Blog #19

 

"The long and winding road"

A 2000 mile drive

Greetings from Lakeland, Florida. We are at the Aerospace Center for Excellence Campus.

Brian and I left Atlantic Oaks Campground, on Sunday, October 29th.  We arrived at Lakeland, Florida on Friday, November 10th.  So we had a little holiday on our way down.  The first couple of days driving were rainy and foggy.  Then it cleared up and we got to see some of the beautiful Fall color the Northeast states have to offer.

                                           
Lakewood Park, Pennsylvania

We skedaddled down south spending just one night in each spot till we arrived at Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina.  Just south of the North Carolina/South Carolina border, north of Charleston.  We had 4 nights there to relax and enjoy walking and sitting on the beach. Here are a few photos.

Teddy found a friend, Max.


Long flat beaches for walking or running.


Inner Estuary where we saw all kinds of birds, Herons, Egrets, Buzzards, a Bald Eagle, Turtles and Alligators.

After Leaving Huntington beach we swung Southwest towards Cordele, Georgia to spend the night.  So Ruth, (myself) could stop and have an annual visit with my PCP Holly Davis.  I checked out OK.  Teddy and Brian got to wait in the examining room with me.  Things are more casual down here in the south.  We then headed south into Florida to see our friends Ralph and Kim Morgan and their dog Toby (Teddys BDF)

We had a wonderful 4 days down on Kim and Ralph's farm. There home is decorated so lovely. I learned what Buffalo Check is.  Being from Oregon, I might call it Lumberjack Check. They showed us wonderful southern Hospitality. Kim made us girls pedicure appointments, and treated me! We had great family meals, and they toured us around the area.  Beautiful sunset boat rides out on the lake.  Late night card games. Kim is one lucky card player, We will try to beat her next time.

Here are a few photos from our time in Starke, Florida.
Completely different than the postcard, Disney/Miami/Key West/Palm Beach that you may think Florida is like.

I bought us 4 double dip ice creams for $9!




Out on the boat


Buffalo check table out on the screened porch, and dont forget the sweet tea!


Sunset on Hampton Lake

We are looking forward to going back to the Morgan Homestead for "Friendsgiving", Thursday November, 23rd, meeting up with Nick, Kendra and Cannon too!  A Georgia Veterans State Park Camp Host reunion.


Aerospace Center for Excellence
Well here we are, sitting in our bosses office, Volunteer coordinator, Angela Mann.  Angela is a ball of energy and she wants to make sure her volunteers (all 3500 of them by the time the Air show happens) are having fun, as in Sun n Fun!
Sidenote, In talking over the phone during our interview, Angela and Ruth discovered that we both went to Woodrow Wilson High school in Portland, Oregon.  Small World, isnt it.
We were in her office discussing what jobs we would like.  So far Ruth, (myself) has been trained to take over the receptionist desk and museum admissions on Sundays.  Ive also helped with putting on an awards dinner for Yearly Bird volunteers. (stuffing, in order, gift bags) 

Brian has felled a tree, helped put in new light fixtures in bathrooms and now has settled on the wood working shop.  He spent the later part of the week building picnic tables.
Here's a few photos.

There we are!,  the black circle with the X.  Thats just a small portion of the campus during a previous airshow.  We are on Linder Lakeland International airport.  An Amazon Prime Hub.  We get our Amazon packages in the blink of an eye!


Brian works on Maintenance Way


The Carpenters Shop Electric truck


The Woodworking Shop


This is where Ruth works as a receptionist, and admissions, and whatever else they need.

We have only been here one week, and we still have lots to learn.  But so far so good.  We are parked just across from the laundry and WiFi antenna.  Just 2 miles down the road is a brand new Publix grocery store, UPS drop-off (for all those Amazon purchases that you dont really want), Milkster, a coffee and ice cream place, plus a liquor store, Great Clips, etc...

Well its time to go.  Ill report more goings on as I learn more.

Happy Trails to You, Till We Meet Again   

XOXOX
Brian & Ruth & Teddy


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
 # 23 Where did the summer go?  It was just here, then poof, it was gone.  We had a hot humid summer here on the Cape.  Lots of bugs too.  Mind you, not like Tennessee. We shared our late shift with Deb and Brian Castell who introduced us  to our Atlantic Oaks family of workers.  I don't know if I ever told you how we happened to find Atlanic Oaks Campground.  We met Brian and Deb on a Mediterranean cruise about 15 years ago, and I kept up with Deb over the years on Facebook.  They had worked at Atlantic Oaks during the summer occasionally, and two summers ago they wanted to tour Canada, so she asked us,  "Do You want to apply for a work camping job at Atlantic Oaks"?  And the rest is history. The summer season seemed to go smoother this year.  Less hectic.  Probably because we were more experianced and less stressed out about the learning curve of a new job. We found some new hikes, and explored some waterways with o...
Read more

Blog #22

Image
On the Road Again We survived our 1st year at Sun n Fun!  It was so much fun, that we are going back next year.   There were fun times, and not so much fun times.  We met mostly very nice welcoming seasoned volunteers.  And a few Jerks, just like in any large organization.   We did everything from, Brian; going up in a man lift and pruning Palm trees with a chainsaw (128 total )Wow! To building cell phone charging stations, picnic tables, benches, decks and rails, building repair, running a backhoe for the electricians to pull power from the airport transformer to four new transformers installed on the campground side.  Brian also worked in the machine shop and made parts, as well in the welding shop. (Enough about Brian) Ruth organized storage rooms, linen closets, worked in the volunteer lunch kitchen, and was an assistant to the Volunteer coordinator who managed the 2400 volunteers who show up to put on the 50th anniversary Air Show that is Sun n Fu...
Read more

Blog #24

Image
ROAD TRIP! 1600 Miles in 30 days                    We had a rough start heading down to Lakeland, Florida.  Between Brian's prostate issues, and Hurricane Milton, we had to be very flexible.  Plans were changed numerous times.  But we made it, stayed healthy and had a restful, fun time. Here's a photo travelog, of our journey south. First stop, boondocking at Mohegan Sun Casino  Next stop, Country Acres campground, Lancaster county, Amish country, which was lovely, charming and quaint. Getting around Fantastic, Bird in Hand Farmers market!  YUM! We met up with Sun n Fun friends, Barbara Ann, and Jeff, Emily, and Brian, for coffee in Intercourse, PA.  They all live close to where we were staying.  That weekend Emily and Brian McClure were having a Highland Games at their home and acreage and invited us to come stay with them and enjoy the fun and games. Lot's of men in Kilts doing macho things. ...
Read more