Back to Rambler's Rest

We are back in Venice, FL for a last 2 week stay at Rambler's Rest Encore Resort. This is rapidly becoming our favorite park in Florida! There are lots of activities going on and most folks walk or ride bikes here rather than use golf carts which are so prevalent elsewhere. We will finish up our last 4 doctor visits while here and then spend onr more week in FL at 3 Flags Outdoor World Resort in Wildwood, FL. Monday after Easter we will head north to our workamping assignment at Timothy Lake South in the PA Poconos.
In the mean time we will enjoy the FL sun and warmth a little while longer.

3 Flags

We have been at the 3 Flags Mid Atlantic RV Resort for the last 2 weeks. This is a very nice park with an excellent staff. Joanne, the manager is doing a great job keeping the park up and activities flowing.
The past 2 Saturdays were good for us as we sold our bead jewelry at the morning craft sale here. This past Saturday was also a cookout with cheese-burgers/drink/chips going for $3.50. Good grub at a great price! We'll be back here for a week at the end of March before heading north to our workamping assignment at Timothy Lake South Outdoor World RV Resort in the Pennsylvania Poconos.
Our friends Nick and Terry Russell have been here for most of the last 2 weeks. Nick writes The Gypsy Journal print newspaper all about their full-time travels. He also publishes a daily blog filled with much good information and some just plain fun stuff.
Earlier in the week we had dinner with Nick and Terry, Bob and Rita Meridith, both very good artists, and Al Hesselbart, the historian for the RV/MH Museum and Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN. We went to the charming town of Inverness about 20 miles east of here to a great little place called Stumpknockers. The food and company were super and we will go back to Inverness when we are here in March. The seafood there was quite fresh and well cooked. Lots of local stuffed critters on the walls to add a special ambiance...lol.
Its been fun being able to pick Nick and Terry's brains about all kinds of stuff. I learned a bunch about blogging, and Kathy spent time with Terry discussing her love for fiber art. Kathy will do a feature on our next edition of Living the RV Dream.
Tomorrow morning we are going back to Wachula and the Peace River Thousand Trails Preserve. We'll spend 2 weeks there and then 2 more weeks in Venice, FL at the Rambler's Rest Encore Park. We will finnaly finish up all our various doctor and chiropractor visits.

A little more Rambler's Rest

We left Rambler's Rest yesterday, but I had these pictures from one of our walks to the Myakka River which is the back boundary of the campground. This is a fishing dock and gathering place. There is also a canoe and kayak launch just beyond the dock. I think the bike to golf cart ratio here must be 50/1. Usually the other way around.

These are views up and down river. Quite serene.

This great blue heron was looking for his next meal. Lots of 'gators in here by the way.

Ramblers Rest Venice FL

Here we are at Ramblers Rest in Venice, FL. This park is located off of I75 Exit 191 and what a beautiful park it is. We are just about 10 miles from the Venice Beach and the cute little community of Venice FL. We have not stayed here before but have found this park to be very nice. It seems everyone here likes to ride their bikes around and they are very friendly folks.

One of the best things about this place is the entrance where there is plenty of space to unhook and hook up when we leave. I really like it when we don't block traffic to unhook the car or when we are trying to hook back up. I wish more parks would take this into consideration.

The beautiful warm pool at Rambles Rest.

Here's the office for registration and the people here were very friendly. We were told that we would probably only get 30AMP but the friendly staff were very gracious and gave us 50AMP and boy are we HAPPY CAMPERS.  

One of the most interesting trees here is the bottle brush tree. Very pretty and smells nice. How unusual for this red flower to look like a bottle brush.

Here's my honey hard at work improving our  website. We have a side entry rig so the front passenger area is perfect for John to set up his "office" and leave it set up while we are camped. I on the other hand, have my computer at the dinette so every time we get ready to eat I have to find a space to move it to. It's a little annoying but not bad.  I don't like to sit in front of the TV to eat because it doesn't allow John and I a chance to talk. Sometimes it seems like we are so busy we don't spend enough us time.  By making sure we turn off the TV and have dinner together, it's a chance to catch up on what we are both thinking, especially what we want to talk about on the next Podcast and the research we have done and what we need to do. I'll be back soon with another Blog post. Happy Camping!!

Final day at the Tampa RV Supershow

The rescue squad was on site for the entire show with this rapid response ambulance/golf cart

We spent an hour or so looking at the many park models at the show.

This one was like a small mountain chalet.

Some day, this might be the type of home we live in.

Here comes the Tram!!

There goes the tram!!

This guy was everywhere and he was quite good.

There's my beautiful reporter waiting for me!!

Everywhere  you turned, there were more performers. We really enjoyed these guys.

This place was packed even on the last day.

I'm not sure what this gal was supposed to represent, but look at the sold signs on the rig behind her. Almost all sealers reported good sales volume.

Even Charlie Chaplin was here!

There was lots of stuff for the kids to do on Saturday and Sunday.

 

These guys have been here for the last 13 or 14 years and they are excellent.

 

 

One last street performer.

Tampa RV Supershow Saturday

This vendor can deliver a custom floor mat in a day or so.

I want this chair!!

There's my honey waiting for listeners at the floating restaurant.

I was there too. It was a little chilly Saturday.

This Laurel and Hardy act was one of many street performance acts at the show.

This is the front living room in a Montanna Big Sky 5th wheel. If I was looking at a 5er, this would be appealing.

It's only money!?!

A lot of great Dixieland music came out of this package.

Kathy talking to one of our listeners by the floating reataurant.

Two more street performers

This was the view from the tram looking up the midway.

This was one of several vintage rigs presented by the Tin Can Travellers.

This had to be the oldest rig at the show.

A lot of elbow grease caused that great shine. Nice vintage truck!

Here we are in Marguerittaville!!

Tampa RV Supershow, Day 2

Day 2 found us doing motor homes and we started with Born Free. These are top-of-the-line C Class rigs on Ford and Mercedes Chassis'. Born Free has been a factory only sales operation until this year when both Lazy Days stores will carry the Born Free line. When we downsize our rig, this is probably what we will look into.

Beautiful fiberglass work around the cab is guaranteed to be leak free. 

How about this hickory woodwork? The drawers are constructed with dovetail joinery. Very solid and it will wear well.

The bedroom features a full Queen bed.

It has a pretty sizable TV above the cab.

 

We walked down the midway and found the Nexus company's display. Nexus is a start-up company in its 3rd year. The rigs they make are all top quality, yet well priced. They only sell factory direct from their Elkhart, IN factory. We will visit there next time we are up that way.

Their rigs are mostly on Ford "E" chassis.

 

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this sign in the Airstream display area.

No Supershow would be complete without a bunch of Prevost conversions. This one is the "Elegant Lady" model. It sure has a lot of LED lights all over it.

This is one of the service bays on the above Prevost.

We had lunch with our friends Angel and Teressa Rodriguez in the floating restaurant.

Don't they look like happy campers?