Spending The Month in Florida
/ Kathryn HyslopSpending The Month in Florida
So we escaped the North for an entire month, well, Tim did. I only got to stay a couple weeks before I had to go back to work. We rented a cottage (park model trailer) at a camping resort in Zephyrhills. The resort had many amenities that we highly enjoyed, especially the pool and hot tub. The two weeks I was there it was warm and beautiful most days so we were able to take advantage of the pool. Tim enjoyed playing pool a few evenings a week as well as playing Euchre. We attempted shuffleboard and definitely need to practice that a bit to get better at it. We met some great people and enjoyed our stay. The rental unit wasn’t the greatest but next year we will have our own home with us. I can’t wait till this is our lifestyle!
Thanks for reading, next up will be some blog posts as we downsize.
That is, if Tim lets me get rid of anything.
Initially, as we headed north out of Colorado towards Wyoming, the snow capped Rocky Mountains provided beautiful scenery until all of a sudden we were surrounded by the High Plains. It is hard to describe the beauty in the pastel greens and yellows of the rolling hills and large flat grazing lands of the plains. I know others who have said driving across the plains can get boring but I thought there was tremendous beauty all around us.
After the winds blew us out of Kansas, we headed further west to Colorado. Our first stop was Pueblo where we planned a night at a Cracker Barrel.
When we arrive at a Crackle Barrel, we always check with the manager to confirm we can spend the night. This is the first time that the manager said no. He explained that they had too many people stay for days and wouldn’t leave. It was near other businesses including a Walmart and he said none of them allowed overnight parking.
We drove out of Branson and the Ozarks and headed into Kansas and the Great Plains. Yes, this is truly flat land with the wind constantly blowing. On that first day in Kansas, we really felt the winds. It was blowing at us pretty hard for most of the drive and with higher profile vehicles, we could really feel it. I guess I should be happy that the van isn’t any taller. It would have been more of an impact with a higher van.
We have been through Missouri a couple of times but never stopped in Branson. I noticed on the map that Branson wasn’t too far from Hot Springs and not too far off of our route to Kansas so I suggested we head that way. Definitely a benefit of not having plans or reservations; you can wing it and just explore where ever you want!
As we entered May, Florida was starting to get pretty hot and we were ready to head north for the summer. So the question was, where to go to? When we started our RV life journey, our goal was to see the lower 48 states. At this point, we had visited 33 states, with only 2 missed in the south - Louisiana and Arkansas. We thought we could visit those states and then head north to visit a few Mid-West states with a goal to get to one of our bucket list items - Mount Rushmore.
April brought very nice weather although it did get quite warm the last week. That was ok with us and was easier to tolerate than the cold we had to deal with back home.
The best part was that Katie and Rosie came for a visit mid April. We had a fantastic we with them in Crystal River. Katie wanted to visit that area and Rosie was very excited to see the mermaids aT Weeki Wachee.
I left off the last blog promising plans of travel to the 2 southern states we hadn’t yet visited: Arkansas and Louisiana. Well, best laid plans had to be changed again! I saw my doctor on March 6 and got the go ahead for travel. We were already packed and ready to go. Can you tell we were anxious to head south again and warm up?
We arrived back in Pennsylvania early January, just in time for the deep freeze. We haven’t had to deal with cold winter temperatures for a few years, so waking up to -20 degree below zero wind chills was a shock to our bodies. I have to say having the condo to stay in was quite comfortable so it was a good thing that we had purchased it in the fall. Definitely good to have a home base in Pittsburgh.

As we left the bison ranch in Cheyenne, we headed across the plains towards Nebraska. I expected a flat grassy expanse of the prairie and a boring drive. I have to say that we were pleasantly surprised by landscape along the way.