Back to Florida

After saying our good-byes and giving and getting hugs, Chuck and I left San Antonio about 8:45 on Friday morning.

The weather was nice (like it has been most of the time we have been in San Antonio) and we were hoping to bring that good weather right along with us all the way back to Florida.

We got hung up in traffic a couple of times while driving through Houston but made it through without any problems.  You just have to make sure you stay in the right lane.  They have interstates going every which direction here in Houston.

We drove about 400 miles east on I-10 stopping around middle of the afternoon back at Frog City RV Park in Duson, Louisiana.  We even got our same site #11 again!

On Saturday, we left around 7:30 and continued heading east on I-10.  We ran into some traffic due to construction before crossing the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge and then again in Hammond, Louisiana, but continued making our way east stopping about 45 miles east of Pensacola around mid-afternoon again at Eagles Landing RV Resort.

Eagles Landing is a nice place to stop overnight with pull-through sites and full hookups and with Escapees discount it only cost $23.  Sweet!

On Sunday morning, we got back on the road around 7:30 and the traffic was very light.  It was so light that Chuck suggested that this would be a good place for me to drive a little while.  I didn't really want to but I know I should probably drive every once in awhile just in case I had to.

Notice my death grip on the steering wheel.  :)

I was pretty tense at first but it got a little easier.  I drove about 70 miles over two hours.  No, I didn't drive 35 mph on the interstate.  We crossed over into the Eastern time zone so I told Chuck I drove for two hours.  :)  We stopped at a rest area on the west side of Tallahassee so Chuck could take over driving again which I was very glad to let him do.  It's a good thing he likes driving and a good thing I like navigating because we wouldn't get anywhere otherwise!

On Sunday, we drove about 350 miles to Wildwood, Florida, stopping overnight at Three Flags Thousand Trail where we could stay for free.  It is not one of our favorite parks but it was free so no complaints.

On Monday morning, we drove over to Alliance Coach in the car to pick up a new battery cut-out switch because the indicator light on ours had burned out.  Then, we hooked up the car again and drove about 145 miles to Ramblers Rest Encore Park where Ken and Bonnie were currently staying.  We wanted to surprise them a couple of days early.  They happened to see our motorhome just as they were driving out of the park and pulled back around to see us.  Bonnie said she wondered if we might surprise them since I hadn't written anything in the blog in a couple of days.

After saying our hellos and getting our hugs, we parted ways because they were meeting up with Ernie and Noela for a bike ride they were taking today.  We got set up on our site and then went to Sweet Tomatos for lupper and Costco and Detweiler's Farm Market for a few groceries. After unloading the groceries, we walked around the campground and checked out the amenities.  It is an older park and the streets are narrow but the pool and some of the recreational facilities have been recently renovated.  They have had a lot of rain here and we could see where vehicles may have gotten stuck in places.  Ken and Bonnie told us later that Ernie had to put his truck in 4-wheel drive to pull out of their site on one of the days he and Noela had been over to see them.

Ken and Bonnie came over to the camper later that evening and we enjoyed talking and getting caught up on everything that had been going on before calling it a night around 11 pm.

On Tuesday, we walked around the campground a bit with Ken and Bonnie and then we all rode over to visit Ernie and Noela where they are staying at Harbor Lakes RV Resort.  They have a very nice site that backs up to a canal with lots of birds and sometimes gators.

We all loaded up in Ernie and Noela's truck and went to Farlow's Restaurant for a delicious lunch outside on their patio.  This was the first time Chuck and I had been to Farlow's and it was very good.

I had their Scallop Caribbean Salad and it was delicious!

The restaurant sits right along the edge of the water.

After lunch, we went back to Ernie and Noela's and played a couple of games of shuffleboard.  I think we successfully brought the sun and good weather with us from Texas because it was very sunny and hot today!

Harbor Lakes is a very nice campground with nice wide roads.  The recreational facilities like the shuffleboard courts are very nice too.  We had such a nice afternoon getting to be with Ernie and Noela and visiting with them again too!

When we got back to Ramblers Rest, we rested for a little while and then went over to Ken and Bonnie's to play SkipBo and Pinochle later that evening.  The men won both games!  Congratulations, guys, but we're not going to let this become a habit!