1st trip in Porta-Bote

We left Daytona on Tuesday and drove to one of our favorite parks in Florida, Wilderness RV Park in Silver Springs, because we were wanting to try out the Porta-Bote on the Ocklawaha River. 

Donald and Anna followed us there and stayed for a few nights which was great because we got to  spend some more time with them and get some more cornhole and card games in.  And of course, we ate dinner at Sonny's Barbecue one night and a mexican restaurant the next night.  The Mexican restaurant had some unusual outdoor seating.

 

We were anxious to try out the Porta-Bote, so on Wednesday we took the Porta-Bote out for its maiden voyage.   Wilderness has a place where you can launch boats on the Ocklawaha River.  We put the boat together in the parking area near the launch and rolled it down to the boat launch.  (Our Porta-Bote had portable wheels that you could put on and take off the boat to make it easier to move around on land.)  Because the river was very low, we had to walk and lift the boat down a small hill with a lot of tree roots to a better spot to launch the boat.

We backed the boat into the water, Chuck got into the boat, and then I pushed us off and jumped in.  Chuck started rowing immediately but we weren't going anywhere.  In fact, we were going backwards. 

I started to panic because if we kept going backwards, we would miss the boat launch area and I knew there wouldn't place to get out for several miles.  We maneuvered the boat to a point where I could jump out with the rope on the shore.  I jumped out and when I looked back at Chuck in the boat, I noticed that we had forgotten to take the wheels off.  No wonder we weren't going anywhere!

Chuck took the wheels off and with me holding the rope, he practiced rowing the boat out in the river and felt like we could make some forward progress.  So I got back in the boat and we tried it again.

We saw a little alligator on the bank.

I thought, "this is going to be fun!"  And we both were looking forward to seeing other wildlife and the monkeys when we got to the Silver River.

The Ocklawaha River may have been down but the Silver River that feeds into it pumps about 550 million gallons of water out of its headsprings a day creating about a 3 - 5 mile current.  When you are rowing forwards (rather than backwards like you are supposed to in a rowboat), we found out real quick that you don't get very far. 

 

I moved to the front of the boat and got out our "emergency paddle" and started paddling from the boat to try to help us make some forward progress.  We finally made it to the underpass, which was only about 300 yards from where we had started.

We decided to try to go a little further...

 

....but when we saw the current coming from where the Silver River meets the Ocklawaha, we knew we would never make it up the Silver River.  Instead, we headed up the Ocklawaha where there was very little current.

 

There were a lot of cypress trees

 

and their knobby knees.

 

We tied off and ate a little lunch.

The water was not clear like the Silver River but the Ocklawaha was still pretty in its own way.

 

 

 

After finishing our lunch, we paddled back out of the Ocklawaha and when we reached where the Silver River meets the Ocklawaha, the current picked up and we were able to just about float all the way back to the boat launch. 

 

Daytona 2013

We drove to Harris Village RV Park in Ormond Beach, Florida.  Donald and Anna were camping in their 5th wheel at Tomoka State Park about 5 miles away.  Tomoka does not permit RVs that are bigger than 36 feet so we could not stay there.  Harris Village was a small, tight but nice park and we were glad to have full hookups.

Karen and Kevin came down and spent a few days with Donald and Anna which made the week even more fun.  We ate out every night going to Aunt Catfish's 4 times during our 12 night stay.  I think Kevin and Karen discovered why we like Aunt Catfish's so much!

Karen, Kevin, Donald and Chuck got a golf game in one day.  And Kevin went to his first NASCAR race when they went to the Twin 125s on Thursday.

We had dinner a couple of times at Parks Seafood Restaurant.  One of the times, Bobby Allison was also having dinner there and was kind enough to let us get a couple of pictures with him.

 

Chuck and Donald went to a World of Outlaws Sprint race at Volusia Speedway and to a race at New Smyrna Speedway also while we were there. 

While Chuck and I were at Pine Island, Ken and Bonnie had inspired us to start trying to walk at least 10,000 steps every day.  We got our 10,000 steps in at least 3 or 4 days and went on several bike rides on the other days.  We thought about trying out the Porta-Bote but the water around there was brackish and we didn't want to try it out in water that had a high salt content (although you are supposed to be able to use it in salt water without any problem).

We got in several games of cornhole and I finally won one.  We played SkipBo or 7-Up almost every night.  We ate lots of good food and had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun.

 

Renovations, Porta-Bote and quick trip back to Atlanta

When we attended the Tampa RV show, two of the many vendor booths we visited and where we spent a lot of time was Classic Coachworks and Porta-Bote.

For some time we have wanted to upgrade our TVs and satellite to HD.  When we were in Lakeland, we drove to three different RV renovation companies and were extremely impressed with Classic Coachworks.  After much thought, we decided to do a few upgrades to the motorhome including replacing the TVs and satellite dish, replacing the gas absorption refrigerator with a residential refrigerator and replacing our day and night shades.  Chuck wanted all electric shades and I wanted all non-electric shades, so we compromised and got only electric night shades (not day shades).  They could have done all the work with us staying in their parking lot, but we knew they could probably get the work done faster if we weren't there...and we had to be in Daytona to meet up with Donald and Anna by February 14th.  So, we decided to drive back to Atlanta for a few days to visit with the kids and grandkids while the renovations were being completed.

Also, we have talked for a long time, even before we began full-timing, that we thought we would enjoy having some type of boat for paddling around and to go fishing.  We did not want a blow-up type boat like a Sea Eagle because we didn't want to have to be concerned with punctures.  We had seen the Porta-Bote for years at the RV shows and thought this would work for us because it is a hard-shell boat that folds up and you carry it on top of your car.  We measured and talked about it and researched it and thought about it some more and finally,after much deliberations, decided to buy one.  Since we knew we would be in Atlanta for a few days, we arranged to have it delivered to Tafanie's house.

When we left Pine Island on Thursday, we drove to Classic Coachworks in Lakeland, spent the night in their parking lot.  We left the motorhome with them to begin the renovations on Friday and drove back to Atlanta.  It was great getting to see the kids and grandbabies again and seeing how much they had grown.

 

 

 

At Tafanie's, we unboxed the Porta-Bote and practiced putting it together.  It was very stiff at first and we even almost got folded up with it, but by the time we headed back to Florida, we felt good about how to put it together and take it back down.  So we loaded the Porta-Bote  on top of the roof rack on the car and early Wednesday morning, headed back to Lakeland, Florida. 

We got back to Classic Coachworks about 3 pm in the afternoon and they were still finishing up some of the renovations.  We were sitting in their waiting room when Greg, the owner, came up to me and said we had a problem.  He showed me that the TV that we had ordered from Best Buy was defective but he had already found another TV at a Best Buy store in Tampa.  He said if we could go to Tampa and get it exchanged (since we had ordered it online), they would wait until we got back and get it installed.  We had to buy the same model TV because the cabinetry had been built specifically to this model.  He said they would wait on us to get back and would work overtime to make sure everything was complete because they knew we had to be in Daytona the next day.

Chuck and I drove to Best Buy in Tampa with the defective TV.  We took it in with the packing slip that says that anything you buy online can be returned to a Best Buy store.  At first, the customer service manager acted like they would not be able to exchange it because we had not brought it to them within 3 days of it being delivered.  I was starting to get a little angry at this point.  I pointed out to her what the packing slip said and that it said NOTHING about having to return it within 3 days.  I said it had been delivered to Classic Coachworks and that it had apparently been damaged in shipment.  We had ordered 2 TVs from Best Buy and had them delivered to Classic and the other one worked just fine.  She talked with her manager and finally got approval to exchange it. 

We rushed back to Classic and they immediately started working on getting the TV installed.  By around 8 pm, they took us back to our motorhome to show us all the renovations and how everything worked.  They asked us to try everything out that night and if there was anything else that needed to be adjusted or if we had any questions, to let them know in the morning.

The TVs worked great.  The BIG new refrigerator is awesome.  And for some reason the new shades not only make the motorhome look cleaner but bigger too.  We were extremely pleased.

The next morning we asked them to make a small adjustment to the bedroom TV to allow a little more room for the slide to come in and by 11 am, we were on our way to Daytona. 

We were VERY pleased with Classic Coachworks and would recommend them to anyone.  Their website is:  www.classiccoachworks.com.

 

 

 

Pine Island

After leaving Okeechobee, we drove to Pine Island Encore/KOA Campground near Fort Myers Florida where we would be staying for a few days.  We had stayed in touch with Ken and Bonnie Hosler, our RV-Dreams friends (see May 30, 2012 post)over the winter and knew they were also staying at Pine Island for a couple of weeks.

Neil and Nancy Savage who had also attended the RV Dreams Rally in Hershey were also at Pine Island.  Neil and Nancy are recent fulltimers so it was interesting exchanging full-timing stories with them.

The day we arrived was Super Bowl Sunday and the campground was having a Super Bowl party where everyone brought pot luck.  The campground had a big screen TV and there were a few die-hard Ravens fans and 49ers fans that made watching the game even more entertaining.

On Monday, we drove to Sanibel Island and took our bikes so we could ride our bikes around the island.

 

Sanibel Island is a beautiful little island with bike trails running all over the place.  Because Ken and Bonnie had biked here before, we just followed them stopping here and there to see the beach...

and other interesting sites like the lighthouse.

There were a lot of beautiful houses that backed up to canals on the island.

 

Even though we rode our bikes for about 11.5 miles the time flew by because we were talking all along the way.

We hooked up with Neil and Nancy at R C Otters Restaurant on the island and had a delicious lunch together.

 

After lunch, we walked over to the beach and looked for shell pieces with Bonnie for her "Gifts From the Sea" jewelry that she makes. 

 

Sanibel has beautiful beaches.

 

On Tuesday, Ken and Bonnie asked if we were up for another bike ride and we said sure.  So we drove down to a park in the center of Pine Island and rode our bikes down to Bokeelia at the north end of the island. 

This time we rode 17 miles but again, because we were talking and having such a good time, the bike ride didn't seem to take long at all.  After riding our bikes, we drove over to a park in Matlacha for a picnic lunch and then walked around the unique shops in Matlacha. 

On Wednesday, Chuck and I rode our bikes towards Saint James City at the south end of the island. 

We rode through some of the streets where some nice homes were built with canals backing up to them.  We walked out on this lot that was for sale. 

You could see the bridge we crossed going over to Sanibel Island from here.

 

On the ride back we saw this huge pineapple.

 

Correction....palm tree.

 

The weather was great and it was a great day for a 10 mile bike ride.

 

That evening, we all got together at Ken and Bonnie's for dinner and playing some card games.  We had so much fun with Ken & Bonnie and Neil & Nancy, we hated that we had to leave the next day.

 

Okeechobee -- Silver Palms

Okeechobee -- Silver Palms RV Resort

After leaving Waters Edge, we drove about 10 miles up the road to Silver Palms RV Resort.  Silver Palms is a much larger resort with lots of activities.  In fact, they were having a luau the night we got there.  There was a lot of good food and fun.  I even tried the limbo and found out I cannot go as low as I could the last time I tried the limbo about _??_ years ago (a long time). 

They had activities going on all the time.  We rode our bikes through the park some and Chuck fished some of the ponds in the park.  They had a free dinner dance on Saturday night.  (We enjoyed the dinner and meeting a lot of the folks and watched the dancing.)

They also had a free boat trip on Lake Okeechobee which was very informative.  Our guide provided lots of good information about the lake...

 

and showed us much of the wildlife and plants around the lake.

We had a very enjoyable stay and would enjoy going back to both Waters Edge and Silver Palms again sometime.