March 1st was moving day for us, and we had about 225 miles to travel, straight through the middle of the state. We anticipated a slow travel day, since we were on 2-lane roads, rather than interstates, and once we got up near Winter Haven, we knew traffic would pick up.
We were right, and it took us about 5-1/2 hours to get to our destination at Southern Oaks RV Resort in Summerfield, FL. With the exception of the hair-raising U-turn we needed to make to get to the southbound side of the divided highway and the resort’s driveway, it was a fairly easy drive up US-27.
We got checked in and set up just the basics at the site, and then headed down the road to get some dinner at Sweet Tomatoes (Ash Wednesday, so no meat for us) and pick up groceries at Walmart. We were definitely in need of replenishing the pantry and refrigerator after our stay in the Everglades – we had used up pretty much everything!
We were both pretty tired after the long travel day, so back home with groceries, we just settled in and relaxed for the evening.
While I worked on Thursday, Tom finished setting up outside the RV.
Now we’re settled in for the month!
We selected this resort because it was just a few miles up the road from The Villages, where our friends, Mark & Janie, relocated to from Michigan a couple of years ago. Mark is a college friend of Tom’s, who reached out to him on facebook last year, encouraging us to visit them this winter.
After setting up, Tom contacted Mark to let him know we had arrived. We made arrangements to meet for dinner and they invited us to go with them to “Trivia Night” at a local Ice Cream Shop.
Mystic Ice Cream is quite a place – hippie atmosphere, with plenty of retro paraphernalia and decorations.
Album Art
Another interesting corner
Mark & Janie have a regular team that meets every Thursday for Trivia Night, and they were gracious enough to let Tom & I join their them – even though we didn’t anticipate being able to contribute much!
It’s definitely a popular activity – this place was packed!
The ice cream is really good, too! It’s all homemade, and half of the flavors are made with alcohol – hence the “Adult” Frozen Dessert! Well, who can pass up ice cream? Tom and I had to try some . . . he had Grand Marinier, and I had White Mystic (vanilla ice cream with Kahlua, Amaretto and Ghirardelli white chocolate) . . . YUM!!
The trivia contest was fun, although some of the “correct” answers were debatable, and our team managed to win one rounds and send a player to the finals.
We didn’t win, but it was fun, and we’ll probably go again.
On Friday afternoon, we needed to mail a couple things at the Post Office, so we took a drive down to Leesburg afterwards, where we had seen a Rural King on the way to the RV Resort on Wednesday. Before leaving Big Cypress, we bought a case of tomatoes (for $6!), and although we managed to give quite a few away, we still have way more than we can eat. I decided I’d make some freezer salsa, and Rural King is a great place to pick up canning supplies . . . and our favorite potato chips!
Walking around the store, we spotted the baby chicks, and had to stop for a peek . . .
they had bunnies, too . . . so pretty with their pink ears!
It’s kindof nice to be back in civilization again, and have easy access to stores and activities!I think it’s going to be another enjoyable month!
Careful you could get spoiled being back in an area like that. We worry how we'll feel when we head back to Ontario.
ReplyDeleteBe Safe and Enjoy!
Its about time.