Day off of work, so sure I'll go 400 miles for a tiki drink.

 A couple weeks ago at the GMC rally I talked with Jeff at Sirum's GMC about getting some work done.  I scheduled last Thursday as I had the day off (I had to work the weekend though).   After breakfast I fired up the compressor as the air bag leaks slowly and pumped it up.  Pulled the coach out and proceeded to unload all the crap in the way of the work I am having done.   Chairs, the dinette table (more room for stuff). I then loaded up my Honda 4010 generator (had pulled it out of the garage a couple days earlier as it was buried in the front of the garage).

Got everything loaded and off I went heading up the Beeline to Okeechobee.  

It being a weekday, traffic was light and I made good time.   As I wasn't working I didn't pay a lot of attention to the time and arrived right at noon.   Of course the whole crew had just left for lunch.   Lucy was following me in the minivan but was about 45 minutes behind me (factoring in the time I needed to discuss the work, etc.)   

I parked the coach around in the campground area.  She was in good company.

I had mentioned this bus in the last installment but didn't have pics.  Apparently there were 11 I think Jeff said that plied the Miami International Airport back before the concourses were all connected.  and airport shuttle complete with proper bus doors.   This one has been here a long time and is firmly rooted.

I decided to walk down the road to Zaxby's and have lunch.  I ordered and ate, then ordered Lucy's food so it would be hot.   Just as I got it, she arrived and picked me up and we went back to the shop.  Perfect timing as Jeff and Bob pulled in right behind us.   

Lucy ate her lunch while we talked shop and went over everything.  They are busy right now and luckily, we aren't in any hurry so we shall be back in a few weeks to pick her up.

Many of you know that Lucy has a Circus School.  She had found out about a Tiffin mat (great mats) that she could use from a gymnastics school that was closing.  It was advertised and a good price.....but was in Sanford, FL.    Three hours from home, but only two from Okeechobee.   

So off we went up 441 to Yeehaw Junction to grab the Turnpike. 

A year ago December a Semi plowed into it in the early morning...

I stopped on our initial voyage home in the Pineapple and grabbed a pic of my daughter poking her head out the window of the coach.

Over the years, the old Inn has become a waypoint on my travels.   Sure it was a dump, but it was storied old Florida and it'll be missed.

Anyway, on to the turnpike and around O-town on the east side on 417.  Clear sailing and no I-4.  I hate I-4.  Worst traffic in Florida IMHO.   Anyway we get to the gymnastics place and of course the girl isn't there.  She's coming in ten minutes, which is actually 30.   By now it's after 4PM and I have an idea.

About 2 years ago a legit tiki bar opened called the Suffering Bastard and it's in Sanford.   I google it up and sure enough it's about 5 minutes away.   Sweet, they open at 5 and darnit I'm going to go have drink there.

The mat purchase is a pass as the mats are old and tired and overpriced.  Win some, lose some....but drinks ahoy!

We roll up to the address and there isn't a tiki bar to be seen. The place looks more like a pool hall.  I double check and yep this is the address.  Lucy is skeptical, but I say it's hiding in there somewhere and we go in.  I had seen a side patio and figure it's connected with that.   I was wrong, but it put me on the right path.   

We walk into a big open room and through toward the patio, but into a dark room with a pool table and bar shuffleboard.  I look to my right and there is a hallway and I see bamboo.   BINGO!

We roll in about 10 min after 5 and are the first guests of the day.  We chat and I decide on trying of course the original SB.   It comes in an uber cool new mug that they just got but are already sold out of.  They only have 3 for the bar I was told :(  

The bar is small (holds about 35 people max) and we got lucky as it's usually really hard to get into, especially on the weekends.

As it's slow, we get to chat with the bartender a good bit and we talk about the bar, drinks, rums, and the Hukilau.   My second drink was a Cobra's Fang which I loved the presentation of.  The snake is a fresh peeled lemon rind with clove eyes and a burning cinnamon stick in it.   We also had some tapas that were pretty good.   

Time flew and we were there for 2 hours!   Time to go.  Back in the car and 3 hours home.   I was out of the house for 12 hours and went 403 miles per google.   DISCLAIMER:  Lucy drove and behaved herself with only the one drink, then food and water.

GMC Rally Day 2 continued and Day 3.

 I hadn't mentioned it yet, but the rally was held at ZACHARY TAYLOR RV RESORT.  The owners and people there were super nice and accommodating for us.  We don't normally stay at RV parks, but I would stay here again.  They had a pool, shuffle board, ping pong and a few other things.   They are also right on Taylor Creek about 200 yards from a lock to get into the lake.

A couple of the local folks had pontoon boats and had them tied up at the dock.   The rally hosts Don and Bob had theirs and as Mike sorta kinda works with Don,  we took his boat out.  We looked around for 10-15 min and no one wanted to go for a ride, so off we went.

This boat had an aluminum roof which was really nice and shady. and with just the two of us on it, plenty of room.  This is the perimeter canal which doesn't go all the way around the lake, but in this shot we are looking west with the Herbert Hoover Dyke on the left.   Up in the distance a couple miles is where the Kissimmee River hits the lake.   We didn't go that far up that way.  We turned around and headed back when Don called looking for his boat lol.   

Others were now waiting, so we zipped back to the dock.   The green line on the picture below shows ride 1.

The orange line shows boat ride number 2.  This time I jumped on the other boat and was out in the sun, but had put SPF 50 on so was good to go.  This was a much longer trip as we cruise SE to the end of that canal, then back up past the boat owners home (a little side canal near the resort).  Then all the way up Taylor Creek to State Road 70 and a couple of blocks from Sirum's. 

Smartly the Burger King had built a path from the creek side up to the restaurant for hungry boaters.  Apparently the day before there were Manatees right there next to 70 eating.  They weren't around when we went by.   We headed back to the dock and soon enough it was time for dinner.

After the group dinner, the couple from NH set up an amp and Mic and they performed a set of mostly cover songs and the crowd was appreciative of the live music.   I went back to my coach for a drink and actually missed their whole set as I got talking to a couple of folks outside and then needed another drink, and by the time I walked back in, they were wrapping up.  ooops!

A few people were playing cards so I sat down to check it out. They were playing Hand and Foot, which I never heard of.   I didn't play, but watched them complete their game.   It looked fun.

Afterwards, more chatting outside. then went over to Russell and Jenny's coach for a nightcap and more talking until bedtime.  

DAY 3

Today was pretty short as it was breakfast and cleanup.   I stayed around talking for a bit and then looked at the radar and knew I had to start packing up to go.   As I was alone and the bike never hit the ground (after I took the time to fix the flat and clean it up), it didn't take long to pack up the coach.   They had full hookup on the site, so I dumped my black tank right there while talking, and then after washing my  hands,  I gave the California couple a tour of my coach as they said they wanted to do theirs in a tropical tiki theme.   I regret not getting their contact info now as they were pretty cool people.  Maybe they will still be around when I go back in 10 days.

I rolled out just before noon and headed south on 441.  I decided to skip the Beeline Hwy for a relaxing drive through the sugarcane.   It's about a half hour longer, but I wasn't in a hurry and the change of scenery was nice.  Here I am going over Port Mayaca bridge which is where the Intercoastal Waterway enters the Lake on the east side.   Again a blind photo, apologies for the ugly dog curtain dash cover reflection. You can see the lock by my mirror.

A better shot of the lake out my side of the windshield.  The lake looks like the ocean as you can't see the other sides.  Lake Okeechobee is the largest freshwater lake in the state of Florida. It is the eighth largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second largest natural freshwater lake contained entirely within the contiguous 48 states. - Wikipedia.   It has an average depth of only 9ft so it's not real deep.

I had clear and sunny sailing all the way home.  It only started to cloud over while I was unloading.   I got everything out and just as I was going to park it,  yep it started to rain.   I went inside and made a sandwich.  Before I could eat it, it stopped, so I quickly put it back into space dock and it started raining again 15 min later (before I finished the sandwich).

Thanks for tuning in, and she'll be back out for a maintenance run in 10 days.

 

GMC Rally Day 2 at Sirum GMC

 Saturday morning breakfast with the group. from 8-9 and then it was off to Sirum's shop for the tech session.  The rally was only about 10 minutes from Sirum's GMC and I got a ride with one of the people who pulled a car (Towed or toad) with them. 

I found this poster on the front door to the point, succinct and in terms the locals could relate to as there are LARGE cattle ranches all around the area.  I also found it amusing. 

I have been to Jeff's shop a few times both just to stop and say howdy, and also to have work done.   In fact, I scheduled a visit for about 2 weeks from now to finally get my generator installed and upgrade to a newer air bag system (more on that later).

Most of the guys went over there and there was a lot of looking at the other coaches to see work done and work needed to be done.  I was shopping for ideas on future upgrade ideas.

This coach is a 26' Royale rear bath.  It is the 26' version of our coach as they were both originally outfitted by Coachman.   This particular unit was modified by Cinnibar in Michigan.  They are the company that bought up the rights to the GMC motorhome after GM stopped building them.  This coach just sold for 40K I was told and it looks very fresh even though the refit happened awhile ago (This work all fresh and new would be over 100K easy).

Lots of sleeping space in this baby.  6 easy with the dinette fold down.  Notice the cabinets are the same as ours.

A partially remodeled bathroom.  Same layout as ours but new counter, toilet and sink.  I also liked the trim work around the rear window and the white on the walls really brightens it up.

A much nicer closet space that ours with green carpet and wood paneling.  I bet the cork helps absorb sound too.  The shelves are a really nice touch too, going to look at doing that.

The outside of the coach.  She's a beauty.

This one was gorgeous, but black would never work in FL for me.  It was named Midnight Express, you can see the name on the inside of the door in the pic.

I really like the wood floors and the solid butcher block counter.  I'm really digging this look for the Pineapple.

Jeff showing off some of his craftsmanship to one of the other attendees.

The Royale is on the end.  The photos below are from the one on the left with black stripes.

Looking down the hallway to the rear bedroom.  I really wanted this floor plan but wound up with the Pineapple instead.   I'm okay with it as we love our coach

I really liked these floors as well, more of a grey driftwood look. Also note the table in between the two front seats.

In addition to all the nice coaches, there is a boneyard for those parts that you just can't buy anywhere.  I didn't get them all, just a few of them.

I think there are about 20 of them around the property.

Some are gutted, others just look like they need a lot of love.

This one was a hotel shuttle bus complete with full-on bus doors.   There is another one from Miami Dade county that was also a bus.  Surprised I didn't take a picture of that one.

I love this shot.  It reminds me of a futuristic dystopian video game.

After a couple of hours, Jeff closed up shop and we headed off to a place Lunkers for lunch.  The chicken wings were good and beer cold, but the waitress needed some more training.  It was okay as there was a really nice breeze blowing through the patio and I was up wind of everyone else.

After lunch we headed back to the campground.

GMC Sunshine Statesmen Rally Day 1

 The GMC motorhome community has a number of active clubs all over the US as well as a couple internationally.   In addition to a national group, there are regional ones as well.   Florida has it's own club and it is called the GMC Sunshine Statesmen.  They hold several rallies a year.   Luckily this one was close to home in Okeechobee, FL about 85 miles away.  Further, I was available for the weekend so I decided to go.  Unfortunately, it was only me as Naya had a girl scout event all day Saturday and we weren't going to leave her home alone all weekend.

I took the day off of work on Friday and packed in the morning.  I had planned to leave by about 10:30AM which morphed into noon, but I did get the grass cut and pool cleaned as well.  

Normally, I would take I-95 to West Palm and the Beeline Hwy to Okeechobee, but stopped for gas at the wholesale club in Boynton Beach.  I figured I'd just keep going west and take the Turnpike up to the Beeline.   Well that was a big mistake as the Turnpike was a parking lot and it cost me about 30 minutes plus the extra 10 to drive west.   Had I gone the other way it would have been about 35 min faster.  Had traffic been light, I would have saved 10 min.   I doubt I'll go that way again as it's also a toll road.

Once I got on the Beeline I took the selfie above as I was cruising nicely with barely any traffic. I didn't see the photo until I arrived as my sunglasses are polarized and I can't see my phone screen when wearing them.  I just took 3-4 blind and this one came out okay.   

I took County Rd 15A over to 441 and snuck up to the campground the back way.  Then I drove past it to go to Publix and by 3 things I didn't even use.   There was construction so that all added another 40+ minutes.   Ended up my 1.5 hour drive took me a little over 3 hours to go 85 miles...  Oh well!

I settled in and got all set up and met my neighbors behind me with their white 26.  They are from Wellington, so not very far away from me down here.

Once I got set up, my Twinsie Mike showed up in his Yellow GMC.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to park next to each other, but I had 6 coaches near me.

She looks good in her natural habitat. The one to my right was a younger couple from California who are full timing and driving around the US.  She told me that rent in the Bay area is so high, it only took them 3 months rent to buy the coach!

The Palm Beach model on the left belongs to Ramona Sirum who started Sirum's GMC with her late husband Alex.   Their son Jeff runs the business now.  She came out and was very interested in my bright yellow coach.  We talked a bit and I gave her a tour of the inside as well.  She and Alex had traveled to Alaska in a 23' so she had a lot of stories.  She also gave me and my neighbor from Wellington a tour of her coach.  It was mostly original with some tasteful upgrades and fairly roomy inside.  I don't know much about the other two but the one on the right has been on the Hot Rod Power Tour a couple times and is running the same Fuel Injection set up I am.

Two more coaches, the one on the left was another young couple who are traveling musicians.  They happened to be in town at Sirum's getting some work done, so came over to hang out.  They are from New Hampshire.   The one on the right, was the 3rd (after Mike and ours) 23' in attendance.   I didn't get to meet the owner, but it recently changed hands in the club.  To the right of that is a SOB (some other brand).  They are members but sold their GMC.  That is a GMC front sub frame on the trailer for one of the other members, who is going to try and may a Duramax Diesel conversion for his coach.  Lastly is a Bluebird Wanderlodge.   They are built on the Bluebird school bus, but in their day were a top of the line coach.   A friend had one, that I got to stay in for a couple of nights in Michigan.  It was like a yacht inside.  Very nice.   They are also part of the group.

A couple more coaches.  All told there were 15 GMCs in attendance (I missed a few for pics).

The couple with the striped one here used to work on the Cape during the Shuttle years, so I had fun talking to them about their experiences.

Michael's yellow '73 and Russel and Jenny's coach Harry.   Harry has a very cool backstory.  I don't recall all the details, but it belonged to a good friend Harry who passed away and it was sold before they could buy it.  By luck, they found it years later when the next owner decided to sell it, and convinced the guy to sell it to them due to their relationship with the coach and its previous owner.  It's a nice story.

Bob and Don's 'Beast'.  It is stretched.  It started as a 26' and I believe it was stretched to 36'.  I don't recall for sure as it's been a couple years since I got the 411 on the stretch.  I have been in the coach and I think you could put a bowling lane in there!

From there it was dinner time, and then some 'talking GMCs'.  They were showing a movie on the side of Russel and Jenny's coach, which was supposed to be Stripes, but they they showed something that didn't star a GMC and I wandered off for some down time in the coach. 

New video of my coach

 Back in December, we went to the Prairie for a few days and got to see a once in a lifetime celestial event of Jupiter and Saturn being so close in the sky, you could see both at the same time.  Prior to that trip, I saw on social media that my friend Dat, had gotten an RV.  We chatted a bit and I let him know we would be there that weekend.  He and his family booked a site in the same loop, so I was looking forward to it as we hadn't seen each other in about 3 years.  

With his RV, he started a Youtube channel called Now Dat's RVing!  He asked me if I would let him do a VLOG on my coach.  I of course said yes and you can see it below.

I'm impressed with the homework he did on the GMC to present (I think anyway), a pretty good video.
I wish I would have cleaned up the interior more, and opened more curtains, and pre-planned what I was going to say.   I just winged it at the moment, lol.

Hope you enjoy it.

 

Anniversary Trip - Day 7&8 - Animal Kingdom and back home

 So last day on the Disney pass and of course it's raining.  We wake up to overcast skies and drizzily 'up north rain' as I call it.  Reminds me of Pennsylvania in the winter.   Gray, cold, and dreary.   The Animal park opens early as the animals don't sleep in.  8-6 as it's Saturday.

The campground filled up a bit, but I would call it between half and two thirds full.  Usually in January you can't get a spot at all.    As it's raining I decide on shorts and a plastic raincoat as I know the coat will retain heat and my legs will dry faster if not in damp jeans.  It's a bit warmer with highs in the mid 60s, but cool enough to not be comfortable.

Anyway, we are up and at the transportation center (bus stop) around 8:30.  Our bus is the first arrive minutes later and off we go.  It's only about 10-15 min ride and we are there and walking in.

I forgot to mention the routine at the parks.   First they take your temperature, then the bag check, and then your tickets.   This is only the second time I've been to Animal Kingdom..  The last time was in the late 90s right after it opened.  Back then they didn't have alot of rides yet, so it was kinda lame with a zoo.

Even today there aren't alot of rides compared to the other parks, but I was happy as this was almost like a brand new park for me as it'd been over 20 years.

Unlike the other parks I didn't have the lay of the land so to speak.   The first attraction was the Bug's Life which was pretty good.  I got a surprise and jumped out of my seat toward the end, which amused Naya greatly.  If you have been on it you'll know lol.

From there we were less than scientific as when you come off the ride it's the entrance to Asia.  So we walked that way and went to the Yeti ride.  about a 25 min wait, but it's a fun coaster.  Next we made our way to the dinosaur land and went back to the Cretaceous and narrowly avoided a comet impact.  

Then in our haphazard trip through the park went to Africa and discovered alcoholic Dole Whips.  I passed instead for a Coffee with Amarula  as it was wet and cold out.  We did the safari ride (one of the only rides open the last time I was there).

I learned a long time ago that a rainy day is a good day at the zoo, as the animals tend to come out more.  This was the case today as well (although we skipped a lot of animal exhibits).

We then rode a train over to a petting zoo and research center.  This llama had a security detail as it likes to spit at people so it's handler is just out of the photo and we were warned not to try and pet it. 

The pigs were funny as they were napping outside where they could be petted.  Most of the other animals cringed away from the noisy kids trying to molest them and would hide behind the ropes where the kids couldn't go.  The pigs didn't care.

The African train.   It was a fun little ride to the research center and ran every 5 minutes.

After Africa, we headed down to Pandora land.  Lucy marveled at how they could build a land off of one movie.  Naya has never seen the film, so some of it was lost on her.  There were two rides there.  The first one is similar to Soaring, but you ride one of the flying dragon animals.   It was a pretty good ride.  I was impressed.

They did a good job getting you into the vibe of Pandora.   The other ride was the Pandora Jungle Cruise basically.   It was alright, but I recommend doing that first as the Banshee ride was alot more intense.

With time waning, we headed back across the park (again!) to Asia to hit the Yeti ride again.  Boy did we.   Lucy rode it 5 more times, me 6 and Naya 7.   It was pretty much as fast as you could go around you were on it.    I was done after 5 but then on the way back from the restrooms said why not and grabbed another.  This last time, I took time to stop and read the newspaper articles that were on the walls in the buildings.  It was pretty good copy giving you back story to the ride and the yeti.

Got to try a variety of seating positions and you get whipped the hardest on the right side toward the front.   

At one point I said to Naya it reminded me a bit of the bobsled run we did in Utah.  On the Olympic bobsled run you pull 4Gs.   Came to find out the Yeti ride pulls 3 and is the highest G-force ride in all of Disney.

I had planned on cooking a steak on the grille as it was the last night and we'd be back early.  As I was leaving the park, I was tired, cold, and wet.  I wanted nothing to do with grilling in cold rain.   Lucy and Naya wanted to go back to the Polynesian so they got on that bus.  I went straight back to the campground.

I looked at the radar and saw that the rain was done.  I seasoned the steak and took a hot shower.  Feeling a lot better, texted the girls to tell me when they were on the boat back to the Magic Kingdom to transfer to the other boat, knowing that would be the time to light the coals.

Enjoyed a couple of cocktails while I waited and the timing worked out perfectly.  I had mini taters in garlic and butter in the fire in foil packs and as i pulled the steak off the grille they rolled into the campsite on their bikes.  We could see stars as the clouds pulled out and we turned in fairly early as we were wiped out from 20K steps a day.

Sunday morning, breakfast, pack up, dump the tanks (the Fort doesn't have a dump station and we were on a pop up site ($30 cheaper per night) so we minimized the onboard water/toilet use as the bath house was about 75 feet away. Then one last visit to the trading post in the Fort and we were on the way home.  Took secondary roads the whole way home.  This is a section of Canoe Creek Road.

I found out awhile ago, that since I can't go 80 (well I can, but the coach is a handful and it's not fun) taking the lesser traveled path is more relaxing and only adds 5-10 min on the trip from Orlando area.

I had taken this path once before in the coach on the way home from Disney.  There are better ways to get out of WDW, but there was a miscommunication with the navigator and we wound up back tracking a bit on the WDW property but found our way out to 192.   As it was Sunday AM, the traffic was light and we made decent progress on US192.   We headed to Old Canoe Creek road and then Canoe Creek road which shadows the turnpike south from western St. Cloud all the way to Kenansville about 8 or so miles north of Yehaw Junction.   From that point we rolled 441 to Okeechobee, right  past Sirum's GMC and down the Beeline for home.

Once back on I-95, we were spotted by my wagon buddies in West Palm.

At first I didn't recognize their vehicle, but then after they pulled away I realized that it was David and Danny.  Good stuff.   Got home around 4 and offloaded everything.....  Another one in the books and back to work the next day.

Anniversary trip - Day 6 - EPCOT

 Today was a relaxed start as EPCOT didn't open until 10AM.  The monorail to EPCOT is not running, so it's bus only.  One thing, if you are staying in a WDW resort and have a car they will allow you free parking at the park you are going to.  We rode the bus as we didn't bring a car.

This heron was hunting in the bushes on the walk in to the park.  I watched him nab a lizard and choke it down.  Then he got two more while we were watching!

Right around opening time and look how empty it is!

We headed in and Startship Earth was closed, so we went right (most people where going left) and went to Nemo's Undersea world.  The manatees were pretty big ones.  I watched them for a good bit and then we looked at all the other fish and told Naya about the time we went SCUBA diving in the exhibit (late 90s).

We started clocking around counter clockwise, so it was off to The Land next and the soaring ride and the boat ride through the veggie gardens.  We stopped out front for a snack then off the Imagination thing with Figment.   After that we went to the theater and they were showing 3 3D Pixar Titles.

The first one was done in B&W with old Mickey and Minnie and Peg Leg Pete.  It starts off slow,  but then Mickey gets thrown out of the screen and into the room with you.  The 3D is awesome and engineered for the stage at the front, so it really looks like he is in the room with you moving around.  I was impressed.

Piper won an Oscar and was pretty good.  Surprised to find it on YouTube but there you go.  I can't recall the third one, but they were all pretty good.

Naya got a little Pooh on her, but she didn't mind.

So the characters are social distancing as well.  None walk around through the crowd like they used to.

From there we crossed to the other side at Mexico and started our way around the world.

I bought a margarita in Mexico and then got in line for the Frozen ride in Norway but the end of the line was in China which seemed funny to me.  Standing in China, drinking a margarita, waiting to go to Norway.  Not what I imagined doing that morning when I woke up.

Tommy liked China, everything was Red.  We checked out the circle vision movie and headed on through Europe.  I stopped in Germany for a bier and a pretzel.   

The ibis were not shy and this one took pretzel right from Naya's hand.  Then the ducks saw what happened and started swarming us, so time to press on.

The was an art and food festival which was cool as there were pop up food stands so we snacked around the world.  Some of the art was amazing, but we didn't buy any.   We finished out the day going to Mission Space and the Test Track.  The test track was about a 50 minute wait and the longest of the day.   When we were leaving, we saw the Startship ride was open, but it was after 8PM so we couldn't get in line.

Back to the Fort and Pasta for dinner.  Quick to boil the noodles and mix the meat in with sauce and nuke it.   Perfect after a big day of walking as it was about 9:30 when we got back.

We also had new neighbors across the way.  I figured it would get busier on the weekend.  People across the street were from South Florida too.