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31 January 2018 Our January Whirlwind

By on January 31, 2018 in Kindred Spirit III
     For a long time, we’ve wondered where we’d want to live when it was time to move to land. We love the area of western TN and NC but we both have such thin Southern blood that our temperature comfort level has about a 4 degree range—from about 72-76 degrees so that rules out the mountains. 

     I’ve always said I didn’t  want to live with a bunch of old people but I’m now eating my words. About a year ago, we heard of an active over 55 retirement community with the dumbest name—On Top of the World, Ocala, FL. We were in Wildwood, FL, having coach work done, were bored and decided to go see what this place was like. The gate guard wouldn’t let us through and directed us to the sales center. We were introduced to Mercedes, a sales counselor, who asked what we were looking for. Bill was sure he could escape the grip of a “sales person” so he said, “the smallest house with the largest garage.” She said, “I have it!” We were not even remotely close to thinking about moving to terra firma. She took us to the model, Arlington, and when Bill saw the 1100 square foot garage…well, the rest is history.


      Six months later we returned for a 2 night 3 day stay and were courted by On Top of the World with meals, tours, and connections with residents whose brains we picked. 


          We spent 2 months in Ocala to get the flavor of the area and to see if that is where we want to settle. We not only have found that Ocala fits us to a T but we bought a lot and will be building a house in a brand new still-being-developed Larkhill section of the Candler Hills area in On Top of the World where streets aren’t even in yet.

               Our friend, Wolfgang, Bill, and I surveying our piece of dirt


        There were so many who had their eye on Larkhill so our names were entered into a lottery pool and were drawn last Tuesday. We were the 4th of 20 to be drawn and we got our 2nd choice lot. We’ve spent two eight hour days with a designer in the Design Studio. Talk about painfully grueling!!!!! But we’re done!!! Bill did some tweaking of the garage, master closet, and laundry area. I tease him about his being anal and with a love of detail but he was incredible and outdid himself on every single iota of precision—things I’d have never thought about.

Our lot is sorta center left where the first pile of dark blue pipes are on north end.

      We’ll return in March and May for walk-throughs with a tentative closing date is 17 September. We’re super excited with some fear and trembling mixed in. 


          We’ve become so entwined and ingrained in the Candler community and have made so many wonderful, warm, and welcoming friends, that it’s really going to be difficult to extract our roots when we leave tomorrow. I’ve become part of a women’s Bible Study. Bill’s connected with several “old car guys” and 3 of them recently traveled to a Mecum car auction. 

A fabulous wood working shop for Bill.

          Remote control airplanes are huge and one of our friends has a whole fleet. There are endless educational and fitness opportunities. I’ve taken two art classes and both of us have attended several lectures/presentations on numerous and very interesting topics. 
      I’m so looking forward to having a pool walking distance from home.


 

The Lodge
The pool at the Lodge with zero entry in lap pool
The Lodge Pool

and a gym for a structured workout. I have the grace of an elephant but am eager to take ballet. 

      Almost every weekend at the Cultural Center, is the opportunity to see big name performers. We loved the Van-Dell’s last weekend. Frankie Avalon, the Letterman, and others will be here later this season.

      Our future neighbors are from all over. I had my fingers crossed for ethnic diversity and thankfully we aren’t all a group of white Caucasians and I’m loving the differences. Diversity was one of my favorite things about our 3 months in Washington DC.

     We’re so excited about regaining some structure in our lives and having a sense of community. The social life here is non-stop–quite a departure from our solitary cruising lives. There’s something going on here ALL the time; EVERY evening and we’re loving it. 

     We’ll be moving about the end of September and we’re so excited.

     Let me guess your first question. Yes, we’ll be swallowing the anchor and sadly putting Kindred Spirit III on the market this summer. We’ll return to her in May and spend some time on the Chesapeake and Long Island Sound. Selling her is the most difficult thing about this entire scenario. It’ll be “Cryin’ Time” in Lauraville, for sure. 

     We’ve loved our cruising life since we bought Kindred Spirit III, June 2006. After many trials and errors with Bristol and Epifanes, Bill’s finally perfected the art of varnishing and his ‘wet edge’. Our exterior teak is spectacular with the grain visible and a flawless glass-like finish. When it’s not fun anymore, it’s time to move to another adventure.

          The calendar of our birth years belies the way we feel which is decades younger than “the truth”. Bill’s teak maintenance is a tremendous amount of work. We want to settle on land while we can still enjoy the activities offered. So now you have our story of our impending new adventure.
     We spent a full day going to every single furniture store in Ocala and chose the best that we saw which wasn’t really a bell ringer for us but was better than other things that we saw. We’re focusing on our bedroom now feeling that a place to rest our weary bodies after the move should be a priority.

     Our “loose” intentions were to investigate a lot in Candler this time next year but things seemed to develop so fast with everything falling into place—just a year sooner than what we’d thought. We’re at peace with our decision and are confident we’ve made the right decision.

This month, I took a fun ink and watercolor class from a fabulous instructor. I look forward to being under her tutelage in the future. Bill’s had a couple of days with the boys. He was in Greenville, SC, for a week and the day after he returned, he and some of his old car buddies went to Kissimmee for a Mecum car auction. None of them came home with a garage-sized toy but think Bill’s getting getting primed since he’ll have this “dream garage”. Even though it’s 1100 square feet, he tells me a garage can never be too big.  He wanted to take some of our master closet for garage!!!  The nerve!!! One of these days I hope to have a wardrobe that exceeds shorts, tees, and jeans.

     After leaving Ocala, we moved to Christmas, FL. I’d never heard of it but it’s a cute little wide spot in the road and the campground has a rectangular pool that is actually swimmable. I’ve been in it every day since we arrived. This is the first time I’ve swam since May and the pacemaker bump-in-the-road in June so it was wonderul to see if I still knew what to do. It was as if I never had that 8 month hiatus.


     Our dear dear friend, Bobbi, from Merritt Island came for a visit and she brought steamed shrimp that had just swum that morning. For lunch we drove to Titusville to the iconic restaurant, Crossroads. Bobbi is amazing and I drink in everything she says. She’s a fount of knowledge and especially her past trawlering and motor coach travels.


     We’re a short drive from Orlando so we spent another day at 2 “transitional” furniture stores and without a quibble, have found our bedroom suite. It needs to be ordered which’ll take 3 months so that should work out perfectly.


     Monday we’re moving on but are enjoying this area for a brief time.


Bill and Laura
Christmas RV Park, FL


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31 December 2017 Solomons – Ocala – Leesburg – Silver Springs – Rainbow Springs

By on January 31, 2018 in Kindred Spirit III
     It seemed to take forever to move from the boat to our coach. Even though the move isn’t from house to house, it is from home to home with the coach having FAR less room than Kindred Spirit III. To take a break from the drudgery, in Ocala we attended an excellent lecture on the Florida Panhandle which was of particular interest to me since I was “born and raised” in Pensacola. 

     Boating/RV friends, Dinata and Andy have just moved to Arlington Ridge Retirement Community near Leesville. During construction, Dinata took photos every day and posted them so that everyone could watch the progress. It was very fascinating to us so we went down for a visit, to see their new home where boxes were still being unpacked. They gave us a tour of their new neighborhood and we ended the day at The Village Green, a little pub and grill, where Dinata surprised us by singing. She has a wonderful talent and voice. We’d never heard her sing before so this was a huge treat. 

     More boating/RV friends, Sue and Rich, met us at Silver Springs State Park. 




     We wandered around over the grounds reminiscing of when we were there 60+ years ago and my, how it’s changed! That was one of Florida’s main attractions so long ago. There’s so much algae in the water that there are only a few bare areas that are free of growth so that the clear water can be appreciated and with a view of the sand. 

     The air was perfect and we vicariously lived through their tales of their month long hike through Ireland. 

     I was torn between skinny dipping which would’ve cleared out the area or jumping in in my clothes. I wanted to swim in tht water SO bad!

     These kids have lived a most adventurous life and every time we’re with them, we’re awed by yet more stories of experiences and feats we’d not known about before. They’re an amazing couple. Our time together was culminated at the Mojo Grill where we had the patio all to ourselves. A good thing because the guffaws and howling laughter would’ve been disturbing to others. We love spending time with them and Rich is hilarious. 

     The reason we’re spending 2 months in Ocala is because the retirement community that we’re considering when get older, grayer, and infirmed, is Ocala’s On Top of the World. www.ontopoftheworld.com.  From this point forward we’ll refer to it as OTOW. We want to get the flavor of the area and learn more about OTOW. I’ve always chanted that I’ll never live in a retirement community with a bunch of old people but seems I’ll be eating my words AND have become one of them. I sent a friend the link to the community and she said it looks really nice but there sure are a lot of ‘old people’ there. Uh-huh!


     We’ve taken advantage of quite a few of their offerings and one afternoon we listened to a couple recount their recent experience touring Cambodia and Thailand. They had 3000 photos from their trip and shared a mere 300 with us Fascinating!

     While we were still at Alliance Coach in Wildwood, FL, we had lunch at TooJay’s, across the street in The Villages. 

     One of our fave lunch spots that we were first introduced to while in Vero years ago. I went back to the coach after lunch and Bill spent the afternoon at a Tractor Museum in Leesburg, devouring every second of it. How many more museums of old mechanical things could there possibly be that he’s not yet seen??? Probably not too many.

     The day before Thanksgiving we were finally sprung from Alliance Coach where we had repairs and service taken care of. They are excellent and very fair in their charges. Josh, service manager, was outstanding in expediting our repairs. 

     We traveled 30 miles north on I-75 and thankful that we didn’t have to go farther. Traffic is atrocious and people seem to be driving like bats out of hell. We’re now in Ocala RV Resort (‘resort’ is a loosly used word) and can see the interstate from our site making us relieved not to be numbered among them. 

     Thanksgiving Day was our first day in Ocala and also my birthday so we celebrated both at a wonderful French restaurant in Ocala. Bill Bender did himself quite proud that day earning him some “good boy” points. He really outdid himself!



















     Bill’s has a Facebook account but he doesn’t post so I’ll do it for him. He drove to the Daytona Speedway for an old car show just as a day trip. He left at 6 AM and got home at 8 PM and walked 9 1/2 miles while he was there. He wore his Garmin because he always wonders how far he walks at these events. There were 1000 cars for sale and 5000 for show. He came home dragging his tail behind him and he was done for the next day BUT he had a good time! And I had a good time staying home playing “happy homemaker”.


     Friends we knew from Greenville, SC, Bill’s colleague at Michelin and his friend for 40+ years, Wolfgang and his wife, Pily, came down from their home in GA with their new travel trailer to see what we’ve been raving about at OTOW. 


Wolfgang and Bill
     We took another day trip to Rainbow Springs State Park.



and then to Cedar Key,  a quaint little fishing village reeking of Old Florida and had lunch overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.



     Every weekend, OTOW has live music in their Circle Square so we took Pily and Wolfgang there for unabashed dancing in the streets on a Saturday night. We’ve missed only one since we’ve been here.

                                Shaking a leg on a Saturday night


      We had the opportunity to meet Brigitta, Wolfgang and Pily’s realtor. We had dinner in their home and they are such a delightful couple. She and I have become friends but not real estate related.She has so much to offer and I can’t seem to get enough of learning new things.

  

     I just finished a 5 week acrylic painting class and my initial undertaking was our little TR6. Not a good choice for a green-horn but I finished it and it sort of looks like what it is supposed to be. 


I completed it one week early so, at the instructors’s suggestion, I chose a simple one and finished it in a couple of hours at our last class. At the close of  class #3, she said for my very first painting I should never have chosen the car with so much detail and perspective NOR should I have used such a small canvas AND that when I’m through with it, I won’t be happy with it AND I’m paralyzed with fear for doing something wrong. She waits d3 weeks to tell me!!!????  At the first class there were 5 of us. At the last, only 2. Wonder why.
Can’t get much more simple than this!
Our RV ‘Resort’  
     We’ve found a church here that teaches similarly to our Seacoast Church in Mt. Pleasant and we felt right at home the first Sunday that we visited.The pastor’s fantastic and his teachings are Biblically solid.

     Six months ago we were here for several days and met JoAnn and Lee with whom we’ve stayed in touch. We reconnected when we arrived and they had us to their home for brunch. Bruce and Patty were also guests and we’d met Patty 6 months ago when we were looking at the model homes. Patty’s in a Bible study with a large group of women and she invited me to join. We had a Christmas luncheon that was fun to be able to chat with each of the women and, of course, my primary questions were, “how long have you lived in OTOW and how do you like it?”  Bill and I have walked extensively in the development and everyone we meet or even pass on the street or sidewalk will wave. The ones who are walking, we stop and interrogate them. Everybody LOVES it but you know “there’s always one in every crowd.” One evening we were walking and a man was driving by, stopped beside us, lowered his window (to vent, I suppose) and spoke to us. We asked him the same 2 questions. He hates it here; he didn’t want to move here but his wife did—she wanted a tile roof and a palm tree. That’s why everybody moves to Florida, he said.


     Sholom Park, just outside OTOW’s gate, was donated by the owner/developer of the community, and is a 44 acre botanical garden that has over 2 miles of paved trails and more than 250 species of plants and trees. It is a place of natural beauty and a place designed to find inner peace to relax, unwind, and think on things.


     It’s such a beautiful and restful park. Hurricane Irma took out about 25 trees so can’t imagine how much more gorgeous that would’ve been. The park requires little or no supplemental watering. Native plants are combined with cultivated ornaments, perennials, and annuals. This creates a beautiful and resilient landscape. If you ever drive through Ocala, stop and wander through these meadows and woodland areas, with added flowers and trees, as well as native wildlife for our enjoyment.


     On a Sunday afternoon a Lutheran Church hosted the OTOW Concert Choir one Sunday afternoon and we were on the front row. The blending of voices was magnificent and the accompanist’s talent, extraordinary.


     One of the groups at OTOW are the Storytellers. We attended their Christmas presentation and all were good but the last story teller related his best Christmas ever when he was 13. My tears leaked out. He was such a great sharer.


     Last Sunday afternoon we attended the Ocala Jazz Musicians monthly jam and it was foot-tapping knee-slapping music for sure. A couple there were ball room dancing and they were such a treat to watch. She seemed to be levitating and gliding on air. 

     While I was at art one day, Bill attended a presentation of the Quirky Influences that Florida’s had on the U.S.  


     We’ve both attended several classes by an attorney on documents needed as a Florida resident of which we’ve been since 2007. We had our durable power of attorney and will executed in SC but FL has a few twists and turns, as I imagine do most states, so we’re going to have them reviewed by an attorney before leaving Ocala. The information was great and we learned several new things.

     Have you ever heard of a Cracker Cowboy Poet? Ocala is the horse capital of the world and cowboys here call themselves Cow Hunters. Hank Mattson provided an afternoon of entertainment. He brought many props—gator hide, snake skin, skunk skin, cow skull and more things than I can name but maybe in the photo you can pick out some things. He’s put 400 years of cow hunting facts into poetry that he recites in the Cow Hunter dialect. We laughed and I had tears. This was all from his heart and we could sit through his presentation again!



     There is so much to do in OTOW that no one could ever be bored. There are several pools; foreign language classes; art; sign language; ballet (which I can’t wait to do) and more than I can rattle off. There’s a fabulous wood working shop that Bill’s drooling over already. Remote control cars and planes are huge here and we’ve been out to the field to watch Lee fly one of his fleet of planes. Bill lapped it up.


     Our great cycling guru friend, Charmaine, came down from DC to visit and brought her bike for a little stroll through our potential new home.



  


    Moving to OTOW is going to mean swallowing the anchor and I can tell you, that’ll be Cryin’ Time in Lauraville. I LOVE that boat and being on and in the water. Can’t bear the though of no more anchoring out and the gentle rocking of our home. Always said we’d stay aboard till the Grim Reaper came but guess we need to become Land Dwellers before we get too much longer in the tooth. We’re looking at about a year out. When you buy a lot, you can’t sit on it and construction must begin. The lot we have our eye on isn’t even developed enough for us to purchase but should be within a month or two. The build time will be 8-12 months so the longer it drags out the better for us.


     Till the end of next month–
Bill and Laura
Ocala, FL

Dirona Around the World

By on January 30, 2018 in M/V Dirona

When we bought our first boat back in 1999, a coastal cruiser that we named Dirona, the salesperson asked how many hours a year we expected to put on. “Fifty, maybe a hundred” we replied. We both worked in busy software jobs in Seattle and weren’t expecting to be able to boat that frequently. We…

Personality

By on January 28, 2018 in aCappella

Only those who have never owned a dog, or maybe have only owned one dog, would ask the question, “Are you going to replace your dog?” No dog can be replaced because each one has a very unique and special personality. They are no less individuals than p…

Day 5 – Arenal Volcano

By on January 28, 2018 in The Pearl

“Collect moments, not things.” —Author Unknown

Arenal Volcano makes a beautiful backdrop to the little village La Fortuna. It looms large and ominous over the pastured green hillsides that surround its base. At the moment it’s in a resting phase, but it still remains the country’s most active volcano as it has for the past 43 years.
CONTINUE READING HERE…»

Day 4 – Relaxing at the Hot Springs

By on January 27, 2018 in The Pearl

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” — Michael Altshuler

We spent our fourth day in Costa Rica relaxing in the hot springs of Eco Temales Hot Springs Resort. After two days of hiking, walking around town, zip lining and exploring, we thought we could use a down day, taking in the therapeutic benefits of soaking in the hot springs. 

CONTINUE READING HERE…»

Day 3 – Sky Trek Zipline Adventure

By on January 26, 2018 in The Pearl
“The ones who go higher are those who live more intensively, influenced by the surrounding beauty.” -Guru Sloth

Our Sky Trek adventure started with an aerial tram ride up the mountain. There were amazing view of the volcano and Lake Arenal…unfortunately it began to rain as we left the platform, so the views were a little hindered. We haven’t seen the top of the volcano yet, but we’re in the rain forest, so the rain comes and goes frequently. This zip line adventure started with a practice run at the top…a short line to make sure we knew what we were supposed to do. The second line is the highest in Costa Rica at 656 feet above the ground. We zipped along from one mountain top to the other…in the rain. A little scary, but even in the rain the views were incredible. 

By the time we got to the longest run, that is about 1/2 mile, the sun was shinning and the views were even more spectacular. Friends have asked me if I’d do it again…most definitely! 

Sky Trek Facts:
Sky Tram: 4100 ft. 
Zip Lines: 7
The longest cable is 2493 ft. 
The highest cable is 656 ft. 
Duration: 2.5 Hour Tour 
Wind Speeds: Up to 10 mph  

CONTINUE READING HERE…»

8 Year Report, the Voyage

By on January 25, 2018 in Furthur


Each year, at this time, I reflect on the Furthur Adventure and where it has gone, the boat, the crew and the captain.  8 years ago, September,  a scared shitless, nervous, excited and thrilled guy left his lifelong home, a place he loved, and set out to the unknown. Eight years later I have never regretted a thing and keep living the adventure. This year our adventure started in a familiar place, the Subic Bay Yacht club, where we do boat work and sit out the rainy/typhoon season.  We left in…
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Day 2 – La Fortuna Waterfall

By on January 25, 2018 in The Pearl
“You don’t climb the mountain so everyone can see you, but to see the world yourself.” – Guru Sloth

Day two in Costa Rica started with breakfast at a little bakery down the street, with croissant type pastries and wonderful Costa Rican coffee. It was fuel for our first adventure of the day…hiking to the Fortuna Waterfall.

Blog followers know we love waterfalls…we can never spend too much time exploring them. The Fortuna Waterfall is one of the most popular spots to visit in Costa Rica, so it was a little more crowded than we like. The waterfall is about 230’ tall. Getting to the bottom of the falls is easier today than it was a few years ago…all you have to do is descend 530 steps. Once at the bottom you can swim in the crystal clear waters of the Fortuna River and have a unique view of the falls. A relaxing way to spend a few hours…the real workout comes on the way up!

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La Fortuna, Costa Rica

By on January 24, 2018 in The Pearl
“Travel is searching for something you never knew existed, while running towards finding pieces of your newfound self.” —Kiana Azizian

Our first destination in Costa Rica is the little village of La Fortuna, from here we’ll spend five days exploring the area, doing a little hiking and taking in a few new adventurous activities we haven’t done before.

We started our day with breakfast at the Wyndham Hotel in San Jose
The further north we drove the foggier it it became, area we went through is know as a cloud forest…so it is foggy there most of the time. By the time we arrived in La Fortuna it was raining. We’re in the rainforest so we expect to get wet.

CONTINUE READING HERE…»