Our first snowbirding trip to sunny Florida!
FINALLY, after several years of talking about it and wanting to, Dave and I packed up the RV, dewinterized it, and departed Virginia on Wed, Feb 8th heading for Florida! For those of you who didn’t know, Dave retired in Dec, setting us “free” and making this all possible! We took a leisurely trip south stopping in Lumberton, NC, Savannah, and St Augustine before arriving at Patrick Space Force Base (formerly known as Patrick Air Force Base) midday on Sat, the 11th. Jim gave us wonderfully detailed directions for getting through the gate and to the campground, so we looked like we knew what we were doing. The base does not take reservations so we were hoping they would have a site available for us. As we came thought the gate, another camper followed us in… we focused on Jim’s directions to make sure we did not make a wrong turn and Dave kept an eye on the camper behind us to make sure he didn’t get ahead of us and get to the campground first. Hey – all’s fair in love and first-come-first-served campgrounds .
Jim & Susan met us as we drove up to the community center in the campground. And, happy to report they had a site available, just 1 row back from the waterfront sites. It was a great site! And as it turned out, the camper that followed us in also got a site but was just there overnight. Anyway, we got all set up and had our first of several happy hours with Jim & Susan.
Went to church with them Sunday morning and then went to brunch at The Tides, the Patrick All Ranks Club. Longtime friends of Jim & Susan, Seth & Elizabeth Dowling, joined us. It was nice seeing them again. Brunch was great (very filling) and afterwards Jim drove us around a little to show us the area. We were hoping to see some manatees in a canal but there was only one and it stayed too far away for us to really see it. The others were out looking for food or just being shy.
We spent the next couple of days exploring the area with Jim & Susan. They are wonderful tour guides! We made a few trips over to the golf course where Jim “claims” there’s an alligator that likes to sun himself on the bank. We saw birds and turtles, but no alligator – we accused him of pulling our legs, but he kept to his story the whole time!
On Thursday, Feb 16th, we drove up to TGO and visited with Steve & Sue Sohles, Butch & Susie Jones, Jim & Bonnie Spain & Steve Hall. Such gracious hosts, all of them! We got the grand tour of TGO by golf cart (thanks Steve), then Butch & Susie’s house, the Sohles’ new pad & suite setup that they just moved into, as well as Jim & Bonnie’s digs next door. While there, we got to see a small alligator swimming in the lake behind the Sohles’ place. They said it was about 4ft long. After the tour, we all went to lunch at a great place, Goodrich’s Seafood & Oyster House, about 30 minutes away. On the way back to Patrick, we circled by Port Canaveral, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, and the Jetty Park and KARS Park campgrounds.
We saw our first SpaceX Launch the night of Feb 17th. It was a cloudy night, and the picture shows just after the “tail” went into the clouds, but it was great nonetheless. We were hoping to see 2 more launches while we were there, but unfortunately, they were postponed.
On Monday, the 20th, we and Jim & Susan went on a river boat cruise. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing all the wildlife, including a huge alligator named Handbag sunning himself along the bank, lots of birds and even had a dolphin swimming alongside the boat for a while. That was cool!!! We went through the locks, which was an interesting experience, and sailed into Port Canaveral and right along a cruise ship that was docked there. Boy those are some big ships!! The cruise lasted about 2 1/2 hours…it was a lot of fun!
Feb 22nd was Jim’s 76th birthday so in true Buelow fashion, they had a party! Seth & Elizabeth Dowling joined us for a dinner of lasagna, garlic bread, & salad, followed by a few gifts and chocolate birthday cake with ice cream. It was a nice celebration! Happy Birthday, Jim!
We went for lunch the next day at Fish Lips in Port Canaveral, and it was very good! We saw it from the river boat cruise and thought that would be a good place to try. We recommend it!
We took lots of pictures, ate lots of good food, enjoyed our beach time, & made some wonderful new memories! We can’t wait to go back again next year!!
The 4 of us left Patrick SFB on Sunday Feb 26th and headed to Webster, FL. We went to the Webster Flea Market on Monday and spent several hours there, but still didn’t get through the whole place! But we saw a couple familiar faces there – Connie and Ed! Then that evening we met up with more Dogwood members for dinner at Oakwood Smokehouse & Grill in Clermont. Pat & Clint Allen, Ed & Connie Tilman, Berkley & Karen Alexander, Mike Vreeland and of course the Buelows & us. We had a great time, as usual. Great restaurant selection – thanks Connie!
Buelows left on Tuesday morning, the 28th. Meanwhile, we had recently learned that some old military friends have a home in the Villages and were able to meet up with them for lunch. Well, six (yes, 6) hours later we said our goodbyes and vowed to do it again next year. We have stayed in touch over the years but had not seen them in 22 years… Wow how time flies!
We left Webster Wednesday morning, Mar 1st, heading north by way of Savannah (3 nights), Fayetteville, NC (2 nights) & Roanoke Rapids, NC (2 nights).
In Savannah we enjoyed a city tour by trolly and a river boat cruise. Check out the pictures – as we sailed past Fort Jackson, they fired the cannon (you can see the smoke). Luckily, they missed us and we made it back safely! We did a lot of walking (5 miles) the 2nd day touring the city by foot. We loved the architecture and the tree lined streets. And we found Leopold’s Ice Cream shop too! The line was long, but worth the wait!
While in Fayetteville we drove over to Ft Bragg, drove around the base, and visited the outside portion of the 82nd Airborne Museum. The inside was closed that day, so we’ll need to save that for another time.
We are HOOKED! We had a great trip and really enjoyed visiting with all our Dogwood friends. We didn’t get to Chiefland, but… We’re already talking about what we want to do next year when we go down again!
Dave & Nanette Meyer (Feb 2023)
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