And now, for something completely different
Here it is, December already, and we have been settled in Davenport, Florida for just over a month. In my blog post entitled "Crossroads," I discussed the idea that we would look for a small mobile home community to live in for 6 months out of the year. No sooner did we arrive in Florida, then we started looking for a 55+ community that met our criteria. The day we looked, we found just what we needed. An offer was made, accepted, and closing date set. On November 17th, we closed. And now, we are the proud owners of a just under 1200 square foot manufactured home in a lovely community with lots of amenities, including a heated pool and hot tub. Woohoo! Over the course of the past two weeks, we've been moving things in a little bit at a time, and on December 1st, we moved most everything in, including the cats. Mao has been exploring constantly, finding all kinds of little things to get into, and P spent the better part of the day hiding. She's very good at finding nooks and crannies to squirrel herself away in, and we never know where she is. She does pop out every so often, so I know she hasn't gotten lost. She'll get used to it, and she'll be very happy because she can run around again. That, plus there are an abundance of windows to peer out of, including the lanai (screened-in porch).
Now that we have that out of the way, I can go back to the middle of October when we were still on the road and fill in the blanks.
My last post had us in Sevierville, Tennessee awaiting an opening at our RV dealer so that they could repair that pesky jack. We arrived in Knoxville, they spent the entire day working on the jack, and at long last it was repaired. Hallelujah! We spent the night at the dealership, and then hit the road first thing on our way to Charleston, South Carolina. We had a shortened stay in Charleston due to the fact that the campground was booked solid for the extra days that we had originally planned on before our mechanical setback. We stopped by The Citadel Military Academy, where both Tim's grandfather and uncle graduated from. Then we were able to get into the cemetery in Charleston where Tim's ancestors are buried, and that was a very moving experience for him. It's kind of neat meeting your old relatives like that.
The McGareys and the Cades were from Mimi's (Tim's mother) side of the family.
After that, we took a boat ride out to Fort Sumter and saw a little bit of history.
From Charleston, we drove to Savannah, Georgia. The campground we stayed at was very nice, including the pool and hot tub. We were able to take a bus tour through Savannah, and had a really nice lunch at Paula Deen's Lady & Sons restaurant. There's nothing like a good southern cooking!
We got back on the bus and did a little more exploring including seeing Juliette Gordon Low's home (from the outside), and walking through parts of the city. Savannah really is a beautiful city, and I would like to go back someday to do a little more exploring.
From Savannah, we drove down to St Augustine, Florida, staying at the same campground we went to last year. We decided to shorten our stay so that we could arrive in Davenport on schedule, so we didn't do any sightseeing and didn't have any Beach time this trip. However, we drove up to Jacksonville and had a nice afternoon with Ellie Pearce, who is another refugee from Jan - Pro, our former business. She used to own the Master Franchise there, and she was a fabulous mentor, as well as a great friend. It was nice to see her again after 8 years.
We left Ellie, and then met up with Greg and Min Phillips for dinner. Greg and Tim were roommates in OCS back in 1978-79, and we were neighbors in the apartment complex that was our first home after we were married. Their paths took vastly different trajectories, Greg having stayed in the Army until he retired. It was interesting to hear about all the places he wound up in and all the experiences he had.
We arrived in Davenport on October 27th, and it was nice to be able to get all the items we had stowed for travel back out again. It was also nice to do a thorough cleaning after traveling every other day and not having much time to do anything substantial in the way of thorough cleaning. After a day of cleaning, grocery shopping, and laundry, Monday marked our return to Epcot! It's nice to be back!
A little update on Tim's ankle: after hobbling around with his cane and Ace bandage for a couple of weeks, his ankle slowly returned to normal, although it's still a little swollen. But his walking is fine now, and he ditched the cane long ago.
One other fun side to offer............we were able to meet up with our nephew (Tim's older brother, Paul's, son), his wife and 3 year old son a few weeks ago when they were visiting WDW. It has been years since we saw Paul II and Canice, and we hadn't yet met Paul III. What a little charmer he is! He immediately took to Great Uncle Tim, and he could tell that there was a resemblance to his grandfather. Somehow we just knew that Mimi and Tone were smiling down at this get-together!
So, now we're mostly caught up on the last month-and-a-half. For the time being, I'll be figuring out where to store, stow, and squirrel away things in this part-time home of ours. I look forward to finally making use of our pool, but mostly, I am eager to get into a regular routine of exercise, sewing, and visiting everything Disney! We have but another couple weeks before we're blacked out for Christmas and New Year, so I need my Christmas light fix!
And now, for something completely different
Now that we have that out of the way, I can go back to the middle of October when we were still on the road and fill in the blanks.
My last post had us in Sevierville, Tennessee awaiting an opening at our RV dealer so that they could repair that pesky jack. We arrived in Knoxville, they spent the entire day working on the jack, and at long last it was repaired. Hallelujah! We spent the night at the dealership, and then hit the road first thing on our way to Charleston, South Carolina. We had a shortened stay in Charleston due to the fact that the campground was booked solid for the extra days that we had originally planned on before our mechanical setback. We stopped by The Citadel Military Academy, where both Tim's grandfather and uncle graduated from. Then we were able to get into the cemetery in Charleston where Tim's ancestors are buried, and that was a very moving experience for him. It's kind of neat meeting your old relatives like that.
After that, we took a boat ride out to Fort Sumter and saw a little bit of history.
From Charleston, we drove to Savannah, Georgia. The campground we stayed at was very nice, including the pool and hot tub. We were able to take a bus tour through Savannah, and had a really nice lunch at Paula Deen's Lady & Sons restaurant. There's nothing like a good southern cooking!
We got back on the bus and did a little more exploring including seeing Juliette Gordon Low's home (from the outside), and walking through parts of the city. Savannah really is a beautiful city, and I would like to go back someday to do a little more exploring.
From Savannah, we drove down to St Augustine, Florida, staying at the same campground we went to last year. We decided to shorten our stay so that we could arrive in Davenport on schedule, so we didn't do any sightseeing and didn't have any Beach time this trip. However, we drove up to Jacksonville and had a nice afternoon with Ellie Pearce, who is another refugee from Jan - Pro, our former business. She used to own the Master Franchise there, and she was a fabulous mentor, as well as a great friend. It was nice to see her again after 8 years.
We left Ellie, and then met up with Greg and Min Phillips for dinner. Greg and Tim were roommates in OCS back in 1978-79, and we were neighbors in the apartment complex that was our first home after we were married. Their paths took vastly different trajectories, Greg having stayed in the Army until he retired. It was interesting to hear about all the places he wound up in and all the experiences he had.
We arrived in Davenport on October 27th, and it was nice to be able to get all the items we had stowed for travel back out again. It was also nice to do a thorough cleaning after traveling every other day and not having much time to do anything substantial in the way of thorough cleaning. After a day of cleaning, grocery shopping, and laundry, Monday marked our return to Epcot! It's nice to be back!
A little update on Tim's ankle: after hobbling around with his cane and Ace bandage for a couple of weeks, his ankle slowly returned to normal, although it's still a little swollen. But his walking is fine now, and he ditched the cane long ago.
One other fun side to offer............we were able to meet up with our nephew (Tim's older brother, Paul's, son), his wife and 3 year old son a few weeks ago when they were visiting WDW. It has been years since we saw Paul II and Canice, and we hadn't yet met Paul III. What a little charmer he is! He immediately took to Great Uncle Tim, and he could tell that there was a resemblance to his grandfather. Somehow we just knew that Mimi and Tone were smiling down at this get-together!
So, now we're mostly caught up on the last month-and-a-half. For the time being, I'll be figuring out where to store, stow, and squirrel away things in this part-time home of ours. I look forward to finally making use of our pool, but mostly, I am eager to get into a regular routine of exercise, sewing, and visiting everything Disney! We have but another couple weeks before we're blacked out for Christmas and New Year, so I need my Christmas light fix!
And now, for something completely different
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