From the Peace River Thousand Trails park, we are resting after a wild two-week ride in Dade City. The Habitat for Humanity build was a success with the construction of two houses - one that is on a home site and the other was built in the middle of a street in downtown Dade City during the bicycle race. We are exhausted, but proud of the effort and the fun with had with Don & Vicki Leith, who accompanied us to Dade City.

On the last Saturday while the girls were at the Pasco County Fair tending the HfH booth, I worked with another of the volunteers setting up the batter boards and foundation for the next two houses. It was a slow process measuring out the foundation and setting up a string line to show the elevation and slope of the floors. On Sunday, we rested and took things easy. Monday we were right back to it and trying to finish the roof of the House #43, the home for the mother with the eight children.

We were planning to visit The Keys, but things are constantly changing in our plans. I received an email from Bob Larson, the head of the Monaco International Parking Committee, asking us to be in Macon, GA on Monday, the 5th. This is an invitation that is valuable - the Parking Committee is tough to get on and to be invited by Bob Larson is something special. So, we left Tuesday morning headed for Peace River Thousand Trails park for a few days of rest. When we left Dade City, it was raining hard and lasted for about an hour. By the time we got to Plant City the rain had subsided and the roads were beginning to dry.

We arrived at Peace River, only 70 miles away, to dry roads and high clouds. The park is one of the newest acquisitions to the Thousand Trails system. It’s a pretty park with half the sites being only water and electricity. We got one of those sites, leveled up, and settled in. It’s been fun watching the “campsite shuffle” as people check each day to move to a sewer site with 50-amp electric. We’ve had new neighbors each day and they only last a day before they move. Geesh, is it something I said?? In the meantime, I’ve managed to get the whole outside of the coach washed and waxed, completed some minor repairs on the coach, and got all the interior wood oiled.

One of the novelties of the park is Jake, a four-foot alligator that lives in an overflow pond. The pond is connected by an underground drainage culvert that travels the length of the park. Jake apparently navigates to the north end of the park for his chow (gators only eat every three or four days) and suns himself on the south end of the park in the overflow pond. Everybody says to keep your distance from Jake, but he draws a lot of lookers to see if he is still there.
This park is full of Yankees (mostly Canadians and New Yorkers) and some of them are really obnoxious in their behavior. I have yet to find the attraction of Florida and the humidity. Enduring this humid weather has revived some memories of 40 years ago when I was first stationed in Selma, AL while in the USAF. I remember the mugginess in the air and the sticky feeling during the days. We are experiencing the same feelings the last three days here in Central Florida. I’ve finally given in to the elements and just sit outside under the awning as long as there’s a slight breeze. A little country music, a tall glass of ice water, and my recliner - it makes things almost bearable. Dottie prefers to stay in the coach where I have the air conditioner running - as long as the electricity stays high enough. With everybody running their air conditioners on 30-amp circuits, the voltage takes a drop in the middle of the day. Thank goodness for my Autoformer and EMS - they keep the systems up and running.

We leave Friday morning and drive 135 miles to Melbourne to spend some more time with brother Bill and his family. We hope to be able to attend Sunday church service at Bill’s church and then hit the road north toward Macon to arrive early Monday morning.