RV travels around the USA
My long overdue blog post has finally been written and posted! In this update, I will try to capture the highlights of the last couple of months. There have been many highs and a few lows over this period as we have enjoyed the many activities and friends at our RV park in New Port Richey (NPR) Florida. I’m sure a few things will be left out as I try to cover this time.
We survived a rushed loading session back in Virginia due to a delay in getting the rig. The low stress five-day loading process turned into a hurried 1.5 day controlled chaos. I only missed packing a couple of things, and I believe Pat got everything needed for the kitchen. Pretty amazing since the weather turned cold at 22 degrees on the morning that we left. That was just a nice reminder of what we will be missing!
We are officially, finally, off on our annual snowbird pilgrimage to the warm south. I’m writing this post from our RV park from Savannah, Georgia, an overnight stop on the way. I did have a few unexpected snags with the RV this year. Just to make things interesting, I guess.
Orchid Lake RV Resort (OLRVR) is the place that we park the RV for the winter located in the town of New Port Richey, Florida. It is our home base of activities for exploring this part of Florida. In addition, the park has a huge list of activities that are all run by many volunteers. In today’s post, I will do an overview and look at what we do while here.
This is the last part of our quick 3-day bus trip from our RV resort to Key West and then back home again. Two bus loads of happy seniors made this 870 mile round trip excursion. It was some long, tiring days on the buses, but a good time was had by most of the group. In this segment, we stopped in the Everglades for airboat rides and an alligator show…
We had planned to meet our fellow RVer friends, the Roseberry’s, at a location about midway between our winter locations. They stay near Orlando and we are on the Gulf Coast. The close to halfway point was the town of Brooksville, Florida. And the restaurant was a very popular and quaint place called the Florida Cracker Kitchen.
We attended this massive show on the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa this year after hearing about it and seeing their ads. It is supposed to be the second largest in the US, next to the one in Hershey, Pa. The purpose was just to look around at the new RVs and see what has changed from when we bought ours in April 2017. What functionality and cosmetic changes have crept in over the last six years?
The small town of Dunedin is one of our favorite local places to visit and have lunch. Many sites, many restaurants, and eight breweries in a 36,000 people population city. It is also known for its beaches, pine forests, and ospreys of Honeymoon Island. We also drove south to Parrish, FL to spend a couple of days with Pat’s brothers and wives.
We are now at our RV park for the winter (since 12/7) in the city of New Port Richey, Florida. It is located a few miles north of Tampa along the gulf coast. Our plans are to stay here for about four months before returning back to Virginia. The time will go by quickly so Pat and I sat down and came up with a decent list of 22 quick road trips/excursions to keep us busy. Happy New Year!
Yes, the summer and fall have come to an end, and we begin another winter season on the gulf coast of Florida. But we do take a few extra days on our southbound journey. No since in getting in a huge hurry, since we are happily retired and have no pressing schedule. We delayed leaving until after Thanksgiving and seeing the family for a combined Holidays. I’ll cover our favorite southern city, Savannah, Georgia, in this blog update…