Stats for 2025: we drove Acey 3,975 miles, rode our bikes 426 miles, and visited seven states: Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Michigan, Kentucky and Ohio.
We finished the year in Baton Rouge, helping Chuck pack up his apartment and moving him on January 2nd to our home in the Nashville area. Linda stayed a few days after she got home with Chuck and was able to worship at Stephens Valley Church on the 4th. We visited our friends Craig and Linda and had a yummy lunch and wonderful fellowship.
Jim left Baton Rouge with Acey on the 2nd with 108,273.7 miles on Acey and stayed overnight in Tallahassee. He arrived at the Three Flags campground in Wildwood, Florida on the 3rd. On the 5th, he went out for a 14-mile ride on his new bike. On the 6th he picked Linda up at the Tampa airport and we began our “snowbird time” in Florida!
We rode 20 miles on the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway. The hill going up to the landbridge over I-75 is a challenge; Linda was glad for the battery assist on her trike!
Afterwards, we stopped off at The Flying Boat Taproom for a flight of craft brews.
We drove under the landbridge a few days later!
We met up with our friends Russ and Adele for dinner and played a card game, Play Nine. Linda won the game – a first! Russ seems to usually win.
We got caught up and Adele mentioned about the Asian Lantern Festival at the Central Florida Zoo – she had just gone there with a friend. It looked intriguing but we missed out on the opportunity to go…Here’s Adele!
Our Family Zoom time on Sundays is a fun way to chat with family all over the country. Some weeks are better attended than others…
We rode on the Withlacoochee State Trail a couple of times. The Spanish Moss hanging from the trees is SO Florida!!
On days that we didn’t go for a ride, we generally would go for a walk around the RV park to get some exercise. There was a big field next to the park where we often see cows off in the distance, but one day they were grazing right by the fence.
On January 14th at 11am, we left Wildwood with 108,903.3 miles on Acey, 140,936 on Thor and stopped at Suncoast Designers in Hudson, Florida for a two-night stay. They had taken our windows out, took them apart and de-fogged them a couple of years ago. They give a lifetime guarantee on the windows, and we had one that had fogged up and needed to be fixed. They provide water and electric hookups for their customers, making it convenient while they work on the windows. We left Hudson on the 16th at 10;30 with 108,966.4 miles on Acey, 140,961 on Thor and arrived at Clerbrook Golf & RV Resort in Clermont at 12:40.
On the 17th our friend Nancy, who was working on finishing up walking 44 more miles in Florida, came for a visit. She had just been down to the Keys and would be heading up to Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana. We walked along part of the bike trail with Nancy and Jack before having dinner at the Salt Shack on the Lake.
Nancy and Jack spent the night with us in Acey – Jack, a moyen poodle, was our first canine guest!
In the morning, Jim fixed eggs for breakfast – with juice and bagels – and Nancy and Jack headed out for more adventures.
The annual FMA (Fleetwood Motorhome Association) rally was held at Clerbrook this year, January 20-25. They had 4 days with seminars about things like safety, internet on the road, Cummins engines, Fleetwood parts, Aquahot and other topics of interest to Motorhome owners and also had craft opportunities. Later in the afternoons we had “Happy hour” – time to meet fellow RVers; new friends and folks we had met in previous rallies. On 3 of the evenings, we had delicious dinners (prime rib and shrimp the last night) followed by lively entertainment.
Predictions for a major winter storm coming to Tennessee prompted us to be sure Chuck got the pilot lit on the gas logs – and be prepared for the storm! When panic strikes the area it seems everyone heads to the grocery store to get milk and bread – maybe grab some TP too? 😊
“Snowmaggedon” hit Tennessee on Saturday January 24 and we got photos from our family in Tennessee. Here’s Amanda’s car in front of her house in Clarksville and Eve’s back yard in Springfield, as the snow fell.
and our front and back yard in Pegram.
Rain that night caused icing everywhere and widespread power outages began on Sunday morning.
Both Chuck and Chris had gas logs for emergency heat. We told Chuck where to find the candles…
As was typical of many trees, the tree out front of Chris’s condo lost many branches.
Our road had been plowed by the county, and they had chainsaws to clear trees off the road.
Chuck went out for a drive on Tuesday afternoon. Trees were bent over from the weight of the ice on the branches.
Chris got power back at his condo on Monday evening (out for 36 hours) but Chuck didn’t get power back at our house until Thursday night– 4 ½ days without power!
Meanwhile, in Clermont, Florida, the rally was over and we had much warmer weather in Florida, but not into the 70’s. We walked around the RV park and saw a sandhill crane.
We rode on the South Lake Trail a couple of times – the trail where Linda fell last March. Very glad to have the trike this year!
On the 28th we left Clerbrook at 10 am with 109,035.8 miles on Acey and 141,209 on Thor and arrived at Thousand Trails Peace River in Wauchula at noon. The next day we rode from the RV park to nearby Pioneer Park. There was an old 2-6-2 steam locomotive in residence. The 1914 wood-burning Baldwin Engine #3 was donated in 1967 by Kervin Revell, who used it at his crate mill in Wauchula,
On the 30th, we drove over to Sarasota to meet up with Patti for lunch at Clean Eatz and then went for a ride on the Legacy Trail. A former railway, it was fun to see some of the tracks along the trail.
There had been bridges built over the busy roads where the former railway had crossings, giving us riders a little challenge!
Patti got a photo of us riding along the trail; Linda got one of Patti!
This sign showed how many trail users passed by – the LED lights did not photograph well! The numbers were 1365 today, 48,125 this year; they may be double counting since you generally would pass by coming and going…
It was a beautiful afternoon to be out riding on the trail! (We rode a total of 87 miles in January.)
Afterwards, we stopped at Calusa Brewing before we headed back to Acey.
January gave us some water challenges; on several nights the temperatures dropped into the 20’s, so we had to disconnect our water and bring in the water softener. The park had a water pipe break and they had to cut off the water supply while it was being repaired; we were glad our holding tank was full!
We are thankful to be in Florida where we are enjoying some warm afternoons and opportunities to be out and about without the threat of wintry weather.
sorry you had such a great time in Florida all the while, missing the great ice storm back here. What an experience !!!
There are some areas local to ride here in Hollywood like TY park, the boardwalk, CB Smith Park to name a few none singletrack, more pedestrian like rides. Only one brewery, the Hollywood brewery on Boardwalk ride, but many other breweries still crafting around town. See y’all tomorrow!