We were staying at the Cedar Key Sunset Isles RV Park. It was a nice older park. Marilyn and I left around 11:00AM Friday for the trip over. I had decided to go over US 192 to the Sunshine State Turnpike. We went to the end of the Turnpike and exited just after we reached I-75 at SR44. We took SR44 into Inverness where we pulled off at a public boat ramp and took a break and let Ryder stretch his legs. Then on into Inverness where we stopped at a Wendy's and grabbed some lunch. Then it was on west to Crystal River and then north on US19/US98. We traveled through Inglis, Lebanon, Gulf Hammock and Otter Creek where we turned on SR24 which takes us west to the Gulf and Cedar Key.
Upon arrival we checked in and one of the men gave me directions to my site. He met me there and guided me in as I backed down a short street and into the site. Made it all the way in without having to pull forward once. Hooked up water, power and cable. We were right across from the clubhouse so didn't have far to go for activities.
We were having a pot-luck dinner at 5:30PM and Marilyn had made a Hamburger Cheesy Bake Casserole. We had to put it in the oven and heat it up. I connected up the TV's and checked out the cable channels we received. Marilyn wanted to see what was happening with the tennis championships and we didn't get the tennis channel on their cable. So I hooked up the satellite receiver and cranked up the satellite dish and zeroed it in on the directv satellite. Now we had satellite on the front tv and cable on the back tv. By this time it was time for the pot-luck.
I got our folding chairs out and went on over to the clubhouse. They had set up tables and everyone was sitting in an open area around the front of the clubhouse. I set up our chairs and Marilyn came over with our pot-luck contribution. Then it was time to eat. We had a great dinner. I love pot luck's and like to try a little of everything if possible. Marilyn was worried about her casserole since she had never made it before, but it was delicious.
After dinner they set up for the evening movie. They were trying to get all the equipment hooked up and seemed to be having problems so I walked over to see if I could assist them. Previously they had run the movie from a laptop computer and this time they were using a dvd player. They had it hooked up to a projector and was running the sound through a stereo so it could be heard better. They were having trouble getting the sound. I looked it over and figured out the cable they had used for the laptop wasn't going to work with this set up. It had a mini-plug on one end and rca plugs on the other. They needed one with rca plugs on both ends. I had one in the motor home that I use to hook up a dvd player. So I went and got it and we plugged it in and voila we had sound. By this time it was getting pretty chilly out and we decided to forgo the movie and go back to the motorhome and watch tv.
Saturday morning I woke up to the sound of rain on the roof of the RV. They had a bicycle tour of the local area scheduled for 10:00AM. Part of the tour was a tour of a clam farming operation, Southern Cross Sea Farms. By the time for the bicycle tour the rain had slacked off. I walked over to the clubhouse and asked about the bicycle tour. Since no one had showed up to go it wasn't happening. They were still going to walk down to the clam farming operation for the tour at 10:30AM. It was about a 200 yard walk so Marilyn and I walked down and took the tour. It was fascinating. You can take you own tour online, I'll put a link later. They breed and hatch the clams and grow the plankton that they feed on until they plant them out in the Gulf to grow. When they show you the baby clams they look like sand in the bottom of the bucket. We looked at the baby clams under a microscope and they look just like they do when fully grown just much tinier. The owner Bill Leeming was our tour guide. To take the online tour of Southern Cross Sea Farms click HERE. If you would like to order some of their clams you can click HERE. By the time the tour was over it had started raining lightly again. So we ran part way back to the RV park. We chilled in the RV for a while until the rain stopped again.
We decided to take a bicycle ride into town. Downtown Cedar Key was a little less than two miles from the RV park. It was a nice scenic ride into downtown Cedar Key. Some of the Gold Clubbers were taking a horse and buggy tour of the downtown area. We parked our bikes in front of a museum and took a walking tour. When we got through we decided to have some lunch and stopped in at Tony's Seafood Restaurant. We had some of their "famous" clam chowder. We saw several restaurant's that advertised their "famous" clam chowder. Tony's was good although it was a little spicier than most I've had. After lunch we headed back to the RV park with a stop at a local grocery store. After arriving back at the park we chilled until time for the dinner.
I fell asleep and woke up about time for the Low Country Boil that was for dinner. When I looked out there wasn't anyone in front of the clubhouse where I thought they would have it. Same as the pot-luck right, wrong! So I walked over and they had set everything up on the other side of the clubhouse. They had a big fire going and everyone was sitting circling the fire. So we joined in and set up our chairs. Then they called us for dinner. What a feast. We had steamed clams, steamed shrimp, steamed potato, steamed corn on the cob, sausage and coleslaw. When dinner was over and the fire was dying out we moved into the clubhouse for the entertainment.
They had a couple playing blue grass music for the entertainment. They were good with the man playing the banjo and dobro and the lady playing guitar. They both sang. They had another lady that played the bass. They have a big fireplace in the clubhouse and they kept a fire going in it all the time. It was a great finish to the evening. Marilyn left early to go check on Ryder but I stayed until the music was over and called it a night.
Sunday morning we got up and went over to the clubhouse for coffee and rolls. After this it was time to load up the bicycles and secure everything for the trip home. I took the long way home bypassing the turnpike. We took SR24 back to Otter Creek and then south on US19/US98. Backtracked the way we came until Inverness where I took US41 south to Floral City. Then east on CR48 through Wahoo to Bushnell, Bevilles Corner and Center Hill. Out of Center Hill we take CR469 to SR50. Then east on SR50 through Mascotte to Groveland where we take SR33 south to CR474 then east to US27. A short jaunt south on US27 to US192. It's east on US192 through the Disney area and then through Kissimmee, St. Cloud and Holowpaw to Melbourne and Palm Bay. The end of another great weekend of RV'ing. Overall a great trip although it rained a bit and was a bit on the chilly side. We used a small electric heater mostly only firing up the furnace to take the chill off in the mornings. Ready to go again!!
Since I didn't take any pictures I've borrowed some off the internet. All the pictures here were not taken by me.
The RV Park is the land that juts into the water from the road in the upper right corner
