Hey, everybody…..we’re back!!!

It’s been SEVERAL months, so this post will be a long one but try to hang in there with me as I “ramble” on – there’s just so much to tell!

I know, it’s the way of our crazy world right now, and EVERYONE has been affected by COVID, but throw in a move across the country in the middle of it all – that’s exactly what we did!

Back in October when we sold our Earlville, IL house, you may remember that we were on the road for 2 days when we got an offer.  So we cut our 5 week motorhome plans short and returned after just 2 weeks and packed up the house.  We gave a lot away, sold things on social media and had a garage sale.  Even so, we FILLED 2 large storage units in Ottawa, IL before continuing on our planned trip.  After touring much of Missouri, Arkansas, New Orleans, Destin and Gulf Shores, Disney, and Key West, we ended back at our new Naples home which we had bought right after Christmas.  We spent the next couple of months doing updates and remodeling our new home with the intent of traveling back to Illinois to move our belongings south.

But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself….let me go back a bit and tell of our adventures, BEFORE Covid 19 changed everyone’s life and plans!

In my last post, I told of our visit to Gulf Shores, Alabama and Destin, Florida, so I’m not going to repeat myself.  That takes us to our visit to Disney…..BUT, I had a BIG surprise there so I’m going to make that a post of it’s own.  

That brings us to our time in Key West. We had GREAT weather and stayed at Boyd’s RV Resort which was right on the ocean.  
We rated this campground an 8/10 – it had a great pool, store, close to stores and had level grass site and paved patio….however, we have NEVER been in a campground where  we were packed in so tightly.  Our awning almost touched the RV next to us!Photo Booth Library

The middle of February, we set out again in Junebug, to travel up the east coast and then back to Illinois to move our belongings south. We had visited Port Richey, Silver Springs and Daytona Beach.  But then, unfortunately, is when COVID reared it’s ugly head so we decided the safe plan was to turn back south and head for home until the virus exhausted itself.  Needless to say, we had unrealistic hopes until it seemed in May, the virus was finally slowing down.

We jumped at the chance and drove Junebug back to Illinois, feeling we were quite safe from the virus due to being self contained in the motorhome.  Let me make a long story short…..we traveled 40 hours to Illinois and back, sorted and loaded up 2 large storage units into two 26′ trucks, had a birthday party for our 8 year old grandson, stored the motorhome in Ottawa, moved and unpacked one truck to Amanda’s home in Yorkville and then we drove our full moving truck back to Naples where we unloaded everything …….. AND WE DID ALL OF THIS IN JUST 5 DAYS!!!!  Needless to say….we were EXHAUSTED!

Well, we still had to unpack and find places for box after box after box, but finally we got it done.  It feels really good to have that all behind us!

Places we visited on our shortened “east coast” trip…..

Sundance Lakes Campground, Port Richey, Florida – This was a great “campground” that was more permanent campers, mostly Canadians.  It had a SUPER full activities program, including a FREE paint and take night, $5 Fish Fry night and a $5 hamburger night – both of which had all the fixings’, including ice cream for dessert.  The people were really friendly and we entertained ourselves two nights by participating in BINGO! So the night before we were supposed to leave for our next destination, we got a call from my brother-in-law, Larry in Naples, that my sister, Marj was being admitted to the hospital for blood clots in her lungs and that she may need to go in to surgery that night. So at 9:30 pm, I made a 5 hour drive back to Naples – thankfully, she did not need surgery but was in the hospital on anti-coagulants. When we felt she was out of the woods, I drove back north and met up again with Howie at Silver Springs.     
We rated this campground an 8/10 – great activities program, nice pool, shuffleboard, close to stores/restaurants.  Sites were full hook up, but grass/dirt.

Silver Springs RV Park, Ocala, Florida – Howie was here 2 days before I was able to rejoin him.  He got a lot of quiet time but was happy to have me back (I think he missed the car more than me). We went to the Hot Springs the last day there.  It was a fun and unique day.  The water was very warm, clear and aqua blue.  A great way to relax!        
We rated this campground 7/10 – It had a great pool, paved level pads, shaded but it was next to a busy road across from Silver Springs State Park.

Daytona Endless Summer Campground, Daytona Florida – We spent a couple of days at the beach (of course) and just chilled.  Sitting there in the sun is when we decided the smart choice was to abort the rest of the trip and head back to Naples.  COVID was really taking off and even though we were sad to miss St. Augustine, Savannah, the eastern coast, including Washington DC and Lancaster County, we wanted to be safe.                    
We rated this campground 7/10 – It had a decent pool, a large dog run, a concrete patio and a level grass pad.  It was close to stores and restaurants but you were very close to your neighbor and had no shade.

That’s all I have for now, folks….sorry I don’t have more pictures but I PROMISE I’ll make up for it on my next post, DISNEY! Until then, Happy Trails!