Trip to Key West & Fantasy Fest

We left Tampa on Oct 25th and spent 2 nights at our new winter home in Polk City, FL and then went to Sunshine Key RV on Ohio Key mile marker 39. This is an Oncore park and thru our network we got a great rate for a week. We rode the scooters to Key West many times.

The parade went from about 7:45 until after 10PM. Lots of floats.

Sunshine Key RV at Ohio Key

We went on a fun boat for the day that had everything all inclusive and it was a perfect day. The boat holds just over a hundred, but there were only 24 of us so it was really good. Unlimited use of jetskis, kayaks,  etc.

September-Back in Tampa

After a one night stop in Apopka, we arrived back in Tampa on Wednesday 9/1.

Next stop: Beaufort, SC

We stopped north of Charleston, SC and took the Smart car into Charleston and looked around. We then planned to stop for a brief visit with a friend in Beaufort, SC and then go on to Skidaway Isle State Park near Savannah, GA. Well the brief visit turned into an overnight and then another.

Route 17 Bridge to Charleston, SC.

We went on a boat ride all afternoon to Hilton Head and back.

Doug's place.

Beaufort from the air.

On the way to Myrtle Beach, SC

Behind a welcome center in North Carolina, on route 17, we found two sail boats with aluminum hulls. The owners were from France and said that this type of hull was not built in the US. They sailed across the Atlantic! They sail here in the summer and fly back to France for the winter, leaving the sailboats in Chesapeake bay.
We had planned to stay in the lot at Walmart on Marine st. in Jacksonville but it is one of 300 that don't permit it. So we drove on to Myrtle Beach, SC arriving at Briarcliff about 9:45pm. Note: Rt 17 is one of the best, smoothest roads and runs all the way down the coast.
The sites are nice and large with water, electric, sewer and 66 channels on cable. Wifi is $2/hr so we'll use Verizon.

Flying down the road at 55, I went back to make popcorn (listen to it pop).
Bruce's sister Paulette and her husband Tommy live in nearby Conway.  We all went to the Carolina Opry and a show called Good Vibrations which has songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Highly recommended.

Virginia Beach, VA

Carol drove straight through to Virginia beach on Friday. Traffic was terrible south of Washington. Bruce thought he was back in California.

Washington traffic

Virginia Beach has a wide concrete boardwalk and bike path between the beach and the wall to wall hotels for about 3 miles. Tons of people were at beach. We stopped at "Neptune's Park" and listened to live music. There were rocking chairs in the shade, and the breeze was great! 
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                                              Here's Bruce with Neptune!  Awsome!

27th street entrance to beach

.There are public entrances at all of the streets, benches to relax on every so far.  Parking is $1.50 per hour on the street, the beach is very clean, and there's a great inflatable waterslide that looked like a lot of fun!  All in all very nice, if you don't mind crowds!

Looking north

This double deck Carousel was at a mall in Virginia Beach. Very unusual!

GETTYSBURG Pennsylvania

We spent just two nights and one full day in the Allentown area, where we only had time to see a couple of friends between Carol's doc appointments before we were off to Gettysburg Battlefield Resort Campground. We stopped on the way in York, PA to go on a factory tour of Harley Davidson.

Harley Davidson Factory in York, PA
This was an interesting free tour.

Gettysburg's Pennsylvania Monument
This has a spiral staircase inside the monument and at the top there is a good view of the battleground with plaques that  show distances to various places such as Washington (69 miles), little round top mountain, etc.

We took time to see the movie and something called a "Cyclodrama" which neither of us had ever heard of!  It's an incredible 360 degree canvas painting used with lighting, narrative and extreme sound effects to make the battlefield come alive!  It is over 300' long and about 40' high. Created in the late 1800s, it originally toured many places in the country before being purchased by the organization at Gettysburg.  It has been fully restored and is amazingly realistic! (they don't allow any pictures to be taken)

The campground itself is quite picturesque, but our site resulted in some big leveling challenges! Very low front, and sitting high in the back - and this was the better of the two choices we had!  It also had only 30 am service, no sewer, no cable....We are SO spoiled!  Yes, we know this is not "camping"!

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Niagara Lazy Lakes camping resort

August 8, 2001 Arrived at Lazy Lakes after taking a "short cut" across Canada from Sarnia, Mi. Canada's roads were nice and smooth after the pounding of Michigan roads around Detroit. (Possibly some of the worst in the nation! - although Birmingham/Louisville/Cincinatti all provide some close competition!) This park has nice large spaces with 30 amp service (50 amp-$4.00 more) for only $9.00/day.  No sewer connection or cable. But we get about 10 stations on the antenna. Will leave this Friday to join friends of Carol's (Deb and Joe) at a state park campground up on Lake Ontario - about 10 miles from here.

Herschells Carousel  in Lakeview, NY   It was originally built in this area and then toured around the country for many years.  After about 20 years in storage, it was restored and set up in this quaint little town on the shore of Lake Ontario

Deb and Joe along with Bruce and Carol took a great ride - tickets are only 25 cents!!!  The little town is about 20 minutes from Fourmile Creek State Park where we had side by side campsites and picnics dinners together and campfires both nights (yea Joe!)   We were excited to see each other's coaches and spend some great time together!

This is a video of a unique music machine that uses air to create the notes! It can be heard all around the little amusement park (which by the way has only rides for kids, other than the carosel!)

We spent a great afternoon in Niagara Falls - much of the time at the US Falls

In the evening we crossed into Canada and had dinner on a balcony looking out at the Canadian Horseshoe Falls

The four of us took the 2 hour boat cruise on the Erie Canal- Lockport, NY.  During the cruise you go up and back down through 2 locks.  Carol says it was a lot less scary doing it on the commercial boat than when she and her family did it on their personal boat when she was 14! 

Lake Short resort-Davison Michigan (East of Flint)

July 31st, visited my cousin Judy and her husband Ray in Belleville, Mi. She should be off the crutches soon. (Be careful of those bicycles!)

That evening we went to a surprise retirement party for Carol's long time friend Lin Selby.  She was shocked to see Carol walk in, having no idea she was anywhere in the area.  Lin and Carol's mutual friends Doris and Bill Knuth were also there.  (They were all friends in Detroit nearly 30 years ago!)

We moved to Lake Shore Resort on August 1. This is the largest RV park we've ever seen and along with Day Use folks, there must have been nearly a thousand people enjoying the beach, boats, minigolf, pool, tennis and basketball courts, etc!

We visited Frankenmuth, Mi, 25 miles to the north. It's a German and Christmas oriented town all year.

And we had a visit from some friends of Carol's from Detroit, Vince and MaryEllen Hylton who now live in Rochester, Mi. 

It had been about 20 years since getting together, so we had a lot of catching up to do!

Side trip-Carol goes to Dominican Republic

Carol and Megan visit the DR for 8 days and Bruce got the honey do list!

Megan began her 1 month "intermission" between working in LA and starting Law School in Austin, Tx. the first of July.  After trecking across the US visiting folks, she wanted to spend some time in the DR where she had studied as an undergrad.  If was a great opportunity for a "gal trip", so Carol went along! 

 

We spent the first 4 nights in Santo Domingo (inner city).  It's a good thing she went on her own originally - Carol says she would have needed a tranquilizer daily for the 4 months Meg was there if she'd seen where she lived and her "transportation" options for getting to school and around the area!   First trips to 3rd world counties are eye openers! The question seems to be "why is the electricity working?"  Not, why isn't it when it doesn't!

Yikes!

We were fortunate to be invited for a lovely home made dinner and evening with the family of a friend of Megan's from her time in the DR.  And, one day we visited the Botanical Gardens, out near Meg's school.  Very Beautiful!

We then spent 3 days at a resort on the East end of the island - great!  The weather which had been rainy and keeping things cool in Santo Domingo, turned beautiful and perfect for the beach and pool!!

Finally, back to Santo Domingo to a lovely "tourist" hotel and some final shopping before heading back to the States the next day!

Wapakoneta, Ohio Lakewood Village

Lakewood Village has 2 lakes and an indoor pool with 2 hot tubs. Some sites have 50 amp but are tight lengthwise. Located off I-75 at exit 111.

  








Crown Equipment Corporation is a private company categorized under Lift Trucks, Industrial: Fork, Platform, Straddle, Etc. and located in New Bremen, OH. Current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of 1,821,459,000 and employs a staff of approximately 7,456.
The owner bought many of the old brick buildings in town and restored them like new. He also likes bicycles, so he owns the museum. Admission is $2.00 and well worth it!

Click  here to see bicycle museum pictures.

We ate a very good lunch next door to the museum at La Piazza.

Ada Ohio

Went to Ada for my dads 90th birthday and reunion. He had to have a ball game and he pitched and batted. We took a tour of the Wilson sporting goods factory. We stayed a week in Ada, a week in Wapakoneta, back to Ada and then I took Carol to Columbus so she could fly to the Dominican Republic with her daughter for 8 days, while I was left with a honey do list. I visited old classmates and stayed in the driveway at my brother-in-law Virgil's  home.

Bob hits one.

90th birthday.

Glen

Tod and Paulette (from South Carolina)

Wilson factory

That would be me turning a football right side out.

They must weigh just the right weight.

Lakeville, Ohio-Long Lake Park

http://www.box.net/shared/c7e9jp0098Located 6 miles north of Loudonville, Ohio. It's 170 sites are situated on a nice lake. Verizon works here but not AT&ampT.  This was our first opportunity to tow the Smartcar. It towed just fine! Zero gas used. This is good because I drove 2500 miles from Florida to Ohio. That's 62 gallons or nearly $175 bucks. (Note click on any image may enlarge it.)



Swimming pool.

Two bikes and car.


Blue OX Hitch detail.



View of the Smartcar on TV.













Yes!


We came here to be close to Wooster where the 4th of July party/Ryan's 30th birthday party are being held at his Dad's home.



Friday early evening we were invited to the Pub in Wooster for some food and drinks with live music privided by Ryan and Megan's Dad and his group. Excellent, 2 people for $12. Something you just don't get in a metropolis!

Then to downtown Wooster for a free concert by the Army Field band and chorus.

On Saturday We went to Loudenville  (10 miles south) for a large auto show.  There were more cars than we could look at. Here is a rare 1962 Isetta with 17 horsepower.

Bruce had a great giant port tenderloin sandwich. Here it is after he ate some. It takes a long time to eat it down to the bun size!

 

Short video of car show. 

Tonight, Saturday Jul 3, there is a live band 

and fireworks show at this RV park. The band sounds great. http://www.conestogamusic.com/ 

Every camp site is in use. 

Next we went to celebrate Ryan's 30th birthday on the 4th of July in Wooster, Ohio.

Ryan's 30th birthday

On Tue, his actual birthday, we joined Ry and Meg at "The Cheesecake Factory" in Columbus,O.  YUM!