Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Winter 2016

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