Lake Wales, FL – Mar 2025

I continue to be amazed at just how quickly time passes – whether here at the Florida home base, or while out traveling on the road.  Another month has been checked off the list, and I now find myself with just over 6 weeks left before my departure to this year’s adventure.  But the time here has been great, and March was a very busy and fun and active month.  Lots of events and gatherings to report on, so let’s get started.

Events & Gatherings

We had another family gathering this month – notably welcoming brother Dick and sister-in-law Kathi down here to Florida for their couple week getaway vacation.  We gathered at Don’s place along with my other brother Gerry, for a get together.  We had a terrific meatloaf and mashed potatoes dinner, and of course lots of wine to go with it.  The following morning, Don, Dick, and Kathi drove out to the west coast of Florida to visit with our aunt and uncle, while Gerry hung out at Don’s, and I returned to my RV.  It was a quick visit but nice to get the chance to see my old brother Dick and and forever young sister-in-law Kathi.  Thanks for hosting Don!

Also this month, I took the opportunity to catch a couple of shows.  First up, my favorite acoustic guitar playing and amazing cover artist singer Mike Masé (at right, top) made another appearance this year up in Clermont.  Regular readers might recall that I saw Mike last year for the first time when he made his first Florida appearance, and I thoroughly enjoyed his show.  When I heard he was coming back again this year, I once again purchased a front row center seat (at right, bottom left), and watched and listened in awe.  He is such a talent!  He once again came with his trusty base playing sidekick  Jeff Hall.  Last year when I first saw them, I took a lot of videos from which I had put together a montage of their talents (HERE).  This time, I didn’t shoot any video, and only took a few pictures.  That way, I could just sick back and enjoy the show – which I did!

Next, I learned that one of the comedians I enjoy watching on various social platforms, was going to be performing a show in a Tampa comedy club.  ISMO is his name (at right, bottom right), and he comes from Finland – having moved here to the States some 9 or so years ago.  A lot of his routine is focused on the many oddities of the English language – which coming from someone with a heavy Finish accent is really funny.  He put on an awesome show that made the 4 hour round trip drive to see him all the more worth it.

March here in Saddlebag is filled with activities – not the least of which is the annual Fun Day event.  This is the big kahuna of events here in the community, with planning for each year’s event beginning a year in advance.  The day begins with a morning parade featuring amazing costumes and incredible floats sponsored by the various clubs within the community, followed by a hotdog luncheon and entertainment Under the Oaks, to then be followed up with a double feature show in the clubhouse featuring a comedian and then a costume singer, followed by an evening dance to round up the day.  Each year’s Fun Day is based on a theme and this year was Holiday.  You could pick any holiday (Easter, Halloween, Christmas, Cinco de Mayo, etc) and as you can see here in the photos at left, most were well represented by the various clubs.

The hotdog luncheon is served in a pace we call Under the Oaks – which is literally a nicely shaded area filled with oak trees filled with picnic tables and a small amphitheater.  After lunch the clubhouse entertainment started.  First up was a comedian who did an awesome job to a packed house (at right, center right).  In fact, to accommodate everyone here in the community, there were actually two shows that afternoon – a 1pm and a 3pm.  Each show was filled to capacity.  I had the pleasure of meeting with the comedian before the his first show so that we could get him connected into our sound system.  That worked perfectly well – except for the short outage at his second show when he started to make fun of me in his act, but then quickly realized that you don’t mess with the sound guy (I cut off his mic)!  It turned out to be quite a funny bit, and got lots of laughs.  Second up for each show was a female singer who dressed up as, and sang like various female artists.  Janis Joplin, Cher, Dolly Parton, and several others made appearances.  Her performances included lots of laughs also, and overall was very well received.  What a great way to spend a day!

Late in the month, I once again enjoyed the company of my brother Gerry.  There was another show at the Lake Wales Little Theater, so he came down to for that – and of course so we could also enjoy a few bars, restaurants and a  campfire.  The theater show was titled “Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play”.  It was basically a play of them performing several vintage radio broadcasts of Hitchcock stories.  It was really well done, and definitely a different kind of play.  Otherwise, we did our regular theme of eating out and enjoying an evening campfire.  Only got to get one campfire in this trip as a rain storm came in on Sunday evening.  Oh well, at least we we got in one.  For food and drink fair, we checked out a new BBQ restaurant that just opened a week ago in downtown historic Lake Wales.  We followed that up with a visit to a nice bar that was nextdoor from the BBQ place that also just recently opened only a month ago.  Both turned out to be really good!  Then after the show, we went to another local bar/food place that I’d not been to before.  It too was quite good, though apparently the chef dropped the loaded hotdog that my brother had ordered, so we had to wait for another one to be prepared.  Nice that they were at least honest about the issue.  Otherwise, all was good.  Thanks once again for the visit!

Projects

Whether it be tasks around the yard or maintenance on the RV, there’s always a steady supply of projects to get done here at the home base.  For example, I had lots of challenges with Air Conditioning during last year’s travels, so before I leave again for this year’s trip, I had a few things on my list to get done in that department.  First up, there are a number of third party products to add to your AC to make them more efficient.  Trying to keep this RV cool when it was over 110 degrees in Las Vegas proved to be a huge challenge.  So, gaining any sort of efficiencies from what cooling I have would be prudent.  The type of AC units I have are considered “ducted”.  That is, the cold air comes out of the AC, and makes its way into the ducts that run the length of the RV – delivering cool air throughout.  Both AC units, one in the living room and one in the bedroom, provide cool air into the duct.  However, the design of how the air gets from the AC into the duct left lots to be desired.  As seen at right bottom left, the cool air comes from the rectangle blower in the top, and “magically” works its way into the duct openings on either side.  This design causes lots of turbulent air within the cavity, and not everything makes its way into the duct.  So, this product from Kool RV helps to solve that issue.  It uses a plastic receiver tube that captures the cold air from the blower, and through hoses, directly puts that air into the ductwork.  This is supposed to improve airflow, and thus cooling efficiency.  I’ve got one installed, and the other one to be installed later this week.  So, I’ll know better then if this gadget actually works or not.  But, fingers crossed!

The other thing I did to possibly improve my AC efficiency was to engage a husband and wife pair that do Mobile RV work.  I had them come out to do a cleaning of my AC coils up on the roof.  I’ve never had it done since I’ve owned the RV (9 years now), so I figured it was probably about time.  I also ordered and had them install new capacitors in both AC units.  The only thing that has failed me on these ACs has been the capacitors – and both units were sporting ones with lots of use.  So, I figured before they fail, let’s replace them now.  So, that was all done on a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon.  Again, it will be a few days before I’m able to see if that cleaning has improved things any.  Again, fingers crossed!

Other Happenings

I mentioned in a blog or two ago about the completion of the revitalization of the historic downtown Lake Wales.  Several years in the planning stage, and a year or so in construction mode, the official grand opening was held earlier this month.  I went downtown for lunch one afternoon to see for myself what the completed project looked like.  The transformation is nothing short of spectacular!  Several of the main downtown roads were converted to brick, traffic patterns were changed, trees and flowers were added all throughout, and the Market Plaza area where weekend farmers market and other downtown events are held saw an overall amazing upgrade.   The entire plaza section was tore up, new brick areas layed, swings and other seating areas were added, and an overall beautiful landscaping job all combined to create a peaceful and wonderful space.  Kudos to the town planners and to the construction folks who did all the work.  It really turned out great!  I can’t wait for visitors to come so that I can take them downtown to see this new revitalized area!

Travel Plans

Ok, put a fork in it – it’s done!  Travel route, planed stops, and campground reservations have all been completed and confirmed.  I wrapped up the final couple of reservations in the last couple of weeks, and am now 100% booked.  With just a couple of minor exceptions, I was able to book my first choice campground for each of my stops.  And for one of those exceptions, it was because I was trying to book a stop in Albuquerque just as the Baloon Fiesta was getting started.  Ah, no thanks!  Besides, I had the pleasure of experiencing that wonderful event several years ago, so no need to deal with the crowds, traffic,  and inflated prices for everything once again.  Instead, I opted to head about an hour north and spend a few days in Santa Fe.  This schedule has me leaving here from the Florida Home Base on Monday, May 12th, and returning back here on Sunday, Oct 26th.  This will be a long trip, loging in close to nine thousand miles just in RV travel not inclusive of sight seeing, and making 51 stops across 23 states.  So, final preparations are in full swing to ensure everything is ready in time to hit the road.  I’ve also updated the Where’s Bruce page (HERE) with this year’s route. This is certainly looking to be another epic journey across the country – visiting lots of people and places along the way.  For those on my agenda to visit, I’m looking forward to it!

Final Thoughts

Hard to believe I’ve only got about 6 weeks left here at the Home Base.  Time certainly does move quickly when you are having fun!  No doubt, this year’s travel adventure will likewise move quickly with the rapid pace of the trip, and the sheer number of places that I’ll be visiting.  I’ve got my list of major places to visit at each stop, and will supplement that list with whatever happens to be in the area from my trusty travel companion Roadside America. I’m sure there will be no shortage of things to check out along my way.  So, one more report from here in Lake Wales in next month’s blog, then it will be back to lots of interesting and varied content from my travels.  I’ll also be taking a trip up north next month – getting in a visit with the girls and grands before I take off for the season. And for that trip, I’ll be traveling using a first for me mode of transportation, and I’m really looking forward to that. More on that later. Till next month, 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!