The good and the bad of the ride south. The good was the road that started out as traffic lights every couple of hundred yards turned out to be rather scenic. The bad was a $21.60 toll for a few miles on the FL Turnpike. All the construction on the turnpike also caused some interesting effects on the GPS. At several points the GPS seemed to think I was off on dirt roads. I'm glad the GPS was wrong (lol)! The John Prince cg had an interesting address. It was the only odd numbered address on the even side of the street. The GPS wanted me to turn right when the park was clearly on the left. I love my GPS but refuse to let it drive by itself till it grows up a bit more. I think I'll stay at the wheel.
John Prince cg is a really pretty county park. I got a very pretty spot backing up to Lake Osborne. Lots of birds around; cranes, osprey, ducks, hawks, vultures, egrets. Some of the birds would walk within a few feet of me while I was sitting outside. I guess some people feed them. I was careful to look around before stepping out of my rig each morning but no alligators. Ahh shucks!
Ira & Elaine with NY plates and about an 18 ft B+ were camped directly across from me. He had wires strung across the tops of two palm trees well over 30 ft in the air. Turns out he's a ham radio buff who daily talks with others as close as northern FL and as far as the Antarctic. They keep their house in NY but are in FL for about 10 mths a year. He grew up in the same Brooklyn neighborhood that my grandmother lived and couldn't believe a fellow camper knew such streets as Pitkin, Sutter, Livonia. He brought back such great memories of visiting my grandma. She lived in the same second floor apartment from about 1920 until she passed away in 1962. No phone, TV, or air conditioner. We called the shoe store on the first floor and he yelled up to her. It's near 50 years since she's gone and I can still hear her soft voice.
The cg has a great golf learning center. They offered a special class for campers and I was the only one so I got a private lesson. It was so good I stayed for an extra private class. They only had a three hole course so I went around three times. The classes definitely helped. I didn't do great but was very consistent with no really bad shots. Maybe I have a shot at breaking 90 one of these days.
Bill from the South LoW chapter showed up on Wednesday. He had a very long drive from the Ft. Lauderdale area, maybe 40 minutes away (lol). We walked around the park a little and sat around my rig in pleasant conversation. Thursday we had lunch at a place Ira suggested. It looked like a dump on the outside and even after parking we almost left. I had faith in Ira and so we went in. It was a little family restaurant with friendly service, excellent food, at great prices. Bill and I shopped a little at Harbor Freight, an Army/Navy store and a Dollar Store. He got a few tools and I bought some army decals for the truck and RV and an army hat for the mock Eagle Scout board of review I was invited to sit in on this Sunday. Friday morning Bill and I went to a flea market and the Lake Worth pier, apparently a minor tourist attraction. It was kind of funny when neither he nor I could figure out how to work the parking meters. Was it age, senility, or screwy meters? Probably a little of all three. I bought some new sneakers at the flea market to replace my almost 20 year old ones which I junked. It was fun describing them to Alex & Zack. My old ones had been on sale at K-Mart for $5 and lasted 20 years. These new ones, with inflation, cost $15. I am a big spender!
Friday evening was dinner at the Calienes. I must share with those reading my blog that I met Armando when I worked at Unisys in the mid-1990's. I enjoyed my time at Unisys but the best thing that came from those years was my friendship with Armando and his extended family. These are fantastic people who I cherish knowing. Dinner was great and seeing Armando, Madeline, and Eric was fantastic. You guys are great! Saturday, the Calienes, along with Madelines parents, came by the cg to see the RV. Madelines dad is funny taking lots of pictures. Sunday I went back to the Calienes home for the Eagle Scout review. Armando & Eric asked me to play a gruff military guy and give the Eagle candidate a little bit of a hard time. Armando had a camo jacket with bird colonel insignia. I wore my scout pants and army hat and tried to speak a little gruff. It was fun and a great honor for me. I am truly honored to meet Eagle Scouts. They are the future leaders of our society. For those maybe not as familiar with the Eagle rank, it is only about 1% of those who enter Boy Scouts who ever achieve this exulted level. I left scouting as a Life Scout. As the Sinatra song goes, ".. regrets, I have a few, but then again too few to mention", not achieving Eagle is one of my few regrets!
In the evening the Calienes invited me to join them at Eric's High Schools athletics end of semester celebration. For a relatively small High School, it seemed almost all the students were involved in one sport or another. As a whole, the school seemed to rank very high in most sports. What I really enjoyed hearing as the coach's introduced their teams was the point they made about the average GPA of their team. As I remember, all the teams were in a 3.6 GPA range.
Up early and a leisurely hook up for the rig. Saying goodbye to Ira & Elaine was melancholy. We barely know each other yet we had a bit of a connection. I'll definitely try to stay in touch with them. Heading north from here. Onward. Life is good!
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