Hanging Out In Sarasota, FL

Well, we've been in Sarasota, Fl for a couple of weeks now and will be heading back to Jacksonville to take care of family business soon.  I have never been to Sarasota before and I gotta tell ya - I like it!

We stayed at Sunny South RV Park which is a small park located in a residential area right off Hwy 41 ( the main drag in Sarasota) and the owners and people who we met here are the friendliest people we have EVER met.   The only quirk about our stay here is that we're parked outside the RV fenced in area literally ON Doud St.    The owner has expanded the park and created some lots where we get a nice view of the small amount of traffic that passes us by traveling on Doud St.  Weird.

The area seems safe enough though.  We left our grill and lounge chairs out for 2 weeks and no one stole them so that's a good sign! HA!

One of the enjoyable things about this area is the abundance of local restaurants.   Seafood is everywhere and we have pigged on on local Mussels & Oysters at a couple of places.  The BAD thing is that this place is like southern CA - if you don't get to dinner early, you WILL wait in line regardless of what day it is!  

I do believe the average age here is about 60 65 70 75 years old too.  I know I'm a fat old fart myself, but I've never seen so much gray hair in my life!  And like I said - no one cooks dinner at home anymore either!  It's crowded everywhere when it's time to eat.

This winter has been the coldest we've seen for awhile too.  Of course, the weather in "southern FL" isn't as bad as the snow up north, but people come down here for some warmth!  It still cold to us when it's 46 outside.

That being said - Kathy and I would like to visit this area again one day.  We put it on our list of "Places To Possibly Retire One Day" but we both feel we'll have to live another 10 years to really fit in with the rest of the population.


Cheers!

How To Get Out Of Shopping With Your Wife

 After I retired, my wife insisted that I accompany her on her shopping trips to Publix and other stores like Target, WalMart, etc.  Unfortunately, like most men, I found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out.  You know - men GET and Women GATHER.   Equally unfortunate, my wife is like most women - she loves to browse.  Because of that, here's a list of things guys can do to make your wife not want you to go shopping with her:

• Take boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people's carts when they aren't looking. 
• Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.
• Walk up to an employee and tell them in an official voice, "Code 3 in Housewares.  Get on it right away". 
• Go to the Service Desk and try to put a bag of candy on layaway.
• Move a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.
• If a clerk asks you if they could help you, begin crying and scream,  'Why can't you people just leave me alone?
• Look right into the security camera and use it as a mirror while you pick your nose.
• If the store has an auto department practice your 'Madonna look'  by using different sizes of funnels.
• Hide in a clothing rack and when people pass by,  yell  'PICK ME! PICK ME!'
• When an announcement comes over the loud speaker, assume the fetal position on the floor and scream, "OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!"
  

And last, but not least:
Go into a fitting room, shut the door, wait awhile,  then yell very loudly, "Hey!  There's no toilet paper in here!"

Your wife will probably want you to stay home the next time she goes shopping :)

P.S. These little jokes have been reformatted to fit this blog.

Hanging Out In Titusville, FL

We moved from Jacksonville to Titusville, FL on Jan. 15th because it was just too COLD up in northern Florida!   We had two weeks in which every night was below freezing, and being in a RV when it's 21 or 19 degrees outside just makes it uncomfortable for us to be outside for any length of time.  Yeah, we can crank up the gas heat and be nice & toasty inside, but we like to talk walks and sit outside for cocktail hour :))

We are staying at the Great Outdoor Resort in Titusville for 2 weeks.  the Kennedy Space Center is the major attraction here and we will spend a couple of days checking out the space center for sure!

Kathy & I have decided to see if we can sell our RV so we can be closer to her Mom, who needs a little more care than she needed 2 years ago.  Our ad is here: http://www.rvt.com/rvdetail.php?id=4471010.   

We are priced below MANY of the 2007 RV's and since ours is a 2008, we think this would be a good buy for anyone!

Salisbury, NC

Here are some more pics of the town of Salisbury, near Lexington, NC and the lake we stayed on.  It's a pretty nice town, Salisbury, that is. This is their "famous" wall mural and I couldn't resist this shot. Too much time on my hands and not a lot of imagination!!  Lots of historythere.  Kind of like a big Amelia Island maybe?  Anyway, another spot to mark off in our book "1000 Places To See Before You Die".  I think it's in there.  But the lake and the birds were nice and I got some new flower pics as well.  We are beginning to plan our 2010 trip; up thru the Natchez Trace, Graceland, Hot Springs, AR and then slowly go up the Mississippi River.  We'll be in Jax until April and are enjoying time with friends and family.

It's All About The BBQ!

I've heard a lot about "Lexington style BBQ" so we decided to take a little detour and head to Lexington, NC from TN to find out what's so special about the way BBQ is prepared in this part of the country.  We went to two places, Lexington BBQ which has been featured on TV and a local favorite well off the beaten path - Cooks BBQ.

Our 1st place was Cooks BBQ not too far from the camp ground.  The place is a place where locals eat and it literally located in the very back of a residential sub-division.  Weird.  They did have brisket ( which is called sliced beef in this part of the country) so we shared a combo platter of BBQ delights which included ribs, pulled pork, brisket, hush puppies and a pitcher of iced tea.  We couldn't eat it all, so we took it home and made two more meals out of it the next day.  I liked the food and it was cheap!

The second place was Lexington BBQ, which I saw on TV.  It was so hard to find ( not on our GPS) that we had a heated discussion on the way... but we finally found it.  It sucked.  Not worth the trip.  Just plain pulled pork.

Lexington style BBQ is dryer than the BBQ's of the south west and the primary meat is pork.  As a matter of fact, Lexington BBQ serves ONLY pulled pork.  No brisket, no ribs, no nothin!  Didn't like it much.  I can season and cook a Boston Butt in my crock pot in the RV that comes out with more flavor than Lexington BBQ.

This was our parking spot

Back In Tennessee!!!!!

Ok, so we made it out of Florida and of course, our timing was impeccable!  We sat through 2 months of 90° plus weather and 95 per cent humidity..............but wait!  It all went away the day we left!!!  Oh well, the mountains are spectacular and so is my son.  I love the beard!  He and his friend Patrick (a great guy, also a GREAT BIG GUY) came for dinner last night.  I guess I didn't remember how growing guys eat...................sorry boys if you didn't get enought steak and shrimp.  It is so good to see my son; it's been 10 months!  Plus, he is giving us the privilege of painting his bedroom tomorrow, so that's really really nice of him.  We'll be here for about a week and then off to Charleston, SC to spend some time with Nicole.  She's ALSO allowing us to help her move.  Gosh, we such thoughtful children.  God Bless Yooz Guyz!!!!!  Please take a look at the pics below.  There's one of Grandma in there at her birthday celebration.  The lake is Lake Watauga, right about  20 miles from here.  Very pretty, too bad we won't be here in 3 weeks when the leaves turn.  Don't forget to scroll down to the next post.  It's got all the pics from Amelia Island and Crystal's 29th Birthday Party!!
Thanks for reading and welcome Heidi!!!  It's so good to see you again....................

Fun On Amelia Island, FL

So, after holing up in the RV, and adjusting to the heat and humidity, we starting visiting our great friends on Amelia Island.  We spend almost a week there house and doggie sitting (Maxie, the min-pin) will get into all the liquor and have parties if she doesn't have a babysitter.  Plus, her mom and dad went to Denver to see Jay's son get married.  Anyway, long story short, we partied hard when they got back; then went back a couple of weeks later to Debbie's daughter Crystal's 29th Birthday Party!  Steve grilled a bushel of oysters; we had oyster shots and Margaritas....................good food, good party.  I got to catch up with a lot of folks I hadn't seen in years.  Oh, BTW, Crystal is a model for Ford Modeling Agency and she was on her way to New York City for a Cosmopolitan photo shoot...............hope you got the job Crystal!!!  And here are the pics..................................all pretty much "G" Rated!!!!

Click to see pics of Amelia Island 

Florida in the Summer...

Yikes!  I forgot how hot and muggy FL is during the summer.  Almost too hot to sit outside during cocktail hour.  Almost.
Kathy's Mom is doing just fine, so that crisis is over.  I took my RV to Rivers RV in Jacksonville to get my body work done, so that's done too.  Scratches and dents are all gone :)
I think that we've had maybe 5-7 days with no rain since July around here.  The weather is really starting to get on my nerves and I'm looking forward to fall and winter when the temps drop below 95 degrees. Whew.
We are having fun visiting old friends though!  Since we'll be here in Jax until sometime in April, we have lot's of time to catch up. Cheers!