It is so great to be back at Sun 'n' Fun! We stayed 8 months last time, until we were ready to buy a house in Sarasota. We loved it so much. It's a first class resort with tons of amenities. Beautiful humongous pool, first class workout facilities, all kinds of classes in the winter months, weekly live music, bar and restaurant poolside, etc., etc. It's a little heavy on the park models, and we keep saying, eventually, it will be mostly park models, we think.
We have a pull thru site...gravel parking lot, narrow paved curving road leading to our site, but we got in just fine in our big rig and truck. Sites are VERY close to each other. Passport America current rate is 43.00 a night...that changes according to the time of year, of course.We are in the middle of summer, almost August, and it's HOT. 90's every day...sigh...but--there's this....That structure in the upper left corner is a climbing wall. Sparky wants to climb it. Eldo says she's too old. Sounds like a challenge!
And here's a poolside bar.....(there's a restaurant on the same side and a walk up window where you can order food.) Social distancing says you can't sit at the bar, but you can carry your drink to one of the spaced out sets of tables and chairs.
There's a water slide...Sparky might do that....(Hmmmmm...says Eldo, maybe that one's ok....)
The park is for families, of course, and Sparky is so happy to see young children riding their bikes around, and squealing with laughter and having a great time with their families. She's missed that environment.
Eldo keeps reminding her that we are here to clear out the storage shed, but we've already extended our stay, because 1.) it's too hot to rush moving boxes and unpacking, 2.) we have to take things a little more easy with our age . So....here we go....Time to relax in the evening! The pool is heavily chlorinated. (Gee, I wonder why?) Bring your goggles! Sparky has to find hers!
This really is a jewel of an RV park and
a wonderful place to start our travels...We are going to the Dodge dealer this week to find out more information about our truck, and every day will be sorting, unpacking and moving....sigh.....good exercise! Keep your chin up, Sparky! You can do it! Minimalism is good!
Bye for now....this is the life.....This is what we were hoping to be able to do once again, and here we are, "on the road again..."
We left Lazy Days after taking possession of our Dodge Ram truck and Pinnacle fifth wheel, on Thursday. Our first camping spot was going to be at Sun 'n' Fun in Sarasota. Sun 'n' Fun is a Passport America park, so we have a good daily rate for the moment. We stayed for several months over the winter 8 years ago, and we absolutely loved it. After getting some advice and how to's from a Lazy Days service team member (who had such a heavy Spanish accent, we had a hard time understanding him), we were on our way. Eldo and Sparky are newbies at fifth wheeling, real green horns! We were both nervous, as we got our instructions in the rain. Sparky tried writing things down, that didn't work, and it was too hard to get photos on the phone. We were both trying to decipher what he was saying! But we thought we had enough knowledge to get rolling, so off we drove, and promptly drove over a curb on the way out of Lazy Days.
It rained all the way from Seffner to Sarasota, and when we pulled into our pull through site, (it's gonna be pull throughs for awhile till we get some practice backing in, says Eldo) it started raining harder. Great! We got 3/4 unhitched, and then we got stuck. Both of us were trying to say that the other person was supposed to have been listening! You know, like, "I thought you were watching what he did." "You were the one watching him, I was busy...." blah, blah, blah. We couldn't get the hitch bar (whatever you call the thingamagingy) pulled all the way out. Sparky, being the more agile one, climbed up on the tire, trying to reach inside to pull it out the rest of the way, but just didn't have enough strength. Of course we didn't have our rain gear, it's packed in a box somewhere! What box, we don't know. We eventually had to call maintenance from the park. A young man came out and with one strong pull, he got it to release! Whew! Soaking wet, we hooked up everything else and got dried off....stay tuned for photos from Sun 'n' Fun! We have a long hard week ahead, trying to find places for things in the fifth wheel, and trying to give away or pitch things that we really don't need. (like Sparky's craft supplies that took up an entire room at our old house, explains Eldo)....haha, very funny! But hey, Sparky will change what crafts she does on the road, and it's a good thing to become a minimalist, right, Sparky? Right? (sniff, sniff)
Bye for now......
Wha-a-a-a-a-t??? Sparky and Eldo are going back out on the road again??? In WHAT? :-). Well it's a long story, but here it is...We've been dying in the Florida summer heat for the past few years now. Just like everywhere else, it's getting hotter and hotter. The almost daily afternoon rain/cooling off pattern has not been happening. So, we decided if we could do it and could sell our house, we would get back out on the road.
The process was a long one. We put our house on the market last January, and had our first offer come in shortly thereafter. It fell through. We cleaned and cleaned and waited for more buyers. They came--all the way through the pandemic. Another offer came in, right as the pandemic was getting started. The deal fell through with a buyer from New York whose business was now in jeopardy from the pandemic. He balked and walked Interest was still very high, and all during that time, we were looking for the right RV. We started with fifth wheels and moved over to motorhomes, then back to fifth wheels. We decided that a fifth wheel, although more difficult to park and unhook, was the right way to go as the main part of the whole trailer component-the truck- was easier to take to a dealership for problems than having to sit in a motorhome in a repair place for days at a time and maybe having to sit in a hotel which would be worse.
June 25th...the house sells! That was an interesting story in itself. Buyers were checking out our backyard and lanai while we were home. They thought we were gone. Sparky went out and said, "May I help you? Did you lose a golf ball?" and we started talking. It turns out they had made an offer and were waiting to hear back from us! Sparky added, while talking, "Hey, we even threw in the furniture!" Well that sealed the deal! They accepted!
It's crunch time and time to make a decision. After many trips back and forth to different dealers, we fell in love with a packaged deal of a fifth wheel AND the truck, all together. And here it is! A 2019 Pinnacle 36 foot FTBS...about 40 feet, and a Dodge Ram Longhorn Laramie dually. It will tow ANYTHING! They are even color coordinated with each other!
The inside is quite dark but Sparky plans on adding some lively pillows and throws to brighten things up a bit. It has a "fireplace" /space heater that looks very realistic! There is even a large, walk in cedar lined closet!
Where are we going first, you ask? We don't know yet! We still have a storage shed unit in Bradenton that we have to get rid of, and Sparky is a little worried that more crafts are going to have to be donated to Goodwill... But we WILL be headed north for sure. There is a tropical storm developing and it's that "H" season, ya know, so north is good. We'll keep you posted! Stay tuned for a thorough review of the Pinnacle as we get living in it full time. Sparky says, the storage is very funky in it! (Geesh! we just got it and already she's complaining, says Eldo.)
It's good to be back on the road again......bye for now.....
