Dec 29-31/2012

We left Texas, gained an hour and checked into Little Vineyard RV in Deming, NM at 4:00. Enjoyed a dip in the pool and the hot tub.Away from Deming at 9:45 next morning. We crossed into Arizona and made our first stop at a RV & Truck wash in Wilcox -2 Hispanic fellows who did an A-1 job and charged $50 to do both coach & Jeep. Windy day and snow on some of the mountain tops. Had a near miss on the freeway when some "old guy" pulling a fifth wheel hit Norm's mirror with the back corner of his rig while passing us. Fortunately no damage to either rig. We checked into Lazydays RV in Tucson, lovely park with great amenities. Had hoped to use the pool/hot tubs but they are all outside and it was too cool & windy to enjoy so off to Costco for a shopabout. Since we were invited out for New Years Eve, we decided to celebrate our 36th anniversary a day early with our traditional steak & lobster dinner complete with champagne. As always, it was fantastic.

Dec 31/ 2012
We left Tucson at 11:30 under blue sky with clouds around the mountains and snow well down the slopes. We met Karen & Lloyd Knox at Exit 194 on I-10 in Casa Grande and followed them to Sunscape RV where they have an empty RV site which we could use for a few days. After getting set up and a quick change into our party clothes we went with them to Culver's (a good quality fast food burger restaurant) for a bite of lunch before heading off to see their beautiful winter home. They are summer neighbours of ours in Vernon but live in Cocrane, AB. We had a good visit over a glass of wine before being served a lovely roast beef dinner. After dinner, they drove us to Queen Creek south of Mesa to Karen's cousin & our friends, Terry & Sandy Peterman's lovely winter home where we contiued to party until after midnight, enjoying neighbourhood fireworks, card games, delicious seafood appys and hats & horns at midnight. We don't often see the real midnight  (usually go on eastern time !!). We got dropped off at our coach at 2:00 AM.

Dec 27-28/ 2012

We left Duson, LA at 9:20 under heavy overcast sky. We crossed into Texas before noon and took another shortcut to avoid Houston. Did not achieve either goals here but was a neat trip through farm country. We got onto the Upper Loop above Houston then onto Hwy 290 to Austin, TX where we checked into Oak Forest RV (PA) at 5:30 in spitting rain. This is a very nice park with a WORKING hot tub so took happy hour over with us for long-awaited soak after putting on 359 miles today.

Dec 28/ 2012
Got away from Austin at 9:15 under low overcast sky. We continued on Hwy 290 west which took us onto I-55 through the city which we were trying to avoid. We did get to see the capitol buildings. We passed the LBJ Ranch at Johnson City. Had hoped to have a German Lunch at Fredricksburg, a famous German town north of San Antonio but the town was plugged with holiday families so we couldn't find a parking spot so we headed to a picnic site and cooked up a hot dog -close enough !!!! We got into real cactus country, boney desert/prairie with no sign of water anywhere, although there were lots of cattle, sheep and goats wandering along fencelines. Also lots of roadkill, deer & racoons -must be full moon !!! There is lots of oilfield activity around Bakersfield, little pumpers scattered through the fields, and huge 3-blade windmills making power along the hilltops and through valleys. The hills are all like tabletops. The speed limit here is 80 MPH for all vehicles with no sign of highway patrol cars. We checked into I-10 RV Park at Ft Stockton at 5:30 -REALLY rustic but $20 and off the road. We drove 355 miles today.

Dec 22-26/ 2012

Woke up to a very chilly morning at 40F. Back on the coast Hwy 98 to Navarre, FL where we checked into a new park right on the beach, St Rosa Inlet RV. We enjoyed a spectacular sunset out over St Rosa Island. Next day we drove over the bridge at Navarre to Navarre Beach on St Rosa Island and carried on down to Pensacola Beach and eventually to Pensacola. What an incredible stretch of white sugar sand beach preserve. Lots of shore birds. All the buildings on the long island are built on stilts for the high water and strong winds along the coastline. Next day we drove back east to Mary Esther to do our Christmas shopping at their mall. We got a very nice little living fir Christmas tree (reduced from $14.00 to $4.00) and a beautiful poinsetta (from $9.00 to $1.00) plus a few ornaments, wrapping paper, etc.
On Dec 24 we decorated our little tree and had a full-on Christmas dinner made with a game hen in place of a turkey.
Christmas morning we got up 9:00, had tea with our gift-opening, then went to the clubhouse for their Christmas potluck. We contributed cole-slaw and strawberry/rhubarb pie. There were only 10 attendees but we had a good time sharing good food and interesting travel stories with total strangers. We spent most of the afternoon and evening until 10:30 glued to the TV watching the "tornado alerts & warnings". We saw the live reports of the touchdown in Mobile, AL which was only 80 miles from us so continued to watch the play by play as the storm came at us. We had some downpours of rain, lots of lightening and some gusting wind but nothing that we haven't experienced before in the bus. We went to bed at 10:30 after things seemed settled, I in my clothes just in case...... and woke up to a bright sunny sky with broken clouds. We left Navarre at 9:15 and crossed from Florida, through Alabama, through Mississippi and into Louisiana, travelling 450 miles today. We left I-10 and went down to Hwy 90 through Biloxi and Gulfport, MS to see how much had changed since our trip through there 3 years ago regarding the Hurricane Katrina damages. There is some commercial reconstruction going on but nothing has been rebuilt on the waterfront lots which run for many miles along the coast. Once back up on I-10 and I-12 couldn't believe the heavy traffic heading east. One stretch of road was a 12.5 mile bridge over swamp land. At 5:30 we checked into Frog City RV (PA) at Duson, LA about 10 miles west of Lafayette. Only 42F when we checked in.

Dec 21/ 2012

Woke up at 8:00 and the world is still here !! We left Homosassa under clear blue skies and a bit breezy travelling up the coast on Hwy 98 through Mexico Beach and Panama City, both with beautiful beaches. We checked into Sunset Isle RV & Yacht Club (PA) at Carrabelle at 3:30 because they have 2 pools and a hot tub. VERY disappointing to discover that none of them were heated "at this time". We took a walk around the property and down to the unfinished marina -one day it may all come together ??? Being disgruntelled, we headed off into town to find a seafood restaurant and after several unsuccessful options finally decided on 2 Al's Diner, a bit north of town. It is a quaint little retro hole-in-the-wall with walls lined with recognizable memorabilia (some of which Al has had to sell to keep the doors open). Al was very friendly and chatty about the area and the business. Al 2 was his dad who passed away a couple of years ago. We had the BEST scallop & shrimp combo dinner ever.

Dec 20/ 2012

We left Palm Harbour at 10:00 and travelled about 60 miles to Homosassa up the west coast. We spent the afternoon at the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, a wonderful wildlife park not like a zoo with all the birds and animals in large natural habitat areas. We took a small pontoon riverboat to get to the actual park, complete with ranger identifying the plants, trees and birdlife. On leaving the dock, our first encounter was with a lazy 9 foot aligator sharing a float with 3 large leatherback turtles !! We enjoyed seeing Lucifer, a 52 year old hippo, who pooped in his pool and laughed out loud at himself (sounded like a very loud donkey bray). On to the wolves and large cats, brightly coloured parrots, owls, eagles, emus, a reptile building and MANATEES. Finally !! They have an underwater seaquarium and presentation area where I got to pat a possum and feel its tail. A great day for me :) We checked into the Homosassa River Carefree RV Resort (PA), undoubtedly the nicest park so far. It feels like a storm is approaching with gusty winds and pouring rain by evening.

Dec 16-20

With laundry done and groceries stocked up, we left Ft Lauderdale and headed across to the Gulf Coast across Alligator Alley.Very little traffic and lots of birds and a few alligators. We checked into Lake San Marino RV (PA) in Naples for 2 nights. We are both suffering a bit of jetlag so laid pretty low -time at the pool as the weather is still in the 80s F. From here we went to Palm Harbour and checked into Bay Aire RV (PA) for 2 nights. Norm wanted to go back to Tarpon Springs (5 miles north of here) as it is a totally Greek town made famous by the Greek sponge divers in the Gulf of Mexico. Not to mention the dozens of great Greek restaurants. We overate on 2 nights so thought it a good idea to get out of this environment !!

Dec 1-Dec 15/2012

We boarded the beautiful Celebrity Eclipse in Port Everglades, Ft Lauderdale at 2:00 to set sail for the Southern Caribbean. We had fantastic weather and smooth waters throughout the duration of the trip. We did 5 sea days and 8 shore leaves including Philipsburg, St Maarten; Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas; St Johns, Antigua; Castries, St Lucia; Bridgetown, Barbados; St Georges, Grenada; Kralendijk, Bonaire and Oranjetad, Aruba. Each port gave us a different adventure along with an extended history lesson. Of course, there was the usual over-abundance of gourmet foods & wines, but we both fared well with only gaining a pound or two. At this point we are struggling with a bit of jetlag, possibly because we are not on a daily schedule and the weather is in the low 80s F.