I don’t know how many noticed, but I skipped posting last week.  I wasn’t feeling well and decided to wait and talk about our time here in the Clearwater/Largo area all at once.

We had a short drive (less than 2 hours) from Wauchula to Largo.  We had been warned that the CG we were spending our first week was tight to get into, so we were happy to be able to arrive early in the day, with plenty of time to park.  The warning proved to be true.  While Vacation Village was well kept and clean, it was very tight.   On top of that, the site they gave us, with a tree and light post to navigate around, made it even more difficult.   After jockeying back and forth a few times (less than I expected honestly) my awesome hubby had us all settled in.

I guess I could mention now that we stayed here to use our Ready, Camp, Go from Thousand Trails, for the last time. We probably wouldn’t have stayed there if it weren’t for that.  That’s not to say it wasn’t a nice park, but it wasn’t our preferred location.   At some point soon I will do a full summary on our Thousand Trails experience, check back in a week or so for that.   I’m not sure if I had mentioned it before, but we decided not to renew Thousand Trails for the upcoming year.  Anyway, for $20 a night, Vacation Village was a great deal!

The day after our arrival, we decided to head over to the Tampa RV Show.  The day we planned to go, Friday, was forecasted to rain all day (which it did) so Thursday proved to be a better day.  We went to see all the new Heartland Landmarks and they sure are nice!  They have a new floor plan, the Orlando, which is similar to our current one, the Grand Canyon.   We were not tempted too much, but the improvements were impressive!  The new 365 Lamdmarks are a good bit heavier and also longer than ours, and come standard with 8000lb axels and H tires.   They have added some nice features, but ours is still my fav – no trailer envy for me!  We also walked around and checked out all the vendors, and after sitting in about 15 different chairs, we each got a new camp chair!

We also saw quite a few people at the show.   We had planned to meet up with Nancy and Neil, but we saw others that we didn’t even know would be there.   We met Jim Beletti, president of Heartland Owners Club, at their table.  We also saw some friends from Amazon, Diana and Pat, and also, speaking of Amazon, we visited their table and got hugs from Kelly Calmes and the rest of the HR crew!   We ran (almost literally) into James & Cindy and Bill & Linda, and briefly met Jack Mayer, fellow RV-Dreamers.   James and Cindy generously offered us their driveway in Lake Charles, for a couple of nights on our way west!  Bill and I are looking forward to quality time with these two, who we met originally at the 2014 TN Rally and then again at the 2015 Family Reunion Rally in NC.  How cool is that?

Back while we were in Campbellsville, I had ordered some outside lettering for the rig, which arrived while we were in the Keys.  There was an ad on FB for a page called ” Vinyl Crafts” that caught my eye, so after further investigating, Bill and I agreed to place an order.

As you can see from the pics – the results are awesome!  I could not be happier!  If anyone wants lettering like this – I totally recommend Vinyl Crafts!  Nicole was great to work with, was extremely patient in helping me make my decisions in what exactly to order.  And, while not a full-timer, she and her husband camp with their kids.

After our week on Ready, Camp, Go at Vacation Village was up, we moved back to Clearwater Travel Resort, which is where we’ve stayed in this area before.   We really like this park, it’s clean and well kept and everyone is friendly.   I actually asked inside if they ever hire Workampers b/c I wouldn’t mind working in the office here, but they don’t.   Having only asked the lady behind the desk, I may speak to the manager before we leave.

The balance of our time here has been divided between doc visits and family time.   In the past 2 weeks, we’ve been to our PCP (Primary Care Physician), dentist, we’ve both had colonoscopies (on the same day!) and since I am one lucky lady – I’ve also gotten fully examined by my Gyn doc, AND – wait for it – had a mammogram!  How exciting is that?! NOT!  We had blood work done before leaving for the Keys so the doc could go over results at our visits.   There is no rock unturned – and I don’t want to see another doc for the full year, when we will return for more fun!  Ha!

The result of all this poking, prodding, and use of cameras in places one shouldn’t ever want a camera, is that we are in good shape for the shape we’re in.  Due to family history, I didn’t get the “See you in 10 years!” from the Gastroenerologist, I get to do it again in 5 years!  And – bonus!  Due to not being able to fully “see” everything they want to see on my mammogram, at some point, I get to have another one!  YAY ME!  UGH!

Family time with my parents and sister has been great – planning meals, movie watching, etc.  Mostly just chilling.   I have our route out to Quartzite all planned and mapped out, and have started looking at heading north toward Seattle.  If anyone has any suggestions for that, I’m listening, as this area will be new to us!

Tonight (Tuesday) was our last night here in Clearwater.  We all decided to head out to Clearwater Beach for dinner and to check out Pier 60, where there are street performers and vendors set up, selling their wares.  The food at Clear Sky was delish (thanks again TripAdvisor) and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Our time with my parents and sister have been great – as I said above, but it sure was hard saying goodbye.  I am not a huge fan of goodbyes, and prefer “see you later”, but the result is the same – we won’t be back for +/- a year.  When I feel myself tearing up and getting sad about leaving, I have to remind myself that with each “see you later” there is a “hello” waiting just around the corner.  In order to go to new places, you have to leave where you are.  I realize this may sound goofy and even sappy, but there is a process I go through to get myself through.  I have been somewhat surprised at how much leaving bothers me.  I am more torn that originally expected.  I didn’t want to admit that at first b/c I didn’t want it to seem like I didn’t want to do this lifestyle and travel and see all the places we want to see, but leaving is hard.  I have to remind myself there is phone calls, texts, FaceBook, FaceTime, Skype, etc. to keep in touch, which is more than people had “back in the day” when they traveled, and for those things, I am grateful.

After we leave here (Clearwater), in the morning, we will be moving at a quicker than usual pace for us.  Between here and Quartzite – it’s about 2300 miles and we are taking about 3 weeks to get there, planning to arrive on Feb 20.  We have gotten our “official” AK start date, May 28, and we want to arrive a couple days before that, so it’s time to start planning our trek north.   This is all so exciting!   I sure do hope you all continue to follow along!