RV There Yet?

We continued our Florida Travels with a visit with Judy, Gary’s sister. She lives in Punta Gorda, an area that was badly damaged during the Hurricane Charlie – and then continued to be battered as the remaining three hurricanes visited the state. Judy lost the roof of her house – and all of her belongings. It’s been a tough road for her, but the house is almost rebuilt and she hopes to be in by mid February. The entire area showed many signs of the massive devastation from Charlie, so it was good to connect with Judy and see that all was well with her (well, on the way to being “well” at least!).
From there we headed to Ft. Myers where we are staying with friends Jim and Sue Taylor. Lizzie fits in their driveway, so we are enjoying spending time with good friends without being right under their feet all the time! It’s been a quiet laid-back time so far - maybe tomorrow we’ll head out to see some of the local sights.
I’ll write more later – just wanted to let you’all know where we were!

We’ve been over on the West Coast of Florida, in the Tampa Bay area for four days now – and I can see how folks can come and spend the winter here. Despite some of the coldest weather of the year (hard freeze warning on our first two nights), we’ve had a wonderful time in this beautiful area. After spending Saturday night in the LazyDays RV Supercenter parking lot (and checking out the new models the day before!) we headed to St. Petersburg and Fort DeSoto County Park Campgound. This place is absolutely gorgeous! We are surrounded by palm trees and are right on the water! My oh My! Here is the view from the back of the coach – where we have our coffee in the morning:

Imagine our surprise when we went out early our first morning (after a very cold night and a full moon) to this view –

Talk about a LOW TIDE!!!! We enjoyed watching the amazing water fowl – cranes and egrets and ibis and pelicans and herons. In the distance we even spotted a Roseate Spoonbill with its beautiful pink wings! Brilliant green parrots were flying overhead! It has felt like we’ve been in our own wildlife refuge – right down to the raccoon tracks around the grill in the morning! I would highly recommend this campground – and the area in general.
While we were out and about we managed to take in a little history at The DeSoto National Memorial in Bradenton, FL (across the beautiful Skyway Bridge from here) where Ferdinand DeSoto landed in 1539 to begin his 4000 mile trek into Florida and points north in his quest for gold. Did you know he went as far north as North Carolina and even made it West past the Mississippi?
We joined friends for lunch in Bradenton, entertained Mike and Robyn Fitzpatrick here at the campground, walked on the beautiful St. Petersburg Beaches, and Gary went fishing for the first time in a long, long time. Today we continued exploring this DeSoto County park – walking and riding our bikes through many, many lovely trails and beaches. This really is a lovely area – we were blessed with great weather (especially compared to the blizzard in Pennsylvania!).
Check out the rest of the pictures over on the pictures page, Okay?
Tomorrow we head to Punta Gorda for a visit with Gary’s sister, Judy!
later, friends!

I took so many pictures the last couple of days, I’m trying REALLY HARD to pick the ones that I think represent this area the best. We truly loved all the big birds, but I won’t post all the bird pictures I took - honest!
Here are some from our “back yard” -
I loved the reflection in this one….

Here is another “Low Tide”. Even the ranger said this was an extreme low tide. I guess!

The parrots could often be seen in these trees (though not with the camera!)

One of the beautiful sunsets we enjoyed…. (yes, with a bird!)

This is a shot from The DeSoto National Memorial in Bradenton – this picture really has nothing to do with the historic nature of the park – but hey, the actual monument was a boring marble slab and you never know, maybe this IS the spot where he landed?

This was just one of the (way too) many shots I took today while we were roaming around the park.

Yeah, we had a Very Good Time!

We have just completed our third Sower Project, and what a special time it was! When 14 couples (most of whom have never met before) live together for three weeks it can go many different ways. It could be a time of working together on the tasks at hand and then going more or less our own way. It could be a time of personalities vying for attention and control, with little sense of community at all. Or it could be a time of sweet fellowship, whether you’re working in the thrift shop, doing dishes in the kitchen, clearing debris from the hurricanes, painting 20,000 gallon water tanks for fire prevention, or trying to remember just what exactly a Greatest Common Multiplier is (and why anyone would care!). We truly had a special, special time with our co-labors at Green Isle. It was a very diversified group – four couples had done 2 or less projects, some 15 or twenty, and some had been doing projects for many, many years. The diversities became blessings as we all recognized again and again the precious bond we have in our precious Lord and Savoir. I was pushing for us all to remain and form a commune, but reality set in and slowly the RV’s began heading on to their next adventure. Some are going right to another project, others are heading for medical treatment, some are off to see family and friends. It is sad to think that we may never get to work and live with these dear friends again, but the sadness is tempered by the joy that we have in knowing them. God is Good - All the Time!

Here we all are – What a Crew!

We’re heading south. We’ll spend a couple of days at a beautiful county park outside of St. Petersburg (Fort DeSoto Park), and then head to Punta Gorda and Ft. Myers to see Gary’s sister and other dear friends. We really regret missing the blizzard in PA this weekend. NOT.

=)

No, not Lara, Toby, Tammy, and Josiah. These are the Kids at the Green Isle School where I was “tutoring” for three weeks. I mostly worked with Ricky (he’s the blonde, second from the right) and Cory (he’s the big guy in the back trying to strangle the two boys in front of him.) These are great kids that already have a couple of strikes against them and are probably carrying more “baggage” that I will ever carry. This first picture is the “official” one – the gang is more or less under control. (The girls are daughters of staff members and the guy in the front is Mr. Bill, one of the teachers).

This picture is a little more realistic!

It was a great experience, frustrating at times, but one that I’m thankful to have had. And it sure has given me something to pray about!