Crystal River, Flordia

First, God Bless all of you Vets, and thanks for all you have done.  I never served, too young for Nam, too old for the Gulf Wars.  However, as my genealogy shows, I have had relatives, many direct line relatives, who have fought in every military war and conflict America has ever been in.  I admire and respect those who did serve.  I wish I could have met my mothers brother who gave his life in WW2, but I did enjoy her other brothers who did serve and returned from that historic war.  To my brother who served in Nam, thank goodness you returned...my life would not have been the same had you not.  To my other brother who did not have to go to Nam because his younger brother was over there, your service was just as important.  God Bless America, now, more than ever....

After being home in Palm Harbor for less than a month, it was time to get back to the Motor Home and get away.  We had planned to go to the Florida Keys, but decided to wait until December so that we can see the Christmas Lights in the Keys, Fort Meyers area, and we would not feel rushed to be back by Thanksgiving...but I am sure we will feel rushed to be back by Christmas depending upon when we are able to get away.  :)

Over the past few weeks Marcia has had a few yearly medical check-ups, and except for the possible need for scoping the knee to get rid of a minor tear, all is well.  She is having a hard time deciding when and if she should have the surgery, which should not put her down at all, but will be a major irritation for a few days.  When her knee hurts, she says she is going to have it...when it does not hurt, she wants to put it off. 

As for me, besides being a taxi service for John and Tara, I have been slowly working on getting the outside of the motor home detailed out, removing the months of grime we picked up on our wonderful trip.  For a 14 year old motor home with 44,000 miles on it, the outside is in pretty good shape (as long as we ignore the scrap I put on it back in June).  I also fixed the lift, and that is nice to know that Marcia does not have to walk up the stairs anymore.  

So last night we left our Palm Harbor home and stayed at a rest area along I-75.  It is a brand new rest area, which I should have got pictures of but failed to do so.  The have a separate area for RV's than for the trucks, and that is REAL nice.  This morning we drove to a close-by Flying J to get coffee (we accidentally left the coffee filters at the house) and then drove on to Crystal River where we are staying at the Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park.  This is a Passport America (PA) park, and we just joined PA.  Normal price for three nights here would be $102, but as members we only paid $55.59.  The cost to join PA was $49, so we essentially have already paid for the membership!  They do not allow the discount from December 15-March 15 due to the "snow bird" season.  Other PA parks have already started the snow bird season and won't allow the discount until April or even May.  "Snow Birds", for those who don't know, are the folks who live up in the cold northern states and Canada who love to come down to Florida, Texas, and areas along the Gulf to enjoy the mild, warmer winters.  The real season seems to start after Thanksgiving, peaking out in January and February.  Many snow birds have RV's, but some have condos or relatives that they enjoy staying at during the winter months.

As for this RV park, so far, we love it.  It has shade, there are many open sites so there is room between sites.  It is quiet, and we both agree that we would have loved staying here as much as any of the other parks we have stayed at all year...but of course, the scenery was a bit better in places like Yosemite, Lassen, Crater Lake, Glacier, Yellowstone, Black Hills...well, I think you get the point.  But this park is even better than some of the parks we stayed out while visiting those places.

 Above and below are a few views of our spot.  With so many trees, the grass is lacking, but there is grass right across the street in some empty spots.

 Above is a view showing the tree coverage that we have, and the one 5th wheel a few spots over from us.

 The pictures above and below are of the same road, taken at the same camera spot....just a nice, peaceful area, and neighbors are not close at all.

 And these last two pictures of our site show the other side of the RV.  Yep, I think this is just the type of place we will enjoy.  Even if an RV pulled in between us and that 5th wheel, it is far enough away that it would not bother us...but with all the open spots around here right now, I doubt anyone will pull in here.

 And for you dog lovers, I just have to include a message and pictures about our doggies.

Bubba is happy to be back at home, and loves seeing John.  Skruffy is having a few adjustment problems....has a need to mark inside the house...but she is doing much better about that now.  She loves going with me on the taxi service rides, and has spent a lot of time outside as I cleaned up the outside of the motor home.  But for some reason, probably because there was a dog that lived in the house before we moved in, she has marked the same 5 foot area of the carpet a number of times.  We tried a new spray, and that has helped, so we hope she is over this problem.  On the good side, she is trained to go out front without a leash and stay on the property....and she is doing real good with that.  As for Bubba, he is a runner and just can't be trusted too far yet.  He has gone from the inside of the motor home to the front door without a leash...but he hesitates and looks to the left where there is a path to escape to.  Once he took about six steps that way, but halted when he heard the generals "STOP" command....turned around and came inside the house.  Perhaps one day he will be trusted....but not now.  Bubba did visit the groomer and is shaved way down again.  I am going to try and keep him that way, and intend to try and cut each of them once a month.  I did Skruffy a few days after Bubba went to the groomer, so this should work out "if" I can keep Bubba cut way down as he is now.

Above you can see them looking out the window.  There are many other dogs in the park, so this is going to be fun for them both.