Leaving the cold behind. . .

Last Friday we packed up and left Indiana. While there were some nice days yet to come, a storm was headed that way and we wanted to get to Florida to see Brandon and Megan. We spent a couple nights on the road. The first was in Athens, Alabama, in a nice little park just off the interstate. The second night was in Dolthan, Alabama, way down south, almost in Florida.

Once we left there, we called our friends Bill and Helen who are at their winter place at Wilderness Estates Park near Silver Springs, Florida. We were hoping their calendar was clear and it was! We drove in there in the afternoon and set up for the night. We visited with our dear friends and then Helen suggested we go out to eat at Gator Joe's. Gator Joe's is a real experience. . . not just a meal out and it was pretty cool. We have to be careful what we eat out with Terry's dietary restrictions, but he was able to find a salad he liked and I had mahi mahi. It was all very good. The restaurant is famous because this is where a 15' alligator lived at one time and also the place where the "Ma Barker" gang was found and gunned down. Fortunately the only shooting we did was of the picture taking kind. We got some great pictures of the sunset which is one reason why Helen wanted to share it with us.

Helen and I marveled at how we have friends from our past, very good friends, that we have known a long time. But we also have new friends we have made since we all started fulltiming with whom we share a special bond. Even though we don't see one another often, we keep tabs on each other through the internet and we are always available to share things that only close friends can do. Even though we've only known each other for five years or so, we consider these fellow RVers among our closest friends.

We drove on in to Melbourne on Monday, arriving about noon. We are at a different park than we normally stay at located on Eau Gallie across the Indian River from Melbourne proper. It's not far from Brandon's and we have been able to visit with him and Megan and Jax every day. Today we spent gathering some wedding packets from different venues to give to the kids so they can look through them. It sure is a lot more expensive putting together weddings now than it was when we got married. Ho Ho.

Yesterday we met one of our neighbors. A lady came to the door with her little dog. We had noticed another Phaeton in the park and it is hers. Her husband was washing the motorhome and fell off the roof. He landed on his head and has a traumatic brain injury. He is in the hospital and is going to be moved to a rehab facility. She came down because she has done two loads of laundry and taken two showers and figures she needed to dump the gray water. She said the bay door was locked and she didn't know how to do it. So Terry took his keys and went down and helped her, giving her a few pointers. I offered to help with the little dog, but she said she was getting along okay and is always back to the RV before dark. We told her to call on us if she needed anything.

We have decided to stay an extra day because the shuttle is due to launch on Monday and we hope to finally see one.

Till next time. . .

Dale