2017-3 Saint Cloud Florida, Battle of Narcoossee

2017-3

Saint Cloud Florida

Busy Time Before Heading Out  (Part 1)

Shelter Cove Clubhouse at night

Campground:  Shelter Cove Resort.  Two Rv Lots for Rent, Check out my Blog report @ ShelterCoveLot55.blogspot.com for more info. And share site with your fellow Rv-ers.

Obviously this blog is supposed to be about my travels and we will get to that, but I have to fill in all my readers on the recent events before heading out for the season.  So consider this more or less the prep work required to get back on the road.

I delayed all winter long about making an appointment with the dermatologist in town figuring I only had one little spot worth looking into.  Well, after making the appointment and seeing the doctor, He found much more than I expected.  The doctor aggressively zapped 10 pre-cancerous spots, did a biopsy on one spot and removed an icky looking spot on the middle of my back.  I go in next week to have surgery on spot that had the biopsy.  One good thing about a small town is that I can get a doctor’s appointment very quickly.  Delaying my travel plans an extra week.

Dave and Vickie to the left
"Dave's girls"

The big news though is that my neighbor, Dave and Vickie, have decided to move for health reasons as well as getting Vickie much closer to the sweetest little grandchild imaginable.  Their RV lot which had an old trailer on it was going to be sold.  As things have turned out, I am able to purchase the Rv lot since Dave was planning on having the old trailer moved off of the lot.  With the trailer gone, I would be able to convert the site back into an Rv lot and rent it out.  Or possibly move my own camper on it while wintering in Florida, leaving my current RV lot available for rent.  Hint, hint, to all my friends reading this, I’d love to have you come visit and be my next door neighbor.

Dave and Vickie's trailer being moved out
that's my camper on the right

the neighbors watching the move

Things have moved on rather swiftly since Dave and Vickie moved out this past week.  Days later the trailer was disconnected and moved on out.  Though there’s much more to that story and I hope to fill you all in on it down the road.  Within days, I’ve been able to contract for improvements to the Rv lot.  Additional Concrete pad will be installed making the lot a pull-thru site.  Upgrades to the electric/water and sewer are also in the works.  All these tasks are so much simpler to accomplish in a small town.  Being able to get service within days instead of weeks or months elsewhere.

Imagine, something I had planned for down the road, perhaps within the next couple of years, is coming to fruition as we speak.

this is the Rv lot I'm purchasing.  The concrete pad will be expanded
Water/Electric and Sewer will be upgraded

simple installation

Along with all the excitement, I have been preparing for my travels.  Getting a new toilet installed in the camper was essential.  The closing lever never functioned properly when flushing the toilet and there are no adjustments that can be made.  After a couple of years of iffy service, I finally had a couple occasions where the toilet kept running, water filling the holding tank or the most recent event where the toilet overflowed. Ekkk!  Water flooded the floor, down the heating duct and into the basement.  It was quite a clean up project at 2 am in the morning.

That task was recently taken care of this past week.  I now have a functioning “thrown room”.  More tasks will follow, including restocking the basement with essentials, greasing the wheel hubs, checking tire pressures on truck and camper and a few other odds and ends.

Now you might think that would be more than enough to keep me busy but one has to have fun activities as well.  Here at Shelter Cove we’ve had a great season playing shuffleboard, bingo and game nights are popular as well.  I even headed up a Casino Cruise for the community, taking my sister Dorothy along as she’s the gambler in the family.  What an awesome day out on the water off of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center.  Along with the 4 floors of gambling, there was a dance floor with a great band, buffet lunch and what I enjoyed the most, the top back deck of the ship where you would find me most of the day enjoying a guitar player, outdoor bar and seating to enjoy the blue skies and ocean views.

top deck my favorite location

4 floors of gaming

Cape Canaveral Florida

I started taking another online college course in the past couple of weeks.  It’s out of Harvard University and the class is called:  The Architectural Imagination.  The lectures are very well presented by various professors in the Architectural field and the visuals are stunning.  Lots of new vocabulary for me to learn and digest as well.

Re enactment of the Battle of Narcoossee Mill

On Saturday I headed out to the Ralph Chisholm park to experience the Battle at Narcoossee Mill.  It’s a Civil War reenactment.  A fancy brochure is given to each guest as we pay our $7 entry fee.  It covers and supports the Confederate point of view, never mentioning slavery as the reason for the civil war.  One description states:  “these individuals were pursuing the dual and what they believed to be honorable, causes of maintaining the sovereignties of Florida and the Confederate states of America.”  The reenactment included a Confederate and Yankee camp with actors in costume playing the parts.  The battle was basically over the sugar mill.  Remains of which are still visible today.  The Yankee army was in the pursuit of  disrupting all commerce in the south which could fund and aid the rebels.  And the small sugar mill became one of those objectives.  The confederate army won this battle but in an odd twist of fate, Saint Cloud, as I’ve mentioned in previous articles, was founded as a settlement for the veterans of the Great Army of the Republic (Yankee’s) after the war between the states.

at the Union camp site

Union Campsite, many slept here overnight

one of the re-enactors

an oak tree heavily draped with Spanish Moss

getting into position for the battle

the Confederate soldiers

strategy of the war games

There was also a fine three piece band called “7 pounds of Bacon”.  Playing lots of civil war era tunes.  (You-Tube video) 

The Travel Report:

RV Tip:  I’ve found a nifty little smart phone app called “haystack”.  Do you collect business cards and fellow Rv-ers “travel cards”, then can’t find the card when you need it?  Well haystack is an app that scans in those business cards using your cell phone camera.  It then reads the info and stores it all in your “contacts” list.  Look for “haystack business card reader” in the play store.

Additional Photos:

Around the area

Dave and Vickies Trailer moved off the Lot I'm purchasing

Battle of Narcoossee Mill

To be continued:  Part 2