall.

So, we moved, and are now  back in “America”.  English is spoken again, the music is quiet and our neighbors only have two residents per Rv.  We have a pretty pink flowering tree beside us and a beautiful sea grapes tree in front of us.    Life is good again!

So we didn’t do anything fun yesterday other than take a long walk while having happy hour.

Stay tuned to see what today brings.  It’s been pretty windy so kayaking would have been out anyway.  I guess yesterday was a good day to move.

We’re SO Excited

Zephyrhills, Florida

We did it. 

We’re heading to the Florida Keys right after Christmas.

We’ll be staying on this nice little island.

I don’t think we’ll be getting one of these sites though.

We’ll be in the “cheap seats.”   Probably more like these.  Gosh, that motor home in the bottom left of the picture looks almost like ours!  Except for the awning over the door, it could be us!

The weekly rate for prime season (winter) is $798 per week.  Our two week stay would be costing us $1596, and probably more because I’m sure the 11% tax would be added on top of that.  But, since we have our wonderful Thousand Trails membership, we’ll be paying a whole $42 for two weeks!  Gotta love it!

We decided to cancel our stay at Hillsborough River State Park and head to the Keys right after Christmas.  We’ll have to pay a cancellation fee, but that’s okay.   I’m getting excited already!

Peace River Preserve or Campground?

Lutz, Florida

Well, first of all, Squeaky is doing okay.  She has absolutely no appetite though and we’re (me) having to “assist feed” her.  I like that term better than “force feed.”  She is on an appetite stimulant and Prednisolone, which should also help her appetite, but unfortunately nothing is helping.  I don’t know what is causing it, but we’re doing our best to keep her nourished.

Caregiving is tiring and stressful, and I decided I wanted to get out of the house for a while, so we decided to go on a short trip on Saturday.

We bought a Thousand Trails membership at the Tampa Rv show last winter and we are entitled to 30 days of free camping at select parks.  After we use our 30 days, we have unlimited camping at $3.00 a night.  We have only been able to use about 12 nights so far.

One of the campgrounds we have access to,  is called Peace River Campground. It is supposed to be a nice campground in a woodsy setting on the Peace River. 

We decided to take the 100 mile drive down to the campground to check it out.  We drove down to Arcadia, Florida and found the campground right away.

It was woodsy.  The gravel roads were muddy and wet from a recent rain.  It looked okay, but not great.  It was a busy campground with lots of activity.  It is in the city of Arcadia, Florida.

There were a lot of primitive sites along the river as well as full hook-up sites further away from the river.  A lot of people make multi-day kayak trips, and camp along side the river.

When we went to the office, and got some literature, we noted the rates were $58 a night, and no mention of it being a Thousand Trails Park.  A light bulb went off….this may not be the right Peace River Campground?  Sure enough, there is another one in Wauchula, Florida.  I guess we didn’t do our due diligence!

We eventually found the correct one, which is actually called  Peace River Preserve,  in Wauchula, Florida.  It is a very nice campground and not quite as far away from Tampa.

The roads were paved, although not all of them in the greatest condition.  The sites were not paved, and no concrete pads.  We liked the sites in the rows from d-30 to f-1.  They were in full sun, so the satellite would work.  They would be nice in the winter months when appreciate the warmth from the sun.

Some sites were under trees and some were out in the open. 

It was big rig friendly.  There are sites with 20/30 amp with electric and water only, and about half the sites are 30/50 amp with full hook-ups.  We liked the campground.  It’s a little like a state park (our preferred) but has the full hook-ups we have come to love.

They have a nice boat/kayak launch onto the beautiful Peace River.

The usual sign you see around any  Florida fresh water.

The river looked serene and beautiful and definitely made us want to kayak there.  The water is dark  reddish brown in color, due to the tannic acid from the Cypress trees.

There have been a lot of artifacts and fossils found in this river.  In 1996 an entire mammoth fossil was found.    It’s quite a diverse archeological area.

Here is an interesting site showing some of the artifacts that have been pulled from this river.  Some fossils date back 50 million years.  During this time, the sea level in Florida has risen and fallen many times, so you can find fossils for sea and land creatures.

Al found a Mastodon tooth many years ago on a dive in the Suwanee River.  It was our first ever artifact dive and we never found anything like it again.   This is a huge tooth that’s about 6 inches across.  Pretty nice specimen, huh?  The Mastodon lived some 40 million years ago, during the last ice age and became extinct about 10,000 years ago.  No one knows what caused their extinction.  They are a relative of the elephant.

Al’s Mastodon tooth

A Mastodon

We didn’t have time to stay and explore very long, but we decided that the Peace River Preserve is our kind of campground, and we will be back.  Since we got our new rig, we are having to make sure the places we choose are large enough.  One of the trade offs of having a large rig, I guess.

After we got back home from our little jaunt, we spent the rest of the afternoon watching the  tv series of Breaking Bad.    It’s a great  series and we are really enjoying it.  It’s about a high school chemistry teacher who gets lung cancer.  He has no health insurance and has to turn to “cooking meth” to pay his doctor bills.  It’s very good, and kind of reminds me of  Dexter, due to the strange twists and turns.  We are on season 3. 

Sunday, we spent checking out a few campgrounds in Zephyrhills for winter.   There are a lot of campgrounds there and they are reasonably priced.  We need to start thinking about trying to get a reservation though as they fill up quickly when the snowbirds start to come.  I’m hoping there are still some sites available, as a lot of people make their reservations year to year.  We want to go between Zephyrhills and some of our free Thousand Trails membership parks, but this may involve some reservations….and you know how we do when we try to reserve something. 

We Made It

Seffner, Florida

Well yesterday was to be moving day.  By the time we putzed around, had lunch, and stowed everything for travel, a storm was approaching.  We decided to wait until it passed.  The good thing about Florida is the storms pass pretty quickly.

It appears someone doesn’t want us to leave Lazy Days!

The rain never came,  and we got tired of waiting, so we left, although it looked like it would start any minute.  Our  plan was to go about 1/2 mile to the Lazy Days Campground, practice driving, and check the toad and motorhome hitch for the correct height.   We needed to park the truck (toad) behind the motorhome to see if we needed a a different receiver tube for the back of the motor home.  It’s important the tow bar sits level when towing.  The old motor home was higher and we had a receiver with a 7 inch drop.  We knew we would have to change it out, but until we could park the truck behind the motorhome, it was hard to tell exactly what was needed.  We figured what was needed and  and  got it at Camping World.

Unfortunately by the time we drove over to the campground, the rain had started and it rained hard for quite a while.  We parked in the parking lot and kept the generator running until it stopped.  That’s the time you appreciate your generator.  We didn’t want to try to park and hook up during the downpour.

We had initially intended to drive down the interstate a ways to get a good feel for the handling of the coach.  For some reason, the longer we sat at Lazy Days, the more intimidated we had become of the big monster.   The traffic on Interstate 4 is horrible,and  the drivers are nuts.  It’s not the best place to try out your new coach.  Plus the weather hadn’t gotten any better, so we decided just to head over to the campground and drive around there and practice backing into our campsite. 

The next picture is  Squeaky sitting on the dash after we parked.  She doesn’t ride there, she has to go into a cat carrier for safety!  You can see the parking lot looks a bit like a lake.

And for the proof that I drove the motorhome.

We drove around the campground a while, practicing the turns and negotiating the corners.  We did just what Barney told us (rv driving instructor) and waited to turn until the area we needed to miss (the curb) was even with our hips.  It worked perfectly and we made all the turns and curves easily. Of course this campground has wide streets and no traffic.  It’ll be different in the “real” world.  Al was used to driving the 32 foot motorhome and I know he will be fine, but every time we look at this one, we realize how darn big it is and it’s very intimidating. 

Our next step was to back into the campsite.  Barney has a “surefire” 3 step method for backing into a campsite.  He said, backing into a site on the left is much easier.  It really is a good way to back in and Al got in easily.  Of course the road was wide, there were no gawkers and there was no pressure to hurry.  He started backing straight in, but as he started, we realized he was too close to the right side of the campsite, so he just pulled forward and then backed in again.  We didn’t quite get Barneys 3 step plan right, but we got into the campsite straight and easily.  

We have had some trouble figuring out the steps for setting up and breaking camp.  On the old motorhome we didn’t have the air suspension, so that was never an issue.  We just leveled, extended the slides and were done.  On this one, you have to extend slides (with engine off) dump air, and then level.   The manual told you how to do each thing, but it didn’t give you 1,2,3 steps for setting up and leaving camp.  I made us up a cheat sheet and we had to really watch….okay, engine off or on, slides first or levelers?   I guess in time we’ll get it in our heads.  We wanted a coach with automatic air leveling, but unfortunately this one didn’t have that nice feature.  We’re having a bit of trouble leveling this one.  I don’t know if it’s because its so much longer, or because we only have 3 levelers.  We’re getting there though.

One thing that was much easier was our Girard automatic awning.  You push a button and it goes out!  Love that!

Here are a few pictures of our new campsite….for those of you who don’t believe we left the Lazy Days sales lot!

  I know that doesn’t seem like we left Lazy Days, but it feels like it to us.  We found a nice site where we could put out our awning, and of course we have full hook-ups.  We wanted a nice easy place to park and be able to use all the water we want!

BTW…Medium appears to be okay after his accident.  No limping and he’s starting to like us again.