Christmas

Christmas Eve found us at the club house for a gift exchange and lots of finger foods.  Some of the gifts exchanged hands more than once as we could take from someone else if they had something we wanted.  I chased my naked dead chicken around the room before I got him back to the table.  We had lots of fun and laughs.

 

Christmas day found us back at the club house for Christmas dinner ( more food).  The park provides turkey and ham, the ladies decorate the tables  and the attendees provide all the side dishes. As always lots of food and fellowship.  We had about 100 people attending dinner.  We had a large variety of  food  to include  dirty rice, rutabaga, dressing, Waldorf salad, and assorted desserts. We all ate to much as usual. 

   

Today we are kicked back.  We don’t go shopping the day after Christmas but we will go out to lunch (more eating).

Sumter Oaks RV Park, Bushnell, Florida

 

We are at Sumter Oaks RV Park, Bushnell, FL.   As we were checking in  several ladies that we knew came in to the office.  It was like old home week. An old friend Al Peterson was checking us in then Betty, Brenda and Joann came in.  Really great to see them.  Then as we were parking their husbands, Glenn, Jim and Carl came around.  Later Don the banjo player came by.  We are going to be here at least thru the end of the year and then we’ll see.  It is good to be stopped for a  well.  We have been here several days and have had some nice and not so nice weather.  The day after we arrive it poured down rain all day and night.  I thought we would have to get some paddles. We have had rain showers and sunshine, temps from the 40’s to the 70’s.

  WE have been taking morning walks around the park and here are some of the local wildlife.

These two sandhill cranes are eating our of a bird feeder.  As I was taking their picture they started to leave and then went back as there still was feed in the feeder.

     

This squirrel was scolding us as we were walking by.

   

A view of the swamp behind the park, the light color thru the trees is early morning fog.  The next are our home sitting amongst the trees. I really enjoy this park with the live oaks and cypress trees with Spanish moss hanging and moving gently with the breeze.  Some views from our site.                  

      

The burros next door.  There are 7,  we feed them carrots and other veggies. 

I tried to get her to smile.

Traveling Thru The Southern States and Restaurants

 

Yesterday we headed south leaving Pennsylvania going into Maryland  then just a few miles down the road we entered West Virginia and about the time I got use to seeing West Virginia signs we entered yet another state - Virginia.  Wow  !!!! 4 states in just over one hour.  Then today it was a three state day, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.  It is sure different traveling in the east. Sometimes out west it takes 3 days to drive across one state.  It seems like we are traveling faster when we cross state lines so quick.  We also noted that we are back in the land of trees with leaves.  Somewhere near Charlotte, North Carolina we realized  that the trees still had leaves on them.  Also the temperature is warmer, that sure is appreciated.

As we have  traveled and eaten  in  restaurants across the country we find different items on the menus that are new to us. We understand that in restaurants of different cultures there are names we don’t recognize. But in good old American restaurants we have found some unusual names. In most cases we have to ask what they are.  Today we stopped to eat at a truck stop  in North Carolina  and the new item was a liver mush sandwich.  I had to ask the waitress and she was not to clear on what it was as she had not eaten it.  I looked it up on the internet, it is ground up pork liver and corn meal or grits mixed together and made into a loaf, cooked and then sliced.  I am glad I didn’t order it.  Some other different items we have seen: in PA birch beer, it taste like root beer but is red in color.  Also one restaurant had a steamer.  My first thought this must be mussels, but no, it is a Sloppy Joe.  In Alabama we had swamp soup. It looked like swamp water and was made with collard greens, beans and sausage.  It is really good.   

Today we kicked back, letting a storm pass thru this area.  It was raining when we got up this morning and the forecast was for more rain thru out the day.  About lunch time we drove into the town of Walterboro, SC looking for a post office.  We found the post office and a nice down town area with many shops and  two nice restaurants.  We had lunch at the Blarney Stone  - an Irish Pub, very nice and the food was good.

The Blarney Stone and the  main street of Walterboro                   

  

The side walk is made with oyster shells in it.

 

 

A nativity scene in from of Old Bank Christmas and Gift Shop with the Waterfall Plaza next door.   This tree had lots of Spanish moss hanging from it.

  

We have changed the picture at the top of our blog to a picture of our  current rig.  We are much more comfortable in this rig.

Tomorrow we are heading south if the weather is good.

Thanksgiving is over

 

Thanksgiving is over and we had lots of good food and I ate to much.  So what is new.  On black Friday we didn’t go shopping, but we went with our daughter and her family to pick out a Christmas tree.  We drove out to a tree farm near Greencastle.  They give you a long strip of plastic and you write your name on it and then tie it to the tree that you select.  Lots of trees to select from.  Our granddaughter made the finale selection.

Heading out to  select a Christmas Tree. Notice we all  have our hands in our pockets.  It was windy and cold.

  

After looking and looking a tree was selected.  Many were looked at and rejected for one thing or another.  It really didn’t take to long to pick a tree.  If had been warmer it would have taken longer. 

   

In the RV Park where we are staying  our neighbor had one flamingo in their yard.  My wife, being a flamingo person, had to put out  some flamingos to keep company with the lonely one next door.

When we were in Alaska last summer the fish we caught were shipped to our daughter as we didn’t have a large freezer in our rig.  We have since purchased a small chest freezer and put it in our fifth wheel.  It sure was a good move.  We not only have our expensive fish now, but when we see sales we can take advantage of them.  It also holds ice cream better than our other freezer. 

As we travel we joke about where RV parks are located.  Most are located next to a highway, railroad tracks or airport.  If you are lucky you can get all three.  The RV park we are staying in is quite close to Interstate 81, west of us is the railroad,  south a short ways is an airport, but the best part is the RV park backs up to a truck terminal.  It was quiet Thursday thru Sunday.  At midnight Sunday the trucks started to roll, by 7:00 AM the parking lot for the cars was full and the trucks were almost all gone.  It was not as noisy as I thought it would be.

  

Here is the only wild life we have seen.  This guy posed for me.

    

Tomorrow we are back on the road  pointing the nose south.