We decided it was time to take a little road trip and a break from all the boat work. With the break in school, we were able to do so without impacting Chasity’s class schedule. We have had slightly ulterior motives and wanted to get the girls to Florida to see it and experience it. We have taken weekend trips to Destin and Panama City for a week, but I wanted to expose them to a bit more.
Deb and I want to move there, but it would be much easier if the girls both wanted to go as well. McKinlee is all in. Chasity is 12 years old, and at that age, she has friends in school, is nervous about somewhere new and all the other anxieties of a 12-year-old.
So we packed up the Camper and made a little road trip. We had a 10-12 hour drive and wanted to get in at a decent hour on Friday. So we did the oddest feeling thing ever for us, We camped at Walmart. What? Yep, that is correct. Most 24 hour Walmarts will allow you to stay in their parking lot. They ask that you park out of the way furthest from the store and that you buy your supplies with them. The whole arrangement seems fair, and we both win. So we did. We stopped at about 10 p.m. so the girls would both be tired and ready to go right to sleep. We wouldn’t have power so didn’t want to have them bummed about not having TV or something like that. We left the camper hooked to the truck, extended the slide-out and went to sleep.
Early the next morning while breakfast was being made, we picked up the groceries that we knew we needed for the week. It worked great and the fact that it poured all night but stopped after we woke up had it all timed correctly.
We got on the road and made our way to our final destination for the week. The Riverside RV Resort and Campground near Arcadia Florida. Arcadia is between Sarasota and Fort Myers, just a few miles from Punta Gorda. Punta Gorda is an area that we are considering moving the boat to and wanted to check it out.
Once settled in at the campground, we relaxed almost every day. While we did some little activities, they were always at leisure. We let the girls pick most of their meals for the week, and we worked together to cook them. Swab wanted to have Ramen noodles. (She loves getting the noodle soup at the little Sushi restaurant Deb, and I like) So she has become a fan of ramen. We cooked it in the outside kitchen on the camper, and after serving her lunch, I happened to look outside and see her eating. Yep, she was eating them with her fingers.
Each day we went to the pool for a little swim. Deb arranged the campground. We have found that looking at Google satellite images and the campground map is a great way to see spots you may want. In this case, she found one that was close to the pool, activity center, putting green, store, library and laundry. In the photo above you can see that we only had to walk across the street to the pool and playground. With water wings on, McKinless was off to the races.
The second day, we went to the campground store, and I let each girl pick out something they wanted to get. Stores like this are expensive, but this one was VERY reasonable.
Grocery items were at prices similar to Walmart or the local grocer. The prices were a welcome surprise. The girls found some toys they wanted. Chasity got a pair of mood rings, one for her and one for her friend at home. McKinless got a little tube of plastic sea life animals. They played with these every day together, in the pool, camper and outside. In this photo, McKinlee is playing with them in a bucket of water. Both girls figured out that if they put the buckets at the corners of the camper below the little gutters, they would catch water. The condensation from the air conditioner runs off the roof and would drip at the back corners of the camper. They played in those buckets of water every day for hours.
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Each day would find us back at the pool where the girls would even play together well. They are far enough apart in age that they don’t always play well together. They have different interests at 4 and 12. But for some reason in the pool, they got along great. They figured out goofy games to play and enjoyed each other’s company. Here Chasity was attempting to show McKinless how to do a summersault under water. That wasn’t happening with water wings on, but doing so entertained both of them for an hour or so. One of the two pools was heated which made the chilly evenings comfortable.
