Back at Peace River in Wauchula

We left Vero Beach on Saturday, March 12 at 8:30 with Acey’s mileage at 81,014.8, Thor’s 100,245 and we have put 1,814 miles on our bicycles. It was a very windy drive with a detour for road construction thrown in just for fun. We arrived at Thousand Trails Peace River at 12:15. We parked in a “non-sewer” site and put our name in for the “sewer site lottery”, made lunch and came back at 2pm to get the last sewer site that was available. By 3:00 we were all settled in our spot where we will stay for about 2 weeks. Meanwhile, back in Nashville, it snowed after being 65 yesterday! Crazy Tennessee weather – they say if you don’t like the weather there, give it 24 hours!

Sunday morning it was chilly, and temps got down to 39 overnight here in Florida! Our phones automatically changed to Daylight Savings Time, but we forgot to change the clock on the microwave. After breakfast, we watched the worship service from February 27 at Stephens Valley Church, wrapping up the series in Romans 9 & 10. We were late getting into Zoom with our Sunday School class because of the time change. After lunch, we went for a walk around the RV Park, and to a trail that runs down along the Peace River.

Later we made pizza for dinner and Zoomed with the family.

Monday it was still cool out – about 68F – we rode our bikes 3 miles to the Ace Hardware to get some Great Stuff for windows which we will need for the refrigerator project – then we rode back past the RV park to ride around Pioneer Park and the Cracker Trail. Lots to see there! There is an RV park and a small nature center – and a little lake.

We stopped along the Peace River – It seems unusual to see five egrets gathered. But they say birds of a feather…

What are the chances a letter would go anywhere if you put it in the LETTERS box here?!

We saw some signs about the history of the area; an old Baldwin Steam Engine has been here over 50 years.

This steam engine sitting in a park under a shelter reminded us of Engine 576 that sat in Centennial Park for years and is now being restored. Christopher is pretty excited about it and has some videos on YouTube – and has volunteered some on the Nashville Steam project.

It was a nice day to be out and about – we rode about 10 miles around Wauchula.

Wednesday, Jim worked most of the day re-installing the coils on the refrigerator. The thermal mastic paste we used in January must have been bad – it had not made good contact on the heat sinks and wasn’t as gooey as the product we used this time. Hoping this will solve the cooling problem; the fridge seemed to be working well in cooler weather, but not so much when it got warmer out.

Thursday, we drove up to Bartow. We had an Amazon package to pick up at a locker there – the closest one to Wauchula. We also needed a few groceries at Aldi — we brought our bikes along so that we could ride again on the Fort Fraser Trail. We rode this trail a few times last year – a nice rail trail with just a few road crossings.

We had packed a lunch and ate on the trail – we rode just over 15 miles on a beautiful day!

On Friday we drove over to Brandon to visit Patti – we had a great visit on her back porch overlooking the water.

Patti had a bad fracture of her left arm on Christmas Eve and is still recovering – Jim helped her with a couple of fix-it items and we went out for dinner at Mr. & Mrs. Crab – we all had shrimp – YUM!

It was a fun afternoon and evening!

Saturday was pretty warm, and we worked on paperwork and other boring stuff that needed to be done and one of the 3 A/C units quit working. We don’t like to use the heat pump unit because it’s so noisy, but we turned it on. Jim ordered capacitors to fix them they should be here on Monday.

On Sunday, we worshipped with Stephens Valley Church via YouTube, watching the worship service from March 6 when a series on 1 Kings began – We Zoomed with our Sunday School class and a missionary couple talked about their ministry in Central Asia. We played some putt-putt after lunch and Zoomed with the family as we had dinner.

Monday morning brought some cooler temperatures – another beautiful day in Florida! We drove to Bradenton to have lunch with Nick and Susan – years ago we carpooled our kids to school – seemed like a lifetime ago! They moved to Sarasota, so it was good we could get together while we were nearby. We had a tasty lunch at Woody’s River Roo and it was great to catch up!

After lunch, we stopped at Costco for a few things and headed back to the RV park where some packages had been delivered from Amazon. (The park charges $5/package to receive a package here, but we opted to have them sent here rather than the Amazon locker at Bartow; 29 miles from the park)

On Tuesday, Jim was able to change out the start capacitor, run capacitor and fan capacitor on the A/C units.

A view of the roof from the back – all 3 A/C units, a sewer vent, 2 fan/vent covers, TV antenna and solar panels

The A/C units are working much better now – and are quieter too! As stated before – we sure are thankful Jim is able to figure out how to fix so many things on Acey! She is a 2009 model, so after 13 years, things are wearing out. While Jim was working, Linda was reading a book and a squirrel came close by.

Wednesday, we packed up and after lunch, we headed to Hudson, FL to go to Suncoast Designers – they are replacing the driver’s window. We had our windows worked on by them last year as they were fogged – they give a lifetime warranty on their service, and we had noticed this one window was foggy – we stopped by in February and they said they need to order a new piece of glass, and we are back to have it installed. Here is the “before” photo:

They took the window out on Thursday. We ran a few errands early and then stayed near Acey in case they were ready to re-install the window.

On Friday morning, they put the window back in.

Jim called to see if we could get into Three Flags a day early – our next stop – and they said come on! We got things in order and left Hudson at 10:45. Traffic was backed up for a few miles as we headed north on I-75 as we merged with the turnpike, so it took a bit longer than anticipated to get to the Thousand Trails Park in Wildwood – we arrived at 1:45. This will be our last stop before we head north for Jim’s second carpal tunnel surgery and Easter in Nashville.

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Please be sure to comment now and then – to let us know you are reading the blog and keeping up with our adventures. If you want to be notified when a new blog posts, please comment with a request. Thanks for stopping by!

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12 thoughts on “Back at Peace River in Wauchula”

  1. Hello trekkers. I can see why you wanted to replace that windshield. When it comes to keeping things up, It pays to know where to go and you do! Liked the Peace River bike trail.

    1. It was actually a driver’s side window – and one you can’t really see out of when driving – it’s up kind of high – but it got foggy and they replaced it with no charge! We had ALL our windows “defogged” last year and they honored the lifetime warranty when we came back!

  2. I made it into the blog! I’m somebody!! It was so great seeing you both. And again, thank you so much for your help around the house!
    Do you know someone EVERYWHERE you go???

    1. 🙂 Actually, we DON’T know someone everywhere – and sometimes we can’t meet up with folks we DO know – and also find out later that we could have met up with someone but didn’t know they lived near where we were. Is that confusing?!
      I forgot our first big trip out with Acey, when we met you at the Franklin Cider Mill, we had not been doing the blog yet, but when we met up with you last January, you were featured then! (We biked and kayaked and stayed for the sunset, and we got together again in February and March – its all in there!
      Yes, You ARE somebody!!

    2. Good to know.
      I’m also taking notes on some of the places you are/have visited in FL. Always looking for new places to explore!
      Safe travels!

      1. We have been all over Florida – mostly in Central FL – the blogs are all there for you to check out! One of the more unusual places we went to was Solomon’s Castle – that might make for an interesting day trip! Google it 🙂

  3. I am reading Linda and Jim. Good thing you guys are handy. Seems to be an absolute necessity if you live on the road. See you in Nashville. We plan to head home in about 10 days.😎

    1. Thanks Janice – it was so good to be with you guys in Vero – hope we can meet up again in Nashville!!

  4. You guys look really happy! Thanks for the beautiful pics and commentary. Almost feels like I am traveling with you! See you soon.

    1. We ARE enjoying our time on the road seeing this beautiful country and meeting up with family and friends! Many folks have said they are travelling with us virtually – just as we worship with Stephens Valley virtually nearly every Sunday! It will be a delight to be there in person on the 2 Sundays we will be in Nashville!

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