Retirement……LOVE IT!

Well, it’s been a busy two months in Florida. On February 1st we drove south to Frostproof, FL, to Rainbow RV Resort. This is a Sun RV Resort property and probably the NICEST RV park at which we’ve ever stayed. However, it was a little “pricey” and because we booked kind of “late” for the winter season, we didn’t have much choice. We have learned we MUST book reservations in FL for winter seasons EARLY!! You can see in these photos how nice this park truly is.

The Clubhouse

The Clubhouse. Canadian flag is on this side because there are SO MANY Canadians at this park.

The Clubhouse. The American flag (although you can’t see it very well) is on this side.

Bocce Ball is VERY popular here. It is fun game to play!

Pickle Ball courts. Another popular and fun game.

Back of the Clubhouse where there are mail boxes. This building also has restrooms with showers, laundry room, fitness center, and a room with pool tables. There are several swings like the one in this picture around the clubhouse.

Pool behind the Clubhouse. It has two hot tubs.

These are Petanque courts. It’s a French game played with balls and is somewhat complicated. We couldn’t find anyone to teach us how to play because it is not as popular here as Bocce Ball.

Horseshoes.

Shuffleboard courts.

One view from the Clubhouse.

We barely got our RV and campsite set up and people were stopping by welcoming us. Jack always asks what are the best eating places around, and we learned about a little “mom and pop” 50s style diner called Frostbite in the town of Frostproof. So our first night there, we tried it out.

Frostbite was really crowded! We literally got the last available table. People that came in right after us were put on a waiting list. I’m telling you – this place was FANTASTIC! The waitresses were very pleasant and truly hustled to get everyone served in a timely manner. The food was delicious and reasonably priced. And the ice cream! Let’s just say it’s the most delicious I have EVER tasted! EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. we drove by this place, it was super busy NO MATTER what the time of day was. You will just have to stop by some time to experience it for yourself.

While in Florida, we kind of had in the back of our minds that we might look for another RV (a newer model) because there are SO MANY places down here to purchase RVs (retired Snowbirds + RVs = LOTS of RV sales lots!). We have spent quite a lot of time looking ever since we got here in November. In the middle of February we finally found something we liked that was in our budget. We traded our 2009 Winnebago Latitude (it was a GREAT “starter” RV for us and will always be one of our favorites!) for a 2016 Tiffin Phaeton.

Moving from one RV to another isn’t something to take lightly. It’s like moving from one house to another but with some UNIQUE problems to be considered:

#1: You can’t really pack things in boxes ahead of time because you have NO WHERE to store the boxes.

#2: Moving into the new RV after you go through the three hour (or more) “orientation” for it doesn’t really leave you enough time left that day to transfer your belongings from the old RV to the new RV. (Note to self: If we EVER trade RVs again we WILL schedule orientation one day and moving into the new RV for the following day!) We literally transferred our belongings as fast as we could from around 1:30 p.m. to almost 8:00 p.m. which was the closing time at the RV sales place. Talk about exhaustion!

#3: Do not, I repeat, DO NOT move into a new RV with only THREE days before the first grandkid comes to visit for a week followed by the other two grandkids coming to visit the following week!! We got everything into the new RV and had to put off the rearranging to meet our needs until after all the grandkids left.

Here a few pictures of the new RV (please don’t pay attention to some of the “stuff” that is still laying around; not everything had found its place yet).

I am certain I will be rearranging things in the new RV for at least another month or so. I will be happy to do it, though, because this is a really nice coach/home.

The next blog post will tell about the grandkids visiting us.

So, for now ….. “On the Road Again!”

Betty