TTN Chesapeake Bay

We left Walterboro, SC around 7:30 am yesterday to grey skies and a little light rain but things soon brightened up. Temps were noticeably cooler than the Tampa area, so that was a welcome relief. The drive north on I-95 was uneventful with the exception of one or two slow downs, but certainly nothing major. Looks like some repaving is underway in South Carolina. Anything would be an improvement to the shake, rattle and roll on some stretches. We stopped at the Flying J in Latta, SC at Exit 181 and found diesel for $2.039, the cheapest since Florida. Then it was clear sailing on up to I-64 East and then onto Hwy 33 on into TTN Chesapeake Bay, where we arrived just after 4 pm. Pretty easy drive of just under 400 miles. Only thing wrong with the Phaeton was the lack of power to our two 12v sockets on the dash, but that shouldn't be too difficult to remedy. Both fuses are fine just no juice flowing, so I may have to pop off the dash cover and have a look behind to check the wiring.

We set up in a site right behind our friends Ken and Faye and were already for our first social call by 5 pm. Ken is still laid up, recovering from knee surgery and his mild heart attack. He looks good though and was happy to see us pop by for a visit. We made sure not to stay too long though.

Faye was kind enough to arrange a pickleball game for us this morning with Artie and Debbie from Ormond Beach, Florida. Chris and I were up early and fit in a nice run out the main access road to the Hwy 198 turn off before coming back for pickleball. We enjoyed meeting new people and playing again. Hopefully we can keep up the games as we go west from time to time.

We drove into Gloucester this afternoon to have a look around. Artie and Debbie suggested we stop at Trader Joe's on Jefferson Rd to pick up some fresh fish and a few groceries. Also picked up a six pack of Kennebunkport Blueberry Wheat Ale. We are just about ready to sit down to some grilled mahi mahi and salad with beer chasers for supper. Anyone care to join us?

Pickleball in Orlando

It rained last night and on and off most of today.

We took a drive to the Nike Outlet Mall on Vineland Drive about 30 minutes from here this morning. The skies looked like they were going to clear, so we dropped Matt and Sarah at Disney MGM around noon while we headed back to the campground. We'll pick them up at Epcot later tonight.

Chris and I had a great afternoon playing pickleball with Charlotte and Larry. Nothing too strenuous as the footing was a little slippery on the wet courts, but lots of fun none the less. We played for two hours, alternating partners as we went. Lots of time to practice shots and strategy. The courts here are actually lined in red paint on the tennis court surface and offer quite a bit of traction even when wet, unlike the courts at Peace River which are smooth concrete.

We saw this little guy sitting on the sidewall of our right front tire when we got home. It is a "stick" bug. I saw this on National Geographic Channel awhile back. It is similar to a Preying Mantis but bigger and its skin looks like a tree branch. It sits on a branch, blending in, awaiting its prey. Also known as a bug!

One little bit of comic relief today. Well, I thought it was funny..... We had left Buddy at home while out with the kids this morning. Upon our return to the motorhome, we saw that Buddy had found Sarah's candy she purchased at Disney yesterday. I think he ate two pieces. Chris was not amused. Buddy is still in dog house......and we don't have one! Nudge, nudge, wink, wink............ Bad dog!

Christmas Shopping

We have spent 3 days back in Orlando this time. We head off to the Lazydays dealership in Tampa tomorrow afternoon. We have 3 days booked with them for servicing and some minor repairs. We are told all is ready and they are waiting for us. We will be able to stay in our RV while it is in the shop. This dealership is huge and sells more than 8000 RVs annually.

We did a bit of Christmas shopping while here. I bought Chris an iPod Touch which she wasn't supposed to get until Christmas. However, our small Sony Viao laptop is no longer reliable enough to run our computer GPS software, so we were in the market for a new portable GPS. We found a Garmin Nuvi 760 at Best Buy which does all that we need it to do and it is transferable from vehicle to vehicle as well, whereas a laptop is more cumbersome to haul around. Chris bought me the Nuvi, and of course I had to try it out right away, so no present under the tree for me. It was only fair then, that she got the iPod early as well. Now we are both happily playing with our new toys. Both are very cool! Seems we have a little more shopping to do after all.

Cheers

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.

Florida Mall

We took yesterday as a rest day and decided to go exploring a bit. I've been trying to find a replacement battery for my new cell phone and someone recommended Florida Mall to us. It is located just off Sand Lake Rd. not far from Orlando International Airport. We trucked on over and enjoyed a nice walk around the premises. To me though one mall is pretty much the same as another. Lots of stores if you are interested in window shopping but we didn't see much of interest to buy at all. This is a big mall but certainly no bigger than anything in Ottawa. Didn't find my battery either. Oh well, I ordered one off Ebay, so lets hope it arrives sooner rather than later.