2011 Summer trip

June 1 is the start. We had planned on 18 months on the road, but with the price of diesel, we have cut back to only 4000 miles. We will pull the trailer with 2 scooters to Anderson, SC. Then Bruce (red line) will ride his scooter via the Tail of the Dragon (312 turns in 11 miles), then 6 days in Chaplin, KY with Dennis Hall and then on to Ada,OH. (about 700 miles total) Carol will continue to Pennsylvania for several weeks with friends. We will meet up in Loudenville Ohio at Wallyworld, then to Columbus, OH and then go to Wisconson.

 

Hope to hit Memphis and New Orleans on the trip back.





This hill climber was on display at the National races in Lima, Ohio

This is the 1/2 mile National race in Lima Ohio which I enjoyed. Note they go over 100mph and have no brakes. (end of June)

Loudonville, home of Charles Kettering who founded Delco, and was head of research

for General Motors for 27 years from 1920 to 1947.  There are several campgrounds in the area and a car show the last week of June.  Also lots of river rafting and Mohican state park.

Our rig at Wally World, just south of Loudonville.

Look below where they wanted to put us. Maybe space for a tent!

On Thursday, June 31 we rode the scooters to Sandusky and to Cedar Point. We didn't go in as it was late in the day. In the first month of our travels, I have put 2000 miles on my scooter!

A fifth wheel camper?

Don't try this at home kids!

 

Back in Florida, Polk City

Arrived in Polk City in November. This is not an RV park. It is a community of "port" homes and some pads for Motorcoaches.  It does have all of the activities of an RV park. We were on a pad at first but moved to this small port home.
                                What is a "Port home?"

Sunrise

Here are 2 examples of  larger port homes.

Our pool

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!