Boy Toys

Here is my new toy. It is a 1988 Corvette hardtop. It is in great shape with only 53,000 miles. I just clicked it over 53K.

Roughing it Smoothly

We traveled to Kissimmee the weekend of July 18-20. The Giant Recreation World Gold Club event was at the Tropical Palms RV Resort which is located right behind Old Town. It was a great weekend starting on Friday night with a pot luck dinner.


The entrance to Tropical Palms RV Resort

On Saturday morning we started the day with a pancake breakfast in the Recreation Hall. This was where we ate all of our meals. Saturday afternoon Marilyn and I walked to Old Town. We perused some of the shops as we walked through the area. While we were there the cars started coming in to register for the Cruise In to be held that evening. So we watched the cars come in.

The RV all set up for the weekend

Then we went next door to the Fun Spot. Here I made a bee line to the Nascar Simulators. We signed up for a race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte. There are six simulator cars and I got the number 2 car and Marilyn got the number 8 car. Charlotte was a tough track. I would really get going and passed a lot of cars but then would crash and lose all the places I had gained. I still ended up not doing bad against the other people driving at the time. I was 13th place overall . I was second out of the simulator racers though. The guy in the 12 car was really good because he came in 1st overall. Marilyn came in 25th place. Then we walked through the area checking out all the rides and vendors. We decided to go on one of the Go Cart rides. We chose the Chaos track. It was an okay track with multi-levels. The only problem was I got the slowest cart on the track. It would hardly make it up the hill to the upper level. It was real fast downhill though. I got bumped once going up the hill and it wouldn't even go up the hill. One of the attendants had to come over and push and manually advance the throttle past the standard setting. I told him to make it so it would go faster but it was the same. After the Fun Spot we headed back to Tropical Palms.

Marilyn and I on the way to Old Town

On the way we went down the street where the Cruise In cars were parked. So I perused the cars and took pictures. When we got back to the RV we just chilled out the rest of the afternoon until time for dinner.

Tom and friend in a store at Old Town


RV decorated for Christmas in July

Then we walked over to the rec hall for dinner. It was a great dinner being turkey and the trimmings as the theme for the weekend was Christmas in July. After dinner we walked over to Old Town for the Cruise In. By this time all the cars were parked in the staging area. So we walked through there and I took pictures and talked with some of the car owners. There were some really great cars. Check out my previous post with a slide show of the car pictures. Then we went over to the main street where they parade the cars. I watched the whole show and took lots of pictures.

Some of the Cruise In cars


After the Cruise In we walked back over to the Fun Spot where I did the Nascar Simulators again. I love these simulators and wish we had some closer to home. They give you a special lower price when you go back and do it again. You can also get an all evening pass to do it over and over again until they close. I just wanted one more time. This time I did the Atlanta track. It was a bit easier than Charlotte. I still crashed but it was because of other cars crashing in front of me and just like on the real races you get the smoke and can't see where to go. Once I had two cars spinning in front of me. I went high and missed one and the other one was going up the track so I went low and just like the real thing he bounced off the wall and came down right in front of me. So I hit the 24 car broadside. Once I got loose in the turns and spun out. When you go spinning down the track you really feel like you are going round and round when your car is really stationary except for the tilting and rocking it does to simulate the track and accidents. I came in 25th place overall. But I was 2nd in the simulator cars.

It was a great weekend. We packed up and came home around 11:30 Sunday morning. Check out the slide show of pictures for the weekend below.

Old Town Cruise In

As part of our recent Giant Recreation World Gold Club motorhome club excursion to Tropical Palms RV Resort in Kissimmee we went to the Old Town Cruise In on Saturday night. During the day the cars started coming in and you could walk around and get up close and personal with them. You could chat with the owners and find out all the details. Below is the slide show of the pictures I took at the Cruise In. Enjoy.

The great Palm Bay fire

In May there was some major fires in Palm Bay. It burned through large areas and many houses were either damaged or lost in the fires. I went out and took some pictures during the fires. You can see how bad it was.

Forest Service Helicopter filling up with water

Full of water heading back to the fire

Heading back to the fire with a full bucket

A view of the smoke as the Heli heads into the inferno

A look from Marilyn's back yard as it heads this way

Here the fire had jumped the road and was behind Marilyn's house

This is a view on DeGroodt looking south to the Bayside Lakes/Bombadier intersection in front of Bayside High School

Another view looking south on DeGroodt

Another wider angle view looking south on DeGroodt

At the Bayside Lakes/Bombadier/DeGroodt intersection looking south with Bayside High Shool to the left

Palm Bay Police and Fire Rescue on the job

Here they are coming out of Bayside High School which was a staging area for fire engines and police

The fire burning up to the intersection of DeGroodt, Bayside Lakes/Bombadier

The fire burning the area in back of Marilyn's house

The fire burning along the fence at the rear of Marilyn's house.

The Helicopter almost crashed here. You can see the bucket hit the ground but the pilot managed to save it.

The fire burned a large area of Palm Bay. It burned up to the edge of the house of Marilyn's daughter's Dana. She had evacuated the area as the Fire Dept. had asked many areas be evacuated.

Great Outdoors RV Resort Titusville

We went to the Great Outdoors RV Resort in Titusville for our Giant Recreation World Gold Club outing for May. It was another laid back relaxing weekend. (More to come.)

View down the Nature Trail

A fawn is in the shadows

A view from the Nature Trail

A stop on the Nature Trail as Marilyn looks for gators

A bridge on the Nature Trail

A tortoise on the Nature Trail

Books available in the middle of nowhere

Our location for the weekend

The lots had large concrete pads

The recreation hall where we had our meals

The pool

The tennis courts

The standard mode of transportation. Not just for golf anymore.

A deer in the front yard of one of the homes

Another shot of the deer

Wildlife everywhere

These rabbits hung around to let me take their picture

Ryder ready to go home

Manatee Hammock

We spent the weekend of April 11-13 at Manatee Hammock Park near Titusville with the Giant Recreation World Gold Club. It was a good weekend and Manatee Hammock is a great RV Park carved out of the trees. We started the weekend with a pot luck dinner on Friday evening. As always I tried to sample a little of everything.



Ryder waiting at the door

Most of the weekend we just spent chilling. One of the planned activities was a treasure hunt on Saturday afternoon. I participated in the treasure hunt while Marilyn chilled watching a golf tournament rooting for Tiger.


Motorhome set up for the weekend.

When we first arrived and parked the motorhome I cranked up the satellite dish to set up for viewing television. When I went out and looked at our location we were right under some trees. I knew this might be a problem for satellite reception. So I went in and told Marilyn that we may not be able to get tv reception. She immediately said "Take me home". She was all set to watch the Masters Golf Tournament. So I started setting up the satellite receiver. After playing around with it for a bit I locked on to a signal and "voila" we had reception.

A view of our location and neighbors.

As you can see from the pictures the park has lots of trees and shade. It was very nice and has a pool and a sheltered picnic area. It has a dock on the Indian River for fishing or a great view of the river. They also have tables located near the river for picnicing.

A view of the road through the park.

Members gather for the Treasure Hunt.
The Saturday afternoon activity was a treasure hunt. We started off from different locations and followed our treasure map instructions to find clues and find the treasure. We were divided up into teams with a team captain.


Getting ready for the Treasure Hunt.

Activities Director Audrey Starling chatting with club members.

Audrey telling members about the Treasure Hunt.

Treasure Hunt Team Captains getting their instructions.


Here's the winning team!
Our team won the treasure hunt. The way it worked was you followed the instructions to find clues to where the treasure was. As you went along the clues were fewer and fewer. So if you didn't get to the location of the clues before the other teams you would be out of the hunt because there wouldn't be a clue for the next leg of the hunt.


The "Winners", my team won the Treasure Hunt!!!
As we searched for the clues different members of my team came through. At the second to last clue location one of our members found the clue location which only had one clue left so we were now among the last four teams in the hunt. Then at the next location there were only two clues. So I hurried to the location and there were several teams standing around not finding the last clue. Our clue said it was at the NW corner of the pavilion. As I walked up I looked up and there was a canister hanging from the roof of the pavilion. I walked up stepped up on a table and opened the canister. There was the two remaining clues. One of the ladies from another team asked me for the last clue and I gave it to her. So now there were two teams looking for the treasure. As we searched I thought it was probably on the dock so I headed there. The rest of my team headed over to another area near the river. I found nothing at the dock so headed back to where the rest of my team was. As I neared them I heard them hooting and hollering as they had located the treasure!! They had almost given up as no one was finding it. Our team captain sat down at one of the picnic tables and just happened to look under it and taped to the bottom was the paper saying we had found the treasure. So to the winners go the spoils. We got to share the contents of the treasure chest.


Marilyn walking Ryder through the park and he had a squirrel sighted.
Ryder liked the walks in the park because there were lots of squirrels that got his attention.


A view of the dock out into the Indian River.

The view from the dock back into the park.

Looking north along the river from the dock.

Marilyn walking Ryder in the park.

All in all it was a very relaxing weekend. Saturday night we had a catered dinner in the recreation hall. Then afterward we played Bingo. I managed to win once. Each time someone won they got to choose a prize from the prize table. So the early winners got the best choices. Not much was left when I won. So I chose some window cleaning cloths. We had coffee and cinnamon rolls on Sunday morning and then packed up for the journey home.