Florida, Disney and beyond

8/23 – 8/24/2014 – Packed up and moved on to Myrtle Beach for some R&R after the busy week at Disney.  Heard from Jack and Arlene, unfortunately they had some mechanical problems on the way up, but they found a great towing company that got them running and they arrived just a few hours later than expected.  Looking forward to a lazy week of swimming, chilling, kayaking, biking, shopping, drinking and of course a bit of golfing sprinkled in. 

8/22/2014 – Last day of park hopping at Disney spent at Epcot, we all had a good laugh when we talked Erik into volunteering for the stunt show and he got an early shower.  Fast passed all the rides we wanted to take and then had a great last night dinner at the Coral Reef restaurant.  New York Strips steaks all around except for me, I just can’t bring myself to order steak in a seafood restaurant, so I went with the yellow-tailed sea bass served whole which really freaked out the granddaughters, and we all finished off with another round of decadent desserts.  Tomorrow will be a travel day as we reminisce about the great days of Disney. 

    

8/21/2014 – Today was Magic Kingdom, still the Disney’s mainstay, the place was packed.  Hit the rides and then a great Italian meal with Shrimp Scampi and Chicken Parm the best picks followed with Key Lime Cheesecake for dessert, yes the pants are getting tight.  Erik and I headed back to the campground at about 9:00pm but the girls kept marching on, of course they are the stronger sex. 

8/20/2014 – Let the gang sleep in this morning after a very late night, as we had the windshield cover company coming to the campground this morning to make the window covers for the RV.   They finished the job by 10:00am and did a great job.  The rest of the morning is spent at the pool and then off to Hollywood Studio’s part two in the afternoon and into the evening.  The Disney meal plan is killing us, gained two pounds already, they really do give you a lot of food, and of course we eat it all. Sci-Fi Drive-In restaurant tonight, NY Strips all around with milkshake appetizers and hot fudge sundaes for dessert, can you hear the buttons popping?

8/19/2014 – Today is Animal Kingdom and the kids are raring to go.  On the bus by 9:30 am is a miracle for this crew but we made it.  Spent a great day at the Kingdom and then back to the Campground for the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue and dinner.  Then off to  a bonus night at Hollywood Studio’s until 11:30, the crew dragged home at about 12:30…LONG DAY…….NEED SLEEP…..

 8/18/2014 – Here we are at the Happiest Place on Earth.  So good to see the family, especially the grandkids as we plan for the next four days of park hopping at Disney.  Spent the afternoon at the pool cooling off from the scorching heat down here then dinner at the Campground. 

8/16/2014 – Appointment at Camping World at 8:00am to

install the new baseplate on the car.  Camping World came through with flying colors, out be 10:00am and ready for the road.  Also picked up two roof  bike racks to replace the hitch rack which we have officially retired.  Rest of the day spent packing up the site for departure tomorrow.   Really looking forward to seeing the Daniels and Senteneri Families in Disney on Sunday for a week and then on to Myrtle Beach where Jack and Arlene will join in the fun.. 

8/15/2015 – It’s official, we are now Floridian’s.  Settlement took about 10 minutes this morning then off to the Condo to change the locks, and get our car passes and gate keys.  Then off to motor vehicle to make our domicile official.  Got our Florida license’s, tags and registration for the car, talk about expensive….30 minutes later $600 poorer we were official Florida residents.  They really beat you over the head on first time auto registration here, close to $500 just for registration, tags and FL title.  Couldn’t do the motorhome yet since we won’t get the title for a couple weeks, can’t wait to see the fees for that.  Oh well, still cheaper than NJ in the long run.  Low property tax, no state tax here but auto and home insurance are higher than NJ.  Another steaming day weather-wise humidity is higher than the temperature and they are both above 90 degrees. 

8/11/2014– 8/14/2014 – Crazy week between working, morning bike rides, walking the dogs and doing all the prep for Florida residency not much time to enjoy the area.   Florida Auto, RV, and Condo insurance  took quite a bite out of the budget.  Took care of the banking changeover and set up the wire transfer for settlement on Friday.  Chippy got her hair cut and nails done, told her to shave the head to keep cool, but she didn’t listen.  Camping World finally called and said the baseplate was coming in on Thursday, installing on Saturday just in the nick of time before we leave for Disney vacation on Sunday.  Work is really becoming a drag, can’t wait for retirement, but the next two weeks of vacation will help.  Started to plan the route for the next couple of months as we journey through Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.  Thanksgiving week will be in Arlington TX, just down the street from Cowboy Stadium, where we have tickets to watch the EAGLES stomp the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day.   Tentatively looks like Christmas in San Diego and New Years in LA then off to the desert  in January, more definitive plans to follow.  

8/10/14 - Just a relaxing day at the campground.  Morning bike ride and afternoon karaoke pool party.  Of course I a dazzled them with renditions of Willie, Elvis and Toby.  Watched the PGA championship later in the evening what an amazing finish.   Then of course it was wine time.  SALUTE!!!

8/16/2014 – Appointment at Camping World at 8:00 am to install the new baseplate on the car.  Camping World came through with flying colors, out be 10:00 am and ready for the road.  Also picked up two roof  bike racks to replace the hitch rack which we have officially retired.  Rest of the day spent packing up the site for departure tomorrow.   Really looking forward to seeing the Daniels and Senteneri Families in Disney on Sunday for a week and then on to Myrtle Beach where Jack and Arlene will join in the fun.

  

8/15/2015 – It’s official, we are now Floridian’s.  Settlement took about 10 minutes this morning then off to the Condo to change the locks, and get our car passes and gate keys.  Then off to motor vehicle to make our domicile official.  Got our Florida license’s, tags and registration for the car, talk about expensive….30 minutes later $600 poorer we were official Florida residents.  They really beat you over the head on first time auto registration here, close to $500 just for registration, tags and FL title.  Couldn't do the motorhome yet since we won’t get the title for a couple weeks, can’t wait to see the fees for that.  Oh well, still cheaper than NJ in the long run.  Low property tax, no state tax here but auto and home insurance are higher than NJ.  Another steaming day weather-wise humidity is higher than the temperature and they are both above 90 degrees. 

8/11/2014– 8/14/2014 – Crazy week between working, morning bike rides, walking the dogs and doing all the prep for Florida residency not much time to enjoy the area.   Florida Auto, RV, and Condo insurance  took quite a bite out of the budget.  Took care of the banking changeover and set up the wire transfer for settlement on Friday.  Chippy got her hair cut and nails done, told her to shave the head to keep cool, but she didn’t listen.  Camping World finally called and said the baseplate was coming in on Thursday, installing on Saturday just in the nick of time before we leave for Disney vacation on Sunday.  Work is really becoming a drag, can’t wait for retirement, but the next two weeks of vacation will help.  Started to plan the route for the next couple of months as we journey through Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.  Thanksgiving week will be in Arlington TX, just down the street from Cowboy Stadium, where we have tickets to watch the EAGLES stomp the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day.   Tentatively looks like Christmas in San Diego and New Years in LA then off to the desert  in January, more definitive plans to follow.  

8/10/14 - Just a relaxing day at the campground.  Morning bike ride and afternoon karaoke pool party.  Of course I a dazzled them with renditions of Willie, Elvis and Toby.  Watched the PGA championship later in the evening what an amazing finish.   Then of course it was wine time.  SALUTE!!!

8/8/2014 - Early morning bike rides here are great, beats the heat and there are bike lanes on most of the roads.  They really planned well here with the roadways, three lanes everywhere and and multiple turn lanes at each intersection.  The only complaint so far is that the humidity is always more then the temperature, but we are adjusting ( I know boo hoo hoo).  No gator sightings on Chippy's dog walks this morning.  We are finally drying out after the deluge of rain on Monday, thankfully we are on a slab and the drainage is good on our site.  Naples had several areas with severe flooding.

8/9/2014 - Today we enjoyed the Everglades up close and personal.  Started out at Collier-Seminole State Park where we saw our first alligator took a hike through a forest of tropical trees in this vast mangrove swamp.  The park is the site of a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, the last existing Bay City Walking Dredge. Built in 1924, it was used to build the Tamiami Trail Highway (U.S. 41) through the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp, linking Tampa and Miami and opening southwest Florida to travelers. This may be a future camping destination as there are several easy access sites for the Contessa.  Then is was off to Everglades National Park Shark Valley entrance.  We are now lifetime NPS senior members which gives us free access to all National Parks for life.  We took a two hour tram tour and learned all about alligators and the natural vegetation of  the Everglades.  The only bad part was we were doused with a thunderstorm halfway through which soaked us, the up side was it really cooled things down.  We saw lots of gators from 1 foot to 7 foot during the tour, as well as a plethora of Egrets and Blue Herons.  We also saw an unusual site on the tour, as a single engine plane crashed earlier this morning.

8/6/2014 - Chippy saw her first alligator this morning while she was walking the dogs, and that really got her back to the motorhome in record time LOL.  Really looking forward to our upcoming vacation with the family, although I guess we can't really call it a vacation since we don't really have them anymore. Disney for 6 days and then Myrtle Beach for 9 days.  We will be coming back to Club Naples RV Park after Myrtle Beach for the month of September and will be very busy.  Chippy will be very busy helping Jess and Nicole get settled in the condo and I will be finishing up my working career at Xerox.  Figured out this morning I only have 50 days left till retirement and better yet only 20 working days...WAHOO!  After September we have 17 days booked in the Keys and then will be slowly working our way out of Florida and heading west.

7/25/2014- Settlement Day-------- what an ordeal.  Too bad the buyer’s agent was such a &%$@#, she was totally rude, crude and unprofessional.  That being said after some testy back and forth, it is over the house is sold, and we are on our way to sunny Florida.  The rest of the day also proved a bit trying, with detours accidents and traffic, we had hoped to get into NC, but fell short by about 40 miles.  Rolled into Emporia VA about 10:30 pm and decided to stay at Camp Wal-Mart with generator power.

7/26/2014 – Up at 5:00am and on the road by 6:00AM enroute to Brunswick GA about 470 miles away.  Pretty uneventful day, just a few stops to eat grab some Chinese Lanterns for the last family vacation of the year in Myrtle Beach late August.  Arrived at Golden Isles R.V. Park about 5:00pm, definitely a short stay park, but not a bad price with Passport America card for $19. 

7/27/2014 – On the road by 6:30 425 miles to get to our first official fulltiming campground.  Unfortunately we didn’t arrive without a hitch, or you might say we did (excuse the pun).  Cruising down I75 about 165 from Naples, I glance in my mirror and noticed a familiar vehicle attempting to pass on my left.  HOLY SHIT, that’s my car.  We managed to pull off the highway onto the shoulder to access the damage.  Fortunately the only damage was the base plate that attaches the car to my tow bar completely snapped off the chassis, so we were no longer towing today.  Chippy followed to the campground with no further incidents.  You gotta figure you don’t drive 1200 miles in a motorhome without some excitement, but all is well as we arrived safely in one piece, but it will surely remain in our memories for more reasons than one. 

Arrived at the campground and it is beautiful, most of the sites are owner leased, but we got a very nice site on a 20 by 40 slab, which will be home for the next three weeks, until we meet the family in Disney World for vacation.  Made plans to see the realtor tomorrow morning at 10:00am to begin looking at condo’s.

Welcome to Club Naples RV Park and our new neighborhood…………………………………..

7/28 – 7/31/2014 – So busy, working (only 56 days to go) and squeezing condo searching in our spare time has left little time to enjoy this beautiful city, except through the windows of the realtor’s car.  I have never seen real estate sell so fast, we have seen 5-6 condos’ go under contract before we have even have time to make an offer.  Snooze you lose around here.  The workers at this resort are amazing, constantly asking if they can do anything to make our stay more enjoyable.  They offered us discounts at check in that we didn’t even know existed.  Our full hookup with 50 amps on a 20 x 40 concrete pad ended up costing $100 a week for three weeks, talk about a bargain, we just paid $80 a night at Cape May a few weeks ago.  Was having trouble with the Comcast cable box they provide, and Mike the head maintenance guy was at our site to fix the problem immediately, even offered to make me a new cable between my DVD and TV which turned out to be the issue.  We are slowly getting used to the heat, but even the locals are complaining this week about the heat and humidity.  Looking forward to the weekend so we can start exploring and enjoying Naples but I think we may avoid taking a swim in the Gulf as there are reports of flesh eating bacteria in the water due to the heat, thank goodness we are not water lovers.  Think we will stick to the campground pool if we get the urge to take a dip.  Did another condo blitz today looking at another six and found a couple that we liked.  Decided to put a bid in on a nice 2 Bed 2 bath third floor condo and now we wait to see if we miss another one.

8/1/2014 – Finally a day off…..and since it is Friday you know what that means….FORE…yep time for some golf.  Played at Eagle Lakes, nice layout and hit the ball well, too bad I couldn’t putt.  Worst round of the season, but it sure beats working.  After golf Chippy and I did a little recon of Naples, OMG talk about decadence.  These people have way too much money, these houses and high-rises on the Gulf are unbelievable.  5^th Ave Naples is Americana for millionaires.  We did find a great pizza shop and also visited a State Park on the Gulf which was natural and untouched nice to see there is still a little bit that has not been developed.  Finished the afternoon off back at the campground with a dip in the pool to cool off, going to take some time to get used to this heat.  Wait the day has a very happy ending, just got a call from our realtor, the offer on the Condo has been accepted, we should soon be Floridians by the middle of August.  Jessica is very excited and loves the condo….. LIFE IS GOOD. 

8/2-8/3/2014 – Made the rounds around Naples, Bonita Springs, Lovers Key State Park, Fort Meyers Beach and Marco Island.  Everywhere we go we are amazed at the beauty of the area.  The landscaping both natural and manmade are so unbelievable. 

8/4/2014 – Ugh…Monday, and that means back to work.  Dropped off the deposit at the Title company for the condo, and then the rest of the day is work work work…..really raining hard all day, but not as hot as it has been.  The humidity here is about the same as the temperature which means it is really HOT.  Doing the Home Inspection at 4:30 today, which went really well, everything works great.