Lake Wales, FL – Apr 2026

This month, it’s all about the girls and grands!  I had the pleasure of taking another Amtrak AutoTrain trip from Sanford, FL to Lorton, VA, then hopped in my car and drove the remaining 80 or so miles into MD for my stay and ultimate visit with the family.  It was a fabulous stay that I enjoyed tremendously.  Those, and other monthly happenings follow below.

Home Base Happenings

Things continue to change and evolve here at the home base, and this month brought about some great happenings.  First off, I managed to score this amazing set of portable fiberglass stairs for the RV.  Now don’t go on thinking that I’ll be bringing these along with me on my future travels!  While they are considered portable, they are quite big and heavy. These will be left behind here in Florida waiting for my return in the fall.  It was an incredible deal!  As I was out doing my Sunday morning CAP patrol, I passed by these stairs with a for sale sign on them. I’ve been wanting to get something like these to make it safer getting in and out of the RV – especially for my more senior friends and visitors.  So when I finished with my patrol, I went back home and did some measuring of the RV, then back to the stairs to see how they would fit.  It was a perfect match!  Not only did I get a great deal on the purchase, they were even nice enough to deliver them right to my site!  Totally awesome!  Next, in prep for the summer season, I got sort of a garage for the robot lawn mower.  Granted this thing is not in the least hurricane rated, but it will certainly keep the blazing sun and recurring summer rains off the mower.  Last up, I finally got myself a position out in the storage area.  I’ve been on the waiting list for a 40 ft lot that can accommodate my RV for storage when not in use – that is after I purchase and install a permanent home on my home base lot at some future time.  But not just any 40 ft lot – this one had to have a clear large area in front of it so that I can maneuver the truck and RV straight such that I can simply back right into the space.  You all know how much I hate backing in the RV.  Well, a space that has an open area in front to accommodate big trucks getting access to the dumpsters became available.  After I reviewed it and confirmed it was exactly what I wanted, I immediately signed up and paid the annual fee – which by the way is extremely inexpensive at less than $300 for the entire year.  What a bargain!  The space even came with a free shed if I choose to use it.  But I’m not exactly sure if I can fit the RV in the allotted space with the shed in place.  I might have to have it moved.  From the aerial map view at left, I would drive the truck and RV into the storage area along the purple path, pulling past my storage lot into the vastness of the area circled in red, to then back straight into my storage spot.  Easy – Peasy!

On a slow Tuesday late morning into early afternoon, I was sitting in the clubhouse waiting for a bingo machine repairman to arrive to do some maintenance on our machine. I don’t normally get too involved with that area, but the primary person had a doc appointment and asked if I would stand in her place. Of course, it was no problem.  I believe the schedule called for an 11:30 to noon arrival, but apparently a tractor trailer crash on I-4 would dictate otherwise, and delay his arrival by several hours. Lucky for me, there happened to be an interesting craft session scheduled in the clubhouse for early afternoon.  I’m not exactly a crafty person, but this one seemed easy enough for even me to accomplish.  And the resultant craft was really cool!  Not necessarily something I would use, but I figured my two daughters could use them. So, I signed up to make two – one for each of the girls. The craft involved layering varying colors of paint into a small cup, then pouring the mixture over an inverted vase so the varying colors streak down making a really nice looking design.  As a bonus, the vase is sitting on a small clean canvas, and after the vase is completely covered, you remove it from the canvas then rock the canvas back and forth spreading the excess paint drippings, creating a somewhat matching picture to go with the vase.  Pretty cool!  Here are my two creations at right. Not bad for a tech guy!  I hope the girls like them.

Roadside America

With me mostly not traveling lately, I haven’t been doing much roadside visits. When I planned the visit to my brothers place to watch the Artemis II launch, I thought I might take the opportunity to see if there were any roadside items of interest that I had not already seen.   Turns out there were a couple in nearby Melbourne actually on my way back home. First up is this giant 15 ft diameter concrete and steel orange. It was built in the 1960s and used by the Chamber of Commerce to serve Florida orange juice to visiting tourists. Over time, as that use dwindled, it fell in disrepair. Fortunately, the Rotary Club got possession of it, did a full restoration, and has been maintaining its good looks ever since. The orange sits on the property occupied by the Melbourne DAV organization. They have been there since the mid 70s, having taken over the building once occupied by the Chamber. It was an interesting looking building, having been constructed in the mid 1940s and served as the Chamber welcome center for travelers along U.S. 1.  Pretty cool!  I also intended to visit the Liberty Bell Memorial Museum having, among its many artifacts, a replica of the Liberty Bell – albeit without the crack. The other interesting fact about this museum is that it resides inside an old concrete water tank. Sadly for me, the museum wasn’t open on my visit day. I’ll have to put this place on a list for a future visit. I did however manage to stop by the old bank building in Kenansville that I overlooked the last time I was in the area. I wrote about that bank in a previous blog, but neglected to get a close look. It was locked, but I was able to get a few pics of the inside from the windows. It’s a beautiful and original 1914 bank building.  Very nice!

Friends & Family

I met up with lots of family and friends during this month.  First up, a friend from Bristol, VA was down here in Florida on the west coast in her new RV breaking it in (at right, top left).  She headed my way and spent a long weekend at nearby Canapy Oaks campground.  So, I met up with her and gave her the tour of my community, as well as downtown historic Lake Wales where we enjoyed a nice lunch. It was great seeing you Sue!  Next, while out on Citizens Assisted Patrol (CAP) with my partner Art, we took the opportunity to make a quick stop for a photo op. This would be our last time doing patrol together as Art has sold his place here in the community, and has returned to his hometown in the Great White North of Ontario.  Gonna miss you Art!  Geez – now I’ve got to break in a new partner!  I also took the opportunity to go visit with my brother Gerry (at right – center right) for a couple of days.  We enjoyed a nice dinner out – him with his Thai food, and me with my Sushi!  Yummy!

Besides spending a bit of time with my brother, I had an additional motive to be visiting him at this time. I’ve always wanted to catch a Cape Canaveral rocket launch from the vantage point of his 9th floor Satelite Beach condo directly on the ocean, with a clear view of the space center.  It was looking good for a Go launch of Artemis II, so I thought I’d take a chance to catch it.  I setup a scope with an attached iPhone camera which sadly didn’t work out as expected.  But among the roughly half million spectators, it was an impressive launch!  The beach up and down from my brothers place was filled with people – more than he’s ever seen before, while an estimated 400,000 people travelled to the area around Port Canaveral to view the launch.  A news article picture of the Banana River Bridge viewing area (at left, bottom left) is clearly representative of the crowds.  The next morning I got up to watch an early morning SpaceX launch, and was treated to this spectacular sunrise over the ocean.  I’m not much of an early riser normally, so seeing a sunrise is kinda special.  Overall a great couple of days.  Thanks Gerry for hosting the launch party!  I put together a little video of the launches.  Enjoy!

Later in the month I met up with my dear friend Theresa for a day out in Lake Wales.   In particular, we made a visit to the amazing Bok Tower Gardens.  It would be Theresa’s first visit there, and something like my half dozen time or so.  Even though some of the beauty of the gardens was lost to the deadly hard freeze from a copule months prior, it remained full of lush greenery and some color as the caretakers work tirelessly to fully restore it. We had a terrific lunch at the Bok Cafe, then meandered through the various gardens leading up to the signature carillon tower for a musical concert.  It was a great day with a great friend.  Lastly, I took another trip out to visit with brother Gerry, where we once again enjoyed our Thai and Sushi meals.  The next day, brother David and SIL Deb joined us and even brought subs for lunch. It was great seeing everyone one last time before my early May departure.  I’ll see you all in the fall when I return.

MD & PA Visit

Before heading out for this summer’s RV adventure, I wanted to spend a bit of time with my daughters and grand kids.  So, once again I booked the Amtrak AutoTrain for a week long visit up north.  I took the AutoTrain for the first time last year, and really enjoyed it.  The Florida side station is just over an hour away from home, and the Lorton, VA station is just over an hour or so short of my MD daughter.  It leaves at 4pm, and runs straight through, arriving at its destination around 9am the next morning.  A lot of distance covered with someone else driving. What could be better!

For my visit to the area, I was able to secure accommodations at the wonderful Canet Inn – the home of in-laws Mike and Helen.  I’m so appreciative of their hospitality and enjoyed spending a bit of time with them during my visit.  On the night of my arrival, I had the pleasure of dining with SIL Helen, and her son  (my nephew) Michael at a cool tavern restaurant.  Nice seeing both of you again and catching up.  Next, I had an AJ day where I enjoyed the company of my eldest grandson.  Ashley was supposed to have joined us, but had recently picked up an additional shift at the tavern where she works.  So, AJ and I had lunch there so that we could at least get to see her for a bit.  After lunch, AJ and I went to a nice local movie theater to see the latest remake of the movie Mummy.  It was quite intense, and well acted.  A good overall version.  Thanks for a great day AJ!  Last up, I had a free day with nothing planned, so I decided to drive out to the Lewes, DE area to visit with good friends Tom and Mary Ann.  It’s been several years since I’ve last seen them, so a visit was definitely overdue.  After getting a tour of their new house (the third one in that same community), we headed out to Lewes for lunch and a coffee run.  Lunch was great, and I got 8 bags of coffee (four for me, and two each for the girls) from my favorite downtown coffee roaster.  That should last me through my summer travels.  It was great seeing you both again, and I look forward to seeing you this winter when you come down to the sunny south for a visit!

So the day after my arrival I met up with daughter Samantha and grand Emma for a fund day of adventure.  It woudl start with a visit to a place called Bluey Camp.  This place sits within the King of Prussia Mall, and is a complete replica of the house featured within the Bluey cartoon series.  Emma and Savannah (and to a large extent Samantha also) are avid Bluey watchers and collectors.  Sam has even put together a website dedicated to Bluey collecting (HERE).  What a cool place, and Emma absolutely loved it!  First, she spent about an hour “searching” for Bluey and Bingo who were hiding somewhere within the house, while also playing an occasional Bluey game (e.g. Keepy Uppy).  Then, like magic, we walked through what turned out to be a secret door hidden within a bookshelf, and there they were!  Emma gave hugs to both characters, and we snapped a few pictures.  Then it was off to the gift shop (figures!) for some slime making.  If you have any doubt about the level of their collection, check out the pictures here (at right, center) of all the Bluey stuff Emma has in her room.  A true collector!

The following day would be Emma’s 2nd birthday which of course meant a party.  It was also Henry’s 4th birthday a few weeks prior, so we had a double celebration!  Each celebrant was asked what type of cake they wanted.  Emma, of course, chose a Duck Cake – which apparently is something from Bluey (that figures).  Henry chose a Disney themed Mini Mouse cake.  Samantha did her cake making magic and produced perfect representations of each chosen cake.  Well done!  Then it was present opening, and in some cases, present assembly time (at left, top right).  Emma got lots of Bluey themed presents, while Henry’s were a mix of things he enjoys.  I had gotten him a pair of Astronaut suits as he has an amazing imagination and really enjoys dressing up in various outfits (police officer, super heros, etc).  Well, the Astronaut suit was a pretty big hit, and he spent most of the rest of the afternoon (and several days later as I understand it) wearing it.  Happy birthday to you both and I was thrilled to help celebrate it with you!

My final day with the family took us to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.  Daughter Ashley has a membership there and was able to get all of us three adults and three kids in with that. It’s been a decade or so since I’ve last been to this zoo, and it remains a treasure here in Baltimore City.  Besides the various animals (lions, tigers, and bears), there is lots of kid friendly entertainment to enjoy.  We visited the petting zoo to interact with some attention hungry goats, crawled through some oversized turtle shells, sat in a nest, or climbed around on some various artifacts along the way.  It was a bit cool (in the 50s) when we got started in the mid morning, but as the sun rose, it warmed up a bit and turned out to be a terrific day. After the zoo, we all went back to Ashley’s place and had a sushi feast!  It was a great ending to a great trip.  Leaving is always sad, but I look forward to our next adventures together.  Thanks everyone for an absolutely wonderful trip!  Love you all!

Final Thoughts

Once I return to Florida from my MD/PA trip, I’ll have just under two weeks remaining before I depart on this year’s adventure.  I’ve got lots to accomplish during that time including a truck oil change, covering the golf cart, putting the car in storage with a solar battery trickle charger, relocating all the yard decorations into the shed, and making final updates to prep the RV for travel.  It’s gonna be a fast-paced two weeks!  I’m very excited about this year’s trip, and am looking forward to getting back to my nomadic lifestyle.  I’ve also received confirmation that my eldest brother Dick will be joining me for a two week stay to travel parts of Rt 66 with me.  He’s already completed that bucket list item, so maybe he can be somewhat of a tour guide for that portion of the trip.  Certainly looking forward to his company.  Well, I’m about to be called for dinner service here on the train, so I think I’ll end it here.  Until next time, be well and safe travels.

Epilog

Well, I had actually pretty much wrapped up writing the blog during the late afternoon into early evening as I was traveling back home on the AutoTrain.  But the events of the next morning warranted a little follow-up story to this edition.  It all began a couple days prior when my brother Gerry alerted me about a wildfire in Florida that caused the cancellation of the AutoTrain for that day.  For obvious reasons I kept a close eye on my reservation thereafter – hoping that I would not have my trip cancelled and be forced to actually drive myself and the car all the way home back to Florida.  It turned out fine, and my train left at its scheduled departure time.  From there, smooth sailing down through Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia.  It would be early the next morning  before we crossed the boarder into Florida, and again, no issues to speak of.  Sleeping on the bunk size beds is a bit of a challenge, and by 6:30 am, I was done and ready to get up.  Shortly thereafter, at about 7am, I started to smell something burning.  It was mild at first, but quickly escalated to a full on smokey situation.  I looked around inside our rail car and saw nothing.  I then peeked out the window and immediately identified the source of the smoke.  We were seemingly passing through the wildfire area that had impacted the train schedule two days prior.  This area was apparently still on fire!  I shot some video through the window to capture the dense smoke that we were going through.  It was a bit eerie!  But we got through it after a few minutes, and the smokey smell dissipated shortly thereafter.  Anyway, here’s a brief video of what we went through.  Hope you enjoy it!

I only show a sampling of my adventure pictures here in the blog, and do so mostly in collage format for brevity and ease of reading. If you want to view an album containing individual full fidelity and hi-res images of all my travel pictures related to this specific blog, click the image below. Enjoy!