Back to Jacksonville

We retraced I-10 all the way back to Jacksonville from Pensacola. There we attended a joint Country Coach International/Southeast Country Coachers rally.

One day we biked the Jacksonville-Baldwin trail with friends Jack and Mary Lou.

              

            

After the ride Irene and George went downtown to ride the water front trail.

              

             

George was pleased to see some train action.

            

            

Pensacola

From the Florida Grande we headed to Pensacola to take Irene to a flower show judges’ symposium for additional training and accreditation.
While there we took the opportunity to visit the excellent naval air museum located at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. We called upon the museum director, Captain Bob Rasmussen, and thanked him for the statue of Admiral John Towers that he did for Rome.
Captain Rasmussen is a former Blue Angels pilot who is also an accomplished artist. He made a statute of Admiral John Towers for the City of Rome.  Below is a picture of Captain Rasmussen:
           
 

                                 


Admiral Towers, a native of Rome, was a pioneer of Naval aviation.
Admiral Towers Plaza in Rome:
            
Admiral Towers proposed and planned the first air crossing of the Atlantic with intermediate stops during WW I. He commanded a flotilla of three Curtiss NC flying boats, and we saw his NC-4 at the museum.
            
                          
                                                        "Touchable" Display

                       

Strawberry Festival at Floral City

Moving north from Lakeland we visited our friends Wilson and Delores who have a “pad” at the Florida Grande Resort in central Florida at Webster. This was our base for a visit to the Withlacoochee Trail.

          

From Webster we headed west to Floral City. We parked north of town at Fort Cooper State Park and rode south to Floral city and had an obligatory lunch at the Shamrock Inn.

                

Then we continued south on the Withlacoochee Trail for a visit to the local strawberry festival.

                 

              

Unfortunately, though a staunch member of Funnel Cakes Anonymous, George fell off the wagon again.

              

Van Fleet Trail at Lakeland

We had an appointment at Fountain RV in Lakeland to have some windows resealed. Despite knowing their shop was closed down by state labor authorities, they allowed us to come to the shop only to be told no work could be performed. Despite this we made the best of the situation by taking the opportunity to visit the nearby Van Fleet State Trail.

           

Much of the trail was through wooded areas and pastures.

             

Most pastures had cattle, but some had, surprisingly, alpacas.

           

           

Alpacas weren’t the only surprise along the Van Fleet Trail.  It was grand in its day!          

          

Okeechobee and Venice

 

Leaving John Prince we headed west towards Venice making an intermediate stop at a motorcoach resort at Okeechobee called Silver Palms.

            

While here we biked on the trail that goes around Lake Okeechobee.

            

This year in Venice we stayed at Royal Coachman RV resort right on the Legacy Trail in Nokomis.

            

We biked into Venice, had lunch at the jetty area on the north side of town, and then biked to the end of the trail just south of the Venice airport. Along the way Irene got a picture of a baby bald eagle.

            

            

We also enjoy seeing the gopher tortoises that are native to the area.

            

Returning north to downtown Venice we took the road and trail paralleling the beach and stopped at Sharky’s on the Pier.  It was a breezy day!

            

West Palm

Of all the places in Florida we have visited, West Palm Beach seems like the ideal place to retire to. It is clean, cosmopolitan, and interesting.

For RVing, nearby John Prince County Park is one of our favorite places too. This year we were lucky enough to bag possibly the best site in the park.

            

We love the Green Market that is held in West Palm every Saturday.

            

West Palm has a marvelous trail running along the water front. Here we are exploring the south side.

            

Last year we were enthralled with this Mediterranean style home that was being built on the south side, and we were pleased to see completed house this year.

            

One day we rode our bikes about five miles north of West Palm to John D. McArthur State Park.

            

            

Upon our return to Singer Island we had a pleasant lunch at Sailfish Marina Resort.

            

We ended up the ride with a visit to the south end of Singer Island where we could look across the channel to Palm Beach where we had earlier enjoyed a ride.

            

Ft. Lauderdale

 

We made a two night stop at Ft. Lauderdale mainly to ride our bikes on the Hollywood Boardwalk, now renamed “Hollywood Broadwalk.” It is said to be one of the top ten public spaces in the U.S. We think it is beautiful with its brick pavers and blue water beach.

         

As before we stayed at TY Park, an acronym for Topeekeegee Yugnee Park, a Broward County park. One thing George likes is that the campground is located right on the Tri Rail and CSX Amtrak rail lines. Frequently passing Tri Rail and twice daily Amtrak trains provide continual entertainment.

          

          

The Hollywood boardwalk was only one part of our bike outing. We decided this year to bike on further to downtown Hollywood where we ate at an al fresco restaurant. The ride took us over the Intracoastal Waterway.

           

         

After lunch we returned to Hollywood beach and caught the Hollywood Water Taxi which took us initially south to the Diplomat Hotel. The Diplomat is a special place for George because he came here with his parents when he was in college. His dad was attending an RCA meeting for dealers. George was surprised to see a new Diplomat hotel had been built.

         

After the stop at the Diplomat, the water taxi took us north to Ft. Lauderdale. Along the way we saw the port of Ft. Lauderdale, a private yacht owned by a Russian tycoon, and a cruise ship.