Living Our Dream

Wishing You All the Blessings of the Season 

JOY is a person and his name is Jesus.

You make known to me the path of life, in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11

LOVE is a person and his name is Jesus.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

PEACE is a person and his name is Jesus.

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you Isaiah 26:3

HOPE is a person and his name is Jesus.

Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may k now what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. Ephesians 1:18

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13

A New Chapter

Wauchula, FL

In the first few years of our 12 years of full-timing, we covered 15 to 20,000 miles a year in the RV. By our fourth or fifth year we had slowed down to less than 10,000 miles a year. We were already spending a little longer in Florida each winter by the time our granddaughter was born in 2014, and that year we also started spending more time in Amish Country in Berlin, Ohio, in the summer. Back then, we made stops for several days to one or two weeks in places like New Orleans, Lower Alabama, Knoxville, and Nashville on our way up north and back down south again. For the last two years, we eliminated those additional stops and pretty much went straight from Florida to Ohio and back again only stopping for one or two nights at a time along the way.

With our travels having slowed so much, we have decided begin a new chapter in our lives and "hang up the keys." Except for several visits a year to Pittsburgh and maybe a couple of other "vacations," we'll be staying in Florida year 'round. We love the co-op and the area where it is located so it feels like home to us. Not only that, but living there is very economical.

Twelve years ago, Paul was willing to give up his workshop, his garden, and the stability of living in a sticks-and-bricks house for the adventure of traveling. Margery gave up her well-equipped kitchen, her quilting hobby, and the friendships she had built with other women at our church. We have traveled almost 95,000 miles with our two RVs (much more than that when you add in day trips and other sightseeing treks in our car and truck) and we have visited 46 of the contiguous 48 states. We have seen natural wonders and historic places, we have met terrific people, we have learned lots of new things, and we have had many wonderful experiences. However, the days of driving the RV and all the setting up and packing up have become more work than adventure. Paul especially, is now ready to get back to a steadier lifestyle and to his hobbies, albeit on somewhat of a smaller scale than when we had our sticks-and-bricks house.

Not only have we decided to stay in Florida, but we have also decided to trade in the 5th wheel for a park model. When we bought the 5th wheel three years ago, we did so because we think 5th wheels are more residential than a motor home and are better suited to staying in one place for longer periods. We planned to just park the 5th wheel and continue living in it when the time came to stop traveling, and we also thought that time would be a few years farther away than it actually turned out. Once we made the decision to hang up the keys, however, Paul realized there will come a day when he is no longer able to climb up on the roof to inspect and re-caulk the seams several times a year and to do some of the other maintenance chores an RV requires. Therefore, we figured if we will eventually give up the 5th wheel for a house or a park model, we might as well do it now before the 5th wheel depreciates any further.

We looked at several makes and floorplans of park models at several dealerships and ended up ordering a Chariot Eagle with a front kitchen from Winter Haven RV in Lake Wales. We went with a front kitchen because the kitchen is larger than those in other floorplans. A large kitchen with plenty of storage and counter space is important to Margery, who likes to cook. 

Display model with a front kitchen floorplan similar to what we ordered

We wanted to get our order on the books to lock in the price, but we asked to have the delivery (which would have normally been in February) delayed until April after the co-op activities slow down. Not only will we be pretty busy until then; but we'll need an empty site close to ours on which to park our 5th wheel while they set up the new park model, and there probably won't be many vacancies at the co-op through most of March.

So what does all this mean for our blog? Because the hosting fee for the blog is paid up through August, 2018, the posts on our past travels will remain online at least until then. Updates will also continue until August, but will be rather infrequent. We plan to document the arrival of the park model in April, and Paul will be building some of the furniture for the park model so we'll tell you about some of those projects. We'll also let you know if we do any sightseeing or if we try any new restaurants so stay tuned.

Center for Great Apes

Wauchula, FL - Events of Friday, November 23 to Saturday, December 9, 2017

We continue with our busy life here at the SKP Florida Co-op with meetings, social activities, and Co-op projects. Paul has been doing lots of research for several projects for the Landscape Committee of which he is co-chairman. He has also been running around buying materials and supplies for the projects.

One of the projects involves a number of concrete benches around the park. The Landscape Committee was asked to look into improving the appearance and stability of the benches. Most of them have started to sink into the soft Florida sand, and it's also a pain for the maintenance people to have to weed-whack around the legs all the time.

The committee investigated several possibilities and ended up recommending placing concrete pavers under the benches. The pavers will make it easier to trim the grass, and tar paper under the pavers will prevent weeds from growing up from between the joints. A few days ago, Paul and several of the guys from the committee did the first bench to see how it looked. Since we got a lot of favorable comments, we decided to go ahead with the rest of the benches.

Paul (kneeling with hat) and several members of the Landscape Committee placing concrete pavers under one of the benches at the co-op

Bench with new concrete pavers

Margery has been working overtime on the computer. After finishing up the newsletter, she is being kept busy making posters, announcements, and signup sheets for upcoming events. The next photo shows just some of the current posters.

Some of Margery's posters for upcoming events

Even with our continued busy schedule, or maybe because of it, we eat out a couple of times a week. We've made a few more stops at Dee's Place for late lunches, and we also went to the Wauchula Family Restaurant for lupper one afternoon about a week ago.

The Wauchula Family Restaurant isn't much to look at from the outside. In fact, it looks a lot like an abandoned building, especially now that Hurricane Irma took out their small sign. Inside, the decor is a bit dated, but it's still rather quaint. The food, however, is excellent. When we were there last year, we had grilled grouper ($11.75), which was yummy. Their half-pound burgers (around $7) are also very good.

This time, we both had fried seafood platters that included a big piece of battered grouper, a crab cake, three large shrimp, clam strips, hush puppies and two sides for $13.50. Margery had onion rings and slaw for her sides, and Paul had potato salad and slaw. Everything was delish, and we were stuffed!

Paul with his fried seafood platter

We did take time out of our busy schedules for one special event. The daughter of a lady in the Co-op who lives across the street from our site works for the Center for Great Apes here in Wauchula. The center is a sanctuary for chimpanzees and orangutans that have been rescued from the entertainment and medical industries. It is not open to the public except for limited tours a couple of times a year. Last spring, we were invited to take a private tour. We were so moved by the work they are doing, we decided to support the center by becoming members.

The Center for Great Apes has two open houses a year. As members, we received an invitation to the holiday open house held Saturday, December 9. During the open house, members can walk among the enclosures and habitats. Staff members are stationed throughout the compound to answer questions and to interact with members. There was live music, cookies, a silent auction, and a raffle for a stay in one of their guest cabins inside the compound.

The apes receive special wrapped presents and treats throughout the day. The treats are usually given to the animals in a form that presents some sort of challenge in order to provide stimulation through problem solving. It's fun to watch the ingenuity as the apes find ways to retrieve their treats. The other thing that's fascinating is how the apes are as interested in seeing the people as we were in seeing them.

When we visited last spring, we were asked not to photograph the animals. This fall, however, limited photography was permitted. In the next photo, two of the chimpanzees were interacting with visitors by clapping. The one on the blue barrel would clap in short spurts of 5 or 6 rapid claps. The other chimp would clap one big clap once or twice a minute.

Chimpanzees interacting with the visitors

The orangutan in the next photo was enjoying a treat of sunflower seeds stuck to a pine cone with peanut butter.

Orangutan enjoying a treat of sunflower seeds and peanut butter

In spite of off-and-on rain showers, we had a great time at the open house. It was interesting listening to the caregivers talk about the apes and to see their dedication to the animals. Their dedication was especially apparent when they told stories about Hurricane Irma, which passed directly over the area and which caused extensive damage to the property. Fortunately, all the buildings and enclosures are built very substantially and remained intact. All the caregivers stayed with the apes in their night houses during the storm instead of being with their families or evacuating. They and dozens of volunteers from all over the country worked to clear fallen trees and make other repairs afterward.

When we left the open house, we headed to Bowling Green, which is a couple of miles north of Wauchula, to have lupper at Smokin' Joes BBQ. Several mornings a week when Paul doesn't have a meeting to attend, he goes out with a group of guys from the Co-op to trim dead palm fronds and seed pods from trees around the park. One of the guys Paul was chatting with one morning highly recommended Smokin' Joe's so we decided to give it a try.

Smokin' Joe's BBQ

We both had pulled pork platters. They have a regular-sized platter for $8.99 and a large for $10.99. When we asked how big the regular size was, it didn't sound all that big so we ordered one large and one regular figuring we would share the pulled pork between the two of us. It turned out the regular size portion was huge and the large was humongous! We had enough left over for another whole meal.

Margery with her pulled pork platter

The platters included two sides. Margery had slaw and mac and cheese, and Paul had slaw and potato salad. The pork wasn't real smoky, but it was some of the most tender and moist pulled pork we have ever had. The sides were delish, too!

With our bellies full and with our leftovers in hand, we headed back to the 5th wheel for an evening of TV.