Lake Wales, FL – Mar 2024

Absolutely amazing how another month has simply come and gone.  Despite my thinking that I hadn’t accomplished much this month, when I looked back at my picture library to create the collages, I discovered that I had actually achieved quite a bit.  Lots of visits with friends and family, some community fun, got closure on my shoulder issue, and even got to meet one of my musical idols.  All in all, a pretty spectacular month.  So, here are all the details.

Friends & Family

There was certainly no shortage of getting together with friends and family this month.  First up was a visit from my former (notice I did not say old) boss Mary, along with a couple of her delightful friends and traveling companions Tasha and Sue.  They were down here in FL taking a bit of a breather from their hometown of southern Michigan, enjoying some of this fine sunny and warm weather.  We made arrangements for them to join me here at the home base on a day that would be filled with community fun – specifically, it was Fun Day!  They arrived early morning just in time to catch the Fun Day Parade.  I’m fortunate that my front yard is along the parade’s travel route, so we parked some chairs and watched as they passed by.  This year’s theme was Wizard of Oz Comes to Saddlebag, and the parade participants did not disappoint with their costume and float entries.  It was really well done.

After the parade, we migrated over to the area we call Under the Oaks (at right, bottom) for some late morning entertainment.  This area is shaded by many giant moss-filed oak trees, with lots of picnic tables, and an amphitheater for the entertainers.  We had husband and wife residents Dorothy and Randy, also known as The Logans, give us a nice little concert.  They were followed up by our community Kitchen Band, complete with their kazoo musical numbers.  It was fun, and entertaining.  After the shows, we snuck out of the resort and headed into the historic downtown for a nice lunch.  After that we returned and had cousins Louise and Denise join us (at right, center right).  The six of us then attended a comedy hypnotist show at the clubhouse, which turned out to be quite the hoot.  None of us had the nerve (or perhaps smarts) to volunteer to be hypnotized, but there were plenty of volunteers among our residents.  Once under his power, they performed all the expected silly antics – all of which they later fully denied having any recollection of doing.  It was a really fun show, and was a nice wrap up with my visitors.  Thanks to all for stopping by and enjoying the Fun Day experience with me.

My brother David and sister-in-law Debbie (at left, bottom) came out one day for a visit.  After updating them with a tour of the yard and RV, I took them for a ride in the golf cart to give them a tour of the community.  They’ve been here before, but had not really seen all that this place has to offer.  After the cart tour we headed out into downtown Lake Wales to have lunch at the Ranch Taproom & Coffeehouse.  They really do have a great lunch menu, and we all enjoyed a terrific lunch.  On the way back I realized that I had never taken them to the community surrounding Saint Anne Lake, and the St. Anne Shrine.  So, we made a pit stop there so they could take a look.  I mentioned to David that the founder and builder of the shrine, Canadian native and back in the day winter resident Napoleon Pelletier, is actually a distant relative to us according to oldest brother and family geneologist Dick.  Napoleon is actually buried here at the shrine.  So, in addition to catching a glimpse of the very cool religious landmark, they also got a bit of a family history lesson. Thanks for the visit!  Shortly after, I took a drive out to the west coast of FL to visit with my aunt Marge and uncle Ray.  It had been a while since I’d seen them, so it was extra special to catch up with them.  Besides sitting and chatting and otherwise socializing, we went out to a local restaurant where we had a wonderful lunch.  When we returned, I provided a bit of Technical Support to them by getting YouTube setup on their TV, and also cleaning out my aunt’s cell phone voice mail that was full and not taking any new messages.  Nice that I could lend an IT hand to help them with their technology.  Great seeing you both again, and I sincerely hope you have the opportunity to come out to see my little home base someday.

My nephew Bryan, his wife Alana, and their family were down here in FL enjoying some much needed warm weather while the kids were on spring break.  My brother Don arranged for a luncheon so that we could all get together to see them while they were here.  Brother Gerry joined in as well, and we all enjoyed a terrific lunch at American Icon Brewery.  It had been several years since I’d last seen Bryan and family, so it was great catching up with them.  Don did a great job in choosing the lunch place as not only was the food really good, the atmosphere was equally interesting.  The place used to be called the Vero Beach Power Plant, and from the mid 1920s through the late 1950s, it housed and operated six massive diesel generators providing the only source of power to the every growing Vero Beach community.  The building was purchased by a developer in 2016, and with its remaining diesel generator, was converted to the brewpub that opened in 2017 and remains today.  Pretty cool place!

After having lunch with the family, I met up with friend Theresa and her and I went to visit McKee Gardens.  Theresa is actually a card-carrying annual member and has been to the garden many times, and encouraged me to check it out with her sometime.  Well, no better time than when I was already in the area.  The 80 acre garden, which was opened in 1932 as McKee Jungle Gardens, was a popular roadside venue, and reported to once be the third largest attraction in Florida.  It closed in 1976 and sold off much of its land which became a condo development.  It reopened in 2001 at 18 acres – about a fourth of its original size, but retained its tropical gardens and exotic wildlife.  I also happened to know that there was a Roadside America entry located there at McKee, so I of course had to make it a point to check it out.  Located in the Hall of Giants is said to be the longest single plank mahogany table in the world – at 35 feet 10 inches long, 5 feet wide, and 5 inches thick, it’s pretty darn big!.  Thanks Theresa for a wonderful afternoon. The other Roadside attraction I attempted to see was supposed to be a flag out in the ocean that marked the location of the SS Breconshire Wreck, or also known as the Boiler Wreck.  This steamer ship was traveling to Tampa from New York when it wrecked just off the coast of Vero Beach in 1894 due to faulty navigation charts.  Supposedly, it is partially visible at low tide, and is further marked with a flag.  Well, it was not low tide, and there was no sign of the flag that I could see, so you will have to imagine that there is a shipwreck out there in the picture I took of the ocean (at left, bottom right).

Local Events

I was very excited for the month of March to get here as I had tickets for two shows that I was really looking forward to going to.  First up was to catch a traveling broadway musical production of a show titled Little Woman.  South Florida State College Center for Performing Arts in Avon Park, about 30 miles south of me, was the venue hosting this show.   I was not at all familiar with the story, though I have since learned it is quite popular and has been portrayed on stage and in movies many, many times.  What made this show extra special was that my cousin Marie’s daughter, Moriel, was a cast member in this traveling show.  Moriel is an aspiring young actress with a magnificent singing voice, and was extremely fortunate to have been chosen to perform in this national tour, traveling to more than 50 cities all across the United States and Canada.  I had seen Moriel in one other production she was in several years ago, and was looking forward to seeing her again in this major show – practically in my own back yard.  However, as bad luck would have it, the day before the scheduled showing Moriel made a visit to a local urgent care facility to tend to an injured throat – no doubt from all the singing day after day as the show traveled the country.  Sadly, she had to sit out this particular event and I was very disappointed that I did not get to see her perform or meet up with her after the show.  I do wish her a speedy recovery, and continued success and fun as she continues her most notable adventures.  See you on your next tour Moriel!  On a side note, I know others in the family have tickets to future showings, and you won’t be disappointed.  The show was Fantastic!  Later in the month, I was invited by some community friends to join them in yet another broadway musical – this time, The Bodyguard.  It too was a fantastic show, with amazing vocalists in all roles.  I sure did experience a lot of musical culture this month!

Back in my pre-retirement working days in 2013, I spent the bulk of the summer in Utah working on setting up two 1000-seat call centers for the upcoming ObamaCare launch.  It was there that locals introduced me to a pizza joint called The Pie, which turned out to serve some of the best pizza I’ve had in all my life.  In fact, you may recall that I wrote about it this past summer when I visited Utah, and had to have some of that deliciousness once again.  Well, the other thing that The Pie introduced me to was a guy named Mike Masse.  Though I had never actually seen him perform there, I had heard about him as he would perform there each week doing covers of lots of music with his guitar skills and great voice.  I learned that he had a YouTube channel that featured many of his gigs from The Pie.  After watching several of them, I was immediately hooked.  I’ve followed his music ever since, always hoping to catch him live at one of his concerts.  But, with my moving around so much in the RV, and his traveling concert schedule all over the country, it seemed I’d never have the opportunity.  Well, he finally came to Florida, his first ever appearance in the state, and when I learned of this, I immediately bought myself a front row ticket, that even included a pre-show meet and great.  What a blast!  Meeting him and his long time harmonizing friend and bass playing sidekick Jeff Hall in person, and listening to their live performance, was nothing short of magnificent.  Mike even plays the same guitar as I do, a round body Ovation – albeit significantly better than I.  Not only did he allow the taking of pictures and videos while they performed, he actually encouraged it – as long as we only posted the good stuff.  So, here is a short montage collection of that nights concert to get a feel for just how amazingly good Mike really is.  Enjoy!

Community Stuff

As noted above, March is host to our annual Fun Day event, along with lots of other activities.  Between my volunteer time with the Citizens Assisted Patrol, the Sound Group that runs and maintains the clubhouse sound and video systems, my work chairing the Technology Committee, working with the community historian, and working with a team on a secret special project, I sometimes find myself a bit less retired than I might otherwise like to be.  But the truth is, I am really enjoying myself here at the home base and I wouldn’t have it any other way.   Jean, our community historian, pointed out to me that this year was the 20th anniversary of the 3 devastating hurricanes that came through this area back in 2004.  She thought it would nice to put a video together with pictures and videos from those hurricanes that hit the community one after the other within a span of just over 6 weeks.  It truly was incredible the damage that ensued, and the resulting community spirit that pulled together in the cleanup efforts.  So, here’s the video Jean and I produced that serves to remind us of those days that occurred some 20 years ago.

Shoulder Update – Good News!

Well, I finally had an MRI of my shoulder, and met up with the ortho doc for the results.  Good news – there is nothing torn, ripped, stretched, broken, or otherwise visibly wrong with my shoulder.  He suspects the bleeding  and resulting bruising was merely from some torn fibers, but there is no current damage that he can see – well, that is other than the normal old-guy arthritis that exists in some of my joints.  Otherwise, things look perfectly normal, and no further action is needed.  Wahoo!  But, there was also no real indication of what actually happened to cause this issue to begin with.  I still stick with my original theory that when I first injured the shoulder in Oct, I pulled, stretched, or otherwise dislocated something.  Then, in Feb with the second injury, I somehow managed to pop back whatever it was that was misplaced.  But, I currently have no pain or discomfort, and have full range of motion with my arm.  So, all in all, this was the best news I could have gotten.  Now, I can finalize my summer travel schedule, get busy making campground reservations, and finish up with all the remaining maintenance items I’ve been putting off pending the outcome of this medical event.  As you can see at left, I’ve laid down the initial route that I’m looking to take this year, with focus areas of Montana, Idaho, and Nevada.  This pathway will also take me through Little Rock, AR so I can visit with my old Air Force buddy who I’ve not seen in several decades, as well as spend a bit of time with my cousin Denise so she can show me around her little Colorado town.  As its now plotted, I’ll also check off an additional seven National Parks, and three more states from my bucket list.  So all in all, it’s looking to be a great year!  But in order to make this all happen, I will be departing FL much later than usual – actually about a month later.  But, that will give me time to wrap up all the travel plans, and maybe even get in a quick visit back in MD to see family and my soon to be new granddaughter before I leave.  More details to come with all of this in next month’s edition of the blog.

Final Thoughts

As noted, I’ll be hitting the road sometime in mid-late May to embark on what will be a slightly shorter nomad season.  But, I’ll take whatever I can get.  Also, being around here in Apr and May will be fun, as things have already begun to wind down, and many folks will be heading out to return to their northerly habitat for the summer.  This place will get much quieter and much less eventful – leading me to get caught up with many tasks still remaining on my to-do list.  I’ve already scheduled to have 6 new tires installed on my truck next month ($$$ ouch), and I’ll also be remotely celebrating my grandson Henry’s 2nd birthday. I’ve also got a couple more regular doc appointments next month to wrap up before my departure. In the end, Apr will no doubt be a busy month to get through. Well, happy Easter everyone, and be watchful of those black jelly beans (which as luck would have it, are my favorite)!  Till next time, be well and safe travels

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!