2019-1 Winter Residence, St Cloud Florida

2019-1

First Report of 2019

a View of Shelter Cove from Center Lake

St Cloud Florida

a couple of banners used in past years
to celebrate St Cloud Florida's history
which was originally developed as a Yankee "Soldiers Town"
 after the Civil War

one of the buildings at Peghorn Park, a favorite park I like
to visit

The start of 15 years on the Road. 

I feel like I should say Glory Hallelujah!

Welcome back to Roving Reports by Dougp. I had originally planned to stay out west this past winter season, but with the purchase of a new RV lot, my 3^rd one in Shelter Cove, I decided it would be best if I actually spend some time on the new lots and see how my tenants are getting on on the other two Rv lots. If you remember from last season, I purchased the Rv lot while in Washington/Oregon last fall and then traveled to Phoenix AZ to pick up a “new to me” Chevy truck. That was quite an adventure purchasing both within a month of each other and then continuing onto Florida. A trip I try not to make in such a relatively short time frame. As a full time Rv-er I much prefer to take a couple of months to travel such great distances so this was quite to undertaking for me going from Washington State to Florida in such a short time frame.

Once I arrived in St Cloud Florida and settled in on my new RV lot, I was able to visit with my niece Kelly and her family a couple of times throughout the winter season and usually took my sister Dorothy out to lunch on a weekly basis. In-between all of that, I’ve had way too many doctors visits, general physicals, dermatology exams/biopsies/skin cancer surgeries and finally a round of visits to the Glaucoma eye specialist(s). That’s been quite the ordeal as the new doctor was not to my liking and I’ve had to make further appointments with my eye specialist in Maitland, about an hour and a half drive through Orlando traffic. Hoping for a second opinion and better diagnosis later this week.

followup:  see update, below....

my niece Kelly, Rusty and Brooke and Luke
so enjoyable to be able to visit family on occasion

my sister Dorothy, we had a few boat rides
with Kelly and Rusty, love being on the water

On the Alligator chain of lakes, going through
the connecting canals 

My new to me 2008 Chevy truck and Open Range 5th wheel
on lot 390, my newest Rv lot.

The new Rv lot needed no upgrades or additional plantings as it has a century plant, Sable Palm (on left), Queen Palm (in center) and Fan Palm (tallest on right) (Washingtonian or Mexican Palm) and is the largest of all three RV lots with lots of grass and backs up to a large grassy common area as well.

my new RV lot 390

patio set up for relaxing and happy hour

a view from our boat ramp

early morning fog, looking at my lot 390

I’m not a particularly great “snowbird”,  staying in one location for months on end, it's ok but I'm always eager to get back on the road and exploring this great country. Having lived in central Florida for so long, there is little for me to explore unless I’m willing to drive a couple of hours each way to see something I’ve already seen in the past.

But the weather this winter has been awesome, often in the 80's, unfortunately my friends in Tucson AZ have had lots of cold weather including snow... :/

Have you noticed that Facebook has become all adds and people forwarding jokes/political satire/ and stuff your supposed to forward to “prove” you are a believer in what ever they are passionate about. It’s hard to actually see any posting from friends in-between all the junk.

So I will most likely get back to posting more Roving Reports as I get to share my story without the excess crap that goes along with FB. I do hope you will take the time to read my rambling thoughts and travel stories and when you send me note about my rambling stories, it’s often the only way I know you are out there. And your suggestions and comments will help me produce a better report, so thanks in advance as I always love hearing from you.

I’m eager to once again share not only my adventures but also my travel tips, hints and hopefully stories about some interesting characters I meet along the way.

Shelter Coves swimming pool popped out of the ground
almost a year ago after draining it for resurfacing.
rebuilding a newer, bigger pool, very exciting to see progress

RV Tip:
ROKU.
UNLIMITED INTERNET (Verizon cell Phone or wi-fi hub)

My biggest upgrade to the camper has been a $29 ROKU stick that attaches to the HDMI slot on the back of the TV. Using my Verizon phone with unlimited internet service (ie 15 gigabytes for phone and same amount for Tablet) I’m able to stream free movies/tv/ U-Tube programs and much more. Along with over-the-Air local tv, I have more than enough entertainment. I’m a huge fan of U-Tube and Retro TV as well as the ROKU channel. We’ve come along way in 15 years I’ve been on the road. Remembering how I used to hunt down free wi-fi signals in fast food restaurants, libraries, laundromats and finally one of the last places I went to, I was in a small town in Georgia and was able to park in front of the local police station and use their open wi-fi link. It was at that point I finally decided to see about getting internet access through my phone, as it was just coming into it’s own back those many years ago.

so many tv, movies, old time vintage shows
on Roku and most are free viewing!

Eye Update: 

Well I finally made it up to my Drs. Office in Maitland and am glad to say I got a much better evaluation on my eyes. I have lost some sight in one eye and he agreed with me that we need to get the eye pressures down even more to alleviate the damage the pressure is doing to my eyes. With that, I’m on one new eye drop and will have to wait in the area for 6 weeks to determine if it is enough to reduce my eye pressures.

In the mean time, I am working on getting all three of my Rv lots rented long term. If all goes well, that will be accomplished within the next couple of weeks. One lots has the tenants exiting two months before their lease is up, but I have folks ready to move in days later. And the Rv lot I’m on may be rented as of March 1^st if all goes well and I will head to Moss Park as a camp host for about a month and a half.

Followup:  I've rented my last Rv lot, and have moved over to Moss park today where I'll be a camp-host for a little over a month.  Almost on the road again.... awaiting the next eye doctor appt.

my good friend Ron, a Michigan park ranger
came for a visit, so great to have friends meet up.

Rv maintenance: Getting ready for my road travels, I’ve purchased 4 new heavy duty tires for the truck. The 5^th wheel campers tires are 4 years old and are holding up very well. Thank goodness I went to G rated 12 ply heavy duty trailer tires, best investment I’ve made for the truck and camper.

One of my dearest friends, Ruthie Poo
from the Orlando area

and a very old, old, old friend (giggle)
Patrick, a true friend who has always
been there....

MORE PHOTOS:

My little corner of Florida Paradise

Festival of Trees Orlando Art Museum

Thanksgiving with Kelly, Rusty and family, Sister Dorothy

Peghorn Park, St Cloud Florida, folk music

St Cloud old murals

Shelter Cove swimming pool construction