Meandering the Country

February 9 – 23, 2023 Growing up, I belonged to the local Girl Scout Troop in Eldridge, Iowa.  One of the songs we sang at Bridging Ceremonies was:  “♬Make new friends but keep the old. 🎶  One is silver and the other’s gold. ♪”   What a great sliver of wisdom to share with children.  It’s really something to carry with you for a lifetime.  During our stay in Wildwood, FL, we were fortunate to be able to spend time enjoying both our silver and our gold friends! We stayed at Wildwood RV Campground primarily because it was along the route we were wanting to go and it was a Thousand Trails campground, of which we are members.  We really didn’t know anything about the area, but we were confident we wouldn’t have any trouble filling our time.  After all, it’s February and we were in Florida!  Although the campground really wasn’t much to look at, they offered lots of activities for all ages.  I know my personal favorites included the Ch...

Feb. 4 – 9, 2023 Our stay in Clearwater, FL was brief, but delightful!  Doug and Rowena (Dick’s brother and sister-in-law) have a condo there, making it possible to spend some quality time with them while we are in the “Sunshine State”!  Not only did we soak up family time and sunshine, but we visited the “Sponge Capital of the World” – Tarpon Springs!   Our campsite was at Clearwater/Tarpon Lake KOA, located in Palm Harbor, which is only ten miles from Doug and Rowena’s beautiful condo.  Although it was only ten miles, heavy traffic in the Tampa area makes even short trips a little longer than what one might anticipate! Not only do Doug and Rowena live in Clearwater, their son (Justin) his wife (Kalena) and children (Charlie and Sam) live nearby too!  In fact, the day we arrived, we went out for dinner with Doug and Rowena and, following dinner, we went to Justin and Kalena’s home where we had time to play with Charlie and Sam, as well as their puppy, Olli...

January 22 – February 4, 2023 We spent our two weeks in Dade City, FL helping on a Habitat for Humanity (H4H) build.  H4H has a program called Care-A-Vanners.  It allows individuals with RVs to join together and as a team and build homes!  It’s a wonderful organization and we were thrilled to be able to add to H4H’s effort for a couple of weeks!    Home for these two weeks! I can’t take credit for the story below.  Don (a fellow Care-A Vanner from the build) read it to us one morning.  I couldn’t describe the reason we love this organization any better than what this story has to say: We, as Care-A-Vanners, must be a little touched.  And I say that, as we must be out of our minds, living under these conditions.  Here we are, traveling thousands of miles, living in boxes on wheels which are a little smaller than our living rooms back home and not nearly as stable for when the wind blows, these units sway.  We must be touched, because we l...