Our stay at our 2018 winter quarters has ended and we have begun our 2019 travels. Before posting on those just wanted to put out a few details on how we spent the winter.
We stayed at Paradise Oaks RV Park located in Bushnell, Florida. Bushnell is a rural central Florida city located about a half hour from The Villages, Inverness and Brooksville. It is a quiet town with the basics (Walmart, CVS, and Winn Dixie are the major stores) and was just what we were looking for. Paradise Oaks was an RV park where you could be busy all day long with the activities they have. We arrived December 1st and left March 28th. We made some great friends that we look forward to seeing again next winter and thoroughly enjoyed all we did.
We spent December finalizing our residency, getting Jeff his drivers license and taking a quick run North for the Christmas holiday. Below are some pictures of the campground and some activities.
Happy Hour generally starts at 11 am in most restaurants around the Villages and the main mode of transportation is the golf cart.
With the first Christmas happening during our travels we kept with our decorating traditions.
With all the bike trails around we purchased bikes for each other for Christmas.
We had a few visitors while in the area. The first was a visit with Jeff’s niece Hope who we met at Kennedy Space Center.
The Binkley’s visited. Cindy, Jeff and I went swimming with the Manatees while Jim golfed. The following day, and on the coldest day, we took an Airboat ride from Crystal River to the Gulf of Mexico.
When we arrived in December the cranes below had a teenager, when we left they had had another little one and the teenager had flown the coup.
Numerous photos from the many dances and performances we attended at the park.
Horse Racing was one of the many activities that we enjoyed attending. Bet $.25, make $1.25 if you win – who can beat it!
This little guy was living in the pond in the back of the park. Apparently someone started feeding it and so it is no longer there.
On Sundays we attended jam sessions. These were done by anywhere from 15-25 musicians aged 65 plus. It was a great way to end the week! Below are two examples of these very talented people. One is Pat from Canada, the other was our own Phyliss from Friday night horse racing.
While in our winter quarters we attended the Tampa RV show. After a year of living full time in our rig we decided, after looking at a rig with a different configuration and more interior space, that we were trading in our old rig for a new one. Below is just a shot of the larger living interior, more windows, and lighter coloring.
Met Don and Marie at Homossassa Springs Wildlife Park. They have an elderly Hippo, Lu, that they made a Florida resident as the Wildlife Park only features animals native to Florida to which Lu is not.
Some site and sunset pictures.
Closing out Florida, below are our current travel plans for the 2019 season. Once done, we will be back in Bushnell for our second winter.
Fran and Jeff’s Retirement Adventures 