sarasota fl

gnewhall

Final days in Palm Harbor

We took the MH to Honeymoon Island on Friday I asked the attendant if there was a discount for seniors and she said “no we’re all seniors here.”  That was funny. It was nice having the MH with us at the beach, being able to take a break from the sun and have lunch. Loved Honeymoon Island.

Left click on images to enlarge.

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I have to say something about the RV Park we stayed at. Bay Aire RV Park in Palm Harbor, FL. Our camp hosts Larry & Cheryl were great, they knew we were new to RVing and went out of their way to make our stay a happy one. From helping us setup to recommending places to eat and visit. Not that we needed them but the bath rooms and showers were very clean as was the pool and rec room. Next time we go back to Bay Aire we will be in our own MH.

Bat Aire RV Park

We finished up our trip Saturday. Returned the 30 footer to Cruise American in Tampa. We did everything we were supposed to do; fill the LP tank, bring it back with as much gas as we left with, clean the unit and empty the grey and black water tanks. We got our deposit back plus we saved money on mileage. They charge .34 a mile and since we had a car rental we saved about $68. Between that $68 and the saved $60 in cab fare to and from the airport the car rental only cost about $25! Reflecting on our trip we enjoyed ourselves, learned a lot and came away with better questions than when we started. In the Spring of 2014 we hope to have our own RV.

Motor home pictures.

From cab looking to bedroom. Fridge & freezer on left, kitchen on right.

Left click on images to enlarge.

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With the door closed the shower and bathroom become one room. Looking from bedroom to cab.

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Glass enclosed nerve center.                                                        Camper at night.

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                                                                                                        Does this bumper make my butt look big?!  

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Campground.

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Sunsets.

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gnewhall

Sept 1st -5th

Sunday we did a little scouting for the week. The first place we stopped at was where Robin & Scott lived when they were in Palm Harbor. I remembered it because there was an alligator in the pond.    Left click on images to enlarge.

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Speaking of alligators we had lunch at Molly Goodhead’s

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and had an appetizer of alligator. Tasted like chicken!

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Monday (Labor Day) we went to my cousins for a cookout. Billy grilled hot dogs, steak, chicken and sausage. Delicious! I haven’t seen my cousins Lisa and Christine in long time. Christine especially, she’s been in Florida for 23 years.

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We took home some chicken which we had a couple of nights ago with rice.

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We spent Tuesday, Wednesday and part of Thursday searching for a place to live when we retire next Spring. We found several Apartment and Condo communities in Palm Harbor, Sarasota and Venice that we were happy with. Tuesday we had lunch at The Lucky Dill in Palm Harbor. Great sandwiches we ate half and took the other half home.

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Also on Tuesday we stopped at a 7-11 for a coke and as we were pulling out to go home someone hit our rental car in the driver’s side rear quarter panel.

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Yesterday we went to Honeymoon Island and spent some time on the beach,

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then had lunch.

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A happy camper.

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We went back that night to watch the sunset on the causeway.

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Local fisherman.

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Wednesday we had dinner with my aunt & uncle Theresa and Bruce at Pops Sunset Grill. More good food. It rained during dinner, but was considerate enough to stop when we were done.

Since we don’t have TV in the Motor home we rented a couple of movies from Redbox and watched them on our entertainment center (my computer) while sharing a pint of Ben and Jerry’s. Worked out great!

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gnewhall

Our first trip in a rented 30′ RV

We picked up a 30 foot rental yesterday. All went pretty well. The rental agency was closing by the time our flight into Tampa arrived, so we didn’t get as much instruction as we would have liked. But all in all it worked out OK. We also had a car rental. Eileene was driving and we each had a two- way radio. We rented the car because the cost for a cab both ways to the Cruise America rental was about half the cost of the car rental and we plan to do a lot of driving this week. As most people have advised we went to a large parking lot and practiced, practiced and practiced some more. I found a video on backing up on YouTube that was very helpful and we were confident when we left the parking lot. We had a few places to go before we stopped for the night. I found that keeping it between the lines was a lot  like driving a car, but cornering was a challenge at first. I only took out one corner, Eileen driving behind me says it was two corners, but I didn’t take out any signs, people or fire hydrants. Got in and out of a McDonald’s OK. Stop to pick up a package from Billy and Lisa got an invite from Billy to a Labor Day cookout.  When we got to the campground the host backed me in. Eileen says she could have done a better job ha ha. One thing we found is a lack of 110 outlets in the rental. We usually bring an extension cord with several outlets on the end when we travel and we’re glad we had it this time. We found the A/C to be loud, but no more annoying than the A/C in a motel room. We’re not in a shaded lot so the A/C struggles to keep up with the 90 degree FL heat.