Got back to Orlando on March 26th, to beautiful, warm weather so we hung out for a couple of days and got reorganized. Dave fixed the flat tire on the trailer and put on 3 more new, steel belted tires. Bye, bye to the flats...we hope!
Spent our first week back at a couple of place near or on the Florida Panhandle. The first place was Keaton Beach (very popular location for scalloping in the summer!) but it was really windy and chilly so we didn’t get out much other than a bike ride.
Second place we went to was Carrabelle, on the east end of the panhandle. Found the best beach in Florida on St. George’s Island. Whitest sand I’ve ever seen and it’s not touristy compared to Destin, Panama City etc. We loved it there, miles of beach to walk on and you can ride all over the island. There’s a state park on it but you have to book almost a year in advance to get a site, it’s that popular. Squeaked in a few last fishing days and managed to catch our last supper in the state.
I LOVE THIS BEACH! - St. George’s Island, east end of the Florida Panhandle
After that, headed back to Prattsville, Alabama to visit my cousin Tom & Michelle and family for Easter weekend. This is where the infamous water skiing accident took place last year....good thing their boat was still in storage so no temptation to recreate that experience or for Dave to prove that he really can water ski :-)
Did a quick stop in Nashville, TN to break up the long drive back and it was so hot (33C) the day we got there, Dave actually went for a swim in their non-heated pool. So the obvious thing to do there, is to go do or see something related to country music....but in our opinion, country music sucks so we did not! The closest we came to anything “iconic” was our drive by Opryland on our way to look at RVs at a dealership. That was close enough!!!
Speaking of RVs, we’re now spending the weekend in Elkhart Indiana area (much colder here, frost on the ground this am) where most of the RVs sold in the US and Canada are made. Lots of dealerships and RV surplus stores to check out. So far no luck in the surplus stores, prices were almost as expensive as big chain stores like Camping world....disappointing. We were hoping to pick up a more comfortable couch for our RV since the one we’ve been trying to lounge in for the past six months is less comfortable than a dog bed!!! No luck with that, either way too expensive $500 - $800 for anything remotely comfy or the same cheap crap we already have.
But we are considering an upgrade to a small toy hauler, 5th wheel trailer so we’re taking full advantage of the area we’re in and checking out what’s on the market. One place we stopped at today didn’t have exactly what we were looking for so they’re going to check with the factory where they’re made to see if they have one we can look at on Monday. That’s handy! But still lots of looking and research to do before we make any changes.
Should be back in Ontario early next week so we’ll be in touch with family and friends soon!!!
Didn’t take many pictures once we got back to the states, but here’s a few.