Thursday, December 25, 2014

Christmas in Benson, AZ

December 25, 2014
Saguaro Coop RV Park
Benson, AZ

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family

We had been crossing paths with Gisela and Bill Pollock ever since North Carolina.  They would be South Carolina while we were in North Carolina.  They left Florida a few days ahead of us and arrived in Benson the day before we arrived.  Pictured are Jil Mohr, Lonnie, Becky, Tom Mohr, Carol Bezdeka, Gisela Pollock, Tom Bezdeka and Bill Pollock.

Fellow Boomers Jil and Tom Mohr hosted a happy hour so we could finally spend some time with Bill and Gisela.  They provided cute Grinch Christmas goodies.

Carol, Tom, Lonnie, Tom & Jil and Gisela.

Christmas Eve brought a cold morning of 25 degrees.  The day warms up into the 60's but the nights are dang chilly in Benson.

Christmas Eve was also the Brown Bag Party.  We joined Carol & Tom with Carol's son Steve visiting from Mesa.

Everyone brings a brown bag with a gift for around $10 marked male, female or unisex.  When your name is drawn you pick a gift from the table or steal a gift someone has already opened.  Naturally the Kaluha and Rum got stolen a lot. The person that looses a gift gets to pick another.  Tom lost 4 gifts before he finally got to keep one.  

Bev was is the spirit for Christmas Eve with this hat.

Christmas Day was 4 tables of 20 plus people in the clubhouse.  Each table brought their own food so we were on Table 1 that had 23.  Our dinner was Prime Rib and Ham plus salads, vegetables, and deserts that everyone brought.

No shortage of food.  So much that we are having leftover day tomorrow at 1:00 to eat more.

Our dinner partners were our adopted Escapee Dad & Mom, Tom & Carol Bezdeka and Steve.

Christmas day brought gifts from home that we have waited to open until today.  Michelle & Chris gave Lonnie this bottle of wine.  If you know Lonnie, you will agree that it fits him perfectly.

This comes from Wines that Rock Vineyards.  The label reads "Pink Floyd's epic masterpiece was the inspiration for this Cabernet Sauvignon.  Fill your glass, turn up the volume, and enjoy the taste of The Dark Side of the Moon."
They have a few labels for the old rock bands...The Rolling Stones, The Grateful  Dead and Woodstock.  Google them...

We will be moving to Cocopah RV & Golf Resort in Yuma on Monday for some warmer temps.

Becky and Lonnie


Sunday, December 21, 2014

The 2000 Mile Journey

We found our Crew Chief from Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta at St. Clair Winery in Deming, NM.  Ken and Michelle Briand were on their way from Albuquerque to Las Cruses for the weekend and did a detour through Deming to meet us for a wine tasting.  Thanks to Facebook, Michelle learned we were going to be in Deming on Saturday.

Let's recap our travels so far this year.  We left Twin Falls on Aug. 23rd and traveled 3,108 miles to arrive in Boston on Sept 19.  We then spent the next 3 months exploring the East Coast from Maine to Florida putting on another 2,724 miles.  We had no plan after Thanksgiving with Lonnie's daughter in Jacksonville so we went to the Escapee Sumpter Oaks Park in Bushnell, FL to make a plan. We toured all of Florida in 2012 and Texas in 2013.  We got an email from our Illinois friends Bill and Veta Swires that they had landed at the Escapee Saguaro Park in Benson, AZ so we decided to go back to Arizona to celebrate Christmas with our Escapee friends and adopted Mom and Dad, Tom & Carol Bezdeka.  To follow is a recap of our 2000 mile journey from Florida to Arizona. 

Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014

We left Bushnell, FL and made it to Bonifay, FL in the panhandle east of Pensacola to stop at Florida Springs RV Park for the night.  They have a restaurant in the park so we decided to enjoy dinner out without unhooking the Jeep.  We did not realize that we had crossed into Central Time Zone and got to the restaurant before it opened at 5:30.  Naturally we are internally on Eastern time so fell asleep at 9:00 that night.

Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014

Woke up really early so was on the road to do another 379 miles today.  We finally made it out of Florida, through Alabama and Mississippi.  We quit for the night at Cajon Country Campground in Breaux Bridges, Louisiana west of Baton Rogue.  697 miles down and 1303 miles to go.

Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014

Another big day of 368 miles leaving 935 to go.  We drove through Houston today and our travel gods were with us.  The storm front parted allowing us through with only a light misting of rain.  The traffic on my google maps was showing lots of wrecks with stopped or slow traffic through the downtown I-10 route but when we approached the loop around downtown everything turned green for a smooth, easy journey through downtown Houston.  We arrived at River Bend RV Park in Luling, TX just 50 miles east of San Antonio.  We got a pull-thru (no unhooking the jeep and back-in), 50 AMP site for Pass Port America price of $15.00.  Add the $3.229 for diesel this morning and you have the recipe for a perfect day!  The most we have paid for fuel since owning the Motorhome was $4.499 in Bend, OR on May 1, 2012 and the least was the $3.229 in Breaux Bridges, LA.  We are really loving these lower prices for fuel as it will take about 300 gallons to get us to Arizona.

Friday, Dec. 19, 2014 

The storm we missed this morning hit with a vengeance at midnight.  Thunder and lightning that literally shook the RV, it was so close.  Made us think about our friends Jim and Gail McManus when their TV antenna got hit by lightning in their old motorhome.  But we stayed safe.  We woke up in the morning to find a puddle outside the step that was at least an inch deep with no way of jumping over it.  Becky put on her flip-flops to wade through the water to get our utilities unhooked and waited for Lonnie to pull the couch forward before she came aboard. (Note: no puddle around electric post thank goodness but lots of rain and mud everywhere.) We got out of the rain 100 miles down the road.  We are still not adjusting to Central time and was wide awake at 5:00 AM.  It makes for getting an early start on the road but we're not looking forward to Mountain Time Zone to find ourselves wide awake at 4:00 AM.  We logged another 358 miles today to reach Fort Stockton RV Park in Fort Stockton, TX.  This place has an excellent Roadrunner Cafe so we enjoyed no cooking or cleanup for dinner.

Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014

We were on the road again at 8:30 this morning after a wonderful breakfast of eggs, sausage and pancakes/toast.  We encountered lots of construction and slowed traffic through El Paso.  I know there is a way around but we have never tried it and by the time we hit the slow traffic it was too late.  There was also a traffic snafu just before Anthony so my advice to our RV friends is to avoid El Paso and take the 404, 213, 375 go around.  About 45 miles out of Deming we received a message from Michelle Briand that they were in Hatch and could meet us at St. Clair Winery.  We quickly set up at the Escapee Dreamcatcher RV Park in Deming and drove the Jeep the 3 miles to St. Clair.  What a nice surprise to meet up with Ken and Michelle.  We missed Balloon Fiesta this year and missed seeing Michelle.  We got ourselves 12 bottles of our favorite St. Clair wines as a Christmas present to each other.  We entered Mountain time zone today and we forced ourselves to stay awake until 9:30.

Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014

Awake at 5:30 AM, damn.  Only 180 miles to go today and we arrived safe and sound at the Escapee Saguaro Coop Park by 12:00.  We got set up in site #27 for the next week and have spent the rest of today catching up laundry and watching football.  We will be here to enjoy Christmas dinner in the clubhouse, joining the beading group and visiting with our many friends here.  We depart Dec. 29th to go to Cocopah RV and Golf Resort in Yuma where we will stay until it is time for Escapades in Tucson, March 7th.  Becky is looking forward to getting in a lot of practice and trying to improve her golf game.  We may or may not spend some time in Quartzsite in January depending on the weather.

We wish all our family and friends a Merry Christmas and Happy Fun New Year.

Becky and Lonnie










Sunday, December 14, 2014

Homosassa Springs State Park

Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014
Sumpter Oaks RV
Bushnell, FL

The daytime highs have been in the low 60's so we figured the Manatees would be making their way into the springs to stay warm, so off to Homosassa Springs we went.

We made our way to the visitors center and hopped the boat ride along Pepper Creek to go to Homosassa State Park...

with Don and Sharon Del Rosario.


A quiet ride using 5 HP electric motors for the 1 mile journey along Pepper Creek.

The water is so calm it is sometimes hard to tell where the shore line is with the trees reflecting in the water.

Beautiful!

We spotted a turtle sunning itself on a log in the creek.

This is a Osprey nest that his been occupied by the same pair for the last 20 years.  Each January they come back.  The male comes first and spruces up the nest. The female arrives a couple of weeks later and if she is happy with the nest, they will mate and lay eggs.

Homosassa Springs was first occupied by Indians, then, after they were driven out, the railroad brought tourists to see the natural spring that is 45' deep.  It became an exotic animal park and finally the State of Florida made it a park featuring animals native to Florida.

Saltwater and fresh water fish are attracted to these natural springs with its constant, year round temperature of 72 degrees.

A floating underwater observatory inside the springs allow views of fish and manatees at close range. There were so many fish at the mouth of the spring you could hardly see the manatees.

We were able to view this manatee from the platform walkway as it moved near the spring.

We saw many manatees and one baby swimming with it's mother in the warm waters.

Manatees are not able to tolerate cold water.  If the water temperature gets below 68 degrees they get cold and can die of hypothermia in 64 degree water so they migrate to the 72 degree springs to keep warm in the winter months.


What a tail!



Lu has lived at Homosassa Springs most of his 54 year life.  He was a big movie star when this was an exotic animal park.  Local residents took a special liking to Lu and often visited him between his many movies.

When the Florida State Park went to strictly native species, Lu was bound for a transfer.  When the locals caught wind of the intended transfer they put up a fight to keep Lu here.  Needless to say, their voices were heard and Lu was granted honorary state citizenship.

A face only a mother could love.

American Alligators are quite common in freshwater marshes and often brackish water in Florida's coastal canals.



The American Alligator was hunted almost to extinction, and is still on the endangered species list even though there are roughly 1,000,000 of them currently in Florida.  We happened to arrive in time to see this baby get a mouse for lunch.

North American River Otter.  These playful animals are found from Mexico north to Alaska.  Many can be found in the streams and rivers of Florida.

They are so cute and playful.  This one must have had too much fun, and curled up for a nap.

The icon of Florida is the Flamingo.



Greater Flamingos are found in salt marshes along the Florida coast, West Indies, Yucatan and Galapagos Islands.

Brown Pelican's nesting on the island.  

These Brown Pelicans are breeding and nesting, some even with eggs.

Florida Black Bear once estimated at 12,000 animals throughout Florida, Alabama, and Southern Georgia, are now less then 1,500 today.

Owls and Hawks are also on display throughout the park.


Bald Eagles are found throughout the United States and Canada.  They can have a wing span up to 7.5 feet.  These birds are here because of injuries that make it impossible for them to return to the wild.

This morning as we prepared to leave for Homosassa, the roads were blocked by hundreds of motorcyclists and a truck load of Christmas Wreaths going to the Florida State Veterans Cemetery.  It is a tradition of the motorcycle clubs each year.  The wreaths are made in Maine and trucked down the east coast to be distributed. 

It was impossible to get into the cemetery this morning so we stopped on our way back to see the wreaths they laid on the graves.

There are more graves than wreaths so only select ones got a wreath.  It is mind boggling to see the number of war casualties and veterans laid to rest here.

We have really enjoyed our 2 week stay here at Sumpter Oaks with its resident Sandhill Cranes wandering through the park....

the beautiful views of the swamp...

and camping next to Marilyn and Larry Forbes.  

We have also enjoyed spending time with Don and Sharon as well as socializing at the clubhouse.

We will spend Sunday and Monday doing laundry, cleaning house, grocery shopping and preparing for our 2,000 mile journey from Bushnell, Florida to Benson, Arizona on the I-10.  We plan to travel at least 300 miles a day, arriving in Arizona for Christmas with our Escapee friends at Saguaro SKP park.

Lonnie and Becky