Living Our Dream

Christmas Greeting 2009

From Our House to Yours...

Bushnell, FL

We had about a two and a half hour drive from the SKP Resort in Zolfo Springs to Bushnell, FL, where we will be spending the winter at Blueberry Hill RV Resort. Blueberry Hill has over 500 RV sites with full hookups. Two hours of continuous Wi-Fi use every day are free, but there is a charge for usage beyond that time. Blueberry Hill has approximately 100 pull-through sites in the front of the campground that are paved, and the remainder of the sites in back are all grass. The all-grass sites are very generously sized and are very popular with the snowbirds. The pull-throughs in front are primarily given to those staying two months or less. The photo below shows our site in the back section.

The next photo shows the view down the row where our site is located.

This will be our third winter at Blueberry Hill. When we stayed here the first year the campground had recently been bought out by a corporation that owns a number of campgrounds around the country. This year, we saw a truckload of new washers and dryers being delivered to the campground laundry, and we noticed the pool tables in the rec center had been recovered. We're glad to see the corporate owners are putting money back into Blueberry Hill to keep things up to date.

One of the things we like about Blueberry Hill is the location. Bushnell is located in central Florida near many sightseeing attractions. While Bushnell is a small town, it has a Walmart (within walking distance of the campground) and a fairly well-stocked Winn-Dixie grocery store. Bushnell is also near Tampa to the southwest and close to The Villages to the northeast. This means there is access to all the national retail chains and restaurant chains.

We needed to run some errands to a couple of the above-mentioned retail chain stores located toward Tampa, so we were able to make a slight detour to take us past a Qdoba Mexican Grill for an early dinner on our way back to the motor home. Qdoba is one of our favorite restaurant chains. Lora and J. Michael gave Paul a gift card for Qdoba for his birthday back in September, and we have been looking forward to being near a Qdoba ever since. We both ordered our favorite - poblano pesto burrito (rice, beans, grilled chicken, roasted poblano pepper pesto, salsa, cheese, and sour cream) served "naked" (without the tortilla). We always ask for a few corn chips on the side in lieu of the tortilla.

Margery has been busy with a few Christmas projects. It was nothing like she used to do when we were in a stix-and-brix house, but it was just enough to be enjoyable. She found a great website where she is able to download patterns and clipart for a nominal fee. After printing, cutting, folding and gluing these Christmas pinch bags, she'll fill them with candy.

Paul enjoys molasses cookies, and today Margery tried a new recipe. They're nice and soft (probably from the sour cream in them). There isn't a very strong molasses flavor, but they're good just the same. The recipe made many more cookies than we can eat, so Margery made up some gift bags to share with our neighbors.

We will be in Bushnell for about three months, so we will have plenty of time to relax. With all that relaxing, our posts may be a little shorter and a little less frequent during our winter stop; but we're still planning some sightseeing, some eating out, and some projects so keep looking for our posts.

Zolfo Springs, FL

Last year we stopped at the Escapees SKP Resort co-op in Zolfo Springs, FL, on our way to our winter stop in Bushnell. We liked the SKP Resort so well we did the same thing again this year. In fact, we liked the Resort so well, we put our name on the waiting list for a co-op site. That's not to say we are planning to quit full-timing any time soon because the waiting list is so long, it will take an estimated 8 to 10 years to get a site. Even then, if and when we do get a site, we are likely to only use it 5 or 6 months out of the year and travel the rest of the time.

If we change our minds about staying on the waiting list at the SKP Resort, we will get our deposit back, and the only thing we will loose is a $25 administration fee and the interest on our deposit, which is negligible in today's economy. We don't know what the future holds, but putting our name on the waiting list seemed like a good way to open up what may prove to be a good option.

The Escapees RV Club has campgrounds, co-ops, and co-ops with campgrounds at various locations across the country. The SKP Resort is a co-op only, but members can put their sites into the rental pool during times when they are not using their sites.

The Resort is nicely laid out with widely-spaced sites and attractive landscaping, and most of the sites have paved pads and patios. There are full hookups and free Wi-Fi. The photo below shows this year's site at the Resort in Zolfo Springs.

And the next photo shows a view looking on down the street from our site.

 

We arrived in Zolfo Springs a few days before Thanksgiving. When we visited last year, we found the co-op members to be very friendly and welcoming, so we though it would be an excellent place to spend the holiday. We signed up for Thanksgiving dinner when we registered for our site. After we got settled, Margery stopped to see the lady who was organizing food for our table to see what we could bring.

The food at the Thanksgiving dinner was delish, and, as usual, there was plenty. We met a lot of new people and had a good time visiting. The next photo shows Margery before dinner talking with some of the new people we met.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, our daughter Lora was having a bridal shower back in Pittsburgh for her best friend and former roommate Heather. Heather moved to the Springfield, MO, area a couple of years ago (we visited with her parents when we were in Branson earlier this year). Since Heather (left) was going to be back in the Pittsburgh area over Thanksgiving, they thought it would be a good time for the shower.

Margery has been helping Lora plan the shower by designing invitations, helping figure out logistics, etc., so she also wanted to be part of the shower. A few months ago, she found a reasonably-priced fare on Air-Tran so she made reservations to fly from Tampa to Pittsburgh on the Friday after Thanksgiving in time for the shower on Saturday.

The airport in Tampa was about an hour and a half from Zolfo Springs, but traffic was light because most people had the day off on Friday. We got there in plenty of time for a leisurely check in.

Lora picked Margery up at the airport in Pittsburgh, and they had a good time visiting. Lora is very organized, and she had everything under control for the shower on Saturday.

The refreshments for the shower were an afternoon tea. The ladies had a good time at the shower with plenty of delicious food and lots of laughs and good conversation while helping to stock Heather's kitchen with gifts from Pampered Chef. Here's Heather appreciating the tablescape.

Heather's other former roommate, Amanda, flew up from Florida, too, for the shower. Here is the bride-to-be with two of her three attendants.

Here are the best friends with their moms.

   

Margery's return flight to Tampa was at 7:00 AM on Monday. Poor Lora had to get up extra early to get Margery to the airport. The Monday after Thanksgiving is traditionally a busy travel day, and this year was no exception. Security at the Pittsburgh airport was backed up, and Margery had to hurry a little to make the flight because it actually departed a few minutes early.

Meanwhile, Paul had a little more traffic going around Tampa on Monday to pick Margery up at the airport because more people had returned to work, but he got to the airport in time for the early arrival of Margery's flight.

We were planning a little sightseeing while in Zolfo Springs, but the weather didn't cooperate. After Margery's return from Pittsburgh, we had several cool, cloudy days and several days of rain. We kept putting off our sightseeing waiting for sunnier weather, but it never came so we'll have an excuse to come back next year. Our next destination is our winter stop at Blueberry Hill RV Resort in Bushnell, FL.