1/1- 3/30/2016 – Winter 2016 – We started the New Year off
on a very happy note as Dina, Serena and Taylor are still visiting with us
until Jan 4th before they flew home.
Sadly for them they left FL on a warm balmy day and arrived back in NJ
around midnight and were greeted with bitter cold (12 degrees) and a dead battery after they finally worked the
frozen doors open. Needless to say, AAA
didn’t show for two hours to get them on their way, let’s just say they were
not real happy campers when they finally arrived home in the wee hours of the
morning. We have really started to enjoy the condo after living in the RV
full-time for over a year; it is a nice change of pace and space. One thing about staying in one place as
opposed to travelling is the extra idle time.
You can only play so much golf, sight-see, and loaf on the
beach for so long, so I needed to find something to fill some time. We tried working for a bit, but decided that
was not the answer and quit. Chippy of
course can always find ways to fill her idle time with cooking, cleaning and
grooming the dogs and since she wants no help in any of these chores, I decided
that I would volunteer for the AARP Tax-Aide program which provides free tax
preparation targeting low to moderate income seniors. After five days of training necessary to pass
the IRS certification test I worked every Monday and Tuesday preparing tax
returns for seniors. Really enjoyed the
TaxWise program helping seniors with their taxes, and met so many nice
people. We really enjoyed going to the
beach several times each week all winter, which was a very new enjoyable
experience for us, and we have made a home at Barefoot Beach Preserve, home of
the protected gopher turtle where Chippy has become addicted to shell
collecting. After a warm and wonderful
winter in Paradise (aka Bonita
Springs/Naples Florida) we begin our journey north before we embark on our
dream vacation which we have been planning for years to Alaska. Our first stop was in Perry GA for the FMCA
rally from 3/15 – 3/20/2016. We really
enjoyed our first FMCA rally at the Georgia National Fairgrounds &
Agricenter which was a fantastic venue for the rally. We attended several seminars, bought some
gadgets and supplies and were entertained nightly by a talented comedian as
well as musicians. Then it was on to NJ where
we will be visiting family and friends for the next month before our trek
west.
Barefoot Beach Preserve
Naples/Bonita Springs/Ft Myers