Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries

A trip into Orlando International airport yesterday to pick up Chris for a short visit. She even arrived early. Must have been a quicker flight than normal, likely because she was riding on all that thin, Canadian cold air that the Florida weather guys have been complaining about for the last few days! Like we have any control over the weather! Traffic was bad on the way in and again on the way home but we managed alright. We enjoy taking the scenic highway for most of the return trip to Sebring and staying off I4 and US27. I saw this old Ford on the road on my way into Orlando. Not sure what year it was, but it looked to be in great shape and was hauling this homemade trailer with only a one wheel axle.

Of course we had to make our usual stop at Five Guys before heading back to Sebring. I managed to take a some quick pictures of our burgers. And yes....they were yummy! Two loaded burgers with all the fixings, a mountain of fries and drinks for $20. Not bad. And for those of you wondering, that was both lunch and supper for us today!

Here we see sacks of Idaho potatoes waiting to be consumed. Wonder how many bags of potatoes Five Guys would go through in a week?

Weather is warming up. Back into the mid 70s for the next week or so. Life is good......:)

Marmora, Ontario

One of the difficulties of traveling in an RV is not always having an internet connection. We were fine in the USA because we had a Verizon USB modem that worked everywhere we were this past winter. Rock Glen Resort had great wifi available at a paltry cost of $7.00 for the six days we spent there. However, leaving for home on May 15th, we traveled some pretty rural areas along Hwy 7 in eastern Ontario, making it tough to get a cell phone signal at times, let alone the internet. Besides, internet via a cell phone data connection in Canada is, shall we say, extremtly cost prohibitive. Anyway, I digress.........

We awoke to clear blue skies on Thursday morning in Arkona which made for a great driving day. We were on the road just after 9 am and followed Hwys 402 and 401 into London where we topped up with diesel at Flying J. $1.289/litre. That converts to $4.89/US gallon!! Costs keep going up but what a way to travel! After that it was east on Hwy 401 through Toronto. We debated on taking Hwy 407 around the north side of Toronto because it is usually much quicker than the Hwy 401. Hwy 407 is a toll road and we figured using it with the motorhome and toad would add another $40 or so to our trip, so we decided to brave it on Hwy 401. Anyone traveling 401 knows that it can become Canada's largest parking lot in a heartbeat. Well, the RVing gods must have been smiling upon us because we sailed through with only a very minor slow down. Excellent!!!

We continued east, past Hwy 115 to Peterborough, so that we could stop at the Service Centre aka rest area which is on Hwy 401 east of Newcastle. We needed some lunch and Buddy needed that plus his usual "pause for the cause" break as well. We followed Hwy 45 north up to Norwood and then east into Marmora along Hwy 7.

We had made arrangements to see our friends Joe and Jan O'Neill and Garry and Brenda Poirier in Marmora and spend the night. We had met them last year at Fanshawe Conservation Area in London, Ontario and then visited with them again at the Happy Traveller RV Park in Tampa this past winter. We joined them for supper at Bunky's Hideaway where we both enjoyed a marvelous pickerel supper. We overnighted in our RV behind Garry's business which was first class. Water and electricity too! Thanks Garry.

We also got to take in the first classic car show of the season in Marmora. All types of nicely restored cars and trucks were parked on a closed off portion of Marmora's main downtown street. As you can see, I managed to get a few pictures with my cell phone. Pretty impressive and for a small town too! This blue '57 Chevy is Garry's pride and joy!

What a great evening with great friends. We all made plans to get together in Marmora over the summer. Joe and Jan were off to Ireland in the morning. Hope you have a great trip. One more sleep for us in the motorhome. Heading for Ottawa in the morning!

Eckhard's

Last night, Chris and I went to Eckhard's for supper. We first heard about this great German restaurant from our friend Charlotte in Orlando. When she learned we would be stopping at TTN Chesapeake Bay for a few days on the way back to Ontario, Charlotte insisted we try this fabulous German restaurant closeby. Only problem was, she couldn't remember the name of it!

We arrived here on Friday and immediately asked local staff if they had heard of such a restaurant. Nobody had! Now Chris had been drooling all the way from Orlando to Chesapeake Bay, dreaming of her favourite German meal, "weiner schnitzel, schpetzel und salate", so we just had to find this place!! Terry has been the manager at this park for many years and she came through for us. Name and phone number supplied in a voice mail. Excellent and thank you Terry!! We called for a reservation on our way to Colonial Williamsburg. As she hung up the phone, I could tell from the smile on Chris's face
that we were in for 6 pm last night.

Eckhard's is located at 2700 Grey's Point Rd, Topping, VA. Telephone 804-758-4060. About 30 minutes north of TTN Chesapeake Bay. Their fare includes "German, Italian and Other Fine Foods". All dishes are entirely homemade. Chris indeed had her schnitzel with all the trimmings. I had the "schweine maxen" or pork leg special, which was fabulous. Done to perfection and it just fell from the bone. Servings were large so we did not leave hungry and served piping hot. In fact, it was a chore for us to eat it all. We both shared an apfel strudel a la mode for dessert. What a great evening!!! Eckhard's was busy when we got there and was getting even busier when we left at 7 pm.

Well done Charlotte! Thanks for a great tip!!

New Toshiba Laptop

We both decided to have a rest day from our usual fitness program today. Chris's shin is still a little tender and I could use a rest day too.

We watched as Dennis and Barb Johnson hooked up and headed north this morning. Our little corner on G loop at TTN Orlando is pretty sparsely populated these days. We have made many new friends these past 6 months.

We headed up to Clermont this morning and stopped in at Best Buy where I picked up a very nice Toshiba Satellite A-305 laptop on sale. The motherboard on my Qosmio was fried and it would have cost almost what I paid for the new laptop to repair it. Figured why bother repairing a 3 year old laptop. It hums along pretty well with 3 GB of RAM running Windows Vista Premium.

Unfortunately, our Verizon PC5750 air card is incompatible with this laptop as there is no PCMCIA slot. So we stopped in at the Verizon store at The Groves and bought a new USB720 modem. It works very well and can be moved from computer to computer much more easily than the air card.

Of course, we just had to stop in a Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries one last time before heading back to TTN Orlando. We'll have to work it off tomorrow.

Our favourite furball goes in for grooming tomorrow morning.

Chili in Florida

Last night was our turn to host our first potluck supper. Chris was busy most of the day making two pots of chili, rice, biscuits and three bean salad. We had to borrow a second slow cooker for the chili. As you can see from the photos, it was quite a feast. Our pickleball friends also provided, cakes, enchaladas, chip with homemade dip, three cakes, fresh fruit, etc.

We sat around for about two hours enjoying great food and great company. You will notice that everyone is wearing jackets and long pants. That is because it has cooled off considerably over the past 2 days. Day time highs have barely reached 70F with strong winds, while overnight temps were in the upper 40Fs. All that is supposed to change tomorrow thankfully.


Today was a busy day on the fitness front. We both played pickleball this morning. I also got in a quick mile swim in the pool before lunch. Then after some lunch, Dennis and I played against Rich and Larry beginning at 2 pm. They are going in a tournament soon and needed practice playing together. We had some great games in very windy conditions. It is surprising how much different the game is when the wind blows.

While we played, Chris walked out to the post office along Hwy 27 to mail a birthday card. Hwy 27 is very busy multi-lane highway. She was even honked at by two truckers while walking on the sidewalk. Good for her ego ..... and mine. That's my girl!!!

Bob and Julie, as well as Stan and Sally, head for points north tomorrow morning. Thousand Trails Orlando is clearing out as well. Lots of empty spots available now. We are already making plans for a pickleball tourney at TTN St Clair this summer. Many of our friends from Florida should be there.

You Guys Must Be Canadian......ey!

Well the bottom has dropped out of the thermometer again here in Florida. Down into the 40Fs last night and only up to a high of 68F today if we are lucky. Pretty strange because it is still sunny. Regina, Saskatchewan on the other hand, saw 26C yesterday! What's with that?

Oh yeah, and the Sens are going all the way too.............................!!!!! Not!!!! Break out the golf clubs boys. Stick a fork in 'em, they're done like dinner! Go Habs, Go!!!

We were out for our run/walk this morning. Now it was only about 52F when we left our motorhome, dressed in our usual shorts, tank tops and runners. The sun was out and it was quite pleasant, albeit a little cool. We warmed up quickly though. While we were out, we both saw this older fellow on a bicycle go by us in the park. Jeans, hoodie, touque, boots, parka, gloves, etc. He wasn't going very fast on his bike. He never said anything as he approached and passed us from behind. A few minutes later, he passed us again on his return loop. This time he approached us from the front. While approaching, he shakes his head and says, "You guys must be Canadian!" To which we replied, "How could you tell?" We both chuckled over that one.

Canadian and darn proud of it too!

Tonight is our turn to cook and invite the gang over for dinner. Chris is busy preparing her chili with homemade biscuits and three bean salad. We are expecting about 20 people under our awning tonight. It will be cool but cozy as well. And that chili will surely keep us all warm. More goodies are being brought in by the other wives as well.

Man, it's a tough life!

Solomon's Castle

Today, we made the short drive west on Hwy 64 to look at Solomon's Castle located in Ona, FL. Clicking on the title of this blog entry should take your browser to Solomon Castle's home page.

The castle and all other buildings are the creation of Howard S Solomon. He is an accomplished artist and sculptur who recycles just about anything into his artistic creations. Touring the castle gave us a chance to view his gallery on the main floor as well some of the living quarters on the upper floors. The gleaming exterior is made of the printing plates discarded by the local weekly newspaper. There are more than 80 interpretations of stained glass windows throughout Solomon's Castle. Some of them are quite impressive.

The gallery contains many sculptures, most created from such discarded items as, oil drums, tuna fish cans, lawn mower engines, beer cans, mechanical parts of all shapes and sizes, etc. Our guide gave us a very enjoyable tour which featured some very witty, and sometimes quite corny, plays on words. Referring to the instrument seen here on the table, our guide asked if anyone played a musical instrument. Piano, horn, etc were among the replies. Then holding this instrument for all to see, she quipped, "Does anyone know how to 'tune-a-can"!

We also enjoyed an excellent lunch at the on site Boat in Moat restaurant. All home style cooking which was very good. From the amount of people there for lunch, word has definitely got out that they serve good food here.

We toured around the grounds for about an hour afterwards and then headed for home. This tree was huge and had to be at least 4 feet across. Not sure what type of tree it is. Cypress perhaps, and Florida is covered in them.

Sarah has had a good visit. She will leave more tanned than when she arrived, albeit with a little heat rash as well. Something to tide her over for the remaining spring months in Halifax. We'll be on the road to Tampa very early in the morning.

Kayaking on Peace River

Yesterday afternoon, we attended a going away party for Bob and Kathy Hughes who are heading home to North Carolina. Last night, we were invited to sit around a camp fire by Norm and Barb, our full timer neighbours. We had lots of questions for them as it is certainly something we have been considering doing ourselves. What a great way to see North America.

This morning, Chris and I joined Jane and her friend Pat on a kayak trip up Peace River. Chris and I each had our own kayaks, while Jane and Pat shared a tandem. The water was very clear and quite warm. We had to portage some small rapids on the way up stream but managed to run them easily coming back. What a great way to see wildlife. We saw numerous turtles out sunning themselves on logs jutting out of the water. No gators though. Plenty of egrets fishing for their dinners as well. We paddled about two miles upstream which was a bit of a work out before turning around and basically drifting almost all the way home.

The river shack on the left is one of a handful we saw along the river. We could hear country music coming from it while we were still downstream, long before we saw it. Didn't see anyone around it though. Made me think of the movie Deliverance for some reason.

We got back in time for a nap before pickleball. Unfortunately, games were rained out after only an hour tonight. We joined Jim and Jane at the Pioneer restaurant in Zolfo Springs for supper. Haddock, sweet potato fries, hush puppies, corn fritters and cole slaw. Yummy!

Fantasia Gardens

We spent the morning playing mini golf. Disney offers two 18 hole mini golf courses. One, is a regular golf course type theme with grass fairways, greens, etc, while the other has a Fantasia theme. We chose the Fantasia for our day out. The Mickey you see here is outside the main entrance. Now that is one talented gardener! We played to see who would buy lunch. Chris started strong, but faded down the stretch. In the end, it wasn't even close but she did very well for a first timer. I think it is all a matter of luck mostly anyway, as all the holes have lots of twists and bends. It only took about an hour to go around and we were allowed to play through on one hole and come back to a hole we missed later on.


We then drove over and parked at Downtown Disney in front of Planet Hollywood. We were amazed the parking lots were not full. In fact, there weren't many people around at all and it was a beautiful day. We were there just before noon and decided to grab lunch at Planet Hollywood as there was no line to get in. Chris had L.A. Lasagna and I had the Pork Ribs. Both were excellent and served piping hot. The service was excellent too. The atmosphere inside PH was fabulous. So many movie clips showing and lots of memorabilia hung on the walls. After lunch, we walked up the spiral staircase to explore the other two levels of the restaurant. We also bought a picture of the two of us taken by a photographer on the way into the building. It turned out very well and I will post it once I get it scanned.

We wandered around Downtown Disney and saw loads of shops with all type Disney wear for sale. Chris managed to find a wide brimmed hat and hoodie she liked at the Rainforest Cafe. We enjoyed the huge Lego displays too. There was a sea monster actually in the water, a shark, a family walking and others all made of Lego. Hard to believe that someone could actually sculpt such life size figures and all out of Lego! Amazing.

Take a look at the family on the left in front of the Disney Store. At a glance, it is hard to see which figures are real and which are created in Lego. Take a closer look by clicking on the picture to enlarge it.

We got home just after 2 pm and managed to get in a few games of pickleball before supper. All in all, a very enjoyable day.

Weather ..... More Tornado Warnings.....

Chris had a great time in Lakeland shopping with Cathy and Jane. A girls day out, including lunch. Apparently, some time was spent in the beading store as well.

Buddy and I hung out at the pickleball courts until just after lunch and then headed home. Games were quite good yesterday morning, although many people, including yours truly, were a step or two slower after the great breakfast by Travis and Dee Dee. It didn't take long to work it off though.

We are supposed to be out of here on Feb 17th but are trying to get one extra night if possible, as we do not get into TT Orlando until Feb 18th. Peace River is overbooked for the weekend right now, but they are checking into the extra night for us. Even a bit of ground with no hookups will do us just fine. It will all depend on how many no shows there are I suppose.

There was some nasty weather blowing in off the Gulf yesterday afternoon and last night as well. Lots of rain and wind in some places but we seem to have escaped the bad stuff for the time being. I retracted all our awnings and took down the sunshade just to be safe. We followed several tornado watches on the local news last night but Peace River area has escaped unscathed thus far.

Looks like another rainy day here today, so no pickleball for sure. Canada AM showed the whole eastern seaboard covered with the same storm system that blew through here last night. Anyway, it is wet here, but at least we are not shovelling snow!

We signed up for a Valentine's Day brunch in Avon Park tomorrow which is only about 25 miles east of here on Hwy 64. There are 50 of us going to a culinary school for a special feast. Sounds promising.

Life Is Good

It was strange waking up yesterday and having the motorhome all to ourselves. We enjoyed the kids' visit but it is nice to be back to normal here as well. Nothing special on the agenda at all.

We took a run out to Best Buy to pick up some screen protectors for my phone and organizer. Didn't have any luck brow beating HTC for a new one unfortunately. Then we stopped at Five Guys Famous Burgers for lunch. We have not found a better burger anywhere. Publix for a few groceries, and then back to Thousand Trails for the afternoon.

We played pickleball again for a couple of hours before supper. Lots of people out yesterday too. Weather turned a little cool and breezy by the time we got home for supper. We tried some nice fresh Tilapia (fish) for supper. It was excellent.

It cooled off quite a bit last night, enough to put the heater on for an hour or so. Friday will be a day at TT. We have a few things to look after here including a bath for his nibs as well if it warms up enough during the day.

I have been trying to extend our stay at Peace River in February after we leave here on Feb 3rd but am not having much success at all. Looks like we may be going up to Dade City for a week instead of back to Peace River. We are told that February will be the last really busy month at both Peace River and Orlando parks. We will be fine, however it works out.

Still at Bee's........ Until Tomorrow

We are still in the overflow site which is not really that bad and for only $8 a night, one really shouldn't complain. We have met two of our neighbours. Both are from Illinois and are also in overflow and paying over $20 a night! I think I would have some issues with that arrangement but that is their affair and not mine.

Yesterday, we took a run south to Kissimee to get haircuts. After all, we have to look presentable for the arrival of our guests on Monday. We went back to the same salon we tried before during our last stay in Orlando. We also stopped in at Thousand Trails to pick up some mail that was waiting for us. I finally got my new cell phone back from repair at HTC. It had quit working the day before we left Ottawa to head south. I think they just sent me a new phone. I also received a new remote sensor and circuit board for our Progressive Industries surge protector. Basically, the surge protector checks the quality of electricity drawn from the campground electrical post. If it is not satisfactory, the protector will not let the power through into our motorhome. The unit was over $500 but is good insurance against having all our electronics zapped by lightning or a bad post. So far we have encountered no bad posts in any of the campgrounds we have stayed. The remote sensor actually gives me a read out of how many amps, hertz, etc we are drawing at any one time. Certainly better than frying $8000 worth of electronics like I have heard happening on various RV wes sites.

We returned to Bee's yesterday afternoon in time for the all-you-can-eat fish fry dinner at the Honey Pot Restaurant. We dined with the Crawleys from California who were our neighbours in Peace River for two of our three weeks there. The Honey Pot is located right at Bee's RV Resort so we didn't have to drive anywhere. People come from all over to eat here as well.

This morning started with a nice walk with Buddy. Then we left his Highness in the motorhome while we went for a nice run on the natural trail running around the perimeter of Bee's. He seems to be settling in to life in the motorhome and is not barking as much as he used to when we started. I think he knows when the bark collar is on and just decides to keep quiet. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

We then headed over to The Groves at Winter Garden Village for a little shopping. We picked up a set of queen size sheets for the sofa bed as well as a few bits of linen and towels. Car wash on the way back to Clermont. Best car wash I have ever seen. It had about 20 angled parking stalls with free vacuuming stations. There was even a vacuum machine that cleaned your floor mats. Worked like a computer printer, only instead of paper being fed in one end and out the other end, you feed the floor mats in one at a time. Pretty slick!

Once we got to Bee's, we lazed around under our awning and watched the world go by. Chris kept busy practicing her newly learned hobby of making pine needle baskets. It is a native American art form she learned at Peace River. Nothing fancy yet, but she is getting quite good at it. I read some RV magazines until the skies opened up and we both moved back inside for the evening.

Tomorrow, we head for Thousand Trails in Orlando for 3 weeks. We hope to be on the road by 11:30 am after we fill up our propane tanks before leaving here. If all goes well, we'll be set up in lots of time and ready to play pickleball tomorrow evening.

Happy New Year!!!!!

We played pickleball twice yesterday and are both feeling it a bit this morning....but we will likely play again at 9 am anyway. Decisions....decisions! There were lots of people out yesterday morning but the afternoon session was a little more sparsely attended as many regular players were having a snooze so they could attend the New Year party here at Thousand Trails this evening.

Our shower head had been leaking for a couple of days so I took it apart to see what needed repairing. There is a shut off switch on the shower head which has two O-rings on it. One of the rings was split, so we drove into ACE hardware in Wauchula and picked up a replacement and also a few spares. Pretty simple really but something that had to be repaired none the less.

We joined a group of pickleballers at the Bread Board restaurant for lunch at 2 pm. We both enjoyed the grouper and fries again, along with the salad bar this time. Two great meals for $15.00 which we thought was very reasonable.

Our New Year's Eve was spent around our campfire and then a walk with Buddy. That was followed up with a rousing game of Scrabble, one of my Christmas presents. I managed to squeak out a narrow win over Chris but she promises to whoop me the next time.

A little foggy this morning with rain in the forecast. Temps are to plunge today and for the next few days as well, with over night lows into the 30s and day times highs only in the 60s. Still no snow in the forecast though!

Happy New Year everyone.

Bike Ride and Lunch

We had a nice little bike tour around Wauchula yesterday which is only a couple of miles north of our camp ground. Nice rambler pace up the hwy and then we toured around the back streets for a bit before stopping at the Bread Board for lunch. We ate outside and enjoyed a delicious fish and chip meal. Grouper is excellent in place of haddock or cod.

The afternoon was spent lazing round our site. Buddy received a good brushing and I also applied some liniment to ease the itching he is experiencing on some hot spots. Another lady here with a Bichon suggested we cover it with a bit of self adhesive wrap commonly used by vets. Seems to have done the trick as Buddy is no longer nibbling and scratching and the wrap is still in place.

Chris and I received our new pickleball paddles yesterday afternoon in time for our daily matches beginning at 4 pm. They are like a large ping pong paddle and not as heavy as the wooden ones we have been borrowing from the ranger station. Many of the regulars use the lighter paddles too. We enjoyed our matches. Chris and I teamed up together for the last doubles match of the day. We played well and won against a much more experienced team. There is a surprising amount of strategy to the game and as in most racquet sports, your placement on the court is key to making or losing a point.

The campground is filling up and most of the 50 amp, sewer sites, where we are, are already taken. There is still the usual daily parade of motorhomes and fifth wheels packing up and heading down the road, followed with the arrival of new snowbirds after that. We are good here until Jan 10th, but are already looking for somewhere to go for 3 days after that before we go back to Orlando on Jan 13th.

Lindsay and Casey are off to Hanover, Ontario to enjoy the Arnold family Christmas hosted by their Aunt Karen. Karen is expecting a houseful of people but I am sure all will go off without a hitch. Wish we were there too but we'll have to suffer in 84F temps for now.

Stay safe everyone!

Another Christmas Dinner

Well, Christmas dinner #2 was a huge event here at Wauchula. The preserve provided the turkey and ham while everyone else attending was asked to bring a dish or dessert. The cost of this feast was a paltry $5.00/couple. We all sat under a huge tent next to the main office/store complex. Food was lined up on tables and benches down the middle of the tent and two lines formed up either side. Strictly buffet style dining and there was certainly no shortage of food. There were almost 200 people attending which was a record for the park. Congratulations to Debbie, the park manager, and all the volunteers, cooks who helped make this event possible.

We enjoyed a great meal with our neighbours. Initially, we were sat out in the sunshine, as there were simply too many people to all fit under the tent dome. We certainly felt the heat of the sun beating down upon us and soon decided to move our table and chairs onto the porch area of the main store, out of the sun.

A great day! Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas at Peace River

Well the turkey turned out great!! It was ready around 4 pm which was also when the afternoon pickleball matches were on. So we lowered the heat and went to play pickle ball again for an hour. We were home by 6pm and dinner followed in short order. Chris did an excellent job in her new kitchen. We also tried a bottle of white wine we purchased from a local winery while in Orlando. Excellent!







Couple of more pictures here for you. The Queen at her dinner table. Buddy not wanting to get out of bed this morning. Yeah, we know.....he rules the roost!

We would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from our home on wheels in sunny Florida. Stay safe everyone.

Still No Snow But Cooler.......

Another tough day in retirement here in Wauchula.


Temps dropped into the 50Fs last night, making it very comfortable for sleeping as we could open the windows and not have the air conditioners running. The Florida weathermen must be related to the ones in Canada though because their forecast for today was not even close to what it was. It was cloudy and cool until after lunch when the sun finally made a brief appearance and pushed us up over 70F.

We enjoyed two walks around the 1.5 mile
perimeter loop of the park today. We went a little
further along one river bank in an effort to find the 12 ft alligator everyone talks about here..., "Stumpy".... but he wasn't anywhere to be seen today at all. Perhaps the cooler weather put him off a bit. Lots of spooky looking trees along the nature trail and we even found orange trees growing in amongst everything else. Chris kept herself occupied looking for gators and snakes. There was evidence that wild pigs had been out last night along the nature trail as places were dug up from where they had foraged for roots, etc.

RV parks are all about socializing and we have met all kinds of great people since arriving here. This afternoon we attended an ice cream social. A nice bowl of ice cream for $1.00 on the front porch area of the main store/office followed by lots of good conversation with our new neighbours. There is one other motorhome and also a fifth wheel with Ontario plates at the park but we haven't met the owners yet.

This afternoon we went for a drive, just to see what was around here. Zolfo Springs is about 4 miles south of here on Hwy 17 and then Arcadia is around 24 miles past that. We are dead center in the middle of Florida and there is a lot of ranch and wilderness country here. There are a few state parks near here which we hope to check out if we have time. Still hoping to find some quiet back roads for some cycling as well.

We received a question about our Christmas lights. We have a small 3 ft tree we bought at Walmart sitting on our dashboard in the motorhome with built in fibre optic lights that change colours frequently and also a string of the new white LED lights outside under our awning but unfortunately they don't photograph well enough with or without a flash to post here.

Fitness at Bee's

We started the day off with a stroll for Buddy and then left him in the RV while we went for a run inside the park. The outer perimeter road measures just over 1 km and includes a paved road where the RVs are parked and also a nature trail through the woods. We agreed to run 4 loops and then walk one with Buddy as part of our cool down. We ran the first bit together and then I went off on my own for a bit. Neither of us were carrying any water for the first time since being here, so we were both a little parched at the end. I finished my 4th loop and grabbed Buddy and a bottle of water from the RV and then went to meet Chris at the end of her 4th loop. She came by in a few minutes while I was chatting with a fellow walking his dog and she decided to squeak in another loop running so she would get her 5 km in. Of course, I couldn't run anymore because I had Buddy in tow and he was more interested in peeing two drops on every bush he could find. Bottom line was Chris ran 5 km and I only ran 4 km. She was quite proud of herself for that. We had a great pancake breakfast afterwards and are still chuckling about our respective runs.

After we showered up, we decided to take a drive over to Winter Garden which is about 15 miles east on Hwy 50. On the way, I also checked out a bike shop in Clermont while Chris mailed some Christmas cards at the post office. They supplied me with some route maps for local bike rides in and around Clermont as well as directions to several trailheads for the West Orange Trail. 22 miles of 14 ft wide asphalt bike trail. Hoping to try that out tomorrow. I had forgotten that Clermont is the staging area for the Great Floridian Ironman race. We also asked about local lakes for swimming but were told that Lake Minneola was closed for swimming except during the race. Just as well because we didn't bring our wetsuits anyway.

We continued on over to Winter Garden and checked out this huge mall on Daniels Rd. It is so new that the Barnes and Noble store was not even open yet. We wandered through a few stores including Sports Authority, Best Buy and Verizon. Surprisingly, none of the stores were very busy even though Christmas is fast approaching. Perhaps because it was a week day. We had lunch at Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries which was excellent!! Best burger we've ever had. So much food we could hardly finish it. Then we headed back to Clermont on old state road 50 which was the scenic tour and proved to be very picturesque. Unfortunately, I left the camera in the RV, so you will have to trust me on this one. Duh!

Once back at Bee's, we had a few hours to rest up before their Beehive restaurant opened for the regular and extremely well attended, Friday night all you can eat fish fry dinner. Also excellent!! Fried or baked fish (we tried both), baked potato or fries (baked), cole slaw, corn fritters and home made apple sauce for dessert. There was no way we could handle seconds. Although many people certainly did.

So we both agreed that yesterday was a bit too much food. Time to get the bikes ready and go work it all off. Hoping to let Buddy try out the bike trailer as well and there will definitely be pictures of that.