It has been an interesting spring with many projects. The big one was Janice remodeling the guest bathroom. We think it has
been since the house was built in 1958 that it was updated. Interesting project, but thank God it is complete and we think came out great.
June 21st we headed out to the Tampa area for a weekend of golf at Innisbrook. The secondary purpose of the trip was to make sure the RV is up to snuff and all working fine. We anticipate a fun summer, heading out July 8th with few problems along the way. The many problems last year put us in a position of having replaced most items that could go wrong!
We had a fun drive across the state to stay at a small RV Park near the Innisbrook Resort. Around 12:30 we decided to stop and have lunch. We were near our old home in Dade City and picked a wonderful old haunt in San Antonio, FL, called Paucha Villa’s Mexican Resturant. We enjoyed it many times when we lived there. As time flies, it had been eight years ago! We didn’t know if it was still there.
Sure enough, it was and there was a line to get in, even at 2:00 in the afternoon. The wait was worth it and it was a lot of fun. We had only one regret. Having not planned the day, we were sorry that we did not meet some of our old friends from Lake Jovita for lunch.
Saturday morning we went to the Innisbrook Resort to play The Island Course. They had survived 19 inches of rain during the week, so we were not sure what to expect. The course was in surprisingly good shape and we enjoyed a fun round of golf. We turned in our card and returned to our RV and put our clubs away, ready to do something for the afternoon.
As we were getting into the vehicle a woman yelled over to us and informed us we had a flat front tire!! What did we call it, a “shakeout weekend”. Of course, we have a “Good Sam roadside assistance” program and called. The first service attendant was a NO SHOW! Five hours later we had the spare installed. Now that was a fun afternoon. Our hope is that we are not experiencing the beginning of another “expensive, continued repair” summer.
Sunday morning we returned to The Island Course and were paired with a fun couple from Naples.
Both were General Motors retired engineers and it was a lot of fun. None of us were breaking any records for the round and Mark’s ball ended up in a very difficult position to recover from.
We had a lot of laughs and a fun morning of golf. With all the rain the week before, they were not able to cut the rough next to the fairways and a ball landing in the rough was difficult to find, a lot of times NOT FOUND!!
We finished golf and decided to head back to Flagler Beach. The first check was to see if we had any flat tires, They were fine!
Our first follow-up to the flat tire was visiting our local tire shop, who had just replaced the four back tires. They pumped up the bad tire and discovered that the tire wheel was broken and had to be replaced.
Last year we replaced a wheel in Billings, Montana. One of the series of events that made the trip, “INTERESTING!” It is supposed to be very rare to have a broken wheel. Now we have the second broken wheel on the same Mercedez Sprinter! Long story short, we had all five wheels ordered from Mercedez and had them replaced. That problem is solved and the Roadtrek is a great condition for our summer travels.
As we love our golf, we have been given the opportunity to play a number of courses around the nation and report on our feelings about the experiences. We used our experience at Innsbrook as our first opportunity and had the opportunity to play two wonderful local courses here in Florida, one is a fantastic Reese Jones architected course that winds its way through an old sugar plantation with wonderful views and conditions that were near perfect, what a thrill.
We look forward to playing many courses this summer as we travel first to New England and then out to British Columbia.
July 3rd was our 20th Anniversary so we celebrated at The Cellar Restaurant in Daytona Beach. What a great Italian meal and good Tuscan wine. The Cellar is located in President Warren Harding’s winter home, built in 1907. A little of our fsvorite presidential history!
20th Wedding Anniversary gift is porcelin. We had a great laugh over dinner since part of redoing the bathroom required a new porceline toilet! Life is fun!!
It’s back to packing and hitting the road first thing Monday morning..plan is golf, many adventures and visiting family and friends along the way.
John and Janice,
A belated, very Happy Anniversary! Glad to hear that you are enjoying your retirement and travels, as are we.
Liz & Steve
Liz and Steve:
Thank you so much. We will make a point of catching up in the fall, we would love to get together. Enjoy the summer.
Sounds like a great itinerary. If you ever make it to the SF Bay Area, let us know. We’d love to see you both again. We’re here all summer – head to NYC and London at the end of September.
So wonderful to hear from you. Janice is going to try out for the USGA SR Am in Chicago, if she qualifies we will need to leave British Columbia and head to Iowa for the tournament. If she does not qualify, we will be able to travel the west coast and we will try to catch up with you and Phil.
We think of you often, we got a TRX and still use it. That was a fun time crossing the Atlantic.
Safe travels – looking forward to your posts
Have a safe trip we also really enjoy the Cellar
Enjoy your summer and we will get some more golf in when you return in the fall.
Thanks. We are in New England with family, having a wonderful time. Thought of the two of you as we passed through the old stomping grounds of PA on the way up. There were so many good times!
Enjoy, Janice and John!
Looking forward to reading about you travels,
BA and Tim
Thanks. Enjoy the summer. Talked with Mike O’Brien about the North Course and we are looking forward to comming down after it opens. Hope we can catch up with both of you then.
Safe travels s guys, I’m enjoying this absolutely beautiful weather here in NE, been doing a lot of motorcycle riding, now the golf begins tomorrow. Hope you have a fantastic time.
It is beautiful up here, to put it mildly. We played the Jones Course at Pinehills in Plymouth Sunday and then enjoyed Cranberry Valley on the Cape Monday. Sorry, our times did not cross while you were up here. See you in September.
Happy 20th anniversary, time sure flies. March 1st was our 50th
Wow, 50 years, that is fantastic! I assume you are in NC for the summer. Have a great time. Maybe we can catch up in the fall.
Enjoy !!! We are booked on Montreal to Nova Scotia and New England cruise in early Oct.
That sounds fantastic. We are currently with the family in New Hampshire. Brian rented a house on Lake Sunapee for a week. Lots of golf, sun, water activities and maybe a drink or two!!
We just returned from a week in Cheyenne Wyoming for a family reunion with Raejeans fun family! Safe travels , look forward to reading about more of your adventures!
Thank you. We spent some time a few years back in Wyoming and loved it. The 4th of July celebration in Cody is a memory that we talk about often. Enjoy your summer.