Echo Valley Campground, Ravine, PA

Echo Valley Campground in Ravine, PA

Echo Valley Campground

We left Madison KOA, VA this morning at 9:30. It took us 4 1/2 hours to get to this campground. The campground is right off Route 81, exit 104. We decided to go straight up Route 81 and then stop at Camping World outside of Syracuse. We have to have the RV winterized again because we will probably still have freezing temps. at night during April and we don't want to burst our water lines. We set up the RV at our campsite, relaxed for a while, then took off to find a Cracker Barrel which my book said was 20 miles up 81N. We found it and had an early supper. We came back to the RV and will have the electric heater on while we are up; then we will turn the furnace on when we go to bed because the low tonight is supposed to be 22 degrees, or about 50 degrees below Florida Keys weather. We plan on watching TV and working on our computers before we go to bed. I can't believe we will be back home tomorrow night. We will have been on the road for 75 days on this trip!

Madison KOA, VA

Madison KOA, in VA

Madison KOA, in VA with snow

Campground Bouncing Pillow

Campground bouncing pillow

We arrived at this KOA on Friday afternoon 3/25/11. We chose this campground because it is near our son Tom and his family. After we set up, we drove over to Tom's house. We sat around talking then Tom made dinner. After dinner we played cards with the kids. We went back to the RV to sleep. Sat. after breakfast we drove over to their soccer fields to watch Erin and Jeffrey play soccer. Tom and Meghan are their coaches. It was freezing out, 36 degrees, while we watched them play. We went back to their house and had lunch then drove over to the campground so the kids could see where Grandma and Grandpa were living. The campground had a hugh bouncing pillow so the kids and even the parents had fun jumping on it. Before we went back to their house we stopped at a winery and did a wine tasting. We got home in time for changing of clothes and then we went out to dinner at a Japanese habachi place. The kids love to watch their meal made right in front of them. We went back to Tom's house and the kids went to bed and we played cards. Sunday we got up to snow on the ground and the temp. was 32. We drove to Tom's house because he was making breakfast for everyone. Sunday we just kind of hung out all day. They had play practice so we went and grabbed a bite to eat and Jeffrey and Mike and I drove back to Tom's house while the rest of the family went to play practice. Jeffrey didn't have to go because they weren't practicing his part in the play. Jeffrey and I played games together while Grandpa watched basketball. When they got home, the kids went to bed and we played cards. We went back to the RV around 10:00PM. This morning the temp. was 31, but no snow.

RV Resort at Carolina Crossroads in Roanoke Rapids,NC

RV Resort at Carolina Crossroads

We left Wilmington, NC @ 10:15 this morning and arrived here at 2:00. We are in Roanoke Rapids, NC. We are staying at the RV Resort at Carolina Crossroads campground. We decided not to try to go to the KOA by Tom's because it would be between 6 and 7 before we got there and we don't like to drive that late. We set up then went into town and ate a very early dinner. We then went to Walmart and got some groceries and came back to the campground. This campground is the first treeless campground that we have stayed in. We just worked on the computer or watched TV for the rest of the evening.

Wilmington KOA in Wilmington, NC

Wilmington KOA campground

Wilmington KOA campground

Kite surfer at Wrightsville Beach

Kite surfer

Kite surfer

Kite Surfer

Kite Surfer

Judy & Mike at a windy Wrightsville Beach

Judy at Wrightsville Beach

Wrightsville Beach

Mike at Wrightsville Beach

Mike at other end of Wrightsville Beach (nice day)

other end of Wrightsville Beach

Other end of Wrightsville Beach

Georgie, Dave and Judy

We left Florence, SC around 11:00AM and arrived at Wilmington KOA at 2:00PM. We are here in Wilmington to visit Georgie and Dave Bramley, retired teachers from Pittsford. We set up and had lunch. Mike spent time scrubbing the front of the RV to get rid of all the bugs and bug juice. We took a drive out to Wrightsville Beach island, then we went and had supper at Blue Water, which is right on the inter-coastal. On Monday we went back to the beach and walked it for a while. It was a little chilly and very windy. We stopped and watched a couple of guys kite surfing. It is so neat to watch them zoom over the water and then jump a wave and go way up in the air. We went over to Georgie's later in the afternoon. It was great seeing Georgie and Dave and their house is great. I had heard a lot about it while they were building it 5 years ago. We had a pleasent evening. Tues. Mike and I went back to the beach because it was sunny and 83 degrees. We were there for 3 hours. Can you tell we love the beach!! We went home and got ready to go out to eat with Georgie and Dave. They came to the RV Park to see our house on wheels and then we went out to eat seafood. Wed. Mike and I got to see where Georgie teaches at UNC at Wilmington. The education building is beautiful. She had to go to a meeting so Mike and I went back to the beach. It was sunny but very very windy. We did sit there for 2 hours but near the end, I was dressed and wrapped in my towel because it was chilly. We went home and got changed and went back to Georgie and Dave's house for dinner. We had a "low country shrimp boil" dinner. It had potatoes, corn on the cob, sausage, and shrimp. It was very good. When we left we said good bye because we are leaving on the next day, 3/24.

Florence RV Resort in Florence, SC

Our site at Florence RV Resort - Florence, SC

Our site at Florence RV Resort

We got to Florence RV Resort in Florence, SC around 3:30. We had driven over 300 miles today. It was the most miles we have done in one day this whole trip. We set up the RV and then drove to a Long Horn Steak House (Mike's favorite) for dinner. After we ate we had to find a grocery story because we were all out of soda. We were told to go to the Piggly Wiggly; what a funny name for a grocery store! When we got back home, Mike watched basketball and I watched some TV programs on Hulu.com on the computer.

We are in Dahlonega, GA.

Johnny and Jane's home

Johnny & Jane's guest house - we stayed here

Mike, Jane, Johnny - front of their home

River down in front of their home

My cousin Johnny holding Jane's horse, Jesse

Judy with Martin the donkey

We left for my cousin's, on Wed. 3/16. John and Jane live north of Atlanta in a place called Dahlonega. They live way out in the country and up a mountain. Their home is in a gorgeous setting. Jane has a horse and it is kept in a pasture with the neighbor's 2 horses and 1 donkey right below their house. There is a river that runs through their neighbor's property and people pay to fly fish for rainbow trout. We walked the river and were driven all around the property, so beautiful. We went back to Donna's on Fri. and on Sat. 3/19 we went and got our RV out of storage and drove to Florence, SC.

Visiting a friend in Fayetteville, GA

RV storage at Atlanta South RV Resort in McDonough, GA

Donna Sullivan's home in Fayetteville, GA


Donna and Judy



Donna and Mike

Yesterday, 3/12, we left Cordele and headed for McDonough, GA. We are going to store the RV at Atlanta South RV Resort and then drive our car over to Fayetteville to visit and stay with a good friend who used to live up in Pittsford, Donna Sullivan. We got to her house by following the directions of our GPS. We had lost faith in our GPS because when we were driving to MCDonough the GPS gave us different directions to find the RV Resort from our Woodall Campground book. We decided to follow the GPS directions and ended up on a dirt road that sort of ended. Lucky for us there was a church that was being built and their driveway was there so we drove up the driveway hoping to turn around in the parking lot but the parking lot was under construction. We noticed there was a housing track with a road on the other side of the parking lot so we took it and luckily it got us back on the right road and we found the RV Resort. We stored our RV. We packed our car with stuff enough for a week. We arrived at Donna's around 4:00, sat around and talked, then went out to dinner. We spent 4 days visiting with Donna. On Monday Mike took our car to the dealers because our emissions light had been on since the Keys. On Wed. we were heading for my cousin's home north of Atlanta. When I got up I discovered I had a UTI so we had to go to a clinic and a Dr. saw me and gave me a prescription. We left for my cousin's only 2 hours late.

Cordele, GA

Cordele KOA

We left The Villages, FL this morning at 9:30. It was 44 degrees when we got up. BRRRR!! We drove 250 miles and ended up here at Cordele, GA. We are in a KOA. All their sites are pull-thrus, which we like. We got here around 2:00, set up and then relaxed. It was a sunny day but cool. They say it is going down to 34 degrees. We got out our electric heater again. We leave tomorrow for McDonough, GA, south of Atlanta. We are storing our RV there and then driving over to a good friend's house in Fayetteville and staying with her for several days.

The Villages, Florida

Recreation Plantation RV Resort, Lady Lake, FL

Mike & Judy at Hacienda Country Club, The Villages, FL



Cousin Janet & Sam with Mike on 9th Hole of Hacienda CC

Judy in mid swing on 9th hole at Hacienda CC

We arrived at Lady Lake, FL on Sun. 3/6. We are staying at The Recreation Plantation RV Resort. We are here to see my cousin Janet and Sam, and a good friend from Pittsford who has moved down here, Jim Liebmann and a fellow bunco player also from Pittsford, Patty Cooke. They all live in The Villages. Boy what a place. Mike calls it Disney World for Seniors. There are lots and lots of golf courses and each village has a rec. center with a million and one activities and lots of swimming pools. There are 2 Town Squares where there is entertainment every night, 7 nights a week. One unique feature is that everyone has golf carts and uses them instead of cars. There is a separate path/road for them to travel on. It is so neat. We played golf twice. Toured around one day and went to the Arnold Palmer Country Club and the Nancy Lopez Country Club pro shops and did a little shopping.

Our first 2 RV Resorts on the West Coast of Florida

Judy & Mike on Bonita Beach

Bonita Beach

Bonita Beach


Bonita Lake RV Resort


Ellenton Gardens Travel Resort

Thurs., 3/3, we left the Keys and we stopped around 2:30 in the afternoon. We are staying at the Bonita Lake RV Resort in Bonita Springs. It is between Naples and Fort Meyers. The resort had a lot of permanent RV's. It was an ok place, very nice pool and they had a lot of activities. We drove down to the beaches and had supper and walked on the beach. When we got back we read that they played bingo that night so we joined them. Mike won a game that night. We were lazy Fri. morning and didn't get on the road till 11:15. It was very windy today which made the drive more challenging. We arrived at our next stop, Ellenton, FL, around 1:30. We are staying at the Ellenton Gardens Travel Resort. It was a joke where they put us. We are in their parking lot. We do have elect. and water. The resort has mostly permanent winter residents. The reason we stopped here is to visited two friends of my parents, the Marion's. When we left the Marion's house we drove down to Bradenton Beach and found a restaurant on the beach and had supper and watched the sun set then walked on the beach. On Sat. we went back over to the Marion's and we all went out to lunch at an Oyster Bar. After lunch Ivan took us out on his boat. They live on the Manatee River. We went up the river and went into these little inlets and in one we saw an adult bald eagle by its nest. Two young eagles were standing on the edge of the nest. Then Ivan drove the boat to a series of mangrove trees islands which were covered with birds. We saw wood storks, spoonbills, egrets, snow egrets and great blue herons. They were all perched on the trees of these 2 small islands. No pictures because I forgot my camera. Tomorrow we are heading for The Villages in the center of the state. We are staying there for 5 nights. I have relatives and we have friends who live there.

Last week in the Keys

On Sat, 2/26 Mike and I drove up to Islamorada and went to the biggest Flea Market we have ever been to. It was mostly stuff for boating or fishing. We only bought a decal that looks like etched glass of a pelican which we are going to put on our window in our door. It was very hot that day so I ended up buying a floppy hat because I forgot my visor. We came home and our neighbor from NC came over and we decided the 4 of us were going to go out to eat at the Sunset Grill just down the road from our RV resort. On Monday we picked up my cousin Libby and we went and golfed at a Par 3 nine hole golf course. We went to a bar/rest. on the canal by Libby's and sat and watched all the boats and had lunch. I had my first lobster taco; it was very good. Tues. we went back to Libby's and I did laundry and we sat out by the pool. It was real warm so we were in the water more than on the lounges. On Wed., our last day here, I rode my bike up on the old 7 mile bridge one last time. Mike needed to clean the grill before putting it away so he didn't go with me. We spent the rest of the day organizing and putting things away. We did play bingo that night and I won a game again; that was 4 for 4 over 4 weeks. We got up early on Thurs. and we were on the road by 9:30AM for the Florida's West Coast.