It seems like a lifetime ago now but the last time I wrote it was July and we were holidaying in Central Florida. The motorhome was back in the UK with an RV specialist in Oxfordshire having a service and a few extra bits and pieces added. Our friends, Tim and Debs have a villa at a place called Rotonda, near Englewood on the south western coast of Florida. In between rentals they stay at the villa. For their summer holiday they very kindly invited Mike and I along to stay with them and one of their daughters, Izzie. What a place! A huge open plan living area, 3 bedrooms- miles apart and a good sized swimming pool, terrace and garden and even a creek at the bottom for fishing. We had a great time and because Tim and Debs know the area so well it was like having a couple of locals to take us round. The time flew by and we did so much: Beach days, lazy pool days, shopping, sight seeing, wildlife watching, and lots of delicious meals out. We learnt a lot about Naples with the 'Naples Trolley Tour' and also visited Armand Circle in nearby Sarasota and Venice. The pace of life in this part of Florida is much slower than in many parts of the states. This was evident on Gasparilla Island where the Bush family take their Christmas Holidays.
Tim really enjoys fishing. We have never done any before and in fact would possibly have pronounced it as too boring to even contemplate. However Tim's enthusiasm soon rubbed off on Mike and it was a common sight just before sunset to see them at the bottom of the garden with their rods seeing if any fish would bite. One evening a young but sizeable alligator joined them and was watching them VERY intently. As something took the bait Tim started to reel in. Unfortunately it was a turtle which are quite difficult to disengage from the hook. As they pulled him out the alligator shot out after their catch! Luckily they managed to keep the croc at bay and send the turtle back into the water with no-one getting hurt.
One morning we decided to take a fishing trip. We climbed aboard our own private boat with our skipper Cap'n Bob. We collected live bait on the way out and typically Mike started catching fish before we had even been issued with our rods and bait! We all caught something and quite a range of species including catfish and mackerel. Much to my delight I soon had a nibbler on the line-it turned out to be the biggest sea trout EVER pulled out of the water in that area. At 23.5 inches long I was legally allowed to keep him but I opted to throw him back in along with all the fish that we caught that morning.
On our return to the UK we drove the car back to the motorhome and delivered it to Westcroft's in Cannock. There were a few bits and pieces that needed doing under the warranty, so homeless again we set off on 'tour'. First of all we headed north and saw Nige and Sally near Beverley, and then up to Bridlington to see Mike's daughter Amy and for me to see her daughter Esmee for the first time. They both looked extremely well. We also saw Mike's Mum and Dad for a night and a celebration of their wedding anniversary. The motorhome should have been ready for collection by now but as it wasn't we headed off south to Norfolk and caught up with our Norwich friends whilst staying with Paul and Katrina. The following week we stayed with Peter and Tracey in Dereham and as the motorhome still showed no signs of being ready soon we set off to Gloucestershire to stay with my parents. Mum had just had a knee replacement and we saw it as a good opportunity to help at home in the early days after an operation. An added complication provided indirectly by the weather. Flooding at their water treatment plant had meant that they had no water! Free bottled water was distributed in nearby Stroud and water bowsers on adjoining streets enabled us to have washes and do the dishes. My youngest sister Liz kindly made her home half an hour down the road available for hot showers.
By the end of the week the motorhome was still not ready, it was supposed to have taken four days and now over a week overdue we decided it wouldn't be ready any time soon and so we invited ourselves over to see Kate Hetzel in Buckinghamshire. One night we had a meal at the oldest freehouse in England, The Royal Standard of England which could trace its history back to Norman times. The menu gave all the history and also had some exciting sounding and completely unheard of 'traditional' English dishes. My choice was Bacon Badger a Clanger, sadly they had run out so I still have absolutely no idea what that could possibly be. Our final visit was to see Mike's son Lee and his wife and daughter-Lizzie and Chloe. They were all well and as the motorhome was finally ready we headed back up to Cannock to collect it. It was great to see everyone but we were ready to hit the road and continue with the next phase of our summer.
We arrived in Cannock in the morning and as we unpacked the car and reorganised the cupboards in the motorhome we noticed that things weren't 'quite right'. There was a laptop missing but we decided not to say anything to Westcroft. As we felt that could only be described as negligent of us to leave such a desirable item in the motorhome. We got ourselves organised for travel and went to the pub across the road for our evening meal. The security guard had lots of silver jewellery on and that reminded me that I hadn't seen my jewellery box which had been inside a rucksack at the back of the wardrobe. As soon as we finished our meal we raced back to the motorhome and sure enough we had been completely 'done over'. Every cupboard and drawer had been methodically searched, even down to the thief choosing DVDs from our collection in the storage case and returning it with the ones he didn't like still in there. We were so upset. It seemed worse than a normal burglary where items are stolen in a hurry. We decided that we should continue with our journey to Dover as it was already booked and we could not see that anything would be gained by staying until the morning apart from us forfeiting our ticket from Dover to Calais. We had always planned the drive overnight as that part of the UK is notorious for accidents, traffic jams and roadworks. We arrived at the motorway service area at Maidstone at about 4.30am, Mike was falling asleep at the wheel so we felt we deserved a rest. Absolutely shattered, we saw on the signs as we arrived that you could park free for two hours. We couldn't find anywhere to park though as the motorhome area was full (we were too big anyway), the lorry area was full. All that was left was the coach parking area. Deciding this was the best option we set the alarm and had a quick sleep. When we woke up there was a huge sticker across the windscreen-we had been clamped!!! Mike managed to locate the parking attendants who refused to unclamp us unless we paid a staggering £290.00 fine. I was so angry, I lost it completely but they remained coolly unmoved so we had to stump up the cash. We got the first available ferry out of Dover unscathed feeling downtrodden, sorry for ourselves and extremely disappointed in the values of some in our own country.
At this point I will say goodbye and continue with our travels at a later date. Take care and lots of love,
Ali and Mike xxx
Tim really enjoys fishing. We have never done any before and in fact would possibly have pronounced it as too boring to even contemplate. However Tim's enthusiasm soon rubbed off on Mike and it was a common sight just before sunset to see them at the bottom of the garden with their rods seeing if any fish would bite. One evening a young but sizeable alligator joined them and was watching them VERY intently. As something took the bait Tim started to reel in. Unfortunately it was a turtle which are quite difficult to disengage from the hook. As they pulled him out the alligator shot out after their catch! Luckily they managed to keep the croc at bay and send the turtle back into the water with no-one getting hurt.
One morning we decided to take a fishing trip. We climbed aboard our own private boat with our skipper Cap'n Bob. We collected live bait on the way out and typically Mike started catching fish before we had even been issued with our rods and bait! We all caught something and quite a range of species including catfish and mackerel. Much to my delight I soon had a nibbler on the line-it turned out to be the biggest sea trout EVER pulled out of the water in that area. At 23.5 inches long I was legally allowed to keep him but I opted to throw him back in along with all the fish that we caught that morning.
On our return to the UK we drove the car back to the motorhome and delivered it to Westcroft's in Cannock. There were a few bits and pieces that needed doing under the warranty, so homeless again we set off on 'tour'. First of all we headed north and saw Nige and Sally near Beverley, and then up to Bridlington to see Mike's daughter Amy and for me to see her daughter Esmee for the first time. They both looked extremely well. We also saw Mike's Mum and Dad for a night and a celebration of their wedding anniversary. The motorhome should have been ready for collection by now but as it wasn't we headed off south to Norfolk and caught up with our Norwich friends whilst staying with Paul and Katrina. The following week we stayed with Peter and Tracey in Dereham and as the motorhome still showed no signs of being ready soon we set off to Gloucestershire to stay with my parents. Mum had just had a knee replacement and we saw it as a good opportunity to help at home in the early days after an operation. An added complication provided indirectly by the weather. Flooding at their water treatment plant had meant that they had no water! Free bottled water was distributed in nearby Stroud and water bowsers on adjoining streets enabled us to have washes and do the dishes. My youngest sister Liz kindly made her home half an hour down the road available for hot showers.
By the end of the week the motorhome was still not ready, it was supposed to have taken four days and now over a week overdue we decided it wouldn't be ready any time soon and so we invited ourselves over to see Kate Hetzel in Buckinghamshire. One night we had a meal at the oldest freehouse in England, The Royal Standard of England which could trace its history back to Norman times. The menu gave all the history and also had some exciting sounding and completely unheard of 'traditional' English dishes. My choice was Bacon Badger a Clanger, sadly they had run out so I still have absolutely no idea what that could possibly be. Our final visit was to see Mike's son Lee and his wife and daughter-Lizzie and Chloe. They were all well and as the motorhome was finally ready we headed back up to Cannock to collect it. It was great to see everyone but we were ready to hit the road and continue with the next phase of our summer.
We arrived in Cannock in the morning and as we unpacked the car and reorganised the cupboards in the motorhome we noticed that things weren't 'quite right'. There was a laptop missing but we decided not to say anything to Westcroft. As we felt that could only be described as negligent of us to leave such a desirable item in the motorhome. We got ourselves organised for travel and went to the pub across the road for our evening meal. The security guard had lots of silver jewellery on and that reminded me that I hadn't seen my jewellery box which had been inside a rucksack at the back of the wardrobe. As soon as we finished our meal we raced back to the motorhome and sure enough we had been completely 'done over'. Every cupboard and drawer had been methodically searched, even down to the thief choosing DVDs from our collection in the storage case and returning it with the ones he didn't like still in there. We were so upset. It seemed worse than a normal burglary where items are stolen in a hurry. We decided that we should continue with our journey to Dover as it was already booked and we could not see that anything would be gained by staying until the morning apart from us forfeiting our ticket from Dover to Calais. We had always planned the drive overnight as that part of the UK is notorious for accidents, traffic jams and roadworks. We arrived at the motorway service area at Maidstone at about 4.30am, Mike was falling asleep at the wheel so we felt we deserved a rest. Absolutely shattered, we saw on the signs as we arrived that you could park free for two hours. We couldn't find anywhere to park though as the motorhome area was full (we were too big anyway), the lorry area was full. All that was left was the coach parking area. Deciding this was the best option we set the alarm and had a quick sleep. When we woke up there was a huge sticker across the windscreen-we had been clamped!!! Mike managed to locate the parking attendants who refused to unclamp us unless we paid a staggering £290.00 fine. I was so angry, I lost it completely but they remained coolly unmoved so we had to stump up the cash. We got the first available ferry out of Dover unscathed feeling downtrodden, sorry for ourselves and extremely disappointed in the values of some in our own country.
At this point I will say goodbye and continue with our travels at a later date. Take care and lots of love,
Ali and Mike xxx
