We Are On the Road

Last Sunday afternoon, we finished putting the last of our things in place, trimmed the grass, killed off the weeds, said our good byes and pulled out of Hillcrest RV Resort in Florida.  We'll return next November but for now have loads of plans for our spring/summer/fall.  In fact, by the time we return we expect to visit at least 30 states!!!

Our first stop was in Cedar Key, Florida for the April campout of our local Florida Winnebago Club - the Mid-Florida Winnies.  The officers (I'm secretary) were acting as hosts for the four days of fun based at Cedar Key RV Resort.  And what fun we had!!  Twenty-seven motorhomes - 52 people - gathered to enjoy meals, games, and activities together. Since the officers were able to get into the grounds the night before everyone else would arrive, we were able to do alot of the food prep, decorating, and set-ups so we could participate fully ourselves.

Tidewater Tours provides a wonderful two hour tour that takes people around the bay and into the Gulf so we can see alot of the wild life (there is a wildlife sanctuary butting up to the town), learn a bit about the history of the town, see many of the nearby tiny islands and here stories about them, and watch the dolphins and manatees that spend time in these waters.  

Historically this was a major seaport with a railhead.  It is a major producer of farmed clams and at one time housed the Eberhard Faber pencil factory before a hurricane destroyed it.

Now it is a very laid back quiet community of mostly fishermen with a population of about 300.  Terri DuLong, a fiction writer, lives here and uses much of the "color" of the community as a setting for her books.  I'd discovered the series several years back so especially enjoyed seeing the area.

Tony's Restaurant competed in a clam chowder competition in New England for several years winning the top award three years in a row (2009-2011).  They continue to serve that fabulous recipe and sell condensed soup cans of it to this day although they are no longer allowed to compete.  Many of us made at least one trip there during the time of our visit.

There are also several restaurants serving fresh fish and clams, of course, along the water front.  Those too drew ohs and ahs from our membership. There is a huge pier used by locals and tourists for fishing as well as an opportunity to get out over the water.

Several of the members like to play games which makes me real happy as I can get a good game fix while we are together fitting them in between all of the other planned activities.  Especially in the evenings after dinner and planned programs.  This time we fit in several games of Mexican train and several rounds of Golf, a card game.

As hosts we put on two different dinners, one was a potluck and the other a special anniversary meal for our 41st anniversary as a club with a key lime cake made by the local bakery for dessert.

We also provided one full breakfast of breakfast burritos, fresh fruit, juice and coffee as well as a parting coffee with homemade muffins. One of our fun activities involved everyone writing a short description of some camping experience they had in the past - funny, poignant, disastrous - without including their names.  We then read each of them and the group tried to guess who had the experience.  What a great variety of stories that gave us all a lot of laughs.

Of course, we had our usual monthly meeting for which everyone wears their lime green club shirt. What a sea of green. :-)

Everyone has so enjoyed the color that we now have T-shirts too that many wore for the boat ride. We always draw lots of comments when we go out like this.

Thursday morning we then packed up and headed off for Mexico Beach, Florida.