What's After Work?

 Of course these two day's joy is about riding my bike. Yesterday while riding in the morning I saw a mama duck and her ducklings out for a walk. The last one seems to have had enough. After the bike ride Jan and I went for a long car ride to Tallahassee. There we are visiting with Noah while Jessica and Jared take a little vacation from parenting.  After Jan dropped Noah off for school we went on a bike ride around Killearn Acres. It is a little hillier here than in Safety Harbor so it was more of a workout.

  Our March trip was a visit to Evansville Indiana to celebrate Art's (Jan's dad) 97th birthday.  But before our trip north we headed south. For one of my varied aliments I see Dr. Castro at the Cleveland Clinic in Weston Florida. I can't say enough good things about the Doctors and staff of the Cleveland Clinic. Every time I visit I am made to feel that my care is their first thought. Also there is some great artwork on display through out the clinic. I really enjoy seeing all the art on the walls. And I got a good review by the Doctor! After visiting Weston we headed north via the Florida Turnpike. Jan and I traveled the entire length of the Turnpike.  All 312 miles of it. Along the way we passed several Turnpike Travel Centers. These advertised gas and food as well as restrooms. We decided to stop and give it a try. These are really big rest stops. They are in between the north and south roads so if you don't pay attention or get a little confused when leaving you ...

  The first week of February Jan and I took a trip down to Everglades. Other than driving through the Everglades on Alligator Alley Jan an I have never visited the Everglades.  For this trip we rented a class "B"rv. We had been wanting to try one and this fit the bill.  This one is made by Winnebago. It is like driving a really big van. Inside there is room for two to sleep, shower and cook dinner. On top are several solar panels that keep the batteries charged. I was also surprised to find the mileage acceptable, 16 to 17 MPG.  We camped at the Everglades Flamingo which is the southernmost tip of the Florida peninsula. This is semi-primitive camping, no hot water in the showers. But other than that is is a very nice campground. the sites are very large and spread out. We never felt that the other camper were too close. At night the lighting at the campground is very subdued and we could see lots of stars. The first full day in the Everglades we had planned a boat t...

Long ago we had decided to have our family celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas together at a cabin in the mountains of Blue Ridge Georgia. Then Covid happened and we began to vacillate on that decision. After much debate it was decided that the cabin was big enough and we were capable to practice social distancing and safely be together. We also decided to be tested for the virus just before leaving for our gathering. So with a negative test, wipes and sanitizer in hand Jan and I left for Blue Ridge Georgia. This is the earliest we have ever had out Christmas shopping done and wrapped to boot! It is a strange feeling to have this done so early I'm not sure how December will be not having to shop and wrap. I'm sure it will be a lot more relaxed. Or I hope so. So with the car packed we headed north. Our first stop was to be in Albany Georgia at the Merry Acres Inn . Described as a Boutique-Style Hotel in Albany Georgia. It was far off the Interstate in an older, shall I say th...

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 It is October and I'm done with the Great Cycle Challenge. Jan and I spent the first part of last week RVing it. We rented an RV to travel north to visit Austin and Morgan in Raleigh. This was our first visit with Austin after he proposed to Morgan. We are very excited about the coming nuptials. Morgan is a nice girl and we are happy to have her become part of our family.  We rented an RV from a company called RVshare . It is kinda like Airbnb on wheels.   We chose for this trip a 24 foot class "B" RV. The family we rented from were quite nice and explained about traveling in an RV quite well. My favourite part of traveling in an RV is that packing you just carry clothes from your closet to the closet in the RV. My least favorite part was empting the "holding" tanks.  Click to see the inside of our RV This trip also gave us a chance to meet Austin's new dog Roo. Roo is an Australian Blue Heeler and is very active.  She likes to play and go on long walks, f...

Having a lot of free time in retirement is great. Planning what I want to do and having the time to do it couldn't be better. Living in Florida this time of year is wonderful. Nice weather, people coming to visit.... Ok so this time of year is when family from up north where it is cold and crappy come for a visit. I have not been writing my blog for a while because we have had out of town guests. Some staying with Jan and I and others staying with Patty and Bill. We have been going places and eating out checking off some of my quest also. A few days ago we visited the Hog Island Fish Camp for dinner. This is a nice seafood restaurant in Dunedin. It is rather small so if you can, make reservations. I had the broiled hogfish with asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes. It was really very good the fish was topped with a parmesan  and panko crust  with a lemon sauce over it. yummm! Check another restaurant off my list. Last night I made gumbo for the group. It was real...