March 13 - 15, 2016
Buccaneer State Park
Waveland, MS

Today we traveled another 185 miles west on I-10 crossing Alabama and Mississippi and stopping just short of the Louisiana border. We went through a big tunnel in Mobile and that was exciting. For a Sunday there was a lot of traffic but it went pretty well. We got off I-10 and went south about 15 miles to the Gulf Coast. We had gotten conflicting directions on which road to take to get to the park so I called them and they gave me a completely different road to take.   When you have a 2 ton rig that is 9 foot wide, over 13 feet tall, and is over 60 feet long hitched to the truck, you have to be cautious. I wrote down the directions because my GPS was not routing me the recommended way. When we finally got past the point where I had to ignore the GPS, there was a street sign that indicated what appeared to be the correct street I was looking for...so I took it. Suffice it to say it ended up being the wrong street and it took me over a very high centered railroad track. I heard a slight noise and thought I might have just slightly scraped bottom, but once we got to the park and set up we noticed some stress fractures in the fiberglass underneath the nose.

This one is the worst but there is another one on the opposite side. The king pin must have flexed enough to stress the fiberglass skin causing it to crack. This should be a minor repair but being my first mistake to cause damage I'm pretty upset about it. Needless to say I'll go out of my way next time to make sure I get to the correct road.

Buccaneer State Park was rebuilt in 2004 after being wiped out by Katrina. You may recall that Waveland, MS was where it came ashore.

This is a picture from the entrance and the water in the corner is the Gulf.

This is a great spot for families especially in the summer because they have a couple of pools, a water slide,  and even a wave park. Pretty unusual for a State Park. The facilities are nice and all roads and sites are paved, however it's pretty tight for big rigs...better for trailers and smaller rigs. All sites are back in and most appear to have a generous slope making it difficult to level the rig. We placed 3, 2x12s under each jack.

We're in a small loop with several big A class motorhomes.

Here's another view of the Gulf from the front entrance.

We're heading into New Orleans tomorrow to do some sightseeing so I'll do another update then.

March 8 - 13, 2016
Eagles Landing RV Park
Holt, FL

We traveled 165 miles west on I-10 which took about 2 1/2 hours. We crossed over into central time so we gained an hour. We stopped at 2 rest stops along the way, more to eat up some time so that we didn't get to our destination before check in which was noon. We rolled up at 11:50 a.m. so we were right on time.

Eagles Landing is a nice small park owned and operated by a very nice and friendly "younger" couple (anyone younger than us is young). We had a nice conversation with both at check in and were very impressed with the park and all the work they put into it. There are about 50 sites with gravel roads and gravel or dirt sites. The park is very well maintained but does not have a lot of bells or whistles, however at $27 a night and plenty of space for each site, we like this park better than the last 3 or 4.

Here are a few pictures of our site.

 

 

Here is a shot from our site looking towards the office.

As I said no paved roads or concrete sites but neat and well maintained (and a good price).

We were originally only supposed to spend 2 nights here as a stop over on our way to New Orleans but there is a severe storm front heading this way so we chose to stay 5 nights and wait for the storm to pass....ain't it great being able to do want you want, when you want ;>)......

We'll head out of here on Sunday the 13th so in the meantime we plan to go see the beaches along the Gulf. We're only 30 minutes from Navarre Beach and Pensacola Beach. Fort Walton and Destin are also fairly close.

March 6 - 8, 2016
Tallahassee RV Park
Tallahassee, FL

Today we drove another short distance west on I-10. After going 93 miles we arrived at Tallahassee RV Park.

Not a great shot of the sign because it's right off a busy highway so you don't have a lot of time to take the picture. This is another small RV park similar to the last one. Approximately 50 sites, mostly pull through. There are lots of tall pine trees that provide some good shade and the branches are trimmed high so as not to encroach on your coach ;>)

The entrance is a little strange in that they have you weaving left and right a few times rather than having a straight shot to the office. At the office all roads converge into one single width road that incoming and outgoing traffic have to use (bad design). To make matters worse they have incoming traffic make a sharp left turn between two trees.

That was fun.......

The sites are OK with plenty of length, just not a lot of width (never had that problem before :>) ) We're packed in close to our neighbors but there is good room for both vehicles.

We'll rest here tomorrow and then head 165 miles west out I-10 to beautiful Holt, FL. No, we haven't heard of it either but it's another short stop before getting to Waveland, MS. Where's that you say.....right next to New Orleans....sho' nuf' y'all.... Beignets and jambalaya...we can't wait.

March 3 - 6, 2016
Lake City Campground
Lake City, FL

"On the road again....." After 3 months of sitting in the same site we finally packed up, broke camp, and hit the road. We only traveled 91 miles, going north on I-75 and a few miles east on I-10 to Lake City Campground.

This was a short trip to work out the bugs and get tuned up for what will be a busy 8 months of traveling from the east coast to the west coast.

This "Campground" is not much to write home about, or even to blog about, but it suited our purpose of a place for a short stay. Most sites are pull through but the sites are narrow with trees to contend with making it difficult to position the rig so that the slides, door, and steps are not blocked.

This is an older park that has not been well maintained or upgraded. Based on their location this is probably not a busy park that pulls in many travelers.

Although we do have a site with a water view..... ;>)

It should be fun pulling out of this spot on Sunday. There is a power line that crosses the road in front of our site that appears to be lower than the height of our RV...should be exciting.

February 12-18, 2016
Walt Disney World
Orlando, FL

Our daughters, Jenny and Julie, decided to bring most of their families to Florida over spring break to visit us. Unfortunately, Marc was unable to join us due to just being in Switzerland taking care of his Dad's estate and Coach Woody (Steven) is in the middle of hockey season. Both were greatly missed.

Since we were so close to Orlando it seemed only logical to meet up there and also visit Disney World. They knew this would be a great opportunity for the grandkids while they are at the perfect age to still enjoy the park and especially for 3yr old Katy who is at that age where she lives her life as a Disney Princess.

This was also the first opportunity for Jenny, Sydney, Evan, and Katy to visit Disney World.

Julie took the initiative to research a place for us all to stay and came up with a fantastic place that would accommodate the entire group of nine. She booked a 4 bedroom 3 bath condo at the Lighthouse Key Resort in Kissimmee. This was a wonderful gated facility with a nice pool and rec center. The condo was huge and came with a full kitchen, laundry, family room, and dining room. The place was a big hit with the grandkids, mostly because of the free Wi-Fi.....

The condo was close to many restaurants and stores and was a short drive to all Disney parks.

Marilyn decided to commemorate the trip by having tee shirts made for everyone signifying this as the first official Aker Family Reunion.

And of course our first meal together required us to get a group photo.

Katy is right behind my head, fast asleep.

Our plan was to visit 4 parks over a 5 day period...and then go home and drop dead ;>)
The first day we headed for Disney Hollywood Studio's. After the short drive, parking, taking a tram to the front gate, going through the security bag check line, and then the line to access the park...we were ready to start the adventure. We walked down to the Fast Pass station by the Rockin' Roller Coaster and quickly realized the Fast Pass system had changed since any of us had been to Disney World. Instead of a paper ticket with a specific time to come back and ride the ride, they are all done online days, weeks, or even months ahead of time. All the Fast Pass tickets had been assigned and no more would be given out that day....and it was only 10 am. Needless to say we learned our lesson and stood a long time in rides that day, but we still managed to hit all the rides everyone wanted to do. That night Jenny and Julie used the Disney app to book our Fast Passes for the next 3 parks and made dinner reservations at a couple of restaurants.... fool me once.

Day 2 was Epcot. Here are a few pictures. The first is a group shot in front of the Akershus Restaurant in Norway.

 

This last one is from Germany where we had a great lunch and some really good beer.

We had dinner at an outdoor patio restaurant in Mexico and stayed there to see the fireworks show at 9pm. It was a long 12 hours but we had a great time.

The next day we headed to Animal Kingdom. We hit the safari ride first and then hit Dino Land, a Bug's Life, and then had lunch at a very expensive (we found out after the fact) buffet that had multiple Disney characters going from table to table.

The grandkids loved it....the adults, not so much. After lunch we hit the roller coasters (Everest, Thunder Mtn., Splash Mtn.) and also hit Lion King. We had a really good time and loved this park.

The next day we took a day off and relaxed around the condo, the kids went swimming, and then we went to visit Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney). We walked the park and did some shopping and had dinner at T-Rex which is just like the Rain Forest Café but with animated dinosaurs.
The final day was reserved for Magic Kingdom. We all expected this to be the top attraction for the kids, especially Katy. Needless to say she had the experience of her short life and was quite mesmerized by the Disney characters and all the Princesses.

 

But all the kids had a great time......

Again, we hit all the main attractions, Space Mtn., Rally Track, Pirates, Its a Small World, Living off the land, Peter Pan, and several others. The kids stayed for the parade.

And then the fireworks.

It was another long, full day and everyone was exhausted.

But it was a amazing experience we will all remember forever.

The next day we once again went to Disney Springs, had lunch and walked the shops until it was time to head to the airport. Marilyn and I can't thank the girls enough for making this trip happen. It was a grandparents dream.

We are currently doing our RV checklist and getting everything road ready. We begin our trip west next week. Heading out the FL panhandle to Louisiana and then Texas, NM, and then to CO in May. We have plans to meet up with the Kids and Grandkids again in July as we visit Rushmore and Yellowstone. The next year will be quite the adventure for us and we are already booked through to California next October.

I hope you'll all come along for the ride.....

January 18-23, 2016
Southern Florida

After a short trip to the Mayo and several weeks of recuperation we were finally ready and able to get out and check off a few items from our Florida bucket list. We decided to take the car and do a short trip to southern Florida and see the Everglades, Gulf Coast, Atlantic Coast, and the Keys.
The first day we drove south on I-75 to Tampa and took I-275 out over the bay.

We got off the interstate and took Hwy 41 south thru Bradenton, Port Charlotte, Fort Myers, Cape Coral and over to Naples where we stopped for the night. The next day we headed east thru Big Cypress National Preserve and the Everglades. Our plan was to stop at the Everglades Safari Park for an Air Boat ride and see the wildlife (gators!!!!) but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate. It was very cool, windy, and rainy so we decided to skip it. We stopped for the night at a hotel on the southwest side of Miami. Wednesday we headed south to the Keys. We were surprised that the route wasn't miles of bridges over the ocean as the movies portray, but instead mostly roads over land with short sections of bridges. The longest bridge being Seven Mile Bridge. We guessed that was where the movie True Lies was filmed.

Can't you just see a big van hanging over the that edge waiting for a Pelican to land on it ;>)

The drive thru Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon, and all the various Keys took about 3 hours. The drive down into the Historic District of Key West was a little tight. The roads are narrow and crowded but very quaint, similar to Charleston and Savannah. We finally reached our destination the Westin Hotel on the northwest side of the island.

We didn't have an ocean view but the view was nice.

The hotel had an upper and lower deck/patio area with full bar and restaurant service on each level. This afforded us a great location to view the nightly sunset celebration (yes, they celebrate that every night).

 

 

 

While we were here we spent a day riding the Old Town Trolley. The driver's are very entertaining and provide a lot of information about the history of the town and people. We also use it as a way to get around town as there are 13 stops and you can get on and off whenever you like. We took the trolley to the "Southernmost" point and took the standard tourist pic.

From this point Cuba is 98 miles away (even though the marker says 90). That is an example of some of the info you get from the trolley. There are a lot of good restaurants, interesting houses, a lot of history, and beautiful views, but the night is all about the bars. There are bars on every corner with live music and entertainers. We were brave enough to go to a well known bar called Sloppy Joe's. We took a table right up front and had a great seat for the raunchy musicians performing there. We ordered their signature Sloppy Joe sandwich and were less than impressed...but it was quite an experience for us.
We had a great time in Key West and loved the hotel and all the facilities. We also enjoyed the cruise ships that docked out front.

Nothing like spending the evening drinking Mai Tai's and watching the sunset celebration and the cruise ships departing....what a great time.

The next day we left Key West and headed back towards Miami. When we hit the mainland a storm front came through and we were in very heavy rain all the way to Port St Lucie, where we stopped for the night. Saturday morning we got up and made the 3 hour drive back to Silver Springs. It was a short trip and it flew by quickly but we will never forget the fantastic time we had in the Keys.

November 29, 2015
Wilderness RV Resort
Silver Springs, FL

Well we made it to our winter home here in Florida. It was a short drive around I-295 to I-10 to SR 301 to Ocala and then east on SR 40 to the RV resort.

This is a nice 55 plus RV park with all the amenities. We are inside the Ocala National Forest just on the outskirts of Silver Springs. We have river access and I hope to get the opportunity to air up the kayak and do some paddling. Marilyn is concerned about alligators. I'm not too worried because I am faster than her :>) . This is a large RV park with over 400 sites, mostly pull thru. We don't have as much living space on our site as I had hoped, but for the price (and location) it's pretty good. Here are a few pictures of our site.

We have already settled in for our 3 month stay and expect to get much more familiar with the surrounding area as well as exploring most of Florida from this location via short trips in the CRV. We are especially looking forward to getting down to the Keys. We have to take care of some business next week but hopefully we will be finding more fun things to post on the blog soon after that....stay tuned.....