Adventures with Tom: July 2008

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

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.

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.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

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.)