Beautiful day on Anna Maria Island

It’s been a busy week for me at work, with lots of meetings and training sessions, so on Friday we made plans to get out and do something fun and active, to take advantage of the beautiful weather we’ve been having.

Along with our friends Bill & Linda, we loaded the bikes on our Jeeps and headed out to Anna Maria Island for the day.  Our tentative plan included some bike riding, a hike and walk on the beach, and an early dinner somewhere on the island.

After a quick pit stop, we headed out on the bike trail.

 

It was a beautiful day, and there were plenty of people walking and riding on the trail, as well as lots of people on the beach.  The bike trail followed the beach for a couple of miles – a beautiful setting – but it could have been a little wider and in better shape.  It was still a nice ride, but we had to dodge quite a few people.

 

 

 

 

The beach looked beautiful, and so inviting!!

I was starting to regret not just planning a beach day!

We reached the Jetty at the far southern end of Anna Maria Island, and stopped to soak in the beauty of the beach and the emerald green water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bright sunshine, the cloudless blue sky, and crystal clear water – what more could you ask for!?!

BEAUTIFUL!!

Having reached the end of Anna Maria Island, we decided to cross the bridge to Longboat Key and continue on.  There was no more bike trail, but we did have a nice wide sidewalk that was in better shape than the bike trail!

 

We rode for several miles through the mostly residential area of the island.  The business district of Longboat Key was still over 8 miles away, and we weren’t really up for that long of a ride (it would have put us at a total of almost 30 miles, round trip), so we opted to turn around, since there wasn’t much else to see in the residential area.

 

 

 

Back on Anna Maria Island, we reached Leffis Key, which was our hiking destination for the afternoon.

It’s a small hiking trail and boardwalks through the mangroves along the bay side of the island.

There were several observation decks along the water, where we saw birds, fishermen, and the surrounding islands and mainland.

 

We could even see the Cortez drawbridge that we crossed on our way to the island.

It was a nice little hike to break up our day.

 

From the highest point on our little hike, we had a nice view of the bay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished our ride back along the bike trail, and then had a few snacks in the picnic area at the beach before walking along the water.

The water was a cool 68 degrees – similar to Lake Michigan in late June!

Beautiful, though . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed a nice walk in the sand, and picked up a few shells . . . didn’t find any sand dollars, though.

There were some clouds moving in, but it was still a beautiful day . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After 11 miles of bike riding, a mile of hiking, and another mile on the beach . . . we were all getting a little hungry . . . actually, really hungry!  We loaded the bikes back on the Jeeps, and hopped onto the trolley to ride to the other end of the island for dinner.

After talking to some locals on the trolley, we decided to give the Rod & Reel a try.  It’s a small seafood restaurant on a small pier about a 1/2 mile away from the last trolley stop at the Anna Maria City Pier . . . more walking!  OK, not too far . . .

We were ahead of the crowd, and got seated right away.  Food was good and the prices were pretty decent, too . . . good choice!

After dinner, we enjoyed the view from the pier before heading back to the trolley stop.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had hoped to make it back to the beach for sunset, but we just missed the trolley as we arrived back at the city pier, and had to wait about 30 minutes for the next one.

We made due with the sunset there.

Anna Maria Historic City Pier, with the Sunshine Skyway in the background.

 

A beautiful ending to a beautiful day!

Biking the Venetian Waterway Trail

We arrived in south Florida last week, just in time for cooler temperatures to move into South Carolina!  We’re supposed to get some rain tomorrow and be a little chilly on Sunday, but next week we’ll be right back up in the mid-70s.  Last week started out HOT, in the 80s, but we suffered through it and cooled off in the pool! 

We arrived at Pleasant Lake RV Resort on Friday, and after a couple nights on a temporary site in the front of the park, we moved to our site for the month of January – D16 – on Sunday.

We lucked out and got a site on the perimeter of the park, with a wide concrete patio and driveway.  It’s a pretty nice setup! 

We’ve been walking the two loops of the resort every morning (1.9 miles), and again in the evening after dinner, and riding our bikes sometimes, too.  Today we decided to load the bikes onto the Jeep and take them down to Venice to ride the Venetian Waterway Trail to the beach.  Our new friends, Bill and Linda, new fulltimers previously from Lansing, were interested in riding too, so they loaded their bikes onto their Jeep and joined us.

It was a beautiful afternoon for a ride!

The bike trail runs along both sides of the Inter-Coastal Waterway. 

We took the trail along the west side, past the High School and the Airport, and around a few neighborhoods.  At the turnoff for Caspersen Beach, we stopped for a short break.

There were a few fishermen along the water,

and these guys waiting for scraps!

 

 

The Waterway Trail ended at Caspersen Beach,

where we got off the bikes and walked for a bit.  There were quite a few people enjoying this beautiful day, even though it was beginning the cloud up.

From the beach, we picked up the Island Loop Bike Trail, which took us north on Harbor Drive, following the ocean towards Venice Beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were getting hungry, so we put our name in for a table at Sharky’s, and took a walk out on the pier while we waited for our  pager to light up.

The sky was really starting to look like storms were on the way, so we were hoping we’d get through dinner and finish the ride back to the Jeeps before it hit!

 

 

 

After a few minutes, our table was ready and we enjoyed a delicious dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our original plan had been to continue on the Island Loop Bike Path through downtown Venice, but with darkness and potential rain approaching, we decided to take a shortcut across Airport Rd. to the Venetian Waterway Trail, and back to the Jeeps.  We made it back without getting rained on, and had the bikes loaded before it got dark.

Success!  It was a great day!

Looking back at 2016

2016 was our fourth full year of fulltiming, and marked our last year as a “fulltiming family”.  Like the years before, it was filled with making new friends, meeting up with old friends, and plenty of new adventures. 

Casey stopped travelling with us in January, when she moved into the apartment with Nick.   I wasn’t sure how she’d feel about the change, but she has adapted well to his schedule, and seems to really enjoy living with him (he spoils her!) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bryce was with us for most of the year, but then in August, he moved into the dorms at Michigan State University, and we were officially empty-nesters.

We did, however, pick up a travelling guest for several weeks when we introduced Tom’s Dad to the fulltime lifestyle. 

I think he gained a new appreciation for our lifestyle, and he also got to see some new sights (6 states) and spend some time with Nicolas.

Nicolas was still in Charleston this year for his nuclear power training, and we were really pleased that our flexible lifestyle allowed us stay near enough to him that he was able to spend several of his 4-day weekends with us,

 

and also stay with us during the evacuation for Hurricane Matthew.

Travel Recap

After travelling to Michigan (without the motorhome) with Nicolas for Christmas, and then getting him settled into his new apartment, we headed south into Florida, criss-crossing the state,

and hitting every coast – the Atlantic, the Gulf, and the Panhandle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Spring arrived (or, when we thought it should have arrived – WRONG!), we travelled north to have some issues addressed on the motorhome at ARG (a.k.a. Monaco) in Decatur, IN.  On the down side, we had freezing temperatures and 3” of snow; on the upside, we found our new tow vehicle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent the late spring and summer in Michigan, and in the fall we travelled east and south to add a couple new states  (Pennsylvania and Virginia) to our map on the way to South Carolina.

We stayed in 30 campgrounds over the course of the year, including 4-1/2 months at our workamping location in Michigan, Silver Creek RV Resort,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

where we had plenty of opportunities to take the Jeep out on the sand dunes,

and 2-1/2 months at our volunteer site at the Santee National Wildlife Refuge.

We visited (5) new National Park properties, most of them in the fall with Tom’s Dad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Financial Recap

We travelled a total of 5689 miles in the motorhome, and consumed 764 gallons of diesel (averaging 7.45 mpg) at a total cost of $1753 for a cost per mile of 31 cents.  Not too bad!  We were stationary for 7 months of the year (workamping and volunteering) and the motorhome does not move at all when we’re stationary, unlike the truck which would still occasionally get driven, even though we had the car.  We did have several days (both in the spring and the fall) when we needed to use the aquahot system for heat, which used diesel, but didn’t seem to have an appreciable effect on our diesel usage.

We spent a total of $4931 on campground fees during the year, which when averaged over 12 months, comes to $411/month.  When we remove the 7 months that we were workamping or volunteering, the monthly average cost becomes $986.  This is considerably higher, but that’s one of the benefits of workamping and volunteering – keeping your overall campground fees down so that you can stay wherever you want the rest of the year.

Our total expenses for the year, with major expenses disregarded (Jeep purchase, Roth IRA contributions, and Bryce’s college expenses) came to just under $36,000, or $3000/month.  We have no debt on the motorhome or Jeep, since I’m still working our health insurance is provided by my employer, and we have money set aside for college so that does not factor into our standard expenses.

We’re pretty happy with this amount – it’s right in line with our budget, and it is reduced from the previous years’ expenses when there were 4 of us, and we were covering more miles.  The upcoming year will be the real test, now that it just Tom and I (although we’ll have Bryce back for a few months in the summer).  I’ve already noticed a decline in our grocery expenses!

Emotional Recap

We’re still loving this life!  We’re having fun, meeting lots of like-minded people, catching up with friends we’ve met over the years, and we’re able to be where we need to be when we need to be there to support our sons as they begin to build their own adult lives.  Some might say we’ve deserted them, but I don’t agree at all.  We’ve raised them to stand on their own two feet, given them the skills they need to be successful in the paths they’ve chosen, and they know we will be there  to support them when needed and to celebrate their successes with them.